World Space Research Articles

Shakespeare and Virtual Reality. Edited by Stephen Wittek and David McInnis

A title in the Cambridge Elements’ “Shakespeare and Pedagogy” series, this small but valuable collection grew out of a seminar at the 2020 Shakespeare Association of America meeting. It will be of interest to anyone who wishes either to use virtual reality in their teaching or to bring early modern literature into conversation with virtual reality technology. The book is divided into three sections, “Why Shakespeare and Virtual Reality?,” “Education,” and “Current and Future Directions,” and concludes with an annotated bibliography of Shakespearean projects that deploy or invoke virtual reality, augmented reality, and related technologies. The book’s opening essay, Jennifer Roberts-Smith’s “What Can Shakespeare Do for Virtual Reality,” is one of several essays addressed specifically to “we” “as Shakespeare educators” (4), though theorists of the virtual in any field will find much to mine here. Making the counterintuitive case that “new technologies do not bring new affordances to Shakespeare; rather, ‘Shakespeare’ … will bring new opportunities for meaning-making to VR” (4), Roberts-Smith sets a conceptually rigorous tone for the study of Shakespeare in virtual space. The manifesto-like set of provocations includes shrewd ruminations on issues such as intermediality, community, and personal agency as they relate to virtual reality. Invoking game studies, she argues that “as in the theatre, the meaning of a VR experience is located outside, not inside, the ‘magic circle’ that has come to be understood as the hermetic space of a virtual world,” and that VR therefore “generates opportunities for the communal consideration of shared experiences” (9). Curiously though, Roberts-Smith does not turn to works by or adaptations of Shakespeare or his contemporaries to make these points; rather, she cites mostly non-Shakespearean virtual reality productions, such as imagineNative 2167 VR and The Blue Hour VR, allowing the reader to forge their own connections. The reader is, in fact, not told what Shakespeare “can do” for VR, though like any good opener, Roberts-Smith’s piece generates questions and tensions that help steer the collection.

A Topology Map Generation Algorithm for Optimal Path Finding for Image-Based Maps

Algorithms that automatically search for routes have various applications, such as games, navigation, and robots, and are used to create optimal paths in the space of real and virtual worlds. This paper introduces an indoor navigation algorithm allowing rescuers to create a topology map of floor plans, given that the amount of data provided by conventional mapping constructs is limited. Traditional pathfinding algorithms include the A* algorithm, which has demonstrated excellent performance; however, its applicability is limited in the case of high-resolution images, as the number of nodes increases significantly. Here, we use the corner node algorithm (CNA) to improve pathfinding performance by preprocessing the data to create a topology map for the pathfinding algorithm. The algorithm can reduce the number of nodes required for the pathfinding process by generating topology maps in advance through two preprocessing processes: node creation and node connection. This effectively reduces the number of nodes to be processed, as well as the error rate when creating more accurate routes. Furthermore, a generated topology map can be reused by the algorithm unless its structure changes, which enhances efficiency. For the user, this means that the sought-after mapping information of the floor plan is quickly made available for navigation. With this algorithm, we created an augmented reality navigation solution to display virtual objects for rescuers, to demonstrate the enhanced performance of our approach.

Augmented reality collaborative medical displays (ARC-MeDs) for multi-user surgical planning and intra-operative communication

ABSTRACT Digital Displays are integral to modern systems and serve as the primary visual human-computer interface. A physical monitor is a typical example for showing computer-generated information to a person – as long they are located directly in front of them. In an operating room, however, people may be unable to move freely or communicate only based on verbal communication due to noise pollution. Furthermore, mobile and connected editing and sharing of the same content on the go is currently not readily available. Therefore, we propose Augmented Reality Collaborative Medical Displays for duplicating any displayed content as a virtual monitor hovering in space in the real world. Our method replicates any user input on the virtual representation onto the original physical monitor. We put forward a use case in planning a surgical intervention of the abdomen with intra-operative CT imaging. Moreover, we demonstrate how a medical immersive teleconsultation system utilises our method for meaningful interactions. Finally, we evaluate our method with multiple display resolutions. Based on our observations from the use cases and quantitative evaluation, we believe our proposed concept facilitates the integration of future collaborative medical applications.

Две тенденции понимания «трех миров» в раннеевразийском дискурсе: В.И. Ламанский и И. Гаспринский (вторая половина XIX – начало XX в.)

