Categorical Denial Research Articles

Immunology of the “sensible world” and of the “intelligible world”: the evolutionary decline and the “constructed reality”

The term “immunity” was introduced in medicine due to Ilya Mechnikov. However, the concept of infection resistance existed in European culture long before Mechnikov in the form of s.c. “vital force”. According to holistic methodology, the history of immunology can be divided into three unequal periods: 1) vitalistic – from antiquity to the discoveries of Mechnikov and Ehrlich; 2) “Mechnikov time” (1890s – 1916); and 3) a post-Mechnikov period (1916 – present). At the beginning of 18th century, the existence of “vital force” ideas created the possibility to adapt variolation in Europe, which was based on medieval magical-mystical concepts. Without generalizing of variolation experience, Edward Jenner would hardly have been able to discover vaccination. Scientific ideas of Mechnikov were not a categorical denial of the previous period of immunology. For almost 20 years, he himself had to fend off teleological and vitalistic accusations from the side of those biologists who denied the possibility of phagocytes to act expediently. An analogy helped Mechnikov to confirm his intuition was the phenomenon of intracellular digestion of amoebas or ciliates. Besides, he experimentally proved that phagocytosis was the product of evolution and not a “god gift”. However, in his works, Mechnikov also addressed to the category of “healing forces of the body.” Modern immunology now faces a number of theoretical contradictions and methodological difficulties related to reductionists paradigm: as far as the “split” between the world of “immune objects” (immune cells receptors, antibodies, cytokines, etc.) and “subjectness” of its basic categories “self-nonself”, “immune aggression, “immune defence”, etc., Ilya Mechnikov tried to overcome this contradiction substantiating the phenomenon of phagocytosis as functional system acting in accordance with defense purpose. The construction of “holistic” subject-object models of immunity (such as the symbiosis model of plant immunity) could be a way of overcoming the aforementioned contradictions.

Autonomy as a form of state sovereignty of the Ukrainian Cossack State (late XVII-XVIII centuries)

The study of Ukrainian statehood’s history is important for understanding the continuity of state formation in Ukraine and supporting the nation-state revival. It is crucial to examine Cossack statehood in the mid-17th century, specifically its foreign policy and international situation. The purpose of this article is to study the main directions of activity of the hetman administration of the Ukrainian Cossack state in the XVII-XVIII centuries, focusing on protecting the sovereignty of the Ukrainian government in domestic and foreign policy. The article’s methodological basis is rooted in general scientific principles and methods of cognition. These principles aim to provide an objective and comprehensive understanding of facts, events, and phenomena. The research follows the principles of historicism and objectivism, which prioritize factual material and avoid bias. General and specific historical methods of scientific research were employed in investigating the topic. These methods included: analysis and synthesis when examining sources and literature, periodization for organizing the research, problem-historical approach for presenting historical material, and comparative-historical analysis for comparing similar indicators and facts within the same historical context. Result: The elite’s perception of itself as a subject of socio-political life led to the creation of contractual orientations and the demand for mutual obligations to be recognized. This was evident in the requirements of the monarch’s oath to fulfill the contract. The Ukrainian political elite justified their intentions and actions towards protectorates based on the principle of contract, showing their willingness to fulfill contractual obligations on an equal footing. Conclusions: The legal subjectivity of the Ukrainian political elite has been reduced to post-sovereign autonomism due to increasing foreign policy imperial pressure. The typological characteristics of this are the following: 1) recognition of the supreme power of the protector-monarch; 2) refusal to regulate social relations by the laws of the protector’s country; 3) categorical denial of the right of the political elite of the monarch-protector’s country to perform any managerial functions within the political system of the Hetmanship.

