1,100 research outputs found
Huw T. Edwards: British Labour and Welsh Socialism
No full textThis book is the first full-length biography in English of Huw T. Edwards (1929–70), a key figure in the Welsh labour movement who was known in the 1950s as the “unofficial Prime Minister of Wales.” Paul Ward explores Edwards’s working-class origins, his growing involvement with trade unions and other political activities, and his eventual place in the high reaches of the Welsh establishment, which included a role as Welsh representative to the BBC, a seat on the Welsh Tourist Board, and the presidency of the Welsh Language Society
A critical evaluation of linguistic minorities from a postmodern perspective: the case of Welsh
No full textMy aim in this thesis is to consider language policy and minority languages from the viewpoint of postmodernism – a theoretical framework that has much to offer beyond mere explanation and support for the concepts of diversity and pluralism. I argue there is a shortage of texts that interrogate language policy from a postmodern perspective – notwithstanding the contributions of a relatively small group of linguists including Pennycook (2000, 2006), Wright (2000, 2004), Cameron (1995) and Edwards (1985-2003). Thus, I combine some arguments from the domain of postmodernism articulated by theorists such as Foucault (1980), Lyotard (1997), and Connor (2004) with other arguments from the fields of language policy, language ideology and minority language rights formulated by theorists such as Phillipson (1993, 2003), Crystal (2000, 2003).In the first chapter I consider how language policy and planning has developed as a subject of academic inquiry since World War II. In the second chapter I focus on a primary objective for language policymakers, namely minority language maintenance. I conclude that characteristics and trends associated with postmodernism are neither wholly supportive nor wholly unsupportive of minority language maintenance. In the third chapter, I concentrate on the minority language Welsh, tentatively concluding that a truly bilingual Wales is not achievable. In this fourth chapter, I analyse findings from my ethnographic research into Welsh language usage in Newport. I tentatively conclude once more that the Welsh Assembly Government’s bilingual objective is unachievable. Finally, I argue that postmodernism is a useful theoretical perspective for academics in the field of language policy and planning
A paixão segundo G.H.: author and reader in the difficult joy of otherness
No full textThis article proposes a reading of Clarice Lispector’s novel A paixão segundo G.H., published in 1964. This article is about a reading on otherness, established by the author-reader relationship and the combination of literature and philosophical thought. For this purpose, we shall seek the contributions from Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist theory, through his work O ser e o nada: ensaio de ontologia fenomenológica (2015b), and the ideas about the question of the author and the reader as participating literary elements of the process of writing the literary text, which were developed by Antoine Compagnon in his book O demônio da teoria(2010). This work is the result of a Master’s research in Comparative LiteratureEste artigo propõe uma leitura do romance A paixão segundo G.H., de Clarice Lispector, publicado em 1964. Trata-se, aqui, de uma leitura sobre alteridade, estabelecida pela relação autor-leitor e pela junção da literatura com o pensamento filosófico. Para tanto, buscaremos aporte na teoria existencialista de Jean-Paul Sartre, com sua obra O ser e o nada – ensa io de ontologia fenomenológica (2015b), e nas ideias sobre a questão do autor e do leitor, como elementos literários participantes do processo de escritura do texto literário, desenvolvidas por Antoine Compagnon em O demônio da teoria (2010). Este trabalho é resultado de uma pesquisa desenvolvida no Mestrado em Literatura Comparada.