‘Ther are bokes ynowe’: texts and the ambiguities of knowledge in Piers Plowman1

2018 ◽  
pp. 163-182
Author(s):  
Kath Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discourse ◽  
William Langland ◽  
Piers Plowman ◽  
Experiential Knowledge ◽  
Mediated Learning ◽  
Vernacular Theology ◽  
Intellectual Knowledge ◽  
A Site ◽  
Abstract Learning

This chapter, by Kath Stevenson, explains that traditions of Christian knowledge are an abiding preoccupation for William Langland in Piers Plowman, with Langland exploring fundamental questions about the pre-eminence or otherwise of abstract learning, textually mediated and transmitted (‘clergie’), over experiential knowledge (‘kynde knowynge’) and about the role of learning in Christian salvation. What good is knowledge? In an age of abstruse academic discourse, in which Langland himself was deeply versed, Langland’s protagonist Will searches urgently for the knowledge that is truly valuable, that is, the knowledge that will enable him to save his soul. Stevenson locates Langland’s ambivalence concerning the efficacy of textually mediated learning within the wider contexts of vernacular theology in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and in particular shows Langland’s treatment of the Passion in the central passus of his poem to be informed by the developing traditions of affective piety. For Langland the Passion can function as a site in which textual and experiential knowledge are united, with abstract intellectual knowledge becoming transfigured as it is fused with ‘kynde knowynge’

Transforming the Terms of Reading: Ideologies of Argument and the “Trope of the Angry Feminist” in Contemporary US Political and Academic Discourse

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
BARBARA TOMLINSON
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Feminist Studies ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Cultural Training ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Gendered Power ◽  
A Site

Contemporary US political and academic discourse is a site for constant irruption and circulation of encapsulated arguments to delegitimize social criticism. Strategies such as the “trope of the angry feminist” – which disparages the arguments of feminist academics and feminists in general as “angry” – perform, enact, and instantiate gendered power. Because we have not adequately theorized the discursive role of such tropes, we fail to recognize the limits of our conventional reading practices, so that our responses often reproduce the problem. Whether we claim that feminists are not angry, or are legitimately angry, or that some feminists have a right be angry (though, perhaps, not all), we are responding to the logic of the trope rather than challenging it. In Wahneema Lubiano's terms, we are being mugged by a metaphor. Reframing the problem begins by transforming the terms of reading; I propose for that purpose a critical toolkit that I call “feminist socioforensic discursive analysis.” Using this toolkit I analyze two discursive events. One – a response by “Dr. Laura” Schlessinger to the inauguration of a new doctoral program in feminist studies – demonstrates what is at stake in the relentless operation of this cultural training program. The other – in which law professor Patricia Williams recounts the editing of an article she wrote for a law review – demonstrates how conventional discursive practices defend and deny their deeply political uses of racialized and gendered power by calling on what Williams calls “an ideology of style rooted in a social text of neutrality.” This episode also demonstrates how feminists can anticipate these moves and turn them to our own advantage.

The Return of Alsace to France, 1918-1939

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Carrol
Keyword(s):  
National Policy ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
French Society ◽  
German Empire ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The First World War ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
A Site ◽  
First World

In 1918 the end of the First World War triggered the return of Alsace to France after almost fifty years of annexation into the German Empire. Enthusiastic crowds in Paris and Alsace celebrated the homecoming of the so-called lost province, but return proved far less straightforward than anticipated. The region’s German-speaking population demonstrated strong commitment to local cultures and institutions, as well as their own visions of return to France. As a result, the following two decades saw politicians, administrators, industrialists, cultural elites, and others grapple with the question of how to make Alsace French again. The answer did not prove straightforward; differences of opinion emerged both inside and outside the region, and reintegration became a fiercely contested process that remained incomplete when war broke out in 1939. The Return of Alsace to France examines this story. Drawing upon national, regional, and local archives, it follows the difficult process of Alsace’s reintegration into French society, culture, political and economic systems, and legislative and administrative institutions. It connects the microhistory of the region with the macro levels of national policy, international relations, and transnational networks, and with the cross-border flows of ideas, goods, people, and cultural products that shaped daily life in Alsace. Revealing Alsace to be a site of exchange between a range of interest groups with different visions of the region’s future, this book underlines the role of regional populations and cross-border interactions in forging the French Third Republic.

