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Miguel Antonio Caro is known as one of the most lucid conservative thinkers of nineteenth-century Latin America. His antiliberal thinking came to define what it meant to be a Catholic man of letters in Colombia and beyond. Today, he is mostly remembered for his work on linguistics, Latin translations, and the 1886 Colombian Constitution. However, Caro was also the most recalcitrant defender of paper money of his time. In press articles, he developed what can be described as a Hispanic Catholic theory of monetary signs. While he is often portrayed as an anti-modern ideologist, the financial dimensions of his writings reveal a very different picture. Vindicating a Spanish tradition of currency debasement that went back to Alfonso the Wise, the Colombian ultramontane conciliated his traditionalism with capitalism's global accumulation drive by equating paper money with God's infinite gift: the divine grace. He hence proposed a Catholic view of capitalist modernity that rejected the "evils" of utilitarianism but embraced Colombia's agro-exporter economic model as part of God's providential design. In his political-religious project, money is thus imagined as a key tool of the Christian oikonomia , that is, God's government of earthly affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Modernity's Corruption: Empire and Morality in the Making of British India" by Nicholas Hoover Wilson explores the history of the East India Company (EIC) and its impact on India. The book highlights the EIC's trade monopoly, which generated wealth for its merchants and allowed the Company to exert control over India. The author argues that the EIC's history is marked by accusations of corruption, which reflect a broader struggle over the meaning of corruption in modern Britain. The book examines how different conceptions of corruption shaped the EIC's transformation into a new kind of organization with a new relationship with the British state. Overall, "Modernity's Corruption" provides valuable insights into the EIC's role in shaping the modern world. [Extracted from the article]

This paper intricately examines Vhavenda indigenous governance systems in juxtaposition with the modern administrative systems in South Africa. Through a comparative analysis using qualitative research methods and secondary data analysis, the paper reveals nuanced strengths and weaknesses in each framework, suggesting avenues for collaborative synergy and improved service provision in rural areas. Purposive and snowball sampling, along with a focus group discussion, were employed for data collection. Textbooks, academic journals, papers, and online sources were analysed. The findings not only enrich the understanding of indigenous governance but also provide actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners to enhance governance efficacy and community well-being. This paper represents a vital step towards fostering inclusive and equitable governance practices in a rapidly evolving socio-political landscape, emphasising the importance of embracing the complexities of tradition and modernity for a system that meets the diverse needs of all community members. Thus, the findings and recommendations presented in this paper are at the heart of efforts to foster sustainable development and promote social cohesion -- a foundational aspect of effective nation-building endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including "Kwasi Wiredu's conception of personhood"; "modernity and democracy in Ethiopia", and "decolonization in African philosophy".

Scholars have presented the Buddhayana Movement as a diverse and localized form of Indonesian Buddhism, which was facilitated by the cooperation of transnational Buddhist networks. This paper raises two questions: (1) what were the impacts of Theravada Buddhism that facilitated the rise of Buddhayana? and (2) when Theravada became a symbol of authentic Buddhism and its identity could satisfy the state rather during assimilation policy, how did Buddhayana members balance the needs of the Chinese patrons and of the government? Based upon documentary methods combined with in-depth interviews, the data collected are analyzed through the concepts of transnationalism and the discourse of modern Buddhism. This paper proposes that (1) the birth of Buddhayana in the 1960s was facilitated not only by transnational relations, but also by the discourse of modern Buddhism, which led to an emphasis on Theravada Buddhism. Therefore, even though Buddhayana claimed to be open to Mahayana and Vajrayana as well, its official doctrines and ritual performances presented in public tend to be Theravada in character. (2) The politics of discrimination against the Chinese Indonesians helped to marginalize Mahayana Buddhism, a tradition that its image links to the Chinese culture. In consequence, Mahayana tended to play a role in the daily practices of the Chinese in their houses and klenteng, meanwhile Theravada in terms of philosophical teachings and huge rituals was chosen to be presented in the public sphere in accordance with the state’s needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Introduction to the Special Issue on moving post-socialist publics aims to lay out how existing mobility politics and discourses in the region under scrutiny are intertwined with historical, socialist-era mobility practices, and