Volume 2, Issue 1, 2008

Abstract
Drawing upon the work of classical and modern writers, notably Le Bon, Freud, Jung, Halbwachs, Boulding and Antonovsky, it is possible to propose a conceptual integration. A collective mental state will be influenced by memories, which can also be collective insofar as they are produced by common experiences. The store of good memories has been called psychic capital, but there will also be bad memories or negative psychic capital. A community can be aided in its survival by a sense of coherence. Psychic capital can be drawn upon in the task of maintaining a sense of coherence and therefore survival.  Full Article



Endowed Newspapers: A Solution to the Industry’s Problems?
Denise E. DeLorme and Fred Fedler

Abstract
Americans dissatisfied with the press complain about papers’ emphasis on profits and worry about their dependence on advertisers. Over a century ago, critics proposed endowed newspapers as a solution.This article examines the idea of endowed newspapers through an historical analysis of trade journal articles, autobiographies, biographies, and magazine articles written by and about early journalists from 1880 to 1930. The results reveal four reasons that endowed newspapers were proposed, two tentative structures for these types of publications, and five reasons for the idea’s abandonment. Full Article

 

Gestalt Theory in Interactive Media Design
Lisa Graham

Abstract
Gestalt psychology was developed during the 1920’s by three German psychologists, Wertheimer, Koffka and Kohler. Visual artists and designers of the twentieth century adopted
gestalt perceptual factors to improve their work. Books including Kepes’s Language of Vision
(1944) and Arnheim’s Art and Visual Perception (1954) codified gestalt visual principles for
use in design education. What these scholars did not anticipate is the evolution of interactive
designs such as web pages, and how gestalt visual principles apply to interactive documents.
This article examines a select group of major gestalt visual principles and places them within
the context of interactive media design. Full Article



Structural and Social Forces Restricting Media News Content in Democracies: A Critical Perspective   Gregg A. Payne

Abstract
This essay offers a critical perspective of the news product generated by US media. It is argued that social and structural conditions dictating content are similar to those affecting media artifacts of authoritarian political regimes. Media are seen under both political conditions to be tools of elite interests preoccupied with ideological control of social, political, and economic environments. The contention is that in both democratic and authoritarian political circumstances, the news product is homogenized, offering little by way of divergent perspectives. The consequent information deprivation is linked to an impoverished public discourse that is antithetical to democratic process.  Full Article



The Neglected Stateless Bihari Community in Bangladesh: Victims of Political and Diplomatic Onslaught   Kazi Fahmida Farzana

Abstract
A relatively large number of Pakistanis known as the Bihari community have been stranded in Bangladesh since its independence in 1971. This community which supposed to be repatriated to Pakistan, has been vacillating between hope and despair because of the hopeless repatriation politics existing today. The objective of this paper is to analyze the status of the Bihari people and their socio-political problems in Bangladesh. This paper argues that the Bihari community suffers from identity crisis of being Bangladeshis and Pakistanis or being refugees and minorities that are deprived of fundamental rights. The unresolved repatriation problem is a consequence of deliberate procrastination and political indecision on the part of both Bangladesh and Pakistan governments. Neither of these governments have done much to resolve the problem of the Bihari community. Full Article



Diversity in Rural African Economic Activities: A Case Study of Cattle and Modernization in Swaziland, 1930s to 1980s  Bonginkosi A. B. Sikhondze

Abstract
Unfamiliar socio-economic structures created interpretation problems to scholars from different
places of origin. Here incomplete conclusions were made on societies that were studied. Thus if
Doran, Low and Kemp (Doran, Low & Kemp, 1979:41-9) perceived Swazi activities as static it
was because of cultural differences. After 1945 more dynamic developments occurred than
perceived by Doran, Low and Kemp (Doran, Low & Kemp, 1979:41-9). Swazi cattle played a
dynamic economic role which overshadowed social ones when market forces became stronger.
Economic diversities occurred in agriculture. Ox-power featured in transportation. The market
economy ushered in investments in cotton which modernized the Swaziland.  Full Article



International Migration and the Politics of Identity and Security
Yannis A. Stivachtis

Abstract
Among the major contemporary themes in the field of Security Studies, the renewed concern with questions of identity occupies a central place. Identity concerns – augmented by migration flows – lie at the heart of the national security question. Migration issues are now matters of both high international politics and national security policies engaging the attention of heads of states and key ministries involved in defense, internal security, and foreign relations. Examples abound of migration flows include the rise of right-wing, anti-immigrant political parties in many Western states and the demand for anti-migration policies. How and why some migrant communities are perceived as threats to the identity of the receiving state is a complicated issue. A violation of the norms held by the host country is often regarded as a threat to its basic values and in that sense is perceived as a threat to its national security. Only an honest and continuous dialogue between hosting and migrant communities would prevent migrants’ identity from becoming a security threat to the host state and society.  Full Article