Housing and temporary legality: The evictability and settlement of refugees in Swedish municipalities

This article explores four Swedish municipalities which have reacted differently to legislation aiming to regulate a ‘fair and equal’ distribution of refugees: from barefaced rejection to the advocacy of refugee settlement as an investment in future citizens. Interviews with people who work with settlement show that housing is made central in different municipal strategies and creates an unequal landscape of evictability for refugees depending on where they are placed. Temporary and conditional residence permits for refugees, which have been made standard in this time of temporary legality, are simultaneously dependent on settlement strategies in municipalities: housing and access to jobs determine whether you can stay or stay with your family. This deportability of refugees is what is at stake. Yet access to housing is continuously treated as a mundane ‘service’: both in the categorical denial of housing and in the evaluation of what can qualify refugees to deserve settlement.

Ложный путь сверхчеловечества и два образа зла у Владимира Соловьева

The article examines Vladimir Soloviev’s development of the true and false superhumanity concept. True su-perhumanity is based on the overcoming of natural egoism and leads to a state of omnipotence and overcom-ing death. On the contrary, at the basis of the false path of superhumanity lies the potentiation of the egoistic attitude, which, through a series of metamorphoses, leads the individual to the desire to destroy the world and himself. The evolution of the false superman illustrates V. Soloviev’s idea of two types of evil – natural, intrinsic and moral-volitional – the decisive distinction between which runs along the lines of subjectivity and non-subjectivity, freedom and necessity. Natural evil, being necessary and subjectless, is subject to overcoming and transformation, while moral evil, having a free character and generated by the personal will of man, cannot be transformed, but is subject to rejection and destruction. Solovyov’s categorical denial of moral evil traced in the paper on the example of his interpretation of the poetic images of Lermontov and Pushkin, as well as the biog-raphies of these poets.

Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism in the Ornamental Art of the Crimean Tatars

The author of the article reveals the problem of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images in Islamic art, particularly in the Turkic ornamentation of the Crimea. Superficial, unscientific interpretations of motifs and ornamental compositions often lead to the search for and appropriation of anthropomorphism without appropriate research, loose interpretations of motifs, and the creation of a new mythology. Despite conservative views regarding the categorical denial of the permissiveness of the image of a person, there are many surviving works of fine and decorative art that confirm an opposite tradition. Currently, there are practically no studies of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism in the Turkic ornamentation of the Crimea, their typological and artistic features, and their symbolic context. Based on the material of decorative and applied art of the Crimean Tatars from the fourteenth century to the present, examples of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic ornamental images are provided in the article. They are stylized objects – fully, partially, or in the form of a silhouette – reflecting the surrounding real world of living beings. Complete naturalistic images (birds, fish, animals, insects) are found on objects until the first half of fifteenth century, and then starting again from the second half of eighteenth century. From the sixteenth to the first half of eighteenth centuries, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs were depicted in a stylized form. The author of the study reveals the symbolism of the most common motifs, along with the typological and artistic features of the images. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the color, silhouette, and figurativeness of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images in the Crimean Tatar decorative and applied art depend primarily on the material, technique, and functional purpose of the created object. In addition to images on objects, anthropomorphism is present as the silhouette of objects.

Men with Sexual Convictions and Denial.

We review the evidence base for men who categorically deny responsibility for their sexual crimes. Specifically, we consider the characteristics of these individuals and the purpose or function of the denial, whether denial leads to an increased risk of reoffending and the evidence for different treatment options available for deniers. Whilst there is some evidence that deniers differ from admitters, it appears that categorical denial is a strategy used to reduce negative consequences such as a sense of shame or the fear of losing family support. The common assumption that deniers are more likely to commit further sexual crimes is not supported by the evidence to date. There remains a lack of evidence as to the best treatment approach to use. We conclude that more research is necessary. We suggest that a lack of consideration of the function of denial or the adaptive benefits of denial could explain inconsistent findings in relation to the characteristics of deniers and why denial does not appear related to recidivism. Whilst the available evidence does not support most approaches aimed at overcoming denial, we suggest that some of the most promising approaches seem to be non-disclosure-based focusing on reducing stigma; however, it is conceded that the evidence for such approaches is still emerging.

Categorical Denial: Evaluating Post-1492 Indigenous Erasure in the Paper Trail of American Archaeology

To understand the implications of archaeological site recording practices and associated inventories for studying Indigenous persistence after the arrival of Europeans, we examined the documentary record associated with nearly 900 archaeological sites in Marin County, California. Beginning with the first regional surveys conducted during the early 1900s and continuing into the present, the paper trail created by archaeologists reveals an enduring emphasis on precontact materials to the exclusion of more recent patterns of Indigenous occupation and land use. In assessing sites occupied by Indigenous people from the late sixteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, we discuss how the use of multiple lines of evidence—including temporally diagnostic artifacts, chronometric dating techniques, and historical documentation—may help illuminate subtle but widespread patterns of Native presence that have been obscured by essentialist assumptions about Indigenous culture change. Our findings further reveal the shortcomings of traditional site recording systems, in which archaeologists typically categorize sites within the prehistoric-protohistoric-historic triad on the basis of commonsense decisions that conflate chronology with identity. Instead, we argue for recording practices that focus specifically on the calendric ages of occupation for any given site.

Young adult sexual offenders with emerging personality disorders: developmental and offence-related characteristics and treatment engagement

ABSTRACTIn the context of the UK Government’s Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Strategy, large numbers of high-risk young adult sexual offenders with emerging personality disorders are being screened for inclusion onto specialist intervention pathways (the OPD Pathway). However, little is currently known about the clinical and offence-related needs of this population or their impact on treatment engagement. The current study investigated the developmental, personality and offence-related characteristics of 87 incarcerated young adult sexual offenders, comparing those screened in to the pathway and those not screened in. Fifty per cent of the sample were potentially eligible for the OPD pathway. OPD eligible cases were found to have significantly higher rates of parental difficulties, developmental trauma, and childhood behavioural difficulties and to present with significantly higher rates of previous violent and sexual offences, previous allegations of sexual offences, and to have used physical coercion in their offences. The OPD sample was also significantly less likely to have pre-pubescent victims and more likely to refuse treatment, with over 70% failing to engage with the Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP). SOTP non-engagement among OPD cases was most strongly predicted by categorical offence denial. Comparisons are made with the broader adolescent sexual offender literature.

Psychoemotional reactions at the stage of clinically isolated multiple sclerosis syndrome

A prospective study of functional disability and its relationship to the emotional response of a patient to the diagnosis of 30 patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was performed. The aim of the study was to evaluate the typical emotional reactions in patients with CIS MS and to determine their impact on patients' functional failure in the future. The study was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, before the infusion of methylprednisolone, an emotional response and a degree of functional failure were assessed. Evaluation of the reliability of emotional emotional reaction was performed after 7 days. Re-evaluation of psycho-emotional response and functional disability was performed during recurent MS attack. A total of 30 patients were included in the study, with an average age of 32.07 ± 8.54 years, including 27 women and 3 men. The most frequent emotional reactions were found to be anxiety (60%), shock reaction (16.56%) of patients, categorical denial of diagnosis (13.33%). Relief was less frequent — 6.67% and sorrow in 3.33% of patients. The reliability of the emotional response was re-evaluated after 7 days (Cronbach's α 0.993). The time interval from the moment of CIS MS to the second attack and diagnosis of MS was 6.33 ± 3.467 months. The EDSS score at the time of the second attack was 2.92 ± 0.081 points. A one-way ANOVA procedure was also used for the multivariable analysis to establish the statistical difference of the EDSS score for different levels of the Reaction score. A statistically significant correlation was established between the response values and the Expanded Disability Status Test (EDSS) total score at P <0.01, as well as the EDSS score at the second clinical attack. It was found that the emotional background of the patient influences the prognosis and functional failure in the dynamics.

