tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/bath-spa-university-1213/articles
Bath Spa University
2024-01-26T11:06:10Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221911
2024-01-26T11:06:10Z
2024-01-26T11:06:10Z
The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists exhibition review: a look at the art that made the kid’s books iconic
<p>The Ladybird books, first published in 1914, helped millions of children learn and love to read over the decades. These hardback, pocket-size books, with bright and interesting artwork on the front, are pretty distinctive. You might have had one in your childhood, or seen one of the many spoofs put out by the original Ladybird publishers in recent years.</p>
<p>They were among the first books made solely with the child reader in mind and featured vivid, detailed and true-to-life illustrations and text simply and articulately expressed by experts in their field. The design of the original books has become iconic, with their full-colour illustrative style and simple typography.</p>
<p>The artwork is central to the success of the books, and to the enduring love many have for them. A quirky and original exhibition at <a href="https://www.victoriagal.org.uk/event/wonderful-world-ladybird-book-artists">Victoria Art Galley</a> in Bath is celebrating the artists that are responsible for Ladybird’s distinctive look. It has been curated by collector and researcher Helen Day, who became fascinated by the books after seeing her baby so engaged with the artwork on the pages of these old stories.</p>
<p>“I began as a collector but my interest soon broadened into a desire to understand better the social history that the books contain,” Day says in an introduction to the exhibition. She created a <a href="https://ladybirdflyawayhome.com/">website</a> and heard from a variety of people who were eager to share their own Ladybird experiences and stories.</p>
<p>The exhibition features a compelling assembly of books, artefacts, proofs, letters and original artwork by some of the most highly regarded Ladybird artists of the mid-1900s – such as <a href="https://ladybirdflyawayhome.com/john-berry/">John Berry</a>, <a href="https://www.martinaitchison.co.uk/">Martin Aitchison</a>, <a href="https://frankhampsonartwork.co.uk/">Frank Hampson</a>, <a href="https://www.thecharlestunnicliffesociety.co.uk/ladybirdbooks.html">Charles Tunnicliffe</a> and <a href="https://ladybirdflyawayhome.com/harry-wingfield-we-have-fun/">Harry Wingfield</a>. Many of them exhibited at London’s prestigious Royal Academy and exquisite originals of some of their work hangs on the walls here.</p>
<p>The intriguing biographies and often humorous quotes and anecdotes from these artists tell the story of the growth of a Loughborough printing company into the iconic imprint of children’s publishing. Such was its success, by the mid-1970s Ladybird was selling millions of copies of its Key Words Reading Scheme books. The series featured the characters Peter and Jane. They were known as the kids next door – which they quite literally were, as they were based on the neighbours of illustrator Harry Wingfield.</p>
<h2>A host of inspiration</h2>
<p>In an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BttMW4D7nY8&t=197s">interview</a> with TV presenter Richard Wyatt, Day noted that: “in the wartime, paper rationing meant that normal work dried up, but they discovered if they took the largest sheet of paper available at the time, and folded it … in a particular way … you could make an entire mini Ladybird book from just one sheet of paper. That was the winning formula. Suddenly, the brand, the format and some amazing individuals was the sort of chemical combination that sparked off this huge success.”</p>
<p>One of those amazing individuals was editorial director Douglas Keen, who commissioned the artists for the books he conceptualised right up until Ladybird was sold to Pearson, owner of Penguin Books, in 1973. Day notes in the exhibition introduction that Keen had enviable instincts for pairing the right illustrator with the right project.</p>
<p>The most fascinating part of the exhibition is the collection of photographs of the locations, families, friends and neighbours who inspired the illustrators. The roughs of the final illustrations are pinned next to the original artworks, which sit alongside the pages of the books in which they were printed. Eric Winter, who illustrated many of the Well-Loved Tales books, sometimes used his wife as a model. Seeing a photograph of her alongside Winter’s final painting of <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/196216/well-loved-tales-cinderella-by-ladybird/9780723281443">Cinderella</a> is a delight.</p>
<p>There are 500 books on the walls and 200 available to read. There is even a life-sized model of Tootles the Taxi from one of Ladybird’s most popular books, Tootles the Taxi and Other Rhymes, in which to read them. Younger visitors will love the interactive activities – dressing up in clothing featured in Ladybird books, drawing book covers to display on the noticeboard and completing a discovery trail around the gallery.</p>
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<p>Seeing the early decades of Ladybird’s history is a reminder not only of how important it is to publish inspiring content, but also that children’s books should reflect the diverse world we live in. With a 100 years in children’s publishing behind it, it is still growing in important ways.</p>
<p>Ladybird is still publishing books and still helping children learn and love to read. Today’s Ladybird artists come from all over the world, reflecting a variety of cultures, ethnicities and differences. New generations of children can see themselves in the pages of books that they, too, will love and reread. </p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:s.stewart2@bathspa.ac.uk">s.stewart2@bathspa.ac.uk</a> is affiliated with:
Society for Young Publishers South-West (I'm a mentor)
Society of Authors
I am an editorial freelancer for Penguin Random House Children's Books (which includes Ladybird), HarperCollins Children's Books, Macmillan Children's Books and most of the other global publishing houses.</span></em></p>
A loving look at the artists who made the children’s publisher so popular.
Samantha Stewart, Lecturer in Publishing, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210024
2023-08-14T15:36:33Z
2023-08-14T15:36:33Z
Blackadder at 40: the difficult birth of a classic TV comedy
<p>As part of this year’s 40th anniversary celebrations of Blackadder, the classic historical BBC comedy series, the pilot episode from 1982 aired for the first time in years on Gold. It’s been hitherto kept under wraps, never broadcast or released on DVD. Why? It’s because it’s simply not Blackadder as we know it.</p>
<p>In a classic episode, you want Blackadder to be a scheming, conniving character who has a hopeless, dimwitted underling named Baldrick and a domineering but clueless master above him. Except it didn’t start that way.</p>
<p>I spoke about the pilot with Lucy Lumsden, boss of <a href="https://www.yellowdoorprods.com/about-us">Yellow Door Productions</a> and former Head of BBC TV Comedy Commissioning, for a book I am in the process of writing on comedy. Lumsden agrees the pilot is all over the place.</p>
<p>Played by Philip Fox, Baldrick is not yet the fool he was to become. He’s slightly useless, as Lumsden notes, “but you’ve got to pull hard in the opposite direction. You want Baldrick to be the total opposite of Blackadder”. </p>
<p>As a writer, if you really embrace the idea of opposites, all you need is one strong, clearly defined character. Then for your next character you just go to the complete opposite of this first one. And now suddenly, you’ve got another good character and the two of them are going to be really funny together.</p>
<p>At least Blackadder is exactly as we want him to be – smart, cynical, sarcastic. </p>
<p>And yet, as Lucy observes, in the pilot, “Blackadder, the character that’s absolutely going to draw the eye and you’ll want to just spend every scene with, doesn’t appear for five minutes! As a viewer, I don’t know where my attention should go in that pilot”.</p>
<p>If you didn’t know otherwise, you’d probably think the protagonist was Robert Bathurst’s Prince Harry character who is alongside the queen in the opening scene. Note to writers: unless there is an absolutely compelling reason not to, introduce us to your brilliant protagonist right away.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Blackadder is his cynical self in the pilot, so at least they have that to build on as they go into series one, right? No, they throw away the one thing that was working about the pilot and instead of being witty and cutting, in the first series Blackadder becomes a Baldrick-style fool. </p>
<p>Baldrick meanwhile, although now played by Tony Robinson, is at this point the smarter one. It’s like coming across an early Jeeves and Wooster novel where Bertie Wooster is level headed and mature and Jeeves is an idiot.</p>
<p>But happily following the pilot and the misfiring first series, they got another chance and the Blackadder we know and love was born.</p>
<h2>A trusted comedic structure</h2>
<p>With a smaller budget than series one, no on location filming and a new writing team (Ben Elton now writing with Richard Curtis), series two returned to Elizabethan times. The domineering master is still Elizabeth I but Elspet Gray’s rather dull queen is replaced by Miranda Richardson doing her now legendary shriekingly childish performance.</p>
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<p>You have the return of the cynical Blackadder from the pilot. With the crazy Queen Elizabeth above him and the – at last – stupid Baldrick below him, you have an ensemble that works. </p>
<p>As I write in my book <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/creating-comedy-narratives-for-stage-and-screen-9781350155787/">Creating Comedy Narratives for Stage and Screen</a>, the classic shape of an ensemble of comedic characters is what I term the boss, striver, fool dynamic. </p>
<p>The boss is the one who is in charge by dint of their role, position in the family or simply because they are the alpha figure. The key to the comedy though is that they are dysfunctional boss figures. </p>
<p>At the opposite end is the self-explanatory fool and stuck in the middle is the protagonist, the striver. Being stuck in the middle is the plight of scores of sitcom characters. They are sitcom’s dreamers. Aspiring to a better life, free of their bookends. </p>
<p>So many sitcoms have this dynamic at their heart, or as part of a wider ensemble. It’s the Sybil, Basil and Manuel of Fawlty Towers. Or the Martin Crane, Frasier and Niles in Fraiser (your fool can be intelligent, what makes them a fool can be their lack of self-awareness or naivety or social awkwardness).</p>
<h2>Seasons of bosses, strivers and fools</h2>
<p>Blackadder is an interesting case to consider with it’s shifting cast of characters from series-to-series. As we’ve seen, in the first Blackadder, he himself was the fool which is unusual for a central character but he was shifted to striver for series two, with the boss Queen Elizabeth I and the fool Baldrick (and Percy).</p>
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<p>In Blackadder the third, set during the Georgian era, Mr. E. Blackadder is a butler to the Prince Regent. Baldrick the fool is Blackadder’s dogsbody. Here Blackadder is of course the striver, the boss became the Prince Regent.</p>
<p>Transported to the trenches of the first world war, Blackadder Goes Forth doubles up all the slots with General Melchett and Field Marshall Haig as bosses. In the striver slot we have Blackadder again, alongside his antagonist Captain Darling. Fools also double up with Baldrick and George, one working class and one upper class.</p>
<p>Looking back to that first season 40-years-ago, it is odd to think that such a beloved comedy could initially have got it so very wrong. While Blackadder was afforded the kind of trial and error that would be unheard of today, for today’s new comedy writers it can be encouraging to see that even masterpieces can have a difficult birth. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210024/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Head does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The first series had the characters’ roles all the wrong way round. Blackadder was dim, Baldrick clever and the queen was dull. Thankfully they got a second try.
Chris Head, Teaching Fellow in Comedy, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199704
2023-02-10T14:52:55Z
2023-02-10T14:52:55Z
Fawlty Towers reboot: with farces out and ‘dramedies’ in, audiences could see a darker side of Basil Fawlty
<p>Approaching its 50th anniversary, Fawlty Towers is back in the news, due to the announcement of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/feb/08/why-the-fawlty-towers-remake-is-a-truly-nauseating-idea-john-cleese"> reboot</a> where Basil Fawlty is now running a boutique hotel in the Caribbean with his daughter – to be played by Cleese’s real-life daughter, stand-up comedian Camilla Cleese. One question this raises is how on earth did Basil Fawlty, the cantankerous parochial hotelier in the English seaside, somehow end up in the Caribbean? A second question is why are they bringing the show back at all?</p>
<p>Stylistically <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/feb/17/john-cleese-farce-bang-bang-fawlty-towers-rat-manuel-feydeau">Fawlty Towers is a farce</a>, which is a genre of comedy built around a series of increasingly absurd, exaggerated and improbable situations.</p>
<p>Sitcom wise, the last great farce was <a href="https://tvovermind.com/frasiers-complicated-relationship-farce/">Frasier</a>. But despite the extraordinary stage farce <a href="https://www.whatsonstage.com/bath-theatre/news/felicity-kendal-noises-off-tour_56103.html">Noises Off being revived</a> for a 40th-anniversary production, rebooting Fawlty Towers as a farce in the 21st century would be a mistake. </p>
<p>That’s because, as a form, the farce has been eclipsed by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/authors/23951ea4-203f-4ea3-b6ad-479516c05209">comedy drama</a> (aka “dramedy”). </p>
<h2>An unstable tower of lies</h2>
<p>Fawlty Towers was released at a time when farce was a dominant cultural form – joined, for example, by Bedroom Farce by Alan Ayckbourn (National Theatre, London 1975) and the works of Ray Cooney. Farces are powered by a lie that gets out of control, the comedy driven by the increasingly desperate attempts of the protagonist to keep the lie going and all the chaos and absurdity this causes. </p>
<p>In a Fawlty Towers plot, for instance, Basil tells an initial lie to get out of a tight spot, then is forced into more and more convoluted lies in order to sustain the original lie, until it all becomes too convoluted and comes crashing down.</p>
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<p>In classic stage farces, you’ll often find a lover hiding in a wardrobe of a hotel bedroom. In a nod to this kind of bedroom farce, in the “Kipper and the Corpse” episode of Fawlty Towers, Basil – along with a reluctant waiter Manuel and maid Polly – have carried the deceased guest Mr Leeman’s body out of his room whereupon resident guest Miss Tibbs sees the corpse and becomes hysterical. </p>
<p>On Basil’s urging, Polly slaps her to bring her to her senses but applies too much force and knocks her out cold. In a panic, they manhandle both the unconscious Miss Tibbs and the corpse into a nearby empty bedroom and hide them in the wardrobe. At which point – like the unfaithful wife’s husband – the couple who are staying in the room return and, of course, want to get something from their wardrobe.</p>
<p>Having an unconscious pensioner and a dead body inside is certainly upping the ante on the classic lover “hiding in the wardrobe” scenario.</p>
<h2>A more serious spiral</h2>
<p>If the show returned in the form of a farce, it would feel chronically dated alongside today’s best comedies that are a heady mix of comedy and drama. A case in point is the celebrated White Lotus, itself set in a hotel but with a class of guest that Basil could only dream of.</p>
<p>Comedy dramas have all the gloss of big-budget dramas and tackle darker and deeper subjects within their comedic frame than the traditional TV sitcom ever could. </p>
<p>The first season of White Lotus, in a pleasing echo of Basil Fawlty, has hotelier Armond, a tall moustachioed volcano of emotion covered up by a supercilious exterior. Armond, however, goes in directions Basil never would. He’s gay and a recovering addict, who falls spectacularly off the wagon and runs amok – leading to <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/08/white-lotus-season-1-finale-murray-bartlett-armond-interview">a death</a> with more gravity and consequences than the demise of Mr Leeman.</p>
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<p>But like Fawlty Towers, at the heart of the comedy, are lies that spiral out of control. For example, Armond claims to not have found a lost rucksack belonging to two young guests because this bag is his supply of drugs. Armond also continuously lies to cover up his incorrect booking of a room – a lie that spirals spectacularly out of control collides with his drug taking and leads to a grisly finish. </p>
<p>While the style and subject matter changes, the fundamentals of comedy remain the same. So it’s not that the new Basil shouldn’t be a chronic liar losing control of his falsehoods, but rather that stylistically the revival would be better off being in the dramedy mode, like White Lotus. This also opens up the show to the delicious possibility of a much darker and wilder Basil Fawlty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Head does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Lies that spiral out of control feature in both farce and ‘dramedy’ - but the latter deals with more serious issues.
Chris Head, Associate lecturer in Comedy, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/112197
2019-04-02T11:03:50Z
2019-04-02T11:03:50Z
Paid work experience and ‘sandwich degrees’ help boost social mobility – new research
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266789/original/file-20190401-177193-1pe3rxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not a level playing field.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/business-competition-concept-flat-style-334893695">Sira Anamwong / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The upper echelons of British society are filled with graduates <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/oct/20/oxford-cambridge-race-class-and-oxbridge-stranglehold-on-british-society">from elite universities</a>. These universities are, in turn, disproportionately full of students from wealthier backgrounds, many of whom <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-britains-private-schools-are-such-a-social-problem-111369">went to private school</a>. For these graduates, their top education and superior knowledge of the “rules of the game” regarding how institutions work gains them entry-level graduate jobs in elite professional firms. </p>
<p>It may seem that Britain has progressed little in the 130 years since Lord Fermor <a href="https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/113/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/1939/chapter-3/">reflected</a> in The Picture of Dorian Gray that “if a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him”. Indeed, if you’re from a working class background the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-britains-class-system-will-have-to-change-58188">odds are stacked against you</a> if you want to make it into an elite profession. Going to university on its own does not guarantee a top professional job at the end of it. </p>
<p>This is a complex problem and there is considerable debate over how to improve social mobility. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1476482">new research paper</a> shows the importance of work experience. Specifically, year-long placements in industry as part of a degree programme can effectively help working class students secure entry to top professional firms. This is significant considering the fact that social mobility into high-quality, high-status and high-reward professions like accountancy and financial services <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61090/IR_FairAccess_acc2.pdf">has slowed down in recent decades</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/14346/">Research shows</a> that upper-middle-class students are more likely to take internships at university due to family social connections and greater financial resources. By looking at year-long paid internships, the so-called “sandwich placements” in some student degree programmes, we wanted to see how level the playing field really was for working class students. </p>
<p>We found that working class students were actually judged purely on their academic merits. In a victory for meritocracy, the sandwich placements overwhelmingly went to the brightest students from a wide range of social and economic backgrounds. There was also evidence that these kinds of placements, which are also well-paid, can facilitate the social mobility of academically driven students who aspire to work for these kinds of companies. </p>
<h2>Foot in the door</h2>
<p>This is significant because these were sandwich placements in accountancy, a top profession which has suffered the greatest decline in social mobility <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/78f85720-ddaa-11e7-8f9f-de1c2175f5ce">over the past 30 years</a>. Social exclusion in elite accountancy and investment banking firms <a href="http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/13614/">is</a> <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/AAAJ-10-2012-1133?fullSc=1">evident</a> in the recruitment process for professionals at graduate entry level. </p>
<p>A 2017 <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/AAAJ-10-2012-1133?fullSc=1">study</a> by Angus Duff, a professor at the University of the West of Scotland, revealed that unpaid work experience in accounting firms is used to maintain the status quo. Internships are often given to children of senior partners and important clients. As Duff notes, this is a recruitment process that is clearly “removed from notions of inclusivity and social equality”. This gives young people from privileged backgrounds an important foot in the door, which can often lead to jobs in the future.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267069/original/file-20190402-177171-1eol06d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267069/original/file-20190402-177171-1eol06d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267069/original/file-20190402-177171-1eol06d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267069/original/file-20190402-177171-1eol06d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267069/original/file-20190402-177171-1eol06d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267069/original/file-20190402-177171-1eol06d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267069/original/file-20190402-177171-1eol06d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children of partners and clients often have an unfair advantage at getting work experience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/father-son-businessmen-wearing-eyeglasses-reading-1085240033">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The students in our study all attended the same, well-regarded university. Offering lessons for social mobility, this shows the importance of working class students applying to good universities if they wish to improve their chances to work for, and succeed in, elite professions. This is, of course, an initial important barrier to overcome. </p>
<p>Once at university, it’s then important for working class students to get top grades, as elite professions offered their yearlong paid placements to the best performers. This may involve a degree of self-awareness, identifying what they are best at and strategically choosing modules and courses to improve their averages or grades. </p>
<p>Finally, working class students must actively participate in the placement application process and improve their interview skills to succeed. It takes a long time to write professional CVs, fill in the application forms and conduct mock interviews with recruiters from elite professional firms. </p>
<p>Universities usually have dedicated staff to help students through the whole process but working class students must actively seek out and engage with this help as it can pay high dividends. The flip side to this is that working class students are often more shy and less likely to seek help from advisers and the university in general, compared with their upper-middle-class counterparts. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, our study shows that while the barriers to social mobility in elite professions have become greater in recent years, they are not insurmountable. The year-long paid placement is one way that working class young people can breach the barricades against social mobility.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112197/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In a victory for meritocracy, sandwich placements overwhelmingly go to the brightest students, irrespective of their background.
