Won Prizes Research Articles

2022~2023 러시아 영화 주요 경향 연구

This article is an attempt to examine Russian cinema as a whole in 2022-2023. Among the main trends in Russian cinema over the past two years, the first thing to be noted is its relationship to contemporary Russian society and history. Many of the Russian films that received high praise at home and abroad, were selected for prestigious international film festivals, including Cannes and Rotterdam, and were presented at major Russian film festivals or won prizes. In this article, we will focus on Kirill Serebrennikov's The Wife of Chaikovsky, which was selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, The Bullfinch(2023), directed by Boris Hlebnikov, one of the most important auteurs of contemporary Russian cinema, which was the opening film of the 2023 Moscow International Film Festival, Fairy Tail(2022), which had its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, by Alexander Sokurov, who is considered a master not only of contemporary Russian cinema but also of world cinema, and finally, The Camel's Wayh, by Vitaly Suslin, who is one of the most Russian filmmakers of his generation and has built a unique body of work based on a very Russian setting. The second major trend in contemporary Russian cinema that I will discuss is the emergence of Russian regional cinema. I will analyze the film Pardon(2023), directed by Ainur Askarov from Bashkortostan, Plague(2023), directed by Yakutian director Dmitry Davydov, one of the most highly regarded films by international critics, and Aita (2023), directed by Yakutian director Stepan Burnashev. Contemporary Russian cinema is characterized by diversity, locality, and the presence of female directors. In other words, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian cinema has achieved unprecedented diversity, and not only central filmmakers centered in Moscow and Petersburg, but also local filmmakers including Yakutia are actively producing works.

PEMBELAJARAN QIRᾹAT AL KUTUB DI PONDOK PESANTREN AL-HUDA TINJAUAN KURIKULUM, BAHAN AJAR DAN METODE

<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Islamic boarding schools are known as religious educational institutions and religious problems. In modern times, Al-Huda Islamic Boarding School still applies traditional learning systems such as Qirāatul Al-Pole learning. The development of Islamic boarding school education is inseparable from the existence of a curriculum that is used as a reference in the implementation of education and plays an active role in achieving the educational goals of Islamic boarding schools, as well as teaching materials and methods. So, the purpose of this research is to find out the curriculum, teaching materials, and learning methods of the yellow book at the Al-Huda Islamic Boarding School. This research method uses descriptive qualitative methods, with data collection techniques by interviews, observation, and documentation. The results of this study indicate that the Al-Huda Islamic boarding school in learning qirāatul al-polar uses a curriculum related to nahwu, sharf, and balaghah, the teaching materials used are basic books such as the safinah and tijan books using the sorogan method. Not a few students often take part in Musabqoh qiraatul al-pole (MQK) competitions at the sub-district to national levels and often win prizes.</em></p>

Case competition sessions: a global education and academic engagement tool.

Radiology virtual teaching sessions utilize live video conferencing to promote collaborative learning and engagement by discussing radiology cases. Because of its convenience and flexibility, this mode of education has gained popularity, particularly after the corona virus disease 2019pandemic. We describe our experience in organizing a series of "Global Health Imaging Case Competitions" for trainees in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These competitions provide the trainees with an opportunity to present unique radiology cases, network with radiologists, learn about various radiology topics, win prizes and potentially publish their case reports in a peer-reviewed journal. Planning and execution of the competition involves several steps. First, trainees are invited to participate and submit abstracts discussing unique cases. The organizing committee grades these abstracts; the authors of the 20 abstracts with the highest scores are asked to submit a video presentation of their cases to be presented during the live webinar. During this webinar, presentations are displayed and graded to select winners. Additionally, the audience votes to choose a participant as the people's favorite. We have completed four cycles (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East and Asia) and will continue in the same order of rotation. Attendance totalled 2,510 participants from 50 countries. Pediatric cases represented the majority of cases among finalists. Feedback was positive; 26 out of 29 (90%)participants surveyed indicated that the webinar was "very good" to "excellent" with well-organized and challenging cases. Diversity of participating countries was noted. Limitations included technology barriers such as internet connectivity. This innovative approach emphasizing audience participation engaged trainees from LMICs and fostered locoregional collegiality and mentoring.

