Drawing fire

While cartoonists at a ‘Cartoons for Peace’ conference generally claimed that freedom of expression was a byword in their respective newspapers, many, in the same breath, identified the cartoon work of others that they would not dare submit. This divergence, argues the author in this commentary, suggests that cartoon taste and acceptability are based on learned or innate cultural traits and sensibilities and that self-censorship perhaps plays a bigger role in the thinking of cartoonists than many might admit, or even realise. So just as one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter, so the attitudes of cartoonists are likely to have a similar range

The political cartoonist’s right to freedom of expression

On 11 August 2003, after producing some 1600 cartoons, Malcolm Evans was controversially dismissed from his position as editorial cartoonist at The New Zealand Herald because he had refused to accept that the editor had the right to dictate the subjects he might address. This invited commentary for Pacific Journalism Review is published to further debate. Evans argues: ‘While I have always respected the editor’s right to reject a cartoon, he can never have the right to direct it – an understanding that was mutually agreed as a condition of my hire when I took the Herald job six years earlier. Rejection is an editor’s prerogative – direction is censorship. Although I have moved on personally as a professional cartoonist, I am concerned that the precedent set has the potential to affect the work of others.

In memoriam Virginia Valentine

Virginia Valentine, who died on 30th November 2010, was an influential member of the growing international community of commercialsemioticians

Hunter-gatherer and Environmental Relations during the Mesolithic of Atlantic Europe.

Environmental change is a major concern for society today. This concern extends the flooding of people’s homes, the reduction of biodiversity due to habitat loss, and the threat to economic prosperity where it is dependent upon the exploitation of wild resources. In terms of past climate change there has been significant amounts of research conducted into the Pleistocene to Holocene transition. This project explores the evidence for environmental change, of a less severe yet potentially disruptive amplitude, and its influence on the behaviour and decisions of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers on the Atlantic façade of Europe. The archaeological record is reviewed with a particular focus on the 8.2K cal bp event and the 2nd half of the 5th millennium cal BC. The resulting datasets are interrogated utilising a multiproxy approach and consideration is given to that which is archaeologically visible and that which is not. The limitations of the archaeological record are addressed through the development of new methodologies and interpretative frameworks. The findings are significant, as the severity of the 8.2k cal bp event at northern latitudes is confirmed, although this falls short of being able to assert a total abandonment at higher latitudes. During the 5th millennium cal BC, a period of instability related to more energetic shoreline conditions has been identified and this is very likely a regional phenomenon. The period of instability is accompanied by changes in hunter-gatherer behaviour, and this includes changes in the spatial organisation of settlement, and adjustments to procurement strategies. The overall situation is that environmental change is the norm during the Mesolithic of the Atlantic façade, almost certainly due to its highly moderated climate. The adaptability of hunter-gatherer societies in response to the changes brought about by fluctuations in the moderating mechanisms is strongly attested. In many ways not much has changed, as flooded homes, reductions in biodiversity and changes in the resources available for exploitation are all observed

A study of the effect of topic preference upon three factors in written composition.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

LOVE KILLS: Exploring Young Women in Shakespeare

Taking a look at how William Shakespeare writes young women (particularly in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet), Evans puts forth the idea that love kills. There are no young and strong characters that are powerful, entirely as women, in the works of Shakespeare. To further put forth the idea Evans comments on a production of his own design, by the same name, which brings together the Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet