This article investigates how material objects fit into societal discourses of remembering; the authors focus on how the spatial and material composition of objects can affect subjects, thus suggesting particular meanings and engagements. In particular, they investigate war memorials as cultural objects and products of social discourses, but emphasize that the memorials are not reducible to these discourses. Rather, the materials used in the creation of war memorials as well as their holistic organization constitute vital aspects of the memorial site and its ability to engage individuals and groups in socially desirable and personally meaningful processes. The authors analyze the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial, taking into account the holistic material organization, hyper-generalization of signs, symbolic functions, and social suggestions that the memorial provides for visitors passing through. They argue that, partially through its very materiality, the memorial guides the direction of viewers' affective response, leading to particular interpretations and reactions.Much of human life revolves around objects that are, at first glance, intrinsically non-significant, but which become highly valued as a result of cultural processes (Valsiner, 2007). The process by which these meanings are created has long been studied in sociological, cultural, and theological domains, but psychology has only recently begun a serious study of how meaning is constructed on an individual level. Further, the relationship between material artifacts and human subjects has constituted a new and Journal of Material Culture 16(2) 193-213

Journal of Peace Psychology on the topic of psychology and human rights (HR). We provide a brief overview of the history of the concept of HR, the primary theoretical and empirical contributions to date within the field of psychology, and how various psychological organizations use the term today. We then summarize how HR fits into social psychological peace research, before explaining what kind of papers we sought and how they were selected. Finally, we provide an overview of the papers and their primary contributions, and point to some limitations of the research covered in this special issue as well as directions for future research.

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Aligning with key neoliberal values of self-sufficiency, privatization, free market capitalism, and limited state support, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), popularly referred to as "welfare reform," ushered in new restrictions on the receipt of public assistance (e.g., work requirements and time limits). Despite considerable debate regarding PRWORA's success and limited evidence that work requirements are effective, the neoliberal emphasis on work that informed welfare reform is increasingly being extended to other U.S. safety net programs. This analysis critically interrogates the current neoliberal push to extend and/or expand work requirements to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid. Examining the neoliberal politics and ideology that undergirds U.S. welfare policy and legitimizes restrictive work requirements, we examine the cultural construction of work as redemptive, the covert and overt functions of work requirements, and the damaging consequences of shifting societal obligation from the state to individuals. In doing so, we draw attention to who is harmed by and who benefits from "welfare reform." We also

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