From Mill Town to Mill Town: The Transition of a New England Town from a Textile to a High-Technology Economy

This article describes and analyzes the economic transformation of Maynard, Massachusetts. Located twenty-six miles west of Boston, Maynard was the home of the world\u27s largest woolen mill. In 1950 the mill closed and 1,200 jobs were lost. During the next ten years, the town gradually recovered as the mill became the home of several innovative companies. Ultimately, the mill became the headquarters for the world\u27s largest manufacturer of minicomputers. The circle is now complete: the mill is full and houses a company that claims a world\u27s largest designation. The article analyses the rise and fall of the American Woolen Company; examines the steps taken to stimulate recovery, and their results; identifies and examines the important elements that led to the economic transformation; and offers potential lessons for planners in towns undergoing similar changes

The Problems of Rural Reindustrialization: A Case Study of Monroe, Massachusetts

Owing to the departure of the mill industry from rural New England, many small towns have suffered erosion of their economic base. These towns and villages face a declining population, vacant mills, and an aging work force. Monroe, Massachusetts, is an example of the problems of rural reindustrialization. This article concludes that state intervention is required for the restoration of productivity

Ce Leis Tu? To Whom Do You Belong: Teeth Mothers, Muses and Longing in the poetry of Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and John Montague

This paper compares similarities between the poetry and perspectives of John Montague and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill. Both poets were impacted by the Irish diaspora since Montague was born in Brooklyn then sent to live with an aunt in Garvaghey when he was four. Ni Dhomhnaill was born in Lancashire and sent at age five to an aunt in Ventry during the summer to learn Irish. Montague admits that he is partly Irish-American and Ni Dhomhnaill considers herself as an exile in her own country, “the little English girl not quite belonging to the Gaeltacht.” According to Ni Dhomhnaill, the diaspora has cultivated a “doubleness of focus, a capacity to live in two places at the one time…and to acknowledge the claims of contradictory truths without having to choose between them.” While Ni Dhomhnaill intends to recuperate the female psychic continent that has been historically repressed, both authors draw on Irish landscape and tradition to explore the contradictions between the Ireland that they knew as children and modern Ireland impacted by globalization. This paper asserts that their stance as exiles in their homeland has given them the ability to occupy a Janus position between the Ireland that is receding and what Ni Dhomhnaill refers to as the emerging “global pop monoculture.

Designing a Writing Intensive Course with Information Literacy and Critical Thinking Learning Outcomes

Purpose: The paper aims to describe the process of redesigning the American Cultural Studies 499 course in order to integrate information literacy (IL) and critical thinking outcomes into specific assignments. Since this research and writing proficiency course at Western Washington University have traditionally been taught by a librarian with background in the discipline, the paper also considers the challenges in communication between librarians and discipline instructors about the concepts of IL and critical thinking. Design/methodology/approach: Reviews of the literature on IL across the curriculum and on partnerships between librarians and discipline instructors will be combined with an analysis of the structure of the 499 course and the relevance of various sets of learning outcomes to the course. Findings: With more pressure on higher education to demonstrate the relevance and benefits of educational programs, this paper has the potential of enhancing communication among librarians and discipline instructors by considering the continuum between IL and critical thinking and the advantages of embedding IL or library research training into writing intensive courses. Originality/value: Several proponents of IL across the curriculum have considered the challenges in communicating the importance of IL to discipline course instructors who usually emphasize “critical thinking” rather than IL. Since this 499 course has always been taught by a librarian, this paper can view this issue from the perspective of a librarian who is also the discipline instructor for this writing proficiency course

Globalization, Violence against Women in Border Communities and Cultural Studies

When globalization brings minority communities or developing world countries into abrasive contact with dominant cultures or hegemonic cultures the effect on gender roles can produce a backlash that severely impacts the status of women in these communities or countries. The focus of this paper on violence against women is two sites of ‘borderland’ cultural contact, the ghettoized North and Sub Saharan African neighborhoods and suburbs of Paris and other French cities and the Mexican border city, Ciudad Juarez. The similar issues in these border zones are conflicting sets of gender roles and inadequate or nonexistent legal protection for victims of violence

Beyond Good Intentions: Respect and Reciprocity in Cultural Representation

I was motivated to begin studying Hopi language and culture by my desire to find a world view different from that of global capitalism which seems intent on spoiling and desecrating the earth for profit. I did discover this different perspective in Hopi culture, a respect for life, earth and community as having more value than affluence and progress. The differences that I discovered between the Hopi culture and the values of the dominant Euro-American system apply to the other Native cultures, Apache and Tohono O’odham, mentioned here. These differences explain the conflicts discussed in this article between scientists, collectors etc. and Native peoples. Ultimately as I understood Hopi values, I realized the inappropriateness of research that I had initially perceived to be harmless to the Hopi and possibly even beneficial to the dominant society if it could learn to appreciate these different values. Thus from my original naïve opinion that those whose values are destructive to life on this planet might really be open-minded enough to learn respect for the values of Native American cultures, I now recognize the complexity of cultural representation as well as the intransigence of those who oppose Native American sovereignty and religious freedom

Fungal transformation of selenium and tellurium located in a volcanogenic sulfide deposit

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