Re -"interpreting" the conquest: European and Amerindian translators and go -betweens in the colonization of the Americas, 1492--1675

This dissertation aims to recover the lives and careers of those Amerindians and Europeans who voluntarily or involuntarily took on the role of intercultural interpreters in the contact, conquest, and early colonial period in the Americas between 1492 and 1675. It intends to prove that these so-called “marginal” figures assumed roles that went far beyond those of linguistic and cultural translators, and often had a decisive impact on early Indian-colonial relations. ^ In the course of my research, I consulted hundreds of published sixteenth- and seventeenth-century chronicles, narratives, and memoirs in my search for references to interpreters. I augmented these accounts with information derived from unpublished archival documents, drawn primarily from the Archivo General de Indias, in Seville, Spain. ^ I organized my findings in theme-driven chapters that begin with a consideration of the historiography of that subject. Each chapter is further subdivided into chronologically-arranged historical vignettes that focus on the interpreters who mediated between the Spanish, Portuguese, French, English and Dutch and the various Native American polities and cultures. ^ I found that colonial authorities and Amerindian communities alike recognized the absolute necessity of recruiting competent and loyal interpreters and go-betweens, and that both sides tried to secure their loyal service by means both fair and foul. Although pressured, pushed, and pulled in contrary directions, most interpreters recognized the pivotal position they held in cross-cultural negotiations and rarely remained passive pawns in the contests between the forces of domination and defense. ^ All across the Americas, interpreters used their linguistic and diplomatic skills, and their intimate knowledge of the “other” not simply to facilitate conquest or spearhead the opposition, but to transform themselves from “culture brokers” into “power brokers.” Many of the decisive events that shaped colonial-Indian relations turned on the actions of these culturally-ambiguous individuals, a fact bemoaned and begrudgingly acknowledged by most of the contemporary conquistadors, chroniclers, and colonial founders, and recognized by this author. ^

Immigrant-Established Resident Interactions in Miami, Florida

This article examines factors that affect interethnic relations in Miami, Florida. The theoretical frame- work, based on the ‘contact hypothesis’ argues that better interethnic relations stem from not only contact, but also contact in which individuals from opposing groups share equal status and a stake in outcomes, and when contact activities require cooperation. The contact hypothesis, however, does not address the factors that produce inequality in social relations. To address these factors ideas from inter- national migration research are used to argue that those with power must create structures in which other groups feel welcome rather than rejected and that leaders must emphasize similarities rather than differences among groups.

From Stability to Insurgency: The Root and Proximate Causes of the September 2002 Civil War in Cote d'Ivoire

This dissertation was an analysis of the root and proximate causes of the September 2002 civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. The central question of this study was: Why did Côte d’Ivoire, which was relatively stable under President Houphouët-Boigny, suddenly begin to experience political violence in the 1990s and an explosion in 2002? Côte d’Ivoire was an interesting case because it was stable for a long period of time, apparently making it an infertile ground for conflict. It was also interesting for comparative purposes because of the fact that several states in West Africa (for instance, Benin, Togo, and Ghana) have experienced military coups but not have civil wars. Finally, this case was an opportunity to revisit the debate on the causes of civil wars in the African context. Chapter one has outlined the entire dissertation project and contextualized the analysis that follows in the subsequent chapters. Chapter two has reviewed the literature on civil wars in general, identified the different types of civil wars, and the type the Ivoiran war is. Chapter three has examined the domestic and international political economy as a source of the civil violence in Côte d’Ivoire. Chapter four has examined the role of ethnicity and region as identities of the war, while chapter five has analyzed the role of the foreign relations in the civil war, as well as the regional political context. Chapter six has distinguished between the root and proximate causes of the Ivoirian civil war, made judgments about the relative weight of the various causes, and the extent to which the weight of the causes can be measured. The study found that the “Ivoirité” was the most important trigger of the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. The overall conclusion of my dissertation was that the September 2002 crisis in that country was a political crisis which occured in the context of a political reform. It first started with succession problems in 1993 followed by the controversial elections in 1995 and 2000. Later, this electoral politics spread beyond electoral issues, namely citizenship matters.

