bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Novel Approach to Estimating Heterozygosity from Low-Coverage Genome Sequence
Authors: Bryc Katarzyna , Patterson Nick , Reich David
Published: August 2013

High-throughput shotgun sequence data make it possible in principle to accurately estimate population genetic parameters without confounding by SNP ascertainment bias. One such statistic of interest is the proportion of heterozygous sites within an individual’s genome, which is informative about inbreeding and effective population size. However, in many cases, the available sequence data of an individual are limited to low coverage, preventing the confident calling of genotypes necessary to directly count the proportion of heterozygous sites. Here, we present a method for estimating an individual’s genome-wide rate of heterozygosity from low-coverage sequence data, without an intermediate step that calls genotypes. Our method jointly learns the shared allele distribution between the individual and a panel of other individuals, together with the sequencing error distributions and the reference bias. We show our method works well, first, by its performance on simulated sequence data and, second, on real sequence data where we obtain estimates using low-coverage data consistent with those from higher coverage. We apply our method to obtain estimates of the rate of heterozygosity for 11 humans from diverse worldwide populations and through this analysis reveal the complex dependency of local sequencing coverage on the true underlying heterozygosity, which complicates the estimation of heterozygosity from sequence data. We show how we can use filters to correct for the confounding arising from sequencing depth. We find in practice that ratios of heterozygosity are more interpretable than absolute estimates and show that we obtain excellent conformity of ratios of heterozygosity with previous estimates from higher-coverage data.
Genotype Imputation Reference Panel Selection Using Maximal Phylogenetic Diversity
Authors: Zhang Peng , Zhan Xiaowei , Rosenberg Noah A , Zöllner Sebastian
Published: August 2013

The recent dramatic cost reduction of next-generation sequencing technology enables investigators to assess most variants in the human genome to identify risk variants for complex diseases. However, sequencing large samples remains very expensive. For a study sample with existing genotype data, such as array data from genome-wide association studies, a cost-effective approach is to sequence a subset of the study sample and then to impute the rest of the study sample, using the sequenced subset as a reference panel. The use of such an internal reference panel identifies population-specific variants and avoids the problem of a substantial mismatch in ancestry background between the study population and the reference population. To efficiently select an internal panel, we introduce an idea of phylogenetic diversity from mathematical phylogenetics and comparative genomics. We propose the “most diverse reference panel”, defined as the subset with the maximal “phylogenetic diversity”, thereby incorporating individuals that span a diverse range of genotypes within the sample. Using data both from simulations and from the 1000 Genomes Project, we show that the most diverse reference panel can substantially improve the imputation accuracy compared to randomly selected reference panels, especially for the imputation of rare variants. The improvement in imputation accuracy holds across different marker densities, reference panel sizes, and lengths for the imputed segments. We thus propose a novel strategy for planning sequencing studies on samples with existing genotype data.
Negative Functional Interaction Between Cell Integrity MAPK Pathway and Rho1 GTPase in Fission Yeast
Authors: Viana Raul A , Pinar Mario , Soto Teresa , Coll Pedro M , Cansado Jose , Pérez Pilar
Published: August 2013

Rho1 GTPase is the main activator of cell wall glucan biosynthesis and regulates actin cytoskeleton in fungi, including Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We have obtained a fission yeast thermosensitive mutant strain carrying the rho1-596 allele, which displays reduced Rho1 GTPase activity. This strain has severe cell wall defects and a thermosensitive growth, which is partially suppressed by osmotic stabilization. In a global screening for rho1-596 multicopy suppresors the pmp1+ gene was identified. Pmp1 is a dual specificity phosphatase that negatively regulates the Pmk1 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cell integrity pathway. Accordingly, elimination of Pmk1 MAPK partially rescued rho1-596 thermosensitivity, corroborating the unexpected antagonistic functional relationship of these genes. We found that rho1-596 cells displayed increased basal activation of the cell integrity MAPK pathway and therefore were hypersensitive to MgCl2 and FK506. Moreover, the absence of calcineurin was lethal for rho1-596. We found a higher level of calcineurin activity in rho1-596 than in wild-type cells, and overexpression of constitutively active calcineurin partially rescued rho1-596 thermosensitivity. All together our results suggest that loss of Rho1 function causes an increase in the cell integrity MAPK activity, which is detrimental to the cells and turns calcineurin activity essential.
Precise and Heritable Genome Editing in Evolutionarily Diverse Nematodes Using TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 to Engineer Insertions and Deletions
Authors: Lo Te-Wen , Pickle Catherine S , Lin Steven , Ralston Edward J , Gurling Mark , Schartner Caitlin M , Bian Qian , Doudna Jennifer A , Meyer Barbara J
Published: August 2013

