A Sociocultural Appraisal of Yorùbá Kegites’ Songs

This is a study of how the oral aesthetics of textual production by a group, the Kegites, are used in the construction of an identity rooted in a collective context that reflects a socio-political engagement with the complex social histories of the Yorùbá society and Nigeria at large. The study identifies common practices of the Kegites and themes of the texts of their songs. It shows the practice of engagement by the Kegites through which identity can be textually constructed in ways that politicize self-representation and challenge discourses grounded in the colonial and postcolonial histories of the Yorùbá people. Through the discussion of themes such as ancestral presence, the aesthetics of orature, and the political significance of group or society (ẹgbé) ̣ among the Yorùbá, the paper seeks to showcase the presence of a characteristic of Yorùbá oral literature in which personal, cultural, economic, social and political issues become inseparable. It demonstrates how oral text reflects societal elements and performers use various societal elements to create an expression of an identity within the multiple currents and traditions by taking the rules, creativity, and artistry of self-representation and shaping them with cultural content, as well as with the rhythms and speech patterns of the Yorùbá people.

Into the Furby-verse: The narrative production of electronic companions

<p>Since the mid 1990s, electronic objects designed for the sole purpose of providing human companionship have been widely available to consumers. Effectively, such objects offer a relationship, requiring interaction from a caregiver to “survive” and “evolve”. By offering an opportunity for human–nonhuman attachment, electronic companions raise questions regarding the value of relationships and what it is that makes something artificial or real. Following the success of Bandai Electronics’ Tamagotchi, Hasbro’s Electronic Furby became commercially available in 1998, and has since become a primary actor in marketing, design, media, and research narratives that raise hopeful, satirical, and fearful discussions surrounding our potential future with sociable and companionable technologies. All of these stories construct relationships with electronic companions that are generally human-centred and hierarchical, meaning that they look at electronic companionship in terms of how it will affect people. During this time there has also been a growth in online communities that engage in cultural production through fan fiction responses to existing cultural artefacts, including Hasbro’s Furby. In these stories, the notion of electronic companionship has been explored from diverse perspectives, including a non-hierarchical, animal-centred viewpoint that offers an unfamiliar view of interacting with nonhumans by bringing in aspects of the fantastic. By exploring these consumermade narratives there is an opportunity to understand how people articulate the boundaries of their relationships with technology. Through a combination of textual analysis, cultural studies and design research, this project aims to explore the role that storytelling plays in communicating and exploring the cultural and social impact of emerging companion technologies. An empirical analysis of seventy-two online fan fictions compares and contrasts popular themes and motifs in Furby narratives in terms of whether they render relationships with, and among Furbys as positive or negative. When positive, this analysis highlights that Furbys are treated in a similar way to animals in fantasy, as the story’s protagonist. Through these positively framed relationships we also learn what it means to be an ideal companion and caregiver to nonhumans, as the characters are empathic, compassionate, and selfless. My analysis of negative relationships with Furbys in fan fictions highlights a disconnection between the Furby characters as marketed by Hasbro, and what they become after entering the lives of their caregivers. Despite being sold as friendly and in need of care, Furbys often conjure monstrous and gothic associations that can be read as symptomatic of real anxieties surrounding technological innovation. Building on this preliminary analysis, eighteen still and moving image scenarios were designed to elicit stories, and sixty-four online responses were received. Analysis of these responses found that overwhelmingly fantasy-driven storytelling was used to explore the role of Furbys in the visual scenarios, and they were often written as biologically alive and equal to humans. Combined, my fan fiction and response analyses highlight the interplay between observational and imaginative storytelling to articulate the boundaries around human and nonhuman relationships. My thesis therefore suggests that design and marketing cannot set the boundaries of electronic companionship because they will always be redefined by the users, and designers could benefit from exploring the use of their designs once out in the world. My PhD research project offers: 1) a theoretical contribution by positing fantastic storytelling as a space for critical reflection and engagement with material objects, where the potential of electronic companionship can be explored beyond the imperatives of design and marketing; 2) an empirical case study of Furby fan fiction that expands the understanding of fan fiction to include consumer objects as source material for textual production; 3) a methodological contribution to interdisciplinary studies by combining narrative studies and design to explore our relationships with emerging technology, and 4) a design research contribution that explores user stories to support meaning making practices of storytelling about electronic companionship, and equally value the place of the nonhuman in design issues.</p>

Into the Furby-verse: The narrative production of electronic companions

<p>Since the mid 1990s, electronic objects designed for the sole purpose of providing human companionship have been widely available to consumers. Effectively, such objects offer a relationship, requiring interaction from a caregiver to “survive” and “evolve”. By offering an opportunity for human–nonhuman attachment, electronic companions raise questions regarding the value of relationships and what it is that makes something artificial or real. Following the success of Bandai Electronics’ Tamagotchi, Hasbro’s Electronic Furby became commercially available in 1998, and has since become a primary actor in marketing, design, media, and research narratives that raise hopeful, satirical, and fearful discussions surrounding our potential future with sociable and companionable technologies. All of these stories construct relationships with electronic companions that are generally human-centred and hierarchical, meaning that they look at electronic companionship in terms of how it will affect people. During this time there has also been a growth in online communities that engage in cultural production through fan fiction responses to existing cultural artefacts, including Hasbro’s Furby. In these stories, the notion of electronic companionship has been explored from diverse perspectives, including a non-hierarchical, animal-centred viewpoint that offers an unfamiliar view of interacting with nonhumans by bringing in aspects of the fantastic. By exploring these consumermade narratives there is an opportunity to understand how people articulate the boundaries of their relationships with technology. Through a combination of textual analysis, cultural studies and design research, this project aims to explore the role that storytelling plays in communicating and exploring the cultural and social impact of emerging companion technologies. An empirical analysis of seventy-two online fan fictions compares and contrasts popular themes and motifs in Furby narratives in terms of whether they render relationships with, and among Furbys as positive or negative. When positive, this analysis highlights that Furbys are treated in a similar way to animals in fantasy, as the story’s protagonist. Through these positively framed relationships we also learn what it means to be an ideal companion and caregiver to nonhumans, as the characters are empathic, compassionate, and selfless. My analysis of negative relationships with Furbys in fan fictions highlights a disconnection between the Furby characters as marketed by Hasbro, and what they become after entering the lives of their caregivers. Despite being sold as friendly and in need of care, Furbys often conjure monstrous and gothic associations that can be read as symptomatic of real anxieties surrounding technological innovation. Building on this preliminary analysis, eighteen still and moving image scenarios were designed to elicit stories, and sixty-four online responses were received. Analysis of these responses found that overwhelmingly fantasy-driven storytelling was used to explore the role of Furbys in the visual scenarios, and they were often written as biologically alive and equal to humans. Combined, my fan fiction and response analyses highlight the interplay between observational and imaginative storytelling to articulate the boundaries around human and nonhuman relationships. My thesis therefore suggests that design and marketing cannot set the boundaries of electronic companionship because they will always be redefined by the users, and designers could benefit from exploring the use of their designs once out in the world. My PhD research project offers: 1) a theoretical contribution by positing fantastic storytelling as a space for critical reflection and engagement with material objects, where the potential of electronic companionship can be explored beyond the imperatives of design and marketing; 2) an empirical case study of Furby fan fiction that expands the understanding of fan fiction to include consumer objects as source material for textual production; 3) a methodological contribution to interdisciplinary studies by combining narrative studies and design to explore our relationships with emerging technology, and 4) a design research contribution that explores user stories to support meaning making practices of storytelling about electronic companionship, and equally value the place of the nonhuman in design issues.</p>

Shared Parenting after Separation and Divorce in New Zealand

<p>Shared parenting after separation or divorce is an intricate, fluid process in which gender, power and ideology are implicated. The dominant focus of the literature is on sharply polarised assessments of the value of joint custody or shared parenting, and on the elaboration of the individual moral qualities ideally required by each parent which will help ensure the arrangement's success or failure. This thesis, however, addresses the systemic (individual and social) isssues, and the processes of family life which facilitate or complicate the arrangement. The conclusions indicate that it it is inappropriate to view shared parenting as that form of custody which necessarily safeguards the child's best interests. Rather, it should be viewed as one among several possible modes of custody; and that the particular outcome for any family of a choice of shared parenting after separation depends largely on the ability of those parents to manage their relationship, in which systemic, as well as personal factors are significant. The value of detailed qualitative research as a means to explore and understand areas of family life and relationships is demonstrated, in particular because of its power to reveal the complexity of family process. The crucial material evidence is the transcription of the unstructured, intensive, longitudinal interviews which generates texts suitable for a close textual reading or deconstructive analysis. Such an analysis opens for inspection the way that experience and the respondents' and researcher's textual production is constructed from and by gender, power, ideology, ambivalence, and process. It highlights the way in which elements of experience are often divided from each other and held separate as a consequence of the research act" and their interrelatedness obscured and destroyed. The use of deconstructive qualitative analysis has facilitated a further redefinition of the researcher/respondent relationship. It has emphasised the importance of creating typologies which, within a specific category, can encompass a diversity of experiences and positions. It has challenged the usual mode of sociological writing in which only the authorial voice is present, and has indicated the significance of allowing a range of voices to enter the text, thus emphasising the uncentredness of the social world.</p>

