Countercultural Studies

Internationally known and respected, the theatre director, playwright, theorist, author, among others, of proposals gathered under the label Theatre of the Oppressed, the multiple Boal unifies himself in the militant Boal, who is always attentive to political, social and human causes. Attentive and active. This essay intends but to reverberate those qualities and, in its course, add to his recognition.Internacionalmente conhecido e respeitado, o diretor de teatro, dramaturgo, teórico, autor, entre outras, das propostas enfeixadas na rubrica Teatro do Oprimido, o múltiplo Boal se unifica no Boal militante, sempre atento às causas políticas, sociais, humanas. Atento e atuante. Este artigo pouco pretende além de repercutir essas qualidades, e, no percurso, somar ao reconhecimento

The article examines Allen Ginsberg’s spiritual path, and places his interest in Asian religions within larger cultural agendas and life choices. While identifying as a Jew, Ginsberg wished to transcend beyond his parents’ orbit and actively sought to create an inclusive, tolerant, and permissive society where persons such as himself could live and create at ease. He chose elements from the Christian, Jewish, Native-American, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions, weaving them together into an ever-growing cultural and spiritual quilt. The poet never underwent a conversion experience or restricted his choices and freedoms. In Ginsberg’s understanding, Buddhism was a universal, non-theistic religion that meshed well with an individualist outlook, and worked toward personal solace and mindfulness. He and other Jews saw no contradiction between enchantment with Buddhism and their Jewish identity.

In the 21st century, dance music and club cultures have become pervasive spaces where individuals seek communal, embodied, and even transcendental experiences. This paper argues that clubbing and contemporary popular music can function as a form of secular-sacred ceremony, offering pathways to spiritual connection that parallel traditional religious worship. It examines theological foundations of music in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; explores the ritual dynamics of club culture; compares shared and distinctive elements of sacred-secular interplay in the three faiths; surveys emergent trends in 2025 popular music as spiritual medium; addresses critiques and challenges; and proposes a theology of the dance floor. Drawing on scholarship in theology, musicology, sociology, and anthropology, this study suggests that in the pulsating rhythms of modern music, people continue the age-old quest for divine connection, refracted through contemporary forms.

TO MAG-BASE (MILANO)-13.09.2025 L'aneddoto ideale è quello legato alla nascita dell'Incredibile Hulk, uno dei personaggi più iconici dei fumetti. Nel maggio del 1962, Stan Lee e Jack Kirby crearono il personaggio con l'idea che la sua pelle fosse di un grigio spento, per riflettere il suo animo oscuro, ispirato a Dr. Jekyll e Mr. Hyde. Tuttavia, a causa delle imperfezioni tecnologiche dell'epoca e della bassa qualità della carta, l'inchiostro grigio non risultò uniforme, apparendo a volte verdastro o bluastro. A seguito di questo difetto di stampa, anziché correggere l'errore per il numero successivo, Stan Lee decise-facendo riferimento al detto "verde di rabbia"-di abbracciarlo e di cambiare permanentemente il colore del personaggio in verde, un colore che risaltava di più e che poteva essere riprodotto in modo più coerente e vibrante. Ciò che era nato come un errore tecnico si è trasformato in una caratteristica distintiva e iconica del personaggio, un'imperfezione che ne ha definito l'identità. Mentre le altre riviste seguivano le rigorose regole della griglia e della leggibilità, il direttore artistico David Carson ignorò ogni convenzione nella sua rivista americana Ray Gun, fondata nel 1992. Utilizzò tipografie quasi illeggibili, distorsioni, sovrapposizioni e una composizione caotica, definendo un vero e proprio stile grunge che rifletteva lo spirito ribelle della musica e della cultura alternativa di quegli anni. L'estetica di Ray Gun era l'opposto della perfezione: era rumorosa, sporca e volutamente imperfetta. L'episodio più famoso è quello dell'intervista al cantante Bryan Ferry. Trovando il contenuto noioso, Carson decise di impaginarla interamente usando il font dingbat Zapf Dingbats, rendendola completamente illeggibile e lanciando una sfida diretta ai lettori. Questa estetica, che a molti apparve come un errore, fu invece la sua arma vincente. Ray Gun ottenne un successo di culto e commerciale, e il suo design influenzò un'intera generazione di grafici, dimostrando che l'imperfezione e l'autenticità potevano essere molto più potenti della perfezione mainstream. Cosa ci dicono questi due aneddoti storici? Esiste un collegamento che li unisce? Vediamo di trovarlo, o per lo meno, di provarci. Quello che intendo esplorare con voi è un territorio affascinante e spesso controverso: quello delle estetiche che potremmo definire "LO-FI".

As mulheres estão cada vez mais lutando por seu espaço no mundo e pela igualdade de gênero. As conquistas advindas do feminismo, como o direito à educação, ao divórcio, à proteção contra à violência e a direitos reprodutivos, possibilitaram às mulheres um maior envolvimento e consumo no mundo das viagens, em especial das viagens solo. A problemática central que fundamenta a pesquisa envolve uma análise do universo do turismo em relação às mulheres que viajam sozinhas, todos os elementos culturais que envolvem essa escolha e os fatores motivacionais e desafios que estão presentes nesse quadro. A pesquisa tem como objetivo geral analisar o significado e o impacto das viagens solo na vida das mulheres e suas percepções em relação a essa prática. Este estudo adotou o método qualitativo e um estudo exploratório e descritivo. Foram realizadas entrevistas online com dez mulheres que viajam sozinhas, utilizando um roteiro semiestruturado. A análise de conteúdo identificou que as motivações dessas mulheres estão ligadas à liberdade, autonomia e autoconhecimento, enquanto os desafios estão intimamente ligados à violência de gênero. O trabalho contribui para os estudos de gênero no turismo, destacando a importância da experiência turística e a ocupação da mulher como agente fomentadora desse setor.

In this provocative and deeply insightful episode of Epistemic Alchemy, host Dr. Mohammed Raei sits down with sociologist and consciousness theorist Dr. Mike Sosteric to explore the contested terrain of consciousness research, mystical experience, and the urgent need for a decolonized spirituality. Together, they critique dominant neuroscientific models—such as the Entropic Brain Theory—for their Eurocentric, pathologizing assumptions about non-ordinary states of consciousness, and challenge the prevailing materialist view that consciousness originates solely in the brain.

Drawing on his decades of autoethnographic inquiry and spiritual practice, Sosteric articulates a dual-consciousness theory that recognizes the body’s neurological ego alongside a non-local spiritual ego, offering a richer framework for understanding mystical states. He candidly discusses the taboo surrounding mysticism in mainstream sociology and psychology, the suppression of humanistic and transpersonal research, and how systems of toxic socialization and elite-controlled religious archetypes have stunted human potential.

The conversation also delves into what a truly decolonized research methodology might look like, the role of critical consciousness in social transformation, and Sosteric’s vision for a future university grounded in open access, interdisciplinary freedom, and spiritual authenticity. Listeners interested in the intersections of consciousness, decoloniality, education, and inner transformation will find this episode a bold invitation to rethink the foundations of science, selfhood, and society.

Ever since the blockbuster Jesus Revolution movie, there has been a massive increase on the Internet with people remembering or checking out the 1970s Jesus Movement.  Barna Group research is showing that for the first time in a long time, younger adults, particularly men—Gen Z and Millennials—are now the most regular churchgoers, outpacing older generations. There is also a powerful UniteUS movement on college campus where thousands of young people are giving their lives to Christ, culminating in mass baptisms. 
Much of this is reminiscent of the time of revival that many of us lived through in the Jesus movement. In 1972, hundreds of Jesus people in the Resurrection Coalition reached out to drugged-up youth at the Easter Be-in held at Vancouver’s iconic Stanley Park, offering free food, music bands, evangelism, and beach baptisms. We were so young in our faith that we were fearless. During the Jesus movement, we were attracted to beach evangelism and baptisms, Jesus marches, and coffeehouses.

Many of the connections between punk and anarchism are well recognized (albeit with some important contentions). This recognition is usually focussed on how punk bands and scenes express anarchist political philosophies or anarchistic praxes, while much less attention is paid to expressions of 'punk' by anarchist activist groups. This article addresses this apparent gap by exploring the 'punk anarchisms' of two of the most prominent and influential activist groups of recent decades (in English-speaking contexts at least), Class War and CrimethInc. Their distinct, yet overlapping, political approaches are compared and contrasted, and in doing so, pervasive assumptions about the relationship between punk and anarchism are challenged, refuting the supposed dichotomy between 'lifestylist' anarchism and 'workerist' anarchism.

Much contextual theology is implicitly shaped by what can be described as a postmodern outlook. This way of viewing the world presupposes an incomprehensibility between languages, cultures and historical periods. At a conceptual level, this renders dialogue among them problematic. This article explores the use of an alternative theoretical framework, epistemological particularism, in contextual theology. It then examines the practical application of this methodology by exploring the dialogue between Nicaea and the Akan of Ghana.

Share "I was able to experience what the mystics were for some reason able to experienc spontaneously," a participant in an experimental study investigating the effects of psilocybin reported, the implicit assumption being that most people are incapable having mystical experiences without the aid of external interventions: "I don't thin that . . . my experience was less than theirs." But far from being spontaneous, mystical experiences are rarely unlooked-for. Cultivation, spiritual exercise and self-effort have had many eloquent defenders; ev Aldous Huxley was one of them. Huxley, a philosopher and novelist, experimented with mescaline in the 1940s, achieving a brush with transcendence that became th basis for his essays, The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell. Those essays foreground the ability of psychedelics to "open" the doors of the mind and are now classics in psychedelic studies. Like the anonymous participant in the 2015 study published by Psychedelic Medicine (and reviewed eloquently by Michael Pollan for t New Yorker), Huxley suggested that there was no essential difference between a mystical experience triggered by psychedelics and one that was the result of religi ecstasy.

his essay examines the work of Piermario Ciani, a key figure in the Italian underground scene, through his archive now preserved at the Mart Museum in Rovereto. The focus is on his production of fanzines and self-published materials, tracing a trajectory from his early graphic and comic experiments (115/220, Onda 400) to his collaborations with Vittore Baroni (50%, Trax), up to the desktop publishing experiments of Unexpected Communication and the editorial initiatives of AAA Edizioni.
Drawing on a largely unpublished body of materials, the article highlights Ciani’s role as a true “subverter of languages”: an artist who blended underground comics, post-punk music, Mail Art, digital graphics, and neo-Situationist practices. His archive reveals self-publishing as a fertile ground for aesthetic and cultural experimentation, marking a crucial transition from DIY paper-based practices to the digital revolution of the 1980s–1990s.

A profile of Cornell University educated maverick physicist Dr Jack Sarfatti for Australia's 21C Magazine with journalistic reportage on the Project Stargate / Scanate "remote viewing" declassification debate in the United States, which later inspired the Jon Ronson book and film adaptation The Men Who Stare At Goats.

The Beatles’ three-month hiatus began after their final performance at Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966, and ended when they reunited in the recording studio. This period is seen as The Beatles' most fertile time, catapulting their creative efforts that assured their legacy with male fans.

This paper introduces new terms that describe the hiatus and what transpired during that time. "Second-tier communal manhood" time describes how the hiatus forced personal introspection to surface.  "Psychedelic-nostalgia" describes Lennon and McCartney’s creative perspective that used second-tier themes and drug-influenced audio experimentation. McCartney’s developing concept album idea in Sgt. Pepper is seen here as his efforts to maintain The Beatles’ steady stream of success, creating the most influential period for them, the recorded music industry and material for future male musician fans' own greater expansion.

In this essay, we squeeze into the back seat of McKenna’s “Archaic Revival” tour, his first and only visit to Australia. Encouraged by a small community of plant medicine enthusiasts and facilitated by promoter Dillon Hicks, for a brief moment, McKenna served as alien frontman for the Australian experimental music underground. We explore the visitor’s enigmatic stature as a cult figure, novelty theorist, and psychedelic prophet with an untiring vision: that the clock is running down on history. His message about the end was magnified by McKenna’s own abrupt departure within three years of his visit, putting paid to the return trip envisioned. But if time was disappearing, and the “transcendental object at the end of time” was fast approaching, as his audience learned during his whirlwind Aussie adventure, McKenna was laughing all the way to the eschaton.

The background to the title of our exhibition is initially as
follows. Since the late 1940s, the term cybernetics has been
used to describe more or less self-regulating systems that
measure, anticipate, and react in order to intervene in
changing conditions. After its military beginnings, cyber-
netics was deployed first in technical, then in administrative
contexts; having started out in the field of complex ma-
chines, it moved into traffic planning, then urban and social
planning, criminology and—from the early 1970s—ecology.
At the postwar Macy Conferences, where ideas for advanc-
ing cybernetics were discussed, the attendees came to
include scientists from the humanities and the social and
natural sciences as well, among them Margaret Mead and
Gregory Bateson. Even then, the idea of self-regulating sys-
tems oscillated between a dystopian hypostasis of control
and surveillance, and a utopian idea of hierarchies and
hegemonies abolished within horizontal, universally accessi-
ble, and participatory social forms. Under digital capitalism,
however, the trade in anticipation has itself become profit-
able.

HOME QUEM SOMOS TEXTOS VÍDEOS PROJETOS ESPECIAIS DOCUMENTOS DA DITADURA LINHA DO TEMPO CONTATO 50 anos de "Milagre dos Peixes": Milton Nascimento e a censura João Teófilo • 23 de out. de 2023 • 10 min de leitura Efemérides são momentos estimulantes para revisitarmos acontecimentos, obras e personagens. A passagem do tempo nos confere um olhar aguçado que, não raro, evidencia a grandeza, o pioneirismo e a ousadia daquilo que foi produzido no passado. Ou, ao contrário, pode revelar que aquilo já considerado relevante em outros tempos pode ter envelhecido mal, não reunindo os atributos necessários para ser alçado ao panteão dos clássicos. Certamente, estes últimos aspectos não se aplicam ao disco Milagre dos Peixes, lançado por Milton Nascimento em 1973, no auge da ditadura militar. Passadas cinco décadas desde o seu lançamento, faço o convite para revisitarmos essa obra, avaliando não apenas seu potencial artístico, mas o que ela representou em um contexto histórico marcado pela censura e pela perseguição àqueles que desafiaram o regime. A censura às artes durante a ditadura Durante a ditadura militar, as manifestações artísticas consideradas subversivas foram alvo da Divisão de Censura de Diversões Públicas (DCDP), cujos censores avaliavam aquilo que poderia ou não ser publicado. É verdade que a censura não foi propriamente uma invenção dos militares, pois já vinha sendo praticada desde antes. No caso do regime implantado em 1964, tratava-se muito mais de uma adequação e não de uma criação (FICO, 2020). Diversos artistas tiveram seus trabalhos censurados no todo ou em parte; houve também aqueles que precisaram deixar o país em função da sistemática perseguição empreendida pelos órgãos de repressão -a exemplo do que ocorreu com Caetano Veloso e Gilberto Gil, que partiram para o exílio em Londres, no final dos anos 1960, por determinação dos militares (VELOSO, 2017). Aqueles que ficaram, como foi o caso de Milton Nascimento, amargaram a realidade de um país que sufocava cada vez mais os contrários à ordem vigente, tornando o seu ofício uma atividade que oferecia riscos não apenas às suas produções artísticas propriamente, mas também à sua própria integridade física. Depois do sucesso do álbum duplo Clube da Esquina, lançado em 1972 em parceria com Lô Borges -e eleito recentemente o maior álbum brasileiro de todos os tempos (ALEXANDRE et al., 2022) -, Milton começou a elaborar seu próximo disco, o Milagre dos Peixes, cujo título evidencia traços de oposição ao "milagre econômico" da ditadura. Naquele momento, a ditadura buscava embevecer a sociedade através de sua propaganda ufanista: "Brasil, ame-o ou deixe-o!" e "Ninguém segura esse país!". O regime vendia, por meio da televisão -que havia pouco tinha passado a transmitir em cores -, a imagem de um país grande, que estava a pleno vapor sob o comando dos militares (MARTINS, 2009). O engodo, no entanto, era denunciado, implicitamente, pelos versos de Fernando Brant, na faixa-título do disco: Fonte: Arquivo Nacional. Reprodução.

Los autores debaten la existencia de Culturas juveniles y movimientos contraculturales antes de los años sesenta. Tema de discusión entre algunos especialistas en estudios de la contracultura y la juventud desde la publicación de El nacimiento de una contracultura de Theodore Roszak (1968). Centradas en las juventudes aegentinas, chilenas, colombianas, españolas y mexicanas y mexicoamericanas, cada una de las contribuciones contenidas en el libro, ilustran y constrastan el efecto de las definiciones, expectativas e instituciones construidas desde una perspectiva adultocéntrica, en torno a las juventudes.

La chute de Nicolae Ceausescu en 1989 conduit a de fortes mobilisations intellectuelles pour la condamnation du regime communiste de Roumanie dans un contexte politique ou l’exercice du pouvoir est assure des 1990 par une formation composee d’anciens membres de la nomenklatura. Marginalise dans un premier temps, ces demandes de condamnation aboutissent au milieu des annees 2000 a l’officialisation d’un discours de criminalisation du passe par le chef de l’Etat fortement appuye dans sa demarche par une minorite d’historiens. Elle suit de pres a la declaration de reconnaissance par la Roumanie de sa participation a l’Holocauste durant la Deuxieme Guerre mondiale. Cette these interroge les recompositions politiques et intellectuelles qui se deploient apres 1989 sur le terrain des combats d’interpretation du passe pour montrer comment se structure un espace ou cet exercice d’exegese de l’histoire nationale devient consubstantiel a la legitimation democratique du nouveau regime.

RESUMO: Objetivamos neste artigo estudar a representação da identidade do artista brasileiro na contracultura, movimento global que surgiu no final da década de 1960 com o objetivo de agregar artistas e ativistas em torno da refutação dos valores da sociedade capitalista industrial. No terreno da estética, ela deu origem a um projeto que rompeu com as hierarquias, estabelecendo uma relação direta entre arte, vida cotidiana e ação política. Neste estudo, pretendemos evidenciar a identidade do artista da contracultura. O artigo está dividido em três partes: na primeira, apontamos as raízes históricas da contracultura; na segunda, falamos de seu projeto estético; na terceira, discutimos a identidade do artista.

Esta ponencia es un avance de la investigación Hacia una pedagogía de la Dignidad, la cual estoy realizando como trabajo de titulación
de la Maestría en Ciencias Sociales, con orientación en Estudios Latinoamericanos de
la Benemérita Universidad de Guadalajara.

Lesser-Known Language and Culture: An Anthropolinguistic Perspective on the Preservation and Revitalization with Special Reference to the Kamtapuri/Rajbanshi Language [অল্পপরিচিত ভাষা ও সংস্কৃতি: কামতাপুরি-রাজবংশী ভাষার বিশেষ প্রেক্ষিতে সংরক্ষণ ও পুনরুজ্জীবনের  নৃ-ভাষাত্ত্বিক দৃষ্টিভঙ্গি]

Autores: Mikel Xabier Aizpuru Murua, José Antonio Ardanza Garro, Joseba Arruti, Jon Azua, Juan Baños, Patxi Baztarrika, Ander Bergara Sautua, José Berruezo, José Luis Bilbao Eguren, Josep Lluís Carod-Rovira, Carles Checa Granja, Nino Dentici, Xabier Egaña, ...

O artigo analisa os festivais Dia da Criação (1972) e Hollywood Rock (1975), realizados no Rio de Janeiro durante a ditadura militar, compreendidos como expressões da contracultura. Explorando a influência de eventos internacionais, como Woodstock, e características como gestão amadora e rejeição ao modelo competitivo, os festivais reuniram públicos alternativos e artistas locais, tencionando os limites do controle estatal. Sob vigilância, atuaram como vetores de práticas contraculturais, promovendo comportamentos contrários ao autoritarismo. O estudo revela como esses eventos, mesmo em contexto repressivo, possibilitaram negociações com as autoridades e fomentaram expressões artísticas de oposição. Também são apontadas hipóteses para compreender os festivais e suas ambiguidades.

