1,720,962 research outputs found
Relasionele ontologie en posthumanistiese subjektiwiteit in Pieter Odendaal se poësiedebuut
Full text linkIn Pieter Odendaal’s debut, asof geen berge ooit hier gewoon het nie (as if no mountains ever lived here), the poet expands the complex question “re mang?” (who are we?) into an important theme and utilises it as a structural element by building the different sections of the volume around various conceptions of ‘us’. In this article, I argue that Odendaal’s poetry should be read in terms of relational ontology, seeing as relationality and interconnectedness are important themes in the text. The poetry creatively introduces a posthumanist way of looking at subjectivity and intersubjectivity. The text problematises the position of humankind on earth and in the larger universe, and asks questions regarding the basic ways in which we understand the concept of ‘us’, our existence and the ways in which we relate to every other inhabitant of the planet (human or non-human; living or non-living). In the process the Cartesian view of humankind is deconstructed and the human’s ontological position is decentralised. Everything on earth is placed on equal ontological footing as part of a never-ending network of interactions, associations, and influences. This kind of posthumanist and relational ontological thinking is foregrounded throughout asof geen berge ooit hier gewoon het nie. I analyse this foregrounding in poems which explore the following themes and topics: interpersonal relationships between people that experience life differently because of differing backgrounds (but also between family members and lovers); the relationship between humans and nature (in the broadest sense of the word); time, and the inevitability of finitude and death that connects everything; and the difficulty of dialogue aimed at finding justice, reconciliation, acceptance and appreciation, by means of a realisation of posthuman interdependence
“A Talent for Wonder”: The Performatist Double Frame and Characters with Autistic Traits in Marlene van Niekerk’s Short Story Oeuvre
No full textThis article explores Raoul Eshelman’s concept of the performatist double frame as it manifests in Marlene van Niekerk’s short story oeuvre, with a particular focus on her depiction of characters with autistic traits in two volumes of short stories: Die vrou wat haar verkyker vergeet het (1992) and Die sneeuslaper (2010). Eshelman’s theory, which hinges on the use of narrative framing to compel readers to adopt a single interpretive stance, provides a lens through which Van Niekerk’s narratives can be analysed. In Van Niekerk’s short stories these characters are integral to the construction of framed scenarios where the reader is drawn into accepting the story’s fantastical elements as plausible, thereby suspending scepticism. The article argues that this narrative strategy facilitates a performative engagement with the text, allowing the reader to momentarily experience the world of the story as real, and to consequently feel a sense of enchantment. Furthermore, the article identifies a significant shift in Van Niekerk’s short story oeuvre, wherein earlier portrayals of characters with autistic traits emphasised their marginalisation and expulsion from society, while later works position these characters as central figures who drive the narrative’s engagement with themes of belief, perception, and inspiration. This evolution reflects a nuanced approach to the depiction of characters who display intellectual “otherness” as well as the use of narrative framing, and highlights Van Niekerk’s contribution to contemporary Afrikaans (and South African) literature as a space for reimagining the boundaries of storytelling
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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