Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis study explores visions of nature among five populations in Victoria, a small city in British Columbia, Canada: Christians, Muslims, Native Americans, Buddhists, and secularists. Each group was asked to express their view of the human relationships with nature based upon four approaches: mastery over nature, stewardship in regard to the creation, a partner, or a participant in the processes of nature. The first model, in which humans wield hierarchical power and mastery over nature, was rejected by all groups. Christians and Muslims adhered to the stewardship image of the human/nature relationship, while Buddhists and Native Americans considered themselves to be participants in nature. The secularists made combinations of the approaches to exemplify their view. Twenty-seven individuals participated in extensive interviews as part of this study, which also included a small scale written survey of fifty-three persons.

Today crisis appears to be the normal order of things. We seem to be turning in widening gyres of economic failure, species extinction, resource scarcity, war, and climate change. These crises are interconnected ecologically, economically, and politically. Just as importantly, they are connected—and disconnected—in our imaginations. Public imaginations are possibly the most important stage on which crises are played out, for these views determine how the problems are perceived and what solutions are offered.
In The Nature of Spectacle, Jim Igoe embarks on multifaceted explorations of how we imagine nature and how nature shapes our imaginations. The book traces spectacular productions of imagined nature across time and space—from African nature tourism to transnational policy events to green consumer appeals in which the push of a virtual button appears to initiate a chain of events resulting in the protection of polar bears in the Arctic or jaguars in the Amazon rainforest. These explorations illuminate the often surprising intersections of consumerism, entertainment, and environmental policy. They show how these intersections figure in a strengthening and problematic policy consensus in which economic growth and ecosystem health are cast as mutually necessitating conditions. They also take seriously the potential of these intersections and how they may facilitate other alignments and imaginings that may become the basis of alternatives to our current socioecological predicaments.

Today crisis appears to be the normal order of things. We seem to be turning in widening gyres of economic failure, species extinction, resource scarcity, war, and climate change. These crises are interconnected ecologically, economically, and politically. Just as importantly, they are connected—and disconnected—in our imaginations. Public imaginations are possibly the most important stage on which crises are played out, for these views determine how the problems are perceived and what solutions are offered. In The Nature of Spectacle, Jim Igoe embarks on multifaceted explorations of how we imagine nature and how nature shapes our imaginations. The book traces spectacular productions of imagined nature across time and space—from African nature tourism to transnational policy events to green consumer appeals in which the push of a virtual button appears to initiate a chain of events resulting in the protection of polar bears in the Arctic or jaguars in the Amazon rainforest. These explorations illuminate the often surprising intersections of consumerism, entertainment, and environmental policy. They show how these intersections figure in a strengthening and problematic policy consensus in which economic growth and ecosystem health are cast as mutually necessitating conditions. They also take seriously the potential of these intersections and how they may facilitate other alignments and imaginings that may become the basis of alternatives to our current socioecological predicaments.

Abstract The pro-suffrage campaign to elevate the Oriental female did not give emphasis to Arab women; however, they were vividly presented in religious literature and romances of a religious nature. The inferior position and the victimisation of Arab women, attributed to Islam, delivered a political and a religious message that helped steer the Victorian reader's opinion towards a desired effect. The paper will focus on the image of the Arab woman in some of these publications to highlight that the use of the biblical element of the Middle East was employed to reinforce Christianity and combat Ottomans. The image of the victimised Arab woman also prepared the public for a future military involvement in the Middle East. The paper suggests that the Victorian depiction of the Arab female may well be the precursor of present-day use of Islam-phobic slogans that trigger sorrow easily transformed into anger at the men, culture and the religion that victimise women. ; Leverhulme Trust - University of Bedfordshire

Introduction. The author considers the study of the traditional energy regimes of the Selkups according to mythology as the first priority. Methods and materials. Materials for studying the topic were taken from archival sources, scientific literature collected by the author during ethnographic expeditions. The methods used in the study include the analysis and use of the theory of myth. Analysis. The mythology of the Selkups describes energy figuratively. The main source of energy – heat and light – is the sun. It is drawn in the image of the old woman-ancestor who grants and takes people's lives / souls. The old woman, her huge gut, embodies the otherness, where, at the hour of birth, human souls come to the earthly world, and where they return after death. The images of the mythical old women embodying fire, moon, cold and night, are the incarnations of the mother sun. In these images, the energy of fire is classified into kind and terrible fire, the fire that gives life and brings death, into heat and cold, light and darkness. In addition to the energy of fire, Selkup mythology distinguishes the energy of water, land and forests. Its source and embodiment are also mythical old women-ancestors. This energy is described as food sent to men by the divine nature. Results. According to the Selkup mythology, the Selkups from ancient times recognized energy as the basis of human vitality and were well acquainted with all types and sources of natural energy used by humanity before the beginning of the era of technical inventions.