On a Quest for Manhood: Re-Imagining Medieval Masculinities and Male Maturation in Contemporary Arthurian Adaptations for Adolescents

Since the Middle Ages, the Arthurian legend has enjoyed a principal status in Western literature and culture. Throughout this long history, contributions to and adaptations of the legend have been deeply concerned with gender identity and ideals, masculinity in particular. These concerns have also been palpable in literature produced for the young. In this dissertation I offer close readings of contemporary Arthurian young adult (YA) novels that move beyond the traditional Arthurian material but maintain recognisable links to the legend. I discuss the ways these so-called variations of the legend enter into dialogue with, de-/reconstruct, and problematise the gendered values and ideologies of the Arthurian tradition and contemporary society. I examine the ways each narrative relates to past and present Anglo-American discourses about masculinities and male maturation, highlighting, in particular, how Arthurian adaptations published between 1998 and 2007 are connected to turn-of-the-century men’s movement discourses and the boy crisis debate. I also discuss the ways these recent Arthurian narratives fit within twenty-first-century YA discourses surrounding ‘hybrid’ masculinities and queer subjectivities. Methodologically, the study presented here merges ideas from masculinity studies, post-structuralist feminism, queer theory, adaptation theory, narratology, medievalism studies, and young adult literature criticism. It draws on theoretical and empirical research from various disciplines, including sociology, psychology, history, and literature. Research on Arthuriana for adolescents has been dominated by a focus on female subjectivities and empowerment. The purpose of the present study is to extend this line of inquiry by centring masculinities, while, importantly, understanding masculinity as independent from cis male bodies. Chapters 1 to 3 discuss Arthurian YA adaptations that focus on cis male protagonists and their journeys towards manhood, while Chapter 4 examines an adaptation that presents two cross-dressing characters, depicts masculinity as performance, and complicates essentialist and binarist views on gender. My analysis demonstrates the ways protagonists move between ‘closed’ and ‘open’ masculinities, explores the notion of reconfigured hegemonic forms of masculinity, and highlights the limitations of current theoretical views on cross-dressing in literature. This dissertation is intended as a contribution to scholarship on Arthurian adaptations for children and young adults, an area of inquiry that is still in its infancy. It also aims to enrich the critical conversation surrounding masculinities and their literary representations, especially in texts produced for the young, and particularly in relation to maturation. Crucially, this study demonstrates the value of interdisciplinarity for studying masculinities.AHRC, Churchill Colleg

Transformaciones en la relación entre los wayuu y Yolujaa a causa de las creencias cristianas evangélicas

Para los miembros de la etnia wayuu sus antepasados son muy importantes. Su relación tiene como base la protección, el intercambio y formas especiales de transmisión. Este artículo responde a la pregunta si el contacto entre los conceptos cristianos y misioneros ha transformado la relación entre los miembros de la etnia wayuu que se denominan a sí mismas como evangélicas, pero no pertenecen a ninguna iglesia en particular y las entidades ancestrales, así como la cosmología y ontología

Non-Parametric Approximations for Anisotropy Estimation in Two-dimensional Differentiable Gaussian Random Fields

Spatially referenced data often have autocovariance functions with elliptical isolevel contours, a property known as geometric anisotropy. The anisotropy parameters include the tilt of the ellipse (orientation angle) with respect to a reference axis and the aspect ratio of the principal correlation lengths. Since these parameters are unknown a priori, sample estimates are needed to define suitable spatial models for the interpolation of incomplete data. The distribution of the anisotropy statistics is determined by a non-Gaussian sampling joint probability density. By means of analytical calculations, we derive an explicit expression for the joint probability density function of the anisotropy statistics for Gaussian, stationary and differentiable random fields. Based on this expression, we obtain an approximate joint density which we use to formulate a statistical test for isotropy. The approximate joint density is independent of the autocovariance function and provides conservative probability and confidence regions for the anisotropy parameters. We validate the theoretical analysis by means of simulations using synthetic data, and we illustrate the detection of anisotropy changes with a case study involving background radiation exposure data. The approximate joint density provides (i) a stand-alone approximate estimate of the anisotropy statistics distribution (ii) informed initial values for maximum likelihood estimation, and (iii) a useful prior for Bayesian anisotropy inference.Comment: 39 pages; 8 figure

Efficient pairwise composite likelihood estimation for spatial‐clustered data

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108642/1/biom12199-sm-0001-SuppData.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108642/2/biom12199.pd

Copula-based fuzzy clustering of spatial time series

This paper contributes to the existing literature on the analysis of spatial time series presenting a new clustering algorithm called COFUST, i.e. COpula-based FUzzy clustering algorithm for Spatial Time series. The underlying idea of this algorithm is to perform a fuzzy Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) clustering using copula-based approach to interpret comovements of time series. This generalisation allows both to extend usual clustering methods for time series based on Pearson’s correlation and to capture the uncertainty that arises assigning units to clusters. Furthermore, its flexibility permits to include directly in the algorithm the spatial information. Our approach is presented and discussed using both simulated and real data, highlighting its main advantages