Winning Robotics Competition Strategy: Theory of Creating Projects in Robotics Education

The subject of robotics in education has a significant impact on the development of skills of students. Studying the main factors motivating robotics to participate in competitions, project competitions, and win prizes is always relevant. There are many competitions in robotics. In particular, one of the competitions for developing robotics in education is WRO. However, it is essential to know and research several factors that can lead to a place in a competition and support young coaches and participants. Higher education institutions that already have courses in educational robotics can benefit from the proposed approach, which allows them to develop new projects with robotics elements.

Аналіз виступів збірної команди України з вільної боротьби на чемпіонатах світу та Європи U23

Purpose: to analyze the performances of the Ukrainian national team at the U23 World and European Championships. Material and Methods. The following methods were used in the research: analysis of scientific and methodical literature and Internet sources, analysis of competitive activity, methods of mathematical statistics. The performances of the athletes of the national team of Ukraine at all U23 World and European Championships in freestyle wrestling were analyzed. During the international competitions in the U23 age category, seven European Championships (from 2015 to 2023) and five World Championships (from 2017 to 2022) were held. During this time, 64 athletes of the national team of Ukraine took part in the U23 European Championships and 48 athletes in the U23 World Championships. The following indicators were considered: the place taken, the number of athletes and the year of performance. Results: the total number of medalists at the U23 European Championships is 20 (31,3 %) athletes, of which 4 (6,3 %) athletes took the first place, 6 (9,4 %) athletes took the second place and 10 (15,6 %) athletes took the third place. At the same time, a significant number of athletes took fifth place (19 athletes or 29,7 %). From seventh to ninth place, 12 athletes took the seventh place, which is 18,8 % of the total number. The tenth place and below was taken by 13 athletes (or 20,3 %), which is also a significant share of the total number and indicates high competition. According to the analyzed information, at the U23 World Championships in freestyle wrestling, only one athlete out of 48 athletes of the national team of Ukraine took the first place, which is 2,1 % of the total. The 12 athletes who took third place account for 25,0 % of the total number of athletes. The athletes who took fifth and seventh places also make up 25,0 % of the total number. These are also promising athletes who were close to winning prizes. The 3 athletes in eighth place account for 6,25 % of the total number of athletes, and the 4 athletes in ninth place account for 8,33 %. Finally, the 16 athletes who took tenth place and below account for 33,33 % of the total number of athletes. Conclusions. The national team of Ukraine in freestyle wrestling at international U23 competitions has stable results, the athletes have always won prizes at all continental and world championships. The analysis showed that the percentage of winners from the total number of athletes who participated may vary depending on the preparation and performance of the team at a particular tournament. Thus, the percentage of winners at the championships ranged from 25,0 % to 40,0 %, while at the world championships from 20,0 % to 40,0 %.

Hurry to do good deeds

In the Ozherelievsky Railway College — a branch of PGUPS, the volunteer movement SD 3 “Hurry to do good deeds” has existed for more than 20 years. It currently has more than 500 people in its ranks — these are students, teachers, parents of students, college graduates. Volunteers work in many areas: help the elderly and people with disabilities; children left without parental care; homeless animals; participate in campaigns for a healthy lifestyle, etc.Currently, the volunteer movement is developing the following areas: environmental volunteering; promotion of healthy lifestyles; creation; intellectual volunteering (when a person uses his professional skills and knowledge for the benefit of others free of charge); preservation of the history of their region; spiritual volunteering.CD 3 is marked by many letters of thanks, diplomas and certificates. Projects win prizes in various competitions: in 2021, the social volunteering project “Hurry up to do good deeds” was awarded a 1st degree diploma in the “Best Volunteer” review competition of the volunteer movement of educational institutions of secondary vocational education administered by the Federal railroad agencies.

