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Macbeth: the three kingdoms play
No full textThis essay approaches Macbeth from the archipelagic context that “the Scottish play” brings to the fore with its naming of “kerns” and “galloglasses,” its references to England, Ireland and, of course, Scotland (although the words “Scot/s,” “Scottish,” and “Scottishman/men” are glaringly absent from the play), and its mention of Fleance’s escape (to Wales). My teaching of Macbeth responds to and challenges students’ assumption that the play is Jacobean propaganda. Students often come to the play knowing that it was staged by the King’s Men, that the (mostly) Scottish setting and the presence of witches speaks to King James VI and I’s nationality and interests; moreover, its reworking of Scotland’s past compliments Shakespeare’s Scottish monarch and his ancestors. I invite students to read Macbeth as a reflection on its cultural moment. Some of the questions I ask to stimulate discussion include: does Macbeth’s resistance to an Anglo-Scottish army mark him out as a national “hero,” or does “the tyrant” mobilise a nationalist rhetoric to secure his own power? Focussing on the play’s political terms, I also ask students to consider Macduff’s use of the word “birthdom” in act 4, scene 3 to refer to—well, that is the question: to what does this word refer? Editions of Macbeth gloss this word differently (e.g., “birthright,” “country,” “native kingdom,” “native land”). “Birthdom” is a timely neologism, evincing the geopolitical dynamics of the Jacobean period. Shakespeare was born in England, but how did the unprecedented three-kingdom, four-nation rule of the Scottish monarch to whom he was subject inform his ever-evolving sense of communal identity? The Three Kingdoms play’s the thing
Gilgamesh and the ancient Near East: adapting ancient texts for modern musical stage works
Full text linkThis practice-led PhD research explores how modern composers adapt ancient texts to present works based on them to contemporary audiences of musical stage works. The method of research is an examination of the libretti and their ancient sources in order to discuss how composers make changes in the texts in order to reflect their own socio-political times or simply to make the ancient stories feel less remote for their audiences. A brief chapter on adaptation studies sets the parameters of how artists adapt narratives to turn them into their own autonomous works. Translation, "the cognate field to adaptation studies", is the focus of the following chapter in the commentary with an examination of a passage from the Epic of Gilgamesh by several translators over the span of 140 years that shows how the epic has developed over that time as well as varying techniques applied by the translators to render the story to their particular readership. The study focuses on operas and other musical stage works based on texts from the ancient Near East. The composers and compositions included in ancient text adaptation case studies are Philip Glass and his opera Akhnaten, Bohuslav Martinu and his oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Per Norgard and his opera Gilgamesh. In addition to the libretti and text source comparisons, the data for the research are also collected from monographs and other scholarly studies on these composers and works in addition to documents and memoirs from the composers themselves where available. I follow all of this with a commentary on my own adaptation of Gilgamesh and situate it within the framework of these predecessors for musical adaptation, a commentary that accompanies a submitted work of recordings of the adaptation totalling nearly three hours. The research herein contributes a potential new niche to musical stage work studies as a focus on adapting ancient texts for modern audiences appears to be a new area of research in musicology
What white people did next: insights on building an anti-racist early years forum
Full text linkThis collaboratively written paper explores the formation and purpose of the Bristol Early Years Forum for Anti-Racist Practice, a grassroots initiative led by early years educators in the UK. Through collaborative autoethnography, the authors reflect on their motivations, positionalities, and the tensions involved in leading anti-racist work within a predominantly white profession. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, racial literacy, and Emma Dabiri’s (2021) framing of coalition over allyship, the paper interrogates the limitations of racial liberalism and developmentalist thinking in early childhood education. It argues for the political urgency of anti-racist practice in the early years and examines how white educators might engage in more meaningful ways. This paper contributes to the limited body of literature on white educators' roles in anti-racism and offers insight into the transformative potential of community-based professional development
Our nation, their nation: Premchand, Satyajit Ray and the Indian state
No full textIn the 1950s and the 1960s, Satyajit Ray made a series of feature films about life in rural and urban Bengal in eastern India. Made in Ray’s native language Bengali, these films were nuanced and mostly realist narratives imbued with social consciousness but without political rhetoric. These films were also marked by Ray’s steady refusal to include direct political statements in his films in the manner of contemporary directors in Indian arthouse film.
In the 1970s, in a significant departure from his own practice, Ray directed two films outside his familiar linguistic and cultural trope. Shatranj ke Khiladi (The Chess Players, 1977) a trilingual film in Hindi-Urdu-English was a costume drama about the early years of Britain’s Indian empire set in the northern Indian city of Lucknow. Four years later, Ray directed his second film in Hindi, for India’s state run television broadcaster Doordarshan. Sadgati (The Deliverance, 1981), a narrative about casteism and social exploitation, was set in central India. Both films were adaptations of Hindi short stories by Premchand.
This essay argues that Ray’s choice of Premchand’s work was political, and a vehicle for creating a new, direct cinematic idiom that was unlike his previous body of work which was marked by its nuanced treatment of subject matter. This new cinematic idiom signalled a change in both style and content, and resulted in films that were characterised by an unambiguous anti-establishment polemic. It also argues that Ray’s choice of Premchand’s work not only resulted in a material transformation of his own film language, but redefined his leadership of India’s ‘parallel cinema’ movement
Uses and abuses of ‘not wanting peace’ in the context of the Israel/Palestine conflict
No full textSince its inception, peace has eluded the modern state of Israel and while peace can be presented as an ideal aim, talk about peace has been shown to justify further conflict and harm in and beyond Israel and Palestine. The current analysis focuses specifically on online activity, where the aim of peace is shunned as it is deemed to be not wanted. A discursive analysis of interaction on the social media website Twitter (now X) shows that (1) opponents are presented as not wanting peace, often on the grounds that (2) Palestinians, or Muslims/Arab people more generally are too hateful to want peace, which means that Palestinians can be blamed for this lack of peace. Occasionally Israelis are also presented in this way. This argument (3) presents peace as something for Israel to offer and for Palestinians to accept or not, where they are deemed responsible if they do not accept terms that are presented to them. Together, these findings show that there is a move away from the interactional requirement to be in favour of peace, where not wanting peace can be used to support ongoing violence and conflict and, in this case, justify the status-quo of ongoing violence and oppression of Palestinian people
In and out of place: diverse experiences and perceived exclusion in UK greenspace settings
Full text linkPeople from all sections of society should feel welcome and included to enjoy greenspaces. However, people from ethnic minority backgrounds may experience exclusionary practices and discriminatory processes, limiting their access, enjoyment, and benefits from such spaces. This paper aims to address these issues through an in-depth qualitative study exploring how 53 individuals from UK ethnic minority backgrounds residing in Bristol perceive and experience exclusion in UK greenspaces. Going beyond narratives that pathologise the exclusion of ethnic minorities from greenspaces, this research reveals a spectrum of experiences related to perceived exclusion, including both positive and negative, and challenges and expressions of empowerment and agency. Common experiences of exclusion are often intangible, necessitating sensitivity to their elusive and relational nature, with variation between urban and rural contexts. Drawing on Bourdieusian theories of practice, this study illuminates how social and cultural capital, habitus, and symbolic violence shape exclusionary practices and discriminatory processes, contributing to feelings of otherness, discomfort among UK ethnic minority group members in greenspaces. By highlighting the diverse nature of these processes and their variations across social and geographic contexts, this study emphasises the need for tailored, coproduced interventions to enhance greenspace accessibility and engagement. It advocates for recognising diverse experiences, integrating critical thought into environmental planning, and leveraging social and cultural capital to promote inclusivity and address systemic inequalities
Reimagining higher education: building the informal sofa network - a flipped approach to widening participation student engagement
No full textWhile the flipped classroom model is expected to enhance the learning experience in the social sciences, its implementation requires careful consideration of various factors. Educators must critically evaluate whether flipped learning is consistent with their environment and student demographics, ensuring that it complements, rather than replaces, effective instructional practices. This chapter will explore how a new approach and proposed model based in ‘informal - unstructured learning opportunity' could be adapted to enhance widening participation student experience and engagement
The impact of corporate social responsibility on climate change actions for sustainable performance: a survey of private banks in Bangladesh adopting multi-variable analysis
No full textIntroduction: contextual shifts — reframing primary science education through stories of practice
No full textAn introduction to the edited volume 'Primary science learning for children, teachers, and communities: stories of practice and possibility for science educators', which showcases primary school science from 38 international authors
Toxic dwelling? Speculations on why transformations away from the ecocidal impacts of modern globalised consumer cultures of capitalism are proving so hard to make
Full text linkWhy does modern (‘developed’) society not only fail to strategically respond to the now glaringly obvious and existential global environmental crisis we face, but instead continue to rush headlong along trajectories of ecological destruction? This paper proposes that a key reason for this dire situation is that globalised capitalist consumer culture (GCCC) creates forms of individual and collective becoming which are termed toxic dwelling. Humans, as other related non-human animals, are evolved to dwell in lifeworlds which are rich in material, emotional, affective and (in human terms), narrativised experiences. Toxic dwelling is such becoming-in-the-world through practices of narrativised consumption created by GCCC. This modern life is, in many ways, experientially rich, absorbing, exciting and fulfilling to many people, but, at the same time, it is also pathological, and destructive of individual wellbeing and the ecological webs of life. The scale and impact of GCCC, in how it is produced, sold, consumed and disposed of, is driving the ecocide of the ‘three ecologies’ as outlined by Félix Guattari (1989) (the physical, cultural, and psychic realms of becoming). There are many forms of opposition to the forces that are causing ecocide across the earth, but at present, due the power and momentum of GCCC, and related forces, they are fighting a losing battle