Search Results (26)

Many publications on early house and techno music have the character of documentation and include (auto-)biographical statements from contemporaries of the scene. This literature has led to many statements, hypotheses, and conclusions. The weaknesses of such sources are their selective and subjective nature, and the danger of unclear memories, romanticization, and constructive memory. Consequently, a validation through content-based, quantitative music analyses is desirable. For this purpose, the HOuse and Techno music from Germany and AMErica (HOTGAME) corpus was built. Metrics from the field of data quality control show that the corpus is representative and explanatory for house and techno music from Germany and the United States of America between 1984 and 1994. HOTGAME can serve as a reliable source for the analysis of early house and techno music using big data methods, like inferential statistics and machine learning. Full article

When children are raised in environments that lack important elements of supportive care needed for developing a healthy identity, it results in a kind of “loss” of what is archetypally expected but never received. This category of loss, which I call estranged sorrow, is not accounted for in the current literature of loss related to grief related to known losses. Most approaches to trauma are similar in emphasizing what happens based on events and neglecting on the trauma that results from developing in an environment without emotionally available caregivers. In this article, a theoretical essay, I work within the framework of depth psychology to trace how estranged sorrows might originate in our culture. I then use the method of amplification to provide three different ways that the productive imagination can be harnessed as a vital resource: narrative amplification, imaginal amplification, and mythic amplification. I explore how the imagination enables a grieving process that connects sorrow with words and images that can then be processed as a conscious experience, and ultimately allowed to become part of the biographical past rather than an unvoiced present. Full article

There is a long and complex history of Christian–Muslim engagement, one which is fraught by socio-political tensions and complicated by fear. Theological tensions likewise contribute to the sibling rivalry between these Abrahamic faiths. Accounting for fundamental theological differences between Islam and Christianity, and noting a potential dichotomy between apologetic-style and interfaith engagement, this article contends that effective Christian–Muslim relations must navigate both opposing truth claims and efforts to seek peace. Consequently, comparative theology is critically evaluated, from an evangelical Christian perspective, as a potential mediating approach. In considering the complex relationship between comparative theology and theology of religion, and indeed, between theology and ‘people of faith’, recommendations are formulated with a view to contributing to effective Christian–Muslim relations. The overall aim of this research therefore is to explore approaches to developing more effective Christian–Muslim relations, with a specific focus on comparative theology. While motivated by and accounting for a personal Christian–Muslim sibling relationship, the research method predominantly references academic literature, with sections structured by an amended version of Osmer’s four-task model of practical theology. Findings from this research discern that comparative theology is not quite the mediating approach sought; however, its potential contribution towards a ‘hybrid approach’ is explored. The implications of this article seek to encourage orthodox Muslims and evangelical Christians to engage in comparative exchanges that employ a balanced and in-depth approach to understanding our respective faiths. Finally, this article emerges from within the UK; therefore, discussions presented may be differently received by evangelical Christians operating out of divergent biographical contexts. Full article

Background: Biography writing services are increasingly being used with adult palliative care patients, helping them document their stories in a way that provides meaning for themselves, family, and friends. However, the feasibility of applying a biography program to a pediatric palliative care context is less well known. Methods: A narrative review of the literature was conducted, drawing on existing adult biography programs, while noting differences between the pediatric and adult contexts. The Story Project is outlined in this manuscript as an example of a pediatric biography writing approach, with pilot survey data from six volunteer biographers presented. Thematic analysis was conducted on qualitative data elicited from volunteer biographers regarding challenges experienced and the perceived benefits of the program. Descriptive information is provided for other aspects of their experience of the Story Project. Results: The challenges identified by the volunteer biographers were grouped into seven themes, namely, (1) delays encountered, (2) rapport/interactions with family, (3) family distress, (4) logistics, (5) transcribing-specific issues, (6) identifying themes, and (7) finalizing the biography. The perceived benefits of the Story Project, as perceived by the volunteer biographers, were grouped into four main themes: (1) beneficial processes for families, (2) benefits for the volunteers, (3) intrinsic value of the final product, and (4) beneficial uses of the product. Biographies took between 3–20 months to complete, with most taking 12 months or less. Conclusions: Biography writing is a potentially valuable approach for use with pediatric palliative care patients and their families, with the Story Project being one example of such an intervention, with promising early feasibility data. Full article

