Western Libraries OJS
Not a member yet
7960 research outputs found
Sort by
Power and Rank in Other People’s Children and Eclipsed
No full textThis essay examines the role of power in the plays Other People’s Children by Hannah Moscovitch and Eclipsed by Danai Gurira. Both texts have female characters, subjugated by men, that subjugate other female characters as an attempt to gain a semblance of power for themselves. This concept is examined in both texts through a how a combination of verbal and physical control is used, through how this quest for power furthers a cycle of abuse, and lastly through the ways that this quest for power fails. These themes are then examined through both a Foucauldian lens as well as a Lacanian lens to understand how power is enacted and why the women in the plays were never going to be able to achieve real power.
 
Critical Satire and the Racial Politics of Literary Prestige in Percival Everett's Erasure
No full textThis paper critiques the racial politics of literary prestige by examining Percival Everett's contemporary satirical novel, Erasure (2001). Organized into three sections that reflect the stages of literary production, my analysis of Erasure traces the creation, textuality, and reception of the protagonist's embedded satirical novella, My Pafology. In doing so, I argue that the success of Black authors in traditional publishing circuits is heavily contingent on their ability to promote a self-mythologizing identity that reifies the racist dogmas and stereotypes that have long loomed over American media landscapes. My study of Erasure is as much literary as it is sociological, challengin the deceptive idea that literary prestige is a product of a meritocratic system; I call this elusive assumption into much-needed question by interrogating the invisible practices, structures, actors and readers that sustain the racially exploitative status-quo of the literary field. 
Examining Labour Rights Enforcement Mechanisms in NAFTA and the USMCA and its Impact on Labour Conditions in Mexico
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to examine changes made to labour rights enforcement mechanisms under the United States-Mexico Canada Agreement, from its predecessor agreement, the North America Free Trade Agreement, and the impact it may have on labour conditions in Mexico. Some scholars argue that the labour rights enforcement mechanisms in the North America Free Trade were fundamentally flawed, and allowed the Mexican government to passively enforce its domestic labour laws to the detriment of its workforce. This paper will argue that while the United States-Mexico Canada Agreement has made positive advancements to remedy labour issues under the North American Free Trade Agreement, limitations still exist, which may promote inequities amongst Mexican workers
Why You Ought to Defer: : Moral Deference and Marginalized Experience
No full textIn this paper we argue that moral deference is prima facie obligatory in cases in which the testifier is a member of a marginalized social group that the receiver is not and testifies about their marginalized experience. We distinguish between two types of deference: epistemic deference, which refers to believing p in virtue of trusting the testifier, and actional deference, which involves acting appropriately in response to the testimony given. The prima facie duty we propose applies to both epistemic and actional deference, though defeaters may quash either or both obligations. Even if one fails to epistemically defer to the marginalized testifier, we argue that they may still be ethically obligated to act in accordance with their testimony
“I'll struggle, and I'll fall…I'll have my days, but it's okay”: Indigenous Women Surviving the Sixties Scoop
No full textSixties scoop survivors possess different levels of cultural knowledge. Our objectives were for Indigenous women 1) to increase their cultural knowledge through teachings and engagement with Knowledge Carriers, 2) to have other supports and resources they require identified, and 3) to participate in a Full Moon Ceremony. Community-based research principles were used to establish the study design and research process. Teaching circles and Full Moon Ceremonies were held and experiences in the study collected through focus group discussions. Five themes were identified which included the manifestations of the sixties scoop, longing for culture, (re)connecting to culture, the impacts of culture, and barriers to practicing culture. Important recommendations emerged regarding the practice of culture in ceremony and in programs
Assimilationist Messaging in Fromental Halévy’s La Juive
No full textFromental Halévy’s grand opera La Juive premiered in 1835 and was notable for its inclusion of Jewish characters. Halévy was not only an operatic composer, but a French Jew in Paris during a time when the Reform Judaism movement was developing, often leading to a more assimilated form of Judaism than traditional movements. This paper aims to analyse the portrayal of Jews in La Juive, through an examination of the differences between the Jew Eléazar and his daughter Rachel, a musical analysis of the Passover seder scene, and a grounding in the cultural zeitgeist of the Jewish communities of France in the nineteenth century. Through this analysis, Halévy’s musical portrayals of Eléazar and Rachel demonstrate the practice of assimilating into gentile society in order to avoid antisemitism
A mathematical model of quorum quenching in biofilm colonies and its potential role as an adjuvant for antibiotic treatment
No full textWe extend a previously presented mesoscopic (i.e. colony scale) mathematical model of the reaction of bacterial biofilms to antibiotics. In that earlier model, exposure to antibiotics evokes two responses: inactivation as the antibiotics kill the bacteria, and inducing a quorum sensing based stress response mechanism upon exposure to small sublethal dosages. To this model we add now quorum quenching as an adjuvant to antibiotic therapy. Quorum quenchers are modeled like enzymes that degrade the quorum sensing signal concentration. The resulting model is a quasilinear system of seven reaction-diffusion equations for the dependent variables volume fractions of upregulated (protected), downregulated (unprotected) and inert (inactive) biomass [particulate substances], and for concentrations of a growth promoting nutrient, antibiotics, quorum sensing signal, and quorum quenchers [dissolved substances]. The biomass fractions are subject to two nonlinear diffusion effects: (i) degeneracy, as in the porous medium equation, where biomass vanishes, and (ii) a super-diffusion singularity where as it attains its theoretically possible maximum. We study this model in numerical simulations. Our simulations suggest that for maximum efficacy quorum quenchers should be applied early on before quorum sensing induction in the biofilm can take place, and that an antibiotic strategy that by itself might not be successful can be notably improved upon if paired with quorum quenchers as an adjuvant.
