The TEI Assignment in the Literature Classroom: Making a Lord Mayor’s Show in University and College Classrooms

This article offers methods for implementing what Diane Jakacki and Katherine Faull identify as a digital humanities course at the assignment level, specifically one using TEI in college and university literature classrooms. The author provides an overview of his in-class activities and lesson plans, which range from traditional instruction to in-class laboratory exercises, in order to demonstrate an approach to teaching TEI that anticipates students’ anxieties and provides a gradual means of learning this new approach to literary texts. The article concludes by reflecting on how TEI in the classroom complicates critiques of the digital humanities’ proclivity to endorse neoliberal education models. By challenging simplistic renderings of the field and its tools, and by offering interconnections between TEI and traditional humanities practices, the author aims to supply a conscientious approach to designing TEI assignments to those interested but hesitant to include such assignments

New methodological approaches of investigating the identity of Historic Settlement

Para estabelecer a “identidade” de um sítio histórico, a utilização de uma metodologia baseada na aplicação de ferramentas de mapeamento para análise de indicadores tangíveis e intangíveis pode ser de grande interesse e significância, uma vez que esta metodologia ainda não tem sido amplamente utilizada em pesquisas patrimoniais. apesar de ser uma ferramenta poderosa. Nesse tipo de mapeamento, a paisagem, a arquitetura e as camadas de mudança que foram depositadas no território sobre elas, ao longo dos tempos. são consideradas indicadores tangíveis, enquanto a toponímia, a história, a memória e os antigos dizeres locais são considerados indicadores intangíveis. Os indicadores, sua existência, geolocalizações, processos, significado e distribuição espacial, transformações etc. devem ser mapeados em diferentes camadas e posteriormente alguns conjuntos e subconjuntos devem ser justapostos para obter combinações e resultados. Portanto, informações produzidas a partir destes indicadores tangíveis e intangíveis de forma científica e matemática, apoiadas na história, artefactos e vestígios, princípios de urbanismo, inscrições e manuscritos, podem revelar muitos aspetos desconhecidos dos sítios históricos. Os métodos precisam ser de natureza mais científica e objetiva para excluir o viés de uma perceção distorcida. Também é uma boa técnica testar o método em mais de um local que tenha antecedentes diferentes, mas configuração semelhante, a fim de provar a validade e eficácia universal do método. Assim, Khalifatabad (Bangladesh) e Évora (Portugal) são os dois locais de um estudo de caso que visa testar a metodologia acima referida, uma vez que ambos foram declarados Património Mundial da UNESCO e possuem valor histórico semelhante; New methodological approaches of investigating the identity of Historic Settlement Abstract: In order to establish the identity of an ancient settlement, the use of a methodology based on the application of mapping tools for analysis of tangible and intangible indicators might be of great interest and significance, as this methodology has not yet been extensively used in heritage research despite of its being a powerful tool. In this kind of mapping, landscape, architecture and the layers of change that have been deposited on them throughout ages are considered as tangible indicators, while toponymy, story, memory and ancient local sayings are considered as intangible indicators. The indicators, their existence, geo locations, processes, spatial significance and distribution, transformations etc. are to be mapped in different layers and later some set and subsets are to be juxtaposed to obtain certain combinations and results. Therefore information produced from both tangible and intangible indicators in a scientific and mathematical manner, supported by history, artefacts and vestiges, principles of urbanism, inscriptions and manuscripts, can reveal many unknown aspects of historic sites. The methods need to be more scientific and objective in nature to exclude biasness of perception. It is also a good technique to test the method on more than one site that has different background but similar configuration in order to prove the validity and efficacy of the method. Therefore Khalifatabad (Bangladesh) and Évora (Portugal) are the two sites of a case study that aims to test the above mentioned methodology, as they both were declared UNESCO World Heritage and carry similar historic value

The Spatial Turn in History: Implications for Curriculum in Higher Education

The emergence of visualization and spatialization technologies, such as digital maps, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and data visualization is generating new ways of knowing within academic disciplines. This epistemological shift, or “spatial turn,” like the Quantitative or Cultural Turns before it, impacts the ways in which knowledge is created, consumed, and communicated. New jobs that require spatial skills are coming into being. It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that education in general, and curricula in particular, would respond to this shift. This thesis explores the curricular responses to spatial ways of knowing in higher education, using the case of one academic discipline–History. The dissertation investigates through a case study, five inter-related aspects of the spatial turn in History: The creation and communication of History knowledge through spatial means, work and employment of History graduates with spatial skills, teaching and learning in higher education with respect to spatial ways of knowing, tools and technologies that drive the spatial turn, and the perspectives of History professors and students with respect to spatial ways of knowing. I explore each aspect separately and use them to triangulate my findings, before synthesizing them into conclusions. The findings indicate spatial ways of knowing are still a niche area in History as far as creating History knowledge is concerned. In addition, spatial History is decidedly interdisciplinary, and scholars and the professional community take a variety of approaches to navigate this interdisciplinarity. Several career opportunities exist both within and outside academia for the spatially oriented Historian, but this is not a factor that traditional History departments consider when determining curricula. However, a wide range of online learning resources are available with respect to spatial ways of knowing, should students wish to pursue this line of learning in addition to their regular History education. Geo-spatial and visual-spatial tools present their own set of challenges to Historians, and I analyze how they contribute to the complexity of teaching spatial ways of knowing. I conclude that although spatial ways of knowing offer History some unique possibilities for generating knowledge, the curricular response to them is mixed. I offer some recommendations for possible ways in which History higher education curricula may respond to the spatial turn

