Search Results (30)

This article proposes a close reading of Rivers Solomon’s 2019 novella The Deep, a recent eco-story about water, memory, and survival. Solomon’s work is inspired by a song called “The Deep” from experimental hip-hop group clipping, a dark science fiction tale about the underwater-dwelling descendants of African women thrown off slave ships during the Middle Passage. This imaginative alternate history, or counter-mythology, was invented by the Detroit techno band Drexciya, which, in a series of releases between 1992 and 2002, tells us the story of an underwater realm in the mid-Atlantic, where merpeople and their descendants establish a utopian society in the sea, free from the war and racism on the surface. My analysis uses Saidiya Hartman’s “critical fabulation” to make productive sense of the gaps in the archive of trans-Atlantic slavery that silence the voices of enslaved women, listening to the voices of water to imagine not only what was but also what could be. Moreover, this article examines The Deep through a trajectory that moves from the ocean as a space that reproduces death only to the ocean as a generative force for posthuman and multispecies kinship. Using Black hydrocriticism, hydrofeminism, and econarratology, I will argue that this transition is made possible by the “despatialization” of the ocean—a concept introduced by Erin James—where the ocean is conceived not as a fixed or stable environment, but as a space in constant flux, defying stability, and the subsequent immersion in its waters. Full article

This paper introduces justice-centered reflective practice, an approach that emerged out of our practitioner research in the Independent School Teaching Residency program. This ongoing and imperfect praxis is simultaneously a stance, a lens, a pedagogy, an orientation, and a way of understanding and mobilizing our individual and collective identities as teacher educators. Mediated by joy, imagination, vulnerability, and uncertainty, six foundational principles guide our work: justice-centered reflective practice is (1) purposeful and systematic, (2) iterative and cyclical, (3), critically reflective, (4) agentive, (5) done in community, and (6) loving and hopeful. Here we detail these principles and illustrate how they manifest in our work as teacher educators in how we structure the program and enact our pedagogy. We seek to continue a scholarly conversation among critical teacher educators about how we enact liberatory values and aspirations in the context of institutions and policy environments that often constrain our collective work. Full article

As digital technologies continue to evolve, they offer unprecedented opportunities to transform traditional educational paradigms. Virtual worlds offer a dynamic and immersive platform for fostering sustainability education, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. In these interactive environments, students can engage with complex ecological systems and sustainability challenges in a risk-free setting, allowing for experimentation and exploration that would be impractical or impossible in the real world. This study aims to investigate the application of various types of virtual worlds in educational settings, examine their characteristics and potential, and explore how they foster critical 21st-century skills like critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration. This paper comprehensively explores various types of virtual worlds—Adventure World, Simulation World, Creative World, Role-Playing World, and Collaborative World—assessing their impact on educational processes and outcomes. Adventure Worlds, with narrative-driven quests, engage students in exploratory learning within a story context. Simulation Worlds replicate real-world environments, allowing students to practice and hone practical skills in a risk-free setting. Creative Worlds provide open-ended, sandbox-like environments where innovation and imagination are paramount. Role-Playing Worlds facilitate empathy and perspective-taking through character-driven scenarios, while Collaborative Worlds emphasize teamwork and problem-solving in group projects. The narrative review methodology was adopted for the comprehensive analysis and synthesis of the literature to assess the impact and integration of virtual worlds in education, focusing on identifying trends, challenges, and opportunities within this domain. The evaluation methodology used in this study incorporates a mix of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), Concept-Knowledge (C-K) theory, Structure-behavior-function (SBF) modeling, the Framework for 21st Century Learning (P21), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to evaluate the characteristics and educational potential of different virtual world types. Findings indicate that virtual worlds effectively support critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills, presenting a comprehensive analysis of how these environments can support, supplement, or transform traditional educational models. The main outcome of the study is the comprehensive exploration of various types of virtual worlds—Adventure World, Simulation World, Creative World, Role-Playing World, and Collaborative World—in education, demonstrating their significant potential to enhance learning experiences and outcomes through immersive, interactive environments that foster critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills. Full article

