Critical and Cultural Studies Commons^™

Book Review: Reconnecting To The Source By Ervin Laszlo, Elizabeth W. Szatmari Krasnoff

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Quantum philosopher Ervin Laszlo has taken one step further outside of the contemporary mainstream scientific view, which believes in a reductive “scientific” method primarily of highly controlled experiments to determine truth. In this visionary work, Laszlo proposes that the true laws of nature can also be accessed and felt experientially. Here he argues that the new quantum science can support this view, and even assist us as we heal the rift between mind and spirit and reconnect to our source. Laszlo proposes a new paradigm, a holotropic worldview with love as the core attracting force of wholeness. Indeed, as the …

Book Review: The Intelligence Of The Cosmos: Why Are We Here? By Ervin Laszlo, Elizabeth W. Szatmari Krasnoff

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Ervin Laszlo breaks down his theory of everything into a credo of 8 statements. This review looks in some detail at Laszlo’s theories and also touches on the other writers who have been invited to participate. It is noteworthy that Laszlo breaks with the current scientific belief that we are without purpose, and that evolution has no purpose. He believes that compassion, love, and expansion are our purposes for being here.

Amjambo Africa! (August 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

News from Africa ........................p.2

Art Shows....................................p. 3

Publisher’s Editorial ....................p. 4

French .......................................... p.5

Swahil............................................p.6

Somali ...........................................p.7

Canada-U.S. Border.....................p.7

COVID-19 Tips ...........................p. 8

Mills Administration ...................p. 9

Finance/Building Credit ...........p. 10

World Market Basket ..........p. 12/13

Leyla Hashi ................................p. 14

Election season .........................p. 15

Blaine House Visit ....................p. 16

Angolan Community of Maine p. 16

Legislative Update.....................p 17

Awards to community groups p. 17

Kinyarwanda .............................p.18

Portuguese .................................p.19

In Her Presence ....................... p. 20

Columns ....................................p. 21

Amjambo Africa! (July 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Publisher’s Editorial ....................p. 4

Translations French ...................................... p.5

Swahili...................................... p.6

Somali ....................................... p.7

Kinyarwanda ..........................p.18

Portuguese .............................p.19

News from Africa ........................p. 8

Business, Economics & Financial Literacy...................p. 10

World Market Basket ..........p. 12/13

Legislative Update ......p 17/20/21/9

Community News......................p. 16

Columns..............................................

About hair .................................p. 20

Hope House ..............................p. 19

Safe Healthcare .........................p. 21

The Aesthetics Of Exodus: Virno And Lyotard On Art, Timbre, And The General Intellect, Derek R. Ford

Education Studies Faculty publications

While the general intellect continues to provide a rich resource for understanding post-Fordism and for theorizing resistance, there remains a neglected aesthetic dimension to the general intellect and the role that art can play in resistance based on it. This article develops the general intellect along these lines by drawing on two theorists who are rarely thought together: Paolo Virno and Jean-François Lyotard. The article begins by introducing the general intellect and Virno’s reconceptualization of it as the general or generic intellect. It then introduces a relationship between art and the general intellect by reading Virno’s theory of language, speech, …

Does Expectation Influence Relationship? A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Parental Expectation And Parent-Child Relationship Among Chinese Family Groups 期望是否會影響關係？華裔家庭中父母的期望對親子關係的影響之研究, Sharon Chiang, Sharon Chiang, Sharon Chiang

Education Dissertations

Abstract

Parental expectation, particularly among Chinese family groups, is understood to be formative upon their children’s identity, behavior in family relationships, educational success and decisions in career choices. China's long history of traditionalism in its social values, heavily based on Confucian philosophy of the family, bears this out. Significant social changes have happened in recent years due to political shifts, modernization, capitalization, immigration, and government population control policies. However, expectation is an element on which both academic study and educational research are rather limited. Current study has touched on the topic of parental expectation and raised some awareness, but the …

Amjambo Africa! (June 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Ramadan 2020.............................p. 2

Introducing Africa News editor.p. 5

Pious Ali .......................................p. 6

Banyamulenge .............................p. 8

L/A Food needs ...........................p. 9

Communication Competence Training Within Minority-Owned Small Businesses, Shirleena Racine Baggett

