89 research outputs found
A study of the interstellar medium towards the VHE gamma-ray sources HESS J1614-518 and HESS J1616-508
No full textOne of the most intriguing problems in galactic astronomy is the observation of the highest energy photons. Very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray telescopes such as HESS have located sources of TeV (10¹² eV) gamma-rays which are not associated with any known objects. Whilst these could be a new type of particle accelerator, it is more likely that they are related to supernova remnants (SNRs), pulsar wind nebula (PWN) or massive stellar regions. They may result from high energy cosmic-ray (CR) interactions with interstellar gas (ISM). This project used new radio data which provided information on molecular clouds to model the production of gamma-rays from CR interactions. The densities of protons in these clouds were used in models to determine if potential particle accelerators surrounding the two HESS sources, HESS J1616-508 and HESS J1614-518 were capable of producing the emission. The potential accelerators surrounding HESS J1616-508 were all found to have insufficient gas within their diffusion radius. Thus, it was not possible for those sources to produce gamma-rays through hadronic interactions despite only requiring modest CR energy budgets compared to that provided from a SNR. The same result was also found for WR 73-1 and PSR J1613-5211 near HESS J1614-518. However, Pismis 22 and WR 74 contained CO RoI CO1, CO2 and CO25 within their diffusion radii. The energy in CRs required for each region to generate the overlapping gamma-ray emission was compared to the available energy if a SNR was assumed to be the accelerator. The required energy was found to be less than the energy available. Thus, WR 74 and Pismis 22 could still generate the hadronic gamma-ray emission from HESS J1614-518.Thesis (M.Phil.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Physical Sciences, 2016
Understanding galaxies and their gas
No full textThe circumgalactic medium is a vast halo of gas surrounding galaxies comprised of accreting gas from the intergalactic medium, outflows from stellar winds and recycled gas. Understanding how these gas flows enter and exit galaxies is key to our understanding of galaxy evolution. We have found that the metal content of accreting or outflowing gas is similar, suggesting that metallicity is not a useful tracer of accretion. We have also investigated group environments and found that there is less highly ionized gas and its kinematically narrower than isolated environments. Furthermore, the metallicity of group environments is similar to isolated environments
ECFS CTN measurement of weight standard operating procedure
No full textSCOPE To ensure that ECFS CTN study sites perform weight measurement in a reproducible and standardised manner. To ensure quality and reliability of the data collected and analysed, each individual site should follow the guidelines described below and have received training in the use of growth charts.Access to this document is allowed by the publisher “on request” only to the author Kate Hill to email [email protected]<br/
Student Job Postings: Looking Through the Lens of Disability Justice
No full textThis report presents findings from research into accessible hiring and is supported by Emily Carr University through the NSERC EDI Institutional Capacity-Building Grant — "Beyond Inclusion: systems change for art and design research universities”.reportpublishe
W49 Volume 12:
No full textThis issue of W49 contains the award winning entries to the 12th annual Langara College Writing Contest
2018 Fall The Honorable Mention
No full textThe 2018-2019 Peer Mentor team poses for their annual picture outside Giovale Library. Photo Courtesy of Aidan Croft Peer mentors model balanced lifestyles, facilitate mentees’ transition to Honors College BY ERIC MELLMER Peer mentors help facilitate their mentees’ health and well- to be a peer mentor himself. ness by being versatile, according to Honors College staff and “Just that one act of kindness could get me to feel comstudents. This includes emphasizing work-life balance, provid- fortable enough that I felt like I belonged [at Westminster],” ing emotional support, and fostering their sense of belonging Polychronis said. “And from that experience, I felt like it was at Westminster College. almost an obligation that I should try and be [a peer mentor] Dean of the Honors College Richard Badenhausen created for other people.” the peer mentor program in 2004. According to BadenhauIn addition to establishing community, providing emosen, peer mentors help Honors students, who are often used to tional support is an essential part of a peer mentors’ job, said excelling in school and extracurricular activities, find balance Carolyn Janecek, a senior English major and peer mentor for while adjusting to college life. three years. “[Peer mentors] are living, breathing “As a mentor you need to make “Just that one act of kindness could get models of success,” Badenhausen said. yourself accessible and show that like, me to feel comfortable enough that I “For students who are making the tran‘Hey, I’m someone who is safe to be sition from high school, seeing a model vulnerable to,’” Janecek said. felt like I belonged.” of someone they admire who has been Janecek said achieving this level of Cole Polychronis through this process as a well-adjusted, comfort is difficult with mentees, bebalanced individual can be really powcause mentors only meet formally with erful.” them at first-year orientation. However, Promoting mentees’ sense of belonging also eases their tran- staying in touch with mentees builds trust which invites opensition to college, said Cole Polychronis, a senior computer sci- ness, she said. ence major and peer mentor since his sophomore year. Like Polychronis, Janecek said she developed her closest He said his peer mentor, James Steur (’16), sat next to him connections with peer mentees in classes they shared like produring his first college class and that comradery inspired him fessor Eileen Chanza Torres’ Critical Theory class. continued on page 7 PAGE FIVE PAGE HONORS DOGS FOUR Owners say presence of dogs benefits Honors community · · Fall 2018 Volume 17 Issue 1 WHEN TO SAY NO Honors community reflects on work-life balance Perspectives on Being Mortal Each summer, entering first years and peer mentors read a book that provides a starting point for the year’s learning. Dr. Atul Gawande, the author of this year’s common read, Being Mortal, is a leading expert on health care ethics and policy. Being Mortal offers an interdisciplinary look at aging and what matters in the end. What can be learned from the text about our own mortality? What can be learned from the text about others’ mortality? BY BRENDAN SUDBERRY BY ELIZABETH JOHNSON Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal challenges its readers to examine their own mortality in a new light, not settling for the predetermined solutions handed to us by medical professionals. Whether or not we want to face it, we all die, and determining the end of life treatment we receive is a discussion better had sooner than later. I began exploring this text, which was this year’s Honors College summer common read, shortly after losing my grandfather to stage-four lung cancer. His experience with end-of-life care included trips back and forth to the hospital, constant pain, and a sense of defeat. Suddenly laying in front of me was the small shell of the strong man I once knew. He was weak, beaten down, and without hope. After countless treatments, which only decreased his ability and spirit, the doctors informed us there was nothing more they could do. He was finally moved to hospice care where, days later, we said our final goodbyes. Going through this experience prompted me to begin thinking about my own mortality, and with Gawande’s help, I had the resources to critically examine what end-of-life options I want for myself. I hope that I will not have to go through the same process as my grandfather, and that I will be able to create important dialogue between myself and my family members about my wishes. There are no perfect solutions for how to treat our own mortality. It does however encourage us to continue pushing for options which would allow us to live a purposeful life. Mortality is a fundamental part of the human experience, yet when we are young we think our loved ones are invincible, that they will live forever. Since beginning college, I have confronted those ideas and realized everyone is in fact mortal. Following the loss of two former classmates and a family friend, revisiting how we experience others’ death has made me realize that facing others’ mortality is essential to growing up. Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal provides insight into the nature of mortality, societal attitudes towards death, and first steps to better address the mortality of those we cherish. We naturally assume that everyone, if given the chance, would want to live longer, but as Gawande notes, terminal patients “have priorities besides simply prolonging their lives,” including “avoiding suffering, strengthening relationships with family and friends, being mentally aware, [...] and achieving a sense that their life is complete,” (155). While many facing death desire these things, we often compromise their wishes in favor of prolonging life. I was reminded recently that accepting our loved ones’ mortality is not a failure on the part of our medical system, nor does letting go mean we don’t love them. They choose to enjoy their remaining days surrounded by family rather than medical equipment, and since it was their decision, there was a sense of peace in their passing. Accepting others’ mortality is no small feat, especially since we only want what is best for them, but as Gawande points out, sometimes the best means letting go and enjoying the time left. Brendan Sudberry, a first-year student, connected Being Mortal to his own experiences with the death of his grandfather. Photo courtesy of Aidan Croft Elizabeth Johnson, a senior marketing major and peer mentor, said accepting mortality is a part of growing up. Photo courtesy of Aidan Croft 2 Perceptions of health influence Westminster students’ diets BY LIA KNOX-HERSHEY & CECI RIGBY The average person living in the United States consumes more than the recommended limits in four nutritional categories. This includes calories from refined grains, sodium, saturated fat, and solid fats and added sugars, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Unbalanced diets and lack of education can lead to misconceptions about nutrition, according to the National Institutes of Health. These myths revolve around the idea that one can achieve health with a one-size-fits-all answer, which changes and informs the latest fad diets. Westminster College students participate in a variety of dietary systems, including veganism, vegetarianism, gluten-free, and keto. In a recent campus-wide, Honorable Mention survey, most students reported that the reason for such choices were “I believe it’s healthy” or “weight management/body image.” Students said they “often” or “about half of the time” base their food choices off of internal cues including hunger, fullness, preference, and mood instead of external nutritional guidelines. The majority of participants responded that media and family inform these choices. Associate Professor of theatre and Chair of the dance program Nina Vought and Professor of theatre Michael Vought teach a May Term class on veganism, a dietary system they practice. “What’s good for the planet is almost always what’s good for you and for the animals,” said Michael Vought, who teaches the Honors seminar Arts and Performance with Professor Heidi Van Ert. However, he said that he disapproves of “laying guilt trips” to promote veganism because there are many factors that go into a person’s health and lifestyle choices. “There are ways to [be vegan] without being expensive or elitist, but that being said, you still have to put time into it,” Michael Vought said. “Everyone is in a different place, we all have different stories, and we have got to be encouraging people wherever they’re at.” The Voughts said they access dietary information from medical conferences and health clinics because there is a great deal of misinformation about nutrition in popular media. Nina Vought said that these sources are more accurate than self-published authors who claim “‘I have all the answers, all you need is this.’” She also emphasized the importance of testing different dietary systems and seeing how one’s body responds. Participants in the campus-wide survey also mentioned body awareness. One participant defined health as “happiness, being your best you, being aware of your body’s signals, functioning at Students taking one of the Voughts’ eco-conscious nutrition May Term classes discuss diet ethics over a vegan meal. Photo courtesy of Nina Vought your best levels.” When defining health, most respondents did not directly mention nutrition but instead defined health in terms of physical and mental wellbeing. In the survey, one person defined health as “maintaining a well-rounded lifestyle which makes you feel good inside and out.” Nina Vought said new factors can influence what that lifestyle looks like and diets should change according to one’s needs. “I want to be an evolving eater,” Nina Vought said. “As I get new information, I want to change. I feel like I am evolving and learning on a daily basis and that I’m still learning.” “What’s good for the planet is almost always what’s good for you and for the animals.” Michael Vought 3 Owners say presence of dogs benefits Honors community BY BECKY DENNIS Westminster College is generally a dog-friendly environment. the couch. “She can be very perky, especially if it’s something like Not only do many students, faculty, and staff bring their dogs playing fetch,” LeCluyse said. “But she’d be totally happy to just to campus but the Westminster Dogspotting Facebook page con- sit on the bed all day.” nects dog lovers on campus. Badenhausen said having a dog encourages people to think of Human interaction with animals has shown positive effects like needs other than their own, and said he was able to connect with enhanced mood, improved mental health, and decreased blood others because of Scout. “I always enjoyed watching the positive pressure and heart rate, according to a study in the journal Fron- effect Scout had on others, especially students,” Badenhausen said. tiers in Psychology. Researchers also found direct interaction with “Some of them would lie on the floor next to her when they were animals promotes positive interpersonal relationships. having a stressful day.” Dog ownership can also encourage Campbell and her roommates physical activity. Kenzie Campbell, said Luna’s daily companionship has “I’ve just been a lot happier lately [...] and it a junior custom justice studies and noticeably lowered their stress levels directly corresponded with psychology major, said her dog Luna during the school year. has helped her roommates and her get “My roommates and I [...] were the time since we got a dog.” out of the house more and take breaks talking and we were like, ‘wow, usualfrom work. Luna, a border collie and ly at this point in the semester things Kenzie Campbell Australian shepard mix, is a very acare really feeling overwhelming and tive dog who “loves to go on long kind of like too much,’’’ Campbell walks,” according to Campbell. said. “I’ve just been a lot happier lateRichard Badenhausen, dean of the Honors College, who owned ly and it’s weird, and it directly corresponded with the time since the late golden retriever Scout, said that she motivated him to get we got a dog.” up from his desk. Director of Fellowship Advising Alicia Cunningham-Bryant “[My family and I] hiked a lot in the mountains with Scout,” also says that her dog, Joey, keeps her