Science Between Myth and History

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José G. Perillán
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Scientific Communities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Quantum Interpretation

Scientists regularly employ historical narrative as a rhetorical tool in their communication of science, yet there’s been little reflection on its effects within scientific communities and beyond. Science Between Myth and History begins to unravel these threads of influence. The stories scientists tell are not just poorly researched scholarly histories, they are myth-histories, a chimeric genre that bridges distinct narrative modes. This study goes beyond polarizing questions about who owns the history of science and establishes a common ground from which to better understand the messy and lasting legacy of the stories scientists tell. It aims to stimulate vigorous conversation among science practitioners, scholars, and communicators. Scientific myth-histories undoubtedly deliver value, coherence, and inspiration to their communities. They are tools used to broker scientific consensus, resolve controversies, and navigate power dynamics. Yet beyond the explicit intent and rationale behind their use, these narratives tend to have great rhetorical power and social agency that bear unintended consequences. This book unpacks the concept of myth-history and explores four case studies in which scientist storytellers use their narratives to teach, build consensus, and inform the broader public. From geo-politically informed quantum interpretation debates to high-stakes gene-editing patent disputes, these case studies illustrate the implications of storytelling in science. Science Between Myth and History calls on scientists not to eschew writing about their history, but to take more account of the stories they tell and the image of science they project. In this time of eroding common ground, when many find themselves dependent on, yet distrustful of scientific research, this book interrogates the effects of mismatched, dissonant portraits of science.

Bringing High Stakes from the Classroom to the Parent Center: Lessons from an Intervention Program for Immigrant Families

2012 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Susan Auerbach ◽  
Shartriya Collier
Keyword(s):  
Parent Involvement ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
Parent Education ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
School Level ◽  
Immigrant Parents ◽  
High Stakes

Background/Context As accountability pressures have mounted toward ever-higher targets under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, low-achieving schools have sought new tools for raising achievement. The association between parent involvement and student achievement is well established, though the association is an indirect relationship mediated by other variables. Schools have sponsored a variety of parent education programs attempting to influence achievement; evidence on their results is mixed. Among the most popular efforts at the elementary school level are family literacy programs, which generally take an intervention-preventive approach that aims to supplant home literacy practices with school-based norms and practices. The Families Promoting Success (FPS) program was an intervention that trained parents in reading skills to improve student test scores in schools that had not met targets under NCLB. This series of workshops was unusual for specifically targeting families of low-scoring students and for focusing on tested word analysis skills. One of the few empirical examinations of the intersection of parent involvement and NCLB, this study shows how parent programs mirror broader forces in urban schooling and how the high-stakes climate affects home-school relations. Purpose/Focus The purpose of this study was to investigate what happens when low-performing urban schools bring high-stakes accountability pressures to parent programs, to shed light on possible new directions in family engagement. How do educators and immigrant parents make meaning of a parent education program geared to accountability goals? The study examined processes, interactions, and meanings related to FPS's design, implementation, and perceived outcomes for families and educators and considered alternative approaches to parent engagement suggested by the findings. Research Design This multiple case study used mainly qualitative methods to examine the FPS program at four low-performing Los Angeles elementary schools with predominantly low-income, Latino, English learner populations and immigrant parents. Data sources included staff interviews, bilingual parent focus groups, and extensive observations of program workshops and planning meetings, supplemented by a parent questionnaire and document review. This study was part of a larger investigation that examined the program's influence on student achievement. Conclusions/Recommendations Findings suggest that staff designed a narrow, test-driven parent curriculum to address accountability pressures without considering parents’ needs or concerns. The program represented an intensification in parent education that parallels the intensification in student instruction under accountability-driven reform. Though the program was well-intended and made parents more aware of testing and reading skills, related research showed that the program did not influence student achievement. Instead, parents and staff described various benefits on intangible aspects of family and school-family relationships. These unintended consequences suggest the pitfalls of imposing high-stakes pressures, school agendas, and interventionist approaches on parents, as well as the promise of finding common ground and the need for relationship building with marginalized families.

