Interface of gender and culture

I greet you in the soothing waters of the Pacific. The birth waters of Hawai’i to the North, island of the dream time, and Aotearoa, to the south. Papua New Guinea to the West and Marquesas to the East. These islands are the gathering places of the world’s largest Continent, the Pacific. We of this continent know that her birth waters are our connection. We also know that she is woman identified. It is no surprise therefore that from Hawai’i to the north to Aotearoa in the south the positioning of women in each of these societies bears a different story to that of the women of the continent of Europe. This reality lived out in Hawai’i means women shared with men the ultimate leadership of peoples. This location of women power is named Kuhinanui. Many remarkable women of Hawai’i occupied this position. From times of peace throughout to the first clash with imposed new culture, women of Hawai’i led, bled, struggled, defied and kept the kukui of self belief burning. Genealogically Hawai’i is connected to her other sisters throughout the Pacific. The story of Kuhinanui Liliuokalani is poignant

The Way Is

"The Way Is" is a fiction thesis for the Master of Fine Arts program in the English department, as per the department guidelines, this is a portion of a book-length manuscript. What would you do to save the one you love? That is the question Elise Andrews asks detective Graham Harding in her interrogation. Usually it is the other way around, but as Graham investigates Elise, the Way, and why a swath of young women are burning themselves out on Crash - it turns out to be the only question that matters. Elise has started a plan that might save the world or damn it, but Graham must choose to protect the things that matter most to him even as the federal response threatens the very safety of the city around them

Shade of the Earth

“Shade of the Earth” is a collection of 5 narrative poems: “On The Mountaintop”, “The Burning Boy”, “May Live or Die”, “Must Burn to Feel”, and “Shade of the Earth. The story runs together as one narrative with each poem linking into the next, split up into parts, not to divide but to bring them together. Perhaps in the hope of showing that life is separated yet whole. This series portrays the state of mind of someone (possibly) self-entitled, the Burning Boy, as they battle against the entity of Night who exists as the complexities of pain and sadness and apathy. I believe that writing comes from life. That the words are key to understanding and creating your own reality. That the mind is a chaotic dreamer that fills in the places beyond the physical limits with magic. And writing is a way of depicting all of this: what we see and feel and know, but is not real. When I write, it is often in a burst, in an overload, when the life around me is too real and overwhelming and my thoughts dance around my head, trapped and without any release until they suddenly fit together. I write and my mind clears and something, even as tiny as these poems are, makes more sense in the world. In the words, a tiny bit of order is found. The magic of fire and darkness somehow more concrete than the truth. The first person you tell a story to is yourself. It comes from you, but the worst thing you can do for a piece of writing is put it in a drawer. The words are important to the writer but there is only greater meaning when given to another. These poems are of human emotion. All that is darkly felt and what can come after. If that can mean something to another person then that is the objective. Life is hard, but having a soul lit on fire means you wield a light that can cut through darkness. That is the intended impression of the piece. The medium used is the English language

Otter Realm, May 13, 2010

Looking Forward Summer, Graduation and the Future -- What You Otter Do! April 29 - May 12 -- Thank You: This is it. It has come to an end -- Capstone Festivals -- Al Gore in the Central Coast -- Green Cap and Gown 23 bottles = 1 gown -- Textbooks for Rent: Half the Retail Value -- Toke of the Town: The Push for Cannabis Legalization -- Unemployment Rate on the Rise: Class of 2010 Faces A Tough Economy -- Raza & Rainbow Graduations -- Student of the Issue: Hayley Allison -- Staff of the Issue: Amalia Mesa-Bains -- Summer Fest -- Calling all Ragamuffins -- Vision & Volume -- Monterey Museum of Art: Ansel Adams Exhibit -- Tongs Check, Spatula check, BBQ Time check -- Summer Blockbusters: The Summer of Action Sequels, Remakes and 3D -- Reel Works: May Day Labor Film Festival -- Athlete of the Issue: Diane Ortiz -- Otter Games -- World Cup -- Parkour: A New Kind of Sport -- Swinging into School History: National championship hopes for CSUMB -- Martial Otters -- Solutions for the Future: Pointers for an Internship --Talk is cheap -- Alternatives to Racial Profiling: Immigration Reform -- Otter Oops -- Sexual Healing Keep the Summer Romance Burning -- Images of the Future -- Seniors, what are you going to do after graduation?https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/otterrealm/1201/thumbnail.jp

