Civic Discourse for the Third Millennium – serie

A seminal work in international communication, examining news reports, civic discourse, and images of Africa in Russian press. This book is about power and influence, politics and communication across frontiers--a thoroughly challenging analysis of Russia's foray into African and international communication. The book penetrates the intellectual, social, cultural, political, geographical, and historical aspects of the relationship between the African continent and Russia, before, during, and after the Cold War. The book is well-researched and up-to-date.The study was conducted within the framework of Russian geo-political interests, the belligerent ideological determinism of the Communist era, the implosion of historical materialism, and the delicate post-communist path to democracy, capitalism, and reconstruction. The book will appeal to a global audience of journalists, scholars, political scientists, historians, cultural and social critics, policy makers, and the general public.

Of the enormous number of books published on the Arab-Israeli conflict, most focus on its history or the political dimensions of the current peace process. None, however, has provided an in-depth look at the relationship between those who shape the events and the Western journalists who cover them. In this bold new study, Mohammed A. el-Nawawy explores the ways in which government officials try to manipulate the news media, how the reporters contend with such interference, the professional and newsmaking roles of the journalists, and how their demographic and educational backgrounds influence their coverage of this crucial time and place.Through interviews with 168 Western correspondents—94 in Israel and 74 in Egypt—who, together, represent more than 88 percent of the whole population of foreign correspondents in the Middle East, the author provides an invaluable source of information on the day-to-day activities of reporters in the region, as well as their interactions with government officials.

Commercial sex is the occupation of a significant portion of the women of the world, providing economic support for millions of people and their families. Working at the Bar is the first-ever, long-term, longitudinal, in-depth study of a large sex work industry—and Thailand, the most prominent nation in the rapidly growing sex tourism industry, makes for an excellent case study. While previous works have provided brief glimpses of one group of workers studied from a particular point of view, author Thomas Steinfatt examines considerations of health, behavior, economics, morality, religion, and worker safety. The result of data gathered from thousands of workers and customers in Thailand over a period of twelve years, Working at the Bar covers all aspects of an industry that, although it does not conform to various Western ideals, is nevertheless enormously significant.Among the most provocative of Steinfatt's arguments is that sex work is not itself immoral, and that far from being the exploitation industry we might imagine, sex work in Thailand is beneficial to everyone involved—especially given that education in this nation has proven not to be a viable alternative. Providing an opportunity for economic progress unavailable through other means, and providing working conditions far safer than those of the average Thai factory, sex work is ripe for a study that explores all aspects and perceptions associated with it. Working at the Bar is that long overdue study.

Richard Holt draws on his extensive experience in discourse analysis and Web design to present a picture of the Internet as a potentially powerful tool of civic discourse in the third millennium. Beginning with background on two of the Internet's most prevalent communication forms, email discussion messages and Web pages/sites, the book introduces the concepts of monologism and dialogism. Holt advocates a method of discursive analysis called dual reading, in which Internet utterance is analyzed first monologically and then, dialogically. This method is demonstrated by analyzing email discussions that deal with such varied topics as media, espionage, sexual identity, presidential politics, hate speech, and hate crimes.This volume contains a multidisciplinary approach, involving a wide range of specializations, from computer science to philosophy. It will appeal to students, teachers, practitioners, and lay readers who are interested in Internet communication, politics, and popular culture. In contrast to many of the doom and gloom accounts of the deficiencies of the Internet, it offers a hopeful vision of the Internet as a means of civic discourse.

The author accounts for South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy from a rhetorical perspective. Based on an exhaustive analysis of hundreds of public statements made by South Africa's leaders from 1985 to the present, Moriarty shows how key constructions of the political scene paved the way for negotiations, elections, and national reconciliation. These rhetorical changes moved South Africa out of the realm of violent conflict and into one of rhetorical conflict, a democratic space in which the country could resolve its problems at the negotiating table and in the ballot box.

The author offers an analysis of forms of U.S. mass culture that support, parallel, or critique official national, regional, and intergovernmental peace policy, prevention, and peacemaking. Major popular culture forms such as film, television, news media, peace parks and public memorials, and peace and justice movements are considered as public discourses influencing and reflecting public understanding of peace and war themes. The discussion includes events following September 11, 2001.World Peace, Mass Culture, and National Policy takes a critical and analytical approach to Washington foreign policy; unilateralist methods; and corporatism as global hegemony. It includes a wide discussion of these issues based on cultural institutions and ideologies of mass culture in the U.S. The work critiques the notion that corporate capitalism and the consumer affluence of the U.S. alone can bring other societies to democratic practice.

Wenshan Jia demonstrates that a true liberation of Chinese civic discourse can start with a focus on indigenous cultural practices, such as face practices--the understanding that every human face offers a distinct cultural grammar for acting, speaking, and feeling. Chinese character and identity, the author argues, are primarily functions of communication, and as such, these practices are of enormous consequence to the necessary reconstruction of Chinese identity in the changing socioeconomic context of the 21st century. In this way, Jia finds a middle ground between the advocacy of complete Westernization and radical Chinese nationalism: as a pragmatic alternative, communication is key.Never before has facework research been approached so systematically from the standpoint of its relationship to character and identity. Jia's work substantially advances the literature on Chinese communication and presents a unique perspective on its relationship to social transformation. This new paradigm of facework--including analytical methods such as Circular Questioning in addition to major case studies--challenges traditional views while pointing the way toward a new and valuable social-constructionist view.

Wenshan Jia demonstrates that a true liberation of Chinese civic discourse can start with a focus on indigenous cultural practices, such as face practices--the understanding that every human face offers a distinct cultural grammar for acting, speaking, and feeling. Chinese character and identity, the author argues, are primarily functions of communication, and as such, these practices are of enormous consequence to the necessary reconstruction of Chinese identity in the changing socioeconomic context of the 21st century. In this way, Jia finds a middle ground between the advocacy of complete Westernization and radical Chinese nationalism: as a pragmatic alternative, communication is key.Never before has facework research been approached so systematically from the standpoint of its relationship to character and identity. Jia's work substantially advances the literature on Chinese communication and presents a unique perspective on its relationship to social transformation. This new paradigm of facework--including analytical methods such as Circular Questioning in addition to major case studies--challenges traditional views while pointing the way toward a new and valuable social-constructionist view.