5,747 research outputs found
The British ‘Bluesman’ Paul Oliver and the Nature of Transatlantic Blues Scholarship
No full textRecent revisionist studies have argued that much of what is known about music known as the blues’ has been 'invented' by the writing of enthusiasts far removed from the African American culture that created the music. Elijah Wald and Marybeth Hamilton in particular have attempted to sift through the clouds of romanticism, and tried to unveil more empirical histories that were previously obscured by the fallacious genre distinctions conjured up during the 1960s blues revival. While this revisionist scholarship has shed light on some previously ignored historical facts, writers have tended to concentrate on the romanticism of blues writing strictly from an American perspective, failing to acknowledge the genesis and influence of transatlantic scholarship, and therefore ignoring the work of the most prolific and influential blues scholar of the twentieth century, British writer Paul Oliver. By examining the core of Oliver’s research and writing during the 1950s and 1960s, this study aims to place Oliver in his rightful place at the centre of blues historiography. His scholarship allows a more detailed appreciation of the manner in which the blues was studied, through lyrics, recordings, oral histories, photography and African American literature. These historical sources were interpreted in accordance with the author’s attitudes to the commercial popular music, which allowed the ‘reconstruction’ of an African American ‘folk’ culture in which the blues became the antithesis of pop. Importantly, this study seeks to transcend dominant discourses of national cultural ownership or ethnocentrism, and demonstrate that representations of African American music and culture were constructed within a transatlantic context. The blues is music with roots in the African American experience within the United States; however, as Paul Oliver’s writing shows, its reception and representation were not limited by the same national, cultural or racial boundaries
Facilitators:The micropolitics of public participation and deliberation
Full text linkMost of the forms of public participation explored throughout this Handbook are supported by a range of practitioners whose work is often rendered invisible in the study of democratic innovations. Facilitators are key agents at the frontline of current democratic practices. This chapter is about agency and the micropolitics of participatory processes, particularly of the deliberative kind. The chapter analyses the role of facilitation practitioners, their different types, their defining practices, as well as their influence on participatory processes. Drawing on a review of interdisciplinary literature, as well as on original empirical work, this chapter offers conceptual and analytical foundations for the study of facilitation practice
Citizens' Juries on Windfarms in Scotland
No full textThis deposit is a partial dataset from the "Citizens' Juries on Wind Farms in Scotland" research project (see: https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/research/projects/citizens-juries-on-wind-farm-development-in-scotland/). The project entailed mixed methods research including various quantitative and qualitative strands. The partial dataset deposited here is the foundation for the journal article "The importance of context and the effect of information and deliberation on opinion change regarding environmental issues in citizens’ juries" published in Sustainability in 2021.1- Codebook for the questionnaires used at the citizens' juries;
2- Codebook for the data used in the journal article "The importance of context and the effect of information and deliberation on opinion change regarding environmental issues in citizens’ juries" published in Sustainability in 2021.
3- Data used in the journal article "The importance of context and the effect of information and deliberation on opinion change regarding environmental issues in citizens’ juries" published in Sustainability in 2021
Reclaiming democracy: a systems approach to change the system
Full text linkOliver Escobar writes that despite the increasing emphasis on deliberative democracy, scholars are only just starting to formulate a perspective that accommodates and values various meanings and practices of democracy as part of a coherent deliberative system. He therefore welcomes the systemic approach articulated by Simon Burrall in Involve’s new report ‘Room for a View’ as a valuable and timely contribution to the discussion
Facilitative leadership: involving citizens and communities in local decision-making
No full textA new era of community participation in local democracy requires public services staff to develop skills for collaborative engagement.
Here Claire Bynner, Oliver Escobar and Wendy Faulkner describe a What Works Scotland project to create a training course that would develop and cascade skills in facilitative leadership
The present of climate assemblies
Full text linkClimate assemblies are a fast-growing phenomenon in the fields of democratic innovation and environmental governance. These new civic institutions empower citizens to participate in evidence-informed deliberation to advance collective action on the climate and ecological crisis. Climate assemblies are part of ongoing efforts to democratise environmental governance and respond to the challenges of our climate-changed world. This introductory chapter provides a state-of-the-art overview of this emerging field of research and practice. We cover the history and development of climate assemblies, reflecting on the environmental, socioeconomic, and political contexts that explain their emergence. We also provide an overview of their characteristics, critiques, and impacts, and argue that practice is progressing faster than research. Then we outline how this book contributes to narrow that gap by focussing on both the internal and external dimensions of climate assemblies, and how they are intertwined. All chapters are introduced and summarised to offer an accessible guide to key insights, before concluding with reflections about the hope and hype that underpins the present state of the field
The future of climate assemblies
Full text linkGiven the increase and spread of climate assemblies in recent times, and the related hyperbole that has followed, this chapter seeks to provide a critical examination of what they can contribute to democratising environmental and climate governance in practice. We assess the extent climate assemblies are, and can be, important new civic institutions for a climate-changed world. The chapter draws together the key lessons from practice to date and offers insights to inform research, policy, and practice on climate assemblies and environmental governance. In doing so we address two important questions for climate assemblies. Firstly, we consider to what extent the citizens’ assembly model of public engagement ‘works’ on the climate change issue. We outline what constitutes ‘working’ in this context and who climate assemblies ‘work’ for. Secondly, we make the case that five normative developments around the use of climate assemblies need to happen in practice if their potential to help democratise climate governance is to materialise. Whilst we do not claim that these will be the future developments of climate assemblies, we do identify emerging examples that relate to our normative proposals and consider the implications for the next generation of climate assemblies and research in this area
A Reading By Poet Mary Oliver
Full text linkMary Oliver\u27s poetry, with her lyrical connection to the natural world, has firmly established her in the highest realm of American poets. She is renowned for her evocative and precise imagery, which brings nature into clear focus, transforming the everyday world into a place of magic and discovery. As poet Stanley Kunitz has said, Mary Oliver\u27s poetry is fine and deep; it reads like a blessing. Her special gift is to connect us with our sources in the natural world, its beauties and terrors and mysteries and consolations. Please join Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver as she shares her joyous, accessible, and intimate observations of the natural world.
Mary Oliver is the celebrated author of more than a dozen books of poetry and prose. With her lyrical connection to the natural world, Oliver\u27s poetry has firmly established her in the highest realm of American poets. Oliver has been honored with the National Book Award for Poetry, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, among others
"Hi, fellas. come on in." Norman Carlson, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Rise of Prison Fellowship
Full text linkThis is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in the Journal of Church and State following peer review. The version of record - Kendrick Oliver; “Hi, Fellas. Come on in.” Norman Carlson, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Rise of Prison Fellowship, Journal of Church and State, Volume 55, Issue 4, 1 December 2013, Pages 740–757 - is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/css05
Biography of Mary Jane Oliver
No full textTypescript of a sketch biography about Mary Jane (Oliver) Barlow, who came came from England around 1851 and with her husband, Oswald Barlow, helped to settle Saint George. Author unknown, but copied on January 13, 1937 by Virginia M. Lee of the Federal Writers Project, WPA, at Ogden, Uta
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