Ser libre era bueno: Dos narrativas de esclavos del caribe angloparlante: Una traducción

Una traducción

Carmen J. Jiménez, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

"Ser libre era bueno: Dos narrativas de esclavos del caribe angloparlante: Una traducción" (Bilingual version English- Spanish) brings to life the stories of Mary Prince and Ashton Warner, two enslaved people from the Caribbean who dictated their narratives to British author Susan Strickland. Prince was the first enslaved woman from the Caribbean to undertake such an endeavor. This bilingual text, with an introduction in Spanish, is not only a valuable resource for researchers and literature students but is also accessible and engaging for other adults, adolescents, and young adults. It offers a unique perspective on the experiences of enslaved people in the Caribbean and their fight for freedom. "Ser libre era bueno: Dos narrativas de esclavos del caribe angloparlante: Una traducción" (Versión bilingüe inglés-español) da vida a las historias de Mary Prince y Ashton Warner, dos esclavos del Caribe que dictaron sus narrativas a la autora británica Susan Strickland. Prince fue la primera mujer esclavizada del Caribe en emprender tal esfuerzo. Este texto bilingüe, con una introducción en español, no sólo es un recurso valioso para investigadores y estudiantes de literatura, sino que también es accesible y atractivo para otros adultos, adolescentes y jóvenes. Ofrece una perspectiva única sobre las experiencias de los pueblos esclavizados en el Caribe y su lucha por la libertad.

Dialoguing With Critical Race Theory: Constitutional and Christian Links

Mark Ellingsen, Interdenominational Theological Center

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is certainly a hot topic. No longer just the legal theory it was originally designed to be, it has become an icon for determining which side you are on concerning racism. Most of the loudest voices, especially in the debate about CRT in our schools, seem not to have actually studied the theory. This is a book to get you into the heart of CRT’s actual analysis and prescriptions. It’s a book to get Americans to stop all the shouting and really find out what CRT teaches. It might also contribute to getting more civility into our public discourse. Ellingsen demonstrates how in fact what Critical Race Theory teaches is in line with our Constitutional system’s realism about political solutions, suspicions of our selfishness, and the majority’s tendency to run roughshod over minorities. He also demonstrates that these commitments are consistent with Christianity’s understanding of original sin and the quest for social justice. Consequently, if critics do not want CRT taught in our schools or to be part of our public discourse, we had better stop teaching the Constitution and Christian values in our schools, to rule these commitments as out of order in our search for common values! Get ready for a stimulating, controversial, well-documented read.

Jesuits in Science Fiction: Reason and Revelation on Other Worlds

Edited by Richard Feist, University of King’s College

From their founding in 1540 to this day, Jesuits have been controversial. Their centuries of missionary work have taken them to all corners of the world. They have been accused of killing Kings and Presidents and contributing to colonization and destruction of cultures—even participating in enslavement. But the Jesuits have also been seen as bringers of light and education. With their ferocity of purpose and intellectual rigor, the Jesuits’ impact on world history cannot be ignored. No surprise then, that Jesuits appear in literature, especially that literature of ideas, exploration, and social commentary, otherwise known as science fiction. This unique collection of essays explores how the Jesuit has long been part of science fiction’s history and how Jesuit ideas and characters are featured in some of science fiction’s greatest works. In this collection, we see Jesuits continue their missionary spirit as they take leave of the earth, moving their missionary labors literally towards the heavens. Reason and revelation are now indeed on other worlds. In this collection, we have explorations of philosophy, science, theology, and culture, all done in typical Jesuit fashion, always in various and foreign contexts. This collection is akin to others in its linking of religion and science fiction, but it is unique in its concentration on the Jesuits and science fiction. This collection will be of interest to scholars working and researching in the field of science fiction studies and would be suitable for courses on science fiction. But it will also be of interest and accessible to those of us who simply love science fiction for its power to explore other worlds and, in this case, to take some of the deepest human reflections, namely those on God, morals and culture, lift them up, and see what forms they may take on other worlds.

No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes

Edited by Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

'No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes' is a multi-author work united by the common theme of critical analysis of the use of horror tropes in literature, film, and even video games. Tackling issues dealing with gender, race, sexuality, social class, religion, politics, disability, and more in horror, the authors are horror scholars hailing from varied backgrounds and areas of specialty. This book may be used as a resource for classes that study horror or simply as entertainment for horror fans; readers will consider diverse perspectives on the tropes themselves as well as their representation in specific works.

The Dark Side of Speech

A Disenchanted Report on the Decade that Preceded the Invasion of Ukraine

Carlo Penco, University of Genoa, Italy

What is disinformation, and why does it matter? How can we understand and detect different kinds of disinformation? With an analysis of relevant events of the period 2012-2022, the book attempts to answer these questions. The book is organized into four parts. (1) The first part presents the notions of post-truth and fake news using some of the most recent critical studies, analyzing some typical examples and the environment in which some of them originated. (2) The second part introduces the notion of conspiracy theory and describes the emergence of the idea of white supremacy and its ramifications, together with the narratives developed during the COVID restrictions. (3) The third part describes the emergence of the algorithms behind social networks and their role in propaganda, making examples of US and European elections and the Brexit referendum. An analysis of 'Cambridge Analytica' shows the tip of an iceberg of disinformation that is spreading around the world. Some remarks by comedians and philosophers help to give a new view on the concept of freedom of speech, with particular attention to the more and more difficult freedom of the press. (4) The fourth part gives some “emergency tools” for detecting disinformation at an individual level, understanding the most hidden mechanisms of disinformation, and the biases that almost unavoidably enter our minds. These tools come from the results both of traditional theories and the most recent social philosophy of language, not despising references to statistics. This is a fundamental book for having a general survey of this period of political turmoil, consulting a wide list of references and official documents, and having a grasp of the means of intellectual self-defense. “This book is non-standard: it relies on the most sophisticated theories of language and yet it gives everything in simple and colloquial language. Differently from sophisticated analyses of linguistic phenomena, it gives the feeling of participating in a tour around what happened in the last decade, with a disenchanted eye that uses some results of the critical literature, without compelling one to become a theoretician in the field of philosophy or critical analysis. The hidden focus of the book is freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and what they mean today in an era of more sophisticated and widespread disinformation permitted by the algorithms governing social networks. ….”