bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Two new species for the Afrotropic genus Leptometa: Leptometa danieli and Leptometa gabrielae (Lepidoptera, Lasiocampidae)
Authors: Sulak Harald , Saldaitis Aidas , Yakovlev Roman V. , Volkova Yulia S. , Traore Mohamed M. , Müller Günter C. , Revay Edita E. , Prozorova Tatiana A. , Prozorov Alexey M.
Published: January 2024

Two new species of the genus Leptometa Aurivillius, 1927 are described from the rich Congolian forests: Leptometa danieli sp. n. and Leptometa gabrielae sp. n. Both species are known by short series of males which are compared with males of five other species of the genus.
‘Russkiye’: who are they?
Authors: Bazylevskyi Borys
Published: January 2024

Abstract. The article analyses the identity of the russians, attempting to answer the question ‘Who are the “russkiye”?’ and seeking to set off a broader discourse and further research on the subject. The author indicates that historical science offers several theories concerning the origin of the ‘russkiye’: the theory of strictly Slavic origin, the theory of the Slavicisation of Finno-Ugric peoples, the theory of mixed Finno-Ugric and Turkic origin, and the theory of mixed Finno-Ugric and Slavic origin. The author believes that regardless of the abandonment of some Tatar traditions and falsification of its historical roots, the muscovite society remained an inherent successor to the Horde with a veneer of Europeanness defined by an unquenchable thirst for expansion, appropriation of history and culture, and destruction. The author argues that the country of the ‘russkiye’ poses a threat not only to Ukraine but also to the whole world. The problem is that the ‘russkiye’ cannot develop into a nation, as they remain a relic anomaly of the early Middle Ages. The ‘russkiye’ seek to compensate for their own inferiority complex by subversive activities against other countries and claiming to offer a unique third way of ‘civilisation’. In the 21st century, in spite of the kremlin’s chauvinistic policy, oppression, and bans on national education, powerful national movements are developing in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and the North Caucasus. Siberian ethnic groups such as the Yakuts, Chukchi, and others are becoming more prominent in this context.
The author encourages further research on the subject, pointing out the sparse academic discourse around it. In the context of the full-scale war against Ukraine, it became even clearer that civilisation needs to help the ‘russkiye’ abandon the mythological idea of their background and source of origin as soon as possible. Obviously, this will lead to their empire’s disintegration (which is inevitable in any case). Its collapse will be immensely beneficial for the ethnic groups that inhabit it and for the whole world.
Keywords: theories of origin, ‘russkiye’, disintegration of the muscovite empire, ethnic groups of russia.
Investigation of Empennage Location Effect to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Structure Characteristic
Authors: Farid Danial Norazman  , Ahmad Hamdan Ariffin  , Mohd Rahmat Firman Sahifulddin  , Irfan Abdul Rahim
Published: January 2024

Over the past few decades, unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as UAVs, have been widely used in a number of consumer and military applications, such as surveillance, tracking, monitoring, and aerial photography. Fixed-wing and rotary UAVs are the two primary categories in UAV. Interestingly, the hybridization of fixed-wing and rotary UAV gives better performance in terms of energy consumption and the needs of runaway. Designing new hybrid fixed wing-rotary UAV or hybrid vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) is challenging especially to identify the critical location in the UAV and material selection. Therefore, the objective of this research is to study the effect of empennage location and material selection on the structural strength of a hybrid VTOL UAV. The SolidWorks software was employed to design a 3D model of the UAV with different empennage locations, as well as perform a simulation of the structural strength of fibre glass, carbon fibre and kenaf for the hybrid VTOL UAV. The simulation analysis presents stress (Von Mises). The results show that the fibre glass (4.342 N/m2) at top empennage gives the best performance as compared to other parameters. In conclusion, this study is necessary to give a better picture of structural strength of composite materials and best design location in hybrid VTOL UAV for future research.
Fabrication of Polymer Light Guide Plate (LGP) using Direct CO2 Laser Structuring
Authors: Norfazilasari Yasman  , Raja Murfiqah Raja Mohamad Fouzy  , Mohd Zairulnizam Mohd Zawawi
Published: January 2024

Light guide plates (LGPs) are an integral component that help distribute illumination from the light source in a variety of applications. Therefore, the design and quality of the microstructure pattern in LGPs play a significant role in achieving high luminous efficiency and light uniformity. This study investigates the relationship between laser power and laser scanning speed to the formation of micro-dots by using CO2 direct laser structuring on PMMA. Furthermore, the effect of different micro-dots pitch to the luminance was also evaluated using the luminance meter. Our finding shows that increase of laser power and decrease of laser scanning speed resulted in larger micro-dots diameter and deeper micro-dots. The results also showed that the smaller the pitch, the higher the luminance reading. Overall, the low-cost CO2 direct laser structuring demonstrated in the study able to produce consistent micro-dots pattern diameter and height which is suitable for fabrication of LGPs in the mass production.
Pioneering the Path to Sustainable Construction: Unveiling the Triumphs and Trajectories of Innovative Materials
Authors: Mohd Zailan Sulieman  , Fahrizal Zulkarnain
Published: January 2024

