UCC Journals (Univ. College Cork)
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The Forest of Arden as a Liminal Site of Criticism in As You Like It
No full textThe Forest of Arden in As You Like It has been reconceptualised as a pastoral setting and a utopian land while the play has been a matter of discussion in green and ecocritical studies. However, the ambiguous rendering of the setting and its contradictory qualities make the play a storm centre of such critical works. Undoubtedly, these debates meet with critical acclaim, but the play still augments discussion about its spatial setting. What remains to be seen is that Shakespeare’s play actually lays bare the traits of liminal place in the deliberation of the forest setting and the experiences of its inhabitants. While the first act is set at Duke Frederick’s court, the rest of the play takes place in the Forest of Arden where the characters develop communitas as outsiders. When the sixteen forest scenes of the play are analysed, one may posit that there are different definitions of Arden. First and foremost, Arden’s exact location cannot be identified; it might be situated in a French, English or other European border. Secondly, Arden is fused with contradictory and ambiguous characteristics. The forest is fraught with economic difficulties, hunger, coldness and dangerous threats for men and women. Yet it is a place of familial and romantic love, friendship and bliss. In addition to its ambivalent traits, the perception of the forest changes from one character to another. Each character adds a different meaning to the forest regarding their own experiences in this setting. The forest is also a place of transformation and transition as the characters leave the court, go to the forest and return to the court with their new selves in the end. Moreover, Arden becomes a site of resistance against usurpation and banishment and a place of political critique of the court, corruption, exile and colonialism throughout the play. Therefore, Arden emerges as a multi-layered and ambiguous place and such qualities make the forest a liminal landscape. This paper sets out to claim that the Forest of Arden in As You Like It can be regarded as a liminal site in which Shakespeare veils his critical remarks on the late Elizabethan court, implicitly questions the practices of banishment and exile and comments on contemporary political, social and cultural issues by using liminality as a tool for criticism
Dramapädagogische Aufwärmübungen und ihr Einfluss auf die Sprechangst und Sprechbereitschaft von Schüler:innen im L2-Englischunterricht. Eine quantitative Untersuchung
Get PDFIm Fremdsprachenunterricht frei zu sprechen, ist für viele Schüler:innen mit einem Gefühl der Beklemmung verbunden. Zur Reduzierung dieses Gefühls der Foreign-Language Anxiety (FLA) schlägt die fremdsprachliche Lehr- und Lernforschung die Verwendung von dramapädagogischen Methoden vor. Vor allem die erste Phase des dramapädagogischen Prozesses, das Aufwärmen, ist vergleichsweise leicht in den schulpraktischen Alltag zu integrieren. Daher wurde in der vorliegenden Untersuchung geprüft, ob bereits die regelmäßige Anwendung von dramapädagogischen Aufwärmübungen einen positiven Einfluss auf die FLA und die Sprechbereitschaft von Schüler:innen haben kann. Dafür wurden mithilfe eines Messwiederholungsverfahrens zwei Hypothesen überprüft. Zunächst wurden 43 Schüler:innen zu ihrer FLA im Kontext des alltäglichen Englischunterrichts befragt. Diese Befragung wurde nach mehrmaliger Anwendung von Aufwärmübungen zu Beginn des Unterrichts wiederholt. Des Weiteren wurde die mündliche Beteiligung von acht Schüler:innen sowohl ohne also auch mit Einfluss der Aufwärmübungen beobachtet und erfasst. Die Auswertung zeigt, dass sich die FLA der Schüler:innen bereits nach zweiwöchiger Anwendung der dramapädagogischen Aufwärmübungen reduzierte, während die mündliche Beteiligung der ausgewählten Schüler:innen anstieg
Book Review – Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics, by Brett Krutzsch
No full textMixing paper and digital: 2020 online summer English drama kamishibai workshop
Get PDFThis paper discusses the results of an intervarsity picture kamishibai-storytelling workshop that integrated communication skills and art via the online real-time conference system, Zoom©. As in previous years, the goal of the annual summer drama workshop was to support the participants’ communication and leadership skills. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic however, the chief purpose of the 2020 Online Summer English Drama Kamishibai Workshop was to support the mental well-being of students. Thirteen low-to-intermediate level English language students, both English language majors and non-majors from three different universities in Japan worked together for the workshop project in three 90-minute online slots over two days in August 2020. After learning the basic theory and techniques of the storytelling art, students were divided into groups to create their original English kamishibai story to perform online. In the preparation stage, each student created their own work using simple A4 paper sheets and pens, and these were amalgamated with other members of their group to form a coherent narrative. At the end of the third session, each group presented their work on Zoom©, and these performances demonstrated the students’ creativity through unique plots and characters. Their feedback indicated that they developed stress-tolerance and resilience, both features of negative capability
Performing El Camino (The Way) of Santiago de Compostela. An embodied performative language teaching practice.
Get PDFThe author reports about a concrete example of embodied performative practice in the language classroom that can be adapted to different language levels. This workshop allows students to become pilgrims on Spain\u27s El Camino (The Way) de Santiago de Compostela, a pilgrimage route with a long history that ends in the medieval city of Santiago de Compostela, located on the Northwest region of Galicia in Spain. While participating in the workshop Performing El Camino (The Way) of Santiago de Compostela, students must collaborate and complete several tasks while using the target language in a context similar to the real world. It is hoped that this proposal is helpful for language teachers and learners in the quest for fresh approaches to using embodied performative teaching in the classroom
About the blessing of linguistic diversity in the field of education (and beyond): Learning through drama from the Irish past
Get PDFIn this article performative teaching practice becomes a departure point for reflections on linguistic diversity in the field of education. Reference is made to personal experiences with linguistic (in)sensitivity in intercultural encounters, and personal views are expressed to spark off a broader discussion on the development and implementation of linguistic diversity policies
Foreword
Get PDFHier wurden alle Abstracts dieser Ausgabe zusammengetragen.This is a book of abstracts of the whole issue
The Misery of Women: Liminality of Gender Roles in Stephen King’s Misery
No full textThere was no Annie because Annie had not been a goddess at all, only a crazy lady who had hurt Paul for reasons of her own…The hole opened and Paul stared through at what was there, unaware that his fingers were picking up speed…unaware that he was weeping. (King 2017, 416, 420)
The purpose of this paper, which focuses on Stephen King’s Misery, is to contrast the liminal, mental space that Paul inhabits during the writing process to the physical, horror space of Annie’s home that he is entrapped in. Through this contrast of spaces and transitions from idea to script, and patient to captor, the idea of liminality and becoming will be demonstrated. By analysing the role of Annie as both lover of the literary world created by Paul, and the ‘maniac’ that has captured him in her home, the issue of the female presence in liminality, as well as the transformation of the creative process, will be discussed. As liminality is ‘understood as transition and transgression’ it has ‘becomes a valuable tool for the interpretation of literature’ (Bergmann 2017, 479). In this context, it demonstrates not only the emotional and mental transition made by those who suffer trauma and horrific events – such as Paul – but also the movement from submissive to tormented captor in Annie.
In a feminist understanding, the role of Annie is especially applicable to the concept of liminality and the space of her own home where she continuously transitions between a submissive, avid fan of Paul’s writing, and sadistic tormentor. She eventually does complete the transition into the ‘crazed female’, becoming something Paul fears even after he has killed her. Her matriarchal, female qualities of caring for Paul and adoring his writing become twisted and disturbed as Paul continues to ‘make mistakes’ or upsets her in different ways (Keesey 2002, 54). She transitions from submissive female, performing in the role of caretaker, to the dominating, powerful role of a violent kidnapper. This uncertainty and unpredictable change in Annie is juxtaposed with the creative space that Paul enters as he writes, sometimes producing excellent work but also producing writing that Annie disapproves of. She becomes not only the one who controls his medication and survival, but also his writings and creative environment.
In conclusion, the theory of liminality and of transformative spaces and marginal characters - the writer and world creator that is Paul and the anti-social madness of Annie – are contrasted here between the two characters and their roles of power within the text.
 
Unsettled Boundaries and Insidious Trauma in Stephen King’s Carrie
No full textThis article examines the concept of unsettled boundaries and insidious trauma in relation to Stephen King\u27s Carrie (1974). Mulcahy argues how the titular character is viewed as monstrous due to her inability to hide abject features of her female body, specifically her menarche. In relation to abjection, the article relies on analyses presented by Julia Kristeva and Barbara Creed, who explain the abject as the border between the rational and the irrational. This article discusses how menarche is presented as a traumatic event due to societal discomfort with the abject female body, how Carrie\u27s body as a feature of the monstrous feminine is heightened by her supernatural abilities (which awaken around the same time as her menarche), and how she views herself as a witch. Mulcahy analyses how Carrie views fitting in with society as a way of escaping from her insidious traumatic experiences, and discusses that, when this attempt to fit in fails, she is unable to overcome her trauma and instead succumbs to the monstrous feminine image as which society views her
