bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Parable of the Seated Augustus: At the Intersection of Imperial History, Rabbinic Midrash, and Roman Art
Authors: Appelbaum Alan
Published: February 2012

Historians of the period from the rise of the Severan dynasty to the accession of Diocletian frequently lament their lack of sources, especially once the histories of Cassius Dio and Herodian ran out with Gordian III. Yet the substantial body of literature left behind by the Rabbis of the period—literate, relatively well-off, intellectual, curious, urban, taxpaying, and civically involved Roman citizens—is hardly ever consulted in connection with Roman history, although it includes hundreds of texts about “kings” based on the figure of the emperor. “The Parable of the Seated Augustus” focuses on one such text that provides entry into the interconnected late antique world as it shows provincial religious intellectuals doing their work of biblical exegesis at their most ingenious, to an extent notable even to specialists, while simultaneously reflecting on events and personalities surrounding the reunification of the empire in the late third century through Roman art, and demonstrating a little-known familiarity with this aspect of imperial high culture.
Ammianus, Jovian, and the Syriac Julian Romance
Authors: Drijvers Jan Willem
Published: February 2012

Scholars have not paid much attention to the reign of Jovian (363–364) and the appreciation of his brief rule is in general not particularly positive. At its best Jovian is considered a mediocre emperor whose impact on the empire was not great. Largely responsible for this image is Jovian’s contemporary Ammianus Marcellinus, who offers the fullest account of his rule. Other, more favorable information is offered by Christian sources. A diametrically opposed picture of Jovian’s reign to that of Ammianus is offered by a text known as the Syriac Julian Romance. This Christian text of historical fiction, composed most probably in Edessa possibly in the early sixth century, has attracted little scholarly attention. However, this text of Christian polemical character is most interesting for the image it sketches of Jovian, who is presented as the ideal Christian emperor, as well as for the completely pitch-black picture it presents of Jovian’s predecessor Julian. In this study the opposite images of Jovian as presented by Ammianus on the one hand and the Julian Romance on the other are compared and explained. For Ammianus Julian came close to the ideal emperor whereas Jovian could not live up to his standards of what an emperor should be like; in particular his peace treaty with Shapur II is heavily criticized. The Christian Julian Romance reviles Julian and presents Jovian as new Constantine who restored Christianity and concluded peace with Shapur for the higher purpose of freedom of religion for Christians in the Persian Empire.
Marrying into the European Family of Nations: National Disorder and Upset Gender Roles in Post-Communist Romanian Film
Authors: Georgescu Diana
Published: February 2012

Drawing on recent Romanian films, this article explores the distinctive post-communist concerns with national relocation in the symbolic geography of Europe. The focus on tragic comedies, an increasingly popular genre in Eastern European cinematography, foregrounds the critical usage of irony to express skepticism about the inclusive nature of geopolitical projects such as the European Union by national communities situated at its periphery. While the tragic comedies examined here are successful in challenging official narratives of European belonging, they rely on highly gendered scripts that prove more resilient to ironic reworkings. The movies resort to gendered plots and family tropes, representing Romania’s efforts to receive European recognition as attempts to “marry into” the European Union. The larger thrust of this article is to open complex notions such as “Europe,” “nation,” and “gender,” which are notoriously prone to essentialization, to a deconstructive analysis as systems of differentiation.
The Case of the Missing Girls: Sex Ratios in Fifteenth-Century Tuscany
Authors: Bender Tovah
Published: February 2012

This article addresses the apparent shortage of women in the 1427 Florentine Catasto, perhaps the most complete premodern European demographic source. It argues that the shortage exists because it was only when they entered their first marriage that Tuscan women were viewed as complete, gendered beings by their families, government officials, and society. Before marriage, a woman’s place within the household, her gender, and even her existence were liminal, at least in Tuscan documents. The result is that the ratio of men to women is more balanced for that portion of the population past the age of marriage for women. Shifting the analysis from infants and men, where it has traditionally lain, to young adult women explains the gender imbalance in the documentation and provides a deeper understanding of the ways that gender, adulthood, and identity intersected in premodern Europe.
The Portrayal of Phinehas by Philo, Pseudo-Philo, and Josephus
Authors: Feldman Louis H.
Published: February 2012

