On the evening of June 17th, 2015, Dylann Roof joined a Bible study at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston South Carolina. It is known as Mother Emanuel because it is the church from which all subsequent African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregations sprang. The AME church was the first independent black denomination in the United States, and it was founded by slaves and freed slaves in Charleston, the port through which more than one third of all enslaved Africans entered the United States. Roof was welcomed into their Bible study. He participated for an hour before standing up, pulling a Glock 45, and shouting, “I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go” (Borden, Horwitz, Markon 2015). Nine people were killed. Three others survived their wounds. The next day, after his arrest, Dylann Roof, wearing a jacket with the flags of Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa, told police he had gone to Mother Emanuel in the hopes of starting a race war.

While it would be wrong to claim that Dylann Roof is typical, his act and his discourse are hardly a fluke. Racial violence has been a persistent part of the American imaginary from the founding of the country to the present: from slavery to the oftrepeated necessity to conquer, suppress, or annihilate the Native American population; to Donald Trump's campaign announcement that declared Mexican rapists were swarming across the border (“Leo Frank” 2018; Davis 2001: 280; Rushdy 2012: 123). Dylann Roof in Charleston, Robert Gregory Bowers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Charlottesville march, and David Duke are symptoms of a deep and persistent racism that has haunted American culture. In December 1890, a few days before the bloody massacre of 300 unarmed men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and shortly after the murder of the Lakota holy man, Sitting Bull, L. Frank Baum, the beloved author of such children's classics as the Wizard of Oz opined in the Aberdeen, South Dakota newspaper he edited, the Saturday Pioneer:

This chapter delves into a crucial aspect of the existing research on nationalism in China, highlighting a notable issue that has emerged. The prevailing approach has tended to examine Chinese nationalistic sentiments as a unified whole, neglecting the inherent complexity and diversity within this phenomenon. Taking such a holistic perspective is overly simplistic and fails to account for the multifaceted nature of Chinese nationalists’ motivations and actions.

To rectify this oversight, it is imperative to categorize the various manifestations of consumer nationalism in China based on a range of indices. By doing so, we can gain a more nuanced understanding of this complex phenomenon. Therefore, this chapter aims to explore the distinct types of consumer nationalistic actions observed in China and elucidate the varying consequences associated with each type. In order to substantiate this argument, the chapter will present several illustrative cases.

The central contention put forth in this chapter is that contemporary consumer nationalism in China can be effectively classified into three distinct types, each engendering a different level of consequences. By differentiating these types, we can discern the specific motivations, behaviors, and outcomes associated with each category. This nuanced approach not only enriches our comprehension of consumer nationalism in China but also contributes to a more comprehensive analysis of nationalism studies in general.

Mapping the Field

Nationalism, as a widely acknowledged sentiment shaping both public and private spheres, has been prevalent since the late eighteenth century. Its influence on global politics can be understood through the concept of identifying the state or nation with its people. However, to grasp the concept of “consumer nationalism,” it is essential to differentiate it from related terms such as economic nationalism, commercial nationalism, consumer ethnocentrism, political consumerism, and consumer nationalism.

Economic nationalism

The term “economic nationalism” has a historical origin that can be traced back to the early twentieth century. It gained recognition through the works of notable economists and scholars who examined the concept in depth. One of the earliest instances of using this term can be attributed to American economist Alvin Johnson in 1917, who is renowned as one of the cofounders of the New School for Social Research.

In 1994, Derrida published the Politics of Friendship, a major work that followed on the heels of 1993's Specters of Marx and Khora. The latter two, while generally considered among Derrida's most important statements on Marx and Plato, were also, as he acknowledges, long deferred continuations of dialogues begun in his seminar twenty years prior. As I have shown (2016: chapter 2), Specters of Marx and Khora while possessed of undoubtedly complex genealogies, in many ways represent a settling of accounts with Julia Kristeva, Philippe Sollers, and the editorial collective that surrounded the avantgarde journal, Tel Quel. In the early 1970s, in the wake of the failed May 68 student uprising in Paris, political turmoil swept the lecture halls and seminar rooms of France. Many, searching for an authentically revolutionary alternative to the failed model of Soviet Marxism, turned to Mao's theory of cultural revolution. When Derrida refused to commit himself, there was a quiet but decisive break with Tel Quel. As a result, the once fast friends, Derrida, Sollers, and Kristeva, never spoke again, even once Sollers and Kristeva renounced politics upon their return from China (de Nooy 1998: 79–80, 90–91; Peeters 2010: 221–22, 263–292, 419–20).