relaxed. Badenhausen said. “She was a great hiking companion and loved “It’s impossible to be grumpy when Joey stands up, puts one to go for walks.” paw on my knee, one on my shoulder, stares me in the eyes, and Chris LeCluyse, professor of English and director of the Writ- then looks back to the door,” said Cunningham-Bryant, an assising Center, said he and his corgi Bonnie go on daily strolls and tant professor in the Honors College. “It’s hilariously bossy and that Bonnie provides him companionship both on walks and on always reminds me to lighten up and go outside.” Left: English professor Chris LeCluyse on a walk through campus with corgi Bonnie. Bonnie loves to walk herself with leash in mouth. Right: Honors student Kenzie Campbell keeping her new pup Luna from chasing squirrels, probably. Photos courtesy of Aidan Croft 4 When to say no: Honors community reflects on work-life balance, shares advice Honors students and faculty discuss personal experiences and observations during the Honors Climate Summit. Photo courtesy of Aidan Croft B Y S A B I L O W D E R , J E N N I F E R H Y LW A , & M A D I S O N V I L H A U E R To many, the term “Honors student” suggests a long to-do list of academic and co-curricular activities. Recognizing it can be difficult to stabilize competing areas of life, Honors community members share their tips for how they achieve a work-life balance. Although every person has their own strategy, three tools were mentioned consistently across groups of faculty, alumni, and current students—intentionality, prioritization, and dividing tasks. Spend time meaningfully Honors alum James Steur (’16) recommends focusing on the activities one loves to make sure college experiences lead into a meaningful life. “If you want to do it, you’ll be able to figure out a way to incorporate however many hours you have in a week to make it happen,” Steur said. “On the flip side, there are only so many hours in a week that you can dedicate to these activities.” Self-reflection is a valuable tool for deciding what activities to “invest your time in,” Steur said. “If you don’t reflect on what it means to live your most excellent life by the end of college, then it’s going to be more challenging to go back and figure out what it means to live an excellent life,” Steur said. An important aspect of intentionality is taking time to figure out when to say “no,” said Calen Smith (’19), a senior neuroscience major. “You should say ‘no’ at the point where it’s inhibiting your wellbeing, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually, as well as limiting your ability to take on new opportunities you might enjoy more,” Smith said. Chris LeCluyse, professor of English and director of the Writing Center, said he agreed with Smith in the importance of knowing when to say “no.” “However awesome an opportunity seems, if it seems like it will overextend you, you will have other chances,” LeCluyse said. LeCluyse said to not underestimate the importance of sleep for long-term wellness. “Once you are sleep-deprived, all these other things become much bigger problems because you don’t have the mental and emotional resources to deal with them,” LeCluyse said. 5 Senior Honors student Jessica Taghvaiee writes key concepts of diversity and inclusion on a white board at the Honors Climate Summit. Photo courtesy of Aidan Croft First-year Honors students cite moments from texts that demonstrate what kind of learners they hope to be this term. Photo courtesy of Richard Badenhausen Balance schedule by prioritizing activities Graduate Taylor Stevens (’18) said that she tends to prioritize work and school over socializing to find her own balance. When offered a position with the Salt Lake Tribune while still in college, Stevens knew she had to take the opportunity, even if that meant working longer hours. She said that to her, if an opportunity is important enough, then seeing friends less is worth it. “Make decisions and be okay with those decisions,” Stevens said. She emphasized that no one can do it all and that everyone needs to make choices, which depend on the individual. “I think balance looks different for everyone [...] It’s just being aware of yourself and what you need.” Catherine Blakemore (’17) says said she schedules her “me” and “friend” time into both her online calendar and physical planner. This helps her see what she’s doing every day, what she has time for, and what she wants to make time for, said Blakemore. “It was really important for me personally to set actual time boundaries,” Blakemore said. “I would suggest time blocking for everyone. […] I would time block so I didn’t feel overwhelmed [and] so I had a set time in my schedule that was for my well-being as a person.” “However awesome an opportunity seems, if it seems like “I think balance looks different for everyone [...] It’s just it will overextend you, you will have other chances.” being aware of yourself and what you need.” Chris LeCluyse Taylor Stevens “What’s really important is to break everything down into little chunks and make a list of those little chunks. Eat the elephant one bit at a time.” Alicia Cunningham-Bryant 6 Honors students and faculty work together to deconstuct perceptions of diversity and inclusion in the Honors College and the greater Westminster community during the Honors Climate Summit. Photo courtesy of Aidan Croft Subdivide tasks, take time to relax Honors College Assistant Professor Alicia CunninghamBryant said her long to-do list intimidates her. “Personally I’m the type of person that when I look at my calendar and all the things I have to do I yell ‘ahhh!’” said Cunningham-Bryant, who is also the director of the Office of Fellowship Advising. “What’s really important is to break everything down into little chunks and make a list of those little chunks. Eat the elephant one bit at a time.” Cunningham-Bryant reminded students to take time for themselves in between completing some of the components of their daunting tasks. “It’s really easy to feel overwhelmed and get caught up in what’s going on, but it’s equally important to take a breath,” Cunningham-Bryant said. “Go do something fun and reward yourself. I try to block out chunks of time in my schedule where I’m listed as just busy, but that’s my time for hiking or running with Joey [her dog], going to the gym, or going riding. I find that it helps me be calmer in general, and more productive.” Eric Mellmer (’19) also said finding time for relaxation should be part of a healthy lifestyle. “If you find that all you do is go to class, do homework, and go to your job then you don’t really have time to decompress,” said Mellmer, a senior English major. “That becomes a pattern or a routine which compounds on itself, making each day tougher.” Mellmer also agreed that dividing projects into smaller pieces is an efficient way to finish large assignments or other tasks, though the strategy requires planning ahead of time. “I think that a valuable way of looking at it is breaking up the task because if you procrastinate then you’re just building up anxiety, which adds to your stress,” Mellmer said. “If you can incorporate your big task into your daily routine then you don’t have to do as much at one time.” Peer Mentors, continued from page 1 Anna Robert, a senior environmental science major, said her peer mentor Selina Foster (’17) helped guide her through a stressful adjustment to college life. Robert and Janecek were both mentees of Foster, who died in March 2018. Although Foster struggled privately, she upheld a positive, energetic attitude and comforted others, they said. Robert said that Foster made her feel safe in a new and daunt- ing college environment. They also bonded over their passions for nature, Thai food, and musicals. “[Selina] helped me just feel at home,” according to Robert. Throughout the transition to college, mentorship provides new students a support system beneficial to growth and identity formation. Mentorship is one aspect that makes the honors community great. 7 Student Profile: Maggie Regier BY CHAR CREAR You may recognize Maggie Regier (’20) from orientation as the I just needed to do more in my life.” peer educator who refused to use euphemisms during Title IX Because of her various passions, Regier has taken action in the sessions. You may also remember her from community to serve individuals while also the 2018 Mx. Westminster competition, promoting the arts. She taught a drama the campus-wide pageant, which she class to refugee girls for a semester, but she won with her provocative yet informative said she is still ambitious to do more. presentation: “Comprehensive sex Through her custom major, Regier education you didn’t get in school in said she wants to solve social problems under three minutes.” by “[looking] at a community and Regier is a junior at Westminster College approaching it holistically.” She said it is hailing from the “lively” city of Reno, important that all aspects of a community Nevada. Her sophomore year, she joined should be understood as influences on the Honors College as a lateral entry each other. student. She is also the ASW vice president Social contexts can impact individuals, and participates in extracurriculars such and healthy communities are made up of as Students United For Reproductive people who nurture their minds, bodies, Freedom (SURF), Queer Compass, and and souls, Regier sai
Health, happiness and your future: using a “men’s group” format to work with homeless men in London
No full text
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe an intervention with a group of homeless men from the Horn of Africa, service users of the Horn of Africa Health and Wellbeing Project in London. The group was conceived by the second author who noted the presence of significant psychosocial issues for her clients, but equally their reluctance to access mainstream mental health or social care services.
Design/methodology/approach
Designing the group and introducing it to the men involved threw up some challenges which are explored, and the impact of the group on participants is evaluated.
Findings
Overall both the participants and the facilitators evaluated the group positively and it appeared to have led to lasting change for some of the group members, and this is described. The authors argue that this sort of group may be a more acceptable way to work on psychosocial issues than something more directly focused on mental health intervention. The group protocol is outlined along with suggestions for future work in this area.
Originality/value
This intervention represents a creative alternative to more mainstream psychological interventions for homeless or exiled men.
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Cardozo Law News Brief: February 23, 2018
No full textFeatured Faculty: Melanie Leslie Aaron Wright Felix Wu
Campus News: Richard W. Painter, Former Chief White House Ethics Lawyer, Visits Cardozo Compassion Through Fashion: Cardozo\u27s FAME Center Interviews Custom Suit Maker Who Donates Tailored Clothing to Marginalized Groups Cardozo\u27s Leadership in Law and Business Program Featured in The International Jurist Stephanie Alvarez-Jones \u2718 Selected as a Law Student of the Year by The National Jurist
Events: From DaSilva Moore to Microsoft: The Jurisprudence of Judge James Francis IV and Judge Andrew Peck Dean\u27s Speaker Series: An Inside Look with Jeff Marx \u2796 Documentary Screening of Workers Voices Subdividing Building Ownership to Meet Demands of the Modern Market Aggressive Tactics, Vulnerable Communities: Representing Noncitizen Clients in the Trump Era BYO Lawyer: Employment & Intellectual Property Issues in the Food & Restaurant Industry Judging Scalia: Richard L. Hasen, Author of The Justice of Contradictions in Conversation with Professor Kate Shaw Art as an Asset Class: Transactional Concerns for Art Market Participants The Show Must Go On: Navigating Rights for Broadway Productions The Israel Supreme Court at a Moment of Transition: Looking Back, and Looking Forward, with Justices Naor, Rubinstein, and Joubran Cardozo Law - Columbia Law Spring 2018 Colloquium: Citizenship, Religion, Identity 26th Annual Public Service Auction Cardozo Sports Law Symposium The Fair Housing Act After 50 Year
Transforming America : Toni Morrison and classical tradition
No full textThis thesis examines a significant but little-studied feature of Toni Morrison's
work: her ambivalent engagement with classical tradition. Analysing all eight
novels. it argues that her allusiveness to the cultural practices of Ancient Greece
and Rome is fundamental to her political project. Illuminating hegemonic
America's consistent recourse to the classical world in the construction of its
identity, I expand on prior scholarship by reading Morrison's own revisionary
classicism as a subversion of dominant US culture. My three-part study
examines the way her deployment of Graeco-Roman tradition destabilizes
mythologies of the American Dream, prevailing narratives of America's
history, and national ideologies of purity. Part I shows that Morrison enlists
tragic conventions to problematize the Dream's central tenets of upward
mobility, progress and freedom. It argues that while her engagement with Greek
choric models effects her refutation of individualism, it is her later novels'
rejection of a wholly catastrophic vision that enables her to avoid reinscribing
the Dream. Part II demonstrates that it is through her classical allusiveness that
Morrison rewrites American history. Her multiply-resonant echoes of the epic,
pastoral and tragic traditions that have consistently informed the dominant
culture's justifications for and representations of its actions enable her
reconfiguration of colonization, of the foundation of the new nation, of slavery
and its aftermath and of the Civil Rights Movement. Part III illuminates how
the author uses the discourse of pollution or miasma to challenge
Enlightenment-derived valorizations of racial purity and to expose the practices
of scapegoating and revenge as flawed means to moral purity. Her interest in
the hegemonic fabrication of classical tradition as itself a pure and purifying
force is matched by her insistence on that tradition's African elements, and thus
on its potent impurity. Her own radical classicism, therefore, is central to the
transformation of America that her novels envision
Sarah Fielding: Satire and Subversion in the Eighteenth-Century Novel
No full textThis study of Sarah Fielding (1710―68) is an original contribution to Fielding scholarship that has a dual purpose: to support those who are striving to re-introduce her to the modern literary landscape in an effort to restore her eighteenth-century literary standing, and to firmly establish Fielding as an early feminist writer. It is argued here that throughout her oeuvre Fielding challenged prevailing traditions that denied women a choice, particularly in education, employment and marriage. These themes are also considered in the political treatises of Mary Astell (1666―1731) and Mary Wollstonecraft (1759―97), who are now widely recognised as feminist writers.
It is further argued that Fielding’s subversion in fiction of the English patriarchal system is underscored by her unorthodox performance in the literary arena. This is fully explored alongside her use of sentimentalism as a literary tool with which she challenges her seemingly inhumane society. Fielding’s interest in ‘the Labyrinths of the Mind’ (in modern terms, human psychology) will also be addressed as will her placement in the history of feminism and her placement in the sentimental novel tradition. Fielding’s performance as a literary critic will be compared with the few female authors who, like her, dared to publish literary criticism during her writing career. Accordingly, extracts from Fielding’s novels and her two critical pamphlets will be thoroughly examined.
An updated biography of Fielding that is also included here will provide evidence for a further claim, that her fiction is autobiographical in part. A comprehensive account of Fielding’s performance as a literary critic forms the final chapter of this work. It is the first full-length examination of her contribution to the genre and includes an appraisal of her recently unearthed critical pamphlet entitled A Comparison Between the Horace of Corneille and The Roman Father of Mr. Whitehead (1750) that is yet to be formerly attributed to her. Ultimately this study of Fielding will go far beyond what has previously been written about this remarkable eighteenth-century author, particularly regarding her feminist activity
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