Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force for the period from 29 August to 18 November 2015.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE UNITED NATIONS DISENGAGEMENT OBSERVER FORCE FOR THE PERIOD FROM 3 MARCH TO 28 MAY 2015.
Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force for the period from 3 March to 28 May 2015 .
Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force for the period from 20 November 2014 to 3 March 2015.


China has made a big stride in national competitiveness during the period from 1990 to 2008, ranking 17th globally.
The economic momentum on a quarterly basis turned into a modest recovery spiral from the rapid decline in the second quarter, and the fourth quarter GDP growth is to continue to fall to 8.8 percent.
China has tightened its economic ties with Latin America countries, making the region the second largest investment destination.
Three growth engines – urbanization, expansion of domestic consumption and greening capacity – will sustain China's economy growth at 9 percent over the next five to ten years.
China will expect another three hikes of required deposit reserves in its banks next year, as large capital inflows continue flooding into the country due to loosening monetary policies in G3.
The central bank on Tuesday raised interest rates for the first time in nearly three years in an attempt to combat inflation and soak up excessive market liquidity.
China is committed to pushing forward the gradual currency reforms while maintain the currency at a stable and balanced level.
The World Bank has projected East Asia's economic growth at 8.9 percent, while warning capital risks to the stability of economy.
China increased its holdings by 21.7 billion U.S. dollars to 868.4 billion U.S. dollars in August from 846.7 billion U.S. dollars in July.
The hot money inflows into China are likely to reach 16 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter this year, according to Morgan Stanley chief economist.
China's CPI is likely to peak in the third quarter this year, and decline from the fourth quarter until the first half of next year, while go up again since the third quarter in 2011.
The current account surplus stood at 126.5 billion U.S. dollars and the surplus of capital and financial account hit 90 billion U.S. dollars in the first six months this year.
Emerging markets, especially, would see a substantial rise in inflationary pressure, which would make them further tighten monetary policy and strengthen the flexibility of exchange rate when necessary.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Saturday denied any link between the quota reform of the fund and currency issue in emerging market.
The dilemma that officials face is that the impact of a fall in exports as a result of RMB appreciation will be felt acutely and immediately, whereas the large welfare losses due to the evaporation of the value of China's foreign-exchange reserves will be borne by society as a whole – but not immediately.
Zhou Xiaochuan rejected a "shock therapy," arguing that any sharp appreciation of the yuan would create a wave of bankruptcy and social upheaval in China.
The world economy would face key challenges including the sovereign debt, jobless recovery, financial sector reform and global cooperation.
The instability of the yuan will cause disasters not only to China, but also to the world.


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2. It protects the wood from environmental changes. Even those that occur inside the home.
Shows such as the Antique Roadshow have cultivated a myth amongst the general public that refinishing furniture is "BAD". While it is true, that if Thomas Jefferson or George Washington was a previous owner of your antique, or if is an original Thomas Sheraton piece, that everything should be done to salvage the original finish. It is also true, that the finish is there to protect the piece of furniture. If the finish is in poor condition, it is unable to serve this function. This applies to very few pieces of furniture or antiques that exist. One reason being, that those that were not refinished, no longer exist, they were allowed to deteriorate to nothing.
In 99% of all cases, it is far more important that the finish be maintained in good condition. Several things can be done to mitigate any damage that might be caused by the repair or refinishing process. The first and largest in priority, is to make repairs reversable. If this is done, then future repairs are far more easy, and if a better method of repair is ever discovered, it's just a matter of removing what has been done, and improving the technique. That being said, antique's that require this level of attention are rare.
The value of a given piece is more a function of three variables: Quality, sentimental value and antique or real value. While some people impart a very high value to furniture that may not be of the highest quality, nor did it cost a lot, they do so for sentimental reasons and it therefore is worth it to them to spend a good amount keeping the furniture in good repair for future generations to partake in the sentiment. Others may purchase a rather expensive piece, but because it lacks any real attachment to them, it lacks reason to spend much keeping it in repair. They would prefer purchase a new piece and do away with the old. These three variables are usually a subject of much consideration and discussion whenever considering the repair and\or refinishing of a piece of furniture.
Small or large, Briley Woodworks is equipped and trained to repair your furniture and bring the finish back to a level that offers real protection to your furniture. We are well equipped to deal with any structural problems. We also are ready to deal with any issues in the finish on your piece. Moving damage, wear and tear, it's important that the finish of your furniture be maintained for it to properly do its job.


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Discourse Research and Religion
Reiner Keller: Entering Discourses: A New Agenda for Qualitative Research and Sociology of Knowledge (0)
Dominique Maingueneau: Religious discourse and its modules (0)
Kocku von Stuckrad: Historical Discourse Analysis: The Entanglement of Past and Present (0)
Frans Wijsen: Whose voice is this? The Multicultural Drama from CDA and DST Perspectives (0)
Anne Koch: Some Important Conceptual Lines of Discourse Theories in Cultural Studies of Religion (0)
Erin K. Wilson: The power politics of 'religion': Discursive analysis of religion in political science and International Relations (0)
Guy Redden: Economics and commerce (1)
Gil Marvel P. Tabucanon: International Law, Cosmopolitanism and the Baha'i Faith (0)
Hans G. Kippenberg: Dynamics of the Human Rights Discourse on Freedom of Religion―observed from the Angle of Religious Studies (0)
Morny Joy: Gender and its Vicissitudes (0)
Jay Johnston: 'Beyond' Language? Ecology, Ontology and Aesthetics (0)
Frans Wijsen: Whose voice is this? The Multicultural Drama from CDA and DST Perspectives
Erin K. Wilson: The power politics of 'religion': Discursive analysis of religion in political science and International Relations
Anne Koch: Some Important Conceptual Lines of Discourse Theories in Cultural Studies of Religion
opreditor
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 As cultural studies, discourse analysis and religious studies are all highly ambiguous terms, used to denote vast fields, I will start by briefly sketching them in the sense in which restricted and contingent way they are used here, before proceeding to discuss the potential of particular facets of discourse theory and methodology for cultural studies.
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 The term discourse is very often used to denote an object of research (Keller, this volume), but without explaining in which exact meaning of discourse theory the term discourse is used. A first meaning of discourse theory is that it is a perspective, and a bundle of very divergent methods. Introductions to discourse analysis regularly distinguish between descriptive and critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2010: 167), and sometimes come to the irenic solution that all discourse analysis is political inasfar as language itself is always deeply political (e.g. Gee 2014: 9). Descriptive discourse analysis can be narrowly restricted to linguistic aspects, paying much attention to speech, intonation, etc., or can be applied more broadly in pragmatics of language-in-use or even in action theory. Here, following the tradition of Michel Foucault, discourse is understood as a construct consisting of utterances and practices which are institutionally established to different degrees (Foucault 1972). Thinking from the perspective of Foucault in cultural studies means turning all phenomena into practices and investigating these practices with specific questions in mind. This goes beyond approaches that only analyse conversations and speech acts—even if you understand language as a tool or action in the intentional-conventionalist sense proposed by John L. Austin (locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary acts), John Searle and others—since such approaches fail to address culture in its complexity as permanent institutional structures exerting power that becomes relevant for knowledge production. Language-in-use approaches only seldom expand their scope to include the epistemological framework, the episteme, in which the thinkable, imaginable and sayable of a historical time are embedded (see e.g. Keller's long citation of A. Schütz on the "preconstituted world of scientific contemplation", this volume).
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Religion as the often supposed object of the study of religion requires a second preliminary remark. Today, in the academic and theoretical self-understanding of religious studies, religion is often regarded as a discourse, or as being "discursively constituted". This implies that a particular interpretation of discourse theory has entered into the constitution of religion as an object. Kocku von Stuckrad expresses this idea when he proposes a "discursive study of religion". He indicates the difference between the term "religion" (small captials) and the "discourse on religion" by the use of capital letters, "religion", for the latter, meaning the "societal organization of knowledge about religion" (2014: 14). Discourse theory allows equal treatment of the subject of our investigation and the employed model, making the latter an historical item as well. Both are discourses. This makes plain the universalism of this approach, comparable to transcendental philosophy, but this time applied to empirical culture/s instead of abstract concepts. It is this understanding of discourse analysis as a discursive practice that itself adds meaning to some discourse that von Stuckrad calls its "double-bind" (2013). Through this double-bind, a third order of signification of scientific reflection adds to first order object or emic discourses and second order discourses on religion be it a theological reflexivity or how other societal subsystems reflect on this field.
¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 A sign that discourse analysis or theory would become central to the study of religion is to be seen in the linguistic turn after World War II, which ended the essentialist and phenomenological directedness of the discipline. Jonathan Z. Smith is an exponent of this turn who is mainly interested in discursive norm building through categorisation ("taxonomies", Smith 1996), as is Hans G. Kippenberg in Germany, who takes Austin's speech act theory as a point of departure (1983). The sociology of new religious movements was a forerunner in analysing religion in terms of discourse to better understand why beliefs are so diverging within one and the same culture (Hjelm 2016: 20, Barker 2006).