“Forse il nostro problema oggi è scoprire che il sé non è altro
che un correlato storico delle tecnologie incorporate nella nostra
storia. Forse il problema è cambiare quelle tecnologie”. Questo
libro prende in seria considerazione tale ipotesi, formulata così
da Michel Foucault in una conferenza del 1980, interrogando la
possibilità di considerare sostanze psicotrope quali droghe e
psicofarmaci come “tecnologie del sé”, ovvero dispositivi in grado
di dare luogo a nuove forme di soggettività dal significato
intrinsecamente politico.

Abstract: Conceptual Art and the Cinematic Philosophy of Point Break
Point Break, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, transcends its surface identity as an adrenaline-fueled action film to embody a cinematic expression of conceptual art. Conceptual art prioritizes ideas over aesthetics, and Point Break similarly elevates philosophical inquiry over plot mechanics, using extreme sports and criminal subversion as metaphors for existential freedom.

At its core, the film interrogates the duality between law and liberation, embodied in the relationship between FBI agent Johnny Utah and surfer-philosopher Bodhi. Bodhi’s rejection of societal norms and pursuit of the sublime through surfing, skydiving, and spiritual rebellion echoes conceptual art’s challenge to institutional boundaries. His mantra—“The only law that matters is gravity”—functions as a conceptual statement, stripping away narrative realism to expose a deeper metaphysical truth.

The film’s visual language—waves, flight, and elemental forces—serves as symbolic media, akin to installations or performance art. Bodhi’s final act, riding a death wave, becomes a living artwork, a gesture of pure concept: the human spirit confronting nature’s immensity.

Thus, Point Break can be read not merely as a genre piece, but as a conceptual artwork in motion, where the medium is cinema and the message is transcendence.

Recovering the contrariety of the pedagogical approaches of Ram Dass and Agehananda Bharati during the first sessions of Naropa University in 1974, this chapter proposes a framework for contemplative education grounded in a historical awareness and reflexive embrace of the countercultural lineages that were critical to its formation. Assessing the pedagogical liabilities of Ram Dass’s perennialism by counterposing it with Agehananda’s clarion call for non-eclectic study and practice of South Asian religious traditions brings to light a possible rapprochement of their sensibilities. This involves contextualizing India’s religious traditions while remaining open to their embodied practices, aesthetic visions, and ways of knowing, and, in a further step, historicizing the emergence of contemplative education itself. In a pluralistic educational setting, such a contemplative pedagogy recaptures an important element of the structure of traditions whose metaphysical claims are necessarily bracketed; namely, a sense of lineage. Articulating a
countercultural lineage that frames students’ own lives and participatory engagement makes it possible for them to connect to an intergenerational process that informs but extends beyond their own individual vocational aspirations.

The author describes the history of some periodicals of the 1960s from his collection. The main focus is on literary magazines related to the Beat Generation and the New York School of Poets: 'Two Cities', 'Big Table', 'Evergreen Review', and 'Locus Solus'. Each of them presented readers with its own view of the counterculture in the US and other countries, becoming integral part of the 1960s history.

In this article, Fred discusses his ideas with Petar Jandrić. Petar is an educator, researcher and activist. He published three books, several dozens of scholarly articles and chapters, and numerous popular articles. Petar's books have been published in Croatian, English and Serbian. He regularly participates in national and international educational projects and policy initiatives. Petar's background is in physics, education and information science, and his research interests are situated at the post-disciplinary intersections between technologies, pedagogies and the society. Petar worked at

