3,340 research outputs found
Episode 35: Alexis Castellanos, Author of “Isla to Island”, and Her Panel Presentation during the Operación Pedro Pan Two-Day Event
No full textIn Part 1 of “Operación Pedro Pan: The Voices and Stories of Cuba’s Child Exodus—A Knights HistoryCast Mini-Series,” the Department of History’s Sebastian Garcia talked with Alexis Castellanos, an author, illustrator, graphic novelist, and a panelist at the esteemed, conspicuous, and powerful “Operación Pedro Pan: Honoring the Cultural, Historical Legacy of Cuba’s Child Exodus” Two-Day Program that Florida Humanities, UCF’s Department of English and Department of Modern Languages and Literatures sponsored (see https://cah.ucf.edu/pedro-pan/ for more details on sponsors and the program in general).
Sebastian structured this specific episode on Alexis Castellanos’ Isla to Island, a wordless graphic novel grounded by her personal family history and the history of Operación Pedro Pan (Operation Peter Pan). By analyzing such a historic event through the medium of fiction, Sebastian argued that this is one of the most unique Knights HistoryCast episodes of all time. Naturally, their conversation expanded to what she talked about during her panel presentation in Panel One, Day 1 of the event that featured “internationally renowned scholars that discussed the political, historical, and cultural legacy of Operación Pedro Pan (1960-1962).” (https://cah.ucf.edu/pedro-pan/)
To purchase Isla to Island (strongly recommend), check out: https://islatoisland.com/.
To find out more about Alexis and her professional work, check out her website at https://alexiscastellanos.com/https://stars.library.ucf.edu/knightshistorycast/1034/thumbnail.jp
"Cronica der Turckey" Sebastian Franck's Translation of the "Tractatus de Moribus, Condicionibus et Nequitia Turcorum" by Georgius de Hungaria
No full textThe Tractatus de moribus, condicionibus et nequitia Turcorum is one of the most important first-hand accounts of life in fifteenth-century Turkey known to modern scholarship. It is the work of a Christian former slave of the Turks, writing after his return to the West. Although the author does not name himself, he can be identified as a
Dominican priest, Georgius de Hungaria, who died in Rome in 1502. His Tractatus is conceived as a work of anti-Islamic polemic, yet it contains a surprisingly unbiased appraisal of Turkish customs.
First printed c.1480 when European apprehension in the face of Ottoman expansion was at its height, the Tractatus was reprinted in numerous editions, and was widely used as a
source by other authors. Luther edited the text in 1530, using the positive account of Turkish customs and religious observance as a weapon in his polemic against the Roman
Catholic Church: if heathens could perform such exemplary works, who could fail to doubt the efficacy of works as a means of salvation?
Sebastian Franck in his German translation of the Tractatus went further: replacing Georgius' commentary with his own, he used the text to attack institutional religion as a
whole and to promote his concept of a non-dogmatic, spiritual Church of individuals united with each other only through their union with God -a Church which was not closed to Moslems or members of any other creed. This translation or adaptation, the Cronica der Türckey, marks Franck's decisive break with the Lutheran cause and the beginning of his lonely path as a 'spiritual individualist'. Franck reworked his translation of the Tractatus for his major geographical work, the Weltbuch of 1534.
This thesis concerns itself primarily with Franck's Cronica, providing the first modern critical edition of this text, in a near-diplomatic transcription with an extensive glossary. The thesis also includes transcriptions of the Tractatus; of Türckei, an anonymous translation of the Tractatus, and of relevant additional material from Franck's Weltbuch. None of these texts has been published in full in a modern edition.
In the Introduction Franck's Cronica is compared in detail with the Tractatus, highlighting the changes that occur in translation; the character and the significance of these changes are then discussed. It is established that Franck, whilst being unwilling to reverse any of Georgius' value judgements on Islam and Turkish culture, is highly selective in his choice of material for translation, and frequently gives the text new nuances and adds his own
comment. The question of the Tractatus' influence on Franck's further development as a writer and thinker is also raised.
The investigation then turns to Franck's use of the Tractatus material in his Weltbuch. His eclecticism becomes apparent in this text, in which Georgius' account is juxtaposed - but not synthesised - with material from other sources, often of lesser veracity and greater anti-Islamic bias. Franck's distortion of the Tractatus material to suit his own line of argument is clearly discernible: from the unique phenomenon presented in the Tractatus the Turks
become one more example of the general human tendency to externalise and dogmatise faith.