Philo deals with Phinehas in eight of his essays and Pseudo-Philo refers to him in seven passages, but his role is much reduced in Josephus. Although Phinehas did not work through the judicial system when he slew Zimri and Cozbi, Philo is not at all critical of him. Indeed, Philo claims that Moses sought to reward Phinehas, but he was forestalled by God. In Pseudo-Philo Phinehas' activities span the time from the Exodus to the period of the judges, and even to the end of time itself. Pseudo-Philo identifies Phinehas with Elijah. He focuses on the role of God, who sent an angel to save Phinehas when the other Israelites sought to kill him. Phinehas is the agent through whom God explains why he told the Israelites to go to war with the Benjaminites, only to let them fail. Phinehas reveals to Kenaz, the most charismatic personality in all of Pseudo-Philo's work, a prophecy of the end of days. Josephus was confronted with a dilemma, namely whether he, who advocated conciliating Rome, could admire Phinehas when Phinehas, in by-passing the law, had committed the kind of action typical of the Zealots during the war against the Romans. Josephus significantly omits mention of the twofold reward bestowed by God upon Phinehas for his action against Zimri and Cozbi. Phinehas' act is not solitary, but rather one that inspires others to imitate him and to kill those accused of crimes similar to that of Zimri. Josephus never mentions Phinehas as the forerunner of the revolutionaries, nor does he identify him with Elijah. When the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh set up an altar beyond the Jordan, Phinehas speaks to them in a more conciliatory tone than he does in the accounts of Philo or Pseudo-Philo.
Piety, Pietism and German Pietism: Sefer Ḥasidim I and the Influence of Ḥasidei Ashkenaz
Authors: Soloveitchik Haym
Published: February 2012

This article questions the considerable influence attributed to German Pietism in the Middle Ages. It begins by arguing that the first 152 sections of the standard Sefer Ḥasidim is a separate work (called in this essay SḤ I) and is set apart from the rest of Sefer Ḥasidim in language, religious leitmotifs and spiritual demands. Indeed, in many ways SḤ I is opposed to the most basic tenets of Ḥasidei Ashkenaz . More than half of the extant manuscripts of Sefer Ḥasidim are of SḤ I only. The essay then attempts to chart the putative influence of German Pietism in Germany, France, Provence, Spain, and Eastern Europe. It finds that other than the doctrine of penance which took a deep hold of the Jews in central and eastern Europe, there was no influence whatsoever. Confusion has arisen in great part because three very distinct terms have been confused—piety, pietism, and German Pietism. The first means simply scrupulous adherence to the dictates of one's religion. The second connotes a form of spirituality common to many religions, among them Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Its occurence in Jewish communities in France and Spain in the Middle Ages has nothing to do with Ḥasidei Ashkenaz . The third term, German Pietism, denotes a very distinctive form of pietism that arose in the late 12th century characterized by an idiosyncratic ideology and a radical social and religious agenda. This movement was without influence. Indeed, no mention is made of it in the entire literary corpus of the Ashkenazic community.
Pirates and Kings: Power on the Shores of Early Modern Madagascar and the Indian Ocean
Authors: Hooper Jane
Published: February 2012

This article describes the ways elites in Madagascar benefited from interactions with European and American pirates during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Malagasy leaders expanded their knowledge of global patterns of exchange and used this knowledge to monopolize trade from the island. At the time, the identification and suppression of pirates became a conflict between trade systems in and around the island. The states formed by Malagasy elites challenged British and French influence in the southwestern Indian Ocean and came under attack during the nineteenth century, a period of expanding European power in the region.
Women’s Fashions in Transition: Ottoman Borderlands and the Anglo-Ottoman Exchange of Costumes
Authors: Inal Onur
Published: February 2012

Following the considerable increase in the interactions between Ottomans and Europeans, Ottoman port cities, referred to here as “borderlands,” became meeting places of distinct worlds. Ottoman and British people met, clashed, and grappled with each other in the borderlands of the Ottoman Empire. There was unbalanced, disparate, and disproportionate, but also mutual and constant interchange between the two societies. This article discusses one facet of this interchange: the Anglo-Ottoman exchange of women’s costumes.
Placing China in Its "Proper Rank among the Nations": The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China and the First Systematic Account of the United States in Chinese
Authors: Lazich Michael C.
Published: February 2012

This article examines the historical circumstances and analyzes the thinking that led to the formation in 1834 of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China. Founded by prominent missionaries and merchants residing in Guangzhou (Canton), the SDUKC sought to convey a more positive impression of Europe and America to Chinese readers by transmitting Western scientific, technological, and cul­tural information in books and periodicals published in the Chinese language. Among the most representative and historically significant of these publications was the first comprehensive account of the United States of America published in Chinese: the Meilige heshengguo zhilue .
1774: The Scottish Enlightenment Meets the Tibetan Enlightenment
Authors: Stewart Gordon T.
Published: February 2012

The meeting in 1774 between Lobsang Palden Yeshes (1738-1780), the Third Pan­chen Lama, and George Bogle (1746-1781), an agent of the East India Company, was the first encounter between Britain and Tibet. This remarkable moment in world history brought the Scottish Enlightenment into contact with Tibetan Lamaist Bud­dhism. The commentaries written during this episode are used to test the widely held view that Enlightenment thinking led to European imperialism. The evidence from this encounter shows that Enlightenment-era mentalities could be both supportive of and antipathetic to imperialism. The article ends by glancing briefly at Tibetan impe­rialism in an earlier period to suggest that both Buddhism and the Enlightenment were sometimes implicated in the creation of empires but that neither can be viewed as the root cause of imperialism.
Biodefense Research and the U.S. Regulatory Structure: Whither Nonhuman Primate Moral Standing?
Authors: Walker Rebecca L. , King Nancy M. P.
Published: February 2012