Важливість досягнень на змаганнях U23 з вільної боротьби

Purpose: to analyze the results of the performances of the winners of the U23 World Championship in freestyle wrestling and to establish their importance. Material and methods. The research used the following methods: analysis of scientific and methodological information and Internet sources, analysis of competitive activity, methods of mathematical statistics. All sportsmen's performances after the performance at the U23 World Championship in freestyle wrestling were analyzed. The sports careers of all wrestlers who won at the competitions in 2017, 2018 and 2019 were analyzed. The total number of winners was 28 athletes. In order to determine the further achievements of the sports result, the performances at the continental, world championships and the Olympic Games were analyzed. The considered characteristics were separately analyzed for weight groups: light weight group (weight categories up to 69 kg), medium weight group (weight categories from 70 to 89 kg) and heavy weight group (more than 90 kg). Results: аmong all the winners, there are representatives of only three continents: Asia (32,1 %), Europe (53,6 %) and North America (14,3 %). More than half of the athletes of the light weight group (66,7 %) took part more than once in competitions among U23 representatives. It should be noted that all winners took part (100,0 %) in continental competitions and among them 88,9 % were successful (placed prizes). Also, the rate of participation in the world championships among adults is quite high – 88,9 %, but only 33,3 % succeeded in these competitions. Only one representative (11,1 %) of the light weight group took part in the Olympic Games and did not take a prize place. The analysis of middleweight wrestlers showed that the majority of athletes (72,7 %) competed at the U23 competition and all wrestlers were successful. At the same time, more than half (63,6 %) participated in continental championships and 45,5 % achieved success. Less than half of the athletes (45,5 %) took part in the world championships, but all of them took prize places. Only one wrestler of the middle weight group took part in the Olympic Games (9,1 %), but he could not take the prize place. Representatives of the heavy weight group continue to compete in competitions of all levels. Thus, 62,5 % of wrestlers took part in U23 competitions and 50,0 % of all athletes took prize places. The same number of representatives had achievements at the continental championships. At that time, the results of achievements at the world championships were higher, so 75,0 % of athletes took part in these competitions, and more than 80,0 % of the participants won prizes. In general, the analysis showed that competitions among athletes under the age of 23 have a certain influence on the further career of athletes. Conclusions. More than half of the athletes took part in U23 competitions, continental championships and world championships. The majority of athletes were successful at the U23 (89,4 %) and continental competitions (80,9 %), while the number of athletes who were able to take the medal places at the World Championships was lower at 68,3 %. Four athletes (14,3 %) took part in the Olympic Games and two of them (7,1 %) won prizes. In general, the analysis showed that competitions among athletes under the age of 23 have a certain influence on the further career of athletes.

THE MIGRATION INFLUENCE ON THE RESULTS OF WRESTLERS

Introduction. Modern society is characterized by permanent large-scale transformations, which entail the transformation of social institutions. The course of the process of internationalization of professional sports is significantly influenced by economic factors. Becoming an important element of international relations, sports migration helps to realize humanitarian and cultural dialogue between countries and peoples. Aim of the research: to identify the main trends of migration processes in Olympic wrestling and their impact on the achievements of athletes. Material and methods. The careers of the participants of the 2018 and 2019 World Championships in wrestling (a total of 28 careers of migrant wrestlers) were analyzed. In order to determine the main ways of development of athletes, an analysis of age and results of achievements before and after migration was conducted. Results. Seven athletes (25.0%) changed their citizenship before the age of 22, and another six athletes (17.9%) changed their citizenship between the ages of 22 and 23, while still in the U23 age group. The largest number of athletes change their citizenship after the age of 26: 10 wrestlers (35.7%) changed their citizenship at the age of 27-29 and two wrestlers (7.1%) changed their age at the age of 30 and older. Before migration, athletes participated on average 7.4 times and 2.1 times less than after migration, respectively, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers. Conclusions. Based on the analysis, it is advisable to identify two main groups of wrestlers who have changed their citizenship to continue their sports careers: - wrestlers under 23 years old and wrestlers over 26 years old. The analysis of achievements showed that the average number of performances in the international arena and the average number of won prizes after migration increases several times.

