Boltanski’s dilemma: Mimetics, distance and spectating suffering

Working from the Crucifixion episode or pageant from the York Corpus Christi Play, two questions were asked of the spectator: <list list-type="simple"> <list-item><label>1.</label>How do they look at such a theatre (scene) from their own time and culture and experiences?</list-item> <list-item><label>2.</label>How do we look at such a theatre (scene) from our own time and culture and experiences?</list-item></list>A third question may now be asked by following what we may call ‘Boltanski’s dilemma’: what sort of pity can we really feel for an imaginary scene on the stage? This article will revisit the earlier piece (2010) as archive material to develop key themes now encapsulated by Boltanski’s question and challenge. The article will draw on current neuro-cognitive research that challenges and re-grounds our understanding of empathy and projection of self in the embodied mind. This informs the spectatorial experience, the spectator’s ability to see and accept the ‘double reality’ of the theatre and other visual (mimetic) experience, and the issues of ‘moral distance’ represented by Boltanski, Bandura and others. Boltanski’s dilemma confronts us as knowing spectators with the inherent ethical paradox of any and all representations of suffering in any given cultural and social context. The article will draw on case studies from theatre(s), film and art to illustrate and exemplify the position of the spectator: in the spirit of ethos, a series of musings, of questions and signposts as well as arguments.

Temporal Trends in Ischemic Stroke Rates by Ethnicity, Sex, and Age 2000–2017: The Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi Project

Objective:To compare 18-year (2000-2017) temporal trends in ischemic stroke rates by ethnicity, sex and age.Methods:Data are from a population-based stroke surveillance study conducted in Nueces County, Texas, USA, a geographically isolated, bi-ethnic, urban community. Active (screening hospital admission logs, hospital wards, intensive care units) and passive (screening inpatient/ED discharge diagnosis codes) surveillance were used to identify cases aged ≥45 (n=4,874) validated by stroke physicians using a consistent stroke definition over time. Ischemic stroke rates were derived from Poisson regression using annual population counts from US Census to estimate at-risk population.Results:In those aged 45-59, rates increased in non-Hispanic Whites (104.3% relative increase; p<0.001) but decreased in Mexican Americans (-21.9%; p=0.03) such that rates were significantly higher in non-Hispanic Whites in 2016-2017 (p for ethnicity-time interaction<0.001). In those age 60-74, rates declined in both groups but more so in Mexican Americans (non-Hispanic Whites -18.2%, p=0.05; Mexican Americans -40.1%, p=0.002) resulting in similar rates for the two groups in 2016-2017 (p for ethnicity-time interaction=0.06). In those aged ≥75, trends did not vary by ethnicity, with declines noted in both groups (non-Hispanic Whites -33.7%, p=0.002; Mexican Americans -26.9%, p=0.02). Decreases in rates were observed in men (age 60-74 -25.7%, p=0.009; age ≥75 -39.2% p=0.002) and women (age 60-74 -34.3%, p=0.007; age ≥75 -24.0% p=0.02) in the two older age groups, while rates did not change in either sex in those age 45-59.Interpretation:Previously documented ethnic stroke incidence disparities have ended as a result of declining rates in Mexican Americans and increasing rates in non-Hispanic whites, most notably in midlife.

Food for the Journey

The one surviving French sermon on the Eucharist of Guiard of Laon, bishop of Cambrai (1238-1247) and supporter of the movement to establish the feast of Corpus Christi, was long thought to be the record of vernacular preaching by the bishop, until the discovery of a Latin original prompted a reassessment. Using all available manuscript evidence, and carefully comparing the Latin and French sermons, I position the French sermon as a work of vernacular theology created during Guiard’s episcopate, infused with the spirituality of Eucharistic devotion that culminated in the Corpus Christi movement. It was well received by an elite lay audience, continuing to circulate in collections of devotional texts for the next two centuries.

Hacia el tratado moderno de la Iglesia y la Escuela de Salamanca

Fue probablemente en el curso 1555-56 cuando Pedro de Sotomayor (f 1564) comentó la IIa, IPe, q.la, art. 10, de la Suma de sto. Tomás, dando a sus alumnos un verdadero tratado de teología de la Iglesia o Eclesiología. Aquí presentamos también la exposición que hicieron otros profesores de la Universidad de Salamanca como Juan de la Peña y, en especial, Mancio del Corpus Christi.

Hacia el tratado moderno de Iglesia y la Escuela de Salamanca

Fue probablemente en el curso 1555-56 cuando Pedro de Sotoma- yor (fl564) comentó la IIa, IIae, q.la, art. 10, de la Suma de sto. Tomás, dando a sus alumnos un verdadero tratado de teología de la Iglesia o Eclesiología. Aquí presentamos también la exposición que hicieron otros profesores de la Universidad de Salamanca como Juan de la Peña y Mancio del Corpus Christi.