Poetry in foreign language teaching. Aspects of a major challenge

Debating the role of literature, and poetry in particular, in foreign language teaching (FLT), many scholars underscore the enormous potential represented by literature when it comes to developing the students’ critical thinking, analytical skills, ability to understand other cultures and emphatic attitude. Nevertheless, poetry represents a challenge within foreign language teaching. Focusing on my personal experience of teaching Italian at Lund University, Sweden, where XXth century poetry is included in the literature course at the undergraduate level (7,5 ECTS credits), I will first discuss what difficulties students encounter when faced with the task of reading poetry. I’ll then provide an example of a lecture in early XXth century Italian poetry from D’Annunzio to Hermeticism to show some methods that can be used to facilitate the students’ comprehension and how their motivation can be increased

A New Look on Ekphrasis : an Eye-tracking Experiment on a Cinematic Example

Taking the modern definition of ekphrasis as a verbal representation of a work of art as a starting point, we try to broaden it in this contribution. We agree with intermediality theorist Lars Elleström that ekphrasis falls into the category of “media representation”, defined as the representation of a source medium in a target medium. We argue that the target medium does not need to be a verbal one and what matters is the energeia, the vividness of the description, leading in turn to enargeia, a vivid image in the mind of the receiver. The energeia-enargeia relation is an aspect that is often neglected in modern theoretical debates about ekphrasis. We believe that there cannot be ekphrasis without a description making the receiver “see” the object with his/her inner eye. At the same time, following Seymour Chatman and Werner Wolf, we argue that description is not a prerogative of the verbal medium and that even the cinematic medium can describe, using different strategies. In the second part of this contribution, these hypotheses are tested empirically with the help of the eye-tracking technique. A short sequence of Christian Petzold’s film Barbara (2012), which constitutes an example of cinematic ekphrasis, is shown to thirty-three participants. The evidence gathered from the recording of their eye-movements confirms the relevance of the energeia-enargeia relation: the eye activity increases at some particular points of the sequence, points corresponding to the descriptive activity of the camera. Ekphrasis is thus a kind of embodied experience

How international human rights law influences domestic law in Africa

International law plays an important role in framing the content of national law. This is evident with regard to norms of environmental law, crime prevention and human rights, to name just a few areas where norms adopted by global and regional organisations influence, and to a certain extent harmonise, national legal and policy frameworks. The focus of this article is on how international human rights law influences the content of national law whether, for example, through direct application of international human rights law by national courts or through inspiring new national legislation based on international instruments. It also considers the impact of "international expert" made law, such as, the decisions of regional and UN quasi-judicial bodies and courts. The article provides an overview of these issues in relation to Africa highlighting pertinent examples from national case law and legislation illustrating particular points.http://www.ldd.org.za/am201

Human rights developments in the African Union during 2014

The year 2014 saw the adoption by the AU Assembly of a protocol providing the African Court with jurisdiction over international crimes, and a revised protocol on the Pan-African Parliament providing it with power to adopt ‘model legislation’. With regard to implementation, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa affected the effective functioning of, in particular, the African Commission. However, despite this and other challenges, the African Commission adopted important normative instruments, such as a resolution on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, responded to violations through urgent appeals and press releases, and engaged with states through missions and the state reporting procedure. The Commission also adopted some interesting jurisprudence in the period under review. The African Children’s Rights Committee consolidated its position as the main regional body for the protection of children’s rights in Africa. The African Court received an increasing number of cases and handed down two judgments on merits and an advisory opinion.http://reference.sabinet.co.za/sa_epublication/ju_ahrljhb201

Potential animal reservoir to SARS-CoV

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) är den epidemi som 2003 spred sig från Guangdong provinsen i Kina till 26 länder runt om i världen. Sjukdomen som orksakades av SARS-coronavirus (SARS-CoV), drabbade under utbrottet 8098 personer och tog 774 liv. SARS är ett utmärkt exempel på hur en dödlig sjukdom kan komma från ”ingenstans” för att snabbt, spridas med hjälp av vårt globaliserade samhälle. Viruset utsöndras med luftvägssekret, feces och urin och kan under fuktiga och gynnsamma omständigheter vara infektionsdugligt i upp till fyra dygn. I regel krävs direktkontakt eller nära kontakt mellan smittbärare och frisk individ för att sprida viruset vidare. Även fall där personer har blivit smittade genom avloppsvatten har rapporterats. Coronavirus ger i vanliga fall lindrigare luftvägsinfektioner. SARS-CoV var däremot något helt nytt och utbrottet 2003 kom oväntat. Än idag är man osäker på uppkomsten av viruset; konspiratörer hävdar att det är ett virus från rymden eller att det är tillverkat på laboratoriet av USA för att hindra Kinas ökande ekonomiska makt. Forskning har dock utförts som pekar åt att det skulle komma från djurriket. Med största sannolikhet har djurhandlare som handlar med levande, ibland viltfångade, djur blivit infekterade av maskpalmmård som fångas eller föds upp för dess kötts skull. Det visade sig dock med ytterligare forskning att den vilda populationen maskpalmmård totalt avsaknar antikroppas mot SARS-CoV och är därför troligtvis inte virusets naturliga reservoar. Fladdermussläktet hästskonäsor agerar dock reservoar för SARS-Co-liknande virus. Eftersom dessa två arter dessutom är geografiskt sammankopplade tror man att det kan ha skett en infektion mellan hästskonäsor och maskpalmmård som sedan fungerade som smittspridare till människor. Ytterligare forskning måste ske för att man ska kunna säkerställa den fullständiga smittvägen för SARS-CoV och den naturliga reservoaren för att kunna förhindra ytterligare utbrott.Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is the disease that 2003 caused an epidemic which had its origin in Guangdong province in China and spread to 26 countries around the globe. The causative agent SARS-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infected 8098 people from which 774 died. SARS is an excellent example of how a deadly disease can appear from nowhere and rapidly spread with the help of our modern globalised world. The virus is excreted via respiratory droplets, faeces and urine. In favourable environments can be infectious for up to four days. The normal route of transmission is though direct or close contact to an infected person, though a broken sewagepipe is thought to be the cause of one outbreak, the normal route of transmission is through direct or close contact to an infected person. Coronavirus generally only cause mild pneumonia with flu-like symptoms, SARS-CoV on the other hand was something completely new and unexpected. To this day the origin of the virus is still unknown; conspirators claim that it is a virus from outer space or a man-made virus, constructed by USA to slow down the economical growth of China. Research suggests that it has its origin in the animal kingdom. It is with great probability that an animal trader who trades with live, sometimes wild, animals has become infected from masked palm civet, an animal captured or reared for its meat. However the wild population of masked palm civet does not express antibodies for SARS-CoV, which leads to the conclusion that the animal most likely isn´t the natural reservoir for the virus. It has however been shown that the wild population of horseshoe bats does act as a reseroir to a SARS-like CoV. Since the two species are geographically connected a theory is that a horseshoe bat may have infected a masked palm civet who in turn infected an animal trader. Further research is needed for the complete transmission of SARS-CoV, which is of great importance in order to prevent future possible outbreaks

Molecular profiling of male breast cancer - Lost in translation?

Breast cancer is the most common cancer form in women and it has been extensively studied on the molecular level. Male breast cancer (MBC), on the other hand, is rare and has not been thoroughly investigated in terms of transcriptional profiles or genomic aberrations. Most of our understanding of MBC has therefore been extrapolated from knowledge of female breast cancer. Although differences in addition to similarities with female breast cancer have been reported, the same prognostic and predictive markers are used to determine optimal management strategies for both men and women diagnosed with breast cancer. This review is focused on prognosis for MBC patients, prognostic and predictive factors and molecular subgrouping; comparisons are made with female breast cancer. Information was collected from relevant literature on both male and female breast cancer from the MEDLINE database between 1992 and 2014. MBC is a heterogeneous disease, and on the molecular level many differences compared to female breast cancer have recently been revealed. Two distinct subgroups of MBC, luminal M1 and luminal M2, have been identified which differ from the well-established intrinsic subtypes of breast cancer in women. These novel subgroups of breast cancer therefore appear unique to MBC. Furthermore, several studies report inferior survival for men diagnosed with breast cancer compared to women. New promising prognostic biomarkers for MBC (e.g. NAT1) deserving further attention are reviewed. Further prospective studies aimed at validating the novel subgroups and recently proposed biomarkers for MBC are warranted to provide the basis for optimal patient management in this era of personalized medicine. This article is part of a Directed Issue entitled: Rare Cancers

