Brian Shoesmith

Recalling Things Past: an Introduction to Continuum

The 20th volume of Continuum is quite an event for me and all the other people associated with the journal over the years. When Tom O’Regan and I decided to begin the journal we did not anticipate its lasting 10 years, let alone 20, and now it seems it will continue beyond this magic number, 20. To celebrate the achievement we decided to invite the people who either edited the journal in its early phases or contributed to the first volume to write for this issue. They were given a brief to write on anything they liked and there was no theme or obligation to write about the journal. Most of the writers have provided work that reflects their current research interests or passions but two chose to write about their early experience of Continuum. Alec McHoul and Toby Miller, who worked on the journal when it was based at Murdoch University, give their version of events surrounding the editing of the journal, which I find illuminating because they provide insights into situations of which I was unaware. I am also chuffed both that they agreed so readily to contribute and with the generosity of their respective assessments. Their comments also give me the opportunity to give my account of the formation and workings of the journal. Tom O’Regan and I first met in Brisbane where I was attending a conference, and we stayed in touch. When he took up a position at Murdoch University we began to work together on a number of projects. Together we organized ‘The Moving Image’ exhibition at the Alexander Library, which led to the publication of The Moving Image: The History of Film and Television in Western Australia—1896 to 1985 (1985). We also organized the Fourth Film and History Conference in Perth, which led to the publication of History in/and/on Film (1986). In addition we organized a symposium entitled ‘Imaging Western Australia’, which unfortunately did not lead to a publication despite the quality of the papers. In all cases we found that we enjoyed working together, it was not too difficult to raise money for sponsorship and there was quite a lot of institutional support. While all of this was happening the Australian Journal of Screen Studies had unfortunately folded and the Australian Journal of Cultural Studies had transformed itself into Cultural Studies and migrated to the United Kingdom. We

Encounters with civilizations: From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa

Gezim Alpion has become something of a minor celebrity in recent times since he decided to write about Mother Theresa, which probably suggests something about the hold she still has on the modern imaginary rather than a comment on Alpion. However, it must be pointed out from the beginning that Alpion wrote about Mother Theresa as part of his larger agenda – to rescue the reputation of his homeland from the clutches of the populist press in the United Kingdom. Like Mother Theresa, Alpion is an Albanian and it is this shared link, or ethnicity, that motivated him to write about her life and work and above all her reputation. After all, she is the most famous Albanian since Alexander – or so it seems. I should disclose that I first came across Alpion when he submitted an essay on Mother Theresa for consideration to Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, which I edited at the time, and we subsequently published. I was struck by his balanced approach to a topic that interested me as I was then researching and writing about Pentecostalism and the charismatic church in India. Alpion’s take on Mother Theresa is a long way away from Pentecostalism but there can be little doubt that Mother Theresa is charismatic, having captured the imagination of a large number of commentators, both deeply admiring and extremely hostile, over the years. But there is more than just Mother Theresa to Encounters with Civilizations. The book consists of five parts linked by Alpion’s desire to recover Albania from the clutches of misunderstanding. What’s interesting about the project is that the author takes an adventurous path. The work includes academic essays, an imagined interview with a long-dead Khedive of Egypt, and a play set in contemporary England that has been developed and performed to acclaim. It deals with Albania, Egypt, England and the West generally. Linking them all together are the concerns about ethnicity, identity and place, not in a dry academic sense but on a grand scale. Alpion writes on a large canvas about a small nation, which allows for vigour as well as insight. The author, in describing the plight of Albania, also describes his own journey in life from his home country, through Egypt, ending up in the United Kingdom. Section 1 deals with Albania and includes two essays, one on Kosova. The second section deals with Egypt, the third is about the United Kingdom and the final sections deals with India, more specifically Calcutta (Kolkata as it now is) and Mother Theresa. There is also a coda that discusses ethnicity in an academic setting. In addition to Alpion’s work there are two essays by the volume’s editor Gaston Roberge, who has lived in Calcutta for over 30 years and knew Mother Theresa well. Roberge is a Jesuit priest who has taught film and communication at St Xavier’s College, University of Calcutta, for a number of years and who founded Chitra Bani, the research centre that has done much to secure the reputation of Satyajit Ray. The two sections that interest me most are those on Egypt and the United Kingdom. Alpion shows that there has been a long association between Albania and Egypt. Indeed,

E-Democracy: Media-Liminal Space in the Era of Age Compression

In this chapter, the authors will look at the ideas of e-government and e-governance and practical examples of how new media are being used to enhance decision-making in democratic societies. The authors argue that the learning environments that have emerged from interactive entertainment and other contexts signal a change in the nature and role of liminality-the transition to citizen and civic engagement-in modern society.

Book Reviews : ZHA Jianming, China Pop: How Soap Operas, Tabloids, and Bestsellers Are Transforming a Culture. New York: The New Press 1995. 210 pp. ISBN: 1-56584-249-9

been de-emphasised. Certainly there can be little doubt that editorial authority should have been exercised in a few crucial areas. The author frequently overstates the extent of the &dquo;proof’ he provides through statistical analysis. Appeals to positivism will find purchase with some in the field of area studies, but they will not be universally acceptable, and given that each such appeal is a gratuitous insult to those who do not share

Book Reviews : Rey CHOW, Primitive Passions: Visuality, Sexuality, Ethnography and Contempo rary Chinese Cinema. New York: Columbia University Press 1995. ISBN: 0-231-07683-5 (pbk). 253 pp., with index

rise to power as the details of its organization and functioning. In analyzing the state apparatus, he makes a point of distinguishing thc &dquo;real&dquo; state institutions, i.e., the administration, from the &dquo;fonnal&dquo; ones, such as the people’s assemblies and the President. As regards the army. after having explained the development of the defense policy and of the army’s rolc in Chinese society, the author examines the evolution of the ~Umy’v place in the Chinese political system. His expllnation of the arrny’s clout in the political decision-making process is particularly interesting. Here again, the perspective adopted is broad, with constant attention being paid to the changes since 1949, the administrative traditions of prc-1940 China, and M~uxinLeninist political thinking, and much emphasis on the importance of both written and non-written rules. The work is, moreover, hased on extensive source materials, is