(Dis)embodying myths in ancien régime opera: multidisciplinary perspectives

Throughout the Ancien Régime, mythology played a remarkably vital role in opera, defining such epoch-making works as Claudio Monteverdi’s La favola d’Orfeo (1607) and Christoph Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (1779). The operatic presence of the Greco-Roman gods and heroes was anything but unambiguous or unproblematic, however. (Dis)embodying Myths in Ancien Régime Opera highlights myth’s chameleonic life in the Italian dramma per musica and French tragédie en musique of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Written by eminent scholars in the fields of music, literature, theater, and cultural studies, the six essays in this book address important questions. Through what ideological lenses did the Ancien Régime perceive an ancient legacy that was fundamentally pagan and fictitious, as opposed to Christian and rationalistic? What dramaturgies did librettists and composers devise to adapt mythical topics to altering philosophical and esthetic doctrines? Were the ancients’ precepts obeyed or precisely overridden by the age of ‘classicism’? And how could myths be made to fit changing modes of spectatorship? Enlightening and wide-ranging on an essentially multidisciplinary development in European culture, (Dis)embodying Myths in Ancien Régime Opera will appeal to all music, literature and art lovers seeking to deepen their knowledge of an increasingly popular repertoire

The Scottish Diaspora and Diaspora Strategy: Insights and Lessons from Ireland

In both Scotland and Ireland sustained attention is now being given to the potential benefits which might flow from renewing and refreshing relationships with overseas diasporic populations. The objective of the report is to contribute to the development of such thinking by identifying and reflecting upon Scotland's approach to its diaspora relative to its Irish counterpart

Exploring Diaspora Strategies: Lessons for Ireland

In 2009 the population of the Irish Republic stood at 4.42 million. At the same time over 70 million people worldwide claimed Irish descent, and 3.2 million Irish citizens (passport holders) and 800,000 Irish born citizens lived overseas. The historical and geographical formation of the Irish diaspora has been a complex process incorporating a wide range of migrant flows and experiences of re-settlement. The principal migrant streams include the missionary and mercenary migrations to Europe between the sixth and the fifteenth centuries, the movement of the Scotch Irish to North America between 1705 and 1776, the ‘convict’ and ‘free’ migrants relocating to the far shores of Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Uruguay in the nineteenth century, the scattering of the famine migrants to North America and the United Kingdom in the 1840s, the flight of the impoverished to the United States and the United Kingdom from the 1850s to the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, and the economic migrants who left in the 1950s and the 1980s, principally for the United Kingdom. The Irish diaspora has always maintained a relationship with Ireland – that is it has always operated as a transnational diaspora – but the nature of that relationship has changed and evolved. Currently, the Irish diaspora is, we believe entering a new era. This is resulting both from an awakening of interest within Ireland itself as to the unfulfilled potential of the relationship and changes taking place within the diaspora itself

The NIRSA Diaspora Strategy Wheel and Ten Principles of Good Practice

A Diaspora Strategy is an explicit and systematic policy initiative or series of policy initiatives aimed at developing and managing relationships between homelands and diasporic populations. These policy initiatives vary from highly formalised and structured programmes to projects that are quite light in conception and application. A diaspora strategy is perhaps best thought of then as an overarching framework for providing a level of coherence to the range of diaspora policies devised and implemented by a variety of agencies. The NIRSA Diaspora Wheel is designed as a checklist for policy makers currently formulating and rolling out diaspora strategies. It identifies eight policy spokes around a set of five challenges at the hub. Clearly in practice some spokes overlap with others. Within each policy spoke a set of key considerations and critical measures are identified. Work is currently being undertaken to specify a range of concrete indicators and benchmarks of progress within each spoke

Exploring Diaspora Strategies: An International Comparison

Whilst migration has long been a characteristic of societies, the last two centuries have witnessed the mass mobility of populations, with millions of people moving across the planet to take up new lives in new places. In some cases, such migration has been of necessity forced through persecution or starvation or economic hardship, in other cases it has been a strategic choice motivated by ambition and opportunity. Whatever the reason, citizens of one nation have uprooted their lives, negotiated a transnational journey, and made new lives for themselves in a new nation, often within fairly large groupings of fellow migrants. Originally conceived of to refer to populations living in exile, the concept of diaspora has more recently been broadened to concern mass migration in general and to second, third, and later generation descendants. Robin Cohen (1997) thus identifies five different types of diasporas: * victim diasporas (e.g., populations forced into exile such as the Jewish, African, Armenian diasporas); * labour diasporas (e.g., mass migration in search of work and economic opportunities such as the Indian and Turkish diasporas); * trade diasporas (e.g., migrations seeking to open trade routes and links such as the Chinese and Lebanese diasporas); * imperial diasporas (e.g., migration among those keen to serve and maintain empires such as the British and French diasporas); cultural diaspora (e.g., those who move through a process of chain migration such as the Caribbean diaspora). Diaspora populations are then diverse in nature, shaped by the reasons for migration, the scale, timing, and geography of flow, how they interact with social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental conditions in destination regions and how they were received in their new host country, and how they view their original homeland and its culture. And while they might eventually adopt the citizenship of their host, diasporean identity, and that of subsequent generations, remain inflected with the 2 nation they left, sometimes in very explicit ways through public acts of celebration and memory, sometimes much more implicitly through family histories and stories. Moreover, whilst many diasporic journeys are unidirectional, or involve infrequent trips back to the original homeland, in today’s globalised world some diasporas are highly mobile and transnational, shuttling back and forth between their new place of residence and their homeland, often in complex circular routes. The very term diaspora then has become synonymous with complex, dual or even multiple identities, often expressing an ‘in betweeness’ of home and destination cultures