Analysis on Difference in the Importance of Attack and Defense Techniques of JUDO Players in Middle and High Schools and Universities

Purpose: In this study, 198 judo players from middle, high school, and university in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province were analyzed for differences in the importance of attack and defense techniques by gender, grade, athlete experience and selection of representative athletes. Method: Data processing in this study was conducted using the SPSS 23.0 Program to identify the general characteristics of the subjects and the Cronbach s α coefficient was calculated to verify the reliability of the questionnaire. T-test was conducted to identify differences in the importance of attack and defense techniques based on gender and standing experience, and One way ANOVA was conducted to identify differences in the importance of attack and defense techniques by grade and player experience. Results: As a result of this study, no statistical difference in the importance of attack and defense techniques was found by gender, grade, athlete experience, and selection experience of representative athletes. Although it was not statistically significant, the importance of attack and defense techniques by gender was high for male and female players with high hand and waist techniques. In terms of the importance of attack techniques by grade, the first and second graders in middle school showed high hand techniques, while the second and first graders in middle school showed high back techniques and foot techniques. In terms of defense techniques depending on the grade, the first and second graders in middle school showed high hand techniques, the second and first graders in middle school for waist techniques and the second graders in high school and middle school for foot techniques. In terms of the importance of attack techniques according to the player s experience, hand techniques, waist techniques, and foot techniques were all high under two years of player experience. In terms of the importance of defense techniques depending on the player s career, hand and waist techniques were higher than two years of player experience and foot techniques were higher than three years of player experience and five years of player experience. In terms of the importance of attack and defense techniques based on the winning experience, both attack and defense techniques showed that players who did not win prizes were higher than those who had won prizes. In terms of the importance of attack and defense techniques based on the experience of selecting representative players, both attack and defense techniques were higher than those with experience in selecting representative players. Conclusion: The results of this study are believed to be used as basic data for systematic training and player management to improve the performance of Judo athletes in middle and high schools and universities.

Antoni Teslar – kuchmistrz znany i nieznany

Antoni Teslar – unknown facts from the renowned chef’s life Antoni Teslar had been working in the kitchen of the Potocki Family in Krzeszowice for five years. Starting his professional career at the age of thirteen, as a kitchen boy, he could not have imagined that he would end up as one of the most famous Polish chefs of the turn of 19th and 20th centuries. Leaving the service, he wrote down the recipes he used, as if a will, which got published in 1910 as a book titled the Polish-French Cuisine. After his career as a chef ended, he settled down in Krakow, working in trade and selling land. Living a typically bourgeois life, he was soon forgotten as a cook, and today he is sometimes recalled of by the amateurs of culinary history as a French who used to cook for the Potocki Family. During his service for the Potocki Family, Antoni Teslar did not confine oneself to work only for his employers. He was involved in the life of the culinary environment, used to participate in contests and win prizes at culinary exhibitions, take actions to professionalise and centralise the occupational group of chefs, organise it and initiated its activity, as well as bring up and teach the beginners. His life, so little known today, is a combination of love for cooking, strong attachment to the Potocki Family, and fondness for social, political and business activity.

METHODS OF FORMING MOTIVATION OF YOUNGER SCHOOLCHILDREN IN THE COURSE OF EDUCATION

The article describes how the motivation of elementary school students went through teaching experience and demonstrated good results. The difference between an external motive and an internal motive is described. In the process of motivation, types of rewards and requirements for pedagogical incentives are summarized. Using these approaches, the student’s influence and change is recorded. The goals, new approaches and the results of the first days of research and post-research problems of motivation in the learning process are shown. Thanks to this study, using the motivation of each student, one of the ways in which the student mastered the subject and determined the way to achieve the goal of the lesson was investigated. In improving the quality of education for a class teacher, it also played a role for the subject teacher.Defined orientation on students. It was shown that students participated in competitions in the direction and won prizes. Positive changes were observed after the motivation had been formed for both the teacher and the student.