An analysis of the impact of the Islamic revolution in Iran on Iranian women

This study compares the status of women under the secular government of the Pahlavi Dynasty with the Islamic Republic of Iran. It relies on Hisham Sharabi's theory of neopatriarchal society and Fatima Mernissi's psychological analysis of the dynamics of gender relations in Islam. Both the Pahlavi dynasty and the Islamic regime promoted a perception of women's rights which were conducive to the ideologies of secularism and Islamism. Both regimes, however, worked within the framework of a patriarchal society by instituting policies that were misogynous in nature. This study found that the majority of Iran's female population was not greatly affected by the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty and the subsequent implementation of the Islamic regime. The basis of this argument lies in the fact that despite the contrasting ideologies of both governments, where women's issues are concerned, the patriarchal social structure remained virtually intact.

Lost in Translation? Russian Media Portrayals and Laypersons’ Interpretations of Angelina Jolie’s Breast Cancer Discourse

In May 2013, Angelina Jolie revealed that because she had a family history of breast and ovarian cancer and carried a rare BRCA gene mutation, she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy. Media coverage has been extensive around the world, including in Russia, not an English-language country, where all global news is inevitably filtered by translation. After examining the reactions of Russian mass media and members of the public to Jolie’s disclosure, I consider what transformations have occurred with Jolie’s message in the process of cross-cultural transfer. I explore the mass media portrayal of Jolie’s announcement, laypersons’ immediate and prolonged reactions, and the reflections of patients involved directly in the field of hereditary breast cancer. To my knowledge, this multifaceted and bilingual project is the first conceptualization of Jolie’s story as it has been translated in a different sociocultural environment. I start with examination of offline and online publications that appeared in Russia within two months after Jolie’s announcement. In this part of my analysis, I conceptualize the representation of Jolie’s case in Russian mass media and grasp what sociocultural waves were generated by this case among general lay audiences. Another part of my study contains the results of qualitative in-depth interviews. Eight women with a family history of hereditary breast cancer were recruited to participate in the research. The findings represent Jolie’s case through the eyes of Russian women with the same gene mutation as Jolie. Consolidating my findings, I argue that Jolie’s announcement was misinterpreted and misrepresented by Russian mass media, as well as misunderstood by a considerable part of the media audience. Jolie’s perspective on hereditary breast cancer mostly remained unheard among members of the Russian public. I make suggestions about the reasons for such a phenomenon, and demonstrate how Jolie’s case is implicated in politics, economics, and the culture of contemporary Russia.

Securing the Anthropocene? International Policy Experiments in Digital Hacktivism: A Case Study of Jakarta

This article analyses security discourses that are beginning to self-consciously take on board the shift towards the Anthropocene. Firstly, it sets out the developing episteme of the Anthropocene, highlighting the limits of instrumentalist cause-and-effect approaches to security, increasingly becoming displaced by discursive framings of securing as a process, generated through new forms of mediation and agency, capable of grasping inter-relations in a fluid context. This approach is the methodology of hacking: creatively composing and repurposing already existing forms of agency. It elaborates on hacking as a set of experimental practices and imaginaries of securing the Anthropocene, using as a case study the field of digital policy activism with the focus on community empowerment through social-technical assemblages being developed and applied in ‘the City of the Anthropocene’: Jakarta, Indonesia. The article concludes that policy interventions today cannot readily be grasped in modernist frameworks of ‘problem solving’ but should be seen more in terms of evolving and adaptive ‘life hacks’.

Waged domestic work in Argentina: the regulation of care provision

This paper addresses the condition of domestic work in Argentina, in a perspective that draws from the literature on care work. In this approach, domestic work can be interpreted as one of the mercantile forms in which care work is socially organized, due to the persistence of the traditional sexual division of labor and the weakness of public policies. From these considerations, I develop a quantitative study on the levels of informality, precarity, and wage inequality that characterize domestic work in that country. Thereafter, I discuss the main measures adopted by the Argentine government since 2003, with the goal of reducing legal discrimination of domestic workers and promoting their formalization. On this basis, the paper highlights the advances in the recognition of domestic workers’ labor rights, while emphasizing how social and cultural restraints still permeate labor relations in this sector.

Perspectives on gender, migration and transnational work: joint work of social reproduction and care in Southern Europe

This paper presents the "state of the art" and some of the main issues discussed in relation to the topic of transnational migration and reproductive work in southern Europe. We start doing a genealogy of the complex theoretical development leading to the consolidation of the research program, linking consideration of gender with transnational migration and transformation of work and ways of survival, thus making the production aspects as reproductive, in a context of globalization. The analysis of the process of multiscale reconfiguration of social reproduction and care, with particular attention to its present global dimension is presented, pointing to the turning point of this line of research that would have taken place with the beginning of this century, with the rise notions such as "global care chains" (Hochschild, 2001), or "care drain" (Ehrenreich and Hochschild, 2013). Also, the role of this new agency, now composed in many cases women who migrate to other countries or continents, precisely to address these reproductive activities, is recognized. Finally, reference is made to some of the new conceptual and theoretical developments in this area.

