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Oriental enlightenment: the problematic military experiences and cultural claims of Count Maurice Auguste comte de Benyowsky in Formosa during 1771
No full textMaurice Benyowsky's colourful version of his global adventures during the heady, expansive days of the late-Enlightenment remains still as an historical account, and is perhaps destined for reification at a time of romantic, postmodernist cultural affirmation. Yet this paper argues that within it there lies a virile and possibly dangerous Orientalism, one at least partially based upon a lurid, opportunistic and self-seeking fabrication of his visit to Taiwan (Formosa) in the year 1771. This paper examines the veracity, provenance and historiography of the Benyowsky account of late-eighteenth century Formosa, both as an exercise in one facet of Taiwanese history and as some exploration of the origin and maintenance of European views of the "other" and of the "orient" as they were transforming during the late-Enlightenment period. Furthermore a principal task is to provide an historiographical analysis that illustrates both the initial reasons for the acceptance of Benyowsky's lurid account as well as the wider contexts of its long life as a seemingly reliable and authentic tale. Questions remain as to the cultural contexts of any general acceptance of otherwise doubtful stories, experiments, claims and "adventures". Here there is little doubt that the original Memoirs were given greater credence by Benyowsky's talent in self-fashioning his character and status as those of a reliable gentleman
WHO BENEFITS FROM MICROFINANCE? THE IMPACT EVALUATION OF LARGE SCALE PROGRAMS IN BANGLADESH
No full textThis paper evaluates the impact of microfinance on household consumption using a new, large and unique cross-section data set from Bangladesh. The richness of the data and program eligibility criterion allow the use of a number of non-experimental impact evaluation techniques, in particular instrumental variable (IV) estimation and propensity score matching (PSM). Estimates from both IV and PSM strategies have been interpreted as average causal effects that are valid for various groups of participants in microfinance. The overall results indicate that the effects of micro loans are not robust across all groups of poor household borrowers. It appears that the poorest of the poor participants are among those who benefit most. The impact estimates are lower, or sometimes even negative, for those households marginal to the participation decision. The effects of participation are, in general, stronger for male borrowers. These results hold across different specifications and methods, including correction for various sources of selection bias (including possible spill-over effects).Microfinance, treatment effect, Matching, Consumption.
Experiences of bodily disorder in French books 1573-1592
No full textMary Douglas, in Purity and Danger and Elizabeth Grosz, in Volatile Bodies concur that the human body whose boundaries are traversed or transgressed is troubling, threatening and risky. The threats to which Douglas and Grosz separately refer are largely ideological and cultural threats, but their identification of the problematic nature of ruptured or unusual bodily boundaries is nevertheless relevant to the analysis of the actual bodily disorder with which this thesis is concerned. Disease, cannibalism and monstrosity are forms of bodily behaviour or conditions in which boundaries are inherently, or are rendered, unclear, and in the sixteenth-century books of Ambroise Paré, Jean de Léry and Michel de Montaigne, the question of the disorderly nature of these three physical phenomena is addressed. A fundamental feature of the books produced by these three writers is the emphasis on the experience of the form of bodily disorder in question on which the written account is based. Paré, a surgeon, treated plague patients and dissected monstrous specimens before writing about his experiences in his Œuvres completes', Léry observed the practice of cannibalism in Brazil before returning to Europe and witnessing the consumption of human flesh during the siege of Sancerre; and Montaigne, whose final essay is significantly entitled 'De ľexperience', develops a method of writing, or essaying, which involves the writer attempting to evaluate critically all received experiences and information before arriving at his own conclusion. The depiction of cannibalism, monstrosity and disease in the books of these three writers will be examined using a methodology developed around the principles of Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of dialogism. The particular relevance of this literary theory to the theme of the disordered body in French sixteenth-century books is the emphasis that Bakhtm also places on the writer's experience of his subject matter. In addition, Bakhtm argues that writers experience an impulse to consummate, in other words to define, explain and contextualise, and present as complete the world they observe. This thesis argues that the question of bodily boundaries raised by Douglas and Grosz can be addressed by Bakhtinian theory, and seeks to illustrate the ways in which Paré, Léry and Montaigne exhibit an awareness of the problem of the disordered body, and develop narrative strategies to overcome it which correspond to the functions of a Bakhtinian Author
Harmony and discord within the English ‘counter-culture’, 1965-1975, with particular reference to the ‘rock operas’ Hair, Godspell, Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar
No full textPhDThis thesis considers the discrete, historically-specific theatrical and musical sub-genre of ‘Rock Opera’ as a lens through which to examine the cultural, political and social changes that are widely assumed to have characterised ‘The Sixties’ in Britain. The musical and dramatic texts, creation and production of Hair (1967), Tommy (1969), Godspell (1971), Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) and other neglected ‘Rock Operas’ of the period are analysed. Their great popularity with ‘mainstream’ audiences is considered and contrasted with the overwhelmingly negative and often internally contradictory reaction towards them from the English ‘counter-culture’. This examination offers new insights into both the ‘counter-culture’ and the ‘mainstream’ against which it claimed to define and differentiate itself.