Doing Fieldwork in the Andamans

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Zehmisch
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Andaman Islands ◽  
Paradigm Shifts ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Anthropological Theory ◽  
Local Perception ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
A Site

Chapter 2 contextualizes the Andaman Islands as a fieldwork location. It has two major objectives: First, it serves to introduce the reader to the Andamans as a geographical, ecological, and political space and as a site of imagination. This representation of the islands concentrates on the interplay of discourses and policies which have shaped their global, national, and local perception as well as the everyday life of the Andaman population. Second, the chapter underlines the conflation of anthropological theory, fieldwork, and biographical transformations. It demonstrates how recent theoretical trends and paradigm shifts in global and academic discourse have become enmeshed with the author’s experiences in and perceptions of the field. Elaborating on these intricate personal and professional ‘spectacles’ of the fieldworker, the author thus contextualizes the subjective conditions inherent in the production of ethnography as a type of literature.

RNA secondary structure dependence in METTL3–METTL14 mRNA methylation is modulated by the N-terminal domain of METTL3

2020 ◽  
Vol 402 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-98
Author(s):  
Nathalie Meiser ◽  
Nicole Mench ◽  
Martin Hengesbach
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Structure ◽  
Rna Binding ◽  
Specific Protein ◽  
Structure Dependence ◽  
Terminal Domain ◽  
Methylation Assay ◽  
A Site ◽  
Methylation Activity

AbstractN6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant modification in mRNA. The core of the human N6-methyltransferase complex (MTC) is formed by a heterodimer consisting of METTL3 and METTL14, which specifically catalyzes m6A formation within an RRACH sequence context. Using recombinant proteins in a site-specific methylation assay that allows determination of quantitative methylation yields, our results show that this complex methylates its target RNAs not only sequence but also secondary structure dependent. Furthermore, we demonstrate the role of specific protein domains on both RNA binding and substrate turnover, focusing on postulated RNA binding elements. Our results show that one zinc finger motif within the complex is sufficient to bind RNA, however, both zinc fingers are required for methylation activity. We show that the N-terminal domain of METTL3 alters the secondary structure dependence of methylation yields. Our results demonstrate that a cooperative effect of all RNA-binding elements in the METTL3–METTL14 complex is required for efficient catalysis, and that binding of further proteins affecting the NTD of METTL3 may regulate substrate specificity.

scholarly journals The RelA hydrolase domain acts as a molecular switch for (p)ppGpp synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anurag Kumar Sinha ◽  
Kristoffer Skovbo Winther
Keyword(s):  
Active Sites ◽  
Molecular Switch ◽  
Cell Physiology ◽  
Synthetase Activity ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Functional Studies ◽  
Loop Region ◽  
A Site ◽  
Trna Binding

AbstractBacteria synthesize guanosine tetra- and penta phosphate (commonly referred to as (p)ppGpp) in response to environmental stresses. (p)ppGpp reprograms cell physiology and is essential for stress survival, virulence and antibiotic tolerance. Proteins of the RSH superfamily (RelA/SpoT Homologues) are ubiquitously distributed and hydrolyze or synthesize (p)ppGpp. Structural studies have suggested that the shift between hydrolysis and synthesis is governed by conformational antagonism between the two active sites in RSHs. RelA proteins of γ-proteobacteria exclusively synthesize (p)ppGpp and encode an inactive pseudo-hydrolase domain. Escherichia coli RelA synthesizes (p)ppGpp in response to amino acid starvation with cognate uncharged tRNA at the ribosomal A-site, however, mechanistic details to the regulation of the enzymatic activity remain elusive. Here, we show a role of the enzymatically inactive hydrolase domain in modulating the activity of the synthetase domain of RelA. Using mutagenesis screening and functional studies, we identify a loop region (residues 114–130) in the hydrolase domain, which controls the synthetase activity. We show that a synthetase-inactive loop mutant of RelA is not affected for tRNA binding, but binds the ribosome less efficiently than wild type RelA. Our data support the model that the hydrolase domain acts as a molecular switch to regulate the synthetase activity.

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