This essay provides an introduction to the question of the contribution of the ancient sophists to aesthetics in Western art. It commences by examining the persistent analogies to visual arts in negative and positive discussions of sophistry, both philosophical and rhetorical, and proceeds to examine sophistic rhetoric in Gorgias, Aristides, Lucian, Philostratus and Byzantine ekphrasis, culminating with Philostratus’ discussions of mimesis and phantasia in Apollonius of Tyana. The discussions of the relation of being and nonbeing in Gorgias’ On Nonbeing and in Plato’s Sophist form the ontological core of sophistic claims about imaginative invention and the sophistic advancement of voluntary illusion (apatē) as a means to poetic “justice” or “truth”. Such claims should be considered in the light of the epistemological and ontological skepticism propounded by Gorgias. Although the opprobrium attached to sophistry obscures its later influence, we can nevertheless discern a sophistic aesthetic tradition focused on the reflective reception of artworks that re-emerges in the Renaissance. In the last section, I adumbrate the lines of study for examining a sophistic Renaissance in the visual arts, with attention to antiquarianism as an area where the significance of the beholder’s imaginative projection suggests the endurance—or revitalization—of sophistic aesthetics. Full article

In this article, we describe the methods and pedagogy that guided a superhero storytelling project, located in a midwestern middle school library, where youth were invited to work with a university-based research team and community-based artists who actively displaced historically formed practices of surveillance and silencing in the service of amplifying youth artistry and knowledge production. We recognize that school practices in many schools, by virtue of their complicity with hierarchical and evaluative mandates, undermine open and exploratory forms of youth expression. The arts-based project we describe, informed by a ten-year history of small-scale storytelling projects in the same school, offers a theoretical and related pedagogical framework for working with community-based artists to re-imagine and remake oppressive relational, epistemological, and material practices in school spaces. At the center of our report are two groups of youth and the artists and educators who supported them as they invented superheroes and activated the imaginative potential of their local community spaces for their storytelling. Full article

Creativity offers new, interesting, and valuable things that can be intangible (ideas, a theory, songs, etc.) or physical objects (a painting, invention, machine). Creativity implies a lot of qualities of the creator such as imagination, creative work, and innovation and it also improves learning and memory. Many of history’s most important discoveries are the results of creative activity. Repetition leads to mastery of a concept through understanding and produces increased self-confidence. Confidence increases the willingness to act on creativity—to explore, discover, and learn. This positive cycle of learning is fueled by the curiosity and enjoyment that comes from discovery and understanding. We are social creatures, so the greatest reward and pleasure comes from the admiration and support received from loved and respected people. Stimulating children’s interest through play also defines solving through exploration regarding the accumulation of new essential information for knowing values and other useful information, by stimulating curiosity and creativity as well as discovering new resources that generate creative ideas, allowing the acquisition of practical skills. All these aspects are oriented and define the premises for the harmonious development of children towards a new existential stage. Thus, taking these aspects into account will have future effects on self-confidence, work strategies, school results, as well as the desire to study and the ability to store and organize accumulated information. The approach of the case study presents through the game, a motivational alternative, staged regarding the generation of creative ideas in the development and materialization of the concept. It is well known that during childhood, many things are acquired by children through selective association and depending on the sensory perception of objects, namely preferred colors, functions, and predefined shapes, proportional to the anthropometric dimensions specific to preschool age. The article proposes the creative approach and generation of ideas on the design of children’s toys; namely, a case study is presented: children’s toy set—teacup. Full article

