4 research outputs found
Modeling Brain Circuitry over a Wide Range of Scales
No full textIf we are ever to unravel the mysteries of brain function at its most fundamental level, we will need a precise understanding of how its component neurons connect to each other. Electron Microscopes (EM) can now provide the nanometer resolution that is needed to image synapses, and therefore connections, while Light Microscopes (LM) see at the micrometer resolution required to model the 3D structure of the dendritic network. Since both the topology and the connection strength are integral parts of the brain's wiring diagram, being able to combine these two modalities is critically important.In fact, these microscopes now routinely produce high-resolution imagery in such large quantities that the bottleneck becomes automated processing and interpretation, which is needed for such data to be exploited to its full potential. In this paper, we briefly review the Computer Vision techniques we have developed at EPFL to address this need. They include delineating dendritic arbors from LM imagery, segmenting organelles from EM, and combining the two into a consistent representation
Women in African Drama: Representation and role
No full textThe purpose of this study is to examine the representation and role of women in African theatre. The discussion is based on published and unpublished plays by African writers selected from a pan-African perspective.
The thesis is divided into two major parts: Women in Society; The Portrayal of Women by Major Playwrights. Part I follows a thematic approach aimed at examining the position of women in three different areas which form the chapters for the part : Women, Tradition and Social
Change; The Urban Woman and Women in Politics. Part II of the thesis analyses major African playwrights' presentation of women characters. This part discusses not only the characterization of women by major playwrights but also these writers' attitude towards women and women's issues. Examined here in two chapters are The Portrayal of Women by
Major Male Playwrights and The Portrayal of Women by Major Female Playwrights.
Chapter 1, 'Women, Tradition and Social Change' discusses selected playwrights' examination of African women's experiences in the traditional African setting as a major foundation of the present and future socio-political situation of the continent; this chapter is the springboard
of the study.
From the traditional milieu the study then moves on to the
relatively new urban environment. This Chapter examines the predicaments in which the African woman finds herself as she struggles to survive in a world which differs significantly from the traditional one. Survival in the urban environment demands a certain degree of autonomy
from communal ties on the part of the individual. Yet in the case of the African woman, society does not hesitate to censure her movements and even to point an accusing finger at her for failing to satisfy traditional expectations when she is genuinely trying to meet the challenges presented by life in towns.
The myth that a woman's place is exclusively in the kitchen is a widespread one the world over. A more negative myth found in Africa is that participation of women in public affairs leads to social disaster. The third chapter of this study examines the role of African women in politics in the traditional and contemporary periods.
The fourth chapter discusses the portrayal of women by major male playwrights. Of great significance in this analysis is the attitude of these male writers towards women and also towards issues affecting women. It is for this reason that cross-references are made between these male writers and the female playwrights examined in Chapter 5.
Very negligible research has been done on drama by African women. It is in recognition of this unfortunate situation that the fifth and last chapter of this thesis is dedicated to women's self-perception as reflected in their portrayal of fellow-women in theatre. This chapter examines only major female playwrights; the minor female playwrights
are examined alongside the male in the appropriate areas in Chapters 1 to 3
Predictors of self-reported research productivity amongst medical students in the United Kingdom: a national cross-sectional survey
No full textAbstract Background The number of academic clinicians in the UK is declining and there are demographic inequalities in the clinical-academic workforce. Increased research productivity by medical students is believed to reduce future attrition in the clinical-academic workforce. Thus, this study investigated the association between student demographics and research productivity amongst UK medical students. Methods This is a national multicentre cross-sectional study of UK medical students in the 2020/21 academic year. We appointed one student representative per medical school, and they disseminated a 42-item online questionnaire over nine weeks, through departmental emails and social media advertisements. The outcome measures were: (i) publications (yes/no) (ii) number of publications (iii) number of first-authored publications (iv) abstract presentation (yes/no). We utilised