Changing politics, changing language

Language learning and language culture in a changing world

To  communicate  effectively,  learners  have  to  become  proficient  in  both  the  language  and  the culture of the target language.  Being aware of socio-cultural frameworks does not mean that as an outcome of instruction learners have to become "native-like," but an awareness of L2 cultural norms can allow learners to make their own informed choices of how to become competent and astute l...

Information Politics, Pollution Geography, and Changing Riskscapes

This paper reports on initial findings of a research project that examines the effects of information disclosure policies on environmental decisionmaking, specifically, actions related to control of toxic chemical emissions in the United States. The project seeks to determine why some companies do more to reduce toxic chemical pollution than others and why some communities encourage such pollut...

Changing language, remaining pygmy.

In this article I am illustrating the linguistic diversity of African Pygmy populations in order to better address their anthropological diversity and history. I am also introducing a new method, based on the analysis of specialized vocabulary, to reconstruct the substratum of some languages they speak. I show that Pygmy identity is not based on their languages, which have often been borrowed f...

Immigration and the Changing Politics of Europe

The changing process and politics of health policy in Korea.

Korea recently introduced three major health care reforms: in financing (1999), pharmaceuticals (2000), and provider payment (2001). In these three reforms, new government policies merged more than 350 health insurance societies into a single payer, separated drug prescribing by physicians from dispensing by pharmacists, and attempted to introduce a new prospective payment system. This essay co...