scholarly journals Reimagining the Aapravasi Ghat: Khal Torabully's poetry and the indentured diaspora

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-143
Author(s):  
Shanaaz Mohammed

National narratives in Mauritius often affiliate the Indian diaspora with the experience of indentureship and the Aapravasi Ghat, a nineteenth century immigration depot classified in 2006 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This affiliation inevitably disregards the African, Malagasy, and Chinese laborers who also worked under the system of indenture in Mauritius during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In his 2013 collection of poetry, Voices from the Aapravasi Ghat: Indentured Imaginaries, Khal Torabully returns to the Aapravasi Ghat to recast the history of indentureship and highlight the various ethnicities of the indentured diaspora, their shared trauma, and displacement. This study contends that Torabully’s poetic engagement with the Aapravasi Ghat, as an historical site of indentureship and its overlooked diversity, challenges the perception of the Ghat as a representation of Indian indentured memory. It uses Torabully’s Coolitude poetics as a conceptual frame to consider the Aapravasi Ghat as an inaugural space that facilitated the creation of a complex, open-ended identity that aspires to promote a culture of diversity but not without its limitations and contradictions. Despite efforts to disrupt ethnic distinctiveness, Torabully reproduces Indo-centric perspectives expressed through the concept of kala pani and the fakir figure.

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-356
Author(s):  
Brenda Vale ◽  
Robert Vale

The architecturally radical Steiff teddy bear factory in Giengen, Germany is a three storey, double skin glass curtain wall building with a steel frame, built in 1903. It is almost unknown in architectural history. On the other hand the loadbearing brick Fagus factory built in 1911 to a design by Gropius and Meyer, in spite of its nineteenth century technology, has become a hallowed icon of modern architecture and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The article discusses the contested history of both buildings and offers some suggestions as to why one became famous and the other did not. It also discusses the equally contested history of the teddy bear, showing that in both cases, history tends to ignore facts in favour of good stories.


2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Cloutier

Over the past 170 years, the Late Devonian Miguasha biota from eastern Canada has yielded a diverse aquatic assemblage including 20 species of lower vertebrates (anaspids, osteostracans, placoderms, acanthodians, actinopterygians and sarcopterygians), a more limited invertebrate assemblage, and a continental component including plants, scorpions and millipedes. Originally interpreted as a freshwater lacustrine environment, recent paleontological, taphonomic, sedimentological and geochemical evidence corroborates a brackish estuarine setting. Over 18,000 fish specimens have been recovered showing various modes of fossilization, including uncompressed material and soft-tissue preservation. Most vertebrates are known from numerous, complete, articulated specimens. Exceptionally well-preserved larval and juvenile specimens have been identified for 14 out of the 20 species of fishes, allowing growth studies. Numerous horizons within the Escuminac Formation are now interpreted as either Konservat– or Konzentrat–Lagerstätten.SOMMAIREAu cours des 170 dernières années, le biote du Dévonien supérieur de Miguasha de l’Est du Canada a fourni un assemblage aquatique diversifié, comprenant 20 espèces de vertébrés inférieurs (anaspides, ostéostracés, placodermes, acanthodiens, actinoptérygiens et sarcoptérygiens) et un assemblage peu diversifié d’invertébrés ainsi qu’une composante continentale, représentée par des plantes, des scorpions et des mille-pattes. À l’origine interprété comme un milieu lacustre d’eau douce, les dernières preuves paléontologiques, taphonomiques, sédimentologiques et géochimiques confirment un environnement saumâtre rappelant celui d’un estuaire. Plus de 18,000 fossiles de poissons ont été découverts montrant différents états de conservation, notamment en trois dimensions et la préservation de tissus mous. La plupart des vertébrés sont connus par de nombreux spécimens complets et articulés. Des spécimens de larves et de juvéniles, exceptionnellement bien conservés, ont été identifiées pour 14 des 20 espèces de poissons permettant des études détaillées de leur croissance. De nombreux horizons au sein de la Formation d’Escuminac sont interprétés soit comme des Konservat– ou Konzentrat–Lagerstätten.


Author(s):  
S. Hollis Clayson

The literature on the Eiffel Tower is wide-ranging and multidisciplinary, echoing the character and history of the 300-meter iron structure itself: a singular and controversial monument with both a past and a present. Not meant to last beyond a few decades, the Tower still looms over Paris. It was the tallest structure on earth when constructed on the Champ de Mars in the French capital as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, which marked the hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution. Reviled at first, it is revered today. During the post-WWII decades, it became the central icon and symbol of Paris and eventually of France tout court, and is today one of the most widely recognized and visited attractions in the world. The Tower was made a Monument historique in 1964 and named part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (“Paris, Banks of the Seine”) in 1991. The publications enumerated and glossed in what follows align with the Tower’s complexity: they are drawn from art, architectural, cultural, economic, political, social, and technology history as well as biography and semiology.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohayah Che Amat

This research presents the value of historic urban landscape (HUL) elements in influencing the character of George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS), Penang, Malaysia. The values were perceived by the local community of different social-cultural groups that occupied the study area. The historic urban landscape elements constitute towards the protection of its townscape. The identification of the heritage elements influenced by the community interaction with their environment. This study also helps to define the character of a place, as well as reflecting its historical significance. The study adopted four techniques to gather both qualitative and quantitative data, including questionnaire survey, in-depth interview, visual survey and content analysis. In general, the local community has the capability in valuing the historic urban landscape values. The outcomes of their perceptions became the statement of the historic urban landscape values, which are expected to lead to the development of the areas. The community evaluation and perception can be expanded in implementing any development of the historic urban area by the authority.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 8006
Author(s):  
Till Schmäing ◽  
Norbert Grotjohann

The Wadden Sea ecosystem is unique in many respects from a biological perspective. This is one reason why it is protected by national parks in Germany and by its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In biology didactics, there are only a few studies that focus on the Wadden Sea. This work investigates students’ word associations with the two stimulus words “national park” and “UNESCO World Heritage Site”. The survey was conducted among students living directly at the Wadden Sea and among students from the inland. The analysis of the identified associations (n = 8345) was carried out within the framework of a quantitative content analysis to be able to present and discuss the results on a group level. A statistically significant difference was found between the two groups. Overall, results showed that the students made subject-related associations as well as a large number of associations to both stimulus words that could be judged as non-subject-related. In some cases, a connection with the region of residence could be found, but this was not generally the case. Even students’ immediate residential proximity to the Wadden Sea is no guarantee that they have knowledge of the two considered protection terms.


CivilEng ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 969-985
Author(s):  
Demiana Tse ◽  
João M. Pereira ◽  
Paulo B. Lourenço

Historic monuments and construction capture the knowledge of civilizations of the past and are a source of pride for people of the present. Over the centuries, these buildings have been at risk from natural and man-made causes. The Alhambra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Granada, Spain, is one of such places. This paper aims to evaluate the structural performance of the Torre de la Vela, a tower in the Alhambra, under blast loads. The loads were based on historical records of barrels of gunpowder and were modeled as simplified pressure profiles using existing empirical equations. The effect of impulsive loading on the material properties was accounted for using dynamic increase factors, determined experimentally by previous authors. The model was created using finite element methods (FEM) and the problem was solved using explicit dynamic analysis available in Abaqus/Explicit. Using the failure volume damage index, a blast load applied outside and inside of the building would create a low damage level, which should be treated with caution given the occurrence of localized damage. The removal of elements exceeding a given damage threshold led to more visible damage patterns than the Concrete Tension Damage option in Abaqus.


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