multiple logistic and zero-inflated Poisson regression analyses to test for associations between the outcome measures and predictor variables at a 5% significance level. Results There are 41 medical schools in the UK. We received 1573 responses from 36 UK medical schools. We failed to recruit student representatives from three newly formed medical schools, whilst two medical schools prohibited us from sending the survey to their students. Women had lower odds of having a publication (OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.33–0.85) and on average had fewer first-author publications than men (IRR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.37–0.89). Compared to white students, mixed-ethnicity students had greater odds of having a publication (OR: 3.06, 95% CI: 1.67–5.59), an abstract presentation (OR: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.37–3.26), and on average had a greater number of publications (IRR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.02–3.43). On average, students who attended independent UK secondary schools had a higher rate of first-author publications compared to those that attended state secondary schools (IRR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.23–3.15). Conclusion Our data suggest that there are gender, ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in research productivity among UK medical students. To tackle this, and potentially improve diversity in clinical academia, we recommend that medical schools should facilitate targeted high quality research mentorship, funding and training, especially for under-represented-in-medicine students
Two Decades Later: Approaches to Teaching Alice Walker's Possessing the Secret of Joy, an Edited volume of Essays
No full textIn 1992, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker performed a laudable act for humanity: she
became the first major author to dedicate a novel “to the blameless vulva” and thereby set an
egregious abuse of girl’s and women’s rights -- female genital mutilation or FGM -- in the public
spotlight. 2012 marks the twentieth anniversary of this landmark publication. In response,
UnCUT/VOICES Press will bring out a collection of essays on the book and its global reception – Two
Decades Later: Revisiting Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy [working title]. Dr. Levin wrote the Chapter 1: Introduction by Tobe Levin drawing on and adding to reception histories in the following sources:
- Levin, Tobe. “Feminist (and “Womanist”) as Public Intellectuals: Elfriede Jelinek and Alice Walker.”
In The New York Public Intellectuals and Beyond. Exploring Liberal Humanism, Jewish Identity,
and the American Protest Tradition. Eds. E. Goffman and D. Morris. W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue
U.P., 2009. 243-274.
- Levin, Tobe. “FGM or Cutting the Rose in Alice Walker’s Garden.” Rose Lore. Essays in Cultural
Criticism and Semiotics. Ed. Frankie Hutton. NY: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. 19-32. [rpt.
UnCUT/VOICES Press, 2012, 45-71]
- Levin, Tobe. "Alice Walker: Matron of FORWARD." Black Imagination and the Middle Passage. Eds.
Maria Diedrich, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Carl Pedersen. NY: Oxford UP, 1999. 240-254.
[Germany]Tobe Levin’s Faculty Research Grant Report
In 1992, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker performed a laudable act for humanity: she
became the first major author to dedicate a novel “to the blameless vulva” and thereby set an
egregious abuse of girl’s and women’s rights -- female genital mutilation or FGM -- in the public
spotlight. 2012 marks the twentieth anniversary of this landmark publication. In response,
UnCUT/VOICES Press will bring out a collection of essays on the book and its global reception – Two
Decades Later: Revisiting Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy [working title]. The outlook is
deliberately laudatory, for the controversy generated by this text challenges those who would praise
it to do so.
Evelyn C. White’s biography, Alice Walker. A Life (NY: Norton, 2004) opens its prologue with a scene
in which Walker, guest at “an elite college near Boston in the early 1990s” (xiii) [my very good guess
is Wellesley where a considerable amount of criticism emerged], has just read from Possessing the
Secret of Joy only to be confronted by a “middle-aged white woman who identified herself as a
college official” (xiii). The very first question is really a finger-wagging, for the “luncheon guests”
have purportedly been so shocked by the words “clitoris” and “vagina” that a firestorm of ire is
expected along with fear that financial support will be withheld. Asked for advice on how to deal
with the “complaints,” Alice gives a restrained but passionate response. Like her heroine Tashi, she
instructs the college employee to set the callers straight, specifically to understand that their issues
as privileged, presumed rich white women differ from those of “impoverished women of color” (xiv).
Clearly, Alice sees herself as representing African-American demography in terms of class and
history. The exchange is therefore framed in terms of Black and White.
Imagine Walker’s pain on finding out that the categories slip, and that addressing FGM elicits even
greater, more virulent hostility from those whose support had been taken for granted – namely
“women of color” who had emigrated from Africa and were not, like Walker, descendants of
American slaves. The early outcry against the book was in fact fueled not by white opposition but by
black: early opponents resented Walker’s assumption of kinship. They resented the misrecognition of
their status and conflation of it with persons whose ancestors had been abducted and enslaved (this
being my interpretation of the subtext). Among outspoken African critics had been scions of national
leaders; turbulence in their countries, coup d’états, and political upheavals had led to their
resettlement in the USA. And most were wealthy, even ‘aristocratic’ or, at the very least, well-educated
and upper middle class.
My introduction to the collection cites these critics whose clout enabled them to publish in places
like the New York Times. In important academic positions, they set the tone for reception in major
feminist outlets like The Women’s Review of Books and Meridians. And when Walker pushed on to
reach an even broader audience through film, debate exploded. Co-authored and produced with
Pratibha Parmar, Warrior Marks, a video and a book that appeared in 1993, elicited the following
comments from biographer White: “Screened primarily at film festivals and at fund-raising events,
Warrior Marks was repudiated, in the United States and abroad, by a cadre of activists who branded
Alice a ‘cultural imperialist’ for bringing attention to a practice they asserted was a ‘private affair’
best left to Africans” (459).
White is mistaken. Perhaps the phrase “in the U.S. and abroad” slipped without thought from her
pen. In fact, reception abroad was positive – in both Europe and in Africa. After all, Possessing the
Secret of Joy and Warrior Marks were created in consultation with African pioneers in the struggle to
end FGM – none of whom resided in the USA but included African women with whom I’ve had a
close working relationship for three decades: Efua Dorkenoo, Comfort Ottah, Awa Thiam and others.
This collection of essays by an international group of scholars has among its aims to show how
Walker served the global movement against FGM with her fiction; to broaden the parochial
viewpoint floated in the United States concerning ‘ownership’ of the issue; and to present, perhaps
too long after the fact, a counter-portrait of successful intervention and thereby contribute to
justifying this contorted aspect of Walker’s legacy.
Chapters include
Chapter 1. Introduction by Tobe Levin drawing on and adding to reception histories in the following
sources:
Levin, Tobe. “Feminist (and “Womanist”) as Public Intellectuals: Elfriede Jelinek and Alice Walker.”
In The New York Public Intellectuals and Beyond. Exploring Liberal Humanism, Jewish Identity,
and the American Protest Tradition. Eds. E. Goffman and D. Morris. W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue
U.P., 2009. 243-274.
Levin, Tobe. “FGM or Cutting the Rose in Alice Walker’s Garden.” Rose Lore. Essays in Cultural
Criticism and Semiotics. Ed. Frankie Hutton. NY: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. 19-32. [rpt.
UnCUT/VOICES Press, 2012, 45-71]
Levin, Tobe. "Alice Walker: Matron of FORWARD." Black Imagination and the Middle Passage. Eds.
Maria Diedrich, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Carl Pedersen. NY: Oxford UP, 1999. 240-254.
[Germany]
Chapter 2. Verena Stefan. “Die Verstümmelung der Vulva und andere Beschneidungen der
weiblichen Freiheit – Die vollkommene Vulva und ihr Glanz – Widerstand” [Mutilation of the
Vulva and the circumcision of other female freedoms or the perfect vulva, its aura and revolt]
from “Why was the Little Girl Crying?” in Rauh, wild & frei. Mädchengestalten in der
Literatur. [Tough, Wild and Free. Images of Girls in Literature] Frankfurt am Main: Fischer,
1997. Trans. Tobe Levin. With permission. [Germany/Switzerland]
Chapter 3. Claudia Landi. “Rappresentazione e Simbologia degli Animali in Possessing the Secret of
Joy” [Representation and Symbols of the Body in Possessing the Secret of Joy] from Les
Parole di Cassandra. [Cassandra’s Words] Eds. Ilaria Bellini, et. al. Firenze: Facoltà di Lettere e
Filosofia (University of Florence), 1995. Trans. Tobe Levin. With permission. [Italy]
Chapter 4. Elisabeth Bekers. “Walker’s Traumatized Woman Warrior in Possessing the Secret of Joy.”
