scholarly journals Further Reflecting on the Six-Year Primary Project of the Institute of Education, University of Ife: The Key Players

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Toyin Falola ◽  
Michael Oladejo Afolayan
Keyword(s):  
Good Growth ◽  
Colonial Education ◽  
Linguistic Complexity ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Original Goal ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Yoruba Language ◽  
Primary Agent

African linguistic complexity is often defined in terms of its multilingualism and a complicated colonial sociolinguistic heritage. Tis colonial heritage is seen in the prevalence of European languages, especially English and French, in the lingual Franca of sub-Saharan states. A corollary to the latter assertion is that education in Africa, south of the Sahara, is primarily Eurocentric and quite unAfrican in context. More often than not, it is disempowering rather than empowering if we go by Paulo Freire’s notion of education as being central to empowerment and poor education as the primary agent and metaphoric vehicle for modern day disempowerment, a knowledge base that does not liberate the mind or embrace the cognitive progression of the learner.1 After all, the original goal of colonial education was to train the “natives” in European languages so as to be able to communicate with and, ipso facto, serve their colonial “masters,” and help him to rule the same “natives.” The proverbial “Food for the slave” is relevant here; and as the saying goes, “it is not given to provide the slave nourishment or enhance good growth, but to provide just enough energy to keep on serving the malevolent master.” Such is the unfortunate paradigm that captures the essence of colonial education in which the lingua franca of the indigenous learner is not only backgrounded but altogether demonized in some cases. Otherwise, how else could the common warning in the typical colonial classroom “Vernacular speaking is prohibited”? The so-called “vernacular” in question is the Yoruba language!  

Etymology and Semantic Spectrum of adhimukti and Related Terms in Buddhist Texts

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-29
Author(s):  
Giacomo Benedetti
Keyword(s):  
External Reality ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
Meditative Practice ◽  
Stable Representation ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Mental Objects

The action noun adhimukti derives from the verb adhi-muc, not attested in Classical Sanskrit but in P?li. It is regularly used in the passive, with the original meaning ‘to be fastened to’, and then ‘to adhere’. This meaning is not used in a concrete sense, but in a metaphorical one, referred to mind and mental objects, so that adhimukti can be used to express inclination, faith in a doctrine, and also intentional and stable representation of an image or an idea in meditative practice, sometimes with the effect of transformation of external reality. The common feature appears to be adherence or the fixing of the mind on its object.

scholarly journals Deep-Down Time: Political Tradition in Central Africa

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 341-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Vansina
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Common View ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Impact

Around 1850 the peoples of central Africa from Duala to the Kunene River and from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes shared a common view of the universe and a common political ideology. This included assumptions about roles, statuses, symbols, values, and indeed the very notion of legitimate authority. Among the plethora of symbols connected with these views were the leopard or the lion, the sun, the anvil, and the drum, symbolizing respectively the leader as predator, protector, forger of society, and the voice of all. Obviously, in each case the common political ideology was expressed in slightly different views, reflecting the impact of differential historical processes on different peoples. But the common core persisted. The gigantic extent of this phenomenon, encompassing an area equal to two-thirds of the continental United States, baffles the mind. How did it come about? Such a common tradition certainly did not arise independently in each of the hundreds of political communities that existed then. However absorbent and stable this mental political constellation was, it must have taken shape over a profound time depth. How and as a result of what did this happen? Is it even possible to answer such queries in a part of the world that did not generate written records until a few centuries ago or less?This paper addresses this question: how can one trace the social construction of such a common constellation over great time depths and over great regional scale? All the peoples involved are agriculturalists and the political repertory with which we are concerned could not easily exist in its known form outside sedentary societies.

scholarly journals State-induced Famine in Eritrea: Persecution and Crime against Humanity

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahlbi Y. Malk
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Court ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Humanitarian Crisis ◽  
International Borders ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Mass Starvation ◽  
Causes Of Deaths

Famine remains one of the major causes of deaths and displacements in the Sub-Saharan African countries where people have continuously been compelled to cross international borders in search of livelihood securities. There is no question that the continent has been exposed to erratic rainfalls, crop failures and droughts, but contemporary famine has less to do with natural-related crop failures and much to do with poor governance. The author argues that state’s premeditated action, inaction and incompetency to respond to insecurity and threats are largely responsible for African famines. Due to historical misperception of African famine and oversimplification of refugees’ motives from Africa, however, food-based persecution has not been a common subject of research. Besides, the absence of drought does not necessary mean the absence of famine either, because the aforementioned factors frequently cause it to happen even in the middle of plenty. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how government’s action or inaction can lead to famine in the absence or presence of drought which in return forces people to escape from drastically deteriorating conditions of existence by flight. The goal of this paper is mainly to challenge the common perception that famine as being the drought-induced outcome of humanitarian crisis in Africa and refugees as being victims of the natural circumstance. Thus, this paper argues that a government that deprives its citizens of the basic necessity such as the right to food is as dangerous as the one that persecutes its citizens on the five Convention grounds. Hence, taking Eritrea as a case example, this article discusses chronic food insecurity and mass starvation as a state-induced disaster, which I believe should be considered a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

scholarly journals The Possibility of a Scientific Approach to Analytic Theology

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 178-198
Author(s):  
Andrew Torrance
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The University ◽  
Independent Reality

A question that is often asked of analytic theologians is: what, if anything, distinguishes analytic theology from philosophy of religion? In this essay, I consider two approaches to what is called “analytic theology.” I argue that the first approach, which I associate with the common practice of analytic theology in the university, is very difficult to distinguish consistently from philosophy of religion. I also argue, however, that there is another approach that can be more clearly distinguished from philosophy of religion (generally understood). Following Aquinas, I associate this with a scientific approach to analytic theology: an approach that is distinguished by a specific commitment to understanding the mind-independent reality of God and all things in relation to God. The primary aim of this essay is to present an account of this latter approach and ask whether it might be possible to take such an approach in the contemporary university.

scholarly journals LET’S JOIN OUR HANDS, MY DEAR FRIENDS: BULAT OKUDZHAVA IN THE INTERTEXTUAL THESAURUS OF THE YOUNG

2021 ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Валентина Даниловна Черняк ◽  
Мария Александровна Черняк
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Single Culture ◽  
The Common ◽  
Fathers And Sons ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Russian Linguistic ◽  
National Corpus

Введение. Рассматривается проблема культурного диалога представителей разных поколений. Прецедентные тексты, связанные с совокупностью знаний и представлений людей, принадлежащих к одной культуре, анализируются в связи со структурой языковой личности. Прецедентные феномены различных типов являются важной составляющей интертекстуального тезауруса. В процессе коммуникации немалую роль играют культурные аллюзии коммуникантов, их оперирование культурным багажом, в частности составляющими интертекстуального тезауруса. Цель – анализ той части тезауруса русской языковой личности, которая связана с крылатыми словами одного из значительных авторов XX века – Булата Окуджавы. Материал и методы. Постоянно воспроизводимые песни Булата Окуджавы формировали культурный код поколения 70–80-х гг. Многие фразы из его песен приобрели статус фольклорных, о чем свидетельствуют материалы словарей и Национального корпуса русского языка. Для исследования динамических процессов, характеризующих различия в культурной памяти поколений отцов и детей, был произведен эксперимент, в ходе которого были отобраны 10 популярных высказываний из поэзии Б. Окуджавы. Они легли в основу опроса, в котором участвовало около 1 000 человек. Респонденты должны были определить авторство высказываний и продолжить некоторые из них. Результаты и обсуждение. Анализ результатов опроса показал, что даже самые распространенные высказывания из песен Б. Окуджавы в большинстве случаев не соотносятся в сознании респондентов с именем автора. Приписывание авторства самым неожиданным именам свидетельствует о глубоких лакунах в культурной памяти молодых людей, в то же время строки Б. Окуджавы присутствуют в интертекстуальном тезаурусе языковой личности, что во многом связано с взаимодействием вербальной и аудиовизуальной информации. Заключение. Результаты анализа лексикографических источников и корпусные данные свидетельствуют о прецедентности многих поэтических строк Б. Окуджавы, в то же время анализ данных массового опроса отражает существенные изменения в интертекстуальном тезаурусе молодежи. Introduction. The article deals with the issue of the cultural communication between representatives of different generations. The precedent texts associated with the common knowledge of people belonging to a single culture are studied in line with the structure of a linguistic personality. Precedent phenomena of various types are an important part of an intertextual thesaurus. In the process of communication, the cultural allusions of communicants play a great role, as well as the application of their cultural backgrounds that include components of the intertextual thesaurus. Aim and objectives. The purpose of the article is to analyze the area of the Russian linguistic personality thesaurus that contains the catchphrases by Bulat Okudzhava – a prominent 20th century Russian author. Material and methods. Being constantly played out in the 1970–1980s, Bulat Okudzhava’s songs were shaping the cultural values of the generation. Many phrases from the songs got a folklore status, which is witnessed both by the dictionaries and by the Russian National Corpus. In order to study the dynamics characterizing the differences in the cultural memory of generations of fathers and sons an experiment has been carried out based on the 10 popular catchphrases from Okudzhava’s verse. These phrases underlie the survey covering an audience of approximately 1,000 people. Those surveyed had to determine the authorship of the phrases and to continue some of them. Results and discussion. The analysis showed that in most cases there are no links in the mind of respondents between the name of Bulat Okudzhava and even the most widespread phrases from his songs. The authorship was often attributed to fully unexpected names, which shows serious gaps in the cultural memory of the young. However, it was proven that Okudzhava’s catchphrases definitely exist in the intertextual thesaurus of the linguistic personality, which is surely determined by the interaction of verbal and multimedia information. Conclusion. The analysis of the dictionary entries and the corpus data proves the precedent status of many of the Okudzhava’s phrases. Nevertheless, the results of the mass survey reflect a significant change in the intertextual thesaurus of the young.

scholarly journals On the nature and role of Consciousness: is it time to move towards a metaphilosophical and metascientific approach?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
ENRICO FACCO ◽  
Fabio Fracas ◽  
Silvano Tagliagambe ◽  
Patrizio Tressoldi
Keyword(s):  
Anthropic Principle ◽  
First Person ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
The Common ◽  
First Person Perspective ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Common Field

The main aim of this paper is to support a metaphilosophical and metascientific approach to the study of Consciousness.After a brief historical resume of the debate between the mind-brain-body relationship, we discuss how the apparently irreducible contention between a physicalist and an anti-physicalist interpretation of Consciousness can be overcome by a metaphilosophic and metascientific approach in the attempt to overcome ethnocentric cultural filters and constraints yielded by the Weltanschauung and the Zeitgeist one belongs to. IN fact, a metaphilosophical perspective can help to recognize key concepts and meanings common to different philosophies beyond their formal differences and different modes of theorization, where the common field of reflection is aimed to find the problem’s unity in the multiplicity of forms. Likewise, the metascientific approach, such as the anthropic principle adopted in astrophysics, helps overcoming the problems of indecidability of single axiomatic disciplines.A metaphilosophical and metascientific approach seems appropriate in the study of consciousness and subjective phenomena, since the first-person perspective and the meaning of the experience are the condition sine qua non for their proper understanding.

Colonial Roots of the Aryan Invasion/Migration Theory and the Contemporary Archaeological Evidence in Western Sources

2021 ◽  
pp. 037698362110521
Author(s):  
Kundan Singh
Keyword(s):  
European Ancestry ◽  
Common Ancestry ◽  
Graduate Study ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Current Form ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Invasion Theory ◽  
Imperial Power ◽  
Migration Theory ◽  
The Common

William Jones, famously, by identifying close linkages between Sanskrit and European languages, gave birth to research into the common ancestry between Indians and Europeans. In the earlier years of contention on the matter, India was considered the cradle of civilisation and Sanskrit as the mother of all Indo-European languages. With the rise in the imperial power of Europe over India, the cradle of civilisation began to shift outside India and ultimately landed in Europe. Simultaneously, the idea of invasion of India by the ‘Aryan race’, or the Aryan invasion theory (AIT), was promoted. Since then, however, one archaeological find over another have consistently refuted the AIT, proving it as false. As flawed as it remains, this theory has, nonetheless, persisted and morphed in its current form as the Aryan migration theory (AMT) and continues to find mention and favour in contemporary academic discourse. In mainstream academia, today, whether in grade-school texts or in texts meant for undergraduate and graduate study, whenever India and Hinduism are mentioned, the coming of Aryans from outside of India and establishing Hinduism and civilisation in India are discussed as veritable facts. By examining the theory in anticolonial and postcolonial contexts, we show that despite considerable archaeological evidence refuting the theories of the invasion or migration of Aryans into India, its colonial embeddedness in the notion of the racial superiority of the Europeans or people with European ancestry that the theory does not fade into oblivion.

9. Mental conditions, intoxication and mistake

2021 ◽  
pp. 292-358
Author(s):  
David Ormerod ◽  
Karl Laird
Keyword(s):  
External Factor ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Burden Of Proof ◽  
Mental Condition ◽  
Individual Actor ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the most commonly occurring ‘mental condition defences’, focusing on the pleas of insanity, intoxication and mistake. The common law historically made a distinction between justification and excuse, at least in relation to homicide. It is said that justification relates to the rightness of the act but to excuse as to the circumstances of the individual actor. The chapter examines the relationship between mental condition defences, insanity and unfitness to be tried, and explains the Law Commission’s most recent recommendations for reforming unfitness and other mental condition defences. It explores the test of insanity, disease of the mind (insanity) versus external factor (sane automatism), insane delusions and insanity, burden of proof, function of the jury, self-induced automatism, intoxication as a denial of criminal responsibility, voluntary and involuntary intoxication, dangerous or non-dangerous drugs in basic intent crime and intoxication induced with the intention of committing crime.

scholarly journals Homozygosity for TYK2 P1104A underlies tuberculosis in about 1% of patients in a cohort of European ancestry

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 10430-10434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaspard Kerner ◽  
Noe Ramirez-Alejo ◽  
Yoann Seeleuthner ◽  
Rui Yang ◽  
Masato Ogishi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Uk ◽  
High Level

The human genetic basis of tuberculosis (TB) has long remained elusive. We recently reported a high level of enrichment in homozygosity for the common TYK2 P1104A variant in a heterogeneous cohort of patients with TB from non-European countries in which TB is endemic. This variant is homozygous in ∼1/600 Europeans and ∼1/5,000 people from other countries outside East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. We report a study of this variant in the UK Biobank cohort. The frequency of P1104A homozygotes was much higher in patients with TB (6/620, 1%) than in controls (228/114,473, 0.2%), with an odds ratio (OR) adjusted for ancestry of 5.0 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.96–10.31, P = 2 × 10−3]. Conversely, we did not observe enrichment for P1104A heterozygosity, or for TYK2 I684S or V362F homozygosity or heterozygosity. Moreover, it is unlikely that more than 10% of controls were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as 97% were of European genetic ancestry, born between 1939 and 1970, and resided in the United Kingdom. Had all of them been infected, the OR for developing TB upon infection would be higher. These findings suggest that homozygosity for TYK2 P1104A may account for ∼1% of TB cases in Europeans.

François Thurot and the First History of Grammar

1978 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie T. Andresen
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Scientific Language ◽  
Genetic Classification ◽  
Subsequent Work ◽  
New Variety ◽  
Cultural Relativity ◽  
European Languages ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The 19Th Century

Abstract François Thurot’s Discours préliminaire (1796), a first attempt at a historiography of grammar, sums up the language theories of the philosophes, while prefiguring the 19th century in both his concept of language and his attitude towards the science of language. He accepts, for instance, the theory that the perfection of a language reflects the progress of the mind but rejects the metaphysical speculation on the origin of language that characteristically accompanied such a theory. And although Thurot, like his contemporaries, still preoccupies himself with the method of logico-linguistic analysis which would lead to a langue bien faite, his study opens up to a new variety of linguistic phenomena in the vernacular. Thus, his view of language embraces both the mechanical reductionism aimed at scientific language with its pretention to universality as well as the creative dynamism of discursive language with its recognition of cultural relativity. Furthermore, Thurot assimilates the interest in the genetic relationship among languages, that was already in the air, to the historicism of the philosophes, whose historical tableaux unfolded within their theories of language. Thurot’s interest in natural language is an outgrowth of the prevailing ‘climate of opinion’. The data-oriented approach to language had begun with the invention of the printing press, from which time there was an ever increasing accumulation and distribution of material on non-European languages. The French Revolution was to dramatize the importance of discursive language, since the unification of the nation depended, in part, on the democratization and standardization of daily language. Such a climate proved favorable for subsequent work on genetic classification and on Indo-European in the 19th century.

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