Bridging the gap among social classes in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)

The Biafra War has been the subject of many historical accounts and literary texts. Among the novels produced about the Biafra War is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) where the author recounts not only the events leading to the war but also those during and just after the conflict. Though the events of the Biafra War constitute the central theme in Half of a Yellow Sun, Adichie also deals with the relationships among social classes in this novel. One may wonder why the author shows that some upper-class people are keen on their difference, their ‘superiority’, and, on the other hand, people of the upper and middle classes are human and respectful towards lower-class persons. What is the purpose of the writer in drawing this parallel? From a socialist and humanist perspective, this article deals with “bridging the gap among social classes in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.” Based on sociology, psychology, socialism, and humanism, the paper will first deal with the criticism of the Nigerian upper class and then with Adichie’s advocacy for a socialist and humanist society.

Semiotic Analysis of Roland Barthes on Wardah Advertisement Version “I Face of Indonesia”

This article is an attempt to focus on Interior by Maeterlinck in the light of Absurd tradition. Maeterlinck employed symbols to illuminate nature, spirituality, existence, and the innumerable and invisible forces that shape our existence. Maeterlinck uses symbolism to explore the theme of death that is omnipotent in everyday life. The Interior 's central theme is death. Maeterlinck generates suspense by juxtaposing the characters' uneasiness in the garden with the family's peace and ignorance within the house. In order to reach this aim, the researchers decide to explain the theatre of the Absurd and its elements. Maeterlinck distrust of language is shown in his distrust of words, using repetitions, silences, pauses and some other tactics. The existential theme and contents used in selected play are discussed. Themes such as: death, lack of individuality and lack of communication in mentioned play is discussed. Moreover, this article also contains a comparative study of the structure of the two.

Narcissus or Literary Illusion

It was almost certainly Ovid who joined together the narratives of frustrated desire of Echo (in love with Narcissus) and Narcissus (in love with his own mirror image). This he did by exploiting the Latin word imago, which defines both the visual reflection and the acoustic one. The illusion produced by the reflection is the central theme in Ovid’s story, and it is also the principle on which the two stories are closely intertwined, replicating the theme of reflection in both structure and language, and offering a reading of reality as a space dominated by ambiguities and deceptions. Narcissus’ ‘tragicomedy of errors’ implies at the same time a discourse on the fictitious nature of all literary texts, but his figure is also an emblem of the poet bent over in admiration of his own virtuosity, and in particular of Ovid himself, who was said by Quintilian to have been ‘too in love with his own brilliance’.

Stateful Library Analysis and Migration System (SLAM)

Interoperability between research management systems, especially digital libraries or repositories, has been a central theme in the community for the past years, with the discussion focused on means of enriching, linking, and disseminating outputs. This paper considers a frequently overlooked aspect, namely the migration of records across systems, by introducing the Stateful Library Analysis and Migration system (SLAM) and presenting practical experiences with migrating records from DSpace and Digital Commons repositories to Figshare.

O APARELHO BUROCRÁTICO EDUCACIONAL: A ORGANIZAÇÃO DO ENSINO PARA O MUNDO DO TRABALHO

ResumoTomando como ponto de partida a noção de burocracia no campo do marxismo tem-se como tema central deste artigo a apresentação e análise da legislação educacional brasileira como forma de compreensão até mesmo do lugar da História neste cenário, além do entendimento do currículo desta disciplina no ensino básico. A hipótese que se pretende sustentar aponta para a centralidade das alterações constantes em benefício dos interesses das frações burguesas que têm influência no aparelho burocrático do Estado, neste caso, no aparelho burocrático educacional, sobretudo por meio da alteração da noção de planos de Estado para planos de governo.Palavras-Chave: Educação; Ensino de História; Burocracia; Legislação. AbstractTaking as a starting point the notion of bureaucracy in the Marxism, the central theme of this article is the presentation and analysis of Brazilian educational legislation as a way of understanding the place of history in this scenario, in addition for understanding the curriculum of this discipline in basic education. The hypothesis that we intend to support points to the centrality of the constant changes in favor of the interests of the bourgeois fractions that have an influence on the bureaucratic apparatus of the State, in this case, on the educational bureaucratic apparatus, mainly by changing the notion of State plans to plans of government.Key-Words: Education; History teaching; Bureaucracy; Legislation.

