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2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Kent Cartwright

The Introduction claims the centrality of comedy as a Renaissance genre. It outlines the study’s thesis, that Shakespearean comedy contains an aura of enchantment that plays against its rationalist dimension and that enchantment effects can provoke thought, communalism, and ethical awareness. The Introduction locates the argument in various contexts: that of recent theories of comedy, including those emphasizing rationalism; that of modern disenchantment and countervailing defenses of wonder and enchantment; that of ideas of the comic surplus as demarcating a mysterious, even Utopian, aspect of comedy; that of recent critical interest in magic and medievalism; and, finally, that of present-day criticism of Shakespearean comedy. Studies of Shakespeare’s comedy sometimes avoid confronting its fantasy dimension, which can use experiences of enchantment to put the dominant narrative (along with its own claims) in doubt. In the comedies, enchantment can be revelatory—while remaining a little ridiculous and demanding continued thought.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara Chittenden

Among the scrapheap of society’s unwanted materials lies a vast and wondrous world of fashion potential. In the liminal phase between a product’s rejection and its fate as landfill, designers are called on to create a positive alternative. The upcycling process encourages designers to consider how they might release the past social lives of products to uncover the design potential of new creations. Upcycling introduces the dimensions of time, designer knowledge and skills into the creation of a garment or accessory. This practice makes a place in fashion for challenging the hypercycle of consumption and the new by valuing fabrics that can tell stories of their past lives in other times and places. In this article I examine the appropriation of retired fire hose in the fashion industry by the company Elvis & Kresse. In the framework of Arnold van Gennep’s ritual phases of transition, namely the ‘pre-liminal’, ‘liminal’ and ‘post-liminal’, of critical interest is the second or liminal phase, in which the retired fire hose risks becoming obscure and permanently separated from reality but is instead incorporated into luxury bags and belts. This article advances the perception of the liminal as a place for collecting ‘polluting’ materials and, via design, reintroducing them into society. In my focus on this company and on fire hose as a fashion textile, I probe the liminal threshold as a place of creative experimentation and a powerful framework for understanding and structuring product transitions. The ability to change how an item is perceived by fracturing its sense of time and place highlights the importance of upcycling in tackling many of the current criticisms levelled at fashion while introducing new roles for designers as facilitators of transformation.


2021 ◽  

Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (1796–1880) arrived in Sydney in 1838 and became almost immediately notorious for her poem “The Aboriginal Mother,” written in response to the infamous Myall Creek massacre. She published more poetry in colonial newspapers during her lifetime, but for the century following her death her work was largely neglected. In recent years, however, critical interest in Dunlop has increased, in Australia and internationally and in a range of fields, including literary studies; settler, postcolonial and imperial studies; and Indigenous studies. This stimulating collection of essays by leading scholars considers Dunlop's work from a range of perspectives and includes a new selection of her poetry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (267-268) ◽  
pp. 137-141
Author(s):  
David Karlander

Abstract A sensitisation to the disciplinary past offers a way forward for sociolinguistic inquiry. Historicisation may add reflexive distance to our current concerns and debates. It may serve to detect, put into perspective and ease epistemological and ideational tensions. It is equally useful for determining the extent to which past ideas and practices linger among us, and for clarifying the effects of such forms of retention. Historicisation may be brought to bear on the ways in which we engage with our objects of study, and on the ways in which we understand our acts of engagement. A critical interest in the disciplinary past could provide a shared historical ground for all strands of sociolinguistic inquiry. It could help us to counteract disciplinary fragmentation, while at the same time stimulate disciplinary renewal and constructive exchange. For these reasons – I argue – a sensitisation to the history of sociolinguistics is of immediate relevance to the readership of the IJSL.


Futures ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 428-443
Author(s):  
Eglė Rindzevičiūtė

This chapter explores the often overlooked area of cybernetic prediction, a form of prediction conceptualized by the ‘father’ of cybernetics, the US mathematician Norbert Wiener, during the 1940s–1960s. Although critical interest in the cultural and political histories of cybernetics is growing, the notion of scientific prediction, which is central to cybernetic control, is insufficiently examined. This chapter argues that this form of prediction is not a mere technical cog in the epistemology of the future, but a complex concept. It demonstrates that Wiener’s epistemology of cybernetic prediction emphasizes the role of uncertainty and does not replace materiality with information. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the useful lessons offered by Wiener’s concept of cybernetic prediction for future-oriented practices within the broader fields of contemporary science, governance, and politics.