Turismo rural y paisaje en zonas de montaña. Propuesta metodológica para identificar sus relaciones en las Sierras Meridionales de la Provincia de Albacete

Las zonas de montaña cuentan con especificidades geográficas y socioeconómicas. En ellas, a partir del patrimonio territorial natural y cultural, se ha producido un considerable impulso del turismo rural, que ha centrado el interés en la valoración de la singularidad y variedad de los paisajes. En este caso se presta atención a las sierras meridionales de la provincia de Albacete. El trabajo se apoya en una metodología que combina el uso de encuestas de preferencias de turistas y técnicas cartográficas a partir de algunas variables del sistema turístico en el medio rural. El trabajo se inserta dentro de los paradigmas del desarrollo local y el desarrollo sostenible, aplicado a los espacios rurales y a las zonas de montaña media del sureste de Castilla-La Mancha. La hipótesis se centra en la consideración del paisaje como elemento medular del turismo rural.

Metaphysics of love in the religious philosophy of Pável Florensky

This article focuses on the analysis of the concept of love in the religious philosophy of Pavel Florensky, who shares the ontological approach to the consideration of love with other representatives of Russian religious philosophy (N. berdyaev and S. bulgakov). We pay more careful attention to the understanding of love-άγαπαν by Florensky. We have drawn the conclusion that, in the philosophy of P. Florensky, Love, closely connected with truth and beauty, is considered an ontological basis existence of personality. We develop the ideas of Pavel Florensky, and accordingly assume that it is possible to synthesise love-agape and love-eros around the idea of sacrificial love. Agapelogical and erotical ‘bezels’ of one jewel of love is aspects of united love, which is given by God. this gift of God, the gift of united love, is kept by humans through prayer and deeds of love.

La Unión Europea y la OTAN en el marco de la nueva Estrategia Global de Seguridad de la Unión Europea

El artículo analiza la relación entre la Unión Europea y la OTAN en cuestiones de defensa, según se ha reflejado en las estrategias de seguridad de la Unión Europea, con particular atención a la Estrategia Global de la Unión Europea presentada en 2016. Se estudia la Estrategia de Seguridad Europea de 2003, el Informe de Implementación de 2008, y las nuevas aproximaciones al contexto internacional y a la seguridad europea que se reflejan en la Estrategia Global. Se analiza también el papel de la OTAN, así como la evolución de la política de seguridad de los Estados Unidos hacia Europa durante la Administración Obama. Finalmente se discute el posible futuro de la Política Común de Seguridad y Defensa de la UE (PCSD) después del Bréxit, así como las consecuencias para su relación con la OTAN.

Extended Energy Vector Prediction of Ambisonically Reproduced Image Direction at Off-Centre Listening Positions

This paper presents an extension to the energy vector, well known in the Ambisonics literature, to improve its predictions of localisation at off-centre listening positions. In determining the source direction, a perceptual weight is assigned to each loudspeaker gain, taking into account the relative arrival times, levels, and directions of the loudspeaker signals. The proposed model is evaluated alongside the original energy vector and two binaural models through comparison with the results of recent perceptual studies. The extended version was found to provide results that were at least 50% more accurate than the second best predictor for two experiments involving off-centre listeners with first- and third-order Ambisonics systems.

Process Selection Using Variation and Cost Relations

Variations are inherent in all manufacturing processes and can significantly affect the quality of a final assembly, particularly in multistage assembly systems. Existing research in variation management has primarily focused on incorporating GD&T factors into variation propagation models in order to predict product quality and allocate tolerances. However, process induced variation, which has a key influence on process planning, has not been fully studied. Furthermore, the link between variation and cost has not been well established, in particular the effect that assembly process selection has on the final quality and cost of a product. To overcome these barriers, this paper proposes a novel method utilizing process capabilities to establish the relationship between variation and cost. The methodology is discussed using a real industrial case study. The benefits include determining the optimum configuration of an assembly system and facilitating rapid introduction of novel assembly techniques to achieve a competitive edge.