infrastructures. Mobility paths and policies are imbued with a contested understanding of socialist legacies as well as capitalist realities. The Special Issue explores how transport options and choices confront citizens with social diversity, transformations of social norms, institutions and routines, values, concepts, and traditions. Valuable lessons can be learnt in terms of critical mobility geographies beyond the region as post-socialist transformations address justice and changing social norms and understandings of state roles. A decolonial inspiration that challenges existing readings of the formerly socialist region and transgresses the analytical "Othering" of its transition experience can be traced throughout the papers. Instead of arguing whether or not post-socialism is still a valid analytical framework, authors see the region as marked by multiple experiences of modernity and coloniality. In the former Soviet peripheries, urban mobility shapes socio-spatial contentions, making visible multiple and conflicting narratives of modernity and coloniality, tracing flows and dependencies at different scales, and taking into account complex constellations of actors, cultures, and materialities. The post-socialist lens is meant to critically scrutinize continuities and changes, providing particular interpretations for contemporary issues: mobile post-socialist publics are thus a turn away from what was before but in a context in which a strong relation to the past is embedded in several continuities in institutions, materialities, and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses tourism landscapes in a remote region of Finland where tourism, nature conservation and industrial land-use coexist in tension. It illustrates deep problems with the language of sustainability but suggests that applying the dwelling perspective (Ingold) to analysing tourism landscapes is an illuminating route to appreciating the unsustainable features of modern life generally, like technical infrastructures and the unsustainable practices they support. Through an analysis of how modern roads have shaped landscapes and livelihoods, the paper makes a case for the strengths of the dwelling perspective as long as sufficient emphasis is put on the wider economic and political conditions within which local life can be reproduced and (ecological) sustainability negotiated. It shows that nature tourism involves different ways of being unsustainable but that it also contributes, as policy makers over decades have hoped, to sustaining local livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culture is formed by knowledge, so that, the episteme defines ontology. The universality of modernity defines the existence of the colonized with promises of development and salvation. This is with an imperial undertone to foster the cultural violence of coloniality in the postcolonies. This paper is an evaluation of epistemic politics and the emergence of the pluriverse in Ola Rotimi's Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Emeka Nwabueze's A Parliament of Vultures. These plays from our review of related literature are dominated by studies on satire, gender relations, and political imaging of present-day Nigeria. From a decolonial perspective, our study engages modernity as an agent of coloniality in these selected plays. The paper argues that coloniality employs the rhetoric of modernity in transforming knowledge, power, and being as its strategy of encroachment. Therefore, delinking knowledge, power, and being are examined as decolonial motifs for a pluriversal ontology. Pluriversality however, emerges in place of universality as an ontological order marked with alternatives to modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attia Hosain's Partition novel, Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961), offers possibilities for the physical structure of the home to be analysed through a spatial lens to decode architectural metaphors of the zenana (women's space). This paper explores how the women characters negotiate with the often dichotomised private and public spheres of the home and outside, to show their rising confluence in a mod-ernising nation. This paper grounds gendered space in the materiality of courtyards, walls, stairwells and rooftops to argue that the homosocial, homospatial bond that exists within the zenana court-yard is reinvented by Laila in the wake of the socio-political changes of the 1930s–50s, which allows for Laila's imagined 'world' to become a reality. By studying the architectural sites of seclusion not as static but charged with agential capacity through their enclosed openness, this paper reads the courtyard as a transgressive space of resistive politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout human history, people have always produced waste, but during the last century, this has shown explosive growth. Globally, a combination of rising incomes, urbanization, the development of new, cheap materials, and changing lifestyles have driven the growth of products that were designed to be used for only limited periods of time producing a totally unprecedented amount and variety of waste. However, this development has not affected all people in similar ways. Waste has been a marker of unprecedented but unbalanced efficiency, wealth and power, and conflict. Five articles address waste as a function of conflicts in areas in various places