In addition, the transmission of Cronica and Türckei is examined, and the relationship between these two translations is clarified: Franck certainly used Türckei in writing his Cronica, but is unlikely to be the author of the anonymous work
The John Oliver Effect: Using Political Satire to Encourage Critical-Thinking Skills in Information Literacy Instruction
No full textThe polarised nature of today’s information environment compromises our capacity for critical thinking, narrows down our political horizons, and makes us less likely to relate to people with other beliefs. Incoming first-year university students are often not fully aware of how incomplete and biased the information they get, search for and access online is. They are building up a filter bubble and risk carrying it into their university work. How do we address this? In Britain, there is a saying that “many a true word is spoken in jest”. In a time of significant political polarisation, in which students are increasingly exposed to misinformation and lies, the “truth” is indeed often found in comedy. Under certain conditions, discussed in the course of this chapter, political satire can be an effective source for learning—especially by engaging students in critical thinking, reflection, and dialogue about the social and political dimensions of information literacy. The pedagogical rationale for using satire is based on a review of literature on using popular culture in library instruction as well as the author’s experience of delivering a series of workshops on digital literacy at the University of Roehampton in London. After three semesters of teaching, it has been observed that attendees positively respond to the use of humor in library sessions, especially to videos from the HBO weekly show Last Week Tonight, hosted by British comedian John Oliver. The selection of excerpts used for in-class discussion is informed by the instructional humor processing theory (IHPT), which states that choosing humor related to instructional content will positively correlate with student learning (Wanzer et al, 2010). This chapter explores how students benefit from the reflexive aspects of humor and presents ideas of how they could apply the satirical form themselves, for example, in appraising information sources and making more informed choices when engaging with digital platforms and services.© 2019, The Author(s). This is an open-access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0
2. A Human Being to Be Remembered | The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series
No full textIn Episode Two, Andrew Carroll’s herculean efforts to seek and collect over 210,000 war letters—that span since the American Revolution—demonstrate how others are as seriously committed to preserving the legacies of the men and women who served and fought for their country. Andrew shares several letters from his impressive collection, allowing us to be as close as possible to the Veterans—engaging with their own words, thoughts, and emotions. Indeed, themes central to UCF VLP are often exemplified in the 210,000 war letters Andrew has preserved for over twenty-five years.
Andrew Carroll is an award-winning historian and author and is the founder and director of the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University. Andrew was the second keynote speaker invited to share his extraordinary work during the 2024 UCF VLP Institute.
This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia and featured Andrew Carroll.
Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.
Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)
Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia
The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series is brought to you by the UCF History Department Podcast Network and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.https://stars.library.ucf.edu/knightshistorycast/1051/thumbnail.jp
Wang Tao’s Diary: excerpts Translated by Sebastian Eicher
No full textIn a little regarded episode from Wang Tao’s diaries, the author tells us about a two-week long journey from Shanghai to Hangzhou and to the West Lake. Wang Tao undertook this journey together with the missionary Griffith John, who at that time was trying to find ways to preach the gospel outside the treaty port of Shanghai. We know the rough outline of this journey from Griffith John’s writings, as it was the second half of a longer journey along the Grand Canal. But Wang Tao’s presence and his notes on it have so far been neglected. This is a loss, as the diary Wang Tao kept offers not only a personal and lively account of the journey, it also gives us some insight in the Chinese perception of the missionaries’ activities and a description of the Hangzhou era before the Taiping would ravage it only a bit more than a year later
Beyond source evaluation: using political satire to address fake news
No full text<p>Tackling the fake news phenomenon starts with reinforcing the instruction on how to <em>critically</em> process the news. In the US, late night comedy shows are praised for their detailed and searing coverage of current affairs, especially around election cycles. According to McClennen (2014), this is because the late night comedy format encourages the audience to think more critically. While traditional journalism does not always know when (or how) to laugh at the absurd statements or conspiracy theories (Maza, 2017), political satire can expose the different ways people, especially politicians, twist facts. The use of humour attracts (and sustains) attention and produces a more relaxed and productive learning environment (Banas et al, 2011). Frequent references to popular culture in political comedy shows make the information more “accessible” to students and effectively function as alternative pedagogical sites for analysis and critique in the classroom (Detmering, 2010). Humour also fosters the process of forming relationships and strengthening human connections between students and librarians leading information literacy instruction (Savage et al, 2017). <em>Last Week Tonight with John Oliver</em> and <em>Late Night with Seth Meyers</em> are two particularly useful shows to build a more in-depth information literacy discussion on. They both start with a joke, but then dig into the details and contradictions. Both shows are well researched, sophisticated and current. Late night hosts also increasingly abandon jokes in favour of a frank commentary (e.g. Trevor Noah on police brutality or Jimmy Kimmel on healthcare) and are particularly keen on showing how certain politicians have held every position on every issue.</p>
<p>In the information skills workshops at the University of Roehampton, videos from these shows encourage discussion around important academic as well as social issues, e.g. the use of quotations, or the “right to be forgotten” legislation (both from John Oliver’s show). These are used in the <em>Referencing</em> and <em>Managing Your Digital Identity</em> workshops, respectively. One rationale for this is that young adults (who make the majority of our audience), are more absorbed in satirical items than regular news (Boukes et al, 2015; Hollander, 2005). Incoming first year university students are considerably uninformed on basic political and social issues. Using more entertainment-based material in the classroom can help to prevent young learners from disengaging with current affairs awareness and keep them from disinformation via fake news. Students who only get their information from sources that report favourably on the people and causes they support risk being trapped in a “filter bubble” and confirmation bias (Pariser, 2011). Humour can make that bubble burst and help them see beyond – showing how facts are twisted, manipulated, or simply invented or made up.</p>
<p>This presentation covers how incorporating political satire into information literacy sessions can help students navigate the current information environment that is polarised between the tell-it-like-it-is “people” versus the know-it-all “elites” (Gage, 2017). It explores the role of emotions and use of instructional humour because in a post-truth world, we must all give more attention to the role emotions play in reasoning and decision making.</p>
Episode 31: Professor Paul W. Wehr Day at the Pioneer Days Pine Castle Historical Society History Tent Event
No full textThe Department of History’s Sebastian Garcia talked with Mr. Richard Lee Cronin, author, historian, and event coordinator of the Pine Castle Historical Society HISTORY TENT, at the Annual Pine Castle Pioneer Days Event.
This episode is dedicated to and is in honor of Professor Paul W. Wehr.
A Professor of History at UCF since the Department’s inception in 1969, Professor Wehr retired in 1995 after 25 years of teaching his passion for history—inspiring countless students and faculty. Professor Wehr devoted much of his time to documenting the history of Orange County, specifically Pine Castle. This naturally led to a close relationship with the Pine Castle Historical Society, which dedicated Day 1 of the 2-day event at Pioneer Days to Professor Wehr for the first time this year. Sebastian decided to pay tribute to one of UCF’s original history professors by going to the Pine Castle Pioneer Days HISTORY TENT event dedicated to him and produced a podcast on location with Mr. Richard Lee Cronin, who knew Professor Wehr personally.
Below are links to an Orlando Memory interview featuring Professor Wehr himself that Sebastian mentioned in the introduction of this podcast, the page to know more about his books and association with Pine Castle, and a UCF CAH article written about Professor Wehr shortly after his passing in 2021. https://orlandomemory.info/topics/oral-history-interview-with-dr-paul-w-wehr/ https://www.pinecastlehistory.org/publications-books-pamphlets/ https://news.cah.ucf.edu/news/remembering-paul-w-wehr/https://stars.library.ucf.edu/knightshistorycast/1030/thumbnail.jp
The John Oliver Effect: Using Political Satire to Encourage Critical-Thinking Skills in Information Literacy Instruction
No full textThe polarised nature of today’s information environment compromises our capacity for critical thinking, narrows down our political horizons, and makes us less likely to relate to people with other beliefs. Incoming first-year university students are often not fully aware of how incomplete and biased the information they get, search for and access online is. They are building up a filter bubble and risk carrying it into their university work. How do we address this? In Britain, there is a saying that “many a true word is spoken in jest”. In a time of significant political polarisation, in which students are increasingly exposed to misinformation and lies, the “truth” is indeed often found in comedy. Under certain conditions, discussed in the course of this chapter, political satire can be an effective source for learning—especially by engaging students in critical thinking, reflection, and dialogue about the social and political dimensions of information literacy. The pedagogical rationale for using satire is based on a review of literature on using popular culture in library instruction as well as the author’s experience of delivering a series of workshops on digital literacy at the University of Roehampton in London. After three semesters of teaching, it has been observed that attendees positively respond to the use of humor in library sessions, especially to videos from the HBO weekly show Last Week Tonight, hosted by British comedian John Oliver. The selection of excerpts used for in-class discussion is informed by the instructional humor processing theory (IHPT), which states that choosing humor related to instructional content will positively correlate with student learning (Wanzer et al, 2010). This chapter explores how students benefit from the reflexive aspects of humor and presents ideas of how they could apply the satirical form themselves, for example, in appraising information sources and making more informed choices when engaging with digital platforms and services.© 2019, The Author(s). This is an open-access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0
Cosmoscepsia Catholica, Das ist/ Allgemeiner Weltlauff/ und was sich denckwürdiges unnd newes in der gehelen gantzen Welt/ sowol in Geistlichen als Weltlichen Sachen verlauffen und zugetragen / Mit schönen Kupfferstücken gezieret/ und in Truck gegeben: Durch M. Sebastianum Prennern ...
No full textA strengths-based approach to information literacy
No full textA strengths-based approach to education is a clear departure from remediation, or a deficit-reduction model. The key objective is to help students identify and build on their unique and naturally existing talents. When recognised and developed further, these talents become “strengths” and enable learners to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in a given activity. A focus on strengths instills a sense of purpose and helps students become confident lifelong learners. Strengths-based initiatives are usually campus-wide with plenty of cross-departmental collaboration with the goal of creating a common language/framework to enable student progression and help learners to balance the demands of coursework, extra-curricular activities, employment and family.
This presentation is based on a case study at GSM London, a private HE provider, where the library proactively explored opportunities to align its activities to the strengths-based curriculum. This includes embedded interventions that aim to help students develop the core skills and competencies (through individual tasks) as well as attitudes and behaviours (e.g. through collaboration on a group assignment). Incorporating strengths in library activities proves to considerably enrich student outcomes. The ultimate goal is to help students become active participants in their own learning and empower them to experiment with ideas to arrive at new ways of performing work in an increasingly digital economy
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