Go Go Gadget TWIB-IV backlog!
Apr. 25th, 2010 05:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanFrom the week of February 8-14, 2010.
1) Soft Power Superpowers - Yasushi Watanabe & David L. McConnell (eds.)
The term “soft power” was coined by Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye to describe the non-military, non-economic ways in which nation-states shape the preferences of other nation-states. Soft Power Superpowers is in turn an anthology of papers presented on the topic at two symposiums held in 2005. Although the quality of the individual papers varies widely (as is the case in most such anthologies), the book is generally worth the read for anyone interested in soft power or the popular culture of the United States or Japan. Standout chapters include David L. McConnell’s look at the JET Programme, Matthew Fraser’s examination of American culture as soft power, Nakano Yoshiko’s study of Japanese pop culture in China, and William G. Crowell’s explanation of the U.S. Department of State’s public diplomacy programs in Japan. Other chapters on baseball in U.S.-Japan relations and anti-American sentiment in Japan (for instance), while interesting, could have been tied more directly to the volume’s topic. The chapters on Japan’s creative industries and Japanese public diplomacy in the United States, however, were essentially opinion pieces with little rigorous academic content. (And PS: Anne Allison—while I generally enjoy your writing, claiming Avatar: The Last Airbender is a television show that projects the “image and aura of Japan” = extreme research FAIL!)1 The volume is an overall engaging read, although the steep price tag should probably make it a library loaner for anyone not specialising in the topic.
1Just because I love to geek on this show, Avatar actually presents the image and aura of Tang/Ming/Qing-dynasty China, except with Inuits and female ninja in kabuki face paint, plus the occasional hanbok thrown in for good measure.
1) The Seeds of Speech - Jean Aitchinson
According to its author, The Seeds of Speech was written as a basic introduction summarising modern research into the origins of human language. Unfortunately, while it is at times an interesting read, I find myself unable to wholeheartedly recommend it for the following reasons.
First is the prose. For someone writing about language, Aitchinson certainly seems tone deaf to it. She has a single sentence pattern, involving the use of short clauses, never varying in length, linked together with commas, which she constantly employs, over and over, paragraph after paragraph, page after page. Now, imagine reading a whole book of sentences like the one I just wrote above. Quite frankly, it’s exhausting.
Then there is the quality of the research. Aitchinson essentially set out to write a book-length literature review, but good literature reviews actually summarise the literature instead of merely stating, “Author A wrote B about Subject C. Author D disagrees with him,” which is what Aitchinson does all too frequently, without really explaining what Subject C, let alone B, are about. In other words, simply knowing that Chomsky has written about sentence structure does readers no good unless they also know what he wrote about it. And as a corollary, if I pick up an introductory text on linguistics, I want quotations from actual linguists on the points in question, not passages from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or other popular fiction.
Finally, there are the chapter “summaries,” which, judging from the disjointed wording and disjunction between the actual content of the chapter and the content of the summary, appear to have been compiled with the eponymous MS Word function. I don’t necessarily regret reading The Sounds of Speech, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’d have learned more about basic linguistics by reading relevant Wikipedia articles instead.
That will be all.
1) Soft Power Superpowers - Yasushi Watanabe & David L. McConnell (eds.)
The term “soft power” was coined by Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye to describe the non-military, non-economic ways in which nation-states shape the preferences of other nation-states. Soft Power Superpowers is in turn an anthology of papers presented on the topic at two symposiums held in 2005. Although the quality of the individual papers varies widely (as is the case in most such anthologies), the book is generally worth the read for anyone interested in soft power or the popular culture of the United States or Japan. Standout chapters include David L. McConnell’s look at the JET Programme, Matthew Fraser’s examination of American culture as soft power, Nakano Yoshiko’s study of Japanese pop culture in China, and William G. Crowell’s explanation of the U.S. Department of State’s public diplomacy programs in Japan. Other chapters on baseball in U.S.-Japan relations and anti-American sentiment in Japan (for instance), while interesting, could have been tied more directly to the volume’s topic. The chapters on Japan’s creative industries and Japanese public diplomacy in the United States, however, were essentially opinion pieces with little rigorous academic content. (And PS: Anne Allison—while I generally enjoy your writing, claiming Avatar: The Last Airbender is a television show that projects the “image and aura of Japan” = extreme research FAIL!)1 The volume is an overall engaging read, although the steep price tag should probably make it a library loaner for anyone not specialising in the topic.
1Just because I love to geek on this show, Avatar actually presents the image and aura of Tang/Ming/Qing-dynasty China, except with Inuits and female ninja in kabuki face paint, plus the occasional hanbok thrown in for good measure.