The Power Dynamics of Color on Color

2016 ◽  
pp. 17-62
Author(s):  
Eric K. Yamamoto ◽  
Amanda O. Jenssen
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Short Term ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media

This chapter looks at what the media has characterized as America's “interminority problem.” It shows that the persistent desire for alliance forging often leads theorists and advocates to target what might be characterized as a “common ground” approach that focuses on common issues—“bread and butter” issues like wages and discrimination while largely avoiding the difficult interrogation of the ragged history of power-sharing and the broad ignorance of one another's culture and social and economic conditions. These common issues are seized upon as opportunities to build bridges and relationships. While such an approach might have some success in the short term, the chapter argues that this approach has a tendency to neglect dealing with the deeper grievances honestly and self-critically.

History of Ardalānids (1590-1810) by Sharaf al-Dīn bin Shams al-Dīn

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-79
Author(s):  
Sara Zandi Karimi
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Critical Translation

This article is a critical translation of the “History of the Ardalānids.” In doing so, it hopes to make available to a wider academic audience this invaluable source on the study of Iranian Kurdistan during the early modern period. While a number of important texts pertaining to the Kurds during this era, most notably the writings of the Ottoman traveler Evliya Chalabi, focus primarily on Ottoman Kurdistan, this piece in contrast puts Iranian Kurdistan in general and the Ardalān dynasty in particular at the center of its historical narrative. Thus it will be of interest not only to scholars of Kurdish history but also to those seeking more generally to research life on the frontiers of empires.Keywords: Ẕayl; Ardalān; Kurdistan; Iran.ABSTRACT IN KURMANJIDîroka Erdelaniyan (1590-1810)Ev gotar wergereke rexneyî ya “Dîroka Erdelaniyan” e. Bi vê yekê, merema xebatê ew e ku vê çavkaniya pir biqîmet a li ser Kurdistana Îranê ya di serdema pêş-modern de ji bo cemawerê akademîk berdest bike. Hejmareke metnên girîng li ser Kurdên wê serdemê, bi taybetî nivîsînên Evliya Çelebî yê seyyahê osmanî, zêdetir berê xwe didine Kurdistana di bin hukmê Osmaniyan de. Lê belê, di navenda vê xebatê de, bi giştî Kurdistana Îranê û bi taybetî jî xanedana Erdelaniyan heye. Wisa jî ew dê ne tenê ji bo lêkolerên dîroka kurdî belku ji bo ewên ku dixwazin bi rengekî berfirehtir derheq jiyana li ser tixûbên împeretoriyan lêkolînan bikin jî dê balkêş be.ABSTRACT IN SORANIMêjûy Erdellan (1590-1810)Em wutare wergêrranêkî rexneyî “Mêjûy Erdellan”e, bew mebestey em serçawe girînge le ser Kurdistanî Êran le seretakanî serdemî nwê bixate berdest cemawerî ekademî. Jimareyek serçawey girîng le ser kurdekan lew serdeme da hen, diyartirînyan nûsînekanî gerîdey ‘Usmanî Ewliya Çelebîye, ke zortir serincyan le ser ‘Kurdistanî ‘Usmanî bûwe. Em berheme be pêçewanewe Kurdistanî Êran be giştî, we emaretî Erdelan be taybetî dexate senterî xwêndinewekewe. Boye nek tenya bo twêjeranî biwarî mêjûy kurdî, belku bo ewaney le ser jiyan le sinûre împiratoriyekan twêjînewe deken, cêgay serinc debêt.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James McElvenny
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

This chapter sets the scene for the case studies that follow in the rest of the book by characterising the ‘age of modernism’ and identifying problems relating to language and meaning that arose in this context. Emphasis is laid on the social and political issues that dominated the era, in particular the rapid developments in technology, which inspired both hope and fear, and the international political tensions that led to the two World Wars. The chapter also sketches the approach to historiography taken in the book, interdisciplinary history of ideas.

Embodying the Field

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hoel
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
South African ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Relationships ◽  
Embodied Practice

This article focuses on the various ways in which research relationships evolve and are negotiated by paying particular attention to the embodied nature of ethnographic research. By drawing on my own research experience of interviewing South African Muslim women about sexual dynamics, I critically engage debates concerning power dynamics in research relationships as well as researcher positionality. I argue that researchers should pay increasing attention to the multiple ways in which doing research always is an embodied practice. I present three case studies that highlight the complex ways in which research encounters speak to notions of intimacy, vulnerability and affect. In this way I argue that research encounters forge primary human relationalities that are marked by moments of convergence, conflict and despondency.

Entangled Trees and Arboreal Networks of Sensitive Environments

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-126
Author(s):  
Birgit Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Tropical Trees ◽  
Atmospheric Change ◽  
Media Study ◽  
Gutta Percha ◽  
History Of ◽  
Study Perspective ◽  
Nature Perception ◽  
Technological Perspective ◽  
Tall Tower

The article discusses how current mediated conditions change nature perception from a media study perspective. The article is based on different case studies such as the current sensation of atmospheric change through sensible media attached to trees which get published via Twitter, the meteorologist Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory and the use of gutta percha derived from tropical trees for the production of cables in the history of telegraphy. For analysing the examples, the perspective of »media as environments« is flipped to »environments as media«, because this focus doesn’t approach media from a networked and technological perspective primarily but makes productive the elemental character of basic »media« like air, earth and water

The development of the movement for the communist labour at the Tyumen shipbuilding plant in days of the seven-year plan (1959-1965): the experience of microhistorical study

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Sergey S. Pashin ◽  
Natalia S. Vasikhovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Industrial Enterprise ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of

The article is devoted to the study of the movement for communist labour at the Tyumen Shipbuilding Plant during the period of the seven-year plan (1959-1965). The authors seek to fill a historical narrative with the particular facts connected with the peculiarities and specifics of such phenomenon as the movement for communist labour. They consider it in the context of microhistory and as the most important element of production routine. The employees of the largest industrial enterprise of Soviet Tyumen — Shipbuilding Plant in concrete historical circumstances came under the spotlight of the authors. The submitted article is written with attraction of a wide range of archival documents, taken from the funds of the State Archive of the Tyumen Region and also funds of the State Archive of Socio-Political History of the Tyumen Region. Having studied the documents the authors come to conclusion that the movement for communist labour had little effect on the production progress of the plant employees.

Kant and a Philosophical History of Logic

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huaping Lu-Adler
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
History Of Logic ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
Systematic Philosophy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
Kantian Theory

This chapter discusses certain exegetical challenges posed by Kant’s logic corpus, which comprises the Logic compiled by Jäsche, Kant’s notes on logic, transcripts of his logic lectures, and remarks about logic in his own publications. It argues for a “history of philosophical problems” method by which to reconstruct a Kantian theory of logic that is maximally coherent, philosophically interesting, and historically significant. To ensure a principled application of this method, the chapter considers Kant’s conception of history against the background of the controversy between eclecticism and systematic philosophy that shaped the German philosophical discourse during the early eighteenth century. It thereby looks for an angle to make educated decisions about how to select materials from each of the periods considered in the book and builds a historical narrative that can best inform our understanding of Kant’s theory of logic.

Computer Simulations of Dislocations

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasily Bulatov ◽  
Wei Cai
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Computer Simulations ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Simulation Methods ◽  
Computational Approaches ◽  
Learn By Doing ◽  
Data Files ◽  
Computational Materials

This book presents a broad collection of models and computational methods - from atomistic to continuum - applied to crystal dislocations. Its purpose is to help students and researchers in computational materials sciences to acquire practical knowledge of relevant simulation methods. Because their behavior spans multiple length and time scales, crystal dislocations present a common ground for an in-depth discussion of a variety of computational approaches, including their relative strengths, weaknesses and inter-connections. The details of the covered methods are presented in the form of "numerical recipes" and illustrated by case studies. A suite of simulation codes and data files is made available on the book's website to help the reader "to learn-by-doing" through solving the exercise problems offered in the book.

Introduction: The Translation History of Virgil

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanna Braund ◽  
Zara Martirosova Torlone
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Large Collection ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual

The introduction describes the broad landscape of translation of Virgil from both the theoretical and the practical perspectives. It then explains the genesis of the volume and indicates how the individual chapters, each one of which is summarized, fit into the complex tapestry of Virgilian translation activity through the centuries and across the world. The volume editors indicate points of connection between the chapters in order to render the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Braund and Torlone emphasize that a project such as this could look like a (rather large) collection of case studies; they therefore consider it important to extrapolate larger phenomena from the specifics presented here

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