El espejo de Pandora : Identidad y monstruosidad en Penny Dreadful

La serie Penny Dreadful (2014-presente) recupera personajes y tramas de novelas de terror y/o fantásticas ampliamente conocidas. La propuesta narrativa de esta serie creada por John Logan sitúa dichos elementos en la convulsionada Londres decimonónica y los fusiona, configurando así un discurso propio acerca de la "monstruosidad" de los personajes que presenta. En esta refundición, la serie ejercita una serie de reflexiones sobre la condición humana y la del monstruo. Como se plantea en la segunda temporada, al retomar el mito de Pandora y reformularlo, la distinción entre el hombre y el monstruo parece quedar en suspenso, dando lugar a una concepción de la monstruosidad diferente a la que encontramos en otras producciones televisivas contemporáneas. En este artículo analizamos las representaciones de la monstruosidad y las identidades en Penny Dreadful para ello prestaremos especial atención a los personajes y sus interacciones a lo largo de la primera y segunda temporada de la serie, así como a la relación entre la serie y sus fuentes literarias

Represión estatal y violencia paraestatal en la historia reciente argentina : Nuevos abordajes a 40 años del Golpe de Estado

Tabla de contenidos: La represión estatal en la historia argentina reciente: problemas, hipótesis y algunas respuestas tentativas / Marina Franco. De la guerra (contrainsurgente): la formación de la doctrina antisubversiva del Ejército argentino (1955-1976) / Esteban Damián Pontoriero. La transformación de las relaciones cívico-militares: la "Acción Cívica" del Ejército (1960-1983) / María Alicia Divinzenso. El proceso represivo en los años setenta constitucionales. De la "depuración" interna del peronismo al accionar de las organizaciones paraestatales / Hernán Merele. Las formas de represión política en el "teatro de operaciones" del Operativo Independencia (Tucumán, 1975-1977) / Santiago Garaño. Formas de exilio y prácticas represivas en la Argentina reciente (1974-1985) / Silvina Jensen, Soledad Lastra. Género y resistencias en la prisión política durante la última dictadura / Débora D'Antoni. Los consejos de guerra militares como práctica de represión política (1956-1983) / Marianela Scocc. La represión a los trabajadores y el movimiento sindical, 1974-1983 / Victoria Basualdo, Alejandro Jasinski. Familia judicial y dictaduras: la creación del "fuero antisubversivo" en la década del 70 / María José Sarrabayrousse Oliveira. Circuitos institucionales y tramas de relaciones sociales: las formas de materialización de la apropiación criminal de niños / Carla Villalta. Esto no es un Holocausto. El testimonio de Jacobo Timerman y la represión a los judíos durante la última dictadura militar / Emmanuel Kahan. Modalidades, dispositivos y circuitos represivos a escala local/regional: Rosario 1975-1983 / Gabriela Aguila. El rol de la "comunidad informativa" en la represión en Bahía Blanca (1975-1977): prácticas, acuerdos y disputas / María Lorena Montero. "¿Para agarrar a este gil semejante despliegue?" La represión dictatorial en el Comahue. Neuquén-Río Negro, 1976-1983 / Pablo Scatizza. Sobre la vida (y a veces la muerte) en una ciudad provinciana. Terror de Estado, cultura represiva y resistencias en Santa Fe / Luciano Alonso. El Cono Sur de las dictaduras, los eslabonamientos nacionales en el interior de la Operación Cóndor y las particularidades del caso argentino / Melisa Slatman.

US hegemony and Southeast Asia - The impact of, and limits to, US power and influence

The United States has exerted a major influence on Southeast Asia, especially since World War II. As both a promoter of neoliberal reform and as the key strategic actor in the wider East Asian region, the impact of U.S. power has been immense. But both the Asian economic crisis and its aftermath, and the more recent war on terror, have highlighted the contradictory impact of evolving U.S. foreign policy and intervention in the region. At both an elite and a mass level there is evidence of resentment about, and hostility toward, U.S. policy and its perceived negative effects. This article outlines how U.S. foreign policy has impacted the region in the economic, political, and security spheres, and argues that not only has it frequently not achieved its goals, but it may in fact be undermining both America's long-term hegemonic position in the region and any prospects for political liberalization.