Narrative Techniken und Strategien im Werk von Lenka Reinerová

Carina KaziankaKlagenfurt, Alpen-Adria-Univ., Dipl.-Arb., 2009KB2009 11(VLID)241294

"Boys will be boys, even the ones who are only girls dressed up" : a study of masculinity(ies) in two contemporary Arthurian narratives for children

Lisa KaziankaKlagenfurt, Alpen-Adria-Univ., Master-Arb., 2015(VLID)241406

Die künftigen Entwicklungschancen Kärntens aus wirtschaftsgeografischer und regionalpolitischer Sicht

Die vorliegende Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit künftigen Entwicklungschancen des südlichsten Bundeslandes Österreichs im Hinblick auf wirtschaftsgeografische und regionalpolitische Fragestellungen. Die Arbeit beschreibt wirtschaftliche und soziale Prozesse aus einer spezifisch räumlichen Perspektive und leitet strategische, planerische und politische Aktivitäten in unterschiedlichen Bereichen der Regionalentwicklung ab. Es werden Entwicklungspotentiale und Richtungen präsentiert, die sowohl großräumige Herausforderungen als auch spezifische regionale Problemstellungen berücksichtigen. Einhergehend wird die querschnitts-orientierte Betrachtung der Region als Gesamtsystem sowie die regionale Entwicklung als IdentitÃ$t betont. Dies wird an Hand des Zugangs zu einem Mehr-Ebenen-Planungsprozess, ausgelegt an Grundsätzen der Nachhaltigkeit, verdeutlicht. Zudem werden unterschiedliche potentielle Entwicklungszugänge zur regionalpolitischen Stärkung des Landes thematisiert sowie aus regionaler Perspektive die Einbettung in großräumige Maßstabsebenen diskutiert. Diese Entwicklungstendenzen erfordern eine weitreichende Ausdehnung der Aktions- bzw. Interaktionsradien des Landes und unterstreichen die Notwendigkeit grenzüberschreitender Kooperationen zur Etablierung wettbewerbsfähiger wirtschaftlicher Größen im internationalen Kontext. Ein weiterer Schritt im Rahmen der vorliegenden Schrift ist die Darstellung unterschiedlicher Sichtweisen. So werden Einschätzungen über Entwicklungschancen des Landes einhergehend mit der Partizipations-bereitschaft aus Sicht der Bevölkerung erfasst. Weiters werden konkrete Konzepte diskutiert, die innovationsorientierte Entwicklungsbestrebungen aus Sicht der politischen Intervention darlegen. Auch wirft die Arbeit einen kritischen Blick auf den zunehmenden internationalen Wettbewerb. Durch Ausprägungen der Glokalisierung werden Entwicklungen parallel zu den zun Verflechtungen besprochen und dabei die Wichtigkeit der lokalen sowie regionalen Entwicklung betont. Zusammenfassend gesagt, werden wichtige Schlüsselfaktoren, dienend den Konzepten und Maßnahmen zur Realisierung der regionalen nachhaltigen Entwicklung, aufgezeigt.This dissertation deals with future chances of development of the southernmost province of Austria, Carinthia, with respect to issues concerning economic geography as well as regional policy. It describes economic and social processes from a specific spatial perspective, deriving strategic, planning and political actions in different areas of regional development. Development potentials and directions are presented which take into account both large-scale challenges and specific regional problems. At the same time, the study focuses on a cross-sectional-oriented description of the region as a system in its entity as well as on regional development as an identity-giving factor. In order to explain this in greater detail an approach to a multi-level planning process based on the principles of sustainability is used. Moreover, different approaches to developing a strengthening of regional policy in Carinthia as well as questions concerning embedding the region into extensive, large-scale levels are discussed. These development tendencies require a far reaching extension of the province's radii of action, and its radii of interaction respectively and emphasize the necessity of cross-border cooperation to establish competitive large-scale regional and economic dimensions in an international context. Another important part of this paper is describing developments from different points of view. Thus, data was gathered concerning the population's evaluating future chances of development of this province as well as concerning their willingness to participate in this process. Furthermore, concrete concepts are discussed which describe innovation-oriented development efforts from the point of view of political intervention. Also, this paper critically examines increasing international competition. Developments concurrent to growing global interlacement are discussed emphasizing the importance of local and regional development. To put it briefly, important key factors used to establish concepts and measures for materializing sustainable regional development are described.Christian KaziankaAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersZsfassung in engl. SpracheKlagenfurt, Alpen-Adria-Univ., Diss., 2008KB2008 18aOeBB(VLID)241084