The Anthropocene, Cli-Fi and Food: Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam

This article examines Margaret Atwood’s climate fiction novel MaddAddam (2013), a dystopian cautionary text in which food production and eating become ethical choices related to individual agency and linked to sustainability. In the novel, both mainstream environmentalism and deep ecologism are shown to be insufficient and fundamentally irrelevant in the face of a submissive population, in a state of passivity that environmental studies scholar Stacy Alaimo relates to a scientific and masculinist interpretation of the Anthropocene. The article focuses on edibility as a key element in negotiating identity, belonging, cohabitation and the frontiers of the new MaddAddam postapocalyptic community

Discussing the Feminist Agenda in Margaret Atwood's Dystopian Novels. "The Handmaid’s Tale" and "MaddAddam"

In this article, an analysis is made of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and MaddAddam (2013) from a gendered and generic perspective. The Handmaid’s Tale was one of the novels that marked the dystopian turn in the 1980s writing of fiction, while MaddAddam is, for some critics, a feminist critical dystopia in which the ending retains hope for a better future. Consequently, both novels belong a priori to a specific branch of the dystopian genre: the feminist dystopian novel. However, some ambiguity or even contradictory readings can be inferred in both texts. This article explores The Handmaid’s Tale and MaddAddam’s portrayal of women and their acts of resistance in order to assess these texts’ liberatory or still inherently conservative messages of their endings, especially regarding women

The autobiography of my mother looking at the past with old eyes

The Autobiography of My Mother (Kincaid 1996) is Xuela’s story. Xuela as the narrator and protagonist of the novel “moves between the imaginary world of the text and the real world of Kincaid’s life” (Edwards 116-17). The Palimpsest metaphor shows to be useful to represent the ‘palimpsesting of her identity’ that Xuela does in her autobiography because the final perception of Xuela’s identity implies a selection of experiences in which the visible surface makes it possible to perceive not only the young Xuela but that who never was and the life she did not allow herself to live

Two legged wombs: surrogacy and margaret atwood’s the handmaid’s tale.

Published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale is Margaret Atwood’s most famous work and her first dystopian novel, since all her previous fiction had adjusted to the conventions of realism. In general the plot of any dystopia should be based on factuality, or in other words, it has to be a plausible representation of the future of a concrete society. However, either when the novel was published or now that more than thirty years have passed, there is no such thing as “handmaids.” Nothing of the sort exist in any democratic country (Kay n.p.). However, as Chaterjee points out, there are many “disturbing” overlaps between Atwood’s handmaids’ struggle and the real experience and events that take place in contemporary surrogacy agreements. (n.p.). This paper examines Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale from a 21st- century posthumanist perspective, which discusses the economic and ethical implications and no insignificant shocking similarities between the handmaids in the novel and our present-day surrogate mothers

The Ebony Tower: Mythical Women and Powerful Men

The Ebony Tower (1975) es una novela corta deliberada en su artificialidad que constituye un perfecto ejemplo de la permanente reformulación de temas que John Fowles lleva a cabo a lo largo de toda su obra—como los pares opuestos de creadores vs coleccionistas, cómo el nacimiento y la clase social marcan la diferencia de oportunidades en la vida, la dificultad para comunicarse—, elementos míticos y una perspectiva existencialista. Teniendo en cuenta que la novela corta sigue escrupulosamente los pasos del “viaje del héroe” (Campbell, 1993: 245), el propósito de este artículo es, primeramente, debatir los elementos míticos en el texto de Fowles y cómo los personajes coinciden y divergen de sus arquetipos míticos. Y, en segundo lugar, probar que esos roles míticos podrían ser patriarcales y estar contribuyendo a mantener posiciones de subyugación para las mujeres ya como musas, colaboradoras o simplemente como objetos sexuales del deseo y para procrear. The Ebony Tower (1975) is a self-conscious novella that constitutes a perfect example of John Fowles’s consistent reformulation, throughout his work, of themes—such as the oppositional pair creator versus collector, how birth and social class grant different opportunities in life, the difficulty to communicate—, mythical elements and the existentialist perspective. Considering that the novella follows scrupulously each stage in “the hero’s quest” (Campbell, 1993: 245), the purpose of this article is, firstly, to discuss the mythical elements in the novella and how the characters coincide on and depart from what can be expected from their mythical archetypes. And secondly, to prove that these mythical roles could have a patriarchal shape and may contribute to maintaining subjugated positions for the women whether as muses, collaborators or simply as sexual objects of desire and procreation

The Americans: domesticity and regendering of classical spy narratives

In this article an analysis is made of the first season of the television series The Americans from a cultural perspective which shows the relevance of the series within the context of the first decades of the 21st century. The series belongs to a specific genre that used to be masculine and mainly centered on the conflicts resulting from the confrontation between individual male loyalties and their identities conditioned by their belonging to a political order. By humanizing the usual villains in the spy genre, the series introduces a certain moral ambiguity and the idea that political ideologies lose their value in the face of individual motivations. This article explores the use of the conventions of the spy genre and how the model is adapted to allow for the treatment of present-day concerns related to the individual’s struggle (now female as well) to reconcile public and private life

Autonomous Mobility: A Potential Opportunity to Reclaim Public Spaces for People

ABSTRACT: The advent of autonomous vehicles (AVs) has the potential to drastically change society and the way we understand, plan and design cities and regions, just as automobiles did a century ago. In the current context of climate change, sustainable urban environments based on active mobility (walking and cycling), urban proximity and green spaces, are increasingly in demand, leading to the emergence of new interventions and urban models. Although these trends may be affected by the arrival of AVs, most decision-makers and planners still do not address these issues in their current planning. This is because of the confusion associated with the diversity of impacts of AVs, but also by the lack of design recommendations and planning tools. To shed light on these aspects, this paper reviews the relationship between mobility and urban public space, the impacts of AVs on urban space and design proposals and strategies aimed at configuring driverless cities, with special focus on street design. The results of the review show that the implementation of AVs can be a great opportunity to liberate urban space and reclaim it for people, in line with new urban models such as the superblocks (Barcelona), the 15-minute city (Paris), or tactical urbanism interventions against COVID-19. However, it may also entail risks such as a reduction in active mobility or public transport use. The magnitude and direction of these impacts will depend on crucial decisions that need to be taken now, such as encouraging shared used over ownership, and establishing citizen-centred urban planning and design objectives and strategies to make AV deployment the most beneficial for all.This work is based on the research project “InnovAtive Urban and Transport planning tOols for the implemeNtation of new mObility systeMs based On aUtonomouS driving”–AUTONOMOUS, 2020–2023, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation/ERDF (EU)-State Programme for Knowledge Generation and Scientific and Technological Strengthening of the R&D&i System (PID2019-110355RB-I00)

Acceso abierto a la mejor evidencia disponible en cuidados, herramienta para la mejora de la calidad asistencial

Ponencias de la Segunda Conferencia internacional sobre brecha digital e inclusión social, celebrada del 28 al 30 de octubre de 2009 en la Universidad Carlos III de MadridLos antecedentes: La variabilidad en la práctica clínica tiene consecuencias en los resultados de salud, no sólo en su pronóstico o en la aparición de posibles efectos secundarios, sino también en la calidad de vida percibida por los pacientes o en el coste-efectividad de las intervenciones. Por otro lado el volumen de información científica en este ámbito es de tal magnitud, que es necesario realizar una síntesis fiable y actualizada, mediante revisiones sistemáticas de la literatura existente. La Práctica clínica Basada en la Evidencias contribuye a disminuir la incertidumbre a la hora de tomar la mejor decisión de cuidados que posibilite consecuentemente la obtención del mejor resultado posible. Los objetivos: Desde 2007 el Plan de Calidad para el Sistema Nacional de Salud del Ministerio de Sanidad y Política Social financia el acceso gratuito desde cualquier lugar de España a todos los recursos electrónicos sobre cuidados de salud basados en la evidencia del Instituto Joanna Briggs, llamados JBI COnNECT. El objetivo último de esta colaboración es promover una atención de calidad en el ámbito de los cuidados, a través de la práctica clínica basada en la mejor evidencia disponible. Las conclusiones: Este acceso esta fomentando desde su inicio una práctica de calidad, un uso juicioso de las evidencias disponibles y un desarrollo de la utilización de la investigación entre los profesionales de la práctica clínica. También esta contribuyendo a la disminución de la variabilidad de las actuaciones de enfermería

Contenido semántico y sensibilidad composicional al contexto

A variety of theorists have recently argued against the explanation of the semantic content of a sentence as a minimal proposition claiming that intentional aspects of the context are often needed to obtain a minimal proposition. Minimalists such as Borg, however, still defend intention-insensitive minimal propositions for sentences in a narrow context and provide solutions or dissolutions against incompleteness objections. In this paper, we show that these putative defences of propositionalism do not serve to avoid some additional genuine objections which arise from compositional context-sensitivity. We aim to show that there are complex expressions which compositionally demand intention-sensitive pragmatic effects in a mandatory way and, for that reason, they provide us with evidence against the type of propositionalism that substantiates the defence of semantic minimalism.Algunos teóricos han rechazado recientemente la concepción del contenido semántico de una oración como proposición mínima afirmando que para conseguir una proposición mínima a menudo se necesitan aspectos intencionales del contexto. Sin embargo, minimalistas como Borg siguen defendiendo que las oraciones en un contexto estrecho expresan proposiciones mínimas sin tener en cuenta las intenciones y lo defienden resolviendo o disolviendo las objeciones de incompletitud. En este artículo mostramos que esas supuestas defensas del proposicionalismo no sirven para evitar otras objeciones genuinas que dependen de la sensibilidad contextual composicional. Nuestro objetivo es mostrar que hay expresiones complejas que demandan composicionalmente de modo obligatorio efectos pragmáticos cuya recuperación depende de las intenciones y, por ello, proporcionan evidencia contra el tipo de proposicionalismo que fundamenta la defensa del minimismo semántico.Research for this paper was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, EXCELENCIA program, project FFI2016-79317-P

El aprendizaje de audacity para la edición y producción de contenidos didácticos digitales

En la sociedad actual resulta indispensable proporcionar una capacitación adecuada a los futuros docentes para que puedan desarrollar metodologías innovadoras, donde las TIC y los recursos didácticos digitales desempeñan un papel clave y permiten que los conocimientos y habilidades del alumno tengan un desarrollo exitoso. Esta investigación se aborda desde una metodología cuantitativa, mediante el uso de un cuestionario creado ad hoc sobre aprendizaje y la evaluación de la herramienta Audacity para la creación de recursos didácticos digitales en el Grado de Educación Infantil de la Universidad de Córdoba. Los resultados muestran una valoración positiva de la experiencia vivida, así como de la herramienta estudiada.In present society it is essential to provide the necessary training to future teachers so they can accomplish innovative teaching and learning methodologies, where ICT and digital learning resources play a key role that will enable the student’s knowledge and skills to be successfully developed. This research is approached from a quantitative methodology, by using a questionnaire created ad hoc about the learning and the assessment of the Audacity software tool for creating digital didactic resources, in the Early Childhood Education Degree from the University of Cordoba. The results obtained show a positive assessment of the tool studied and its subsequent use for audiovisual productions