9 research outputs found
Ezra Pound and the rhetoric of science, 1901-1922
Get PDFThis thesis identifies science as Ezra Pound’s first extended extra-poetic interest.
This reference to science in Pound’s poetic theory and poetry is portrayed as rhetoric, with
its emphasis on the linguistic signifier or word rather than the actual concepts and data of
science. The material covers over two decades between 1901, when Pound entered
university, and 1922, after he left London. Beginning with Pound’s exposure to philology,
the thesis establishes a correlation between his educational background and his use of
scientific rhetoric in his prose. As he attempted to establish a professional status for the
poet, he used metaphors linking literature to the natural sciences and comparisons between
the poet and the scientist. Additionally, Pound attempted to organize poetic movements that
resembled the professional scientific organizations that were beginning to form in America.
In his writings promoting these movements, Pound developed a hygienic theory of poetry—
itself an extensive rhetorical project—which produced a clean, bare poem and further linked
Pound’s poetic output with the sciences. Beyond his rhetorical use of science, Pound
attempted to study the sciences and even adopted a doctor persona for his friends with
illnesses—both diagnosing and prescribing cures. When Pound was planning to leave
London, he also considered entering medical school—a biographical fact to which Pound
scholarship has paid little attention. His decision not to formally study the sciences
reinforced his identity as a poet and his representations of scientific knowledge as mere
rhetoric. This interest in the sciences, and medicine in particular, influenced Pound’s poetry
and prose because of their frequent references and their alignment with literature.
Additionally, this early use of rhetoric and an exploration into extra-poetic materials
prepares Pound for his later, better-known and often infamous explorations of economics
and social theory
Diversity in leadership: Australian women, past and present
Get PDFThis book provides a new understanding of the historical and contemporary aspects of Indigenous and non-Indigenous women’s leadership in a range of local, national and international contexts.
Overview
While leadership is an over-used term today, how it is defined for women and the contexts in which it emerges remains elusive. Moreover, women are exhorted to exercise leadership, but occupying leadership positions has its challenges. Issues of access, acceptable behaviour and the development of skills to be successful leaders are just some of them.
Diversity in Leadership: Australian women, past and present provides a new understanding of the historical and contemporary aspects of Indigenous and non-Indigenous women’s leadership in a range of local, national and international contexts. It brings interdisciplinary expertise to the topic from leading scholars in a range of fields and diverse backgrounds. The aims of the essays in the collection document the extent and diverse nature of women’s social and political leadership across various pursuits and endeavours within democratic political structures
The signifier returns to haunt the referent : blackface and the stereotyping of African-Americans in Hollywood early sound film
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the persistence of blackface in Hollywood's early sound era
1927-1953. It establishes the extensive and complex nature of this persistence against
previous historical accounts of its decline after the introduction of sound. Specifically
this thesis considers the overlooked phenomenon of co-presence where blackface was
juxtaposed with the increased visibility of African-Americans in Hollywood film. It
argues that the primary historical significance of the persistence of blackface lies in its
involvement in, and exposure of, the formal stereotyping of African Americans in
film.
The thesis is founded on research which identified 124 blackface films and on
viewings of 75 of these films. Primarily the argument is advanced on the basis of
close textual analysis. In addition to its theoretical engagement with key positions on
blackface and related areas the thesis also makes use of secondary sources in order to
establish the historical context behind its persistence in film.
Principle areas discussed include the formal practices used to racially mark African Americans
in film, co-presence in the films of Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, and
blackface and the racial containment of African-American vernacular dance and
music.