Sound Works: Prototyping a Digital Audio Repository for Sound Poetics in Mexico

This dissertation reflects on the prototyping process carried out for creating and developing the PoéticaSonora’s digital audio repository, focused on storing, editorializing and disseminating works of sound art and poetry readings produced or recorded in Mexico since 1960. While describing the theoretical, technical, and methodological implications at stake in the design, deployment, and refactoring of the PoéticaSonora prototype (PSP), this dissertation speculates on how experimentation and a hands-on approach to sound recordings are essential for advancing fieldwork-based research in the humanities, particularly literary criticism. The notions of voice, inscription, and instrumentality, discussed in depth throughout this work, are essential for constructing a sound-oriented approach to poetry and sound art with the aid of digital tools such as the ones offered by the PSP. After a brief panorama reviewing the many artistic scenes and genres that are present in the PSP, the Introduction frames the project’s importance for both gathering and discerning artistic tendencies in Mexico that have not been properly analyzed by text-oriented approaches to literary criticism. Chapter 1 proposes a decolonial approach on how to establish a duly horizontal dialogue around digital audio repositories in Canada and Mexico. It also delineates the necessary conditions met by PoéticaSonora to design a workflow respecting the features of artistic communities, cultural institutions, and private collectors who contribute to the PSP. After a close analysis to the prototype’s data schema and its design, deployment, and refactoring phases, Chapter 2 discusses how the restraints of database management systems both affected and modified the theoretical and methodological approach followed by the PoéticaSonora team. Chapter 3 focuses on a case study of how women vocal artists in Mexico City use and share sample-looping techniques among each other, as an example of how fieldwork contributed to fix problems in the data schema discussed in Chapter 2, such as the distinction between individual artists and collectives, between singing and reciting voice, and in the use of instruments, apart from their own voices. The epilogue discusses the necessary steps to develop the PoéticaSonora Beta version, as well as to host it in a definitive server with all the institutional, administrative, and political implications this will have on the project as a whole

Applied Shakespeare: a transformative encounter: An analysis of Shakespeare’s use within applied theatre settings, for transformative purposes.

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a contribution to new knowledge surrounding debate relative to the challenges that arise when applied theatre companies use Shakespeare’s work for transformative purposes. Often the justification behind selecting Shakespeare’s plays as a tool to aid transformation is founded in the promotion of a universalising discourse. This discourse can afford an ‘unreflective affirmation’ of a range of ideals promoted through the engagement with Shakespeare’s plays. The implication is that complex and complicated profiles of characters, found in Shakespeare’s plays, can be promoted and explored by potentially vulnerable communities of people as a ‘blue-print’ for learning about, and transforming oneself. The ideals promoted can often be assumptive and taken-for-granted beliefs about the work that often override the consideration of the political and cultural values embedded in Shakespeare’s own theatre. The method of Critical Discourse Analysis is employed to explore and acknowledge the challenges inherent in applied theatre generally. A case study analysis of three salient community projects is undertaken to demonstrate where work of this nature exists. The thesis undertakes close analysis of the Education Shakespeare Company (prison), the Blue Apple Theatre Company (Disability), and the Combat Veteran Players (therapy). As a method of subverting the universalisation of Shakespeare’s plays, and overcoming some of the challenges found in combining Shakespeare’s work with applied theatre formats, the thesis suggests the use of new historicism and Brecht’s historicisation and verfremdungseffekt. For demonstrative purposes, the thesis applies an historical reading to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Macbeth, Richard III, Henry VI Part One & Two, and Hamlet. The method demonstrates how participants are afforded an opportunity to grapple with unresolved questions and concentrate the mind in order to find relevant and appropriate opportunities to create change and transformation. The thesis recommends that a critical and historical reading of Shakespeare’s plays remains important to applied theatre practice and identifies three main provocations of practice in order to: 1) offer the participants a safe distance when exploring opportunities for transformation, 2) subvert the universalising discourse to avoid assumptive and taken-for-granted beliefs about Shakespeare’s work, 3) challenge the concept of universal truth and demonstrate where differences and not similarities exist