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Business ownership is imperative in correcting economic issues for demographic groups subjugated to discrimination, inequality, poverty, and other harmful disadvantages. This project supports the idea that building communication competence within minority-owned small businesses and nonprofit organizations, will significantly increase achievement of long-term sustainability and success. The solution is not only creating communication training tailored for minority entrepreneurs, but to allow access in feasible and tangible ways. This study begins by defining communication and explaining its function to assist in moving past the narrative of communication interaction as “talking and listening,” but instead a concept rooted in logic, theoretical analysis, and …

Amjambo Africa! (May 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Legacy of artist & scholar David Driskell...........................p. 2

Navigating COVID-19.................p. 3

US/Canada Border Crossing.......p. 5

Evictions & Rental Assistance.....p. 6

Virtual commemoration .............p. 8

COVID-19 and youth..................p. 9

Unemployment Insurance..........p. 9

Legislation: Stimulus.................p. 11

Preventing a second spike .......p. 19

Food resource listing...........p. 20/21

Social Studies Teacher Perceptions Of News Source Credibility, Christopher H. Clark, Mardi Schmeichel, H. James Garrett

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Politically tumultuous times have created a problematic space for teachers who include the news in their classrooms. Few studies have explored perceptions of news credibility among secondary social studies teachers, the educators most likely to regularly incorporate news media into their classrooms. We investigated teachers’ operational definitions of credibility and the relationships between political ideology and assessments of news source credibility. Most teachers in this study used either static or dynamic definitions to describe news media sources’ credibility. Further, teachers’ conceptualizations of credibility and perceived ideological differences with news sources were associated with how credible teachers found each source. These …

Departments And Disciplinary Gatekeeping: The Sociolinguistics Of Spanish In Us Academia, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

In his contribution, José del Valle looks at the intersection of the sociolinguistic study of Spanish in the US and the transformations of Spanish language departments in higher education. Del Valle traces the history of the institutionalization of Spanish teaching and study and its effects on linguistic research’s position within Spanish departments. Shifts in approaches to the use of language in social practice, and the growing demands on language units to act as service departments for language learners, has isolated scholars in those institutional homes from broader integration into sociolinguistic research.

Critical Media Literacy Approaches To Violence Prevention: A Research Note, Emily A. Moorhouse, Hayley Brooks

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Sexual violence is a global phenomenon needing sustainable interventions. The article extends findings from media literacy scholars by exploring ways that critical media literacy (CML) pedagogies can be used to teach affirmative consent education for the purposes of violence prevention. The article is not a curriculum blue-print, as the pedagogies are still being piloted for adolescents in Ontario. However, the rationales for bridging consent education and critical media literacy apply transnationally. Engaging educators and students with critical analysis of media and creative media production is key to transformative learning about consent, within and beyond the classroom. The article ends by …

Reading Autoethnography: The Impact Of Writing Through The Body, Katarina Tuinamuana, Joanne Yoo

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, we explore alternative ways in which academic writing can have impact, specifically in how it can move from the clearly measured to the deeply felt. We do this by writing a creative nonfiction narrative of our experimentation with autoethnography, detailing our responses to four published autoethnographic articles. We found that reading and engaging with these papers meant that we also had to listen and reconnect to our bodies in ways that initially seemed foreign to us as academics. But we persevered, and this project strengthened our resolve to create time/space to engage writing/research that deeply moves and …

Amjambo Africa! (April 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

ILAP on TPS for Somalia.............p. 2

From Camden to Portland........p. 10

Cultivating Community............p. 14

Amjambo Africa for Teachers..p. 15

FAQ about COVID-19..............p. 16

Food Resources ...................p. 20/21

Miss Muslimah 2020 .................p. 22

US-Canada border crossings ...p. 22

In Our Own Words: Institutional Betrayals, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt

Faculty Publications

When Dr. Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, professor of English at Linfield College, asked a large group of underrepresented faculty members why they left their higher education institutions, they told her the real reasons for their departures — those that climate surveys don't capture.