Introduction. The study is carried out in the genre of intellectual history and focuses on the contrasting views of the leading representatives of Slavic and Turkic social thought in Russia. Purpose: starting from Vladimir Lamansky’s ideas, to reconstruct and interpret Ismail Gasprinsky’s concept of “three worlds”. This is the first time such a task has been posed. Methods and materials. Methods are applied: intellectual reconstruction and historical-comparative. Main sources: “Three worlds of the Asian-European continent” by Lamansky and works of the Gasprinsky period of the 1880s – 1900s. (“Russian-Eastern agreement”, “China and Russia”, “Great Eastern question”, etc.). Analysis. The peculiarities of Lamansky’s interpretation of the “three worlds” (“European”, “Asian”, “Middle”), where the “Greco-Slavic world” constituted the basis of the “middle world”, were revealed. Reconstruction and comparison showed that Gasprinsky had his own understanding of the “three worlds”: “Western”, “Central”, “Eastern”. He proceeded from a combination of interests of the Turks and the Slavs and interpreted the “central” world as “Russian-Muslim”. Both thinkers recognized the consolidating role of Russia. However, Gasprinsky saw the prospects for Islam and was convinced of the need for cooperation with the Muslim world. Results. Two tendencies in the interpretation of the “three worlds” complemented each other, argued the Slavic-Turkic space of the Old World. Gasprinsky’s innovation was the concept of the “Russian-Muslim world”. He took into account the Muslim factor, so his version is more realistic. As a result, the concepts of both thinkers (taking into account the priorities) had the character of a pro-Eurasian counterpoint and became central in early Eurasian discourse.

Роль национального языка в воспроизводстве этнической идентичности городского населения Дагестана

Introduction. The increased interest in the position of national (native) languages ​​in the world space is due to the intensification of the processes of globalization and, along with it, urbanization, the formation of an information society, which itself determines the dominant language that is necessary for communication. Theoretical justification. The growth of the importance of one language naturally contributes to the weakening of the status of other national languages, the narrowing of the areas of their functioning, respectively, the transformation of linguistic consciousness and human behavior. In this regard, the study of the national language not only as a key identifier of an individual's ethnic self-identification, but also as a means of communication, seems relevant in the mainstream of ethno-linguistic processes, which are very difficult in a multinational community. Methods. The empirical study was conducted in 2021 by random selection. The object of the study is the urban population. The subject of the study is the linguistic consciousness and linguistic behavior of the urban population of Dagestan. Location of conducting the study – cities Derbent, Kaspiysk, Makhachkala, Khasavyurt, Kizlyar. The basis for including these cities in the study sample is the territorial parameter, which allows you to evenly cover the northern, plain and southern administrative entities. N = 563. Results and its discussion. The analysis of the obtained sociological material shows the importance for the surveyed urban population of Dagestan of all markers of the reproduction of ethnic identity, only their place and weight in the identification system are different. Basic provisions. – comparison of empirical material over the years (2009 and 2021) indicates changes in the attitudes of the surveyed population: the share of national traditions and customs indicating the marker has noticeably increased, while the significance of the national language in the reproduction of ethnic identity has decreased; – empirical data indicate the presence of destructive tendencies in the linguistic consciousness and behavior of the surveyed urban population, in particular, in the definition of the native (mother) language. The share of those who point to the language of their ethnic community as their native language has significantly decreased, while the number of those who consider “the national and Russian languages ​​at the same time” as their mother tongue increased; – change in linguistic consciousness poses a threat to the preservation of the integrity and originality of any ethnic formation, regardless of its size. A deliberate rejection of the national (native) language is a signal of negative processes taking place in the linguistic area.

Application of Digital Twins and Metaverse in the Field of Fluid Machinery Pumps and Fans: A Review

Digital twins technology (DTT) is an application framework with breakthrough rules. With the deep integration of the virtual information world and physical space, it becomes the basis for realizing intelligent machining production lines, which is of great significance to intelligent processing in industrial manufacturing. This review aims to study the application of DTT and the Metaverse in fluid machinery in the past 5 years by summarizing the application status of pumps and fans in fluid machinery from the perspective of DTT and the Metaverse through the collection, classification, and summary of relevant literature in the past 5 years. The research found that in addition to relatively mature applications in intelligent manufacturing, DTT and Metaverse technologies play a critical role in the development of new pump products and technologies and are widely used in numerical simulation and fault detection in fluid machinery for various pumps and other fields. Among fan-type fluid machinery, twin fans can comprehensively use technologies, such as perception, calculation, modeling, and deep learning, to provide efficient smart solutions for fan operation detection, power generation visualization, production monitoring, and operation monitoring. Still, there are some limitations. For example, real-time and accuracy cannot fully meet the requirements in the mechanical environment with high-precision requirements. However, there are also some solutions that have achieved good results. For instance, it is possible to achieve significant noise reduction and better aerodynamic performance of the axial fan by improving the sawtooth parameters of the fan and rearranging the sawtooth area. However, there are few application cases of the Metaverse in fluid machinery. The cases are limited to operating real equipment from a virtual environment and require the combination of virtual reality and DTT. The application effect still needs further verification.

Challenges war: transformations in architecture and design

The Russian-Ukrainian war proved that sustainability of the “architecture of the post-war world” is non-existent. The problems of humanity, which were accumulating and not solved for years, reached a top point. War in all of its hybrid forms causes destruction to Ukrainian cities and villages, traumatization and death of people, mass migration of the population, and the loss of cultural values. Overcoming the consequences of the war in Ukraine after its end will require a lot of human effort and time. A discourse aimed at rethinking pre-war Ukraine and filling architecture and design with new meanings was opened in public space. The article attempts to systematize the contents of this discourse. A complete reformation of international relations awaits the world. In the world space Ukraine becomes an active subject of the development of post-war world architecture. It is important to develop a concept and strategy for the recovery of Ukraine. The state must have a general joint vision of the future and clear stages of implementation of specific projects and plans. State strategy makes possible to solve urgent tasks related to providing housing for hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes and overcome other consequences of the war. Universal design is gaining special relevance. The war actualizes the social cohesion and integration of people with disabilities, opens and develops their potential. Understanding disability as an aspect of human diversity should become the basis of the new social policy of the state

Explaining the effect of artificial intelligence on the technology acceptance model in media: a cloud computing approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain the effect of the technology acceptance model in the media environment by using the mediating role of artificial intelligence and the cloud computing approach.Design/methodology/approachAfter reviewing the theoretical foundations, a conceptual model framework and research hypotheses were formed. The statistical population of the study included managers, deputies and experts from the National Iranian Oil Company, and a statistical sample of 368 people was selected by simple random sampling.FindingsThe results of structural equation modelling with PLS 2.0 software show a positive and significant effect on the artificial intelligence variable in the technology acceptance model with the cloud approach. Artificial intelligence has opened a new space in the digital world, especially in the media, so that its profound impact is quite evident and has affected people’s lives.Originality/valueThe acceleration of various technologies has severely challenged the approach of organizations, especially the media. The media environment with word of the technologies of the Industry 4.0, especially cloud computing technology, has changed the ways of accessing and using products and services.

AR Based User Manual for Receipt Printer Configuration

Augmented Reality (AR) allows the user to place 3D virtual content to real world environment. By implementing AR technology, the configuration of receipt printer can be taught to the users easily. The users will be able to get the instructions according to the orientation and position of the printer components based on the targeted real-world space and view the step-by-step guidance on configuring the printer in AR. Therefore, the purpose of the project is to develop a mobile application that assists the users to view and learn to configure the printer using AR technology without the need of referring to user manual. There are three phases that have to carry out. Firstly, to conduct a preliminary study on the previous works related to AR user manual to get ideas on the ways to implement AR complementing the traditional user manual purposes. The second phase is to develop an application on related GUI. Lastly, the third phase is to integrate the proposed application with marker-based AR to display instructions based on distance and orientation in real world space. The output of this project has been evaluated through a user testing process on the user acceptance. The usability results show the users are satisfy with AR user manual for printer configuration as compared to the traditional printed user manual. The user acceptance results also show the AR used in this application helps the user in configuring the printer easily.

ქართულ ფოლკლორში წარმოდგენილი ცალკეული სიმბოლოების გააზრება მსოფლიო სიმბოლოებთან კონტექსტში

This article is a brief overview of how this or that symbol is spread in people's lives, in folklore, in this or that ritual, belief or habit. To the extent that folklore is the spiritual life of society and it lives in language, language can be a symbolic way of thinking words are signs that in themselves imply this or that meaning. What can force society to create this or that symbol, ritual, emblem, and how real and durable are they? These questions are the main interest of the paper and the research is mainly related to astral lights in so far as it has been the main inspiration for people, because the sky sends to the earth heat and cold, sadness and joy, colors, light and darkness. Fire, energy and mech. To life and death: for everything on earth is connected with heaven and the inhabitants of heaven. At the same time, the work is an attempt to integrate Georgian folklore into the world space, because Georgian spiritual or national culture, as a unique phenomenon, occupies a unique place in the world reality.