in Europe and Asia. Collectively, these papers shed an unusual light on the twentieth century world through a collection of cases, in which conflicts have tended to exacerbate challenges of waste, either by increasing the quantity of weapons and their (often toxic) remains, or by creating contexts in which the confrontation with adversaries often relegated environmental, social and health-related consideration to the backstage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culture is an essential component of Indigenous public spaces. However, a gap in knowledge exists regarding cultural influences on Indigenous public spaces in Africa. This paper, therefore, explores the impact of cultural worldviews on the landscape and functionality of Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo squares in Nigeria. It also assesses the contemporary state of the Nigerian squares. The paper employs mixed methods, including a systematic review of literature, observations, interviews, and photographic recordings, to shed light on the strengths and deficiencies of the Indigenous squares. Findings revealed that while Indigenous public spaces cater to the socio-cultural needs of different ethnic groups, they do not fully meet modern needs and expectations, especially concerning safety and comfort. This paper advocates for the fusion of Indigenous landscape practices with contemporary approaches to foster harmonious synergy between tradition and modernity and enhance public space utilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that the War in Ukraine is promoting and accelerating the Westernization of the region's higher education. The paper employs Mignolo's (2011) geopolitics of knowledge as the theoretical framework to illustrate how internationalization promotes the adoption of Western/English liberal education and how the War in Ukraine is speeding up the process. Using focus groups, I capture conversations with local graduate students in Kazakhstan to demonstrate that Western education is acquired to 1) accelerate the de-Russification of Kazakhstan by moving away from the former imperial power, 2) use English to undermine the Russian language and cement Kazakhstan's independence from Russia, 3) acquire internationally recognized English credentials for global/Western competitiveness and modernity. The participants in this study framed their decision to pursue university graduate studies as freedom from the Soviet system, de-Russification, and modern development, underscoring the high value that some graduate students have for an English credential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper examines the transition of urban spaces and architectural changes in Elbasan, Albania, from Ottoman influence to modernity. By analyzing urban development and architectural styles from both the Ottoman and contemporary periods, the paper aims to provide a comparative perspective on the architectural language between these two periods. The study explores the alterations in characteristics of city urbanism and architecture in Ottoman and post-Ottoman times, spanning from the early 19th century to the present day. It also examines the implications of these changes for urban spaces and cultural identity. Through case studies and comparative analysis, the paper highlights the dynamic evolution of Elbasan's architectural landscape and provides insights into its future development. The data was collected using a multi-faceted methodology, including archival drawings, scholarly works, maps, field visits, and observations. The results reveal significant variability in the urban and architectural patterns of the city. The differences between 18th-19th-century Elbasan and that of the 20th and 21st centuries are profound and distinct. However, the central area of the city, which remains the most historic part due to the survival of structures such as the castle, the clock tower, old bathhouses, and the king's mosque, still retains traces of the Ottoman city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arcos: Design, Cultura e Visualidade is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper challenges the World Religion Paradigm (WRP) dominating religious studies, advocating for a decolonial approach that focuses on diverse and often marginalized religious expressions. The approach that prioritizes world religions over the rich diversity of religious expressions in multiple modernities turns out to be insufficient and biased. Through theoretical research, this paper explores the implications of multiple modernities for the religious landscape. Drawing on Eisenstadt's theory of multiple modernities, the analysis critiques linear notions of modernization and secularization, and it highlights the complex interplay between religious centers and peripheries. It develops a critical examination of how the theory of the Axial Age, by prioritizing elites and centers in the historical genesis of world religions, generates a preconception that overlooks the religious and spiritual productivity of the peripheries, which persists within current interpretative frameworks. To emphasize the dynamic between center and periphery as a key factor in understanding religious diversity, the text proposes some theoretical theses. By embracing a diversity paradigm and decolonizing frameworks, this paper offers a more inclusive understanding of religious phenomena, contributing to a broader