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Eating Images and Making History: The Fruits of the Martorana Convent
No full textMaster of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Fall 2018.Using art historical methodologies, this paper examines the edible, sculptural simulacra known as frutta Martorana - a Sicilian confection that has been produced by monastic nuns from at least the Renaissance through today. The research investigates these objects for their ambivalent artistic, religious and historical implications - in part by investigating their usage in the Catholic rituals of the Festa dei Morti, or Day of the Dead, as well as by situating their place in Sicilian folkloric visual culture. This paper proposes that cuisine is a viable form of art in itself and that an overlooked simple confection can offer a profound glimpse into historical realities, and that by including the spectacular visual and artistic legacies of cuisine into the canon of art historical scholarship, history itself can be more fully explored and understood. Additionally, this paper aims to show that the myriad of living culinary traditions that ‘remake history’ everyday may be further recognized as worthy of preserving, not as out-dated kitsch or culinary nostalgia, but as inherently valuable artistic contributions to the contemporary world
Two Faces of the same Coin The Arab-Israeli Conflict and its Influence on People’s Everyday Life
No full textThesis (B.A. in Political Science)--John Cabot University, Spring 2018.This thesis examines how individuals in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict personally live and interpret the conflict, and how their perceptions are similar or different across the two populations. To achieve this, I utilized a research method, which involved researching, surveys, and interviews over the past, present, and future dimensions of time. The thesis presents a literature review of the key historical events from the creation of Israel to the modern-day Israeli- Palestinian condition, passing through the main conflict and wars that shaped the Middle Eastern region. Furthermore, a qualitative analysis is discussed of in-person interviews that I conducted with Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims, to better understand to what extent religion, politics, and ethnicity influence the conflict. In addition, this thesis explores how, based on their exposure to the conflict, today and in the past, interviewees are affected in their daily life by the conflict. Interviews reveal significant overlap in emotional responses to violence and the consequences of intense lifelong exposure to violence. However, from the interviews comes out that peace is indeed possible if resolution efforts are focused on more realistic social change initiatives that build a relationship between the two parties, rather than first imposing a territorial solution. Compassion as a conflict resolution tool becomes the most effective measure for peace, where exposure and dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians is the most powerful, tangible step in implementing any form of a future territorial resolution
Shifting away From Strategic Ambiguity: What should the United States Foreign Policy be vis à vis the Kurds in the Middle East
No full textThesis (B.A. in International Affairs, Minor in Psychology)--John Cabot University, Spring 2018.This thesis outlines current United States foreign policy vis à vis the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds,which has heretofore been characterized by strategic ambiguity. By carrying out athesis attempts to answer to the broader question of “what should U.S. foreign policy be vis àvis the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds?”. The U.S. is faced with three options: it can provide either astrong, mild, or no support to the Kurds. This thesis advocates for the U.S shift away from thecurrent policy of strategic ambiguity towards a more robust – but not too strong – support ofthe Kurds. Indeed, a stronger support of the Kurds is essential for the U.S. to preserve itsstrategic national interest in the Middle East. However, such support should be moderate andfunctional to the creation of an area of containment where U.S. can monitor Iran, Russia, andthe results of the fight against ISIS and terrorism more in general. In this way, the U.S. mayhelp fulfilling the number one national objective, namely to preserve a secure homeland freefrom terrorism and promote and protect the interests of its allies worldwide. Chapter 1 of thisthesis answers to the question “what is the current U.S. policy vis à vis the Middle East?”. Itranks and outlines current U.S. national interests, and identifies its allies and enemies in theMiddle East. Chapter 2 answers to the question of “why are the Kurds relevant for the U.S. inthe Middle East?”. This section will show how the Kurds contribute to the implementation ofU.S. foreign policy goals in the Middle East. Chapter 3 of this report advocates for the shiftfrom the U.S. strategic ambiguity towards the Kurds to a more effective support of those latterand will answer to the broader question of “what should the U.S. policy vis à vis the Kurdsbe?
Considerations Over the Perception of Venetian Prostitution Between the Fifteenth and Eighteenth Centuries According To Morality
No full textThesis (B.A. in History and Classical Studies)--John Cabot University, Spring 2018.This thesis discusses the different perceptions that the Venetian state, local citizens, and foreign travelers had towards prostitutes between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. The purpose is to demonstrate how the consideration of prostitutes over those centuries shifted from toleration and respect to commiseration and negative judgements, according to the change of religious morality. The thesis is divided in three chapters, each one analyzing a specific type of source. Also, there is an introduction describing the historical context of Venice over the years taken in consideration and the emergence of the figure of the courtesan. The first chapter is dedicated to the study of laws, in particular to the three recurring sets of laws on residency, clothing, and health. The second chapter focuses on the reading of travel diaries, which give information over the relation between prostitution with families, protectors, and the Senate. The third and last chapter discusses the representation of prostitutes in paintings and prints, showing the progressive passage from celebrating and mythological subjects to moralistic messages. Finally the conclusion revises all that is said in the chapters and highlights the coincidence of religious moralistic messages with phases of struggle of the Republic, such as the economic crisis and the outbreak of diseases. For the methodology, the sources used are almost all primary, as they enable to make specific analysis and reach several conclusions
Traumatized Masculinity: The Re-Negotiation of Masculinity Between Shell-Shocked Ex-Servicemen and the British State