“Excused from time”: Time and Consciousness in John Wray’s The Lost Time Accidents and Adam Roberts’s The Thing Itself

ABSTRACT Western culture tends to separate the notion of phenomenological time (subjective time experienced in individual consciousness) from cosmological time (objective time, accessible through the clock), arguing that they take place on different levels and have no connection. This classic opposition is challenged in two time-travel novels, John Wray’s The Lost Time Accidents (2016) and Adam Roberts’s The Thing Itself (2015). Untypically of time-travel plots, the two texts explore the relationship between human consciousness and time so as to dismantle and transgress it. While The Lost Time Accidents proposes that there is external time, yet even if we could perceive it, the picture would be tainted by our consciousness, The Thing Itself goes further and proffers—consistently with Immanuel Kant’s ideas, which it enacts—that there is no space or time in the external world; they are instead parts of human consciousness, used to order reality. The novels thus revise the simplistic opposition between phenomenological and cosmological time, advancing the two temporal experiences as two aspects of consciousness of time that complement each other.

Automatic concrete defect detection and reconstruction by aligning aerial images onto semantic‐rich building information model

AbstractConcrete defect information is of vital importance to building maintenance. Increasingly, computer vision has been explored for automated concrete defect detection. However, existing studies suffer from the challenging issue of false positives. In addition, 3D reconstruction of the defects to pinpoint their positions and geometries has not been sufficiently explored. To address these limitations, this study proposes a novel computational approach for detecting and reconstructing concrete defects from geotagged aerial images. A bundle registration algorithm is devised to align a batch of aerial photographs with a building information model (BIM). The registration enables the retrieval of material semantics in BIM to determine the regions of interest for defect detection. It helps rectify the camera poses of the aerial images, enabling precise defect reconstruction. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, which significantly reduced the false discovery rate from 70.8% to 56.8%, resulting in an intersection over union 6.4% higher than that of the traditional method. The geometry of the defects was successfully reconstructed in 3D world space. This study opens a new avenue to advance the field of defect detection by exploiting the rich information from BIM. The approach can be deployed at scale, supporting urban renovation, numerical simulation, and other smart applications.

PROBLEMS OF TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS COMPANIES AT THE PRESENT STAGE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

This article discusses the development of the transport and logistics policy of the state and the development of logistics in general. Despite the fact that the state is making every effort to develop this area, there are a lot of unresolved problems. Kazakhstan is a transit state, but you should not limit yourself to this direction and consider not only mega projects, but also «real» investments. The economy of any state depends on the «circulatory system», which is transport logistics. Drastic changes in supply chain management are needed, specialists and personnel are needed, it is necessary to increase the level of development of transport science and education. In the state transport programs, it is necessary to create conditions for the development of export-import transportation, reducing transport costs, increasing efficiency and improving the quality of intra-republican logistics.
 In the article, the authors share their vision of improving the indicators of the LPI logistics efficiency index in Kazakhstan, which is an integrated indicator of the quality and efficiency of the transport and logistics complex (TLC) in a particular country. In 2018, according to this assessment system, Kazakhstan ranked 71st in the world. First of all, it is proposed to improve and structure approaches to the development of transport infrastructure. It is recommended to make any decisions based on a scientific approach, professional forecast, careful analysis, avoiding a situation where administrative decisions are made first, and then feasibility studies are «adjusted» to them. Currently, various forms of attracting and using capital from outside are used for the reconstruction of the transport and communication complex, since for effective integration into the world space, Kazakhstan first of all needs to create conditions that provide access to the sea and ocean coast.

Research on Key Technologies of Intelligent Perception and Control in Discrete Manufacturing Industry based on IEC61499 Standard

This paper aims at the characteristics of discrete manufacturing, such as changeable process, complex process, multiple varieties and small batch, the mechanism of real-time perception and dynamic optimization of various production factors such as materials, equipment and personnel in the production process is established, the interaction and integration between the physical world and information space in the discrete manufacturing environment is established, and the distributed industrial intelligent perception and control solution is developed based on the industrial Internet IEC61499 standard.