　本稿は、1992年の映画「天使にラブソングを…」（原題: Sister Act）を、単なる心温まる融和の物語としてではなく、ポスト・レーガン時代のアメリカが抱える社会的・文化的矛盾に対する批評的応答として読み解くことを目的とする。分析にあたり、ミシェル・フーコーの権力論、ミハイル・バフチンのポリフォニーおよびカーニバル理論、ジャック・デリダの歓待の倫理などを理論的支柱として援用する。
　まず、主人公デロリスが置かれる、ギャングが支配する俗世の「偽りのアジール」と、規律・権力が支配する修道院という「監獄としてのアジール」という二重の閉塞構造を定義する。次に、周縁に追いやられたデロリスがトリックスターとして機能し、聖歌隊の改革を通じて、多様な声が対等に共存する「ポリフォニックな共同体」を創出する過程を分析する。さらに、聖歌とポピュラー音楽を衝突させるカーニバル的実践が、聖／俗の二項対立をいかに転覆させ、修道院を外部に開かれた「生けるアジール」へと変貌させるかを示す。
　最終章では、この共同体がアメリカの国民的統合神話である「人種のるつぼ」を批評的に脱構築する様を論じる。本作が提示するユートピアは、差異を溶解させる同化主義ではなく、多様なアイデンティティが共存する、より困難な共同体のヴィジョンである。
　しかし、本稿はこうした批評的可能性を称揚するだけで終わらない。結論として、このラディカルな批評的エネルギーが、ハリウッドという巨大な文化産業の論理と、音楽がもたらす圧倒的なカタルシスによって、いかに「無害な」エンターテインメントとして回収されてしまうかという、テクストの自己言及的な「敗北」の構造を指摘する。本作の真の批評性とは、そのラディカルな試みと、それが不可避的に敗北していくプロセスの全体を克明に描ききった点にあると結論づける。


This paper analyzes the 1992 film Sister Act not as a simple, heartwarming tale of reconciliation, but as a critical response to the social and cultural contradictions of post-Reagan America. The analysis draws upon a theoretical framework that includes Michel Foucault's concepts of power, Mikhail Bakhtin's theories of polyphony and carnival, and Jacques Derrida's ethics of hospitality.
The paper first defines the dual confinement of the protagonist, Deloris, who is trapped between the "false asylum" of the secular gangster world and the "asylum as prison" of the convent, a space of disciplinary power. It then examines how Deloris, relegated to the periphery, acts as a cultural trickster, transforming the choir and fostering a "polyphonic community" where diverse voices coexist as equals. Through a carnivalesque practice that clashes sacred hymns with popular music, she subverts the sacred/secular binary, turning the convent into a vibrant, "living asylum" open to the outside world.
The final chapter argues that this community critically deconstructs the American national myth of the "melting pot." The utopia presented in the film is not one of assimilation that dissolves differences, but a more challenging vision of a community where diverse identities coexist.
However, the paper does not end on a celebratory note. It concludes by highlighting the text's self-referential "defeat": how its radical critical potential is ultimately neutralized and reappropriated as "harmless" entertainment by the logic of the Hollywood culture industry and the overwhelming catharsis of its musical finale. The true critical value of Sister Act, this paper argues, lies in its meticulous depiction of this entire process—both the radical attempt at deconstruction and its beautiful, inevitable failure.

Vaya jodido mundo en el que vivimos, sentencia Juan Soto en esta nueva entrega de su 'Modus Vivendi' . Una época y ni cuenta nos dimos. El 'sistema' ha sabido asimilar el espíritu de que alguna vez contagió a la cultura, convertirlo en simulación y mercancía. El mejor ejemplo de está la música. El facturando millones haciéndose pasar por subversivo, pero hasta la estética del punk ya parece humor involuntario. "Si hoy las grupo los Ramones se venden tapujos en los Walmart, tener la certeza de que algo en nuestra cultura no funciona bien".

En la década de los 70 diversos movimientos sociales protagonizaron
importantes luchas para el reconocimiento de sus derechos y el ejercicio de estos. Grupos minoritarios excluidos alzaron su voz y exigieron un cambio que germinó en esa década y siguen su crecimiento hasta nuestros días. En la presente reflexión teórica, se hace un recuento del surgimiento, evolución e influencia de las diversas minorías que se configuraron para visibilizar realidades, que ya existían en la sociedad, pero sencillamente eran desconocidas, ignoradas o acalladas. Se busca describir y explicar el inicio de los movimientos sociales en el contexto histórico que incluye finales de los sesenta y la década de los setenta. También, determinar la influencia que tuvieron estos movimientos en el reconocimiento de los derechos humanos de los grupos en condición de vulnerabilidad y cómo, a partir de ellos, se logran cambios en las leyes de diversos países. Se realiza una investigación teórica-descriptiva a través de la revisión documental para obtener información de distinta naturaleza que ilustra el contexto histórico social de la época. Posteriormente, se hace uso de la investigación explicativa, ya que esta permite encontrar la relación existente entre diversas causas y efectos de un fenómeno específico, de esta forma es posible conocer las razones del surgimiento de los movimientos sociales y cómo han evolucionado hasta volverse actores activos.

