Orthodox Christianity and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Southeastern Europe

Nation-building processes in the Orthodox commonwealth brought together political institutions and religious communities in their shared aims of achieving national sovereignty. Chronicling how the churches of Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia acquired independence from the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the wake of the Ottoman Empire’s decline, Orthodox Christianity and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Southeastern Europe examines the role of Orthodox churches in the construction of national identities. Drawing on archival material available after the fall of communism in southeastern Europe and Russia, as well as material published in Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Russian, Orthodox Christianity and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Southeastern Europe analyzes the challenges posed by nationalism to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the ways in which Orthodox churches engaged in the nationalist ideology.

Maria W. Stewart: America's first Black feminist

Maria W. Stewart was the first American-born and the first African-American woman known to address a mixed audience, from 1831 to 1833, and publish her essays and speeches. The purpose of this thesis is to examine Maria W. Stewart's acts of defiance--as the first public representation of Black Feminism: demanding that white America end slavery and grant rights to black men and women, re-appropriating the hegemonic, patriarchal codes which have significant social power by exposing their inconsistencies and deconstructing their ideologies, voicing the truth about the status of African-American women in early nineteenth-century America, and challenging Black women to become entrepreneurs and (as she did) acquire an education, establish schools, and take an active role in their community. ^

Phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and subject identity: Locating Narcissus and Proteus in the text

This paper examines the ways in which subject identity obtains in either philosophical or psychoanalytical theory, which subject may be duplicated—and disclosed—in literary narratives via their principles and ideas. ^ The technique has a double approach. First, the thesis examines subject formation in (and by) language, through psychoanalysis as it draws upon abiding mythic resources, phenomenological methods and aims (e.g., the subject as consciousness intending its object), and the existentialist turn. It then brings these ideas and principles to bear upon an analysis of literary works as cultural expressions of these identities. ^ Beginning with scientific and philosophical referents (as opposed to the somewhat ‘inclusive’ analysis of, for example, the New Criticism or explication de texte), allows for alternative readings not previously available to either author or reader. ^ Access to extra-literary sources, theories, and ideas enables a ‘reading’ of the subject on a par with one existing in the Life-World. ^

Navigating the past, envisioning the future : Octavia Butler's heroines

In this thesis, I examined three novels by African American science fiction novelist Octavia Butler: Kindred (1979), Parable of the Sower (1994), Parable of the Talents (1998) and Dawn (1987). I analyzed Butler's belief that society has become too firmly attached to old customs and belief systems, initiating destructive, self-defeating cycles in our history. She looks to African American females to take up leadership roles and exact radical change to ensure society's continued survival as well as progress, acceptance and autonomy within our communities. I also established Butler's significant contributions to the African American literary canon as she examines the history of African Americans and speculates on their necessary roles of shaping the future of society.

(Santa) Rita de Cássia na boca do povo de Santa Cruz/RN: identidades culturais em construção

The purpose of this study is to investigate the cultural identities of Santa Rita de Cassia constructed from the representations contained in the speech of Santa Cruz urban area residents, which is located in a harsh part of the State of Rio Grande do Norte. These residents make the story of the Saint full of meaning for themselves, in their daily lives, as well as to the society. This is observed in the narration of Rita de Cassia’s story which has been told in the city over the past one hundred and eighty years, the number of women's names and commercial establishments named “Santa Rita”. In 2010, with the inauguration of the Alto de Santa Rita – a space for worshiping the saint –, the amount of visitors increased in the city, due to the construction and inauguration of a colossal monument representing the image of Rita de Cassia. Then, new social, cultural, religious and political aspects became part of the local reality of the city of Santa Cruz, what made residents have something in common to talk about. According to the interdisciplinary approach of Applied Linguistics, our theoretical background is based on the socio-historical language concept, which understands language as discursive practice. Still theoretically speaking, this study establishes an interface with cultural studies, taking into account the concept of cultural identity in post-modernity society. Discourse analysis proved plural, with a multiplicity of cultural identities ranging from very obedient daughter to wife who suffered because of the husband, from very religious woman to the widow who entered the convent, on to the Saint of the miracles and healings interceding in the lives of the ones who seek for help. It was also observed in the above mentioned investigative path that these identities can be constructed and reconstructed if immersed in a different set of social practices historically determined

Identidades coletivas de estudiosos da linguagem no currículo lattes: docência, pertença social e capital cultural-acadêmico