This thesis contributes to an understanding of the place of blackface in Hollywood
history by setting down what is, to the best of its author's knowledge, the most
extensive account to date of its persistence in the early sound era. In doing so it
brings new material to the debates on the 'nature' of blackface and argues that current
attempts to revise understandings of its racial bias may be misguided. In conclusion
this thesis finds that the case study of co-presence indicates that one explanation for
the longevity of Hollywood's African-American stereotypes lies in the sheer density
of their textual construction
Obscure Prussian names of residetial areas in the southern part of East Prussia
No full textRašant apie prūsišką vardyną, būtina turėti galvoje ir kitų baltų kalbų vardyną, tautosaką, mitologiją, istoriją, archeologiją, kultūrą, etnologiją, nes be visų tų mokslų sintezės tyrimai jau nebeįmanomi. Prūsų vardyno tyrimai pradėti XIX amžiuje, XX amžiuje jau tapo neatskiriama baltų filologijos dalis. Didžiausi nuopelnai priklauso Jurgiui Geruliui (1912, 1922), Ernst Lewy (1904) ir Reinholdui Trautmannui (1925). 1985 m. garsiojo baltisto, indoeuropeisto ir onomasto iniciatyva pasirodė pirmasis naujos serijos "Hydronymia Europaea“, leidžiamos Mainco mokslų ir literatūros akademijos, tomas (Górnowicz 1985)1. Iš viso buvo išleisti 20 tomų, skirtų vandenvardžių tyrimams, trys specialieji tomai, skirti gyvenamųjų vietų aptarimui (žr. Przybytek 1993; Blažienė 2000, 2005) ir paskutinis tomas buvo specialiųjų tomų indeksas (Eggers 2006). Kolegos lenkai medžiagą rinko iš rašytinių šaltinių. Straipsnio autorė, labai seniai nusprendusi, kad patikimiausia medžiaga yra gausiuose Vokiečių ordino rankraštiniuose paminkluose, ištikimai dirbo ir tebedirba būtent su autentiškiausia medžiaga – rankraštiniais dokumentais. Įdėmiai susipažinus su lenkų vardyno tyrėjos 1993 metų darbu, paaiškėjo, kad ne visa medžiaga, apimanti jos tiriamą sritį, t. y. pietinę Rytų Prūsijos dalį, atsispindi toje dalyje, taip pat kapitaliniame Lenkijos onomastų veikale "Nazwy miejscowe Polski“, pradėtame leisti 1996 metais, redaguojant lenkų onomastikos milžinui Kazimierzui Rymutui. Todėl 2005 metų autorės monografijoje buvo nutarta papildyti R. Przybytek tirtą sritį naujai surastais ar interpretuotinais gyvenamųjų vietų vardais.The research of the Prussian onomasticon is inseparable from the onomasticon of other Baltic languages, folklore, mythology, history, archaeology, culture, or ethnology, because without the synthesis of all those sciences such studies are impossible. Research into the Prussian onomasticon began in the 19th century, and by the 20th century it had already become an integral part of Baltic philology. Among the most deserving researchers are Jurgis Gerulis, Reinhold Trautmann, Janis Endzelyns, Vytautas Mažiulis, Vladimir Nikolayevich Toporov. One should not forget the immeasurable input into the studies of the Prussian onomasticon made by Wolfgang P. Schmidt, a famous German Balticist, Indo-Europeanist and onomastician, who, together with his Polish colleagues, began publishing a new series Hydronymia Europaea, the first volume of which appeared in 1985. Many researchers of the Prussian onomasticon, including Polish scholars, study it on the basis of written material, but the author of the current paper believes that the most reliable and authentic sources are the rich manuscript documents of the German Order (GO). It is this viewpoint and acquaintance with the research carried out by colleagues that have repeatedly shown that not all Prussian material, covering southern East Prussia, collected by Polish scholars is reflected in the Polish series, Nazwy miejscowe Polski which have been published since 1996. It has long been clear that onomasticians must be familiar with the specifics of the documents from which empirical material is being collected. An invaluable asset in the research process is the ability of the researcher to make the distinction between land names and place names. The GO manuscripts also contain valuable data on the naming of Prussians and settlements of people of other nationalities in the Prussian lands. The study of empirical material also reveals a phenomenon that existed in East Prussia at that time – several names of the same settlements, i. e. settlements with two names, the emergence of which was most likely due to a change in the ownership of the settlements. For example, among such settlement names the name Smausgheyeyn villa (village) can be mentioned, which was written circa 1400 A. D. and mentioned in later sources as 1474 das Dorf Cleyn Smaußeyn, 1543 Bundicken, 1785 Bündken, circa 1790 Bindken, 1946 Buendken – Bądki, 1951 Bądki – Bündtken. The Prussian onomasticon has been studied in Lithuania and abroad since the second half of the 20th century, i.e., for many years, during which it was possible to prove that Prussian proper names are the separate object of research and that the fundamental works of Jurgis Gerulis and Reinhold Trautmann were only a solid beginning, based on which the representatives of many onomastics schools (Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Russian, German, etc.) developed their research directions. In Lithuania, the Prussian onomasticon is studied by the author of the current paper and her student dr. Darius Ivoška, who has understood the significance of manuscript heritage for Onomastics. Prussian hydronyms were described by Feliksas Daubaras. The Prussian onomasticon is used by many scholars of the world as an aid in researching Lithuanian and Latvian proper names and in explaining complex problems of Indo-European studies. Undoubtedly, the Prussian onomasticon needs to be studied very carefully, cautiously and accurately, as the Prussian language is now dead, leaving us with more than a thousand proper names – place names, land names, hydronyms, personal names from which the Prussian appellatives can be restored, i.e., common words, that may enrich the legacy of the now scarce general vocabulary of the Prussian language. Prussian proper names are the earliest witnesses of the Baltic languages, as they were very neatly written in the books of the GO Chancellery. The clerks of the Order wrote down the Prussian proper names from the living language, and later, as more folios of the Order were written, the names were copied from one folio to another. It is clear from the examples given in the article that there were more names of Prussian settlements than were examined by Rozalia Przybytek in her work published in 1993. It is also clear that the study of the Prussian onomasticon is in many respects a complex process that provides knowledge about both the language and the history of the nation that no longer exists
