Arenal, Concepción

This article studies the influence of Concepción Arenal (1820–1893) on the foundations of social work in Spain. With her, one can learn about the most important ideas of the 19th-century liberal school of thought, which, in its enlightened and reforming aspect, had a great impact on the consideration of human dignity, poverty, the relationship between intervener and intervened—as well as the role and responsibility of the state, civil society, and charity in social intervention. Her pragmatic perspective stands out among those authors who contributed with elements of analysis to theorizing the social question in Spain. Her singularity is defined by the centrality of the human being and the integral development of one’s abilities in a society where the necessary means can be found. Additionally, she is both a national and international inspiration thanks to her contribution to women’s rights and the reform of the penal code.

Montessori’s Children’s Houses in Calabria at the beginning of the twentieth century in the Historic Archive of the ANIMI

The birth of Montessori’s Case dei Bambini (“Children’s Houses”) and the adoption of her innovative teaching method constitute an interesting chapter in the renewal of educational practices in Italy in the early years of the 20th century. Spreading from North to South, the biggest impact was felt where the social question was most acute. Milan, Rome and Città di Castello (the location of the Villa Montesca belonging to Leopoldo Franchetti and his wife Alice Hallgarten), together with very small communities such as those of Ferruzzano and Saccuti in the province of Reggio Calabria, were ideal contexts in which to test the assumptions of Maria Montessori’s approach to pedagogy. Specifically, this paper examines the experience of the Children’s Houses and nursery schools set up in Calabria by the Associazione Nazionale per gli Interessi del Mezzogiorno d’Italia (ANIMI, the National Association for the Interests of the Italian Mezzogiorno). The use of partly unpublished materials kept in the Association’s Historic Archive makes it possible to reconstruct the enthusiasm for the Montessori method of some teachers who were not from Calabria and to assess its positive effects on the children, who were among the country’s most neglected, often condemned to a series of privations.

How Question Characteristics Impact Answer Outcome on Social Question-and-Answer Websites

Inducing more and higher-quality answers to questions is essential to sustainable development of Social Question-and-Answer (SQA) websites. Previous research has studied factors affecting question success and user motivation in answering questions, but how a question’s own characteristics affect the question’s answer outcome on SQA websites remains unknown. This study examines the impact of the characteristics of a question, namely readability, emotionality, additional descriptions, and question type, on the question’s answer outcome as measured by number of answers, average answer length, and number of “likes” received by answers to the question. Regression analyses reveal that readability, additional descriptions, and question type have significant impact on multiple measurements of answer outcome, while emotionality only affects the average answer length. This study provides insights to SQA website builders as they instruct users on question construction. It also provides insights to SQA website users on how to induce more and higher-quality answers to their questions.

How Question Characteristics Impact Answer Outcomes on Social Question-and-Answer Websites

Inducing more and higher-quality answers to questions is essential to sustainable development of Social Question-and-Answer (SQA) websites. Previous research has studied factors affecting question success and user motivation in answering questions, but how a question’s own characteristics affect the question’s answer outcome on SQA websites remains unknown. This study examines the impact of the characteristics of a question, namely readability, emotionality, additional descriptions, and question type, on the question’s answer outcome as measured by number of answers, average answer length, and number of “likes” received by answers to the question. Regression analyses reveal that readability, additional descriptions, and question type have significant impact on multiple measurements of answer outcome, while emotionality only affects the average answer length. This study provides insights to SQA website builders as they instruct users on question construction. It also provides insights to SQA website users on how to induce more and higher-quality answers to their questions.

Walking the city and the neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires. Argentine Literature in the 1920s and 1930s

This article presents an overview of Buenos Aires, city and neighbourhoods, from the viewpoints of several authors who participated in the literary life of the 1920s and 1930s, portraying the evolution of modernity and the social question –inequalities. Novels, short stories, poems and magazines from the period in question were used to frame these issues and unravel the objectives set. It concludes by exposing the variety and diversity of the city and the neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, as well as the people who inhabited them and the Buenos Aires literary currents of the period, headed by Jorge Luis Borges, on the one hand (Florida group), and Roberto Arlt (Boedo group), on the other.

Filantropía secular. La ayuda interesada de los fundadores del Asilo de Mendigos en la Ciudad de México, 1879-1902.

En este artículo exploramos las “buenas intenciones” de un grupo de filántropos, empresarios liberales, seculares y reformistas que, con el argumento de impulsar la modernización urbana, propusieron desplazar a los limosneros de las calles centrales de la Ciudad de México para contenerlos en el Asilo Particular para Mendigos, fundado en 1879 y ubicado en la periferia urbana. Si bien las obras de la filantropía suelen estudiarse como formas de financiamiento del arte y la cultura o bien como respuesta para la educación y la higiene de los pobres, en este artículo nos centramos en el interés de los filántropos por fomentar el comercio y el ordenamiento urbano, a través de un proyecto asistencial. Asimismo, proponemos una definición acotada de la filantropía secular y sus características que pueden estudiarse a partir del caso específico del Asilo Particular de Mendigos y de las prácticas filantrópicas que le dieron sentido al interés público a finales del siglo XIX. Para sustentar este trabajo consultamos los informes de la Junta de Beneficencia Pública y los informes de las Actas del Consejo del Asilo, prensa periódica y otras fuentes, destacamos de éstas un documento peculiar sobre un estudio de las rutas que los mendigos recorrieron por la ciudad y que le dieron el sustento razonado a esta forma de filantropía en la Ciudad de México. Modern philanthropy used public interest as an argument for intervention in “social question”. The critical point of this text argue how "disinterested" were the "good intentions" of a group of philanthropists, liberals, secularists and reformists who, under the argument of urban modernization, sought to displace beggars from the streets to contain them in the Asilo Particular para Mendigos, founded in Mexico City in 1879. We show the social composition of the founding group and the many meanings on their social actions. We explore a peculiar research elaborated on the routes the beggars traveled through the city, that gave the reasoned support to the foundation. Using the “well-intentioned” argument of helping the poor, philanthropists exerted their influence on urban planning provisions, in addition to mitigating social tensions.