Entrusting the Witches to Ḫumuṭ-tabal: the ušburruda Ritual BM 47806+

The hitherto unpublished Late Babylonian fragment BM 47806 + adds another example to the group of rituals which counteract witchcraft by banning sorcerers to the netherworld. Šamaš is asked to hand them over, on his journey to the netherworld, to Ḫumuṭ-tabal, the ferryman of the dead. The edition of BM 47806 + is preceded by a brief overview of rituals of this type, including a discussion of the relationship between ritual burial of figurines – symbolising the dismissal of sorcerers to the netherworld – and their ritual burning, the other single most important technique of figurine magic deployed to kill warlock and witch

Tallow candles and meaty air in Bleak House

In Charles Dickens’s Bleak House there is a strange (and disgusting) pattern of characters feeling that they can ‘taste’ the air, and that that air tastes either meaty or greasy. Esther notices that snuffing ‘two great office candles in tin candlesticks’ at Mrs Jellyby’s ‘made the room taste strongly of hot tallow’, the mutton or beef fat out of which inexpensive candles were made. In Bleak House, candles retain their sheepy atmospheres and release them into the surrounding air when consumed. Mrs Jellyby’s home and Mr Vholes’s office are just two places in which Dickens suggests that the process of turning organic animal bodies into urban commodities (candles, parchment, wigs) has not quite been completed. Candles and parchment are part animal, part object, and they constantly threaten to revert back into their animal forms. The commodification of animal bodies occurs primarily in the city, where parts of formerly living bodies are manufactured into things. Filled with the smell of burning chops or a spontaneously combusted human, Dickens’s greasier atmospheres contain animal matter suspended in the air that the characters smell, taste, and touch. Once we realize that the apparent smell of chops and candles is, in fact, Krook’s body, this act of taking the air becomes a form of cannibalism that is at least as unsettling as Michael Pollan’s recent account of cows being fed cow parts in factory farms. Drawing on this insight and on Allen MacDuffie’s analyses of energy systems in Bleak House, this article focuses on instances in which Dickens defamiliarizes the human consumption of energy by having his characters unintentionally ingest animal particles. Studying Dickens’s treatment of animal fat suspended in air adds a new dimension to recent work on systems of energy expenditure and exchange in an age of industrial capitalism

"Mother, can't you see I'm burning?" A few remarks on what we are today.

