Role Of Criticism Research Articles

Development of Gender Studies on Ethnocultural Grounds: Problems and Prospects

The fact is that gender relations in the Caucasian ethno-social space are not only specific, but also undergo contradictory changes in the context of the general trends of modern Russian sociocultural transformation, requiring close scientific, primarily ethnological attention. However, ethnology in the region still remains under the influence of conservative ideas from the 1990s “on a return to the roots of culture, on the re-Islamization of culture”. In this difficult context, the barriers to the development of gender science in the space of Caucasian ethnic cultures are analyzed with maximum consideration of the characteristics of these cultures. On a wide range of facts and phenomena, the genderological features of the Caucasian ethnic cultures are revealed in detail (especially on the examples of the gender existence of the Adyghe ethnic groups). They are not properly studied, as well as the inconsistency of the stereotypes existing in the Russian discursive arena regarding Caucasian gender culture with facts and realities, which distances the attention of the centers of the country’s humanities from understanding ethno-gender issues. Possible (potential) prospects and horizons for the development of ethnic gender studies in the Caucasian regions are outlined. Considerable attention is paid to the particularly significant role of literary criticism (and philological science in general) in overcoming barriers to the development of gender science in the space of ethnic cultures. At the same time, it is argued that there are growing tendencies towards the formation of literary criticism as the leading science of ethnology, which is objectively facilitated by both the general trends of cultural transformation processes in modern Russia and the current conservative intentions of ethnology in the Caucasian regions.

“Special Feature: The Achievements of John Dennis,” ed. Claude Willan. 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era, ed. Kevin L. Cope

“Special Feature: The Achievements of John Dennis,” ed. Claude Willan. <i>1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era, ed. Kevin L. Cope</i>

P. Morton Shand and the Promotion of Alvar Aalto

Abstract This article reconsiders the success of Alvar Aalto in interwar Britain through the perspective of P. Morton Shand. As a journalist fluent in French and German, Shand introduced European Modernism to British architects. From 1930, he focused his efforts on Aalto, leading to the seminal exhibition of the Finnish designer’s furniture in 1933. By viewing the exhibition through the lens of Shand, this article points to the role of critics as active participants in interwar design culture, leading the promotion of modern design and blurring the lines between journalism and commercialized propaganda. While historians are productively describing the roles of consumers, critics and other nondesigners in design history, Shand has remained unappreciated, despite operating at the heart of many interwar exchanges. With the use of an uncataloged collection of his correspondence, this article reveals his individual impact in popularizing the furniture of Aalto.

Irony in fashion memes

The practice of fashion memes is a rather fresh exercise on the fashion scene, and it has been enjoyed by both the audiences and the brands. Fashion media have turned their attention to the phenomenon as well, addressing its scope, authorship and function from various angles. Scholarly research of the field is very scarce, though. The article seeks to contribute to the emerging field of fashion meme research by analysing a Lithuanian author of original fashion memes, a self-proclaimed fashion critic the Pink Poodle – an imaginary social media personality active on Facebook and Instagram platforms. The subjects of Pink Poodle memes are objects of media photographs from local and global public events (such as the Presidential Inauguration or an international cinema festival opening, Grammy Awards, Oscars) that demonstrate, from Poodle’s perspective, disagreements with fashion and/or aesthetics in general. The aim of the article is to reflect on the function of irony and sarcasm of the fashion meme as an instrument for fashion criticism, and the role of (visual) irony on the perception of fashion in the contemporary society. The text also addresses the role of independent fashion criticism that the practice of fashion meme creation seems to provide, and the function that this kind of intermediary between fashion and its audiences may perform.

The critic's voice: On the role and function of criticism of classical music recordings.

In the Western classical tradition music criticism represents one of the most complex and influential forms of performance assessment and evaluation. However, in the age of peer opinion sharing and quick communication channels it is not clear what place music critics’ judgments still hold in the classical music market. This article presents expert music critics’ view on their role, function, and influence. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 14 native English- and German-speaking critics who had an average of 32 years professional activity in classical music review. We present the first visual model to summarize music critics’ descriptions of their role and responsibilities, writing processes, and their influences (on the market and on artists). The model distinguishes six roles (hats): consumer adviser, teacher, judge, writer, stakeholder, and artist advocate. It identifies core principles governing critical writing for music as well as challenges that arise from balancing the above six responsibilities whilst remaining true to an implicit code of conduct. Finally, it highlights the factors that inform critics’ writing in terms of the topics they discuss and the discursive tools they employ. We show that music critics self-identify as highly skilled mediators between artists, producers and consumers, and justify their roles as judge and teacher based on a wealth of experience as against the influx of pervasive amateur reviews. Our research approach also offers occupation-based insights into professional music review standards, including the challenges of maintaining objectivity and resisting commercial pressures. This article offers a new viewpoint on music critics’ judgments and recommendations that helps to explain their expectations and reflections.

The critic's voice: On the role and function of criticism of classical music recordings

The critic's voice: On the role and function of criticism of classical music recordings

Families in Youth-to-Parent Aggression Situation: Clinical Symptoms, Parenting and Family Functioning

ABSTRACT One objective of this study was to obtain the psychological functioning profile of adolescents involved in youth-to-parent aggression (YPA) situations, as well as their family functioning, analyzing variables that had not received empirical attention, such as emotional intelligence, parental criticism, the parent-to-child bond, or knowledge of family history. Another objective was to explore which predictors related to adolescent characteristics, parenting and family functioning were most useful for discriminating between YPA and non-YPA groups. Participants were two equivalent groups (one from a family therapy center specializing in the treatment of YPA and a group from the general population), with a total of 133 adolescents and 256 parents. Regarding the psychological functioning of adolescents, the results indicated low emotion regulation and anxious-depressive symptomatology of adolescents involved in YPA. The parenting style was characterized by high overprotection and low care. However, family criticism (AUC = .828) was identified as the best predictor of YPA, with the capacity to discriminate between YPA and non-YPA groups. Families involved in YPA may have a rigid disengaged family functioning and affectionless-controlling parenting style. The central role of family criticism in YPA was unknown. The current study contributes to the literature by showing the need for individual psychological treatment and family therapy of all members of the family as a whole involved in YPA, not just the adolescent aggressors.

A transactional mediation model of risk for the intergenerational transmission of depression: The role of maternal criticism.

In this study, we sought to combine two lines of research to better understand risk for the intergenerational transmission of depression. The first focuses on the role of maternal criticism as a potential mechanism of risk for depression in youth while the second builds from interpersonal and stress generation models regarding the potential impact of youth depression on future escalations in maternal criticism. Specifically, we examined the role of maternal criticism within a transactional mediation model using data from a multi-wave study. Participants were 251 mother-offspring pairs consisting of mothers with (n = 129) and without (n = 122) a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during their child's lifetime who completed assessments every 6 months for 2 years. We found support for the hypothesized transactional mediational model in which maternal expressed emotion-criticism (EE-Crit) mediated the link between maternal history of MDD and residual change in youth's depressive symptoms over the previous 6 months and, reciprocally, youth depressive symptoms mediated the relation between maternal MDD history and residual change in EE-Crit 6 months later. These results indicate that maternal criticism and offspring depressive symptoms may contribute to a vicious cycle of depression risk, which should be considered for interventions targeted toward youth at risk of developing MDD.

Constructive and obsessive criticism in science.

Social media and new tools for engagement offer democratic platforms for enhancing constructive scientific criticism which had previously been limited. Constructive criticism can now be massive, timely and open. However, new options have also enhanced obsessive criticism. Obsessive criticism tends to focus on one or a handful of individuals and their work, often includes ad hominem aspects, and the critics often lack field-specific skills and technical expertise. Typical behaviours include: repetitive and persistent comments (including sealioning), lengthy commentaries/tweetorials/responses often longer than the original work, strong degree of moralizing, distortion of the underlying work, argumentum ad populum, calls to suspend/censor/retract the work or the author, guilt-by-association, reputational tarnishing, large gains in followers specifically through attacks, finding and positing sensitive personal information, anonymity or pseudonymity, social media campaigning, and unusual ratio of criticism to pursuit of one's research agenda. These behaviours may last months or years. Prevention and treatment options may include awareness, identifying and working around aggravating factors, placing limits on the volume by editors, constructive pairing of commissioned editorials, incorporation of some hot debates from unregulated locations such as social media or PubPeer to the pages of scientific journals, preserving decency and focusing on evidence and arguments and avoiding personal statements, or (in some cases) ignoring. We need more research on the role of social media and obsessive criticism on an evolving cancel culture, the social media credibility, the use/misuse of anonymity and pseudonymity, and whether potential interventions from universities may improve or further weaponize scientific criticism.