The four ‘Rock Operas’, two of which are based upon Christian scriptures, are considered as narratives of spiritual quest. The relationship between the often controversial quests for re-defined forms of faith and the apparently precipitous ‘secularization’ and ‘de-Christianization’ of British society during the 1960s and 1970s is considered.
The thesis therefore analyses the ‘Rock Operas’ as significant, enlightening prisms through which to view many of the profound societal debates – over ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ in the widest senses, sexuality, the Vietnam war, generational conflict, drugs and ‘spiritual enlightenment’, and race – which were, to some considerable extent, elevated onto the national, political agenda by the activities of the broadly-defined ‘counter-culture’. It considers subsequent representations of the ‘counter-culture’ as the root of a contested but enduring popular legacy of ‘The Sixties' as a period of profound cultural change
Safety belt use in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
No full textMichigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, Lansinghttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/1340/2/94184.0001.001.pd
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
Pain catastrophizing predicts verbal expression among children with chronic pain and their mothers
No full textThis study examined intra- and inter-personal associations between pain catastrophizing and verbal expression in 70 children with recurrent abdominal pain and their mothers. Participants independently completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Mothers and children then talked about the child’s pain. Speech was categorized using a linguistic analysis program. Catastrophizing was positively associated with the use of negative emotion words by both mothers and children. In addition, mothers’ catastrophizing was positively associated with both mothers’ and children’s anger word usage, whereas children’s catastrophizing was inversely associated with mothers’ anger word usage. Findings extend the literature on behavioral and interpersonal aspects of catastrophizing
A behavioural and electrophysiological study of factors involved in the relationship between stress and alcohol dependence
No full textAlcohol dependence causes disruption to both work and family life and the associated costs are £150+ million in the UK alone. Stressful life events play a role in initiation of uncontrolled (dependent) drinking and can precipitate relapse to high ethanol consumption after treatment / abstinence. The primary neurological substrate for ethanol reward is the mesolimbic dopamine system of the medial forebrain bundle. Activation of the hypothalamopituitaryadrenal axis (the hormonal response to many stresssors) plays a role in the control of ethanol consumption and relapse, and modulation of neuronal activity by chronic calcium channel blockade decreases ethanol intake, tolerance and withdrawal. The stress system and calcium channel blockade both affect the dopaminergic reward pathways. Hypothesis: Stress and the stress hormone, corticosterone, play a crucial role in the modulation of ethanol consumption and the long term changes resulting from chronic ethanol intake. This hypothesis was tested by investigating the effects of:• social status and calcium channel blockade on chronic ethanol intake (free choice 5, 10, 20% ethanol and water) of group housed rats.• social stress from defeat by an aggressive resident on ethanol preference of low ethanol preference C57 mice.• 6 days abstinence from chronic ethanol intake (liquid diet) on NMDA-stimulated firing of dopaminergic, ventral tegmental area, cells and the role of corticosterone in modulation of this response to NMDA. The main findings from these studies indicate that, while the social stress of group housing under laboratory conditions may be insufficient to elevate ethanol intake, repeated defeat significantly increases ethanol intake. However, neither chronic ethanol consumption nor corticosterone seemd to have any effect on NMDA-stimulated dopamine cell firing. These results indicate a significant role for social stress in the modulation of ethanol intake but possibly not via the action of corticosterone on NMDA-stimulation of the mesolimbic dopamine system
The films of Chantal Akerman : a cinema of displacements
No full textThis thesis attempts to broaden the critical boundaries within which the films of
Chantal Akerman have been discussed. First, it extends analysis from Akerman's
70s to her 80s and 90s films. Second, it argues that as well as her gender and
aesthetic identities, Akerman's Belgian and Jewish identities should be
acknowledged. Finally, it suggests that each of these four identities: woman,
independent film-maker, Belgian and Jewish allow her a position of marginality,
figured in her films through the trope of 'displacement'.
The structure of the thesis is two-fold: it extends discussion of Akerman's cinema to
films not previously considered, and through this extension engages with
contemporary issues in film and cultural theory such as female authorship,
independent and national, and marginal cinemas. Chapter one `Woman' and chapter
two `Independent' extend the reading of gender and sexuality and formal and
aesthetic innovation in Akerman's cinema. In the first chapter this is done through
consideration of the films Golden Eighties (1986) and Nuit et jour (1990), while in
the second her short films, video work and work for television are examined.
My third and fourth chapters offer areas of Akerman's work which have not
previously been studied. Chapter three, `Belgian', considers the significance of
Akerman's nationality for her film-making while engaging with theories around
national cinema. It examines the possibility of a `Belgian national cinema' and the
intersections which arise between this and Akerman's cinema, especially around
Toute une nuit (1982). Finally, in my fourth chapter, `Jewish', I use Histoires
d'Amerigue (1989) and D'Est (1993) to argue that Akerman's is a `wandering'
cinema, in which she is constantly examining the homelessness and displacement
that her Jewishness engenders
Sequential analysis of child pain behavior and maternal responses: an observational study
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