The current national crisis in Higher Education in South Africa, set against the backdrop of a corrupt national government incapable of providing any leadership in this regard, compels philosophers to undertake an incisive analysis of our present, a task that has always been a crucial and inherent part of philosophical discourse. The formidable nature of such diagnostics of the present forces one to try to make sense of the senseless violence, the irrational politics, and the disintegration of society that typify our time. In an attempt to devise sense, the article starts out with a thought experiment of sorts, in which our country, South Africa finds herself on the proverbial psychoanalyst’s coach in discussion with the author-therapist. In the course of the therapy session, Freud’s well-known dream scenario comes up about the dead child whose shroud caught fire and the dream that the parent had following the tragic incident. In this essay, the dream with its burn-motif is linked to the prevailing conditions in South Africa, which newspaper headings describe as a country burning with rage. In an attempt to make sense of the present, the Freudian dream is first and foremost closely analysed from a Lacanian perspective. In contrast to Freud’s contention that all dreams are wish fulfilments, Lacan argues that it is not the dream that offers an escape from the reality of the child’s passing. In actual fact, the child’s terrible accusation in the dream that the parent had failed him/her while still alive was experienced as far worse than the actual death of the child. It is the same accusation seen in the eyes of our children having fallen by the wayside, going hungry, burning to death in their shacks, left behind and to their own devices. The essay continues by investigating why the fury of the youth is so fervent at this particular historical juncture. This line of investigation puts the author on Mbembe’s track, specifically his contention that the fundamental question regarding the restoration of social bonds that had been destroyed by human trafficking (slave trade) and endless wars has been neglected by the postcolonial discourse on the identity of the African subject. Instead the African subject has primarily been conceived as passive victim of forces beyond his/her control. This has divided African societies against themselves and it opened the way for Africans to participate in the victimization of their own people. Throughout the blame had been laid before the door of the external Other while failing to acknowledge the repressed trauma of the original fratricide, which played an important part in the slave trade. It is argued that the repressed trauma is the reason why the present trauma of the born-free generation has led to so much fervent protest and violence. What is being repressed is the fact that the African subject has not only been violated by European imperialism, but also by his/her own people in the form of African slave traders and more recently a self-elected government in blind pursuit of selfenrichment rather than the empowerment of its citizens. If the born-free generation is indeed subject to an original trauma to which all subsequent traumas owe their impact or amplified potency, and which results in irrational, emotionally driven reactions, how can we possibly hope for an outcome that is not predetermined by the same regressive spiral of us and them, of violator and victim? The author turns to Lacan in the hope of finding an answer to this question. Lacan is adamant that a minimum yet recalcitrant measure of choice remains at our disposal, which is capable of breaking the chain of historical predestination. In the end it is found that this supposed freedom of choice is anything but a straightforward or simple solution to the dilemma.Die huidige nasionale krisis in tersiêre onderrig in Suid-Afrika, gesien teen die agtergrond van ’n korrupte nasionale regering wat geen leiding neem om die krisis te bestuur nie, noop filosowe om ’n indringende analise te onderneem van ons tyd. In ’n poging om sin te versin begin die artikel met ’n soort denkeksperiment waarin ons land, Suid-Afrika haar op die spreekwoordelike praatbank bevind in gesprek met die outeur-terapeut. In die loop van die terapie-sessie kom Freud se bekende droomscenario aan bod oor die oorlede kind wie se doodskleed aan die brand slaan en die droom wat sy/haar ouer op basis van die tragiese gebeure het. In hierdie essay word die droom met sy brand-motief gekoppel aan die heersende toestand in Suid-Afrika wat deur koerantopskrifte beskryf word as ’n land wat brand van woede. In ’n poging om sin te versin word die Freudiaanse droom sorgvuldig vanuit Lacaniaanse perspektief geanaliseer. Vervolgens poog die essay om na te speur waarom die huidige woede van die jeug op hierdie spesifieke historiese tydstip so vurig is. Die speurtog bring die outeur op Mbembe se spoor en spesifiek sy oortuiging dat die fundamentele vraag rakende die herstel van sosiale bande wat vernietig is deur mensehandel en die eindelose oorloë nie vooropgestel word in die postkoloniale diskoers rondom die identiteit van die Afrika-subjek nie. In plaas daarvan figureer die Afrikaan primêr as passiewe slagoffer oorgelewer aan magte buite sy/haar beheer, onbewustelik geteken deur die onderdrukte trauma van die broedermoord wat mede ten grondslag van die slawehandel lê. As die vrygebore generasie in die teken staan van ’n oorspronklike trauma wat alle daaropvolgende traumas hulle trefkrag gee en wat irrasionele emosie-gedrewe reaksies tot gevolg het, hoe kan ons hoop op ’n uitkoms wat nie vooraf bepaal is deur dieselfde regressiewe spiraal van ons en hulle, van geweldpleger en slagoffer nie? Op ’n hoopvolle wyse wend die outeur haar tot Lacan om die vraag te beslis. Lacan dring aan op ’n minimale dog weerbarstige keusevryheid wat die historiese voorafbepaaldheid kan deurbreek. Daar word bevind dat die sogenaamde keusevryheid allesbehalwe ’n eenvoudige antwoord op die dilemma bied.http://www.journals.co.za/content/journal/akgeeshttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=0041-4751&lng=enam2017Philosoph