discourse on religion and spirituality beyond Eurocentric perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I follow trails of the auto/biographical turn in the field of gender and science, particularly focusing on women mathematicians' epistolary narratives. The paper emerges from a wider Leverhulme funded project of writing a feminist genealogy of «automathographies», tracing women mathematicians' historical emergence as subjects of scientific knowledge, as well as creators of philosophy and culture. What I argue is that letters are important auto/biographical documents in illuminating women's epistemological and intellectual involvement in the making of scientific knowledge, which included the development of mathematical sciences, but was also expanded in the wider cultural formations of the European modernity. In doing so, I deploy the notion of «epistolary sensibility» as a methodological and epistemological approach to archival research with women mathematicians' letters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper focuses on the burial culture of the Isoko and Urhobo people of Delta state, especially from 1990 to 2020, and the aspect of the burial culture as it pertains to returning the body of a woman at death back to her natal home for burial. With the wave of globalization came a number of changes in the burial culture of the Isoko and Urhobo people of Delta state. This paper aims at examining the changes and the continuity in an aspect of the burial culture of the Isoko and Urhobo people of Delta State. It critically examines the practice of returning the body of a deceased woman back to her natal home for burial. This practice has over the years been questioned, interrogated and called for scrutiny by both the Isoko and Urhobo people and some of their neigbours. The work argues that social factors have introduced continuous changes in the Isoko and Urhobo culture with regards to their funeral rites and the burial culture of the people have been greatly affected. This practice have been perceived as one which promotes patriarchal dominance. The work adopts the analytical method, using both primary and secondary sources of data in interrogating the practice of returning the body of a deceased woman back to her natal home for burial rather than burying her in her husband's home and maintains that if this practice is not properly handled, it could affect inter-group relations. The paper therefore concludes that this practice is posing as a serious threat to a peaceful and harmonious inter-group relationship among families that are involved in inter-tribal marriage. It recommends that the Isoko and Urhobo people should rehabilitate properly to blend with modernity in this aspect of their culture while preserving some others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various scholars have noticed the increase of competition in the last decades and its essential role in contemporary social life. Their studies show the great variety of fields affected and are valuable contributions to understanding this process. However, they also represent a wide range of different conceptualizations and understandings of what exactly the increase of competition is and which aspects of social life it affects. Thus, to allow for a better understanding of this process and the commonalities and differences between the approaches that examine it, this paper presents a framework to grasp different dimensions of competitization, that is, the increase of competition in different social fields. Drawing on the basic elements of competition and the literature on the increase of competition, it discusses four dimensions of competitization: competitization by scarcity, by mechanism, by imaginary and by agency. Three main examples are used to demonstrate these dimensions: competitization in academia, market competitization and competitization in the form of rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an alternative reading of the intellectual as a phenomenon that emerged in the context of fascination with colonial achievements, alongside a tendency to catch up with and be independent from it, all while being accompanied by a phenomenon based on the “worship of modernity,” which not only failed to critique it but also considered everything local as inherently backward. Since the intellectual regards their society as regressive and unworthy of being relied upon as a lever for advancement, but rather as the subject of change, they have no choice but to turn to power to present their modernist vision, ultimately becoming a part of the tools for its perpetuation and the reproduction of its domination and functionality. Based on the philosophy of “activation” and the attachment of theory to practice, this paper seeks to establish a conceptual framework for the “ practicing thinker, ” who is engaged with their community in producing change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The paper revisits the question of immortality with Dostoevsky's reference to 'eternal memory' as a leitmotif. Starting with Agamben's discussion of Hegel, language, and death, the paper notes three ways in which language is understood as mimetic. For Hegel (according to Agamben) language imitates death. However, Heidegger highlighted the challenges of speaking authentically about death in such a way as to raise the further question as to the nature or capacity of language. For