Biodefense and emerging infectious disease animal research aims to avoid or ameliorate human disease and suffering arising from the natural outbreak or intentional deployment of some of the world’s most dreaded pathogens. Research to develop medical countermeasures to these diseases faces a difficult challenge since the products usually cannot be tested for efficacy in human beings. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Animal Rule may be increasingly used to overcome this challenge by allowing researchers to translate animal data into medical countermeasures without human subject efficacy testing. Yet the Animal Rule also has significant implications for increased intensive nonhuman primate research. We argue that despite the common belief that nonhuman primates have a fairly high level of moral standing and the protections for animals that are crucial to the U.S. regulations guiding animal research, the Animal Rule specifically and the regulations generally raise serious problems for the attribution of moral standing to nonhuman primates. We argue, however, that the burden of proof is on a position denying all moral standing to nonhuman primates and compare the implications of the U.S. regulatory structure in this regard with some recent developments in the European Union.
Cultural Maladaptation and Preadaptation in Colonial Honduras: Spaniards vs Black Caribs, 1787-1821
Authors: Mack Taylor E.
Published: February 2012

Al fin del siglo diesiocho, dos grupos separados, pero de casi igual números, uno de colonos españoles y otro los Caribes negros de la isla San Vicente, llegaron a Trujillo, Honduras. El primer grupo, llegó en 1787, y fracasaron a ocupar la tierra. El segundo grupo llegó de las islas de Barlovento en 1797, y prosperaron en el mismo ambiente. Los conceptos de maladaptación cultural y preadaptación cultural nos ayudan en explicar el fracaso y suceso de cada grupo en el establecimiento de sus poblaciones en este región costanero. Los colonos españoles fracasaron a adaptar a su nuevo ambiente tropical, y fueron maladaptado culturalmente por insistir en cultivar sus cosechas según las estaciones de España, y por no edificar casas adecuadas al ambiente. Los Caribes negros encontraron el ambiente muy similar a él de sus islas nativas, y fueron preadaptados culturalmente a supervivencia en el ambiente tropical. Los Caribes también hallaron fuentes de comida que fueron muy similar, incluyendo yuca amarga y recursos de pesca muy ricos; rápidamente su población comenzó a aumentar y difundirse por la costa hasta Belice.
Modals without scales
Authors: Deal Amy Rose
Published: February 2012

Abstract:
Some natural languages do not lexically distinguish between modals of possibility and modals of necessity. From the perspective of languages like English, modals in such languages appear to do double duty: they are used both where possibility modals are expected and where necessity modals are expected. The Nez Perce modal suffix o'qa offers an example of this behavior. I offer a simple account of the flexibility of the o'qa modal centered on the absence of scalar implicatures. O'qa is a possibility modal that does not belong to a Horn scale; its use is never associated with a scalar implicature. Accordingly, in an upward-entailing environment, φ- o'qa is appropriate whenever there are accessible φ-worlds, even if indeed ALL accessible worlds are φ-worlds. In a downward-entailing environment, the flexibility of the o'qa modal is seen no more. Here, neither o'qa nor English possibility modals are associated with scalar implicatures, and the use of o'qa exactly parallels the use of English modals of possibility.

Given that o'qa is a possibility modal that does not contrast with a modal of necessity, just how do you talk about necessities in Nez Perce? Speakers translating into Nez Perce rely on a variety of techniques to paraphrase away expressions of simple necessity. Their strategies highlight an area where Nez Perce and English plausibly differ in the range of propositions they convey. The data cast doubt on any strong form of effability as a language universal.
Research Note: The Newly Digitized Archives Program at China's Number One Historical Archives, Beijing
Authors: Bartlett Beatrice S.
Published: February 2012

Although the Beijing Number One Historical Archives has closed its entire holding of original Ming and Qing documents, nonetheless there is a compensation in the form of four available kinds of archival reproductions: (1) over 100 volumes and sets of published documents; (2) microfilms; (3) digitized summaries and full copies of materials that may be viewed on screen; and (4) digitized and searchable materials available for on-screen viewing. At present all digitized materials have to be read on the Number One computers, but some microfilms may be purchased. Further information is available on the Number One website ( www.lsdag.com ).
Public Library Buildings in Finland: An Analysis of the Architectural and Librarianship Discourses from 1945 to the Present
Authors: Mehtonen Pentti
Published: February 2012

