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Research of evolution of the immigration in Austria after the fall of the Iron Curtain
No full textImmigration is a movement that has occurred since the beginning of time, and everyone is in one way or another connected to it. It is how countries were established and cultures were created. Austria, located in the center of Europe, has been a primary location for immigration since the Habsburg Empire. It has been a route for passing through many immigrant paths, especially the Balkan route. Over time, it became a location of permanent residence for many of those originally just stopping through. Its geographic position between the Eastern and Western Bloc made the country an important transit route for refugees, especially during the Cold War. There have been many differing views on immigration in Austria, and it has been at the forefront of their government since the fall of the Habsburg Empire. The issue of immigration has caused numerous governments, coalitions, and parties to form in Austria throughout its history. Still, the most prominent time for these was after World War II and following the fall of the Iron Curtain. The evolution of immigration in Austria since the fall of the Iron Curtain has been heavily influenced by the presence of changing politics and new cultural forms. In my paper, I examine this evolution through a theoretical framework that draws on cultural theory, and the concepts of hybridity and cosmopolitanism. I will look at the policies and governments as well as their changes through three main periods: the fall of the Iron Curtain, contemporary Austria, and present-day Austria.Dr. Emmanuel Asiedu-Acquah
Dr. Chiedozie Uhuegb
Doug Seiters Oral History Interview Records
No full textDoug Seiters of Sewanee, Tennessee was interviewed by Eloise Bradford, Sewanee student, on February 13th, 2024 in person. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included: Segregation during Seiter’s childhood in Chattanooga, Tennessee, coupled with racism against African American Students during his time running the Sewanee Summer Scholars program. We hope that this conversation will assist scholars with a further understanding of race in the United States during the early twenty-first century. Please click on the link to see the full interview
'The Best Days Are the First To Flee': Willa Cather, Marilynne Robinson, and the Pastoral Ideal of America's Midwest
No full textThe pastoral as a literary subgenre offers unique insight into the subjects it depicts. While characterized by their focus on the rhythms of rural life and agrarianism, pastoral works are most frequently written by those who have limited experience with actual forms of agrarian labor. The pastoral as it has been presented in American literature has a rich lineage, with writers like Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, and Robert Frost typifying the literary ideal of nature, landscape, and all that those things entail. In this essay, I will examine how two works of modern American literature, My Antonia, published in 1918 by Willa Cather, and Gilead, published in 2004 by Marilynne Robinson, expand on the tradition of the pastoral and make it relevant to a modern audience. My Antonia, which takes on themes such as the consequences of gendered labor and the rise of industrialization in the rural Midwest, paves the way for Gilead, written nearly a hundred years later. Gilead also dwells on a rapidly changing rural America, although its focus is less overtly agricultural. Both novels explore what it means to live in America's heartland, and what the moral implications of globalization and mechanization are. Gilead especially examines the influences and consequences of Christianity on rural America, while My Antonia takes into account the immigrant perspective, and what that discloses about society at the end of the nineteenth century
Expression and Reception: Gendering the Publick Universal Friend
Full text linkOur research focuses on the Publick Universal Friend, a religious leader from Rhode Island in the late eighteenth century, and the intersection between gender, gender expression, power, and religious freedom. The Publick Universal Friend claimed to be a genderless spirit sent from God inhabiting the body of the deceased Jemima Wilkinson. During the Friend’s time as a religious leader and in modern scholarship, the Friend has been referred to by several names, including the PUF and Jemima Wilkinson. The gendered pronouns used to refer to the Friend also vary, referencing the Friend as they/them, she/her, and even he/him in some cases. Scholars have begun to assess the gender identity of the Publick Universal Friend through their historical writings and biographies, but looking into discrepancies among scholars like Larson and Brekus, there is no real consensus over how the Friend’s gender identity affects the structures of gender and power.
Embracing the blurry lines between the possible gender identities of the Friend, we seek to analyze the stakes of these differing arguments. The Friend’s work as a prophetess can be read as empowering, one of the earliest powerful female religious figures in the US. Alternatively, does calling the Friend Jemima and using exclusively she/her pronouns deny the theology behind the death of Jemima and the resurrection of a “genderless spirit?” Then again, what does it mean to apply gender and transgender* theory to the late eighteenth century? Perhaps the masculinity of the Friend denies the power of women to hold religious leadership and actually mimetically reinforces gender stereotypes. There is no consensus, but rather than create one, we hope to analyze what is to be gained and lost in arguing that the Friend fits into a limiting category of gender.Dr. Kati Curts
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Religious Studies Department
The University of the Sout
He Said, He Said: Confusion Behind the Radical Faeries
No full textThe Radical Faeries is a group founded in San Francisco, California in 1979 to cultivate gay consciousness, queer spirituality, and sexual practices. They derive many of their rituals from Neopagan and Native American traditions, potentially appropriating them as many members were white. After their initial meeting, they began to focus on living in communion in rural spaces liberating gay men from urban centers, and forming new communities focused on collective processes of self-discovery and ties to settled land. The Radical Faeries borrowed ideas from feminism, Marxism, and anarchism.
