11,305 research outputs found

    Comedians without a Cause: The Politics and Aesthetics of Humour in Dutch Cabaret (1966-2020)

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    Comedians play an important role in society and public debate. While comedians have been considered important cultural critics for quite some time, comedy has acquired a new social and political significance in recent years, with humour taking centre stage in political and social debates around issues of identity, social justice, and freedom of speech. To understand the shifting meanings and political implications of humour within a Dutch context, this PhD thesis examines the political and aesthetic workings of humour in the highly popular Dutch cabaret genre, focusing on cabaret performances from the 1960s to the present. The central questions of the thesis are: how do comedians use humour to deliver social critique, and how does their humour resonate with political ideologies? These questions are answered by adopting a cultural studies approach to humour, which is used to analyse Dutch cabaret performances, and by studying related materials such as reviews and media interviews with comedians. This thesis shows that, from the 1960s onwards, Dutch comedians have been considered ‘progressive rebels’ – politically engaged, subversive, and carrying a left-wing political agenda – but that this image is in need of correction. While we tend to look for progressive political messages in the work of comedians who present themselves as being anti-establishment rebels – such as Youp van ‘t Hek, Hans Teeuwen, and Theo Maassen – this thesis demonstrates that their transgressive and provocative humour tends to protect social hierarchies and relationships of power. Moreover, it shows that, paradoxically, both the deliberately moderate and nuanced humour of Wim Kan and Claudia de Breij, and the seemingly past-oriented nostalgia of Alex Klaasen, are more radical and progressive than the transgressive humour of van ‘t Hek, Teeuwen and Maassen. Finally, comedians who present absurdist or deconstructionist forms of humour, such as the early student cabarets, Freek de Jonge, and Micha Wertheim, tend to disassociate themselves from an explicit political engagement. By challenging the dominant image of the Dutch comedian as a ‘progressive rebel,’ this thesis contributes to a better understanding of humour in the present cultural moment, in which humour is often either not taken seriously, or one-sidedly celebrated as being merely pleasurable, innocent, or progressively liberating. In so doing, this thesis concludes, the ‘dark’ and more conservative sides of humour tend to get obscured

    Strategies for Early Learners

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    Welcome to learning about how to effectively plan curriculum for young children. This textbook will address: • Developing curriculum through the planning cycle • Theories that inform what we know about how children learn and the best ways for teachers to support learning • The three components of developmentally appropriate practice • Importance and value of play and intentional teaching • Different models of curriculum • Process of lesson planning (documenting planned experiences for children) • Physical, temporal, and social environments that set the stage for children’s learning • Appropriate guidance techniques to support children’s behaviors as the self-regulation abilities mature. • Planning for preschool-aged children in specific domains including o Physical development o Language and literacy o Math o Science o Creative (the visual and performing arts) o Diversity (social science and history) o Health and safety • Making children’s learning visible through documentation and assessmenthttps://scholar.utc.edu/open-textbooks/1001/thumbnail.jp

    Plantation America: the US South and the Caribbean in the literary culture of empire, 1898-1959

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    The American plantation system, far from an idiosyncrasy of the southern United States, was a transnational formation that spread across the US South, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America, forming a cross-border cultural sphere often called “Plantation America.” How have US and Caribbean writers understood the United States’ relationship to this broader landscape through its most alienated region, the South? And how did the South’s ties to the plantation zone impact how writers imagined the United States as an emerging global empire in the twentieth century? “Plantation America: The US South and the Caribbean in the Literary Culture of Empire, 1898-1959,” explores works by white American, African American, and Black Caribbean writers produced during a period of heightened US colonial intervention in the Americas, from the Spanish-American War of 1898, to the Cuban Revolution of 1959. It contributes to recent US-based scholarship on the plantation origins of Western modernity and draws on an older Black and Caribbean critical discourse on the plantation as a prototypically modern institution. Building on this scholarship, this project demonstrates that US expansion southward prompted writers to reckon with the South’s highly ambivalent relationship with Plantation America, and that doing so served as a fault line for deeply held anxieties over the modern United States’ indebtedness to the plantation complex and its creolized cultural legacies. Its chapters thus show how US empire provoked modern writers to respond to the plantation as a driver of racial capitalism and industrialized labor systems, a blueprint for modern empires, a key site for the emergence and repression of cross-culturality, and a root source for traumatic forms of psychic and spiritual alienation associated with modern subjecthood. Through the lens of Caribbean critical theory, including work by Édouard Glissant, Fernando Ortiz, and C. L. R. James, I examine Richard Wright’s postplantation perspective in his little studied Haitian manuscript, transculturation in Ernest Hemingway’s Key West and Cuban works, the modern plantation empire in stories of the Panama Canal Zone by the Caribbean-born writer Eric Walrond, and William Faulkner’s transnational plantation economy in The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying

    Modern Folk Devils

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    The devilish has long been integral to myths, legends, and folklore, firmly located in the relationships between good and evil, and selves and others. But how are ideas of evil constructed in current times and framed by contemporary social discourses? Modern Folk Devils builds on and works with Stanley Cohen’s theory on folk devils and moral panics to discuss the constructions of evil. The authors present an array of case-studies that illustrate how the notion of folk devils nowadays comes into play and animates ideas of otherness and evil throughout the world. Examining current fears and perceived threats, this volume investigates and analyzes how and why these devils are constructed. The chapters discuss how the devilish may take on many different forms: sometimes they exist only as a potential threat, other times they are a single individual or phenomenon or a visible group, such as refugees, technocrats, Roma, hipsters, LGBT groups, and rightwing politicians. Folk devils themselves are also given a voice to offer an essential complementary perspective on how panics become exaggerated, facts distorted, and problems acutely angled.;Bringing together researchers from anthropology, sociology, political studies, ethnology, and criminology, the contributions examine cases from across the world spanning from Europe to Asia and Oceania

    Command and Persuade

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    Why, when we have been largely socialized into good behavior, are there more laws that govern our behavior than ever before? Levels of violent crime have been in a steady decline for centuries—for millennia, even. Over the past five hundred years, homicide rates have decreased a hundred-fold. We live in a time that is more orderly and peaceful than ever before in human history. Why, then, does fear of crime dominate modern politics? Why, when we have been largely socialized into good behavior, are there more laws that govern our behavior than ever before? In Command and Persuade, Peter Baldwin examines the evolution of the state's role in crime and punishment over three thousand years. Baldwin explains that the involvement of the state in law enforcement and crime prevention is relatively recent. In ancient Greece, those struck by lightning were assumed to have been punished by Zeus. In the Hebrew Bible, God was judge, jury, and prosecutor when Cain killed Abel. As the state's power as lawgiver grew, more laws governed behavior than ever before; the sum total of prohibited behavior has grown continuously. At the same time, as family, community, and church exerted their influences, we have become better behaved and more law-abiding. Even as the state stands as the socializer of last resort, it also defines through law the terrain on which we are schooled into acceptable behavior. This title is also available in an Open Access edition

    Charms and Charming

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    In the book are presented studies of 18 renowned researchers focussing on the verbal aspects of everyday magic, placing in the centre the richest and most poetic manifestation of verbal magic – the charm or incantatio. Incantations are in Europe well spread folklore genre, which contain very old magical elemrnts. The book covers wide spectrum of regions, from United Kingdom to Russia and Iran, and includes also Slovenia. The researchers have devoted their attention to phenomenological and theoretical studies of incantatio, and have discussed various topics, from the origin of charms and ancient European magical practices, to the receptions and diffusions of different types of charms

    Corporate social responsibility rhetoric and legitimacy in Indonesian Islamic banking

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    The future of the Indonesian Islamic bank industry is promising; however, its market share is still small. Islamic banks should strive to be accepted by stakeholders to acquire organizational legitimacy. Therefore, the impact of banks' activities on society's welfare is a significant concern. To get attention, comprehension, and conviction from stakeholders, banks should communicate their corporate social responsibilities (CSR) activities to stakeholders. Consequently, CSR rhetoric is essential. Previous studies have been conducted in the Western setting, none in the Indonesian Islamic banking context. The primary question of this research is how CSR rhetoric can be used to achieve legitimacy in the Indonesian Islamic banking context. The study uses an Islamic perspective and employs qualitative case study. This was done by investigating the two biggest Indonesian Islamic banks, Bank Syariah Mandiri and Bank Muamalat Indonesia. Data collection was conducted by interviewing six managers in charge of this issue and by collecting documents. Data analysis was carried out by categorizing the codes that emerge from interview transcription and written documents by employing Atlas.ti 7 application. Subsequently, categories and sub-categories are logically connected to make a plausible explanation. To enhance trustworthiness, this study employs purposive sampling, triangulation, and peer review. As a result, this study (1) reveals the concept of Shariah legitimacy of the Indonesian Islamic bank, (2) offers a new Islamic CSR definition, and (3) explains how rhetoric CSR can enhance Shariah legitimacy. This study contributes to the study of CSR rhetoric. Theoretically, it introduces the term Shariah legitimacy and provides a new definition of Islamic CSR. Practically, it offers CSR rhetoric strategies to achieve Shariah legitimacy. Through these strategies, Islamic banks can strengthen their existence and expand their market share. Methodologically, unlike previous studies, it uses interpretivism paradigm. For future research, this study can be expanded to other Islamic banks, replicated to different contexts, involve more cases to gain more insights, expanded further to develop quantitative evaluation criteria, and extended by investigating stakeholders' perspectives

    A systemic approach to the prevention and management of the causes of Hotel Environmental Sustainability Strategy Execution Failure (HESSEF)

