The Power of Monsanto's Stone

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-91
Author(s):  
José Manuel Afonso
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Strategies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Environmental Preservation ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
Granite Boulder ◽  
Difficult Sequence ◽  
Sustainable Landscape

There is no point in rushing because, in fact, people are going nowhere in particular. No matter how arduous the observation, in a slow and difficult sequence, people are always in the same place: in the countryside. There, people were yesterday and will be tomorrow. The landscape is a singularity with no limits: each tree, each granite boulder, each course presents infinite perspectives indistinguishable from each other. Sustainable landscape will be a mandatory topic in the twenty-first century and will influence the interventions in open spaces. These new paradigms will allow a healthier environment, where the relation of architecture and environmental comfort is present. In this sense, the chapter addresses aspects of the environment in its relationship with living culture; studies construction techniques with a lower environmental impact; and develops adaptive strategies of “sustainable project” for ordering and appropriation of habitable space according to the principles of cultural, economic, and environmental preservation.

The Power of Monsanto's Stone

2018 ◽  
pp. 122-152
Author(s):  
José Manuel Afonso
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
First Century ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Environmental Preservation ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
Granite Boulder ◽  
Difficult Sequence ◽  
Sustainable Landscape

There is no point in rushing because, in fact, people are going nowhere in particular. No matter how arduous the observation, in a slow and difficult sequence, people are always in the same place: in the countryside. There, people were yesterday and will be tomorrow. The landscape is a singularity with no limits: each tree, each granite boulder, each course presents infinite perspectives indistinguishable from each other. Sustainable landscape will be a mandatory topic in the twenty-first century and will influence the interventions in open spaces. These new paradigms will allow a healthier environment, where the relation of architecture and environmental comfort is present. In this sense, the chapter addresses aspects of the environment in its relationship with living culture; studies construction techniques with a lower environmental impact; and develops adaptative strategies of “sustainable project” for ordering and appropriation of habitable space according to the principles of cultural, economic, and environmental preservation.

Patriarchy in play: Video games as gendered media ecologies

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-212
Author(s):  
Jennifer Jenson ◽  
Suzanne de Castell
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
First Century ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Hostile Environments

Videogames are a dominant cultural, economic and creative medium in the twenty-first century, whose varied ecologies are increasingly recognized as particularly hostile environments to those identifying or identified as women. These ecologies include those encoded and enacted within the virtual environments of digital games, across the spectrum of those ecologies materially inhabited in games education, game cultures and, paradigmatically, the video game industry. In June 2020, top videogame maker Ubisoft saw high ranking employees resign from the company as accounts went public on Twitter and in mainstream media of sexual harassment, abuse and other misconduct at the company being covered up and ignored. But this is by no means the first public revelation of sexual harassment and discriminatory injustices directed at women who develop and play games: many will recall the vitriolic online hate movement #gamergate. Despite the familiarity of these tropes, we seem to ‘rediscover’ every few years or so that making and playing video games can present toxic environments for women. Drawing on feminist perspectives that understand how videogames have been a gendered, primarily masculine, domain, this article proposes that a topographical view, one specifically attuned to examining gender through a media ecology lens, can demonstrate how these successive re-enactments of ‘shock and awe’ operate in the service of, and are functionally integral to, the preservation of media ecologies exclusionary by design, legitimizing the repetition of their gendered hostilities. The intent is to move beyond naïve expressions of surprise and righteous indignation, to a grounded recognition and elucidation of the extents to which misogyny and harassment are and have been deeply structured into the gendered ecologies of video games.