Author(s):  
Driss Moussaoui ◽  
Vishal Bhavsar ◽  
Dinesh Bhugra

Globalization is a term used widely to describe ‘homogenization’ of the world and various cultures. Although it is to do with trade, with an impact on resources, manufacture, and consumption, its impact is often seen on economics, development, international relations, and health. However, its effect on individual and population mental health across cultures deserves detailed study. The term means different things to different people and is often misused and misinterpreted in a number of ways. The geopolitical impact of globalization on social determinants of mental health of individuals and populations is of particular interest, especially because globalization affects migration and consequent changes in well-being. Cultures vary and have various dimensions, which change in response to globalization. The challenges in the global mental health agenda are of critical interest to policymakers and service planners. Often, mental health is regarded as separate from aspects of physical health and well-being, thereby creating specific problems. In the context of globalization and resulting migration, we propose a conceptual model to understand the effects of globalization on mental health and identify some action points for future research and policy-making.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Cook ◽  
◽  
James Morris ◽  
Valentina Bond ◽  
Monica Burns

Published anonymously in 1824, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner: Written by Himself: With a detail of curious traditionary facts and other evidence by the editor pushed the boundaries of genre. It has been called a Gothic novel, a psychological mystery, a religious satire, and an early example of modern crime fiction. The plot follows a staunch Calvinist, Robert Wringhim, who believes he is justified in killing those he believes are already damned by God. A masterclass of metafiction, many of the events are narrated twice; first by the 'editor', who gives his account of the facts as he understands them to be, and then in the words of the 'sinner' himself. Having sold poorly among its first readers, the novel suffered from a prolonged period of neglect. However, since the latter part of the twentieth century it has won greater critical interest and attention.


Catalysts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1317
Author(s):  
Chris Joseph ◽  
John Patrick Shupp ◽  
Caitlyn R. Cobb ◽  
Michael J. Rose

The family of nitrogenase enzymes catalyzes the reduction of atmospheric dinitrogen (N2) to ammonia under remarkably benign conditions of temperature, pressure, and pH. Therefore, the development of synthetic complexes or materials that can similarly perform this reaction is of critical interest. The primary obstacle for obtaining realistic synthetic models of the active site iron-sulfur-carbide cluster (e.g., FeMoco) is the incorporation of a truly inorganic carbide. This review summarizes the present state of knowledge regarding biological and chemical (synthetic) incorporation of carbide into iron-sulfur clusters. This includes the Nif cluster of proteins and associated biochemistry involved in the endogenous biogenesis of FeMoco. We focus on the chemical (synthetic) incorporation portion of our own efforts to incorporate and modify C1 units in iron/sulfur clusters. We also highlight recent contributions from other research groups in the area toward C1 and/or inorganic carbide insertion.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drew Duglan ◽  
Nuria Casanova-Vallve ◽  
Megan E. Vaughan ◽  
Michal K. Handzlik ◽  
Weiwei Fan ◽  
...  

AbstractIdentifying molecular adaptations underlying improved fitness in response to training is of critical interest in exercise physiology. Circadian rhythms broadly modulate metabolism, including muscle substrate utilization and exercise capacity. Here we show that time of day influences the increase in exercise capacity afforded by training: when maximum running speed is measured at the beginning of the nighttime active period in mice, there is no measurable benefit from training, while maximum increase in performance occurs at the end of the night. Incidentally, we describe an improved method to motivate running in rodent exercise studies that obviates the use of electrical stimulation. Furthermore, we describe daily rhythms in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and transport associated with the time-dependent response to training. Thus, we show that circadian rhythms modulate muscle-intrinsic responses to training and provide resources for the optimal design of exercise studies in rodents.


Author(s):  
Fenwick McKelvey ◽  
Elinor Carmi ◽  
Niels Ten Oever ◽  
Seda Gürses

We use the term networked optimization to emphasize a sustained but changing set of techniques, technologies, and calculations to decide the best life -- the optimal -- through infrastructures, design, mathematics and engineering. Optimization is a vital concept at a time of critical interest in infrastructural power. Usually defined as doing actions to make the best or most effective use of something, our panel highlights the different uses of the term across the internet. Used as a selling point by many technology companies, optimization means different things to different actors. Perhaps the most important question on this is optimized for who? From Facebook to 5G, our panelists work across technical and theoretical literatures as well as computer science and humanities to identify the social implications of networked optimization. Author #1 examines how Facebook’s personalization ideology is engineered into its infrastructure to influence people’s behaviors to maximize its advertising value. Author #2 looks to the discourses and infrastructure of Google’s cloud computing that promise a form of global social engineering. Author #3 takes these questions out of the cloud and into the next-generation of the Internet, 5G. The promised new wireless infrastructure makes a major shift in the meta-governance of communications and re-consolidates power in network operators. Finally, Author #4 looks for forms of resistance through the development of Protective Optimization Technologies that help people counter efforts to nudge and shape their behaviours.  


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