Appendix

Historical Aspects

Accurate English spelling occurred when Gutenburg invented the printing press (Gutenburg 1439), as spelling was standardized because the printing press demanded that word spellings were consistent. Derivations of foreign words retained their spelling and did not exhibit different phonemes as pronunciation changed. Conspire and conspiracy retained the spelling of the root though pronunciation changed. English has many words with this phenomenon, which gives meaning constancy to the derivatives.

Spelling has an unusual place in the school curriculum. In the early days of the United States, spelling and orthography were subjects taught just as reading. Accurate spelling was considered a mark of an educated person. Spelling was taught with a linguistic approach for decades. As reading instruction became more phonetic, spelling maintained the linguistic approach. This was a wise decision, as language components of spelling are more linguistic than phonetic. Classes for spelling are vanishing from curriculums in the United States. Some school systems across the states do not teach formal spelling because of technological advances in computers and spell-checking algorithms. Adequate instruction is not available for students who need it. This led to many teachers who are poor spellers. Today, there appears to be a general professional bias that spelling is not that important, which is a detriment to the students of this country. The absence of spelling instruction causes a conundrum for students in special education as the DSM-V manual (Tobin & House 2016) requires Individual Educational Plans to provide for it. The federal mandate demands that special education teachers must devise goals for it. Poor spelling ability affects the quality of academic schoolwork across the upper grades. According to Moats et al. (2006), poor spellers use fewer words and have lower-quality compositions. Older methods of teaching spelling considered rote memorization to be the most expedient.

Research demonstrates that spelling is a complex linguistic ability. From the latter half of the twentieth century to the present, spelling has been recognized as a language ability connected to reading ability. Diagnosing a student with spelling deficiency is a finer diagnosis of reading problems than diagnosing reading errors. Spelling tells one exactly what the student knows about language constructions. Most remedial reading techniques consider a word mastered when it is reproduced accurately in writing.

Between War and Peace

At the core of Kanso's artistic practice is a steadfast belief in the possibility of change—in the certainty that we can do better, be better, and that futures full of peace and prosperity for every one of us is possible. He maintained this commitment throughout his lifetime, creating art that embodies it in defiance of those devoted instead to maintaining a status quo of protracted turmoil. His oeuvre swelled to take on accounts of many of the world's gravest atrocities, with series like The Split of Life offering a unique historical continuity, one that spans decades of both political and painterly movements and ruptures. It is a series he toured extensively across Latin America during Journey of Art for Peace and is one he came out of retirement to revisit in 2009 for one final exhibition in New York.

Organized less as a formal show and more as an archival opportunity, this artistic undertaking unfolded around a series of interviews conducted with Kanso before the paintings (Figure 4). It took as its focus the collective amnesia spawned across Lebanon by the Taif Agreement in 1990. With so much war-era pain and animosity still unresolved, tensions have threatened to simmer over into full-f ledged war ever since. An outbreak of militia-based conf lict in 2008 was, for example, reminiscent in scale and scope of the civil war, and made for a show that insisted on recounting political histories that so many in Lebanon are otherwise committed to forgetting. It is with Lebanon in the background of each frame that Kanso ref lected, at length, on these political agreements and abuses, all of which have so closely shaped both his life and oeuvre. Surrounded once more by his mobile murals, he narrated over four decades’ worth of political history through his art. Although recounted in succession, both his murals and commentary speak to a cyclical range of crises, all fought with so little regard for human life and loss.

This chapter argues that China's emergence as the world's number two economy presenting complexities for multinational businesses to navigate. Drawing on the author's own experience in training multinational businesses in China, the chapter highlights the rising tide of nationalistic sentiment in recent years, which has led to heightened outrage toward foreign brands for perceived offenses against China and Chinese interests. This wave of nationalism has reached a fever pitch, resulting in a climate of extreme caution among many multinational firms, including certain Chinese domestic companies that have partnered with foreign brands. As a result, these companies find themselves navigating a complex landscape when operating in the world's second-largest economy. They face pressures from various quarters, including the Chinese government's increasingly nationalistic stance, which seeks to tighten its governance and exert a direct role in business operations.

History of Multinational Business Development in China

China, as one of the world's largest economies, has emerged as a highly attractive investment destination for numerous multinational companies (MNCs), both Western and from other regions. Since its opening up in 1979 and the subsequent adoption of free market principles, China has experienced remarkable economic growth and transformation, becoming a prominent player on the global stage. Its vast market, abundant resources, and skilled workforce have made it an enticing prospect for businesses seeking growth and expansion opportunities. Over the years, China has established itself as a hub for manufacturing, technology, and services, attracting investments from a wide range of industries. The country's favorable business environment, improved infrastructure, and government initiatives to promote foreign investment have further contributed to its status as one of the world's most well-known and sought-after investment destinations.

