The Latin and French antecedents of the Spanish lives of St. Mary Magdalene and St Martha in ms Escorial h.I 13.

PhDThe Spanish Magdalene and Martha lives in MS Escorial h. I. 13 are translations of Old French texts represented by MSS C and F respectively, and not of any other Latin or French source. The C French and D Franco-Provençal versions of the Magdalene life are independent translations of the Latin B text, and the F and C5 French versions of the Martha life are independently executed versions of the Latin E text. There are, however, some puzzling affinities between the Latin and Spanish texts. The shorter Latin Magdalene life A. is the original version, which was elaborated to form the longer Latin life B. The C French translation is shorter than B. but its source is the longer B rather than the shorter A. text, the differences between original and translation being explained by the adaptive translation process. Comparison between the more complete D translation and the simplifying C text shows that the two versions C and D were intended for very different uses. The two-French Martha translations, F and C5 are from Latin originals much closer to the E Latin text than to the Sanctuarium. F is a simplifying translation, intended, like the C Magdalene text, for oral delivery, while, C5 is a more complete rendering, intended for private reading by aristocratic ladies. The Spanish MS could not have contained complete, translations of both the Magdalene and the Martha lives, since the missing, four folios would not have been sufficient for the material involved. The distribution of non-standard linguistic features shows that the two Spanish texts are the work of two different translators. The Spanish translations are both, in general, accurately and competently executed, but the differing numbers of errors, additions, omissions and changes in each confirms that they are the work of two different translators

After the Human: Theory and Sociology in the Age of Fractal Ambiguity, Dromology, and Emergent Epi-spaces

Modernity marks both a novel form of political and economic organization, and a transformation of reality through technological and spatial innovations. It marks a shift in the history of life on this planet, for the technological appendage—originally created by and for humans—has a cost that is shared by all life on the planet, whether it be ecological, biological, or mental. As a result, the weight of responsibility for the continuation of life itself can no longer be rationally displaced onto an omnipotent other. The knowledge that rational thought functions on fractal scales of space and time—which need not account for each other—crippled the power of the grand-narratives that prognosticated a future condition qualitatively superior than the historic human record. It was rather the dark side of modernity that came to hold a vice-like power over the human species and this knowledge rested its full weight on the conscience of the 20th century. In the 1960’s the fractal awareness of reality began to manifest itself in new spatial configurations, but the human narrative was no longer the driving force and decidedly anti- and post- humanist trajectories took hold of technologically advanced societies. This text is an attempt to construct a theory that operates according to the rhythm of these modern epi-spaces and the beings that inhabit them. These spaces by and large imagine and operate as if they existed in a world after the human, a world-without-us. To construct a narrative that gives explanatory power to these spaces and the adaptation of life itself to fill them, a view of the universe that is decentered not only in space, but also in being is needed. Sociology finds itself in a position reminiscent of Copernicus’ in the 1500s. In order for knowledge to advance, he had to rupture the reified view of the Earth as a central and sacred space, so that new models could push the boundaries of the knowable and the possible. In order for sociology to advance it must decenter the Human; for in this world of technological mediation, artificial modes of being dominate

Process of stop-motion and motion graphics animation for The Amazing European Bison Journey clip

The Amazing European Bison Journey prototype clip shows an extract of the timeline of this species coming back from their near disappearance. It starts in the Białowieża Forest in Poland in 1919, when they went extinct in the wild. And runs up to 2013 in Zuid-Kennemerland in the Nether-lands, where an initial herd of 6 European bison, translocated in 2007 from Poland, had quadrupled to 24 individuals living in the Dutch dunes. The process of production of this animated documentary is de-scribed starting with the ecological research required. Review of literature, contact with specialist scientists and visitation of Poland and the Netherlands are some of the starting points of the process. Subsequently, the preparation for the animation is described. The initial storyboard was constructed out of the preceding ecological research. Afterwards, the development of the script and its respective narration was recorded. The construction of the sets, props and characters is described; specific emphasis is given to the construction of the European bison. Finally, the assemblage of all the elements is explained and the final results of the animation prototype are revealed. This animation forms part of a broader project, which has research into the effectiveness of a set of visual communication formats at its core, and uses rewilding as its ecological platform. A range of animations, infographics and virtual reality pieces will be eventually compared for their effectiveness using several communication research tools

Shell-shock in First World War Britain: an intellectual and medical history, c.1860-c.1920

PhDHistorians have identified shell-shock, a contemporary umbrella term for the range of nervous and mental afflictions suffered by soldiers in the First World War, as a key episode in the transition to modern psychological approaches to mental disorder in Britain. This thesis argues that wartime theories of shell-shock display considerable continuity with central tenets of pre-war psychological medicine. An approach to the history of shell-shock which emphasises continuity opens new perspectives on the significance of the episode for British psychiatry and society in the early twentieth century. This thesis shows that theories of shell-shock were formulated within an evolutionary framework of understanding, and breaks down the conventional historiographical division between `organic' and `psychological' explanations of the war neuroses. It argues that in the debates on shell-shock, doctors explored questions about the constituents of human identity which had been given fresh urgency by the Darwinian revolution. They attempted to understand the relative roles of mind and body in the causation of mental disorder, but also invoked other conceptual pairings: the relations between animal and human behaviour, the balance of emotion and will in ideal conduct, the influence of heredity and environment in shaping action, and the interaction of individual and social psychologies. Wartime psychological medicine thus drew on and extended existing debates within and outside medicine, including those on the traumatic neuroses, crowd psychology and democracy, and the relative rights and responsibilities of citizen and state. The thesis argues that the importance of shell-shock therefore extended beyond its putative effect on British psychology. Theories of the war neuroses were a microcosm of debates on the nature of modernity, its nebulous effects on the individual, and its consequences for society

The value of culture: on the relationship between economics and arts

Culture manifests itself in everything human, including the ordinary business of everyday life. Culture and art have their own value, but economic values are also constrained. Art sponsorships and subsidies suggest a value that exceeds market price. So what is the real value of culture? Unlike the usual focus on formal problems, which has 'de-cultured' and 'de-moralized' the practice of economics, this book brings together economists, philosophers, historians, political scientists and artists to try to sort out the value of culture. This is a book not only for economists and social scientists, but also for anybody actively involved in the world of the arts and culture