This essay originally appeared as part of Conditionally Accepted, a career advice blog for Inside Higher Ed providing news, information, personal stories, and resources for scholars who are, at best, conditionally accepted in academe. Conditionally Accepted is an anti-racist, pro-feminist, pro-queer, anti-transphobic, anti-fatphobic, anti-ableist, anti-ageist, anti-classist, and anti-xenophobic online community.

Amjambo Africa! (March 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Why participate in the Census ..p. 4

City Announces Expo Grants .....p. 6

Justice for Women.......................p. 9

Fulbright Scholar Escajeda .........p. 9

Portland Adult Ed .....................p. 11

English Classes...........................p. 14

Musician Angelikah Fahray.......p. 19

Strategies Exemplary Social Studies Teachers’ Implement When Facilitating Discussions About Race, Candice Nicole Jasmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers experience difficulty in introducing some sensitive and controversial issues in the classroom environment. The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to identify strategies that exemplary secondary social studies teachers implement when facilitating classroom discussions about sensitive and controversial issues, specifically, racial issues framed within Singleton and Linton’s 4 agreements of courageous conversations: stay engaged, speak your truth, experience discomfort, and accept and expect nonclosure. This study utilized qualitative data collection. Semi-structured, online one-to-one internet-based interviews were used to document the lived experiences of exemplary secondary social studies teachers and the strategies they use when facilitating discussions about …

Beauty For Ashes: Reflections On Aesthetic Experience And Suffering, Douglas Gilmour

Verbum Incarnatum: An Academic Journal of Social Justice

In this essay, I examine the relationship between aesthetic experience and suffering, and I specifically explore how and why the former can potentially serve to meliorate the severity of the latter. Of course, that art and beauty can provide a certain measure of comfort and healing to the afflicted is a universally acknowledged truth; however, the reasons why this should be so could be considered an equally universal mystery. “I feel we understand too little about the psychology of loss,” writes Arthur Danto, “to understand why the creation of beauty is so fitting a way of marking it.” By exploring …

Music Therapy As A Treatment For Female Adolescents With Childhood Abuse, Janice M. Dvorkin Psy.D, Acmt, Sierra Belmares

Verbum Incarnatum: An Academic Journal of Social Justice

This article describes the preference to using receptive music therapy as a modality for helping an adolescent who has PTSD from childhood abuses. Adolescence is a difficult period during the life span. The second stage of separation/individuation provides challenges to almost all adolescents. This article contains a description of the adolescent behaviors of someone who is experiencing the consequences of PTSD. Along with an explanation of why receptive music therapy is an effective therapy with this population is a case study.

Free Battered Texas Women: Survivor-Advocates Organizing At The Crossroads Of Gendered Violence, Disability, And Incarceration, Cathy Marston Phd

Verbum Incarnatum: An Academic Journal of Social Justice

This article recaps my symposium presentation, where I argue that feminist organizing strategies are central to healing our society and creating restorative justice from my perspective as a survivor of occupational injury, battering, and criminalization for self-defense. This includes the creation of Free Battered Texas Women. We prefer to think of ourselves as survivor-advocates who use a variety of tactics to empower ourselves, incarcerated battered women, and citizens. These strategies include pedagogy; poetry and other written forms; art; and legislative advocacy. I blend this grassroots activism with feminist disability theory, radical feminist theory, feminist ethnography, and feminist criminology.

Amjambo Africa! (February 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Free English classes in Portland.. p.4

From Jordan to Maine............... p.13

Legislative Update.................... p.16

2020 Mlk Keynote Address: Michelle Alexander Presentation, Center For Social Equity & Inclusion, Michelle Alexander, Rosanne Somerson, Matthew Shenoda

Martin Luther King, Jr. Series

2020 MLK Series Keynote Michelle Alexander brings audiences profoundly necessary and meaningful insights on the practice of mass incarceration that plagues the US justice system, as well as eye-opening conversation on how we can end racial caste in America. Lecture Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at 5:30pm, RISD Auditorium, 17 Canal Walk, Providence, RI.