In the dynamic realm of sustainable construction, innovation in materials is a compelling strategy to overcome the limitations of conventional products. This study delves into two extraordinary case studies - Rammed Earth and Solar Pavement - to uncover their successes and potential impact. It navigates through a landscape of innovative materials, from research to real-world implementations, focusing on materials that harness nature's gifts and promote eco-consciousness, reducing carbon footprints. This investigation employs a comprehensive methodology, analysing scholarly manifestos, journal chronicles, historical documents, and credible references. It explores material identity, utility, attributes, virtues, vices, construction prowess, industry impact, journalistic coverage, ecological footprints, societal engagement, and tangible projects. Comparisons are made based on sustainability impact, economic viability, and current trends. The findings reveal that Rammed Earth stands as a sustainability luminary, leaving a minimal environmental footprint. In contrast, Solar Pavement holds intriguing promise, requiring further research, development, and audacious pilot endeavours to fully unleash its potential. This saga offers valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of these avant-garde materials. Armed with this knowledge, decision-makers in sustainable construction can lead us towards a harmonious future for our built environment.
Falkner-Skan Flow of Nanofluid with Convective Boundary Condition
Authors: Nurul Diana Mohammad  , Nur Ilyana Kamis  , Mohamad Hidayad Ahmad Kamal  , Sharidan Shafie  , Noraihan Afiqah Rawi
Published: January 2024

This study focuses on the investigation of nanofluid flow with convective boundary conditions past a static wedge by considering copper as the chosen nanoparticles and water as the conventional base fluid. The governing partial differential equations (PDE) are transformed into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODE) by using an appropriate similarity transformation. The transformed governing equations are then solved numerically by using the Keller-box method. The significant impact of parameters included wedge angle parameter, mixed convection parameter, volume fraction of nanoparticle and Biot number are presented. The graphical analysis on velocity and temperature profiles revealed that the increasing values of all considered parameters causes the increment of velocity of the flow. Meanwhile, significant changes on the temperature profiles are clearly depicted on the increment of nanoparticle volume fraction as well as the Biot number.
Is Post-COVID 19 Vaccination Antibody Level Related to Happiness and Stress Hormones?
Authors: UÇAR Cihat , DİŞLİ Faruk , ATÇALI Tuğçe , YILDIZ Sedat
Published: January 2024

Aim: The level of antibody production in those vaccinated against coronavirus can be affected by many different situations. There is an important balance between immune response, stress and emotional state. However, it is not known how this situation affects antibody production after vaccination. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the antibody response induced by the COVID-19 vaccine and the hormones cortisol, a marker of the stress axis, and serotonin, a marker of happiness.

Material and Method: Serum cortisol and serotonin levels were analyzed in those who tested positive (n=40) and negative (n=40) for Anti-SARS CoV-2 IgG induced by vaccination. Anti-SARS CoV 2 IgG, cortisol, and serotonin levels were determined by using the ELISA method. The data were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. The value of p0.05).

Conclusion: Consequently, no effect of the stress parameter cortisol and the happiness parameter serotonin, was found in vaccine-induced immunization. It is considered that the different antibody responses in individuals may vary depending on other factors.
Investigation of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Apoptosis Caused by Malachite Green-Mediated Sonodynamic Therapy in HL60 Cells
Authors: ÇALIŞKAN Metin , BAYRAK Gulsen , ÖZLEM ÇALIŞKAN Serçin
Published: January 2024

Aim: Sonodynamic antitumor therapy is a promising, novel method for the treatment of cancer. To determine the effects of malachite green (MG) in the presence of ultrasound (US), MG was tested in vitro on HL60 cells at different concentrations as a sonodynamic compound. We investigated cell viability, morphology, and the occurrence of ER stress after MG-mediated sonodynamic therapy (SDT) in HL60 cells.

Aim: Sonodynamic antitumor therapy is a promising, novel method for the treatment of cancer. To determine the effects of malachite green (MG) in the presence of ultrasound (US), MG was tested in vitro on HL60 cells at different concentrations as a sonodynamic compound. We investigated cell viability, morphology, and the occurrence of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress after MG-mediated sonodynamic therapy (SDT) in HL60 cells.

Material and Method: Four groups were formed, including a control group, a group subjected to ultrasound (US) only, a group treated with various concentrations of MG, and a group treated with US using the same concentrations. The cells were treated with 1MHz ultrasound at 2 W/cm2 for 3 minutes. The assessment of cell viability was conducted 24 hours post-treatment through the utilization of the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Cell morphology and apoptotic index were determined using Giemsa staining, while GRP78 and PERK expressions were determined through immunocytochemistry staining.

Results: The cell cytotoxicity of HL60 cells significantly increased after MG-mediated sonodynamic therapy. After treatment, apoptotic cells with micronuclei were observed morphologically. Significant levels of GRP78 and PERK expression were observed in all groups, except for PERK expression in the US group, compared to the control group.

