Acts of killing, acts of meaning:an application of corpus pattern analysis to language of animal-killing

We are currently witnessing unprecedented levels of ecological destruction and violence visited upon nonhumans. Study of the more-than-human world is now being enthusiastically taken up across a range of disciplines, in what has been called the ‘scholarly animal turn’. This thesis brings together concerns of Critical Animal Studies – along with related threads of posthumanism and new materialist thinking – and Corpus Linguistics, specifically Corpus Pattern Analysis (CPA), to produce a data-driven, lexicocentric study of the discourse of animal-killing. CPA, which has been employed predominantly in corpus lexicography, provides a robust and empirically well-founded basis for the analysis of verbs. Verbs are chosen as they act as the pivot of a clause; analysing them also uncovers their arguments – in this case, participants in material-discursive ‘killing’ events. This project analyses 15 ‘killing’ verbs using CPA as a basis, in what I term a corpus-lexicographical discourse analysis. The data is sampled from an animal-themed corpus of around 9 million words of contemporary British English, and the British National Corpus is used for reference. The findings are both methodological and substantive. CPA is found to be a reliable empirical starting point for discourse analysis, and the lexicographical practice of establishing linguistic ‘norms’ is critical to the identification of anomalous uses. The thesis presents evidence of anthropocentrism inherent in the English lexicon, and demonstrates several ways in which distance is created between participants of ‘killing’ constructions. The analysis also reveals specific ways that verbs can obfuscate, deontologise and deindividualise their arguments. The recommendations, for discourse analysts, include the adoption of CPA and a critical analysis of its resulting patterns in order to demonstrate the precise mechanisms by which verb use can either oppress or empower individuals. Social justice advocates are also alerted to potentially harmful language that might undermine their cause

Living the All-American Dream

This creative compilation includes a critical book review, assessed through an autobiographical lens with narrative commentary; a personal essay set in early childhood; and a second personal essay from the young adulthood perspective. The critical book review is influenced by creative non-fiction pedagogy, personal experiences, and texts assigned in English 4820: Autobiography. The objective is to recognize writing moves within the memoir genre and apply them to the subsequent two personal essays, which are sections of a potential full-length piece. Much of the preliminary work for this composition has been an ongoing process of reading, learning, and applying techniques from published and unpublished creative nonfiction, some of which began before the conceptualization of this project

The Immorality of Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude: Evaluating the Eighth Circuit’s Split in \u3ci\u3eBakor v. Barr\u3c/i\u3e

Alex failed to register his car, Pilar failed to renew his broker license, Juan failed to register as a sex offender, and all three noncitizens have been convicted of one previous crime. Each of these registration failures flow from dramatically different legal requirements and serve different purposes, but they share a common characteristic. All three legal missteps are based on administrative registration obligations promulgated by a governmental entity. Indeed, the failure to register as a sex offender may accompany more ethical and moral intimations, but the act of failing to register as a sex offender is not itself clearly evil behavior. Failure to register as a sex offender, however, can beget grave consequences for noncitizens in the United States. The most significant difference between Alex, Pilar, and Juan is that Juan, depending on where he lives in the United States, may be subject to removal or deportation. The Eighth Circuit recently deemed the failure to register as a sex offender to be a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT). In doing so, the Eighth Circuit departed from the approach in the Third, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits, which holds that the failure to register as a sex offender is not a CIMT. This newly created circuit split effectively holds noncitizens—an exceedingly marginalized population6—to different standards under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, depending on the noncitizen’s jurisdictional residence. This Note analyzes the Eighth Circuit’s decision, Bakor v. Barr, based on the categorical approach framework used to determine whether a crime involves moral turpitude. Part II describes the removal process for noncitizens who are convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude and the difficulty courts have in defining moral turpitude. Part III examines the Bakor v. Barr decision in light of the Third, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits’ approach. Finally, Part IV argues that the Eighth Circuit should have followed the Third, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits to conclude that failure to register as a sex offender is not a crime involving moral turpitude. Moreover, to promote predictability and consistency in removal cases arising from CIMTs the court should categorically proclaim that failure to register as a sex offender is not a CIMT

Critical evaluation of a program to foster reflexive antiracism

This paper documents the evaluation of a three-day program entitled “Race, Culture, Indigeneity and the Politics of Disadvantage,” which was delivered in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia with the aim of promoting Reflexive Antiracism (RA), a novel diversity training approach. To assess the impact of the program on its participants, the Reflexive Antiracism Scale- Indigenous (RAS-I) was devised and administered before and after the program both to participants and a matched control group. The program increased Reflexive Antiracism among participants through an enhanced understanding of whiteness, racialisation and White Racial Identity. Future studies are required to advance both the concept of Reflexive Antiracism and its measurement