Exploitation of custom-designed nucleases to induce DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) at genomic locations of choice has transformed our ability to edit genomes, regardless of their complexity. DSBs can trigger either error-prone repair pathways that induce random mutations at the break sites or precise homology-directed repair pathways that generate specific insertions or deletions guided by exogenously supplied DNA. Prior editing strategies using site-specific nucleases to modify the Caenorhabditis elegans genome achieved only the heritable disruption of endogenous loci through random mutagenesis by error-prone repair. Here we report highly effective strategies using TALE nucleases and RNA-guided CRISPR/Cas9 nucleases to induce error-prone repair and homology-directed repair to create heritable, precise insertion, deletion, or substitution of specific DNA sequences at targeted endogenous loci. Our robust strategies are effective across nematode species diverged by 300 million years, including necromenic nematodes (Pristionchus pacificus), male/female species (Caenorhabditis species 9), and hermaphroditic species (C. elegans). Thus, genome-editing tools now exist to transform nonmodel nematode species into genetically tractable model organisms. We demonstrate the utility of our broadly applicable genome-editing strategies by creating reagents generally useful to the nematode community and reagents specifically designed to explore the mechanism and evolution of X chromosome dosage compensation. By developing an efficient pipeline involving germline injection of nuclease mRNAs and single-stranded DNA templates, we engineered precise, heritable nucleotide changes both close to and far from DSBs to gain or lose genetic function, to tag proteins made from endogenous genes, and to excise entire loci through targeted FLP-FRT recombination.
New opportunities for the evaluation of infertility
Authors: Török Péter , Major Tamás
Published: August 2013

Incidence of infertility increased in the past years and it affects 15% of couples. Female and male factors are responsible in 40% and 40% of the cases, respectively, while factors present in both females and males can be found in 20% of cases. Female factors can be further divided into organic and functional ones. Function of the female organs can be evaluated in an outpatient setting by well-developed laboratory techniques but evaluation of the uterine cavity and inspection of the tubal patency have been traditionally carried out in one-day surgery. However, the latter can be performed under ambulatory setting with the use of office hysteroscopy, so that the use of operating theatre and staff costs can be saved. Using selective pertubation for the evaluation of tubal patency via office hysteroscopy can reduce cost further. The new methods in infertility workup which can be performed in ambulatory setting have several advantages for the patients. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 1287–1290.
Kochu von Stuckrad, Western Esotericism: A Brief History of Secret Knowledge.
Authors: Johnston Jay
Published: August 2013

Kochu von Stuckrad, Western Esotericism: A Brief History of Secret Knowledge. Equinox, London and Oakville, 2005, pp. xii +167, ISBN: 1845530330 (hbk); 1845530349 (pbk).
The Problematic Church Building
Authors: Clark Jennifer
Published: August 2013

Church closure in Australia is often a disturbing process even if handled well. Attachment to a building, especially if it is an historic one, is difficult to sever. The formal and symbolic separation is achieved through liturgy. This paper discusses a sample of liturgies used in Australian Protestant churches that closed between 1973 and 1998. The liturgies address the disturbance of closure by interpreting the history of the building and its congregation in theological terms. In the process, the authority of the church is re-established in a climate of fracture and dissolution. In its ultimate purpose, the liturgy of closure resembles a Christian funeral. At the point of ‘death’, the liturgy provides a means to return to God.
William Schweiker, Theological Ethics and Global Dynamics: In the Time of Many Worlds. and Samuel Wells, God’s Companions: Reimagining Christian Ethics.
Authors: Roberts Stephen
Published: August 2013

William Schweiker, Theological Ethics and Global Dynamics: In the Time of Many Worlds. Blackwell, Oxford, 2004, pp. xxv + 239, ISBN: 1405113448.
 
Samuel Wells, God’s Companions: Reimagining Christian Ethics. Blackwell, Oxford, 2006, pp. xviii + 232, ISBN: 1405120142.
Christopher B. Kaiser, Toward a Theology of Scientific Endeavour: The Descent of Science. and Peter E. Hodgson, Theology and Modern Physics.
Authors: Bodycomb John
Published: August 2013

Christopher B. Kaiser, Toward a Theology of Scientific Endeavour: The Descent of Science. Ashgate, Aldershot, 2007, pp. xi + 261, ISBN: 9780754641599 (hbk), 9780754641605 (pbk).
 
Peter E. Hodgson, Theology and Modern Physics. Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005, pp. xiv + 282, ISBN: 0754636224 (hbk), 0754636232 (pbk).
Online Christian Churches
Authors: Hutchings Tim
Published: August 2013

Online churches are Internet-based Christian communities, pursuing worship, proselytism and other ecclesial activities through digital media. This article is based on three case studies of online churches: i-church, the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life, and LifeChurch.tv Church Online. Seven key themes emerge from these case studies and are used here as a framework for comparative analysis: mass appeal, spiritual experience, community, reliance on the familiar, local church attendance, internal control and external oversight.
Adam Possamai, Sociology of Religion for Generations X and Y.
Authors: Cusack Carole
Published: August 2013

Adam Possamai, Sociology of Religion for Generations X and Y. Equinox Publishing Ltd, London and Oakville, 2009, pp. x + 225, ISBN: 9781845533045 (hbk), 9781845533038 (pbk).
Stephen Hunt (ed.), Contemporary Christianity and LGBT Sexualities.
Authors: Ioannides George
Published: August 2013

