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St. Lazare, Autun: A Conundrum in Stone
No full textThe Cathedral of St. Lazare (Autun, France), with work by the celebrated sculptor Gislebertus, is one of the most scrutinized and misunderstood Romanesque cathedrals in Europe. Since the last century, art historians have almost unilaterally come to similar conclusions about the church, and their theories have garnered little, if any, debate. Gislebertus is considered to be the artist responsible for the superlative figurative sculpture on the exterior and interior of the Romanesque church. This essay challenges these conclusions, and suggests an unconventional interpretation of the cryptic statement carved on the tympanum, “Gislebertus hoc fecit” or “Gislebertus made this,” and questions the veracity of the iconic signature. The sculpture in the cathedral is renowned for its artistry and for the moral and enigmatic messages imparted. Rational alternatives are given for deciphering the implications of three of the most studied column capitals. New findings with scientific measurements can now link the artist’s knowledge to a precise and intelligent understanding of advanced astronomy.Past scholars have been unable to formulate a precise rationale for the building of a new church constructed only a stone’s throw away from a viable cathedral. The building’s atypical orientation and axis further complicate its purpose and demand further explanation. New information and research suggest alternative explanations for its unusual positioning and the identity of its famed sculptor. By examining the design, the patrons, and the politics of the twelfth-century church, the author challenges accepted hypotheses and applies unorthodox processes to help solve the mysteries of the 900-year-old cathedral
Medical Pluralism
Get PDFThis research project examines whether or not cultural factors influence an individual’s decision to use alternative medicine. Potential participants were new Canadians with close ties to their home cultures, and access to information concerning western biomedicine and folk medicine. I questioned what influenced them to use one approach over another and why they would combine treatments. A 50-year-old Black woman, a Canadian citizen with Jamaican heritage, was interviewed for this study. Following the interview, I examined the data and found that the respondent was influenced by her Jamaican culture, where she learned to rely on folk remedies, and by her Christian faith for healing. She was also influenced by the recommendations of peers dealing with similar health issues (e.g., migraine headaches)
The Role Grandparents Play in Fostering Children’s Social Competencies
Get PDFIn a society and at a time when ageism reduces the value of grandparenting, research on grandparents is essential in order to sustain the significance of this role in the lives of children. This study examines the relationship children have with their grandparents and investigates a correlation between children who have daily access to their grandparents and the level of social competencies they display in their everyday lives. For the purposes of this study, social competencies in children are defined as empathy, a strong sense of self-concept, conversational skills, and relationship ties with others. The study employs a mosaic approach to data collection and includes interviews, drawings, surveys, role-playing exercises, and observational methods to determine the various social competencies children display. Participants include a five-year-old and two seven-year-olds, and called upon three parents and two grandparents to assist in the study. While findings are inconclusive due to the small sample size, a potential correlation between social support and social competencies in children is suggested. Moreover, the study offers insights into the ways grandchildren view their grandparents, an under-researched area in grandparent studies and points to potential avenues for future exploration
Overqualified or Underwanted? A Critical Examination of Skilled Immigrant Deskilling Among Racialized Immigrants in Toronto and Vancouver
Get PDFRecent research on immigrant employment and integration into Canadian society reveals that although economic integration of immigrants has always been held as the key to successful settlement, a gap exists between immigrant skill sets and their employment realities once in Canada. Economic class immigrants chosen from the Federal Skilled Workers Programs are identified as the most likely to succeed since they have been evaluated according to human capital discourses. How do they fare once admitted? This paper explores the social issue of skilled immigrants’ barriers upon entering the Canadian labour market and how a racialized labour force has been constructed and perpetuated. Particular focus is on the requirement of “Canadian experience,” as foreign work and education experiences has been devalued, leading to immigrant deskilling in the workforce. This paper reviewed literature which focuses on racialized skilled immigrants’ structural barriers when finding employment, and it is argued by the researchers that deskilling is one of the ways in which Canada, while maintaining multiculturalism on the surface, goes on to perpetuate a racist status quo in which immigrants are trapped in the bottom of a two-tier labour system. For possible solutions, the paper links the issue of skilled immigrant employment with anti-oppressive social work practices when engaging with immigrant communities. The incorporation of anti-oppressive practices when working with racialized skilled immigrant populations can allow change to happen at macro and micro levels, through identifying barriers as systemic and socially constructed
Nitric Oxide: Implications of a Potential Ergogenic Aid
Get PDFNitric Oxide (NO) is an endogenous free radical and a potent vasodilator in the human body. While it has many clinical applications, interest in NO use as a potential ergogenic aid has increased greatly in recent years. There are now many different types of NO-producing supplements, split into three major categories: arginine, citrulline, and nitrate-based supplementation. Recent literature has yielded mixed results for all three. Arginine-based supplements work in some cases, but have several recurring limitations that question the validity of their conclusions. There is currently no conclusive or decisive evidence to support the claims made regarding arginine or citrulline-based supplements. Nitrate-based supplements taken 2.5 hours prior to aerobic exercise produce positive ergogenic effects such as decreased oxygen consumption and increased exercise tolerance at submaximal and moderate intensities; however, these supplements have no ergogenic effect on highly trained subjects. The amount of nitrate that needs to be consumed to obtain ergogenic effects can be obtained through a meal of 100g of nitrate-rich vegetables such as beetroot, spinach, and lettuce. Considering the unstable nature of nitric oxide, there is also a lack of studies observing the magnitude of protein damage over chronic supplementation. There is also a lack of studies that observed elderly and female populations. Future studies should investigate the effects of chronic supplementation on 3NT levels—a marker of protein damage.
