Middle Tennessee State University: Journals@MTSU
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Maisie’s Moral Sense: Aestheticism in What Maisie Knew
Full text link Despite being born American and being considered a major American author, Henry James spent the majority of his adult life in England, becoming a British citizen a year before his death. James lived in England during the fin-de-siècle–the end of the nineteenth century– a period when art and literature were at their height in upper-class London. The fin-de-siècle was also the height of the aesthetic movement–one in which James participated. Another author at the pinnacle of his career in the fin-de-siècle and a leader within aestheticism was Oscar Wilde. Though they ran in the same circles and shared similar beliefs, James and Wilde were not close friends. James thought Wilde was too flamboyant and likely felt ill feelings towards Wilde since he was a successful dramatist and James–despite his best efforts–failed in this genre. In this article, I will examine the ways in which both James and Wilde approached aestheticism and how James’s background as an American influenced his views of this idea. Although Wilde did spend time in America–albeit significantly less than James spent in England–Wilde remained overtly British in his mannerisms and opinions. While aestheticism is primarily a British ideology, this paper will discuss the ways that James and his role as an American influenced this movement
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) and Renfield (2023)
Full text linkFor those of us who appreciate interesting adaptations of Dracula, 2023 was an exciting year, with the release of two films that encourage us to rethink both Stoker’s novel and its numerous adaptations. While neither Renfield (Universal; directed by Chris McKay) or The Last Voyage of the Demeter (Universal, directed by Andre Overdal) attempts to recapture the novel as a whole in the way that Francis Ford Coppola did in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1993), each film takes something from Stoker’s novel (the character Renfield or “The Captain’s Log” in Demeter) and uses it to provide the center for a fresh reading/viewing. Moreover, what is even more interesting for someone like me who tends to see books and films as means of providing insights into the period that produced them is that fact that both unabashedly focus on the primal evil of the Dracula character. There is no inkling of the romantic vampire seeking his lost love in Bram Stoker’s Dracula or the charming character in Badham’s Dracula (1979). Instead, there is only hunger and a vague desire to dominate the humans who appear ill-equipped to challenge him. What, if anything, does this emphasis on unremitting violence tell us about the time in which we live
Finding Mind: A Defense of Embodied Cognition in the Classroom
Full text linkRecent empirical research offers compelling evidence in favor of incorporating principles of embodiment in the classroom. While engaging the body for the sake of learning has become more accepted for younger learners, embodiment is largely neglected for the teaching of more abstract concepts, including ones related to language acquisition — despite strong evidence that principles of embodiment can help adult learners with abstract ideas as well. This essay will define embodied cognition, contextualize the ways that the American school system has largely adopted “disembodied” and representationalist approaches to cognition, and provide a selection of empirical evidence in favor of adopting embodied principles in classrooms. The final sections of the essay will offer some strategies for adopting these principles in college-level humanities courses and provide some speculation in favor of the philosophical importance of doing so
Faflak, Joel and Tilottama Rajan. William Blake: Modernity and Disaster. U of Toronto P, 2020.
Full text linkWilliam Blake was perhaps best known for his highly allusive and synesthetic work that syncretically mixed personal revelation with traditional religion as much as he generically mixed literature and art. Joel Faflak and Tilottama Rajan have collected essays that likewise explore the ruptures between categories and bodies of knowledge. As one might expect from its subtitle “Modernity and Disaster,” these essays map a constellation of recurring terms, especially “disaster,” “apocalypse,” and “science.” Like Roland Barthes emphasizes in Writing Degree Zero (1953), these terms are treated “encyclopedicly,” stretching their multivarious affordances to the limit. For example, in the introduction the editors establish the term “disaster” as a unifying theme among the essays; its etymology (bad + star) necessarily invokes astrology and prediction as well as “apocalypse,” which in turn is both an “uncovering” and an ending. They also provide a secondary definition of “disaster” as “aftermath,” thus recursively rewriting the book’s subtitle as “Modernity and Its (Post-Modern) Aftermath.” Such cyclical and iterative (re)interpretation describes not only William Blake’s theology, but also the approach of many of his scholars
Entering a New Frontier: AI in Education
Full text linkArtificial Intelligence (AI) has become a normal part of life in many areas, including education. This article seeks to explain some background in AI, discuss how it can be used to improve teaching and learning, and how it can be used as a digital assistant. Particularly we explore how AI can be used to personalize and differentiate instructional plans, create and score assessments, provide feedback, incorporate intelligent tutoring systems, expedite administrative tasks, and 48 some uses of generative AI, as well discuss some of the risks and concerns associated with using artificial intelligence in education
Update
Full text linkThank you for your continued support of the International Journal of the Whole Child and our commitment to holistic learning and to the development of the whole child. We are excited to announce a new IJWC column titled “Education: Words and Meanings”. This new column will provide readers with clarification associated with terms and words used in educational practice and writing. Frequently, words may be used interchangeably when, in fact, the meanings are dissimilar. In other instances, terms may not be as familiar with readers and require further description in order to enhance understanding. Finally, this new column supports readers with additional references to extend their knowledge regarding concepts, practices, and theories. Words and terms represent meaning. It is important we, as educators, use the educational language with accuracy, intentionality, and as well with an understanding of a term’s origin.
The submission deadline for the Spring 2024 issue is February 28th and the Fall 2024 submission deadline is September 30th. The Spring 2024 will be published in May 2024 and the Fall 2024 issue will be published in December 2024. Thank you again for your continued support. We look forward to seeing you in Spring 2024
Schwabe, Claudia. Craving Supernatural Creatures: German Fairy-Tale Figures in American Pop Culture. Wayne State UP, 2019.
Full text linkThe fantastic, the mythical, the monstrous are everywhere in North American popular culture today, appearing in films, television, social media, video games, toys, and clothing. Consumers are more fascinated than ever with the supernatural, and companies are as eager to monetize and profit from it. Claudia Schwabe’s study accounts for this phenomenon in late-twentieth and early-twenty-first century film and television, tracing how the “evil” and “monstrous” characters of Romantic German fairy tales are reimagined for postmodern audiences in ways that reflect our evolving views on alterity and diversity. She maintains that through the adaptation of characters like the automaton, the golem, the doppelganger, the evil queen, the Big Bad Wolf, and the dwarf, we are “mov[ing] toward a celebration and exaltation of fantastic Otherness, the anthropomorphization of and identification with supernatural beings, and the rehabilitation of classic fairy-tale villains and monsters” (4). What were once sources of the uncanny, the dangerous and untamed, the villainous, and the grotesque are “rehabilitated” in postmodern, North American media
Education by the Numbers
Full text linkEvidence shows that the correlation between educational attainment and employment is strongly positive. Educational attainment at or above high school completion significantly improves one’s employment opportunities (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023). Data indicates that postsecondary students with an earned postsecondary degree median earnings are higher compared to non-degreed postsecondary students (NCES, 2022)
Page Turners: Books for Children
Full text linkIn this article, different children’s books are listed with descriptive summaries on each one. The books include: Blast Off! How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into Space; Little Houses; Memory Jars; Once Upon A Book; Salat in Secret; The Year We Learned to Fly; Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre; Luminous: Living Things that Light Up the Night; and My Brother is Away. 
Page Turners: Books for Children
Full text linkIn this article, different children’s books are listed with descriptive summaries on each one. The books include: Agatha May and the Angler Fish; Big; Hello, Puddle!; Kitty; The Last Stand; Oh, Panda; Rabbit, Duck, and Big Bear; What’s Inside a Caterpillar Cocoon? (And Other Questions about Moths and Butterflies); Freaky Heart