Development of the reflexive antiracism scale – indigenous

Purpose – Reflexive Antiracism is an approach to antiracism that seeks to avoid the limitations of essentialism and negative emotional reactions through a focus on racialisation (a concept that encompasses both racism and antiracism) as well as the formation and maintenance of racialised identities. This paper aims to outline the construction and validation of a scale to measure this novel theoretical construct: the Reflexive Antiracism Scale-Indigenous (RAS-I).Design/methodology/approach – In the context of a cultural training course focused on Indigenous peoples in Australia, 20 items to assess attitudes were developed along with four hypothetical scenarios designed to assess behavioural intentions in specific situations. The survey formed by these items and scenarios was piloted to assess test-retest, concurrent and construct validity as well as item endorsement and internal reliability.Findings – Findings suggest that an 11-item scale based on this survey forms a valid and reliable measure of Reflexive Antiracism. Further research and applications are discussed.Originality/value – This paper will prompt further exploration of Reflexive Antiracism as a concept that can be applied in a range of settings where a more nuanced understanding and approach to antiracism may be of benefit. Being aware of their position within a society that is racialised will allow antiracists to be reflexive (and realistic) about their ability as individuals to achieve antiracist ideals while continuing to strive towards them

Towards a Corpus-Lexicographical Discourse Analysis

This working paper presents the progress made thus far in the development of a corpus-lexicographical approach to discourse analysis, more specifically the application of Hanks’ [5, 6] Corpus Pattern Analysis (CPA) procedure to a (critical) discourse analysis task. The theoretical basis of CPA is explained, followed by some practical applications of CPA, namely lexicography and the proposed method of discourse analysis. Examples are taken from an ongoing investigation into the use of ‘killing’ verbs in contemporary British English, which draws upon two corpora: the British National Corpus (BNC) and the animal themed ‘People’, ‘Products’, ‘Pests’ and ‘Pets’ (PPPP) corpus [8]. Preliminary findings suggest that a CPA-assisted, or corpus-lexicographical, discourse analysis is one with a strong theoretical basis, whose transparency and systematicity empowers the analyst to make precise and persuasive argumen

Dynamics of CrO3–Fe2O3 catalysts during the high-temperature water-gas shift reaction: molecular structures and reactivity

A series of supported CrO3/Fe2O3 catalysts were investigated for the high-temperature water-gas shift (WGS) and reverse-WGS reactions and extensively characterized using in situ and operando IR, Raman, and XAS spectroscopy during the high-temperature WGS/RWGS reactions. The in situ spectroscopy examinations reveal that the initial oxidized catalysts contain surface dioxo (O═)2Cr6+O2 species and a bulk Fe2O3 phase containing some Cr3+ substituted into the iron oxide bulk lattice. Operando spectroscopy studies during the high-temperature WGS/RWGS reactions show that the catalyst transforms during the reaction. The crystalline Fe2O3 bulk phase becomes Fe3O4 ,and surface dioxo (O═)2Cr6+O2 species are reduced and mostly dissolve into the iron oxide bulk lattice. Consequently, the chromium–iron oxide catalyst surface is dominated by FeOx sites, but some minor reduced surface chromia sites are also retained. The Fe3–-xCrxO4 solid solution stabilizes the iron oxide phase from reducing to metallic Fe0 and imparts an enhanced surface area to the catalyst. Isotopic exchange studies with C16O2/H2 → C18O2/H2 isotopic switch directly show that the RWGS reaction proceeds via the redox mechanism and only O* sites from the surface region of the chromium–iron oxide catalysts are involved in the RWGS reaction. The number of redox O* sites was quantitatively determined with the isotope exchange measurements under appropriate WGS conditions and demonstrated that previous methods have undercounted the number of sites by nearly 1 order of magnitude. The TOF values suggest that only the redox O* sites affiliated with iron oxide are catalytic active sites for WGS/RWGS, though a carbonate oxygen exchange mechanism was demonstrated to exist, and that chromia is only a textural promoter that increases the number of catalytic active sites without any chemical promotion effect

Impact of personal alcohol consumption on aspects of medical student alcohol-related competencies

AimAs part of the prevention and management of alcohol-related harms, health professionals need to be competent to assess the level of alcohol use in patients. In this study, we explored how medical students’ own alcohol consumption impacts on their familiarity with alcohol brands, strengths and alcohol-related harms.MethodsAs part of a wider study investigating the concept of ‘alcohol health literacy’, this study combined an anonymous online survey, linked to an electronic alcohol ‘brand’ recognition game. Participants were medical students in their first clinical year. The survey recorded demographics, self-reported alcohol consumption (using the AUDIT-C), a visual test of relative alcohol concentrations of wine, beer and spirits, and a free-text response asking them to list alcohol-related harms. Participants then completed the brand recognition game recording accuracy and reaction time for identifying alcohol drink brands.ResultsOne hundred and fifty students participated. There was a significant effect of ethnicity on drinking status, with 48% of non-white participants scoring zero on the AUDIT-C. Students who reported any alcohol consumption were more likely to correctly assess relative alcohol concentrations and were faster and more accurate at recognizing alcohol brands, which was dose dependent. Overall, only 45% correctly recognized relative alcohol strengths of drinks presented.ConclusionsAmong third-year medical students, ability to correctly identify relative strengths of alcoholic drinks is low. As might be expected, students who drink alcohol tend to identify brands and strengths more accurately. This has implications for how best to tailor the delivery of teaching and training about alcohol to ensure similar levels of clinical confidence in dealing with future patients regardless of personal experience

Over Policing of Black Girls

This zine is about the violence girls of color experience within their schools and communities.https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/state_sanctioned_violence/1021/thumbnail.jp