Fan Culture as an Informal Learning Environment : Presentation of a NGL project

Fan culture is a subculture that has developed explosively on the internet over the last decades. Fans are creating their own films, translations, fiction, fan art, blogs, role play and also various forms that are all based on familiar popular culture creations like TV-series, bestsellers, anime, manga stories and games. In our project, we analyze two of these subculture genres, fan fiction and scanlation. Amateurs, and sometimes professional writers, create new stories by adapting and developing existing storylines and characters from the original. In this way, a "network" of texts occurs, and writers step into an intertextual dialogue with established writers such as JK Rowling (Harry Potter) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight). Literary reception and creation then merge into a rich reciprocal creative activity which includes comments and feedback from the participators in the community. The critical attitude of the fans regarding quality and the frustration at waiting for the official translation of manga books led to the development of scanlation, which is an amateur translation of manga distributed on the internet.  Today, young internet users get involved in conceptual discussions of intertextuality and narrative structures through fan activity. In the case of scanlation, the scanlators practice the skills and techniques of translating in an informal environment. This phenomenon of participatory culture has been observed by scholars and it is concluded that they contribute to the development of a student’s literacy and foreign language skills. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the fandom related to Japanese cultural products such as manga, anime and videogames is one of the strong motives for foreign students to start learning Japanese. This is something to take into pedagogical consideration when we develop web-based courses. Fan fiction and fan culture make it ​​possible to have an intensive transcultural dialogue between participators throughout the world and is of great interest when studying the interaction between formal and informal learning that puts the student in focus

Harry Potter and the Theory of Things

This thesis investigates the boundaries between body and object in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, seven children’s literature novels published between 1997 and 2007. Lord Voldemort, Rowling’s villain, creates Horcruxes—objects that contain fragments of his soul—in order to ensure his immortality. As vessels for human soul, these objects rupture the boundaries between body and object and become “things.” Using contemporary thing theorists including John Plotz and materialists Jean Baudrillard and Walter Benjamin, I look at Voldemort’s Horcruxes as transgressive, liminal, unclassifiable entities in the first chapter. If objects can occupy the juncture between body and object, then bodies can as well. Dementors and Inferi, dark creatures that Rowling introduces throughout the series, live devoid of soul. Voldemort, too, becomes a thing as he splits his soul and creates Horcruxes. These soulless bodies are uncanny entities, provoking fear, revulsion, nausea, and the loss of language. In the second chapter, I use Sigmund Freud’s theorization of the uncanny as well as literary critic Kelly Hurley to investigate how Dementors, Inferi, and Voldemort exist as body-turned-object things at the juncture between life and death. As Voldemort increasingly invests his immaterial soul into material objects, he physically and spiritually degenerates, transforming from the young, handsome Tom Marvolo Riddle into the snake-like villain that murdered Harry’s parents and countless others. During his quest to find and destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes, Harry encounters a different type of object, the Deathly Hallows. Although similarly accessing boundaries between body/object, life/death, and materiality/immateriality, the three Deathly Hallows do not transgress these boundaries. Through the Deathly Hallows, Rowling provides an alternative to thingification: objects that enable boundaries to fluctuate, but not breakdown. In the third chapter, I return to thing theorists, Baudrillard, and Benjamin to study how the Deathly Hallows resist thingification by not transgressing the boundaries between body and object.

The roles of JK-1 (FAM134B) expressions in colorectal cancer

The aims of the present study are to investigate the clinicopathological correlations of JK-1(FAM134B) expression and its relationship to carcinogenesis in a colorectal adenoma-adenocarcinoma model. JK-1(FAM134B) protein expression was studied in a colon cancer cell line by Western blot and immunocytochemistry. JK-1(FAM134B) expression profiles at mRNA and protein levels were investigated in cancer tissues from 236 patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma and 32 patients with colorectal adenoma using real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. The findings were then correlated with the clinicopathological features of these tumours. JK-1(FAM134B) protein was demonstrated in the colon cancer cells by Western blot. The protein was located in the nuclei of the tumour cells at both cellular and tissue levels. In colorectal adenocarcinomas, lower levels of JK-1(FAM134B) protein expression were associated with younger age (p=0.032), larger tumour size (p=0.004), advanced cancer stages (p=0.016) and higher rates of cancer recurrence (p=0.04). Also, lower levels of JK-1(FAM134B) mRNA expression were associated with advanced cancer stages (p=0.02) and presence of lymphovascular invasion (p=0.014). Higher JK-1(FAM134B) mRNA and protein expression levels were identified in adenomas and non-neoplastic mucosae, compared to carcinomas (p=0.005). To conclude, JK-1(FAM134B) mRNA expression and JK1 (FAM134B) protein levels varied with the different stages of progression of colorectal tumours. The expression levels of the gene were associated with clinicopathological features in patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma suggesting that JK-1(FAM134B) gene has roles in controlling some steps in the development of the invasive phenotypes from colorectal adenoma to early staged as well as advanced staged colorectal adenocarcinomas.