Internet of Things (IoT) is used to describe devices with sensors that connect and exchange data with other devices or systems on the Internet or other communication networks. Actually, the data not only represent the concrete things connected but also describe the abstract matters related. Therefore, it is expected to support trust on IoT since blockchain was invented so that trusted IoT could be possible or, recently, even metaverse could be imaginable. However, IoT systems are usually composed of a lot of device nodes with limited computing power. The built-in unsolved performance and energy-consumption problems in blockchain become more critical in IoT. The other problems such as finality, privacy, or scalability introduce even more complexity so that trusted IoT is still far from realization, let alone the metaverse. With general Proof of Work (GPoW), the energy consumption of Bitcoin can be reduced to less than 1 billionth and proof of PowerTimestamp (PoPT) can be constructed so that a global even ordering can be reached to conduct synchronization on distributed systems in real-time. Therefore, trusted IoT is possible. We reintroduce GPoW with more mathematic proofs so that PoPT can be optimal and describe how PoPT can be realized with simulation results, mining examples and synchronization scenario toward trusted IoT. Full article

Birds of prey appear frequently in contemporary forms of shamanism. For example, Michael Harner’s Core Shamanism references the ‘power animal,’ or the authentic self, which sometimes takes the form of a strong and benevolent eagle. However, precisely how meaning and belief concerning these birds may have been lost, challenged or (re)invented remains to be explored. In this contribution, we have used the methods and vision of netnography to explore the relationships between contemporary western-based, self-defined shamans and birds of prey: real, imagined or represented. Full article

For the first time in the history of the global school system, the adoption of distance education modalities became necessary in response to the measures and restrictions implemented to stem the global pandemic generated by COVID-19. Online learning is not a new topic in education; it refers to studying for a certificate using online platforms that offer online courses rather than visiting lectures. Distance learning is a type of training that involves online learning under the supervision of a classroom teacher, but it can still be a little-known modality for both teachers and students. Preparing students for interactions and emotion management is essential in any teaching mode to maximize the learning and participation of the entire class group. This issue becomes even more critical in distance learning because it lacks those aspects of immediacy and concreteness typical of face-to-face interaction. The present article attempts to review the impact of distance learning versus traditional education brought about by the forced experience of distance learning due to the pandemic. In summary, this research has provided some initial findings about distant learning research during the pandemic age. To have a successful learning experience, students must be aware of their responsibilities and master their areas of autonomy, emotions, and feelings. Teaching at a distance is a challenge. As a general rule, learning activities that are successful in a traditional classroom may be adapted to the distance learning setting, but this will take more than a few minor tweaks to the slides or handouts. In order to engage pupils and maintain their attention and motivation levels, these techniques will probably call for more imaginative and inventive ways. Full article

Several studies in philosophy, linguistics and neuroscience have tried to define the nature and functions of language. Cybernetics and the mathematical theory of communication have clarified the role and functions of signals, symbols and codes involved in the transmission of information. Linguistics has defined the main characteristics of verbal communication by analyzing the main tasks and levels of language. Paleoanthropology has explored the relationship between cognitive development and the origin of language in Homo sapiens. According to Daniel Dor, language represents the most important technological invention of human beings. Seemingly, the main function of language consists of its ability to allow the sharing of the mind’s imaginative products. Following language’s invention, human beings have developed multiple languages and cultures, which, on the one hand, have favored socialization within communities and, on the other hand, have led to an increase in aggression between different human groups. Full article

This article outlines an eco-operational theory of technical mediation that centers on Gilbert Simondon’s notion of technicity. The argument is that technical apparatuses do the work of concepts. However, the eco-operational viewpoint completely alters the status of concepts: what they are, where they are, and what they do. Technicity, as understood here, concerns the efficacious action and operational functioning of a broad range of apparatuses (including living bodies and technical machines), which are conceived as adaptive mediators. The focus on technicity provides a new notion of the virtual, that of the operationally real, which resonates with Gilles Deleuze’s while also marking a new direction. What is more, by approaching mediation in terms of technicity, the eco-operational framework offers a novel understanding of concept or generality that stakes out a middle path between Kantian representational generality and Deleuzian concrete singularity. Full article