Conclusion: The induction of ER stress, accompanied by intense apoptosis and a marked decrease in cell viability, demonstrates the potential of MG-mediated sonodynamic therapy in cancer treatment. Investigating ER stress as a molecular target may contribute to improving the treatment method.
Dexmedetomidine and Fentanyl in Endotracheal Intubation: A Comparative Analysis of Hemodynamic and Intubation Responses
Authors: TORUN GÖKTAŞ Ayşegül , TEMİZEL Feriha , ARSLAN Gülten , ÖZŞEKER Metin , SÜSLÜ Hüsnü , SAİTOĞLU Leyla
Published: January 2024

Aim: Endotracheal intubation, a critical procedure in anaesthesia, can induce significant hemodynamic fluctuations, posing risks, especially to patients with cardiovascular concerns. This study compares the effects of dexmedetomidine and fentanyl, two agents commonly used to mitigate these responses, on endotracheal intubation conditions and associated hemodynamic changes.

Material and Method: Conducted at tertiary care training and research hospital, this study involved 60 patients aged 40-60, all classified American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I-II, undergoing elective upper and lower extremity surgeries. Excluding patients with contraindicating conditions, the subjects were divided into two groups to receive either dexmedetomidine or fentanyl, along with propofol and vecuronium, for induction. Hemodynamic parameters were continuously monitored, and intubation conditions were assessed using the Cooper scoring system.

Results: The study found that both dexmedetomidine and fentanyl effectively stabilised hemodynamic parameters during intubation. However, the fentanyl group displayed significantly higher total scores on the Cooper intubation conditions scale, indicating more favourable conditions for endotracheal intubation in terms of ease and patient comfort.

Conclusion: While both dexmedetomidine and fentanyl are effective in maintaining hemodynamic stability during endotracheal intubation, fentanyl demonstrates a slight advantage in optimising intubation conditions. This distinction offers valuable insight for anesthesiologists in tailoring anaesthetic strategies and balancing patient safety with procedural efficiency in surgical settings.
“The space around me appeared to be a wilderness of mountains”
Authors: Martin Michael S.
Published: January 2024

The first chapter of the book will first provide an historical and theoretical grounding for how 19th-century travellers through Appalachia would have come to understand space and place. Various early American forms of commodifying and empirically understanding space, as with 18th-century maps, including Thomas Jefferson’s maps of Virginia, and prominent land markings, including the Fairfax Stone that divides Maryland and Virginia, will be understood as part of the historical material available in mapping and imaginatively re-creating Appalachia. This chapter will also introduce some of the larger theoretical angles that inform the remaining chapters, particularly with ecological approaches, or ecocriticism, as a way of providing a language for how 19th-century travel writers through Appalachia framed the natural world.
Towards a Rural Ideal
Authors: Martin Michael S.
Published: January 2024

Chapter Five: 'Nature and Culture: The Rural Ideal in Appalachian Nature and Travel Narratives'. The ultimate goal of Thomas Jefferson's early "Appalachian" writing, Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), is to communicate a rural ideal, the perfect middle ground between economic development and pure, unadulterated nature. This ideal is realized by the traveling part of Philip Pendleton Kennedy's Blackwater Chronicle in their final ruminations on what to do with the region after their fishing trip, and it is at the heart of Susan Fenimore Cooper's vision for a 'middle-ground' of ecological balance between the need to develop the timber forest and upstate New York village on one hand, its preservation of its mountain character and ecology on the other. In nonfiction travel narratives, tropes from familiar landscape aesthetics from the British and Continental tradition therefore serve as mediating devices for this middle-ground vision of the Appalachian landscape, a futurity that seeks to preserve the wilderness in its current form while acknowledging the need for tourism and development in the valley region.
Wagner, the British Press, and Taste Education at the British Musical Festival, 1869–1914
Authors: Edward McGuire Charles
Published: January 2024

How did the intersection of print culture and the British musical festival help spread Wagner’s music and act as a locus for critical discussions of the composer? Discussing Wagner in newspaper reviews and musical journals allowed the British press to forward specific visions (positive and negative) of so-called “progressive” musical taste. This essay discusses how the intersection of Wagner and British festivals—particularly through performances at Bristol, Chester, and Hereford (at the Three Choirs Festival)—led the press tacitly to accept such performances as a necessary evil and as part of a process of shifting the taste of the British public. At issue were two questions: first, whether a performance of a stage work could be excused in a concert production, and second, what value (if any) an unstaged performance might have. So far as the press was concerned, these issues were not decided by the beginning of the First World War. Yet, increasingly, festival organizers and programmers experimented radically with Wagner’s music, by presenting ever-longer segments of it within concert situations, or producing selections within sacred spaces heretofore considered off-limits to such music. In this way, print culture’s aesthetic deliberations counterpointed the actions British festivals took to normalize the concert performance of Wagner and consequently spread the composer’s music and popularity to a larger segment of British society in the final years of the Long Nineteenth Century.
British Wagnerism, George Moore, and Popular Print Culture at the End of the Long Nineteenth Century
Authors: Grella O’Connell Julia
Published: January 2024

In 1870 the first full opera by Wagner was performed in Britain. By the time the Ring Cycle made its way to Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1882, a fanatical devotion had grown up around the composer’s music and writings. This devotion declared itself in print culture simultaneously with the first British Ring, appearing in genres that ranged from the satire of Punch to the literary novels of Oscar Wilde. The Irish writer George Moore (1852–1933), who, though rarely read today, was called by Ford Madox Ford “infinitely the most skilled man of letters of his day … in the whole world,” fell under Wagner's spell. Moore pioneered the style of literary Wagnerism in his two novels Evelyn Innes (1898) and Sister Teresa (1901). The novels are a linked conversion narrative, the story of an English soprano who must choose between her Catholic faith and the new cult of British Wagnerism. Moore drew not only on Wagner's compositional techniques in his writing, but also on the contemporary crisis of faith in Britain, to bring the themes of religious conversion and Wagnerian aesthetics to the British popular novel.
Music and Magazines
Authors: Grande James
Published: January 2024

This essay explores the presence of opera within the formation defined by Daniel White as the “Dissenting public sphere.” Recent accounts have shown how the reception of opera in early nineteenth-century London was conditioned by questions of politics and social class. This essay argues that responses to opera were shaped equally by religious politics and examines a range of writings by Protestant dissenters from the Church of England. Music occupies an equivocal place within the culture of religious dissent, at once central to nonconformist identities—above all, through the practice of congregational hymn-singing, prohibited by the Church of England until 1820—and a continual source of anxiety, tainted by its associations with luxury, commerce, ritual, and unreason. While the hermeneutic aporias of instrumental music are a persistent theme of dissenting discourse, Italian opera forms the most frequent subject of dissenting anxieties about music. The chapter takes up responses to opera from William Hazlitt, Charles Lamb, Thomas Noon Talfourd, Henry Crabb Robinson, and Amelia Opie, focusing on periodicals such as the Examiner, London Magazine and New Monthly Magazine, while also integrating the evidence of diaries and letters.
Postmodernism and Vibrant Matter in Armand Schwerner’s The Tablets (1999)
Authors: Moffett Joe
Published: January 2024

By way of concluding, this chapter looks ahead to the next literary period, Postmodernism, the beginnings of which run parallel to the final decades of Late Modernism. The long poem proves to be an adaptable form for a new generation’s unique approach. Schwerner’s The Tablets, a text consisting of translations of fictional cuneiform tablets, presents a main character (the scholar /translator) who begins to question not only his knowledge but also his very being as the clay tablets reflect the way matter can have a profound effect upon us as we examine our place in the world. Returning to Bennett’s concept of thing-power, the chapter shows how Postmodernist texts like Schwerner’s carry on an engagement with vibrant matter while also questioning fundamental assumptions about subjectivity and perception.
Introduction
Authors: Unruh Daniel
Published: January 2024

The introductory chapter opens by laying out the central question of the book: how should citizens of collectively-ruled states interact with autocratic rulers? The next section discusses the ways in which the world of absolute monarchies was seen as differing from that of the collectively-governed polis. Communication between monarchs and their communities was seen as extremely difficult. Not only are the practices and institutions of the polis difficult for monarchs to grasp, but speech functions very differently in poleis and in monarchies. The introduction lays out the authors and texts which will be used as evidence, briefly introducing each author and discussing why they are important voices on the question of interaction between citizens and monarchs. It also discusses the historical scope, which covers the period between the beginning of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE, and the defeat of a coalition of Greek states by Philip II of Macedon in 338 BCE.
Intercultural Interaction in Herodotus and the Fifth Century
Authors: Unruh Daniel
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses Herodotus, the earliest writer to engage systematically with the issue of communication between citizens and monarchs. The differences Herodotus sees between the worlds of the Greek polis, where plurality, disagreement, and accountability are the norm, and of autocratic monarchy, where only the king or tyrant’s voice is heard, disagreement is punished, and the ruler governs without restraint, are examined. The chapter then moves on to discuss the ways in which citizens of Greek poleis seek to communicate such concepts. I argue that the majority of interactions between citizens and monarchs in Herodotus fall into two broad categories: “Speaking Citizen” and “Speaking Tyrant.” The chapter concludes by arguing that, for Herodotus, there was no way of communicating with monarchs that was both materially-beneficial and ethically-sound. “Speaking citizen” is honourable, but achieves nothing; “speaking tyrant” may bring material benefits, but comes at the cost of one’s civic identity and potentially threatens the polis itself.
Intercultural Communication in Xenophon’s Anabasis
Authors: Unruh Daniel
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines Xenophon’s depiction of his own successes in communicating with a monarch in the Anabasis. This work begins with an account of the failure of three Greek commanders, Klearchos, Menon, and Proxenos, to form a stable relationship with either Prince Cyrus or King Artaxerxes. While all these men have the requisite ambition and desire for power to allow them to empathise with monarchs, their failure to reign this desire in ultimately leads to overconfidence in the face of Persian treachery and, ultimately, death. Their failure is implicitly contrasted with the success of Xenophon himself in befriending the Thracian prince Seuthes at the end of the Anabasis. Like the three original commanders, Xenophon is depicted in the narrative as possessing a number of “monarchic” traits, for example, in his desire to found a city that will bring himself glory and semi-divine honours. Such traits allow him to integrate himself easily into the world of the Thracian court, fitting in with Thracian customs in a way that other Greeks are shown as finding impossible. Unlike the original generals, however, Xenophon is shown as able to keep these monarchic traits in check so that they never overwhelm his basic civic identity.
Isokrates
Authors: Unruh Daniel
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores the ways in which the philosopher and teacher Isokrates approaches communication with a variety of rulers. Isokrates is the only Classical writer for whom we have a sizeable collection of texts addressed to individual monarchs, making him an invaluable source. In this chapter, it is argued that Isokrates represents a final break with the “speaking citizen”/ “speaking tyrant” dichotomy. The chapter concludes with a discussion of what Isokrates sees as the limits of his civic education. Put simply, the only monarchs he sees as educable are those who, to a greater or lesser degree, share in Greek culture. Barbarian rulers like the Great King of Persia are depicted as too deeply-enmeshed in a culture of despotism to make it worth trying to teach them civic values. Against such rulers, the only argument is force, and Isokrates enthusiastically urges on a wide variety of figures, from Athenian democrats to Syracusan tyrants, the task of leading a crusade to remove the existential threat he perceives as emanating from the irremediable despotism of barbarian kings.
A Platonic Rejoinder
Authors: Unruh Daniel
Published: January 2024

In several dialogues, most notably Protagoras, Statesmen, and Laws, Plato challenges many of the fundamental planks of Isokrates’ and Xenophon’s conception. That the democratic polis can produce civic virtue, that such virtueis teachable at all, that there is any likelihood of a monarch capable of receiving its lessons would arise – all these ideas are challenged and to a large extent undermined, leaving, apparently, little hope that educating tyrants is at all possible. Such views are rendered paradoxical, by the fact that in practice, Plato seems to have behaved as if the education of monarchs was a viable option. Like Isokrates’ school, Plato’s Academy educated many heirs to monarchies from around the Greek world. Also like Isokrates, Plato sent his students out to become the advisors to kings and tyrants – most famously, of course, sending Aristotle to Macedon to tutor the young prince Alexander. Finally, of course, Plato himself spent a great deal of time in Syracuse, seeking to educate tyrant Dionysios II in philosophical virtue. This tension between Plato’s theoretical pessimism and apparent practical optimism offers a fascinating glimpse into the complexities that the question of interaction with monarchs could raise.
Oman and the African Continent
Authors: Kéchichian Joseph A.
Published: January 2024

To better address several of the questions raised in the preceding discussion, Chapter 6 focuses on the African continent, providing a detailed discussion of ‘Ibadhism in North Africa. Special attention is devoted to the Rustumiyyah [a North African ‘Ibadhi dynasty] and how the movement went from glory to isolation to inclusion. This is followed by an investigation of the Omani Empire in Africa between 1650 and 1860 AD both before and under Al Bu Sa‘id rule. An effort is then made to study Omani ties with Zanzibar and how these led to clashes with leading Western powers. The chapter then turns to diplomatic relations with leading North African states, including Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Indelible Stains
Authors: Stojanovic Sonja
Published: January 2024

This chapter considers the memory of violent and traumatic events through the recurrence of stains (both literal and figurative) in novels by Leïla Sebbar, Kaouther Adimi, and Gaël Faye. Reading Sebbar’s La seine était rouge. Paris, octobre 1961 [The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961] (1999), this chapter examines the colours red and blue as signs of haunting that both precede and follow the 17 October massacre of Algerians. In Adimi’s Nos richesses [Our Riches] (2017), the violent stain of colonization and the denial of responsibility is shown through the use of the shifty third person pronoun “on” [one, we, everyone] to talk about the massacre of Algerians in Sétif in 1945 and in Paris in 1961. While in Faye’s Petit Pays [Small Country] (2016), the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda haunts the narrative in the form of a stain that cannot be washed away.
Haunting Walls
Authors: Stojanovic Sonja
Published: January 2024