Shared Parenting after Separation and Divorce in New Zealand

<p>Shared parenting after separation or divorce is an intricate, fluid process in which gender, power and ideology are implicated. The dominant focus of the literature is on sharply polarised assessments of the value of joint custody or shared parenting, and on the elaboration of the individual moral qualities ideally required by each parent which will help ensure the arrangement's success or failure. This thesis, however, addresses the systemic (individual and social) isssues, and the processes of family life which facilitate or complicate the arrangement. The conclusions indicate that it it is inappropriate to view shared parenting as that form of custody which necessarily safeguards the child's best interests. Rather, it should be viewed as one among several possible modes of custody; and that the particular outcome for any family of a choice of shared parenting after separation depends largely on the ability of those parents to manage their relationship, in which systemic, as well as personal factors are significant. The value of detailed qualitative research as a means to explore and understand areas of family life and relationships is demonstrated, in particular because of its power to reveal the complexity of family process. The crucial material evidence is the transcription of the unstructured, intensive, longitudinal interviews which generates texts suitable for a close textual reading or deconstructive analysis. Such an analysis opens for inspection the way that experience and the respondents' and researcher's textual production is constructed from and by gender, power, ideology, ambivalence, and process. It highlights the way in which elements of experience are often divided from each other and held separate as a consequence of the research act" and their interrelatedness obscured and destroyed. The use of deconstructive qualitative analysis has facilitated a further redefinition of the researcher/respondent relationship. It has emphasised the importance of creating typologies which, within a specific category, can encompass a diversity of experiences and positions. It has challenged the usual mode of sociological writing in which only the authorial voice is present, and has indicated the significance of allowing a range of voices to enter the text, thus emphasising the uncentredness of the social world.</p>

OS TRECHOS DESCONEXOS EM REDAÇÕES DO ENEM

This work discusses the possible functions of disconnected excerpts in essays of the Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (ENEM) [National High School Exam]. To ground our reflections, we resume the concepts of genre (BAKHTIN, 2006, 2011), genre format subversion (MARCUSCHI, 2008), and incoherence (KOCH; TRAVAGLIA, 2008). In the analysis, we compare the effects that the use of disconnected excerpts caused in three ENEM essays to the effects in two other genres, a petition and a blog post. We raise three possible functions for the insertion of these excerpts: that this may be an argumentative strategy; that the author reacts to the probable readers’ attention loss; and that the author tests the dialogical character of the essay. We conclude that the use of these excerpts in ENEM does not necessarily make texts incoherent, but the condition of textual production demands a greater stability of the genre’s format.

Writing at the Origin of Capitalism

In the late sixteenth through seventeenth centuries, England simultaneously developed a national market and a national literary culture. In Writing at the Origin of Capitalism, Julianne Werlin describes how economic change in early modern England created new patterns of textual production and circulation with lasting consequences for English literature. Synthesizing research in book and media history, including investigations of manuscript and print, with Marxist historical theory, Werlin demonstrates that England’s transition to capitalism had a decisive impact on techniques of writing, rates of literacy, and modes of reception—and so on the form and style of texts. Individual chapters discuss the impact of market integration on linguistic standardization and the rise of a uniform English prose; the growth of a popular literary market alongside a national market in cheap commodities; and the decline of literary patronage with the monarchy’s loosening grip on trade regulation, among other subjects. Peddlers’ routes and price integration, monopoly licenses and bills of exchange, all prove vital for understanding early modern English writing. Each chapter reveals how books and documents were embedded in wider economic processes and, as a result, how the origin of capitalism constituted a revolutionary event in the history of English literature.

The Lies of the Land: The Alluvial Formalities of Gothic East Anglia

East Anglia is an evasive region; with its stretches of grey shingle that give way to silt and water, isolated marshes and great, flat panoramas that are literally falling into the sea. This article will show that East Anglia is a broader and more cohesive site of Gothic tradition and possibility than has previously been recognized, even if that possibility is found both textually and topographically in the incohesive, the ephemeral and the immaterial. We will also suggest that the short form is how this has so far been achieved – most famously in the short ghostly tales of M. R. James; more recently in Matthew Holness's unsettling short story ‘Possum’ (2013) and his 2018 film of the same name – and is, in fact, the most appropriate form for this act of textual production.

Contribuições do enfoque ciência tecnologia e sociedade em um projeto de ensino: um caminho para o consumo sustentável

In the Education context, the focus of Science, Technology and Society (STS) allows researchers with social, political and environmental nature themes, among others, which involve the active participation in the human being in face of society problems, in the sense of reflect, criticize and act. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop conceptual and atheist learning based on the urban garbage theme in an intervention project with activities involving sustainability, reuse, consumerism and responsibilities. The research had a qualitative nature based on action research principles, developed by the pedagogy of projects, with the participation of thirteen (13) high school first year students from a public institution located in the city of Manaus-AM, the students were all volunteers. Data collection occurred through questionnaires, textual production, discussions and oral exposure and then they were qualitatively analyzed in an exploratory way. The results revealed that the students presented signs of conceptual understanding of the theme related terms, such as: garbage, solid waste, recycling and reuse, then sought to draw associations with chemical concepts and to propose environmental issues solutions using sustainability and social responsibilities. The students showed sensitivity regarding the theme and were willing to change their attitudes towards the problem.