Agency, Isolation, and the Coming of New Technologies: Exploring "Dependency" in Coastal Communities of Newfoundland Through Participatory Research

How does one effectively and ethically conduct research with community members who steeped in histories of economic and social dependency, so that the people themselves charge of their futures? This question is explored in a Canadian context as the authors study the potential of new technologies to bring hope to traditional coastal communities that have been devastated by the collapse of the east coast fishery. Findings highlight the tension inherent in combining traditional knowledge with contemporary "solutions" through technology, as well as the authors' own ethical participation in suggesting uses the new technology.Comment mener une recherche efficace et éthique visant la prise en charge par la communauté de son avenir quand ses membres sont imprégnés d'histoires de dépendance économique et sociale ? Cette question se pose dans un contexte canadien alors que les auteures se penchent sur le potentiel qu'ont les nouvelles technologies de faire renaître l'espoir dans les communautés côtières traditionnelles qui ont été affectées par le coup dévastateur de la débâcle des pêcheries de la Côte atlantique. Les résultats mettent au premier plan la tension qui se rattache à la rencontre entre les connaissances traditionnelles et les 'solutions' contemporaines reposant sur la technologie d'une part, les propositions des auteures quant aux façons d'employer la nouvelle technologie d'autre part

Technological Rationality in Five Coastal Communities of Newfoundland: Historical and Contemporary Challenges to Lifelong Learning

The introduction of information and communication technologies into five coastal sites in Newfoundland offers both promise and challenge to a people struggling in the wake of the collapse of their single resource, the cod fishery. Our study asks again Heidegger’s question about technology: in what manner does it affect one’s very way of Being

Women and Haunted Houses in the Films of Jaume Balagueró: The Nightmares of Presence

Jaume Balagueró has developed a successful resumé of horror films that show a decided preference for the classic Gothic motif of the haunted house and the Gothic heroine who investigates its interior. This paper touches first on the Derridean concept of ‘dreams of presence’ (as theorized by cultural geographer Mitch Rose), in order to propose the ‘nightmares of presence’ in which the relationship, the call to care or commitment, between the subject and the space in which the subject dwells or moves is Gothicised but nonetheless remains to tie the subject to the space concerned. It then focuses on Balagueró’s Los sin nombre, Fragile and [REC] to consider three very different Gothic heroines: the mother of a dead daughter, a nurse in a children’s hospital, and a television reporter. The antagonistic call to care of the ‘nightmare of presence’ will be used to interrogate spatial aspects of the Gothic heroine. Keywords: Jaume Balagueró; haunted house; Spanish Gothic; Spanish horror; Spanish film Jaume Balagueró ha desarrollado un grupo de películas exitosas que demuestra una preferencia hacia el escenario clásico de lo gótico, la casa encantada tanto como la heroína gótica que la investiga. Este ensayo estudia en primer lugar el concepto derrideano de ‘los sueños de presencia’ (según la teoría de geógrafo cultural Mitch Rose), para proponer las ‘pesadillas de presencia’ en que el vínculo, la llamada a compromiso, entre el sujeto y el espacio en que se mueve o que habita, llega a ser gotizado; pero que fija al sujeto en el espacio relevante. El argumento se enfoca en Los sin nombre, Fragile y [REC] para considerar tres heroínas distintas: la madre de una hija muerta, una enfermera en un hospital para niños, y una locutora para un programa televisivo. La llamada antagonista de la pesadilla de presencia se usa para interrogar los aspectos espaciales de la heroína gótica

Pleasure and historical memory in Spanish Gothic film

This essay argues that scholars of Spanish culture are too ready to assume a reading of Gothic texts in terms of historical memory, or the rectification of injustices that occurred during the Franco era. It suggests that there has been a neglect of the question of the pleasures of reading or viewing the Gothic, even though these pleasures may well undermine the desire to do retrospective justice to the victims of Franco. Using as a case study the film Insensibles (Juan Carlos Medina 2012) this essay proposes some examples of pleasures that serve to disrupt the recuperation of historical memory, and calls for better awareness of the pleasures of genre in analysing relevant texts

Gender Monstrosity

Deadgirl (2008) is based around a group of male teens discovering and claiming ownership of a bound female zombie, using her as a sex slave. This narrative premise raises numerous tensions that are particularly amplified by using a zombie as the film’s central victim. The Deadgirl is sexually passive yet monstrous, reifying the horrors associated with the female body in patriarchal discourses. She is objectified on the basis of her gender, and this has led many reviewers to dismiss the film as misogynistic Torture Porn. However, the conditions under which masculinity is formed here – where adolescent males become "men" by enacting sexual violence – are as problematic as the specter of the female zombie. Deadgirl is clearly horrific and provocative: in this article I seek to probe implications arising from the film’s gender conflicts

Il meticciato nell'Italia contemporanea. Storia, memorie e cultura di massa.

L'idea diffusa degli "italiani brava gente" e della diversit\ue0 della nostra storia rispetto alla storia USA, segnata da razzismo istituzionale, si fonda sul silenziamento del passato coloniale e razzista italiano. Il ripudio della categoria di razza da parte dell'Italia repubblicana e la smentita scientifica dell'esistenza biologica della categoria non hanno cancellato la presenza della razza, formazione storico-culturale che paradossalmente esiste e non esiste. Priva di referenti oggettivi nella realt\ue0, la razza produce in essa effetti significativi, opera sia come categoria sociale e strumento di esclusione, sia come costruzione simbolica e istanza identitaria. A fronte del silenziamento del meticciato storico nell'uso pubblico della storia e nella memoria nazionali del secondo dopoguerra, il saggio sottolinea la presenza diffusa del meticciato nei prodotti della cultura di massa italiani contemporanei e ne indaga i significati con gli strumenti degli studi critici sulla razza e in prospettiva comparata tra Italia e Stati Uniti

The Medieval Saga

Written in the thirteenth century, the Icelandic prose sagas, chronicling the lives of kings and commoners, give a dramatic account of the first century after the settlement of Iceland—the period from about 930 to 1050. To some extent these elaborate tales are written versions of traditional sagas passed down by word of mouth. How did they become the long and polished literary works that are still read today? The evolution of the written sagas is commonly regarded as an anomalous phenomenon, distinct from contemporary developments in European literature. In this groundbreaking study, Carol J. Clover challenges this view and relates the rise of imaginative prose in Iceland directly to the rise of imaginative prose on the Continent. Analyzing the narrative structure and composition of the sagas and comparing them with other medieval works, Clover shows that the Icelandic authors, using Continental models, owe the prose form of their writings, as well as some basic narrative strategies, to Latin historiography and to French romance