scholarly journals When Objects Misbehave

Fabula ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 257-277
Author(s):  
Sara Ann Knutson

AbstractThis article explores new possibilities for the interpretation of myths. It asks how people in the past configured their world and its complex interactions, to which their orally-constructed stories bear witness. It is assumed here that myths contain structures of belief, cognition, and world-making beyond their immediate subject matter. This article focuses specifically on the preservation of material objects in myths throughout their transmission from changing oral narratives to written form. We should not assume that objects in oral traditions simply color the narratives; rather, these representations of materials can provide clues into the mentalities of past peoples and how they understood the complex interaction between humans and materials. As a case study, I examine the Old Norse myths, stories containing materials that reinforced Scandinavian oral traditions and gave the stories traction, memory, and influence. In doing so, this article hopes to help bridge materiality studies, narrative studies, and folklore in a way that does not privilege one particular source type over another. The myths reveal ancient Scandinavian conceptions of what constituted an “object,” which are not necessarily the same as our own twenty-first century expectations. The Scandinavian myths present a world not divided between active Subject, passive Object as the Cartesian model would enforce centuries later, but rather one that recognized distinctive object agencies beyond the realm of human intention.

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Diana Tampu ◽  
Carmen Costea

The 21st century is burdened by a series of dramatic changes and efforts are carried out to find potential solutions to consumerism, access to information, transient climate disequilibria, health care and demographic transformations. A new page in human history will bear witness to the introduction of new ways of thinking, new changes, new relationships and interconnections that transcend states and societies. The moment is ripe for individuals aware of the implications carried by global changes and challenges, to step up and encourage responsibility and sustainable development. Mankind is currently living in a data-rich world, where information is widely dispersed. Nevertheless, extracting the right assumptions and conclusions from the available data proves difficult as numerous social phenomena do not run with clockwork precision as the laws governing the Newtonian universe.Human awareness and intelligence demand a more responsible approach to all operations and steps should be made in determining the consequences and their impact. The goal of this paper is not restricted to providing a review but also to enforce certain ideas in relation to the complex interactions specific to society and economic activities.


Author(s):  
Fiona Macintosh

Tony Harrison is widely acclaimed for his ability to make the most complex arguments lucid and accessible. Yet it is this very accessibility that often belies the degree of scholarship that informs his work for the theatre, in particular. It is not just that his versions of ancient Greek plays are underpinned by solid classical learning; it is also that they involve a considerable amount of scholarly research in libraries. To bear witness to this scholar-poet's scrupulous attention to detailed scholarship, this chapter takes as case-study an overlooked text from Harrison’s corpus, Medea, A Sex-War Opera(1985). This work was commissioned by New York’s Metropolitan Opera House as a libretto for a score by Jakob Druckman that was never completed. Indeed, Harrison’s libretto has never properly seen the light of day: the only (albeit truncated) production to date - the 1991 Medea: Sex Warby The Volcano Theatre Company - interwove Valerie Solanis’ 1960’s radical feminist text, The S.C.U.M. Manifesto (Society for Cutting Up Men) into the Harrison libretto. Yet Medea, A Sex-War Opera is an ingenious, witty and hard-hitting piece of social intervention that still speaks powerfully back to, and vociferously against, twenty-first century gender discrimination. Ranging from George Buchanan’s Latin version (c.1540s) to Robert Brough’s demotic mid-Victorian burlesque (1856), the libretto is testament to Harrison’s extraordinary wide reading from ancient to modern versions of Medea’s story.


Author(s):  
David Whetham

Between 2007 and 2011, Wootton Bassett, a small Wiltshire town in the UK, became the focus of national attention as its residents responded to the regular repatriations of dead soldiers through its High Street. The town’s response came to symbolize the way that broader attitudes developed and changed over that period. As such, it is a fascinating case study in civil–military relations in the twenty-first century. Success may be the same as victory, but victory, at least as it has been traditionally understood, is not a realistic goal in many types of contemporary conflict. Discretionary wars—conflicts in which national survival is not an issue and even vital national interests may not be at stake—pose particular challenges for any government which does not explain why the cost being paid in blood and treasure is ‘worth it’.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 683
Author(s):  
Birte Moser ◽  
Meruyert Beknazarova ◽  
Harriet Whiley ◽  
Thilini Piushani Keerthirathne ◽  
Nikki Harrington ◽  
...  

Iron-related clogging of boreholes, pumps and dripper lines is a significant and costly problem for irrigators worldwide. The primary cause of iron-related clogging is still debated. Previous studies have described complex interactions between biological clogging and inorganic iron/manganese oxide precipitation. This case study examined groundwater bores used for viticulture irrigation in the Limestone Coast region, a highly productive wine growing area in the SE of South Australia. Iron clogging of bore screens, pumps and dripper systems has been a persistent problem in the region and the issue is perceived to be growing, with irrigators suggesting the widespread introduction of iron-related bacteria (IRB) through drilling equipment to be the root cause of the problem. Analysis of the groundwater microbiology and inorganic chemistry found no apparent correlation between the presence of IRB and the clogging status of wells. In fact, IRB proved to be widespread throughout the limestone aquifer. However, a clear correlation could be found between clogging affected bores and the redox potential of the groundwater with the most severely affected bores strongly oversaturated in respect to iron oxide minerals. Elevated dissolved concentrations of Fe(II) thereby tended to be found in deeper bores, which also were generally more recently drilled. Following decades of less than average rainfall, a tendency to deepen bores in response to widespread declines in water levels has been documented for the SE of South Australia. The gradually widening clogging problem in the region is postulated to be related to the changes in climate in the region, with irrigators increasingly driven to rely on deeper, anoxic iron-rich groundwater resources.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Chris Urwin ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Henry Arifeae

ABSTRACT When European colonists arrived in the late 19th century, large villages dotted the coastline of the Gulf of Papua (southern Papua New Guinea). These central places sustained long-distance exchange and decade-spanning ceremonial cycles. Besides ethnohistoric records, little is known of the villages’ antiquity, spatiality, or development. Here we combine oral traditional and 14C chronological evidence to investigate the spatial history of two ancestral village sites in Orokolo Bay: Popo and Mirimua Mapoe. A Bayesian model composed of 35 14C assays from seven excavations, alongside the oral traditional accounts, demonstrates that people lived at Popo from 765–575 cal BP until 220–40 cal BP, at which time they moved southwards to Mirimua Mapoe. The village of Popo spanned ca. 34 ha and was composed of various estates, each occupied by a different tribe. Through time, the inhabitants of Popo transformed (e.g., expanded, contracted, and shifted) the village to manage social and ceremonial priorities, long-distance exchange opportunities and changing marine environments. Ours is a crucial case study of how oral traditional ways of understanding the past interrelate with the information generated by Bayesian 14C analyses. We conclude by reflecting on the limitations, strengths, and uncertainties inherent to these forms of chronological knowledge.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-129
Author(s):  
Linda Carol Algozzini ◽  
Valencia Lavon Gabay ◽  
Shannon D. Voyles ◽  
Kimberly Bessolo ◽  
Grady Batchelor

Purpose This case study reviews a group coaching and mentoring (GCM) change model and its significance in dissolving barriers and promoting equity in virtual learning environments. The purpose of this paper is to examine the model’s approach to shifting instructor mindsets to align with institutional core values and initiatives that best serve a twenty-first century adult learner. Design/methodology/approach The change model, grounded in GCM, metacognition, self-regulated learning, and community of practice theory, incorporates participatory action research design focusing on cycles of action, reflection, and evaluation. Findings This study illustrates the change model’s success in moving educators toward deeper understanding of self and individual student differences. It further showcases how professionals adapt and improve practices using self-regulated learning and metacognition to better serve the population they teach. Practical implications The GCM framework improved engagement. The design, while implemented in a higher education arena, is applicable to other entities seeking to bridge gaps using metacognition and self-regulated learning to become adaptable and inclusive. Originality/value The change model, recipient of one of this year’s Effective Practice Awards from the Online Learning Consortium (2017), is recognized for innovation and replicability in and beyond higher education.


2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Wiese

Place-based activism has played a critical role in the history of urban and environmental politics in California. This article explores the continuing significance of environmental place making to grassroots politics through a case study of Friends of Rose Canyon, an environmental group in San Diego. Based in the fast-growing University City neighborhood, Friends of Rose Canyon waged a long, successful campaign between 2002 and 2018 to prevent construction of a bridge in the Rose Canyon Open Space Park in their community. Using historical and participant observer methodologies, this study reveals how twenty-first-century California urbanites claimed and created meaningful local places and mobilized effective politics around them. It illuminates the critical role of individual activists; suggests practical, replicable strategies for community mobilization; and demonstrates the significant impact of local activism at the urban and metropolitan scales.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emeka Eyisi ◽  
Zhenkai Zhang ◽  
Xenofon Koutsoukos ◽  
Joseph Porter ◽  
Gabor Karsai ◽  
...  

The systematic design of automotive control applications is a challenging problem due to lack of understanding of the complex and tight interactions that often manifest during the integration of components from the control design phase with the components from software generation and deployment on actual platform/network. In order to address this challenge, we present a systematic methodology and a toolchain using well-defined models to integrate components from various design phases with specific emphasis on restricting the complex interactions that manifest during integration such as timing, deployment, and quantization. We present an experimental platform for the evaluation and testing of the design process. The approach is applied to the development of an adaptive cruise control, and we present experimental results that demonstrate the efficacy of the approach.


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