Large Group Work: Identity Development and Its Significance for Achieving Race Equality

This article examines and analyses the effectiveness of experiential large group work (between 24–35 students) in delivering community and youth work training at Goldsmiths1. It specifically focuses on students’ development and experience in their understanding of racism and identity. The training has refined a model of learning and teaching that combines large group work and experiential learning. It is in this arena that students explore and critically reflect on their life and work experiences. They learn to process and articulate their feelings and understandings across a wide range of issues that come from learning how to inwardly reflect and to develop an awareness of themselves and change. The article explores the experience of group work training and the significance of students’ development of their racial identity in effectively addressing racism. It draws on both the work of Paulo Freire (1972; 1995) on education and Pat de Maré (1975; 1991) on large groups. The article begins by examining some of the literature on both race and large groups followed by an exploration of racial identity and its development in the group work process in terms of distinct phases. It then discusses the importance of the large group and its relevance to development of racial identities. It concludes by highlighting the significance of the issue of racial identity in addressing racism

Building a politics of connectivity: intercultural in-commonness in Fairtrade

Fairtrade operates its global system through a homogenising but marketable set of standards. Combined with issues around how to include producers in governance, this has led to feelings of disconnection and disenfranchisement for the latter, which are impacting on Fairtrade’s effectiveness and legitimacy. Through a focus on the South African wine industry, this paper argues that the Fairtrade community needs to be reinvigorated through dialogical communication, impactful participation and cultural synthesis to better enact responsibility across its systemic geographical and cultural distances. “Being‐with” its multiple stakeholders makes space for a more responsive, contextual and connected system. Drawing on the ideas of Paulo Freire, the paper concludes that a Fairtrade built on solidarity through a participatory and decentralised system would allow for discussions of the ideals and practices that are essential to negotiating, and not swallowing up, the shifting “we” of Fairtrade and more effectively balancing its local and global responsibilities

Transcriptomic and biochemical investigations support the role of rootstock-scion interaction in grapevine berry quality

Background In viticulture, rootstock genotype plays a critical role to improve scion physiology, berry quality and to adapt grapevine (Vitis viniferaL.) to different environmental conditions. This study aimed at investigating the effect of two different rootstocks (1103 Paulsen - P - and Mgt 101-14 - M) in comparison with not grafted plants - NGC - on transcriptome (RNA-seq and small RNA-seq) and chemical composition of berry skin inPinot noir, and exploring the influence of rootstock-scion interaction on grape quality. Berry samples, collected at veraison and maturity, were investigated at transcriptional and biochemical levels to depict the impact of rootstock on berry maturation. Results RNA- and miRNA-seq analyses highlighted that, at veraison, the transcriptomes of the berry skin are extremely similar, while variations associated with the different rootstocks become evident at maturity, suggesting a greater diversification at transcriptional level towards the end of the ripening process. In the experimental design, resembling standard agronomic growth conditions, the vines grafted on the two different rootstocks do not show a high degree of diversity. In general, the few genes differentially expressed at veraison were linked to photosynthesis, putatively because of a ripening delay in not grafted vines, while at maturity the differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in the synthesis and transport of phenylpropanoids (e.g. flavonoids), cell wall loosening, and stress response. These results were supported by some differences in berry phenolic composition detected between grafted and not grafted plants, in particular in resveratrol derivatives accumulation. Conclusions Transcriptomic and biochemical data demonstrate a stronger impact of 1103 Paulsen rootstock than Mgt 101-14 or not grafted plants on ripening processes related to the secondary metabolite accumulations in berry skin tissue. Interestingly, theMYB14gene, involved in the feedback regulation of resveratrol biosynthesis was up-regulated in 1103 Paulsen thus supporting a putative greater accumulation of stilbenes in mature berries

Psalm 51: "Take not your Holy Spirit away from me"