Greetings from the cybercaliphate: some notes on homeland insecurity

One of the paradoxical effects of the 7 July bombings in London was to expose the ambivalence in the British government's attempt to wage war on terror by forcefully prosecuting war against those who resort to jihad abroad, actively participating in coalitions of the wining whether in Afghanistan or Iraq, while affording some of Islamism's key ideologists and strategists a high degree of latitude in the United Kingdom itself. This indicates a number of contradictions in official policy that simultaneously recognizes the globalized threat from violent Islamic militancy while, under the rubric of multiculturalism, tolerating those very strains of Islamist radicalism, some of which draw upon the interdependent and transnational character of conflict, to render the UK vulnerable to those very same violent forces. Consequently, the British authorities displayed a studied indifference towards this developing transnational phenomenon both during the 1990s and in some respects even after the London bombings. To explore the curious character of the government's response to the Islamist threat requires the examination of the emergence of this radical ideological understanding and what it entails as a reaction to modernization and secularism in both thought and practice. The analysis explores how government policies often facilitated the non-negotiable identity politics of those promoting a pure, authentic and regenerated Islamic order both in the UK and abroad. This reflected a profound misunderstanding of the growing source and appeal of radical Islam that can be interpreted as a consequence of the slow-motion collision between modernity in its recent globalized form and an Islamic social character, which renders standard western modernization theory, and indeed, the notion of a 'social science' itself, deeply questionable.

The skin of the Burqa: Recent life narratives from Afghanistan

The "war on terror" has been associated with an extraordinary proliferation of Afghan autoethnographies in the Western marketplace. In this article, various implications and connotations of this are read to explore the ethical engagements of life narrative in these times.

Responding to terrorism using ethical means: The propaganda index

Determining whether communicationis as ethical as possible involves assessment of means (texts, language, and communication style) as well as ends (communication intent and outcomes). This article introduces the propaganda index as a ay to achieve the former. A tool that measures whether texts contain stylistic devices that have been elsewhere identified as classically propagandist, the index is first overviewed then applied to a case study text: the Australian Government “terror kit” information package. The case study analysis, combined with some background to the kit's reception in Australia, indicates that the high levels of propaganda were probably not helpful ti the kit in achieving its aims either ethically or effectively.

Mapping the notion of "terrorism" in Serbian and Croation newspapers

The September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States have reconfigured the global public debates as of how to defend a "civilized" world from the "Islamic terrorism." The U.S.-led war on terror against extremist groups also produced and triggered a particular discourse in the former Yugoslav countries. The main aim of this article is to present an example of a study that explores how media appropriate dominant global antiterrorism discourse and apply it to a local context to legitimize and justify specific ideologies and discourse. As our critical discourse analysis shows, Serbian and Croatian newspapers apply the global discourse of terrorism to their local context to excuse their nationalisms and the past military actions against the Muslims in former Yugoslav wars, and with that, they assert their belonging to an antiterrorism global discursive community. © 2006 Sage Publications.

O BELO E A SALVAÇÃO NO PENSAMENTO DE MEISHU-SAMA

Este texto busca apresentar a relação entre religião e arte a partir do pensamento de Meishu-Sama, fundador da Igreja Messiânica Mundial, religião criada no Japão em 1935 e que chegou ao Brasil em 1955. Para isso, descrevemos brevemente a sua trajetória pessoal e religiosa e os fundamentos de seus ensinamentos. Para ele, o Belo pode promover a salvação do ser humano, elevando a sua espiritualidade através do contato com as várias modalidades artísticas. A pesquisa analisa, entre outros, os conceitos de Belo, de salvação e de religião no âmbito do pensamento de Meishu-Sama. Apresenta considerações sobre o fenômeno religioso, abordando principalmente os aspectos do sagrado e do símbolo. Em especial, dialoga com o teólogo alemão Paul Tillich e sua Teologia da Cultura, buscando estabelecer uma aproximação entre as duas perspectivas no que diz respeito à pintura. O estudo descreve o poder salvífico do Belo em algumas formas de manifestações artísticas e espaços sagrados da IMM.(AU)

Introduction – transnational organised crime and terrorism:different peas, same pod

The nexus between terrorism and organised crime consists in a strategic alliance between two non-state actors, able to exploit illegal markets, threaten the security of individuals, and influence policy-making on a global level. Recent Europol reports have pointed towards the importance of studying the links between organised crime and terrorist groups, and have underlined that the nature and extent of these connections have seldom been addressed from an academic perspective. Considering the degree of dangerousness that both organised crime and terrorism currently represent in the world, the collusion between these two phenomena is of urgent contemporary interest. Basing itself on geographical case-studies, this edited volume aims at contributing to the existing literature in three ways: by enriching the empirical knowledge on the nature of the crime-terror nexus and its evolution; by exploring the impact of the nexus within different economic, political and societal contexts; and by expanding on its theoretical conceptualization.