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Clarice Lispector. A paixão segundo G.H. Alteridade. Autor. Leitor. ABSTRACT: This article proposes a reading of Clarice Lispector’s novel A paixão segundo G.H., published in 1964. This article is about a reading on otherness, established by the author-reader relationship and the combination of literature and philosophical thought. For this purpose, we shall seek the contributions from Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist theory, through his work O ser e o nada: ensaio de ontologia fenomenológica (2015b), and the ideas about the question of the author and the reader as participating literary elements of the process of writing the literary text, which were developed by Antoine Compagnon in his book O demônio da teoria(2010). This work is the result of a Master’s research in Comparative Literature.KEYWORDS: Clarice Lispector. A paixão segundo G.H. Otherness. Author. Reader.1 Este trabalho é resultado de uma pesquisa de mestrado que teve financiamento da CAPES - Coordenação de aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior.* Mestre em Estudos da Linguagem pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte.** Professor Adjunto do Departamento de Línguas e Literaturas Estrangeiras Modernas e docente permanente do Programa de Pós-graduação em Estudos da Linguagem da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
Evaluating Pillar 2 Employment Impacts: Case Study Methodology and Results for East Wales
No full textThis case study evaluation aims to explore employment impacts of the reformed East Wales RDP in East Wales, a UK region which is highly spatially differentiated. It concentrates on analysis of documentary evidence and representative in-depth interviews which support an evaluative interpretation of mechanisms of rural change. Issues explored relate to problems of the rural economy requiring policy intervention, and CAP rural development reform impacts on rural employment of farm households and workers in other sectors. Major concerns relate to youth out-migration, inadequate childcare provision, age structure, lack of affordable housing, pockets of deprivation, deteriorating service provision, labour supply, spatial diversity, and predominance of small businesses. Dual market failures appear to occur in employment and housing, requiring action to improve productivity, and spatial planning policies sensitive to rural requirements. The reformed RDP has had minor impacts on economic development, on the development of competitive premium agricultural products, professionalisation of the agricultural service sector, farm business adaptation, agri-environment support, and development of the food supply chain. However, the evidence indicates that Axis 2 should be strengthened to mitigate adverse impacts of decoupling. Also, future RDP spending should concentrate on Axes 3 and 4, its budget should be allocated on evidence-based criteria, and compulsory modulation should be increased. It should include provision of childcare services and other elements favouring female participation, and LEADER groups should be strengthened within a framework Rural Action Plans.Wales, rural development, Community/Rural/Urban Development,
South African memories
No full textRhodes and Alfred Beit -- Kimberley memories -- Early days on the goldfields -- Rhodes and the goldfields -- Premier mine -- Lord Milner and the Diamond Law -- Meeting with Mr Balfour -- Battle of Colenso -- Apprehension of war after the Raid -- Capitalist negotiations in the Transvaal -- "The Transvaal from within" -- General J.H. de la Rey -- Shooting of De la Rey -- Story of a great diamond -- Pretoria forts -- Lord Cromer -- Jock of the bushveld -- Recollections of RhodesThe original document was digitized with financial support from Media24.by J. Percy Fitzpatrick ; prepared for the press from the manuscript of the author by G.H. Wilson.http://explore.up.ac.za/record=b166210
Deus, vida e morte em A Paixão Segundo G.H. de Clarice Lispector
No full textO presente artigo sobre A Paixão Segundo G.H., de Clarice Lispector, procura penetrar os aspectos fundamentais da mundividência lispectorina. Deste modo, considera a realidade conceptual dentro da qual G.H. existe e actua, dando especial atenção ao conceito de Deus, bem como ao significado que a Vida e a Morte assumem numa indagação empenhada em que se procura transcender as limitações humanas. Em harmonia com processos existencialistas, a autora-narradorapersonagem realiza uma odisseia ontológica através da recriação pessoal de construções culturais estabelecidas. Esta reelaboração criativa aplica-se à língua, a ideias filosóficas vigentes – incluindo a própria corrente existencialista – e à religião, na busca de uma plataforma de consciência que conduza a uma revelação. A doutrina e o ritual cristãos são assim manipulados e reinterpretados num rebaralhar de componentes que possa sugerir novas combinações e lançar nova luz sobre a essência do Ser. This article on The Passion According G.H. (A Paixão Segundo G.H.), seeks a deep understanding of the Lispectorian image of the world. It looks at the conceptual reality within which G.H. exists and acts. Particular attention is given to the notion of God as well as to the meaning of Life and Death in the quest to transcend one’s own limitations. In harmony with existentialist practice, the author-narrator-character carries out an ontological exploration through a creative use of cultural constructs. This is the case with language, current philosophical ideas – including the Existentialist movement itself – and religion. Christian dogma and ritual are thus manipulated so as to provide a new platform of consciousness where stepping stones can be found that may lead to the unveiling of the essence of Being
O diálogo de alteridades na escritura de A paixão segundo G.H., de Clarice Lispector
No full textA presente dissertação tem por objetivo analisar o romance A Paixão segundo
G.H. (1964) de Clarice Lispector. Partimos da hipótese de que a narradora
personagem, identificada apenas pelas iniciais G.H., ao relatar sua via crucis
existencial relata também, através de um discurso plurissignificativo, sua experiência
como escritora-escultora. Nesse modo de escrever, trabalha metáforas que podem
ser lidas e comparadas, ao ato de escrever indagativo e aos efeitos produzidos pela
escritura epifânica. A personagem G.H., após tomar consciência de sua existência,
está apta a narrá-la e dar-lhe a forma de experiência epifânica. Ela precisa da forma
escritural, para compreender, prender e formalizar a realidade. Escrever, para ela, é
uma tentativa de dar forma àquilo que experimentou (a barata) e pela escritura
(forma), reviver e dar-lhe a ilusão do sentido poético. G.H. fala sobre a paixão
segundo ela mesma, razão pela qual analisamos o discurso da narradora como uma
escritura amorosa de Eus, carregada de pathos de um Eu que escreve. A
experiência da alteridade pode ser percebida na contraposição de G.H. em relação
ao outro, representados na figura de Janair, da barata, do interlocutor imaginário, a
quem ela pede a mão para trabalhar, juntos, sua escultura-escritura. A experiência
exotópica e o contato com o olhar do outro é que proporcionam o momento epifânico
vivido à autora-heroína, portanto, as experiências da alteridade e epifania estão
interligadas e interdependentes funcionalmente. Mas, somente a experiência da
escritura consegue promover acabamento ético e estético à experiência vivida. O
tema tratado em PSGH nasce da tensão entre o dizer e o como escrever,
materializando o drama da linguagem em ato escultórico, escritura vivenciada por
G.H, em ato de espera de uma forma final. O primeiro capítulo sob o título Um modo
de escrever: jogo de alteridades, aborda a narrativa como uma escritura em sua
especificidade formal. O capítulo II trata A experiência da escritura de alteridades
clariceana, em desencontro com o conteúdo, transformado pela forma escultórica,
na qual todo o processo narrativo autor-heroína-leitor dela co-participa. Ainda neste
capítulo é abordada a questão da A epifania estética da forma-conteúdo, gerada
pelo tempo epifânico que ganha a forma-conteúdo desejada pela heroína-autora e
pela autora-escultora da forma artística do relato da alteridade. A narradorapersonagem
perscruta sobre o sentido e o limite da palavra poética, portanto, o
relato da narradora G.H. é a pura manifestação concreta da forma de uma
consciência estética. Ressaltamos que, para analisarmos os efeitos produzidos pelo
discurso amoroso recorremos, em particular, às obras de Roland Barthes e
concepções levantadas pela palavra crítica e tradutora de Leyla Perrone- MoisésThe current thesis aims to analyze the novel A Paixão segundo G.H. (1964) by
Clarice Lispector. From the hypothesis that the narrator-character, identified only by
GH, in reporting her via crucis of existence also reports, through a plurissignificative
speech, her experience as a writer-sculptor. In her kind of writing, she uses
metaphors that can be read and compared with the investigative act of writing and
effects produced by ephiphanic writing. The G.H. character, after becoming
conscious of her existence, is able to report it and give it the form of ephiphanic
experience. She needs the writing form to understand, arrest and formalize the
reality. Writing, for her, is an attempt to give shape to what she had experienced (the
cockroach) and by writing (form), to revive and give it the illusion of poetic sense.
