Non-Embodied Old Voices? Problematizing Old Age, Embodiment, and Scepticism in Radio Art

In this article, I endeavour to demonstrate how a number of works by like-minded mid-twentieth-century radio practitioners (Robert Pinget’s La Manivelle, Samuel Beckett’s Embers, Harold Pinter’s A Slight Ache and Tom Stoppard’s Artist Descending a Staircase) thematize old age the better to exploit (or perhaps even parody) radio’s perceived unique ability to foster epistemological scepticism and to enable the conceptualization of fantasies of non-embodiment. I argue that these works do not seek to establish an aural aesthetics of non-embodiment but instead remain explorations of (im)possibilities which are never even fully articulated, much less hankered after or dismissed offhand.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

ARCH 14 - International Conference on Research on Health Care Architecture - November 19-21, 2014, Espoo, Finland - Conference Proceedings

Healthcare Architecture has grown rapidly in recent years. However, there are still many questions remaining. The commission, therefore, is to share the existing research knowledge and latest results and to carry out research projects focusing more specifically on the health care situation in a variety of contexts. The ARCH14 conference was the third conference in the series of ARCH conferences on Research on Health Care Architecture initiated by Chalmers University. It was realized in collaboration with the Nordic Research Network for Healthcare Architecture .It was a joint event between Aalto University, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) and National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL International).The conference gathered together more than 70 researchers and practitioners from across disciplines and countries to discuss the current themes

Listening to the tale of the Old Man : conceptions of old age in radio works by Samuel Beckett and Wolfgang Hildesheimer

In this dissertation, I set out to examine the depiction and problematisation of old age in the radio art of Samuel Beckett and Wolfgang Hildesheimer. I lay the groundwork for the close reading of the radio works of these two writers by surveying both the technological and ontological status of mid-twentieth-century radio art and the prevailing associations, stereotypes, and definitions surrounding ageing. Drawing on a keen awareness of the specificity of radio as an artistic medium and on notions anchored in both chronometric time (such as disengagement theory and activity theory) and ‘lived’ time (such as the réveil mortel and the idea of old age as the radicalisation of the human condition), I discuss the deliberate and recurrent thematisation of old age in the radio art of Beckett and Hildesheimer, as well as other important and interrelated concepts such as embodiment, intersubjectivity, and meaning-making. Thus, the intriguing link (established by means of the parable) between the theme of old age, the philosophical concerns that animated Beckett and Hildesheimer, and the unique features of radio is shown to be not the mere fruit of chance but indeed the logical outcome of an unassailable theoretical symbiosis.Nesta dissertação, proponho-me a examinar a representação e problematização da velhice na arte radiofónica de Samuel Beckett e Wolfgang Hildesheimer. Os alicerces para uma leitura atenta das suas obras radiofónicas são estabelecidos através de uma análise do estado tecnológico e ontológico da arte radiofónica de meados do século XX e das associações, estereótipos e definições em torno do envelhecimento. Servindo-me de uma consciência clara da especificidade da rádio enquanto meio artístico e de noções ancoradas tanto no tempo cronométrico (tal como a disengagement theory e a activity theory) como no tempo ‘vivido’ (tal como o réveil mortel e a noção de velhice enquanto radicalização da condição humana), debruço-me sobre a tematização deliberada e recorrente da velhice na arte radiofónica de Beckett e Hildesheimer, assim como outros conceitos importantes e interrelacionados como a corporalidade, a intersubjectividade e a criação de sentido. Assim, a curiosa ligação (estabelecida através da parábola) entre o tema da velhice, as preocupações filosóficas que animaram Beckett e Hildesheimer, e as características únicas da rádio revela-se não como mero fruto do acaso mas sim como o resultado lógico de uma simbiose teórica indiscutível

The Politics of Motion: The World of Thomas Hobbes

Two principal issues interact and overlap in this penetrating analysis: the relationship between Hobbes’ natural philosophy and his civil philosophy, and the relationship between Hobbes’ thought and the Aristotelian world view that constituted the philosophical orthodoxy he rejected. On the first point Thomas A. Spragens Jr. argues that Hobbes’ political ideas were in fact significantly influenced by his cosmological perceptions, although they were not, and could not have been, completely derived from that source. On the second, the author demonstrates that Hobbes undertook a highly systematic transformation of Aristotelian cosmology: he borrowed the form of the Aristotelian cosmology, but radically refashioned its substance to accommodate the discoveries of contemporaries such as Galileo. Thomas A. Spragens Jr. is assistant professor of political science at Duke University. The author’s learning is both deep and broad, and his insights into many matters startingly penetrating. This appears to me to be a permanent contribution to the analysis of political theory. —Russell Kirkhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_philosophy/1002/thumbnail.jp

Learning to construct our identities over the life course: a study with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults in Scotland