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 Cultural studies have particular importance for today's discourse debates, as this conglomerate of academic disciplines reconstructs 'culture' an all-encompassing web of shared knowledge, contingent habits and effects, and is thus predestined for studies of the all-embracive concept of discourse. Discourse theory can profit from some offshoots in cultural studies: culture sciences (Kulturwissenschaft) around 1900, the British Birmingham School from the 1950s onwards, and a second wave of culture sciences and respective debates around the crisis of representation with the cultural turn in the 1970s. Today, with cultural studies as the name of book series and academic departments, the traditions have mostly been merged together to form a few eclectic conceptual mixtures. More conservative, and mostly continental, approaches include metaphorology, genealogical formation of concepts, cultural history, école des annales, history of mentality, image studies (Bildwissenschaft), social structure and semantics, memory cultures, and many more. Often neglected in these strands, as well as within sociology, are anthropological debates and postcolonial studies, with their critique of Western modernity and its prioritising of specific forms of knowledge. A bit of all of these shifts, attentions and obsessions with the historicity of language patterns, topics, visual as well as semantic forms interrelated with social structures, is important for today's thick bundle of discourse theories. Part of the praxeological turn in cultural studies and the analysis of knowledge-power (savoir-pouvoir) are linked to the ideology critique of Birmingham cultural studies, with its Marxist legacy and engagement with race and class, a heritage that some scholars want to keep with critical discourse analysis, and which comes to a head by laying bare hegemony and ideology (religious studies: Titus Hjelm 2016: 21; linguistics: Norman Fairclough, Siegfried Jäger; postcolonial studies: Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe; sociology of knowledge: Rainer Keller). In the cultural studies approach to religion as a discourse, the theoretical strands outlined above are found in attempts at analysis of conversations, textual content analysis, dispositif analysis, anthropology and sociology of knowledge.
¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 Here, their reception in religious studies is discussed in the light of selected concepts that take their systematics from Foucault's discourse theory. The focus is on basic theoretical considerations, rather than on the details of individual positions and differentiation of methods. It is not possible to give a complete history of the reception of discursive approaches or even only set pieces in the study of religion.
Problem Configuration, Solutions and Unintended Effects
¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 An extremely interesting insight from Foucault's Archaeology of Knowledge for the cultural study of religion is the concept of problem configuration, as it can discover patterns within the religion discourse when applied to it. Problem configurations emerge on the macro level of interaction in institutional fields, and serve as heuristics for underlying challenges to action within historical constellations. Problem configurations prompt reactions to solve a newly perceived reality. This exciting new angle allows us to acknowledge the generic category of religion itself in European discourse as a reaction to such a problem configuration.
¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 What initial situation makes the introduction of the religion category a meaningful practice? History of religion has been kept apart from political theory—as well as from economics. In separating these societal domains, beginning with early modern times, a generic religion was created according to the interests of an autonomous state. In Timothy Fitzgerald's words, "the construction of modern discourses on generic religion has been made possible and conceivable by the parallel construction of a number of overlapping discourses on nonreligious/secular science, politics, the nation-state, economics, law, and education" (2007: 7). Fitzgerald criticises that to this day a specific discourse of religion and of religious studies are to blame for a one-sided and inappropriate line of thinking, which he outlines as discourses on barbarity and civility (2007). Religion "is a modern invention which authorizes and naturalizes a form of Euro-American secular rationality" (Fitzgerald 2007: 6). He argues in favour of embedding the religious studies narrative on the academic discipline of religious studies (and the concept of religion) into a history of early modernity in Europe. Similarly, Kocku von Stuckrad paints a picture of intensified debates in the late 19th century on the question of where to draw the line between religion/science/pseudo-science, a process he calls "scientification of religion" that often turned into polemics against magic, astrology, alchemy and others, incorporating at the same time some of their elements in the newly plausibilised sciences (von Stuckrad 2014).
¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 Catherine Bell does something very similar to critical discourse analysis, without citing Foucault or introducing a qualified notion of discourse, and may therefore stand for work in the study of religion that goes in the same direction as discourse analysis, without entering the specific field of discourse debates. She reveals Paradigms behind (and before) the modern concept of religion, a paradigm being a "'knot' operative in our discourses" and "a basic tool for advancing knowledge as a social enterprise" (2006, 28). She also calls upon the metaphor of archaeological strata of paradigms (ibid.). Thus, she acknowledges the force of ideas and models and sees them as social action. In contrast to Fitzgerald, she accepts the possibility that the process of the reification of religion and religious identities in religious cultures was not "necessarily a logical or internally directed one" (ibid.). In her own work she uncovers the misleading ideas of smaller models, like the "uniqueness of ritual action, the cosmological medium of the text, our cultural beliefs about beliefs" (2006, 29), the latter including belief in religion's intrinsic goodness and noblesse. Concerning the level of reflexivity in contemporary theory of religion, she delivers a damning indictment by saying that many variants of the following paradigms are very much alive: Christianity as a prototype, the world religions, religion as opposed to rationality, the cultural necessity of religion (to which for instance the cognitive and evolutionary study of religion are prone), and religion as a Western construct. The latter is of utmost interest here, as it seems to explain what discourse theory on religion is about: deconstructing religion as a Western construct. What is false about this? The consequences of postmodernism are ambivalent. On the one hand, Bell criticises the simplistic relativist assumptions behind this idea, while on the other hand it helps to apply the cultural lens that shapes our view of other religions self-reflexively to our own scholarly understanding of the religion category: it is Christianity as the prototype together with the other paradigms in both cases. Also, the culturalising of religion is a strategy to keep its universal persistence under the conceptual roof of culture. Postcolonial and critical feminist work (like on the category of gender, see Joy, this volume) was very important in helping to explore more premises of the religion category. As a descendent of constructivism, discourse theory has de-ontologising effects (see Jay Johnston, this volume): culture and economic orders are but the most salient plausibility structures, and the 'place' of religion is produced in a poststructuralist web of differential signification. Nevertheless, the radical conceptual and historical deconstruction of religion in Jonathan Z. Smith's famous claim that religion "is theirs [the scholars' of religion] to define" (1998, 281) does not render redundant studies of the efficacy and institution-building force of the category of religion in history up to the present. But, it decisevely introduces the above mentioned third order level of reflexivity.
¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 With this requirement of third order reflexivity, contemporary discourses on religion can be approached. An analysis can come up with distinctions of argumentations, different interests, different social groups promoting a goal and with sometimes unanimous settings of framing of what is at stake. As an example may serve the recent "god is back" discourse. Hjelm, for example, critically investigates the secularisation theory, and distinguishes five relevant discourses: the desecularisation debate; the talk of deprivatisation and post-secularity; the effects of 'welfare utopianism' on public religion; a discourse in which religion is seen as a social problem or as an expedient; and finally the mediatisation or publicisation of religion (2014). For our purpose, it is interesting to see how he evaluates and relates these discourses: he analyses each of them on its own and distinguishes between public utterances of discourses and social effects that become graspable in terms of membership numbers, dispositions, correlations of religious belonging and income, nationality or professions, in structural change, for example new or altered institutions, and, together with this, new procedures to allocate power or resources. In a particular sense, the discourses are several meaningful layers above, and independent from, structural perseverance or change. They may be hectic, short-term evaporations of utterances without institutional back-up in social groups, a shared interpretation of 'the situation' or respective elites for change etc. This is a recurrent pattern in both critical and affirmative use of a variant of discourse analysis: introducing a just temporary and a relevant-real distinction. Discursive practices—even if loud, frequent and performed—need not be reflected in institutional structures and social positions (see Keller, this volume, on dispositif, and Adele Clark's focus on 'situation'). Perhaps this distinction is not about an ontology of concepts so much as about the detailed and compartmentalised research practice that examines a multiplicity of discourses at a given moment of cultural negotiations, when the outcome or tendency of formative power is not yet decided and not yet materialised in structures.
Recurrent Discourse Figurations in History of Religion from a European Perspective
¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 Generally speaking one could say that discourse theory is a perspective for studying the structure of categorical orders, and the particular way in which knowledge is organised, legitimised and used at a specific moment in history and as pattern as well across history. This is often done with a critical impetus in respect of ideology, society and culture. And, in historical terms, it has therefore found a place and confirmation in the time of postcolonialism. But this is not its only use; within the frame of European thought, discourse theory has also proved to be effective and successful in deconstructing premises of Christianity as a prototype of religion beside others (Bell 2006) and premises of first modernity. These two areas of application are interdependent in many ways. In respect of Christianity, interconfessional disputes between Catholic and protestant denominations, as fundamental bifurcations in the discourse within the history of religion in Europe, also became significant for defining the Other during the period of colonial expansion. The example of the discourse on "fetishes" shows how African religious practices are interpreted as paralleling Catholic practices, which are perceived by Protestants as a characteristic form of material culture. In the same way a salvific Christian position is attributed to Native Americans and to Jews in the colonisation of North America. In this sense, discursive patterns are tools for discovering the world. And they are constitutive of worlds in the sense of social constructivism and the new institutional theory. Studies of colonial discourses have revealed a lot about European categorisations and axiomatic worldviews, and have made discourse history the most important tool, in the sense of historising one's own worldview, linked to a critique of the exercise of power in it.
¶ 12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 0 The cultural study of religion, which will be addressed below, has resulted in countless blended discourses on religion and culture, such as the "origin of religion in Africa" discourse (Atwood 2015), or the "Arian origin", the "world religions" discourse to keep up universalism in times of pluralism (Masuzawa 2005, Bell 2006), sui generis religion (McCutcheon 1997), "secularisation" discourse, "return of religion", "good/bad religion", "high/primitive religion" discourse, and many more. Favoured recurrent discourse 'figurations', 'constellations', 'knots' or 'strands' with regard to religion in the context of European history of religion are: confessionalisms (the protestant or Catholic bias or anti-polemics, see for instance Smith 1998, 180-81), the longue durée of the binary code of Orientalism-Occidentalism from 5th century BC, with Herodotus and Alexander the Great, up to Edward Said's examination of the political Islam discourse in "Western" media (Said 1981, Baker, Gabrielatos, McEnery 2013), and Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilizations" theory. Further vistas of Central European discourse patterns on religion include dark/light dualism (Huffer 2012: 21), the female savage/rational male, left-handedness/right-handedness (Knott 2005), insider/outsider perspectives, and reading/deciphering the book of nature. Discourse figuration is chosen here to denote heterogeneous theoretical items of more limited scope, like textual pattern (metaphorical line of right/lefthandedness, for example), or of wider impact, often called dispositif. Dispositif has become a significant category and research strand in sociologically oriented discourse analysis, meaning the socio-material infrastructure, distributive networks for circulation of knowledge, and recurrent formalised or everyday ways of knowledge production. A dispositif like the gender dispositif or the world religion dispositif is effective on a meso level of institutions and conventions, and determines shared structures that are not reducible to intentions of individual actors. Dispositifs are domain-specific and compete and interfere with a bunch of others. They therefore also yield unintended (side) effects of social impact. Dispositifs are interpretive categories to gather and bundle empirical data.
