title: The sex or the head? Feminine voices and academic women through the work of Hélène Cixous

authors: Locke, Kirsten

subjects: academic writing

abstract: Hélène Cixous is perhaps best known for her paper, ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’ (1976) and her literary contributions outside academia. In this paper, we pick up a lesser known Cixous text, ‘Le Sexe ou la tête?’ that offers an interesting and provocative perspective on the traps associated with being feminine in a masculine environment. As we converse with Cixous, weaving our own words and experiences with hers, we link her work more closely with the feminine in modern-day academia. We suggest that Cixous’s remarks on decapitation and voice offer a way forward for academic women to be; to speak; to recognise the double jeopardy of decapitation in the university; and to use laughter as a strategic, powerful, political act of resistance and subversion against oppressive masculine power structures. We draw on and seek to enact Cixous’s notion of écriture feminine—a disruptive style of writing that provides a mode of being, speaking, and writing that subverts the power of masculine norms in order to be heard and to bring possibilities for change.

text: The sex or the head? Feminine voices and academic women through the work of Hélène Cixous Hélène Cixous is perhaps best known for her paper, ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’ (1976) and her literary contributions outside academia. In this paper, we pick up a lesser known Cixous text, ‘Le Sexe ou la tête?’ that offers an interesting and provocative perspective on the traps associated with being feminine in a masculine environment. As we converse with Cixous, weaving our own words and experiences with hers, we link her work more closely with the feminine in modern-day academia. We suggest that Cixous’s remarks on decapitation and voice offer a way forward for academic women to be; to speak; to recognise the double jeopardy of decapitation in the university; and to use laughter as a strategic, powerful, political act of resistance and subversion against oppressive masculine power structures. We draw on and seek to enact Cixous’s notion of écriture feminine—a disruptive style of writing that provides a mode of being, speaking, and writing that subverts the power of masculine norms in order to be heard and to bring possibilities for change.

year: 2023-06-09

title: Managing denitrification in human-dominated landscapes

authors: Schipper, Louis A.

subjects: N

abstract: Increases in food supply and fossil fuel consumption are among the hallmarks of the 20th century. These changes share a common characteristic – they both contribute to an excess supply of plant-available (i.e., reactive) nitrogen – with negative consequences to ecosystems and water supplies across the globe. While there are vast quantities of di-nitrogen gas (N₂) in the atmosphere, this form of N is unavailable (termed unreactive N) to the vast majority of biological life (Galloway et al., 2003). Globally, this unreactive N can be converted to reactive N by four major processes: N-fixing microorganisms (often in symbiotic association with plants, 140 TgNyear⁻¹), industrial fertilizer production (125 TgNyear⁻¹), fossil fuel combustion (25 TgNyear⁻¹), and lightning (5 TgNyear⁻¹) (Schlesinger, 2009). The benefits of increased food production by use of N inputs are clear. World economies also continue to rely on fossil fuels for transport and fertilizer production. As with many biogeochemical processes that are manipulated at global scales, increased N inputs has adverse and unintended consequences (Galloway et al., 2008).

text: Managing denitrification in human-dominated landscapes Increases in food supply and fossil fuel consumption are among the hallmarks of the 20th century. These changes share a common characteristic – they both contribute to an excess supply of plant-available (i.e., reactive) nitrogen – with negative consequences to ecosystems and water supplies across the globe. While there are vast quantities of di-nitrogen gas (N₂) in the atmosphere, this form of N is unavailable (termed unreactive N) to the vast majority of biological life (Galloway et al., 2003). Globally, this unreactive N can be converted to reactive N by four major processes: N-fixing microorganisms (often in symbiotic association with plants, 140 TgNyear⁻¹), industrial fertilizer production (125 TgNyear⁻¹), fossil fuel combustion (25 TgNyear⁻¹), and lightning (5 TgNyear⁻¹) (Schlesinger, 2009). The benefits of increased food production by use of N inputs are clear. World economies also continue to rely on fossil fuels for transport and fertilizer production. As with many biogeochemical processes that are manipulated at global scales, increased N inputs has adverse and unintended consequences (Galloway et al., 2008).

year: 2010

title: Maori perspectives of the environment: A review of policy submissions made by iwi to Environment Waikato.

authors: Whangapirita, Laura

subjects: Maori

abstract: As part of our broader brief to gather, summarise, analyse and distribute information held by Environment Waikato on Maori and the environment, we evaluated and summarised those iwi policy submissions made toward the Proposed Waikato Regional Plan (1998). This report refers to values and beliefs sourced from iwi submissions held by Environment Waikato and are presented within a Maori values framework to highlight environmental perspectives of tangata whenua in the Waikato region.

text: Maori perspectives of the environment: A review of policy submissions made by iwi to Environment Waikato. As part of our broader brief to gather, summarise, analyse and distribute information held by Environment Waikato on Maori and the environment, we evaluated and summarised those iwi policy submissions made toward the Proposed Waikato Regional Plan (1998). This report refers to values and beliefs sourced from iwi submissions held by Environment Waikato and are presented within a Maori values framework to highlight environmental perspectives of tangata whenua in the Waikato region.

year: 2003-10