Rural community development through competitions, prizes, and campaigns: The villagers’ perspective

Withdrawal of strategies and universal welfare ideals in relation to rural community development in Denmark has given more weight to initiatives such as competitions, campaigns, and prizes aimed at villages and awarded to villagers by public authorities, philanthropic foundations, and interest groups. For rural communities and villagers to obtain funding or win prizes, demonstration of villagers’ skills is required, for example, using private funds and volunteer work. Also required are positive outcomes, such as upgrading physical environments and increases in the number of inhabitants. This article analyses whether the criteria and qualifications required to secure funding or win prizes match theoretical understandings and recommendations for rural community development. Based on interviews with villagers and field observations from a prize ceremony, the article addresses how the competitive aspect affects the people involved in rural community development. It thereby provides a novel contribution by giving voice to the villagers on the opportunities and constraints related to competitions, campaigns, and prizes. The article concludes by discussing these initiatives as a new type of steering or metagovernance for rural community development in Denmark.

Students: Submit Ethics Essays by April 10 for a Chance to Win Prizes

Students: Submit Ethics Essays by April 10 for a Chance to Win Prizes

As an Educator, The Evaluation of the Competences of Coaches from the Point of View of the Elite Athletes: The Case of Elite Taekwondo Athletes

This study was aimed at identifying the perceptions and assessments of elite taekwondo athletes toward coaching efficacy. The purposeful sample consisted of 77 elite taekwondo athletes who took part in Turkish national teams, won prizes in Turkish championships or prspective promising athletes. The research data were gathered by using the "Athletes' Assessment of Coaching Efficacy Questionnaire", a 5-point Likert type questionnaire that comprises 26 questions and was adjusted to Turkish and developed by Salman (2012) based on the "Coaching Confidence Questionnaire" developed by Feltz et al. (1999). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was .967. The study used the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Barlett's test to explain the suitability of the research data for explanatory factor analysis, and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was found .907. To analyze the data, t test, One-way ANOVA and Tukey's test were performed. No significant difference was found between the groups for coaching efficacy belief based on age group and training age (p>0.05). There was a significant difference in favor of men in all dimensions in relation to gender (p<0.05). As for sports career and national team participation, the study found a significant difference between the all groups (p<0.05). According to the results of the study, the athletes expressed their coaches were sufficient in terms of technique and strategy while they had some deficiencies in character building and motivation.

On the interplay between normalisation, bias, and performance of paper impact metrics

Abstract We evaluate article-level metrics along two dimensions. Firstly, we analyse metrics’ ranking bias in terms of fields and time. Secondly, we evaluate their performance based on test data that consists of (1) papers that have won high-impact awards and (2) papers that have won prizes for outstanding quality. We consider different citation impact indicators and indirect ranking algorithms in combination with various normalisation approaches (mean-based, percentile-based, co-citation-based, and post hoc rescaling). We execute all experiments on two publication databases which use different field categorisation schemes (author-chosen concept categories and categories based on papers’ semantic information). In terms of bias, we find that citation counts are always less time biased but always more field biased compared to PageRank. Furthermore, rescaling paper scores by a constant number of similarly aged papers reduces time bias more effectively compared to normalising by calendar years. We also find that percentile citation scores are less field and time biased than mean-normalised citation counts. In terms of performance, we find that time-normalised metrics identify high-impact papers better shortly after their publication compared to their non-normalised variants. However, after 7 to 10 years, the non-normalised metrics perform better. A similar trend exists for the set of high-quality papers where these performance cross-over points occur after 5 to 10 years. Lastly, we also find that personalising PageRank with papers’ citation counts reduces time bias but increases field bias. Similarly, using papers’ associated journal impact factors to personalise PageRank increases its field bias. In terms of performance, PageRank should always be personalised with papers’ citation counts and time-rescaled for citation windows smaller than 7 to 10 years.

Ecological Approach as an Urban Solution for Sensitive Areas

The urban spaces of river banks are sensitive areas, not only in environmental terms but also considering the spatial planning rules. Often the spatial planning rules are focused on building and urban development questions rather than of ecological approaches. In this sense, this article aims to present an urban design project for a sensitive territory of river banks having as pivotal concern ecological solutions. This proposal is due to the requirement of linking the landscape features of river water fronts with the characteristics of the urban fabric. The case study area is the Train Station surroundings in Säo Pedro do Sul, a city in the central region of Portugal very well-known because of its thermal baths. It was proposed to the university team, on behalf of the Urban Planning Unit of the Master Degree in Architecture at the University of Beira Interior, by the Municipal authority. The students were organized in groups in order to propose the urban design projects, ensuring the continuity of the urban fabric with the Vouga river. The best projects won prizes (1st, 2nd and two honour awards) offered by the city hall. This fact was an extra motivation for students along to the design process in an academic environment comprising an international background (including Portugal, Greece, Brazil, Slovakia, Lithuania and Poland). Regarding the presented solution, the conclusions show that the main strategy was to preserve and to enhance the ecological identity of the place, possible given the agreement in between university and municipal authority, working together.

