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Landmark developments in the understanding of Neanderthal Disappearance: An appraisal of the emergence and potential of new interpretations
Get PDFThis essay deals with the evidence and theories surrounding the disappearance of Neanderthals from the archaeological record. The essay charts the development of our understanding of this event while assessing the media’s portrayal of archaeological findings. It first addresses the early and stereotypical explanations of Neanderthal extinction by modern human colonisation, a view which was well-suited to contemporary thinking, but lacked evidence. It then discusses the Multi-Regional Evolution theory which suggests that Neanderthals evolved into modern humans and how this theory was disproved using absolute dating techniques. A substantial review of genetic evidence follows, showing that we cannot draw dramatic conclusions from ancient DNA despite numerous attempts by the media to do so. A model which allows Neanderthal extinction to have been a non-catastrophic result of modern humans’ superiority is discussed, followed by a number of studies which propose slight adaptability advantages in AMH. Lastly the work of paleoclimatologists is considered, which is shown to be scientifically sound and allows us to think of Neanderthals as just another ancient species. This allows the essay to conclude that there is no one decisive reason why AMH replaced Neanderthals and that there are a number of technologies which have the potential to give us a broader understanding
The Self Under Extreme Conditions in Virginia Woolf’s Writing
Get PDFIn her writings, Virginia Woolf illustrates the struggles of the individual under extreme conditions through the prism of the self: the crux of the individual. Psychoanalysis, as advanced by Freud and Lacan, in addition to more recent theories of gender performativity, will afford comment on Woolf’s texts and the nature of selfhood. Ultimately, the self is shown to be compromised by social restraints and patriarchal impositions; this is reflected both in terms of Woolf’s characters and in terms of the individual female artist. As a corrective to the repressions of patriarchy, Woolf advocates an androgynous selfhood
Can terrorism ever be justified?
Get PDFPaul Christopher defines terrorism as “any act that involves the [...] intentional threat or use of random violence against innocent people for the purposes of instilling fear in others to bring about a political agenda.” The globalisation of terrorism in the 21st century has made these acts of random violence a prevalent issue of public debate and academic research, with a multitude of arguments either criticising or defending the extreme methods used by terrorist groups or actors. The arguments put forward not only address issues of normative ethics in relation to violent conflict, but they also raise the important question of whether terrorism can ever be justified
The Significance of Tita’s Feminine and Transformative Power in Laura Esquivel’s Como agua para chocolate
Get PDFWe can analyse Laura Esquivel’s Como agua para chocolate as a novel which delivers a message of female emancipation impeded by the shackles of tradition. In this extract of my dissertation, I examine the plight of the protagonist, Tita, by considering the roles played by the kitchen domain and her mother and sister in her plight as a female struggling for liberation. In Como agua para chocolate, Tita’s outcry for a voice of her own from within the kitchen realm contends with the voice of the patriarchal society of the early 20th century Mexico as embodied by her mother, and it is this conflict which generates scope for feminist analysis of the novel. Therefore, I aim to demonstrate that Tita is instrumental in projecting the novel’s feminist message
Speciesism and Equality of Consideration
Get PDFSpeciesism, like racism and sexism is an extreme view that turns individuals into an isolated group in order to attack it and this should be halted with immediate effect. Speciesism is a practice by which we judge non-human animals and treat them in certain ways for no other reason than that they are of a different species. To illustrate the importance of rejecting speciesism, I will consider what the best form of anti-speciesism to defend is, namely a principle of weak antispeciesism that I believe arises from a general principle of equal consideration. I will argue that equal consideration of every individual leads to a society of fewer extremes
To what extent did censorship affect the writing of Cinco Horas con Mario?
Get PDFThe censorial regulations introduced by the Franco regime created a harsh environment for authors wishing to include dissenting messages in their writing. Despite being published after the supposedly liberating Press Law of 1966, Miguel Delibes clearly felt the need to self-censor while writing Cinco Horas con Mario as letters between the Spanish author and his editor testify. Although perhaps less conservative in his approach to censorship than his predecessors, the minister of culture and tourism, Manuel Fraga, who introduced the law, only appeared to encourage greater caution from Spanish writers while approaching their work. If any viewpoint criticizing the regime was traced, the offending novel would be confiscated and its author either fined or imprisoned. Through intelligent use of characterisation, imagery and authorial silence, Delibes edited and altered his work sufficiently in order to smuggle his dissenting opinions past censors. As a result, his novel Cinco Horas con Mario included subtle criticism of the on-going ideological conflict, the Church’s dubious relationship with the regime and the disadvantaged situation of women in Francoist society whilst maintaining a legitimate relationship with the regime after its publication
The African-American poet’s dilemma: Langston Hughes\u27 and Countee Cullen\u27s poetic response to a prejudiced world
No full textThe black poet’s identity is directly affected when living in a society of mixed messages caused by segregation laws, where socially he is deemed inferior, and consequently this is reflected in his poetry, as is the pressure of integrating with established white poetics forms. In an attempt to find a place in which to belong, he utilises his African heritage and a feeling of collectiveness within his community, but this is not always successful. More hope lies in his ability to assimilate into the American poetic structure, adding his own input along with the white literary canon
The Extremities of the Borderlands: Gloria Anzaldúa, Sandra Cisneros and Chicana Identity Politics
Get PDFWriting from the border of Mexico and America, Gloria Anzaldúa and Sandra Cisneros are two Mexican female authors that have embraced poetry, prose and word art to articulate the ‘Chicana’ experience of life. Both writers engage with the concept of the ‘border’ within their work, both physical and theoretical. Through literary analysis of the work of these writers, more can be understood about the pressures and expectations that are placed upon the Chicana subject. The Chicana subject lives a life within a liminal space, within two or more cultures. A struggle to assimilate both Anglo and Mexican ideologies and mythologies is articulated by both of these writers. Cisneros and Anzaldúa overcome the dichotomies of North and South, male and female, Spanish and English by engaging in the act of ‘revisionist’ writing, adopting various forms and languages in their style to articulate the experience of the ‘borderland’ subject
George Eliot, the proto-Poststructuralist: The Essential Duplicity of Realism
Get PDFIn this article I argue that there is an essential, but contradictory, duplicity in George Eliot’s realism. Her work is suffused with; on the one hand, the need to represent life as it really is in order to cultivate morality and sympathy in her readership, and, on the other, the impossibility of ever representing reality with language. I explain how George Eliot uses her position at the extremes of this duplicity – between realistic necessity and realistic impossibility – and how she puts it to good use, to such an extent that it informs the narratives and determine the questions they seeks to explore. Basing my argument on, arguably, her three greatest works, I show that the duplicity is only embryonic in Adam Bede (1859), adolescent in Felix Holt (1866) and reaches maturity in Middlemarch (1871-72)
Humanistic Geography: Can scientific endeavour alone capture all of the complexities of the human condition?
Get PDFScience is adequate in describing the phenomena that we experience on a daily basis, however it fails to adequately capture or even understand the human agent in all its perceptions, illogicality, emotions and feelings. Humanistic geography is a strand of human Geography that endeavours to disclose the complexity and ambiguity of human interactions with, and perceptions of, space and place