Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cognitive Relatives Yet Moral Strangers?, Judith Benz-Scharzberg, Andrew Knight

Andrew Knight, PhD

This article provides an empirically based, interdisciplinary approach to the following two questions: Do animals possess behavioral and cognitive characteristics such as culture, language, and a theory of mind? And if so, what are the implications, when long-standing criteria used to justify differences in moral consideration between humans and animals are no longer considered indisputable? One basic implication is that the psychological needs of captive animals should be adequately catered for. However, for species such as great apes and dolphins with whom we share major characteristics of personhood, welfare considerations alone may not suffice, and consideration of basic rights may …

Sexual Misconduct, Religion, And Culture, Alev Dudek

Alev Dudek

The Dark Side Of Creative Tourism: A Philosophical Dialogue With Culture, Babu P. George

Babu George

Creating The Back Ward: The Triumph Of Custodialism And The Uses Of Therapeutic Failure In Nineteenth Century Idiot Asylums, Philip M. Ferguson

Philip M. Ferguson

"My focus in this chapter is on the origin of the back ward rather than its demise. Where did the “back wards” that [Burton] Blatt and [Senator Robert] Kennedy witnessed come from in the first place? What 3 exactly were those “antecedents of the problems observed” that Blatt cited? This chapter reviews that history and argues that, in fact, there is a specific narrative to the evolution of the institutional “back ward” as an identifiable place where people with the most significant intellectual disabilities were to be incarcerated and largely forgotten."

Politics Or Metaphysics? On Attributing Psychological Properties To Animals, Kristin Andrews

Kristin Andrews, PhD

Following recent arguments that there is no logical problem with attributing mental or agential states to animals, I address the epistemological problem of how to go about making accurate attributions. I suggest that there is a two-part general method for determining whether a psychological property can be accurately attributed to a member of another species: folk expert opinion and functionality. This method is based on well-known assessments used to attribute mental states to humans who are unable to self-ascribe due to an early stage of development or impairment, and can be used to describe social and emotional development as well …

Overview: A Sketch Of Themes In Analysis Of Creaturely Motives, Kirby Farrell

kirby farrell

This is a response to a Research Gate session on “Horror Sanguinis,” an essay posted by D.L. Smith and Ioanna Panaitiu, on rites of purification through which cultures prepare warriors and others tainted by violence to reenter society. My comment sketches some basic themes in my work on creaturely motives in cultural analysis (Post-Traumatic Culture and The Psychology of Abandon).

Befriending Death: Over 100 Essayists On Living And Dying, Michael C. Vocino, Alfred G. Killilea

michael c vocino

This book provides brief essays from people of a vast array of backgrounds, all taking death seriously and openly reflecting on how and where they find meaning in life. Many of these voices are from the smallest state, Rhode Island, which we feel serves as a microcosm of the diversity and insight of the larger country. This chance for a rare sharing of views on a truly profound subject has attracted commentators who are deeply religious and those who are not religious, noted authors and people who have never published a word, people celebrated by the world and people ignored …

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago Mr, Riley Davis Ms, Richard V. Travisano Mr

Richard Travisano

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …

Jon And His Dead Lover, Michael C. Vocino

michael c vocino

Short story about a doctor who discovers a crime.

Six Crosses, Michael C. Vocino

michael c vocino

Brief short story or observation about life in a small southern Italian town.

Heritage And Regional Development: An Indigenous Perspective, Robbie Collins, K. Mcmahon-Coleman

Kimberley McMahon-Coleman

Heritage is important to regional development in terms of promoting a sense of place and a sense of identity for those in the region. Heritage is often expressed through culture and the arts as a means of manifesting a community’s sense of what the community or region is about. For Indigenous communities this is particularly relevant given the lack of social capital as a result of colonialism and displacement. In these communities the value of the Indigenous way of viewing things and sense of place has been subjugated by hegemonic norms. There is a need for Indigenous peoples to find …

Dimensionalising Cultural Implications Of The Multinationals In The Niger Delta: A Consequentialist Approach For Resistance, Uzoechi Nwagbara

Dr Uzoechi Nwagbara

The presence of multinational oil corporations in Nigeria – which include Agip, Chevron, Elf, Mobil, Shell, and Total among others have come with heavy consequences to the nation’s cultural heritage and identity in the global marketplace. This is particularly the case in the Niger delta region of Nigeria considered as the goose that lays the golden egg, that is, oil, which has been described in many quarters as a major source of the nation’s malaise. The cultural and environmental damage of oil exploration as well as the pauperisation of the locals is inextricably linked to the ruse of global capitalism, …

Book Review - Allison Levy, Widowhood And Visual Culture In Early Modern Europe, Louise D'Arcens

Louise D'Arcens

The past decade has witnessed the appearance of a number of excellent edited essay collections dealing with widowhood in the European past, including Louise Mirrer’s Upon My Husband’s Death: Widows in the Literature and Histories of Medieval Europe (1992), Cindy L. Carlson and Angela Jane Weisl’s Constructions of Widowhood and Virginity in the Middle Ages (1999), and Sandra Cavallo and Lyndan Warner’s Widowhood in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1999). The essays assembled by Allison Levy in Widowhood and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe offer a distinctive contribution to the existing scholarship, shifting the focus away from social, legal, …

Book Review Of: Tracking King Kong: A Hollywood Icon In World Culture, Brian M. Yecies

Dr Brian Yecies

No abstract provided.