The epilogue turns to the so-called European refugee or migrant crisis that is broached in several of the novels examined in Mind the Ghost. Reading Marina Skalova’s Exploration du flux [An Exploration of Flow] (2019), it discusses the memory of World War II through the images of refugees turned away, of packed trains, of the walls of “Fortress Europe.” Through Patrick Chamoiseau’s Frères Migrants [Migrant Brothers] (2018) and Fabienne Kanor’s Faire l’aventure [Making the Journey] (2014), it links the images of the Mediterranean as a cemetery to the memory of the transatlantic slave trade. It returns to Jacques Derrida’s Spectres de Marx [Specters of Marx] (1993), the book which jumpstarts “spectrality studies,” and examines its linking of haunting to Europe and the European project of unification and peace following World War II, arguing that this “crisis” is the sign of a future haunting, and a European failure of ethical responsibility towards future generations.
Poetry & Strikes
Authors: James Michael
Published: January 2024

Poetry & Strikes examines shifting representations of strike action in the work of six British poets from the 1970s to the present day. It considers how these poets have come to contend with, and contribute to, narratives surrounding industrial disputes. Through these conversations, the book attempts to question the way in which union narratives and legacies are constructed, and to investigate the power dynamics that underpin the presentation of labour histories. The work of these poets helps us to understand how cultural memories have been formed, and makes it possible to see how these legacies may still be rewritten and reframed. The book focuses on two distinct poetic eras: from 1972 to the late 1980s through the work of Barry MacSweeney, Tony Harrison and Sean O’Brien, and the 2010s, through the writings of Helen Mort, Steve Ely and Paul Bentley. The poets bring influences from other poems, from movies and from ‘official’ narratives on to the page, sometimes brazenly, sometimes obscured, but always with a sense that they are writing out of and into a strike history. The book explores these influences and their engagement with strike history. The poets examined see these legacies as artful constructions, foregrounding an awareness of working-class stories and histories as products, products that have been manufactured and arranged, in the same way that the poems themselves are artfully rendered and established on the page.
Naming Scargills and Thatchers
Authors: James Michael
Published: January 2024

Chapter Three turns from considering ideas regarding collectives to those of the individual, with particular attention to the two most recognisable and divisive figures of the miners’ strike 1984-5, Arthur Scargill and Margaret Thatcher. Through a consideration of the politics of naming, the chapter explores the ways in which Scargill and Thatcher are ‘constructed’ through various acts of naming in the poems. It argues that these acts reveal the means by which various actors attempt to control cultural narratives in regards to British labour politics and trade unions. The way the names of Scargill and Thatcher come to be manipulated and presented expose the constructed nature of our labour narratives. These constructions seek to silence alternative voices and control the way labour narratives are received and understood. By controlling labour narratives, there is also an attempt to control the responses to our labour histories and labour presents.
“Wait’ll They Get a Load of Arthur Fleck”
Authors: Booker M. Keith
Published: January 2024

Much of the commercial success of Joker was no doubt due to its association with the Batman cultural franchise. This chapter surveys the role played by the Joker character in Batman narratives over the years. It notes the ways in which the title character of this film echoes the previous appearances of the Joker character in many ways. However, it also notes the important ways in which this film differs from anything previously to appear in the Batman franchise.
“That’s Life”
Authors: Booker M. Keith
Published: January 2024

This chapter completes the examination of the cultural background of Joker by looking at its use of music. One of the ways in which Joker establishes itself as a serious work of cinematic art is through its Oscar-winning score, which has received almost universal acclaim and which was clearly composed in a mode of high seriousness. Combining orchestral string instruments with electronics, this haunting score seeks to convey the depths of Arthur’s psychic pain and makes a powerful contribution to the emotional impact of the film
‘To Break Down the Barriers Which Separate Races and Countries'
Authors: Kirkby Diane , Monk Lee-Ann , Ostapenko Dmytro
Published: January 2024

This chapter picks up the theme of internationalism as it reconstructs the foundation of the International Transportworkers Federation. It explores the Australasian connections of the founders whose vision for a worldwide socialist organisation looked hopefully to the colonies with their strong and early labour movements. But being geographically distant from Europe meant the Australian unions saw little value in joining the ITF, which made no attempt to include other countries from the Asian region. Debates over racial exclusion policy emerged, pushed by the UK and US seafarers unions. The coming of war in 1914 created other tensions for socialists, and xenophobia amongst maritime unionists. Industrial unrest and the world’s only labour party government made Australia’s experience unique.
‘Our Duty Is to Foster a Spirit of Internationality'
Authors: Kirkby Diane , Monk Lee-Ann , Ostapenko Dmytro
Published: January 2024

This chapter continues the exploration of internationalism in its resurgence in the aftermath of war and brings this together with the new more strident militancy in maritime unions, particularly in the leadership of the Australian seamens’ union. This period saw the foundation of the International Labour Organisation with its Joint Maritime Commission as recognition of the separation of land-based labour from seafaring. The ILO’s European focus allowed little room for Asian countries. This period saw the strengthening of trade unions in those countries and Australian unions actively assisting Asian seafarers in their disputes with ship’s masters when in Australian ports. The chapter shows how the Australian seafarers union adopted an anti-racism policy, and actively embraced internationalism and diversity.
6
Authors: Kirkby Diane , Monk Lee-Ann , Ostapenko Dmytro
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores the theme of militancy in the lived political experience of unionists in a turbulent decade. It returns to the history of Australia’s Navigation Act which was finally made operational in 1920, once the ILO was established and it was a means to ratify the first ILO maritime convention. The chapter shows India’s attempts to follow Australia’s example of legislation setting up its own merchant marine to provide employment and training for Its own citizens. But India’s efforts were opposed by the imperial authorities, and Australia’s progressive initiatives were undermined by the deeply conservative federal government’s anti-unionism which focussed on the maritime unions. The government weakened the protective provisions of the Navigation Act, strengthened the punitive provisions in other laws, and sold off the national shipping fleet. They passed a new immigration law to allow deportation of labour activists but failed in their attempt to deport two seamens’ union leaders who had supported militant striking British seafarers. The chapter illuminates connections and power in governance practices against labour militancy, including a ‘Red Scare,’ which became a pattern for subsequent decades.
7
Authors: Kirkby Diane , Monk Lee-Ann , Ostapenko Dmytro
Published: January 2024

This chapter concentrates on internationalism through the ITF’s outreach to Asian countries in the two decades after the end of World War One. The chapter brings developments in internationalism analytically together with considerations of the problem of race in the employment of maritime labour. The spread of Bolshevik ideology worried colonial administrators in ports like Hong Kong where a big seamen’s strike in 1922 seemed to herald a turning point in industrialising Asia. Australia’s maritime unionists still held out against joining the ITF but actively reached out to their fellow unionists in this region of the world -China, Japan and India - while expressing distrust of the ILO and reluctance to identify with the ITF. Under the visionary leadership of Edo Fimmen, the ITF moved to include the ‘extra-European world’ but its success was thwarted by geopolitical realities and imperial powers. As the world moved toward war, key moments of militancy were seen by dockworkers refusing to load ships taking war material to warmongering Japan.
‘Lascar Seamen Stand up for Rights'
Authors: Kirkby Diane , Monk Lee-Ann , Ostapenko Dmytro
Published: January 2024

This chapter concentrates attention on Indian seafarers’ militancy to overcome their underpaid and racialised status in their employment as lascars on British ships. The outbreak of war in 1939 provided the moment for them to strike for better conditions. This began in Australian ports but rapidly spread throughout other British imperial ports. The chapter explores Indian seafarer militancy at the ILO in the years preceding the strike, and documents the assistance the Australian unions gave the strikers. In a detailed reconstruction of the crews’ activism, and how their issues were managed by authorities, the story of this strike shows close connections forged between Australian and Indian seafarers in a time of war
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Authors: Kirkby Diane , Monk Lee-Ann , Ostapenko Dmytro
Published: January 2024

This chapter is focussed on internationalism in the post war period of the Cold War. It follows the trajectory of the ILO’s Seafarers Charter, taking the story back to the 1930s and culminating in its passage in 1946. It brings this story together with the ITF’s continuing attempt to reach affiliates in the Asia-Pacific, now complicated by Cold War alignments.Australian maritime unions were active internationally in the World Federation of Trade Unions as the labour movement divided ideologically and anti-Communists moved to a new organisation, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
Conclusion
Authors: Kirkby Diane , Monk Lee-Ann , Ostapenko Dmytro
Published: January 2024

The story culminates with the passage of the ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention (2006). For the first time seafarers rights were encoded in legal regulation. This was the result of decades of activism by the ITF and its affiliates, in which Australian unionists had become significant. Now Australian maritime union National Secretary Paddy Crumlin took on leadership of the ITF.MLC 2006 incorporated the principle ofPort State Control, which empowered local authorities to inspect foreign ships coming into their ports, and identify problems according to an internationally agreed regime of protocols. Australia gave effect to MLC 2006 when the government repealed and re-wrote the century-old navigation legislation and required compliance with the new Navigation Act 2012.The path of internationalism was hard but this history of actions for labour standards has demonstrated the practical importance of unity beyond the immediate local, national workplace.
Jean Goupy and the Rémire Plantation
Authors: Jennings William
Published: January 2024

Jean Goupy, author of the manuscript that is the principal source of this book, worked on the Rémire sugar plantation of Cayenne from 1688-90. This chapter outlines his life and reveals that before becoming a sugar planter, Goupy spent four years in West Africa as a slave trader and consequently had much greater knowledge of African states and ethnic groups compared to other sugar planters. Goupy’s personality and attitudes are compared to those of other planters. The chapter also provides information about the Rémire plantation’s history and Cayenne’s place in the Atlantic world of the seventeenth century.
The Enslaved Community of Rémire
Authors: Jennings William
Published: January 2024

The chapter examines the names and demographic profile of the enslaved community of Rémire. It begins with the biography of Agoüya, one of the people enslaved on Rémire, to show the depth of information about enslaved people in Goupy’s manuscript. The study of people’s names finds that they had an African name, a slave name and an everyday name. Broad details about the community are then discussed, including its size compared to the rest of the colony. The gender imbalance and age profile reveal a population with few women and fewer children, showing that planters at the time believed in replacing dead slaves with African imports rather than offering their workforce incentives to have children. Evidence is presented that infertility and child mortality were so severe that new arrivals were the only way to prevent population decline.
The Free Population
Authors: Jennings William
Published: January 2024