Even a cursory reading of the New Testament makes one aware of numerous references to the Holy Spirit. The New Testament is thus normally the focus for studies on pneumatology. However, there are many references to jwr in the Old Testament of which 107 refer to God’s activities in nature and in the lives of human beings. In these passages jwr is translated as “spirit”, indicating the   work of the Spirit of God. Pentecostals believe that the presence of the Spirit of God in the lives of believers during the Old Testament period was sporadic and temporary. It was only after the outpouring of God’s Spirit on the Day of Pentecost that the Spirit came to dwell permanently within believers. This article challenges that assumption by analysing Psalm 51. Such analysis reveals that the Spirit of God lived permanently in the life of an Old Testament believer, and ascertains the role of the Spirit of God in the life of the worshipper

High-latitude platform carbonate deposition constitutes a climate conundrum at the terminal Mesoproterozoic

Abstract During the Mesoproterozoic Era, 1600 to 1000 million years ago, global climate was warm with very little evidence of glaciation. Substantial greenhouse warming would have been required to sustain this ice-free state given 5-18% lower solar luminosity. Paleomagnetic data reported here place voluminous ca. 1.2 Ga shallow marine carbonate deposits from India at an unexpectedly high latitude of around 70° from the equator. Previous studies noted high latitudes, but their implication was never considered. Here, we evaluate the temporal-latitudinal distribution of neritic carbonate deposits across the Proterozoic and identify similar deposits from North China that together with those from India are seemingly unique to the late Mesoproterozoic. A uniformitarian interpretation implies that this is cold-water carbonate deposition, but facies similarity with low-latitude neritic deposits rather suggests a hotter climate and elevated polar ocean temperatures of 15–20° or higher. This interpretation represents a climate conundrum that would require much greater greenhouse warming than documented for the Mesoproterozoic

Constraining the chronology of the mashishing dykes from the eastern kaapvaal craton in South Africa

The present study focuses on NNE-trending dykes (sites LDA to LDJ) that occur near Mashishing in the eastern Kaapvaal craton. The Mashishing dykes were previously considered to be coeval and regarded as the extension of the 1.875–1.835Â Ga Black Hills dyke swarm into the sedimentary rocks of the Pretoria Group. Thin sections exhibit well-preserved igneous textures, with primary minerals (e.g., hornblende, clinopyroxene, plagioclase) extensively altered to secondary minerals in most cases. Our dykes can be petrographically grouped as pyroxenite (LDB and LDC), dolerite (LDH) and diorite (remainder of samples). REE and multi-element profiles of pyroxenites and two of the diorites (LDI and LDJ) suggest a common origin of the four dykes, but show no similarity with known mafic units of the Kaapvaal craton. An age estimate between 2208 and 2276Â Ma for dyke LDB, obtained from two overlapping amphibole 40Ar/39Ar plateau results, indicates that these four dykes predates the ~2.05Â Ga Bushveld event. The six remaining dykes have similar chemistry to either the ~2.06Â Ga Dullstroom Lavas (LDG), the 1.875–1.835Â Ga Black Hills dyke swarm (LDH) or the ~1.11Â Ga Umkondo dolerites (LDA, LDD, LDE and LDF). An U–Pb baddeleyite date of 1867 ± 10Â Ma for dyke LDH confirms it as a member of the Black Hills dyke swarm. Demagnetization of eighty-three specimens reveals five stable magnetizations carried by titanomagnetite. Two of these are regarded as magnetic overprints while three magnetizations are likely representative of primary remanences. The corresponding virtual geomagnetic poles (Lat.−26.84°N, Long. 31.66°E; Lat. 26.07°N, Long. 11.01°E, and Lat. 55.84°N, Long. 65.02°E) resemble those from the ~2.23Â Ga Hekpoort Formation, the ~1.88–1.83Â Ga post-Waterberg intrusions, and the ~1.11Â Ga Umkondo dolerites respectively. The above results suggest that the Mashishing dykes, despite similar trends, constitute swarms of different generations