The discussion involving the identity of social actors has taken place for some years, however, it has become significant for the discourse studies over the last years due to the fragmentation of postmodern actors. Understanding the identity as a symbolic concept that can aid in the detection of certain realities - a kind of mechanism / a magnifying glass (MERLUCCI, 1985) - you can check the linguistic materiality of the introductory text of the lattes resume as a adequate place for the formation of collective identities . The aim of this dissertation is to reflect, in a time of postmodernity, through the lattes introductory curriculum texts, the collective identities of the language researchers are portrayed in discursive and social practices based on the accumulation of cultural and academic capital. For analysis, surrounding the indisciplinary posture in Applied Linguistics (MOITA-LOPES, 2006), the descriptive / interpretive methodology was used (MAGALHÃES, 2001). Whereas the study method and the social theory, as state reasons of the research makes use of the Sociological Approach and Communicational Discourse, chain linked to the assumptions of Critical Discourse Analysis (PEDROSA, 2012a). The corpus is constituted of twenty-seven introductory texts from the lattes curriculum of language researchers, connected to three institutions of higher learning in Sergipe. After the collection, on the lattes platform, and the numbering of the curriculum in order to achieve the research objective, we performed the analysis based on three identity themes: teaching, social belonging (BAJOIT, 2006; DESCHAMPS; MOLINER, 2009) and the accumulation of academic-cultural capital (BOURDIEU, 2004; HEY, 2008). The data show that the texts of the lattes curriculum are based on hegemonic and ideological principals, referring to the accumulation of academic assets, the valuation of actors and the hierarchical positions, recognized and ratified by couples who socialize among themselves Right now, the research allows us to infer that, in postmodernity, some collective identity assumptions, contribute to the understanding of the academic reality, around the the lattes curriculum.

Aprender e ensinar na escola inclusiva: desafios na construção da identidade de pedagogos

The democratization of Brazilian education and discussion about the educational rights of persons with disabilities in refer to reflection on the conceptions of teaching and learning and the folding of these concepts in practice and in the formation of professional identity of the teacher educator. Thus, the proposed research in this dissertation aimed to describe educational processes developed by educators in classrooms in which they are enrolled students with disabilities a view to considering how these processes affect the construction of their professional identity of the pedagogue. As the methodology used to research is classified as Case Study. This methodological approach enables the analysis of singularities of educational contexts. In this work, the case investigated consisted of the analytical study of the pedagogical practices developed in classrooms where there are students with disabilities and their relation to the establishment of the professional identity of the teacher in a school linked to a non-governmental organization supporting people with disabilities in the city of Natal / RN. The Data were collected through the use of the following instruments: exploratory questionnaires, observation and respective registration in the field diary of research and interviews with educators in different professional cycles proposed by Huberman. The data reveal didactic and pedagogical aspects common in educational processes in the observed classes and differences concerning the specifics of pedagogues in the teaching profession in different moments of their professional careers. The analysis of the conceptions tell us the nuances of meanings constructed on teaching and learning and its interface with the reflection on teaching practice. As to the meaning assigned to be pedagogue research highlights the professional identification related to the meanings of teaching and learning in school. The experiences in the teaching profession according to the survey data point to changes in teachers conceptions about teaching and learning disabled people in the perspective of inclusion. Therefore, the study concludes that the pedagogical practices with students with disabilities the different experiences add up and can transform conceptions of teachers about teaching and learning interfering with constant reflection on practices and the construction of professional identities of pedagogues.

A construção identitária em um fórum de discussão: um estudo com alunos da EAD

The aim of this study is to highlight the cultural identities of Spanish undergraduate students from Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia – IFRN, in integration with Universidade Aberta do Brasil – UAB, in the distance modality, built from utterances produced by them in a forum discussion online. For this, we chose to analyze the thematic forum “Using fragments of the internet is an ethical act?” generated in the first semester of 2011, linked to the Reading and Writing course. The interest of this researcher to highlight the cultural identities of these subjects, in the Virtual Learning Environment, emerged from the contact with this reality, in which it was found that the statements constructed by students were rich in positions, meanings and interactions. By producing their speeches, such subjects nurture a reflection on how we can establish meaning in the interaction created in online teaching as well as on the construction of cultural identities of the subject within that virtual space. The way students participate in the discussion forum represents learning experiences that lead to the construction of cultural identities, which determine the trajectory of the subjects, which makes the identity an ongoing process. Our theoretical reference follows the interdisciplinary approach of Applied Linguistics and is based on the socio-historical model of language, with language construed as a social practice. This study also established an interface with cultural studies, as it uses the concept of cultural identity in postmodernity. Analysis of the utterances lead to plurality, with a multiplicity of identities, as evidenced from the positioning of the subjects, some focused on the agreement, others on the disagreement, or even on the boldness. It was found also in the investigative path that these identities can be constructed and reconstructed if they are immersed in another set of historically determined social practices.

