American postmodernist fiction and the past by Theophilus Savvas

A review of American Postmodernist Fiction and the Past by Theophilus Savva

A ficção e a ciência na narrativa seriada argentina

La serie de televisión argentina Cromo (Lucía Puenzo, Nicolás Puenzo y Pablo Fendrik, TV Pública: 2015) surge en el seno de una coyuntura signada por cambios legislativos, tecnológicos e institucionales que posibilitan el desarrollo de una renovación inédita en el panorama nacional de la ficción televisiva en general y de la narrativa seriada en particular. Desde un punto de vista metodológico, el presente artículo propone analizar la construcción narrativa de la serie –la introducción de los personajes, la presentación de los espacios principales que albergan la acción, el conflicto central–, a partir de su relación con géneros cinematográficos clásicos como el melodrama y el policial y su mediación con el intertexto científico. En una segunda instancia, el objetivo es subrayar la impronta autoral de una de sus directoras (Lucía Puenzo) en función de la poética desarrollada previamente en sus largometrajes –XXY (XXY, 2008) y El médico alemán (Wakolda, 2013)– y por último, examinar el impacto de la serie en función de su señalado "valor cinematográfico", cualidad destacada por el planteo de la intriga, la asimilación de géneros cinematográficos y los emplazamientos naturales escogidos. Este abordaje propuesto, sumado al contexto en que se inscribe Cromo, permite ubicarla en los albores de un cambio en la producción, distribución y exhibición de la narrativa seriada televisiva, cuya representación de un conflicto socioambiental puede leerse como la encarnación de un síntoma de época.Cromo, the Argentine television series (Lucía Puenzo, Nicolás Puenzo and Pablo Fendrik, TV Pública: 2015) arises within a special period marked by legislative, technological, and institutional changes that allow the development of an unprecedented renewal in the national panorama of the television fiction in general and serial narrative in particular. From a methodological point of view, this article proposes to analyze the narrative construction of the series –the introduction of the characters, the presentation of the main spaces that host the action, the central conflict–, from their relationship with classic film genres like the melodrama and the police and its mediation with the scientific intertext. In a second instance, the objective is to highlight the author's imprint of one of its directors (Lucía Puenzo) in terms of the poetics previously developed in her feature films –XXY (XXY, 2008) and El médico alemán (Wakolda, 2013)– and by finally, to examine the impact of the series in terms of its marked "cinematographic value", a quality highlighted by the intrigue, the assimilation of cinematographic genres, and the chosen natural sites. This proposed approach, added to the context in which Cromo is registered, allows it to be located at the beginning of a change in production, distribution and exhibition of the television serial narrative, which representation of a socio-environmental conflict can be read as the embodiment of a period symptom.A série da televisão argentina Cromo (Lucía Puenzo, Nicolás Puenzo e Pablo Fendrik, TV Pública: 2015) surge no seio de uma conjuntura marcada por mudanças legislativas, tecnológicas e institucionais que possibilitam o desenvolvimento de uma renovação inédita no panorama nacional da ficção televisiva em geral e da narrativa seriada em particular. Do ponto de vista metodológico, este artigo propõe analisar a construção narrativa da série —a introdução das personagens, a apresentação dos espaços principais onde acontecem a ação, o conflito central—, a partir de sua relação com gêneros cinematográficos clássicos como o melodrama e o policial, e sua mediação no intertexto científico. Em segundo lugar, o objetivo é salientar a marca autoral de uma de suas diretoras (Lucía Puenzo) em função da poética desenvolvida previamente em seus longas-metragens — XXY (XXY, 2008) e El médico alemán (Wakolda, 2013) — e, por último, examinar o impacto da série quanto ao seu indicado “valor cinematográfico”, qualidade destacada pela proposição da intriga, a assimilação de gêneros cinematográficos e os locais naturais escolhidos. Essa abordagem, somada ao contexto em que se inscreve Cromo, permite posicioná-la nos alvores de uma mudança na produção, distribuição e exibição da narrativa seriada televisiva, cuja representação de um conflito socioambiental pode ser lida como a encarnação de um sintoma de época.https://revistas.udem.edu.co/index.php/anagramas/article/view/210

Antonio Gramsci’s impact on critical pedagogy

This paper provides an account of Antonio Gramsci’s impact on the area of critical pedagogy. It indicates the Gramscian influence on the thinking of major exponents of the field. It foregrounds Gramsci's ideas and then indicates how they have been taken up by a selection of critical pedagogy exponents who were chosen on the strength of their identification and engagement with Gramsci's ideas, some of them even having written entire essays on Gramsci. The essay concludes with a discussion concerning an aspect of Gramsci's concerns, the question of powerful knowledge, which, in the present author's view, provides a formidable challenge to critical pedagogues.peer-reviewe

Challenging the orthodoxy: union learning representatives as organic intellectuals

