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Showing papers on "Theme (narrative) published in 2010"


Journal Article
TL;DR: Stiglitz's Freefall as mentioned in this paper is another excellent discussion of the global economic crisis, authored by a man who ranks high among the commentators, and is a member of the Council of Economic Advisors of the United Nations.
Abstract: Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy Joseph E. Stiglitz W. W. Norton & Company, 2010 Joseph Stiglitz's Freefall is another excellent discussion of the global economic crisis, authored by a man who ranks high among the commentators. Stiglitz was the chief economist at the World Bank during the East Asian economic crisis in 1997-1998, and then chaired the United Nations commission that sought reforms for the global financial and monetary system. He was a member of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors. This is his fifth book. There seem to be a great many Nobel Prize winners in Economics (whose collective wisdom doesn't seem to have saved the world from its financial travails), but it would surely be amiss not to mention that Stiglitz is among them. This book testifies to his distinction in that select group. Because Freefall can hardly examine the crisis without covering much of the same ground as the other books we have reviewed, we will avoid repeating that analysis here. We prefer to focus on those aspects of Stiglitz's discussion that address unresolved issues or that most bring his own learning to bear: * His view of the plight in which today's "capitalism" finds itself. * What he says (and yet doesn't say) about the whirlpool of global finance. * His critique of the response that the U.S. Federal Reserve and government have made to the crisis, including what he thinks should have been done. * In connection with this critique, his reflections on the performance both of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations' actions through the end of 2009. * What reforms Stiglitz considers needed. His view of today's "capitalism." Although Stiglitz affirms "that markets lie at the heart of every successful economy" and is by no means anticapitalist, he shares the view that has come to be held by a great many thoughtful commentators that today's "capitalism" bears little resemblance to the competitive "private enterprise" that supporters of a market economy have long championed. He speaks of an "ersatz capitalism" that features a "corporate welfare state" driven by "blatant greed" and an ideology, sponsored by special interests, that has made a fetish of "self-regulating markets." "The current crisis has uncovered fundamental flaws in the capitalist system, or at least the peculiar version of capitalism that emerged in the latter part of the twentieth century in the United States." This realization is an intellectual earthquake. It should profoundly redirect the thinking of America's free-market enthusiasts, who will do their philosophy a great disservice if they insist on blind loyalty to the current system. We saw the same theme in our review of John Bogle's The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism,1 where we wrote that "in common with many others today, Bogle sees that the market system has become untracked - has 'lost its soul' - and needs much devoted attention (especially from capitalism's supporters...)." It is worth noting that Bogle saw the problem as societal, not just economic. "Our society is moving in the wrong direction," with "absurdities and inequities that we've come to accept" in a "wealth-oriented, things-fixated society" within which "the lure of money has overwhelmed the prestige of reputation." This suggests that even though national and international financial reforms are essential, they cannot appropriately be understood as a "quick fix" that will be sufficient to put things right. There needs to be deep concern for the systemic health of the society. What Stiglitz says (and doesn't say) about the multi-trillion dollar ocean of global finance. In our review of David Smick's The World is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy, 2 we found that "the risks Smick describes are so many and so palpable that any objective observer would be justified in considering them intolerable. …

406 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The 2008 Qualitative Research in Management and Organization Conference on Telling Tales as discussed by the authors celebrated the twentieth anniversary of John Van Maanen's (1988) book Tales of the Field, which reflected the need to think about the ways in which we carry out (our methods) and write up ethnographic work.
Abstract: The special issue arose from the 2008 Qualitative Research in Management and Organization Conference, held at the University of New Mexico, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of John Van Maanen’s (1988) book Tales of the Field. The theme of the conference, Telling Tales, reflected two of the core issues in the book—the need to think about the ways in which we carry out (our methods) and write up ethnographic work. This introductory paper sets the scene for the four papers to follow by giving an overview of ethnography: what ethnographic work entails, a brief history, issues to consider when doing ethnography, and offers a range of references for potential ethnographers. In addition, it introduces the four authors and situates their ‘‘tales’’ within the broader ethnographic context.

