Interpretation Verse of Religious Moderation: Systematic Library Review Meaning of Ummatan Wasathan in Qs. 2: 143

This study focuses on examining the interpretation of the verse on religious moderation, related to the term wastahan ummatan in QS.Al Baqarah (2): 143. This research is important in knowing the views of commentators on the Qur'anic verse regarding religious moderation and related to the contemporary context. This research uses a qualitative traditional approach, using a literature review through a systematic review method of references (Systematic Library Research) related to the focus of this study. The data analysis technique used in this study is descriptive, interpretive and deductive analysis which is carried out in stagesfformulation, search, inspection/selection, analysis-synthesis, quality control mainstreaming, and report preparation.

Towards Making a Sustainable Organization

Sustainable development refers to an economic, environmental, and social development aspect that meets the demands of the contemporary context and does not prevent future generations from fulfilling their requirements. In this perspective, businesses play an imperative role. However, studies reveal that the progress towards sustainable development has been slow, indicating the need for more concrete guidance that would allow businesses to act strategically and successfully in a sustainable way. There are three distinct, but complementary, dimensions of strategic management as viewed from the perspective of sustainability in order to encourage the integration of sustainability issues into corporate activities and strategies. This chapter looks through various aspects of sustainability towards making a sustainable organization through a vertical literature review. This theoretical discussion contributes to existing research to find relationships between strategic management and sustainable development and tries to provide a schema for further empirical research.

The Metaphysical Quality that gives a Visual Identity Mark its Sway.

Addressing a specific aspect of visual communication, the focus of this paper is to examine the connection between elemental nature-inspired archetypal symbols and contemporary Visual Identity Marks, for example the archetypal Solar Cross to the BP VIM, Helios, by establishing the existence of a contextual relevance and relationship. It furthermore analyses the fundamental influence of these archetypal symbols upon the viewer/user (internal and external audiences), no matter what level of sophistication the viewer’s/user’s society has achieved. To build an appreciation of the continuity and effectiveness of the use of elemental nature-inspired archetypal symbols within a contemporary context, areas of expertise not traditionally utilised within visual communication, such as sociology, archaeology, theology and folklore were engaged. While being defined as “a recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art or mythology” (Random House Dictionary, 2012), an archetypal symbol also possesses a metaphysical quality. This metaphysical quality enables the symbol to act as a galvanising and motivating force, which re-enforces individual and group identity, and ultimately transmit a sense of the sacred and the institutional within a mutable world. The archetypal (natural) symbol is the response of the psyche reflecting the ‘internal truth’. The VIM (cultural) symbol is a vehicle to maintain power for financial or political profits as well as sustain group coherency, and individual identity. Encoded within both a ‘natural’, and a ‘cultural’ symbol, is a deep spiritual quality tapping into a deeper symbolic language which evolved from humanity relating back to nature. Drawing upon notions of individual interpretation, the paper analyses the very idea of personal and/or subjective mental constructs related to visual identity marks.

Biometric Poetics: The Case of Eververse

Eververse was a yearlong conceptual poetry project which used a poet’s biometric data as the basis for generating verse. This article describes the project’s conceptual contributions to the field of electronic literature and its technical development. Eververse operated by collecting biometric data from the poet with a commercial fitness tracking device; this data was sent to a custom-built poetry generator which deployed a number of processes from the domains of Natural Language Generation and Sentiment Analysis to generate poetry; the form and content of this poetry was designed to vary according to specific changes in the biometric data, resulting in a poetry that conspicuously correlated with the poet’s daily activities; this poetry was published in real-time on the project website and the full poem and associated data have now been archived. In addition to providing details on the technical implementation of Eververse, this article includes discussion that situates the work within the tradition of electronic literature and analyses its unique inscription of biometric data. The article examines that feature in the contemporary context of the quantified self, but also in its engagement with historic poetic theories of composition, creativity, and the textualisation of the body.

