Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Ordinary People’S Garments In Neo- And Late-Babylonian Sources, Luigi Malatacca

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The investigation of textiles and clothes in ancient Mesopotamia has been anything but neglected in Assyriological studies. For the Neo- and Late Babylonian periods, in particular, two fundamental monographs have shed light on the clothes worn by the deities worshiped in lower Mesopotamia. 2 Scholars, however, have focused almost exclusively on clothing in the cultic context. This is due to a prevalence of textual sources – mostly economic or administrative documents – recording clothing items worn by divine images during festivals and rituals. Sources on the clothes worn by common people, instead, are close to non-existent. Still, we cannot overlook …

Zur Textilterminologie Auf Römischen Bleitäfelchen: Probleme Der Lesung Und Interpretation, Herbert Graßl

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Die Vorlage und das Studium römischer Bleitesserae, das in den letzten Jahren einen beachtlichen Aufschwung erlebt hat,1 lieferte gerade für die kaiserzeitliche römische Textilwirtschaft viele neue Einsichten. Dazu zählen neben dem in diesem Wirtschaftszweig tätigen Personenkreis vor allem die Herstellung, Verarbeitung und Vermarktung von Textilien, ihre Bezeichnungen und auch Preise in verschiedenen Provinzen des Imperiums. Trotz aller neuer Erkenntnisse bleibt auf diesem Feld aber noch viel zu tun: die Lesung der Texte ist häufig nicht gesichert, die inhaltliche Deutung auch wegen der häufigen Verwendung von Abkürzungen schwierig, dazu kommt noch die verstreute und oft nur schwer erreichbare Publikationsform. Dass sich …

A Name Of A Private Factory (Or Workshop) On A Piece Of Textile: The Case Of The Document A.L.18 (Vienna), Anne Regourd, Fiona J. L. Handley

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The Arabic Leinwand (A.L.) collection is held by the Department of Papyrus (Papyrussammlung) in the Austrian National Library of Vienna.1 The collection was acquired in Egypt in the late 19th century by an antiquity trader in Cairo commissioned by Joseph von Karabacek, the famous papyrologist, and contains 68 items.2 Almost all of these have an association with writing, hence the reason why they were collected for the Library, and only eight objects have no association at all. The language for the most part is Arabic with a few texts in Greek, or with Greek with Arabic. The collection of pieces …

A Diachronic View On Fulling Technology In The Mediterranean And The Ancient Near East: Tools, Raw Materials And Natural Resources For The Finishing Of Textiles, Elena Soriga

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Among the operations required in the overall cycle of the ancient production of textiles, Greek and Roman sources refer to the fulling of woollen fabrics as the most complex and expensive technical process performed both in the 1st millennium BC and the 1st millennium AD. Indeed, the finishing of woollen clothes needed a large amount of time, energy and labour, as well as involving the use of specialized skills and costly raw materials. Fulling fulfilled two functions that were necessary for the proper finishing of cloth, namely the scouring and consolidation of the fibres in the fabric. Woven cloth straight …

Flax And Linen Terminology In Talmudic Literature, Nahum Ben-Yehuda

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Material culture data is mentioned in Talmudic (or ‘rabbinical’) literature when a relevant legal (‘halakhic’) or homiletic (‘midrashic’) context arises. Therefore, certain details may be lacking or ambiguously stated. This however is not presented in a systematic and detailed manner, such as in ‘Pliny’s Natural History’.2 Additional classical authors mention flax and linen. First and foremost: Diocletian3 in his edict of maximum prices. And in less scope and detail: Xenophon,4 Virgil,5 Strabo,6 Columella,7 Pausanias,8 and Theodosius II9 – in his codex. In some instances, these sources may be useful for comparison, contrast and clarification – to Talmudic sources. It is …

Armenian Karmir, Sogdian Karmīr ‘Red’, Hebrew Karmīl And The Armenian Scale Insect Dye In Antiquity, Agnes Korn, Georg Warning

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

This paper looks at three terms denoting the colour ‘red’, viz. Armenian karmir, the obviously corresponding Sogdian word karmīr, and karmīl ‘scarlet’ found in the Hebrew Bible. It will first briefly discuss the etymology of these words (summarising an argument made elsewhere) and argue that the words in question represent a technical term for a red dye from Armenia produced by scale insects. We will then attempt to show that historical data and chemical analysis of extant historical textiles confirm the Armenian red as the relevant dye.