Savoir-Pouvoir—Knowledge-Power
¶ 13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 0 The previous section deals with the postcolonial critique of sovereignty of definitional power over central categories and orders of knowledge, and of taking advantage of a mighty machinery of science, media, and technology to circulate specific knowledge to remote localities. This brings another essential element of discourse theory into play: power. For Foucault, categorisations of knowledge are so closely linked to power structures, which go far beyond political organisation and permeate the actions and the worldviews of every contemporary, that he speaks of power-knowledge (Foucault 1977). Discourse theory is not only an analytical tool for historians and scholars in the field of cultural studies, but has also affected many of the cultural power positions which have been subjected to such a critical examination. In particular, the old-established Christian organisations have been robbed of some of their emically-ascribed features, such as ethical purity, universalism, justice, an innate religious human nature, etc. Russell T. McCutcheon thoroughly examines the US-American discourse on religion and meticulously lays bare the power interests and mostly political agendas of diverse voices in this orchestra (1997). He reveals a hidden agenda based mostly on Christian interests, in which religion is passed off as morally pure, free of politically compromising practices or corruption, and untouchable for critics.
¶ 14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 0 The field of religious studies has also been severely affected by the distinction or confusion of "insider/religious" and "outsider/academic" perspectives. "Zen studies", for example, flourished in the US as a reaction to the countercultural attraction to East Asian religious traditions and psychotechniques. It was Bernard Faure in the 1990s who examined this new discourse critically and revealed its South-East Asian romanticism. He explained common practices as a popularised, and in many ways locally adapted, form. Post-2000 "modern yoga studies" underwent a similar development, from Eliade's universalist résumé to today's multi-sited ethnographies (Strauss 2002) and reconstructions of multiple influences in a cross-cultural field of modern postural yoga invention (Singleton 2013).
Discipline and Regulation
¶ 15 Leave a comment on paragraph 15 0 Besides power, another concept from the tradition of Foucault has also repeatedly been of importance in cultural and religious studies: discipline and disciplining. The exertion of power has often been considered from the point of view of disciplining bodies. Body politics are a common topic of research by Foucault adepts. Studies by Talal Asad are a good example of this. He early on interpreted a religious system (Islam) as a discourse, in the sense that the heterogeneous traditions of Islam could be understood as a community of people who referred to the Koran as a "certificate of origin" (Asad 1986, see "self-constituting discourses", Maingueneau, this volume). Asad applied another important theorem of Foucault's to religion: genealogical work. In Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam (1993), and in several essays on attitudes to the body in the medieval Latin Christian church, he compared the Benedictine and Cistercian orders (for instance in respect of practices relating to food, sexuality and penance, Asad 1983, 1987). For Asad, the advantage of a genealogical approach is that unconscious "formations" can be uncovered, instead of only expressly symbolical and cultural interpretations of the body, or "representations" (1997: 43), – taking advantage of Foucault's "discursive formations". Religious subjects are regulated and disciplined via their (material or fleshly) bodies. The medieval subjects submit themselves to a strict code of body discipline that rules their everyday life. The scope of subjective experiencing and the modes of regulation are clearly connected to forms of governance. The medieval monastic world—with all its internal differences between (male and female) monastic orders which Asad points out—is clearly distinct from the early modern world in which subjects submit themselves to a new political order with a secular sovereign. In this form of governance, experiences have a much bigger reflective space and gain significance from their difference.
¶ 16 Leave a comment on paragraph 16 0 In place of techniques disciplining the self, increasingly normalising practices occur with modern times. Whereas disciplining is based on more or less clear cut rules and regimes, the procedures and dynamics of normalising are within a range, they are informal and situated. Their regime is specialized and adapted to much wider scopes of free action in individualized modernity. The agency of these two types of change therefore differs, even if they occur simultaneously in different social milieus and spheres. It is an open question in current debates how far the contemporary regime is still normalising, how far it is a regime of control and radical data transparency, or whatever one may see as essential trends in the neoliberal cultural ideology of consumerism with entrepreneurial selves and prosumers who essentially co-align (produce) their consumption products by ways of giving their data in exchange of free use of communication services, spending time on giving feedback to offerers to improve their products, accommodating smartphone surfaces to their needs etc.
¶ 17 Leave a comment on paragraph 17 0 "This immediately entails a choice of method that one day I will finally try to come back to at greater length, but I would like to point out straightaway that choosing to talk about or to start out from governmental practice is obviously and explicitly a way of not taking as primary, original and given object, notions such as the sovereign, sovereignty, the people subjects, the state, and civil society, that is to say all those universals employed by sociological analysis, historical analysis and political philosophy in order to account for real governmental practice" (Foucault 2008: 2). This citation mirrors central concerns of Foucault's main thrust which is still pivotal for many practitioners of discourse analysis: knowledge and truth are the outcome of social production, historical contingency instead of universal principles, a crucial point being how they are regulated and the scholar's duty to reveal this. The citation also points to a weakness: the lack of elaborated method, a gap that has been filled mainly by sociologists and linguists.
¶ 18 Leave a comment on paragraph 18 0 Governance in the field of religion has gained much attention recently (Martikainen 2013, 129-34). In recent work it is mainly conceptually linked to regimes of truth-telling, territory and neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is an important field, defined as practices in Foucault's late work on governmentality and biopolitics (Foucault 2008), the latter replacing earlier dichotomies of liberation and repression in his studies on sexuality by referring to gradational biopower. Very recently, a closer scrutiny of neoliberal governance has gained ground in the cultural study of religion (e.g. Martikainen, Gauthier 2013). Tuomas Martikainen develops a systematic approach to the "multilevel and pluricentric network governance of religion" (2013: 129) to grasp the many ways of regulating religion besides the church-state-model. Religion and immigration has become a field of related work (e.g. Bradamat/Koenig 2009). A very illuminating example of a discursive approach to religion in this regard is Breda Gray's Foucault-inspired article on neoliberal governmentality, with a case study of refugee work by churches and religious organisations in Ireland (2013). Competition between religious organisations and secular organisations, and the state as a stakeholder who advertises the tasks, leads to a specific institutionalisation within the field of refugee work. Pastoral power of care is combined with the rationale of technological and calculative governance, like efficiency, targets, benchmarking, performance indicators and an audit culture. Traditionally the pastor is an example, and is distinguished by his/her knowledge of the biographies of those entrusted to his/her care. Pastoral power is a relationship of obedience. Subordination of the entrusted is realised by confession and the examination of consciences, and at the same time has the merit of individualising the cared-for person. Within the process of secularisation, this pastoral care is widened to social governance, notably through social work and psychological professions. Once, a church applies to call for bids in refugee or other social work, it has to adapt to the neoliberal and administrative discourse formation which will seriously change the church's former procedural rationality, its human capital portfolio and control mechanisms among others. Therefore, the intermingling of religious organizations in highly professionalized and socially differentiated subsystems of societies will have a lasting and unforeseeable effect on the particular religious dispositif.
¶ 19 Leave a comment on paragraph 19 0 The governance discourse is regularly accompanied by the question of the possibility of resistance. Is yoga practice or mindfulness an exit from neoliberal governance, or does it stabilise the work force for further exploitation? Foucault pushed this question strongly in the context of his extensive work on the history of sexuality. When are gender regimes a space for free expressivity—if this can be seen to equal freedom with all the problematics of prescribed confessionalism—and when are they spaces of domination? When do religious regimes enter into alliance with psychiatric power, or further discourses and their exerted regimes through institutionalised practices? Saba Mahmood's adaptation of Foucault's proof of resistance in discourse shows the agency of Muslim women in Cairo that disrupts the pattern of female subordination to patriarchy with "Western" feminist images of freedom (2005).
What Room is there for Subjectivity in the Discourse?
¶ 20 Leave a comment on paragraph 20 0 Foucault's conception of the subject is a topic that should not be neglected, and which was controversial from very early on in the reception of Foucault's ideas. A few remarks are therefore called for on the possible importance today of the subject in the structure which discourse largely is. What is the importance of individuals, the "individual", late modern subject actors, the self or however human beings are conceived, in discourse theory? Whereas in earlier theory building the cognitive knowing subject was addressed, it is now embedded or even dissolved in a social interaction chart. This interaction may now even include animals, non-human beings, things, a material vitality. In the above-mentioned work on governance, the subject's self-regulation appears as agency. In recent decades, this regime has been characterised as optimising, privatising, publicising or individualising. Foucault transposes the individual subject to the more general and historical form of subjectivity. Religion is a well-established political technology to regulate subjects by inaugurating a form of subjectivity. One of these forms or regimes of subjectivities is truth-telling. Foucault insists on epistemic games of truth-telling that make possible the renunciation of truth, as in votes or exclamations of feeling and felt bodily experiences. In the same way, Asad investigated how pain is used in asceticism, in order to find out how far the body depends on sensory perceptions. The body is not an obstacle on the way to truth, but is the arena in which the truth can be brought to light (Asad 1983: 311). From medieval torture of the body, to the pressure that is put on penitents with the intention of causing mental pain that will lead to the confession of sins, a bodily sensation (pain) is linked to the revelation of truth (Asad 1983: 321). The habitus of confession "has become an attitude that can have—lets say—simple psychological functions like an improved knowing of oneself, a better composure of oneself, realizing one's genuine inclinations, the option of leading one's own life" (Foucault 1977, trans. A.K.). To describe this life of one's own and this idealisation of authenticity, a history of the contemporary self seems set to become a new discipline to record practices of subjectification and self-relationships. "Self care" and "technologies of the self" are concepts of utmost importance in this vein (Foucault 1988). There is a lacuna in respect of a history, not only of the self, but of self-governance from the 1960s onwards, (Eitler/Elberfeld 2015). Increasing therapeutic cultures which ascribe to subjects a need for therapy form the environment in which the discourse of 'vulnerable' or even 'traumatised' subjects (Argenti-Pillen 2000) suits the neoliberal supply industry of support for the vulnerable (e.g. migrants, Gray 2013, 71), whether in the form of anti-trauma therapy (for instance the new trends in yoga therapy propagated by Price et al. 2017), or the modernist Buddhist offspring of mindfulness (Samuel 2014). Discourse theory explains how it comes to dispositions in subjects, and which role religions play in connecting affective and ethical dispositions to a more stable formation of a particular historical subjectivity beside others (see for example Mahmood on piety, 2005; Hirschkind on the ethics of soundscapes, 2009).