Despite the proven effectiveness of cancer prevention, the literature highlights numerous obstacles to the adoption of screening, even at a young age. In cancer discourse, the metaphor of war is omnipresent and reflects an imperative demand to win the war against disease. From the psychodynamic perspective, the risk of cancer forecasts an emotionally critical experience for which it is important to study mental representations concerning illness and health care. Through the creation of an invented story that offers a framework for imagination, our aim is to understand what the relationship with preventive practices in oncology means for young women and how this relationship is revealed by their metaphors. A total of 58 young women voluntarily participated in the present research, answering a narrative prompt. The stories written by the participants were analyzed using qualitative methodology to identify construct, themes and metaphors. Our findings identify four constructs: the construction of a defense: youth as protection; the attribution of blame about cancer risk; learning from experience as a prevention activator; and from inaccessibility to access to preventive practices: the creation of engagement. The construction of an invented story allows us to promote a process of prefiguration on the bodily, affective and thought planes invested in preventive practice and brings out the use of metaphors to represent cancer risk and self-care. The results allow us to think about the construction of interventions to promote engagement processes in prevention from an early age. Full article

Creative thinking is an inherent process in the creation of innovations. Imagination is employed to seek creative solutions. This article presents research results on the use of inventive methods to develop an eco-friendly product. A household appliance was selected as the object of research. The article deals with issues relating to eco-design, eco-innovation, and inventory. The process of selecting inventive methods was presented. Selected inventive methods used to develop the product concept were briefly characterized. Creativity sessions were conducted using the methods of brainstorming, stimulating, reverse brainstorming, word games, and superpositions. The effect of these activities is the concept for an eco-innovative product. A product design was developed that is highly recyclable and environmentally friendly. An ecological analysis of the designed product, including AI-based (artificial neural networks), was carried out, which showed the legitimacy of the actions taken to develop an environmentally friendly product. The novelty of the proposed approach consists of combining the use of research data, with new methods for their analysis using both traditional and artificial intelligent tools, to create a transparent and scalable product design. To date, this approach is unique and has no equivalent in the literature. Despite higher manufacturing costs, the more environmentally friendly refrigerator is cheaper in operation (consumes less energy) due to the ecological solutions incorporated into its design. Full article

First anthropology became unbound from “the village”, then from the single site, and gradually from the physical site altogether. As humans resume their push into space, anthropology is set to become unbound from the earth itself. This essay considers what the discipline has offered and can offer toward understanding the present and future of space colonization. It begins by examining the surprisingly long and productive history of anthropology’s engagement with the subject, going back at least to the 1950s. Then it surveys current analysis of law, sovereignty, and nationalism in space, which largely imagines law and identity in off-earth settlements as more-or-less direct extensions or transfers of earth law and identity; in other words, space settlers will remain affiliated with and loyal to their source countries (or companies). However, taking seriously the analogy of terran migration and colonialism, where colonies developed distinct and separatist identities, the essay predicts the emergence of exonationalism, in which over generations colonists will invent new identities and shift their affiliations to their non-terran homes and ultimately seek independence from the earth. The essay concludes with reflections on how the settlement of space, still a distant goal, will reshape our definition of the human and therefore the practice of anthropology as the science of human diversity. Full article

The ongoing marketisation of education is a great loss for visual arts education since explorative learning processes are marginalised in favour of more goal-oriented learning. The empirical material analysed in this research derives from the visual art portfolio of a student from an elective university course in visual arts education. Working within Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophical framework, we examine the folding, unfolding, and refolding of aesthetic learning processes, suggesting productive concepts and practices. The analysis made us aware of our own pedagogical ideals and the loss of having to disassemble them, in line with the new curricula. The student’s visual learning process showed us how to reassemble new and explorative learning processes, assigning aspects of sustainability and an ethics of care in relation to environmental and social questions. We suggest strategies for learning in the folds, where educators are called upon to prepare students for an uncertain future. This demands a creative imagination, an ethical standpoint for negotiating the curriculum in line with differentiation by forming, inventing, and fabricating new concepts and images. Full article