Ian Crawford, Senior Teaching Fellow, School of Management, University of Bath
Zhiqi Wang, Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance. School of Society, Enterprise and Environment, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/107326
2018-11-20T19:35:42Z
2018-11-20T19:35:42Z
En finir avec les traumatismes grâce à la peinture, l’écriture ou la chanson
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246515/original/file-20181120-161633-oesp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C6%2C984%2C672&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Le sergent d'état-major de la Marine Anthony Mannino utilise l'art et la musique dans le cadre des soins thérapeutiques pour son traumatisme crânien.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://warriorcare.dodlive.mil/carecoordination/masp/healingarts/">Marvin Lynchard/US Department of Defence</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dans l’introduction de son livre <a href="https://www.albin-michel.fr/ouvrages/le-corps-noublie-rien-9782226393869"><em>Le Corps n’oublie rien</em></a>, le psychiatre Bessel Van der Kolk écrit</p>
<blockquote>
<p>« Il n’est guère besoin d’être soldat, ni de visiter un camp de réfugiés au Congo ou en Syrie, pour être confronté au traumatisme. Tout un chacun est concerné, ses amis, sa famille, ses voisins. »</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Le traumatisme survient lorsque nous sommes confrontés à des situations accablantes qui dépassent notre capacité à faire face ou à traiter les émotions qu’elles génèrent. Habituellement, les souvenirs sont stockés dans ce qu’on appelle la mémoire déclarative</p>
<p>(la mémoire des choses <a href="http://lecerveau.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_07/d_07_p/d_07_p_tra/d_07_p_tra.html#3">dont on a conscience de se souvenir</a>, et que l’on peut exprimer par le langage), que l’on pourrait représenter comme une sorte de classeur virtuel dans lequel les événements de la vie sont organisés et classés selon différents types, et par ordre chronologique.</p>
<p>Il est de ce fait facile de se rappeler et de décrire des souvenirs du passé. Ce n’est pas le cas des événements traumatiques : parce qu’ils surviennent en situation de détresse extrême, ils ne peuvent être assemblés correctement et mémorisés comme un récit cohérent, et sont donc stockés dans la mémoire non déclarative, qui fonctionne de façon inconsciente et s’exprime <a href="http://lecerveau.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_07/d_07_p/d_07_p_tra/d_07_p_tra.html#3">autrement qu’avec des mots</a>.</p>
<p>La mémoire déclarative des événements traumatisants est comme un classeur qui aurait été malmené par un ouragan – il ne subsiste que des enregistrements épars d’images visuelles et de sensations corporelles, sans narration cohérente de ce qui s’est passé. Incapable de mettre en mots la mémoire non verbale et non déclarative du traumatisme, l’individu revit l’événement encore et encore, à mesure que des souvenirs inconscients refont surface, déclenchés par des odeurs, des images ou des sons qui rappellent le trauma originel.</p>
<p>Cette situation maintient la personne dans un état d’hypervigilance, inondant son corps d’hormones de stress longtemps après la fin de l’événement traumatique, avec des effets néfastes sur sa santé mentale et physique. Les symptômes sont multiples : dissociation, colère, engourdissement, souvenirs envahissants, douleurs musculaires (ventre, cou, épaules) et fatigue.</p>
<p>Non traité, le traumatisme peut avoir des effets dévastateurs sur la vie des gens ; il est donc nécessaire de trouver de nouvelles techniques efficaces pour aider les personnes traumatisées à se souvenir des événements qui les ont marquées afin de pouvoir les traiter correctement et en finir avec le traumatisme. Les arts créatifs peuvent aider à y parvenir.</p>
<h2>Une alternative aux médicaments</h2>
<p>Jusqu’à présent, le modèle médical a joué un rôle clé dans le traitement des traumatismes – peut-être, comme le dit Van der Kolk, parce que les médicaments pour « réparer » les traumatismes sont rentables et que les grandes revues médicales publient rarement des études sur les traitements non médicaux, qu’elles qualifient de thérapies « parallèles ». Le problème est que les médicaments ne peuvent s’attaquer à la racine du traumatisme, et ne peuvent donc pas faire sortir l’individu de la boucle de la reviviscence. Les thérapies basées sur la parole, comme la psychothérapie, sont essentielles, mais <a href="http://www.jkp.com/uk/expressive-and-creative-arts-methods-for-trauma-survivors.html">des données récentes</a> suggèrent que les arts créatifs peuvent aussi jouer un rôle clé pour aider les individus à se remettre d’un traumatisme.</p>
<p>Que ce soit par le biais d’une image, d’une pièce de théâtre, d’une chanson ou simplement en gribouillant sur une feuille de papier, la créativité procure un espace où le traumatisme peut commencer à prendre un sens. Les événements traumatisants sont codés de façon non verbale ; par le biais d’images, de sons ou de métaphores, le processus créatif pourrait aider à les assimiler dans la mémoire déclarative. La recherche a montré que ce processus d’étiquetage des émotions négatives peut en <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4727455">atténuer l’effet menaçant</a>.</p>
<p>Ces effets bénéfiques ont été démontrés à plusieurs reprises. L’écriture créative a par exemple été utilisée pour <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Reading-Expressive-Traumatised-Children-Refugees/1849053847/ref=sr_1_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=149595957633&sr=8-1&keywords=creative+writing+refugees">aider les jeunes réfugiés</a> à se remettre de leur traumatisme pré et post-migratoire, lors de leur installation dans le pays hôte. Le théâtre a été utilisé pour <a href="http://www.developmentaltransformations.com/images/james_drama_therapy_in_the_treatment.pdf">traiter des soldats atteints du syndrome de stress post-traumatique</a>, tandis que la photographie a aidé à améliorer la santé mentale de femmes <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15401383.2016.1206493?journalCode=wcmh20">infectées par le VIH/sida</a>.</p>
<p>Le recours à la créativité permet également de partager des événements traumatisants avec un public et de l’en faire témoin. De cette façon, la personne touchée par un traumatisme peut l’extérioriser, et partager avec les autres l’œuvre d’art qu’elle a créée. Cela l'aide à adopter un <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BOuhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT254&lpg=PT254#v=onepage&q&f=false">autre point de vue</a> sur son traumatisme, et à mettre une certaine distance entre elle et les événements. Grâce à ces discussions avec d’autres, les événements cessent progressivement de hanter l’individu traumatisé.</p>
<p>Dans un <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/may/02/i-was-dehumanised-lemn-sissay-on-hearing-his-harrowing-abuse-report-live-on-stage">article récent</a>, le poète Lemn Syssay a expliqué pourquoi il avait décidé de mettre en scène la lecture des dossiers psychologiques relatifs à son enfance traumatisante.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>« C’est bizarre, mais je me sens bien sur scène, comme en famille. C’est la meilleure façon pour moi de regarder ces dossiers, je ne pourrais pas me trouver dans un endroit plus sécurisé. En parler ouvertement me met plus à l’aise, parce que quand j’étais tout seul, ils m’ont foutu en l’air. »</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Les arts peuvent être utilisés pour <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BOuhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT254&lpg=PT254#v=onepage&q&f=false">reconnecter les cultures et dissiper l’effet du traumatisme</a>. Le <a href="https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1091015/le-theatre-social-a-lusj-plus-quun-divertissement-une-therapie.html">théâtre social</a> a notamment été efficace pour <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/023000539X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1">reconnecter et construire le dialogue</a> entre des jeunes d’Israël et de Palestine.</p>
<h2>Réparer les communautés divisées par les traumatismes</h2>
<p>Les arts créatifs pourraient également contribuer à intégrer des traumatismes dits <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228817085_Taxonomy_of_trauma_and_trauma_assessment">« transgénérationnels » ou « transculturels »</a>, qui sont, respectivement, transmis d’une génération à l’autre, ou qui touchent et sont ressentis par des groupes ethniques spécifiques.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246531/original/file-20181120-161627-1li3skl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246531/original/file-20181120-161627-1li3skl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246531/original/file-20181120-161627-1li3skl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246531/original/file-20181120-161627-1li3skl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246531/original/file-20181120-161627-1li3skl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246531/original/file-20181120-161627-1li3skl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246531/original/file-20181120-161627-1li3skl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246531/original/file-20181120-161627-1li3skl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Maus</em>, d’Art Spiegelman (1991), un roman graphique qui déconstruit le trauma d’Auschwitz.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Spiegelman/Pantheon Books</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Un exemple de traumatisme transgénérationnel de ce genre figure dans le <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/08/11/why-maus-remains-the-greatest-graphic-novel-ever-written-30-years-later/">roman graphique <em>Maus</em>, d’Art Spiegelman</a>, dans lequel l’auteur raconte l’expérience de son père, survivant d’Auschwitz. Dans cette œuvre, les Juifs sont dépeints sous les traits de souris et les Allemands sous ceux de chats. Selon moi, l’un des passages les plus forts est celui où Art Spiegelman rend visite à son père, Vladek. Assis ensemble à la table de la cuisine, le père insiste que son fils prenne des céréales périmées, qui appartenaient à son ex-femme, car il ne supporte pas l’idée de les jeter.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246525/original/file-20181120-161618-hbw4k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246525/original/file-20181120-161618-hbw4k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246525/original/file-20181120-161618-hbw4k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246525/original/file-20181120-161618-hbw4k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246525/original/file-20181120-161618-hbw4k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246525/original/file-20181120-161618-hbw4k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246525/original/file-20181120-161618-hbw4k6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">« Je ne peux rien laisser… Depuis Hitler, même une miette, j’aime pas jeter, jamais… » « Alors garde bien ces foutues céréales au cas où Hitler reviendrait un jour. »</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://editions.flammarion.com/Catalogue/hors-collection/art/maus-un-survivant-raconte-l-integrale">Art Spiegelman/Flammarion</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pour moi, il ne s’agit pas seulement d’une histoire témoignant d’un événement collectif traumatisant, mais aussi de la description de la relation entre un père et son fils, qui se réconcilient à mesure que les fragments d’un traumatisme indescriptible sont triés et mis en pages.</p>
<p>Mon intérêt pour les arts créatifs en tant que thérapie découle de mes recherches sur l’élaboration d’interventions visant à améliorer le bien-être des réfugiés. Lorsqu’un jour j’ai demandé à une femme venant du Moyen-Orient si nous devions organiser des cours d’écriture créative pour les réfugiés, elle m’a répondu qu’effectivement, il fallait le faire. Selon elle, le fait de mettre sa version des faits par écrit mettrait fin au traumatisme qui affectait aussi sa famille : « Si je garde ça à l’intérieur, cela devient un problème pour ma fille, et pour les générations futures aussi. »</p>
<p>Sa déclaration m’a fait réfléchir sur le fait que, malgré leur efficacité, les thérapies basées sur la parole doivent être intégrées à d’autres formes d’interventions, en particulier lorsqu’on travaille avec ceux qui ont du mal à verbaliser leurs histoires traumatisantes. Pour eux, l’art s’est montré très efficace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107326/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agata Vitale ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Arts et créativité permettent d’exprimer les souvenirs inconscients, et ainsi de libérer les traumatismes refoulés.
Agata Vitale, Senior Lecturer in Abnormal/Clinical Psychology, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/97114
2018-05-23T14:37:55Z
2018-05-23T14:37:55Z
Was Philip Roth a misogynist?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220139/original/file-20180523-117628-26oipr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=367%2C0%2C1549%2C991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5Oolk5DDZk">Associated Press/YouTube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the late American author Philip Roth was awarded the Man Booker International Prize in 2011, he did so amidst a storm of debate. In a way, it felt only fitting for a writer who has been viewed as controversial ever since his first book, <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/04/20/reviews/roth-goodbye.html?_r=2">Goodbye, Columbus</a> led to him being lambasted by a crowd at New York’s Yeshiva University in 1962 (the crowd were angry about his depictions of Jewish identity).</p>
<p>Ten years later, he had drawn <a href="https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/philip-roth-reconsidered/">the public ire</a> of Irving Howe, a leading intellectual that many considered the “voice” of the Jewish-American literary establishment. Roth was so wounded by this attack that he incorporated Howe into a character in his 1981 novel <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/11/specials/roth-zuck.html?mcubz=1">Zuckerman Unbound</a> – he got his own back in his own way. </p>
<p>In short, Roth wasn’t the type to shy away from a good argument, and the discussions around his Man Booker award reignited one of the most familiar ones.</p>
<p>Carmen Callil, one of the award’s judges, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-booker-resignation-idINTRE74I60A20110519">resigned</a> from the panel in protest when she learned that Roth was to be awarded the prize. Although she insisted that this was purely an issue of literary merit, her connections with the publishing house Virago, who had published a tell-all memoir by Roth’s ex-wife, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/21/philip-roth-protest-feminism-virago">led some to speculate</a> that her resignation may have been motivated by questions over Roth’s portrayal of women. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220155/original/file-20180523-51115-1h69svg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220155/original/file-20180523-51115-1h69svg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220155/original/file-20180523-51115-1h69svg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220155/original/file-20180523-51115-1h69svg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220155/original/file-20180523-51115-1h69svg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220155/original/file-20180523-51115-1h69svg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220155/original/file-20180523-51115-1h69svg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vintage</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These questions began to reach academic circles as early as 1976, when literary scholar Mary Allen <a href="https://archive.org/details/necessaryblankne00alle">argued</a> that Roth had an “enormous rage and disappointment with womankind”. This was echoed over 30 years later when Vivian Gornick (herself one of the first critics to attack Roth’s misogyny) <a href="http://bostonreview.net/books-ideas/vivian-gornick-men-my-life-interview">wrote</a> that “for Philip Roth, women are monstrous”. This criticism stemmed from Roth’s depictions of volatile marriages and an emphasis on visceral male sexuality in his fiction, most notably in 1969’s infamous novel <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/sep/07/portnoys-complaint-shocking-49">Portnoy’s Complaint</a>. The book reviewer George Stade offered a <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/11/specials/roth-zuck.html?mcubz=1">common critique</a> in his argument that Roth’s women were either “vicious and alluring” or “virtuous and boring”.</p>
<p>As with his earlier use of Irving Howe, Roth also drags his feminist critics into his fiction. A scene in his 1990 novel <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/11/specials/roth-deception.html">Deception</a> sees him imagine himself in a courtroom, defending himself from charges of misogyny. This is an argument that Roth was inviting his readers to take part in. Many have taken up the challenge.</p>
<p>By the time that Deception was published, this debate had escalated to the point of a critical commonplace. As Callil’s and Gornick’s interjections prove, this has had a lasting legacy. A 2012 special edition of <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/25663">Philip Roth Studies</a> which explored the topic of “Roth and Women” was introduced with the claim that “sexism or flat-out accusations of misogyny is often presented as a fait accompli when dealing with Roth”. It’s such a commonplace that it becomes hard to ignore as a fan of Roth, and impossible to ignore as a student of his work.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/philip-roth-literati-poll.html">2013 poll</a> for New York Magazine, a selection of leading writers were asked for their opinions on his legacy. When asked: “Is Roth a misogynist?” and given a list of potential responses, 53% of respondents opted for “Well…”. This uncertain response sums up the critical and popular perspective on Roth. While the older view of Roth-as-misogynist still holds some sway, <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/theslice/philip-roth-draper-lil-wayne-a-feminist-case-for-embracing-sexist-art">several</a> <a href="https://www.popmatters.com/a-feminist-reads-philip-roth-rachel-stroup-2495386161.html">recent</a> <a href="https://www.salon.com/2013/09/21/philip_roth_inspired_my_very_feminist_sex_life/">think-pieces</a> have been published by self-identified feminists defending Roth’s work in creative ways. With the success of TV programmes such as Girls, that take <a href="https://www.mhpbooks.com/lena-dunham-girls-and-philip-roth/">explicitly Rothian</a> themes about sex and gender in new directions, the debate could well be moving on to new ground.</p>
<p>This isn’t to say that Roth is in the clear. Few scholars would defend scenes such as the one we find in 1974’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/02/archives/my-life-as-a-man-by-philip-roth-now-vee-may-perhaps-have-begun.html">My Life as a Man</a>, in which an instance of domestic abuse is described in a manner so laconic that it comes across as indefensibly vicious to many modern readers – including myself. Perhaps the work being done by scholars, biographers, and cultural critics over recent years offers a middle ground that can change the question from “Is Roth a misogynist?” to “Do Roth’s discussions of gender have anything to tell us in 2018?”</p>
<p>I think they do, but I’m hardly objective. As a scholar of Roth, the urge to defend his work is instinctive for me; the sense of loss I’ve felt following news of his death has surprised me. But news of Roth’s death has already provoked <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/philip-roth-s-legacy-words-of-praise-from-obama-to-bloom-1.6113299">discussions</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/5/23/17383836/philip-roth-obituary-died-85-american-pastoral-portnoys-complaint-nathan-zuckerman">about</a> his lasting influence that have been ongoing since his retirement back in 2012, and will go on for the foreseeable future; these debates are not new. </p>
<p>These issues of legacy will be determined by how basic questions about Roth’s work will be discussed over the coming weeks, months and years. I hope they will continue the trend towards seeing Roth’s depictions of women as a complex and problematic, but deeply fascinating, topic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Witcombe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
His recent death will lead to some old debates about his work returning – but are they still valid?
Mike Witcombe, Lecturer in English Literature, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81347
2017-12-20T13:22:48Z
2017-12-20T13:22:48Z
Why most of us lean to the right when we kiss
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200193/original/file-20171220-4957-ot704f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/81347/edit">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Your brain is an organ of two halves – the left side and the right side. And there are many brain functions, such as language skills or which hand you write with, which are organised mostly in one side of the brain or the other. </p>
<p>Simple behavioural tests have now allowed us to see how this organisation is revealed through biases in how we see and interact with the world – and each other – often without us being aware of it. </p>
<p>Examining how people perceive a diagram of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21228922">variously orientated lines</a> and angles provided clues that people typically have a subconscious bias for seeing things set out in clockwise orientations. </p>
<p>We then realised that this might also be related to a number of physical instincts that people have, such as which way they turn their heads. After looking at <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27350096">recent research</a> in visual psychophysics and visual neuroscience, we saw various perceptual and behavioral phenomena in which humans can have a directional bias.</p>
<p>Many of these turning behaviours are seen early in life. For example, infants have an initial bias for turning the head to the right (and consequently extending the left arm outward to compensate for that movement). </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/421711a">previous research</a> found that such an instinctive turn to the right extends to adulthood – when an adult kisses another on the lips, their heads tend to automatically lean to the right. But is this an extension of the bias that humans are born with, or do people simply learn to kiss that way? </p>
<p>In Western societies it is commonplace to see people kiss in public, on television, and in films. But are these screen kisses reflecting society, or do they influence how people behave? The prior research on the subject was all conducted with kissing in what are known as “W.E.I.R.D.” – Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic – societies. So the conclusions might not reflect what humans naturally do in the absence of learning through observation. </p>
<p>Bangladesh seemed like an interesting non-W.E.I.R.D. country to examine this. It is a conservative Muslim country where kissing is prohibited in public, and even censored from television or films. So, whereas similar results from the W.E.I.R.D. countries could be attributed to social learning or socio-cultural factors, the same cannot as easily be said in Bangladesh. </p>
<p>In our study, we asked a number of married couples in Bangladesh to kiss privately in their own homes. They then went into separate rooms to report on various aspects of the kiss independently of each partner. </p>
<h2>A kiss is still a kiss</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-04942-9">results</a> showed that more than two thirds of the kissing individuals had a bias for turning their heads to the right. When initiating a kissing “move” (men were 15 times more likely to initiate the kiss) right-handed people leaned right and left-handed people leaned left. </p>
<p>The person being kissed, regardless of whether they were left or right handed, responded by matching the partners’ head leaning direction. It felt awkward to go the other way as reported by most of the kiss recipients and kiss initiators in our study. </p>
<p>It turns out that humans are similar, even if our social values, and the habits we are exposed to, differ. This bias in the act of kissing is likely innate and determined by the brain splitting up tasks to its different hemispheres, similar to being either right- or left-handed. It is perhaps specifically concerned with the functions in the left cerebral hemisphere, located in the emotion and decision-related areas of the brain.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pIOgYrXxtao?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Different hormone levels (such as testosterone) in each hemisphere and neurotransmitters might be unevenly distributed to each hemisphere (such as dopamine, involved in reward behaviours) and give rise to a bias to turn right.</p>
<p>If you do lean in for a kiss to the left, you may be in the minority. But don’t worry – if the person you are kissing wants to be kissed, they will likely go left, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Activity in the left hand side of the brain, specifically in areas of emotion, could explain why most people lean to the right before lips smack.
Michael J. Proulx, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Bath
A.K.M. Rezaul Karim, Professor of Psychology, University of Dhaka
Alexandra A. de Sousa, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/86163
2017-11-29T14:26:55Z
2017-11-29T14:26:55Z
How to get environmental art right
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196913/original/file-20171129-29143-2j709k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Waltercio Caldas (Brazil), Around, Leirfjord municipality.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Vegar Moen</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Objections to public artworks and “environmental” art – projects such as Maggi Hambling’s hapless <a href="http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/aldeburgh-is-the-scallop-the-most-controversial-piece-of-art-in-britain-1-785210">Scallop</a> on Aldeburgh beach, the <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/arts-and-culture/art-and-design/fourth-plinth-past-commissions">Fourth Plinth</a>’s changing displays in London, Anthony Gormley’s once-ridiculed, now largely accepted, <a href="https://www.newcastlegateshead.com/things-to-do/the-angel-of-the-north-p26491">Angel of the North</a>, and so on – can be as diverse as the genre itself. But some themes recur.</p>
<p>Most obviously, there are objections of taste, often based on the prejudice that contemporary art <em>per se</em> is a load of ludicrous charlatanry. These taste-based beefs often lurk behind “economic” objections (“the money would be better spent on hospitals/schools/housing/roads” etcetera – normally pitched irrespective of public art’s comparatively tiny costs). There are ecological issues: will installations lead to increased foot and road traffic, trampled habitats, disturbed livestock, dumped litter, other kinds of damage? </p>
<p>Scrupulous local consultation is key to defusing these and other objections around public art projects. Norway’s <a href="http://www.nordnorge.com/en/landscape/?News=49">Artscape Nordland</a> collection – 36 permanent public sculptures installed in 35 of Nordland’s 46 municipalities – offers an exemplary early model of good negotiating practice. Conceived in the late 1980s by Norwegian artist A K Dolven for Norway’s vast (nearly 40,000 square kilometer) Nordland county and concluded in 2015, Artscape Nordland’s development involved detailed community consultation. All of the above objections surfaced at various times and were responded to. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the project remains exceptional in its scale, conception and the sensitivity of its development. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196912/original/file-20171129-29114-e5oval.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196912/original/file-20171129-29114-e5oval.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196912/original/file-20171129-29114-e5oval.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196912/original/file-20171129-29114-e5oval.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196912/original/file-20171129-29114-e5oval.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196912/original/file-20171129-29114-e5oval.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196912/original/file-20171129-29114-e5oval.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Per Barclay (Norway), Untitled, Fauske municipality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Vegar Moen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Exploring Nordland</h2>
<p>This autumn I was invited to tour a selection of Artscape Nordland’s sculptures. I accepted with serious interest and a reservation of my own. An infrequently mentioned but inevitable function of permanent public artworks, however interesting in themselves, is that they never simply enhance a site. They shut down possible ways of seeing, reading and inhabiting an environment, as well as adding new ones. The issue is whether what’s gained outweighs what is lost. </p>
<p>I fretted that I’d find myself niggling at this effect of the sculptures – wishing I could swig the landscape neat, as it were, minus the contemporary art tonic.</p>
<p>Artscape Nordland’s collection includes works by international names: Dan Graham from the US, Brazilians Waltercio Caldas and Cildo Meireles, Swiss sculptor Markus Raetz, the Italian Luciano Fabro and the UK’s Anthony Gormley, Tony Cragg and Anish Kapoor – but, remarkably, only two pieces were imported “readymade”. The rest were bespoke – planned by each artist via site visits and local negotiations. In the process, concepts were modified and sites changed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196908/original/file-20171129-29114-1t0c8y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196908/original/file-20171129-29114-1t0c8y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196908/original/file-20171129-29114-1t0c8y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196908/original/file-20171129-29114-1t0c8y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196908/original/file-20171129-29114-1t0c8y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196908/original/file-20171129-29114-1t0c8y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196908/original/file-20171129-29114-1t0c8y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anish Kapoor (India/England), The Eye in Stone, Lødingen municipality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Vegar Moen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All the municipalities could opt out of the scheme and a few did – though maybe they now regret it. Today, it seems, there’s a measure of friendly rivalry in the 35 artwork-owning municipalities, with some Nordlanders cheerfully asserting the superiority of their local sculpture over the one down the road.</p>
<p>As for the mysterious 36th work: it is north of the county border in Troms. The Tromsians looked south, liked what they saw, hankered after their own sculpture and joined the scheme. Their reward was Finnish artist Martti Aiha’s <a href="http://www.skulpturlandskap.no/artwork/seven-magical-points/">Seven Magical Points</a> (1994), a 5.5 metre, russet-rich weathered-steel medallion fretted with a flamboyant, curvilinear design, lying as if washed up on the superb Skånland shoreline.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196903/original/file-20171129-29114-10dmtyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196903/original/file-20171129-29114-10dmtyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196903/original/file-20171129-29114-10dmtyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196903/original/file-20171129-29114-10dmtyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196903/original/file-20171129-29114-10dmtyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196903/original/file-20171129-29114-10dmtyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196903/original/file-20171129-29114-10dmtyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Martti Aiha (Finland), Seven Magical Points, Skånland municipality (Troms).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Vegar Moen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seven Magical Points shares imaginative ground with Steinar Kristensen’s <a href="http://www.skulpturlandskap.no/artwork/stella-maris/">Stella Maris</a> (also 1994): a scattering of stars and other forms stranded on the seashore like lost tokens from some giant’s board game.</p>
<p>This “magic realist” idiom is only one of the languages deployed by the Nordland installations. Waltercio Caldas’s <a href="http://www.skulpturlandskap.no/artwork/around/">Around</a> (1994) is a thoroughly stripped-down, rectilinear steel beam construction, a kind of large-scale minimalist viewfinder. The viewfinding theme recurs in Kristján Guðmundsson’s <a href="http://www.skulpturlandskap.no/artwork/protractus/">Protractus</a> (1993), a granite arch by the side of a coastal road. Framing views of fjord, mountains and small communities on nearby promontories, it hints at a milestone.</p>
<p>Olafur Gislason’s <a href="http://www.skulpturlandskap.no/artwork/media-thule/">Media Thule</a> (1994) is a viewfinder too, but it’s also an artists’ hide – a wood-and-glass pavilion, permanently unlocked, looking out onto a fjord and mountains. Stocked with paper, pencils, binoculars and pin-up boards, it’s a perfect place to simply sit down and draw – from observation or otherwise.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196915/original/file-20171129-29134-izo7ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196915/original/file-20171129-29134-izo7ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196915/original/file-20171129-29134-izo7ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196915/original/file-20171129-29134-izo7ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196915/original/file-20171129-29134-izo7ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196915/original/file-20171129-29134-izo7ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196915/original/file-20171129-29134-izo7ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Olafur Gislason (Iceland), Media Thule, Tjelsund municipality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Vegar Moen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Landmarks in a changing landscape</h2>
<p>Nordland is about one-fifth the size of the UK, with a population of just under a <a href="https://www.citypopulation.de/php/norway-admin.php?adm1id=18">quarter of a million</a>. But it’s no wilderness – its landscapes are subtly marked by now-shrinking local industries (including fishing) and national and international legacies (such as traces of Cold War military facilities). Its towns are growing, its rural populations shrinking.</p>
<p>My earlier scruples – about public sculpture’s potential to domesticate or clutter – were squashed by the impact of these demographics. In Nordland there’s simply too much space for the works to feel as if they dominate the landscape or direct ways of seeing. Irrespective of each work’s aesthetic (some will tick your boxes, some won’t) they collectively feel like vital, isolated fragments of a complex human message – a series of welcome anchor-points, not cultural excess baggage.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196906/original/file-20171129-29123-1asbdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196906/original/file-20171129-29123-1asbdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196906/original/file-20171129-29123-1asbdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196906/original/file-20171129-29123-1asbdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196906/original/file-20171129-29123-1asbdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196906/original/file-20171129-29123-1asbdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196906/original/file-20171129-29123-1asbdey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jan Håfstrøm (Sweden), The Forgotten Town, Gildeskål municipality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Vegar Moen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Directly meditating on Nordland’s population changes is Swedish artist Jan Håfström’s 1996 work <a href="http://www.skulpturlandskap.no/artwork/the-forgotten-town/">The Forgotten Town</a>, a quasi-archaeological network of quartzite and limestone walls echoing the form of an abandoned settlement. This work now poses a conservation riddle – the artist prefers that it be left to decay, but the local community wants it conserved. Visitors are now, informally, dry stone walling bits back in place and adding new walls where none previously existed. How the Artscape Nordland curators proceed remains to be seen – more negotiations seem inevitable.</p>
<p>The pleasure of seeing these works is as much to do with travel as arrival: getting to each involves effortful travel, takes you through superb terrain, and connects you with small, resilient and welcoming communities. The practice of “bagging” Artscape Nordland sculptures turns out to be a bit like climbing Munros – and I highly recommend hitting these fjords.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86163/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Withers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Artscape Nordland – a Norwegian environmental sculpture project – is exceptional.
Rachel Withers, Senior Lecturer in History & Theory of Art & Design, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/77276
2017-07-13T15:48:35Z
2017-07-13T15:48:35Z
Horsing around with young children makes them laugh – and helps them learn
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177124/original/file-20170706-26461-l750vl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Carnival time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/child-having-fun-carnival-brazil-322098569?src=3r74ywOJJjVHxHcnz-1Dig-2-2">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A good sense of humour is a highly valued personality trait. We like to laugh and for others to laugh with (not usually at) us. Yet while children say and do the funniest things, in the academic field of early childhood education and care (ECEC), not everyone is smiling.</p>
<p>Some of the most <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1132281">dominant theories</a> appear to set humour and laughter as the direct opposites of seriousness and rationality. But this strict division can blind us to the vital role of humour in how we teach and look after our children. </p>
<p>A fresh perspective can be found, perhaps surprisingly, in the work of the 20th-century Russian philosopher, <a href="https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-bakhtin-2/">Mikhail Bakhtin</a>. He developed a characterisation of humour and laughter from his focus on their role in medieval carnivals – the theory of “carnivalesque”. And it is a theory with some useful insights for young children’s education.</p>
<p>The “folk humour” associated with his theory is made up of three main concepts: carnival, laughter and the grotesque. From medieval times to today’s famous parades in Notting Hill and Rio de Janeiro, carnivals are spaces in which the world can be turned on its head – where anything goes and the rules of everyday life do not apply. </p>
<p>They also celebrate laughter and grotesque imagery relating to the area of the human anatomy <a href="https://monoskop.org/images/7/70/Bakhtin_Mikhail_Rabelais_and_His_World_1984.pdf">Bakhtin calls</a> “the lower bodily stratum”. It certainly fits well with young children’s delight in all things scatological.</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03004430500387526?journalCode=gecd20">well-established links</a> between children’s humour and developing social skills. And <a href="https://www.addletonacademicpublishers.com/search-in-kc/3074-embracing-the-carnivalesque-young-children-s-humour-as-performance-and-communication">new research</a> suggests that looking at things through a “carnivalesque lens” can provide space for children to <a href="http://www.tandfebooks.com/isbn/9781315710006">explore ideas</a> that may be repressed in the official sphere of nursery life.</p>
<p>To grasp a sense of children’s developing social awareness, adults need to remember that children use humour in a variety of social situations. This could be exploring the place of power in relationships, or experimenting with social conventions. </p>
<p>For children to learn about (and liberate themselves from) rules, boundaries and restrictions, they need the freedom to play with these abstract concepts. Adults can support children by recognising children’s need to play in this way, and by providing a supportive, safe environment within which it can happen. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177150/original/file-20170706-5026-1x5kvks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177150/original/file-20170706-5026-1x5kvks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177150/original/file-20170706-5026-1x5kvks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177150/original/file-20170706-5026-1x5kvks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177150/original/file-20170706-5026-1x5kvks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177150/original/file-20170706-5026-1x5kvks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177150/original/file-20170706-5026-1x5kvks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spread your silly wings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/father-son-having-fun-sunset-633964610">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As part of this, adults can – with subtlety, sensitivity and an acute sense of timing – become part of a child’s “carnival” view of the world. Humour can be injected into daily routines to have a positive effect on children’s (and adults’) moods. Positive emotional states are not only valuable, but also have the potential to inspire creative thinking, feed children’s curiosity, and nourish their motivation to learn.</p>
<h2>Funny business</h2>
<p>Horsing around comes with its own challenges of course. Whether its pulling faces, blowing raspberries, or just falling over, bringing the carnival into nursery life is no easy task. Embracing these tendencies means helping children feel empowered by the fallibility of adults. </p>
<p>Some adults may feel they risk losing children’s respect by acting in this way. There may be a sense of anxiety and fear that even a momentary shift of power could result in a loss of control. </p>
<p>But it is vital for adults to seek ways of overcoming any such feelings. Being exposed to humour that promotes adult self-effacement means children can explore power relations and their sense of self. </p>
<p>It is possible that, in addition to the popular view of humour as trivial, its association with children being “silly” and behaving inappropriately has afforded it a reputation as pedagogically insignificant. This is perhaps most evident amongst ECEC <a href="http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2017/03/EYFS_STATUTORY_FRAMEWORK_2017.pdf">policy makers in England</a> and some of the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13158-015-0134-0">professionals working in ECEC</a>. Perhaps if more adults were aware of the reasons why children enjoy engaging in behaviour that challenges social conventions such as toilet humour, it may become accepted as something more than just a “phase” they go through.</p>
<p>As American educationalist Tim Lensmire <a href="http://hepgjournals.org/doi/10.17763/haer.64.4.u1q517012jt516t6">suggests</a>, there are serious downsides to ignoring children’s carnivalesque behaviour. We risk, <a href="https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/too-serious-learning-schools-and-bakhtins-carnival-opportunities-">he says</a>, “undermining the sort of joyful, playful relation to the world and each other that would actually allow us to look fearlessly at the world and tell the truth about it”. </p>
<p>And that is no laughing matter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Tallant is affiliated with the University and Colleges Union.</span></em></p>
Breaking the rules is part of growing up.