196 citations


Book
28 Dec 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a framework for the study of lives in the Holy Land, focusing on the culture, identity, and story of a population of Jewish Israeli youth.
Abstract: CONTENTS Preface PART 1. Orientations A Note on Geographic Terminology Prologue Chapter 1. Culture, Identity, and Story: A Framework for the Study of Lives I. Preliminary Provocations II. Capturing Culture III. Interrogating Identity IV. The Cultural Psychology of Identity V. Experimenting with Identity VI. The Cosmopolitan Ideal VII. Identity as Burden or Benefit? VIII. Politicizing Psychology, Psychologizing Politics IX. An Orientation Chapter 2. A "Stranger" in the Holy Land I. A Position II. A Personal Narrative III. Approaching the Study of Lives IV. The Politics of the Field V. Field Sites in Israel and Palestine Jerusalem Ramallah Qadas Beit Jala and Bethlehem Tulkarm and Nablus Tel Aviv Taybeh Haifa The Gilboa VI. Field Sites in the United States Seeds of Peace Hands of Peace VII. The Interviewees VIII. The Interview Procedure IX. Analytic Strategy PART 2. Stories Chapter 3. "Jewish in My Blood": Stories of Jewish Israeli Youth I. The Master Narrative of Jewish Israeli Identity An Introduction Contestations Theme 1: Persecution and Victimization Theme 2: Existential Insecurity Theme 3: Exceptionalism Theme 4: Delegitimization of Palestinian Identity Summary II. The Stories of Youth Yossi: The Ambivalent Pragmatist Noa: The Kibbutznik Roai: The Settler Ayelet: The Cosmopolitan III. Summary: The Cultural Psychology of Jewish Israeli Youth Chapter 4. "It's Not a Normal Life We Lead": Stories of Palestinian Youth I. The Master Narrative of Palestinian Identity An Introduction Contestations Theme 1: Loss and Dispossession Theme 2: Resistance Theme 3: Existential Insecurity Theme 4: Delegitimization of Israeli Identity Summary II. The Stories of Youth Ali: The Unlikely Islamist Adara: The Pious Villager Luca: The Christian Fighter Lubna: The Survivor III. Summary: The Cultural Psychology of Palestinian Youth Chapter 5. "I Had a War with Myself": Palestinian-Israeli Youth and the Narration of Hyphenated Identities I. The Master Narrative of Palestinian-Israeli Identity Theme 1: Discrimination and Subordination Theme 2: Hyphenation and

159 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This Issue is not only general to serve as a survey of recent progress in hybrid systems theory but also specific to introduce interesting and stimulating applications of hybrid systems in biology and medicine.
Abstract: In this introductory article, we survey the contents of this Theme Issue. This Theme Issue deals with a fertile region of hybrid dynamical systems that are characterized by the coexistence of conti...

128 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: Quality is a central theme for both journalists and journalism scholars as mentioned in this paper, which is understandable as quality is the hallmark for public programmes and, obviously, for quality journalism. But it is not always easy to achieve.
Abstract: Quality is a central theme for both journalists and journalism scholars. That is understandable as quality is the hallmark for public programmes and, obviously, for quality journalism.

103 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a significant chain of allusions in the letter's opening to Tacitus' Agricola, as well as to Cicero, Ovid and Seneca are discussed.
Abstract: Epistles 8.14, one of Pliny's longest letters, has been widely dismissed as a clumsy combination of two ill-fitting stretches of prose. This article demonstrates a significant chain of allusions in the letter's opening to Tacitus’ Agricola, as well as to Cicero, Ovid and Seneca; it shows how Pliny prompts such a reading in the surrounding Epistles 8.13 and 8.15; and, through consideration of the diptych form and the theme of slavery, it demonstrates the letter's pivotal role as centrepiece to Book 8.

