Gods of physical violence, stopping at nothing: Masculinity, religion, and art in the work of Zora Neale Hurston

This essay examines the ways in which discourses concerning masculinity, religion, and aesthetics converge in the work of Zora Neal Hurston. This convergence participates in a much larger confluence of these three discourses during the Harlem Renaissance. The migration of hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the rural south to the urban north provoked massive changes in almost every aspect of African American life. It was a period when, in Du Bois\u27s words, African American men felt their best chance to attain self-conscious manhood. In fact, definitions and ideals of manhood were thrown into flux, and a newly developing secular intelligentsia found itself in an uneasy and sometimes competitive relationship with older models of black masculinity associated with the black preacher. While cosmopolitan authors like Du Bois sometimes created images of black manhood that stood in continuity with but were not contained by the institutional power of the black preacher, writers of the Harlem Renaissance often pictured the preacher of the old south as corrupt images of failed masculinity, embodiments of an Old Negro culture that had to be transcended to realize New Negro possibilities. Zora Neal Hurston\u27s work tends toward imagining Afro-Christian culture as a failure and often posits that failure in images of failed masculinity. Indeed, the weaknesses of this culture most often inhibit rather than contribute to the development of a vibrant literary and artistic culture. It is true that some characters, such as John Pearson of Jonah\u27s Gourd Vine, approach the admirable status of a kind of virile preacher-poet. Nevertheless, Pearson\u27s best attributes seem to come from something other than his status as a Christian, and in fact the church seems finally unable to accommodate the sources of his physical and imaginative strength. Indeed, ultimately Pearson seems to bear out Hurston\u27s declaration that Negro is not a Christian really, that instead the sources of African American imagination must be found more clearly in folklore and in religious practices associated with voodoo and other neo-African religions. Consistently throughout her autobiographical, folkloric, and fictional writing, she derides Christianity as a fainting and unsexed religion, one without the imaginative resources to produce great literature. Ironically, then, Hurston invokes a form of explicitly anti-Christian primitivism as a model of artistic excellence for the cosmopolitan and modern New Negro. © The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture

Historical Land Fragmentation and its Effects on Genetic Diversity and Parasitism of Island Populations of Podarcis erhardii (Lacertidae, Reptilia)

The Pleistocene land bridge islands in the Aegean Sea make an ideal natural experimental system for testing how island age, area and isolation affect genetic variation. My research focuses on the population genetics of the Aegean wall lizard Podarcis erhardii (Lacertidae, Reptilia), which because of its wide distribution, and poor dispersal abilities is a sensitive indicator of fragmentation history. I predict that genetic diversity will be positively correlated with island area and negatively correlated with age. I also predict that island characteristics, host genetic variability or grazing may impact parasite prevalence. Findings showed that larger islands maintained more genetic diversity than smaller islands and older islands have higher mite loads. Geographic distance was unrelated to genetic divergence. Tick prevalence was significantly associated with past grazing practices. This study provides a unique opportunity to disentangle factors that may influence the retention of genetic diversity and prevalence of ectoparasites in natural populations

Migration and behavioral studies of two adult noctuid (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) species plus feeding observations of some moths common to Iowa

The black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), and armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haworth), are important pests of corn in the Midwest. Scientific research on these pests has often centered on the damaging larval stages. However, earlier studies indicated that the adults of these species migrate into Iowa cornfields. Therefore, research focusing on the adult stages is needed. Specifically, the daily timing of adult eclosion, nocturnal feeding behavior (both laboratory and field) and migration tracking by pollen analysis are addressed;The time of adult eclosion for black cutworm and armyworm was examined. Peak eclosion of both species occurred during 2200 hr. No differences between sexes were observed. Eclosion times of laboratory colonies that were 18 generations removed from the wild were significantly different from eclosion time of colonies 6 generations removed from the wild. Cold storage of 1 week weakened the hourly emergence peaks in both colonies;Posteclosion feeding of laboratory-reared black cutworm and armyworm was also investigated. More than 70% of each species fed in the laboratory within 1 hour after eclosion. Nearly 87% fed within 6 hours;Feral nocturnal feeding of 36 species of moths upon common Iowa plants was also observed. Lepidoptera in the families Noctuidae, Pyralidae, Arctiidae and Geometridae were collected. The first observations of European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis, feeding on nectar were made;Black cutworm and armyworm males, collected from pheromone traps in Iowa and Missouri, as well as male and female black cutworms from blacklight traps in Iowa were examined for pollen. Pollen was found primarily on the proboscis and in decreasing frequency on the eyes, legs and antennae. Fourteen moths collected in Iowa and Missouri were marked with the exotic pollens of Pithecellobium spp. and Calliandra spp. Pithecellobium was found on a single male armyworm. The closest location of these plants is Texas and northern Mexico. Moths marked with exotic pollen were collected during May in Iowa, and April in Missouri. These results provide empirical evidence for immigration into Missouri and Iowa from a more southern location

Multiple Mediations in Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67224/2/10.1177_0308275X9301300404.pd

High Schools Implementing Bring Your Own Technology: A Phenomenological Study of Classroom Teachers\u27 Perspectives

Despite the increased unfolding of new Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) initiatives, confusion exists regarding the defining characteristics of a BYOT classroom. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to investigate how teachers at three different high schools in a southeastern U.S. state define, plan, and implement BYOT within their classrooms. The study took place in a southeastern U.S. state and included 10 BYOT teachers. It was designed to answer four research questions: (a) What are BYOT teachers’ definitions and descriptions of BYOT? (b) What planning and implementation strategies do BYOT teachers use? (c) What, if any, obstacles may inhibit the learning in a BYOT environment? (d) What, if any, resources may enhance the learning in a BYOT environment? Data were collected from interviews completed by 13 BYOT teachers with at least one year of BYOT experience and at least three years of traditional classroom experience. From this group, 12 participated in journaling and 10 joined the focus group. The data were analyzed and three themes emerged: (a) Instant Access, (b) Student Engagement, and (c) Battling Distractions. Participants identified that BYOT allows the opportunity for teachers and students to access information immediately while keeping students engaged in their work; however, students had a difficult time knowing when technology was acceptable to use in the classroom and when it was not permitted. The themes of this study represented a snapshot in time for participants from a school system where 21st century classrooms were enhancing and expanding classroom instruction

Fibre optic sensor to detect heavy metal pollutants in water environments.

Heavy metal ion pollution emerges as a potential threat to humankind and the ecosystem due to their increased spreading into the environment. Detection of highly toxic heavy metal ions requires rapid, simple, sensitive and selective detection methods in water environments. Optical fibre sensors facilitate the remote, continuous and in-situ detection due to their inherent properties. Herein, we report a fibre optic sensor based on evanescent wave absorption to detect heavy metal ions in water environments. Fibre optic sensor has been developed by coating dithizone on the surface of an optical fibre. Selectivity of the mercury, copper and chromium ions using dithizone has been illustrated using spectroscopy based detection approach. Effect of pH on the sensor has been investigated. The possibility of simultaneous multi-ion detection has been investigated. Copper ions concentrations in water has been detected using the developed fibre optic sensor

Innovative Poetry in Britain today

Innovative Poetry in Britain has undergone considerable change in how it is published and read in recent years. This article examines Richard Caddel and Peter Quartermain’s 1998 introduction to their anthology OTHER: British and Irish Poetry since 1970, to derive concepts useful in surveying the field. These concepts include: the poetics of displacement, the politics of British identity, and the tradition of dissent. The article introduces the work of three innovative poets: Robert Sheppard (b. 1955), Caroline Bergvall (b. 1962) and Andrea Brady (b. 1974), in order to illustrate the dynamic range of this writing.En los últimos años, la manera de publicar y de leer la poesía innovadora en el Reino Unido ha experimentado cambios considerables. Como punto de partida para examinar conceptos útiles en este campo, el presente artículo estudia la introducción de Richard Caddel y Peter Quartermain de 1988 a su antología OTHER: British and Irish Poetry since 1970. Entre tales conceptos se incluyen: la poética del desplazamiento, políticas de identidad británica y la tradición de la disensión. El artículo presenta el trabajo de tres poetas innovadores con el fin de ilustrar el dinamismo y la variedad de esta poesía: Robert Sheppard (n. 1955), Caroline Bergvall (n. 1962) y Andrea Brady (n. 1974

Cinematic “pas de deux”: the dialogue between Maya Deren's experimental filmmaking and Talley Beatty's black ballet dancer in A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945)

A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945) is a collaborative enterprise between avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren and African American ballet dancer Talley Beatty. Study is significant in experimental film history – it was one of three films by Deren that shaped the emergence of the postwar avant-garde cinema movement in the US. The film represents a pioneering cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dialogue between Beatty's ballet dancing and Deren's experimental cinematic technique. The film explores complex emotional experiences through a cinematic re-creation of Deren's understanding of ritual (which she borrowed from Katherine Dunham's Haitian experiences after spending many years documenting vodou) while allowing a leading black male dancer to display his artistry on-screen. I show that cultures and artistic forms widely dismissed as incompatible are rendered equivocal. Study adopts a stylized and rhythmic technique borrowed from dance in its attempt to establish cinema as “art,” and I foreground Beatty's contribution to the film, arguing that his technically complex movements situate him as joint author of its artistic vision. The essay also explores tensions between the artistic intentions of Deren, who sought to deprivilege the individual performer in favour of the filmic “ritual,” and Beatty, who sought to display his individual skills as a technically accomplished dancer