43 research outputs found
Writing and the rights of reality: usurpation and potentiality in Derrida, Plato, Nietzsche, and Beckett
No full textThe thesis critically evaluates Jacques Derrida's conferral of the rights of reality on writing, focussing on his theory of an arche-text in light of the speculative nature of this theory. The theory is initially considered in the context of Derrida's elucidation of the usurpatory status of writing within the Platonic and Nietzschean texts. This consideration reveals an admission of writing's usurpatory status by both writers while at the same time demonstrating their awareness of the intrinsically speculative nature of this view, the significance of writing lying in its ability to exteriorise the radically indeterminate status of consciousness m relation to reality rather than its ability to displace consciousness or reality The analyses, therefore, not only bring the Derridean hypothesis of a repressive or phonocentric metaphysical episteme into question but also exhibit the historical and philosophical role of potentiality in relation to writing, writing's ultimate significance lying in its capacity to exteriorise our existence as a mode of potentiality. Accordingly, in the second half of the thesis the Derridean theory of writing is countered with a specifically Aristotelian theory of the text as it is exhibited in the prose of Samuel Beckett, an author whose significance lies in his close alignment with Derridean theory within contemporary criticism. It is demonstrated that this identification has obviated an awareness of the significance of potentiality within the Beckettian text, his work consequently being appraised in the previously neglected context of Aristotelian metaphysics
Determinants of Personal Saving Levels in South Sudan: Evidence from Selected Areas of Juba City
No full textThe purpose of this study was to establish the determinants of personal saving levels in South Sudan: evidence from selected areas of Munuki Block in Juba City. The objectives of the study included to examine the demographic factors that influence the personal saving levels; to identify the personality aspects or traits that influence the personal saving levels; to establish the economic situations that influence the personal saving levels; and to assess the relationship between the demographic factors, personality aspects/traits, economic situations and personal saving levels.
The study employed cross sectional research design and both quantitative and qualitative research approaches were used. Both primary and secondary data sources were used for the study. A survey was conducted by administering questionnaires to 181 respondents. Questionnaires were used in gathering primary data and the secondary data sources included journals, internet, textbooks and newspapers. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. Frequencies, descriptive, Pearson’s correlation and regression analyses were used to establish the influence and relationship between the study variables.
Specifically, the results of the study showed that all the dimensions of demographic factors, personality aspects and economic situations had different effects on some forms of personal saving levels.The study concluded that level of education, level of income, and aggregate economic situations had significant positive relationship with aggregate personal savings while aggregate personality aspects and interest rates had non-significant positive relationship with aggregate personal saving levels in the selected areas of Munuki Block in Juba City, South Sudan.
The researcher mainly recommended that government and financial institutions should provide favorable environment for savers by curbing inflation, setting up saving schemes, providing financial trainings, increasing interest rates for the savers to earn more interest on their saved capital. Individuals should involve in income generating activities such as business, agriculture and well-paying jobs so as to increase their earnings and create a better room for savings,avoid impulsive shopping and reduce on the levels of consumption of expensive goods and services, stick to the monthly saving routine, monitor and assess their savings, budgets and make sure that savings are always at the optimal levels.Furthermore, future research could use the same or other data collection methods so as to obtain more objective data to establish whether similar results could be obtained
Leveraging prototypes to Support Self-directed Social learning in Makerspaces
No full textThe “Maker Movement” signifies emergence of a cultural model of a society where anyone can become a creative maker. As part of this movement, various kinds of “Makerspaces” provide physical and social infrastructures that help unleash people’s intrinsic abilities to make, create, and innovate. In this way, makerspaces become loci where maker communities develop as communities of interest and communities of practice. In such communities, participants acquire skills and knowledge through selfdirected peer-learning and learning-by-doing, while leveraging each other’s practical expertise, individual motivations and enthusiasm. The presented work elaborates upon how maker communitieswithin academic design engineering education and everyday-life contexts could better support their participants’ self-directed learning. Throughout two independent researches through design case studies, we investigated how these learning processes could be improved. Both cases involved the iterative development and assessment of service platforms for supporting the social learning processes of makers. One platform focused on documenting and sharing skills of makers, the other on documenting and sharing the making processes leading to a given artefact. Reflecting on the two platforms revealed two distinct aspects of encountered learning. The first aspect involves deepeningand mutually encouraging development of individual expert skills. The second aspect involves multidisciplinary alignment during collaborations and peer-learning within a maker community, performed in teams encompassing complementary skills. The lessons learnt lead to proposing a conceptual framework, which aims to provide a support structure to improve self-directed social learning processes in makerspaces.Design Conceptualization and Communicatio
In the Beginning Was the Pun:Humour in Samuel Beckett’s Theatre
No full textThis is a book on a still undiscovered Beckett: the theatre-maker who is making use of several forms for comedy. With text-analysis taken from the whole Beckett’s production and the most important staging of plays, the volume aims at disclosing Beckett’s attitude to humour and his specific knowledge about it. Huge bibliography on the author
Adam Samuel Bennion, Superintendent of LDS Education - 1919-1928
No full textThe author attempts to analyze and evaluate the educational views, policies and contributions of Adam S. Bennion during his administration as Superintendent of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\u27 Educational Program.Part of the study is dedicated to an intensive search of historical data to determine Church educational policy and philosophy prior to his administration.His views on many religious and educational topics, taken from his personal, unpublished manuscripts, are quoted at length.An attempt is also made to examine his role as a policy maker and to evaluate his contribution in light of present policy and philosophy in the L.D.S. Department of Education. Bennion\u27s broad experience in public as well as private education prompted his proposals that the church concentrate on religious education, leaving secular education to the public schools.Finally an attempted evaluation is made of his contribution to the field of education subsequent to his assignment as superintendent of Church schools
Searching for the Evergreen- Routes to the core of the art educator
No full textTämä opinnäyte kertoo neljän vuoden taiteellisesta tutkimuksesta, jossa tekijä on avoimen spekulatiivisesti tutkinut luonnonmateriaaleja ja niiden itseilmaisullisia mahdollisuuksia. Tämän tutkimisen tuloksena on syntynyt pullollinen omatekoista Ikivihreää mustetta, lyhytelokuva ja oma taidenäyttely.
Tutkimuksen keskiössä on salaperäinen käsite Ikivihreä, joka kuvastaa moniaistillista metsäkokemusta, joka tekijällä on ollut luonnonmateriaaleja kartoittaessaan. Tämä käsite on sävyttänyt kaikkea taiteellista tekemistä projektin aikana ja toimii siis tekijälleen eräänlaisena prismana, jonka läpi tarkastella maailmaa ja omaa tekemistä.
Opinnäyte on yhtä aikaa käytännöllinen tutkimus omien taidemateriaalien valmistamisesta, mutta kertomus tekijänsä matkasta omaan taidekasvattajan ytimeensä. Tässä matkassa luonnonmateriaaleilla on ollut tärkeä rooli, sillä työstämällä näitä materiaaleja, tekijä on tullut samalla työstäneeksi oman sisäisen maailmansa raaka-aineita. Tämä analoginen yhteys sisäisten ja ulkoisten materiaalien välillä on keskeinen teema opinnäytteessä.
Tutkimukseni lopussa esittelen viisi oivallusta liittyen taiteellisen tutkimukseni ja taidekasvatuksen välisestä yhteydestä.This master’s thesis is an investigation of a four year long artistic research project that has produced handmade art materials, a short film and an art exhibition that highlights the expressive potential of natural raw materials. The thesis delves into the mystery of working with natural raw materials as something analogous to the inner world of the maker.
In the center of the thesis is a somewhat mysterious concept of the Evergreen. The concept was chosen by the author on a particularly meaningful walk in the forest to identify the sensation of being fully immersed in the Northern taiga forest. The word evergreen became like prism to look through. As an outcome, Evergreen ink was made, and a film called the Evergreen film to document the making of the ink.
The thesis is on the one hand a practical study of making handmade art materials but at the same time an inquiry into the inner worlds of the maker. This two-dimensional nature of the thesis is built upon the idea of the analogous nature of matter. Natural raw materials, being from the same source as us, reflect not just their outer features but also hold the potential of expressing the inner life of humans. Working with natural raw matter, the maker has also worked on the materials of his own soul.
At the conclusion of the thesis, the findings from the artistic research project are brought together to formulate five principles for developing a unique interpretation of the nature of art education
The theatre of the organised working class 1830-1930
No full textThis study of the theatre of the British Labour Movement had
its roots in 1985 when History Workshop published a collection
of documents relating to the Workers' Theatre Movements in
Britain and America between 1880 and 1935. In his introductory
essay in Theatres of the Left, Raphael Samuel concludes that
there are no traditions in British Labour Theatre except those
which have been broken or lost, that
There is no continuous history of socialist or
alternative history to be discovered, rather a
succession of moments separated from one another by
a rupture (1).
Since this conclusion was reached, others have repeated
Samuel's assertion in varying forms. So, Andrew Davies talks
of "scanty Chartist theatrical activity" and of the mainstream
lab6ur movement in the 1920s remaining "uninterested in
cultural matters" and Ian Saville asserts that
the conception of a partisan, organised theatre
devoted to spreading the socialist message
throughout the working classes only began to take
shape in Britain in the mid-1920s (2).
Yet a cursory glance at the theatre which preceded the
Workers' Theatre Movement, a glance which Raphael Samuel
provides in his introductory essay on theatre and socialism in
Britain, reveals I a plethora of activity in the labour
movement. From the Chartists and the Owlenites in the nineteenth century, through the Socialist Sunday Schools and
the Socialist League to the Clarion movement, the Independent
Labour Party and the Labour Party, the theatrical activity
pointed to by Samuel is startling in comparison to anything we
can see today. What follows is an attempt to look at some of
those moments, to look at the plays they produced and at both
how and why working class political organisations looked to
the theatre, to try to ascertain if they were indeed no more
than broken threads and if so to try to account for why this
may be the case. It is also an attempt to re-examine some of
our notions of what is political theatre, for since the
discovery of the work of the Workers' Theatre Movement and
subsequently of the Actresses Franchise League much has been
made of these as the starting point of political theatre in
Britain. Yet, for a country with one of the longest traditions
of organised working class movements, such assertions seem at
best strange, at worst dishonest.
One clue as to the reason for such claims can be found in the
characterisation of the theatre of the organised working class
prior to the Workers' Theatre Movement which has become common
currency. It was, in the words of Colin Chambers, primarily
of ethical and anti-militarist rather than directly political",
or in the words of Raphael Samuel:
First, the belief that it is their mission to bring
the working class into contact with "great" art (ie
capitalist art) and second, the tendency to produce
plays which may deal with the misery of the workerss
may even deal with the class struggleg but which
show no way out, and which therefore spread a
feeling of defeat and despair (3).
Such definitions of what is (or rather what is not) political
theatre rest very heavily on a notion that political is most
importantly propaganda. If the theatre that existed in
connection with political organisations prior to 1926 was not
propagandist then it follows for some that it was not
political. What follows is therefore also an attempt to
uncover a different approach, by looking at the groups own
justifications for their involvement in theatrical ventures as
part of the struggle for socialism
Does It Mean? Gene Wolfe: Perverse Puzzle Maker
No full textThe goal of this study is to re-examine the possibility of determining authorial intention, focusing on an author considered by many to be sui generis, science fiction grandmaster Gene Wolfe, well known for his confusing and difficult texts. Wolfe has a reputation as a “puzzle box” writer. Chapter One will trace some of the critical controversy surrounding his reception. Chapter Two will touch on a shift in recent twentieth- and twenty-first-century criticism from poststructural and deconstructive tenets to a more authentic trust between author and reader, attempting to minimize the implications of the hermeneutic of suspicion without decreasing the richness of interpretation and reading. Figures such as Paul de Man and Jacques Derrida will be considered before turning to the critical discourse surrounding Wolfe, focusing in on the seminal early story “Trip, Trap” and his Soldier series, juxtaposing critic Nick Gevers’ overarching thesis, which champions Wolfe’s writing as subverting universals and suggesting a multiplicity of truths against my own reading of the text as the ultimate Christian syncretism, casting Wolfe as one of the most purely traditional writers and symbolists in the modern era. Chapter Three will focus on Wolfe’s use of archetypes and the collective unconscious, presenting a very difficult novel of Arthuriana in Castleview against the palimpsest of his Wizard Knight series, highlighted by Wolfe’s direct use of Carl Jung and the critical perspective of Northrop Frye. Chapter Four will begin to approach some of Wolfe’s narrative tricks, including an assessment of an overarching theme in his work which is completely and utterly orthodox in nature: many, such as Peter Wright, read his Urth of the New Sun as a work espousing literary naturalism criticizing organized religion. Unfortunately, that work, along with its sequel, The Book of the Short Sun, are complex but clear examples of Augustinian or Thomist theodicy played out in narrative form, the furthest thing from Naturalistic principles imaginable. Chapter Five will look at intertextuality in Wolfe’s stories “The Changeling,” “Seven American Nights,” and in his novel The Sorcerer’s House. All three of these stories have been used to champion the idea that Wolfe is intentionally poststructuralist in nature, inviting a variety of open interpretations and no definitive one. However, once the obscurity is pierced, much as in the case of some of Vladimir Nabokov’s work, the possible readings begin to close off. The theoretical work of Bakhtin and Kristeva will be used to highlight some of this narrative intertextuality. Chapter Six will attempt to codify some productive methods of reading Wolfe, including emphasizing his allegorical use of local symbols to provide narrative closure. Cogent scenes from the novels Peace, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, and The Book of the Short Sun will illustrate this mise en abyme technique that, in Wolfe’s hands, becomes allegorical and self-referential. Our conclusion will look very briefly at some other figures who might be considered to write puzzle box (or at least epistemologically puzzling) narratives such as Vladimir Nabokov, Samuel Beckett, and William S. Burroughs, further elaborating why the specific techniques that work so well on the Apollonian Gene Wolfe might have variable success on other less structurally concerned Dionysian authors
Public worship and practical theology in the work of Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)
No full textThe late seventeenth century was a critical and fruitful period
for the Particular Baptists of England. Severely persecuted following
the Restoration, toleration in 1689 brought its own perils.
Particular Baptists were fortunate in having several strong leaders,
especially the London trio of Hanserd Knollys, William Kiffin, and
Benjamin Keach. Such a small and severely persecuted group as the
Baptists could afford little time for academic pursuits, thus of
necessity most of their theology was practical in nature.
Benjamin Keach (1640-1704) was the most outstanding practical
theologian among the English Particular Baptists of the late
seventeenth century. This dissertation is a study of Keach, in
particular his writings on public worship and practical theology.
Although Keach was a prolific author, he has been almost completely
neglected by scholars.
After a biographical sketch of Keach, this study considers his
writings on public worship and practical theology. In the area of
worship, Keach made two outstanding contributions: First, he was the
most vocal apologist for Baptist views on Baptism of his period.
Secondly, and more importantly, his hymn writing and defense of hymn
singing broke new ground, not just for Baptists, but for English
Protestantism, in general. In addition to his contributions in these
areas, he also dealt with the laying on of hands and the sabbath day
worship controversy.
Keach's contributions to practical theology fall into two main
groups: his writings that concern religious education and those that
deal with polity. In addition to these, Keach's vigorous advocacy of
a high Calvinist soteriology are also considered under the rubric of
practical theology. Keach's most important (although not his most
positive) contribution in this area were his soteriological writings.
Although well within the bounds of orthodoxy, some of the tendencies
in Keach's soteriology were taken up by the following generation of
Baptist leaders and developed into a stultifying hyper-Calvinism that
handicapped Baptist evangelism and missions.
In the conclusion, Keach's contributions to a theory of practical
theology are considered