69 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Wire as mentioned in this paper is a police procedural, but it is also a version of the organized crime story, and there are at least a hundred characters deployed in each sea son, many of whom carry their own independent plotlines.
Abstract: Generic classifications are indispensable to mass or commercial culture at the same time that their practice in postmodernity grows more and more complex or hybrid. Is The Wire a police procedural, for example? No doubt, but it is also a version of the organized crime story. The majority of its actors and characters are black, which nonetheless does not exactly make it a black film (a film for black audiences). There is a political drama going on here, as well, but its nature as local politics reminds us that it is also very much a local series, one framed in Baltimore and very much about Baltimore (something not always to the liking of Baltimore's elites). It is, however, also the case that most detective or crime literature today (as well as its filmic offshoots or inspirations) is local and based on the con sumption of a specific landscape (whether a foreign country—Swedish detective stories, Italian ones, even Chinese detective stories—or re gional—Montana, Louisiana, Los Angeles, Toronto, etc.). The broadest categories would then be that of the thriller or that of the action film (al though there are few chase scenes, no cliff-hangers, few-enough mass ac tion or carnage scenes). Each of the five years of the TV series is a unit in terms of plot and theme; and there are at least a hundred characters deployed in each sea son, many of whom carry their own independent plotlines. It may be ar gued that there is a single major protagonist, the Irish American detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), even though his status fluctuates over the five years of the series and is often eclipsed by other characters. This is to say that a work of this kind challenges and problematizes the distinc tion between protagonists and "secondary characters" (or stars and "char acter actors"), in ways most often described, I guess, as "epic" (War and Peace, Gone with the Wind)—a characterization that does not help to un derscore what may be a historical development in the evolution of this kind of plot (see Alexander Woloch on secondary characters). The episodes in each series are not separate and freestanding as they were in Homicide (screenwriter/producer David Simon's previous series,

64 citations


Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: In his own home of Newton as he was himself as mentioned in this paper, the war has deprived me both of leisure to treat adequately so great a theme and of opportunity to consult my library and my papers and to verify my impressions.
Abstract: It is with some diffidence that I try to speak to you in his own home of Newton as he was himself. I have long been a student of the records and had the intention to put my impressions into writing to be ready for Christmas Day 1942, the tercentenary of his birth. The war has deprived me both of leisure to treat adequately so great a theme and of opportunity to consult my library and my papers and to verify my impressions. So if the brief study which I shall lay before you to-day is more perfunctory than it should be, I hope you will excuse me.

57 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the main thesis is that satisfaction derived from a theme park visit may be of two types, which relates to general "push" needs such as those for relaxation, and site speci c...
Abstract: The main thesis of this paper is that satisfaction derived from a theme park visit may be of two types — generic — which relates to general ‘push’ needs such as those for relaxation, and site speci...

54 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 2010-Lingua
TL;DR: This paper makes two main claims about theme–goal ditransitive constructions available in some British English dialects, first, such sentences are derived from ordinary double object constructions, and second, this short object movement also feeds theme passivisation in double object Constructions.

