Replicating Writing: Moulding and Stamping Hieroglyphs on Classic Maya Ceramics

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mallory E. Matsumoto

A fundamental distinction is made in craft production between custom or bespoke creation and mechanical reproduction that generates multiple iterations of the same form. In Mesoamerica, technologies of reproduction are attested by around the sixth century bc in the form of moulding and stamping, and they become increasingly common in ceramic production in the Maya and neighbouring regions in the third or fourth century. Beginning in the Late Classic period (c. 600–830 ad), Maya artisans applied them to the hieroglyphic script as well, generating a corpus of texts that are at once fundamentally distinct from and intimately linked to the broader scribal tradition dominated by hand-written texts. This article examines Classic Maya texts moulded and stamped on ceramics in the context of scribal practice and the social and cultural role of the script. I argue that these artefacts manifest changes not only in hieroglyphic production, but also in writing's role in user communities. Consequentially, they invite reconsideration of scribal practice's relationship to other crafting traditions, as well as the diversity of modes of engaging in Classic Maya scribal tradition.

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Aoyama

To provide some insights into the nature and role of warfare in the rise, development, and decline of Classic Maya civilization, this article discusses spear, dart, and arrow points used by the Classic Maya elites at the rapidly abandoned fortified city of Aguateca, Guatemala, and their temporal and spatial distribution patterns in and around Copan, Honduras. Both the royal family and elite scribes/artists at Aguateca used spear and dart points for intergroup human conflict as well as for artistic and craft production under enemy threat. An important implication is that the ruler and elite scribes/artists were also warriors. The unusually high concentrations of identifiable weaponry at the Early Classic hilltop center of Cerro de las Mesas as well as the Acropolis and other Late Classic locations in the Copan Valley, along with other lines of evidence, indicate that warfare was critical in the development and downfall of Classic Maya civilization at Copan.


1975 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 55-56
Author(s):  
Karl R. Stadler

In recent years there has been a deplorable lack of interest in Austria in the historical role of the Jews in Central Europe. Given the general trends towards internationalization of the social sciences and the interdisciplinary method of analysis, this neglect is most distressing. Presumably this lack of scholarly interest is related to the fact that since World War II the Central European Jews no longer constitute a distinct ethnic and religious group. Apart from studies made in university institutes for Jewish studies and in occasional publications which have mainly treated various aspects of “the holocaust,” most studies have approached Jewish history only collaterally by focusing on anti-Semitism.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isobel Anderson ◽  
Tullis Rennie

This article considers the presence of ‘self-reflexive narrative’ in field recording. The authors interrogate a common presumption within sonic arts practice and sound studies discourse that field recordings represent authentic, impartial and neutral documents. Historically, field recording practice has not clearly represented narratives of how, when, why and by whom a field recording is made. In contrast, the social sciences have already experienced a narrative ‘turn’ since the 1970s, which highlighted the importance of recognising the presence and role of the researcher in the field, and also in representations of fieldwork. This provides an alternative framework for understanding field recording, in considering the importance of the recordist and their relationship with their recordings. Many sonic arts practitioners have already acknowledged that the subjective, personal qualities of field recording should be embraced, highlighted and even orated in their work. The authors’ own collaborative projectThoughts in the Fieldfurther explores these ideas, by vocalising ‘self-reflexive narratives’ in real time, within field recordings. The authors’ collaborative composition,Getting Lost(2015), demonstrates the compositional potentials this approach offers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4458
Author(s):  
Franciszek Chwałczyk

There are now at least 80–90 proposed alternatives to the term “the Anthropocene”, following critique mainly from the social sciences. The most popular seem to be Moore’s Capitalocene and Haraway’s Chthulucene, but there are others, such as: Hornborg’s Technocene, Mann’s Homogenocene, Wilson’s Eremocene, Stiegler’s neganthropocene, Parikka’s Anthrobscene… Furthermore, similar recognitions and critiques have been made in urban studies (Urban Age, Planetary Urbanization…). What should we make of this multiplicity? Those propositions are approached here from the philosophical and cultural studies perspectives, in the spirit of Galison’s trading zones and Bal’s travelling concepts. They are treated with engaged pluralism (introduced through geography and urban studies) and, because of their eschatological dimension, with (secular) negative theology. The Urbanocene is also outlined using Nowak’s ontological imagination. None of the propositions are sufficient on their own. Most contribute to a better understanding of the Anthropocene. Those concerning the role of cities and urbanization (Astycene, Urbanocene, Urbicene, Metropocene) are insufficient. This entails that there is a need for an Urbanocene proposition to be formulated. This proposition draft is briefly outlined here by linking an example of exceeded planetary boundaries (levels of phosphorus and nitrogen) with urbanization, drawing on the works of Mumford and Gandy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Johnson ◽  
Natasha Veltri ◽  
Jason B. Thatcher