Hitherto unnoticed similarities between two short stories by Gustav Meyrink and two of the most renowned and widely read ghost stories of M.R. James are detailed through comparative literary analysis. Specifically, one early occult horror tale of Meyrink, The Plants of Dr. Cinderella (1905), shows no less than about 15 congruences beneath the plot level (concerning specific story requisites) with M.R. James’s ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ (1904), as does, to the same extent, a later, widely known Meyrink tale (The Cardinal Napellus, 1914) vis-à-vis M.R. James’s Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance (1911). Although direct, conclusive evidence is unavailable, a nexus of circumstantial evidence, building on extensive biographical and bibliographical inquiries, convergently attests to these assumed literary influences on Meyrink: for both cases, the chronology is intact and thus possible; Meyrink was expertly fluent in English and well-connected to England and English literature; and, these borrowings are reminiscent of other, already known originality issues surrounding Meyrink’s work. Altogether, these new discoveries shed fresh light on idiosyncrasies of Meyrink’s creative process, imagination, and literary production; on his still under-researched literary inspirational sources; as well as on the early reception of M.R. James’s ghostly fiction beyond the anglophone sphere. Full article

In this paper, I provide a close examination of early Christian biographical sources through the heuristic lens of “home studies”, tracing a thread from the New Testament Gospels to martyrdom texts, the apocryphal Acts literature, Eusebius’ biography of Origen in his Church History, and finally, Athanasius’ Life of Antony. I demonstrate that the lens of home allows us to see that in each of these discrete groups of texts, Christ’s call to discipleship is understood to redefine and reconstitute the meaning of home and relatedly, family: to be “home” required a great deal of displacement and mobility as one forsook one’s biological family and household for the sake of obedience to the call of Christ. I argue that three topics, typically examined separately, are fruitfully brought together through the lens of home: (1) the shaping of ancient Christian identity formation, as expressed by the characters’ use of familial language to identify other members of the early Christian movement; (2) the mobile nature of the person who joins the movement, providing insights about the mobility and travel of many of its members; and (3) ancient Christian eschatological thought concerning the final dwelling of Christ-believers in some form of otherworldly home after death. Full article

This article explores the topic of meditation hindrances and breakthroughs. In the traditional literature, meditation hindrances are seen as phenomena counteracting meditative activity. However, hindrances are also seen as grounds for meditative growth and breakthroughs. In current meditation research, there is an effort to understand negative effects, sometimes referred to as challenging, adverse, or harmful effects. Little is known about how people experience and deal with meditation hindrances, and especially how they experience the dissolution of hindrances (breakthroughs). The method applied to shed light on this is an innovative and multilevel phenomenological method, which includes biographical exploration, daily notetaking and reflection, and micro-phenomenology. The participants consisted of a group of five people, and the setting was a 6-day meditation retreat. We offer a new perspective on this research not only by developing the concept of meditation hindrances but also by suggesting and showing how negative effects may be part of a process leading up to a breakthrough, where the negative aspect dissolves, potentially giving rise to positive outcomes. Full article

This article discusses the œuvre of Artemisia Gentileschi, a prominent Baroque painter who was rediscovered by art historian Roberto Longhi in the 1910s. Today, her art is interpreted through various lenses, including art theory, women’s studies, and psychoanalysis. Gentileschi’s paintings are often “read” in close reference to her painful biography, with a focus on the “chiaroscuro” of trauma and its overcoming. Significantly, such biography-oriented approaches seem to be predominant in scholarship on art created by women. The argument presented is that Gentileschi’s works require a thorough re-reading free of “compulsive biographism”, as postulated by Salomon. The focus should shift from an empathic Einfühlung (or empathic projection) towards an objective analysis based purely on art-historical or sociological criteria. This article also explores the presence of the socially mediated and mediatised figure of the artist in fine literature (novels by Banti, Lapierre and Vreeland), cinematic biographies (Artemisia, directed by Merlet, documentaries (Artemisia Gentileschi: Warrior Painter, directed by River), anime (a series titled Arte, directed by Takayuki Hamana), and graphic novels (Ferlut and Baudouin; Siciliano). In this artistic constellation Artemisia is labelled as an art/feminist “icon”, a female genius, and as in numerous scholarly texts dedicated to her, “a victim”. I propose that the discussed literary and visual texts related to Gentileschi be interpreted as symptomatic (in line with Panofsky’s concept of ‘iconology’) of the contemporary mentality, which is filtered through feminist and subaltern thought. Full article

It is well studied that some Pythagorean principles lied at the foundations of the Late Antique Neoplatonic School. The main reason for that conclusion to be drawn is the two biographies of the Samian sage written by the Neoplatonic philosophers Porphyry of Tyre and Iamblichus of Chalcis. Accordingly, the archetypical image of Pythagoras became a major ideal for which every pagan philosopher aimed in Late Antiquity. Henceforth, masters and their disciple circles comprised a micro-society which can reasonably be analyzed as a whole. Suffice it to say that they were small and cohesive charismatic communities whose isolation from the outside world aroused a living harmony from which emerged long-standing emotional bonds. Consequently, the Pythagorically rooted κοινός βίος (Iambl. Vit. Pyth. 6.29: τὸ λεγόμενον κοινοβίους) can easily be ascertained in the biographical literature around the philosophical schools from Plotinus to Damascius (cf. Porph. Vit. Plot. 18.6-14; Procl. In Resp. passim). It is a way of life in common which was also known at the old Athenian Academy (according to Plato’s only explicit reference to Pythagoras (Resp. 600a-b: Πυθαγόρειον τρόπον τοῦ βίου) and has sometimes been defined even as “coenobitic”, in analogy with other contemporary phenomena. But from our point of view, it can be better understood through an analysis of the concept of συνουσία—that is, the meetings of philosophers with their companions (ἑταῖροι) in a specific place which turned into a sort of spiritual household. With this contribution, we aim at focusing on the redefinition of the Neoplatonic συνουσίαι as a legacy of the Platonic notion of συνουσία, stemming from Pythagorean κοινόβιοι. To sum up, we will revise this issue and the state of the art, with the redefinition of Late Antique συνουσία as a terminus technicus in the biographic literature around the Neoplatonic Schools, aiming at opening new paths for the understanding of the Pythagorean–Platonic heritage in Late Antiquity. Full article

The maritime route connecting the Chinese continent and the Japanese archipelago facilitated a significant exchange of commercial goods and sociocultural knowledge throughout the Southern Song dynasty. Within this context, Japanese pilgrim monks traveling along this route acted as key conduits for the transmission of Buddhist teachings. Their journeys profoundly influenced the establishment and development of new Buddhist monasteries in Japan. Focusing on biographical accounts that portray the experiences of these pilgrim monks during their twelfth- and thirteenth-century sea voyages, this paper aims to explore how these accounts drew on intertextual links with existing Buddhist records to fulfill the compilers’ intentions. Specifically, this paper examines the structure and sources of biographical accounts detailing miraculous encounters between pilgrim monks and Buddhist deities during perilous situations at sea. By interpreting the role of these deities in the corpus of Buddhist literature and within Japanese Buddhist monasteries founded by pilgrim monks, this paper argues that the increasing emphasis on pilgrim monks’ attainment of divine protection in their biographical records suggests a growing concern for reinforcing the authority of their dharma lineages. Moreover, the composition and reception of these miraculous accounts reflected the changing religious needs and reshaped strategies for promoting specific Buddhist sects in subsequent periods. Full article