Journal Article
TL;DR: This study investigated the learning process of 40 fifth grade students in the natural science unit, "Stars and Sun", through the construction of conceptual maps supplemented with structured interviews with both instructors and students on the process and results of the Web-based thematic learning.
Abstract: Theme-based learning (TBL) refers to learning modes which adopt the following sequence: (a) finding the theme; (b) finding a focus of interest based on the theme; (c) finding materials based on the focus of interest; (d) integrating the materials to establish shared knowledge; (e) publishing and sharing the integrated knowledge. We have created an on-line system which supports the TBL mode to provide elementary school students with Web-based thematic learning. This study investigated the learning process of 40 fifth grade students in the natural science unit, "Stars and Sun", through the construction of conceptual maps supplemented with structured interviews with both instructors and students on the process and results of the Web-based thematic learning. The following conclusions were reached: (a) the Web-based thematic learning. system has positive effect on learners’ concept learning; (b) the Web-based thematic learning first providing learners with a framework from which develops the related concepts, is a more stable learning mode; (c) the Web-based thematic learning system is suitable for students with different abilities. The middle achievement group of students is particularly suited to using a sharing and observation Web-based learning strategy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: All the contributors to this symposium have their own particular thesis to defend, but they are united at the same time by their concern with a single overarching theme as mentioned in this paper, which they describe as a ‘republican’ view of freedom and equality to encompass broader questions about human rights and the proper relations between states.
Abstract: All the contributors to this symposium have their own particular thesis to defend, but they are united at the same time by their concern with a single overarching theme. They are all interested in extending what they describe as a ‘republican’ view of freedom and equality to encompass broader questions about human rights and the proper relations between states. I mainly want to comment on this attempt to expand the reach of republican political thought. But I also want to focus – more explicitly than any of our symposiasts have done – on the intellectual traditions from which they draw their sustenance, thereby seeking to illuminate what it might mean to describe their shared outlook as republican in provenance. Suppose we begin by recalling some of the classic statements of republican political theory from the heyday of the tradition in early-modern Europe. Consider, for example, Niccolo Machiavelli’s Discorsi, written in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Florentine republic in 1512. Or consider some of the English writers most heavily indebted to Machiavelli, such as James Harrington in his Oceana of 1656, or Algernon Sydney in his Discourses on Government of 1694, or such later theorists as Richard Price in his Observations on Civil Liberty of 1776. It would not, I think, be too much of an oversimplification to say that the common features of the republicanism espoused by all these writers arose out of two basic commitments. Furthermore, as the republican tradition developed, these underlying principles came to be summarized in the form of two slogans, as I shall call them, that may almost be said to define the republican case. It is with these slogans and their implications that I shall mainly be concerned in what follows.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the dimensions and practices that have shaped the present global theme park industry, and provide an overview and historical examination of key concepts and phenomena, concluding that continuous growth of the global theme parks industry will be influenced by the quality and amount of marketing and advertising campaigns, development of new products and guest experiences, as well as external variables that the parks...
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dimensions and practices that have shaped the present global theme park industry. The reader is first introduced to the characteristics of the global theme park industry. Following a historical review of the evolution of theme parks, the paper reports on the scope of the global theme park industry, according to major geographical regions. The overview continues with an explanation of how themes are created and communicated to guests and finally, addresses the impact of theme parks on the economic sustainability of destinations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an overview and historical examination of key concepts and phenomena. The paper is more descriptive than analytical.Findings – The paper concludes that continuous growth of the global theme park industry will be influenced by the quality and amount of marketing and advertising campaigns, development of new products and guest experiences, as well as external variables that the parks...

