Hidden heirlooms: Keeping family secrets across generations

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Barnwell
Keyword(s):  
Life Writing ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Family Secrets ◽  
Secret Keeping ◽  
Colonial Policies ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

This article explores how wider national narratives facilitate families’ choices about what information to keep secret over time. I argue that attention to the ways family secrets operate reveals how social and moral codes are both sustained and challenged on an intimate scale. The article also makes an argument for using life writing and literature to explore the often-illusive contours of family secrets. To illustrate, I examine Lynette Russell’s memoir A Little Bird Told Me: Family Secrets, Necessary Lies and Richard Flanagan’s novel Death of a River Guide. Anchoring the analysis within the transition from colonial to postcolonial societies, these texts lend insight into the collective practices families use to manage secrets and to construct socially sanctioned identities. The discussion foregrounds the enduring impact of colonial policies upon the intimate formation of families, and the role families play in reproducing and challenging these legacies via collective secret-keeping and silences.

The Relationship between Seeker and Spiritual Guide as portrayed in contemporary Western Sufi Autobiographies

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-332
Author(s):  
Kate Zebiri
Keyword(s):  
Life Writing ◽  
New Age ◽  
The Self ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Religious Authority ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Continuity And Discontinuity

This article aims to explore the Shaykh-mur?d (disciple) or teacher-pupil relationship as portrayed in Western Sufi life writing in recent decades, observing elements of continuity and discontinuity with classical Sufism. Additionally, it traces the influence on the texts of certain developments in religiosity in contemporary Western societies, especially New Age understandings of religious authority. Studying these works will provide an insight into the diversity of expressions of contemporary Sufism, while shedding light on a phenomenon which seems to fly in the face of contemporary social and religious trends which deemphasize external authority and promote the authority of the self or individual autonomy.

Dualities, Dialectics, and Paradoxes in Organizational Life

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Organizational Studies ◽  
Organizational Life ◽  
Organizational Processes ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Process Studies ◽  
Convergence And Divergence ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

Organizational contradictions and process studies offer interwoven and complementary insights. Studies of dialectics, paradox, and dualities depict organizational contradictions that are oppositional as well as interrelated such that they persistently morph and shift over time. Studies of process often examine how contradictions fuel emergent, dynamic systems and stimulate novelty, adaptation, and transformation. Drawing from rich conversations at the Eighth International Symposium on Process Organization Studies, the contributors to this volume unpack these relationships in more depth. The chapters explore three main, connected themes through both conceptual and empirical studies, including (1) offering insight into how process theorizing advances understandings of organizational contradictions; (2) shedding light on how dialectics, paradoxes, and dualities fuel organizational processes that affect persistence and transformation; and (3) exploring the convergence and divergence of dialectics, paradox, and dualities lenses. Taken together, this book offers key insights in order to inform persistent, contradictory dynamics in organizations and organizational studies.

The Oxford Handbook of the Brazilian Economy

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Direct Investment ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Iron Ore ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Closed Economy ◽  
Current Characteristics ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Contemporary Context ◽  
Over Time

Brazil constitutes a globally vital but troubled economy. It accounts for the largest GDP in Latin America and ranks among the world’s largest exporters of critical commodities including iron ore, soya, coffee, and beef. In recent years Brazil’s global economic importance has been magnified by a surge in both outward and inward foreign direct investment. This has served to further internationalize what has been historically a relatively closed economy. The purpose of this Handbook is to offer real insight into the Brazil’s economic development in contemporary context, understanding its most salient characteristics and analyzing its structural features across various dimensions. At a more granular level, this volume accomplishes the following tasks. First, it provides an understanding of the economy’s evolution over time and the connection of its current characteristics to this evolution. Second, it analyzes Brazil’s broader place in the global economy, and considers the ways in which this role has changed, and is likely to change, over coming years. Third, reflecting contemporary concerns, the volume offers an understanding, not only of how one of the world’s key economies has developed and transformed itself, but also of the ways in which this process has yet to be completed. The volume thus analyzes the current challenges facing the Brazilian economy and the kinds of issues that need to be tackled for these to be addressed.

scholarly journals Detecting bursty terms in computer science research

2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 681-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Tattershall ◽  
G. Nenadic ◽  
R. D. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Trend Detection ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Computer Science Research ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

