testtesttest

Original article
Overweight, obesity, and reality television: Exploring health data and the popularity of local versions of
The Biggest Loser in the European context

Antony Hoyte-West

Abstract

With rates of overweight and obesity on the rise around the world, there have been numerous reality television shows
dedicated to this complex and enduring issue. This exploratory contribution outlines the global epidemiological situation
relating to overweight and obesity in the European context, before seeking to discover whether there is any linkage between
the rates of overweight in a given European country and the popularity – as demonstrated through the number of seasons
broadcast – of the local version of the weight-loss reality show The Biggest Loser. Through the analysis of online sources,
preliminary data is gained, providing useful information for further research on the topic at a later date.

Keywords: The Biggest Loser, weight loss, obesity statistics, BMI, obesity rates, reality television

Download

Original article
Negotiating Identity During the Macedonia’s Name Change Period in Media Discourse

Zorica Trajkova Strezovska

Abstract

The name is an essential mark of one’s identity, and if someone is pressured to change it under any circumstances it would naturally lead to feelings of uncertainty, fear, anxiety and doubt, because it is not only important how people see themselves, but also how they want to be seen by others, as well as how others see them. This paper analyses the discursive processes used by the media sources to negotiate and construct the identity of Macedonians in the period before and after the change of the name of the country from the Republic of Macedonia into the Republic of North Macedonia in 2019. Taking interaction and language as central to the construction, enactment and negotiation of identity, a corpus of 20 articles of both pro- and anti-governmental newspaper outlets, written before, during and after the name change were analysed and parallels were drawn in terms of the language used by both media sources to discuss the identity of Macedonian people. The analysis showed that while the pro-governmental media were attempting to portray a new identity of Macedonians in the EU, the anti-governmental ones presented the name-change as a threat to a complete identity loss (Trajkova, 2020). This situation left the Macedonian citizen confused, scared and in doubt of what was the right or wrong path to take.

Keywords: identity construction, name-change issue, newspaper outlets, discursive processes

Download

Original article
Authoritarianism, Conspiracy Theories and Covid 19 Pandemic in Serbia

Sanja Lazarević Radak

Abstract

By placing two key narratives about the origin and the implications of Covid-19 in the global context, the author analyzes their media representations in Serbia in order to highlight their potential correlation with widely understood authoritarianism. Conspiracy theories in Serbia are present in several interrelated and interdependent forms: 1. Theory of experimental totalitarianism; 2. Economic-political conspiracy; 3. Theory of the Third World War/New Order. Tensions and conflicts between the proponents of the official and unofficial versions of pandemic are visible, mostly on social media, and resemble other forms of filtering and dosing aggression against labeled enemies. In the moments of social crisis this becomes one of the basic characteristics of the authoritarian structure of personality. “Enemies” are stigmatized by various formulations, from “the masters of the new order”, to “the servants of the world pharmacomaphy.” Therefore, the aim of this paper is to make an overwiew of the most common conspiracy theories about Covid 19 in Serbia and to analyze them in the frames of theories that emphasize the importance of dogma within the authoritarian personality structure.

Keywords: authoritarianism, dogma, conspiracy theory, Serbia, Covid-19.

Download

Review article
Unmasking the Exception: Covid and the Creation of Enemy in India

Sourish Ghosh

Abstract

In the contemporary political context, a state of exception refers to the ways by which the major liberal democracies are driven by the growing accretion of discriminatory executive power, increasingly evading existing legislative and juridical institutions. Italian thinker Giorgio Agamben’s work becomes more relevant here. Agamben theorizes the state of exception and claims that it has become a dominant paradigm of government in contemporary politics. Agamben challenges the responses the state had while immediately dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, which is merely normalizing the state of exception as it actually produced a policification of the municipalities and areas in the guise of tackling the virus. The Indian state like others has upholded the concept of lockdown as the only measure to fight the pandemic but the interesting aspect is the designing of enemies to deal with the problem. The paper argues that the Indian state has used the pandemic to blatantly create the “other” in a way pursued the agenda of exception. The method is qualitative, especially focusing on discourse analysis. The conclusion demonstrates that the measures taken by apparently the largest democracy in the name of fighting Covid establishes Agamben’s argument that the world is transforming into a gigantic concentration camp.

Keywords: Covid 19, Indian State, State of Exception, Otherization, Enemy

Download

Original article
Documenting architecture. From 3D simulations to virtual restoration

Giuseppe Maino and Donatella Biagi Maino

Abstract

The Casa del Mutilato (House of the Mutilated) in Ancona, Italy, is a significant example of twentieth-century architecture and the current initiatives aimed at its recovery and restoration can represent a useful and interesting test bed for experimenting with the most innovative IT methodologies for documenting the history and state of conservation of the building. This contribution therefore intends to propose some possible strategies for the design and implementation of a new concept of digital information system to preserve all the documentation relating to the Casa del Mutilato, make it accessible online also to citizens and the wider public, create a useful service for the management of the building itself, and enhance the asset, making known its history, constructive and artistic characteristics, and the possibilities of use. The results so obtained can then be usefully utilized for the documentation and planning of the recovery of monumental buildings of the twentieth century of historical and artistic interest in Europe.

Download

Review
Book review of Loser

Antony Hoyte-West

Download

Book Review on
Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings

Naruhiko Mikado

Abstract

This brief article is a review of Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings, which was published in March of the last year by Hackett Publishing. Subsequent to a concise explanation about the contextual circumstances in which the new and full translation of the ancient Chinese text ought to be perused, I, in order to give an instance of its possibility, pointed out that one of its famous passages could be interpreted as an allegorical vignette that symbolically but straightforwardly communicates the same truth which contemporary French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux has proved, i.e., that the primordial principle framing the whole world is contingency.

Keywords: Philosophy, Eastern Philosophy, Zhuangzi, Taoism, Quentin Meillassoux

Download

Thesis is peer review journal published by AAB College