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Satanic Ritual Abuse Hysteria; A Discourse Analysis
Get PDFDuring the 1980s, moral panic erupted nationwide as allegations of satanic abuse of children were made public, sparking inflammatory headlines and sensational news stories that drove fear and doubt into the hearts of many. Known as Satanic Ritual Abuse Hysteria, this mass hysteria is now widely acknowledged to be absurd, as allegations were proven false and the mistakes made by those in positions of power were brought to attention. However, this still leaves us to question how society within this era so easily came to believe these now-proven falsities and outlandish claims of mass ritual abuse. Using Van Dijk’s “Ideology and Discourse Analysis” (2006) as a framework for understanding language and ideology, and using James Paul Gee’s tools for discourse analysis, this paper investigates the language used both within and around Satanic Ritual Abuse Hysteria in order to discover what ideologies are reflected in the discourse that surrounds this once majorly contentious topic. By analyzing the language used in historical, editorial, legislative, and other data resources, I examine how these sources contributed to the creation and reinforcement of public belief toward Satanic Ritual Abuse through fear and polarization. giving insight into how society both perpetuated and fell victim to its own claims. Conversely, I also examine how several sources, from the 1980s and onward, denounced, rejected, or cast suspicion upon the claims of Satanic Ritual Abuse, in order to understand how the language we use affects how we see this issue today
And Then There Were None: The Silencing and Censorship of Translated Works under Francisco Franco
No full textWe tend to live under the assumption that translations will always attempt to be faithful to their original texts, blindly believing in the infallibility of the translator. However, in doing so, we ignore how translation can be used to take advantage of the reader – how can one know that a change has occurred in a translated work if they have no knowledge of the text’s original language? This paper studies the power dynamics of translation, and how it can be used as a tool to aid censorship. By focusing on translated literary works under the Franco regime, this work seeks to understand how authoritarian censorship can manipulate translations and how this unique interaction between the two can serve to silence the voices of marginalized groups and political opposition. Particularly, omissions and substitutions in the translations of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and George Orwell’s 1984, as well as the Catalonian translation of Vercors’s Le Silence de la Mer, are studied, analyzing their effects on the representation of women, criollos, Spanish Republicans, and Catalonians. This knowledge is then contextualized through contemporary forms of fascism in Spain and political censorship in the United States, urging that we are wary of the spread of neo-fascism and the use of censorship as a means of silencing others, such as the LGBTQ+ community
“No One to Show Us the Way:” Assessing the Contemporary Relevance of the Gay Male Bildungsroman
No full textThe gay male bildungsroman can trace its origins to E.M. Forster’s posthumously published Maurice (1971) and Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story (1982), among other examples. While nested under the umbrella category of the queer bildungsroman (and, more broadly, the bildungsroman), the gay male iteration particularly explores integrational challenges related to the extant tensions between hegemonic masculinity and the male protagonist’s sexuality and gender identity. The subgenre—often conflated with the “coming out novel”—has faced a range of criticism in its roughly half-century existence. Scholars have accused it of banality, often relying on a limited range of well-trodden tropes; lacking diversity, centering characters who are white and/or monied in a manner similar to the historical bildungsroman; or politically regressive, shifting the point of conflict from the political forces that construct the “closet” to the queer individual. In analyzing four contemporary examples of the genre—On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019), Swimming in the Dark (2020), Rainbow Milk (2020), and Young Mungo (2022) —I argue the gay male bildungsroman to be far from a mere banality, or agent of complicity. Rather, as supported by the subgenre’s modern intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality, and class, the gay male bildungsroman genre retains a critical role in subverting heteronormativity, mirroring in its execution the historical elasticity of the primary genre
Shattering the Glass Ceiling: A Grounded Theory Exploration of Barriers and Facilitators to Women Leaders’ Career Advancement Within Private Universities in China
No full textThe underrepresentation of female leaders across various career sectors, especially within higher education institutions (HEIs), has been an ongoing challenge worldwide. Moreover, little has been probed into women’s leadership development within the context of private HEIs in China. This study addresses the gap in academic research by applying a constructivist grounded theory to explore the experiences of women leaders in Chinese private universities. Through interviewing 26 mid- and senior-level women leaders, this study investigates the barriers and facilitators experienced by women leaders in their leadership development journeys within private HEIs in China. The study indicates these women leaders have overcome multifaceted obstacles and achieved mid- to senior-level leadership positions. Specifically, four overarching themes have emerged from the analysis: (1) Advancement Through Education: The study explores how women leaders’ educational backgrounds, including school education and family education, have contributed to their ascent into leadership roles or ascending to higher leadership positions within Chinese private HEIs; (2) Gender-Based Barriers: The study discusses the barriers rooted in gender biases and cultural norms that hinder women leaders’ pursuit and advancement in leadership roles, encompassing challenges derived from various sociocultural, organizational, and individual gender-based barriers; (3) Facilitators: The study highlights the
significance of external support networks and personal strategies in facilitating women leaders’ progression in their leadership journeys within private HEIs in China; and (4) Encouraging Future Leadership of Other Women: The study identifies strategies for women leaders to inspire and encourage other women to enter into leadership roles or to advance in their careers within private HEIs. By elucidating the complex interplay between barriers and supports in women leaders’ leadership development trajectories, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of
gender dynamics within private HEIs in China. The findings underscore the need for proactive measures to address systemic inequalities and create inclusive environments that empower women to thrive in leadership roles. It has profound implications for the Chinese government, private universities, women leaders’ families and friends, women leaders themselves, and women with leadership aspirations at private HEIs
A Positive Psychology Perspective on Chinese EFL Students’ Well-Being, Language Mindset, and English Performance
Get PDFThe primary purpose of this paper was to assess the well-being levels and language learning mindsets of English as a foreign language learners in Chinese higher vocational colleges; explore the relationship between well-being levels, growth language mindset (GLM), and English learning performance (i.e., College English Test [CET 4] scores); and compare specific differences in well-being levels, language growth mindset, and English performance (i.e., CET 4 scores) in demographic aspects (i.e., gender, hometown locales, family planning, and CET 4 times). A quantitative study among EFL students (n = 1,030) was conducted to answer the research questions. Specifically, Spearman correlations were used to explore the relationship between well-being levels, GLM, and CET 4 scores. The Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were applied to compare demographic differences. The research results indicated a strong positive correlation between well-being levels and GLM among Chinese higher vocational students (r = .589). Moreover, weak positive correlations were confirmed between well-being levels, GLM, and CET 4 scores. Surprisingly, due to the influence of traditional Chinese thinking modes (e.g., Yin–Yang mindset, Zhong–Yong mindset), participants’ negative emotions were positively correlated with the subdimensions of well-being profiles (i.e., positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment) weakly; additionally, the perceived level of meaning in life and GLM displayed a strong positive correlation (r = .583). Demographically, compared to their counterparts, women, only children, and participants from urban areas outperformed in CET 4 scores significantly. The results suggested stakeholders could enhance students’ English performance by improving their well-being levels and cultivating GLM overall. In addition, EFL teachers could focus on developing students’ sense of meaning in life, shaping a GLM, and guiding students to adjust negative emotions in life rationally. Although female EFL learners had a significant advantage in English performance, English teachers should avoid perpetuating this mindset and refrain from amplifying gender differences. Furthermore, the clear benefits of only children and urban EFL learners in English performance reflected the imbalance in educational resource allocation. Thus, the family planning policy and disparity in urban–rural resources needed more attention from relevant government departments and policymakers
Posthumanism in Literature: Redefining Selfhood, Temporality, and Reality/ies through Fiction
Get PDFWhile fictional novels are often seen as a way to escape reality, their relation to reality and the ways in which they distort or reinforce our understandings of reality can provide significant insights into our cultural values and beliefs. Using posthumanist theory, I examine how understandings of selfhood and its relations to time and reality are complicated within three works of fiction and how those complications represent and articulate a societal shift in meaning and knowledge that is supported by posthumanist ideologies. The three works, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle, and The Maddaddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood, portray differing but interconnected interpretations of the posthuman condition, a condition brought on by the inadequacies of the Humanist notions that pervade our societal structures. The complexities of contemporary society coupled with Humanism’s ideological shortcomings then intersect with our lived realities and become the foundations of the posthuman condition. In comprehensively examining the constructions of identity and relationality, I support the need for a posthumanist understanding of the world we exist in today in order to make sense of and act within our current reality. I show that fiction is one avenue in which authors are attempting to create new meaning that is relevant and necessary to understand and cope with lived reality. Because fiction is seen as apart from reality, it allows for a safe and separate space to consider what otherwise can feel like monumental and overwhelming contradictions to our current understandings of ourselves, our reality, and our temporality, contradictions that are nonetheless just as prevalent in our material realities as they are presented in these fictional texts
The Perception of Children as Reliable Eyewitnesses
Get PDFEyewitness accounts have been integral to the criminal justice system. However, given that not every criminal case has forensic evidence that is available or admissible, the reliance on eyewitness accounts conjures questions about believability. This is an important area of research because the over-belief of witnesses may lead to wrongful convictions, yet under-belief may leave the victim without justice. The current study investigated how child-witness age, race, role as a witness (bystander versus victim), and the gender of the juror influenced the perception of child eyewitnesses through the lens of the Witness Credibility Model. Participants were presented with the testimony of a child bystander or victim, who varied in age and race, and were asked to rate how believable they found the child to be. This study hypothesized that participants would find the younger children, the Black children, and the child bystanders as less believable than the older children, the White children, and the child victims. Additionally, female participants were predicted to believe the child eyewitness more than the male participants. Only the hypothesis about juror gender was supported. These results provide some evidence for the idea that the believability of a child eyewitness may partially depend on the person perceiving them, which calls forth the need to eliminate bias in the criminal justice system by enforcing diverse juries
Revised GCH or Would Cantor Have Understood
No full textThe Continuum Hypothesis states that every infinite subset of the real line is bijective either with the set of natural numbers or with the set of real numbers. It was famously postulated by Cantor in 1878 and is known to be Independent of the usual axioms of set theory. Solution or acceptance of the non-solution to this and to the related Generalised Continuum Hypothesis have been a subject of constant interest in set theory. Which of these are philosophically acceptable? And which ones would meet the, it seems to us reasonable, requirement that Cantor should understand the answer to his own question? We’ll make a tour of some of the contemporary thoughts on this subject