The history of public library buildings in Finland from 1945 to the present is analyzed by examining the Finnish architectural and librarianship discourses on library planning and design. Two Finnish journals were chosen as the main research material: Arkkitehti , the main national publication for Finnish architects, and Kirjastolehti , the major publication for Finnish librarians. The key historical features of the architectural and librarianship discourses are presented within the wider context. A closer analysis of five representative library buildings is also presented. The specific architectural discourse on library design is found to have been largely determined by the changes in the Finnish architectural discourse in general; the representational conventions of a genre determined the way the library buildings were presented. The practical demands of library work have largely guided the Finnish librarianship discourse on library planning and design, but in many cases the discussion was also more progressive and future-oriented.
Library Buildings: Planning and Programming
Authors: Moorman John A.
Published: February 2012

There are many books and articles dealing with planning a library building project. This article presents the need for project teams, describes their composition, and presents their role in the planning process. The role of the building consultant is outlined and the qualities desired in the building consultant presented. The space estimation process is presented, including charts of space required for selected library equipment. The building program document is described. Several examples from a building program are presented to illustrate the types of information found in these documents. The importance of inclusivity throughout the planning process is emphasized as well as the importance of including enough space for future expansion.
Is Information Literacy a Public Concern?: A Practice in Search of a Policy
Authors: Haras Catherine , Brasley Stephanie Sterling
Published: February 2012

Since its emergence in the 1970s, information literacy has developed in theory, practice, and scope. In the United States, librarians, business leaders, and political stakeholders have emphasized that information literacy is essential to an informed twenty-first-century citizenry. But despite the pervading feeling that the subject is important, there is as yet no clearly identifiable public policy on information literacy. Public policy may be defined as governmental action or inaction, decided upon and taken by the public, the state, and other actors. Public policies are usually enacted as the result of sustained effort to place them on the public policy agenda, that is, bring them to the attention of the public, and gain support from critical interest groups, influential individuals, and politicians at different levels of government. The authors contend that information literacy is not yet part of the public agenda. Rather, information literacy is claimed by a relatively narrow group of stakeholders, lacks name recognition and broad-based public support, is not mandated in U.S. primary and secondary education ("K-12"), and therefore remains fundamentally ineffective in implementation. This article considers whether information literacy is a legitimate public interest, and therefore the degree to which it merits a public policy and where such a policy might best be located. However, locating information literacy within education policy, although this seems intuitive, appears to be problematical. The authors discuss how policy options emerge, identify barriers to doing so, and provide recommendations for advancing the critical development and dissemination of information literacy.
The Space Between: A Narrative Approach to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home
Authors: Warhol Robyn
Published: February 2012

The juxtaposition of graphic memoir with post-classical narrative theory reveals ways in which narratological analysis can complicate current models of graphic narrative, and ways in which the graphic memoir, or “autography,” challenges narrative theory. Autography, by adding the visual element, multiplies the diegetic levels or story-worlds beyond those recognized by theorists of traditional prose autobiography. This multiplication of story levels complicates the “dual” model of graphic memoir’s being comprised of a verbal layer and a visual layer by taking into account a third layer, the division of the verbal between voiceover narration and dialogue. The multiple levels introduced by comics art and intertextual references in Fun Home draw in the reader of autography through means that are not available to traditional autobiography. Bechdel’s text also breaks the dual structure of “story” and “discourse” by using “the space between” words and pictures to extend possibilities for the representation of consciousness..
Style, Voice, and Authorship in Harvey Pekar’s (Auto) (Bio)Graphical Comics
Authors: Bredehoft Thomas A.
Published: February 2012

By considering Harvey Pekar’s role as author of the American Splendor comics alongside the activities of Robert Crumb and his other illustrators (with specific reference to Val Mayerik and Carole Sobocinski), I argue that the structural position of “author” is at least sometimes occupied by both author and artists in comics. Such a conclusion clarifies the nature of the author function in the medium of comics, as well as helping to articulate the bivocal or heteroglossic nature of the comics form. The implications of the dual visual and textual modes of authorship available in comics, I suggest, offer a possible explanation for the autobiographical trend in recent comics which are both written and drawn by the same person.
The Trial of Theatre: Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus
Authors: Acree William G.
Published: February 2012

During the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, military regimes came to power in many Latin American countries. Of the many forms opposition to these regimes took, theatre stands out for the work of brave authors writing during these years, and for the many contributions drama has made to the debate on justice since the transition to democracy in the 80s. This essay argues that theatre can function as purveyor of justice, as a space where trials take place, and as a means to come to terms with experiences of torture societies in Latin America. How theatre, the act of reading (and studying) drama, and, in broader terms, performance fulfill these demanding roles constitutes the trial of theatre .
El cocoliche y la sutura de la deuda simbólica en Stéfano y La Nona
Authors: Malosetti Gonzalo Aguiar
Published: February 2012

