À la Recherche de Yankee Art

In 1938 the Museum of Modern Art organized a US government-funded, multi-disciplinary exhibition in Paris, entitled “Three Centuries of American Art.” In this paper I explore the geopolitical, aesthetic and cultural dimensions of the exhibition as an episode of cultural diplomacy in Franco-American relations and as an attempt to promote, for the first time, an American ‘national artistic scene’ to the world. Special focus is placed on the selection of artworks and on curatorial practice. A comparison is offered with the sole precedent: an exhibition of American Art staged immediately after the end of WW I. A complex intertextual and intermedial web emerges from this comparison that reveals various tensions around an emerging “narrative” for the self-representation of the United States as a world-power and an artistically “emancipated” nation and provides a glimpse into a New Deal-era attempt at cultural diplomacy on the eve of WW II. These poles ultimately converge to indicate the role that “region” and “place” assumed in the American imaginary of the nineteenth century as it reverberated in interesting political and aesthetic ways in the first decades of the twentieth.En 1938, le Museum of Modern Art organise une exposition multidisciplinaire à Paris financée par le gouvernement des États-Unis et intitulée « Trois siècles d’art aux États-Unis ». Cet article est une enquête sur les dimensions géopolitiques, esthétiques et culturelles de l’exposition, considérée comme un épisode de diplomatie culturelle marquant des relations franco-américaines et comme une tentative de promouvoir, pour la première fois, une « scène artistique nationale » américaine dans le monde. L’accent est mis sur le processus de sélection d’œuvres d’art. Une comparaison est établie avec le seul précédent : une exposition d’art américain organisée juste après la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale en 1919. Un tissu intertextuel et intermédial complexe se dégage de cette comparaison qui révèle diverses tensions autour du « récit » de l’auto-représentation des États-Unis en tant que puissance mondiale et artistiquement “émancipée” à la veille de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Ces pôles finalement convergent pour indiquer le rôle qu’occupent les notions de « région » et de « lieu » dans l’imaginaire américain du XIXe siècle, tel qu’il se répercuta au plan politique et esthétique dans les premières décennies du XXe siècle

Первичные преобразователи концентрации токсичных газов в воздухе вдоль автомагистралей населенных пунктов

Розглянуто результати створення і впровадження первинних перетворювачів (ПП) концентрації токсичних газів у повітрі вздовж автомагістралей населених пунктів.Are considered creation and implementation of the primary concentration transfers (sensing devices) of toxic gases in mid air of populated locality along motorways.Рассмотрены результаты создания и внедрения первичных преобразователей (ПП) концентрации токсичных газов в воздухе вдоль автомагистралей населенных пунктов

For reflexivity as an epistemic criterion of ontological coherence and virtuous social theorizing

This article offers an approach that combines, on the one hand, the philosophical notion of reflexivity, which is related to the ideas of self-reference and paradox, and, on the other hand, the sociological discussion of epistemic reflexivity as a problem of coherence, which was mainly initiated by certain branches of ethnomethodology and social constructionism. This combinatory approach argues for reflexivity as an epistemic criterion of ontological coherence, which suggests that social ontologies should account for the possibility of self-reflective subjectivity – for otherwise they result in a paradoxical conclusion according to which a social scientist reflects on her or his ontological commitments even though these commitments deny her or him the capacity for self-reflection. This analysis presupposes that all human sciences are categorically premised on social ontologies; and it argues for an analytical distinction between self-reflection, which refers to the agential capacity for reflecting on one’s own commitments, and the epistemic criterion of reflexivity hereby proposed. These two analytically distinct though interdependent socio-theoretical concepts are frequently conflated in the literature; thus, this article also aims at a ‘clearing of the ground’ that can be of categorical use to the human sciences

Economic Analysis of Knowledge: The History of Thought and the Central Themes

Following the development of knowledge economies, there has been a rapid expansion of economic analysis of knowledge, both in the context of technological knowledge in particular and the decision theory in general. This paper surveys this literature by identifying the main themes and contributions and outlines the future prospects of the discipline. The wide scope of knowledge related questions in terms of applicability and alternative approaches has led to the fragmentation of research. Nevertheless, one can identify a continuing tradition which analyses various aspects of the generation, dissemination and use of knowledge in the economy

Is there redemption for conventions?

This article explores the concept of convention in the social sciences. It presents the two major neo-Humean philosophical approaches to convention and challenges their intuitive appeal and research implications. The weaknesses of these approaches are examined and a new direction is suggested for the study of convention. The paper goes on to develop a framework for the analysis of conventions, using the notion of 'the exemplar' introduced by Thomas Kuhn. An illustration of this alternative approach is provided using the example of the 'wage relation'. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.