115 research outputs found
Mock, Col. Alfred J., July 20, 1993 [Interview]
No full textCol. Alfred J. Mock was interviewed on July 20, 1993, by Michael Birkner and David Hedrick about his relationship with Gettysburg graduate Stephen H. Warner, a Public Information Officer killed in the Vietnam War.Pyle, Ernie; Safer, Morley; Rather, Dan; Arnett, Peter; Warner, Stephen H.; Abrams, Gen. Creighton; Westmoreland, Gen. William C.; Goralski, Robert
Searching for Pigeons in the Belfry: The Inquest, the Abolition of the Deodand and the Rise of the Family
No full textThis article explores the abolition in 1846 of the deodand – the object or animal declared responsible for death by an inquest jury – and its relationship with the family of the deceased. Drawing on the work of Jacques Donzelot, it argues that the deodand brought contingency into the heart of law, and that its replacement with a legal right to compensation for dependents was a move to rationalize the investigation of death. This rationalization had consequences; limiting the place of the unruly community, centering and regulated the family, and disconnecting the inquest from the material of death
'The Cloud of Unknowing': its inheritance and its inheritors
No full textThe thesis attempts a portrait of The Cloud in the context of its
position in the history of Christian mysticism. That the
anonymous work owed much to spiritual writers of the preceding
twelve hundred years is not debatable; what it owed maybe
slightly less obvious. The Cloud is essentially a work of
Dionysian mysticism, and various writers within that tradition
who may have influenced or affected the teaching of The Cloud are
examined. At the same time, however, the anonymous writer owes
much to the western tradition of Augustinian theology, and the
role of this, complementary to the Dionysian mysticism, is also
considered. In Chapter II we look at the theological doctrine
underlying the mystical doctrine of the Cloud corpus. Chapter
III has two major parts, both concerned with the influence of
The Cloud on the subsequent development of spiritual writing in
England. The first considers the relationship with Walter
Hilton. The second examines aspects of Puritan thought which may
indicate that the influence of The Cloud, after the Reformation,
was not restricted to Catholic thought
The development of social legislation for blind or deaf persons in England 1834-1939
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.As indicated by the title the purpose of the thesis is to trace the development of social legislation for blind or deaf persons in England between 1834 and 1939. No attempt is made to deal with assistance whether from statutory or voluntary sources for war blinded or deafened persons. In the first chapter a survey is made of the position of the blind or deaf under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 and succeeding Poor Law legislation up to 1919. Chapter two deals with the enquiry into the condition of the blind carried out in 1874-75 by the Charity Organisation Society and the much more comprehensive survey of the state of the blind or deaf made between 1884 and 1888 by the Royal Commission on the Blind, Deaf and Dumb which reported in 1889. The latter enquiry resulted in the passing of the Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act of 1893 and also provided the essential data on which state action for the two disabilities could be based. The third chapter gives an account of the campaign to secure legislation for the blind which culminated in the Blind Persons Act of 1920. How the Blind Persons Act was implemented at the local level and the effect on blind welfare of the work of the Advisory Committee on the Welfare of the Blind and the passing of the Local Government Act of 1929, is the concern of chapter four.
Chapter five describes the events leading up to the enactment of legislation relating to the issue of free dog licences in respect of guide dogs for the blind, concessionary postal rates, reduced fees in respect of wireless receiving licences, and the Blind Voters Act of 1933.
In Chapter six the story of the campaign for legislation for the blind is continued up to the passing of the Blind Persons Act of 1938. The penultimate chapter relates the attempts made to secure legislation provision for the deaf in the form of a Deaf Persons Act broadly similar in scope to the Acts on behalf of the blind. The thesis concludes with a consideration of certain conclusions drawn from the subject matter presented in the preceding chapters
The view from the backbench : Irish Nationalist MPs and their work, 1910-1914
No full textAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DXN065144 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo
Reading acts of narrative appropriation: four instances of fraudulent memoir
No full textPhDThis thesis examines acts of narrative appropriation, the telling of purportedly‘authentic’ life stories by those for whom the stories are not theirs to tell. This
misuse or subversion of genre - the discipline of historical writing and the category
of autobiography - becomes a means for cultural, social and political dissimulation,
and the analysis focuses both on the act: the event, trespass, or ‘theft’ of another’s
life story, and on the cultural meaning that this event reveals. These narrative acts
are approached theoretically through discussions of what it means to be an author, a
reader, and through the consideration of literary and social genre, category and form.
In exploring identities at particular risk of appropriation, this thesis shows how
fraudulent appropriated narratives affect our reading of the world, and in turn
influence our perception of already marginalized social groups. My primary
examples include prostitution ‘narratives’, Native North American ‘memoir,’ and
fraudulent Holocaust survivor ‘testimony,’ with each text providing decoded
evidence of ‘genre-bending’ exhibiting a social and political intent. These works
seek to be read as authentic personal narratives, as autobiography, and that is how
they have been presented to the reader. However, they are imposters – fictional tales
desiring the elevated status of historical authenticity and willing to bend the rules
and contracts of genre to achieve their end. Here the appearance of authenticity is
achieved through the use of cultural and social ‘myth,’ or perceptions of cultural
identity, and as such its fraudulent construction is first and foremost a social act,
with a social and economic motivation. As this thesis concludes, these texts are
most successful when their own political and social ideologies echo and confirm that
of the readership; when their subjects, the fraudulent ‘I’ at the center of the text is
also a performative elaboration of cultural belief
A review of Nearctic and some related Anthribidae (Coleoptera)
No full textTaxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and biologies of Nearctic (and a few Neotropical and Pale arctic) Anthribidae are reviewed, new keys are provided, and four new genera and eleven new species are described. Allandrus Leconte, 1876 (=Tropiderinus Reitter, 1916). Anthribus Geoffrey, 1762 (=Pseudobrachytarsus Pierce, 1930). Araecerus Schoenherr, 1823 (=Araeocorynus Jekel, 1855); Araecerus coffeae Fabricius, 1801 (=Tropideres (Rhaphitropis) mateui Cobos, 1954). Brachycorynus n. gen., type species Tropideres rectus Leconte, 1876; congeneric: Homocloeus distentus Frieser, 1983 from Cuba and Florida, and B. hirsutus n. sp. from Texas. Choragus major n. sp., Ohio, etc., striolatus n. sp., Ohio, and exophthalmus n. sp., Virginia. Corrhecerus Schoenherr, 1826 (=Paranthribus Jordan, 1904) resulting in Corrhecerus rufescens (Jordan, 1904), new combination. Eurymycter Leconte, 1876, and Gonotropis Leconte, 1876, are removed from synonymy with Tropideres Schoenherr, 1823, and returned to full generic rank. Eusphyrus Leconte, 1876 is removed from synonymy with Ormiscus Waterhouse, 1845, and returned to full generic rank; Tropideres (Opisthotropis) vasconicus Hoffmann and Tempere, 1954, from France is transferred to Eusphyrus, with Opisthotropis a generic synonym; Eusphyrus pulicarius Boheman, 1859, Brasil, is transferred from Brachytarsus, and the species eusphyroides Schaeffer and quercus Schaeffer are transferred from Ormiscus. Gymnognathus triangularis n. sp., Texas. Habroxenus n. gen., type species H. politus n. sp., Texas and Maryland, also H. fuscus n. sp., Guatemala, and H. sarmenticola n. sp., Haiti. Neoxenus n. gen., type species N. versicolor n. sp., Texas, etc.; congeneric: Notioxenus ater and polius Jordan, 1907, Central America, andpallipes Suffrian, 1870, Cuba. Phoenicobiella trituberculata (Suffrian, 1870, Cuba) transferred from Toxonotus Lacordaire, 1866. Piesocorynus lateralis Jordan, 1906 (=P. virginicus Leng, 1918). Sicanthus n. gen., type species S. rhizophorae n. sp., Florida. Toxonotus bipunctatus Schaeffer, 1904 (=Neanthribus obtusus Jordan, 1906); Toxonotus penicellatus Schaeffer, 1906 (=Neanthribus segregus Jordan, 1906); Toxonotus vagus Horn, 1894 (=Neanthribus hieronymus Jordan, 1906). Trigonorhinus lepidus n. sp., California; Trigonorhinus limbatus Say, 1827 (=Brachytarsus plumbeus and B. vestitus Leconte, 1876, and Brachytarsoides minor, quadratus, quadratus ssp. nigrinus and rufodorsalis Dethlefsen, 1954); Trigonorhinus grise us Leconte, 1876 (=Brachytarsus riddelliae Schaeffer, 1906, and Brachytarsoides cylindratus, elongatus, nevadensis, nevadensis ssp. tigrinus, and vulgaris Dethlefsen, 1954); Trigonorhinus tomentosus Say, 1827 (=Brachytarsus paululus Casey, 1884, B. beyeri Schaeffer, 1906, B. franseria Barrett, 1931, and B. irregularis Tanner, 1934); Trigonorhinus zeae Wolfrum, 1931 (=Opanthribus trimaculatus Senoh, 1986); Trigonorhinus areolatus Boheman, 1845 (=Tropideres (Tropideres), bagueni Cobos, 1954, Spain). Introgressive hybridization is invoked for the Trigonorhinus limbatus-griseus complex. New keys are provided for the species of Brachycorynus, Choragus, Habroxenus, Neoxenus, Phoenicobiella, Trigonorhinus, and Eusphyrus, plus a new key to Nearctic tribes and genera, and a new Nearctic checklist. New distribution and life-history data are given for many species
The feminization of fame from Rousseau to de Staël
No full textThis thesis seeks to address the literary, cultural and historical questions surrounding what I will suggest was the reconceptualization of fame in the second half of the eighteenth and the first two decades of the nineteenth centuries. The only previous analyses of celebrity in this period by Leo Braudy and by Frank Donoghue have claimed categorically that even though a democratization of fame occurred in this period only men had sufficient access to the fame machine and thus to the experience of the frenzy of renown. While I argue that this period witnessed the birth of modern concepts of celebrity, I will suggest that a modernization necessarily entailed a feminization of fame.
Traditionally, heroic self-sacrifice had led to assured immortality, but with the rapidly expanding print culture of this period, celebrity was often instantaneous, achieved during a lifetime rather than a lifetime achievement. With the dissemination of the media, the rise of newspaper and periodicals and thus, more importantly, the increasing visibility of the celebrity as a person to be admired and emulated came the means to seduce an eager audience by manipulating one’s career or personal image. Opening with an examination of the confessional politics of Jean-Jacques Rousseau who sought and found a desiring audience for this outpouring of private sensibility and thus initiated a discourse of fame which no longer relied upon the classical stoicism apparent since Ancient Rome, I will investigate how women writers not only ‘puffed’ themselves in the press, but actively engaged in constructing distinct authorial personae in and through their writings. Far from cowering anonymously in the shades, women writers were actively seeking and achieving the limelight, attaining a level of cultural centrality previously thought by critics such as Braudy and Donoghue to be unattainable. Embracing the public and publicity itself, they took advantage of the shifting mechanics of celebrity to place their writings and, ultimately, themselves, on the rostrum, more than eager to gain literary laurels
A New Form of Authoritarianism? Rethinking Military Politics in Post-1999 Nigeria
No full textDespite the vast research that has been done on the Nigerian military, virtually all of these studies have failed to critically examine the accepted role of the military in the democratising phase. This is important because the relationship between the political elite and the military in post-military authoritarian states guarantees either democratic consolidation, or its reversal. In Nigeria, despite an appearance of significant progress in subordinating the military institution to democratic civilian authority, the military remains a crucial political actor in the polity. It appears that the military has yet to accept the core democratic principles of civilian oversight of the institution. This thesis, therefore, explores whether a new form of military authoritarianism is emerging in Nigeria, with the aim of understanding Nigeria’s military behaviour in a transitional phase, from prolonged military authoritarianism to democratisation. To examine this military behaviour, Alfred Stepan’s concept of military prerogatives that was used to understand the military’s behaviour in a transitional phase in Latin America is applied to Nigeria.
A crucial understanding of authoritarianism in Nigeria is initially discussed in this study using mainly document analysis strategy to examine whether multi-ethnic states, such as Nigeria, tend to have authoritarian systems. Six hypotheses form the core analysis of this thesis: first, that the military has retained significant military prerogatives; second, that retired military officers are gaining influential political and economic positions; third, autonomous military involvement in human rights abuses since 1999; and fourth, that civilian government oversight remains weak, and facilitates military authoritarianism. These hypotheses are primarily analysed using the elite interview technique. During the first half of 2011, the author conducted field research where serving and retired military officers were interviewed. The fifth hypothesis is that the military has intervened in politics post-1999. The examination of this hypothesis relies primarily on key security-related media reports (mostly newspaper editorials) on the military after 1999. The examination of the final hypothesis, that increases in military expenditures might facilitate a new form of military authoritarianism, relies primarily on descriptive statistical analysis. In addition, this study collated relevant historical materials that relate to the military, utilising national archival collections.
The empirical findings of this research did not identify a new form of military authoritarianism in Nigeria. The study, however, argues that the unrestricted institutional framework accorded the military has contributed significantly to authoritarian practices in the post-military era in Nigeria. This study discovered that there were similarities between the Brazilian and Nigerian militaries in regard to their military spending during their period in power. Both countries had lower defence budgets. Just as in Brazil, it appears that part of the reason the Nigerian military decided to relinquish power in 1999 had to do with its desire to gain a higher budget, something that was precluded in a military government struggling to retain a sense of legitimacy. The military needed a higher budget to modernise and re-professionalise its institution after more than a decade in power. This feature, which the Nigerian military shares with the Brazilian military, appears to justify the application to Nigeria of Alfred Stepan’s concept of military prerogatives.
- …