Laura Tallant, Senior Lecturer in Education (Early Childhood Education), Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/77836
2017-06-19T11:45:33Z
2017-06-19T11:45:33Z
13 Reasons Why follows a long literary (and misogynistic) tradition of rape and suicide
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170594/original/file-20170523-5763-161mnda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Netflix</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>13 Reasons Why is a misnomer. There is only one reason in this “whydunnit” from Netflix. The miseries borne by its protagonist, Hannah Baker, and chronicled over the course of the narrative – bullying, <a href="https://theconversation.com/13-reasons-why-when-a-tv-series-sheds-light-on-gender-violence-and-harassment-at-school-77061">slut-shaming</a>, stalking, loneliness and gossip – are nothing when compared to the rape that “breaks her soul”. It is the reason for her suicide. </p>
<p>Or at least, it is the reason as presented by a show that seems more interested in how it tells its story, than in its psychological realism. As has already been <a href="theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/apr/26/netflix-13-reasons-why-suicide">pointed out</a>, one of the show’s most problematic features is that it presents suicide as a rational, if extreme, response to <a href="https://theconversation.com/popular-netflix-drama-13-reasons-why-sends-out-worrying-messages-about-suicide-78008">external forces</a>, rather than as a product of acute mental distress. </p>
<p>Each episode is structured around a side of a cassette tape recorded by Hannah before her death. Each tape is addressed to a different person, with the now heavily <a href="http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/04/what-is-the-welcome-to-your-tape-meme-from-13-reasons-why.html">parodied</a>: “Welcome to your tape”, launching an explanation of the harm the addressee caused Hannah. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170589/original/file-20170523-5790-ips5t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170589/original/file-20170523-5790-ips5t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170589/original/file-20170523-5790-ips5t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170589/original/file-20170523-5790-ips5t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170589/original/file-20170523-5790-ips5t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170589/original/file-20170523-5790-ips5t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170589/original/file-20170523-5790-ips5t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Katherine Langford as Hannah Baker in a scene from the Netflix series, 13 Reasons Why.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Beth Dubber/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the cumulative force of these injuries – and the implication that her suicide was a result of “one thing on top of another” – is belied by the rape in episode 12 (or “Tape 6, Side B”). “In that moment”, as Hannah said on the tape, she “had felt like” she “was already” dead. Indeed, it is previously suggested that her other hardships are all things that she might have lived with.</p>
<p>We have heard this story before. The twinning of rape and suicide – and further, of rape with a death that anticipates bodily destruction – is a classic scenario. </p>
<h2>Lucretia</h2>
<p>It is a pattern followed by one of the most famous rape victims of antiquity: Lucretia. Her story, recounted in Livy’s compendious Roman History (c.25BC), tells of how Sextus Tarquin, son of the Roman king, tries to seduce Lucretia. Finding her unwilling, Tarquin threatens to kill her and a male slave, swearing to place their bodies together so that it will look like Lucretia had committed adultery. Livy writes that rather than endure this “dreadful prospect”, Lucretia’s “resolute modesty was overcome” by Tarquin’s forceful and “victorious lust”. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170516/original/file-20170523-8905-zqjazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170516/original/file-20170523-8905-zqjazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170516/original/file-20170523-8905-zqjazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170516/original/file-20170523-8905-zqjazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170516/original/file-20170523-8905-zqjazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170516/original/file-20170523-8905-zqjazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170516/original/file-20170523-8905-zqjazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lucretia, 1664, Rembrandt van Rijn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Minneapolis Institute of Arts</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The next day Lucretia explains to her father and husband what had befallen her and, after imploring the men to avenge her, stabs herself to death. In the tale, her family carries Lucretia’s body through the streets until the citizens, enraged by the sight of her, rebel against the Tarquins and banish the king, founding the Roman republic. </p>
<p>Another early account, Ovid’s Fasti (c.8AD), describes how Lucretia’s male relatives returned to find her preparing her funeral. This detail, memorably recalled in Chaucer’s The Legend of Good Women (c.1386) when Lucretia is asked by her attendants for whom she is in mourning, serves to reinforce the idea that Lucretia is, in effect, already dead – her suicide is a formality. </p>
<p>This impression is made explicit in Shakespeare’s narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece (1594), when the matron declares her soul to be polluted and chained with “wretchedness” after Tarquin’s attack – her suicide is presented as a means of preventing the spread of this contamination. Shakespeare was to return to this theme in Titus Andronicus and Measure for Measure.</p>
<p>In the mid-18th century Samuel Richardson’s <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/book-of-a-lifetime-clarissa-by-samuel-richardson-6288595.html">Clarissa</a> (1748) used the Lucretia story to analogise its heroine and her evocatively named rapist, Lovelace. After the rape that forms the novel’s central action, Clarissa, too, declares her soul to be divided and warring within her before making a welcome, even willing, embrace of death.</p>
<h2>Victim shaming</h2>
<p>The overwhelming impression in each of these narratives is of rape as a violence that attacks the mind or spirit as well as the body, and of suicide as an inevitable – even logical – response to this violation. </p>
<p>But part of what is so insidious – and so disturbing – about this pattern is the culture of the victims’ shame, rather than the attacker’s guilt that seems to drive these actions. It is they, and not their rapists, who are dishonoured by the violence.</p>
<p>We see this misogyny firmly on display in the 21st-century in 13 Reasons Why. It is the reason why the counsellor Hannah consults hours before her suicide tells the teenager to “move on”. It is the reason her rapist declares that “every girl in the school wants to be raped”. It is the reason that reports of the sexual assault of a young woman at Stanford University in 2016 regularly referred to her attacker’s swim times as some kind of mitigating evidence, repeatedly <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/to-the-swimmer-who-raped-a-girl-at-stanford-im-sorry-we-have-failed-you-by-giving-you-an-inadequate-a7069111.html">calling him a swimmer</a> rather than a rapist. </p>
<p>For Hannah, if this culture is not going to change, she’d “better get on with it”. Determining that “no one would ever hurt” her again, she hurts herself. Her suicide is, on the face of it, an act of revenge, a call to arms that highlights the leniency of a malignant culture that is detrimental to the physical and emotional well-being of any person who might in any way inhibit it. </p>
<p>But, in marking her rape as the turning point on her road to suicide, in presenting her death as the actualisation of a murder that has already taken place, the show does more to uphold the misogyny it purports to revile than repudiate it. Hannah neither outlives nor survives rape. Like Lucretia, her rape becomes a story presided over and disseminated by men. There should be no reason for any of this.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Samaritans can be contacted in the UK on 116 123. Papyrus is contactable on 0800 068 41 41 or by texting 07786 209 697 or emailing <a href="pat@papyrus-uk.org">pat@papyrus-uk.org</a>. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found <a href="http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77836/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgie Lucas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.</span></em></p>
The series has divided critics: many have praised its sensitive depiction of rape and suicide, others have said it romantises taking one’s own life.
Georgina Lucas, Associate Lecturer, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/77744
2017-06-02T13:40:42Z
2017-06-02T13:40:42Z
How using paint, pen on paper or song to revisit trauma helps us put it in the past
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172022/original/file-20170602-20582-47ju7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Marine Staff Sgt Anthony Mannino uses art and music as part of therapeutic care for his traumatic brain injury.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://warriorcare.dodlive.mil/carecoordination/masp/healingarts/">Marvin Lynchard/US Department of Defence</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the introduction to his beautiful book <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429941-200-the-lifelong-cost-of-burying-our-traumatic-experiences/">The Body Keeps The Score</a>, psychiatrist Bessel Van der Kolk writes: “One does not need to be a combat soldier, or visit a refugee camp in Syria or the Congo to encounter trauma. Trauma happens to us, our friends, our families and our neighbours.”</p>
<p>Trauma is the result of overwhelming situations that exceed our ability to cope or process the emotions they generate. Memories are typically stored in what is known as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Trauma_and_Memory.html?id=4_RnBgAAQBAJ">declarative memory</a>, which you might imagine as a sort of virtual filing cabinet in which life events are organised and labelled according to various types and in chronological order. </p>
<p>This makes it easy to recall and describe memories from the past. However, because traumatic events are processed when under extreme distress they cannot be properly assembled together and remembered as a coherent narrative, and so are stored in <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Trauma_and_Memory.html?id=4_RnBgAAQBAJ">non-declarative memory</a>, which <a href="http://whoville.ucsd.edu/PDFs/498_Squire_Dede_CSH_PerspBiol_2015.pdf">operates unconsciously and is not processed in words</a>. </p>
<p>The declarative memory of traumatic events resembles this filing cabinet after a hurricane – only scattered records of visual images and bodily sensations remain with no coherent narrative of what happened. Unable to put the non-verbal, non-declarative memory of the trauma into words, the individual relives the event over and over as unconscious memories resurface when triggered by smells, images or sounds that resemble the original trauma. </p>
<p>This leaves the individual in a hyper-vigilant state, flooding the body with stress hormones long after the traumatic event has passed, with <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Unspoken-Voice-Releases-Restores-Goodness/1556439431/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495801579&sr=1-15&keywords=trauma">detrimental effects on mental and physical health</a>. Symptoms include dissociation, anger, numbness, intrusive memories, muscular pain (stomach, neck, shoulders) and fatigue.</p>
<p>Left unattended, trauma can have devastating effects on people’s lives, so there is a need to find novel and effective techniques that help traumatised people recall and properly process the events that affected them, and so put the trauma behind them. One of these areas is the use of the creative arts.</p>
<h2>An alternative to medication</h2>
<p>So far, the medical model has played a key role in the treatment of trauma – perhaps, as Van der Kolk says, because drugs for “fixing” trauma are profitable and major medical journals rarely publish studies of non-medical treatments, which they class as “alternative” therapies. The problem is that medication cannot strike at the root of the trauma and so cannot free the individual from the loop of reliving it. Talking therapies such as psychotherapy are essential, but <a href="http://www.jkp.com/uk/expressive-and-creative-arts-methods-for-trauma-survivors.html">recent evidence</a> suggests that creative arts can play a key role in helping <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785920057/ref=pd_luc_rh_sbs_01_03_t_img_lh">individuals recover from trauma</a>.</p>
<p>Creativity provides a space where – whether through a picture, play, song, or simply scribbles on a piece of paper – the trauma can start making sense. This might happen because traumatic events are coded non-verbally, and so through images, sounds or metaphors the creative process can help assimilate them into declarative memory. Research has shown that the process of labelling negative emotions can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4727455">reduce their threatening effect</a>.</p>
<p>These beneficial effects have been demonstrated. For example creative writing has been used for <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Reading-Expressive-Traumatised-Children-Refugees/1849053847/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495957633&sr=8-1&keywords=creative+writing+refugees">supporting young refugees</a> in recovering from their pre and post-migratory traumas when resettling in the host country. Drama has been used in the <a href="http://www.developmentaltransformations.com/images/james_drama_therapy_in_the_treatment.pdf">treatment of soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder</a> and photography has helped promote better mental health in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15401383.2016.1206493?journalCode=wcmh20">women affected by HIV/AIDS</a>.</p>
<p>Creativity also provides a means through which traumatic events can be shared with and witnessed by an audience. Doing so, the individual affected by trauma can step outside themselves and share the piece of art they’ve created with others. This <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BOuhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT254&lpg=PT254#v=onepage&q&f=false">helps them take in different perspectives</a> on their trauma, putting some distance between them and the events. Through discussion with other people the events gradually stop hunting the traumatised individual. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/may/02/i-was-dehumanised-lemn-sissay-on-hearing-his-harrowing-abuse-report-live-on-stage">recent article</a>, the poet Lemn Syssay explained the reasons for reading the psychological files related to his traumatic childhood on stage in front of an audience. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel good on stage, in a bizarre way, like I am with family, this is the best way for me to look at those files. I couldn’t be in a safer place. I feel more comfortable having this out in the open, because they fucked me up when I was on my own.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Arts can be used to <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BOuhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT254&lpg=PT254#v=onepage&q&f=false">reconnect cultures and dissolve the effect of trauma</a>. For instance, the use of social theatre – theatre used as social work – has been effective in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/023000539X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1">reconnecting and building dialogue</a> between young people from Israel and Palestine.</p>
<h2>Repairing communities divided by trauma</h2>
<p>Creative arts might also help the integration of the so-called <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228817085_Taxonomy_of_trauma_and_trauma_assessment">trans-generational or trans-cultural traumas</a>, those passed on from one generation to the next or that belong to and are felt by specific ethnic groups, respectively.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170639/original/file-20170523-5799-1kg4em9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170639/original/file-20170523-5799-1kg4em9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170639/original/file-20170523-5799-1kg4em9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170639/original/file-20170523-5799-1kg4em9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170639/original/file-20170523-5799-1kg4em9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170639/original/file-20170523-5799-1kg4em9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1051&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170639/original/file-20170523-5799-1kg4em9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1051&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170639/original/file-20170523-5799-1kg4em9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1051&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1991), a graphic novel that deconstructs the trauma of Auschwitz.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maus.jpg">Art Spiegelman/Pantheon Books</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An example of trans-generational trauma comes from <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/08/11/why-maus-remains-the-greatest-graphic-novel-ever-written-30-years-later/">Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus</a>, based on his father’s experience as an Auschwitz survivor. In the novel, Jews are portrayed as mice and Germans as cats. To me, one of the most powerful parts of this novel is when Spiegelman visits his father, Vladek. Sitting together at the kitchen table, his father insists in feeding Spiegelman out-of-date cereal that belonged to his ex-wife, since he cannot tolerate the idea of throwing them away.</p>
<p>“I cannot forget it”, says Vladek, “ever since Hitler I don’t like to throw out even a crumb.”</p>
<p>Art replies: “Then just save the damn Special K, in case Hitler ever comes back.”</p>
<p>To me this is not only a story about surviving a terrific collective traumatic event, but about a father and a son’s relationship reconnecting while pieces of untold trauma are unravelled and put into pages.</p>
<p>My interest in creative arts as therapy stems from my current research on developing interventions to improve the well-being of refugees. When I asked a woman from the Middle East if we should run creative writing classes for refugees, she said we should, stating that putting her side of the story in writing would stop the trauma following her family: “If I keep it inside, this becomes a problem for my daughter too, for the next generations too,” she said.</p>
<p>This made me reflect that, despite their effectiveness, talking therapies must be integrated with other forms of interventions, particularly when working with those who find it hard to verbalise their traumatic histories – for which the arts has shown itself to be very effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77744/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agata Vitale
Bath Spa University</span></em></p>
Using creativity and artistic metaphor to tap unconscious memories helps release pent up trauma.