The group originally only allowed members who were gay men but has shifted to include other genders and sexual identities. Founded by Harry Hay, Don Kilhefner, and Mitch Walker, there was a divide in the group about determining what the purpose or message of the movement would be. Part of the group wanted it to be more political while the others wanted it to be more spiritual. After being unable to determine their focus, the founders split with Mitch Walker leaving early on. They also could not agree on whether or not to use queer psychoanalysis in the development of their ideology.
We look to clarify the history of the Radical Faeries using different perspectives, including interviews and writings from some of the group’s founders. We will also examine secondary sources from insiders and outsiders of the group that delve more deeply into the Radical Faeries’ practices, dynamics, and beliefs to comprehend the ambiguity behind the movement.
We find differing understandings from each founder regarding the function of the group from its beginnings. We find that it stemmed from the different understandings of its initial goals. We find that the group’s beliefs and practices changed after the death of Harry Hay and as more gender and sexual identities were included in the Radical Faeries.
This research is important because the study of queer religiosities is limited and we want to acknowledge that there is diversity in religious practices and spiritual beliefs. This is also important because one of the major queer religions has such a complex history.Dr. Katie Curt
The Heart of the Matter is the Matter of the Heart: Reconsidering Trible's Texts of Terror and Jephthah's Daughter with an Affective Reading
No full textThis thesis explores the way that the Holy Scriptures, specifically the "texts of terror" identified by Phyllis Trible, can speak to and from our affections. By considering the human experience of pathos when reading, this hermeneutical endeavor seeks to demonstrate how our affective selves interpret the Holy Scriptures, ourselves, and the world around us. Instead of merely asking what a biblical narrative teaches us to believe (orthodoxy) or teaches us to do (orthopraxy), this method, dubbed "orthopathy," seeks to ask, "how does/should it make us feel?" and to understand our affective reaction in light of the Christian faith. This thesis proceeds by examining the reception history of Judges 11, the story of the daughter of Jephthah, and further demonstrates the difference gained by the feminist and womanist perspectives. Next, affective reading methods are examined alongside Martha Nussbaum's philosophy of the intelligence of emotions and Sarah Coakley's theology of the rationality of affections. Finally, an orthopathic reading of Judges 11 is offered, taking into account affections in the text, of the text, and from the text. This thesis concludes that when read orthopathically, terrifying texts can become venues of truth-telling, solidarity, compassion, and justice
microRNA-21 Inhibits Staphylococcus aureus Phagocytosis
Full text linkStaphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a significant cause of skin infections in community and nosocomial settings. Skin infections caused by S. aureus are orchestrated by the actions of tissue-resident cells and recruited immune cells. Furthermore, proper infection control is dictated by balancing the inflammatory response and bacterial clearance while also avoiding tissue damage. Phagocytes, such as macrophages, serve as microbe killers and induce inflammatory mediators in these skin infections. MicroRNAs (miRs), 20-24 nucleotide non-coding RNAs, inhibit transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene expression and can also inhibit the expression of both pro- and anti-inflammatory genes that modulate this immune response. Previously, our lab has shown that miR-21 is important for producing inflammatory mediators in macrophages challenged with LPS, but whether or not miR-21 regulates microbial ingestion remains to be determined. Our recent data shows that S. aureus infection increases the expression of miR-21 in macrophages. Additionally, preliminary data indicate that miR-21 deficiency protects mice from S. aureus skin infections; however, the mechanisms underlying this event are still unknown. We hypothesize that miR-21 inhibition increases S. aureus phagocytosis and improves bacterial control. Our data shows that transfection of macrophages with miR-21 antagomir increases phagocytosis of pHrodo-labelled S. aureus compared to cells transfected with a scrambled antagomir. With this knowledge, we are currently investigating whether miR-21 could specifically target phagocytic receptors. Our study demonstrates the importance of miR-21 in bacterial phagocytosis and lays the foundation for future research into infection clearance.C. Henrique Serezani (Vanderbilt University Medical Center); National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Grant (1R01AI180777-01A1 to CHS