AbstractResearch topics rise and fall in popularity over time, some more swiftly than others. The fastest rising topics are typically called bursts; for example “deep learning”, “internet of things” and “big data”. Being able to automatically detect and track bursty terms in the literature could give insight into how scientific thought evolves over time. In this paper, we take a trend detection algorithm from stock market analysis and apply it to over 30 years of computer science research abstracts, treating the prevalence of each term in the dataset like the price of a stock. Unlike previous work in this domain, we use the free text of abstracts and titles, resulting in a finer-grained analysis. We report a list of bursty terms, and then use historical data to build a classifier to predict whether they will rise or fall in popularity in the future, obtaining accuracy in the region of 80%. The proposed methodology can be applied to any time-ordered collection of text to yield past and present bursty terms and predict their probable fate.

Decomposition of Growth Curves into Growth Rate and Acceleration: a Novel Procedure to Monitor Bacterial Growth and the Time-Dependent Effect of Antimicrobials

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Luisa Navarro-Pérez ◽  
M. Coronada Fernández-Calderón ◽  
Virginia Vadillo-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Bacterial Growth ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Antimicrobial Agents ◽  
Numerical Procedure ◽  
Growth Curves ◽  
Predictive Microbiology ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

In this paper, a simple numerical procedure is presented to monitor the growth of Streptococcus sanguinis over time in the absence and presence of propolis, a natural antimicrobial. In particular, it is shown that the real-time decomposition of growth curves obtained through optical density measurements into growth rate and acceleration can be a powerful tool to precisely assess a large range of key parameters [ i.e. lag time ( t 0 ), starting growth rate ( γ 0 ), initial acceleration of the growth ( a 0 ), maximum growth rate ( γ max ), maximum acceleration ( a max ) and deceleration ( a min ) of the growth and the total number of cells at the beginning of the saturation phase ( N s )] that can be readily used to fully describe growth over time. Consequently, the procedure presented provides precise data of the time course of the different growth phases and features, which is expected to be relevant, for instance, to thoroughly evaluate the effect of new antimicrobial agents. It further provides insight into predictive microbiology, likely having important implications to assumptions adopted in mathematical models to predict the progress of bacterial growth. Importance: The new and simple numerical procedure presented in this paper to analyze bacterial growth will possibly allow identifying true differences in efficacy among antimicrobial drugs for their applications in human health, food security, and environment, among others. It further provides insight into predictive microbiology, likely helping in the development of proper mathematical models to predict the course of bacterial growth under diverse circumstances.

Nubian Texts, Nubian Lives

2021 ◽  
pp. 771-786
Author(s):  
Giovanni R. Ruffini
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
World History ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
State Centralization ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Flow Over Time ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Ebb And Flow

Nubian texts provide valuable insight into Nubian social and economic history. Accounts reveal economic priorities both secular and sacred. Documentary evidence hints at the nature of state centralization and the movement of goods and coins in and out of Nubia. Magic reveals Nubia’s deep-seated hopes and fears. Literature shows innovative theology and Nubia’s sense of its place in world history. Funerary inscriptions record the careers of the elite and their sense of their own place in the cosmos. But much is missing from the Nubian textual record as well, suggesting that major literary genres never indigenized in Nubia the way they did in Egypt or Ethiopia. Other genres ebb and flow over time, hinting at the economy of Nubian literacy and the processes through which it ultimately dies.

A comparative study of RFID adoption patterns in retail

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Narges Kasiri ◽  
G. Scott Erickson ◽  
Gerd Wolfram
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Radio Frequency ◽  
Radio Frequency Identification ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Slow Pace ◽  
The Us ◽  
Frequency Identification ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Current Stage ◽  
Over Time

Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been viewed as a promising technology for quite some time. Initially developed a couple of decades ago, the technology has been accompanied by predictions of imminent widespread adoption since its beginnings. A majority of retailers and other users are now using or planning to use the technology. This paper employs a combination of the technology-organization-environment (TOE) model and the 3-S (substitution, scale, structural) model to analyze the long journey of RFID adoption in retail. Top retail executives in the US and Europe were interviewed to investigate RFID adoption patterns based on differences in technological, organizational, and environmental circumstances. As the retail industry is moving into a post-adoption era, these results demonstrate the current stage of retail RFID adoption, identify factors playing important roles over time as motivators or impediments, and provide some insight into the slow pace of adoption.

scholarly journals To Leave Your Kindred and Your Father’s House. Contemporary Dutch Christian Border Narratives

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 174-196
Author(s):  
Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar ◽  
Krina Huisman
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
Border Narratives ◽  
The Church ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Dutch People ◽  
Christian Denomination

In this article the authors analyse a collection of essays written by young Dutch people who grew up in the Reformed Liberated Church, a small Christian denomination in the Netherlands. Traditionally, this church is characterised by its inwards nature: members strive to live their lives within the confinements that the church and its institutions stipulate. This has changed over the last few decades and the essays attest to the effects these changes have had on individual lives. We discuss the underlying narrative structure of their accounts and how the authors negotiate different lifestyles and interpretations of the Christian faith on either side of the borders that demarcate the Reformed Liberated tradition. We discuss if – and how – the essays work towards an outcome of ‘discordant concordance’ (Ricœur) where narrative identities remain whole, despite relatively drastic border crossings in the course of the lives that formed them. We address how these stories give insight into how people use the stories they tell to define what needs to be remembered and forgotten when we cross borders. Finally, we discuss the relevance of these essays and our analysis of them for our understanding of today’s globalised and multicultural societies in which many are in a permanent state of transition. This article was submitted to the European Journal of Life Writing on February 17th and published on August 28th 2017.

scholarly journals AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS IN MEDIEVAL MOSCOW (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN THE MOSCOW KREMLIN IN 2016-2018)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Е.Ю. Лебедева ◽  
А.Ю. Сергеев
Keyword(s):  
Bread Wheat ◽  
Crop Plants ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Exotic Plant ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
The City ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Over Time

В статье представлены результаты археоботанических исследований в Московском Кремле и обсуждается проблема использования растений жителями города с особым акцентом на потреблении зерновой продукции. Материалы рассматриваются по двум хронологическим выборкам (XII - перв. пол. XIII в. и втор. пол. XIII - XV в.), что позволяет проследить динамику изменения археоботанических спектров. Выделяются три специфические черты, характеризующие коллекцию зерновых в Москве. Во-первых, высокая насыщенность зерном культурного слоя во-вторых, стабильно высокий показатель доли ржи на протяжении столетий (ок. 70 ) и, в-третьих, остающийся непонятным факт сокращения на 10 доли овса в поздней выборке. Последнее, по мнению авторов, противоречит логике развития города, требующей увеличения фуражных запасов для лошадей - основного транспортного средства средневековья. Авторы приходят к выводу, что при отсутствии или скудости находок экзотических растений, выступающих маркерами элитного питания в европейских городах, в средневековой Руси в этом качестве могут интерпретироваться обычные зерновые культуры, в частности - мягкая пшеница. The paper presents the results of archaeobotanical studies in the Moscow Kremlin and discusses the use of plants by the city residents with a focus on consumption of crops. The analysis is based on two chronological selections (the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries and the first half of the 13th - 15th centuries) it gives an insight into the changes over time of archaeobotanical spectra. Three specific features characterizing the crop grains in Moscow are singled out. Firstly, abundance of crop plants in the occupation layers secondly, consistently high values of the rye share in total crops throughout centuries (around 70 ) and, thirdly, the reduction in the share of oats by 10 in the later sample for some inexplicable reasons. In the view of the authors, the latter fact contradicts the logical development of the city that required increase in forage reserves for horses which was the main animal for transportation in the medieval times. The authors come to the conclusion that in the absence or scarcity of exotic plant finds used as markers of luxury food in European cities, common grain crops such as bread wheat can be used as elite food indicator in Medieval Russia.

National Museums, National Narratives, and Identity Politics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Lleras
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Museums ◽  
Insight Into

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the surge of identity politics and the diversification of heritage and the tensions that arise with the traditional role of national museums that are expected to support the model of a unitary national identity through their narratives and collections. Engaging with distinct patrimonies and transformations in museums checkmates stagnant notions of heritage, but in turn, these actions might also instigate resistance to change. A case study at the National Museum of Colombia will provide an insight into competing notions of heritage, which can be understood as the relics of a material past, but may also be seen as the meanings created about the past. This analysis instigates thoughts about the role that history and historians might play in the elaboration of narratives of identity.

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