No full textThesis (B.A. in Art History)--John Cabot University, Spring 2018.This study seeks to analyze the re-negotiation of masculinity between the British state and shell-shocked ex-servicemen and the effects it had on the latter’s value as citizens. The analysis will follow the psychologically wounded soldier’s journey from the trenches to the pension office and track the ways in which masculinity and shellshock interacted. The role of British medical institutions in the treatment of shell-shocked men, as well as the response of the British military, are studied to ascertain how masculinity influenced these reactions to the issues posed by shellshock. In addition, the effects that shellshock itself had on the masculine identities of soldiers and the constructed masculinities of the British state are highlighted. Victorian and Edwardian ideals of appropriate masculine behavior still permeated British society in the first decades of the 20th century, and psychological victims of the war were measured against these standards. Ultimately, the British power apparatus’ use of masculinity in its dealings with shell-shocked veterans negatively impacted their value as men and citizens while simultaneously transforming them into a powerful symbol of the futility and horror of industrialized warfare
Peirce and Cybernetics: Retroduction, Error and Auto-poiesis in Future Thinking
No full textThe aim of this paper is to connect Peirce’s logic of abduction to the cybernetics of living systems. Living beings cannot be understood through a causalistic epistemology, as they behave according to the effects and not according to the causes. Cybernetics has analyzed the way in which non-trivial machines (that is, machines being able to reproduce themselves by correcting themselves) move through retroaction, or feedback loop: at each step the system (effector) corrects the previous step depending on how far the previous step goes with respect to a possible equilibrium. The dynamics implies a possible inhibition of excessive energy followed by a possible enhancement of insufficient energy. Each of these conditions are errors that automatically correct themselves reaching a temporary state of homeostasis. Self-correction means that they must add to the output a “creative” additional impulse, that is unique and unpredictable (or a new algorithm). The logic that is capable to make sense of this dynamics is Peirce’s abduction, also called retroduction, in that the inferential act retroacts on an incomprehensible fact, an epistemological “error”, by inventing its cause. Thinking and the auto-poiesis of living systems proceed on the same path, replacing occasional strategies to atemporal universal causes. Abduction is the evidence that it is possible to reach a condition of “knowledge” without resorting to causality. The possibility that the “laws of nature”, (science itself), may proceed in this way concludes the essay, by adding physicist Lee Smolin’s notion of the “principle of precedence”, as inspired by Peirce’s idea of the evolution of the laws of nature and their temporal, that is, contingent, character
The Factor Structure of the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in Thirteen Distinct Populations
No full textThere is considerable evidence that self-criticism plays a major role in the vulnerability to and recovery from psychopathology.
Methods to measure this process, and its change over time, are therefore important for research in psychopathology and wellbeing. This study examined the factor structure of a widely used measure, the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & SelfReassuring Scale in thirteen nonclinical samples (N = 7510) from twelve different countries: Australia (N = 319), Canada (N = 383), Switzerland (N = 230), Israel (N = 476), Italy (N = 389), Japan (N = 264), the Netherlands (N = 360), Portugal (N = 764), Slovakia (N = 1326), Taiwan (N = 417), the United Kingdom 1 (N = 1570), the United Kingdom 2 (N = 883), and USA (N = 331). This study used more advanced analyses than prior reports: a bifactor item-response theory model, a two-tier itemresponse theory model, and a non-parametric item-response theory (Mokken) scale analysis. Although the original three-factor solution for the FSCRS (distinguishing between Inadequate-Self, Hated-Self, and Reassured-Self) had an acceptable fit, two-tier models, with two general factors (Self-criticism and Self-reassurance) demonstrated the best fit across all samples. This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that this two-factor structure can be used in a range of nonclinical contexts across countries and cultures. Inadequate-Self and Hated-Self might not by distinct factors in nonclinical samples. Future work may benefit from distinguishing between self-correction versus shame-based self-criticism
The Maras as a Threat to Sovereignty
No full textThesis (B.A. in Political Science, Minor in Business Administration)--John Cabot University, Spring 2018.The aim of this paper is to understand if the Maras are a threat to sovereignty in the Northern Triangle countries of Central America and, if so, how they are threatening the state. In order to do this, the paper will firstly work to understand what sovereignty is through scholarly works defining and debating the concept. Then, by studying the historical and political context of the three countries, it will analyze what sovereignty looked like in the states before the Maras existed and what it is like now. Finally, once it is understood how much of a threat the Maras really are, the states’ responses will be identified in order to measure their success and see how their responses could be unproved. The theoretical chapter is divided into three sections: what sovereignty is, how states lose sovereignty, and how they can regain it. Definitions on fragile states and insurgencies will be taken from the CIA and the Fund for Peace in order to then use these definitions, as well as the theories from the literature review, to develop a conclusion on how much of a threat the Maras pose to sovereignty. The paper finds that the Maras, while they are not the underlying cause of state fragility in the Northern Triangle, are a growing threat to sovereignty. It will also conclude that the state responses have failed because they have not tackled the root cause of the issue and have not collaborated amongst themselves, and it will provide some policy recommendations based on to the conclusions made in previous chapters
Sacrifice in Revolution: Boston and Paris
No full textThesis (B.A. in History)--John Cabot University, Spring 2018.This thesis attempts to answer the question of why the levels of violence in the cities of Boston and Paris during the respective American and French revolutions differed so greatly. First, it endeavors to provide a framework of social theory grounded in empirical psychological evidence, to show that humans tend to imitate each other and internalize desires and actions of others without their consent. It then provides a relatively standard rendition of the revolutionary periods of both Boston and Paris from the perspective of the crowd. Finally, it analyzes the differences between the accounts given, and alleges two reasons for why the level of violence differed in the light of these differences: (1) that the ideal governments of the two cities differed in the Arendtian sense of “labor” and “action”, and that the French Revolution in Paris was unable to close its liminal period due to its continual sacrifice. The conclusion provides a brief summary of the findings and their limitations and relates them to the larger world