Discourse analysis of an interview about the Bulgarian Pomak wedding ceremony

The material of the article is a transcribed interview recording about a wedding ceremony of the middle of the 20th c. with an informant born in 1932, identifying herself as Pomak (Bulgarians-Muslims) and is a native speaker of the Smoljan subdialect of the Bulgarian Rhodope dialect. The relevance of the work is due to the increasing interest of modern humanities to religious minorities and the necessity of developing the most effective methods of field linguistics (based on the dialect material that is quickly disappearing due to social reasons) as well as the novelty of the original material. The article depicts cases of disclosure of information when there are no questions by using the question “what is called y+z?” or the question “do you have a lexeme x?,” by using a clarifying question, or by the question of repeated inquiry; the most frequent one turned out to be “what is called y+z?.” The article also considers the cases of categorical denial of the information proposed in the question, the lack of memories, the cases of a detailed answer or a one-word answer. The most effective questions are “do you have y+z?” and the question of repeated inquiry, resulting in the highest number of positive responses. Due to the dialectic nature of the narrative, the number of questions “do you have a lexeme x?” that aim at concretizing the meaning of a lexeme given by the interviewer was minimal, as the informant mentioned the marked lexis himself without any question being asked.

Are Categorical Deniers Different? Understanding Demographic, Personality, and Psychological Differences between Denying and Admitting Individuals with Sexual Convictions

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to establish whether there were demographic, personality, or psychological differences between a sample of 40 incarcerated sex offenders in categorical denial and 37 sex offenders admitting responsibility in an Australian minimum-security unit. Categorical deniers had lower IQs, were older, and were more likely to be child molesters. Criminogenically, there were no differences between categorical deniers and those who admitted their offences in relation to Static-99 risk scores. Psychologically, offenders denying their offences were significantly more shame-prone, and likely to use externalization as a method of impression-management. They were also more compulsive than those admitting their offences, but less antisocial and sadistic, when compared on personality indices. The study is limited by the small sample size however implications for further research and the treatment of categorical deniers are discussed.

Defective Construction CGL Coverage: The Subcontractor Exception

In the construction industry, commercial general liability (CGL) insurance is the standard policy for managing property damage risks. Historically, CGL policies do not cover an insured’s own defective construction because the insured controls its own work and can reasonably foresee the damage that may result from defective work. But what about the defective work of an insured’s subcontractor? Practical considerations limit an insured's effective control of every aspect of a subcontractor’s work, and this limitation complicates the insured’s ability to foresee future risks. In 1986, the increasing involvement of subcontractors led general contractors to insist upon protection from subcontractor work risks in CGL policies. The insurance industry agreed upon and created the subcontractor exception. Insurers, however, have claimed that CGL policies exclude coverage for any defective work, including the work of a subcontractor. This Note discusses court decisions rejecting the categorical denial of coverage for any defective work and how courts have found coverage exists where a subcontractor’s defective work is beyond the insured’s effective control and not foreseeable. Over the past 15 years, 23 state supreme courts have ruled that CGL policies cover the defective workmanship of an insured’s subcontractor. To illustrate the trend toward coverage, the Note summarizes a recent Ohio appellate court decision as a case study of the issue.

Categorical denial in convicted sex offenders: The concept, its meaning, and its implication for risk and treatment

Abstract Although denial takes many forms, in this review we have restricted our concerns to those sex offenders who claim to not have committed a sexual offense. We refer to these offenders as “categorical deniers”. The literature on the incidence of categorical denial, the characteristics of these offenders, and the many purposes denial seems to serve are all given consideration. We then examine the relationship of categorical denial to future risk taking into consideration the relationship of future risk to the meaning denial has for these men. Next we consider three different approaches treatment providers have taken to categorical deniers. These involve: 1) a decision to exclude them from treatment; 2) attempts to overcome denial (either by involving them in a pre-treatment program, or embedding them within a regular program); and 3) the provision of a program exclusively for deniers. Evidence for all of these approaches is limited and not yet impressive enough to allow for conclusions as to their value. Finally, we suggest that future studies include larger numbers of deniers and differentiate offender types.

