Mount Royal University: MRU Journal System
Not a member yet
471 research outputs found
Sort by
Advancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Large Enrolment Courses: Lessons Learned from an Online Community of Practice
Get PDFIn these conference proceedings, we describe how the COVID-19 pandemic presented the higher education community with an opportunity to explore and expand best practices in blended and online teaching through a Large Enrolment Community of Practice. We expand on Wenger-Traynor and Wenger-Traynor\u27s (2015) description of a community of practice (CoP) as a “living curriculum” (p.4) to include an online perspective based on Hoadley (2012) and Xue and colleagues’ (2021) considerations of content, process, and context. The benefits of the online CoP to faculty development and the scholarship of teaching and learning, specifically through collaboration, interdisciplinarity, innovation, and validation are then explained. The conclusion contains a current birds’ eye view of the OCoP and summary of learning from the first year of implementation
Dedication: Siran Deraniyagala (1942-2021)
No full textDr. Siran Deraniyagala in the field at Fa Hien Lena, Wet Zone cave site, Sri Lanka.
Photo credits: Saman Kumara Eregam
From Forests to the Coast - Multidisciplinary Investigation of Human Adaptations at the Mini-athiliya Shell Midden, Sri Lanka
No full textOver the last three decades, Sri Lanka has risen to international prominence as a key area for exploring past forager adaptations. Much of this discussion has focused on the lowland rainforests of the Wet Zone of the island, and their preservation of the earliest fossils of our species, bone tools, and microlithic technologies in the region ca. 45,000 years ago. It has been recognized that the northern and southern coasts of Sri Lanka represent crucial locales for studying human occupation and adaptation through the Pleistocene and Holocene. Here, we revisit the important shell midden site of Mini-athiliya (dating to ca. 4,000 cal. years BP), on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, which has yielded human remains alongside microlithic stone tools and animal remains. We present a comparative analysis of body size variation of the human remains belonging to the HMA 6 adult skeleton from Mini-athiliya with a wider database of foragers to investigate local adaptations. We also apply stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis to the tooth enamel of four other individuals documented at Mini-athiliya in order to determine their dietary reliance on forest, grassland, or coastal resources. Together, our results highlight that, rather than a clear distinction between earlier forest adaptations and later coastal specialisation, the Mini-athiliya individuals provide evidence for a plastic spectrum of ecological adaptation. We argue for continued research on how human populations in different parts of the island interacted and adapted to its diverse tropical settings across space and time
Venison for the Citadel: Early Historic Tissamaharama, in Ruhuna, Sri Lanka
Get PDFTissamaharāma known from historic times as Mahagama is one of the earliest and largest urbanised centres in Sri Lanka, dating from the Early Historic period. As part of the collaborative research programme between the Department of Archaeology of the Government of Sri Lanka and the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures (KAAK) of the German Archaeological Institute, excavations were conducted at Tissamaharāma from 1992 to 2010. These extensive excavations at the Tissamaharāma citadel have yielded a very large quantity of excellently preserved faunal remains from the Early Historic Period of ca. 500 BCE to 250 BCE. The analysis of these animal bones indicates the presence of a significant component of large mammals notably, deer (Axis axis). Of considerable importance is the rib of a deer with an embedded broken quartz arrowhead, from the microlithic tradition. The deer represented in this sample was presumably part of the supply of venison to the city dwellers, brought from outside. Our data show that microlithic technology had persisted to at least the Early Historic phase in Sri Lanka.
The Editorial
Get PDFAncient Lanka is an Open Access Journal, which publishes collaboratively reviewed articles and reports on excavations, surveys and material as well as invited or submitted commentary related to reconstructing the past of Sri Lanka. Following a flexible (rolling) publication frequency, Ancient Lanka maintains a multidisciplinary approach in its development of content that is of interest to academics and the general public
Siran Deraniyagala: Founder of Modern Sri Lankan Archaeology
Get PDFResearch on the prehistory of Sri Lanka and the name of Siran Deraniyagala are entwined in a lasting legacy. Harvard-trained prehistorian and former Director-General of the Department of Archaeology of the Government of Sri Lanka, Deraniyagala was the founder of modern Sri Lankan prehistoric archaeology and has been responsible for significant discoveries, while setting the direction and emphases in the study of prehistory for the island and the region. Siran Upendra Deraniyagala was born in 1942 to a prominent family of scholars with his father being the famous naturalist Dr. Paulus Edward Pieris (P.E.P) Deraniyagala and his paternal grandfather the famous historian Sir Paul E. Pieris. Having joined the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon as the first Assistant Commissioner of the Excavation Branch and eventually in the position of Director-General, Siran Deraniyagala guided the archaeological scene of Sri Lanka with problem oriented archaeological research. His research methodology and outstanding knowledge of survey and stratigraphic practice and excavation set the stage for subsequent professionalism in field archaeology in the country.