Arrangements for the afterlife were important matters to the Tang 唐 (618–907) people. The newly unearthed epitaphs of the Tang Dynasty contain a large number of dialogues and words of the deceased before their death, as well as their instructions concerning the arrangements for funerals and the inheritance of family traditions. These instructions not only reflect Tang funeral concepts and the importance of arrangements for the afterlife, but they also allow us to perceive the characters and personalities of the deceased, which are valuable new materials for the study of ancient Chinese biographical literature. Full article

Older adults with cognitive impairment are at high risk of experiencing falls. Although no specific fall prevention guidelines presently exist for this population, exercise programmes to prevent falls are recommended. Limited literature exploring what older adults with mild to moderate cognitive impairment think about or how they make sense of the need for such programmes exists. This study explored the perspectives of older adults with mild to moderate cognitive impairment and their caregivers about exercise and physical activity in the context of fall prevention. Underpinned by Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, qualitative semi-structured interviews were undertaken with nine community-dwelling adults (>65 years) with mild to moderate cognitive impairment and their caregivers (N = 6). Three themes of acceptance, denial, and accommodation were identified. The fluctuating concept of ‘self’ appeared to influence individual decisions to exercise or be physically active and what sort of physical activity to undertake more than any practical barriers. We suggest that healthcare professionals emphasise the concept of personhood, listening to and reinforcing biographic narratives of older adults living with cognitive impairment to foster a sense of autonomy, and shared decision-making while emphasising fall prevention activities that older adults with cognitive impairment might like to engage with. Full article

This article explores visual arts and literature in the Slovenian diasporic community in Argentina, founded by post-World-War-II refugees who fled Slovenia at the end of the war and the beginning of the communist revolution in Yugoslavia. Based on the ethnographic data collected among the Slovenes in Argentina and biographical interviews with selected Slovene artists, the article addresses how art and cultural production in the diaspora, imbued with social memories and themes of war, violence, mass executions in the post-war period, and exile from the homeland is encompassed in three levels of cultural policies: (a) an Argentinean framework of cultural pluralism that integrated migrant communities into the national identity and narrative, allowing them to preserve and express their ethnic and cultural backgrounds and identities; (b) a diasporic level that institutionalized specific themes important for diasporic ideologies, some explicitly related to violence, exile, and mass executions; and (c) a transnational level that facilitated the integration of artists from the diaspora into Slovenian and international “art worlds”. These cultural policies were often contradictory and required artists to shift between inclusion in the Argentinean art domain and the diasporic one, which favored partial social exclusivism. Full article

Videogames and their business models have evolved significantly over time, with consumers preferring a shift towards free-to-play (F2P) without any initial purchase, as evidenced in the popularity of Fortnite, Warzone and others. The aim of this research is to establish the viability of a switch from a buy-to-play (B2P) to a F2P model for the game Overwatch and the impact on its associated esports. The relevant literature within the subject area was identified. A framework was then developed to determine whether a switch to F2P would be successful for Overwatch, based on the criteria seen as significant within the literature identified. These criteria represent a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches, and a mix of styles, with some being more descriptive with biographical elements of the author’s experience, and others being more analytical. The main conclusion drawn from the analysis undertaken is that Overwatch would be well suited for a switch to F2P. The sequel to Overwatch, Overwatch 2, is due to release in the near future, which would have opened the possibility of Overwatch being free, while Overwatch 2 is paid. However, Overwatch 1 is confirmed to be shutting down completely. It is also concluded there would be a likely increase in player numbers, and that a switch to F2P is likely to improve the problematic esports scene associated with Overwatch. Full article

Some Christian texts, and especially hagiographic and hymnographic ones, record a miraculous phenomenon at the violent deaths of several martyrs: from the beheaded bodies, milk flows instead of blood. After a superficial reading of the biographical passages in the synaxaria and iambic stichoi recorded in the Menaia, we can identify at least ten such cases, among which we find well-known saints, such as Apostle Paul and St. Katherine. This article attempts to revisit this unwonted topos of Christian literature, and to list its occurrences in the liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church and Acta Sanctorum. Full article