Developing an understanding of intercultural music education in a Nordic setting

The purpose of this article is to achieve greater clarification of the meaning of the word ‘intercultural’ when used in Nordic music education research, by means of a literature review. The findings suggest that ‘intercultural’ is used in different ways, sometimes without definition. A central theme that emerges is developing student teachers’ intercultural competence through disturbance. There is little research into pupils’ intercultural competence, or intercultural music education at primary level. The findings are merged with international scholarship to envisage how different understandings of ‘intercultural’ might affect music in schools. We suggest placing intercultural music education along a continuum from intercultural approaches to music education to intercultural education through inclusive music pedagogy.

Understanding Ourselves

Chapter 9 builds on the arguments of its predecessors, focusing on the social sciences and the humanities. Its central theme is the importance of an interactive curriculum in these disciplines in promoting self-understanding. The subjects in question, when imaginatively combined, can play an important part in helping developing individuals discover the path they wish to pursue, and the character of the social environment in which they will make their journey. Literature, art, geography, history, anthropology, psychology, economics, and political science are all crucial parts of a general pre-university course of study. As before, the chapter makes concrete proposals. It concludes with a discussion of the value of studying foreign languages, and of an introduction to philosophy at the pre-university level.

"En fullkomlig man"

“The Complete Man”: Body and Society in Viktor Rydberg The article treats the place of the body in the cultural criticism of Viktor Rydberg, not only as a central theme but also as an image with the potential to figuratively describe societal and even cosmic relationships. Rydberg’s ideal of the symmetrical and athletic body is seen in the perspective of his dependence on German neo-humanism and the gymnastic movement. The ideal of bodily symmetry figures as an image of universal man who defies the division of labor, while the deformed body inversely figures as an image of the lack of wholeness in a stratified bourgeois society. This is further elucidated by an analysis of Rydberg’s view of Darwinism and his fear of degeneration. In the final section, special attention is given to Rydberg’s broodings on the “Future of the White Race”. In this text, the body is a figure of the collectivity (the body politic) and its diseases signify political and moral crisis, while the remedy for this state of affairs lies in recognizing the unity of the living, the dead and the unborn in the body of Christ.

Descriptive empirical perspectives on participants’ attitudes on virtual worship services kindle an ineluctable revisiting of ecclesial assumptions in a post-pandemic world

When it comes to debating the background of this article, the matter of participants’ attitudes in virtual worship in a post-pandemic world is the central theme. One should always acknowledge that participants in the liturgy and faith communities have to cope with the effects of the pandemic. The physical attendance of worship services is an essential pillar in faith communities understanding of corporeal worship. Because of the lockdown measures and with the insistence on staying away from social gatherings, most people were obliged to adapt to new ways of engaging in virtual worship services. People hope that the previous normal will return whilst participating in virtual liturgy or limited groups of 50 people within church buildings. This article wants to embark on descriptive empirical perspectives to determine whether the virtual environment has not resulted in an inevitable revisiting of ecclesial assumptions regarding people’s understanding of worship. Many complex questions about how worship services will realise when the lockdown measures have been lifted remain unanswered. This article offers a descriptive section on what are the currently concerning aspects related to a topic like this. Secondly, a Likert scale with numerous statements was provided to 60 respondents from three denominations in the Potchefstroom area. The request to respondents was to indicate what their attitudes about certain statements are. This investigation will be conducted from a reformational paradigm and is interested in debating the responses of participants that is related to attitudes on virtual worship services in a post-pandemic world.Contribution: The article concludes with some practical theological perspectives that could lead to a follow-up article on how this matter could be revisited in the light of more clarity on people’s attitudes.