Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Theorists in the sociology of culture have addressed the process through which cultural objects come to have meaning; and how they succeed or fail in a marketplace of potentially resonant ideas. The recent controversy around the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana's mascot provides a good site to examine such theoretical questions. Since 1989, their Indian-themed mascot, Chief Illiniwek, has become the epicenter of local, state, and national attention about the meaning and appropriate uses of race-related symbols. Analyzing Chief Illiniwek from Griswold's “cultural diamond” perspective, I examine how two groups of cultural receivers constructed and forwarded meanings of the symbol-as either an honored tradition or legacy of cultural oppression-to rally support for their position to keep or retire the Chief.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: What was the role Paul Revere played in the making of the Revolution? His “genius” was in his being a bridge par excellence: He was a social bridge that spanned the various chasms and an organizational bridge that connected disparate elements of the movement. The effectiveness of the bridge he provided in linking the micro-level interactions to the macro-level mobilization was due to its high multiplexity and the ways in which it was embedded in the structural context of the time. This is the other ride of Paul Revere, i.e., the ride across the “structural holes.” I review the literature on social networks and social movements and reassess the concept of bridge, or network brokerage. The substantive materials are presented in two parts. First, I discuss the social structure in New England of the eighteenth century, focusing on its stratification structure in particular and Revere’s place in it. Second, I examine the organizational structure of the Revolutionary movement and analyze the role Revere played in the mobilization process. Lastly, I sum up the findings and consider their substantive and theoretical implications.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The swastika traces its origin to the genesis of human civilization and has been used as a religious symbol across centuries and geographical boundaries. The swastika has an infamous connotation in the Western world today being associated with Nazism and the horrors of Holocaust. Yet its positive meaning in Eastern cultures and its usage as a religious motif have sustained. The study conducts textual analysis of 18 American online forums, nine personal homepages and blogs that discuss the symbolic significance and the future of the swastika in the West with reference to a proposed ban of the swastika by the European Union in 2005. The paper aims to analyze the symbolic significance of the swastika among a Western (namely US) audience and examines the motivations of a negative interpretation of the swastika by the latter. The paper examines the negotiation of meaning-making of the swastika among the Western audiences at multiple levels and the latter’s utilization of possible binary oppositions for classifying Eastern religious symbols. Overall, the oppositional viewpoints encompassed in the online forums, which include many visceral reactions to the swastika itself, provide a unique opportunity to delineate evolving cultural outlooks in a multiracial society.