In her acclaimed bestseller The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Alexander peels back the curtain on systemic racism in the US prison system in a work that the New York Review of Books describes as "striking in the intelligence of her …

Rhetoric And Race - Background And Assignment - Shu Mlk Symposium 2020, Jon Radwan

CHDCM Publications

Provides an overview of Rhetoric and describes the historical development of Race as a rhetorical construct. Offers two associated assignment options: a digital audio interview plus video debrief on contemporary racism, and/or an essay on 21st century abolitionist rhetoric. - Jon Radwan and Angela Kariotis

A Posthumanist Pragmatism: Rereading Tomboys, Aaron Martin, Spurthi Gubbala, Marissa J. Huth, Sarah M. Johnson, Amanda Romaya

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Gender has often dictated the roles and responsibilities that individuals are expected to fulfill. Societies in general still adhere to a strict gender binary system, and have largely been either intolerant of or, at minimum, uncomfortable with those who break from such a system. The tomboy figure has been the recipient of societal judgement for what has been interpreted to be a subversion of and deviance from traditional gender norms, and this has played out in a variety of ways. For instance, literary depictions of the tomboy—as the manifestations of the dominant cultural attitude—have captured both the aversion to as …

Criminalization Of Young Black Males, Useni Eugene Perkins

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the historical, social, cultural and political factors that contribute to the criminalization of a disproportionate number of young Black males. In doing so, it provides greater clarity for the reasons we are “walking in circles” to find a solution to why these youth are facing a future that is indisputably bleak. In framing this pronouncement, it will show how these factors have been institutionalized to create a system of racial oppression that targets young Black males to be both its victims and victimizers. As the result of this system, many young Black males are portrayed in …

The New Debt Peonage In The Era Of Mass Incarceration, Timothy Black, Lacey Caporale

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

In 1867, Congress passed legislation that forbid the practices of debt peonage. However, the law was circumvented after the period of Reconstruction in the south and debt peonage became central to the expansion of southern agriculture through sharecropping and industrialization through convict leasing, practices that forced debtors into new forms of coerced labor. Debt peonage was presumable ended in the 1940s by the Justice Department. But was it? The era of mass incarceration has institutionalized a new form of debt peonage through which racialized poverty is governed, mechanisms of social control are reconstituted, and freedom is circumscribed. In this paper, …

Dis/Ableist Consumption: A Critical Thematic Analysis Of Avowed And Ascribed Neuro-Identities In The Classroom, Shaundi C. Newbolt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, faculty and students are publicly claiming neurodivergent identities and support for the neurodiversity movement. This study uses Collier and Hecht’s cultural identity theories with Lang and Chen’s two-step process, critical thematic analysis (CTA), to examine avowals and ascriptions with four diagnostic terms, ASD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and dyslexia, of students and professors from Rate My Professors (RMP) with Ritter’s frame of RMP as a phenomenon.

A total of 1,022 posts are analyzed to understand how students resist or re-inscribe popular medical model/deficit discourse in the classroom: student avowals (N = 232), professor avowals (N = 51), …

Amjambo Africa! (January 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Transportation planning ...........p. 2

Celebrating Diversity in Maine .p. 3

Opinion on refugee numbers....p. 4

Jamat Ibrahim dreams big..........p. 9

In Her Kitchen ...........................p. 10

Lewiston author pens children’s book.........................p. 13

Food Co-op and MAIN ............p. 18

World Affairs Council...............p. 19

Youth Get Together..................p. 19

Introduction, Antonio Medina-Rivera, Lee F. Wilberschied Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Envisioning Critical Social Entrepreneurship Education: Possibilities, Questions, And Guiding Commitments, Mark Congdon Jr., Liliana Herakova

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Higher education institutions continue to be increasingly interested in examining how social entrepreneurship and community engaged approaches to education can work together. In light of the recent growth and interest in such programs, scholars and educators have called for attention to specific considerations when developing SE and community-based education, which can be summed up in three areas - pedagogy, relationships, and impact. The present essay builds on such propositions, and calls for a critically-orientated approach to SE, grounded in community engagement, collaborative dialogue among diverse voices, and a commitment to transforming oppressive structures