This chapter profiles Cayenne’s free population in the late seventeenth century to offer a better understanding of the people who kept Dibia and a thousand others in slavery. It finds the settlers came primarily from western France and except for garrison officers and some sugar planters were usually of humble background. Many did not arrive freely but as soldiers or as poor women shipped from France in batches to become planters’ wives. Life expectancy was lower than in France. Social activities listed by Goupy showed that sugar planters visited each other regularly and served as the colony’s aristocracy. Ship’s captains were regularly hosted and planters stayed with shipping families in France, showing that Cayenne was well connected to the French Atlantic world.
The Popular Zombie
Authors: Swanson Lucy
Published: January 2024

Whereas chapters 1 through 3 of this book show that the zombie has been widely appropriated by “highbrow” literary fiction of the French Caribbean, especially of Haiti, the final chapter explores a trait that characterizes the zombie both in the French Caribbean and in Hollywood B movies: its status as a “popular” figure, meaning both its association with popular culture (whether folklore or mass media), and its symbolic connection to the masses. Gary Victor—widely considered the most popular writer in Haiti—revives and foregrounds the zombie’s association with popular culture and the populace, as he writes for a wide Haitian audience, in works inspired by popular culture traditions both local (lodyans) and global in scope. Ultimately, this chapter argues that while Victor finds the living dead figure a useful tool for political critique, he also indicates the limits of the zombie as an emblem of the people.
Unruly Mujeres : Adapting Women’s Rebellious Voices on the Modern Stage
Authors: Grunnah Sarah , Grunnah Sarah
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores the process of creating and staging the original play Unruly Mujeres, which weaves the stories of four cloistered female writers from Spain, Mexico, and Chile between the 17th to 18th centuries: Catalina de Erauso, Sor Marcela de San Félix, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Ursula Suárez. The play tells the story of these women and their various literary achievements and incorporates song and dance while weaving their histories into one unified world. The bilingual play, written by Megan McClain and staged for the first time in 2010, uses source texts from these women writers as a springboard for the creation of a world in which they co-exist. This essay also draws on the modalities of adaptation and appropriation, as they are explored in the works of Linda Hutcheon and Julie Sanders, among others. It ultimately seeks to define the type of appropriation involved in creating Unruly Mujeres, as well as explore the potentials and pitfalls of the play’s adaptive model to reveal what we gain from staging these women’s stories in concert rather than reading their writings in isolation.
Adapting Bolaño’s 2666 for the Stage: Rigola (2007), Falls (2016), and Gosselin (2016)
Authors: Pujol Anton , Pujol Anton
Published: January 2024

“Madness is contagious” ponders Amalfitano, one of the many characters in Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, posthumously published in 2004. Indeed, madness is one of the many recurrent motifs that are woven into the very thick fabric of the novel; and, as the reader is about to discover, madness spreads easily once it is unleashed. It might have affected Àlex Rigola and his collaborator Pablo Ley because they decided to adapt it for the stage. Such a feat would be considered an act of pure madness for anyone who has read the monumental work. Bolaño’s five-part, thousand page plus novel is a confusing, verbose, palimpsestic, disturbing and tangential opus. However, Rigola and Ley successfully, both artistically and commercially, achieved the unconceivable in a five hour-long production. More surprisingly, two more theatrical adaptations of the novel opened in 2016: in Chicago at the Goodman Theatre directed by Robert Falls and adapted by Seth Bockley and in France (Festival d’Avignon and Paris) adapted and directed by Julien Gosselin. For this chapter, having seen the three productions and after reviewing the different ways Bolaño’s novel was adapted, the author inquires into the nature of modern theatrical adaptation based on the creative desire of these three prominent directors to adapt Bolaño’s magnum opus.
Translating Marginalities: Staging Linguistic Diversity in the Comedia
Authors: Muñoz Laura , Muñoz Laura
Published: January 2024

While translation is always a fraught exercise, translating the linguistic diversity present in some comedias can be a particularly daunting task, for the translation of early modern marginality can all too easily become entangled with modern stereotypes of communities currently underrepresented on the stage. This chapter takes two characters in plays translated by members of the UCLA Working Group, Pierres from Guillén de Castro’s Unhappily Married in Valencia (Los mal casados de Valencia) and Alcuzcuz from To Love Beyond Deathas case studies for issues underlying the translating and staging plurilingual characters from the comedia. Though Pierres and Alcuzcuz are representative of very different kinds of marginalities, in both cases performances of these translations have exposed the delicate balancing act of creating a translation which captures the plurality of languages and speakers which existed in the early modern period, and the danger these—often comic—characters have with becoming racialized caricatures of modern marginal communities.