Late Biblical Hebrew karmīl occurs only three times. All three attestations are …

Textilnet.Dk – A Toolkit For Terminology Research And Presentation, Susanne Lervad, Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Since February 2015, the digital dictionary or term database, textilnet.dk, has been accessible on the Internet.1 The purpose of this paper is to present the background and methods of this pilot project. Since 2010, the project has collaborated with The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research (CTR), University of Copenhagen, and has gained moral support from Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen, director of Dansk Sprognævn, the Danish National Language Advisory Committee.2 From 2011 to 2015, we have been working with generous funding from the Danish Ministry of Culture. The objective of textilnet.dk is to preserve and communicate the cultural heritage of …

Irritating Byssus – Etymological Problems, Material Facts, And The Impact Of Mass Media, Felicitas Maeder

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Byssus and sea-silk made of the fibre beard of the Pinna nobilis – zoologically called byssus – have both become subjects of scholarly interest in the last decade. The subject is discussed not only in scientific books and journals, but also in mass media around the world. Although scientific research has clarified some old misunderstandings, the double meaning of the term byssus has created new doubts and scepticism in the scholarly debate, bearing the danger of new, additional erroneous interpretations. This article recapitulates the present state of knowledge and calls attention to the consequences of assumed ‘old/new knowledge’ entering the …

The Oscillum Misunderstanding, Francesco Meo

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

In this passage the Latin term oscillum refers to a particular class of objects: a small face or mask hung on trees during certain religious feasts celebrated by the Ausones in honour of Bacchus (Fig. 1). The Roman oscilla most probably derives from the Aἰῶραι, small images related to Dionysus hung on trees during the Aἰῶρα, an Athenian public feast. They were believed to purify the air as they swung in the wind. Both the Greek and the Latin words refer to objects used during particular sacred feasts, in the first case public and in the second case …

The Textile Terminology In Ancient Japan, Mari Omura, Naoko Kizawa

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

This paper investigates key Japanese words related to textiles and their production in ancient Japan that is during the 1st millennium AD. At this time the language known as ‘Old Japanese’ evolved and eventually systems for writing it down emerged, based on borrowing the Chinese characters. Textiles used for clothing, coverings, tax items, and ritual objects played an integral role in the society, and thus terms related to textiles provide insight into the life style, politics, religion and economy of Japan as it emerged from a tribal-based localized society into a centralized nation state. The linguistic study also points to …

The Undocumented Subjects Of El Hueco: Theorizing A Colombian Metaphor For Migration, Jennifer Harford Vargas

Literatures in English Faculty Research and Scholarship

This article theorizes the trope of el Hueco that Colombians use to describe crossing undocumented into the United States, colloquially referring to undocumented migration as entering “por el Hueco,” which translates as “through the Hole or Gap.” I posit that el Hueco provides a fruitful new metaphor for Latina/o studies that is directly rooted in the experience of undocumented migration and in an extended geography that connects South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. I analyze how Jorge Franco’s novel Paraíso Travel and Kofre’s CD ¡Por el hueco! figure crossing through el Hueco as a form of burial, thereby …

Salafism, Wahhabism, And The Definition Of Sunni Islam, Rob J. Williams

Honors Program: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

My capstone deals with the historical definition of Sunni Islam, and how it has changed in approximately the past 200 years. Around 1800, Sunni Islam was pretty clearly defined by an adherence to one of four maddhabs, or schools of law: the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali schools and are all based in nearly a millennium of legal scholarship. Since 1800, however, numerous reform movements have sprung up which disavow previous scholarship and interpret Islamic law their own way. However, certain reformist groups, such as Traditionalist Salafis and Wahhabis, claim that their version of Islam is the only “pure” …

Trapped, Anne Mitchell

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This villanelle describes the feeling of being trapped in a body that does not feel like your own; the repetition of the form embodies the haunting thoughts of mental illness or other paralyzing fear.