G.H. talks about the passion in her own point of view, the reason for why we
analyzed the narrator s speech as a loving writing of I(s), loaded from a pathos of an I
who writes. The alterity experience can be seen in contrast of G.H. to the other,
represented in the figure of Janair, the cockroach, the imaginary interlocutor, whom
she calls to work together in her sculpture-writing. The exotopic experience and the
contact with the other s view provided the ephiphanic moment lived by the authorheroin,
therefore, the alterity and epiphany are functionally interlinked and
interdependent. But only the experience of writing can promote ethical and aesthetic
completion to the experience. The subject approached in A Paixão segundo G.H.
was borned in the tension between the saying and the how to write, materializing the
drama of language into act sculpture, the writing experienced by GH into an act of
waiting for a final form. The first chapter approaches the narrative as a writing in its
formal specificity. The second chapter deals with the experience by Clarice
Lispector s alteritys writing in discordance with the content, transformed by the
sculptural form, in which the whole heroin-author-reader narrative process is coparticipated
by her. This chapter still approaches the issue of aesthetics epiphany of
form-content, generated by ephiphanic time that wins the form-content desired by
heroin-author and by the author-sculpture of the alterity reported artistic form. The
narrator-character emerge on the meaning and limits of the poetic word, therefore,
the G.H s report is a pure concrete manifestation of form of an aesthetic
consciousness. We stress that, for analyzing the effects produced by the loving
speech, we passed over the works of Roland Barthes and ideas raised by the critical
word and translator of Leyla Perrone-Moise
The influence of religion on the survival of the Welsh language 1801-2011 : a tale of two centuries.
No full textThe Welsh language is derived from what has been termed “Common Celtic”, itself a derivative from an Indio-European root. In the outer regions of the Roman Empire, two branches of Celtic emerged – Brittonic (P Celtic), spoken throughout most of Britain including lowland Scotland, and Goidelic (Q Celtic) – the language of Ireland. 1 Brittonic remained the language of Britain through the Roman invasion but the eventual eastward pressure of the Anglo Saxon expansion in the sixth and seventh-centuries effectively separated the Cymry and their language from their Celtic cousins in Cornwall and Southern Scotland, thus isolating them west of Offa’s Dyke.2 The earliest example of written syntactical Welsh is found on a single page of an eighth-century gospel book - the Gospel Book of St Chad,3 now housed in Lichfield cathedral.4 For all its brevity it is an important fragment of written literature emphasizing that Welsh “was already a vehicle for legal, technical use in a secular record of solemn and lasting importance”. Tostate that the Welsh language would be subjected to sustained and repetitive negative pressure over and beyond the next millennium would be regarded as an 1 J. Aitchison and H. Carter, Language, Economy and Society. The Changing Fortunes of the Welsh Language in the Twentieth-Century (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000), p. 23. 2 Ibid., p. 24. 3 L.B. Smith, ‘The Welsh Language before 1536’ in G.H. Jenkins, ed. The Welsh Language before the Industrial Revolution (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1997), p. 15. 4 D. Huws, Medieval Welsh Manuscripts (Aberystwyth: University of Wales Press, 2000), p. 5. 5 Smith, ‘The Welsh Language before 1536’, p. 15. Survival Pronunciation:/səˈvʌɪv(ə)l/ noun [mass noun] the state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances [count noun] an object or practice that has continued to exist from an earlier time ©Oxford English Dictionary 2013 6 understatement. Offa’s Dyke would become a geographic and ethnic boundary up to the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Wales, c 1070, the catalyst to further westward retreat of the language.6 The Norman system of manorial cultivation based on open-field agriculture established itself across the lowlands of South Wales in particular, including southern Gwent, the Vale of Glamorgan, the Gower Peninsula and South Pembroke. Whilst these areas of Anglicizing influences were significant, at no time in the period between Anglo-Norman invasion in the eleventh-century, and the Act of Union in the sixteenth-century was there a feeling that Welsh was in peril.7 Nonetheless there was a gradual and insidious diminution in the dominance of Welsh, not only in geographic terms, but in the