MAYA ARCHAEOLOGY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: THE PROGRESS, THE PERILS, AND THE PROMISE

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur A. Demarest
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
First Century ◽  
Institutional Research ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Culture History ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Analytical Approaches

AbstractIn the past 20 years, what were once considered specialized auxiliary subdisciplines or analytical approaches such as bioarchaeology, paleozoology, subterranean archaeology, and material culture studies have become central to all research due to refinements of their analytic tools. Meanwhile, building on earlier progress in epigraphy, work on the Classic period truly has become historical archaeology. These advances provide a much greater understanding of ancient Maya ecology, economy, and politics and insights into the details, not just trends, in culture history. Realization of this potential, however, is imperiled by problems in research design and interpretation. Project structures rarely allows for complete and independent application of these enhanced fields, while the traditional elements of ceramic classification and chronology have not kept pace. The erratic sample of both Maya lowland and highland regions needs to addressed, rather than glossed over by extrapolations or assumptions about interaction and expansionism. Institutional structures and financial limitations have led to many superficial studies masked by quasi-theoretical terminologies. Constructive solutions, most exemplified in some current projects, include the obligation to try to apply all available techniques and approaches. To make that feasible, larger projects should be fragmented into multi-institutional collaborations. Greater emphasis must be given to classifications and excavations that generate ceramic microchronologies. Above all, we must investigate the extensive unstudied or understudied regions. Finally, most challenging is the need to collectively confront academic structures that encourage rapid, incomplete studies and discourage more substantial publications and long term multi-institutional research.

scholarly journals Re-imagining family and gender roles in Aminatta Forna's Ancestor Stones

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-99
Author(s):  
Yunusy Castory Ng'umbi
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Gender Role ◽  
Family Structure ◽  
First Century ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Role Negotiation ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time

This paper examines the interplay between polygyny and gender by exploring the way in which family structure and gender roles are negotiated, imagined and exercised in fiction. Aminatta Forna's Ancestor stones (2006) is read in order to explore how the institution of polygyny changes over time and how it influences gender role negotiation. Using an African feminist approach, the paper juxtaposes the historical and contemporary institution of polygyny in relation to gender role negotiation and how contemporary writers build on their literary precursors in re-writing the history of polygyny and gender according to the socio-cultural needs of twenty-first century Africans. These changes in socio-cultural, economic and political spheres in Africa have played a pivotal role in altering family structure and arrangements. I therefore argue that the changes in familial structure and arrangement necessitate gender role negotiation.

scholarly journals Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West: Co-Opting Refugees into Global Capitalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sercan Hamza Bağlama
Keyword(s):  
Western Country ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Foreign Land ◽  
Linguistic Level ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
Refugee Experience

In Exit West, Mohsin Hamid fictionally reimagines and universalises migrant/refugee experience by providing a realistic snapshot of the social, cultural, economic and political circumstances in their specific historical forms and reveals the psychology of loss, displacement and unbelonging leading to the victimisation of the protagonists in a foreign land. In order to critically analyse the victimisation of the refugee characters at a linguistic level in relation to the narrative of the West about migration and refugees in the twenty-first century, this study will focus on Exit West and explore the development of the central bias against migrants and refugees construed through metaphorical delegitimisation and discursive stigmatisation within the framework of the dichotomous construction of “them” and “us”. Over the course of the study, through a critical reading of the novel, this study will also discuss that the social, cultural and economic interpellation of the refugee characters into the dominant system in a western country should be taken into account within the context of the depoliticisation process of the refugee “crisis” in the world since apolitical humanist arguments, unable to materialistically articulate the problems, reproduce the binary paradigms of the orientalist mind-set and practically perpetuate the cultural, social, ideological and economic domination of global capitalism.

scholarly journals A permanent tent: A retrospective and reconsideration of the A-Frame Chalet in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Callan Svendsen
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Architectural History ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
First Century ◽  
Architectural Theory ◽  
Interior Spaces ◽  
Architectural Representation ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
Sleeping Arrangements ◽  
Contemporary Architecture

<p>The mid twentieth century A-Frame chalet holds a special place in the memories of generations of New Zealanders. Reminiscent of summer and winter getaways, it is perhaps the most poignant architectural representation of leisure and relaxation.  The novelty of unconventional sleeping arrangements, intimate spatial dynamics and the somewhat ephemeral nature of the typology combined to imbue the A-Frame with a strong emotional association. This research intends to harness the nostalgic connotations and use this, along with contemporary interior architectural theory, to reinterpret the A-Frame as a relevant form of accommodation suitable for twenty-first century vacationers and permanent inhabitants alike.  Early New Zealand A-Frames were supplied as kit sets to be erected by owners with rudimentary knowledge of construction techniques. This ‘low-end’ means of arrival, understandable given the purpose of the dwelling, resulted in a typology that was regarded as a lesser relative to the primary (and more conventional) home. Awkward interior spaces were regarded as novel and tolerable for the duration of the vacation.  There is limited academic publication on the A-Frame Chalet and its place in New Zealand architectural history. The aim of this research is to identify the key proponents of the style and use this as a base for a modern reinterpretation encompassing spatial and material issues.  The modern tendency toward compact housing and preservation of architecturally distinctive buildings favours a new appreciation of the A-Frame. A reevaluation will address limitations of the original and re-interpret the A-Frame from nostalgic novelty to spatially responsive contemporary architecture.</p>

Transnational Law: Theories and Applications

2021 ◽  
pp. 2-30
Author(s):  
Peer Zumbansen
Keyword(s):  
Legal Pluralism ◽  
The State ◽  
First Century ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Wide Audience ◽  
Transnational Law ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Future ◽  
Globalized World

This chapter introduces the Oxford Handbook of Transnational Law. Transnational law is at the center of lively discussions ranging from pronouncing the death of law to announcing the renewal of law. With stakes that high, the expectations for this field are potentially overwhelming. It is still unsettled what transnational law is. It was introduced to a wide audience of international lawyers in the 1950s, but is it a “new” legal field, or a particular kind of jurisprudence of “law and globalization,” or a sociolegal approach to law’s transformation in and beyond the state in the twenty-first century, or merely a synonym for legal pluralism, that is, an acknowledgment of the co-existence of law and (social, cultural, economic, religious, and other) norms? Finally, what is transnational law’s relation to the nation-state? While some suggest it marks the “end” of the nation-state, the better arguments suggest it remains closely intertwined with the state’s trials and tribulations. The chapter reviews contributions to these discussions but cannot account for the entire wealth and depth which is transnational law today. Instead, the chapter highlights some of the debates around the facets of transnational law and sketches a number of methodological reflections about the field. The contributing authors to this Handbook offer formidable insights into the complex details of law’s transnationalization in a wide range of key areas of the law and contextualize these developments against the background of the important normative discussions around the future of law in a globalized world.

scholarly journals Rearrangement of green open space along Krueng Aceh based on sustainable urban riverfront

2021 ◽  
Vol 881 (1) ◽  
pp. 012034
Author(s):  
Rifak Sakinah ◽  
Izziah ◽  
Laila Qadri ◽  
Cut Dewi
Keyword(s):  
Research Method ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Data Presentation ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Sustainable Landscape ◽  
The City ◽  
Banda Aceh

Abstract One of the city government’s programs to upgrade the representation of Banda Aceh as a green city was to revitalize the open space of krueng Aceh riverbanks. However, such a work has been progressing slowly. Although some wide banks area have been processed into parks, but, some other areas especially those with narrow areas in sizes of the banks have not been upgraded. Currently, these areas, with less green, have been becoming slum where some illegal settlements occurred. In general, the area along Aceh riverbanks has not been design comprehensively, since there has insecure public accessibility, irregular park zoning, un functioned water tourism facilities, un proper waste management system, and un balanced socio-economic conditions in relation to local environmental conditions. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of green open space at the Krueng Aceh riverbanks, Banda Aceh City and formulate criteria for structuring Green Open Spaces based on Sustainable Urban Riverfront. This research uses descriptive qualitative research method. The research instrument used was interviews, field observations, literature studies. Data analysis was carried out in a qualitative descriptive manner with data reduction analysis techniques, data presentation and conclusion. The results of this study are the design recommendations for Green Open Space (GOS) that apply the principles of sustainable urban riverfront. The development of the potential of the Krueng Aceh riverbank as a green open space is expected to be a sustainable landscape and able to support the function of the area from the ecological, social, and economic aspects.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document