Agata Vitale, Senior Lecturer in Abnormal/Clinical Psychology, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/74935
2017-03-24T16:36:24Z
2017-03-24T16:36:24Z
The sound of SID: 35 years of chiptune’s influence on electronic music
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162070/original/image-20170322-31187-qso1wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C21%2C783%2C622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The MOS 6581 or SID to his friends.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">C64wiki</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It can be hard to write about the music of videogames while we are bathed in the projected glory of today’s high-definition, 4K, 60-frames-per-second photorealistic graphics. And given that in the roots of videogaming we find an often eerily quiet world, perhaps it’s not surprising that we sometimes forget that there’s an audio in audio-visual. </p>
<p>The earliest videogames, such as <a href="http://museum.mit.edu/150/25">Spacewar!</a>, created at MIT in 1962, had no sound at all. While this might be seen as a ruthless dedication to authenticity (after all, in space no one can hear you scream) in reality, it was due to technical limitations. A decade later, things were not much different: the first home console, the <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1302004">Magnavox Odyssey</a>, introduced a generation to the thrills of electronic gameplay without so much as a beep. This was a quiet revolution. Even the phenomenally successful <a href="http://oldcomputers.net/atari-vcs.html">Atari VCS/2600</a> put graphics before sound and sound before music. It did a good line in raucous engine noises and explosions but was <a href="http://www.tagg.org/xpdfs/kcflat2.pdf">not especially musician-friendly</a>, nor particularly listener-friendly.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ucRYLobga0g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Quoted in <a href="http://www.ipgbook.com/commodore-products-9780986832260.php?page_id=32&pid=VAR">Brian Bagnall’s history of Commodore</a> electronics engineer Rob Yannes summed up the situation: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought the sound chips on the market, including those in the Atari computers, were primitive and obviously had been designed by people who knew nothing about music.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Fortunately, Yannes did know something about music, as well as semiconductors and designing chips. And so in 1981 he began work on what would arguably become the most important milestone in videogame music and one whose influence still resonates to this day: the MOS Technology 6581, also known as the Sound Interface Device, but much better known as the SID. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162040/original/image-20170322-31203-c2ogtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162040/original/image-20170322-31203-c2ogtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162040/original/image-20170322-31203-c2ogtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162040/original/image-20170322-31203-c2ogtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162040/original/image-20170322-31203-c2ogtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162040/original/image-20170322-31203-c2ogtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162040/original/image-20170322-31203-c2ogtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162040/original/image-20170322-31203-c2ogtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The C64 home computer was, in the right hands, a powerful synthesizer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commodore64.jpg">Bill Bertram</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the sound chip in the <a href="http://oldcomputers.net/c64.html">Commodore 64</a> – <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/05/09/commodore.64.reborn/">the best-selling home computer and games machine of all time</a> – the SID was remarkably sophisticated: a well-specified synthesizer with features more usually found on cutting-edge electronic keyboards of the time such as the <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/moog/moog.php">Mini Moog</a> and <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/jup8.php">Roland Jupiter 8</a>. Although it was designed to be part of a home computer, the SID chip was above all a musical instrument – but at US$595 for a C64 compared to US$5,195 for a Jupiter 8, it came at a fraction of the price.</p>
<p>Technically the SID is a three-voice synthesizer module – it can play three sounds simultaneously. They can each be one different note, played together as a three-note chord. Or they can be three different sounds, such as a bass, a melody and a harmony. But three voices, and only three – that is until a glitch in the chip was discovered that allowed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfYsDQqzhk8">a fourth voice to play sampled drums or speech</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162042/original/image-20170322-31190-1lvaupu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162042/original/image-20170322-31190-1lvaupu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162042/original/image-20170322-31190-1lvaupu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162042/original/image-20170322-31190-1lvaupu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162042/original/image-20170322-31190-1lvaupu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162042/original/image-20170322-31190-1lvaupu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162042/original/image-20170322-31190-1lvaupu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162042/original/image-20170322-31190-1lvaupu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The MOS 6851 chip, or SID.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MOS6581_chtaube061229.jpg">Christian Taube</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each of those voices can generate a sawtooth, variable pulsewidth, triangle or noise waveform, or an intriguing, unique and not well-documented combination of them. Various modulation effects can be applied to these voices to give bell-like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrQuR1LHAVI/">or other metallic effects</a>, or voices may be “hard-synced” together to create a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc91S1lrU1I">characteristic rasping sound</a> common in early electronic music solos. </p>
<p>The sound of the voices can be further contoured using an envelope generator capable of altering the sound’s attack (how quickly the sound grows once the note is played), decay (how quickly it tails off from peak to sustain level), sustain (the level while the note is held), and release (how quickly it tails off to nil), or through various filters (which due to manufacturing tolerances vary immensely in sound between different versions of the SID).</p>
<p>While the same “subtractive” synthesis techniques are used today, for anybody who has used even entry-level music production software such as Apple’s <a href="http://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/">Garageband</a>, with its huge library of acoustic and electronic instruments, drums and loops, the SID probably looks horribly limited. </p>
<h2>Musicianship vs limitations</h2>
<p>To surmount its limitations, one of the simplest strategy was to rapidly switch between sounds to simulate the effect of a larger palette of instruments. Listen to a piece like Rob Hubbard’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/C64GVA250-MontyOnTheRun">Monty on the Run</a>, for instance, and you’ll hear numerous short passages of just a few bars, shifting between different sounds which share the main melody. It’s as though members of a big band take turns to stand up and riff around the solo. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YIA_0cvS2gQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Or composers could dig deeper into the SID’s synthesis capabilities, adding movement and interest by modulating the pulsewidth of a sound over time, creating a thicker, more dynamic effect. Composer Martin Galway was a master of this technique, which can be heard in tunes such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JScqpJ3XWw">Parallax</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRksQbrDprA">Wizball</a>, and his seminal <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3COzhLzfKoc">Ocean Loader music</a> that made waiting for a game to load from cassette a pleasure rather than a chore.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PRksQbrDprA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>More than any other technique, though, the use of arpeggiation was the SID chip’s – and by extension videogame music’s – most evocative and enduring sonic fingerprint. If you don’t recognise the term <a href="https://www.musictheoryacademy.com/understanding-music/arpeggios/">arpeggio</a>, you’ll recognise the effect: an often rapid sequence of rising and falling notes. From contemporary music a good example is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d020hcWA_Wg">Clocks by Coldplay</a>, but on the SID and other sound chips from home computers of the era, it’s the warbling sound of two or more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLp8ErRj8s0">extremely rapidly alternating notes</a>. Rather than play the C, E, and G of a C-major chord and use up all three of SID’s previous voices, composers rapidly triggered each note in turn far faster than even the most nimble-fingered of musicians could perform. And thus, a three-note chord plays from just one voice.</p>
<h2>Musicianship vs programming</h2>
<p>If that seems straightforward remember that the SID wasn’t a synthesizer with a piano keyboard, but merely a chip inside the C64. There was no audio workstation software like <a href="https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/start.html">Cubase</a> or even a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9zmLQGBTIw">Tracker</a> to sequence the SID’s sounds. Although <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_W5kjEKaU">consumer programs and add-on devices would come later</a>, these were too inefficient for composers eking out every drop of the C64’s performance and embedding their music into games. For early C64 composers there were, in fact, no libraries, no middleware, no tools at all. The only way to make SID sing was through programming. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p9zmLQGBTIw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Tracker software sequencer playing Harold Faltermeyer’s Axel-F.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If you wanted to be a videogame musician in the early 1980s, having a fantastic tune and even a Royal College of Music diploma meant nothing without some lateral thinking and a <a href="http://www.1xn.org/text/C64/rob_hubbards_music.txt">significant amount of programming skills</a>, because the SID chip <a href="http://www.ffd2.com/fridge/chacking/c=hacking5.txt">needed special software routines</a> to turn its potential into sound. You had to know how to compose both melodies and machine code.</p>
<p>Given these achievements, it’s no wonder that C64 musicians were well-known and well-respected. Alongside features on programmers such as Jeff Minter or Andrew Braybrook, SID composers such as Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway and Ben Daglish would grace the pages of magazines like <a href="http://www.zzap64.co.uk/">Zzap!64</a>, satisfying gamers’ interest in the technical prowess of their musical heroes.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3xHG7wSdtF0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Each composer had their own unique and identifiable style that exploited different aspects of the SID chip and brought different musical sensibilities. Where Hubbard was the master of percussion with an ability to tease out complex rhythms, Galway’s deceptively simple, melodic compositions revealed the softer, more mellow side of the SID chip. So revered were their compositions that many players would buy games just for the music. In the world of 1980s computer gaming, these musicians were superstars.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BmcMaOHoDTI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>A musical legacy Bob and SID would be proud of</h2>
<p>And they still are. The chiptune culture of music made with SID and other computer sound chips is alive and well. In fact, it’s probably stronger today than ever. The original themes are rearranged by their original composers and others and <a href="https://c64audio.com/collections/live-events/back-in-time-live">played live at concerts</a>, even with <a href="http://www.gameconcerts.com/en/welcome/">symphony orchestras</a>. The <a href="http://www.hvsc.c64.org/">High Voltage SID Collection</a> has collected nearly 50,000 SID tunes, which can be replayed with <a href="http://www.hvsc.c64.org/#players">emulators made for modern computer and mobile platforms</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jgtxXbbm84c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This isn’t just nostalgia. New SID tunes are being written by composers re-discovering the chip’s distinctive sonic quality. Chiptunes’ influence can be identified across electronic music through direct sampling, such as <a href="http://www.whosampled.com/sample/1032/Zombie-Nation-Kernkraft-400-David-Whittaker-Stardust/">Zombie Nation’s</a> use of <a href="http://www.c64.com/interviews/whittaker.html">David Whittaker’s</a> tune from the C64 game Lazy Jones, producer Timbaland’s sampling of a <a href="https://casetext.com/case/kernal-records-oy-v-timbaland">SID tune by Finnish musician Janne Suni</a> for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asy6Cpbtwfs">Do It by Nelly Furtado</a>, or <a href="http://drownedinsound.com/news/3491735-glitch-thieves--crystal-castles-admit-8-bit-theft">Crystal Castles’ pillaging of 8-bit chiptune sounds</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7IEqsHHbKkw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But more so, the hyperactive sounds of the SID have become part of the lexicon of electronic music-making. Sample libraries for modern music software <a href="https://puremagnetik.com/products/eight-bit-sid-commodore-ableton-live-pack-kontakt-instrument-apple-logic-samples">include SID and chiptune sounds</a> alongside other archetypes of modern electronic music such as the classic sounds of the <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/303.php">Roland TB-303</a> bass station and <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/808.php">TR-808</a> and <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/909.php">TR-909</a> drum machines. In fact, such is the popularity of the SID sound that you can buy <a href="http://twisted-electrons.com/therapsid/">hardware devices that include genuine SID chips</a> pulled from vintage C64s that can be integrated into <a href="http://busycircuits.com/alm012/">modular synthesizer</a> and studio setups, or <a href="http://www.plogue.com/products/chipsounds/">software emulations</a> that allow the gloriously lo-fi, 8-bit, ultra-fast arpeggios and barely intelligible digitised speech to be <a href="https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/8572/">reproduced with pristine fidelity</a>.</p>
<p>And as for Bob Yannes, father of SID, he was far from done. After Commodore he co-founded music technology company Ensoniq, which would go on to make an enormous impact on music-making again with the release of the <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/ensoniq/ens_mirage.php">Mirage sampler</a>. The Mirage was the first affordable digital sampler – one that musicians would use to capture and mash-up snippets of C64 tunes, ensuring that SID would never be silenced.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>James Newman will be hosting <a href="http://www.ludomusicology.org/past-events/ludo-2017/">Ludo2017, the Sixth Easter Conference on Video Game Music and Sound</a>, April 20–22 at Bath Spa University, UK.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74935/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Newman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From niche player to chart hit, the characteristic sound of videogames has had a considerable influence on music.
James Newman, Professor of Media, The Digital Academy, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70917
2017-01-12T13:19:23Z
2017-01-12T13:19:23Z
Music has the power to rock the state, but youth movements will find the state always bites back
<p>Among records recently released to the National Archives is a file from the 1980s entitled “<a href="https://hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/2016/12/31/policing-acid-house-parties-in-1989-what-the-new-thatcher-government-papers-reveal/">Acid house parties</a>” which details the government’s disquiet over the growing phenomenon of raves, the large, open-air dance events in which thousands of young people, guided by organisers using new technologies such as pagers and mobile phones, descended upon fields to party. </p>
<p>The response was a series of laws imposing strict conditions and harsh penalties, with the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/part/V/crossheading/powers-in-relation-to-raves">Criminal Justice Act 1994</a> infamously outlawing music “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jul/21/criminal-justice-bill-protests">characterised by a series of repetitive beats</a>”. While many at the time may have felt immediate action was required to prevent the collapse of civilisation as we knew it, in fact this was merely the latest in a long line of moral panics over popular music through the 20th century. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/2014/01/unspeakable-jazz-must-go-strong-opinions-impact-jazz-american-culture-1921/">cultural mixing pot of jazz</a>, and even traditional music and ballads or bawdy songs in music halls had at some point caused anxiety among the powers that be. But it was during the rock’n’roll era that this process of music putting the fear into the state was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgx4k83zzc">turned up to 11</a>.</p>
<figure>
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</figure>
<h2>Slash the seats</h2>
<p>Even before the arrival of Elvis Presley’s gyrating pelvis, fears about rock’n’roll were brewing from the transgressive collision of Afro-American rhythm and blues, white youths, and sex – all during the fraught racial politics of 1950s America. Crossing cultural boundaries and national borders, rock’n’roll became a global phenomenon, with fears for the youth of the day gripping almost every nation. The United Nations even <a href="https://www.unodc.org/congress/en/previous/previous-02.html">convened a special conference</a> in London in 1960 to discuss the problem of juvenile delinquency.</p>
<p>In Britain, the arrival of rock’n’roll in 1955 collided with a pre-existing panic over the Teddy Boy youth movement, sparked by a notorious gang-related murder in Clapham in 1953. The Teds embraced the new music and the press was filled with reports of Teds slashing cinema seats while dancing to Bill Haley and the Comets’ “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw">Rock Around the Clock</a>” from the closing credits of Blackboard Jungle – an American movie about, ironically, juvenile delinquents.</p>
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<p>But rock’n’roll cleaned up – Elvis joined the army, and squeaky clean crooners and apostate rockers like Cliff Richard took the edge off pop music. The next moral panic came with the <a href="http://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1125&context=libraries_facpub">British Beat boom</a> in 1964, when <a href="http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_real_quadrophenia_mods_vs._rockers_fight_on_the_beaches">running battles broke out between mods and rockers</a> in seaside towns. Rockers were the descendants of the Teds, who had abandoned Edwardian frock coats for leather jackets. The mods were associated with bands like The Who, The Yardbirds and the Small Faces, with a sharp dress sense favouring suits, a clear collective identity, and an often undeserved reputation for misbehaviour. </p>
<p>The out-of-touch Conservative government under Alec Douglas-Home passed in 1964 The Malicious Damages Act and The Misuse of Drugs Act, banning the amphetamines that it was claimed fuelled the mod scene. This was the first time an explicit association was made between narcotics and pop music subcultures. From now on, the two would regularly be grouped together. </p>
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<h2>Busted</h2>
<p>Fifty years ago this year, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/10/newsid_2522000/2522735.stm">police raided the home</a> of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and arrested him, singer Mick Jagger and gallery owner Robert “Groovy Bob” Fraser. The trial was a global media event, not least for the behaviour of the judge at the trial who constantly chided and condemned the “petty morals” of the band before jailing them.</p>
<p>The response to the convictions was extraordinary. As well as the expected vocal protests of Rolling Stones fans, the editor of The Times – an “establishment” newspaper – published an incendiary editorial, <a href="https://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1755802,1756208">Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?</a>, attacking the judge for seeking to make examples of the two bandmates. Ultimately Jagger and Richards successfully appealed against their sentences, although clearing his name was a Pyrrhic victory for Richards, in the light of his subsequent life dogged by heroin addiction and many brushes with the law. </p>
<p>A cascade of music celebrity raids followed, and by 1967 a backlash had emerged against youth counter-cultures on both sides of the Atlantic, with the likes of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/763998.stm">Mary Whitehouse campaigning for a return to “traditional values”</a>. Medical and psychiatric professionals added their voices to those of the reactionaries, as there were legitimate concerns about the proliferation of drugs: 1967 was the first “<a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/07/lsd-drugs-summer-of-love-sixties">Summer of Love</a>”, when the music and art of the era was laced with LSD. Although not all favoured prohibition there was clear evidence of harm that had to be addressed.</p>
<p>Questions linger over the establishment’s targeting of groups such as the Beatles and the Stones, and others such as Jimi Hendrix. The press almost certainly tipped off the police over drug use at Richards’ home, and there is evidence of <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323236/The-Acid-King-confesses-Rolling-Stones-drug-bust-set-MI5-FBI.html">police collusion with the media</a>. And the establishment itself was not innocent: the Metropolitan Police’s drugs squad later had to be gutted of corrupt policemen after it was discovered that <a href="https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/the-fall-of-scotland-yard/">senior officers had committed perjury</a> to defend a known drugs dealer. Were pop stars targeted to deflect attention from serious criminals who had the police in their back pocket?</p>
<h2>The moral minority</h2>
<p>Sometimes the problem was not drugs but obscenity. Even if it seems absurd today, The Beatles song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19sAewJH22I">I am the Walrus</a> was struck from BBC playlists due to the lyric: “Boy you have been a naughty girl and let your knickers down”, while The Sex Pistols were forced to argue the precise meaning of the word “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/vb8c/">bollocks</a>” in court. Elsewhere, anarcho-punks The Anti-Nowhere League and Crass also <a href="http://www.nme.com/photos/the-songs-they-tried-to-ban-1413829">found themselves in the dock for the use of obscene language</a>. </p>
<p>The most notorious attacks on popular music on grounds of obscenity was undoubtedly the <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/oral-history-tipper-gores-war-explicit-rock-lyrics-dee-snider-333304?rm=eu">Parents Music Resource Center</a> in the US during the 1980s, who demanded warnings on record sleeves alerting parents to explicit lyrical content. Their list of what they regarded as the most egregious examples of obscenity, known as the “<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/pmrcs-filthy-15-where-are-they-now-20150917">filthy fifteen</a>”, contains both heavy rockers and comparatively tame pop acts.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152250/original/image-20170110-29003-c7lxn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152250/original/image-20170110-29003-c7lxn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152250/original/image-20170110-29003-c7lxn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152250/original/image-20170110-29003-c7lxn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152250/original/image-20170110-29003-c7lxn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152250/original/image-20170110-29003-c7lxn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152250/original/image-20170110-29003-c7lxn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>The result of a congressional enquiry was an agreement by the Recording Industry Association of America and manufacturers to add the now iconic “Parental Discretion Advised” sticker on certain records. Not only did this often act as an incentive to adolescent purchasers rather than a warning, but there is significant evidence that the industry agreed not as a sop to the moral lobby but <a href="http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=younghistorians">in return for a levy on blank cassette tapes</a>, ensuring the industry could profit from the practice of home taping records. </p>
<h2>Folk devils</h2>
<p>Sometimes it was not the musicians but their fans that worried the authorities. The skinhead, punk, rasta and raver scenes have all been viewed as, <a href="http://www.underground-england.co.uk/news/mods-v-rockers-traditional-english-seaside-entertainment-2/">in the words of the sociologist Stanley Cohen</a>, “<a href="https://infodocks.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/stanley_cohen_folk_devils_and_moral_panics.pdf">folk devils</a>”: those who seemed to champion disorder. Authorities struggled with the question of whether bands are responsible for the actions of their fans. </p>
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<p>Two famous cases from the 1980s saw heavy metal legends Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest blamed for the suicides of several fans. It was claimed that Judas Priest had inserted a subliminal message into the track <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqAPVB4u9Zs">Better you than me</a>, and that Ozzy’s track <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UoPYv0Kq-0">Suicide solution</a> was an incitement to suicide – something Osbourne denied. Both court cases failed, but raised important questions about the relationship between fans and bands. Even after the end of the conservative-dominated 1980s, the 1997 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6moDcEkSnY">blamed on Marilyn Manson’s music</a> in much the same way.</p>
<p>The last decades of the 20th century were the high tide of moral panics over popular music, with almost every development in musical subcultures generating unease and outright hostility from the authorities, morality campaigners, and opportunistic newspapers editors looking for the next trend to decry and sensationalise. </p>
<p>In recent years the potential for music to shock or generate controversy seems to have lessened. Even members of boyband <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2637722/ONE-DIRECTION-EXCLUSIVE-Joint-lit-Happy-days-Watch-Zayn-Malik-Louis-Tomlinson-smoke-roll-cigarette-joke-marijuana-way-tour-concert.html">One Direction escaped largely unscathed</a> from tabloid exposure about recreational drug use, which a generation earlier had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,3605,461173,00.html">ended the careers of the likes of East 17</a>. </p>
<p>Certainly, there is greater toleration or acceptance of the harder edges of musical cultures. But the passing of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-did-the-mind-boggling-new-drugs-bill-make-it-through-parliament-53612">Psychoactive Substances Act 2016</a> shows that anxieties about youth culture and behaviour are still part of the political landscape. And it takes only a fraught atmosphere, the search for a scapegoat, and ill-judged responses from popstars to turn a headline into the next moral panic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70917/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clifford Williamson works for Bath Spa University.</span></em></p>
The 20th century saw battle lines drawn between music-driven youth movements and the state like none before.
