Evangels of Emancipation: Missionary Activity in Postemancipation Sierra Leone, Jamaica, and the United States

White missionaries shaped the development of social relations and the political economies of post-emancipation Anglo-American societies. They imbued their destinations with a particular logic of freedom, stemming from a shared language of evangelicalism, liberalism, and white supremacy. For missionaries in Sierra Leone, Jamaica, and the United States, freedom meant the ability to engage in Christian worship and market relations. Freedom from Christianity or freedom from the market, however, did not factor into the missionary idea of what freedom entailed. In the face of conflict with formerly enslaved people and a hostile planter class, missionaries ultimately abandoned egalitarian and optimistic visions of emancipation, shifting instead towards racial hierarchy and laissez-faire economics. This shift helps explain why the end of slavery ultimately took such a constrained form—why it gave rise to a form of racial caste embedded in capitalism in lieu of a new form of racial egalitarianism across the globe

A World Of Our Own: Climate Change Advocacy In The Anthropocene

The effects of human impacts on the environment are often not comprehensible to people and have to be given meaning through communication. Such impacts, most prominently climate change, have increased to the extent that human actions are the dominant force in planetary biophysical systems. Yet these impacts are for the most part unintentional and not subject to democratic control. A critical discourse analysis of campaign material and media content examines how three advocacy groups – 350, a climate activist organization, The Breakthrough Institute, a think-tank, and The Nature Conservancy, an established conservation organization – discursively construct climate change. The three groups acknowledge the need to more consciously or deliberatively manage environmental impacts, and yet all have very different assumptions, objectives and tactics in their advocacy. Analysis of the communication activities of the organizations and how their ideas are represented and contested in other media shows not only how they construct the particular issue of climate change but their relationship to societal power relationships. How the organizations build their case for action involves discursive acts which define or re-define the boundaries between nature and society and what (and who) is to be included or excluded from political concern. Unless directly challenged, these new formations will reproduce existing power structures and inequalities

“It’s Pretty Hard to Make Friends over a Zoom Meeting Room”: Understanding the Recreational Experiences of Youth with Type 1 Diabetes During COVID-19

Youth with diabetes frequently have limited access to traditional camps because of the need for accessible medical staff (Hill, E., 2019). COVID-19 has made it even more difficult for youth with type 1 diabetes to participate in any youth development programs due to the pandemic restrictions. During the pandemic, it is unknown if youth with T1D are able to engage in any recreational activities that may teach them resilience and independence in managing their medical condition. The purpose of this study was to see how youth with T1D cope in an altered recreation environment as a result of COVID-19 Using an interpretive phenomenological analysis research approach, semi-structured interviews using Zoom were conducted with three youth living with T1D. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the3-step methodology (Smith et al., 2009) including: (1) immersion by reading and re-reading of the interview transcription at the case level, (2) reduction of data into emergent themes within that case, and (3) the identification of recurring patterns across cases. Each participant has previously attended a resilience-based medical specialty youth program, allowing them to compare the changes that occurred in an altered environment influenced by COVID-19. Using the conceptual framework of resilience, presence of compensatory protective effects including insight, independence, fulfilling relationships, initiative, creativity, humor, and the capacity to “distinguish good from bad” (Fraser et al., 1999, p. 135) were highlighted in the participants’ reflections about their experiences. The participants described how family support, engagement in positive relationships, and increased technology function contributed to their coping mechanism as youth living with T1D in the midst of a pandemic

'What sweeter music': issues in choral church music c.1960-2017, with special reference to the Christmas Eve carol service at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and its new commissions.

During the course of the 20th century, the choir of King’s College, Cambridge came to be seen as the epitome of English sacred choral singing. Its annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve, established in 1918 and broadcast since 1928, attracts a global audience. The carol was originally a popular genre which was not primarily intended for liturgical use, but which interacted with and commented on the sacred in an accessible way before becoming a fully accepted part of the church repertoire . The association between carols and King’s therefore illustrates two contrasting approaches to music in worship: one concentrated on the pursuit of excellence, often perceived as elitist or exclusive, and a more ‘utilitarian’ approach focused on participation. Both these approaches will be examined using King’s as a lens. King’s also illustrates the steady increase in standards and expectations of church music since the nineteenth century. Various factors in the evolution of the ‘King’s sound’ will be examined, including the increased emphasis on professionalism in cathedral and collegiate choirs, the establishment of a choir school, cultural expectations surrounding the treble voice, and the availability of recordings and broadcasts as a benchmark to evaluate performance. Every year since 1983, the service has included a commission from a leading composer, including several not necessarily normally associated with church music. The intention behind the commissions was to ensure that the established tradition of the carol service did not become fossilised, but remains in dialogue with the best of secular composition. It also demonstrates that interesting and innovative composers are willing to write for the Anglican liturgy, regardless of their own religious affiliation. This will entail a discussion of other recent commissioning initiatives in church music, such as the Merton Choirbook and Choirbook for the Queen. Finally, I shall examine the King’s commissions and their contribution to the wider choral repertoire. If the most successful commissions are those which adhere closely to the carol format, there are implications for the debate about style and purpose in church music which King’s epitomises

Comparison of head impact measurements via an instrumented mouthguard and an anthropometric testing device

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the efficacy of head impact measurements via an electronic sensor framework, embedded within a mouthguard, against an anthropometric testing device. Development of the former is in response to the growing issue of head impacts and concussion in rugby union. Testing was conducted in a vehicle safety laboratory using a standard impact protocol utilising the headforms of anthropometric testing devices. The headforms were subjected to controlled front and side impacts. For each impact, the linear acceleration and rotational velocity was measured over a 104-ms interval at a frequency of 1 kHz. The magnitude of peak linear acceleration and peak rotational velocity was determined from the measured time-series traces and statistically compared. The peak linear acceleration and rotational velocity had intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.95 and 0.99, respectively. The root-mean-square error between the measurement systems was 4.3 g with a standard deviation of 3.5 g for peak linear acceleration and 0.7 rad/s with a standard deviation of 0.4 rad/s for rotational velocity. Bland and Altman analysis indicated a systematic bias of 2.5 g and − 0.5 rad/s and limits of agreement (1.96 × standard deviation) of ± 13.1 g and ± 1.25 rad/s for the instrumented mouthguard. These results provide the basis on which the instrumented mouthguard can be further developed for deployment and application within professional rugby, with a view to accurately and reliably quantify head collision dynamics