limitation of domain and status. Welsh law was essentially customary and within the Wales of the fifteenth and sixteenth-centuries the formal language of administration on legal documents was previously Latin or French, but with time became replaced by English. This exclusion of the Welsh language in legal and administrative affairs would become formalized in the so called Act of Union. The Act of Union of 1536, enacted by the Tudor dynasty, is frequently cited as the first decisive milestone in the erosion of the Welsh language.8 In the Act, more accurately titled ‘An Act for Laws and Justice to be ministered in Wales in like form as it is in this Realm’ the Welsh language may not have been proscribed by the Act, but its demise was seen to be desired.9 Although the phrase ‘to extirpate all and singular the sinister usages and customs differing’ was meant to apply directly to law and administration, it unequivocally implied a process of cultural assimilation and language erosion.10 The eighteenth century was the Age of Enlightenment, the age of science and the Royal Society. The diffusion of new ideas was related to social standing and to settlement size, and was thus bound into social class and the English language. 6 J. Aitchison and H. Carter, Language, Economy and Society, pp. 23-33. 7 Ibid., p. 25. 8 R.O.Jones, ‘The Sociolinguistics of Welsh’ in M.J. Ball, ed. The Celtic Languages (New York and London, Routledge, reprinted 2000), p. 536. 9 Aitchison and Carter, Language, Economy and Society, p. 27. 10 Ibid., p. 27. 7 Science and free thinking was a domain in which Welsh took little part.11 There were however occasional periods of growth and optimism in the Welsh language in the eighteenth-century. A large number of books were printed in Welsh, not only in the field of religion but also encompassing vocabulary, grammar, linguistics, botany and archaeology. Welsh became established as a written medium and the printed word gave the language prestige and status. The imminent prospect of the extinction of Welsh as the language of culture seemed to concentrate the minds of writers and spur them into action.12 The proliferation of printing presses on Welsh soil from 1718 onwards led to an extraordinary expansion in book production and other printed material. Between 1660 and 1799 a staggering 2633 books were published in the Welsh language.13 Another catalyst for the growth of literacy and Welsh-medium education was Griffith Jones and his circulating schools.14 Jones was a rector at Llanddowror whose educational zeal was fired following a lethal typhus outbreak in south-west Wales. Although Jones’ original motivation was saving souls from eternal damnation, he felt salvation could be best achieved in the native tongue. The schools were held in the winter months to coincide with down time in agriculture. The medium in Jones’ circulating schools was mainly Welsh, but English was also used in more Anglicized parts of Wales.15 By the time of Jones’ death in 1761, at least 200,000 children and adults had been taught in 3,325 schools, which is the more staggering when one considers the mid eighteenth century population of Wales was only 480,000. At the beginning of the nineteenth-century it is likely that the bulk of the population of Wales habitually spoke Welsh. More than half a million, out of a population of some six hundred thousand, were probably monoglot Welsh, that is more than 80 11 Ibid., p.28. 12 G.H. Jenkins., ‘The Cultural Uses of the Welsh Language 1660-1800’, in G.H. Jenkins, ed. The Welsh Language before the Industrial Revolution (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1997), p. 371. 13 Ibid., p. 371. 14 E.M. White, ‘Popular Schooling and the Welsh Language 1650-1800’, in G.H. Jenkins, ed. The Welsh Language before the Industrial Revolution (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1997), 324 – 341. 15 Ibid., p. 331. 8 per cent of the population. Their most powerful unifying bond was their language.16 Although Welsh was excluded from official life, at that time there were no fears it might perish as the principal medium of daily communication. Within one hundred years, by 1911 the population of Wales increased from 601,767 to 2,442,011, and the proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers fell to 8.7 per cent of the population.17 It is a profound fact that there are unlikely to be any surviving monoglot Welsh speakers today. In his essay on The Sociolinguistics of Welsh Robert Owen Jones wrote: “It is a minor miracle that Welsh has survived to this day. Throughout fourteen centuries of its existence the Welsh language has been under siege and during that period whenever bilingual and linguistically mixed