Cultural Flows Beneath Death Note: Catching The Wave Of Popular Japanese Culture In China, Peter Goderie, Brian M. Yecies

Dr Brian Yecies

The government of the People’s Republic of China has often been criticized for its policies regarding freedom of expression. Cinema in China has been central to this criticism, particularly with respect to the distribution of foreign films. This article uses a case study of the Japanese film Death Note (Kaneko Shūsuke, 2006) to advance current understanding of Chinese cinema found in important studies such as Chu (2002), Zhang (2004) and Berry and Farquhar (2006). To better understand the controversy surrounding Death Note in the Chinese context, this article explores the historical precursors to the Chinese Communist Party’s ban on horror …

In Search Of America, Ellen Bigler

Ellen Bigler

Taken collectively, Latinos are now the largest minority group in the USA. This chapter, with a focus on U.S. Latinos, explores the changing face of the USA in recent decades and the significance of this demographic change for the ongoing construction and negotiation of an American identity. The culture wars (e.g., debates over the canon, curriculum, and language) of the late 1980s and 1990s, and the contested role of schools in the arena of critical multiculturalism, are examined for insights into the bases of resistance to change. The author draws from her experiences in public schools as both a teacher …

Dangerous Discourses, Ellen Bigler

Ellen Bigler

Contemporary historians of U.S. immigration and ethnicity, and those who chart the experiences of Puerto Ricans on the mainland, may recognize the flaws inherent in usingthe "immigrant analogy" to evaluate and anticipate the Puerto Rican experience on themainland. However, my ethnographic research in an upstate New York city with a growingPuerto Rican population suggests that such perspectives have yet to make their way intothe mainstream. In analysis of community and school discourse over a three-year period, Ifound ethnic success stories being used by community "old-timers" to "discipline" thosewho are judged to have failed through a dearth of hard work. Within …

Calo Of A Chicano From "Carlos-Malo, Califas", Refugio I. Rochin

Refugio I. Rochin

Caló is the language used in Chicano neighborhoods; a source of identity and intimacy among English Language Learners with Spanish roots. Caló shapes character and lives of many who cross-communicate within the US and abroad. This is a story of my life with Caló - as a global consultant and academic with experiences in several different communities and countries, from the 1960s to 2012.

Blending On And Off Campus: A Tale Of Two Cities, Geraldine E. Lefoe, J. G. Hedberg

Geraldine Lefoe

Increasingly online learning has become part of the normal educational experience of students. This chapter examines the changes faced by two universities in different countries as they move to blend traditional face-to-face learning activities with those online. In particular, it reviews lessons that can be drawn for others moving into blended learning environments for successful implementation.

Empoderamiento - La Cultura, Reclamando Derechos E Identidad Y Expresión Poética En El Valle Del Chota, Hannah Roth

Hannah Roth

Mi proyecto es una encrucijada de muchos temas: Apelar a la identidad y la historia Afroecuatoriano a través de la educación. El reconocimiento de la historia, la cultura, la identidad, y los derechos afroecuatorianos es una manera de empoderarse y esto es lo que yo observé en la familia Chalá Lara y en las comunidades en el Valle del Chota.

Yo hice una investigación sobre la identidad afroecuatoriana, el impacto de Etnoeducación, y poesía como una herramienta de empoderamiento. En las clases de Etnoeducación aprendí mucho sobre el origen y la importancia de valorar la historia afroecuatoriana. Sin embargo, vi …

Ethnicity, Race, And Nationalism, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

This article traces the contours of a comparative, global, crossdisciplinary, and multiparadigmatic field that construes ethnicity, race, and nationhood as a single integrated family of forms of cultural understanding, social organization, and political contestation. It then reviews a set of diverse yet related efforts to study the way ethnicity, race, and nation work in social, cultural, and political life without treating ethnic groups, races, or nations as substantial entities, or even taking such groups as units of analysis at all.

Smithsonian Center For Latino Initiatives: Strategic Plan (2002-2007), Refugio I. Rochin

Refugio I. Rochin

Synopsis of keynote address. Includes information and plan regarding the Smithsonian Institution's mandate to play a fundamental role in defining the parameters of Latina/o cultural identity: "How the Smithsonian views U.S. Latinos is important to all Americans, because the Smithsonian helps determine how all Americans see themselves--and how the rest of the world views the United States."