Herder, language imitates nature and poetry is the supreme expression of language. How this might work in relation to our thrownness towards death is explored by Michael Theunissen in his study Pindar, where he sees poetic language as essentially imitating a divine hope in relation to death. The paper concludes how this might be restated in the context of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the ethical dilemmas in contemporary Igbo Christian marriages as couples navigate the interaction between modernity and cultural identities. Marriage in traditional Igbo society is entrenched in strong cultural and religious values. However, Christianity and modernity have brought new dynamics to this institution in contemporary times. This paper, therefore, examines the influence of Christianity and modernity on Igbo traditional marriage, discussing ethical dilemmas arising from these influences. It specifically addresses areas where the traditional Igbo practices often clash with Christian doctrine and modern ideals, such as Igbo communalism, gender roles, family obligations, and marital expectations. The study also highlights strategies for resolving these dilemmas, including effective communication, cultural adaptability, and external support systems. Utilising a qualitative case study and descriptive–analytical methods, the research provides invaluable insights into the emerging dilemmas in Igbo marriage, offering a nuanced understanding of how individuals and communities can navigate these ethical complexities in a fast-shifting world. This work contributes to the broader discussions on cultural identities, religious practices, and ethical challenges in modern times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a theoretical exploration that works through a global Indigenous consciousness. As a critically reflexive story work and auto-ethnographic contemplation it begins by confronting a presumed genealogy in a post-apocalyptic world of coloniality through a global Indigenous lens. Extending beyond racially legalised genealogical ancestry, the metaphysics of indigeneity in the context of Western modernity can be re-positioned as a metaphor of past future human-being-ness or person/people-hood. Global Indigeneity and Indigenous metaphysics are framed as a portal and entry beyond coloniality through fugitive sociality and subversive relationality. Confronting the tensions of colonially purist and racially essentialist categories of indigenous identity, lineages of the post-post-apocalyptic world are forming in the enduring social connections embodied in an Indigenous genealogical consciousness of the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on assemblage theory to propose a new theoretical understanding of modernity. While the conceptual framing is meant for modernity at large, this paper locates its conceptual discussion in the context of tourism in Macao and illustrates how plasmatic thinking, the new conceptual framework proposed, advances analysis of aspiration, exploitation and freedom of its tour guides. Plasmatic thinking helps examinations of tourism labour to engage with the fragile and fluid nature of the sociomaterial environments. Instead of structures, networks or fluidities, plasmatic thinking sees the world as composed of 'plasmas' – 'charged' sociomaterial clustering of objects, humans and the processes between them. Plasmas are a form of charged matter falling outside solid, liquid and gaseous states and metaphorises the fragility and impermanence of sociomaterial situations for plasmas disintegrates when discharged. The attention to charges and fragility of plasmas helps describes both pandemic levels shocks and everyday disruptions. Through a plasmatic analysis of the falling apart and coming together of such plasmas and how they bring about significant consequences to Macao's tourism, I showcase plasmatic thinking as a theoretical approach which vividly uncovers the fragility and fluidity of modernity and the workings of power in our sociomaterial worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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DRZEWIECKA, Ewelina. Cyrillo-Methodian Anniversaries in the Context of Socialism (Ideological Functions, National Uses, and Research Perspectives). The aim of the paper is to address the phenomenon of anniversary in regard to the cultural conditions that are typical of the period of socialism in South-East Europe. The focus is on a jubilee discourse that was generated for the purposes of state commemorations of SS. Cyril and Methodius, i.e. the inventors of the first Slavic alphabet and literacy. The starting point is the case of People's Republic of Bulgaria (1946 - 1990), which is perceived as both an example of rewriting the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition under the local conditions of Communist ideology, and a meaningful manifestation of the "culture of jubilee". The paper discusses the continuity of cultural matrix within the Bulgarian modernity despite the distinct semantic shifts in the Cyrillo-Methodian narrative and suggests a great potential of investigating the phenomena with regard to the past that is shared/contested in terms of different national ideologies. It is suggested that a "contrastive grammar" of competing jubilee discourses and practices would be a promising way of interpreting the Bulgarian-Macedonian confrontations and struggles for primacy that emerged during socialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There have been marked differences between many urban youths and the older generation in practising Islam in Bangladesh. In the contemporary expression of Islam, many urban youths in Bangladesh adopt an approach where they are inclined to explain various Islamic discourses in a modernistic way through adopting an Islamic code of life. Simultaneously negating the traditional idea of the incompatibility of Islam with modernity is also an essential phenomenon in this discourse. 