Moon,mud, and cell phones: geographies of race and construction of difference through normalization

How does the meaning of space emerge and get negotiated when individuals of diverse backgrounds interact with each other? Studies reporting that African Americans tend not to spend time in outdoor space attribute this finding to limited access to resources, cultural values, degree of assimilation to mainstream practices, discrimination in outdoor space, or a perception that outdoor recreational space is “white space”. Little research has addressed how such meanings relate to other meanings attached to outdoor space, let alone how this happens through interactions between people with different views on outdoor space. This article, based on interviews and participant observation of college students on an alternative break trip from the Northeastern U.S. to New Mexico in 2014, shows how students of various backgrounds experienced nature differently, how differences were articulated and explained, and how they subverted normalization processes that render not “being in tune with nature” as deficiency. Suggesting that geographies of race are fluid and influenced by individuals’ agency, this article calls for encouraging students to examine the ways their subject positions have shaped their experiences and challenge cultural bias in what is deemed universally desirable.     

从日本外务省解密档案看中日关系发展中的“求同存异”

新中国成立后,中国政府制定了民间先行,以民促官的对日政策,旨在通过发展中日民间外交促使日本政府改变敌视中国的态度,建立两国正常的外交关系。中日民间外交在20世纪70年代初达到了准官方水平,为两国关系实现正常化打下了坚实的基础。在中日邦交正常化谈判的过程中,中国政府无论是与日本在野党党首的会谈中,还是与田中首相等日本政府官员的正式谈判中,始终坚持求大同、存小异,坚持原则性与灵活性的统一,不拘泥于一般的惯例,在领土主权、国家利益、战争认识等大是大非问题上不妥协,对于一些具体问题又尽可能照顾日本的国情、体谅日本政府的困难,实现了亚洲两个不同社会制度国家的和平友好。     

新中国与意大利关系正常化的历史考察

新中国成立后20多年,一直没有与意大利建立外交关系。直至1969年初,中意两国关系正常化才迎来了转机,其原因主要是:中苏两国从结盟走向对抗、西方大国纷纷调整对华政策、意大利国内左翼政党力主承认新中国以及中意经贸发展的驱动。从1969年2月至1970年10月,中意两国围绕建交问题进行了长达22个月的谈判,最终于1970年11月6日签署联合公报。中意关系正常化掀开了两国关系的新篇章,标志着以美国为首的西方阵营孤立新中国的政策开始破产。     

中国对日邦交正常化战略的历史评析

通过对20世纪50～70年代初中国对外战略的历史考察,可以发现中国对日邦交正常化战略发挥了关键作用。中国政府在防止日本军国主义复活原则的基础上,首倡"以民促官"及"官民并举"的基本方针,提出正确对待历史问题并放弃战争赔偿,并采取"先美后日、以美促日"的外交战略于1972年实现了中日邦交正常化,取得了继中美发表《上海公报》后的又一外交胜利。虽然中国对日邦交正常化战略在实施过程中历经曲折,但它兼具现实性和灵活性,体现了以"和谐"为核心的政治文化,在中国外交史上占有重要地位。     

The man behind the syndrome: Argyll Robertson,Scotland's ambassador extraordinary in the realm of ophthalmology

Abstract

The aim of this study is to find out whether bromide was able to cause conversion of epilepsy to psychosis i.e., so‐called paradoxical normalization such as has been seen in treatment with modern antiepileptic drugs. Spontaneous conversion has been known for three hundred years. Locock introduced bromide in the treatment of epilepsy in 1857. Belgrave wrote in 1868 on its effect on epileptic attacks and concommitant insanity. In 1868 Holm observed reduction of the frequency of seizures at the same time as psychotic symptoms or just dysphoria. In 1875 Voisin described a dose‐dependent intoxication with psychosis and/or neurological signs. Stark in 1875 and Bannister in 1881 were the first to clearly describe the antagonism between epileptic seizures and psychotic symptoms, an antagonism or conversion described by many authors, both in cases with high and low dosage, and with and without intoxication. Thus, the title of this paper should be answered in the affirmative.

Bromide has been used as a sedative and has rarely caused intoxication. Thus the presence of epilepsy is not a condition for the development of bromide intoxication. A case with epilepsy and fatal massive bromide intoxication is reported. It is discussed whether the pathological findings give support to Wolf's hypothesis of latent epileptic activity in subcortical pathways during “normalization”;.     

