Modernismo, Spiritualism, and Science in Argentina at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

This chapter analyzes the uses and appropriations of scientific discourse in Argentine magazines from the fin de siècle: a period in which literary modernism coincided with the development of spiritualisms that aspired to the status of science (or “occult sciences”) like Spiritism and Theosophy. The aim is to examine concrete examples that relativize the sharp division between science, art, and spiritualism in the culture of this period. The main sources explored are La Quincena. Revista de letras (1893–1899), Philadelphia (1898–1902), La Verdad (1905–1911), and Constancia (1890–1905). In addition, the chapter focuses on how the astonishing growth of science in Argentina, as well as the social legitimation of scientific discourses, influenced other fields, giving shape to new literary expressions, beliefs, and utopian projections that synthesized the material and the spiritual.

Van den vos Reynaerde

Van den vos Reynaerde is interpreted as the satiric textualization of a particular social discourse. In the first part, the objectives are the three estates: clergy, nobility and peasants. The second part is focussed on the dysfunction of authority, its lack of moral and social legitimation and the relation individual-authority. The medieval society is criticized in a goliardic-inspired manner, where the satiric subject reflects through inversion the satiric objective. It is pointed out that the text contains a parody on the biblical story of Judith and Holofernes, to discern whether opposing a repressive authority allows for ‘just war’. The results of this study challenge the conventional interpretations of Van den vos Reynaerde based on an Arthurian courtly context. The author’s profile and intended public are reviewed with respect to these conclusions.

The code of corporate governance in Nigeria: Efficiency gains or social legitimation?

This paper is the first study which examines the rationale behind the adoption of corporate governance codes, the requirements of the codes and their operationalisation, and the effectiveness of the codes in addressing corporate governance abuses in the turbulent and endemically corrupt environment of sub Saharan Africa (Nigeria). It examines the extent to which the adopted Codes of Corporate Governance is as a result of international pressures or internally driven by the need for effective accountability to the shareholders, in a way which addresses the peculiar problems of corporate governance in Nigeria. Through the theoretical lens of efficiency gains and social legitmation, the paper found that the Code of Best Practices for Corporate Governance in Nigeria is driven more by social legitimacy pressures while the Code of Corporate Governance for Banks in Nigeria Post Consolidation, developed by the CBN, is predominantly aimed at pursuing efficiency gains.