Svečarska kritika i djelovanje u djelu 4/4 Down the Stairs Felixa Labanda

This article presents an analysis of Cape Town-based electronic artist Felix Laband’s album, 4/4 Down the Stairs (African Dope Records: 2002). The discussion comprises three sections. The first theorises, through the contested lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s formulation of the carnivalesque, Laband’s use of the ‘low-other’ as festive critique. It unravels the aesthetico-ideological discourse in which the cover design and the music participate. The second discussion, which sounds an additional cautionary note in counterpoint to celebrating festive critique, turns to the work of the French economist and philosopher, Jacques Attali, to consider his distinction between ‘mass music’ and what he defines rather idiosyncratically as ‘composition’. Attali’s theory of musical production, which juxtaposes the multivalent tropes of Carnival and Lent, presents a persuasive critique of the popular music industry. We consider, in our description of Attali’s representation of the trap of commercial circulation, the extent to which Laband’s work registers as the ‘background noise’ of ‘consumer integration, interclass levelling, cultural homogenization’ (1985: 111). The third and final section of the argument is rather more optimistic. It seeks to develop, through the ideas of Michel de Certeau, a theory of (muted and conditional) subversive agency that applauds Laband’s creativity as the capture of musical possibility in a mode that de Certeau describes as ‘pedestrian’ combinational and relational practice.Ovaj članak predstavlja, na različitim razinama, dijalošku analizu djela 4/4 Down the Stairs (kao trivijalno, kao banalni pastiš, kao komercijalno, nekoherentno, sekundarno ili kao izblijedjeli minimalizam). Rasprava se sastoji od triju odlomaka. U prvome se teoretizira, kroz osporavanu prizmu formulacije o karnevalesknom Mihaila Bahtina, o Labandovoj uporabi \u27niskog drugog\u27 (\u27lowother\u27) kao svečarske kritike. U njemu se rješava estetičko-ideološki diskurs, uključujući dizajn omota i sâmu glazbu, približavajući se glazbi opisnom analizom \u27Blue Crack Twos\u27, jedne od traka na albumu. Ovaj odlomak valja čitati kao skeptično uprizorenje Bahtinova teorijskog aparata koje privlači pozornost na svoja ograničenja čak i kada ocrtava mogućnosti karnevala kao oružja protiv pretvaranja i hipokrizije moćnih. Druga rasprava komplicira cijelu stvar. Obraća se djelu francuskog ekonomista i filozofa Jacquesa Attalija da bi razmotrila njegovo razlikovanje između ’masovne glazbe’ i onoga što definira prilično idiosinkretički kao \u27kompoziciju\u27. Attalijeva političko-ekonomska teorija glazbene produkcije, koja supostavlja polivalentne trope karnevala i korizme, predstavlja uvjerljivu kritiku industrije popularne glazbe. Potom se u ovom odlomku unosi dodatna opominjujuća nota kao protuteža slavljenoj \u27veseloj\u27 kritici. Njome se sugerira da prividno karnevaleskna subverzija, kada je nerazmrsivo integrirana u produkcijske i reprodukcijske krugove, često ne čini ništa drugo nego fetišizira ponavljanje i potrošnju. Treći i završni odlomak je optimističniji. U njemu se nastoji razviti, putem ideja Michela de Certeaua, teorija nijemog i uvjetovanog djelovanja koja povlađuje Labandovoj kreativnosti kao hvatanje glazbene mogućnosti na način koji de Certeau opisuje kao \u27pješačku\u27 kombinatornu i odnosnu praksu. U ovom se odlomku pokazuje da Attalijeva krajnje modernistička kritika ‘masovne glazbe’ ne odgovara zadatku prepoznavanja puteva kojima se glazbenici pojedinci, s pomoću lukavstava prilagođavanja i manipulacije, uključuju u prevladavajuće akustičke poretke te čineći tako uvode u te poretke i novinu i nepostojanost

South African end times: Conceiving an apocalyptic imaginary

The future of South Africa has most commonly been conceived as a prospective apocalyptic upheaval in which the nation fractures along race lines. This expectation preceded, but informed the rise of apartheid, and has accompanied its demise. This article argues that catastrophic prediction—the trope of a looming racial Armageddon—is like a worn coin: familiar currency so often spent. Nonetheless, we need to conceive how this particular political theology settled into our polity; why it has proved so adaptable (through and despite the “miraculous” transformation of 1994); and, how its tenacity—which is politically anodyne at best and fascist at worst—might be challenged. The article conceives of a study (comprising nine essays) which sets out to analyze aspects of this history of fear, without simply taking its existence and persistence for granted

Representations of jazz music and jazz performance occasions in selected jazz literature

The founding hypothesis of the study is that creative writers translate jazz music and performance into discourse by recourse to a number of figurative domains. These translations map existential, anthropological and political spaces and situate jazz within these. The first chapter concerns the representation of jazz in the construction of alterity, focussing on the evocation of the Dionysian spirit of jazz, the parallels between jazz and Bahktin's carnival and the strategic deployment of 'blackness' in configurations. The second chapter applies the notion of 'existential integration' in tracing some of the fluid boundaries between the music, the body of the instrument and the body of the performer in representations. The final chapter looks at the contrary tendency: the representation of mystical transcendence in the course of listening to or performing jazz. Underlying each of the three chapters is a concern with the emergence and propagation of oppositional identities in jazz writing.English StudiesM.A. (English

Prevalence of androgenicanabolic steroid use in adolescents in two regions of South Africa

Objective. To determine the prevalence of androgenicanabolic steroid (AAS) use  among schoolchildren in two geographically separate regions of South Africa.Design. Self-reported questionnaire.Population. Standard 10 schoolchildren (16 - 18 years) were selected, 1 136 from region A and 1 411 from region B.Results. The prevalence of AAS use in the overall populationwas 14.4/1 000. There were significant diHerences in prevalence of AAS use between the two regions (5.9/1 000 v. '22.7/1 000; P < 0.0005). There was significantly higher use in males (28.2/1 000) compared with females (0.7/1 000) (p < 0.005). Gymnasia were the most common source of AAS. Although there were regional diHerences in general knowledge about AAS, general knowledge scores were low across all the groups. Male sports participants who used AAS experienced significantly higher  pressure to perform than their non-user counterparts in both regions.Conclusions. Regional differences in AAS use and general knowledge about AAS need to be considered before a meaningful programme can be implemented to reduce the use of AAS by South African schoolchildren

The dynamic emergence of cooperative norms in a social dilemma

This paper addresses the formation of social norms of cooperation through interaction in repeated Public Goods Games, using novel multilevel techniques. Cooperation has traditionally been understood as the interplay of static factors such as shared social identity and pre-existing norms. This study investigates the dynamic emergence of cooperative norms in the presence or absence of social categorization. A small effect of categorization was found: Categorization helps initiate and maintain higher levels of cooperation. However, the differences in emergent cooperation between small groups were much stronger than the differences between the Categorization and Non-Categorization conditions. Using explorative analyses, three distinct classes of groups were found. Within groups, group members follow nearly identical rules for their choice of cooperative behavior. We argue that individual behavior converged because of the social interactions within these groups. Overall, the development of cooperation is best predicted by the process of norm formation that occurs when social identities emerge.</p