Il testo descrive il fenomeno della GI Press, una forma di stampa underground realizzata da giovani militari americani durante la guerra del Vietnam. Queste pubblicazioni, spesso anonime e distribuite fuori dai canali ufficiali, sono parte integrante della underground press e hanno avuto un forte impatto sull’opinione pubblica, soprattutto negli anni Sessanta e Settanta. L’analisi di queste riviste dimostra come le voci dal fronte e la controcultura editoriale abbiano contribuito a influenzare profondamente il dibattito politico e culturale, sia negli Stati Uniti che altrove.

Il saggio analizza l’opera di Max Capa, figura emblematica del fumetto underground italiano, mettendola in relazione con il concetto di realismo capitalista. Attraverso un confronto con il pensiero critico contemporaneo, il testo evidenzia come i lavori di Capa denuncino il disagio sociale e psicologico della modernità, offrendo al contempo una visione utopica e collettiva di resistenza. Il fumetto diventa così strumento di critica, linguaggio sovversivo e possibilità di immaginare nuove forme di comunità.

This article uses archival research to analyse the text, aesthetics and impact of two little poetry magazines of the early 1960s: Poetmeat edited by Dave Cunliffe and Tina Morris, and Jeff Nuttall’s My Own Mag. Building upon previous studies which show the part small press publications played in distributing innovative US verse and the influence that had upon UK poetry, it illustrates how the experimentalism of Poetmeat and My Own Mag contributed to this process. This research builds on my own book Hidden Culture, Forgotten History (2017), James Charnley’s recent Nuttall biography Anything but Dull (2022) as well as the work of art historian Andrew Wilson and academic Gillian Whiteley to argue that the production of these two journals pursued a political as well as a cultural agenda. I contend that little poetry magazines went beyond the dissemination of avant-garde verse, illustrating how the experimentalism carried by the two journals was part of a process which bridged the gap separating different artforms, the development by which conceptualism later came to the fore. Further, it proposes that the cut-ups of William Burroughs were key to this transformation. Finally, the article concludes by raising questions about the behaviour of Cunliffe and Nuttall which may explain their continuing obscurity.

The “Re-Constructing Perestroika(s): In Search of a new Vocabulary for the Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia” workshop took place at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, March 14-15, 2024. It is the first in a series of events planned under the aegis of the Perestroika from Below, project, which is funded by an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC) with Juliane Fürst (Leibniz Center for Contemporary History (ZZF, Potsdam) as Principal Investigator. As the name suggests, the project challenges the conventional Moscow-centric understanding of Perestroika as enacted from above with its narrow focus on the political and cultural elites and institutional dynamics. Instead, it seeks to expand accepted chronology and geography, by considering Perestroika as a longer period that started prior to 1986 and continued well into the 1990s and, perhaps, even beyond, and which was not limited to the USSR, but rather manifested itself across Central and Eastern Europe under various other terminologies, including but not limited to “changes”, “transformation”, “transition”, and “reform”, each term with its own merits and limitations. By bringing into the conversation other, less studied and often ignored actors, ideas and debates, the project focuses on people's thoughts, feelings and actions, and the complex social processes that shaped lived the experience(s) of Perestroika. 

Early on, the project established a very productive intellectual partnership with scholars working on Perestroika-related topics at the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague) and Georgetown University (Washington D.C.). The Prague workshop, co-organized by the three institutions, is the first, but not the last product of this cooperation and will be followed by Processing Perestroika (to be held at Georgetown University) and Appropriating Perestroika (to be held at ZZF, Potsdam).

Хроника научной жизни кова. Жолковский сказал, что он с интересом изучает публикации представителей этой школы, однако полностью согласиться с ними не может, потому что их предположения, в сущности, не подтверждаются ничем, кроме энтузиазма самих авторов.