Misinterpreted Perception: Defining the True Nature of Chivalry During the First Crusade

"English Capstone 4995: Senior Honors Thesis, ... Friday, May 8, 2015."Over the turn of the centuries, chivalry has evolved and acquired numerous definitions. Currently the characteristics of a chivalric knight are skewed by the gentlemanly mannerisms and jousting tournaments seen in films. However in the First Crusade, a knight's actions were determined by his prowess in battle and devotion to his earthly and heavenly lord. There is plenty of evidence that refutes crusaders’ chivalric nature and argues that they were nothing more than greedy warmongers. Nevertheless, the chivalric nature of the crusaders cannot be analyzed from a modern point of view. If the texts are viewed through the eyes of their authors, then it is clear that based on the evidence presented the knights are shown to be following the ideals of chivalry at that time. The historical and literary texts analyzed in this thesis provide first hand knowledge of the events pertaining to the First Crusade. Although there is always biases that surface, for the most part many of the works provide an accurate representation of the crusaders. The evidence provided shows that any knight wishing to create a reputation for himself would set out for Jerusalem, fight valiantly in battle, and take home the spoils of war with a reputation for chivalry. The study of several literary and historical sources as well as the contextual meaning of chivalry and crusading reveals that while many believed chivalry was a force for good, there are those who believe chivalric knights used the crusades as an excuse gain wealth and power. Regardless of how the evidence is interpreted by modern standards, the authors of the primary texts depict the crusading knights possessing the characteristics of chivalry as defined by that time period.Includes bibliographical references (page 34)

Qualitative methods II: minding the gap

Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications. Author's draft version; post-print. Final version published by Sage available on Sage Journals Online http://online.sagepub.com/In our last review we drew together work exploring interactions between the performativity of research practices and the spaces of qualitative research (Davies and Dwyer, 2007). In this, we focus on the oscillating political subjectivities mobilized in research by human geographers and other qualitative researchers

'Highway to Heaven': The creation of a multicultural, religious landscape in suburban Richmond, British Columbia

We analyse the emergence of the ‘Highway to Heaven’, a distinctive landscape of more than 20 diverse religious buildings, in the suburban municipality of Richmond, outside Vancouver, to explore the intersections of immigration, planning, multiculturalism, religion and suburban space. In the context of wider contested planning disputes for new places of worship for immigrant communities, the creation of a designated ‘Assembly District’ in Richmond emerged as a creative response to multicultural planning. However, it is also a contradictory policy, co-opting religious communities to municipal requirements to safeguard agricultural land and prevent suburban sprawl, but with limited success. The unanticipated outcomes of a designated planning zone for religious buildings include production of an agglomeration of increasingly spectacular religious facilities that exceed municipal planning regulations. Such developments are accommodated through a celebratory narrative of municipal multiculturalism, but one that fails to engage with the communal narratives of the faith communities themselves and may exoticize or commodify religious identity

Building the Sacred in Suburbia:Improvisation, Reinvention and Innovation

This paper explores diverse practices of religious place-making in suburban space drawing from a research project on the making of suburban faith in West London. We argue that the creative cultures and spaces of suburban faith communities are often marginalized in enduring narratives of secular suburban materialism. In contrast through an analysis of creative responses to suburban space by different faith communities, at different time periods, we suggest both the persistence of suburban faiths and the creativity of suburban faith communities. We argue that creativity is evident through processes of improvisation in the creation of make-shift places of worship in early ‘frontier suburbs’ and in the creative re-adaptation and re-invention of former buildings to new places of worship, often by diasporic faith communities. Finally we emphasise architectural innovation in making new places of worship which engage directly and imaginatively with suburban space. Our analysis suggests the importance of suburban faith communities in the making of suburban spaces and cultures, and the relevance of religion, and sacred place-making, in wider re-evaluations of suburban creativity

My Life is but a weaving:embroidering geographies of faith and place

This article reflects on creative arts practice as a means to research the interrelationships of creativity and faith through discussion of a textile-based arts project undertaken with women of diverse religious backgrounds in West London. Building on research on the significance of vernacular religious textiles in community space and in domestic religious practice, the arts project developed a collective embroidery installation exploring the theme of prayer and its intersections with embodied practices of creativity and biographical narratives of faith, migration and home