Entangled: Romantic Love And Philosophy, Sydney E. Thorp

Departmental Honors Projects

In order to do philosophy, one must understand what it is. Often one has to develop this understanding on their own, since the philosophical canon has such a range of attitudes, styles, and objects. In this paper, philosophy is a dialogue, a conversation spanning space and time, as well as the inside of one's own head. Philosophy is not something that can provide an absolute truth about reality; rather, philosophy is a means of describing how the philosopher thinks reality ought to be.

To exemplify this understanding of philosophy, this paper is written as fiction. It follows two people as …

Print Versus Digital: How Medium Matters On 'House Of Cards', Patrick Ferrucci, Chad Painter

Communication Faculty Publications

This study utilizes textual analysis to analyze how journalists are depicted on the Netflix drama House of Cards. Through the lens of orientalism and cultivation, researchers examine how depictions of print and digital journalism would lead viewers to see digital journalists as less ethical and driven by self-gain, while also viewing technology as an impediment to quality journalism. These findings are then discussed as a means for understanding how these depictions could affect society.

2017 Ruby Yearbook, Sam Beck, Tiffini Eckenrod, Dayna Honrychs, Faraha Rathod, Xinyun Zhang, Ayesha Contractor, Katarina Zambanini, Ursinus College Senior Class

The Ruby Yearbooks, 1897-2020

A digitized copy of the 2017 Ruby, the Ursinus College yearbook.

National Children’S Dental Health Month - Program Planning Guide (2017), American Dental Association Foundation

National Children's Dental Health Month

No abstract provided.

Libro De Actividades Por El Mes Nacional De La Salud Dental Infantil [Spanish Language Version: National Children's Dental Health Month Activity Book] (2017), American Dental Association Foundation

National Children's Dental Health Month

No abstract provided.

Review: Maria Fabricius Hansen, The Spolia Churches Of Rome: Recycling Antiquity In The Middle Ages, Trans. Barbara J. Haveland., Dale Kinney

History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Emperor’S Humbler Clothes: Textures Of Courtly Dress In Seventeenth-Century South Asia, Sylvia W. Houghteling

History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship

This study reconstructs the humbler components of South Asian courtly ensembles worn by the greatest Mughal emperors, which included relatively inexpensive tie-­dyed cloths made in Rajasthan and finely spun cotton muslins from Bengal. Court biographies, popular lexicons, and the letters sent from the Mughal court to its Rajput allies reveal that the fabrics used for dress in early modern South Asia were valued for sensory qualities, such as softness, saturation of color, and coolness on the skin, that went beyond the cost of the materials or the sophistication of the technology used to produce them. This project transports the study …

The Redwood, V.113 2016-2017, Santa Clara University

The Redwood

No abstract provided.

Gender And Sexuality (First Edition), Carol C. Mukhopadhyay, Tami Blumenfield, Susan Harper, Abby Gondak

Anthropology Publications

Learning Objectives:

• Identify ways in which culture shapes sex/gender and sexuality.
• Describe ways in which gender and sexuality organize and structure the societies in which we live.
• Assess the range of possible ways of constructing gender and sexuality by sharing examples from different cultures, including small-scale societies.
• Analyze how anthropology as a discipline is affected by gender ideology and gender norms.
• Evaluate cultural “origin” stories that are not supported by anthropological data.