The Questioning Jew and the Jewish Question

The Questioning Jew and the Jewish Question James A. Diamond The recent Pew Research Center's independent comprehensive study of American Jewry is a shocking wake‐up call. It has stimulated much needed debate and breast beating within the Jewish community in response to the bleak portrait its findings paint for the future survival of Jews and Judaism. Here I will single out only one statistic that is characteristic of the study as a whole which speaks for itself in regards to the pessimistic demographic prospects it indicates—the rate of intermarriage among American Jews is 58 percent, with the percentage escalating to an astounding 71 percent among non‐Orthodox Jews. I am not a social scientist nor a demographer but a scholar of Jewish thought and history. It is out of that expertise, as well as a lifelong existential commitment to Judaism that I offer here a philosophically optimistic response to the study by identifying something elusive about Jews that polls, surveys, and sociological studies can never hope to reveal. What does it mean to be Jewish and what is it that sustains my Jewishness and my deeply rooted loyalty to, and membership in, the Jewish community? These appear to be curious questions to those outside the community who may easily identify themselves ethnically, nationally, culturally, or even religiously, most often with definitive results. However, the questions of what constitutes identity in the case of Jews and what amounts to Jewishness are acutely perplexing. The “Brother Daniel” case, adjudicated in the earlier years of the nascent State of Israel, highlights this perplexity. It involved the question of whether the right granted every Jew to claim Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return extends to a “naturally born” Jew who converted to Christianity. A strict application of orthodox religious law would have substantiated the convert's Jewishness, since it posits the rule once a Jew always a Jew. However, the application of secular modern conceptions of nationality and peoplehood by the Supreme Court of Israel found conversion a betrayal of cultural and national heritage and therefore a categorical denial of Jewishness. In other words, Israeli civil law conflicts with Jewish law on the fundamental issue of Jewish identity. Attempts at reducing Jewishness to a single marker, or cluster of characteristics that all, or even most, Jews would acknowledge sharing and that would provide the critical ingredients for constructing an organic cohesive community of any kind, all break down at some point. When the protagonist in a James Salter novel finds himself among a group of Jews, he reflects on what particularly accounts for membership in this group—“they were a people, they somehow recognized and understood each other, even as strangers. They carried it in their blood, a thing you could not know.” Can we at least approximate this “thing” which cannot be known? In an age when the vast majority of those considering themselves Jewish do not subscribe to the tenets, rituals, or laws of Judaism, religion alone fails to account for the confident and deeply felt assertion, “I am Jewish”, that cuts across the variegated spectrum of those claiming membership in this group. Indeed, Martin Buber, one of the most eminent of modern Jewish philosophers, considered religious commandments and ritual inimical to any authentic relationship with the divine. Whether adjudged as a remnant fossil by the likes of historians such as Arnold Toynbee, or claimed to be superseded by Christian theologians, or philosophically relegated to a curious anachronism by no less a thinker than Hegel (Immanuel Kant another great eighteenth century philosopher called for Judaism's euthanization), or nearly physically annihilated by racial anti‐semitism in the twentieth century, something inherent in Jews and Judaism continues to defy the “logic” of history, philosophy, genetics, and theology in its resolute perpetuation and endurance. Even some vaguely held theological abstraction that reduces Judaism to monotheism does not suffice when both Christianity and Islam are themselves popularly acknowledged as monotheistic religions. Furthermore, many of the most outspoken contemporary atheists are, and would consider themselves, Jewish. The late Christopher Hitchens, one of the most articulate voices for a principled godlessness, suggested, somewhat facetiously yet bearing a certain truth, that Jews are genetically...

Factum of the Intervenor: Charter Committee on Poverty Issues in J.G. v. Minister of Health and Community Services (N.B.) et al. (Supreme Court of Canada)

The Charter Committee on Poverty Issues (CCPI) submits that both child protection proceedings and the denial of legal aid disproportionately affect people in poverty, and marginalized women in particular. Section 7 must be read to impose an obligation on the State to ensure that disadvantaged members of society, who cannot afford counsel, receive equal access to a fair hearing in proceedings affecting their liberty and security interests. In the present case, it was fundamentally unfair to force the Appellant to defend herself in a child protection hearing. Without effective legal representation by counsel, the Appellant was denied the fair and equal treatment upon which the legitimacy of the judicial system and child protection proceedings depend. The denial of legal aid based on budgetary or administrative considerations alone cannot be justified under section 1 of the Charter. Furthermore, the categorical denial of legal aid to a poor parent in child protection cases does not minimally impair a parent's Charter right to liberty and security of the person.

Primerjava zagovora živali v Plutarhovi razpravi O uživanju mesa in v Shelleyjevem Zagovoru naravne prehrane

Plutarhovi teksti o živalih iz njegovega zgodnjega obdobja (Ali so pametnejše kopenske ali morske živali, Živali imajo razum, O uživanju mesa) predstavljajo prvo in najodločnejšo obrambo kapacitet in moralnega statusa živali, usmerjeno proti stoiški poziciji, da so vsa in zgolj človeška bitja člani sfere pravičnosti in da živali obstajajo zgolj za zadovoljevanje človeških želja. Plutarh kritizira stoiški vidik instrumentalne vrednosti živali in trdi, da imamo ljudje do živali dolžnosti pravičnosti. V razpravi O uživanju mesa opredeli uporabo živali za prehrano kot očitno nepravičnost, na osnovi argumenta o izkustvenih zmožnostih živali. Razprava je navdihnila angleškega romantičnega pesnika Percyja Shelleyja, da je napisal esej Zagovor naravne prehrane (1813). Shelley Plutarhov etični argument nadomesti s t. i. »lifestyle« argumentom, ki podpira končno izpeljavo liberalnega individuuma, ki se vzpostavlja v razmerju do življenjskega sloga kot samozadostne politike.

Déni complet des faits : une perspective interpersonnelle

This article focuses on complete denial in a population of offenders in mandatory treatment. We present a literature review about factors associated to categorical denial, providing data about its frequency, its persistence and/or desistance. Drawing on Rogers and Dickey's model we propose to conceptualize deny as an interpersonal process.

Commentary: An evolving perception of the risk of rhBMP-2 use for anterior spinal interbody fusions

COMMENTARY ON: Carragee EJ, Mitsunaga KA, Hurwitz EL, Scuderi GJ. Retrograde ejaculation after anterior lumbar interbody fusion using rhBMP-2: a cohort controlled study. Spine J 2011;11:511–6 ( in this issue ).

"I wou'd be a Man-Woman ": Roxana 's Amazonian Threat to the Ideology of Marriage

“I wou’d be a Man-Woman”:Roxana’s Amazonian Threat to the Ideology of Marriage Shawn Lisa Maurer Emerging in recent decades from under the shadow of its more popular siblings, Daniel Defoe's final novel, Roxana (1724), has enjoyed a noticeable rise in critical fortune, despite the tragic misfortune of its eponymous heroine. Finding in the story of a woman's meteoric ascent from destitution to prosperity both the psychological depth and narrative complexity missing from Defoe's earlier masterpieces, Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders(1722), scholars have brought to bear on the novel a wide range of theoretical paradigms and historical contexts, deeply enriching our sense of Defoe's artistry by illuminating his multifaceted understanding of, and engagement with, the economic, social, political, and religious concerns of the early eighteenth century. Yet, in many studies of the novel, a heightened appreciation of the novel's complexity has often rendered an accompanying sense of uneasiness or confusion about its meaning, particularly with regard to the unhappy, and extremely abrupt, ending—a conclusion readers have interpreted in diverse and often mutually exclusive ways. Yet, whether viewing the novel's denouement as, among other possibilities, incomplete, retributive, or simply a return to an earlier misogynist tradition,1 critics agree that Roxana's downfall has everything to do with her engagement in relations of commerce, broadly defined as accumulation, investment, and the social relations that surround these economic transactions.2 To unravel those relations in their myriad of social and economic intricacies is to uncover at the novel's core Defoe's profound ambivalence towards his heroine, an ambivalence which derives, at least in part, from the tensions between, on the one hand, his sense of the need for women's subordinate and devalued economic role in the emerging middle-class enterprise and, on the other hand, his reluctant, perhaps even repressed awareness of the severe constraints and injustices of that role. It is not business relations per se that destroy Roxana—Defoe's earlier, and [End Page 363] successful female protagonist, Moll Flanders, engages in a wide range of financial activity, both criminal and legitimate, and Defoe's Complete English Tradesman, published two years after his final novel, expressly advocates the involvement of women in their husbands' businesses.3 What distinguishes Roxana from these other women is not, then, economic activity as such, but the ability to detach such activity from a domestic or marital context. Moll, by contrast, can combine economic prosperity with moral tranquility because her material stability functions in the context of the family unit comprised of husband and son.4 Roxana, however, purchases and sustains her affluence at the cost of a categorical denial of wife- and motherhood. Unlike Michael Boardman, who sees Roxana's sin as "clearly a feminine transgression" stemming exclusively from sexual passion (52), I contend that her greatest (yet also related) transgression is her desire for an economic existence independent of men, whether they be fools, such as her brewer husband, or exemplars like the Dutch merchant. By attacking marriage as a form of servitude and failing to marry in order to make an "honest woman" of herself, Roxana both challenges and ominously threatens a developing order based on women's supposedly inherent difference from men, a difference embodied "naturally" in both their sexual vulnerability and financial dependence. 5 By shunning the male control of her money mandated within marriage, Roxana calls into question not only the broad contours of patriarchal control over women embodied in what Carole Pateman has termed the "sexual contract,"6 but also the more specific model of middle-class marriage, in which men's position as exclusive breadwinner increasingly limited women's productive economic role. Roxana, like its feisty and eponymous protagonist, is vexed by the failure of a system, namely marriage, which is ostensibly designed to safeguard, rather than destroy, the interests of women and children. Yet, the investment of both Defoe and the emerging novel genre in a gender division of labor that militated women's placement into a domestic sphere increasingly separated from the workplace means that such insolvency of the system itself cannot be acknowledged. Instead, the failure must be extirpated through...

Sami Frashërior Šemseddin Sami?

As one of the most productive intellectuals of the late Ottoman Empire, Šemseddin Sami Frashëri (1850-1904) has been praised in both Turkish and Albanian historiographies in the twentieth century for his contributions either to Turkish or Albanian nation-building respectively. A self-taught linguist, novelist, journalist, encyclopaedist and lexicographer, it is revealing to discover that two different versions of his name have prevailed in the historiographies of the two countries: “Šemseddin Sami” in Turkey and “Sami Frashëri” in Albania. Although two other members of the Frashëri family (Abdyl and Naim) are accepted as two of the founders of Albanian nationalism by both sides, historians on each side have preferred to emphasize Sami's contributions to their own nation-building process and underestimate (or in the Turkish case even deny) his importance in the heritage of the other country. This article explores two different readings of Šemseddin Sami Frashëri as a historical figure – both of which mythologize him – through an examination of popular and academic historiographies in both countries. It aims at giving a short history of the processes by which Sami came to be mythologized as a 'national intellectual' in the historiography of socialist Albania (1945-1990) and modern Turkish historiography (from 1923 to the present). In particular, the discussion in the Turkish press of the 1940s and in subsequent academic studies refuting the claims of his Albanian nationalism is examined in order to show their categorical denial of a possibility that he could have been critical to the Turks and have advocated Albanian nationalism.