Exploring Diaspora Strategies: An International Comparison

Whilst migration has long been a characteristic of societies, the last two centuries have witnessed the mass mobility of populations, with millions of people moving across the planet to take up new lives in new places. In some cases, such migration has been of necessity forced through persecution or starvation or economic hardship, in other cases it has been a strategic choice motivated by ambition and opportunity. Whatever the reason, citizens of one nation have uprooted their lives, negotiated a transnational journey, and made new lives for themselves in a new nation, often within fairly large groupings of fellow migrants. Originally conceived of to refer to populations living in exile, the concept of diaspora has more recently been broadened to concern mass migration in general and to second, third, and later generation descendants. Robin Cohen (1997) thus identifies five different types of diasporas: * victim diasporas (e.g., populations forced into exile such as the Jewish, African, Armenian diasporas); * labour diasporas (e.g., mass migration in search of work and economic opportunities such as the Indian and Turkish diasporas); * trade diasporas (e.g., migrations seeking to open trade routes and links such as the Chinese and Lebanese diasporas); * imperial diasporas (e.g., migration among those keen to serve and maintain empires such as the British and French diasporas); cultural diaspora (e.g., those who move through a process of chain migration such as the Caribbean diaspora). Diaspora populations are then diverse in nature, shaped by the reasons for migration, the scale, timing, and geography of flow, how they interact with social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental conditions in destination regions and how they were received in their new host country, and how they view their original homeland and its culture. And while they might eventually adopt the citizenship of their host, diasporean identity, and that of subsequent generations, remain inflected with the 2 nation they left, sometimes in very explicit ways through public acts of celebration and memory, sometimes much more implicitly through family histories and stories. Moreover, whilst many diasporic journeys are unidirectional, or involve infrequent trips back to the original homeland, in today’s globalised world some diasporas are highly mobile and transnational, shuttling back and forth between their new place of residence and their homeland, often in complex circular routes. The very term diaspora then has become synonymous with complex, dual or even multiple identities, often expressing an ‘in betweeness’ of home and destination cultures

Exploring Diaspora Strategies: Lessons for Ireland

In 2009 the population of the Irish Republic stood at 4.42 million. At the same time over 70 million people worldwide claimed Irish descent, and 3.2 million Irish citizens (passport holders) and 800,000 Irish born citizens lived overseas. The historical and geographical formation of the Irish diaspora has been a complex process incorporating a wide range of migrant flows and experiences of re-settlement. The principal migrant streams include the missionary and mercenary migrations to Europe between the sixth and the fifteenth centuries, the movement of the Scotch Irish to North America between 1705 and 1776, the ‘convict’ and ‘free’ migrants relocating to the far shores of Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Uruguay in the nineteenth century, the scattering of the famine migrants to North America and the United Kingdom in the 1840s, the flight of the impoverished to the United States and the United Kingdom from the 1850s to the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, and the economic migrants who left in the 1950s and the 1980s, principally for the United Kingdom. The Irish diaspora has always maintained a relationship with Ireland – that is it has always operated as a transnational diaspora – but the nature of that relationship has changed and evolved. Currently, the Irish diaspora is, we believe entering a new era. This is resulting both from an awakening of interest within Ireland itself as to the unfulfilled potential of the relationship and changes taking place within the diaspora itself

Ireland’s diaspora strategy: diaspora for development.

Abstract included in text

France\u27s Financial Crisis: Analyzing the Role of the Finance Minister

The downfall of France\u27s Old Regime and the beginning of the French Revolution were largely caused by the financial crisis plaguing France. Since the Seven Year\u27s War, France\u27s finances had suffered and were spiraling out of control. The finances were kept largely by the country\u27s appointed finance minister. France would go through a host of these finance ministers up to the Revolution. The most notable was Jacques Necker who receives more detailed analysis. Tracing the administrations of these finance ministers helps explain an important factor leading to the French Revolution

The Slovakian Long-term Care System. ENEPRI Research Report No. 86, 15 June 2010

Launched in January 2009, ANCIEN is a research project that runs for a 44-month period and involves 20 partners from EU member states. The project principally concerns the future of long-term care (LTC) for the elderly in Europe and addresses two questions in particular: 1) How will need, demand, supply and use of LTC develop? 2) How do different systems of LTC perform? This case study on Slovakia is part of the first stage in the project aimed at collecting the basic data and necessary information to portray long-term care in each country of the EU. It will be followed by analysis and projections of future scenarios on long-term care needs, use, quality assurance and system performance. State-of-the-art demographic, epidemiologic and econometric modelling will be used to interpret and project needs, supply and use of long-term care over future time periods for different LTC systems