Teacher education and continuing professional development have become a key areas of controversy in England since the period of school sector restructuring following the 1988 Education Reform Act. More recently teacher training and professional development have often been used to promote and reinforce a narrow focus on the government’s ‘standards agenda’. However, the emerging discourse of ‘new professionalism’ has raised the profile of professional development in schools, and together with union learning representatives, there are opportunities to secure real improvements in teachers’ access to continuing professional development. This paper argues however that union learning representatives must go beyond advocating for better access to professional development and should raise more fundamental questions about the nature of professional development and the education system it serves. Drawing on Gramsci’s notion of the ‘organic intellectual’, the paper argues that union learning representatives have a key role as organisers of ideas – creating spaces in which the ideological dominance of current policy orthodoxy might be challenged

The meaning of materiality: reconsidering the materiality of Gramscian IR

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From Passive to Radical Revolution in Venezuela’s Populist Project

In December 2001, Hugo Chávez and others changed Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolutionary project, which consisted of replacing a corrupt and elitist constitution with a fair and popular one, into a radical one. In its early stages the project corresponded to what Gramsci called a “passive revolution.” Attempts by opposition forces to crush the construction of a new populist hegemony (a coup in April 2002 and an indefinite strike in December 2002) were met with popular mobilization that reaffirmed Chávez’s hegemonic project. The radical revolution consisted of social programs designed to alleviate the suffering of the poor and consolidated a new hegemonic structure among Venezuela’s lower classes. The concept of “radical revolution” provides a theoretical alternative for assessing the extent to which a political project can be described as populist

Education and articulation: Laclau and Mouffe’s radical democracy in school

This paper outlines a theory of radical democratic education by addressing a key concept in Laclau and Mouffe’s Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: articulation. Through their concept of articulation, Laclau and Mouffe attempt to liberate Gramsci’s theory of hegemony from Marxist economism, and adapt it to a political sphere inhabited by a plurality of struggles and agents none of which is predominant. However, while for Gramsci the political process of hegemony formation has an explicit educational dimension, Laclau and Mouffe ignore this dimension altogether. My discussion starts with elaborating the concept of articulation and analysing it in terms of three dimensions: performance, connection and transformation. I then address the role of education in Gramsci’s politics, in which the figure of the intellectual is central, and argue that radical democratic education requires renouncing that figure. In the final section, I offer a theory of such education, in which both teacher and students articulate their political differences and identities

Lifelong learning and schools as community learning centres : key aspects of a national curriculum draft policy framework for Malta

The island of Malta has been engaged in policy document formulations for curriculum renewal in the country’s educational system (4-16 years of age) since 1988 when the first National Minimum Curriculum (henceforth NMC) was launched (Wain, 1991; Borg et al, 1995). In 1999 a revamped NMC (Ministry of Education, 1999) was developed following a long process of consultation involving various stages and stakeholders. It was a compromise document (Borg & Mayo, 2006) which emerged as a result of reactions to a more radical and coherent draft document produced in 1988. Both curricular documents were subject to debates and critiques (Wain, 1991; Darmanin, 1993; Borg et al, 1995; Giordmaina, 2000; Borg and Mayo, 2006). More recently a series of volumes providing guidelines, key principles and aims for a national curriculum framework (henceforth NCF) have been produced (MEEF, 2011a,b,c,d) and are currently the target of debate and the focus of reactions by various stakeholders in education including teachers who were asked to read the volumes and provide reactions in the form of answers to a set questionnaire. In this paper, I will focus on one aspect of the documents, the first of its three aims: ‘Learners who are capable of successfully developing their full potential as lifelong learners.’ It is that aspect of the framework documents that falls within the purview of the title for this special issue. The use of this notion attests to the influence of the EU’s policy communications on member states, Malta having joined the Union in 2004 (Mayo, 2007).peer-reviewe

Theorising Disability: Beyond Common Sense

This article seeks to introduce the topic of disability to political theory via a discussion of some of the literature produced by disability theorists. The author argues that these more radical approaches conceptualise disability in ways that conflict with ‘common-sense’ notions of disability that tend to underpin political theoretical considerations of the topic. Furthermore, the author suggests that these more radical conceptualisations have profound implications for current debates on social justice, equality and citizenship that highlight the extent to which these notions are also currently underpinned by ‘common-sense’ notions of ‘normality’

The Erotic and the Vulgar: Visual Culture and Organized Labor's Critique of U.S. Hegemony in Occupied Japan

This essay engages the colonial legacy of postwar Japan by arguing that the political cartoons produced as part of the postwar Japanese labor movement’s critique of U.S. cultural hegemony illustrate how gendered discourses underpinned, and sometimes undermined, the ideologies formally represented by visual artists and the organizations that funded them. A significant component of organized labor’s propaganda rested on a corpus of visual media that depicted women as icons of Japanese national culture. Japan’s most militant labor unions were propagating anti-imperialist discourses that invoked an engendered/endangered nation that accentuated the importance of union roles for men by subordinating, then eliminating, union roles for women