However, the history of multinational business development in China extends far beyond the recent decades. In fact, it can be traced back to the late nineteenth century when foreign firms first set their sights on establishing a presence in the country. At that time, China's vast market and untapped potential presented an alluring opportunity for MNCs seeking avenues for growth and expansion. These early endeavors were primarily driven by the desire to access the Chinese market and cater to its burgeoning consumer base. The early twentieth century posed significant challenges for foreign firms operating in China.

Introduction: Physical, Environmental, and Anatomical Foundations of Speech

Social interaction is necessary for the development of language to proceed normally. Studies conducted by sociologists over hundreds of years show that social interaction is necessary for average to superior language development. A second important factor is intact sensory processing in the developing child. A child with a learning disorder may not only be affected in speech development but also early cognition. A child born lacking visual sequential memory abilities from birth on until school age will not remember the sequence of things taking place in their environment. When this situation is recognized by an adult(s), teaching can take place to aid this child in forming memories of action sequences. Memory of their early childhood will not match that of their siblings or parents, affecting cognition of their early world. Another facet of speech development is anatomical, and speech anomalies occur with cleft palates, harelip, and other anomalies of the throat and mouth articulators. Many can be corrected surgically, but some will leave a small speech impediment. It is the goal of this chapter to present the normal rudimentary learning that must take place for competence in speech to form.

Prenatal development

Emergent literacy begins in the womb (Broemmel et al. 2015). Two predominant factors impact the future production of the native language: the sounds and prosody. Chinese and English differ in prosody effect on the developing infant (Zhou et al. 2012). Developing infants hear the sounds of language for half of the gestation period and develop motor skills. The ability to suck a finger is noticeable on many sonograms as well as the infant's ability to scurry from the sonogram. Upon birth, the infant distinguishes human sounds from sounds of the environment. There is a degree of rudimentary knowledge in the womb. The fluid environment has some effect on sound quality. Infants recognize their mother's voice and process phrasing and prosody even though the words are not yet intelligible.

Vision, unlike the auditory channel that matures around the age of eight, continues to mature until about age 16 (Nelson 2001). The newborn infant has seeing ability, but it is not clear. Large items of black and white contrast are the best (Schlesinger 2001).

In Plato's Theaetetus, Euclides and Terpison listen to a version of a dialogue between Socrates and the young Theaetetus that took place many years ago and is read by a slave. At the very moment the dialogue is being read, the now grown Theaetetus lies dying in Athens from a case of dysentery contracted while on campaign in Corinth. The copy of the dialogue read by the slave is not a transcript, it is rather a reconstruction, a kind of historical fiction. Euclides tells Terpison that he took some notes at the time he witnessed the discussion, but readily admits he was unable to recall the whole thing from memory. Rather he went home and wrote down his initial recollections. Later, when on occasion he would journey from his home in Megara to Athens, he would consult with Socrates and then make corrections when he went back home. In this way, over an unspecified but clearly not short period of time, the dialogue came to have the form that the two men are portrayed as hearing and that we supposedly read today, even as we know that this too is a fiction, since our author is Plato, not his imagined Euclides, let alone Socrates himself. Determinate authority is hard to locate in the Theaetetus, to say the least.

The subject of the dialogue is the nature of knowledge. Socrates approaches the young Theaetetus in the company of the geometer Theodorus and tries unsuccessfully to get each of them to offer a defensible definition of knowledge.

In “Plato's Pharmacy,” Derrida demonstrates the way in which the ambivalent signifier pharmakon, meaning both poison and medicine, deconstructs the opposition between speech and writing that subtends the Phaedrus. That opposition, in turn, is based upon an even more fundamental one between internality and externality (Derrida 1981: 103). Speech is the reflection of truth because it emanates from the inside and is directly present to consciousness. Writing is secondary and derivative, existing as an externalization of a prior moment of interiority, i.e., thought as silent speech (Stoekl 1992: 201). The deconstruction of the priority of speech over writing, through the latter being characterized as a pharmakon and hence as both a salutary healing agent and a foreign noxious other, is itself a deconstruction of the priority of truth over its external and derivative manipulation through formalized practices of speech and writing: i.e., rhetoric. Rhetoric as a practice is associated throughout the Platonic corpus with the sophists and is generally opposed to philosophy defined as the pursuit of truth. Derrida in his deconstructive reading of the opposition between speech and writing in the Phaedrus demonstrates that, in effect, Plato himself deconstructs the opposition between rhetoric and philosophy through the deployment of philosophy's initial, constitutive trope, Socratic irony, as figured by the duplicitous pharmakon. The result is that rather than philosophy and sophistry being mutually exclusive alternatives, each becomes a moment within the other, which can never be fully sublimated. Philosophy on this view, I contend, is less a policing of the borders of discourse than a series of persuasive interventions in the ongoing dialogue that constitutes the movement of truth in time.