EVALUATING EXTENSIVE SHEEP FARMING SYSTEMS

Data from each of 5 commercial, extensive sheep farms in Cumbria, UK were used as parameters in a linear program (LP) representing labour and grazing management in such farming systems. The LP maximised ewe enterprise gross margin subject to constraints dictated by the labour availability and land types on each farm. Under the assumptions used, labour availability and price restricted ewe numbers well below those observed in practice on 2 farms i.e. land resources were adequate for the farming system practiced. On two other farms stocking levels and hence returns were limited by the availability of forage and hence feed input prices relative to output. On one farm, greater grassland productivity was the key determinant of system performance. It was concluded that a holistic systems approach was needed to properly evaluate these farming systems in terms of their potential contribution to animal welfare, land use, profit and hence their sustainabilityLivestock Production/Industries, Extensive, Sheep, Economics, LP,

Impacts of labour on interactions between economics and animal welfare in extensive sheep farms

This study quantified interactions between animal welfare and farm profitability in British extensive sheep farming systems. Qualitative welfare assessment methodology was used to assess welfare from the animal's perspective in 20 commercial extensive sheep farms and to estimate labour demand for welfare, based on the assessed welfare scores using data collected from farm inventories. The estimated labour demand was then used as a coefficient in a linear program based model to establish the gross margin maximising farm management strategy for given farm situations, subject to constraints that reflected current resource limitations including labour supply. Regression analysis showed a significant relationship between the qualitative welfare assessment scores and labour supply on the inventoried farms but there was no significant relationship between current gross margin and assessed welfare scores. However, to meet the labour demand of the best welfare score, a reduction in flock size and in the average maximum farm gross margin was often required. These findings supported the hypothesis that trade-offs between animal welfare and farm profitability are necessary in providing maximum animal welfare via on-farm labour and sustainable British extensive sheep farming systems.Sheep, Labour, Animal Welfare, Linear Programme, Livestock Production/Industries, C6, Q10, Q19, Q57,

Drawing on the Strengths of Community Health Workers to Address Sexually Transmitted Infections: Roles, Medicaid Reimbursement, and Partnerships

Rates of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States are high and, largely, still soaring. Though chlamydia cases have decreased slightly since 2017, gonorrhea and syphilis have increased by 25% and 68%, respectively, and congenital syphilis has increased by 184%. Bacterial STI can lead to pain, infertility, and even, in the case of syphilis and congenital syphilis, death. With appropriate detection and treatment, all of these STIs are curable. And yet a range of barriers between communities and the healthcare system perpetuate the STI epidemic. Community health workers (CHWs) could play a key role in helping bridge the gap between the public health and healthcare systems and communities to provide STI education, prevention, detection and treatment services. The Medicaid program, which covers 89 million Americans, is slowly beginning to include CHWs into payment models. However, to date, CHWs’ potential to help address STIs has not been fully explored. This study was undertaken to identify ways that CHWs could be integrated into the STI field with the support of Medicaid coverage and in collaboration with the existing STI workforce

Are they ‘worth their weight in gold’? Sport for older adults: benefits and barriers of their participation for sporting organisations

The ageing global population has led to an increased focus on health for older adults. However, older adults have not been a specific priority for some sporting organisations (SOs). Thus, there is an emerging opportunity for this age group to be considered within international sport policy. The aim of this study was to understand the benefits and barriers that SOs encounter when engaging older adults. Eight focus group interviews (n = 49) were held with representatives of Australian national sporting organisations (NSOs), and older adults who were either sport club or non-sport club members. The socioecological model domains, interpersonal, organisational and policy, were used as a framework for thematic analysis, and organisational capacity building concepts were utilised to explain the findings. Common perceived benefits included interpersonal benefits (intergenerational opportunities and role models) and organisational benefits (volunteering, financial contributions and maximised facility usage) for engaging older adults. Common perceived barriers included interpersonal barriers (competing priorities and perceived societal expectations), organisational barriers (lack of appropriate playing opportunities, lack of facility access and lack of club capacity) and policy barriers (strategic organisational focus on children and elite sport and risk management). Whilst participation in sport is not common for older adults, their involvement can be invaluable for sport clubs. It is not anticipated that any policy focus on older adults will significantly increase active participation for this age group. However, any increase in older adults’ sport participation either through actively playing, supporting family and friends and/or volunteering will contribute to the positive health of individuals, sport clubs and the community.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio