Oy Science Fiction: On Genre, Criticism, and Alien Love: An Interview with Marleen S. Barr

Marleen S. Barr is a pioneer of feminist science fiction criticism and a leader in the fight against the ghettoizing influences of genre-labeling in literary criticism. While the noteworthy Feminist Fabulation: Space/Postmodern Fiction (University of Iowa Press, 1992) has been praised as Barr\u27s seminal work in feminist science fiction criticism and theory, it is in Genre Fission: A New Discourse Practice for Cultural Studies (U of Iowa P, 2000) where she takes on literary critics\u27 discriminatory practices against genre fiction in general and fantasy and science fiction in particular. Currently teaching at Fordham University in New York City, Barr has mentored a whole new generation of feminism and science fiction scholars through such editorial endeavors as the collection Future Females, The Next Generation: New Voices and Velocities in Feminist Science Fiction Criticism (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next Millennium (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2003), and, of course, her triumphal co-editing (with the redoubtable Carl Freedman) of the Science Fiction special issue of PMLA entitled Science Fiction and Literary Studies: The Next Millennium (11.3 [May 2004]). Being a woman who always follows her opinions with action, Barr also has published a genre-bending novel, Oy Pioneer! (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003), which joyfully erases the boundary between the fantastic and the real in its search for truth. Marleen S. Barr is a most outspoken scholar on the ability of SF to foster real change in society, and in her struggle against textism, she does not pull her punches. Her introduction to the first Science Fiction special issue of PMLA, entitled, Textism—An Emancipation Proclamation, exemplifies her fervent honesty: I am going to stick my neck out and just say it: Sven Birkert\u27s now infamous review of Margaret Atwood\u27s Oryx and Crake is a discriminatory diatribe symptomatic of a pathological, knee-jerk science fiction aversion that automatically denigrates all examples of the genre. Birkert\u27s utterances are fighting words, exemplifying what Neil Easterbrook calls the antipathy for sf that provokes genre wars. Genre wars are revolutionary wars in which liberty, equality, and fraternity (and sisterhood) confront spurious elitism in determining literary value. (429) Barr\u27s understanding of Westfall and Slusser\u27s definition of textism (from Science Fiction, Canonization, Marginalization, and the Academy, Westport: Greenwood, 2002) as a discriminatory evaluation system in which all literature relegated to a so-called subliterary genre, regardless of its individual merits, is automatically defined as inferior, separate, and unequal (429-30) harkens back to the separate but equal arguments of pre-Brown vs. Board of Education racism. Separate is never equal, and separation is itself a political act of power production fueled by fear. As she notes in PMLA (and, remember, this is the journal that the very literary critics Barr names read), To be a literary critic who is afraid of starships (not to mention phasers, warp drives, photon torpedoes, and other starship accoutrements) is to be a literary critic who is antifiction. An antifiction literary critic is as absurd as a Jewish pope (432). Write on! But hers is not the righteous indignation of a Gayatri Spivak; no, Marleen S. Barr has the knowing Socratic glint within her eyes that lets you know that she knows that the world could be a better place if we\u27d all just admit our role in keeping it the way it is. It was on a beautiful bright day in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida that we first spoke with Barr about her new novel, her current critical work, talking horses, alien husbands, and plastic-covered furniture. That conversation conducted during the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts Conference serves as the basis for this interview

“My Books Will Be Read By Millions of People!”: The LaGuardia Community College Octavia E. Butler Project on Wikipedia.”

[This book chapter (“My Books Will Be Read By Millions of People!”: The LaGuardia Community College Octavia E. Butler Wikipedia Project.”) originally appeared in Approaches to Teaching the Works of Octavia Butler, edited by Tarshia Stanley, published by the Modern Language Association of America. Pages 45-51. ISBN: 9781603294157] In this essay, we examine the innovative community college classroom project that resulted in the first installment of Wikipedia Project Octavia E. Butler: the crafting of thorough, rigorously researched, well-written Wikipedia entries for Butler’s works by teams of undergraduate students. The first part of the essay focuses on our design of a student-centered system which would guide our students in becoming experts in a Butler novel while satisfying the goals a traditional composition and research class—to collect, analyze, and use sources as well as to develop ideas by drafting, revising, citing and documenting sources, critiquing, and editing final drafts. Our discussion addresses how community-based learning enabled our students to gain the necessary background to become authorities on different aspects of Butler’s work, detailing the stages of our teamwork and the advantages of being supported by a librarian who provides integrated and ongoing information and digital literacy instruction. The second part of the essay talks about the benefits of this type of assignment for the teaching and scholarship of Butler. For us, perhaps the most important outcome was that each student participating in the project demonstrated both a broad and a deep understanding and appreciation of Butler’s bestselling novel. Another significant benefit of this type of project is the product it generates and what this product means for the dissemination of knowledge on Butler’s work and the scholarship surrounding it. This increase in visibility may be especially important for Butler scholarship, which ordinarily is only accessible to a minute, privileged part of the world, as most resources are either contained in book chapters or in the paywalled databases of academia

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: Setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others.Fil: Pereira Boeger, Walter Antonio. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Valim, Michel P.. Universidade Salgado de Oliveira (universo); BrasilFil: Zaher, Hussam. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Rafael, José A.. Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia; BrasilFil: Forzza, Rafaela C.. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade; BrasilFil: Reis Percequillo, Alexandre. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Serejo, Cristiana S.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Garraffoni, André R.S.. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; BrasilFil: Santos, Adalberto J.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Slipinski, Adam. Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation (csiro);Fil: Londoño Burbano, Alejandro. Fundación Miguel Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Santos, Allan P.M.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Margaría, Cecilia B.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; ArgentinaFil: Digiani, Maria Celina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; ArgentinaFil: Aquino, Daniel Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; ArgentinaFil: Contreras, Eugenia Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Biología de la Altura; ArgentinaFil: Gallardo, Fabiana Soledad. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; ArgentinaFil: Agrain, Federico Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; ArgentinaFil: Falcao Salles, Frederico. Universidade Federal de Viçosa.; BrasilFil: Flores, Gustavo Ernesto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; ArgentinaFil: Dellapé, Pablo Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; ArgentinaFil: Johnsson, Rodrigo. Universidade Federal da Bahia; BrasilFil: Duarte Simoes, Tacio Vitor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagóica. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Facultad de Ciencias Naturales - Sede Esquel. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica; ArgentinaFil: Porto, Tiago J.. Universidade Federal da Bahia; BrasilFil: Pardiñas, Ulises Francisco J.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Colombo,Wesley D.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Tomaszewska, Wioletta. No especifíca;Fil: Ovando, Ximena Maria Constanza. Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora; BrasilFil: Wosiacki, Wolmar B.. No especifíca;Fil: Leite,Yuri L.R.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; Brasi

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Developing pedagogical expertise in modern language learning and specific learning difficulties through collaborative and open educational practices

This paper analyses teachers’ engagement with collaborative and open educational practices to develop their pedagogical expertise in the field of modern language (ML) learning and specific learning difficulties (SpLD). The study analyses the findings of a staff development initiative at the Department of Languages, Open University, UK, in 2013, that aimed to support language teachers in distance learning to develop a better understanding of key issues in relation to MLs and adult learners with SpLD and dyslexia in particular. It discusses the motivational benefits of online collaboration for teachers’ professional development and explains the implications of using a range of network-based tools to facilitate the construction of active shared learning and the joint production of open-access learning resources aimed at supporting adult language learners with SpLD in distance learning settings

Outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis in Antofagasta Region. Chile 2010

Outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis are a public health problem. Norovirus is known as the most common cause (50%). In Chile, immediate notifi cation allows surveillance of these events. We describe an acute gastroenteritis outbreak that occurred in Antofagasta region, between March and April 2010. An observational study was conducted to perform the outbreak investigation. Local residents who met case defi nition were included. Stool samples, epidemiological surveys and environmental samples were requested. The outbreak began approximately on March 8, 2010 and lasted until April 28 with 31,036 reported cases (rate 54 per 1000 inhabitants). The most affected age group was between 25 and 44 years, and diarrhea was the main symptom (97% of cases). We determined the presence of norovirus genogroup II in clinical and environmental samples. This outbreak was caused by consumption of raw vegetables from La Chimba, which were watered and contaminated with treated sewage containing low concentration of free residual chlorine. Subsequently, the outbreak spread from person to person in a poor sanitary environment.Departamento de Epidemiología del MINSAL y la Seremi de Salud de la Región Metropolitana. Chile