¶ 21 Leave a comment on paragraph 21 0 Altered personal relationships in family and partnership is but one trigger in the discursive changes and interrelated formation of new spiritualities and religious practices; further factors are economisation, new forms of communication in networks due to globalised digitalisation, transcultural discourses on sustainability and spiritual practice (Strauss, Mandelbaum 2013) that shift and swirl discourses and create new ones.
Questions, Limits and Critique of Discourse Theory
¶ 22 Leave a comment on paragraph 22 0 What are the limits of discourse analysis? Does this approach have a specific operating range where it is useful, and beyond which it is limited or even unsuitable? Controversies have regularly raged over topics including the scope of action Foucault's interpretation of culture leaves to agents, the question of non-human agency, the reported negligence of non-discursive practices, the implosion of a 'specific' religion category (as of others) and claims that it is inappropriate for material culture and the body.
¶ 23 Leave a comment on paragraph 23 0 Discourse theory, like system theory, implies that autonomous subjects are entangled in a structure. Semantic propositions do not equal utterances but account for a figuration that shapes agents and has influenced their world before they act upon it. A discourse is more than language as a tool of extrapolation of the world. In this sense, subjects are subordinated to a structure—the discursive web. At the same time, subjects are of utmost importance in discourse theory. A 'subjectivity formation' conceptualises historical conditions of ways of life and the forming and often oppressing forces and makes them describable on a meso level. 'Subjectivity' denotes a very important theoretical issue that is not an intentional agent or institution but indicates the scope of action, options, feeling,—in short, the possible being—of subgroups of people at a given time.
¶ 24 Leave a comment on paragraph 24 0 In this regard, discourse theory is very close to the field theory of Pierre Bourdieu's structural sociology, where critical discourse analysis is a permanent battle over enforcement and hegemony, and superior to system theory, where no equivalent conceptual level of subjectivity can be found. The intentionality of actors is limited to the micro level, the further from there and the more institutionalised the interaction the more unintended effects take over and develop their dynamics of anonymised power exertion.
¶ 25 Leave a comment on paragraph 25 0 The recent debate on the categorisation of New Age spirituality can serve to give us some insights into how the limits and strength of discourse theory are currently being discussed. Paul Heelas, for example, opposes Foucauldian interpretations of New Age spiritualties by rooting them in this-worldly "life" (2008). Not very convincingly, he opposes real lived life to the distanced analytical view. Others examine the transfer of so-called psy discourses into the domain of self-help, therapy and personal growth, and suggest that these technologies of the self are the product of a form of neo-liberal governmentality that reduces personal agency and forecloses political critique and social change. But how can we decide whether spiritual practices are disciplinary techniques that simply reproduce dominant (neo-liberal) subject positions or whether they open up a libertine space. And is liberalism the way to escape regulation? An under-theorised concept is that of a normative bias in some strands of critical discourse analysis, which argues that hegemony is always problematic and an unjust (i.e. unequal) exertion of power. Very strong hegemonial relations show that ex-colonial actors do not have complete and equal freedom to act, and that in both Occidentalism and Orientalism self-images are interdependent. The post-colonial bad conscience may add to the endeavour to over-justifiy equality. Social science research is clear on this point; Eileen Barker, for example, points out that there is no way to decide what is better—frequent sexual intercourse or celibacy, or which religious organisation "oversteps the boundaries of permissible behaviour" (2006, 391).
¶ 26 Leave a comment on paragraph 26 0 A recurrent criticism of discourse analysis is that it is logocentric and not able to take in the embodied quality of agents, their being rooted in an artificial material world that affects them, for instance, through affordances. With a view to the work of Asad and others, the contrary seems to be true, that body disciplining and bodies in their materiality have entered the arena of research. At the same time, cognitive and evolutionary approaches were once not as common as they are today. Thus, this criticism of discourse theory neglects the time frame. Indeed, linguistic pragmatics was insufficient to give practice a full meaning in discourse theory, whereas ritual theories explicitly link discourse with materiality (Ioannides 2016) and pay attention to body movement, emplacement, and esthetic delight in text recitation practices (see a pupil of Asad: Hirschkind 2009). Donovan O. Schaefer hints to another important topic that discourse theory often puts last: affects. Schaefer still sees a neglect of affect theory, which is why his book on religious affects is "about the ways that intellectual and political circuits are informed by relationships between bodies that are invisible to discursive analytics" (Schaefer 2016: 10). A question that arises from the same background of evolutionary theory of religion asks whether animals have discourses, as, according to some primatologists (Jane Goodall), they have spirituality as they see proofed in the spontaneous dance in front of a waterfall. Schaefer does not give any reason why a waterfall dance performed by chimpanzees should be religious rather than an expression of aesthetic taste or a theatrical performance or, but the latter would be difficult if not impossible given that chimpanzees do not found theatre companies which brings us to the cultural practice argument. Art, like religion, are discursive items. With the progress of primate research, one indicator of human uniqueness after the other has faded away, such as cognition, language, tool use and sociality. Nevertheless, the ascription of religion is not on the same logical level. One would have to presuppose the category of religion, as it is not inevitable to believe that the exceptional experience of or even better behaviour towards a waterfall is a sui generis emotion (rareness, loud noise, damp air, bright light, fast movement, reflections, etc.). Religion certainly did not fall out of the blue. There has to be some sort of transition, so we might be forced to indicate some pre-forms—lower in complexity?—but even then, a combination, or habituation of contingent forms of living will be necessary to make religion a cultural and not a genetic phenomenon. A cultural point of view will take religion as a cultural phenomenon of a higher order, needing institutions, social ranks, interpretations, misunderstandings and the wish to regulate others and the way the world is represented. This difference to all naturalistic and pre-constructivist (essentialist, McCutcheon 1997), evolutionary, etc., discourses is salient.
¶ 27 Leave a comment on paragraph 27 0 For some time the question of non-discursive practices (like habits, conventions) as the hidden backside of discourses has been discussed and has gained new actuality with studies of the aesthetics of religion (Grieser & Johnston 2017, Koch & Wilkens 2019). A crucial developmental step in cultural studies is taking in embodied cognition. Maybe recent voices on how to deal with material religion and culture, the body and the senses, images, brains and media will have a huge impact in pushing discourse theory a step further towards aesthetics.
¶ 28 Leave a comment on paragraph 28 0 This article reviews a small clipping of the high and not yet completely exploited potential of Foucauldian discourse research in cultural studies of religion along the key terms of historical problem configurations and their solutions and unintended effects, discourse formations, power-knowledge, discipline and regulation, governance, and subjectivity. The special perspective discourse theory brings to cultural studies is praxeological, genealogical and juxtaposing across differentiated societal domains. Discourse theory has been developed in a highly multidimensional manner and is especially successful in creating an entire zoo of conceptual items like genres, style, dispositif. Methodologies for collecting research data can entail focus group discussions (Ndaluka 2012), expert interviews, and other sources such as media articles, religious writings and preaching, different types of social events, practices and structures (Fairclough 2010: 164). Thus, it is easy to get lost in nomenclature.
¶ 29 Leave a comment on paragraph 29 0 It becomes apparent that the history of ideas and the history of concepts step back in their role of unifying narratives in lieu of the analysis of discourses, with postcolonial attention being paid to discontinuity, rupture and new items put together from subcurrents of known categorisations (Foucault 1972, 4–6). From the point of view of discourse theory, religious practices interact and overlap with sometimes surprising societal sub fields, social movements and new technologies at any time in history, so that this is not typical of (post-)modernity. A considerable effect of discursive approaches is that they lead the cultural study of religion away from a firm category of religion, and away from the history of ideas, a tendency to unify grand narratives, big social theories and great-man historical reconstructions.
¶ 30 Leave a comment on paragraph 30 0 Argenti-Pillen, Alexandra. "The discourse on Trauma in Non-Western Cultural Contexts. Contributions of an Ethnographic Method." In International Handbook to Human Response to Trauma, edited by Arieh Shalev, Rachel Yehuda and Alexander MacFarlane, 87–101. New York: Springer US, 2000.
¶ 31 Leave a comment on paragraph 31 0 Asad, Talal. "Notes on body pain and truth in medieval Christian ritual." In Economy and Society 12 (1983): 287–327.
¶ 32 Leave a comment on paragraph 32 0 Asad, Talal. "On ritual and discipline in medieval Christian monasticism." In Economy and Society 16 (1986): 159–203.
¶ 33 Leave a comment on paragraph 33 0 Asad, Talal. "Remarks on the Anthropology of the Body." In Religion and the Body, edited by Sarah Coakley, 42–52. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
¶ 34 Leave a comment on paragraph 34 0 Asad, Talal. Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
¶ 35 Leave a comment on paragraph 35 0 Asad, Talal. The idea of an anthropology of Islam. Washington: John Hopkins University Press, 1986.
¶ 36 Leave a comment on paragraph 36 0 Atwood, David. "The Discourse on Primal Religion. Disentangling Regimes of Truth." In Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 28 (2015): 445–464.
¶ 37 Leave a comment on paragraph 37 0 Baker, Paul, Costas Gabrielatos, Tony McEnery. Discourse Analysis and Media Attitudes: The representation of Islam in the British Press. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
¶ 38 Leave a comment on paragraph 38 0 Barker, Eileen. "What should we do about the cults? Policies, Information and the Perspective of INFORM." In The New Religious Question: State regulation or state interference?, edited by Pauline Coté and Jeremy Gunn, 371–394. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2006.
¶ 39 Leave a comment on paragraph 39 0 Bell, Catherine. "Paradigms behind (and before) the modern concept of religion." In History and Theory 45 (2006): 27–46.
¶ 40 Leave a comment on paragraph 40 0 Bradamat, Paul, Matthias Koenig. International Migration and the Governance of Religion. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009.
¶ 41 Leave a comment on paragraph 41 0 Eitler, Pascal, and Jens Elberfeld. "Von der Gesellschaftsgeschichte zur Zeitgeschichte des Selbst – und zurück." In Zeitgeschichte des Selbst. Therapeutisieung. Politisierung. Emotionalisierung, edited by ibid., 7–30. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2015.
¶ 42 Leave a comment on paragraph 42 0 Fairclough, Norman. "A dialectical relational approach to critical discourse analysis in social research." In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, edited by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer, 162–171. London: SAGE, 2010.
¶ 43 Leave a comment on paragraph 43 0 Fitzgerald, Timothy. Discourses on Barbarity and Civility. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
¶ 44 Leave a comment on paragraph 44 0 Foucault, Michel. Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language. Trans. A.M. Sheridan Smith (Orig. 1969). New York: Pantheon, 1972.
¶ 45 Leave a comment on paragraph 45 0 Foucault, Michel. "Pouvoir et savoir" ("Kenryoku to chi" interview with S. Hasumi recorded in Paris 13 October 1977). Dits et Ecrits Vol. 3:26 (1977): 240–56.
¶ 46 Leave a comment on paragraph 46 0 Foucault, Michel. "Technologies of the Self." In Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault, edited by Martin H. Luther, Huck Gutman and Patrick H. Hutton, 16–49 ["Les techniques de soi." In Dits et Ecrits IV, text No. 363]. London: Tavistock, 1988.
¶ 47 Leave a comment on paragraph 47 0 Foucault, Michel. The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the College de France, 1978–1979. London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
¶ 48 Leave a comment on paragraph 48 0 Gee, James Paul. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis. Theory and Method. New York/NY: Routledge, 2014.
¶ 49 Leave a comment on paragraph 49 0 Grieser, Alexandra K., Johnston, Jay (eds.). Aesthetics of Religion. A Connective Concept (Religion and Reason 58, edited by G. Benavides, M. Stausberg, A. Taves), New York, Berlin: De Gruyter 2017
¶ 50 Leave a comment on paragraph 50 0 Hirschkind, Charles. The Ethical Soundscape. Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics. New York City: Columbia University Press, 2009.
¶ 51 Leave a comment on paragraph 51 0 Hjelm, Titus. "Theory and Method in Critical Discursive Study of Religion." In Making Religion. Theory and Practice in the Discursive Study of Religion (Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Vol. 4), edited by Frans Wijsen and Kocku von Stuckrad, 15–34. Leiden: Brill, 2016.
¶ 52 Leave a comment on paragraph 52 0 Hjelm, Titus. "Understanding the New Visibility of Religion. Religion as Problem and Utility." In Journal of Religion in Europe 7 (2014): 203–222.
¶ 53 Leave a comment on paragraph 53 0 Hjelm, Titus. "Discourse Analysis." In The Routledge Handbook of research methods in the study of religion, edited by Michael Stausberg, 134–150. London: Routledge, 2011.
¶ 54 Leave a comment on paragraph 54 0 Huffer, Lynne. "Foucault and Sedgwick: The Repressive Hypothesis Revisited." Foucault Studies 14 (2012): 20–40.
¶ 55 Leave a comment on paragraph 55 0 Ioannides, George. "The Matter of Meaning and the Meaning of Matter: Explorations for the Material and Discursive Study of Religion." In Making Religion. Theory and Practice in the Discursive Study of Religion (Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Vol. 4), edited by Frans Wijsen and Kocku von Stuckrad,15–34. Leiden: Brill, 2016.
¶ 56 Leave a comment on paragraph 56 0 Keller, Reiner. Doing Discourse Research. London: Sage 2013.
¶ 57 Leave a comment on paragraph 57 0 Kippenberg, Hans Gerhard. "Diskursive Religionswissenschaft. Gedanken zu einer Religionswissenschaft, die weder auf einer allgemein gültigen Definition von Religion noch auf einer Überlegenheit von Wissenschaft basiert." In Neue Ansätze in der Religionswissenschaft, edited by Burkhard Gladigow and Hans Gerhard Kippenberg, 9–28. Munich: Koesel, 1983.
¶ 58 Leave a comment on paragraph 58 0 Knott, Kim. The Location of Religion. A Spatial Analysis. London: Equinox, 2005.
¶ 59 Leave a comment on paragraph 59 0 Koch, Anne, Wilkens, Katharina (eds.). The Bloomsbury Handbook of Cognitive and Cultural Aesthetics of Religion (HCCAR), London: Bloomsbury 2019.
¶ 60 Leave a comment on paragraph 60 0 Martikainen, Tuomas, Francois Gauthier. Religion in the Neoliberal Age. Political Economy and Modes of Governance (AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Series). Farnham: Ashgate, 2013.
¶ 61 Leave a comment on paragraph 61 0 Martikainen, Tuomas. "Multilevel and Pluricentric Network Governance of Religion." In Religion in the Neoliberal Age. Political Economy and Modes of Governance (Religion and Society Series, Series Editors: Linda Woodhead and Rebecca Catto) edited by Tuomas Martikainen and Francois Gauthier, 129–142. Farnham: Ashgate, 2013.
¶ 62 Leave a comment on paragraph 62 0 Masuzawa, Tomoko. The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
¶ 63 Leave a comment on paragraph 63 0 McCutcheon, Russell. Manufacturing Religion. The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
¶ 64 Leave a comment on paragraph 64 0 Mahmood, Saba. Politics of Piety. The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.
¶ 65 Leave a comment on paragraph 65 0 Ndaluka, Thomas Joseph. Religious Discourse, Social Cohesion and Conflict. Muenster: LIT, 2012.
¶ 66 Leave a comment on paragraph 66 0 Price, Maggi, Joseph Spianazzola, Regina Musicao, Jennifer Turner, Michael Suvak, David Emmerson, Bessel van der Kolk. "Effectiveness of an Extended Yoga Treatment for Women with Chronic posttraumatic stress disorder." In Journal of alternative and complementary medicine 10.10 (2017), 1–9.
¶ 67 Leave a comment on paragraph 67 0 Reckwitz, Andreas. "Affective Spaces: A Praxeological Outlook." In Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory and Practice 16 (2012): 241–258.
¶ 68 Leave a comment on paragraph 68 0 Said, Edward. Covering Islam. How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. New York: Vintage Books, 1997.
¶ 69 Leave a comment on paragraph 69 0 Samuel, Geoffrey. "The contemporary mindfulness movement and the question of nonself." In Transcultural Psychiatry, published online 5 December 2014, DOI: 10.1177/1363461514562061.
¶ 70 Leave a comment on paragraph 70 0 Schaefer, Donovan O. Religious Affects. Animality, Evolution, and Power. Durham: Duke University Press, 2015.
¶ 71 Leave a comment on paragraph 71 0 Singleton, Mark. "Transnational Exchange and the Genesis of Modern Postural Yoga." In Yoga Traveling. Bodily Practice in Transcultural Perspective, edited by Beatrix Hauser, 37–56. Heidelberg: Springer, 2013.
¶ 72 Leave a comment on paragraph 72 0 Smith, Jonathan Z. "Religion, Religions, Religious." In Critical Terms for Religious Studies, edited by Mark Taylor, 269–284. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
¶ 73 Leave a comment on paragraph 73 0 Smith, Jonathan Z. "A matter of class: Taxonomies of Religion." In Harvard Theological Revue 89.4 (1996): 387–403.
¶ 74 Leave a comment on paragraph 74 0 Strauss, Sarah. "'Adapt, Adjust, Accommodate': The Production of Yoga in a Transnational World." In History and Anthropology, 13.3 (2002): 231–251.
¶ 75 Leave a comment on paragraph 75 0 Strauss, Sarah, Laura Mandelbaum. "Consuming Yoga, Conserving the Environment: Transcultural Discourses on Sustainable Living." In Yoga Traveling. Bodily Practice in Transcultural Perspective, edited by Beatrix Hauser, 175–200. Heidelberg: Springer, 2013.
¶ 76 Leave a comment on paragraph 76 0 Stuckrad, Kocku von. The Scientification of Religion: An Historical Study of Discursive Change, 1800–2000. Boston/Berlin: deGruyter, 2014.
¶ 77 Leave a comment on paragraph 77 0 Sutcliffe, Steven J. and Ingvild S. Gilhus. "Introduction: 'All mixed up.' Thinking about religion in relation to New Age spiritualities." In New Age Spirituality. Rethinking Religion, edited by idem., 1–16. Durham: Acumen Publishing, 2013.
¶ 78 Leave a comment on paragraph 78 0 Wijsen, Frans and Kocku von Stuckrad, eds. Making Religion. Theory and Practice in the Discursive Study of Religion (Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Vol. 4). Leiden: Brill, 2016.
¶ 79 Leave a comment on paragraph 79 0
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anne.koch@ph-linz.at
could you specify 'traditional' religion and which are embedded in gift economies – is there a diffrence to exchange economies – is exchange the default mode of subsistent agricultural economies?
Source: https://opr.degruyter.com/discourse-research-and-religion/anne-koch-some-important-conceptual-lines-of-discourse-theories-in-cultural-studies-of-religion/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Steady Gaze
Erik Gunn July 2, 2013
The Daily Mil 0
Wisconsin State Capitol To follow the state budget debate this spring, you might have turned to your local newspaper, switched on public radio, or hunted up AP wire stories online. But for the full story – the really full story – you'd have to pick none of the above. Instead, you'd go to Wisconsin Eye, […]
Wisconsin State Capitol
To follow the state budget debate
this spring, you might have turned to your local newspaper, switched on public
radio, or hunted up AP wire stories online. But for the full story – the really full story – you'd have to pick none of the
Instead, you'd go to Wisconsin Eye, a non-partisan,
nonprofit, and privately funded service aired on cable TV and accessible on the
Internet that boasts gavel-to-gavel coverage of state government in all its
sausage-making detail.
Since its inception 14 years ago, Wisconsin Eye has been likened to a
state version of C-Span. That's close, says Jon Henkes, co-founder and current CEO, but it falls short. C-Span,
also a nonprofit, was created and funded by the cable TV industry. Wisconsin Eye was started and by Henkes
and former broadcaster Jeff Roberts of
the Wisconsin Radio Network as an independent organization to promote civic
awareness of state government.
"We're proud of what we've
accomplished in our core mission," says Henkes. During the 2012 election year,
"We had in excess of 200 interviews in the general and primary elections in the
state Senate, state Assembly and at statewide office levels. There's no other
media entity in the state that conducted that many statewide interviews."
Wisconsin Eye also covered 37
appearances by the Democratic and Republican candidates for president and vice
president and their spouses.
Recognition came last month when
the Milwaukee Press Club named Steve
Walters, Wisconsin Eye's senior producer and former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Madison bureau chief, "journalist of the
year." "We're proud of that accomplishment," Henke says. "It reflects Steve's
hard work, but it also reflects our core mission."
Similar operations in other states are either direct offspring of
the cable TV industry, state-funded institutions or some combination of the
two. "What's unique about Wisconsin Eye in the country is that we receive no
funding from the state," Henkes says.
The network does get some support
from two cable networks. But it also takes donations from a wide range of
individuals and foundations and offers a premium access that gives buyers a leg
up in researching and making use of the free archives. Those all help to defray
a $1.4 million annual budget for staff, equipment and ongoing production costs.
All it gets from the state is the
access to the legislature to hang its cameras for floor debates and committee
sessions. Wisconsin Eye also televises oral arguments before the state Supreme
Court. Viewing through the networks' streaming video site online spikes when
there's a big case, Henkes says. During the budget deliberations, particularly
Joint Finance Committee hearings, viewing and traffic fluctuated dramatically
with the change in topics being debated.
Chances are, most viewers have
already seen Wisconsin Eye, whether they know it or not. The network routinely
offers commercial stations a clean feed for sound bites from legislative
debates, press conferences and other events it covers; usually the material punctuates
a typical 90-second news piece. (Commercial stations are supposed to credit the
service for its footage.) But streaming the network's feed over commercial
channels as it's happening isn't allowed.
The premium service, called "My
Wisconsin Eye," is aimed at "public policy professionals," Henkes says.
Although Wisconsin Eye holds copyright to its material, enabling it to control
its reuse, the archives are public. Premium subscribers who pay the hefty
$1,295 a year or $795 for six months subscription fees are able to more
efficiently search out specific video they want and compile files from which
they can extract clips. Henkes says users include lawyers, lobbyists and
lawmakers. "It's certainly of value to elected officials to build video clips
and send them off to their home districts," he points out.
One use isn't permitted: Wisconsin
Eye footage isn't allowed in any communication or advertising at election time
– not even campaign bait in the form of the incumbent's inspiring rhetoric from
the legislature floor (or golden gaffes from an opponent). And "not permitted"
means not in ads and not even by uploading a clip to YouTube and sending the
URL to voters or supporters: "Within 60 days of a general or primary election,
according to our agreement, you can't put it out there."
Even requests from partisan
documentarians are turned down. "Our intent is to put it out there for citizens
to become informed," Henkes says – implying that goal is perhaps not actually
served by campaign advertising. The network has never had to act against
violators, through it has sent letters turning down requests because the
requesters were thought to have a partisan agenda.
For Wisconsin Eye, funding "is both a challenge and an
opportunity," Henkes says. "The sustainability question is the No. 1 issue in
front of the network moving forward."
Two years ago, the network turned
down the Legislature's offer to let Wisconsin Eye borrow money through the
Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). "The board said thank you but no thank you,"
says Henkes. The deal didn't pass "the test of not having a financial
relationship with the state."
Not long after that decision, some
funders – who are arrayed across the political spectrum from the conservative
Bradley Foundation to the liberal Evjue Foundation in Madison – met with and
congratulated the board for standing firm. "Their commitment to the network
was, 'We'll support you if you're independent of state funding,'" says Henkes,
who went from a newspaper career to working as the state Republican Party's
communications director in the mid-1980s, then as press secretary in the first
term of Gov. Tommy Thompson. From
1990 until Wisconsin Eye's founding in 1999, Henkes worked for the University
of Wisconsin in various capacities.
Of course, the network's vow of
chastity doesn't prevent transactions such as selling a premium My Wisconsin
Eye account to, say, a state legislator's office. But the fundraisers work hard
to avoid partisan imbalances. If a big
grant comes from one side of the opinion spectrum, they'll go out and try to solicit
groups on the other side, Henkes says.
Among cable TV providers the
biggest supporter is Charter Cable, which serves the Madison area as well as
communities in the western region of the state. Wisconsin Eye gets a small cut
for every Charter subscriber in the state.
Time Warner, the principal cable
provider in Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin, provides channel space for
Wisconsin Eye. AT&T's U-verse still doesn't. Henkes says that is in
deference to Charter, which faces competition from U-verse in some markets.
While "there are conversations ongoing with AT&T," he continues, any deal
with U-verse can't undercut the network's commitment to Charter.
The only audience data Wisconsin
Eye has collected is its online traffic. "We have not tried to analyze what our
cable distribution viewership is," Henkes says. "We know it's a small number."
But the 2011 Capitol protests over Act 10 produced a surge of viewers big
enough to affect other station's ratings. "We heard it from other broadcasters,
but I don't have any data."
He calculates the potential
audience is bigger, though. "There are a lot of folks in Wisconsin who we
believe would be interested if they knew about us."
That theory will get tested soon. This fall, a statewide marketing
campaign will launch "reintroducing Wisconsin Eye to the state," Henke says.
The brand-building exercise will be the first for the network since it was
founded. "We know that we are one of the
best-kept secrets in Wisconsin."
Along with that, Wisconsin Eye is
getting ready to raise $2 million by the end of 2014 from corporations and
individuals in the Milwaukee area, with Time Warner providing active support.
The network also is seeking contributions to raise another quarter million
dollars to pay for technology upgrades, replacing videotape equipment with
digital technology and investing in other equipment.
A site tailored for smartphones and
tablets is under consideration and could be unveiled in the fall as well. It's
possible that would come with a fee that would generate some additional
revenue.
The network also expects to bring
out some new programming in designated time slots that will build on its core
mission of reporting on the activities of state government. A series about will
spotlight innovation in the state and will have three objectives: "generating
audience, generating sponsorship and generating enthusiasm."
Meanwhile, the network seeks to
deepen its longer-term resources. "We'd like to be in the position five years
from now where we have a $10 million endowment in place," Henkes says.
Henkes isn't shy about promoting the role the network plays in
today's fractured media landscape.
Though he became a politician's
press secretary, he never lost touch with the idealism of his print journalism
days at the Racine Journal Times and
the Janesville Gazette.
was a damn good reporter; I loved what I did; and I felt there was a mission
and a purpose and a need" for the craft of reporting, he says. "Newspapers then
were largely doing well. In those days, in the mid-1980s, the Capitol pressroom
was a beehive of activity."
was also so crowded that visiting reporters from out of town could barely find
space there to work.
changed dramatically – but what hasn't is the importance of "freedom of
information and citizen access to what is going on," Henkes says. "If it's
never going to be the same again, you've got to create a space where that can
still happen."
below, or write Pressroom at pressroom@milwaukeemagazine.com.
Follow Pressroom on Facebook or on Twitter.
(Capitol photo via Shutterstock)
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Erik Gunn
Milwaukee Magazine Contributing Editor Erik Gunn has written for the magazine since 1995. He started covering the media in 2006, writing the award-winning column Pressroom and now its online successor, Pressroom Buzz. Check back regularly for the latest news and commentary of the workings of the news business in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
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Options for Trade Deals if the UK Leaves the EU. Geoff Riley 24th April 2016. Print page. Subscribe to email updates from the tutor2u Economics. checkout using the usual options and your resources will be available to access immediately via your mytutor2u account.
© Options trade uk Binary Option | Options trade uk Best binary options.


Florida's southeastern coast and Fort Lauderdale are known for incredible beaches and boating canals, as well as a promenade of upscale outdoor restaurants, bars, boutiques, and luxury hotels along oceanside highway A1A.
A fourth-generation gemologist, certified appraiser, and licensed auctioneer, Joshua Kodner brings a tradition of excellence to the world of auctions, antiques, and precious gems. Though based in Dania Beach, they serve Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and beyond with an incredible array of unique items and valuable goods.
Each piece is carefully curated and Joshua Kodner reviews everything in the collection himself. This auction house acquires items through consignment, sale, and liquidation of entire estates, so browse their site online today to see what will catch your eye!
Before you plan to participate at this auction house, be sure to browse their collection online and review item descriptions, conditions and price estimates before committing to a bid. Go into the live auction with a maximum price in mind and be sure to pay attention to know when to place your bid. Live auctions offer an exciting and fast-paced atmosphere that can be chaotic and difficult, so be sure to plan ahead.
If you are unable to participate in these Fort Lauderdale area auctions, there are three convenient ways to participate from anywhere in the world: absentee bidding, phone bidding, or online bidding!
Place an absentee bid on any number of items from Joshua Kodner including fine art, jewelry, antiques, and precious gems. Simply leave your bid with the gallery and Joshua Kodner will ensure the auctioneer will execute it for you. Choose the maximum fixed amount you are willing to bid beforehand and remember the same buyer's premium and sales tax will be applied to your purchase. Learn more about absentee bidding on Joshua Kodner's website and view their collection today.
Participate in a gallery auction over the phone to experience the action as it takes place while a Joshua Kodner gallery representative acts as your intermediary. Phone bidding allows you to participate from virtually any location but be sure to decide your maximum bid beforehand as live auctions can be chaotic and it can be hard to keep track of competing bids.
The gallery will contact you prior to the auction to request the amount you intend to bid and inform you of all competing bids.
Participate in a Fort Lauderdale area gallery auction without leaving your computer screen thanks to easy, online bidding through platforms such as Bidsquare, LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, and The Saleroom. Online participants can leave an absentee bid at any time prior to the auction or place a live bid when the auction begins. Expect competition from others bidding on the lot you are interested in and remember to verify the details of each item you are interested in before committing to a bid.
Contact Joshua Kodner today to learn more about their carefully curated collection of antiques, jewelry, and other pieces. Plan to participate in a live auction during your visit to Fort Lauderdale or participate from anywhere in the world!


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16 days' campaign against Gender-Based Violence starts today
Montastudio.M
montastudio@montsame.gov.mn
Led by the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) and the Government of Mongolia with financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Mongolia, the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign for 2020 launches today with the theme, 'No More Violence: End Gender-Based Violence at Home, in the Workplace, and in Public Spaces'. In the framework of the campaign, action is being called against different forms of Gender-Based Violence happening in the country, such as domestic violence, workplace and street harassment, and violence against children and persons with disabilities. Kaori Ishikawa – UNFPA Head of Office in Mongolia During the time of the pandemic, there are several factors leading to an increase in Gender-Based Violence and domestic violence, namely increased economic and psychological stress, increased time spent in same place with all the members of the family. Kaori Ishikawa – UNFPA Head of Office in Mongolia "As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19 pandemic as does Mongolia has started taking strict measures to contain the local transmission, it is crucial to ensure the health and safety of women and girls more than ever before. To fight the Gender-Based Violence exacerbated by the pandemic, we must all act together with one voice. This is why, UNFPA strives to ensure the participation of all parties in this campaign," said Kaori Ishikawa, the United Nations Populations Fund Head of Office in Mongolia.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary: "Economic benefits of Oyu Tolgoi to Mongolia must increase"
It is calculated that Mongolia will not receive dividend payments until 2051 and will...
Student loan becomes available to students of private universities and colleges
Mongolian Fine Art Masterpiece 'Ukherchin'
We are presenting the artwork, 'Ukherchin' (Cattleman) by artist B.Chintogtokh
President submits draft resolution to support every household with MNT 1 million
In doing so, the money withdrawn from the offshore accounts shall be deposited in a...
Children's Fund re-established
The government of Mongolia will allocate funding of MNT 10 billion for the fund
Mongolian Fine Art Masterpiece 'In the Art Studio'
We are presenting the artwork, 'In the Art Studio' by People's Artist of Mongolia,...
Foreign Minister receives Vietnamese Ambassador
Minister of Foreign Affairs received Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to...
TUJIIN NARS completely saved from extinction
Mongolian Fine Art Masterpiece 'City Centre'
'City Centre' by People's Artist of Mongolia, Honored Cultural Figure Gombosuren Balbar.
Strict-lockdown to be lifted in three days in Ulaanbaatar and some aimags
Business entities, which have not worked for many days during this period, should carry...
Mongolia-India Joint Committee on Cooperation convenes virtually
came to the decision to conduct a transportation test with samples of coal from...
Mongolian Fine Art Masterpiece 'Temeen Sureg'
We are presenting the artwork, 'Temeen Sureg' (A Pack of Camels) by artist B.Chintogtokh.
Deputy PM participates in SCO Council of Heads of Govt summit
Strict-lockdown extended by 10 days in capital city and two aimags
However, 18 types of businesses and services are allowed to run their operations
China to donate medical supplies worth CNY 4 million to Mongolia
The 16th meeting of Mongolia-China Intergovernmental Commission was held online on...
Total confirmed local transmission of COVID-19 in the country reaches 120
Citizens are urged to stay home and only leave home if necessary, which includes...
"Mongolian sea buckthorn to the global market" forum takes place
Additionally, we are working towards exporting sea-buckthorn products especially, sea...
Agtana Khureet festival takes place in Sukhbaatar aimag
It plays an important role in promoting Mongolian horse, the symbol of Mongolian...
Prime Minister works at Ulaanbaatar Railways JSC
In the first 10 months of 2020, Ulaanbaatar Railway JSC has carried 24.8 million tons of...
WHO releases documentary on Mongolia's COVID-19 response
As of November 2, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 349, all of them...


text:
Eric Garner's daughter to police violence victims: "In 3 years they won't give AF"
By Princess-India Alexander
Monday, July 17, marks three years since Eric Garner, an unarmed black man in Staten Island, New York, was placed in a chokehold by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo and subsequently died.
In December 2014, after a grand jury declined to bring charges against Pantaleo, the Department of Justice opened an investigation into the case. Nearly three years since then, his family is still seeking justice.
On Monday, Garner's daughter, Erica, tweeted about the yearslong journey since her father died.
Garner has vowed to turn her back on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who reportedly recalled the day as "painful" while speaking at an event in Queens, New York, according to Politico reporter Gloria Pazmino. NYPD commissioner James P. O'Neill said the department has come "a long way" in police-community relations since Garner's death.
Since her father's death, Erica Garner has continued to speak out against police brutality. She has written op-eds for the Washington Post, led protests and tweeted about her dissatisfaction with the investigation.
In June, the Garner family, their lawyer and Rev. Al Sharpton met with the Department of Justice to discuss the progress in the case, yet received a message that the case was still ongoing. The DOJ didn't have any further information or details about the case to share with the family or the press. At a press conference following the meeting, Erica remained mostly silent, saying only that she would express her opinions later either through Twitter or her website.
Jonathon Moore, a civil rights lawyer representing the family and estate of Eric Garner, spoke about the family's frustrations with the case.
"We are very frustrated about the pace [of the case]," he said. "It's pretty clear to us from the video and from the autopsy report and the officers' report that all the officers out there on that day are guilty of serious misconduct."
Sharpton said the family is both uneasy and unsure about how long the investigation is taking. More specifically, he says that this case carries specific importance.
"The nation is watching this case," he said. "If there will be no charges, it will be a global notification about the state of police-community affairs."
Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch oversaw the case at the DOJ but left office before any decisions were made. Specifically, it was delayed because federal prosecutors and FBI officials in New York opposed charges in spite of prosecutors in the civil rights division of the DOJ in Washington seeing reason to proceed.
With Attorney General Jeff Sessions as head of the DOJ, activists have doubts that police accountability will be a part of his agenda. While Lynch placed police reform at the center of her politics, Sessions is known to be skeptical of police reform.
According to Gwen Carr, Eric Garner's mother, the family is just "playing the waiting game" now, she said at the press conference in June. But Carr had a simple response when asked about how the case will fare under the new administration: the family's mission will not change.
"Doesn't matter who the president is," she said. "We're still looking for justice."


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Being one of the most iconic and photographed buildings in the world, Taj Mahal is situated at Agra, Uttar Pradesh, in India built by 5th Mughal ruler Shah Jahan in the honor of his beloved Mumtaj. Therefore Mumtaj Mahal is a nickname of the Taj Mahal as well. The fame of the monument has been spread across the world which attracts millions of the tourists. Oodles of the story have been linked with it, such as is it a symbol of love?, did British try to dismantle it? What is the mystery of the black Taj Mahal?, did allied forces try to demolish it during the second world war?, and so on. This post concerns with emerging history of the black Taj Mahal that seems to be a puzzle among the people.
The Origin of The Mystery
Many historians do not seem to have unanimous view with regard to the mystery of the black Taj Mahal. The first time the history of black Taj Mahal originated by Jean-Bapitiste who was the French traveller and gem merchant, visited Agra in 17th century, moreover, visited India six times between 1630 and 1668, found the black stone on the opposite side of the river Yamuna in the Mehatabh Bagh. During his travel, he wrote his experiences in India and named his travelogue "Les Six Voyages De Jean Baptiste Tavernier" which provides information about the black Taj Mahal. In this book, he explained the construction work of black Taj Mahal was started before the finishing the construction of Taj Mahal in Agra, but the ruler could not complete it due to his craziness to get crown from his father, his son Aurangzeb was bent on getting crown by all means which is why he arrested his father, as well as his well-wishers in Agra Fort till death.
Why Was Shah Jahan Unable to Complete it?