communities have come into being, linguistic erosion has occurred with a resultant rejection of Welsh as the primary language”.18 In 1885 D. Isaac Davies looked forward to a Welsh speaking population of three million by 1985, some one hundred years later. In contrast Saunders Lewis in 1962 predicted the terminal decline of Welsh as a living language by 2000.19 Clearly neither prognosis was absolutely correct. Nonetheless there have been other Doomsday merchant. In a keynote address to the 2000 conference of the North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History, Geraint Jenkins painted a most dismal and bleak future for the Welsh language, predicting its extinction “…not as a sudden apocalyptic event – more a case of a tortuous death by a thousand cuts – but its demise is assured”.20 Other commentators have been more 16 G. Jenkins, The Welsh Language and its Social Domains, 1801-1911 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000) 1. 17 Jenkins, The Welsh Language and its Social Domains, 1801-1911, pp. 1-2. 18.Jones, ‘The Sociolinguistics of Welsh’, p. 536. 19 J. Aitchison and H. Carter, A Geography of the Welsh Language 1961-1991 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1994), p. 111. 20 G.H. Jenkins, ‘Terminal Decline? The Welsh Language in the Twentieth Century’, North American Journal of Welsh Studies, vol 1,2 (2001), pp. 59-67. 9 circumspect. As stated by O’ Neill: “The present state of Welsh gives reason for both optimism and concern”.21 This thesis explores two broad aspects relating to the survival of the language during the nineteenth and twentieth-century. The first aspect will deal essentially with the geography of the Welsh language, drawing on data principally from the decennial censuses. Data will be presented in tables and maps showing changes and trends in language densities in different parts of Wales. The second aspect of this dissertation relates to the place of organized religion in day to day Welsh life, and its relationship to the Welsh language. In his Antiquae Linguae Britannicae in 1621, Dr John Davies of Mallwyd claimed that God had preordained the Welsh people to communicate with Him in the Welsh language, believing that were it not for divine providence the language would not have survived. The Welsh were encouraged to believe that their language was a pure and sacred tongue bequeathed to them by Gomer, the grandson of Noah. Such a claim would fuel an irrefutable argument for preserving and teaching the language. Eighteenth century authors also cautioned the possibility of divine retribution should anyone strive to abolish the Welsh language, effectively voicing anew an old theme of divine providence dating back to the twelfth-century, whereby Gerald of Wales recorded the famous alleged utterance of the “old Welshman of Pencader” to Henry II. In that exchange, it was claimed that the Welsh people could “never be totally subdued through the wrath of man, unless the wrath of God shall concur”. It was further claimed, “Nor do I think that any other nation than this of Wales, or any other language..…shall in the day of severe examination before the Supreme Judge, answer for this corner of the earth”. Furthermore, the translation of the scriptures into Welsh at the command of Elizabeth I in the late sixteenth-century had a profound impact on the language and 21 O’Neill, Diarmuid, ‘What is the Way Forward?’, in D.O’Neill, ed. Rebuilding the Celtic Languages (Y Lolfa Cyf., 2005), p. 429. 10 identity of the Welsh people and guaranteed a close relationship between Christianity in Wales and the language for the next three or four centuries. The fortunes of the Welsh language and organised Christian religion have ebbed and flowed, sometimes in striking parallel, although it is not always clear whether the robustness or frailty of each is consistently independent of, or dependent on, each other. This lack of clarity about the nature of the relationship is the raison d’être for this dissertation. In order to retain some focus, the period of examination for this thesis will span approximately two centuries, choosing a starting point of 1800-1, coinciding with the Classification of Ecclesiastical Returns and the first decennial census. The end point for this dissertation is the recent release of data pertaining to the state of the language in the 2011 decennial census. This dissertation will concentrate on the Established Church and the Nonconformist Chapel Movement and their relationship to the Welsh language and people during the period under examination
O que dizer da Paixão? A ampliação do sentido em G.H., de Lispector / What Can We Say About Passion? The Enlargement of the Sense in Lispector’s G.H.
