Usage of the concept of culture and heritage in the United Arab Emirates – an analysis of Sharjah heritage area

Under the forces of an oil-based economy and the fast paced change, nationals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf states are becoming very keen to preserve, represent and invent a distinct ‘national’ culture and heritage. Fears of ‘loss’ of identity and concerns about ‘global’ culture are powerful social forces. Heritage revival has become a significant social, cultural and political process in the UAE, the most public sign of this being the development of ‘Heritage Villages’. This analysis explores themes of heritage revival and the preservation, representation and construction of culture in the UAE with specific analysis of the Sharjah Heritage Area (SHA). It will be shown that heritage revival in the UAE is both a symbolic and practical negation of globalization. Heritage revival is also increasingly an affirmation of the fast paced development of international business and tourism in the Emirates which is the focus of economic diversification. SHA will first be examined as a museum exhibitionary complex combining museum, festival and shopping. The representation, performance, negotiation and interplay of local/global and old/new culture at the SHA will be outlined in the context of transnationalism and the oil-propelled modernization.     

现代官僚制与后官僚制:21世纪公共管理者的二难抉择

现代官僚制通过理性化的设计,能够有效地克服管理中的人治因素,保证组织的高效运作。但其内在的价值分裂却造成了人的异化,针对这一弊端后官僚制应运而生。21世纪的公共管理者要做的绝不是对某一维度单纯的理性批判,也不是对官僚制与后官僚制进行简单的取舍,而是要历练出一种符合当前中国发展的科学的、理性的、法治的、契约型的和主体性的、创造性的公共组织与文化模式。     

旅游的美学意义：走出现代性的困境

科技工业的迅猛发展在带给人们丰富物质享受的同时,也给其精神世界铐上了沉重的枷锁。在这种生存境遇下,现代人迫切需要通过一种方式完成对自身灵魂的救赎,而旅游则恰逢其时地出现并以其独特方式填补了这个沟壑。在现代性的生存困境下,旅游活动强调旅游主体对于时空独立性和人的完整性的追求,从而获得独特的审美意义。     

略论严歌苓《也是亚当，也是夏娃》的现代性

严歌苓的短篇小说《也是亚当，也是夏娃》以全新的视角描写独特的群体，无论是人物的选择、题材的选取、心理的描写，还是隐喻象征等手法的运用，都体现出浓厚的现代性。严歌苓对同性恋、离婚妇女、残疾儿童的描写关注，源自她一贯的人文关怀。她融东西方文化于一体，关注边缘人物的命运，在思考同性恋问题的同时，又对女性与儿童的生存状态予以极大的关注，具有强烈的现代意识。     

Entrepreneurial Religion in the Age of Neoliberal Urbanism

The introduction to this symposium on entrepreneurial religion and neoliberal urbanism discusses leading scholarly approaches to religion and urban theory, arguing that, despite their merits, these approaches are in need of refinement. Theories on religion and urban theory too often describe religion as a reactionary phenomenon. Religious movements and spaces are generally defined as pockets of resistance and shelter against retreating or failing states under neoliberal restructuring programmes in the shadow of consumption dreams. Although religious actors and ideologies unquestionably form part of urban groups that are denied access to public and private means to wealth and security, the contributors to this symposium argue that within a global, comparative perspective, the entwinement of religion, state and market reveal more complicated configurations. Through a comparison of Islamic gated communities in Istanbul, Pentecostal prayer camps in Lagos and Pentecostal grassroots movements in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, this symposium demonstrates that urban religion should also be regarded as a constitutive force of contemporary capitalism and should therefore be placed at the heart of the neoliberal construction of urban space instead of at its margins.     

The modernities of heritage and tourism: interpretations of an Asian future

Recent years have seen the emergence of a number of regional-based charters and declarations; all of which attempt to address the Eurocentric biases of the global heritage movement. For example, the Nara Declaration, China Principles, Hoi An Protocols and Seoul Declaration all reflect a desire to develop heritage frameworks that are sensitive to, and in tune with, the complexities and socio-cultural specificities of the Asian region. With the primary concern of these initiatives being the development of more appropriate ‘conservation philosophies’ or notions of ‘authenticity’, they have given less attention to the interface between heritage sites and their consumers, or tourists, and the rapidly changing nature of tourism in Asia. Indeed, the vast majority of reports and studies produced by UNESCO, ICOMOS, IUCN and others continue to talk of ‘the tourist’ as a singular, homogenous construct. The rapid growth of travel for leisure and recreation within Asia today, however, demands a re-appraisal of how such terms are used and deployed within the heritage industry. Accordingly, this article examines why Asian tourism is presenting new and unfamiliar challenges for policy makers regarding the management and presentation of heritage sites in Asia. More specifically, it considers the industry familiar discourse of ‘site interpretation’ against a backdrop of Asian modernities in order to ask questions about aesthetics and the politics of heritage narration.     

乌托邦与意识形态的关系及其对社会主义发展的意义

在近年来的学术研究中,乌托邦这一似有定论的概念又引起了人们的兴趣。研究乌托邦与意识形态的关系,并进一步揭示乌托邦在社会主义发展中的作用,既体现着人们对历史和现实的反思,又反映着社会科学研究的不断深化。     

民俗旅游的意识形态

民俗旅游是全球化背景下权力政治、资本与地方性文化之间共谋的结果，是一种后现代文化现象，服务于民族－－国家的现代化建设诉求。民俗旅游的兴盛，既是“本土现代性”的表现，也是文化政治之暴力的一种表述，民俗文化旅游继续着现代性话语对于民间、边缘文化的霸权性质。     

现代性视域中的苏北现代化

现代性作为现代化的内在规定性,构成近代以来西方社会和文化所蕴合并体现出来的时代特质.现代性的确立与实现的过程就是现代化过程.苏北经济发展长期滞后,从根本上说是因为缺乏现代性原则的规范,在精神性维度上表现为主体性意识缺乏,在制度性维度上表现为现代性还没有作为理性化制度安排渗透到社会运行的机理中去.因此,要加快苏北的现代化进程,应"-3积极进行现代性的构建:立足现实,强化主体性意识;加快体制改革,促进社会转型;破除城乡二元制结构,推进城乡一体化建设.     

Nostalgia,reflexivity, and the narratives of self: reflections on Devine's “Removing the rough edges?”

This paper offers some theoretical insights into Devine's account of the Riverside Museum in Glasgow. It elaborates on three interrelated themes the authors have derived from Devine's report: (1) how historical representations arouse nostalgic sensations and sensibilities in museum visitors (2) the role of narratives in visitors' development of their nostalgic experiences (3) the importance of engagement to the creation of such nostalgic experiences. The paper contributes to the existing literature on nostalgia, experiential consumption, and the museum experience literature by establishing a relationship between nostalgia, reflexivity, and individuals' narratives of self in the conditions of (post/late/high) modernity.