Global Analysis of a generalized viral infection temporal model with cell-to-cell transmission and absorption effect under therapy
No full textIn virus dynamics, when a cell is infected, the number of virions outside the cells is reduced by one: this phenomenon is known as absorption effect. Most mathematical in vivo models neglect this phenomenon. Virus-to-cell infection and direct cell-to-cell transmission are two fundamental modes whereby viruses can be propagated and transmitted. In this work, we propose a new virus dynamics model, which incorporates both modes and takes into account the absorption effect and treatment. First we show mathematically and biologically the well-posedness of our model preceded by the result on the existence and the uniqueness of the solutions. Also, an explicit formula for the basic reproduction number R0 of the model is determined. By analyzing the characteristic equations we establish the local stability of the uninfected equilibrium and the infected equilibrium in terms of R0. The global behavior of the model is investigated by constructing an appropriate Lyapunov functional for uninfected equilibrium and by applying a geometric approach to the study of the infected equilibrium. Numerical simulations are carried out, to confirm the obtained theoretical result in a particular case
Smelt and Mary Scotland: Nicknaming in Frank Macdonald’s A Forest for Calum
No full textFrank Macdonald’s novel A Forest for Calum (2005, Sydney, NS: Cape Breton University Press) illustrates a variety of nicknames and explores their social functions and naming practices. The novel is set in Shean, itself a nickname for the town of Inverness on the west side of Cape Breton Island. Macdonald celebrates the culture, traditions and customs of rural Cape Breton while at the same time recording the inevitable changes resulting from the closure of town’s coal mine. Nicknaming, one of these prominent customs, is explored from the point of view of young Rod Gillies as he matures as a person and an artist. Although nicknames of adults occur in the novel, the author has a particular interest in the naming patterns of the younger characters. For instance, the protagonist is named Smelt as a result of a fishing accident, and his girlfriend, Mary Scotland, receives her nickname from an elementary teacher because she is one of three Mary Camerons in the class and her father has an interest in Scotland. Macdonald presents a realistic treatment of nicknames as demonstrated by comparison with the research on nicknames in general and on Cape Breton Island.Le roman de Frank Macdonald intitulé A Forest for Calum (une forêt pour Calum) (2005, Sydney, NS: Cape Breton University Press) illustre une variété de surnoms et explore leurs fonctions sociales et les pratiques de désignation des personnages. Le roman se déroule à Shean, une localité qui porte elle-même un surnom de la ville d'Inverness située du côté ouest de l'île du Cap-Breton. Macdonald célèbre la culture, les traditions et les coutumes des régions rurales du Cap-Breton, tout en enregistrant certains changements inévitables qui ont résulté de la fermeture de la mine de charbon de la ville. L'emploi de surnoms, l'une des coutumes bien implantées, est exploré du point de vue du jeune Rod Gillies, au moment où il devient adulte et artiste. Bien que les surnoms soient surtout le fait des adultes dans le roman, l'auteur manifeste un intérêt particulier pour le mode de désignation des plus jeunes personnages. Par exemple, le protagoniste est nommé Smelt (éperlan) à la suite d'un accident de pêche, et sa petite amie, Mary Scotland, reçoit ce surnom d'un enseignant du primaire parce qu'elle est l'une des trois Mary Camerons dans la classe, et son père a un intérêt pour l'Écosse. Macdonald offre un traitement réaliste des surnoms comme le démontre son ouvrage comparativement à la recherche sur les surnoms en général et sur l'île du Cap-Breton
Rescuing Colonized Names of the Wyandot
No full textThis article deals with names of the Wyandot, an Iroquoian-speaking, Indigenous people of the period surrounding the War of 1812. The people have a naming tradition that includes clan possession and the passage of important names over generations. This tradition was “colonized” by a combination of English settler names, nicknames that “sound Indian,” and inaccurate recordings of the names in their original Wyandot, so that the names are difficult to translate and difficult to relate to holders of the names in other times. In this article seven such names are analyzed.Cet article traite des noms des Wyandot, un peuple autochtone de langue iroquoienne datant de la période entourant la guerre de 1812. Ce peuple a une tradition de dénomination qui inclut l'appartenance à un clan et la transmission de noms importants au fil des générations. Cette tradition a été « colonisée » par une combinaison de noms de colons anglais, de surnoms «à semblance autochtone» et une graphie inexacte des noms dans le Wyandot d'origine, de sorte que les noms sont difficiles à traduire et à associer aux détenteurs d'antan des noms en question. Dans cet article, sept de ces noms sont analysés