Criminals and terrorists in partnership:unholy alliance

The nexus between terrorism and organised crime consists in a strategic alliance between two non-state actors, able to exploit illegal markets, threaten the security of individuals, and influence policy-making on a global level. Recent Europol reports have pointed towards the importance of studying the links between organised crime and terrorist groups, and have underlined that the nature and extent of these connections have seldom been addressed from an academic perspective. Considering the degree of dangerousness that both organised crime and terrorism currently represent in the world, the collusion between these two phenomena is of urgent contemporary interest. Basing itself on geographical case-studies, this edited volume aims at contributing to the existing literature in three ways: by enriching the empirical knowledge on the nature of the crime-terror nexus and its evolution; by exploring the impact of the nexus within different economic, political and societal contexts; and by expanding on its theoretical conceptualization.

Transgressing community:the case of Muslims in a twenty-first-century British city

This paper draws on ethnographic research carried out in Birmingham, UK – a city significant for its sizeable Muslim population and its iconic role in the history of minority ethnic settlement in Britain – to consider how associations of place and ethnicity work in different ways to inform ideas about ‘Muslim community’ in twenty-first-century Britain. The paper charts happenings around a local event in an area of majority Asian settlement and how representations of the area as a place of Muslim community were used to implicate it in the ‘war on terror’. The paper goes on to show how this sensibility is disrupted by Muslims themselves through alternative engagements with space and ethnicity. The paper argues that these offer a ground for making Muslim community in ways that actively engage with histories and patterns of ethnic settlement in the city rather than being determined by them.

Transgressing community:the case of Muslims in a twenty-first-century British city

This paper draws on ethnographic research carried out in Birmingham, UK - a city significant for its sizeable Muslim population and its iconic role in the history of minority ethnic settlement in Britain - to consider how associations of place and ethnicity work in different ways to inform ideas about 'Muslim community' in twenty-first-century Britain. The paper charts happenings around a local event in an area of majority Asian settlement and how representations of the area as a place of Muslim community were used to implicate it in the 'war on terror'. The paper goes on to show how this sensibility is disrupted by Muslims themselves through alternative engagements with space and ethnicity. The paper argues that these offer a ground for making Muslim community in ways that actively engage with histories and patterns of ethnic settlement in the city rather than being determined by them.

Gender, identity, and the security state: The politics of international drug trafficking

This dissertation examined how United States illicit drug control policy, often commonly referred to as the "war on drugs," contributes to the reproduction of gendered and racialized social relations. Specifically, it analyzed the identity producing practices of United States illicit drug control policy as it relates to the construction of U.S. identities. ^ Drawing on the theoretical contributions of feminist postpositivists, three cases of illicit drug policy practice were discussed. In the first case, discourse analysis was employed to examine recent debates (1986-2005) in U.S. Congressional Hearings about the proper understanding of the illicit drug "threat." The analysis showed how competing policy positions are tied to differing understandings of proper masculinity and the role of policymakers as protectors of the national interest. Utilizing critical visual methodologies, the second case examined a public service media campaign circulated by the Office of National Drug Control Policy that tied the "war on drugs" with another security concern in the U.S., the "war on terror." This case demonstrated how the media campaign uses messages about race, masculinity, and femininity to produce privileged notions of state identity and proper citizenship. The third case examined the gendered politics of drug interdiction at the U.S. border. Using qualitative research methodologies including semi-structured interviews and participant observation, it examined how gender is produced through drug interdiction at border sites like Miami International Airport. By paying attention to the discourse that circulates about women drug couriers, it showed how gender is normalized in a national security setting. ^ What this dissertation found is that illicit drug control policy takes the form it does because of the politics of gender and racial identity and that, as a result, illicit drug policy is implicated in the reproduction of gender and racial inequities. It concluded that a more socially conscious and successful illicit drug policy requires an awareness of the gendered and racialized assumptions that inform and shape policy practices.^