From Rising Anthills. African & African American Writing on Female Genital Excision 1960-
2000. Madison: U. of Wisconsin P., 2010. [156-164.] With permission. [Belgium]
Chapter 5. M. Giulia Fabi. “Sexual Violence and the Black Atlantic. On Alice Walker’s Possessing the
Secret of Joy.” From Black Imagination and the Middle Passage. Eds. Maria Diedrich, Henry
Louis Gates, Jr., and Carl Pedersen. NY: Oxford UP, 1999. [228-239]. With permission. [Italy]
Chapter 6. John Gruesser. “Breaking the Silence about Female Genital Mutilation in Possessing the
Secret of Joy.” Adapted from CONFLUENCES: POSTCOLONIALISM, AFRICAN AMERICAN
LITERARY STUDIES, AND THE BLACK ATLANTIC. Athens: U. of Georgia P., 2005; paperback
2007. With permission. [USA]
Chapter 7. Mihaela Mudure. “Comparative Blacknesses in Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy:
African-Americans, the Roma people, early marriage and excision.” Original contribution.
[University of Cluj, Romania]
Chapter 8. Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez. “The Fictionalized Universal or Possessing the Secret of Joy
in the classroom.” Original contribution. [Simon’s Rock College of Bard. USA]
Chapter 9. Sachiko Mitsumori. “Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy. Towards the Universal
Self.” Original contribution. [University of Hiroshima. Japan]
Chapter 10. Hilda Twongyeirwe. “Possessing the Secret of Joy and Women’s Fiction against FGM in
Uganda.” Original contribution. [FemRite Women’s Writers’ Collective, Kampala. Uganda]
UNCUT/VOICES PRESS
Publishing against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Blood Stains
A Child of Africa Reclaims Her Human Rights
by KHADY with Marie-Thérèse Cuny
Translated by Tobe Levin
Frankfurt am Main: UNCUT/VOICES PRESS, 2010
ISBN: 978-3-9813863-0-1. PB. 29.90 plus postage & handling (1.50 for each additional book for
U.S. addresses). By VISA, Mastercard, PayPal: www.uncutvoices.com
By check payable to UnCUT/ VOICES Press c/o R. Levin, 7 Maryland Ave. West Long Branch, N.J. 07764-1725.
IN the U.K.: 22,00 BP plus 3,00 BP postage by PAYPAL or bank transfer:
IN EUROPE: €24,90 plus €5,00 postage by PAYPAL or bank transfer:
UnCUT/VOICES Press
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IBAN: DE11 5005 0201 0200 4204 70. SWIFT-BIC: HELADEF1822
Email your address, please: [email protected]
Geschäftsnummer HRB 86527, U.G. Haftungsbeschränkt
Godfrey Williams-Okorodus, Oil on Canvas, 2009
Forthcoming:
Hubert Prolongeau. Undoing FGM. Pierre Foldes, the Surgeon Who Restores the Clitoris. Foreword by Bernard
Kouchner, former French Foreign Minister. Trans. Tobe Levin. ISBN: 978-3-9813863-1-8. Biography of the
sought-after pioneer urologist who discovered how to return sensation to victims of clitoridectomy. JULY