To date, adult educational research has had a limited focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) adults and the learning processes in which they engage across the life course. Adopting a biographical and life history methodology, this study aimed to critically explore the potentially distinctive nature and impact of how, when and where LGBT adults learn to construct their identities over their lives. In-depth, semi-structured interviews, dialogue and discussion with LGBT individuals and groups provided rich narratives that reflect shifting, diverse and multiple ways of identifying and living as LGBT. Participants engage in learning in unique ways that play a significant role in the construction and expression of such identities, that in turn influence how, when and where learning happens. Framed largely by complex heteronormative forces, learning can have a negative, distortive impact that deeply troubles any balanced, positive sense of being LGBT, leading to self- censoring, alienation and in some cases, hopelessness. However, learning is also more positively experiential, critically reflective, inventive and queer in nature. This can transform how participants understand their sexual identities and the lifewide spaces in which they learn, engendering agency and resilience. Intersectional perspectives reveal learning that participants struggle with, but can reconcile the disjuncture between evolving LGBT and other myriad identities as parents, Christians, teachers, nurses, academics, activists and retirees. The study’s main contributions lie in three areas. A focus on LGBT experience can contribute to the creation of new opportunities to develop intergenerational learning processes. The study also extends the possibilities for greater criticality in older adult education theory, research and practice, based on the continued, rich learning in which participants engage post-work and in later life. Combined with this, there is scope to further explore the nature of ‘life-deep learning’ for other societal groups, brought by combined religious, moral, ideological and social learning that guides action, beliefs, values, and expression of identity. The LGBT adults in this study demonstrate engagement in distinct forms of life-deep learning to navigate social and moral opprobrium. From this they gain hope, self-respect, empathy with others, and deeper self-knowledge

Geriatrics and Ageing in the Soviet Union

This open access book brings together an eclectic cast of scholars in related disciplines to examine ageing in the Soviet Union, covering the practice of geriatrics, the science of gerontology, and the experience of growing old. Chapters in the book focus on concepts and themes that analyse Soviet ageing in its medical, political and social contexts, both in the Soviet Union and internationally. Ageing was hardly a uniquely Soviet phenomenon: over the past fifty years, moreover, governments and societies have been dealing with steady increases in their ageing populations. Almost paradoxically, however, societal focus on this ageing population, its lives, and its social impact remains extremely limited. Compared to most sciences, gerontology is pitifully underfunded; geriatrics is amongst the least prestigious branches of medicine; and while the world’s population is growing undeniably older, great disagreement remains over what can and should be done in response. These were the same challenges that the USSR faced in the post-war decades (1945-1991), and the contributions included in this volume help to flesh out and contextualize the example of Soviet gerontology and geriatrics as one possible model of response. Geriatrics and Ageing in the Soviet Union captures the growing interest in this important subject, demonstrating the influence of ageing on Soviet science and society and the impact of Soviet gerontology and geriatrics at a global level. The book is available under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Wellcome Trust and Liverpool John Moores University

Embracing transience and subjectivity in the conservation of complex contemporary artworks: contributions from ethnographic and psychological paradigms

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Conservação e Restauro, Perfil Ciências da Conservação Especialização em Arte ContemporâneaDrawing from philosophy and social sciences, mainly ethnography and psychology, this dissertation explores new roles that conservators often assume, while proposing new methodologies for artist’s interviews. In order to preserve complex artworks, such as installations or performances, conservation theory needs to embrace transience, and therefore suggest new and more adequate methodologies. Several authors already accepted change, and proposed concepts that acknowledge artworks’ trajectories. However, currently applied methodologies do not follow that perspective and endanger preservation of such complex artworks. Through a comparison between ethnographic objects and complex artworks, ethnographic methods showed promise for extrapolation into the conservation field. Examples from Bali’s cremation rituals and the Portuguese artist Francisco Tropa (b. 1968, Lisbon) helped illustrate this question. Ethnographic methods applied for interviewing and analysing the artist’s discourse were of great value, as they provide for validation and data reproducibility. From these methods, content analysis stood out by allowing a better structuration and validation of the artist’s discourse. During this process, conservators’ role was re-considered. Substantially different tasks and decisions are for conservators to make. Ultimately, are they interpreters, performers, executers, reporters, archivists, actants? Inevitably, this study held more questions than offered answers. However, it is by challenging currents practices, placing them constantly under scrutiny, that possibilities emerge. New theories for contemporary art preservation, contemporary in themselves, need to be uncovered in order to, subsequently, being questioned again. It is only through this demanding process that contemporary art conservation can continue to be propelled forward

Sustainable Business, Management, and Economics

Frontiers in Sustainability (FinS) is an edited book series by MDPI. It serves as a transdisciplinary and multistakeholder platform for regional and global sustainability issues. Here, we understand transdisciplinarity as a collaboration between researchers from different disciplines to conceptualize, study, and derive solutions to sustainability-relevant problems that may be relevant to stakeholder practices and outcomes beyond academia. FinS promotes debates within and between academic disciplines, especially the natural sciences, engineering and technology, and the social sciences, and it seeks to publish academically relevant exchanges between academia, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, politics, and business. FinS also publishes manuscripts that do not fit the conventional journal format. Apart from theoretical or empirical papers on sustainability, contributions may include tentative policy or position papers, important research updates, opinion pieces, focused literature reviews, descriptions of relevant research or government programs, and other original and creative contributions relating to sustainability. All manuscripts are peer-reviewed. Those accepted for publication in FinS appear as a hardcopy, as well as online as open access articles. FinS is linked to the World Sustainability Forum. However, submissions from authors who did not present their work at one of the Forum events are also considered for publication

Knowledge and Action

Human Geography; Psychology Research; Social Theory; Knowledge - Discours