Post-revolutionary post-modernism: Central American detective fiction by the turn of the 21st century

Contemporary Central American fiction has become a vital project of revision of the tragic events and the social conditions in the recent history of the countries from which they emerge. The literary projects of Sergio Ramirez (Nicaragua), Dante Liano (Guatemala), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), and Ramon Fonseca Mora (Panama), are representative of the latest trends in Central American narrative. These trends conform to a new literary paradigm that consists of an amalgam of styles and discourses, which combine the testimonial, the historical, and the political with the mystery and suspense of noir thrillers. Contemporary Central American noir narrative depicts the persistent war against social injustice, violence, criminal activities, as well as the new technological advances and economic challenges of the post-war neo-liberal order that still prevails throughout the region. ^ Drawing on postmodernism theory proposed by Ihab Hassan, Linda Hutcheon and Brian MacHale, I argued that the new Central American literary paradigm exemplified by Sergio Ramirez's El cielo llora por mí, Dante Liano's El hombre de Montserrat, Horacio Castellanos Moya's El arma en el hombre and La diabla en el espejo , and Ramon Fonseca Mora's El desenterrador, are highly structured novels that display the characteristic marks of postmodern cultural expression through their ambivalence, which results from the coexistence of multiple styles and conflicting ideologies and narrative trends. The novels analyzed in this dissertation make use of a noir sensitivity in which corruption, decay and disillusionment are at their core to portray the events that shaped the modern history of the countries from which they emerge. The revolutionary armed struggle, the state of terror imposed by military regimes and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, are among the major themes of these contemporary works of fiction, which I have categorized as perfect examples of the post-revolutionary post-modernism Central American detective fiction at the turn of the 21st century.^

La tentacion del abismo en armonia Somers: Entre el expresionismo de vanguardia y el gotico postmoderno

Armonía Somers (Uruguay 1917 - 1994) ha sido clasificada dentro de la llamada Generación del 45 de Uruguay, sin embargo, muchos críticos aseguran que su obra difiere de la estética del período en que escribió. Mientras Ángel Rama sugiere que la narrativa de Somers pertenece a la tradición de los raros y malditos, que desciende del extraño linaje del Conde franco-uruguayo y poeta Lautréamont, otros la colocan en el ámbito de la narrativa imaginativa y de lo fantástico. La crítica contemporánea se aproxima a la obra de Somers a partir del concepto de lo extraño o "Unheimlich", abordando las novelas de la autora desde una perspectiva freudiana, lacaniana o heideggeriana. No obstante, ninguna de estas investigaciones ha determinado a qué género u orientación literaria se aviene, ni han indagado en profundidad sobre su contribución a los estudios metaficcionales. ^ En esta tesis propongo que las novelas de Armonía Somers, "La mujer desnuda" (1950), "De miedo en miedo. Los manuscritos del río" (1965), "Un retrato para Dickens" (1969), "Viaje al corazón del día. Elegía por un amor secreto" (1986), y "Solo los elefantes encuentran mandrágora" (1986), transgreden los géneros y tendencias literarias dominantes en su época por medio de una imaginación excesiva y de una trama anti-dramática, asociada primordialmente con la experiencia del terror sublime y la representación de lo inexpresable o irrepresentable, ambas nociones correspondientes a la poética expresionista de vanguardia y al gótico postmoderno. Las novelas analizadas en este trabajo presentan en su estructura una amplia gama de formas ambiguas e inorgánicas, cuya función desestabiliza los aspectos formales del realismo y subvierte los postulados epistemológicos e ideológicos en que se apoyan las culturas afirmativas, las cuales legitiman solo cierto concepto de realidad, desentendiéndose del resto de las experiencia humanas que no encajan en sus esquemas. La desacralización, la disolución moral, la muerte simbólica y la naturaleza fluida de la identidad junto con una marcada autorreflexividad, son algunos de los temas más relevantes de este conjunto de obras, que he categorizado como un ejemplo del expresionismo gótico postmoderno del siglo XX.^