Although much of the criticism on the grotesco criollo has focused on the sociopolitical implications of the plays regarding the assessment of the cocoliche as a symbol of the cultural anxieties at the turn of the past century in the River Plate, little attention has been paid to the intertextual crossings and discursive genealogies within the genre. This article deals with the literary tradition in reference to Armando Discépolo's Stéfano and Roberto Cossa's La Nona , but at the same time it proposes a different reading of both texts. First, I suggest that the protagonists of the plays in discussion are discursively intertwined with the theme of the Argentine nation-building as a historical backdrop. Second, and most importantly, the dialogue between these two plays alludes to a retroactive revenge exerted by the matriarchal figure of la Nona against a long period of oppression in which the Italian immigrant witnessed the fall of the liberal dream of everlasting prosperity.
¿Existe la nación puertorriqueña?: Este país no existe de Myrna Casas
Authors: Rivera Carlos Manuel
Published: February 2012

From the 40s to the present, the theatre has served to present an academic debate about the Puerto Rican nation. The existence of Puerto Rico is not limited by the representation of a sovereign state but through cultural homogenization. Myrna Casas' play Este país no existe questions this debate by deconstructing the totalizing discourse of nationalism, which has eliminated differences in the society during the era of globalization and the consumer aspects of a spectacle society marked by simulacra. In this play the audience and the readers view the loss of Puerto Rican national values which were addressed in a Lettered Society .
Performing the Family Portrait in Marcelo Bertuccio's Señora, esposa, niña y joven desde lejos
Authors: Werth Brenda
Published: February 2012

Marcelo Bertuccio's play Señora, esposa, niña y joven desde lejos (1998) offers a glimpse at unwieldy memory politics in postdictatorial Argentina through a somber portrayal of family relationships and intergenerational transmission fifteen years after the end of the last dictatorship (1976-1983). The playwright shifts perspective to a new generation to investigate competing memory discourses and the diverse modes of representation that have evolved to express the legacy of disappearance in the national imaginary since the end of the dictatorship. This article borrows from theory on photography, memory studies, and human rights to analyze the effects of unresolved mourning on notions of family identity in postdictatorial Argentina.
Dramaturgia, ciudadanía y anti-neoliberalismo: el cabaret mexicano contemporáneo
Authors: Alzate Gastón A.
Published: February 2012

This essay evaluates Mexican cabaret as a genre revived and expanded in the last 25 years. I briefly analyze the first generation of contemporary cabaret performers, as well as more recent artists including Las Reinas Chulas and Carlos Pascual, among others. The history and characteristics of the genre are touched upon, emphasizing the fact that artists and companies do not necessarily share common aesthetic or dramatic purposes. Overall, it explores Mexican cabaret as a counter-symbolic art form established to a large extent as a response to the post-modern deterritorialization of traditional forms of human interaction. In this sense, this essay departs from the theoretical framework of Slavoj Zizek, who affirms that in late capitalism symbolic organic links, created by communities, are progressively eliminated.
La manzana de piedra de Albalucía Ángel: entre "Barbazul" y el desmantelamiento de paradigmas patriarcales
Authors: Garavito Lucía
Published: February 2012

La manzana de piedra , an unpublished play by Angel, fits into the category of texts that explore "writing beyond the ending" (Rachel Blau DuPlessis). It unmasks and deconstructs cultural forms responsible for women's oppression while reformulating a new feminine subject, free of the constraints imposed by family, community and tradition. "Barbazul" and the forbidden chamber motif provide the subtext for the exploration of domestic violence as experienced by women generation after generation. Virginia Woolf's room of one's own, on the other hand, represents for Angel the possibility of a transgressive, creative and critical space where women can propose their own way of being and doing in today's world.
Recuerdos en el espejo: memoria, ideología y agencialidad en Los cuentos de final y Alfonso y Clotilde de Carlos Manuel Varela
Authors: Kark Christopher
Published: February 2012

The restrictions imposed on the Uruguayan theatre community during the military dictatorship between 1973 and 1985 prohibited direct references to the country's political situation. As a result, playwrights of the era developed a technique that Carlos Manuel Varela terms "hallucinatory realism," which masks subversive content through ambiguous wording, allegory and appeals to memory meant to be understood by the audience and escape censorship. Using recent theoretical writings on ideology, cultural memory and Judith Butler's notion of "agency," this paper asserts that two plays by Varela — Los cuentos del final and Alfonso y Clotilde — embody this technique both as texts and as a means of preserving public discourse, thereby exceeding the regime's limits of power.
Acting Women: Gender Roles in Ana Istarú's Hombres en escabeche , Elena Garro's La señora en su balcón , and Carmen Boullosa's Cocinar hombres
Authors: Miller Elaine M.
Published: February 2012

Ana Istarú's Hombres en escabeche (2000) combines humor and serious commentary to break down the binary division of gender roles in Costa Rican society. This essay explores key commonalities in this play and Mexican playwrights Elena Garro's La señora en su balcón (1963) and Carmen Boullosa's Cocinar hombres (1987). The three plays develop metaphors involving food to express the confining roles traditionally assigned to women and to eventu­ally transform them into acts of creative independence. Although the decisive actions taken by the female protagonists, who are conscious of the performative nature of gender and refuse to play the roles assigned to them by patriarchal culture, and their approach to calling for social changes vary, all of these plays conclude with their empowerment.
Das Entranhas d'Os Sertões, o Oficina: Uma viagem pela encenação de Os Sertões, pelo Teatro Oficina, de São Paulo
Authors: Garcia Silvana
Published: February 2012

Between 2002 and 2006, José Celso Martinez Correia, the extraordinary director of São Paulo's Teatro Oficina, produced a five part version of Os Sertões , based on the Brazilian literary masterpiece from the beginning of the twentieth century. The author, Euclides da Cunha, compiled the work after witnessing first hand, as a journalist, the destruction of the town of Canudos, which was blamed on an army brigade. The village of Canudos is situated in the far west of Bahia and was once inhabited by the pious leader Antonio Conselheiro and his followers. Mistaken for anti-republican guerrilla fighters, Conselheiro and his followers were victims of a vicious massacre, despite their long and valiant resistance. In Martinez Correa's Os Sertões , this saga is narrated in great style, with a revolutionary spirit that characterizes the struggle that he and his troupe have been fighting against a major capitalist entrepreneur who would like to construct a mall in the same neighborhood that is home to Teatro Oficina. The exuberant performances of these plays are faithful to Oficina's tradition, one of irreverence, daring aesthetic experimentation, and Dionysian communion between actors and audience. Adding up to 36 hours of performance, this version of Os Sertões by Teatro Oficina was one of the most important theatrical events of this decade.
El viaje de los cantores como la dramatización de "La dialéctica de la soledad"
Authors: Vargas Margarita
Published: February 2012

This article argues that Hugo Salcedo's play El viaje de los cantores is in part a dramatization of Octavio Paz's renowned essay "La dialéctica de la soledad." Salcedo takes Paz's concept of solitude as every man's condition and focuses on the particular situation of Mexicans who attempt to cross the US border daily. Salcedo uses the mythical, circular structure to depict the men leaving their hometowns in search of a better life and invariably returning to their place of origin. But unlike Paz, the playwright examines the homosocial character of the individual and illustrates the situation of the women left behind. Mediated by Greek mythology and Náhuatl philosophy, the play presents a society in transition whose center has shifted. (MV, Article in Spanish)
Les thermes du Phénix: a “lost” Roman bath-house at La Malga, Carthage
Authors: Rossiter Jeremy , Copp Stephen
Published: February 2012

Quoique le parc archéologique de La Malga, situé à la limite nord-ouest de Carthage, soit dominé par une série d’énormes citernes, il contient aussi plusieurs autres structures d’époque romaine dont peu ont fait l’objet d’une étude approfondie. Parmi ces structures, des thermes connus sous le nom de Thermes du Phénix , datables probablement du second siècle, ont reçu l’attention d’archéologues canadiens en 2000, à l’occasion d’une étude plus générale sur les édifices thermaux à Carthage. Les vestiges étudiés comprenaient certains secteurs d’un large frigidarium équipé de plusieurs bassins, dont un décoré de mosaïque, et d’un caldarium bien conservé avec traces de boisseaux le long des murs. L’ensemble de ces structures témoigne d’un type de thermes publics de dimension moyenne bien attesté en Afrique romaine ailleurs qu’à Carthage.
Notes on Preparing a Critical Edition of the Śər‘atä mängəśt
Authors: Kropp Manfred
Published: February 2012

The Śər‘atä mängəśt is a collection of historical notes, descriptions of important ceremonies at the royal Ethiopian court, and regulations for court protocol and practices pertaining to law suits. The text exists in several different versions in a fairly large number of codices where it is often placed in front of the so-called Short Chronicle of the Ethiopian Kings. While I was working on a synoptical edition of these versions, the intertextual (and material) links to other sources of the Ethiopian historical tradition (chronicles, juridical documents, etc.) became clear, and it was possible to identify the authors, redactors, and compilers of these texts as counselors and judges at the royal court. The Śər‘atä mängəśt, this professional group’s vade mecum, was written and modified as a function of changes in the political and social situation.
Historicizing History/Contextualizing Context
Authors: Schiffman Zachary Sayre
Published: February 2012

We take the idea of anachronism—the awareness of the difference between past and present—for granted as a commonsense principle, yet this idea has a history with a point of origin, before which the past did not exist as a conceptual entity. Ancient historians—such as Thucydides, Polybius, Livy, and Tacitus—did not differentiate systematically between past and present. Although a sense of difference began to germinate in the work of Christian writers like Augustine, Gregory of Tours, and Bede, they nonetheless conceived of past, present, and future as coexisting in the omnipresence of God’s mind. Following Petrarch's lead, Renaissance humanists began to disentangle these temporal states in their desire to resurrect classical culture, creating a "living past" of vital importance to the present. In the French Enlightenment, this temporal amalgam gave way to a sense of temporal difference, when Montesquieu—under the influence of Descartes and Malebranche—adopted a relational viewpoint that sought to compare historical entities, situating each in its own distinctive context. In the wake of Herder’s historicism, this contextualizing impulse subsequently became historicized, yielding our modern conception of the past as a distinctive space lying "back there" in time.
Variation on a Traditional Theme: The Question of Racial and Ethnic Diversity in MLA
Authors: Puente Mark A. , Cleveland Susannah
Published: February 2012