Clifford Williamson, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British and American History, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/66601
2016-10-10T15:24:26Z
2016-10-10T15:24:26Z
Britain’s obsession with secrecy goes back to the Tudors and Stuarts – and is still at work today
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141087/original/image-20161010-3909-wsic86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C426%2C2768%2C2001&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thomas Cromwell, a man who definitely knew what you did last summer.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cromwell,Thomas(1EEssex)01.jpg">Hans Holbein the Younger/National Portrait Gallery</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The secret services are recruiting – you may have seen advertisements seeking linguists or computer specialists placed by MI5 and MI6 in respectable publications. This is quite a change from the official position that they <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29938135">didn’t exist</a> maintained as recently as 20 years ago. </p>
<p>While these organisations’ origins lie <a href="https://www.sis.gov.uk/our-history.html">in the world wars of the 20th century</a>, we can trace their signature features back to the 16th and 17th centuries. And in doing so we find that many of the problems they face today – plots, terrorism, political unrest and foreign interference – would be very familiar to the spies and spymasters of the earlier era – such as Thomas Cromwell, for example, Henry VIII’s spymaster whose life forms the story of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02gfy02">Wolf Hall</a>.</p>
<p>Living as we do in the age of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, we also find at that time similar tensions between the needs of the “secret state” and the demands of the growing public sphere.</p>
<h2>An early modern interest in secrecy</h2>
<p>Unquestionably, governments in the early modern era were always keen to cultivate an air of mystery. The arcane nature of ruling was seen as a natural part of an elite skill set – this suggestion of innate superiority obviously appealed to those in power. </p>
<p>Government secret actions, as journalist and pamphlateer Marchamont Nedham argued in his 1656 work <a href="http://www.constitution.org/cmt/nedham/free-state.htm">The Excellencie of a Free State</a>, was made up of “things … of a nature remote from ordinary apprehensions”. This way of framing the debate allowed governing to appear both mysterious and a skillful art outside the norms of life. These were, James Stuart himself <a href="http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oseo/instance.00032042">noted</a>, “no themes or subjects fit for vulgar persons or common meetings”. As “subjects” the role of the people in the early modern state was to “contain themselves within that modest and reverent regard of matters above their calling”. They might not have had an actual Official Secrets Act hanging over their head, but the people were certainly meant to know their place.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1246&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1246&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Spilling the beans, 17th-century style.</span>
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<p>And therein lay the tension which we can perhaps sympathise with today. Because just as governments developed their <em>arcana imperii</em>, or secrets of state, outside in the world a new landscape of media thronged with reams of printed newspapers, pamphlets and books, while in <a href="https://theconversation.com/coffee-shops-the-hangout-of-choice-for-the-hipsters-of-the-18th-century-43943">coffee houses political gossip and whispered knowledge flourished</a> – of politicians, but also of the state’s secret affairs. </p>
<p>It was feared that were state matters discussed widely this would weaken the doctrine of secrecy, perhaps even dispelling the “magic” of government and dissolving the boundaries between rulers and ruled. Given our world of endless speculation on social media, and the British government’s resistance to revealing anything at all about the workings of government throughout much of the 20th century, this should sound very familiar.</p>
<h2>Dark arts</h2>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the secret-state approach also provided a natural base from which to operate clandestine activities. Here we find many of the same activities used today. Spies and informers, and infiltration by foreign agents – such as William Gregg, who sold secrets to France before he was caught, tried and hanged in 1708. Political kidnapping was known on occasion, and political assassination, while rare, included serious attempts on <a href="http://www.elizabethfiles.com/plots-against-elizabeth-i/3509/">Elizabeth I</a>, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/overview_civil_war_revolution_01.shtml">Stuart kings</a> and Oliver Cromwell – the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z3hq7ty">Gunpowder Plot of 1605</a> against James I is the most notable example. </p>
<p>The interception of post was common. As with the myth in modern times of the UK’s GCHQ, it was alleged that hardly any letter was safe. In 1649, for example, Cromwell’s regime: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Authorised [its officers] to open and view all such letters or pacquets as you or they shall conceave may conteyne in them any matter or thing prejudicial to the Commonwealth. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The uncovering of plots and conspiracies were regularly publicised (some of them were even true). Like the blossoming conspiracy theories of today, at that time even the Great Fire of London was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/great_fire_01.shtml">blamed on a Franco-Popish Plot</a>. Writer and poet John Dryden later noted: “Plots, true or false, are necessary things, To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings”. It is a sentiment that is still true today.</p>
<p>Modern electronics aside, the covert practices of today had their parallels in the early modern state. Governments would cheerfully justify their use, while an increasingly open and demanding public would respond with moral outrage if their use was discovered. Even in the 16th and 17th centuries the government’s philosophical justifications were emerging: the practicalities of politics and foreign affairs were more than enough justification to cast spying and subterfuge as statecraft’s necessary evil, and even to proclaim its virtues in respect of the need to protect the then newly formed British nation. Again, it is a justification still familiar today.</p>
<p>A tension developed between state – which suspected and feared the very idea of the public and its opinions, and which considered espionage, suppression and censorship as vital – and the press and public sphere, which sought to know not only how but also why decisions were made on their behalf, and who stood to gain from them. Commentators of the time fondly imagined that knowing this would illuminate how things were done, and “the Great Ministers of State … [would be] … presented naked, their consultations, designs, policies, the things done by them … exposed to every man’s eye”. Having laid the foundations for 400 years of state secrecy, it is a wish that is as true today as it was then – and one that is as unlikely to be fulfilled.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Marshall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Look back centuries ago and you’ll find the same obsessive secrecy, and the same justifications, as seen today.
Alan Marshall, Associate Professor in History, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/63684
2016-10-07T11:08:05Z
2016-10-07T11:08:05Z
Five iPad apps that can help students with dyslexia
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140517/original/image-20161005-14215-106tpw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The right app can help a child with dyslexia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billion Photos/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is estimated that around <a href="http://www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/page/facts-and-figures-about-dyslexia-0">one in ten people</a> have dyslexia – a common learning difficulty which can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling. But dyslexia can cause more than just spelling difficulties, because it effects a person’s self-esteem and self-worth. Many dyslexics feel that they are “stupid” or “dumb”, but this is simply not the case. And in fact, most dyslexic students are no different to their non-dyslexic peers in their understanding of their academic subject.</p>
<p><a href="http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/tools/apps">Research</a> shows that many dyslexic students can benefit from using apps to help aid their learning. This is because apps can help dyslexic learners with <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-starting-university-with-dyslexia-50035">specific cognitive difficulties</a> making it easier to process particular kinds of information. Apps can also help dyslexic students overcome some of the challenges that come with learning in an environment that isn’t gearerd up to “<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-starting-university-with-dyslexia-50035">dyslexic styles of learning</a>” – such as non-interactive lectures and timed, written examinations – which many dyslexic students find hard to do. </p>
<p>This kind of <a href="http://mjay2.weebly.com/what-is-assertive-technology--content-3.html">assistive technology</a> is also important in the workplace. And below are my top five apps for iPads for dyslexic learners of any age.</p>
<h2><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/popplet-lite/id364738549?mt=8">Popplet Lite</a></h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140504/original/image-20161005-14215-z7s5mc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140504/original/image-20161005-14215-z7s5mc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140504/original/image-20161005-14215-z7s5mc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140504/original/image-20161005-14215-z7s5mc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140504/original/image-20161005-14215-z7s5mc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140504/original/image-20161005-14215-z7s5mc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140504/original/image-20161005-14215-z7s5mc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Popplet is great for school and for learning in the classroom and at home.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is a brilliant app that constructs mindmaps – which can be a great tool to help learners see the bigger picture. It basically helps users to capture and organise their ideas. With the app you can quick jot down your ideas and sort them visually. </p>
<p>As a lot of dyslexics are visual learners, being able to make a spider diagram or link ideas helps with organisation. This can be really useful and can save a lot of time, as many dyslexic students spend so much intellectual effort trying to spell and make a grammatical sentence that they can forget what the big picture is. Mind mapping is a great way to show the detail in any big picture.</p>
<p><strong>Cost:free</strong></p>
<p><br>
<br></p>
<h2><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sonocent-recorder/id888823208?mt=8">Sonocent</a></h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140507/original/image-20161005-14221-1ykkyvc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140507/original/image-20161005-14221-1ykkyvc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140507/original/image-20161005-14221-1ykkyvc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140507/original/image-20161005-14221-1ykkyvc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140507/original/image-20161005-14221-1ykkyvc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140507/original/image-20161005-14221-1ykkyvc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140507/original/image-20161005-14221-1ykkyvc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sonocent Recorder takes accurate records of classes.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sonocent records live talks such as lessons but could also be used in a meeting. It is easy to use and you can highlight key moments in the audio to make it easier to find things later. </p>
<p>The app also allows you to add photos right alongside your audio and type brief notes for further context – which is ideal for lectures.</p>
<p>As most speakers talk very fast, having dyslexia means spending more time physically recording and trying to keep up. These tools are great and can save you a lot of time transcribing.</p>
<p>There are alternatives such as <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sonocent-recorder/id888823208?mt=8">NoteTalker</a> which does a similar job but isn’t free.</p>
<p><strong>Cost:free</strong></p>
<p><br>
<br></p>
<h2><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/clarospeak-free/id977258467?mt=8">ClaroSpeak </a></h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140509/original/image-20161005-14236-dm8glh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140509/original/image-20161005-14236-dm8glh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140509/original/image-20161005-14236-dm8glh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140509/original/image-20161005-14236-dm8glh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140509/original/image-20161005-14236-dm8glh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140509/original/image-20161005-14236-dm8glh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140509/original/image-20161005-14236-dm8glh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Type into ClaroSpeak and have the text read back to you.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clarospeak is a writing app that provides a list of words for you to select from. It can then read these back to you. It offers a good range of colour and font settings to allow for optimum reading, and word prediction to help with writing. You can also use it to help you proofread any documents or essays by listening back to what you’ve written.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/clarospeak-plus/id845128025?mt=8">ClaroSpeak Plus</a> is a paid-for version that adds Optical Character Reading to enable any text book to be scanned and edited electronically. It can even capture text from a photo – meaning you can take a photo of your text book and have it read back to you.</p>
<p><strong>Cost:free</strong></p>
<p><br>
<br></p>
<h2><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vbookz-pdf-voice-reader-us/id497274026?mt=8">vbookz</a></h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140510/original/image-20161005-14212-gfy31c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140510/original/image-20161005-14212-gfy31c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140510/original/image-20161005-14212-gfy31c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140510/original/image-20161005-14212-gfy31c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140510/original/image-20161005-14212-gfy31c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140510/original/image-20161005-14212-gfy31c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140510/original/image-20161005-14212-gfy31c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">vBookz on iPad.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>PDFs are now used extensively in most walks of life – and especially at university and school. If you have problems with reading, this great little app will help you have PDFs read back to you. An interactive cursor allows users to follow along, pause reading or even repeat lines to ensure reading comprehension.</p>
<p>This app is available for both the iPad and iPhone which means you can read your documents on the go. It works with your email account to directly open PDFs and read them to you.</p>
<p><strong>Cost:free</strong></p>
<p><br>
<br></p>
<h2><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/clicker-sentences/id575603433?mt=8">Clicker Sentences</a></h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140515/original/image-20161005-14208-1uoortd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140515/original/image-20161005-14208-1uoortd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140515/original/image-20161005-14208-1uoortd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140515/original/image-20161005-14208-1uoortd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140515/original/image-20161005-14208-1uoortd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140515/original/image-20161005-14208-1uoortd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140515/original/image-20161005-14208-1uoortd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helps learners build sentences with whole words.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140516/original/image-20161005-14243-1xm20md.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140516/original/image-20161005-14243-1xm20md.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140516/original/image-20161005-14243-1xm20md.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140516/original/image-20161005-14243-1xm20md.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140516/original/image-20161005-14243-1xm20md.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140516/original/image-20161005-14243-1xm20md.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140516/original/image-20161005-14243-1xm20md.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adding a picture to each sentence provides pupils with an additional cue.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clicker Sentences is designed for primary aged learners and provides a grid selection of words for the learner to construct a sentence with. </p>
<p>Pupils tap words in the grid to build sentences in the simple word processor, then hear each sentence automatically spoken aloud as they complete it, helping them to identify any mistakes and make corrections. </p>
<p>It is great for developing young pupils’ writing skills and build struggling writers’ confidence.</p>
<p><strong>Cost:£24.99</strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63684/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Myles Pilling is affiliated with BATA council member - non- for profit organisation of suppliers of Assistive Technology and AT professionals in giving assistive technology solutions to the public</span></em></p>
Dyslexic? There’s an app for that.
Myles Pilling, External lecturer, Assistive Technologist, Specialist SEND ICT Consultant, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/65922
2016-09-29T08:13:28Z
2016-09-29T08:13:28Z
Act now to preserve our disappearing videogame culture – or it’s ‘game over’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139574/original/image-20160928-27014-b3jnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/4906597152">aloha75</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Videogames have been with us for just a few decades but the industry is already <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-08-05/bigger-than-hollywood-the-numbers-behind-video-gaming">worth more than Hollywood</a>. Hundreds of new games arrive each year, from AAA-rated titles with multi-million-dollar budgets to indie titles created by individual developers crowdfunding their efforts. Videogames are a vital <a href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/next-gen">part of our cultural heritage and creative economy</a>, and it’s important we record and preserve them.</p>
<p>In recent years, academics and museum specialists, not to mention a legion of fans and enthusiasts, have dedicated themselves to the project of game preservation. While there are now more platforms on which to play games than ever before – from dedicated consoles to smartphones – videogames disappear all the time. Game systems go out of production, servers required for <a href="http://www.ea.com/1/service-updates">games played online are shut down</a>, and even the digital data stored in chips, floppy disks and CDs <a href="http://www.softpres.org/glossary:bit_rot">begin to decay</a>.</p>
<h2>Playing games</h2>
<p>Not unreasonably, much preservation work focuses on making old games playable again. Typically this is achieved through emulation, where software running on one platform – a modern PC, for example – reproduces the environment required to run software from another – such as 1980s-era 8-bit systems such as the Nintendo NES, and home computers like the Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum. The power of modern computing platforms and sophistication of emulation software means that many early games can even be played in a web browser: the Internet Archive’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/internetarcade">Internet Arcade</a> holds over 900 games that are playable online.</p>
<p>The technical achievement here is obvious and emulation is often used “behind the scenes” by publishers wanting to re-release select titles from their back catalogues, but for preservation activities, the technique is not without issue. While the unofficial creation of videogame system emulators is generally considered allowable, the acquisition and sharing of copyrighted code remains unequivocally illegal. And as the games that we might want to play typically remain under copyright long after their commercial lifespan, such techniques <a href="https://mellon.org/media/filer_public/0c/3e/0c3eee7d-4166-4ba6-a767-6b42e6a1c2a7/rosenthal-emulation-2015.pdf">often pose insurmountable legal issues</a> and require navigating complex permissions and intellectual property rights.</p>
<p>More practically, while it’s possible to play arcade and console games on a modern laptop, the experience may be very different from the original. Many systems feature dedicated <a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/accessories/dualshock-4-wireless-controller-ps4/">joysticks</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l-mRWtBGsA">dancemats</a>, <a href="http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/feature/a673915/12-best-and-worst-gaming-light-guns-from-duck-hunts-nes-zapper-to-the-sega-menacer/">lightguns</a>, <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/power-glove/3000-2/">gloves</a>, and even <a href="http://segaretro.org/Dreamcast_Fishing_Controller">fishing rods</a>. Playing the games without these controllers or on alternative types of TV screen can be <a href="http://bogost.com/games/a_television_simulator/">profoundly different</a>. As Foteini Aravani, Digital Curator at the Museum of London has <a href="http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/plays-thing-keeping-old-games-alive">noted</a>, it’s as important to collect and preserve these physical components of videogames that are essential to the experience as it is to preserve the software code. That way, the experience of pressing the ZX Spectrum’s rubbery keys can be recreated.</p>
<h2>Not playing games</h2>
<p>However, there are other reasons for collecting videogame objects. Since the <a href="http://gamecity.org/">National Videogame Arcade</a>, where I am part of the research and curatorial team, opened in Nottingham in March 2015, one of the most popular exhibits is the History of Videogames in 100 Objects. In a sense it’s like traditional gallery exhibits with a variety of unique and everyday items in glass cases – certainly a far cry from the interactive exhibits and games elsewhere in the building that explore different aspects of game design and structure. But the 100 Objects gallery tells the stories of videogames’ early days and provides context that cannot be found through the act of playing alone.</p>
<p>Here are two example objects.</p>
<p>The first is a hand-drawn cassette inlay for the 1985 Commodore 64 game <a href="https://archive.org/details/C64GVA239-WayOfTheExplodingFist">Way of the Exploding Fist</a>. This is not the original cover but rather a homemade creation for an illegally-copied version of the game. Like many players at the time, the (anonymous) donor of this piece had duplicated a friends’ copy of the game using nothing more than a domestic hi-fi. As the game was encoded as audio on cassette tape, copying the game was as straightforward (and as illegal) as copying a Top 40 album. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139723/original/image-20160929-27026-msxydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139723/original/image-20160929-27026-msxydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139723/original/image-20160929-27026-msxydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139723/original/image-20160929-27026-msxydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139723/original/image-20160929-27026-msxydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139723/original/image-20160929-27026-msxydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139723/original/image-20160929-27026-msxydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Handmade cassette cover for Way of the Exploding Fist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NVA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In case we think media piracy is the preserve of the current generation of torrent and filesharing networks, this piece of amateur artwork shows it stretches farther back. We may not lament the 15-minute wait for a game to load from cassette, but we should not forget the culture of copying, tape sharing and bootlegging that are fundamental to the early days of videogaming – and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13686141">indeed computing in general</a>.</p>
<p>For a sense of the response to this bootlegging culture, which included industry taglines such as <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dont-copy-that-floppy">Don’t Copy That Floppy</a> that mirrored the music industry’s line that Home Taping Is Killing Music, the second object looks like a cross between a <a href="http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/testcards/bbc.html">television test card</a> and an <a href="http://www.color-blindness.com/ishihara-38-plates-cvd-test/">Ishihara test</a> used for detecting colour blindness. Distributed with the 1984 game <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94Ywx6uVn9E">Jet Set Willy</a>, created by British developer Matthew Smith, this innocuous-looking grid was designed to confound the efforts of pirates and is an example of an early copy protection scheme. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139575/original/image-20160928-27017-1qm3s1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139575/original/image-20160928-27017-1qm3s1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139575/original/image-20160928-27017-1qm3s1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139575/original/image-20160928-27017-1qm3s1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139575/original/image-20160928-27017-1qm3s1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139575/original/image-20160928-27017-1qm3s1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139575/original/image-20160928-27017-1qm3s1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The copy protection code card released with the videogame Jet Set Willy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Software Projects/NVA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Duplicating the game cassette is still a trivial undertaking. However, the game is designed so that once it is loaded and run, it asks the player for one of the 180 codes found on the card. Without the correct code, the game will not run any further and cannot be played. No code, no game. The system worked partly because while copying audio was easy, duplicating a full colour printed copy protection card was far harder to do at home.</p>
<p>Taken together these objects reveal a little of the back story of the battle between rights holders, publishers, pirates and players, as well as the interplay between the technologies of distribution and duplication available at the time and the <a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-strange-video-game-copy-protection-measures-used-in-history/">sometimes surprising strategies</a> deployed. Preserving game code allows us to appreciate the game’s design and aesthetic, but it doesn’t provide any insight into the cultural, political and economic context in which it appeared. The videogame culture of the time, from fan-made strategy guides and hand-drawn covers to fiendish copy-protection and <a href="http://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/">luxurious manuals</a>, is more difficult to preserve.</p>
<p>If we are to avoid the fate of early television programmes, the sole recordings of which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/12/lost-doctor-who-episodes-bbc">were often wiped in order to re-use the tapes</a>, and even <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/movies/2010/06/11/14350796.html">more recent CGI that has been lost</a>, we must recognise how fragile videogames are so we can take action now to preserve the data, paper and culture they represent – <a href="http://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/2-2-special-feature-digital-game-preservation-white-paper.pdf">before it’s too late</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Newman is a member of the research and curatorial team at the National Videogame Arcade. In 2015, he received funding from the Sustainable Societies Network+ to undertake work on game preservation, and has recently been awarded a British Academy/Leverhulme Trust research grant to investigate current international practice on game preservation and curation.</span></em></p>
Videogaming’s rich cultural history is already being lost. We need to do more to save it.