Stephen Hunt (ed.), Contemporary Christianity and LGBT Sexualities. Ashgate, Farnham and Burlington, 2009, pp. xviii + 194, ISBN: 978-0-7546-7624-9 (Hbk).
Hannah E. Johnston and Peg Aloi (eds), The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary Culture.
Authors: Cusack Carole
Published: August 2013

Hannah E. Johnston and Peg Aloi (eds), The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary Culture. Ashgate, Aldershot, 2007, pp. xv + 172, ISBN 978-0-7546-5784-2 (Hbk).
Ebrahim Moosa, Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination.
Authors: Marcotte Roxanne D.
Published: August 2013

Ebrahim Moosa, Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2005, pp. xiii + 349, ISBN 978-0-8078-2952-3 (Cloth), ISBN 978-0-8078-5612-3 (Pbk).
Paul Beirne, Su-un and his World of Symbols: The Founder of Korea’s First Indigenous Religion.
Authors: Cusack Carole
Published: August 2013

Paul Beirne, Su-un and his World of Symbols: The Founder of Korea’s First Indigenous Religion. Ashgate, Aldershot, 2009, pp. xxi + 206, ISBN 978-0-04-7546-6284-6 (Hbk).
Revisiting Postcolonialism and Religion
Authors: Joy Morny
Published: August 2013

This essay will review contemporary developments in postcolonialism and Religious Studies. One compelling reason for such a review is that globalization is regarded by many as a contemporary version of colonialism—not necessarily undertaken by nation states, but by international business conglomerates, with similar untoward effects. Particularly, it will survey the effects of globalization and further adaptations that may still need to be undertaken in light of its incursions. It will also be concerned with the alteration in strategies by certain scholars in response to these changes, especially as they affect the understanding of the terms ‘culture’ and ‘gender’. As a concrete example, the current work of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Chandra Talpade Mohanty will be discussed.
Philosophy in an Age of Postcolonialism
Authors: Prabhu Joseph
Published: August 2013

This article aims at a postcolonial critique of the modern academic discipline, ‘philosophy’. For the most part it is seen and regards itself at present as a modern Western discipline founded in its contemporary form by Descartes, a view that overlooks the global history of the field. This essay focuses on two key modern, Western philosophers—Hegel and Husserl—and the legacy they have bequeathed. In critiquing them, the hope is to open the space for philosophy as a cross-cultural discipline, whose universality is achieved in and through a dialogue among equals.
The Changing Nature of Turkish Islam in the Public Sphere
Authors: Akguner Derya
Published: August 2013

The role and prevalence of religion in the public sphere in Turkey has evolved substantially since the formation of the Republic in 1923. These changes have accelerated over the past three decades and changes have become particularly obvious since the AKP came to power in 2002. Turkey formally adopted laïcité in 1937 prohibiting overt signs of piety in public. However, religion was never completely eliminated from the public sphere and remained vitally important to many in Turkish society. In the past decade many factors have refashioned the positioning of Islam in Turkey. These include: the changing nature of the elite; the rapid urbanisation of Turkish society characterised by unprecedented migration from the East; a growing middle class; a robust civil society; and increased ties with its Muslim majority neighbours. As a result, Islam’s position in the public sphere has strengthened along with perceptions and expectations of Islam’s place in Turkish society. This article explores these changes and seeks to explain what is driving them.
"Turn in Repentance to your Creator, then Slay Yourselves": The Levitical Election, Atonement and Classical Islamic Exegesis
Authors: Pregill Michael E.
Published: August 2013

The quranic retelling of the Golden Calf story found at 2:51–54 contains a unique allusion to what is arguably one of the most important elements in the biblical precursor in Exodus, the so-called Levitical election. This paper will explore the interpretation of Moses’ puzzling command to the Israelite idolaters to “slay yourselves” in early and classical tafs?r. I will argue that the subtle changes in Muslim exegetes’ understanding of this aspect of the episode reflect important developments in early Islamic society, in particular the emergence of the accommodationist political ideology that would become one of the defining features of classical Sunnism.
Critical Approaches to the "Farewell Khutba" in Ibn Ishaq's Life of the Prophet
Authors: Wright Peter Matthews
Published: August 2013

Ibn Ishaq’s rhetorical use of genre in his edited biography of the life of the Prophet Muhammad instances the authority accorded by the early Muslim community to Biblical forms familiar to them. The genre in question is the “universal history” modeled by the Genesis-through-Kings saga contained in the Hebrew Bible. At the “center” of this saga stands the Deuteronomic restatement of Mosaic law; likewise, at the “center” of Ibn Ishaq’s biography stands a restatement of Qur’anic legislation contained in the Prophet’s “Farewell Sermon.” Ibn Ishaq’s biography subtly accomplishes both Muslim Biblical interpretation and legal interpretation by means of a rhetorical use of allusion.
Holiness and Impurity in the Torah and the Quran: Differences within a Common Typology
Authors: Freidenreich David M.
Published: August 2013