Gentrification As Injustice: A Relational Egalitarian Approach To Urban Housing, Tyler J. Zimmer

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This paper focuses on the nature of the landlord/tenant relationship in uncontrolled rental housing markets. I argue that relational egalitarianism--the view that our social and political relations to one another ought not involve arbitrary power asymmetries--gives us moral reasons to criticize this relationship. In particular, I try to show that landlord/tenant relationships involve objectionable forms of economic subordination--more specifically, relations that involve exploitation and marginalization--as well as political inequality. I conclude the paper with some reflections on policy solutions to the problems I identify. Contrary to the consensus among most economists and government officials at least, not to mention landlords, …

Notes From The Editor, Bruce Gleason

Research & Issues in Music Education

Welcome to the 2016-2017 issue of Research and Issues in Music Education (RIME). In this issue, Wendy Matthews of Wayne State University and Karen Koner of California State University, Stanislaus report on professional attributes and job satisfaction of music educators; Jonathan Bolduc and Melanie Évrard of Université Laval examine music teaching practices at the early childhood level; Elizabeth Bucura of Eastman School of Music and JulieAnn Weissberg of the Kyrene School District in Tempe, Arizona investigate elementary students’ creating processes and perspectives through composition; Matthew Spieker of Ball State University investigates instrumental music educators’ use of figurative language; and Phillip …

A Survey Of Elementary And Secondary Music Educators’ Professional Background, Teaching Responsibilities And Job Satisfaction In The United States, Wendy K. Matthews, Karen Koner

Research & Issues in Music Education

The focus of this exploratory study was to examine the current trends of K – 12 music educators in the United States regarding their (a) professional background, (b) classroom teaching responsibilities, and (c) job satisfaction. Participants included seven thousand four hundred and sixty-three (N = 7,463) currently employed music teachers who were members of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) during the 2015 – 2016 academic year. To assess the variables, participants responded to a researcher created 49-item Music Educator Survey for K – 12 Teachers. Results indicate that overall, K – 12 music educators were predominately Caucasian …

The Trouble With Calasiris: Duplicity And Autobiographical Narrative In Heliodorus And Galen, Lawrence Kim

Classical Studies Faculty Research

In this article, I take a new look at the problem of Calasiris’ ‘duplicity’ as depicted in the long autobiographical narrative he delivers to Cnemon in Books 2-5 of Heliodorus’ Aethiopica. A close parallel for Calasiris’ self-presentation can be found in an unlikely source: the medical case histories of the doctor Galen. Through a comparison of Calasiris’ narrative with those of Galen, I demonstrate that both narrators employ similar ‘deceptive’ strategies to showcase their observational and deductive skills to their audience. Calasiris’ foregrounding of such ‘rational’ methods and his downplaying of the prophetic power that others attribute to him …

Introduction To German Ecocriticism In The Anthropocene, Caroline Schaumann, Heather I. Sullivan

Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research

How do we approach, read, discuss, and teach German literature in light of the transnational and global environmental problems and crises caused by human activities? In what way does the current geological era of the Anthropocene marked by traceable human impact across the globe lead us to reflect on the role and interconnectedness of human and non-human forces? Since human activities and human cultures have caused so many of the current ecological problems, how can scholars address broad-scale interdisciplinary problems with attention to both cultural and scientific knowledge? What is the role of the humanities in this inextricably nature-culture mix …

Music And Time, Andrew Kania

Philosophy Faculty Research

This chapter reviews some temporal features of music and the debates about the nature and value of musical experience that they have engendered. In the course of constructing a definition of music, Jerrold Levinson claims that "music as people conceive it seems as essentially an art of time as it is an art of sound". A more likely strategy for anyone convinced of the necessity of temporal organization for music would surely be to reject these candidates for musical status on the grounds that they fail to meet the condition. Philosophers of music have disagreed about what is minimally required …

The Retro-Futurism Of Cuteness, Jennifer E. Boyle, Wan-Chuan Kao

CCU Faculty Books

Is it possible to conceive of a Hello Kitty Middle Ages or a Tickle Me Elmo Renaissance? The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first reference to “cute” in the sense of “attractive, pretty, charming” to 1834. More recently, Sianne Ngai has offered a critical overview of the cuteness of the twentieth-century avant-garde within the context of consumer culture. But if cuteness can get under the skin, what kinds of surfaces does it best infiltrate, particularly in the framework of historical forms, events, and objects that traditionally have been read as emergences around “big” aesthetics of formal symmetries, high affects, and …

Review Of Rah's "Prophetic Lament: A Call For Justice In Troubled Times", David M. Johnstone

Publications from Student Life & Spiritual Life

No abstract provided.