James Newman, Professor of Media, The Digital Academy, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/65446
2016-09-26T15:50:23Z
2016-09-26T15:50:23Z
A supercomputer just made the world’s first AI-created film trailer – here’s how well it did
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139292/original/image-20160926-31870-1y6fvz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">20th Century Fox</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More people have been talking about the trailer for the sci-fi/horror film Morgan than the movie itself. It’s partly because the commercial and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/sep/04/morgan-sci-fi-thriller-review-kate-mara-toby-jones-ai">critical response</a> to the film has been <a href="http://www.empireonline.com/movies/morgan/review/">less than lukewarm</a>, and partly because the clip was the first to be created entirely by artificial intelligence.</p>
<p>At the request of the filmmakers at 20th Century Fox, IBM used its <a href="http://www.ibm.com/watson/">supercomputer Watson</a> to <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/article/ibm-watson-ai-film-trailer">build a trailer</a> from the final version of Morgan, which tells the story of an artificially created human. First Watson was fed background information on the horror genre in the form of a <a href="http://www.cbronline.com/news/big-data/analytics/horror-movie-morgan-trailer-gets-the-ibm-artificial-intelligence-treatment-4996128">hundred film trailers</a>. It used visual and aural analysis in order to identify the images, sounds, and emotions that are usually found in frightening and suspenseful trailers.</p>
<p>Watson then analysed Morgan and identified the key moments of plot action from which a trailer of the film could be generated. Only the final act of putting the sounds and images together to create the trailer required human intervention. </p>
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<p>So how did Watson do? The trailer features the familiar visual and narrative devices that have been the staple of horror film: the reclusive “mad” scientist, the businesslike “investigator”, the eerie soundtrack including the main theme and a lullaby that evokes themes of childhood and innocence (contrasted with images of physical violence and bloodshed others). In fact, the iconography featured in Watson’s trailer reaffirms what many film theorists say are the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=scE4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127&dq=generic+conventions+of+horror+films+mad+scientist&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcipilj6zPAhWDLMAKHVpsBOUQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=generic%20conventions%20of%20horror%20films%20mad%20scientist&f=false">generic conventions of horror films</a>, based on iconic examples such as the 1931 version of Frankenstein.</p>
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<p>But is the purpose of a film trailer just to repeat the generic conventions that characterise a film? While some trailers clearly do this, or simply trumpet the presence of star actors, others highlight the film’s spectacular possibilities. Early film trailers often described the wonders of the emerging technology of cinema such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW6GfJ5Tvms">synchorised sound (Vitaphone)</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-P_Ira6kgE">and Technicolor</a> and many still underline the historical moment of the film. Others focus on explaining the story and conveying <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1xxRqocKb6cC&pg=PA30&dq=suggestive+aesthetic,+structural+and+thematic+motifs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiz7NDTl4_PAhWGBsAKHfW-BC4Q6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=suggestive%20aesthetic%2C%20structural%20and%20thematic%20motifs&f=false">the movie’s look, feel and themes</a>“ for the prospective audience. </p>
<h2>Capturing horror themes</h2>
<p>The Watson trailer for Morgan succeeds in identifying the aesthetic and thematic motifs of the film, as well as the emotional charges that underpin them. For example, it references a trope of the horror genre made familiar by films such as The Exorcist (1974) and The Omen (1976), which dispels the presumed innocence of children. In the Watson trailer we see this represented with images of Morgan’s first birthday contrasted with images of bloody violence. Meanwhile, the use of lines of dialogue such as "I have to say goodbye to mother” is clearly based on the supercomputer’s ability to identify Freudian themes from well known examples in the horror genre, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/12043112/The_use_of_Freudian_themes_in_Alfred_Hitchcocks_Psycho_and_Vertigo">most notably Psycho</a> (1960). </p>
<p>What Watson doesn’t do is give viewers a clear understanding of the story (or provide any of the other historical functions of Hollywood trailers). The difference becomes obvious if you compare the Watson-made trailer to with the film’s “official” (human-made) clip, which reveals three narrative threads to the storyline, as well as using many of the stock motifs identified by Watson. </p>
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<p>By showing clips of three different parts of the story, the official trailer creates a series of enigmatic questions to arouse the viewers’ interest. What is kept behind the scratched glass wall? What kind of creature is the titular artificial being Morgan? Will the danger implied by the images of death be contained?</p>
<p>The Watson trailer doesn’t manage such a sophisticated retelling of the story. Based on its analysis of horror movie trailers, the supercomputer has created a striking visual and aural collage with a remarkably perceptive selection of images. But the official trailer is more than a random collection of visual and sound motifs. It is a film about the film, and is structured to communicate with its intended viewership by using a gift that the supercomputer doesn’t yet possess – the gift of narrative.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suman Ghosh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
IBM’s Watson watched hundreds of horror movie trailers and then created its own for the new film Morgan.
Suman Ghosh, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/65273
2016-09-13T07:55:43Z
2016-09-13T07:55:43Z
Nature is being renamed ‘natural capital’ – but is it really the planet that will profit?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137407/original/image-20160912-19225-fgphsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">China's Jiangxi mountains: now just an asset?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-170710919/stock-photo-world-natural-heritage-china-jiangxi-mountains.html?src=LTuL_RGoaclg4KYP3DNSzA-1-52">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The four-yearly <a href="http://www.iucnworldconservationcongress.org/">World Conservation Congress</a> of the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for the Conservation of Nature</a> has just taken place in Hawai’i. The congress is the largest global meeting on nature’s conservation. This year a controversial motion was debated regarding incorporating the language and mechanisms of “natural capital” into IUCN policy.</p>
<p>But what is “natural capital”? And why use it to refer to “nature”? </p>
<p><a href="https://portals.iucn.org/congress/motion/063">Motion 63 on “Natural Capital”</a>, adopted at the congress, proposes the development of a “natural capital charter” as a framework “for the application of natural capital approaches and mechanisms”. In “noting that concepts and language of natural capital are becoming widespread within conservation circles and IUCN”, the motion reflects IUCN’s adoption of <a href="https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/import/downloads/decisions_of_the_84th_meeting_of_the_iucn_council__november_2014__with_attachments.pdf">“a substantial policy position”</a> on natural capital. Eleven programmed sessions scheduled for the congress <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/congress/sessions?field_type_session_value_i18n=All&nid=&combine=natural+capital&field_keywords_proposal_value=All&field_keywords_proposal_value_1=All&field_geo_interest_value=All&field_geo_regional_value=All&reservation_room_target_id=&reservation_date_value=All&reservation_time_value=All&field_primcont_organisation_value=">included “natural capital” in the title</a>. Many are associated with the recent launch of the global <a href="http://www.naturalcapitalcoalition.org/natural-capital-protocol.html">Natural Capital Protocol</a>, which brings together business leaders to create a world where business both enhances and conserves nature.</p>
<p>At least <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/congress/session/10279?page=1">one congress session</a> discussed possible “unforeseen impacts of natural capital on broader issues of equitability, ethics, values, rights and social justice”. This draws on <a href="http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/resources/great-nature-sale">widespread</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/cents-and-sensibility-why-its-unwise-to-put-dollar-figures-on-nature-49508">concerns</a> around the metaphor that nature-is-as-capital-is. Critics worry about the emphasis on economic, as opposed to ecological, language and models, and a corresponding <a href="http://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/know-how/should-nature-have-prove-its-value">marginalisation of non-economic values</a> that elicit care for the natural world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137408/original/image-20160912-19269-1r24dco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137408/original/image-20160912-19269-1r24dco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137408/original/image-20160912-19269-1r24dco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137408/original/image-20160912-19269-1r24dco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137408/original/image-20160912-19269-1r24dco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137408/original/image-20160912-19269-1r24dco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137408/original/image-20160912-19269-1r24dco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Naming nature … but at what cost?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-259668533/stock-photo-natural-resources-environmental-conservation-sustainability-concept.html?src=LTuL_RGoaclg4KYP3DNSzA-1-49">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Naturalising ‘natural capital’</h2>
<p>The use of “natural capital” as a noun <a href="http://thestudyofvalue.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/WP3-Sullivan-2014-Natural-Capital-Myth.pdf">is becoming increasingly normalised</a> in environmental governance. Recent natural capital initiatives include the <a href="http://naturalcapitalforum.com/">World Forum on Natural Capital</a>, described as “the world’s leading natural capital event”, the <a href="http://www.naturalcapitaldeclaration.org/">Natural Capital Declaration</a>, which commits the financial sector to mainstreaming “natural capital considerations” into all financial products and services, and the <a href="http://www.eib.org/products/blending/ncff/index.htm">Natural Capital Financing Facility</a>, a financial instrument of the European Investment Bank and the European Commission that aims “to prove to the market and to potential investors the attractiveness of biodiversity and climate adaptation operations in order to promote sustainable investments from the private sector”.</p>
<p>All these initiatives share the UK <a href="http://www.naturalcapitalcommittee.org/">Natural Capital Committee’s</a> view that “natural capital” consists of “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/natural-capital-committee">our natural assets including forests, rivers, land, minerals and oceans</a>”. People used to talk about “nature” or “the natural environment” – <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/24/7348.full#aff-1">now they speak of “natural capital”</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137412/original/image-20160912-19222-1a7ha8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137412/original/image-20160912-19222-1a7ha8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137412/original/image-20160912-19222-1a7ha8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137412/original/image-20160912-19222-1a7ha8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137412/original/image-20160912-19222-1a7ha8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137412/original/image-20160912-19222-1a7ha8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137412/original/image-20160912-19222-1a7ha8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Growing profits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-299959013/stock-photo-plant-growing-out-of-coins-with-filter-effect-retro-vintage-style.html?src=FUJVFrWSKj9qhsEbMDSWTA-1-3">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>So what does the word “capital” do to “nature” when they are linked? And should nature be seen in terms of capital at all? One controversial aspect, backed by <a href="https://www.iucn.org/theme/business-and-biodiversity">IUCN’s Business and Biodiversity Programme</a>, is receiving particular attention. This is the possibility of securing <a href="https://www.iucn.org/content/could-conservation-become-new-investment-asset-class">debt-based conservation finance</a> from major institutions and the super-super-rich based on the value of income generated from so-called natural capital assets conserved in situ.</p>
<h2>Capitalising natures</h2>
<p>At the IUCN’s conservation congress a <a href="http://nr.iisd.org/news/coalition-for-private-investment-in-conservation-natural-capital-protocol-presented-at-iucn-wcc/">Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation</a> was launched. Led by financial services company <a href="https://www.credit-suisse.com/global/en.html">Credit Suisse</a>, and backed by the IUCN and the <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/">World Wide Fund for Nature</a>, the coalition builds on a series of recent reports proposing capitalising conservation in exactly this way. </p>
<p>In 2016, and following <a href="https://www.cbd.int/financial/privatesector/g-private-wwf.pdf">a 2014 report</a>, Credit Suisse and collaborators published two documents outlining proposals for debt-based, return-seeking conservation finance. <a href="https://www.credit-suisse.com/media/assets/corporate/docs/about-us/responsibility/banking/levering-ecosystems.pdf">The most recent</a> is called Levering Ecosystems: A Business-focused Perspective on how Debt Supports Investment in Ecosystem Services. In this, the CEO of Credit Suisse states that not only is saving ecosystems affordable, but it is also profitable, if turned “into an asset treasured by the mainstream investment market”.</p>
<p>The report proposes a number of mechanisms whereby “businesses can utilise debt as a tool to restore, rehabilitate, and conserve the environment while creating financial value”. The idea is that as “environmental footprints move closer to being recognised as assets and liabilities by companies, debt can be used to fund specific investments in ecosystems that lead to net-positive financial outcomes”. Debt-based financing – for example, through tradeable securities such as bonds – is framed as attractive in part because interest received by investors is “usually tax-deductible”.</p>
<p>The Levering Ecosystems report followed quickly from <a href="https://www.environmental-finance.com/content/research/conservation-finance-from-niche-to-mainstream.html">Conservation Finance: From Niche to Mainstream</a>, steered by a small group including the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/press/IUCN-experts/business-and-biodiversity">director</a> of <a href="https://www.iucn.org/theme/business-and-biodiversity">IUCN’s Global Business and Biodiversity Programme</a>. This report estimated the investment potential for conservation finance to be roughly US$200-400 billion by 2020.</p>
<p>Of course, investors loaning finance to projects associated with conservation also <a href="http://www.dieterhelm.co.uk/natural-capital/environment/green-bond-for-natural-capital-some-issues/">expect market-rate returns to compensate for investments</a> considered to conserve, restore or rehabilitate ecosystems.</p>
<p>In the documents above, financial returns are projected as coming in part from new markets in <a href="https://theconversation.com/farming-carbon-can-be-a-win-for-wildlife-if-the-price-is-right-40088">payments for ecosystem services and sales of carbon credits</a>. These new markets will supply the potentially monetisable “dividends” of conserved and restored habitats as “standing natural capitals”. Investor risk is proposed to be reduced through mobilising these assets, as well as the “land or usage rights” from which they derive, as underlying collateral.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137410/original/image-20160912-19262-znlcdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137410/original/image-20160912-19262-znlcdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137410/original/image-20160912-19262-znlcdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137410/original/image-20160912-19262-znlcdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137410/original/image-20160912-19262-znlcdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137410/original/image-20160912-19262-znlcdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137410/original/image-20160912-19262-znlcdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137410/original/image-20160912-19262-znlcdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Two redrawn graphs representing the design of debt-based conservation finance, as per Credit Suisse reports in 2014 and 2016.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The graphs above present two schematic diagrams redrawn from the Credit Suisse texts to indicate how these flows of financial value may be leveraged from areas capitalised as investable natural capital. The models are based in part on expectations that recent <a href="https://unfccc.int/files/meetings/paris_nov_2015/application/pdf/paris_agreement_english_.pdf">United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change support</a> for international carbon compensation mechanisms will release new long-term sources of public funding to “balance anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases”, thereby boosting possibilities for financial flows from forest carbon.</p>
<p>Such financialising moves, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/24694452.2016.1140018">nascent and clunky as they are</a>, may yet have significant implications if applied to countries in the global south with remaining high levels of “standing natural capital”. Caution is needed regarding the possibility that forest-rich but least developed countries may become indebted to ultra high-net-worth investors who access returns on their investments from new income streams arising from conserved tropical natures in these countries.</p>
<h2>What’s in a name?</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137409/original/image-20160912-19228-kul098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137409/original/image-20160912-19228-kul098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137409/original/image-20160912-19228-kul098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137409/original/image-20160912-19228-kul098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137409/original/image-20160912-19228-kul098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137409/original/image-20160912-19228-kul098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137409/original/image-20160912-19228-kul098.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pandas: sending a powerful message.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-134513474/stock-photo-panda-eating-bamboo.html?src=uqpsXTIS2v7zXP52eqFgyg-1-24">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1986, the central secretariat of the WWF decided to <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_quick_facts.cfm">change the name of the organisation</a> from the World Wildlife Fund to the World Wide Fund for Nature. The thinking was that an emphasis on “wildlife”, borne of a concern for endangered species, no longer reflected the organisation’s scope of work for the conservation of the diversity of life on earth. It was considered that overall the organisation would be better served by the term “nature”. In other words, it seems that <a href="http://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/7317/">naming and framing “nature” matters</a>.</p>
<p>Given the conversations and debates at IUCN’s World Conservation Congress, it seems important to ask: how exactly does the conservation of natural capital equate with the conservation of nature? Do these terms in fact invoke different things? If they do, then it is worth clarifying whether the conservation of natural capital is always good for the conservation of nature. If they don’t, then it remains worth querying why exactly “nature” needs to be renamed as “natural capital”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sian Sullivan receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>
Nature conservation is becoming another way to make money.
