This book is unique in its kind. It is the first scholarly work to attempt a comprehensive and fairly detailed look into the lingering legacies of the communist totalitarian modes of thought and expression in the new discourse forms of the post-totalitarian era. The book gives also new and interesting insights into the ways the new, presumably democratically-minded political elites in post-totalitarian Eastern Europe, Russia, and China manipulate language to serve their own political and economic agendas. The book consists of ten discrete discussions, nine case-studies or chapters and an introduction. Chapter 1 discusses patterns of continuity and change in the conceptual apparatus and linguistic habits of political science and sociology practiced in the Czech Republic before and after 1989. Chapter 2 analyzes lingering effects of communist propaganda language in the political discourse and behavior in post-communist Poland. Chapter 3 analyzes the legacy of Soviet semantics in post-Soviet Moldovan politics through the prism of such politically contested words as "democracy," "democratization," and "people." Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the way in which communist patterns of thought and expression manifest themselves in the new political discourse in Romania and Bulgaria, respectively. Chapter 6 examines phenomena of change and continuity in the socio-linguistic and socio-political scene of post-Soviet Latvia. Chapter 7 analyzes the extent to which the language of the post-communist Romanian media differs from the official language of the communist era. Chapter 8 examines the evolution of Russian official discourse since the late eighties with a view of showing "whether or not new phenomena in the evolution of post-Soviet discourse represent new development or just a mutation of the value-orientations of the old Soviet ideological apparatus." Chapter 9 gives a detailed and lucid account of the evolution of both official and non-official discourse in China since the end of the Mao era.

How does a trauma survivor communicate "what can't be said out loud" to others? In what form? How can we - readers, listeners, viewers - recognize the pain and suffering hidden behind words, pictures, or other artifacts produced by trauma survivors? This volume presents a possible response by bringing together the "expressions of the unspeakable" by trauma survivors and the interpretation of researchers in various fields, i.e. clinical psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, literary and film scholars, historians, and visual artists, some of whom are survivors of trauma. By describing or analyzing different strategies for finding a narrative form for expressing the survivor's trauma, the contributors offer not only insights into how the survivors dealt with the pain of traumatic memories but also how they were able to find hope for healing by telling their stories, in literature, graphic novels, visual art or simply by creating a personal narrative in their own voice.

The relationship between language and various kinds of non-linguistic behavior has been of great fascination for many of those working in the fields of cultural anthropology, linguistics, and philosophy, or, broadly understood, cultural studies. The authors in this volume explore this relationship in a number of cultures and social contexts and discuss the problem of linguistic relativism and its application to several areas of social interaction across cultures. The authors deal with such questions as how language and culture intersect resulting in different points of view on reality that are all equally authentic and rooted in experience. The question of the influence of language and culture on our perceptino of physical and social reality is re-examined for such domains as politics, commerce, working with people, religion, and gender relations.

The relationship between language and various kinds of non-linguistic behaviour has been of great fascination for many of those working in the fields of cultural anthropology, linguistics, and philosophy or, broadly understood, cultural studies. The authors in this volume explore this relationship in a number of cultures and social contexts and discuss the problem of linguistic relativism and its application to a several areas of social interaction across cultures. The authors deal with such questions as how language and culture intersect resulting in different points of view on reality that are all equally authentic and rooted in experience. The question of the influence of language and culture on our perception of physical and social reality is re-examined for such domains as politics, commerce, working with people, religion, and gender relations.

Frankfurt/M., Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien.