Hastings Center Report, Volume 52, Issue S1, Page S18-S21, March‐April 2022.

Fabi and Goldberg raised important considerations regarding both research and funding priorities in the field of bioethics and, in particular, the field’s misalignment with social justice. W...

Mankind have lamented for their deaths since their existence, wept for them and written poems and proses to utter their sorrows. Thus, history of lamenting goes back as far as the pain and tragedies occurring in their lives. Although it is challenging to determine the date of first elegy poem, it can be said that elegiac is one of the oldest genres among the poems. Sadness and joy are the two important emotions in human nature. Humans mostly experience two feelings (...) separately; yet sometimes together at the same time. It is possible to see reflections of this in some literary works. During the Umayyad period, the transformation of the caliphate into a structure inherited from father to son brought about some changes and transformations in Arabic literature and led to the birth of new literary genres. One of these types, elegy, is to express condolence and celebration at the same time, that is, both sadness and joy, in literary works. In Arabic literature, this type of elegy is considered a type of iftinā, the art of expressing two opposing themes at the same time. Although the art of iftinān had existed at a conceptual level before, it was first brought into the literature terminologically by Ibn Abi al-Isba'. These impressive examples, which constitute the type of elegy in question and are generally expressed by people with quick wit, are worth examining in many respects, thanks to their high literary quality. Literary material on the subject, which has an extraordinary theme due to sadness and joy being expressed together, is scattered in the sources. As far as we can determine from the examples that have survived so far, the addressees of this art are generally the administrative groups. When the examples in the sources are examined, it is seen that condolence and celebration are combined into a single expression on various occasions. These situations, which require mastery and quick wit in terms of language and literature, offer poets and writers the opportunity to display their skills and talents. This phenomenon, which is mostly directed to caliphs, princes, emirs and other statesmen, takes place in palace circles. There is different information in the sources about who was the first person to apply this art, emerging during the Umayyad period, in poetry and prose. In this study, samples of the relevant species found scattered in the sources will be analyzed. The main goal of the article is to analyze from various perspectives these examples in poetry and prose form, where condolences and congratulations, which are a special theme in classical Arabic literature, are expressed together. The importance of this genre, which emerged during the Umayyad period and transformed into a literary structure with its own characteristics in terms of form and content, will be emphasized through examples and its place in Arabic literature will be tried to be revealed. The absence of a separate study on the subject reveals the originality of the article and is thought to contribute to the field in terms of understanding and evaluating the development of the literary genre in question. The study will be conducted based on document analysis, which is one of the qualitative research methods. (shrink)

In her poetry collection The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak (2021), Grace Lau, a Hong Kong-born Chinese Canadian poet, showcases different experiences of exclusion and inclusion, some connected to the long history of prejudice and discrimination. The aim of this article is to discuss depictions of three types of exclusion experienced by Lau – that of a postcolonial subject, a queer subject, and, finally, a queer subject of colour – and the impact those experiences have on her (...) identity. The analysis of three of Lau’s poems – "Birth/Right”, “Another God”, and “Perfect Groupie” – provides an insight into her reflections on different instances of exclusion she experienced, whether motivated by her ethnicity and nationality, her sexual orientation, or the combination of both, and the impact they had on her identity as a queer postcolonial subject. (shrink)

This book demonstrates the variety of ways in which the materiality of islands is intertwined in a symbiotic relationship with the capacity of the imagination to make islands the site and embodiment of a host of recurrent human desires, anxieties, and hopes.

In my paper I will focus on Melanchthon’s concept of poetry as a legitimate means of philosophizing. I will show that he regards poetry as philosophy “arranged in verses and narratives” and that this view is grounded on his notion of perennial philosophy. I will explain this notion and emphasize Melanchthon’s specific understanding of it. In order to do so I will first consider Melanchthon’s conception of philosophy which he equates with the liberal arts and delineate the significance (...) of ancient literature for the transmission of logical, ethical and natural-philosophical knowledge. Thereby I will focus on his definition of poetry and its position amidst the liberal arts. Subsequently, I will isolate citations and phrases of ancient literature which are illustratively used to substantiate moral-philosophical or naturalphilosophical arguments in Melanchthon’s theoretical writings. I will show thereafter that the sentences of the poets function as authoritative arguments because Melanchthon’s view of poetry is underpinned by his own interpretation of the theory of perennial philosophy which, however, does not coincide with the Ficinian view on the philosophia perennis. In my conclusions I will summarize Melanchthon’s view on ancient poetry and its relevance for the acquisition of philosophical knowledge. (shrink)

In 2009 the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil established a conflict resolution mechanism to help rural communities address their grievances against palm oil companies that are RSPO members. This article presents the broadest ever comprehensive assessment of the use and effectiveness of the RSPO conflict resolution mechanism, providing both overviews and in-depth analysis. Our central question is: to what extent does the RSPO conflict resolution mechanism offer an accessible, fair and effective tool for communities in Indonesia to resolve conflicts with (...) companies? Our aim is not only to provide a ‘reality check’ of this mechanism but also to contribute to the wider debate on how communities can seek access to justice when engaged in intractable conflicts with palm oil companies. For data collection, we took three steps. First, we used our own database of 150 conflicts between communities and companies in Indonesia. We identified 64 conflicts that involved RSPO member companies, of which 17 prompted communities to convey their grievances to the RSPO’s conflict resolution mechanism. Second, we used the database of the RSPO, which handled 85 complaints against companies in Indonesia in the period 2009–2020. Third, we conducted fieldwork, in total, about 6 months of fieldwork and extensive interviews on three conflicts involving RSPO companies to identify mechanisms leading to both failed and successful instances of conflict resolution. For our assessment, we used three criteria to assess the conflict resolution mechanism of the RSPO: accessibility, procedural justice, and the outcomes of the process. We conclude that—on all counts—the conflict resolution mechanism is biased in favor of companies. The result of these biases is that the actual capacity of the RSPO’s mechanism to provide a meaningful remedy for rural communities’ grievances remains very limited. This unequal access to justice sustains conflicts between companies and communities over land. (shrink)