Naturalized Aesthetics and Criticism

Projections ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Laura T. Di Summa-Knoop

Can naturalized aesthetics contribute to the evaluation of a work? In this article, I consider three ways in which naturalized aesthetics may inform critical evaluation. First, I analyze the role of naturalized aesthetic analysis in the formation of the creative choices made by filmmakers. Second, I assess the relationship between the analysis of empathy provided by Murray Smith’s Film, Art, and the Third Culture and the expression of moral evaluations. And third, I outline what I take to be naturalized aesthetics’ promising potential contribution to the study of genre and contra-standard features. In the concluding section, I instead introduce what I take to be two rather serious difficulties to a cooperation between criticism and naturalized aesthetics.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-40
Author(s):  
Archana Prasad

This article explores some questions arising from recent debates on patriarchy and capitalism. The focus is on the role of women in communist-led peasant movements in India and the implications of such struggles on the project of women’s emancipation. The first section lays out a framework for discussing the interface between class consciousness and the anti-patriarchal project, whereby patriarchy is located within the structural contradictions arising out of the contestations within the process of accumulation. The second section documents the historical context, focusing on the relationship between land reforms and social transformation in semi-feudal and early capitalist contexts, and analyzes the extent to which communist-led struggles are anti-patriarchal in character. The third section turns to the participation of women in the contemporary struggles of both agricultural workers and peasant movements and underlines the new emerging dialectics between women’s and peasant organizations under a neoliberal state and with deepening agrarian distress.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas T Hirblinger ◽  
Dana M Landau

‘Inclusion’ has emerged as a prominent theme in peacemaking. However, its exact meaning remains vague, as do assumptions about the relationship between inclusion and peace. This article seeks to problematize the research, policy and practice of inclusion. Focusing on United Nations (UN) peacemaking, we ask how the object of inclusion has been framed, and based on what strategies and underlying rationales. We do so against the backdrop of emerging debates about an agonistic peace, which suggest that violent antagonistic relationships can be overcome if peace processes enable contestation between adversaries. This requires that peacemakers recognize the constitutive role of difference in political settlements. We identify three distinct strategies for inclusion, with corresponding framings of the included. Firstly, inclusion can be used to build a more legitimate peace; secondly, to empower and protect specific actor groups; and thirdly, to transform the sociopolitical structures that underlie conflict. The first strategy frames the included in open terms that can accommodate a heterogeneity of actors, the second in closed terms pertaining to specific identity traits, and the third in relational terms emerging within a specific social, cultural and political context. In practice, this leads to tensions in the operationalization of inclusion, which are evidence of an inchoate attempt to politicize peace processes. In response, we argue for an approach to relational inclusion that recognizes the power relations from which difference emerges; neither brushing over difference, nor essentializing single identity traits, but rather remaining flexible in navigating a larger web of relationships that require transformation.


Slavic Review ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 661-684
Author(s):  
Theodora Dragostinova

This article examines Bulgarian cultural relations with India and Mexico in the 1970s to explore the role of cultural diplomacy in the relationship between the Second and the Third Worlds during the Cold War. In 1975, Liudmila Zhivkova, the daughter of the Bulgarian leader, became the head of the Committee for Culture; under her patronage, Bulgarian officials organized literally hundreds of exhibitions, concerts, academic conferences, book readings, cultural weeks, and visits that involved the three countries in an intense cultural romance. Even though Bulgaria was known as the “Soviet master satellite,” culture provided a considerable level of independence in Bulgarian dealings with international actors, which often caused Soviet irritation. In the end, by using culture, in addition to political and economic aid, Bulgaria managed to forge its role as an intermediary between the Second World and the Global South, and to project its notions of development on a global scene.


1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Salt

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the relationship between constitutional ideas and political action during the 1630s by comparing the privately expressed ideas of Sir Simonds D'Ewes regarding ship money with his conduct regarding the levy, especially while he was sheriff of Suffolk in 1639–40. The first section investigates the constitutionalist views expressed in D'Ewes's ‘autobiography’, unpublished during his lifetime, and their relationship to D'Ewes's attitude to the political role of the levy. The second section studies D'Ewes's conduct as sheriff, in which he gave almost no expression to constitutionalist ideas, and suggests that he struck a middle course between neglect and zeal, while finding means to oppose the levy through his connections at court. The third section seeks to establish the reasons for the inconsistencies between D'Ewes's privately expressed ideas and his public conduct, which may have lain in a belief that, in the prevailing political situation, criticism of the levy had, in order to be effective, to be expressed in terms acceptable to potentially sympathetic courtiers; D'Ewes adapted the tone of his comments on ship money to his audience in order to achieve political ends, but had also to act in ways which would make that tone convincing. Participation in the collection of ship money was therefore not inconsistent with opposition to it.


Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Bellingtier ◽  
Marcus Mund ◽  
Cornelia Wrzus

AbstractAlthough long postulated, it has been scarcely researched how personality traits play out differently in distinct situations. We examined if Neuroticism and Extraversion, personality traits known to moderate stress processes, function differently in highly stressful situations requiring reduced social contact, that is, the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on past findings, we expected neuroticism to be associated with exacerbated perceptions of stress. In contrast to past findings, we expected extraversion, which usually ameliorates stress, to be associated with intensified perceptions of stress, especially in regard to the sociability facet. During the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, one-hundred-thirty adults (age M = 21.7 years) reported on their personality traits including their facets with the BFI-2, COVID-19-related stressors, and their perceived stress during the last month (using the PSS). Findings indicated that neuroticism was associated with higher perceived stress regardless of the COVID-19-related stressors experienced. Facet level analysis revealed differences for anxiety, depression, and volatility. Importantly, trait extraversion was unassociated with stress experiences, whereas specifically the facet of sociability was associated with higher perceived stress. Also, the facets of assertiveness and energy both moderated the relationship between COVID-19-related stressors and perceived stress. In line with the transactional theory of stress, our findings indicate that perceptions of stress were best understood by looking at the interaction of environmental stressors and personality differences. Furthermore, the study substantiates that facets of personality traits offer unique information beyond broad traits in specific contexts.


Author(s):  
Abirami Swaminathan, Et. al.

The aim of this review was to understand the features and functions of two apparently conflicting constructs “intuition” and “mindfulness” with specific focus on problem solving. Literature published between 2010 and 2020 was searched and retrieved from data bases including Research Gate, PsycINFO, EBSCO, Crossref, Medline, PubMed and Scopus, using the key words “intuition”, “mindfulness”, “intuition and problem solving”, “mindfulness and problem solving” and “intuition and mindfulness” for the study. The relationship between the two constructs was analysed within the dual process system of information processing. It was also investigated whether mindfulness would facilitate access to intuition and contribute to problem solving, or function complementary to each other. Analysis of published literature revealed that while the construct ‘intuition’ could be fitted into non-conscious system of cognitive process, the construct ‘mindfulness’ was related to conscious cognitive processing system, and therefore appeared to be contradictory. A critical evaluation of the relationship between the two constructs revealed a symbiotic relationship and emphasized the need to develop an integrated model to trigger intuition in mindful state with regard to problem-solving or decision-making.


Author(s):  
Ayman Eleyyan Ahmed Daradkh Ayman Eleyyan Ahmed Daradkh

This research studies Customs and Traditions and their relationship with the objectives of Islamic law. It has been divided into three sections, the first: concepts and terms of the study, the second: customs and their relationship to the method of reasoning and worship in Islamic law. And the third: customs and their relationship to interests and evils. The research tried to answer the following questions: What is the role of custom in achieving the intention of the street? What is the relationship between custom and the purposes of Sharia? The researcher has concluded that there is a relationship between custom and the purposes of Sharia, and the role of custom in achieving the intention of the street, considering that the interest is usually one of the customs, and it has been proven that the lawmaker has taken into account the interests of people, and among them is the consideration of their customs in legislation, and therefore the jurist must observe custom and custom In the ruling, in line with the realization of the street's intent.


2020 ◽  
pp. 76-90
Author(s):  
Maria A. Elizarieva ◽  
Marina A. Chigasheva ◽  
Boris Blahak ◽  
Maria Yu. Mikhina

The article is devoted to the role of intertext in public speeches of politicians of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria within the framework of the “political ash Wednesday”. On the example of the speeches of M. Söder, A. Scheuer and M. Blume in 2018, the relationship between the type of intertext and its pretext, on the one hand, and the speaker’s intention, on the other, was analyzed. As a result of the analysis of 23 intertextual inclusions, four intentions were revealed, among which (48 %) criticism of political opponents (SDPG, “The Greens”, AfD, “Free Voters”) prevails. Quotes from representatives of these parties, political slogans, a paraphrase of the name of the eco-movement and a quote from an artist are used to express it. As the intertextual analysis showed, to verbalize the second intention (appeal to authoritative opinion and emphasize the continuity of the party course), the former chairman of the CSU F. J. Strauss is cited, while the third intention (opposing Bavaria to the rest of Germany) is implemented using a quote from the Bavarian anthem, a paraphrase of a television commercial and quotations from a literary work. In addition, the authors found that the fourth intention (emphasizing the dialogic nature of communication with ordinary people) is found only in M. Söder’s speech in the form of a retelling of his dialogues with ordinary citizens.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089976402110574
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Obadare ◽  
Kelly Krawczyk

Civil society and philanthropy in Africa are regularly theorized in formal terms and oft perceived as inherently democratizing forces. Yet, existing evidence exposes the limitations of these assumptions. This article provides an introduction to the symposium issue on civil society and philanthropy in Africa. The objective of the introduction, and the articles contained in the symposium, is to examine important questions related to civil society and philanthropy on the continent: What is the complex history and role of civil society and philanthropy in Africa? How have donor dependence and professionalization affected the effectiveness of the third sector? What are the contours of the relationship between the state and civil society? We ask these crucial questions in an attempt to provide a more nuanced and contextualized understanding of civil society and philanthropy on the continent.


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