Enhancing the reading conditions in a multilingual grade six class : exploring the possibilities
No full textThe qualitative study described in this research addresses the question of ""how to enhance reading conditions in a grade six class with learners from different language backgrounds, but taught in English as a medium of instruction"". The conceptual framework helps to carve a path through the maze of definitions about reading, independent readers, reading models and Cambourne's reading conditions, which were the focus of the research. The grade six classroom, in which the reading conditions, mainly ""immersion"" and ""engagement"", were to be enhanced, consisted of 42 learners and one teacher. The observation period started in February 2002, but the actual research described in this dissertation lasted two months (August and September 2002), and happened in different phases: the initial phase and the main research period. The latter was made up of the intervention and the final phase. In the initial phase the reading conditions In the classroom layout, the learners' profile, the teaching practices and the attitudes towards reading were explored through observations, field notes and interviews. Other qualitative data was gathered using a reading survey and a cloze procedure test, which were both developed by the researcher. The collected data helped to set up the intervention, in which several challenges had to be faced. During that intervention the physical conditions in the classroom were enhanced to create an encouraging and comfortable space for the learner-reader. A wide variety of interesting and relevant books were brought in the classroom in order to make it a literacy rich environment. At the same time, organising activities based on prediction and sequencing studied the learners' meaning making process. These activities were created to stimulate the learners' engagement in reading. In the final phase possible changes in reading engagement and attitudes were registered through the same cloze procedure test and a second reading survey. Significant results of the research showed that reading became a social experience, an interaction between learners and teacher, in an environment where learners read for pleasure. Even though the intervention took place over a short period of two weeks, the results indicate that there are ways in which teachers can enhance reading conditions and a stimulating environment can be created to engage learners in reading
Popular song in early modern drama 1580-1620
Get PDFThis dissertation investigates the reciprocal relationship between the song culture of early modern England and its representation in drama of the late sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries. Unlike past studies, no preference is given to any particular playwright. Rather, the dissertation considers evidence from close to 100 plays in which songs, references to song, and elements of song culture are most abundant.
The study begins with an exploration into the particular ability of early modern audience members to recognise and appreciate sophisticated references to song as they
encountered them in drama. Next there is a discussion of some of the more famous characters of song culture whose narratives and reputations – effectively lost to us now
– were regularly mined by playwrights. The third part of the study investigates song’s power as represented in fictive spaces. Chapter 4 examines dramatic representations of song performance by elites and their relationship to contemporary decorum. Lastly, Chapter 5 focuses on a point in London’s history where its dramatists appear to have
been particularly keen to capitalize on song’s function as a consolidator of cultural identity.
The overriding impression at the end of the study is of early modern playwrights basing representations of song and singing less upon contemporary beliefs surrounding
music, its power, and its place in the cosmos, and more upon phenomenological observation of song as it operates in people and in their society
The factors which influence the selection of physical targets by terrorist groups
No full textThe aim of terrorism is to influence a group of people
or institutions - the psychological target or targets - by
attacking the appropriate physical targets in order to prompt
the desired response. Several factors influence the selection
of physical targets by non-state terrorist groups. These
include the ideology of the terrorist group concerned, the
strategy adopted by the group and its capabilities, its need
to take account of external opinion - including that of
supporters, the measures adopted to protect likely targets,
and the security environment within which the terrorist group
operates. In addition, decision-making is affected by the
dynamics within the group which are in turn affected by the
psychological pressures of clandestinity and the frequent
risk of death or capture which many terrorists run.
The relationship between these factors varies from
group to group, which is inevitable given the idiosyncratic
nature of most terrorist groups, and the different
circumstances in which they find themselves. However, it can
generally be said that ideology sets out the moral framework
within which terrorists operate - and which determines
whether terrorists judge it to be legitimate to attack a
range of target. After this, the determination of which
targets it will actually be beneficial to attack depends upon
the strategy which the group has adopted as a means of
achieving its political objectives. The determination of
their strategic objectives depends upon the effects which the
terrorists hope their attacks will achieve. Thus, strategy
further refines the range of targets initially delimited by
the group's ideology.