Cognitive Component Skills of Reading Comprehension in Developing Readers

Die Fähigkeit, geschriebene Texte zu verstehen, d.h. eine kohärente mentale Repräsentation von Textinhalten zu erstellen, ist eine notwendige Voraussetzung für eine erfolgreiche schulische und außerschulische Entwicklung. Es ist daher ein zentrales Anliegen des Bildungssystems Leseschwierigkeiten frühzeitig zu diagnostizieren und mithilfe zielgerichteter Interventionsprogramme zu fördern. Dies erfordert ein umfassendes Wissen über die kognitiven Teilprozesse, die dem Leseverstehen zugrunde liegen, ihre Zusammenhänge und ihre Entwicklung. Die vorliegende Dissertation soll zu einem umfassenden Verständnis über das Leseverstehen beitragen, indem sie eine Auswahl offener Fragestellungen experimentell untersucht. Studie 1 untersucht inwieweit phonologische Rekodier- und orthographische Dekodierfertigkeiten zum Satz- und Textverstehen beitragen und wie sich beide Fertigkeiten bei deutschen Grundschüler(inne)n von der 2. bis zur 4. Klasse entwickeln. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass beide Fertigkeiten signifikante und eigenständige Beiträge zum Leseverstehen leisten und dass sich ihr relativer Beitrag über die Klassenstufen hinweg nicht verändert. Darüber hinaus zeigt sich, dass bereits deutsche Zweitklässler(innen) den Großteil geschriebener Wörter in altersgerechten Texten über orthographische Vergleichsprozesse erkennen. Nichtsdestotrotz nutzen deutsche Grundschulkinder offenbar kontinuierlich phonologische Informationen, um die visuelle Worterkennung zu optimieren. Studie 2 erweitert die bisherige empirische Forschung zu einem der bekanntesten Modelle des Leseverstehens—der Simple View of Reading (SVR, Gough & Tunmer, 1986). Die Studie überprüft die SVR (Reading comprehension = Decoding x Comprehension) mithilfe optimierter und methodisch stringenter Maße der Modellkonstituenten und überprüft ihre Generalisierbarkeit für deutsche Dritt- und Viertklässler(innen). Studie 2 zeigt, dass die SVR einer methodisch stringenten Überprüfung nicht standhält und nicht ohne Weiteres auf deutsche Dritt- und Viertklässler(innen) generalisiert werden kann. Es wurden nur schwache Belege für eine multiplikative Verknüpfung von Dekodier- (D) und Hörverstehensfertigkeiten (C) gefunden. Der Umstand, dass ein beachtlicher Teil der Varianz im Leseverstehen (R) nicht durch D und C aufgeklärt werden konnte, deutet darauf hin, dass das Modell nicht vollständig ist und ggf. durch weitere Komponenten ergänzt werden muss. Studie 3 untersucht die Verarbeitung positiv-kausaler und negativ-kausaler Kohärenzrelationen bei deutschen Erst- bis Viertklässler(inne)n und Erwachsenen im Lese- und Hörverstehen. In Übereinstimmung mit dem Cumulative Cognitive Complexity-Ansatz (Evers-Vermeul & Sanders, 2009; Spooren & Sanders, 2008) zeigt Studie 3, dass die Verarbeitung negativ-kausaler Kohärenzrelationen und Konnektoren kognitiv aufwändiger ist als die Verarbeitung positiv-kausaler Relationen. Darüber hinaus entwickelt sich das Verstehen beider Kohärenzrelationen noch über die Grundschulzeit hinweg und ist für negativ-kausale Relationen am Ende der vierten Klasse noch nicht abgeschlossen. Studie 4 zeigt und diskutiert die Nützlichkeit prozess-orientierter Lesetests wie ProDi- L (Richter et al., in press), die individuelle Unterschiede in den kognitiven Teilfertigkeiten des Leseverstehens selektiv erfassen. Hierzu wird exemplarisch die Konstruktvalidität des ProDi-L-Subtests ‚Syntaktische Integration’ nachgewiesen. Mittels explanatorischer Item- Repsonse-Modelle wird gezeigt, dass der Test Fertigkeiten syntaktischer Integration separat erfasst und Kinder mit defizitären syntaktischen Fertigkeiten identifizieren kann. Die berichteten Befunde tragen zu einem umfassenden Verständnis der kognitiven Teilfertigkeiten des Leseverstehens bei, das für eine optimale Gestaltung des Leseunterrichts, für das Erstellen von Lernmaterialien, Leseinstruktionen und Lehrbüchern unerlässlich ist. Darüber hinaus stellt es die Grundlage für eine sinnvolle Diagnose individueller Leseschwierigkeiten und für die Konzeption adaptiver und zielgerichteter Interventionsprogramme zur Förderung des Leseverstehens bei schwachen Leser(inne)n dar.