Following the findings from the “MLA Survey of Personnel Characteristics, 2009,” that pointed to discrepancies between the racial and ethnic diversity of MLA members and general population, an analysis of the diversity of MLA’s patron base and an assessment of other organizations’ efforts at diversity are analyzed. Recommendations for efforts by MLA to address these discrepancies as well as justification for making such efforts follow.
William Walton’s Film Scores: New Evidence in the Autograph Manuscripts
Authors: Kuykendall James Brooks
Published: February 2012

William Walton’s manuscripts are generally well-preserved and well-documented. Autograph material survives for half of his fourteen feature film projects. These sources offer a rare glimpse behind the scenes into the production of mid-century British cinema—in particular allowing a more nuanced understanding of the film editing decisions made by Walton’s great collaborator Laurence Olivier, and the post-production role of conductor Muir Mathieson. Sketches reveal Walton’s early attempts to synchronize his music to action on screen, and later giving up this technique. Most surprisingly, the autographs reveal that the recent DVD release of Battle of Britain which purportedly restores the discarded Walton score (actually written jointly with Malcolm Arnold) misplaces every cue.
Phalanger Facts: Notes on Blust's Marsupial Reconstructions
Authors: Schapper Antoinette
Published: February 2012

This squib reexamines the evidence for Blust's reconstruction of *kandoRa 'cuscus' and *mans(aə)r 'bandicoot' to the ancestor of the putative Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian family. I argue that the reconstructions are problematic, being unable to account for the distribution and semantics of reflexes in the Austronesian languages in eastern Indonesia. Examining data from Austronesian and Papuan languages in this region, I consider alternative histories for marsupial terms involving independent innovations, semantic shifts, and diffusion.
Directional Verbs in Vaeakau-Taumako
Authors: Næss Åshild
Published: February 2012

This paper argues that the best way of analyzing the directional morphemes in the Polynesian Outlier Vaeakau-Taumako (Pileni) is as verbs that most frequently—but not exclusively—occur in serialization with another verb. The class of directionals in Polynesian in general is somewhat heterogeneous; most sources classify them as particles or adverbs, while often noting that some items have a limited verbal use, or are homophonous with verbs with similar meanings. The analysis of directionals as verbal in Vaeakau-Taumako suggests that they are less grammaticalized in this language than in most other Polynesian languages, and so raises the question of how this situation has arisen. One possible explanation is that the presence of verb serialization in Vaeakau-Taumako may have preserved the verbal nature of the directionals longer than in other Polynesian languages. This may in turn have been reinforced through contact with the neighboring Äiwoo language of the Reefs-Santa Cruz group, which has several serialization constructions that are structurally and functionally very similar to those found in Vaeakau-Taumako. A second possibility is that the difference between Vaeakau-Taumako and other Polynesian languages is only apparent, and that Polynesian directionals in general may have verbal properties to a greater extent than generally recognized. As Polynesian languages are poor in verbal morphology, distinguishing verb serialization from other types of complex verbal constructions in these languages is problematic, which might explain why directionals have typically not been analyzed as verbal.
Transitivity in Longgu: The Interdependence of Verb Classes and Valency-Changing Derivations
Authors: Hill Deborah
Published: February 2012

Longgu (Southeast Solomonic) provides an example of the complexity of transitivity in Oceanic languages. This paper outlines the challenges of describing the relationship between morphology and valency-changing devices, and the role that valency-changing devices have in determining the primary valency of a verb in the language. It argues for the need to treat transitivity as an integrated whole, and shows that while subclasses of verbs can be established without regard to morphology, a much fuller understanding is gained through investigating the functions of the verbal morphology. These functions are linked to the semantic transitivity of the clause as well as to valency-changing
Fernando Pessoa's Lisbon : Toponymy vs. Heteronymy
Authors: Sarfati Georges-Elia
Published: February 2012

Lisbon holds a special place in Fernando Pessoa’s corpus because this text, uncharacteristically not signed by a heteronym, undertakes a quest for identity which fully coincides with that of his city. Lisbon establishes a reflexive relationship between the poet and his work, in so far as his meticulously evoked image extends over the most developed area of his poetics, that is, his personal mythology. The Portugese capital emerges as a personified city to which Pessoa gives a voice for the sake of constituting it as a language being, like Joyce’s Dublin or Kafka’s Prague. Lisbon signals the temptation of encyclopedic literature, which relates back to the impossiblity of capturing the other in any way but as visions coming across names of places
Conceiving Wholeness: Women, Motherhood, and Ovarian Transplantation, 1902 and 2004
Authors: Rodriguez Sarah B. , Campo-Engelstein Lisa
Published: February 2012