Sian Sullivan, Professor of Environment and Culture, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64322
2016-08-23T17:37:34Z
2016-08-23T17:37:34Z
Three of Namibia’s most famous lion family were poisoned – why?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135184/original/image-20160823-30231-nsb4fo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 'Musketeers' pictured here were stars of a recent National Geographic documentary.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sian Sullivan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine that years of drought have forced you to graze your cattle on sparse grass in an open desert landscape, far from permanent settlements. The nearest small shop is 25 miles away, a journey normally made by donkey. Now imagine your one donkey is being mauled to death by a pride of lions, only yards from the flimsy tent that is your shelter.</p>
<p>This was the scene I encountered in November 2015, while travelling through Purros Conservancy in north-west Namibia’s Kunene region with two elderly Khoe-speaking people – Michael Ganaseb and Christophine Tauros – in the course of <a href="http://www.futurepasts.net">oral history research in the area</a>. Both had grown up in this desert landscape. Our small party stopped at a remote Herero cattle-post close to Tauros’ grandfather’s grave. Khoe and Herero-speaking peoples both have long histories of dwelling in north-west Namibia, with sometimes different perspectives on living with indigenous fauna in the area. At this time, drought was causing <a href="https://tosco.org/2016/08/01/lion-ranger-rodney-equipped/#more-2062">Herero-speaking herders to disperse with their livestock</a> to wherever they could find a few remnant tufts of perennial grasses. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135187/original/image-20160823-30228-1y0ezq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135187/original/image-20160823-30228-1y0ezq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135187/original/image-20160823-30228-1y0ezq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135187/original/image-20160823-30228-1y0ezq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135187/original/image-20160823-30228-1y0ezq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135187/original/image-20160823-30228-1y0ezq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135187/original/image-20160823-30228-1y0ezq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135187/original/image-20160823-30228-1y0ezq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In a drought, Herero herders move their cattle to remote areas like this in Purros Conservancy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sian Sullivan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Sheltered only by a made-in-China tent, the lone herdsman we met here was angry. The previous night a group of lions had killed his donkey. He had poisoned the donkey’s flesh in retaliation for the attack. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135188/original/image-20160823-30222-12rrjqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135188/original/image-20160823-30222-12rrjqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135188/original/image-20160823-30222-12rrjqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135188/original/image-20160823-30222-12rrjqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135188/original/image-20160823-30222-12rrjqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135188/original/image-20160823-30222-12rrjqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135188/original/image-20160823-30222-12rrjqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135188/original/image-20160823-30222-12rrjqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">This donkey met the Musketeers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sian Sullivan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>We related this incident to the dedicated founder of the <a href="http://www.desertlion.info/index.html">Desert Lion Conservation Project</a>, Philip Stander, who tracks the movement of Namibia’s special desert-adapted lions. He suggested that a group of five brothers named the “Musketeers” – stars of the 2015 National Geographic film <a href="http://www.natgeotv.com/uk/shows/natgeowild/vanishing-kings-desert-lions-of-namib">Vanishing Kings: Lions of the Namib</a> – may have been responsible. </p>
<p>A few days later I encountered the Musketeers, close to Namibia’s spectacular Skeleton Coast, while recording memories of places previously inhabited by Ganaseb’s brother Noag, and their cousin Franz ||Höeb (the two lines signify a “click consonant” in Khoe-languages). They claimed that in the past people <a href="http://media.wix.com/ugd/5ba6bf_a5c474c1ac0c48ca968e5e00c51d6d28.pdf">did not have problems with “wild animals”</a> – they would simply ask them nicely to move, so that the people could be on their way. <a href="http://media.wix.com/ugd/5ba6bf_3e2a358d59864a21b468aa4b5314a498.pdf">Some elderly Khoe-speaking people</a> continue to practice these rituals, asking both known ancestors <a href="http://www.africabib.org/rec.php?RID=390933473">and anonymous spirits of the dead</a> to protect them from lions. Whimsical perhaps, but these narratives illustrate variety in local experiences of lions.</p>
<p>Less than a year later, on August 9 2016, <a href="https://www.newera.com.na/2016/08/15/police-open-case-poisoning-desert-lions/">three of the Musketeers were killed</a> in Purros Conservancy by poison set by cattle farmers. These lions had been <a href="http://www.desertlion.info/news.html">troubling people for some time</a>. The radio collars that tracked their movements were burnt.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vQqgnDr0Lls?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Meet the Musketeers.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Tragically, only days earlier Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism had approved the <a href="http://www.desertlion.info/news.html">transport of these three lions and their remaining brother</a> to a national park where they would be kept apart from farmers and their livestock. But as the three lions returned from unreachable mountainous areas they encountered a cattle-post, where they slaughtered a donkey and whose poisoned flesh later killed them. The ministry is seeking <a href="http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?page=read&id=44299">criminal charges</a>.</p>
<p>Although one of the worst cases, this is only the latest in a series of recent conflicts between humans and lions in the area. In June 2016, <a href="https://www.newera.com.na/2016/07/14/lions-terrorise-otjindakui-community/">a lioness was shot dead</a> after a bull was killed by a pride of lions near the settlement of Otjindakui. Earlier that month, the first Musketeer to be killed <a href="http://www.desertlion.info/news.html">died from a bullet wound</a> near a temporary cattle-post in the region.</p>
<h2>Conflict is inevitable</h2>
<p>These incidents reflect recent expansion in lion distribution in Namibia’s <a href="http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/download/huahin/Namibia-Communal-Conservancy-Tourism-Sector.pdf">Kunene region</a>. A result is <a href="http://assets.panda.org/downloads/hwc_namlastfinal.pdf">economic damage</a>, borne disproportionately by unlucky farmers. Compensation, when received, may not <a href="https://www.safarious.com/en/posts/8721-desert-lions-in-namibia-meet-bertus-tosco-lion-officer-in-purros">cover the cost of a lost cow or bull</a>. As such, increasing lion numbers <a href="http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/desert-lions.html#cr">cause tour guides to celebrate while locals are dismayed</a>.</p>
<p>Clashes between humans and lions in a region celebrated by tourists and conservationists have encouraged significant investment in addressing <a href="http://assets.panda.org/downloads/hwc_namlastfinal.pdf">human-wildlife conflict</a>. <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/namibia/now-they-come-respect">Community game guards</a> were established in the early 1980s, beginning a widely praised model of “<a href="http://www.nacso.org.na/what_is_cbnrm.php">community-based natural resources management</a>” financed by donors including the WWF and the US and UK international aid departments. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135190/original/image-20160823-30246-d2hh0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135190/original/image-20160823-30246-d2hh0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135190/original/image-20160823-30246-d2hh0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135190/original/image-20160823-30246-d2hh0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135190/original/image-20160823-30246-d2hh0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135190/original/image-20160823-30246-d2hh0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135190/original/image-20160823-30246-d2hh0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135190/original/image-20160823-30246-d2hh0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The kraal and tent of a lone Herero herder whose donkey was killed by lions, illustrating the vulnerable conditions in which some people are living and experiencing lion attacks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sian Sullivan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Since 1996 indigenous Namibians have been able to legally derive incomes from wildlife in recognised territories <a href="http://bit.ly/2bx5oW7">managed as “conservancies”</a>. The vision is that this income will increase the value of indigenous fauna and flora as economically-productive resources, countering the costs to other livelihood activities of sharing land with wildlife whilst offering routes towards rural development.</p>
<p>The success of these conservancies, combined until recently with favourable wetter climatic conditions since the mid-1990s, has led to increasing lion populations. Efforts to smooth over resulting tensions with local people include <a href="http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/desert-lions.html#cr">a compensation scheme for herders</a> paid for by safari operators; a community <a href="https://tosco.org/2016/08/01/lion-ranger-rodney-equipped/#more-2062">“lion task force” and “lion rangers”</a> who monitor lion movements and advise herders when to move away; <a href="https://tosco.org/partners/">lion proof kraals</a> (cattle pens); and <a href="https://www.newera.com.na/2016/08/15/police-open-case-poisoning-desert-lions/">bright lights, ultra-sound and fireworks</a> to discourage lions from approaching settlements.</p>
<p>These initiatives do much to mitigate the conflict. But current drought is causing herders to overlap with lion, the former seeking dispersed grazing, the latter dispersed prey animals. Expanding tourism has encouraged <a href="http://www.desertlion.info/news15nov.html">lions to become more confident around humans</a>. And prey animals like zebra and antelope already affected by drought may be reduced further by <a href="http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=134899&page=archive-read">shoot-to-sell policies</a>, whereby conservancies sell rights to outside contractors to shoot animals to supply butcheries elsewhere.</p>
<h2>Different strokes for different folks?</h2>
<p>Human-lion conflicts can also act as a flash-point for other frustrations. Livestock herders in communal areas are experiencing <a href="https://www.newera.com.na/2016/07/14/lions-terrorise-otjindakui-community/">punitive measures</a> for trying to protect their animals in a context of historical land appropriation that squeezed indigenous Namibians into less productive landscapes. Namibia’s commercial (and still largely white-owned) farming areas <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-lions-leopards-and-livestock-are-affected-by-racism-on-namibias-farms-57167">sometimes experience lion attacks</a> but benefited historically from significant clearance of major predators. One celebrated former warden of Etosha National Park <a href="http://www.travelnewsnamibia.com/featured-stories/the-white-bushman-in-memory-of-peter-stark/">killed 75 lions to help farmers protect their cattle</a>, before being employed in conservation in 1958. </p>
<p>Today, wealthy visitors from afar <a href="http://fromtheold.com/news/trophy-hunters-kill-last-endangered-desert-male-lion-namibia-2010051118096.html">hunt “game” animals as trophies</a>, including the occasional lion. Many conservancies are <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12643/abstract">financed significantly by trophy-hunting and tourism</a>, and some local people succeed as hunting and tourism professionals. But these benefits aren’t <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/tri/2011/00000015/f0020001/art00006">evenly distributed</a>, and can cause <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dech.12139/abstract">distrust</a> over new inequalities linked with conservancy management and private sector investments.</p>
<p>All these factors contribute to the intractable nature of the human-lion conflict. This problem is not about to disappear. At the same time, local people with different histories have different ideas about how to live with lions. Learning more about positive stories of how people lived with predators in the past may yet help people and lions to live alongside each other into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64322/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is dedicated to all those working to find ways of navigating the people-lion interface in north-west Namibia.
Sian Sullivan receives funding from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust. Research in Namibia has been conducted with a work permit from Namibia’s Ministry of Home Affairs and a research permit from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to enter the Skeleton Coast National Park.
The following people and organisations are gratefully acknowledged for their support of aspects of the field research informing this article: Welhemina Suro Ganuses, Filemon |Nuab, Franz ||Hoëb, Noag and Michael Ganaseb, Christophine Daumû Tauros, Simson !Uri-||Khob and Jeff Muntifering of Save the Rhino Trust, Emsie Verwey of Hoanib Research, Louis Nortje of Wilderness Safaris, Philip ‘Flip’ Stander of the Desert Lion Conservation Project, Gobabeb Research and Training Centre, and the National Museum of Namibia. Mike Hannis offered editorial assistance and suggestions on an early draft. Any errors of interpretation of course remain my own.</span></em></p>
Ongoing drought means increased encounters between people and lions in north-west Namibia.
Sian Sullivan, Professor of Environment and Culture, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/60359
2016-08-02T13:04:45Z
2016-08-02T13:04:45Z
How emotion coaching brings out the best in children
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131819/original/image-20160725-31195-15y6myz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anger management.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a universal question: how do we teach a child to behave? Well-known and widely used strategies include the use of positive reward stickers or gold stars, or negative time-outs or detentions. These are techniques based on the idea that behaviour can be controlled and modified with reinforcement systems of rewards and sanctions, and can be useful ways to motivate children or moderate their behaviour. </p>
<p>But if these external mechanisms to condition behaviour really worked, we would not need prisons and there wouldn’t be a <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Prisonthefacts.pdf">50% re-offending rate</a>. Nor do they resolve mental health issues, which are often the source of behavioural problems. Children also “habituate” to reward systems, which means they <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/6833871/School-reward-culture-is-harming-education.html">lose their effectiveness</a> in motivating children to behave. </p>
<p>Similarly, fear of punishment can lead to children relying on innate survival mechanisms such as disassociation (not caring) or becoming reactive (aggressive) in an attempt to compensate. Rewards and sanctions don’t work for children with additional needs because they depend upon a capacity to mentally envisage and understand the consequences of behaviour. They require an ability to delay gratification and a capacity to regulate emotional needs. Rewards and sanctions rely on a calm, fully functional and rational mind to operate successfully. </p>
<p>A more effective way of managing behaviour is a technique called “emotion coaching”. This system reflects <a href="http://learning.gov.wales/docs/learningwales/publications/121129emotionalandsocialcompetenceen.pdf">the evidence</a> that the most successful programmes for improving behaviour are those that focus on the emotional and social causes of difficult behaviour and proactively teach social and emotional skills.</p>
<p>Emotion coaching emphasises emotional regulation rather than behaviour modification. It views all behaviour as a form of communication, making an important distinction between children’s behaviour and the feelings that underlie their actions. It is about helping children to understand their varying emotions as they experience them, why they occur, and how to handle them. </p>
<p>The system is comprised of two key elements – empathy and guidance. The empathy part involves recognising and labelling a child’s emotions, regardless of the behaviour, in order to promote emotional self-awareness. The circumstances might also require setting limits on appropriate behaviour and even consequences, but key to this process is the guidance, helping a child to recognise and label certain emotions and feelings, such as “angry” or “sad”. </p>
<p>This comes from engagement with the child in problem solving to support their ability to self-regulate and adopt alternative behaviours, and prevent future transgressions. But only when their brains are in a receptive state for such problem solving. </p>
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<span class="caption">No more naughty step.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>When managing behaviour, adults usually rely on reason to distract or dissuade a child. But when a child is in an emotional state, particularly an intense one, they are unable to engage with the more rational <a href="http://activebabiessmartkids.com.au/articles/young-children-emotional-explosions/">parts of their brain</a>. Their minds and bodies are “locked” in a survival state of flight or flight such as the classic “toddler tantrum”, even when the response has been triggered by something such as thwarted desire.</p>
<p>Children in an emotional state need to be returned to a relaxed, calm state before we can reason with them. If we propose solutions before we empathise, it’s like trying to build a house before a firm foundation has been laid. Empathy helps the child to calm down so they are more open and able to reason, helping to create neural connections in the rational brain to become an <a href="http://www.danielgoleman.info/topics/emotional-intelligence/">efficient manager of emotion</a>. </p>
<p>You may think that empathising with children will lead to an endorsement of bad behaviour. But emotion coaching also involves establishing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and setting limits. You can condone the feeling underlying the behaviour, but not the behaviour itself. </p>
<h2>Talking it over</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.futureacademy.org.uk/files/menu_items/other/13vol159.pdf">The clear evidence</a> from a pilot study we carried out is that emotion coaching in schools can reduce exclusions, <a href="http://cypsomersethealth.org/resources/Somerset_Emotion_Coaching_Project_Findings.pdf">improve academic attainment</a> and enhance mental health. One ten-year-old boy diagnosed with behavioural difficulties would often shout, scream and hit. Instead of ignoring him or removing him from the class, the teacher communicated with the boy about how he was feeling. “It looks like you are really angry. I think you’re fed up with having to wait your turn. I understand that.” </p>
<p>This helped to calm him more quickly. The teacher could then talk to him about the school rules and suggest strategies to manage his feelings and behaviour. After experiencing this kind of coaching, the boy began to self-regulate both his emotions and behaviour?. He would approach the teacher and say, “I’m angry because Tom called me thick.” He developed greater empathy about the impact of his behaviour and would apologise to his peers. He was no longer at risk of exclusion.</p>
<p>Emotion coaching can be used for all ages - from babies to teenagers. <a href="http://spr.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/12/10/0265407514562560.full">Research</a> shows parents who emotion coach have children who achieve more in school, have more friends, experience fewer behavioural problems and are more resilient. It is a way of telling a child that they are supported, cared about, understood and respected. It also communicates that not all behaviours are acceptable, that they cannot always get what they want and that they need to moderate how to express feelings and desires. </p>
<p>In this way, a child learns to empathise, read the emotions and social cues of others and control impulses. They are able to self-calm and self-regulate, delay gratification, motivate themselves and better cope with life’s ups and downs – essential skills for when they are grown ups, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60359/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Janet Rose is Principal of Norland College and former Reader in Education at Bath Spa University. She is also a founding member of Emotion Coaching UK. She has led several research projects funded by Stoke and B&NES Virtual Schools and Somerset Public Health. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus has contributed quantitative analysis for research projects led by Dr Janet Rose and the Department for Education and funded by Stoke and B&NES Virtual Schools and Somerset Public Health. </span></em></p>
A different approach to children’s behaviour could improve relationships and resilience.
Janet Rose, Doctoral Supervisor, Bath Spa University
Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus, Lecturer in Psychology, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.