O governo JK nas páginas do Correio da Manhã (1956-1961)

O objetivo desta dissertação é, a partir da análise de editoriais e artigos do Correio da Manhã, no período de 1956 a 1961, discutir as relações entre modernização da imprensa e política, face à persistência do discurso combativo do jornal sobre temas da política nacional. Partindo de estudos, textos e memórias de jornalistas em atividade naquele momento, dentro e fora do Correio da Manhã, procuramos analisar o movimento que atribui sentido à atividade jornalística para que possamos apontar as discussões às quais damos destaque nesse trabalho. A segunda metade dos anos 1950 foi marcada pelo debate do nacional-desenvolvimentismo, associado ao período de governo de Juscelino Kubitschek (1956-1961), o qual foi acompanhado, por sua vez, pela modernização da imprensa, caracterizada pela busca de imparcialidade do discurso, por mudanças editoriais e pelo melhoramento gráfico. Articulando a análise dos textos de imprensa às modificações vividas no Brasil, apontamos para a impossibilidade de considerar ideologia, técnica, profissionalização e disciplina como termos contraditórios, de acordo com os sentidos que assumiram no período.

Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal : proyecto telemático sobre la obra de J. K. Rowling.

En el suplemento Aula de innovación educativa. Aula informática, 2001, n. 2 , junio , p. 1-3

Hogwarts, Muggles and Quidditch: A Study of the Translation of Names in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Books

The aim of this C-essay is to discuss the translation of some of the names in J.K. Rowling’s immensely popular Harry Potter books and look at how the translation agrees with and/or deviates from the original. Special focus is put on features such as alliterations, allusions and imaginative inventions, which are characteristic of J.K Rowling’s style and may be particularly tricky and challenging when translating.A comparison is made between the names in the original texts and the translated texts. The names are divided into different categories, such as names of characters, places etc. I argue that the translator uses different strategies when translating different types of names. Focus is on the Swedish translation, but Norwegian examples are included too.

De JK ao "milagre": o financiamento do crescimento econômico brasileiro em dois tempos

Um questionamento da hipótese que explica o crescimento econômico do período do "milagre brasileiro" por fatores atuando pelo lado da demanda - o crédito pessoal elevando a renda pessoal disponível e impulsionando o consumo dos bens duráveis. Para tanto, retrocedemos aos anos JK, quando observou-se a instalação da capacidade que permitiria mais tarde a retomada do crescimento. Analisamos as fontes de financiamento desses dois períodos de intenso crescimento econômico, contrapondo o primeiro, financiado por poupança interna, ao segundo baseado por poupança externa. Ressaltamos, em nossa análise, a importância da reforma financeira que possibilitou a criação de um mercado de capitais dinâmico que deu sustentação ao novo surto expansivo.

Os anos JK no acervo da Biblioteca Nacional

Uma consulta ao conjunto do acervo da Biblioteca Nacional permite perceber o imenso valor de suas coleções de periódicos para o estudo do período de governo de Juscelino Kubitschek (1956-1961). Sem dúvida, outros tipos de material podem ser listados, como a iconografia, as obras raras e o acervo cartográfico da Biblioteca. Além disso, no setor de referência pode-se localizar uma bibliografia importante sobre os temas mais relevantes da época. No entanto, considerando a extensão e a riqueza do corpo documental encontrado na Divisão de Publicações Seriadas,1 decidimos dedicar especial atenção aos jornais e revistas lá conservados, às suas características e ao seu potencial como fontes históricas para o estudo dos anos JK.

O Governo JK e a revista Manchete: a criação do mito dos anos dourados

Os anos entre 1956 a 1961 foram pródigos para o desenvolvimento do Brasil. O governo JK consolidou a industrialização brasileira, criou Brasília e foi considerado um caso singular na política contemporânea, por ser o único governo civil que começou e terminou seu mandato segundo as regras constitucionais, até o período da ditadura militar. Através da rememoração, lembramos de fatos históricos, que através da narrativa da revista Manchete, contribuíram para a criação de uma imagem positiva de Juscelino Kubitschek e de seu governo. As edições constantes de sua imagem de grande estadista justificam a existência, na memória coletiva, do mito político. Sua trajetória foi caracterizada por sua simpatia, seu poder de persuasão e pela força de sua oratória durante o seu governo e posteriormente calada pela ditadura militar, implantada no Brasil em 1964. Manchete deu forma, através de suas fotorreportagens, aos acontecimentos de um país em acelerado processo de desenvolvimento, contribuindo desta maneira, com a criação do mito dos anos dourados.