In sharp contrast to the Torah’s hierarchical conception of society, the Quran articulates an egalitarian worldview in which all humanity has equal access to the holiness that comes from being in relationship with God. Quranic egalitarianism serves to undermine Biblically-grounded Jewish and Christian claims to elevated status. The significant differences in Quranic and Biblical discourse about both holiness and the antithetical state of impurity, however, can best be understood as existing within the framework of a common typology. Both the Torah and the Quran distinguish between impurity that results from physiological events and impurity caused by sin. These works, moreover, describe in similar ways the entirely different implications of these two types of impurity for a person’s relationship with God. This essay demonstrates how the juxtaposition of the Torah and the Quran can enrich our understanding of these works and of broader religious phenomena.
Christian Responses to Ahmad Khan's Commentary on the Bible
Authors: Guenther Alan M.
Published: August 2013

When Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan began publishing a commentary on the Bible in 1862, he intended the work to dispel the distrust between the Muslim and Christian communities that the Revolt of 1857 had heightened. While the Christians who responded to his efforts did laud his clarification of the traditional Muslim position on the trustworthiness of the Christian Scriptures, they generally interpreted the commentary in light of their own efforts to bring Christianity and civilization to India. They saw Ahmad Khan’s work to be a sign that Muslim prejudices and defences against Christianity were crumbling, and that the conversion of India was progressing. However, they were not prepared to consider it as increasing their own understanding of the Bible or even their understanding of Islam.
Cosmopolitan Muslim Intellectuals and the Mediation of Cultural Islam in Indonesia
Authors: Kersten Carool
Published: August 2013

Carool Kersten’s article describes how Indonesia plays a key role in connecting East and Southeast Asia with the Middle East and the rest of the world. Aside from progress in scholarly research on the historicity of these relations, Kersten analyzes contemporary developments. As the largest Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia has positioned itself in the vanguard of ASEAN as the main architect of the region’s relations with other parts of Asia, the Islamic world and the West, while simultaneously avoiding overtly political Islamic agendas, relying instead on a notion of ‘cultural’ or 'civil Islam.' This article discusses the alternative discourse of civil or cultural Islam developed by a cosmopolitan Indonesian Muslim intelligentsia who was given a space by the consecutive regimes following the ousting of Sukarno. Kersten identifies this uniquely Indonesian Islamic discourse as the outcome of the compounded efforts of three generations of Muslim intellectuals, loyal to the Pancasila ideology and embracing the slogan ‘Islam Yes! Islamic Party: No!’ In defiance of the growing antagonism following the re-emergence of Islamic political parties in the post-Suharto era, also the youngest generation of ‘liberal’ and ‘post-traditional’ Muslims continue to give shape to this cosmopolitan Islam.
Emerging Islamic-Confucian Axis in the Virtual Ummah: Connectivity and Constraint in the Contemporary China
Authors: Ho Wai-Yip
Published: August 2013

The key concept of this article is that while the predominant focus of the rise of cyber Islamic environments (CIEs) has been on the Middle East and the West, there exists a neglected but emerging trend of the Chinese-speaking Islamic websites in the midst of growing autonomy of civil social movements as well as the state surveillance. Among the ten Muslim nationalities in China, I first surveys the general situations of the cyber environments in China, in which the Hui Islamic websites embedded, and then go on to explore the development and features of some representative Hui Islamic websites. This article illustrates the challenge for Chinese CIEs is to resolve the identity politics, on the one hand demonstrating the political loyalty to the sovereign power of People’s Republic of China (PRC) and identifying the global ummah in terms of transborder religious solidarity on the other hand.
The Middle East and the Philippines: Transnational Linkages, Labor Migration and the Remaking of Philippine Islam
Authors: Angeles Vivienne S.M.
Published: August 2013

In this article, Angeles explains how historically Islam in the Philippines has been identified as a religion of ethnic groups that are concentrated in the southern part of the country. Yet Islam in the Philippines has now transcended ethnic boundaries with the increasing number of Filipino Catholics converting to Islam. The author describes how labor migration to the Middle East has led to changes in the composition of Muslims in the Philippines, which in turn has resulted in the growing plural nature of Philippine Islam. This change is demonstrated by the growth of the Balik Islam (converts/ “reverts” to Islam) movement in the country and the changing material culture of the religion (Islamic dress, mosque architecture). Angeles traces the historical development of Philippine labor migration to the Middle East, explores the linkage between labor migration and conversion, and then studies the composition, purposes and aims of the Balik Islam movements that are linked to labor migration. She goes on to analyze the patterns that emerge out of these movements and their implications for Philippine Islam.
Shifting Paradigms: Solidarity Groups and the Muslim Secessionist Problem in the Philippines
Authors: Caringal Sharon Advincula
Published: August 2013