'Self-conscious sense of collective identity' and the concept of belonging to a global Islamic community is motivating many of these contemporary urban youths in Bangladesh to search for the 'pure' form of Islamic practices. These new manifestations eventually affect their urban social sphere while they either reject many traditional Islamic norms or adopt 'more authentic' Islamic norms. Thus, this qualitative paper argues that the expression of Islam among many urban youths has to be seen as an adaptive strategy in an ongoing struggle to make sense of Islamic life in a more complex, modern and Westernised world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ñawi: Arte, Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper attempts to demystify the antagonistic relationship between modernity and tradition as construed by Ashis Nandy. As a prominent voice in postcolonial scholarship, Nandy saw modernity as a colonial conception of rights, self, and society. Nandy's critique of modernity laid the grounds for several projects that rejected the modern consensus for its colonial origins. Juxtaposing Nandy's reiteration of early anti-modern nationalist thought with a multi-dimensional reading of colonial modernity in contemporary Ambedkarite scholarship, this paper explores the ambivalences of negotiating modern liberalism in a postcolonial order of hierarchical group identities. Despite the close imbrication of modernity with the imperial centre, Ambedkarite scholarship demonstrated how B.R. Ambedkar, synthesized a middle ground, where he incorporated the promise of modernity to liberate the 'individual' without dismissing the 'communal' collective self, construed by traditions. While postcolonial scholarship is heterogeneous, following Nandy, huge postcolonial melancholia has conflated modernity with coloniality. How do we rethink postcolonial theory from its current culturalist posturing to (re)claim the emancipatory potential of both modernity and tradition? Could it be that Nandy's anxiety and discomfort with modernity fail to 'contemporise theory'? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to provide some clues and red threads through the magisterial work of Eric Santner. The first part takes the point of departure in his book on Schreber (My Own Private Germany) and tries to lay down a basic narrative that subtends most of Santner's work and can be encapsulated by "the secret history of modernity." This narrative is briefly spelled out through the relationship of Schreber the father (the "surplus father" as the continuation of the enlightenment), Doctor Flechsig (the seminal representative of the modern university discourse), and Schreber the son, the embodiment of the symptom of the progress of modernity. The second part of the paper scrutinizes three interrelated concepts proposed by Santner, too muchness, the surplus of immanence, and manatheism, which provide conceptual tools to address the break of modernity. The three concepts are brought into relation with the historical placement of psychoanalysis in modernity, the dialectic of "what remains" and the emergence of the new, and finally with the nature of the exception pertaining to the notion of the surplus. The last part, "the punning of reason," examines Santner's frequent use of puns ("puncepts") as a conceptual strategy to deal with the paradoxes of universality. Punning is taken not as an addition or embellishment but as a poignant way to propose a new status of universality, related to what Lacan named lalangue. The three different perspectives try to show the different ways by which Santner's work addresses the core conundrums of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper is based on a conception of "literariness" in heritage, as a product of the mechanisms upon which the art of writing autobiographies in Arabic literature is based, searching for its foundational roots in the depths. Looking for the reason for its continuation and preservation, as a genre of ancient and renewed literary genres and an important spatial text in the literary and social life. It is open to more than one reading; it has undergone some transformations and developments throughout the ages with the aim of searching for excellence in two literary works - Kitab Alawraq: by Abu Bakr Al-Souli (335 AH), Mathaq Alsabr by Muhammad Eid Al-Araimi (1954 AD), analyzing their private memoirs, with which they penetrated the stable cultural pattern, revealing what they combine and distinguish themselves with, whether in the form of the covert translation of Al-Souli. In which the pleasure of remembering represents a translation of the state of power and wealth. There is connection to the space of higher authority, in addition to that, writing the autobiography is a subject of pride for Al-Souli. It represents an outlet for the psychological source from the state of lack and brokenness, or being a narrative vision that the writer transferred from its realistic structure, in which sadness and despair dominate the self, to a new imaginative artistic structure. This structure is rich in cultural heritage and symbolic production, filled with optimism and bright aspects of life. In both cases is considered a basis for re-reading the news in the light of authenticity and modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Bhadran’s masterwork Spadikam (1995) is best read as a tale of redemption from an Augustinian-Thomist lens, with the major characters being archetypal representations of the conflict between Christianity and modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Philologia is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the evolutionary process of moving from traditional styles to pioneering directions in the opera genre. This phenomenon expressed itself in a mixture of styles and forms of language, in the integration of different types of artistic means of expression. Another issue would be related to the nature of the lyrical tradition, its need for preservation and continuity, and the extent to which innovation is tolerated in opera to ensure that artistic works do not cross genre boundaries. It is a new phenomenon for contemporary actors and audiences, the one present in the theater today. By examining the evolution of the art of opera, it was possible to identify the general pattern of development of innovative opera and to argue that artistic integration is the source of diversity on stage and the basis of innovation in opera production. For this purpose, a cultural-historical and historical-artistic approach was used. The academic novelty of the study consists, first of all, in the complex analysis of the sources related to the translation of metalanguage in lyrical art, and secondly, the incorporation of these sources in the academic circulation as important and significant for the recognition of the reform of the opera genre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an analysis of Modern Studies, a school subject unique to Scotland. First taught in the 1960s, Modern Studies was originally conceived as an option for students discontinuing their studies in history and geography. Since then, though, Modern Studies has carved a distinctive curricular niche and has become one of the most popular subjects in Scottish schools.Despite this popularity—or, perhaps, because of it—Modern Studies has not received the same critical analysis as other subjects in the school curriculum. The subject remains one defined by its content (political literacy, social issues, and international relations), rather than by its disciplinary or epistemic underpinnings.This paper uses Toulmin’s (1990) conception of modernity to analyse course documents and examination papers. This analysis suggests that Modern Studies was imbued from the start with three foundational assumptions. First, a positivist ontology that believes certainty about the social world is possible. Second, a belief that Weberian means-end rationality is the most appropriate approach to evaluating and making sense of social relations. Third, a telos which positions liberal capitalism as the inevitable end-state of human affairs. Modern Studies is, therefore, not just ‘modern’ but modernist.The paper explores and develops these critiques with reference to specific examination questions and concludes by proposing a programme for renewing and reinvigorating the subject in an age of epistemic uncertainty and global environmental crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Atay's "Railroad Storytellers - A Dream" in terms of Atay's modernist experimentation in his depiction of space and spatiality, emphasising his contribution to Turkish literature as a pioneer modernist author. Oğuz Atay's distinctive and innovative style, which forms his affinities with the early Western modernists such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, establishes his significant place as a pioneer modernist author in Turkish literature in the 1970s. The concept of 'house/ home' by Gaston Bachelard in The Poetics of Space (1957, 2014) is instrumental for me as it pertains to the predicament of three storytellers as artists in the nameless and remote railroad station. The narrator of the story and his fellow storytellers gradually sink into disconnection, confusion, misery and poverty in an environment that represents the cold and unwelcoming face of technological modernisation symbolised by the space of the train station. The narrator's quest for finding a 'home' to connect him to his readers and where he could exist as an artist comes to life in his attempt to write a letter to his readers, telling them he is still 'here' and asking them where they are. No matter how blighted that effort is since the narrator has no address to send the letters to, the endings for Atay's story imply a need for connection with his readers expressed in the impossible meeting of the 'here' with the 'where' in spite or because of the estrangement and alienation of the artist/author in the modern world. Hence, the possibility of space as a 'home' for the author/narrator dwindles in the not forthcoming answer to the letter that will never reach its destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the fundamental challenges facing higher education is the much-needed