On morel's épilepsie larvee: The first Danish epileptologist Frederik hallager's opposition in 1884 against morel's psychical epileptic Equivalents*

Abstract

In 1860 B.A. Morel published some cases of masked epilepsy, i.e., paroxysmal behaviour disturbances or “epileptic equivalents”;. The majority behaved criminally. Hughlings Jackson opposed and Hallager showed that all the cases related later as épilepsie larvée could be explained as postepileptic attacks, general paralysis, paradoxical normalization, schizophrenia, mania and otherwise. True criminal behaviour was exeptional. The present author agreed. There is no need for épilepsie larvée. It is discussed whether Blumer's recent “Paroxystic neurobehaviour disorder”; will revive “Morel's disorder”;.     

从"正常化"走向"睦邻友好"--1989～1992年中苏(俄)关系简析

1989～1992年是中苏(俄)关系史上一个重要的时期,它包括三个阶段:中苏关系实现正常化(1989年);中苏关系过渡到中俄关系(1991年);建立睦邻友好原则(1992年).在这三个阶段中,"正常化"是核心,它贯穿其间,使三个阶段紧密相连.中苏关系之所以实现"正常化"主要是由国际形势的变化和两国的国家利益所决定的.此外,灵活的政策运用在处理"三大障碍"问题上发挥了重要的作用,为中苏关系正常化的最终实现创造了不可或缺的条件.中苏关系正常化,对后来的中苏(俄)关系产生了深远的影响,其中最重要的就是确立了新型的国家关系,使两国关系经受住了国际形势风云变幻的考验,奠定了两国关系稳定发展的基础.     

NOTES ON CAMPS,OR, COUNTERFACTUAL FÜHRERS AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE JOKE

In this review essay I explore the dynamics of “normalization” in historical and fictional depictions of the National Socialist past, examining both the “organic” normalization of catastrophic events through the passage of time, and efforts to normalize the Nazi past through aesthetics. Focusing on Gavriel Rosenfeld's Hi, Hitler: How the Nazi Past is Being Normalized in Contemporary Culture, I argue against many dimensions of Rosenfeld's account of normalization, particularly his claim that aesthetic normalization can undermine our moral judgments regarding the Holocaust. Drawing on Sigmund Freud on jokes, and Susan Sontag on Camp aesthetics, I argue that every effort to normalize the Holocaust, especially ones that work through humor and jokes (a major topic of Rosenfeld's book), actually maintain the Holocaust's status as a series of historical events resistant to “normalization.” If “normalization” is a process through which extraordinary, or morally charged, historical events lose their moral charge, then aesthetic efforts to normalize the Holocaust actually reinscribe the special moral status that Rosenfeld believes they erase.     

WHITHER “WHAT IF” HISTORY?

Richard Evans's new book, Altered Pasts, offers a perceptive but flawed critique of the field of counterfactual history. The author provides a useful historical survey of the field's recent rise to prominence and intelligently analyzes its respective strengths and weaknesses. His overall assessment of the field is quite skeptical, however. Evans cites many reasons for his skepticism, but his overall critique can be summarized in three words: plausibility, politicization, and popularity. Evans faults works of counterfactual history for their frequently implausible narratives, their promotion of political agendas, and their distressing degree of popularity. In advancing his critique, Evans makes many valid observations that call attention to important deficiencies in the field. But his view is a partial one that neglects countervailing evidence and never penetrates to the heart of why the field has left the margins for the mainstream. Evans's study provides a useful introduction to an understudied topic, but further research—ideally of a less partisan nature—is required for us to better understand counterfactual history's increasing appeal.     

The road to normalization: The importance of the United Arab Emirates' neoliberal foreign policy in the normalization with Israel: 2004–2020

The article discusses the question of why and how the normalization between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel took place and managed to evolve into a peace agreement. It offers an additional explanation to the neorealists' scholarly and commonly accepted argument: that it was only the behavior of the revisionist state of Iran that was the motive for signing the peace agreement between the two states. Furthermore, the article argues that the normalization of relations began in 2004 and could have materialized owing to the UAE's neoliberal foreign policy of focusing on soft power cooperation. It suggests the UAE's internal interests of status, stability, and empowerment, which were incorporated in the Vision 2021 plan, were translated into a foreign policy of international cooperation rather than one of military involvement and alliances. The UAE's long-term strategy reveals a dual neorealist and neoliberal foreign policy with a tendency toward the latter. The neoliberal foreign policy of soft power cooperation attracted the UAE to Israel and, through these shared interests, built trust and eventually led to normalization between the two states. The study covers three periods of the UAE's foreign policy strategy during the development of the normalization process. It begins with the tension between the neoliberal and neorealist strategies from 2004 to 2009, then looks at the increase in tensions between 2010 and 2018, and ends with the focus on the neoliberal foreign policy strategy in 2019–2020.