Tradition and Innovation in the Materiality of Medieval Gaelic Law Manuscripts

This article is concerned with paper in the medieval Gaelic law manuscript tradition during the initial phases of the paper tradition in Ireland.1 Paper was introduced into the Gaelic manuscript tradition in the late fifteenth century, but it took several centuries before it replaced vellum entirely as the preferred writing medium.2 Recent studies have highlighted the gradual change to paper from vellum in manuscripts compiled in Irish schools of learning, particularly those of medicine and history.3 The extent to which paper usage prevailed in the professional law schools during this initial phase has not yet been fully explored, however. This article provides a general survey and discussion of paper use in the vernacular Irish law manuscripts, with particular focus on the largest such collection, which is held in the Library of Trinity College Dublin. The evidence demonstrates that the professional Irish law schools were not isolated from the wider trends and practices of book production taking place in Ireland. Scribes not only adopted the new writing technology but also implemented innovative new page layouts in both materials, drawing on external influences of imported printed books, demonstrating flexibility and dexterity working between both media

Dismantling Barriers and Advancing the Right of Persons with Disabilities to Participate in Cultural Life: A Socio-Legal Analysis

The right to participate in cultural life is profoundly rooted in international human rights law, and, with regard to persons with disabilities, it is enunciated in Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD or the Convention). This provision requires States Parties to the Convention to ensure accessibility of cultural materials, services and activities, and cultural heritage, and to support the creative and artistic potential of persons with disabilities. However, people with disabilities continue to face barriers to cultural participation. On foot of a pan-European empirical study and a socio-legal analysis, this book discusses the normative content of Article 30 CRPD and its implementation. It identifies and categorises barriers to cultural participation, highlighting new paths to operationalise Article 30 CRPD. This book will be of interest to scholars and students working in disability law, socio-legal studies, international human rights law, as well as cultural studies, disability studies, and cultural policies

Networks of climate obstruction: Discourses of denial and delay in US fossil energy, plastic, and agrichemical industries

The use of fossil-derived hydrocarbons in fossil energy, plastic production, and agriculture makes these three sectors mutually reinforcing and reliant on sustained fossil fuel extraction. In this paper, we examine the ways the fossil fuel energy, plastics, and agrichemicals industries interact on social media using Twitter (renamed X as of 2023) data analysis, and we explore the implications of these interactions for policy. Content analysis of the text of tweets from the two largest US corporations and a major trade association for each sector (three discrete social media accounts for each sector) reveals coordinated messaging and identifies synergistic themes among these three sectors. Network analysis shows substantial engagement among the three sectors and identifies common external entities frequently mentioned in each sector. To understand the discursive strategies of the twitter networks of these three petrochemical derivative and fuel sectors, we propose the discourses of climate obstruction framework, adapted from and expanding on Lamb et al.’s (2020) discourses of climate delay framework. Our framework integrates both discourses of delay and discourses of denial because an integration of both were found in our analysis suggesting coordinated efforts to obstruct climate action. Our analysis suggests that discourses to deny and delay climate policy are aligned and coordinated across the three sectors to reinforce existing infrastructure and inhibit change. Exceptions in this alignment emerge for a few distinct sector-specific goals, including contrasting messages about biofuel. Despite some disparate views and different policy priorities among these three sectors, similar efforts to reinforce existing extractive petrochemical hegemony and undermine climate policy are clearly evident in each sector. These findings suggest that more research is needed to understand collaborative efforts among fossil energy, plastic, and agrichemical producers to influence climate and energy policy

Ogam, cryptography and healing charms in the nineteenth century: observations on ‘The Minchin Manuscript’

Ogam is well known as a writing system invented for the Irish language and used extensively for inscriptions on stone monuments across Ireland and Britain between the late fourth and seventh centuries. Although the script has primarily been examined in the context of early medieval archaeology and epigraphy, its long afterlife as an integral part of Irish manuscript culture from the medieval to modern periods has also been acknowledged. The present contribution seeks to add to the existing scholarship on manuscript ogam by discussing the transmission of ideas about the script as a cryptic device into the nineteenth century, with a particular focus on a recently discovered notebook, National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh) Advocates’ Manuscript 50.3.11 (or ‘The Minchin Manuscript’), which consists almost entirely of healing charms written in ogam

The heart of the campus: How academic libraries in Ireland are supporting student well-being

Academic libraries are at the heart of campus life and are therefore in a unique position to provide mental health and well-being support to students. Despite many initiatives taking place on the island of Ireland very little literature has been published providing evidence of this. Academic librarians who were either library directors, or who had responsibility for student services in the library, enthusiastically responded to a survey which asked questions regarding the provision of mental health and well-being supports in their libraries, and the drivers and barriers in doing so. The study also investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on service provision. The findings of this study and recommendations for academic libraries in Ireland will be discussed in this presentation

Enhancing Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities. A Toolkit for Cultural Organisations.

This Toolkit presents findings and recommendations that arise from the research conducted within the remit of the DANCING project. It complements peer reviewed articles and academic research outputs written during the course of the project. This Toolkit is for cultural professionals and cultural organisations who play a crucial role in preserving traditions, fostering creativity, and shaping the cultural identity of societies overall, and who wish to participate in and contribute to a more inclusive and accessible cultural environment for people with disabilities, both as an audience and as active and involved cultural professionals

Deepening dialogue in Silent Spaces: An exploration of pedagogical informed practice in adult and community education spaces within communities in contention.