Remediation of Mild Reading Deficits

Mild deficits in reading are usually treated in the classroom during the lesson. The first four approaches are ordinarily classroom approaches. There could be a student who is given individual instruction with the program the class is using. This is advised when a student processes slower than normal but achieves with personal instruction. Read Naturally is an individualized program where a student works individually with a teacher. Some approaches are primarily used for beginning-level students, though they may be used with older students.

Language Experience Approach

Language Experience Approach (LEA) may be the first choice with slow readers or readers who appear to agonize over every word. LEA affords an opportunity to observe exactly what the problem(s) may be and use the natural language of the student in remediation. It may accompany the main classroom approach or be used as a standalone approach. All of the literacy tasks can be observed: phonetic ability, documenting the spelling stage, decoding strategies, and the internalization of language structure (see Chapter 1). Analytic phonic instruction can take place with the dictated words of the sentences for the student to apply the English sound system to their known words. The instructor points out similarities and differences in the letter construction of the words dictated. These phonic elements are noted and written down by the instructor. At a later date, they would be reviewed, and words of similar constructions would be presented for word study. A second word bank is constructed for each student containing phonic elements mastered. Since the sentences come from the student's vocabulary, cognition, and sight word acquisition, knowledge is being enhanced for word meaning. This is an essential point as young children grasp first-level concepts readily, such as peaches and pears are different (Piaget 1997). They cannot distinguish between different pears or different types of peaches. Words or signs are acquired from social surroundings and are shared socially (Stauffer & Sharp 1965). The sharing of dictated sentences is a socially directed activity and develops higher cognition. Students hear different concepts, broadening their perspective. As the instructor continues with LEA, more words, more phonic elements, and higher level cognition are developed in the students’ repertoires.

In Khôra, Derrida offers his reading of one of Plato's most fascinating and problematic texts. The Timaeus is central to the history of western thought and wildly eccentric. Translated into Latin by Cicero and later by Chalcidius, it was for many centuries the only Platonic text available in the west. Its metaphysical speculations as interpreted through the lens of Augustinian neo-Platonism came to pass for Platonism tout court and were refined and elaborated by the monks at Chartres (Rivaud 1963: 3–5). Yet in point of fact the text is anything but typical of the Platonic corpus, consisting as it does of an introductory dialogue (17a–27b) followed by a long speech in which Timaeus of Locris, a presumed Pythagorean, tells the tale of how the Demiurge or divine craftsman created the universe through imitating a set of pre-existing eternal essences or forms (27c–92c). Halfway through, however, the speech of Timaeus encounters a hiccup and our speaker must pause and begin again (47e). If the divine Demiurge creates perfect copies of the intelligible essences in the world of sense, then how would those imitations differ from the originals, and if they were indeed perfect copies—and why would a divine craftsman produce anything less?—then how are we to explain the manifest change and corruption of the world of our experience? Surely, these copies are not part of the world of intelligibles, which belong to the realm of being rather than that of becoming. A new beginning must be made, which accounts for this “wandering cause” (πλανωμένης … αἰτίας) that limits and at the same times makes possible the Demiurge's labor of reproducing the intelligible order in the world of sense (Sallis 1999: 70; McCabe 1994: 175, 180–81). This “cause” is the famous Khōra, the mother or receptacle of creation (50a–51b). A second story of how the world was fashioned then follows and the dialogue ends.

Any reader of the Platonic dialogues will note that one element we have come to associate with the Platonic text is missing from the summary given above: Socrates. Now this absence is neither unique nor total.