Intersectionality, Sexuality, and the Exploration of Racialized Gender Identities in HBO’s True Blood
Get PDFThis paper considers the degree to which two recurring black queer characters on HBO’s True Blood series reflect the actual experiences of North American people of colour who are not heterosexual. Through a close reading of the program’s discourse, visual cues, and constructed environment, this paper will examine selected instances where accurate portrayal is achieved as well as where the series falls short of an accurate representation
Mapping Labour in the Creative Industries
Get PDFThe “creative industries” is a hotly contested and debated concept in policy and academia. While defining this concept has been a popular topic in scholarly and policy work, the people who make up the creative industries, that is, creative or cultural workers, have been relatively ignored by the research. In this paper, I aim to closely examine the complex nature of creative labour. In the first section, I will define the key terms and concepts that I will be using throughout the paper, specifically creative labour, creative industries, cultural labour, cultural industries and the information society. In the second section I will discuss the key themes and issues present in the literature on creative labour. In the third and final section, I will complicate these ideas by examining qualitative research that engages with specific groups and subgroups in the creative industries, speaking directly to creative workers about their lived experiences. I argue that creative labour is more complex and nuanced than the perspectives that view creative work as wholly negative and submissive to neoliberal considerations claim it to be: creative labour is a complex, contradictory process that can alternatively, even simultaneously, conform to, resist, and negotiate neoliberal ideologies and market imperatives
SLUTS: From one Comment to a Global Phenomenon
Get PDFThe SlutWalk movement turned into a massive global feminist movement no one saw coming. SlutWalk’s aim was to challenge the social normative blame of sexual assaults, and discourses that have historically imbued negative connotations to the term “slut.” This paper argues that the movement’s message has become undermined by the powerfully patriarchal hegemonic mass media, and focuses on analyzing and investigating the representation surrounding the participants of this movement in the Toronto Star. This paper uses a feminist perspective and Gramsci’s hegemony framework as lenses for critical analysis. The first section of the paper explores the historical and social manifestation of patriarchy, and how previous feminist movements have challenged its unequal oppressive and subjective nature. The section notes that despite the decades of past women’s movements to gain greater gender equality, sexual assault is still a prevalent issue today and presents the issue that sparked the SlutWalk movement, the movement’s message, and what it set out to accomplish/challenge. The second section explores Antonio Gramci’s theory of hegemony between the mass media and the public sphere. It focuses on different theories and strategies of manipulation, and the framing of various representations of groups and individuals by the mass media. The third section focuses on the chosen methodology, a relatively small qualitative discourse analysis, utilizing non-random sampling to gather three Toronto Star articles. The discourse analysis solely focuses on the discourse of the Star’s descriptions of the participants of SlutWalk. The findings suggest that the Toronto Star does misrepresent the SlutWalk participants and their messages, by undermining them through the use of a particularly narrow discourse that emphasizes their appearance, while diluting the key social issues they are challenging
French Colonialism in Algeria and Tunisia: Issues of Consolidation and Legitimacy and Their Implications
No full textThis paper draws on a number of theories concerning state-building, ideology, and identity construction, as well as evidence from contemporaneous French news reports and editorials and secondary sources, in order to better explicate the significance of French colonialism in the modern North African states of Algeria and Tunisia. Specifically, it seeks to explore how French colonial efforts at consolidating their monopoly on violence within the territories and identity construction later reproduced themselves as potent tools against French colonialism in the twentieth century. The extremely violent and protracted nature of “pacification” of the population that marked the beginning of the French colony in Algeria also marked the regime’s end through the bitter, eight-year-long Algerian War of Independence. As a result of the binary construction of identity in the French colonial state, the “native” population in the newly created Algerian state in 1962 steadfastly held to its conviction to expel all French elements regardless of where they were born. The comparatively mild military contestation for Tunisia at the outset of French colonial rule, as well as the more fluid colonial codification of identities, are reflected as much by the gradualist and constitutionalist approach taken by the supporters of Tunisian independence as they are by the population’s more appreciative response to the postcolonial hybrid Tunisian identity
Lee Miller's Challenge to Surrealist Objectification of the Female Body
No full textThis essay argues that Lee Miller’s photography actively criticizes the Surrealist genre for its objectification of women using the genre’s own techniques. Her body of work allows for a reflection on the shortcomings of celebrated Surrealist practices such as fetishizing fragmented female body parts. This paper begins by analyzing how Lee Miller’s photography can be classified as Surrealism in the first place. Her work is then analyzed chronologically to demonstrate the way that she uses double-image, juxtaposition, and depicting women as outsiders in her photography in order to criticize other male Surrealist artists for their insensitive and uncompromising objectification of the female form. Overall this essay showcases Lee Miller as an expert in her field with emphasis on the way she infiltrates Surrealism to make an attack on its chauvinistic tendencies