This article gives a summation of the Filipino experience in handling the secessionist movement in Muslim Mindanao and the key role played by the international, regional and national solidarity organizations in facilitating a peaceful resolution to this long standing Muslim problem. It discusses the nature of the Muslims’ struggle, their aspirations and their real condition with the end in view of identifying the lessons that can be drawn from it. I factor in the differences between the two groups (the majority- the colonized and the minority- the Muslims in southern Philippines) and use the perspective of a social science practitioner not only in my analysis and interpretation but also in coming up with a “Model for Third Party Intervention” (please refer to the Framework). In view of this model, this article proceeds with an evaluation of the effectiveness of cross border solutions to a national problem. In the end, a clearer picture of how the countries in the Middle East and Asia interact with each other and with the other countries of the world in responding to the Muslim problem in Mindanao should have been provided.
Chasing the Rising Red Crescent: Sino-Shi’i Relations in Post-Cold War Era China
Authors: Lee Itamar Y.
Published: August 2013

This article adopts a unique angle to analyze China’s Middle East policy in “Chasing the Rising Red Crescent: Sino-Shi’i Relations in the Post-Cold War Era.” With the end of the Cold War and the political renaissance of Islam, the author argues that China’s strategic approaches towards the Middle East have changed fundamentally. The rise of China on the Middle East coupled with the strategic ascendancy of Shi’i Islam in the Middle East invites a strategic window for the emerging architecture of global geopolitics and world economy. The aim of Lee’s study is to make clear the historical trajectories and evolving strategic calculations in China’s Middle East policy and its global implications by reviewing Sino-Shi’i relations in general and introducing Chinese strategic interactions with Iran, Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas in particular. Since the establishment of zhongguo zhongdong wenti teshi [Chinese Special Envoy for Middle Eastern Affairs] in 2002, China’s economic presence and political clout in the Middle East including the Shi’i region have been advanced obviously. Sino-Shi’i relations in the post-Cold War era, thus, should be seriously examined not only for understanding China’s strategic perceptions of the Middle East but also for explaining the pattern of Chinese foreign behaviours, as well as for expecting the impact of China’s rising in the region and its geopolitical implications for the future of China-U.S. relations
The Cosmopolitan Canopy of East Maritime Southeast Asia: Minority citizenship in the Phil-Indo Archipelago
Authors: Lawrence Bruce B.
Published: August 2013

In this article Lawrence examines the elusive yet decisive role of the public square. He explains that the “public square” is the crucial category for understanding the scale and scope of citizenship. Both Indonesia and the Philippines resemble other contemporary polities in so far as their subjects/citizens project public faith, or religion in the public square. Minorities, like their majority neighbors, are ‘pious patriots,’ but they are patriots first. Lawrence demonstrates that to understand minority citizenship, individual voices from both polities must be analyzed. In doing so, he questions whether they can be simply categorized as full-fledged citizens of nation-states. Key terms that define minority relations are IP (Indigenous People) for the Southern Philippines, and adat (native practices) for many of the newly autonomous regions within Indonesia. By examining both IP and adat, Lawrence underscores the benefits, but also reveals the shortcomings, of the public square as it functions throughout the Phil-Indo Archipelago. This study concludes with a projection of what future changes in the public square will augur, not only for the region but also for its neighbors.
Gender, nationalism, and the attempted reconfiguration of sociolinguistic norms
Authors: Wertheim Suzanne
Published: August 2013

Tatar nationalist men in post-Soviet Tatarstan (a republic in the Russian Federation), affiliated with the ongoing sub-state sovereignty project there, periodically engage in linguistic practices that are do not adhere to local sociolinguistic norms and can be perceived as face-threatening. Some men signal ideological devotion to the Tatar cause by refusing to accommodate to Russian-dominant public space or Russian speakers, addressing unknown interlocutors in Tatar when Russian is the norm and remaining in Tatar for several conversational turns even when their interlocutors have expressed incomprehension. Others engage in continuous monitoring and standards-keeping for public Tatar linguistic performance, openly critiquing Tatar speech and writing perceived as unduly influenced by Russian in public reprimands or confrontations. Their linguistic activism, part of the process of revalorization of this contracting and stigmatized language, takes place in public domains and is not limited to either ethnic Tatars or Tatarphones. By contrast, their female counterparts in the promotion of the Tatar state and Tatar national culture index their pro-Tatar ideological stances more diplomatically, and with linguistic practices situated only within the Tatar-speaking community. Their promotion of the Tatar language tends to take place within institutional contexts such as philology departments, Tatar-language classes, and Tatar-language media, and their standards-keeping and critiques tend to be discreet, non-confrontational, and when directed at a speaker, in private, face-to-face interactions that often have language as the focus. This gendered patterning of behavior has parallels that have been documented elsewhere, and is also in keeping with normative gender roles within the Tatar republic. Counter-hegemonic activities such as adherence to a stigmatized minority language in public domains have a masculine public face: it is nationalist men who are on the front lines, revitalizing and revalorizing Tatar by using it not only within the Tatar political, cultural, and intelligentsia communities but outside of the community as well, on the streets and in the buildings where Tatar had been silent for generations. These interpersonal interactions seem to be part of the process of masculinizing the nationalist project, where the less-confrontational women’s revitalization work is within community boundaries – in the home, within friendship circles, within the classroom – and so behind the scenes. The Tatar case suggests new avenues of research on the interaction of gender and politeness, nationalism, and language contraction.
Intersections of gender and endangered languages
Authors: Cavanaugh Jillian R.
Published: August 2013