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2010
TL;DR: The call for papers for this theme issue on Social Interaction and Mundane Technologies was particularly motivated by this desire to examine, document and understand how everyday social interactions are effected by, inhibited by or facilitated through the use of a range of mundane technologies and applications.
Abstract: In ‘‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’’ [1, 2], a university professor Dr. Bryce, is stunned by the rapid development, adoption and deployment of a number of technologies— including, for example, ‘‘self-developing’’ photographic film. Bryce is shocked by the fact that these advances have passed him by, become mundane artefacts in everyday use, without him noticing, in a field, a discipline, where he is supposed to be an expert. For many of us, it is not only the sheer pace of technology change that is so bewildering but also the impact of new technologies on how different social interactions are performed [3] and orchestrated [4]—such as relationship behaviour, family obligations and the etiquette of social interaction. The call for papers for this theme issue on Social Interaction and Mundane Technologies was particularly motivated by this desire to examine, document and understand how everyday social interactions are effected by, inhibited by or facilitated through the use of a range of mundane technologies and applications. By mundane technologies we mean technologies and applications that are commonplace, which lots of people use, such as mobile phones, texting, email, word-processing applications (e.g. Microsoft Word), presentation software (e.g. OpenOffice.org’s Impress), electronic spreadsheets (e.g. Apple’s Numbers) and so on. As Michaels [5] suggests, ‘‘the term ‘mundane technologies’ connotes those technologies whose novelty has worn off; these are technologies which are now fully integrated into, and are an unremarkable part of, everyday life. To study mundane technologies is thus to explore how they mediate and reflect everyday life, how they serve in the reproduction of local techno-social configurations.’’ Thus, when we discuss mundane technologies we are not necessarily talking about what Hillman and Gibbs [6] in their book ‘‘Century Makers’’ describe as ‘‘things we take for granted which have changed our lives’’. For Hillman and Gibbs these are devices—like the ring-pull can, the Post-it note or the pocket calculator—that have played an important part in much larger social and socio-technical changes despite now appearing trivial, everyday and commonplace. What the full range of long-term impacts the various technologies documented in these papers might be we cannot, as yet, ascertain. The technologies do, however, share the ‘cleverness’ of Hillman and Gibbs’ clever things in ‘‘their capacity to be unnoticed, to quietly mediate, that is reproduce, what have become the commonalities of everyday life’’ [5]. Mundane technologies have also been the focus of other earlier work—both in organizational and domestic settings. For example, Michaels [7] has studied walking boots as a C. Graham is an independent researcher.

Journal Article
Vicki Been1
TL;DR: In this paper, the benefits and drawbacks of community benefits agreements (CBAs) are discussed, and it recommends that local governments avoid the use of CBAs in land use approval processes unless the CBAs are negotiated through processes designed to ensure the transparency of the negotiations, the representativeness and accountability of the negotiators, and the legality and enforceability of the CBA' terms.
Abstract: Community benefits agreements (CBAs) are the latest in a long line of tools neighbors have used to protect their neighborhood from the burdens of development, and to try to secure benefits from the proposed development. This Article canvasses the benefits and drawbacks various stakeholders perceive CBAs to offer or to threaten, and reviews the legal and policy questions CBAs present. It recommends that local governments avoid the use of CBAs in land use approval processes unless the CBAs are negotiated through processes designed to ensure the transparency of the negotiations, the representativeness and accountability of the negotiators, and the legality and enforceability of the CBAs' terms.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conducted an investigation concerning the myths which still permeate the theme of giftedness today, by comparing it to the evolution of the laws and public policies in Brazil aimed at meeting the needs of the gifted and talented children.
Abstract: Several studies have pointed out some mistaken ideas that pervade the theme of the high abilities / giftedness, which have directly affected their education. Therefore, the general aim of this study is to conduct an investigation concerning the myths which still permeate the theme of giftedness today, by comparing it to the evolution of the laws and public policies in Brazil aimed at meeting the needs of the gifted and talented children. Researches conducted show that the laws alone are not enough to assure an effective education to the gifted students, unless further clarifying information on the theme is spread. The critical analysis of the studies addressed may give support to new researches to be conducted about the way giftedness has been understood by the society. Furthermore, the inquiries raised may help to prepare and improve the programs designed to the gifted individuals as well as the environment in which they are inserted.

01 Sep 2010
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a series of reports on the theme Atlas of Science: Mapping the Geography of Science, and two of them were on science in China and India.
Abstract: 1. China and India are seen as emerging world leaders and there has been considerable interest in what happens in the area of S&T in these two countries. A few years ago, Demos, the London-based think tank, brought out a series of reports on the theme Atlas of Science: Mapping the Geography of Science. Two of them were on science in China and India