Dr. Siran Deraniyagala: The Archaeologist who Connected North and South Sri Lanka
Get PDFIn this appreciation written in Tamil, the pioneering work and holistic nature of Siran Deraniyagala’s archaeological excavations and surveys are described. The connections he facilitated between the north and south of Sri Lanka that led to fruitful research revealing the archaeological heritage of northern Sri Lanka are explored
Early Holocene Human Burials from Fa Hien-lena and Kuragala, Sri Lanka
Get PDFFew human burials from Sri Lankan archaeological contexts have been described. Here we report on the analysis of two early Holocene skeletons, FH8, a young adult female skeleton excavated from Fa Hien-lena and dated to 10,640-10,139 cal BP, and BK1, a middle adult male skeleton excavated at Kuragala and dated to 7,170-6,950 cal BP. The skeletons are both highly fragmentary, which poses challenges for their thorough analysis. However, this paper describes the archaeological context, mortuary treatment and archaeothanatology of the burials, post-mortem taphonomy of human remains, the osteobiography of both individuals, and some general observations on their morphology relative to one another and a broader range of late Pleistocene and Holocene foragers. The results demonstrate common elements of funerary treatment between these two burials, such as interment on the left side with right hands placed near or over the face. The FH8 individual died at a young age and shows some signs of early childhood stress. Both skeletons show moderate to high degrees of tooth wear for their relative ages, and no evidence for dental disease. The body size estimates of FH8 and BK1 fall in the range that would be expected of tropical or temperate forest foragers, although BK1 has a relatively low body mass relative to stature, which aligns his phenotype with populations of more arid environments. We demonstrate that much can be potentially learned about human populations and prehistoric behaviours from skeletal analyses.
Paris gisant sous « le démon de l’électricité » : une lecture de Paris au XXe siècle (1863) de Jules Verne
Get PDFParis au XXe siècle, roman de Jules Verne censuré par son éditeur Hetzel et de ce fait peu connu, trace les contours d’un monde cauchemardesque où l’homme est piégé par le progrès, l’industrie et l’économie. Aux fondements de la société futuriste imaginée par l’auteur, Paris se mue en ville tentaculaire abritant des automates dotés de cœurs industriels qui méprisent l’art et répugnent les artistes. Le personnage principal, poète déchu rejeté et par sa famille et par la société, se mue en anti-héros et tourne en rond dans une ville qui gît sous le poids écrasant du « démon de l’électricité » et où seuls scientifiques, industriels et banquiers triomphent. Le dégoût et le désenchantement marquent l’œuvre de bout en bout l’enfermant dans une circularité qui reflète celle de la ville, concentrique, dont on ne peut échapper que pour trouver la mort
De la ficelle au cercueil. Nelly Arcan sur la manière d’interpeller la vie du côté de la mort
Get PDFLorsqu’elle se donna la mort en 2009, Nelly Arcan léguait une œuvre réduite mais saisissante (deux récits et deux romans), empreinte de son mal de vivre et de ses expériences d’escorte. À partir d’une convergence symbolique centrée sur son année de naissance nous proposons une lecture entrecroisée, selon les grilles avancées par Deleuze et Guattari dans Mille plateaux et par Jacques Derrida, dans La Vérité en peinture. Nous osons une approche rhizomatique de ses écrits, à la lumière de ce que serait la généalogie sérielle mise en rapport avec un mode et un monde de consommation. Lignée symbolique, horizontale et paradigmatique (au sens que lui prête Derrida), l’œuvre de Nelly Arcan s’ouvre en permanence et dialectiquement à l’objet. Son discours sur l’industrie du corps dans un monde en surproduction se donne à lire en clé marchande. Comment peut-on rattacher Arcan à une généalogie imaginaire (tribale) à travers l’écriture ? De quelle façon le corps-objet, récurrent dans les écrits de Nelly Arcan, entre-t-il dans la logique sérielle ? Et dans quelle mesure tribu et série peuvent-elles assurer une postérité ? Autant de points d’interrogations auxquels nous proposons non pas de réponses mais des prolongements rhizomatiques