In this commentary, I discuss this collection of articles by Wertheim, Ahlers, Adkins and Davis, and Leonard focusing on gender and language revitalization in order to draw out sites of overlap and difference. I identify the following 4 themes as emerging from these pieces: the construction of diverse types of gendered selves; gender as implicated in divides between public and private spheres of interaction; the production of authenticity as central to language revitalization and heritage movements more broadly; and how such projects involve a balance between individual selves and goals and those of the community, arising from the many points of hybridity, overlap and conflict that arise between these and the dominant communities in which they are embedded.
Annual profile of contributors and decisions made
Authors: Weatherall Ann , Stokoe Elizabeth
Published: August 2013

In this editorial we reflect on Volume 6 of the journal, provide an annual profile of contributors and decisions made, and report on publishing developments.
Metaphors, women and translation
Authors: Godayol Pilar
Published: August 2013

One of the main concerns of translation theory from the 17th century till today has been the problem of how to be faithful to the original text. Further, this concern regarding both the origin and the originality of the source text has given rise to numerous metaphors in connection with gender and sexuality. In this article I undertake an overview of the history of gender metaphors in translation as found in the writings of translators and theorists from all periods. Through the metaphors appearing in their texts, I examine how authors such as Gilles Menáge, Friedrich Schleiermacher and George Steiner perpetuate the patriarchal stereotypes, and how Gloria Anzaldúa, Jacques Derrida, Carol Maier, Maria-Mercè Marçal, Carolyn Shread and other authors seek to go beyond these stereotypes by forging new metaphors. I have made use of Derridian terminology to rename the three parts of the article: 1) The First Age or les belles infidels – the age of sexist and androcentric sexual metaphors; 2) The Second Age or the Derridian ‘double bind’ – the age in which Derrida presents a model of metaphor which, despite using sexual language, defends the woman and translation; and 3) The Third Age or the new metaphors – the age of non-sexual metaphors.
The roles of the narrator, lexis, irony and visuals in the Greek TV series ?????? ???? (??) (‘Almost Never’)
Authors: Kosetzi Konstantia
Published: August 2013

In this paper, my focus is the ways the narrator, lexis, irony and the juxtaposition between visuals and lexis challenge ‘conservative’ gendered themes – defined as those that sustain unequal power relations between men and women – in the Greek fictional TV series ?????? ???? (??) (‘Almost Never’). I embark upon such an exploration in my broader analysis of how women are construed in terms of gender roles and sexual practices, and of how these construals are recontextualized by the audience (female focus groups). To this end, I employ an adapted Faircloughian CDA framework of analysis (mainly Fairclough 2001a, 2001b, 2003). I also argue that there can be alternative/multiple readings, as in some cases the challenge may be more obvious than in others, and may or may not be read as such. These alternative/multiple readings are inherent in fiction, and also in line with recent calls within CDA. Finally, such challenges to ‘conservative’ themes can be seen as indicative of the social change in terms of gender roles that it can be argued (urban) Greek society is going through.
‘Women of the Diaspora’
Authors: Makoni Busi
Published: August 2013

This study explores the establishment and maintenance of gendered ideologies and practices within the household of dual career Zimbabwean migrants in the Diaspora, viewed from the lens of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis. With a limited sample, the study explores the construction of gendered identities by analysing language use in responses to photographs of men engaged in activities that, in normative gender discourses, are considered ‘women’s work’. Drawing on qualitative data in the form of responses to inter-discursive photographs, the findings suggest that patriarchal norms significantly influence responses, which may reflect the establishment and maintenance of gendered ‘cultural’ identities and roles regarding household tasks. On the one hand, household tasks are viewed as indexical of femininity and the upholding of African cultural value systems, thus naturalizing the association of women with the home. Some women ‘collude’ in reinforcing divisive patriarchal and familial beliefs about female and male roles and view any potential reconstruction of gendered identity within the household as a transgression of socioculturally prescribed behavioural norms for women while others contest such stereotypes. On the other hand, when confronted with the need to take on childcare and other domestic duties traditionally ascribed to women, while at the same time being under considerable pressure to live up to accepted masculine ideals of their home countries, male migrants experience a loss of identity as family provider, leading to a redefinition and reproduction of a ‘new’ patriarchal position within the household based on remembered significance.
Religion and Climate Change in Northern Kenya
Authors: Watson Elizabeth E. , Kochore Hassan Hussein
Published: August 2013

In the arid lands of northern Kenya, the pastoralist livelihoods of Boran and Gabra peoples are already under pressure from environmental changes that are increasingly perceived as related to climate change. Indigenous religions, different forms of Christianity, and Islam all co-exist in this region; each potentially has a role to play in responding to the environmental crisis. Our research suggests that indigenous religions provide a valuable and integrated set of institutions that could potentially facilitate adaptation to climate change. In contrast, the Abrahamic religions have not explicitly engaged with climate change. Moreover, through their relief and development work they have indirectly undermined many of the qualities of mobile pastoralism that might enable herders to cope with more unpredictable weather in future. Noting that religions appear to be playing a powerful role in the region, we argue that the subject deserves greater attention among scholars of climate change.
Religion in Conservation and Management
Authors: Anderson Gene N.
Published: August 2013

Many traditional societies use religion as the main vehicle for teaching and sanctioning environmental management. They construct the principles for sustainable (or ideally sustainable) use as ethical rules given by the gods or spirits at the dawn of time. Other societies do not do this; some use secular morality, while others simply have no sustainability rules at all. Modern societies with cultural roots in the Jewish and Christian traditions often take the passage in Genesis 1 about ‘dominion’ over nature as a charter or even a directive to destroy natural environments and species. It is worth inquiring how the successful societies manage religion. Durkheim (1995 [1912]) argued that religion is used by societies to encode morality and motivate people emotionally to follow that morality. Cross-cultural and cross-religion studies, some cited herein, show that this very often includes morality relating to conservation or resource management. Can we use their principles to save the planet today?
The Role of Nature in the Construction of Ethics
Authors: Klassen Chris
Published: August 2013

To elucidate the concept of nature religion in contemporary Paganism, it is useful to contemplate the role nature itself plays in the process of Pagan formulations of ethics. To do this, I conducted focus groups with Pagans in Canada. I conclude that nature takes on, or is given, a variety of roles in the process of moral reasoning. This variety allows for multiple ethical perspectives from people holding more or less similar worldviews. Thus, my project does not allow me to come up with a singular Pagan environmental ethic or even a singular Pagan ethical process. Rather, a recognition of the complexity of roles nature holds for these particular Pagans leads to a caution to avoid simplistic labels of contemporary Paganism as ‘environmental’ and/or ‘nature-friendly’—labels which over the broad spectrum of eco-discourse are largely unhelpful.
Pathways to Environmental Responsibility
Authors: Hedlund-de Witt Annick
Published: August 2013

This study aims to generate understanding into the spiritual dimension of nature experience and its relationship to environmental responsibility, as reported in interviews with nature-lovers/environmentalists and spiritual practitioners in Victoria, Canada. As the interviews demonstrate, seeing nature as imbued with meaning, intrinsic value, and/or the sacred seems to engender an increased sense of environmental responsibility. Simultaneously, a natural, evolutionary, this-worldly spirituality tends to lead to a ‘kinship with all life’ ethics. The spiritual nature experience was characterized by three key themes labeled presence, interconnectedness, and selfexpansion. Many participants explained that these experiences informed their worldviews, senses of environmental responsibility, and sometimes career choices. The research thereby illuminates three pathways to a sense of environmental responsibility: profound encounters with nature, contemporary spirituality, and their convergence in spiritual nature experiences. Moreover, the results give an insider’s perspective into the worldview of contemporary nature spirituality, which is claimed to be of increasing importance for sustainable development.
The Pagan Explosion Revisited: A Statistical Postmortem on the Teen Witch Fad
Authors: Lewis James R.
Published: August 2013

Contemporary Paganism’s explosive growth was big news during the first decade of the new millennium. By the end of the decade, however, it was clear that this rapid expansion had fallen off, and the movement appeared to have returned to something approaching a normal pattern of growth. What actually happened was that shortly after the turn of the millennium, the Teen Witch fad temporarily inflated total numbers of self–identified Pagans. After the fad ended, explosive growth also ended, leaving an established and maturing religious tradition in its wake.
The Dievturi Movement in the Reports of the Latvian Political Police (1939–1940)
Authors: Stasulane Anita
Published: August 2013

The Dievturi movement, a revived Paganism formed in Latvia in the early twentieth century, would have seemed to to be in accordance with national politics of the Latvian Republic after the coup of May 15, 1934, but the authoritarian regime of K?rlis Ulmanis (1877-1942) showed a deep lack of trust towards Dievturi. The reports of the Latvian Political Police stored in the funds of Latvian State Historical Archives deal with the Dievturi movement shortly before the occupation of Latvia by Soviet troops in 1940. The paper examines how the Dievturi movement is reflected in the discourse of the authoritarian regime. The narratives of secret agents include information on the political views of Dievturi and on their connections to the P?rkonkrusts (Thunder cross) movement, as well as references on the structure of the movement, detailed description of its ritual celebrations etc.
Representation of Nature Spirits and Gods in Latvian Art in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
Authors: Ogle Kristine
Published: August 2013

