Squaring the circle: the cultural relativity of 'good' shape

The Gestalt theorists of the early twentieth century proposed a psychological primacy for circles, squares and triangles over other shapes. They described them as 'good' shapes and the Gestalt premise has been widely accepted. Rosch (1973), for example, suggested that shape categories formed around these 'natural' prototypes irrespective of the paucity of shape terms in a language. Rosch found that speakers of a language lacking terms for any geometric shape nevertheless learnt paired-associates to these 'good' shapes more easily than to asymmetric variants. We question these empirical data in the light of the accumulation of recent evidence in other perceptual domains that language affects categorization. A cross-cultural investigation sought to replicate Rosch's findings with the Himba of Northern Namibia who also have no terms in their language for the supposedly basic shapes of circle, square and triangle. A replication of Rosch (1973) found no advantage for these 'good' shapes in the organization of categories. It was concluded that there is no necessary salience for circles, squares and triangles. Indeed, we argue for the opposite because these shapes are rare in nature. The general absence of straight lines and symmetry in the perceptual environment should rather make circles, squares and triangles unusual and, therefore, less likely to be used as prototypes in categorization tasks. We place shape as one of the types of perceptual input (in philosophical terms, 'vague') that is readily susceptible to effects of language variation.

Da educação infantil ao ensino fundamental: o que contam as crianças sobre essa travessia na cultura de escola

From inquiries concerning the child as an individual with rights, this work takes as its object of study the perception of 5-7 years old children on their journey from kindergarten to elementary school, in a school culture. The objective of the research is, therefore, to investigate what the children tell in narratives drawn into a conversation circle about their experiences of school life in kindergarten and the first grade of elementary school. The participants were 18 children from a public school in the city of Natal (RN). Five rounds of conversation were held in which the children told a little alien, who was unaware of the school culture, what they knew about school and what they did at it. The research is linked to the project "Children's Narratives. What the children tell about childhood schools?"(Passeggi et all, 2011) and adopts epistemological principles and research methods of (auto)biographical education, taking as a working hypothesis the child's ability to reflect on their experiences and understand from their point of view, what happens to them. Analyses were organized based on the concept of school culture (Barroso, 2012). In the narratives of children, the three dimensions of school culture: the functionalist (purpose and rules), structural (structure and pedagogical organization) and the interactional (relations with others, with the spaces and with knowledge) are considered intertwined in their school perceptions and signal experienced tensions in a process of "conversion" from child to student. Children seem to realize the uniqueness of each level of education. They recognize as a characteristic of early childhood education the recreational activities, and as injunctions of the first year of elementary school the "study", "learning to read and write" to "be smart" to "change." The schooling will thus, constitute, in their eyes, as a time and a place where the children's culture gives way to school culture, and in this journey they experience that the desire to play and the duty/want to study cross the three dimensions of school. At the end of the journey, the status of children as cultural beings with rights is confirmed, whose narratives about school and about their experiences of "conversion" in a student, reveal much about the power of reflection on themselves, the school and the society in which they live, legitimizing their place in educational research and in child care policies.

Circle of support rally for Jane Alpert (Anti-war activist). Left to right: Kierstan Grimstand, Susan Rennie, Andrea Dworkin, Florence Rush, Rosetta Reitz.

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane. Digital reproduction

Circle Kabaddi : Juego tradicional y deporte espectáculo

El siguiente artículo tiene como principal objetivo presentar y analizar un juego/deporte de persecución y lucha denominado "Circle Kabaddi". En este sentido, se relatan, explican e interpretan los detalles de esta práctica lúdico deportiva a partir de relatos y observaciones realizadas como jugador luchador en cuatro mundiales de la especialidad (2011; 2012; 2013; 2014) realizados en el estado de Punjab, India. Entre párrafos se agregan observaciones relevantes que amplían o ejemplifican circunstancias particulares del juego y su contexto de producción sociocultural. En segundo lugar se describen los inicios y el presente de esta práctica lúdico deportiva en Argentina, sus alcances y limitaciones y los modos en que esta práctica se resignifica en nuestro país como un juego alternativo. Por último, y a modo de conclusión se formulan algunas preguntas que interpelan el proceso socio cultural y político por el cual el Circle kabaddi paso de ser un juego tradicional a convertirse en un deporte espectáculo

Circle Kabaddi : Juego tradicional y deporte espectáculo

El siguiente artículo tiene como principal objetivo presentar y analizar un juego/deporte de persecución y lucha denominado "Circle Kabaddi". En este sentido, se relatan, explican e interpretan los detalles de esta práctica lúdico deportiva a partir de relatos y observaciones realizadas como jugador luchador en cuatro mundiales de la especialidad (2011; 2012; 2013; 2014) realizados en el estado de Punjab, India. Entre párrafos se agregan observaciones relevantes que amplían o ejemplifican circunstancias particulares del juego y su contexto de producción sociocultural. En segundo lugar se describen los inicios y el presente de esta práctica lúdico deportiva en Argentina, sus alcances y limitaciones y los modos en que esta práctica se resignifica en nuestro país como un juego alternativo. Por último, y a modo de conclusión se formulan algunas preguntas que interpelan el proceso socio cultural y político por el cual el Circle kabaddi paso de ser un juego tradicional a convertirse en un deporte espectáculo

Circle Kabaddi : Juego tradicional y deporte espectáculo

El siguiente artículo tiene como principal objetivo presentar y analizar un juego/deporte de persecución y lucha denominado "Circle Kabaddi". En este sentido, se relatan, explican e interpretan los detalles de esta práctica lúdico deportiva a partir de relatos y observaciones realizadas como jugador luchador en cuatro mundiales de la especialidad (2011; 2012; 2013; 2014) realizados en el estado de Punjab, India. Entre párrafos se agregan observaciones relevantes que amplían o ejemplifican circunstancias particulares del juego y su contexto de producción sociocultural. En segundo lugar se describen los inicios y el presente de esta práctica lúdico deportiva en Argentina, sus alcances y limitaciones y los modos en que esta práctica se resignifica en nuestro país como un juego alternativo. Por último, y a modo de conclusión se formulan algunas preguntas que interpelan el proceso socio cultural y político por el cual el Circle kabaddi paso de ser un juego tradicional a convertirse en un deporte espectáculo

Circle of Friends a sampling of the rich and prolific repertoires of Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn December 1, 2013

Concert Program