A Mellotron-Shaped Grave: Deconstructing the Death of Progressive Rock

Progressive rock was among the most successful genres of the 1970s, yet only recently has it partly regained the respect it once had. Indeed, for almost three decades, the prog genre has often been disparaged and condemned as a bombastic and excessive version of psychedelia, thus obliviating its importance and cultural value. Many rebirths of prog can be traced back to the 1980s and the 1990s, but none were able to restore the genre’s lost respect or success. The ‘traditional’ historiography of rock points to the emergence of punk as the moment at which prog was killed, but a deeper analysis can demonstrate how progressive music did not die at all, if we are willing to leave behind the reductive and stereotypical idea of prog as a merely British and “symphonic” phenomenon. Indeed, if we look outside the UK, it is easy to see that prog was far from over. The attempt to explain why a certain historiographical view has been widely accepted can provide insights into the ongoing struggle to define progressive rock as a genre. Indeed, such an analysis can explain why new post-progressive artists (e.g. Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Robert Fripp) were not recognised inside the prog canon, and why new albums by classic artists have been reinterpreted as flops, thus influencing aesthetic judgement for decades with a peculiar inversion of values. This study will mainly focus on the role of critics and of the Anglo-symphonic stereotype, seeking to give an alternative account of the death (and rebirth) of prog from a contemporary and postmodern perspective (capable of interpreting the two main breeds of contemporary prog in light of Baudrillard’s concept of simulacrum), and to give some of the forgotten histories the relevance they deserve.

The role of literary criticism in sustainable development

The research studies literary criticism through the term sustainable development in order to update the critical term and expand the field of study of literature. It studies the relationship of criticism with a number of topics common to literary criticism and sustainable development, such as education, culture, urbanization and heritage. I did not find a previous study of this topic, so I relied on a personal vision in linking relationships and choosing areas of research. Such as utopia, heritage, reader and language.

In the spiral of time: conversation between Domi Olivieri and Trinh T. Minh-ha

ABSTRACT This article consists of a conversation between dr. Domitilla (domi) Olivieri, scholar and activist, and Trinh T. Minh-ha, renowned filmmaker, writer, theorist, and professor. Through questions and answers, the piece starts with Trinh’s take on the notion of the intellectual; the dialogue then continues by traversing some of the themes and issues that characterise Trinh’s work as a filmmaker and a scholar: films as forms of political and intellectual intervention; the matter of (diasporic) communities, subjectivities, and locations; how the issue of labels and genres plays out in the film industry; the question of audiences; the film as encounter; politics of knowledge productions; matters of time and temporalities. Sustaining the conversation is also an understanding that Trinh’s films do not only address issues of (trans)national movements, encounters, technologies, poetry, and rhythms of lives, but they also enact and perform those very movements. Finally, the article discusses Trinh’s legacies as feminist and postcolonial practices, and the role of criticism and (non)knowing in her work across genres and registers of filmmaking that are complex and poetic, as well as strongly political.

The Role of Translation Criticism in the Development of British Sinology: A Case Study of The China Review: Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East (1872 – 1901)

ABSTRACT The discipline of British Sinology as it developed over the course of the nineteenth century was concerned not only with generating knowledge about China and Chinese culture. From the start, British sinologists expressed the awareness that they were generating “images” of China for anglophone readers. Investigating the translation criticism in the journal The China Review allows us to connect disciplinary knowledge with imagology, problematizing the notion that knowledge of another culture—especially in the context of asymmetrical relationships—could ever be “neutral” or “objective”. The paper is based on a corpus of critical reviews of English translations of Chinese works from The China Review, which were then analysed through the theoretical frameworks of orientalism, imagology, and postcolonial translation studies. Overly literal or orientalized translations of Chinese works were criticized for providing a difficult, inscrutable, and esoteric image of China for anglophone readers. In criticizing the previous translations of Chinese works, these British sinologists attempted to dignify the image of China and Chinese culture.

The Force of Law? Transparency of Scientific Advice in Times of Covid-19

Freedom of Information Acts (FOIA) are valuable legal tools to access information held by public authorities but during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic time frames to reply to requests were de jure or de facto suspended in many countries. However, the lack of effective legal tools to achieve transparency was not automatically paired with governmental secrecy. This research paper analyses which are the factors that prompted some governments to move from secrecy to transparency while the essential legal tool to achieve disclosure of information was not available. It focuses on the role of ‘ecologies of transparency’, a concept developed by Seth Kreimer to describe how FOIA needs to be understood as functioning within a collection of factors and actors. Yet, can transparency ecologies still force disclosure of information when FOIA is suspended? Research focuses on a comparative case study about transparency of scientific committees advising governments on Covid-19 in the UK and in Spain. In both countries, members and minutes were initially secret, but the British government published information before being forced by FOIA, while the Spanish executive only released partial information when FOIA was reactivated. The paper argues that information disclosure processes can be understood as supply and demand models. On the demand side, it highlights the role of adversarial press, scientific community, whistle-blowers, the opposition and critics within the governing party as decisive factors within the transparency ecology. On the supply side, it focuses on legitimation needs from the government to explain different outcomes.

The Role of the Art World in Enhancing the Philosophical Perspective of Others

This paper begins with an important question, which is not new: what should be included in the art circle or considered as art, and what should be left outside this circle? To answer this question, I focus first on various definitions of art given by certain theorists, such as Hume (1757), Bell (1913), Weitz (1956), and Dickie (2006). I compare these theorists’ arguments about the definition of art. Through their theories, I discuss the evaluation of artworks depending on whether the judgment is subjective, relating to its evaluation within the art world, or objective, relating to the artwork itself. Then I highlight the notion of criticism and the differences between subjective criticism and objective criticism. Finally, I emphasize the important role of critics in understanding the philosophical perspective, appreciating artwork, and enhancing the academic performance for others. In this paper, I argue that the evaluation of artwork should depend on subjective judgment – that of the art world - more than objective judgment – focusing on the artistic values of the art object – and that requires the critic to evaluate the artwork objectively.

“Construction and Decorative Art” Magazine: A Forgotten Word in the Russian Artistic Criticism of the Early 20th Century

The article is devoted to the history of the Moscow magazine “Construction and Decorative Art”, which played a significant role in Russian art criticism in 1903, despite its short (within six months) existence. This topic needs to be addressed due to the small number of comprehensive studies in the field of Russian art criticism of the early 20th century. On the basis of archival materials of censorship, the article reconstructs the creation circumstances of two homogeneous magazines (“Architecture and Decorative Art”, renamed “Free Art”, and “Construction and Decorative Art”) and their actual transformation into one press organ. There is examined the rapprochement of the architects Vasily Borin and Leonid Betelev with the scandalous journalist Alexey Filippov, their struggle for the permission to publish a new Moscow magazine about art in 1900—1902, the patronizing attitude of the Main Directorate for Press Affairs and the Moscow Governor-General to the new initiative of Filippov. The author introduces into scientific circulation important recorded sources related to the transfer of the rights to publish the magazine to Vasily Borin, and his attempt to pass off the former magazine of Filippov and Betelev as his own (hitherto non-existent) magazine “Free Art”. The article analyzes three issues of the illustrated magazine “Construction and Decorative Art” published in 1903. Basing on the data on the magazine’s format and prices, the author concludes that the publication turned out to be expensive and, therefore, unprofitable. The article pays particular attention to the views of Borin and Filippov on the development of contemporary art, Art Nouveau, and the activities of the artists of the group “Mir Iskusstva” (“World of Art”). In the context of a meaningful analysis of the magazine’s articles, there is discussed the honoring of the architect Nikolai Nikitin in connection with his anniversary. The author poses the question of how the issues of “Free Art” at the end of 1903 should be assessed. There are analyzed the causes for the mysterious closure of both the magazines in 1904—1905, which was not formalized in accordance with the law.

Separating the art from its artist: Film reviews in the era of #MeToo

This paper addresses the role of critics in evaluating a creative work when the creator has been accused of sexual misconduct. I explore how critics are influenced by their role as both cultural journalists and experts in the art world of film. Critics are often noted as serving as guides for audiences in alleviating quality uncertainty; here I will show how critics respond in an instance of ethical uncertainty. Conducting a content analysis of 136 film reviews from 10 different films released around the onset of the #MeToo movement, I define the various techniques critics employ to address the allegations against the director and incorporate this information into their evaluation of the film. Critics here have strategies for maintaining critical distance and legitimating their subjective emotional responses to the film. After the onset of the #MeToo movement, a noticeable shift in rhetoric can be seen through the simultaneous decrease in the number of reviews for these films and the increase in the proportion of reviews referencing the misconduct. In the unsettled period of the #MeToo era, the technique experiencing the most significant rise relates to the way critics establish the accusations against the director as being directly relevant to the quality and content of the film itself.

СТИЛЬОВІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ЛІТЕРАТУРНОГО НАРАТИВУ ДАНИЛА МОРДОВЦЯ

The purpose of the research is to analyze the artistic features of Danylo Mordovets’ literary style, to investigate the author’s stylistic means in writing journalistic articles, notes, literary works; describe the subject of works written in the mid-60s of the XIX century; to find out the role of scientists and literary critics in the formation of Danylo Mordovets’ writing style. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, systematics, social approach, which encourage the study and generalization of information based on scientific-critical, comparative-historical, systematic and reconstructive analysis of the whole complex of sources and literature. This approach is expedient and justified, as the topic of the article remains relevant and little studied, due to the peculiarities of the historical development of Ukrainian society, the role of its prominent personalities, their participation in socio-political and cultural life, and the specifics of the social environment and environment D. Mordovets. The scientific novelty is that the proposed topic was not the subject of a separate study. Based on the analysis of a wide range of documents and materials, for the first time, the model of formation of D. Mordovets’ literary style was comprehensively reproduced. Danilo Lukych Mordovets – writer, historian, publicist. He gained considerable popularity as an author of historical novels, short stories, journalistic investigations on Ukrainian history and culture. D. Mordovets’ scientific and literary achievements did not receive a proper reasoned assessment. His life position, public and scientific-educational activities have made a significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian literature. The stylistic features of the author’s literary narrative were formed under the influence of many factors, including his environment, circles of communication, historical processes, populist speeches and philosophical currents that existed in society.

ШКОЛЬНАЯ КНИГА ДЛЯ ЧТЕНИЯ В РОССИЙСКОМ ПАРЛАМЕНТЕ, ИЛИ ОБ ОДНОМ ЭПИЗОДЕ ИЗ ИСТОРИИ ЦЕНЗУРЫ И КРИТИКИ УЧЕБНОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ В НАЧАЛЕ ХХ ВЕКА

This article discusses a unique precedent in Russian history when the textbook for elementary schools became the subject of parliamentary debate. In March 1913, a group of right-wing members of the State Council appealed to the Minister of Public Education for permission to use the 3rd part of the “Nov’” reading book by N. Tulupov and P. Shestakov in elementary schools. The interpellents argued that in Nov’; and a number of other primary school textbooks approved by the ministry, the authors’ biased texts were anti-monarchical and anti-state, pitting one class against another, killing the people’s religiosity and developing anti-militaristic sentiments. The parliamentarians involved in the debate found themselves in the unusual role of literary critics, children’s reading leaders, and experts in primary education. An analysis of this mishap, its background and consequences, and the discussion in the State Council itself reveals that in the interrevolutionary decade other institutional players besides the state emerged in the field of education policy: zemstvos, school and school boards of trustees, teachers’ public organizations, educational periodicals and, later, political parties. In the absence of curricula for primary schools, the content of teaching was in fact determined by the educational literature that the zemstvo purchased for the schools in its district, choosing from an extensive list of publications permitted by the Ministry. However, state censorship was not an obstacle to the active work of liberally-minded educators in publishing and promoting textbooks, which provoked such a strong reaction from right-wing conservatives. The reading book became the subject of a political struggle for the opportunity to determine the ideological agenda of public education.

1900—Pyrrhic Victory

In 1894, Gustav Klimt was commissioned to create a series of allegorical paintings for the University of Vienna. When the paintings were revealed in 1900, professors and the general public voiced strong resistance to their permanent installation. Art historical literature on the Vienna Secession and the Faculty Painting affair has tended to take the position of advocating for modern art, casting the entire debate as a fight for artistic freedom wherein Klimt was a victim of conservative philistines. Other literature on the Faculty Paintings focusses on the erotic message of the pictures; the works are viewed as documents of a sexual identity crisis that burst to the surface in fin de siècle Vienna. This article is a newly translated English version of a chapter titled “1900—Pyrrhic Victory: The Press Campaigns Surrounding the Faculty Paintings,” from Secession expert Ilona Sármány-Parsons’ book Die Macht der Kunstkritik: Ludwig Hevesi und die Wiener Moderne (The Power of Art Criticism: Ludwig Hevesi and Viennese Modernism) (Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2022; translated from Hungarian edition, Budapest: Balassi Kiadó, 2019). Contrary to the two aforementioned framings of Klimt’s Faculty Paintings, the article examines the role of art critics in the affair and argues that the discourse around the event actually reveals reasonable criticisms of philosophical, rhetorical and artistic stagnation in the Secession movement. While a broad spectrum of contemporaneous critical voices are invoked, the influential critic Ludvig Hevesi’s contributions to the debate come under particular scrutiny.