Various examples of Latvian art reveal specific appearances of Neo-Pagan concepts. Early in the twentieth century, inspired by Neo-Romanticism, several Latvian intellectuals strove to revive the boundaries with nature. When trying to visualize these notions, artists often felt free to invent new deities, thus expressing their own subjective understanding and feelings instead of strictly following the ideas of ancient religion. The most prominent examples are works created by Janis Rozent?ls and Teodors ?ders. A second wave of such interest came during the 1920s and 1930s when, next to the ambitions of synchronizing with the Western culture or interest about the East, artists focused upon the national religion and actualized its values in the language of art. As a result, rather exotic and peculiar traits of Latvian artistic heritage were incorporated, including renditions of rendering ancient gods (like M?ra, Laima, Dievs, M?rti?š, ?si?š etc.). In an original way, accompanying the common people in their everyday works, they could appear in genre paintings (by J?kabs B?ne, Hilda V?ka, and other). Or they can be displayed singly (for instance, in paintings by Ansis C?rulis)— and in these cases the most intriguing is the choice of the artistic methods by which the viewer is being firmly assured that those beings, dressed in the national costumes, indeed do represent gods.
Gleb Botkin and the Church of Aphrodite
Authors: Galtsin Dmitry
Published: August 2013

The Church of Aphrodite was the first Pagan religious group officially recognized as a religion by a modern state. The Church of Aphrodite was incorporated in the United States in 1939, headed by Gleb Botkin, son of the physician of the last Russian Czar, Nicholas II. Gleb Botkin emigrated to America after the Revolution in Russia, and in the 1920–1930s created a religious and philosophical system, which finally was embodied in his church. The church didn’t survive its founder and vanished after Botkin’s death in 1969. Besides Botkin’s printed works the author makes use of Botkin’s letters to Philip Proctor (1944–1963) to reconstruct the theology of his church and his life as its Arch-Priest. Ironically, Botkin did not want to revive or create Paganism: he viewed his “true” and timeless religion, based on “the laws of the cosmos,” as separate both from world religions with their “distorted” teachings, and from the Pagan element, no matter, whether that of the ancient or the modern world.
Normativity and change: introduction to the Special issue on Agency and power in multilingual discourse
Authors: Backus Ad , Spotti Massimiliano
Published: August 2013

The present article deals with what we feel to be an unexplored path in present day sociolinguistics and a viable way toward making sociolinguistics more cognitive and cognitive linguistics more social. Naturally, sociolinguistics has a strong interest in issues of variation and change, variation being typically conditioned by social factors, such as age, gender, ethnicity as well as the discursive regimes of language use present in a community of practice. However, just like much of linguistics can be accused of not paying enough attention to the social (or communicative) side of language (cf. Croft 2009), sociolinguistics may be criticized for its relative lack of attention to cognition. We advocate that a true sociolinguistics should bridge this gap, and construct a theory about how social life influences cognitive knowledge. Against this background, we propose to combine a narrow linguistic notion of norm (Section 2) with a discourse-based one (Section 3) and we do so by portraying normativity as a process that operates on a range of elements that form a continuum of complexity. Our point here is that linguistic usage and discourse patterns are subject to the same normative pressures and regulations. First, both are sensitive to the purely cognitive effects of usage: entrenchment of what occurs commonly, leading to internal norms. Second, both are subject to external norms, as groups develop ‘ideologies’ about the way in which something should be done, in other words 'what is normal and what is not'. For some, this will support their own internal norm, but for others there may be a big discrepancy. And, finally, in both cases, is it ultimately up to the speaker (or ‘agent’) to follow the norms or not. We will illustrate this with two examples, one in the domain of traditional linguistics; the other taken from discourse-based linguistic ethnography.
When modern public space encounters postmodern migration: abnormality and the making of migrant identities
Authors: Dong Jie
Published: August 2013

This article explores the discursive processes of migrant identity construction through multilingual practices in the context of China’s linguistic diversity and population movement. Drawing on the data from ethnographic observation, interview and document collection, the article demonstrates how small discursive features become emblematic of individual and group identities, and how such identities are negotiated and ratified at various scale levels, particularly in the public and institutional spheres. Using a theoretical framework revolving around indexicality, this article starts with a discussion on the notions – abnormality and modernity – that are essential for data analysis, and presents three examples to demonstrate the discursive processes of migrant identity construction. The article concludes that people invoke general social norms and administrative notions when producing discourses from the public and institutional spheres, and that the identity categories defined and motivated in these discourses are rigid, static and general.
Empowering a migrant identity: agency in narratives of a work experience in Norway
Authors: Lanza Elizabeth
Published: August 2013

Narratives of personal experience provide insight into how speakers utilize their linguistic resources to negotiate agency and power in their presentation and positioning of the self in social experiences. In this article, a focus is on identity construction in narratives about quests for employment in a migration context. The data consist of audio-recorded interactions in an interview situation in which a woman presents an autobiographical presentation of her migration to Norway and her search for work. The analysis first critically evaluates the use of interview data for investigating personal narratives and then focuses on a particular linguistic resource used for negotiating agency in discourse, the constructed dialogue. Furthermore, the co-construction of agency in interaction is also highlighted in the analysis. Narratives of the quest for employment are compelling sites for investigating agency and power, and for studying how the speaker orients herself to both the local interactional discourse at hand and the larger societal discourse. In conclusion, the implications of the results for the study of narrative and agency are discussed, particularly in light of immigrant discourse.