1) The Seeds of Speech - Jean Aitchinson
According to its author, The Seeds of Speech was written as a basic introduction summarising modern research into the origins of human language. Unfortunately, while it is at times an interesting read, I find myself unable to wholeheartedly recommend it for the following reasons.
First is the prose. For someone writing about language, Aitchinson certainly seems tone deaf to it. She has a single sentence pattern, involving the use of short clauses, never varying in length, linked together with commas, which she constantly employs, over and over, paragraph after paragraph, page after page. Now, imagine reading a whole book of sentences like the one I just wrote above. Quite frankly, it’s exhausting.
Then there is the quality of the research. Aitchinson essentially set out to write a book-length literature review, but good literature reviews actually summarise the literature instead of merely stating, “Author A wrote B about Subject C. Author D disagrees with him,” which is what Aitchinson does all too frequently, without really explaining what Subject C, let alone B, are about. In other words, simply knowing that Chomsky has written about sentence structure does readers no good unless they also know what he wrote about it. And as a corollary, if I pick up an introductory text on linguistics, I want quotations from actual linguists on the points in question, not passages from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or other popular fiction.
Finally, there are the chapter “summaries,” which, judging from the disjointed wording and disjunction between the actual content of the chapter and the content of the summary, appear to have been compiled with the eponymous MS Word function. I don’t necessarily regret reading The Sounds of Speech, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’d have learned more about basic linguistics by reading relevant Wikipedia articles instead.
That will be all.
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no subject
on 2010-04-24 11:01 pm (UTC)As for the image and aura of Japan, the Kyoshi Warriors only had one episodes. Sure, Suki was around more, but I think she only had one or two more episodes where she was in full garb. If anything, I would have thought the Tibetan aspect of Aang's monk life got the most attention. Oh, and the Inuit had a few episodes too during the Book of Water season.
Oh yeah, analyzing Avatar academically. I fear this will be watered down and washed out when M. Night Shyamalan's movie comes out...
no subject
on 2010-04-25 07:42 pm (UTC)And yup, I completely forgot to mention Aang's Tibetan connections. But even still, both the Fire and Earth Kingdoms were based on mainland Chinese culture...and that makes up half of the entire show.
I'm wondering if they're holding off on Shyamalan's movie because of all the attention the other Avatar is getting these days. I really fear for his ability to get all three seasons into 120 minutes, too.
no subject
on 2010-04-25 11:56 pm (UTC)I was so happy that Avatar knew when to quit. I like it when shows have a definite beginning, middle, and end, which Avatar did. That's why when folks tell me that the beginning is slow, I encourage them to keep pushing, because the middle is better than the beginning, and the end is better than the middle. I feel ya on the now Book of Air, though it would be kind depressing since everyone is dead. I think the whole "series of flashbacks" idea would have only worked for so long.
I also agree about the Chinese culture. Still, it's kinda nice when they throw another culture in there, because then it's like, "Ooooh, shiny new Asian cultural reference." At least, that's how it was for me, but I'm a nerd and I know it. :D
Shyamalan's movie is due out July 2, and it's supposedly the first of three. Like most folks who are wary of this movie, it's the race!fail that gets me the most. Of course, the Fire Nation is represented by dark-skinned Indians, while the Air Nomads and the Water Tribe are fair-skinned white folks. It's like, totally the wrong parts of Asia man.
no subject
on 2010-04-29 06:48 pm (UTC)The thing about Avatar is that I didn't think it was slow at all. I mean, it kicks off with insanae Fire Nation trackers and some bokke kid who came out of an iceberg, for crying out loud! As far as a potential Book of Air goes, I was kinda hoping the Air Nomads resembled Tibetan Buddhists over ethnic Tibetans, in the sense that anyone could become an Air Nomad provided they left home and underwent the training. So I was hoping Aang would be able to start repopulating the temples, in other words.
because then it's like, "Ooooh, shiny new Asian cultural reference." At least, that's how it was for me, but I'm a nerd and I know it. :D
In-jokes for nerds, yup!
Shyamalan's movie is due out July 2
Wow, I had no idea it was going to be so soon. Either they're really worried about not having it associated with Cameron's Avatar, or I'm entirely out of the advertising loop.
Like most folks who are wary of this movie, it's the race!fail that gets me the most. Of course, the Fire Nation is represented by dark-skinned Indians, while the Air Nomads and the Water Tribe are fair-skinned white folks.
There's not enough FAIL in my keyboard for this. One of the things I really appreciated about Avatar (aside from the awesome writing) was that it wasn't just a bunch of Caucasians running around solving things, because you get that with every other series there is. And it was a hit anyway. Which just goes to show that Shyamalan is way, way stupider than his audience.
no subject
on 2010-04-25 02:18 am (UTC)..glad to see more book reviews. :)
no subject
on 2010-04-25 07:45 pm (UTC)Thanks:)