No full textResumo: A partir de um mergulho na escrita esboçada, composta por fragmentos, em A Paixão Segundo G.H., discutimos, sob o ponto de vista da semiótica peirciana, a expansão de sentido em Lispector por meio do que ela mesma chamou de Travessia do Oposto. Ao tornar-se mais abstrata linguisticamente, a autora consegue atingir e descrever sensações de forma a tocar intimamente seu interlocutor. A base semiótica explica, teoricamente, as aproximações da escritora à qualidade dos objetos, colocando em protagonismo fenômenos densos e difíceis de serem descritos, por sua própria natureza, como é o caso do conceito de primeiridade, ligado à instância das sensações. Para isso, percorre-se o caminho de um simulacro do concreto ao abstrato, priorizando, assim, a expansão dimensional do que é passível de fazer sentido.Palavras-chave: Lispector; Peirce; semiótica; paixão; primeiridade.Abstract: The sketchy writing, composed of fragments, in A Paixão Segundo G.H. motivated the present discussion about the expansion of meaning in Lispector’s by what she called the ‘Crossing of the Opposite’, from the point of view of Peirce’s theory. By becoming more abstract linguistically, the author is able to reach out and describe sensations in order to intimately touch her interlocutor. The semiotics explains the approaches of the Brazilian writer to the quality of the objects, putting in prominence the dense problem that is to describe the phenomenon, due to its own nature. That is the case of the concept of firstness, linked to the instance of sensations. In order to do this, we walk the path of a simulacrum, from the concrete to the abstract, prioritizing the dimensional expansion of what is liable to make sense.Keywords: Lispector; Peirce; semiotics; passion; firstness
An analysis of innovation programmes in Wales along a ‘hard – soft’ policy continuum – a case study approach
No full textThe thesis context is a Welsh innovation policy continuum. The research is primarily located in three innovation programmes representative of innovation policy in Wales. The representative programmes are: the Technium network; Innovation Network Partnership; and Communities First project. The Technium network is considered to be at the hard/tangible end of the policy continuum whilst Communities First is at the softer, more intangible pole of the continuum.
The aim of this thesis is to ascertain the influence social capital may have upon levels of innovation across the innovation policy continuum. To achieve the aim, the existence and extent of forms of innovation, forms of social capital, and cooperation and collaboration are considered through a positivist and interpretivist analysis. The resultant data has been further exposed to a correlation analysis, undertaken to ascertain whether or not the presence and form of social capital has an association with forms of innovation.
The three programmes each have a pan-Wales presence. The programmes all originate from Welsh Assembly Government innovation policy initiatives between 2001 and 2003. For each programme a case study has been produced. The case studies have been constructed using data from survey, interviews and participant observation. The survey was completed via an on-line questionnaire by representative individuals and groups from each innovation policy continuum programme. Further data was collected by interviews held with individuals representative of roles typically undertaken at each programme. Participant observation undertaken at each programme also informed the creation of the case studies.
Literature in this field of study is typically limited to a comparatively narrow investigation of traditionally measured innovation. For social capital and cooperation and collaboration, research usually has a macro scale cynosure. This study has an innovation programme locale in Wales which may be considered unique in terms of innovation and social capital research.
ii
The findings reveal the existence of forms of innovation, social capital, and cooperation and collaboration at each case study. However, there are differences in terms of the extent of such phenomenon along the innovation policy continuum. For instance, there appears to be an increased likelihood of traditionally measured innovation at the Technium network. Social innovation is more likely to be present at the Communities First project. Similarly, forms of social capital are more likely to be found at Communities First partnerships than at other programmes along the continuum. The correlation analysis applied to the case study survey data discloses a number of, mainly positive statistically significant associations between explanatory social capital, and cooperation and collaboration variables and dependent innovation variables.
Propositions resultant of the findings, are likely to be of use to policymakers. For instance, forms of social capital appear to be positively related to traditionally measured, hidden and social innovation. Policymakers considering the design of programmes to boost levels of innovation may be advised to include means of increasing levels of social capital, cooperation and collaboration in their policy and programme proposals and evaluation criteria
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