Introduction

There are many strong programs and approaches to develop reading skills in the primary grades of today's schools. This chapter reexamines the structure, merits, and caveats of the Language Experience Approach (LEA). We are sensitive to the fact that many professionals consider LEA to be an older approach and used only as a beginning reading program. A major thrust of this chapter is to open up the possibilities LEA might have for different student types at different grade levels. Many “older approaches” are still very much in vogue today, as they are solid teaching approaches that have brought results over decades. LEA originated almost 100 years ago (Davidson 1999). Huey described the concepts behind the theory as early as 1908. Since then, LEA has been adapted, modified, researched, refined, and successfully used to educate children at all levels. The overall theme is that LEA is a multifaceted, reliable, wholistic, and successful instructional method for the teaching of reading and language arts.

The Background for the Language Experience Approach (LEA) and a Description of LEA

Children learn to speak in an unorganized way with little direction except for modeling from parents, caretakers, and others. They begin to write with marks and letters in the same unorganized way. They model what they see. The next natural progression is reading. The child comes to school to learn to read and knows some letters, but anything else about reading is an unorganized set of information. They may know intonation, how to hold a book, and that reading contains either a story or information. This is the extent most children know about reading when they begin preschool or kindergarten. By first grade, they are supposed to be in the first primer level for reading. Traditional phonics instruction is the most prevalent way that reading is taught. This compartmentalizes reading from the other language tasks. The phonic approach is considered just one part of literacy and does not wholly relate to what children know about the literacy tasks of speaking, writing, reading, and spelling. LEA, as designed by Russell Stauffer (1970, Figure 1.1), emphasizes learning to read as part of the literacy tasks involved with writing, speaking, listening, spelling, and reading.

Theory, as such, does not exist. I realize the perversity of this claim being made by a scholar who has written more than his fair share of books and articles in which the names of Derrida, Foucault, and Lacan, Kristeva, Irigaray, and Kofman loom large. Moreover, I fully appreciate the grave historical irony of any discussion of the vicissitudes of a non-existent theory in a cultural and political context in which the very project of enlightenment modernity seems increasingly imperiled, in which racism, sexism, and homophobia are on the rise, and in which the value of scientific reason (or reason tout court) is increasingly questioned. The fact that the science deniers themselves thrive in a media culture that is almost totally dependent on technology never seems to give them pause.

I speak, moreover, as someone who has sat in the Provost's office of a major research university and witnessed the flight of our students from subjects of real inquiry in both basic science and the humanities, who has heard the demands of their parents for immediate returns on their investments, and of governing boards that insist that the university be run “as a business,” that outcomes be measurable and preferably spendable. I think we must pause in this time of crisis and ask very seriously “what are we doing?” Are we fiddling while Rome burns? The climate is rapidly degrading, racial nationalism is on the rise throughout the west, neo-fascists and their close kin are holding rallies and gaining electoral traction, children of immigrants have been put in cages, and the opposition is too often bogged down in infighting and finger pointing. It feels all too close to Europe in the 1930s. And here we are doing what academic students of theory do: dissecting the finer points of Derrida, consigning Latour to the ash heap of history, celebrating geocriticism, or investigating the depths of poetry and the Lacanian Real. Have we really nothing better to do? Perhaps not. Indeed, perhaps not: for I would argue that sometimes when we most seem to be doing nothing, we are in fact doing something crucial, something that must be done, precisely because it is no thing, because it is not an object with clearly defined borders that can produced, consumed, commodified, and assessed, because it offers the opportunity to rethink the ontic world as it has been given.

You are standing in a field. There is a person in front of you and a tree to one side. To make a true statement about the tree to that person, you must use language to form a proposition that makes your experience of the tree intelligible to the person you are addressing. If you say “the tree is an oak” and Marcus perceives a birch, the statement will not be received as true, but if Marcus's perceptions can be brought under the same linguistic categories as your own, then your statement will be received as true, and, inasmuch it will now be able to be reproduced by other speakers having similar experiences and again received as true, then it will become “the truth.” Such is the classic western referential understanding of truth, from Augustine's discussion of how children learn the names of things (Confessions 1.8) to Hegel's deconstruction of the empiricist postulate of sense-certainty (see below). A similar paradigm underlies many of our current notions of scientific method, particularly as deployed in the social sciences. This scenario, however, begs certain questions. How do we align Marcus's categories with our own? How do we agree on the nature of an oak, let alone beauty, justice, or national identity? What kind of force, suasion, or manipulation needs to be deployed for such truth to come into being, for experience to be understandable, and for place, a location on a grid of intelligibility, to take place? These are central questions for philosophy and rhetorical theory from antiquity to the present. This paper argues that only a concerted reading of the ancient texts in conversation with their modern and postmodern interlocutors can begin to help us form cogent answers to those questions—can permit us the historical depth and theoretical sophistication necessary to begin to understand our own conjuncture in the “history of truth.”