Body,Vision and Movement: in the Footprints of the Ancestors

Ethnographic writings on Australian Aboriginal ontology and epistemology have overlooked the phenomenological significance of the body and notions of embodiment in the relationship between people and land. In focusing on the body as a spatio-temporal ‘hinge’ between people and place, I explore the pervasive images of bodily transformations, directional movement and traces, in the cosmogony, cosmology and life-world of the Yolngu people of Northeast Arnhem Land. The image of the footprint as a synthesis of living body, vision and movement, perception and intentionality, embodies the dynamic and creative nature pertaining to the fashioning and negotiation of group identity.     

A Space and Time for a Generation to React: The Gattjirrk Cultural Festival in Milingimbi

This article deals with the annually held Gattjirrk Cultural Festival organised in Milingimbi, a Yolngu community in Northeast Arnhem Land, and has the objective of analysing its socio‐cultural and political meaning. Although this event is considered an amusement (wakal), it nevertheless constitutes an arena to negotiate postcolonial realities in which Yolngu people are forced to live. Focusing on the organisers' overall frame of ‘sharing culture’ and youths' interpretations of hip‐hop dances as ‘performative tactics’, I suggest that the Milingimbi Festival creates a space in which generational perspectives within the community as well as the tension between Yolngu people and the non‐indigenous (balanda) world may be displayed and mediated. While the Festival has been mainly conceived as a space for encountering and ‘sharing culture’ with other groups and people both within the community and with the balanda world, it is also seized as an opportunity by young people to generate new ways to engage with and challenge others. By weaving together elements of Yolngu heritage and pop culture, I argue that fun or burlesque dances (wakal bunngul) are ‘tactics of cultural remix’ that through laughter and irony demand a witnessing: a mutual recognition, engagement, and responsibility to participate and to respond. It is thus in their own ways that these performances produce new connections and relationships bringing together old and young, Yolngu and balanda in an effective although fleeting encounter.     

Young people and drinking in Italy: the good side of familism

Abstract

Since the 1990s, young people’s drinking has been a matter of public concern, attracting considerable media attention that has contributed to spreading the alarm. The purpose of this article is to dispel some stereotypes about youth drinking in Italy, by putting it in an international perspective and explaining some of the key factors that have contributed so far to limiting the spread of at-risk alcohol consumption when compared to other countries. Among these factors, the persistence of social values that emphasize family ties and the sharing of informal norms between adults and young people seem to play a prominent role. However, both the spread of increasingly individualistic values at a global level, and the growing complexity of transitions to adulthood could lead to changes in consumption patterns among Italian youth in the near future and increase risky behaviours.     

Campaigning and governing: an analysis of berlusconi's rhetorical leadership

This article explores the communication strategy of Silvio Berlusconi through the analytical framework of the ‘permanent campaign’ model. Beginning with the distinction between ‘personal popularity’ and ‘political consensus’, the article looks at the different aspects of Berlusconi's political communication strategy since his election victory in May 2001 and assesses the rationale and effectiveness of his permanent campaign. The author concludes that, despite Berlusconi's strong commitment to the communication process, his leadership appears more similar to the rhetorical Presidency model than to the experiences of leaders who have shown that campaigning can also be used to govern. The article identifies two key limits: (1) the link between the drive for personal popularity and the building of support for the government's main policies appears weak; (2) all communication strategies are undermined by deep divisions within the ruling coalition.     

Surfing and trying to keep afloat: The political communication process in a highly fragmented coalition led by a ‘Great Mediator’

This article analyses the experience of the second Prodi government from the standpoint of its political communication. The opening part contextualises the case by placing it within the broader framework of coalition governments generally, and briefly outlines the critical elements that, in Italy, prevent any majority from making a genuinely strategic use of communication in the policy-making process. The second part focuses on Prodi's poor communication, highlighting both its limits and the attempts at improvement made by the leader and his staff in 2007. Finally, the third part examines the journalistic coverage of the centre-left majority and considers the trend in public approval for the premier and the government, emphasising the problems that emerged on each side.