Hellenistic World(s) and the Elusive Concept of ‘Greekness’

2013 ◽  
pp. 177-205
Keyword(s):  
Hellenistic World ◽  
Elusive Concept

Domestic workers’ lived realities of empowerment and disempowerment within the South African labour legislative context: Two sides of the same “coin”

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-83
Author(s):  
Christel Marais ◽  
Christo Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Phenomenological Research ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Employment Relationship ◽  
Employee Voice ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Employment Standards ◽  
Phenomenological Research Design ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Elusive Concept

South Africa is heralded as a global ambassador for the rights of domestic workers. Empowerment, however, remains an elusive concept within the sector. Fear-based disempowerment still characterises the employment relationship, resulting in an absence of an employee voice. The dire need to survive renders this sector silent. This article explores the role that legislative awareness can play in the everyday lives of domestic workers. By means of a post-positive, forwardlooking positive psychological and phenomenological research design the researchers sought to access the voiced experiences of domestic workers within their employment context. Consequently, purposive, respondent-driven selfsampling knowledgeable participants were recruited. In-depth interviewing generated the data. The distinct voice of each participant was noted during an open inductive approach to data analysis. Findings indicated that empowerment was an unknown construct for all participants. They lacked the confidence to engage their employers on employment issues. Nevertheless, domestic workers should embrace ownership and endeavour to empower themselves. This would sanction their right to assert their expectations of employment standards with confidence and use the judicial system to bring about compliant actions. The article concludes with the notion that legislative awareness could result in empowered actions though informed employee voices.

Reign of Arrows

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Leo Overtoom
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
World State ◽  
State Security ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Hellenistic World ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Comprehensive Study

From minor nomadic tribe to major world empire, the story of the Parthians’ success in the ancient world is nothing short of remarkable. In their early history, the Parthians benefited from strong leadership, a flexible and accommodating cultural identity, and innovative military characteristics that allowed them to compete against and indeed eventually overcome Greek, Persian, Central Asian, and eventually Roman rivals who were often more powerful. Reign of Arrows provides the first comprehensive study dedicated entirely to early Parthian history within the Hellenistic world prior to contact with Rome and the first comprehensive effort since 1938 to evaluate early Parthian political history. It is a major effort to synthesize a wide array of especially recent scholarship across numerous fields of study in order to present the reader with the most cogent, well-rounded, and up-to-date account of the intersections of Hellenistic and Parthian history possible. It draws on a wide variety of sources to explain the political and military encounters that shaped the international environment of the Hellenistic Middle East from the middle third to the early first centuries BCE. This study treats broader issues of international relations in the ancient world, state decision-making, royal identity and ideology, evolving spatial perspectives and power relations, and state security concerns. It combines traditional historical approaches, such as source criticism and the integration of material evidence, with the incorporation of modern international relations theory to better examine the rise of the Parthians to dominance over the ancient Middle East.

Lykophron's Alexandra, Rome, and the Hellenistic World

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hornblower
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Roman History ◽  
Historical Document ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
South Italy ◽  
Hellenistic World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Greek World ◽  
Area Of Origin

This book is an original, accessibly written, contribution to Roman and Hellenistic history. Its subject is a long (1474-line) ancient Greek poem, Lykophron’s Alexandra, probably written about 190 BC. The Trojan Kassandra foretells the conflicts between Europe and Asia from the Trojan Wars to the establishment of Roman ascendancy over the Greek world in the poet’s own time, including the founding of new cities by returning Greeks through the Mediterranean zone, and of Rome by the Trojan refugee Aineias, Kassandra’s kinsman. Simon Hornblower now follows his detailed commentary (OUP 2015, paperback 2017) with a monograph asserting the Alexandra’s importance as a historical document of interest to political, cultural, and religious historians and students of myths of identity. Part One explores Lykophron’s geopolitical world, especially south Italy (perhaps the poet’s area of origin), Sicily, and Rhodes, and argues that the recent (in the 190s) hostile presence of Hannibal in south Italy is a frequent if indirectly expressed concern of the poem. Part Two investigates the poem’s relation to Sibylline and other anti-Roman writings, and argues for its cultural and religious topicality. The Conclusion shows that the 190s BC were a turning-point in Roman history, and that Lykophron was aware of this.

Comedy and the Athenian Ideal

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Konstan
Keyword(s):  
American Democracy ◽  
Intended Audience ◽  
The World ◽  
Hollywood Movies ◽  
Hellenistic World ◽  
City State ◽  
The City ◽  
New Comedy ◽  
A Performance

New Comedy was a Panhellenic phenomenon. It may be that a performance in Athens was still the acme of a comic playwright’s career, but Athens was no longer the exclusive venue of the genre. Yet Athens, or an idealized version of Athens, remained the setting or backdrop for New Comedy, whatever its provenance or intended audience. New Comedy was thus an important vehicle for the dissemination of the Athenian polis model throughout the Hellenistic world, and it was a factor in what has been termed ‘the great convergence’. The role of New Comedy in projecting an idealized image of the city-state may be compared to that of Hollywood movies in conveying a similarly romanticized, but not altogether false, conception of American democracy to populations around the world.

The Best Interests of the Child

2020 ◽  
pp. 203-221
Author(s):  
Wouter Vandenhole ◽  
Gamze Erdem Türkelli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
European Court ◽  
Elusive Concept

The best interests of the child principle is considered a pillar of children’s rights law and, according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is to be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children. Yet best interests is an elusive concept and principle that has no single authoritative definition or description. Internationally and domestically relevant in such diverse areas as family law, adoption, migration, and socioeconomic policymaking, the best interests principle requires flexibility and is best served by a case-by-case approach, as has been recognized by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the European Court of Human Rights. This chapter analyzes relevant international case law and suggests the use of a number of safeguards to prevent such requisite flexibility from presenting a danger of paternalism, bias, or misuse.

Montaigne on Curiosity

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahi Zalloua
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Loaded Term ◽  
Elusive Concept ◽  
Careful Assessment

Curiosity for Montaigne is an elusive concept. As a Renaissance author, Montaigne inherits a long and multifaceted critical discourse on the question of curiosity. His reflections on this religiously and philosophically loaded term require careful assessment. This chapter first contextualizes Montaigne’s attitude toward curiosity by looking briefly at the mixed reception of curiosity in ancient and medieval discourses before turning to how early modern figures conceived of curiosity as, in large part, a danger to humanist, religious, and/or philosophical ideals of the period. It will then turn to Montaigne’s musings on curiosity, showing how his essaying, or essayistic doing, puts the author paradoxically at odds with his own dismissive remarks, or constative description, of curiosity. The essay form—a form that illustrates and enacts a curious will or “spirited mind”—will also be considered in the discussion of Montaigne’s transvaluation of curiosity.

scholarly journals Living Labs for Public Sector Innovation: An Integrative Literature Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Lars Fuglsang ◽  
Anne Vorre Hansen ◽  
Ines Mergel ◽  
Maria Taivalsaari Røhnebæk
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Innovation ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Living Labs ◽  
Elusive Concept

The public administration literature and adjacent fields have devoted increasing attention to living labs as environments and structures enabling the co-creation of public sector innovation. However, living labs remain a somewhat elusive concept and phenomenon, and there is a lack of understanding of its versatile nature. To gain a deeper understanding of the multiple dimensions of living labs, this article provides a review assessing how the environments, methods and outcomes of living labs are addressed in the extant research literature. The findings are drawn together in a model synthesizing how living labs link to public sector innovation, followed by an outline of knowledge gaps and future research avenues.

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