Scholars have shown that organ transplantation may transform ideas about one’s body, with recipients feeling that they are receiving not just a body part but also a part of the donor’s identity. This article focuses on a different way in which organ transplantation shapes recipient identity: the idea of becoming whole. We present the case studies of two women separated by a century (one in 1902 and the other in 2004) who sought ovarian transplantation, and examine how ovarian transplantation can engender a sense of wholeness on the individual, the familial, and the cultural levels, due to its ability to enable a recipient to naturally conceive and experience pregnancy.
The Placebo Response: An Attachment Strategy that Counteracts the Effects of Stress-Related Dysfunction
Authors: Kradin Richard
Published: February 2012

The placebo response represents an enigmatic element of therapeutics. The potency of placebo effects is highlighted by the fact that the current gold standard for determining therapeutic efficacy, the randomized controlled clinical trial, is based on identifying treatment responses that are statistically superior to those elicited by a placebo. Although much has been written concerning the phenomenology of placebos, little is known concerning how they are elicited, although recent research has demonstrated that placebo effects are mediated via objective physiological pathways. I have previously argued that the placebo response is a developmental achievement, rooted in implicit procedural memories that are linked to background affects of well-being evoked by a relational dynamic with a caregiver. This article develops this idea further, suggesting that placebo response represents a nervous-system response aimed at countering the dysphoric effects attributable to chronic stress, and that it is dependent on developmental attachment dynamics. A range of behaviors by caregivers that mimic those achieved during secure attachment are suggested to promote placebo responses.
Abstract Concept Formation in Archaic Chinese Script Forms: Some Humboldtian Perspectives
Authors: Kwan 關子尹 Tze-wan
Published: February 2012

Starting from the Humboldtian characterization of Chinese writing as a “script of thoughts,” this article makes an attempt to show that notwithstanding the important role played by phonetic elements, the Chinese script also relies on visual-graphical means in its constitution of meaning. In point of structure, Chinese characters are made up predominantly of components that are sensible or even tangible in nature. Out of these sensible components, not only physical objects or empirical states of affairs can be expressed, but also the most subtle and abstract concepts, such as 萬, 它, 言, 災, 仁, 義, 思, 念, 法, 律, 善, 考, 莫, 睘, and 幾, attesting to what Humboldt says about the Chinese script as having “embraced philosophical work within itself.” Humboldt’s idea of “analogy of script” throws light on the mechanism behind this structure to stimulate new reflections on the traditional theory of the “Six Ways” (六書) of character formation to provide a productive platform for interpretation.
Unreliable Observers, Flawed Instruments, 'Disciplined Viewings': Handling Specimens in Early Modern Microscopy
Authors: Szekely Francisc
Published: February 2012

In the preface to Micrographia (1665) Robert Hooke expressed his allegiance to the Baconian ideals of scientific objectivity in affirming that a trustworthy description of a microscopical object requires two essential elements: 'a sincere Hand, and a faithful Eye, to examine, and to record, the things themselves as they appear'. The real shape of things, the most often quoted point on the agenda of experimental philosophy, was a concept constructed on the distinction between natural objects and artifacts. In the case of microscopy, the distinction must be seen through the more subtle difference between specimens and objects. By and large, seventeenth-century microscopical observations can be read through this dissimilarity between the natural object that preceded and articulated the inquiry and the artificial specimen that confirmed the type to which the object belonged. The incongruity of the two terms generated in the period a peculiar need to perpetually bring the object back to an initial stage of examination, whereby the experiment was constantly stating its own discursive authority in an attempt to do away with the shortcomings of a yet-imperfect instrument.
Why 30 Rock Is Not Funny (It's Metafunny)
Authors: Gillon Josh
Published: February 2012

The television show 30 Rock is entertaining and philosophically interesting because of the way in which it fails to be funny. Whereas some comedies, such as The Importance of Being Earnest and Legally Blonde 2 (to take examples from Noël Carrroll), create global incongruities by being wildly improbable or by forcing audience members to understand basic plot points in a variety of ways, 30 Rock often creates incongruities by cleverly not telling jokes. In this way, the show reveals some of the more paradoxical elements of our ordinary notion of TV humor.
Moving Beyond Assumptions: The Use of Virtual Reference Data in an Academic Library
Authors: Nolen David S. , Powers Amanda Clay , Zhang Li , Xu Yue , Cannady Rachel E. , Li Judy
Published: February 2012

The Mississippi State University Libraries' Virtual Reference Service collected statistics about virtual reference usage. Analysis of the data collected by an entry survey from chat and e-mail transactions provided librarians with concrete information about what patron groups were the highest and lowest users of virtual reference services. These data provide insight on how to proceed with marketing strategies by identifying patron groups that are aware or unaware of the services, based on their level of usage. This information assists librarians in their reference and liaison roles as they build relationships with their patrons.