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The ontology of performance is a recurring theme in theater and performance studies, standing at times like theater's line in the sand, beyond which media technology holds no sway as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: What is it about video recording that brings out the purist in theater practitioners and theorists? Time and again they reinforce a hierarchy that relegates the recording of theater to a derivative and debased status in relation to the unique and inimitable condition of a live performance. Whether produced for archival, documentary, or research purposes, recordings are seen to offer only the faintest trace of something now lost, something now properly preserved only in the ever-fading record of human memory. "Performance," writes Peggy Phelan, "cannot be saved, recorded, documented, or otherwise participate in the circulation of representations of representations: once it does so it becomes something other than performance."1 For director Peter Brook, theater "is an event for that moment in time, for that [audience] in that place-and it's gone. Gone without a trace .. . the only record is what they retained, which is how it should be in theater."2 An investment in this essential yet ephemeral quality of the live event- what Phelan calls the "ontology of performance" 3- is a recurring theme in theater and performance studies, standing at times like theater's line in the sand, beyond which media technology holds no sway.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the intellectual benefits and challenges of transdisciplinarity for educational linguistics, and present practical implications for doing thematic research, along with key benefits and potential pitfalls.
Abstract: This chapter considers the intellectual benefits and challenges of transdisciplinarity for educational linguistics. Building on earlier work about the nature of educational linguistics, Halliday’s notion of theme in transdisciplines is expanded upon. The concept of theme is presented as foundational for the problem-oriented nature of educational linguistics. The application of a thematic orientation is then set forth as a way in which to approach the topics encompassed by the field. Finally, practical implications for doing thematic research, along with key benefits and potential pitfalls, are examined.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Coetzee's Diary of a bad year as discussed by the authors explores the relationship between reader and text, author and tradition, genre and its delimitations, all via a disquisition on the state.
Abstract: J. M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year begins with a statement about the origins of the state that is also a statement about literature. Every account of the origins of the state starts from the premise that “we”—not we the readers but some generic we so wide as to exclude no one—participate in its coming into being. But the fact is that the only “we” we know—ourselves and the people close to us—are born into the state; and our forebears too were born into the state as far back as we can trace. The state is always there before we are. (3) Coetzee, linking the “we” of readership to the “we” of citizenship (af! rming the connection before denying it), here commences a prolonged consideration of the relationship between reader and text, author and tradition, genre and its delimitations, all via a disquisition on the state. 1 The passage not only launches a book-long rethinking of the many presumptions about power relations that have clustered around the idea of the modern state and the master-slave dialectic, but it also gives clues about how to read a book whose narrative structure and visual layout explicitly defy, reform, and to some degree reinvent the realist novel. It makes sense that Coetzee would use political theory as a platform for probing literary form and, by extension, genre. “Forms are the abstract of social relationships,” Franco Moretti has written, “so, formal analysis is in its own modest way an analysis of power” (66). One of the most pressing questions posed by Diary of a Bad Year pertains to the problem of the novel genre generally: what it is and is not, how readers “create” texts and their meanings, how literary tradition and genre typologies are constructed and passed down, the plasticity of narrative form, whether the pressure of historical precedent can be evaded, and so on. In what follows, I discuss how these questions are examined obliquely through political opining, even as the printed page—segmented by lines and asterisks throughout—offers its own mute, running input. Diary of a Bad Year builds upon a series of experimental works (Elizabeth Costello and Slow Man) in both tone and theme but does more than any of Coetzee’s previous works to examine how the “coming into being” of a work of ! ction happens. In style, expository thinking, and

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the role played by IT innovation in emerging economies, focusing on three themes derived from underlining theoretical frames researchers have used to explain innovation: economic theme, knowledge theme and interactive globalization theme.
Abstract: In this special issue we highlight the role played by IT Innovation in Emerging Economies. To understand this role with some clarity we focus on three theme concepts derived from underlining theoretical frames researchers have used to explain innovation. We identify these as the economic theme, the knowledge theme and the interactive globalization theme. Using each of these themes, we make some observations about the state of the art for IT innovation research. For instance, we conjecture that IT innovation needs to be researched independently rather than in terms of diffusion or adoption studies. In the knowledge theme we propose that IT innovation will flourish only if local knowledge is made mainstream. It means that not all knowledge needs to be scientific knowledge, but it does need to be locally embedded. Therefore, we suggest that local knowledge be given more legitimacy for IT innovation. From the interactive globalization theme we suggest that co-creation is a form of IT innovation and th...

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the notion of disobedience in Pan's Labyrinth, the refusal of characters to submit to the narrative desires of others at their own expense as well as the disobethence of the film itself to satisfy audience desires and conventional generic expectations.
Abstract: In an early scene in Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, Carmen, the very pregnant mother of the protagonist, Ofelia, takes a book of fairy stories from Ofelia's hands and says, "I don't understand why you had to bring so many books, Ofelia. Fairy tales, you're a bit too old to be filling your head with such nonsense."1 As soon as the words pass her lips, Carmen feels a sudden need to vomit. And thus an important theme of the film is presented as a warning: rejecting fairy tales will make you barf. While I raise this warning as a joke, the importance of story and storytelling to Pan's Labyrinth is no joking matter. Attention to story is paramount in this film, and not as a panacea for the hardships of "real" life; the relationship between characters and various types of narrative is key to survival, both of the stories themselves and of the characters who tell them. This paper asks how the narrative desires of the characters interact at the level of story ("what" is being told) and how the desires at work in the narrative itself play out at the level of discourse ("how" a story is told - in cinematic texts in terms of miseen-scene and editing). Key to my reading of Pan's Labyrinth is the notion of disobedience: the refusal of characters to submit to the narrative desires of others at their own expense as well as the disobethence of the film itself to satisfy audience desires and conventional generic expectations. In this reading the fairy tale is the vehicle through which the film not only problematizes and resists reductive and regulatory discourses of particular characters within the text but also challenges audiences and critics who may be tempted to produce reductive readings or employ totalizing textual theories. Pan's Labyrinth is an original cinematic fairy tale that makes clear visual and verbal references to oral, literary, and cinematic fairy-tale traditions. In its intertextual references Pan's Labyrinth announces its fealty to the fairy tale in the alignment of its heroine with well-known fairy-tale heroines like Snow White, Lewis Carroll's Alice (Alice in Wonderland 1865), and Dorothy of MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939). Ofelia's connections to these characters is particularly apparent in her appearance: her black hair, white skin, and red lips; the dress and pinafore her mother gives her; and the red shoes she taps at the end of the film. Intertextual references also contribute to the hybrid nature of this particular text, which employs familiar imagery, plot structures, and character types not only from fairy tales but also from other genres such as the period political drama, horror, and dark fantasy. Thus, Pan's Labyrinth's hybrid nature itself constitutes a form of disobethence to audience expectations of each of these genres by combining genres that are normally distinct. Also notable are the "disobedient" or unconventional choices Guillermo del Toro made as the writer, director, and producer of the film and which he remarks upon in his extradiegetic voice-over commentary on the DVD.2 Disobedience is an important factor in fairy tales. So much so that Vladimir Propp notes "interdiction" and "violation" of the interdiction as functions 2 and 3 in Morphology of the Folktale. Indeed, it is often a specific disobethent act that sets the tale in motion or continues it on its trajectory: Snow White disobeys the dwarves and answers the door to the witch; Dorothy runs away from the farm; Alice leaves her sister to chase the white rabbit. In Pan's Labyrinth disobethence is a primary theme that is coded as positive, and even essential to survival. And, I would like to argue, disobethence does not function only as a theme in Pan's Labyrinth, but it also can be found at the level of discourse, and it is closely related to narrative desires. Narrative Desire Discussions of narrative desire and the dynamics of reading pleasure are most often inflected by psychoanalysis, as shown in Peter Brooks's Reading for the Plot and Teresa de Lauretis's Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, and Cinema, both published in 1984. …

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors surveys some of the latest trends that mark this new interest, including its interdisciplinary influences and its focus on both cultural and political forms of cosmopolitanism, in a recent survey.
Abstract: Historians are returning to cosmopolitanism as a significant historical theme. This introductory essay briefly surveys some of the latest trends that mark this new interest, including its interdisciplinary influences and its focus on both cultural and political forms of cosmopolitanism.

Journal ArticleDOI
Nathalis G. Wamba1
TL;DR: The first two articles in this theme appeared in the previous issue of Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties (Volume 26, Number 2). as mentioned in this paper examined the link between po...
Abstract: The first two articles in this theme appeared in the previous issue of Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties (Volume 26, Number 2). They began to examine the link between po...

Book
30 Nov 2010
TL;DR: Due and Ebbott as mentioned in this paper used approaches based on oral traditional poetics to illuminate many of the interpretive questions that strictly literary approaches find unsolvable, and explicate the ambush theme within the whole Greek epic tradition.
Abstract: This edition, commentary, and accompanying essays focus on the tenth book of the Iliad, which has been doubted, ignored, and even scorned. Casey Due and Mary Ebbott use approaches based on oral traditional poetics to illuminate many of the interpretive questions that strictly literary approaches find unsolvable. The introductory essays explain their textual and interpretive approaches and explicate the ambush theme within the whole Greek epic tradition. The critical texts (presented as a sequence of witnesses, including the tenth-century "Venetus", a manuscript and select papyri) highlight the individual witnesses and the variations they offer. The commentary demonstrates how the unconventional Iliad 10 shares in the oral traditional nature of the whole epic, even though its poetics are specific to its nocturnal ambush plot.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a glimpse of the beau monde seems to contain an obvious commentary on the fatal consequences of indifference to "our dear brothers and sisters who have not departed" (180).
Abstract: Juxtaposed against the previous chapter’s scenes of poverty, despair, death, and the horrors of the overcrowded churchyard, this glimpse of the beau monde seems to contain an obvious commentary on the fatal consequences of indifference to “our dear brothers and sisters who have not departed” (180). This is a familiar theme for Dickens; Little Dorrit offers a strikingly similar parody of political reason among the ruling class:

Book Chapter
30 Dec 2010
TL;DR: The authors explores the cross-linguistic variation in ditransitive constructions, syntactic patterns of 'give'-like verbs taking Agent, Theme and Recipient arguments, in a rich volume.
Abstract: This rich volume explores the cross-linguistic variation in ditransitive constructions, syntactic patterns of 'give'-like verbs taking Agent, Theme and Recipient arguments.

Book Chapter
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare thematic resources in English and Spanish, and argue that subject-drop does not entail the existence of an implicit subject theme but rather the deployment of strategies different from those found in languages such as English.
Abstract: This paper presents a contrastive study within the general, expanding context of applications of SFL (Systemic Functional Linguistics) to LOTE (Languages Other Than English). It compares thematic resources in English and Spanish, and thus seeks to contribute to the ever-widening understanding of the scope and functions of Theme and the different ways of organizing the message in the clause across languages. The paper looks at issues such as the effect of Subject-drop – e.g. (i) tengo frio ([I] am cold) or (ii) ayer te vi ([I] saw you yesterday) – on thematic choices within the clause and, consequently, on the textual method of development. In particular, it will be argued that Subject-drop does not entail the existence of an implicit Subject Theme but rather the deployment of strategies different from those found in languages such as English. I will argue that the different thematic resources in English and Spanish are ultimately motivated by the different metafunctional tensions existing in each language. Since the notion of Theme was first introduced (Mathesius 1924, 1939), many pages have been devoted to enhancing our understanding of this semantic category. Linguists within the sphere of the Prague School have discussed the role played by Theme, mostly in terms of its contribution to the communicative dynamism (CD) of the sentence and the establishment of the functional sentence On Theme in English and Spanish: a comparative study

01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: In this article, the main theme of the thesis is the relation between education governance and social inclusion and exclusion, which is based on a life history approach were biographical interviews with the authors.
Abstract: The main theme of this thesis is the relation between education governance and social inclusion and exclusion. Overall the thesis is based on a life history approach were biographical interviews wi ...