Alienazione e agalmatofilia in un racconto saudita. al-Blūzah (La camicetta) di ‘Abduh Ḫāl

This paper intends to be a short contribution to the studies on the Saudi Arabian literature. It presents a short story, al-Blūzah (The Blouse), by ‘Abduh Ḫāl (1962-), published in 2001, and analyzes both its style and themes. This short story seems to have several of the literary strategies that ‘Abduh Ḫāl uses some years later in his novel Tarmī bi-šarar (Throwing Sparks) in 2009, winner of the Booker Prize 2010. The paper focuses on some important aspects of the production of ‘Abduh Ḫāl, such as the urbanization of rural populations, internal migration, loneliness, segregation, social alienation and some psychological pathologies derived from these phenomena

L'Arabo Anziano (The old Arab). A Forgotten Book by Yaʿqūb Ṣanūʿ

L’arabo anziano is a poem published in Cairo in 1869 and authored by Yaʿqūb Ṣanūʿ (1839 – 1912), an Egyptian Jew of Italian origins who is considered as one of the pioneers of the Arab theatre and one of the first Egyptian nationalists. The poem is a precious testimony for the time Ṣanūʿ spent in Livorno, Italy, and reflects his links with Freemasonry. This article intends to focus on the role of this poem for a comprehension of the rise of nationalism in Yaʿqūb Ṣanūʿ’s ideals and tries to shed light on his Italian experience through new unpublished documents found in the Historical Archives of the Jewish community of Livorn

The Architecture of Resistance: Pivoting the Informal Economy

In the struggle for growth, the architecture of informal commerce is complicit in the perpetuation of an impermanent and uncertain existence that favors acquiescence over resistance. More is required of it. An architectural intervention can provide pivot points upon which to direct the flow of unregulated commerce and subvert state-sponsored efforts to peripheralize it

Changing Tides for Captive Marine Mammals: What the Future Holds for Captive Care Requirements

When the marine mammal entertainment industry emerged in the 1960s, companies like SeaWorld captured orcas and dolphins from the wild and put the animals on display to bring joy and entertainment to the masses. In 1972, Congress enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which prohibited the capture of marine mammals from the wild. In response to this legislation, SeaWorld and other parks implemented breeding programs to maintain their mammal collection without having to capture wild animals. Conservationists and animal rights activists have protested this practice for decades, but only recently has the larger public engaged in widespread disapproval of marine mammal captivity. In recent years, massive public protest erupted over the conditions in which captive marine mammals, particularly orcas, live. The public rallied alongside conservationists and animal rights activists with unprecedented and unexpected fervor, calling for change in the marine mammal entertainment industry, or even its end altogether. SeaWorld responded to public demand, announcing on March 17, 2016, that it would immediately stop its orca breeding program. Conservationists, animal rights activists, and the public celebrated this monumental step, but questions still remain as to what should be done to improve the lives of the remaining captive marine mammals. There is debate over whether SeaWorld should be compelled to release its captive animals into open-sea sanctuaries, or if it should be allowed to keep its animals in captivity for the remainder of their lives. While there are valid arguments on both sides of this debate, it seems that at least for the time being, marine mammal captivity is here to stay. This Note therefore examines the legal mechanisms that govern the captive care of marine mammals and how the law might be applied in novel ways to ensure more stringent captive care requirements for marine mammals

Multianalytical provenance analysis of Eastern Ross Sea LGM till sediments (Antarctica): Petrography, geochronology, and thermochronology detrital data

In order to reveal provenance of detrital sediments supplied by West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), 19 glaciomarine cores of Last Glacial Maximum age were analyzed from Eastern Ross Sea and Sulzberger Bay. Analytical techniques included petrographic analysis of gravel-sized clasts, geochronology (zircon U-Pb: Zrn-UPb) and thermochronology (apatite fission track: AFT) of sand-sized fractions. Petrographic analysis revealed a similarity with the lithologies presently exposed in western Marie Byrd Land (MBL), with major roles played by low-grade metamorphic rocks and granitoids. Furthermore Zrn-UPb and AFT data allowed to identify the ages of formation and cooling of sedimentary source area, consisting of Cambrian-Precambrian basement (i.e., Swanson Formation in western MBL) which underwent at least two episodes of magma intrusion, migmatization and cooling during Devonian-Carboniferous and Cretaceous-Paleocene times. Scarcity of volcanic clasts in the region of Ross Sea along the front of West Antarctica Ice Streams in association with the occurrence of AFT Oligocene-Pliocene dates suggests a localized tectonic exhumation of portions of MBL, as already documented for the opposite side of West Antarctic Rift System in the Transantarctic Mountains. Furthermore, a Zrn-UPb and AFT population of Late Triassic-Jurassic age indicates the presence of unexposed rocks that formed or metamorphosed at that time in the sedimentary source area, which could be identified in McAyeal Ice Stream and Bindschadler Ice Stream catchment areas