confrontation of the legacies of colonialism which are hidden behind the claims of universality, neutrality and objectivity in knowledge production. From the vantage point of the present, Mahmood Mamdani, is one of the scholars who have given an account of colonial rule, its main characteristics and consequences of colonial conquests in a telling manner that renders transparent how the universalising structure of political modernity produced the colonised as subjects of difference. In his writings, Mamdani has connected the diverse experiences of the post-colonial world and flagged modernity as very pivotal in understanding the politics of knowledge production because it was crafted by the colonial project which centred on producing colonial subjects of difference within the hegemonic European thought. Mamdani's main contribution is his use of historical analysis from the vantage point of the present to offer a productive frame of thought on knowledge production that exposes the anatomy and operation of colonialism and its universalising structures that have been inadvertently normalised as the model in knowledge production. In this article, I attempt to piece together the fundamentals of Mamdani's exposition of how colonialism was a particular variation of the discourse of difference that shaped forms of existence and knowing. Primarily using a decolonial inspired theoretical framework, the paper makes a nuanced reading of Mamdani's writings to show how his contributions makes visible the impact of colonialism as a project that is not confined to history and its pervasiveness in shaping the production of the objects of knowledge and its subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel Rabinowitz (1860–1938) was one of the first Hasidic rebbes of stature to come to America. An Orthodox Jewish leader and author with uncommon historical consciousness, he strove to revitalize religion as an existentially vital facet of being. Keenly attuned to the complexities of moments of transition, he reflected on his own experience of migration. His response to modernity differs from that of most traditionalist communal leaders of his day—both those who stayed in Europe and those who came to America. In the New World, now in his sixties, his understanding of Jewish history and the ongoing transformation of modern Jewish society and self continued to evolve as contemporary challenges demanded new responses. His life and works— written in Hebrew in a strikingly modern idiom—add important dimensions to the story of Hasidic migration, resettlement, and spiritual revival during a volatile historical era. Retracing his long path from Ukraine to New York, from the “valley of slaughter” to the goldene medina, through close readings of ego-documents and other resources that have received little attention to date, this paper considers his importance as a Hasidic figure worthy of note [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature relies heavily on mythology. Myths are stories of deities, monsters or immortals which are transformed from one generation to the other. In addition to documenting the religious and cultural experiences of a specific community, myths also outline the consequent literary, artistic and dramatic customs. Some Greek myths have survived for thousands of years because they accurately depict historical events, cultural values, and trends. Among the most famous classical myths are the myths of Medusa and Medea. As for the myth of Medusa, the earliest known record was found in Theogony (700BC) by Hesiod (8 th-7th century BC). A later version of the Medusa myth was made by the Roman poet Ovid (43BC -17/18AD), in his "Metamorphoses" (3-8 AD). Then again, Medea is a tragedy produced in 431 BC by the Greek playwright Euripides(480-406BC) based on the myth of Jason and Medea. Both Medusa and Medea are among the most fascinating and complex female protagonists in Greek mythology which have captivated many writers and playwrights for ages. In the twentieth century, there were many adaptations of both mythological figures; among these adaptations were those made by contemporary American and Irish women playwrights like Carol Lashof (1956-) and Marinna Carr (1964-). This paper examines the myths of Medusa and Medea and analyses the ways these myths are borrowed, refashioned and exploited in Lashof's Medusa's Tale (1991) and Carr's By the Bog of Cats (1998). Both playwrights explore hidden dimensions of the traditional myths, combining elements from the old and modern worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue Académique des Études Sociales et Humaines is the property of Hassif Benbouali University of Chlef and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper deals with the philosophical aspects of modernity and democratic change in Africa with a focus on Ethiopia. The traditional or religious nature of Ethiopia’s political and economic system has posed a serious challenge to modernization. In addition, the contemporary experiment with ethnic politics and tribalism has exacerbated the problem. The country’s continued existence has been endangered because of its repeated failures at modernization. I therefore argue that one of the major challenges to democracy and modernization in Ethiopia is the inability to transcend ascriptive, primordialist, and tribalist criteria of political membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]