“Somos quem podemos ser”: os homens (trans) brasileiros e o discurso pela (des)patologização da transexualidade

This research analyzed the discourse of Brazilian transmen in relation to (un) pathologizing of identity (trans). Therefore, it seeks to analyze the perception of the meanings attributed by Brazilian transmen to their experiences within the context in which their experience is considered a psychiatric disorder, which can be (or not) be diagnosed by doctors and psychologists. Whereby, obtaining such permissions becomes a necessity to perform bodily changes, as well as referrals for modifications of civil documentation. The methodology used was discourse analysis and research techniques were semi-structured interviews and systematic observation of the meetings of Cartografias Trans group, psychotherapeutic care group of transpeople to the Centro de pesquisa e atendimento à travestis e transexuais - CPATT in Curitiba , Paraná. The theoretical framework of the research suppoted mainly, but not only, in the studies proposed by queer theory. In this sense the research found by entering the field and analyzing the data brought, among other things, the existence of a strategic discourse by Brazilian transmen toward depathologization of their identities, manifested mainly on the notion of to have the identity (trans) pathologized does not make them sick.

Escola: lugar político da diversidade sexual e de gênero

This work aims to understand how the public school system has become a failing institution with regards to sexual and gender diversity. I start from the principle that the school system performs a social sorting operation, leaving out of its halls almost all people who don‘t fit into the established heteronormative social order. First, I explore the experiences of primary school (Educação do Ensino Fundamental) professionals from the public network (Rede Pública Municipal) of the city of Natal-RN. I consider their narratives a result of daily practices which denounce the rules that govern and produce them in a broader context. Then I aim to establish a dialogue with the students who are victims of name-calling, teasing and abuse for not aligning with the ―normal‖ gender standards. At this stage of the research, I conducted fieldwork at the State Secondary School of Rio Grande do Norte (Escola Estadual de Ensino Médio). This investigation is guided by the following questions: What challenges need to be addressed in order to recognize the students who have been excluded from the school environment on account of sexual and/or gender differences; additionally, how can their classroom attendance and positive learning experience be ensured? To what degree is the school community concerned with building education practices which value and acknowledge sexual and gender diversity? The research goals were: to analyze how the school and its professionals deal with sexual and gender diversity, investigating which pedagogical practices silence, freeze and obstruct the diversity of student identities; examine how the school and its subjects work toward building new pathways for learning, for coexistence, and for facing the challenges of ―new‖ social demands such as homoaffection; observe the spaces that are cracked open by the presence and the voices of students who demand recognition of their existence.

Querido diário: a construção identitária de alunos da EJA em diários pessoais

This study aims to present analyses of our research, documentary type, which investigates the construction of cultural identities of the Youth and Adults Education (Educação de Jovens e Adultos – EJA), level III, in a public school in the city of Natal/RN, through personal diaries produced in the school environment. In a qualitative-interpretive approach, we anchor our identity studies (BAUMAN, 2001, 2005, 2006; HALL, 1987, 1997, 2011, 2012) that bring us the idea that identities are built and rebuilt by social relations that we do. To this end, we start from a conception of language that does not require pre-conceptions because they are based on the utterance itself. Therefore, we have analyzed the utterances produced by these students from the perspective of Bakhtin Circle (BAKHTIN, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2012), which deals with the discursive construction emerging from intersubjective processes of verbal interaction, in a dialogical relationship of the self to the other, by the otherness and the heteroglossia. Moreover, our study is also guided by the guidance on speech genres (BAKHTIN, 2010) and personal journal (LEJEUNE, 2008; MACHADO, 1998, 2009). We join to Applied Linguistics (MOITA LOPES, 2006, 2009) because we believe that this research focuses on a social practice in which language plays a central role and seeks to demonstrate how the speeches of the subject students of EJA, in personal journals, are building tools not only of their identities, but also knowledge and social life of the position that this subject student takes. We conclude this work in a perception of cultural identities that are built by the subject students of EJA, because the results suggest that the identities of these students are fluidly constructed by the representation that the student makes of his or her school, of being student of EJA and how he or she is a student of this educational modality. Thus, through our work, we plan to present another look about the identity or identities of a student of EJA, pointing an insight of this subject.

Perfil exportador e crescimento econômico: uma análise de painel para economias africanas

This study aims to evaluate the relationship between the export profile and the African GDP growth rate. Chapter 1 presents the literature on the subject and studies that analyze the specific case of Africa. There seems to be a consensus that exports contribute to economic growth. However, there is no consensus on the benefits that are incorporated from exported products. The divergence lies between the approach of the Natural Resources Curse, where concentration of exports in commodities does not contribute to economic growth. Another work line supports the idea there is no such relation. Chapter 2 presents, through descriptive analysis, macroeconomic and international trade data for African economies data. Based on data from 52 countries for the period 1990-2014, it can be observed that the African continent has improved in macroeconomic terms, with increased exports and economic growth rates, suggesting a positive relationship between the variables. Trade indicators show Africa's integration into the global economy, with European Union, USA, China and some emerging countries as main partners. In addition, the analysis showed that the export is concentrated in oil and agricultural commodities. Most African countries face a negative trade balance, depending of primary products exports with low added value and imports of manufactured goods. Finally, Chapter 3 presents an empirical research using panel data analysis. The results suggest, in general, evidences that exports are important for explaining the African economic growth rate of African economies can be stimulated by the expansion of the share of exports in GDP. The estimated coefficients are positive and statistically significant in both the fixed effect estimation, as the estimation by GMM System. The estimation of growth models for fixed or random effects indicates a direct and statistically significant relationship between export oil / minerals and the growth rate of African countries. Thus, the export profile turns out to be important to determine the growth rate. The results obtained from the estimates do not corroborate the literature arguments called Curse of Natural Resources for the period analyzed, since export natural resources, especially oil and minerals, were relevant to explain the performance of the growth rate of economies.

Que coisa é essa, Yôyô?: cor e raça na imprensa ilustrada da Bahia (1897-1904)

From techniques such as lithography and woodcut, it was possible to create and reproduce daily images in the newspapers of the Empire and the Republic of Brazil. The purpose of this study is to make a historiographic report, derived from a multidisciplinary theoretical analysis to which several printed visual documents were selected from the newspaper A Coisa from Salvador, in Bahia. The weekly news, edited in the capital and distributed also in the countryside of Bahia by the end of 1897 and the beginning of 1904 is rich for its illustrations and the satirical, humorous and critical content, signed by its editors. The images in A Coisa are appealing for their content filled with tensions inherent to the time of the First Republic in Brazil, such as issues regarding ones skin color, phenotypes, race, gender, the value and the social ranking of the black population. The paper, in its gathering of texts and images, is the main basis of this research corpus, in which a dialogue with other papers from other places and times is proposed so that it becomes evident the historical process that marks the ideal of nation and the construction of a body and an identity for the people of African Descent in Brazil. The observation and analysis of the selected images from the newspaper allow the identification of its way of production, the orientation of a reality in function of its target consumers, their authorship and the objectives to which it was created. Therefore, this work aims to critically analyze the representations given to the black body and skin, in order to problematize the memories of these bodies and their sociocultural meanings and, thus, question, through a methodology aimed to the description and analysis of images united to texts, these bodies visual representations possible contribution to the formation of an idea of black people unified identity, and their social alterity in deference to the memories given to the white society in the historical and social context of that time.

Geochemical evidence for a Cretaceous oil sand (Bima oil sand) in the Chad Basin, Nigeria

Timothy Bata is thankful to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund of Nigeria (PTDF) (PTDF/E/OSS/PHD/BTP/359/11) for sponsoring his PhD research at the University of Aberdeen, and the management of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria, for permitting him to proceed on study leave. We are grateful to Colin Taylor for his help during laboratory work and S. Bowden for advice on the interpretation of the gas chromatographic data.

Geochemical evidence for a Cretaceous oil sand (Bima oil sand) in the Chad Basin, Nigeria

Timothy Bata is thankful to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund of Nigeria (PTDF) (PTDF/E/OSS/PHD/BTP/359/11) for sponsoring his PhD research at the University of Aberdeen, and the management of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria, for permitting him to proceed on study leave. We are grateful to Colin Taylor for his help during laboratory work and S. Bowden for advice on the interpretation of the gas chromatographic data.