Spirited Away

At first sight the fields of magic and science do not have much of an overlap. This notion however is completely untrue for the fairly long period between 1860 and 1930. A surprisingly high number of scientists and inventors of this time were fascinated by spiritualism and believed in the existence of paranormal forces. Marie Curie for example regarded mediumistic séances as "scientific experiments" and thought it possible to discover in spiritualism the source of an unknown energy that would reveal the secret of radioactivity. Thomas Ava Edison for his part announced an extension to his phonograph in 1921 that would extract thoughts and feelings from dead bodies in order to store and play them back. He claimed that this was possible due the existence of "life units" - tiny energy particles that are the scientifically proved equivalent to the human soul Away from ideological judgment these examples illuminate an interesting crossover between the utopian vision of a boundless technology that helps to reveal even more mysteries of the immaterial world and an anti-modernist thought-space that is filled and nourished by ghost stories, an animistic world outlook and a dazzling array of esoteric philosophies. In this context the praxis of the commercial magical show plays a very interesting and intermediate roll that connects and correlates these two assumed opposite spheres

Imaginaries of the ideal migrant worker : a Lacanian interpretation

The authors acknowledge the ESRC Centre for Population Change RES 62528001 for sponsoring this research.This paper explores the production of ‘ideal’ migrant workers by recruitment agencies in the context of Latvian labour migration to the UK. The fantasies of the ‘ideal’ worker created by recruiters have a particular hold on migrant subjectivity, but they often hide inconsistencies and slippages implicit within the fabric of recruitment discourse and practice. By drawing on the notions of fantasy and desire as developed by Jacques Lacan, this paper analyses the determination of subjectivity in a migration context and explores both unconscious and conscious processes of identification. On the basis of an analysis of drawings sketched by respondents during qualitative interviews conducted in Latvia, it challenges narrower assumptions about migrants’ search behaviour and stable expectations of labour migration, and exposes the split and contested nature of migrant selfhood.It concludes with conceptual observations about the complex process of identification and the unachievable figure of the ‘ideal’ worker.PostprintPeer reviewe

The Sex Pistols: Punk rock as protest rhetoric

This thesis examines the punk music of the Sex Pistols as protest rhetoric. Seven of the songs on the album Never Mind the Bollocks Heres the Sex Pistols are analyzed for their content. The analysis utilizes the theory of symbolic convergence and its coinciding fantasy theme analysis along with ego-function of protest rhetoric. Through the analysis it is found that punk rock is in fact protest rhetoric as defined and explained by the theory of ego-function. The guides of this theory explain the emergence of punk music and the resulting culture. Symbolic convergence theory and fantasy theme analysis examines the messages within the text and how they express the ideas, beliefs, and values of the punk culture. This provides a better understanding of punk culture and the messages communicated in the songs of the Sex Pistols