The other factors mentioned tend to act as constraints
upon the group, partly - as with security measures - in
restricting them from carrying out the types of attacks which
they would desire but also in encouraging them to carry out
attacks on certain targets in the hope of gaining benefits
such as the approval of their supporters, or of gaining
publicity for their cause. Underlying all of this is the
human factor, whereby relations within the group, the impact
of psychological pressure, and individual differences in
moral judgements may influence the targets chosen by
terrorists
Shakespeare in purgatory : a study of the Catholicising movement in Shakespeare biography
Get PDFThe twentieth and the twenty-first centuries have Catholicised Shakespeare. At the
heart of this movement lie the so-called Lancastrian theories: that Shakespeare spent
some time during his `lost years' in Lancashire and that he is to be identified with
`Will[i]am Shakeshafte' in the will of the Catholic magnate, Alexander Hoghton of
Lea. Although the proponents of the theories - aptly called `Lancastrians' - agree in
terms of the identification of `Shakeshafte' with Shakespeare, their arguments vary
and sometimes even contradict each other. We have, therefore, Lancastrian theories
(plural). They are attempts to investigate the whereabouts of Shakespeare during the
`lost years' and to find out the means by which he entered the London theatre.
The Lancastrian theories can be seen in part as a counter-movement against
recent Shakespeare scholarship that has been preoccupied with theory. Paradoxically,
another stimulus for the revival of biographical studies is literary critics' interest in
early modem history, which materialist criticism, especially new historicism, has
brought in since the 1980s. Religion has become a major issue in Shakespeare studies.
The modem historiography of the English Reformation, especially `revisionism',
which emphasises the continuation of medieval Catholicism after the Reformation,
has provided significant energy for the development of the Lancastrian theories.
Furthermore, the Lancastrians have their own agenda - personal ambitions and
motivations, some of which are not altogether scholarly.
However, these theories are for the most part based on a chain of speculations,
and tend to state them as fact. The biographers, whether Lancastrians or not, who
believe Shakespeare and his family to have been Catholics are unfamiliar with the
religious condition in Elizabethan England, including anti-Catholic acts and the
penalties imposed on recusants. Their arguments also neglect other Elizabethan
customs. These biographers' lack of profound knowledge of socio-political and
religious history of Elizabethan England has produced inaccurate dramatisation of
Shakespeare's life. One other disabling tendency among these biographers is to
neglect negative evidence and disregard alternative interpretations. Their approaches
to Shakespeare biography simplify the complexity of documentary evidence and
produce narrowness of view.
In Elizabethan England a series of continuous religious negotiations and
renegotiations took place. Through this struggle, the clear-cut division between
Catholicism and Protestantism was deconstructed, and there emerged `religious
pluralism' -a compromise between Catholicism and Protestantism. It was in this
complex matrix that Shakespeare was born, grew up and wrote plays and poems. It is
against this cultural background that we should study Shakespeare's life (or lives)
A critical analysis of South African peacemaking in the conflicts in the Great Lakes region
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 133-150).The Great Lakes region, where conflict resolution and peace operations have been a challenge for 40 years, has been the site of continuous conflicts in the 1960s and 1990s. Despite South Africa's enormous contribution as a peacemaker in the region since 1996, the situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains fragile. How can another potentially deadly conflict in the Great Lakes region be prevented in the future? And how can South Africa improve its performance as a peacemaker? This dissertation analyses South Africa's peace-making efforts in the context of three events in the Great Lakes region: the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the First Congo War in 1996, and the Second Congo War in 1998. The dissertation takes an empirical approach and focuses on eastern DRC, which has the highest concentration of causalities and is crucial to the wars of the DRC. In addition to literature and documents, I have also incorporated key informant interviews and my own personal observations during my assignment as a humanitarian worker from March 2007 to July 2008. These interviews and observations may shed light on the conflict from the perspective of Congolese people. I argue that South Africa has failed as a peacemaker due to four main factors: South Africa's inadequate knowledge of mediation skills; its ambivalent and contradictory foreign policy that stressed the country's interests; its insufficient understanding of major causes, aggravating factors and the nature of this regionalised conflict; and the Southern African Development Community (SADC)'s paradoxical politics. The aim of this dissertation is to explore possible solutions to conflict by strengthening South Africa's peace-making opportunities, which IS the key to implementing successful conflict prevention