2011. Price: 29.90 pb.
Honorary Advisory Board
Elfriede Jelinek, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Literature
Vera I. Grant, Executive Director, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African
and African American Research, Harvard University
Diane Rosenfeld, Associate Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Maria Jaschok, Director, International Gender Studies, Oxford Depart-ment
of International Development, University of Oxford
Owolabi Bjalkander, former Parliamentary Assistant to Christine
McCafferty, MP (2003 UK Female Genital Mutilation Bill), Sierra
Leone
Obioma Nnaemeka, Professor of French & Women’s Studies, Indiana
University, Indianapolis, and Founder, AAWS (Association of Afri-can
Women Scholars), Nigeria/ USA
Fatoumata Siré-Diakité, Ambassador from Mali to Germany and
Founder/President, Association pour le Progrès et la Défense des
Femmes Maliennes, Bamako/Berlin
Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, City Councilwoman and author, Erlangen,
Germany
Angelika Köster-Lossack, FORWARD–Germany board and former Mem-ber
of the German Parliament (MdB)
Florence Howe, Founding Publisher/Director of The Feminist Press at
CUNY
Shulamit Reinharz, Founding Director, Women’s Studies Center and
Hadasseh-Brandeis Institute, Brandeis University, USA
Mariame Racine Sow, Project Officer, Groupe pour l'Etude et l’Enseig-nement
de la Population, Dakar, Senegal
Els Leye, International Centre for Reproductive Health (WHO Colla-borating
Centre), Ghent University, Belgium
Fana Habteab, President, European Network against Harmful Tradi-tional
Practices, especially Female Genital Mutilation (EuroNet-
FGM), Sweden
Frankie Hutton, Amistad Commission Member, State of New Jersey
and founder, The Rose Project
Godfrey Williams-Okorodus, Artist, Nigeria/Belgium
Erica Pomerance, Filmmaker, Montreal, Canada
Etenesh Hadis, African Women’s Organization Coordinator, Vienna,
Austria
Yayehyirad Kitaw, Physician, Advisory Council, Ethiopian Public
Health Authority and Editor-in-Chief, Journal on Female Genital
Mutilation. Scientific Organ of the Inter-African Committee. Uni-versity
of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Berhane Ras-Work, Founding President, Inter-African Committee,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia/Geneva, Switzerland
Adriana Kaplan Marcusan, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona and
Founder, Wassukafo, The Gambia
Augustine H. Asaah, Head, Department of Modern Languages,
University of Ghana
Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, Activist and Author, USA
Soraya Mire, Activist, Filmmaker and Author, Somalia/ USA
Nikki Denholm, Director, New Zealand FGM Education Programme,
Auckland, New Zealand
Comfort Momoh, M.B.E., FGM Specialist Midwife, African Well Woman
Clinic, St. Thomas' Hospital, London
Marianne Sarkis, Medical Anthropologist and Director/Webmaster FGM
Education and Networking Project, Worcester, MA
Linda May Kallestein, Journalist and Filmmaker (The CUT), Norway
Marilyn Safir, Professor of Women’s Studies and Psychology, Univer-sity
of Haifa, Israel
Dagmar Schultz, Founding Publisher, Orlanda Frauenverlag, Berlin
Lucy Mashua, Global Ambassador Fighting Female Genital Mutilation
(FGM), Kenya/USA
Waltraud Dumont du Voitel, German Foundation for Gender Studies/
Feminist Europa, Heidelberg
Cristiana Scoppa, FGM project manager, AIDOS, Rome, Italy
Sarah McCulloch, Founder and Director, ACCM – UK
Mary Ann Smorra, Professor of Education, Georgian Court University,
NJ, USA
Sachiko Mitsumori, Women’s Action against FGM, Tokyo, Japan
Raymond Lloyd, Honorary Secretary Council for Parity Democracy, UK
www.shequality.org
Efua Dorkenoo, OBE, Advocacy Director-FGM Programme, Equality
Now; former WHO Technical Expert on FGM (1995-2001) and
Founder, FORWARD UK
Lois A. Herman, Coordinator, Women’s UN Report Network (WUNRN)
Gabi Helfert, Photographer, Sustainability Project Manager and Social
Media Consultant, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Editor-in-Chief: Tobe Levin Art Director, Publications: Kaye Beth Business Development Advisor: Angela
Shaw Sales Manager: Rebecca Sue Levin Contributing editors: Christiane Makward, Stephen Bishop, Dianna
Martin, Sheryl Savina, Samantha Reiser Marketing/Communications Consultants: Sherry Reed, Ginni Stern
Graphic design: Greg Workman Web design: Jeff and Margaret Hicks (Optimize-Interactive.com)
UNCUT/VOICES PRESS
Publishing against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Undoing FGM
Pierre Foldes –
The Surgeon Who Restores the Clitoris
by Hubert Prolongeau
Foreword by Bernard Kouchner
Co-Founder of Doctors without Borders
Translation and Afterword by Tobe Levin
Frankfurt am Main: UNCUT/VOICES PRESS, 2011
ISBN: 978-3-9813863-1-8. PB. 29.90 plus postage & handling (1.50 for each additional book for U.S. addresses).
By VISA, Mastercard, PayPal: www.uncutvoices.com
IN EUROPE: €24,90 plus €5,00 postage by PAYPAL
Email your address, please: [email protected]
Geschäftsnummer HRB 86527, U.G. Haftungsbeschränk