Osvaldo Romberg’in Enstalasyonu, Moskova’dan İzmir’e Melnikov’un Evi, Ölçek 1

This exhibition review within the disciplines of contemporary art, installation art and architecture, focuses on artist Osvaldo Romberg’s installation Scale of Melnikov House from Moscow, to Izmir (Moskova’dan İzmir’e Melnikov’un Evi, Ölçek 1) exhibited in the PORTİZMİR’07 Mirage and Desire Contemporary Art Festival, Izmir 2007. In Scale of Melnikov House from Moscow, to Izmir, Romberg lays a footprint of Russian architect Konstantin Melnikov's Home-studio. The artist also integrates a text from the Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges. This research draws parallels between Romberg’s installation, intersecting cylindrical structure of Melnikov’s home-studio and the ideals of Soviet Union. The notions of non-hierarchy, equal distance to the center and equal distribution of the building’s weight are visible in Melnikov’s architecture who removed columns as central carriers. These notions can also be seen in the book Aleph, for the Aleph is a sphere. Whoever looks at Aleph sees simultaneity and infinity. Accordingly, this study inquires how Romberg revisited historical contexts and used these two references to convey his concerns on simultaneity and infinity. He invites the viewer to develop a new perception towards world history, time and space and interrelatedness of histories and places. To conclude, this review aims to reinterpret Romberg’s work in light of these two references.

PROTESTANTISM – REGULATION OF CONSUMPTION

In the article, the author examines the gastronomic culture and its regulatory function, expressed in the regulation of eating behavior and food consumption by people through the existence of prohibitions and permits. In particular, it is indicated that such tools, as a rule, find their place in religious canons (codes of rules).
 Speaking about the religious regulation of consumption, the author examines Protestantism and its currents and trends. According to the results of the study, it was revealed that within the framework of Adventism, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc., there are tools for regulating food consumption that have a characteristic similarity with those in Judaism, Islam and Catholicism. Of course, Protestantism, being a denomination of Christianity, along with Catholicism, can borrow some rules and features. Meanwhile, drawing an analogy with these religions and confessions, we can talk about the existence of prohibited and permitted food, while in some areas of Protestantism restrictions are not as strict as in others.
 Religion, acting as a regulator of eating behavior, designates products originating from “unclean” and “pure” animals and birds. At the same time, in the Bible, the signs that make it possible to differentiate food have a symbolic meaning – “unclean” food sources symbolize mundanity, the impossibility of turning to God, the sinfulness of man.
 As a result, a gastronomic cultural layer is formed, within which the nutrition of believers, that is, the products they use daily, also taking into account national characteristics, not only have an impact on health, but also have a symbolic meaning of commitment to God, enlightenment, etc.
 According to the results of the study, the author formulated the factors that are important in determining eating behavior and consumption: a) symbolizing; b) cleansing; c) providing and d) adapting (relevant to the current situation of globalization of the world space and the technologization of life spheres).

INVESTMENT IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF UKRAINE AND THE EU

The identity and institutional capabilities of the European Union (EU) have changed over the years. As a global player in international politics, the EU has recognized the need to develop a comprehensive space policy perspective. This perspective is shaped by changes in the dynamics of the space ecosystem, the "New Space", and this phenomenon consists of new business models, new technologies, new markets, new value chains and new actors. New space actors (private investors) have fundamentally changed the dynamics of space activities. The subject of the research is the peculiarities of the influence of investment processes of the EU and Ukraine on the development of space industries. The methodological basis consisted of general scientific and special methods of knowledge, based on a systematic approach to the consideration of economic processes. The article aims to examine investment in the context of space management in the EU and Ukraine, and to examine in detail the trends in such funding of space companies. In order to better understand the European space system. The article concludes that, recognizing the indisputable importance of space applications and safety of space systems, the EU attaches great importance to taking into account the trend of "New Space" in its governance structure and stimulating changes in this sector. Unfortunately, Ukraine lags far behind in this respect. In the EU, in the initial stages of space research and use, space programs are financed from the general budget, and as individual activities reach a level of profitability, their public funding is reduced. Therefore, the sphere of commercial space activities and the share of private investments in their total financing are rapidly growing. The reduction of state expenditures is compensated by investments of private business in commercial projects. Thus, the article emphasizes the particular importance of private investments in the development of the Ukrainian space industry and points to the need to develop the commercialization of space activities, especially given the potential in the absence of budget financing. It is impossible to compare the sufficiently powerful and effective investment system of the EU and the lack of even state financing of the space industry in Ukraine. Against the backdrop of hostilities in Ukraine, there is a significant need to reconsider investments in this area on the basis of public-private and international partnerships. Conclusion. The main tasks for Ukraine are revision and change of the state policy, right accents on investments into the space industry, qualitative overcoming of bureaucratic obstacles, approval of a new Strategy of Space Industry Development. As an example, one could use the experience of the EU and refer to its previous experience in this sphere to have an opportunity to stay among the world space powers.

Promoting the International Education by Means of Cutting Edge Technologies

Abstract. The actuality of our research can be proven with the fact that the current stage of the development of world society is characterized by the growing role of international education as a component of the process of deepening and diversifying political, socio-cultural, economic ties between states within the framework of the globalization of the world space. In the article the problem of international cooperation in the higher education sphere is examined, it is accented attention to the necessity of strengthening of this component as an important factor of integration of the national education system into global educational space and strengthening of it competitiveness at the market of educational services. The process of modernization of education is outlined in the National Doctrine of Education Development, approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated April 17, 2002 No. 347/2002. The national doctrine states that education should prepare a person organically adapted to life in a multifaceted world of connections – from contacts with the immediate environment to global connections. It becomes obvious that the state will be more successful, more its citizens will be able to communicate with the world. Therefore, it is necessary to form a personality capable of perceiving and creating changes, determined to perceive change as a natural norm. The purpose of the article was to study the essence of international education, its development in Ukraine and determination of the need for cross-cultural training of youth in Ukrainian universities, which is aimed at formation of individual readiness for effective cross-cultural interaction. In our research we described the modern ways of international education using cutting edge technologies, such as Collaborative Online International Learning and M.S.Ed. in International and Comparative Education (Online). An analysis of the various international educational programs was carried out and shows that the European area of higher education is actively developing, is enriched by both regulatory acts and various forms of cooperation, ensuring through broad cooperation and unification of joint efforts and permanent modernization of the systems of higher education of the countries participating in the Bologna who process in accordance with the requirements of knowledge-oriented and high-tech education. The researchers of the international education point to progress in the development of the higher education system of EU education and at the same time point out that there are certain difficulties and debatable issues which need to be decided in the process of its further development. For this purpose, developed countries are intensifying the competitive struggle for leadership in the world education system as an effective tool of influence in the field of international relations. Key words: European integration; Erasmus program; Tempus program; international cooperation, global educational space, mobility, competitiveness.

The imaginary space of M. Tsvetaeva’s poem ‘In the Hall’ [‘V zale’] and the reader’s strategy

The article deals with the unique viewpoint of the reader who, when reading Tsvetaeva’s ‘In the Hall’ [‘V zale’], discovers that, along with the space of the artistic world inhabited by the poem’s lyrical heroes, the poem offers an extra level — one produced by the heroes’ imagination. The children in the poem allow the reader to catch a glimpse of their imaginary world. The world of a child’s play exists in the minds of the depicted heroes, meaning a doubling of the artistic reality. It is for this reason that the reader becomes aware of a double viewpoint — one of a grown-up observer and the other belonging to the young heroes, and is exposed both to the visually perceptible embodiment of the world created by the poet as well as to the space hidden inside of it (visible only to the children). The structure of the depicted hall is transformed through the introduction of the space of a hero’s imaginary world. The game described in the poem is, therefore, taking place not only in the reader’s presence, but with the reader’s participation, meaning that self-reflection of the lyrical ‘us’ achieves its development, with the reader sharing in the experience.

The world is a bar: Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s writing beyond ‘Africa’

Taking recent debates on ‘How to write Africa’ in general and the allegations of sexism in Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s novel Tram 83 in particular as a starting point, I analyze three texts by the Austria-based Congolese author in this article. Considering the scope of each text, namely Tram 83 (2014), the play Zu der Zeit der Königinmutter (The Times of the Queen Mother, 2018), and the latest novel La danse du vilain (The Dance of the Villain, 2020), shifting images and meanings of gender dichotomies are explored alongside Mujila’s aesthetic literary devices. The article is structured around the omnipresent setting of bars that develop from a disputable ‘African’ bar in Tram 83 to a radically global bar in Zu der Zeit der Königinmutter and to referentially set bars of Central Africa’s postcolonial history in La danse du vilain. I argue that recurrence of the bar as a focal lieu of mingling people in Mujila’s writing underlines its function as satirical microcosm that goes beyond a realistic representation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Multilayered cultural references in Tram 83 and Zu der Zeit der Königinmutter construct the setting into a worldly space whereas La danse du vilain privileges a historical approach. As further pointed out, the metatextual level that is woven into the texts comments on the difficulty of the adequate representation of ‘Africa’ and the pitfalls of the global literary market place.