This study critiques and extends the work of , who investigated the relations between social cues in an interface, user personality, user beliefs about the social role and capabilities of computers, and the attributions of responsibility users made for their interactions and outcomes with a computer. In this study, rather than examining the simple, direct effects investigated previously, we examine the moderating role of social cues in the interface. In addition, building upon recent findings from psychology, the authors assess personality traits individually, rather than aggregating them. To evaluate the theorized relations, 152 individuals participated in a controlled laboratory experiment, where social cues in two computer interfaces were manipulated. Results indicate that social cues moderate the relations between personality, beliefs about the social role of computing, and the attributions made. In addition, the results suggest that disaggregating personality traits is theoretically and practically richer than aggregating them.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Abigail Jane Mack

Engaging an account of a judicial decision made in the Los Angeles Mental Health Court, this article interrogates the role of anticipation in the lived negotiation of moral, social and institutional orders. As Judge Samuel Benton recounts his attempt to let himself ‘emotionally off the hook’ in the wake of a patient’s suicide, anticipation emerges as: 1) an ordered, linear sequencing of events towards logical ends; 2) unsettled, temporally disjunctive engagements with the past in order to make sense of present experience and ambiguous futures; 3) existential negotiations of one’s potential morality and social belonging; and 4) distributed organization of information between people and across objects in order to elaborate present and future experience. These manifestations of anticipation reveal the social and temporal contingency and deep intersubjectivity of our negotiations with uncertainty in the unsettling process of becoming moral.


Author(s):  
James Alan Doyle

Through a broad discussion on the full monumental program at Naranjo during the reigns of Lady Six Sky and her son K'ak Tiliw Chan Chaak, this article provides new information about the role of women in Late Classic Maya civilization (AD 600-900). A detailed exploration of the distinct trends in the monumental program from 682-741 AD supports the primary argument for Lady Sky Six’s underlying importance in ritual representation. The author finds considerable evidence that suggests the transfer of power from mother to son during the latter years of Lady Sky Six. A concluding discussion of Naranjo focuses on spatial analysis of the monuments spread across the site core in relation to dual-gendered ritual space, as well as contrasting martial and mythological imagery.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
Saša Stepanović ◽  
◽  
Jelena Živković ◽  

Hearing impairment, which belongs to the group of sensory impairments, represents a permanent lowered sensitivity to sound which can have a wide range of consequences on children’s life. Complete and adequate inclusion of children with hearing impairments in the educational system requires a reconsideration of the traditional approach and a reorganization of the whole teaching process. The concept of an inclusive education requires providing support and the quality of education for every pupil, regardless of their impairments or disabilities, i.e. differences from the majority of pupils. For the purpose of movement towards these goals, this article discusses some important aspects of inclusion of pupils with hearing impairment by literature review, starting from their physical and psychological characteristics. The role of the teacher and the social environment is examined, and certain technical and pedagogical recommendations are made in working with these children.


Author(s):  
Amy Cabrera Rasmussen

Examining how issues are framed in policy discourse illuminates the structure of ethical arguments and the social and political context within which these arguments are made. In the United States, reproductive discourse and policymaking display four contours. First, deemed a legitimate topic for government intervention, reproduction policy has most often been gendered and group-specific. Second, the issue category into which reproduction is placed is a critical factor in policy intervention: Is reproduction a matter of health, gender equality, or religious liberty? Third, in reproductive policymaking, abortion has taken on the role of master subissue, shaping approaches to reproductive issues and in some cases standing in for the larger range of reproductive matters. Finally, lack of understanding of the medical and technological factors related to reproduction among policymakers and the public makes policymaking difficult and augments abortion’s discursive power.


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