Sounding an Idol: The Television as Imagetext in Don DeLillo’s White Noise

The response of critics to Don DeLillo’s seminal novel White Noise has centred on the connections that can be drawn between this work and the critical context that surrounded it upon its publication in 1984, namely the climate of radical scepticism ushered in by critics like Jean Baudrillard. This article attempts to argue that the relationship between the novel and this critical climate is far more antagonistic than has been acknowledged previously. Drawing upon the critic W.J.T. Mitchell’s reading of Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the “sounding”, as opposed to the iconoclastic smashing, of idols, the article will “sound” the idol which is at the centre of DeLillo’s novel: the television. This will show the critical distance that DeLillo deliberately established between his text and the texts of postmodern theory that were fashionable throughout the later twentieth century (particularly at the time White Noise was published) and will place DeLillo in a more contemporary context, his face turned not only to the past, but to the critical horizons ahead of him.

Doxographical, Philosophical, and Historical Forms of the History of Philosophy

This chapter examines the doxographical, philosophical, and historical forms of the history of philosophy. The aim of doxography is to reconstruct and present philosophical views or positions that have been proposed in the past and to do so in a way that makes clear the interest they may retain for contemporary philosophical discussions. However, the inadequacy of ancient doxographical writers seems so great that the term ‘doxography’ itself has acquired a pejorative connotation. The criticism is twofold: first, one has the feeling that the ancient doxographers did not have historical awareness or a sensitivity to history; second, one tends to associate doxography with a kind of philosophical failure. People then abandoned the assumption that the positions of the past retain their philosophical importance in the contemporary context. In its place, they began to suppose that the views of the past were only of interest as stages, even if necessary ones, of the evolution of thought. This sort of history represents the philosophical study of the history of philosophy. It is precisely this philosophical position which, towards the middle of the nineteenth century, provokes a reaction. But this reaction takes two very different forms. On the one hand, it gives rise to the historical study of the history of philosophy and, on the other, to a modern form of doxography.

Paul among the Fluent in Corinth

This article foregrounds the importance of Paul’s letters for studying the experiences and perceptions of persons who stutter in antiquity. It analyzes Paul’s speech alongside the biographies of two other historical figures from antiquity who suffered from speech dysfluency: the great Athenian orator, Demosthenes, and the emperor Claudius. Accounts of Demosthenes’, Claudius’, and Paul’s speech inconsistencies, silences, incomprehensible utterances, oratory weaknesses—and their critics’ accusations that they suffered from madness—are interpreted in light of research on adults who stutter in the contemporary context, as well as studies on listener experiences and stereotypes. In introducing Paul into the study of ancient dysfluency, the article revisits Paul’s conflict with rival teachers in Corinth as it is in responding to these critics’ accusations that Paul is most revealing of his own dysfluency.

An Exploration of Traditional Contemporary of Indonesian Culture through Batik

<p>Indonesia is a developing country in which the majority of the population that is 225 million people identified as Muslim. As a part of that phenomenon and in conjunction with Indonesia’s recent cultural and economic development, Muslim women in Indonesia are becoming increasingly aware of external cultural trends and as a result of this are seeking opportunities to express themselves of their culture and beliefs as a part of their own personal fashion statements. For many Muslim women the Muslim veil, often referred to as Hijab, is perhaps the most salient of their clothing items worn to show obligation to their religious law. Although the hijab has been called into question by some within the Muslim community, and others outside of it, this research does not address that discourse. This research presents the hijab as a piece of clothing that creates a ‘sense of cultural space’. As an Indonesian woman wearing the hijab, through this research I aim to consider how wearing the hijab can both respectfully and creatively express both faith and culture within a contemporary context. In parallel, this research asks how the traditional Indonesian technique of batik can be used to signify, identify and celebrate Indonesian Muslim women in the 21st century. Batik was officially recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in October 2009 as an Intangible Heritage of Indonesia. Although examples of the authentic batik technique have been overrun by mass-produced printed versions, undeniably batik still does not only hold an important place in Indonesia’s history but also in Indonesia’s global identity. The inseparable connection between the symbolism and the significance of the meanings and narratives expressed within batik has existed for centuries. As a part of a larger and historically established visual language, this research seeks to design contemporary symbols that represent the values, characteristics and beliefs of Indonesian Muslim women in the 21st century. The new symbols are designed in response to a present-day voice and seek to connect religious beliefs, cultural heritage as well as the young Indonesian Muslim woman’s appreciation of these as a part of her everyday appearance and lifestyle. The voice of young Indonesian woman of Muslim faith is gained in interviews and workshops where they identify, interpret, and depict characteristics and values that express who they consider themselves to be and what values they wish to express as a fundamental to their lifestyle. The symbols are then adapted by the hijab using both traditional pattern making techniques and digital software which will then printed onto the fabric using traditional batik methods. Through the design of contemporary symbols and patterns that represent the contemporary Indonesian Muslim woman of the 21st century and the printing of these onto the hijab using the traditional technique of batik, this research aims to establish a more contemporary appreciation of the hijab and the values held fundamental to its user.</p>

An Exploration of Traditional Contemporary of Indonesian Culture through Batik

<p>Indonesia is a developing country in which the majority of the population that is 225 million people identified as Muslim. As a part of that phenomenon and in conjunction with Indonesia’s recent cultural and economic development, Muslim women in Indonesia are becoming increasingly aware of external cultural trends and as a result of this are seeking opportunities to express themselves of their culture and beliefs as a part of their own personal fashion statements. For many Muslim women the Muslim veil, often referred to as Hijab, is perhaps the most salient of their clothing items worn to show obligation to their religious law. Although the hijab has been called into question by some within the Muslim community, and others outside of it, this research does not address that discourse. This research presents the hijab as a piece of clothing that creates a ‘sense of cultural space’. As an Indonesian woman wearing the hijab, through this research I aim to consider how wearing the hijab can both respectfully and creatively express both faith and culture within a contemporary context. In parallel, this research asks how the traditional Indonesian technique of batik can be used to signify, identify and celebrate Indonesian Muslim women in the 21st century. Batik was officially recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in October 2009 as an Intangible Heritage of Indonesia. Although examples of the authentic batik technique have been overrun by mass-produced printed versions, undeniably batik still does not only hold an important place in Indonesia’s history but also in Indonesia’s global identity. The inseparable connection between the symbolism and the significance of the meanings and narratives expressed within batik has existed for centuries. As a part of a larger and historically established visual language, this research seeks to design contemporary symbols that represent the values, characteristics and beliefs of Indonesian Muslim women in the 21st century. The new symbols are designed in response to a present-day voice and seek to connect religious beliefs, cultural heritage as well as the young Indonesian Muslim woman’s appreciation of these as a part of her everyday appearance and lifestyle. The voice of young Indonesian woman of Muslim faith is gained in interviews and workshops where they identify, interpret, and depict characteristics and values that express who they consider themselves to be and what values they wish to express as a fundamental to their lifestyle. The symbols are then adapted by the hijab using both traditional pattern making techniques and digital software which will then printed onto the fabric using traditional batik methods. Through the design of contemporary symbols and patterns that represent the contemporary Indonesian Muslim woman of the 21st century and the printing of these onto the hijab using the traditional technique of batik, this research aims to establish a more contemporary appreciation of the hijab and the values held fundamental to its user.</p>

A Paradoxical Convergence: National Identity and Gender in 'The Topp Twins' Exhibition and the New Zealand Rugby Museum

<p>In May 2017, there was a strange convergence inside Palmerston North’s Te Manawa museum. As visitors arrived on the first floor, they were left with two options. Turn left for the New Zealand Rugby Museum, or turn right for an exhibition on Jools and Lynda Topp. Left for masculinist rugby history. Right for radical activist lesbians. While both exhibitions have very different subject matter, themes of gender and national identity are prevalent within them both. Using this convergence as an entry point, this thesis considers the ways national identity and gender are put on display within the permanent exhibition at the New Zealand Rugby Museum and The Topp Twins exhibition. Using data from interviews with key people involved with the two exhibitions, documentary research, and analysis of the two exhibitions, this thesis asks how New Zealand national identity and gender are narrated and displayed within The Topp Twins and the New Zealand Rugby Museum, and considers what this means for museum practice. In so doing, the thesis begins with an overview of key literature looking at nation, discourse and gender in museum and heritage scholarship. It also considers literature of New Zealand identity formation and gender. The intellectual foundation of this thesis resides in the idea that gender, nation and museums are intimately bound. In the second part of the thesis, an investigation into the historical and contemporary context of the two exhibitions is conducted. This section provides an overview of the content and design of the exhibits. In combining both the context and content of the exhibitions, the thesis is able to consider intentions as well as the outcomes of the two. The final part of the thesis considers the ways national identity and gender have been presented within The Topp Twins exhibition and the New Zealand Rugby Museum. This chapter shows that while gender is presented in very different ways, the museums have a very similar narrative about ‘New Zealandness’.</p>