The brutal act which was performed by his son in order to get crown is found in many history books. Due to the desire of getting crown, the internecine broke out between Aurangzeb and his siblings. He not only imprisoned his father but also killed his brothers as well, this shows how ambitious he was to become the ruler of India. Emperor Shah Jahan understood his intention if he becomes the ruler of this kingdom, the declination of this kingdom is not far away. His premonition was correct, his son died in 1707, and after 32 years, his descendents was plundered by Nadir Shah, who took most of his wealth that turned out to be big blow for this dynasty, after that most of his subsidiary alliance declared as independent rulers. Thus, India was disintegrated completely.
What Do Other Historians Say?
A few of the historians and architects negate this fact, and they have declared as unauthentic news which is spread by a word of mouth, and people hyped it without any reason. During the excavation, no facts have been discovered with regard to black Taj Mahal which has been done recently. The Emerging history of the black Taj Mahal has been created by French merchant De Jean Baptiste Tavernier and explained in his book, while no content has been discovered in archeology websites and books. In a conclusion, emperor had no plan to build one more Taj Mahal.
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← Worth Seeing Hidden Culture Of Rajasthan At Pushkar Mela
Sobbing History Of Dismantling And Selling Of Taj Mahal →


Abstract: NASA data set, obtained from a series of aerodynamic and acoustic tests of two and three-dimensional airfoil blade sections conducted in an anechoic wind tunnel.
The NASA data set comprises different size NACA 0012 airfoils at various wind tunnel speeds and angles of attack. The span of the airfoil and the observer position were the same in all of the experiments.
2. Angle of attack, in degrees.
3. Chord length, in meters.
4. Free-stream velocity, in meters per second.
5. Suction side displacement thickness, in meters.
6. Scaled sound pressure level, in decibels.
T.F. Brooks, D.S. Pope, and A.M. Marcolini.
Technical report, NASA RP-1218, July 1989.
A neural networks approach for aerofoil noise prediction.
Master's thesis, Department of Aeronautics.
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (London, United Kingdom), 2006.
Neural Networks for Variational Problems in Engineering.
PhD Thesis, Technical University of Catalonia, 2008.


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The AA changes direction
Consumer insight is now shaping AA's business strategy and advertising campaigns
When Cheryl Calverley, head of marketing at British motoring association The AA, spoke at last year's Festival of Marketing, she said 'insight is really about what happens when you ask why and it's about deep human truth. It's the job of a marketer.'
It is this insight that underpins the AA's newest business strategy, a departure from the traditional image previously maintained by the association.
'It all starts at the very beginning, who we're talking to,' says Calverley. 'We did a big piece of qualitative work with a political messaging agency to understand attitudes and values and really get much better insight into what's going on in people's lives and what matters.'
And what matters was exactly what had changed, Calverley found. It was far less about the car, and far more about modernity. 'We've been talking to the freedom-seekers, which is a much more modern audience than we're used to,' she explains. 'We were traditionally talking to a Jeremy Clarkson-esque car-loving figure. We understand that the audience still love driving but in a much more modern way.
It meant that the AA, which once billed itself as the fourth emergency service, had to learn how to communicate the value of the breakdown service without actually focusing on the distressing cause of them
'It's less about the engine and the spanners and much more about the music, the conversation and the inside, rather than the outside, of the car. Once you've got that insight, you ask what matters to those people and those people are the guys who are cracking on with life. They've got plans, the family organiser, they're the ones sorting out Legoland on the Saturday and the school run on the Tuesday and at the same time trying to hold down a job. So what really matters to them is that their life stays on track and plans are not derailed.'
Today's audience, it seems, do not want to think about breakdowns, the bedrock of AA's business. It meant that the AA, which once billed itself as the fourth emergency service, had to learn how to communicate the value of the breakdown service without actually focusing on the distressing cause of them. The AA considered the brands that are most valuable to this modern audience, such as Netflix and Amazon, which make life easier and are only a finger click away.
'Those brands are really cool,' asserts Calverley. 'We talk about everyone having a smartphone but it's not for entertainment but because that's what keeps life running. The question is how do we start to be more of that brand and keep their life running, rather than talking about what happens when life stops.'
It started to address this quandary with its most recent advertising campaign. A father is driving with his young daughter to the airport as she happily belts out Tina Turner's Proud Mary in the back. A breakdown causes a slight halt in their journey, but an AA mechanic gets them back on the road with no interruption to the little girl's performance.
You don't buy the AA; you become a member of the AA
'We talked a lot about the creative and the fact that it didn't miss a beat. We always focused on the breakdown and it was a very big decision, as we built the creative, not to dip or stop the music, not to have that breakdown moment. This is about not missing a beat. The breakdown is nothing more than a slight distraction from your journey,' says Calverley. The AA also took steps to ensure that the campaign reflected the audience it aimed to represent. 'We were very keen to talk about a modern family,' says Calverley.
'We didn't want to shy away from families and kids but equally it's not about being saccharine or the damsel in distress or the mother with three children looking harried. It's a dad driving to the airport with his daughter. You don't need to wonder about whether he's divorced or married, it doesn't matter; it's a modern family.'
Of course, a lot has also stayed the same. The AA has more than three million members, who are more likely to be mature and steady rather than younger, less experienced drivers who might not have registered the importance of paying for breakdown cover.
'The most important thing about the audience is that you need to have a car, broadly care about your car and be on top of things and sorted enough to have breakdown cover. And you need to value loyalty and quality,' adds Calverley. 'You don't buy the AA; you become a member of the AA. We have a lot of benefits when you first join and those benefits improve the longer you stay with us.
'We do everything we can to make sure that we always fix the member before we fix the car. That's written through all of our experience. It's the first thing written in all of our handbooks as we train our mechanics. You genuinely are a member to us and you should feel that with the AA.'
Surprisingly, recent reports that the number of car breakdowns is falling do not concern the AA. 'Ultimately we'd like to see the end of breakdowns,' reasons Calverley. 'We would like to stop breakdowns from happening. The City tells us that breakdowns are in decline and we go Brilliant, that's what we're to do. We're here to make sure your life runs smoothly. We're not here to make sure that when you breakdown, we rescue you.'
The AA is looking to diversify its offer, however, and has introduced services such as Car Genie, a smart device that plugs into your car and keeps an eye on how it is running, letting owners know of any faults. But the AA isn't a company that is afraid of change.
'The very heart of this is much more operational and technically minded than it is creative,' says Calverley. 'The commercial team understands the power of what we're trying to do, the power of insight and targeting and segmentation. Bringing them on the journey hasn't been difficult but actually it's a journey they sent me off on. They said We need to transform this brand and we need you to do it. For me, it's just about making sure we've got the robust data, that we can actually leverage it so it's not just words and boxes and esoteric concepts.'
'It's dragging a very pipe and slippers brand out of its sleepy comfortableness into a much more modern organisation that delivers a much more modern service. You understand consumer insight, you have a very clear strategy, you know what it is you want to be and decide what sort of body language you want to have. It's almost like the easiest way to be creative is to decide what you're not going to be. And once you've got a very clear vision of who it is that you are, what your body language needs to be and who you're talking to, it's very easy to be creative and stretch your wings. We've only just started. It will be a long journey to be a really fresh, surprising brand.'
As the AA begins its journey, it hopes to avoid any nasty potholes.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service uses data to shape campaigns
The four-person comms team at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue are achieving greater success with their campaigns since adopting the OASIS framework
Do brands and humour mix on social media?
Poundland's controversial festive campaign has focused attention again on whether brands should use humour on social media
The Scope of the partnership
A groundbreaking campaign has launched to get one million disabled people into work by 2020


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Dwayne Johnson 'count blessings' with family on new Thanksgiving video
The Rock got emotional remembering the tough phase of his life on Thanksgiving
Dwayne Johnson revealed the cause why he and his mother often get choked up on Thanksgiving.
"Back in my early teens, we had a few rough Thanksgiving where we would pray in hopes that another family would invite us over to eat because we didn't have enough money for a Thanksgiving spread," Johnson wrote.
"Things are much different these days ????????, but my mom and I will never forget those times," he added. "Which is why it's impossible for her to speak about our blessings without getting very emotional."
A post shared by Dwayne Johnson (@therock)
Johnson posted moments of his Thanksgiving meal on Instagram as the actor spent the holiday with his wife, Lauren Hashian, their two daughters, his mother, Ata Johnson, and other family and friends.
The 50-year-old shared posts by posting a video of the Thanksgiving spread on the dining table over Iz's rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and his gratitude to the chefs who prepared the meal.
"We went around the table praising [family chef @chefputtie] and our staff - and when we got to my mom (as always), it's very hard for her to talk about the blessings of Thanksgiving without crying," he said. "Hope all of you out there, and your families had a blessed one as well ????❤"


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Q: Accidentally deleted master password in Firefox password manager While trying to change the master password in Firefox, I accidentally removed it so that no password was needed to access my saved identifiers. I immediately realized it and put a new password.
Assuming that no one accessed the passwords in this short time and that no background backup software was running, should I still be concerned about the possibility that unencrypted passwords may still reside somewhere on my computer?

A: Just like you said, if you have taken steps to ensure that the host OS is not compromised, it's highly unlikely that it was read, but there's always a chance that some of the unencrypted database was written to disk and may remain even after you set up a new master password & key. It depends on things outside of your control, such as the HDD or SSD's disk controller. You could mitigate that somewhat by using a utility to wipe free space on your drive.
In the longer term, if you consider your passwords to be this valuable, you might want to consider using a more sophisticated method for protecting them, such as KeePass 2. I use it myself to keep dozens of credentials at work and at home, and I believe everything is stored with AES256 or higher by default. You can then use KeeFox to integrate into Firefox (the dev is working on porting it to the new WebExtensions framework too).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange