Spanish colonial architecture as selective authenticity in historical digital games

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 005
Author(s):  
Fede Peñate Domínguez
Keyword(s):  
Computer Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Spanish Colonial ◽  
The Past ◽  
Adventure Games ◽  
History Of

Buildings play a major role in computer games set in the past, both as gameplay components and as elements of historical realism. Varying on the genre of the game they perform different functions, from the transition and movement possibilities they allow the player in action-adventure games like Assassin’s Creed (Dow, 2013) to sedentary headquarters in strategy and management titles such as Age of Empires and Civilization (Bonner, 2014). My goal with this paper is to analyse the purposes of Spain’s colonial architecture in computer games set in the period of the Spanish Monarchy’s rule overseas. In order to achieve it, I will use Adam Chapman’s theoretical and methodological framework to understand the games’ historical epistemologies and ludonarratives, and Salvati and Bullinger’s concept of selective authenticity to analyse the role of these buildings in evoking the past and giving meaning to it. Aided by these lenses, I will try to unravel the master narratives behind these titles and how they give meaning to the history of Spain and its former colonies.

scholarly journals Repositioning the Role of Written Sources in Archaeological Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 763
Author(s):  
Zorica Kuzmanović
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Role ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Critical Research ◽  
General Attitude ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Written Sources

Contrary to the general attitude that the role of written sources in archaeological research marks the separation between two distinct fields of research – prehistorical and historical archaeology, the critical research into the history of the discipline points that the development of archaeology has not followed this pattern. Rather, the dominant role of the written sources in the study of classical past has been transferred onto the practices of prehistorical archaeology. Discussing the role of ancient sources in the research of the so-called "Illyrian question", this paper addresses the consequences of this dominant role of written sources in the archaeological study of the past and points to the ways in which the interpretation of the classical texts influenced the theoretical- methodological framework of research of the late prehistory of the Balkans.

Receptions of the Past: Commemoration, Racism, Desire

Somatechnics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-303
Author(s):  
Michael Connors Jackman
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
White Privilege ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
The Body ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of

This article investigates the ways in which the work of The Body Politic (TBP), the first major lesbian and gay newspaper in Canada, comes to be commemorated in queer publics and how it figures in the memories of those who were involved in producing the paper. In revisiting a critical point in the history of TBP from 1985 when controversy erupted over race and racism within the editorial collective, this discussion considers the role of memory in the reproduction of whiteness and in the rupture of standard narratives about the past. As the controversy continues to haunt contemporary queer activism in Canada, the productive work of memory must be considered an essential aspect of how, when and for what reasons the work of TBP comes to be commemorated. By revisiting the events of 1985 and by sifting through interviews with individuals who contributed to the work of TBP, this article complicates the narrative of TBP as a bluntly racist endeavour whilst questioning the white privilege and racially-charged demands that undergird its commemoration. The work of producing and preserving queer history is a vital means of challenging the intentional and strategic erasure of queer existence, but those who engage in such efforts must remain attentive to the unequal terrain of social relations within which remembering forms its objects.

scholarly journals The Animation of Gamers and the Gamers as Animators in Sierra On-Line’s Adventure Games

Animation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 83-95
Author(s):  
Raz Greenberg
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Digital Gaming ◽  
Adventure Game ◽  
Adventure Games ◽  
Software Publisher ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Relationship

Produced throughout the 1980s using the company’s Adventure Game Interpreter engine, the digital adventure games created by American software publisher Sierra On-Line played an important and largely overlooked role in the development of animation as an integral part of the digital gaming experience. While the little historical and theoretical discussion of the company’s games of the era focuses on their genre, it ignores these games’ contribution to the relationship between the animated avatars and the gamers that control them – a relationship that, as argued in this article, in essence turns gamers into animators. If we consider Chris Pallant’s (2019) argument in ‘Video games and animation’ that animation is essential to the sense of immersion within a digital game, then the great freedom provided to the gamers in animating their avatars within Sierra On-Line’s adventure games paved the way to the same sense of immersion in digital. And, if we refer to Gonzalo Frasca’s (1999) divide of digital games to narrative-led or free-play (ludus versus paidea) in ‘Ludology meets narratology: Similitude and differences between (video) games and narrative’, then the company’s adventure games served as an important early example of balance between the two elements through the gamers’ ability to animate their avatars. Furthermore, Sierra On-Line’s adventure games have tapped into the traditional tension between the animator and the character it animated, as observed by Scott Bukatman in ‘The poetics of Slumberland: Animated spirits and the animated spirit (2012), when he challenged the traditional divide between animators, the characters they animate and the audience. All these contributions, as this articles aims to demonstrate, continue to influence the role of animation in digital games to this very day.

The Role of the Constitutional Court in the Development of the Rule of Law in Kosovo

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-313
Author(s):  
Enver Hasani
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Constitutional History ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Communist Countries

Kosovo’s Constitutional Court has played a role of paramount importance in the country’s recent history. The author uses a comparative analysis to discuss the role of the Court in light of the work and history of other European constitutional courts. This approach sheds light on the Court’s current role by analyzing Kosovo’s constitutional history, which shows that there has been a radical break with the past. This approach reveals the fact that Kosovo’s current Constitution does not reflect the material culture of the society of Kosovo. This radical break with the past is a result of the country’s tragic history, in which case the fight for constitutionalism means a fight for human dignity. In this battle for constitutionalism, the Court has been given very broad jurisdiction and a role to play in paving the way for Kosovo to move toward Euro-Atlantic integration in all spheres of life. Before reaching this conclusion, the author discusses the specificities of Kosovo’s transition, comparing it with other former communist countries. Among the specific features of constitutionalism in Kosovo are the role and position of the international community in the process of constitution-making and the overall design of constitutional justice in Kosovo. Throughout the article, a conclusion emerges that puts Kosovo’s Constitutional Court at the forefront of the fight for the rule of law and constitutionalism of liberal Western provenance.

scholarly journals We Built this Joint for Free: Counter-stories of Black American Contributions to Higher Education

10.28945/4432 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 123-142
Author(s):  
Chaunte L White ◽  
Miranda Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Affairs ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Education History ◽  
History Of Higher Education ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Higher Education History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Conceptual Paper

Aim/Purpose: Black contributions to higher education are frequently marginalized by some of the field’s most commonly cited historians. The purpose of this conceptual paper is threefold: to demarginalize the role of Black Americans within the higher education history narrative; to demonstrate the need to reconsider the course reading selections used to facilitate learning in this area; and, to emphasize the importance of higher education history as vehicle for understanding current issues across the postsecondary landscape. Background: Sanitized historical accounts often shape Higher Education and Student Affairs students’ learning of the history of American higher education. This is important due to the role historical knowledge plays in understanding current issues across the postsecondary landscape. Methodology: This conceptual paper juxtaposes commonly used higher education history texts against works that center Black higher education history. Elements of Critical Race Theory (CRT) frame this paper and serve as an analytic tool to disrupt master narratives from seminal history of higher education sources. Contribution: This paper contributes to literature on the history of higher education and offers considerations for the implications of course reading selections. Findings: We found that countering the master narratives shows how our contemporary experience has been shaped by colonial processes and how the historical role of Black Americans in higher education is often minimized. Recommendations for Practitioners: Citing how higher education and student affairs instructors’ choices around scholarship have implications for classroom learning and for the future of research and practice, this work recommends diversifying history of higher education course reading selections to help students gain better understanding of the historical impact of white supremacy, systemic oppression, and racism on postsecondary education. Future Research: Further research is needed to understand the impact of course reading selections on HESA student learning and empirically identify frequencies of text usage in history of higher education classrooms

MEASURING SOLAR DIAMETER WITH 2012 VENUS TRANSITS

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 451-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
COSTANTINO SIGISMONDI
Keyword(s):  
Past History ◽  
Logarithmic Derivative ◽  
Solar Limb ◽  
Absolute Calibration ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Solar Diameter ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Better Than

The role of Venus and Mercury transits is crucial to know the past history of the solar diameter. Through the W parameter, the logarithmic derivative of the radius with respect to the luminosity, the past values of the solar luminosity can be recovered. The black drop phenomenon affects the evaluation of the instants of internal and external contacts between the planetary disk and the solar limb. With these observed instants compared with the ephemerides the value of the solar diameter is recovered. The black drop and seeing effects are overcome with two fitting circles, to Venus and to the Sun, drawn in the undistorted part of the image. The corrections of ephemerides due to the atmospheric refraction will also be taken into account. The forthcoming transit of Venus will allow an accuracy on the diameter of the Sun better than 0.01 arcsec, with good images of the ingress and of the egress taken each second. Chinese solar observatories are in the optimal conditions to obtain valuable data for the measurement of the solar diameter with the Venus transit of 5/6 June 2012 with an unprecedented accuracy, and with absolute calibration given by the ephemerides.

scholarly journals What Are Predictors for Persistence in Childhood Stuttering?

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (04) ◽  
pp. 299-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Usler ◽  
Anna Bostian ◽  
Ranjini Mohan ◽  
Katelyn Gerwin ◽  
Barbara Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Sensorimotor Processes ◽  
Speech Motor

AbstractOver the past 10 years, we (the Purdue Stuttering Project) have implemented longitudinal studies to examine factors related to persistence and recovery in early childhood stuttering. Stuttering develops essentially as an impairment in speech sensorimotor processes that is strongly influenced by dynamic interactions among motor, language, and emotional domains. Our work has assessed physiological, behavioral, and clinical features of stuttering within the motor, linguistic, and emotional domains. We describe the results of studies in which measures collected when the child was 4 to 5 years old are related to eventual stuttering status. We provide supplemental evidence of the role of known predictive factors (e.g., sex and family history of persistent stuttering). In addition, we present new evidence that early delays in basic speech motor processes (especially in boys), poor performance on a nonword repetition test, stuttering severity at the age of 4 to 5 years, and delayed or atypical functioning in central nervous system language processing networks are predictive of persistent stuttering.

scholarly journals COVID-19: Anthropocene and Capitalocene Caused Pandemics

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Madhusudan Subedi
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Historical Inquiry ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Global Effect ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fundamental Causes ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come

  Most epidemiological studies focus on the direct causes of diseases while wider, social causal factors are ignored. This paper briefly highlights the history of major epidemics and the role of Anthropocene and Capitalocene for the emergence and reemergence of pandemics like COVID-19. Books, journal articles, and statistics offer information that can explain the phenomena. A historical inquiry can inform us about the fundamental causes of pandemics. Human security and ecology are intertwined, and the global effect of pandemics responded to at the national level is inadequate. The lessons from the past and present help us devise effective ethically and socially appropriate strategies to mitigate the threats. If the present crisis is not taken seriously at the global level, the world has to face more difficult challenges in years to come.

THE ROLE OF SECRETING FUNCTION OF DECIDUA IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLICATIONS OF GESTATION PROCESS IN PREGNANT WOMEN WITH A PAST HISTORY OF CHRONIC ENDOMETRITIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 2416-2420
Author(s):  
Olena О. Taranovska ◽  
Volodymyr К. Likhachov ◽  
Ludmyla М. Dobrovolska ◽  
Oleg G. Makarov ◽  
Yanina V. Shymanska
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Past History ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Predisposing Factor ◽  
Chronic Endometritis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
History Of ◽  
In The Beginning

The aim: To determine the serum FAMG in the I and II trimester of pregnancy in women with a past history of chronic endometritis, and to clarify its impact on the development of pathology of pregnancy. Materials and methods: The level of FAMG was determined at 6-8 and 16-18 weeks of gestation in 135 pregnant women with a past history of chronic endometritis, who received treatment of chronic endometritis at the stage of pregravid preparation and 168 women who became pregnant without its prior treatment. The dependence of the development of pre-eclampsia on the level of FAMG at the early stages of pregnancy has been evaluated. Results: At 6-8 weeks of pregnancy, the level of FAMG in women with a past history of chronic endometritis was 20.6% lower (122.4 ± 7.6 ng/ml) compared to the control group. In FAMG of 90.3 ± 4.3 ng/ml at 6-8 weeks of gestation, spontaneous abortion occurred in 100% of cases within the next 2 weeks. FAMG lower than 122,1 ± 3,0 ng/ml can be the predisposing factor for the development of pre-eclampsia. Conclusions: Reduced FAMG in the beginning of pregnancy in women with untreated chronic endometritis in the past history increases the incidence of miscarriages at the early stages by 2.6 times, and by 1.8 times the probability of preeclampsia development. Treatment of chronic endometritis at the stage of pregravid preparation promotes the increase of FAMG by 24,6% compared to untreated women that reduces the probability of complications during the subsequent course of pregnancy.

Everybody's War

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
War Economy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Postcolonial State ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of

This book explores the history of health care in postcolonial state-making and the fragmentation of the health system in Syria during the conflict. It analyzes the role of international humanitarian law (IHL) in enabling attacks on health facilities and distinguishes the differences between humanitarian solutions and refugee populations’ expectations. It also describes the way in which humanitarian actors have fed the war economy. The book highlights the lived experience of siege in all its layers. It examines how humanitarian actors have become part of the information wars that have raged throughout the past ten years and how they have chosen to position themselves in the face of grave violations of IHL.

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