La senda iluminada (1949), de Fernando Vizcaíno Casas

Fernando Vizcaíno Casas es un autor con múltiples facetas, aunque solo es recordado por sus éxitos editoriales durante la Transición. El teatro fue una de sus constantes biográficas menos conocidas. Nunca la reivindicó un autor tan satisfecho consigo mismo, pero tuvo premios, estrenos polémicos y la satisfacción de que La senda iluminada (1949) le permitiera participar en el TEU.

Introduction to Volume 10, Issue 1 of topiCS.

In this issue, we lead with the topic, Coordination and Context in Cognitive Science, from Topic Editor Chris Kello (University of California, Merced). Kello's introduction begins with a quick introduction to the concepts of the dynamics of coordination and phase transitions in forms of human behavior as diverse as walking, neural activity, and dinner conversations. He then transitions to a series of short introductions to each of his six articles. His introduction provides a gentle introduction to this approach, and each of the six papers provides an update on the progress made in advancing the role of context and coordination in cognitive science. Second in this issue is a comment by Ian Apperly (University of Birmingham, England), on last October's topic, Memory and Common Ground Processes in Language Use, which was organized by Sarah Brown-Schmidt. The two next topics are both “Best Ofs”—the best papers presented at their respective conferences. The first batch was curated by Topic Editors Bill Kennedy (George Mason University, U.S.) Marieke van Vugt (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), and Adrian Banks (University of Surrey, England), and includes revised and expanded versions of the best five papers presented at the 2017 meeting of the International Conference on Cognitive Modeling. The last topic is a perennial favorite of mine and includes revised and expanded versions of three prize-winning papers presented at the 2017 Cognitive Science Conference (London): the Best Perception & Action paper, the best Higher-Level Cognition, and the Marr Prize winner for Best Student paper. In case you missed it … a brief mention of topics appearing in recent issues of topiCS A year ago, in January 2017 (Volume 9, Issue 1) we featured Cortical Color by Topic Editor Berit Brogaard (University of Miami) and two Best Ofs … the Best of the ICCM 2016 Conference and those papers from the 2016 Cognitive Science Conference which had won prizes and accepted our offer to expand their conference paper and publish it in topiCS. As of this writing (October 2016) less than a year has passed since 9:1's publication, but its papers are already garnering citations by the metrics used by the Web of Science. Specifically, the papers in the collection of five ICCM papers have gained five citations and those in Topic Editor Berit Brogaard's “Cortical Color” topic have been cited twice. Going back in time to January 2016 (Volume 8, Issue 1), we find that Topic Editor Stephan Lewandowsky's collection of 12 papers on Future Global Change and Cognition has gathered an impressive 66 citations, including an impressive 15 citations for Ranney and Clark's paper on “Climate Change Conceptual Change,” which has been designed on ISI's Web of Science as a “highly cited paper.” These designations are given to papers in the “top 1% of the academic field of Psychiatry/Psychology based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year.” The six papers from 2016's collection of “Best of” ICCM papers are attracting attention as well with a collected total of seven citations. All we can say is to keep reading topiCS for the greatest and latest breaking work in Cognitive Science. To would-be Topic Editors, we say, “Keep those proposals coming in!” topiCS has established itself as the “go-to” site for curated collections of papers on timely topics of interest to the broad cognitive science community. topiCS encourages letters and commentaries on all topics, as well as proposals for new topics. Letters are typically 400–1,000 words (maximum of two published pages) and will be published without abstract or references (possibly 1–2 but usually none). Commentaries are often solicited by Topic Editors prior to the publication of their topic. However, commentaries after publication are also considered and should range between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Most commentaries should not have an abstract and should not include many references. The Executive Editor and the Senior Editorial Board (SEB) members are constantly searching for new and exciting topics for topiCS. Feel free to open communications with a short note to the Executive Editor (grayw@rpi.edu) or an SEB member (SEB members are listed under the Editorial Board heading on the publisher's homepage for topiCS (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1756-8765/homepage/EditorialBoard.html).

Redefining Family in Jennifer Johnston's Foolish Mortals

Redefining Family in Jennifer Johnston's Foolish Mortals Mara Reisman (bio) To date, Irish writer Jennifer Johnston (1930–) has published eighteen novels and written numerous stage and radio plays. She has won prizes such as the prestigious Whitbread Award, and her book Shadows on Our Skin (1977) was short-listed for the Booker Prize. In 2012, her literary achievements were recognized by the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards, which honored her with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award. Beginning with her first novel, The Captains and the Kings (1972), Johnston has explored the effects of Irish nationalism and politics on individuals. In Foolish Mortals (2007), Johnston focuses on the issue of family at both a personal and political level in order to reveal and inspire transformations in domestic relationships and gender roles in twenty-first-century Ireland. This book signifies a change in Johnston's depiction of family relationships. These relationships may begin as difficult, as in her earlier work, but end in reconciliation. In addition, the family structure is redefined and reconfigured to include more types of families. Patricia Craig (2007) recognizes Johnston's perspicacity about contemporary Irish society and notes that "Part of the author's achievement here is to undermine … conventional ideas about family relations and activities." The questions that Ciara, the daughter in Foolish Mortals asks—"What, anyway, is a happy family?" (Johnston 2007, 148) [End Page 516] and "What's normal?" (172)—are among the central concerns of the text and part of the political discussions happening in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century Ireland. By addressing who constitutes a family, Foolish Mortals participates in the debates about homosexuality, marriage, divorce, and the Irish family that were in the foreground in the 1980s and were still taking place at the time of the book's publication. These changing attitudes about families and relationships can be seen in the characters' negotiations of structural changes to their families. The novel documents the shift from idealizing the nuclear family to recognizing and accepting a multiplicity of families including two gay couples, a divorced mother and her daughter, an older woman and her caregivers, and the large family these smaller units compose. Memory is crucial to this renegotiation of relationships. This attention to the past, as many critics argue, is a prominent feature in Johnston's fiction.1 Yulia Pushkarevskaya contends: "Like many other Irish writers, Jennifer Johnston exhibits a particular fascination with memory. … However, rather than the past itself, it is the interpretation of the past … that assumes a particular significance in Johnston's oeuvre" (2007, 73). In keeping with Pushkarevskaya's observation, the characters in Foolish Mortals must not only uncover the past but also must reinterpret it. The novel offers a complex look at memory and shows that both actively dealing with the past as well as the seemingly contradictory need to forget some of it (in this case through amnesia or dementia) are necessary to facilitate positive changes to the Irish family structure. Foolish Mortals also expands the focus on mother-daughter relationships to look at other familial relationships. Anne Fogarty (2002), Heather Ingman (2007), and Ann Owens Weekes (2000) argue that a shift takes place in the late 1980s and 1990s in relation to mother-daughter narratives: in earlier Irish novels, the daughter's story is foregrounded; in later Irish novels, the mother's story begins to be told. In this context, part of what differentiates Foolish Mortals is that Johnston gives both mother and daughter a voice, privileging neither of their stories. Other characters in the text also get a voice, which expands this subject position even further and heightens the novel's themes of tolerance, inclusion, and the need to understand disparate perspectives. I begin with a brief discussion of some of the contemporary political battles about family and gay rights in Ireland. I then address how Johnston uses moments of fissure—breaks in memory, in the [End Page 517] privilege of the heteronormative family, in marital stability (infidelity, divorce, attempted murder), and in maternal expectations (wanting a career, not wanting children)—as opportunities for change to family structures, gender roles, and belief systems. In these moments, characters realize...

Artist Describes How Art Saved Her Life

Artist Describes How Art Saved Her Life