“Mother, can’t you see I’m burning?” A few remarks on what we are today

The current national crisis in Higher Education in South Africa, set against the backdrop of a corrupt national government incapable of providing any leadership in this regard, compels philosophers to undertake an incisive analysis of our present, a task that has always been a crucial and inherent part of philosophical discourse. The formidable nature of such diagnostics of the present forces one to try to make sense of the senseless violence, the irrational politics, and the disintegration of society that typify our time. In an attempt to devise sense, the article starts out with a thought experiment of sorts, in which our country, South Africa finds herself on the proverbial psychoanalyst’s coach in discussion with the author-therapist. In the course of the therapy session, Freud’s well-known dream scenario comes up about the dead child whose shroud caught fire and the dream that the parent had following the tragic incident. In this essay, the dream with its burn-motif is linked to the prevailing conditions in South Africa, which newspaper headings describe as a country burning with rage. In an attempt to make sense of the present, the Freudian dream is first and foremost closely analysed from a Lacanian perspective. In contrast to Freud’s contention that all dreams are wish fulfilments, Lacan argues that it is not the dream that offers an escape from the reality of the child’s passing. In actual fact, the child’s terrible accusation in the dream that the parent had failed him/her while still alive was experienced as far worse than the actual death of the child. It is the same accusation seen in the eyes of our children having fallen by the wayside, going hungry, burning to death in their shacks, left behind and to their own devices. The essay continues by investigating why the fury of the youth is so fervent at this particular historical juncture. This line of investigation puts the author on Mbembe’s track, specifically his contention that the fundamental question regarding the restoration of social bonds that had been destroyed by human trafficking (slave trade) and endless wars has been neglected by the postcolonial discourse on the identity of the African subject. Instead the African subject has primarily been conceived as passive victim of forces beyond his/her control. This has divided African societies against themselves and it opened the way for Africans to participate in the victimization of their own people. Throughout the blame had been laid before the door of the external Other while failing to acknowledge the repressed trauma of the original fratricide, which played an important part in the slave trade. It is argued that the repressed trauma is the reason why the present trauma of the born-free generation has led to so much fervent protest and violence. What is being repressed is the fact that the African subject has not only been violated by European imperialism, but also by his/her own people in the form of African slave traders and more recently a self-elected government in blind pursuit of selfenrichment rather than the empowerment of its citizens. If the born-free generation is indeed subject to an original trauma to which all subsequent traumas owe their impact or amplified potency, and which results in irrational, emotionally driven reactions, how can we possibly hope for an outcome that is not predetermined by the same regressive spiral of us and them, of violator and victim? The author turns to Lacan in the hope of finding an answer to this question. Lacan is adamant that a minimum yet recalcitrant measure of choice remains at our disposal, which is capable of breaking the chain of historical predestination. In the end it is found that this supposed freedom of choice is anything but a straightforward or simple solution to the dilemma.Die huidige nasionale krisis in tersiêre onderrig in Suid-Afrika, gesien teen die agtergrond van ’n korrupte nasionale regering wat geen leiding neem om die krisis te bestuur nie, noop filosowe om ’n indringende analise te onderneem van ons tyd. In ’n poging om sin te versin begin die artikel met ’n soort denkeksperiment waarin ons land, Suid-Afrika haar op die spreekwoordelike praatbank bevind in gesprek met die outeur-terapeut. In die loop van die terapie-sessie kom Freud se bekende droomscenario aan bod oor die oorlede kind wie se doodskleed aan die brand slaan en die droom wat sy/haar ouer op basis van die tragiese gebeure het. In hierdie essay word die droom met sy brand-motief gekoppel aan die heersende toestand in Suid-Afrika wat deur koerantopskrifte beskryf word as ’n land wat brand van woede. In ’n poging om sin te versin word die Freudiaanse droom sorgvuldig vanuit Lacaniaanse perspektief geanaliseer. Vervolgens poog die essay om na te speur waarom die huidige woede van die jeug op hierdie spesifieke historiese tydstip so vurig is. Die speurtog bring die outeur op Mbembe se spoor en spesifiek sy oortuiging dat die fundamentele vraag rakende die herstel van sosiale bande wat vernietig is deur mensehandel en die eindelose oorloë nie vooropgestel word in die postkoloniale diskoers rondom die identiteit van die Afrika-subjek nie. In plaas daarvan figureer die Afrikaan primêr as passiewe slagoffer oorgelewer aan magte buite sy/haar beheer, onbewustelik geteken deur die onderdrukte trauma van die broedermoord wat mede ten grondslag van die slawehandel lê. As die vrygebore generasie in die teken staan van ’n oorspronklike trauma wat alle daaropvolgende traumas hulle trefkrag gee en wat irrasionele emosie-gedrewe reaksies tot gevolg het, hoe kan ons hoop op ’n uitkoms wat nie vooraf bepaal is deur dieselfde regressiewe spiraal van ons en hulle, van geweldpleger en slagoffer nie? Op ’n hoopvolle wyse wend die outeur haar tot Lacan om die vraag te beslis. Lacan dring aan op ’n minimale dog weerbarstige keusevryheid wat die historiese voorafbepaaldheid kan deurbreek. Daar word bevind dat die sogenaamde keusevryheid allesbehalwe ’n eenvoudige antwoord op die dilemma bied.http://www.journals.co.za/content/journal/akgeeshttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=0041-4751&lng=enam2017Philosoph

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL OLIVE GROVES IN THE MESSARA VALLEY, CRETE, GREECE.

Environmental Impacts of agricultural activities have to be assessed in order to address cultural practices and the type of farming that are best suited to avoid the trade-off between the Ecology and the Economy. Furthermore, this study, comparing the environmental impacts with the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of Organic and Conventional olive oil production, is proposing to consider the relationship between the Energy Efficiency and the environmental impacts, notably the Climate Change (Global Warming contribution through Greenhouse Gas emission). The LCA is used to take into account the impacts of the production system from the Cradle (input production) to the Farm gate (final farm product) and considers 7 environmental impacts potential categories: Global Warming, Acidification, Eutrophication, Biodiversity, Erosion, Resource depletion, Ground water depletion. The study also assesses the Energy efficiency of both systems. The results show a clear difference between organic and conventional production, namely a two-fold improvement of the energy efficiency in the organic production. Even if the differences are reduced when the results are calculated on the yield rather than the area, the organic methods have a far smaller contribution to Global warming, Eutrophication, Biodiversity loss, Soil loss, Groundwater depletion and Energy use whereas, the Acidification potential is comparable in both cases. The study recommends encouraging some of the cultural practices that are used in the organic farming methods in order to reduce the burden of agriculture on the local and global ecology as well as the natural resources