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    Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Our world is at risk due to unprecedented anthropogenic global warming leading to climate change. From pre-industrial period (1850-1900) to 2006-2015, global mean surface (land and ocean) temperature (GMST) and mean land surface air temperature (MSAT) respectively increased by 0.87°C and 1.53°C, leading to increasing occurrence of severe natural disasters. Hotels (184 thousand with 17 million hotel rooms in 2018) enable significant economic growth and social progress within international tourism, the third largest industry in the world. In 2018, this industry was worth USD 1.7 trillion, contributed 10.4 per cent to world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), cared for 1.4 billion tourists, and employed 319 million persons (one in ten jobs). Unfortunately, hotels also have negative environmental impacts and account for one to two per cent of the five per cent global carbon dioxide emitted by the tourism industry. Hotels hence contribute to the global warming and climate change. There is a need to curb hotels’ carbon dioxide emissions with appropriate strategies. However, properly formulated strategies do not guarantee effective execution. Strategy Execution (SE) is difficult to achieve and execution failure is possible. The execution of Hotel Environmental Sustainability Strategies (HESS) is not an exception. A Hotel Environmental Sustainability Strategy Execution (HESSE) paradigm shift and behaviour change, with subsequent habits of effectiveness are hence required. The aim of this study is to address the following research problem: “There is no model that can assist hotel practitioners (HP) and academics with a systemic approach to the prevention and management of the causes of Hotel Environmental Sustainability Strategy Execution Failure (HESSEF).” The primary objective of the study is the development of the Seven Habits of Effective HESSE (7HoE HESSE) model to address this problem. In support to the primary objective, a number of secondary objectives are pursued. First, the world sustainability challenges and initiatives are described. Second, the challenges of environmental sustainability within the context of hotel management are understood and opportunities for improvement are identified. Third, the challenges of HESSE are understood. Fourth, the escalation of HESSEF is analyzed and possible HESSE paradigm shift and behaviour change for systemic HESSE enhancement are studied. Fifth, the 7HoE HESSE model for HESSE systemic enhancement is conceptualized and operationalized. Sixth, the model is verified. Seventh, the model is validated through face to-face structured interview of HP and feedback used for the model improvement. The 7HoE HESSE model is described by HP as the way forward for sustainability as it provides a good approach towards sustainability. HP highly appreciated the model describing it as a great tool, highly suitable to the hospitality industry, interesting model, straight-forward, easy to understand and well structured with appropriate monitoring HESSE processes. HP expressed high willingness to experience the 7HoE HESSE model which properly summarizes and contextualizes their reality. They are willing to experience the model as they believe it will be very useful for favouring collaboration and commitment of all hotel stakeholders. They expressed the views that the model could ensure successful execution of sustainability projects in the hotel industry.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die planeet word bedreig deur ongekende vlakke van aardverwarming wat lei tot klimaatsverandering. Die gemiddelde Land en Oseaan temperature of the wel (GMST), sowel as gemiddelde Land en Atmosfeer temperatuur of te wel (MSAT) het onderskeidlik met 0.87 grade celcuis en 1.53 grade celcuis toegeneem sedert die pre-industrieële periode (1850- 1900). Klimaatsverandering gee aanleiding tot natuur rampe. Die hotel industrie het ‘n positiewe impak op ekonomies groei en sosiale ontwikkeling. Daar is tans nie minder as 184 duisend hotelle and 17 miljoen hotel kamers. Toerisme was pre-Covid die derde grootste industrie ter wêreld en was in 2018 USD 1.7 triljoen werd. Die industrie was verantwoordelik vir 10.4 persent van die wêreld se Bruto Nasionale Produk, en het werk verskaf aan 319 miljoen mense (een uit elke 10 werk geleenthede op aarde). Hotelle het ongelukkig ook ‘n baie negatiewe impak op die omgewing en is verantwoordelik vir tot 40 present van alle CO2 wat deur die toerisme bedryf geproduseer word. Dit is dus baie belangrik vir hotelle om strategieë. te onwikkel wat hierdie potensiele nagatiewe impak kan verlaag. Strategie Uitvoering (SU) in die algemeen is moeilik en mislukking is baie moontlik. Die uitvoer van ‘n Hotel Omgewings Volhoubaarheid Strategie (HOVS) is nie ‘n uitsondering nie. ‘n Paradigma skuif en gedragsverandering is dus noodsaaklik om effeftiewe HOVS Uitvoering (HOVSU) te verseker. Dit is dus verdermeer nodig om effektiewiteits gewoontes te kweek. Die oogmerk van hierdie studie is om die volgende navorsingsprobleem aan te spreek: “Daar bestaan tans geen model wat Hotel Operateurs (HO) en akademici kan bystaan om deur middel van ‘n systematiese benadering die oorsake van Hotel Omgewings Volhoubaarheid Strategie Uitvoerings Mislukking (HOVSUM) te verminder en te bestuur nie.” Die primêre doelwit van die studie is die ontwikkeling van ‘n gedragsveranderingsmodel wat sal aanleiding gee tot die kweek van Sewe HOVSU gewoontes (7HoE HESSE). In ondersteuning tot die primêre doelwit is ‘n aantal sekondêre doelwitte geformuleer. Eerstens is die aard en omvang van die planeet se volhoubaarheidsuitdagins en inisiatiewe beskyf. Tweendens is die omgewingsvolhoubaarheiduitdagings wat hotelle in die gesig staar beskryf. Derderds is die problematiek aangaande HOVSU ondersoek en beskryf. Vierdens is die verloop van HOVSUM en moontlikhede aangaande gedragsverandering en gewoonte vorming beskryf. Die vyde sekondêre doelwit was die formulering en operasionalisering van die 7HoE HESSE model. In die sesde plek is die model geverifieer en in die sewende plek is die model gevalideer tydens indiepte onderhoude met Hotel Operateurs en bestuurders sowel as industrie kundiges. Die terugvoer van beide operateurs en kundiges is besonder positief en die model word beskryf as ‘n eenvoudige en prakties implementeerbare instrument om die problematiek wat verband hou met die uitvoer van omgewingsvolhoubaarheid strategieë binne hotelle die hoof te bied.Master

    Covid-19 and Capitalism

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    This open access book provides a comprehensive analysis of the socioeconomic determinants of Covid-19. From the end of 2019 until presently, the world has been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the cause of this is (obviously) a virus, the extent to which this virus spread, and therefore the number of infections and deaths, was largely determined by socio-economic factors. From this, it follows that the course of the pandemic varies greatly from one country to another. This observation applies both to countries’ resilience to such a pandemic (which is mainly rooted in the period preceding the outbreak of the virus) and to the way in which countries have reacted to the virus (including the political choices on how to respond). Meanwhile, research has made it clear that the nature of this response (e.g., elimination policy, mitigation policy, and proceeding herd immunity) was, on the one hand, strongly determined by political and ideological factors and, on the other hand, was highly influential in the factors of success or failure in combating the pandemic. The book focuses on the situation in a number of Western regions (notably the USA, the UK, and the EU and its Member States). The author addresses the reasons why in many Western countries both pandemic prevention and response policies to Covid-19 have failed. The book concludes with recommendations concerning the rearrangement of the socio-economic order that could increase the resilience of (Western) societies against such pandemics
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