The rise of political populism has posed significant challenges for democratic societies and for the academy. Populist movements often emphasise a division between ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’, pushing narratives that thrive on polarisation. In such contexts dialogue between social and community groups and populist movements is crucial for the health of democracy. However, within the academy, and specifically within adult and community education in formal, informal, and non-formal spaces, populism tends to undermine the practice of dialogue by promoting exclusionary practices, rejecting, and indeed silencing the legitimacy of opposing views. This article explores the theoretical foundations of dialogue and silence as critical components of communicative discourse. It posits the theories of Freire (1970, 1996, 1998, 2010), Greene (1973, 1978, 1995), Brookfield (1995, 2009), Lederach (2003), Bar-on (1989, 2007), and Giroux (2005) as a means of scaffolding a collaborative theoretical framework for conducting meaningful dialogue amongst and between communities in contention. In doing so it aims to offer practitioners of adult and community education a conceptual framework to support participatory dialogue that engages with contentious and complex narratives. This article offers the concept of silence as a societal response to conflict, the construct of dialogue as one means to deconstruct the silence, the acknowledgement of truth being multifaceted, and the complexity that arises in dealing with identity in communities in conflict, where the practice of dialogue is challenging, elusive, and subdued. In concluding, it suggests where arts-based methodologies form the backdrop, there is hope for shared understanding to emerge organically

A Sensitivity Analysis of Wave Energy Converter Model Predictive Control Systems With Wave Excitation Force Estimation and Prediction

Understanding the sensitivity of energy-maximizing control for wave energy converters (WECs), to various model errors, is crucial for application. Many advanced WEC controllers, especially model predictive control (MPC)-like controllers, require estimation and prediction of wave excitation force (WEF). However, previous studies only focus on the controller in isolation, without considering the error coupling effects when a complete estimation–prediction loop is involved. In this study, it is revealed through numerical analysis that the complete MPC system has sensitivity behavior completely different from the isolated MPC; under certain model errors, the system can become particularly unpredictable, exhibiting potential instability and self-locking phenomena, which cannot be observed from the examination of control sensitivity alone. Meanwhile, different tuning options for the WEF estimator and predictor are examined, where the accuracy–robustness tradeoff is shown to be critical for performance amelioration under errors. Based on the analysis, this study challenges the widely assumed “separation principle” of WEF estimation/prediction and WEC control, highlights the importance of incorporating a complete estimation–prediction loop in sensitivity examination, and draws practical guidelines for WEC control application

Is there a global-business-subculture effect on gender differences? A multisociety analysis of subordinate influence ethics behaviors

While business studies on gender have increased, they continue to adopt traditional approaches with limited samples drawn from general populations (e.g., students and teachers). In contrast, we investigate gender differences with our focus solely on business professionals. Specifically, we study 40 societies using the four dimensions of subordinate influence ethics (SIE) behaviors: pro-organizational behaviors, image-management behaviors, self-serving behaviors, and maliciously intended behaviors. We employed crossvergence theory as our theoretical foundation, with its two competing forces, sociocultural (gender differences) and business-ideological (no gender differences), which translates to a global-business-subculture effect. We found no gender differences for three of the four SIE behaviors and minimal differences for the fourth for our sample of business professionals. Thus, our findings differ significantly from those of previous general-population samples. We also tested for societal-level moderating effects of collectivism and individualism using the business values dimensions (BVD) measure. Our individualism findings, the primary values dimension associated with business success, in conjunction with findings from other studies, support our nonsignificant SIE differences findings. In sum, the truly minimal gender differences that we found provide strong support for the perspective that there is a global-business-subculture effect. Our findings also suggest that ethical differences between genders are minimal across the global workforce. We discuss the implications for international business

A Darker Shade of Green: The Twisted Roots of the Irish Banjo

Traversing the intervening period between Hans Sloane’s documentation of early banjos in Jamaica in 1688 and the introduction of a later version of the same instrument to the blackface minstrel show by Irish American blackface minstrel entertainers in the 1830s and 1840s, A Darker Shade of Green: The Twisted Roots of the Irish Banjo investigates the profound, and often troubling, transformation of performance practices and associated sociopolitical discourses connected with the early banjo through the instrument’s intersection with Irishness in the Atlantic world. Combining extensive archival research in America, England, Ireland, and in repositories online, with a rich historicisation of banjo performance repertoire and practices in the colonial West Indies and in antebellum America, critical biographical case studies of individuals and communities connected with the banjo during these periods are complemented with a parallel analysis of the creolized roots of the early blackface minstrel performance repertoire in eighteenth century Anglo-American musical theatre and in African American banjo/fiddle tunes. Against the rather white-washed treatment both men have received up to now, in the study I identify blackface minstrel banjo-players Joel Walker Sweeney and Dan Emmett to have both played important roles in aligning the banjo with a new–and profoundly influential–kind of overt racial mockery in antebellum print media and popular culture. Setting the historical trajectory of the study within a wider frame of reference that begins in the seventeenth century period in which the African and Irish diaspora first came into extensive contact with one another in the Americas I argue that a retracing of the Irish ancestry of blackface minstrel performers in antebellum America, and Irish slave owners and planters in the colonial West Indies can serve as a decolonial praxis that that acknowledges the role that these and other members of the Irish diaspora played in the history of settler colonialism and plantation slavery in this region. Key research questions animating the study include: what the banjo’s history can tell us about race, music and power in American history and what the story of historical banjo performance can tell us about the creation of identity for the African and Irish diaspora in Atlantic world