Criminalising homelessness and survival strategies through municipal by-laws : colonial legacy and constitutionality

The by-laws of South African municipalities are full of provisions criminalising the poor. For example, begging and sleeping in the open is prohibited in many cities. Hawking goods or providing services is restricted. Many of these by-laws are rarely enforced while others are enforced to provide a sense of security among the privileged by removing undesirable persons from the streets. Action against the poor is often presented as being taken in their interest; the homeless should live in shelters, beggars should find employment. But it is through the action against them that many lose their livelihood and what little they own. Clearly more could be done to assist the vulnerable. However, criminalisation is not a solution. The paper traces the colonial history of vagrancy laws and their relationship to by-laws criminalising outside living and survival strategies of poor persons in the four largest metropolitan areas in South Africa: Johannesburg, Tshwane (Pretoria), eThekwini (Durban) and Cape Town. It shows how vagrancy legislation and related by-laws have been, and are being, used for social control of the poor, who have throughout history been viewed as a threat to the elite. The article further explores the constitutionality of anti-poor by-laws and the prospects of a constitutional challenge before the courts.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjhr202020-10-03hj2019Centre for Human Right

Interpreting regional human rights treaties

Whether included in national bills of rights or regional or global human rights treaties, human rights are often vague. They require interpretation. The article illustrates how regional human rights tribunals have largely followed the rules for treaty interpretation set out in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In the interpretation of rights and their limitations the European Court has traditionally put greater emphasis on regional consensus than the Inter-American Court and the African Commission which often look outside their continents to treaties and soft law of the UN and the jurisprudence of other regional tribunals. However, there is a trend towards universalism also in the jurisprudence of the European Court. The article illustrates that the reasoning of the regional tribunals is sometimes inadequate. The quality of the reasoning of the tribunals is important as it provides states and individuals with predictability so that action can be taken to avoid human rights violations. Good reasoning may also help to achieve compliance with the decisions and societal acceptance on controversial issues.Em geral, normas de direitos humanos são imprecisas, quer em cartas nacionais de direitos, quer em tratados regionais ou globais de direitos humanos. Essas normas, portanto, demandam interpretação. Este artigo revela como tribunais regionais de direitos humanos têm seguido amplamente as regras de interpretação de tratados estabelecidas pela Convenção de Viena sobre o Direito dos Tratados. Ao interpretar os direitos estabelecidos e as limitações a eles impostas, a Corte Europeia tradicionalmente reserva um espaço maior para o consenso regional do que a Corte Interamericana e a Comissão Africana, as quais frequentemente olham para além de seus continentes, para tratados e instrumentos quase legais [soft law] da ONU e para a jurisprudência de outras cortes regionais. Este artigo defende que a fundamentação utilizada por tribunais regionais para suas decisões é por vezes inadequada. A qualidade da fundamentação judicial nesses tribunais é importante, uma vez que garante previsibilidade para que Estados e indivíduos possam evitar futuras violações de direitos humanos. Uma boa fundamentação das decisões também contribui para sua melhor implementação, bem como para uma melhor aceitação pela sociedade de temas controversos.Incluidos en declaraciones nacionales de derechos o en tratados de derechos humanos regionales o mundiales, los derechos humanos a menudo carecen de precisión. Requieren de interpretación. El presente artículo ilustra la forma en que los tribunales regionales de derechos humanos han seguido en gran medida las reglas de interpretación de tratados establecidas en la Convención de Viena sobre el Derecho de los Tratados. En la interpretación de los derechos y sus limitaciones, tradicionalmente el Tribunal Europeo ha puesto mayor énfasis en el consenso regional que la Corte Interamericana y la Comisión Africana, que a menudo miran hacia fuera de sus continentes y recurren al derecho indicativo y tratados de Naciones Unidas y a la jurisprudencia de otros tribunales regionales. Sin embargo, se observa una tendencia hacia el universalismo también en la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Europeo. El presente artículo muestra que el razonamiento que presentan los tribunales regionales suele ser inadecuado. La calidad del razonamiento es importante ya que les brinda previsibilidad a los Estados e individuos de modo que se puedan tomar medidas para evitar las violaciones de los derechos humanos. Un buen razonamiento también puede ayudar a lograr un mayor cumplimiento de las decisiones y aceptación social respecto de cuestiones controvertidas.http://www.surjournal.org/eng/index.phpnf201