The Peoples of the Jos Plateau, Nigeria
Extraits
Non classé
The Peoples of the Jos Plateau, Nigeria
From an investigation of the way of life of the inhabitants of this little-known region, the author attempts to deduce and evaluate the system of thought which governs, at least implicitly, the life-style of the tribal people in question. The significance of the highly spiritual quality of their mental attitudes is discussed from the philosophical angle.
12/1979
Religion
A Study of Conversion Among The Angas of Plateau State of Nigeria With Emphasis on Christianity
This is so far the most-detailed information on the Angas (Ngas), the largest ethnic group on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria. The book draws up a sketch of both the political and ecclesiastical history of the people. This is followed by socio-anthropological data about the people including a description of the traditional religion of the Angas (Ngas). The material serves as the necessary springboard for discussing the factors that were responsible for the conversion of the Angas (Ngas) people of Nigeria. The author concludes his thesis by giving a theoretical analysis of some of the theories of conversion per se and opting for a Hortonian theory as the most cogent. It is certainly an indispensable work dealing with conversion to and from any religion although in this case Christianity is used as a focus.
01/1992
Monographies
Arts du Nigéria Central revisités. Mumuye et peuples environnants
In previous studies, Jan Strybol pointed out that sculpture in Northern Nigeria - contrary to what is generally assumed - flourished. Wood sculptures could be found just about everywhere, with the exception of a part of the Far North. In this study, the author first examines the sculptural traditions of a number of peoples in Central Nigeria, in particular from the Jos Plateau and from the valley of the Middle Benue to the source area of the Taraba River. These peoples can be described as non-centralized communities where mainly art in perishable materials was produced by part-time specialists, in contrast to the centralized empires in the South (Ife, Benin) where full-time specialists created complex works of art in durable materials (stone, bronze, iron). Perhaps the most well-known ethnic group in the Middle Benue region among aficionados of African art are the Mumuye. Since the end of the last century, the traditional rites of the Mumuye have rapidly disappeared as a result of the advance of the world religions and with them the Mumuye sculpture so much admired in Europe and America. In addition to wood sculpture, Jan Strybol also pays attention to objects in bronze, iron, terracotta and other materials. Until now, these art forms have been very underexposed and have now almost completely disappeared. Finally, the author also elaborates on some artistic achievements of a number of little-known residual groups within the Mumuye territory, which can boast a rich art tradition.
05/2023
Sciences politiques
The Structure of Political Communication in the United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany
Political Communication in The United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany differs in terms of what the peoples expect to take issue with, how they are prepared to talk about them, which choices they can make to solve problems and, finally, whom or which organizations they delegate to resolve them. This comparative media study of The Economist, Time and Der Spiegel attempts to extract the differences in politics of the three societies.
11/1987
Non classé
Morality and Politics in Nigeria
Before the Nigerian civil war, and even after the war till 1982, Nigeria was regarded as a wealthy nation in comparison with other African countries. However, for the past 30 years, struggle for power has resulted in political instability, moral degeneracy and under-development. The economy of the country has collapsed and millions of Nigerians are now enveloped in poverty, hunger, disease, ignorance, unemployment etc. The root cause of this unhealthy situation for the country is corruption and moral degradation. The only way out of the Nigerian ugly situation seems to be the integration of morality in Nigerian politics. This research work therefore aims at suggesting avenues of restoring man's original dignity within a corrupt and unjust social and political setting in Nigeria.
07/1997
Poésie
Epilepsy: the invisible pain
They say life is a long stretch of a calm river, but not for everyone ! She was for me until the day when everything rocked, the day my destiny was changed dramatically. People do not realize how life can be so sweet and so beautiful. They complain all day long for trivialities. They are not even aware that they have before their eyes the most beautiful wealth : the luck and happiness of living in good health. I was rich before. Now I am poor because my child has an incurable disease, that has currently no hope of being healed. As a parent, how can we accept that ? , How to continue living carrying the bundle of pain in my head ? , How to overcome this feeling of helplessness ? When I started speaking to my heart, I didn't know myself that this was the beginning of a new life : a rebirth as a poet. When I learnt that my 7-year-old daughter was suffering from the Dravet Syndrome, a rare genetic epileptic encephalopathy, this was like an earthquake in my life. Then, I needed to write in order to express my sorrow and my pain. Words and rhymes came naturally to my mind. This was obvious that poetry would be my survival weapon.
01/2019
Histoire internationale
To See the Dawn. Baku, 1920 - First Congress of the Peoples of the East
Comment les agriculteurs et les travailleurs dans le monde colonial peuvent-ils se libérer de l'exploitation impérialiste ? Comment peuvent-ils surmonter les divisions nationales et religieuses incitées par leurs propres classes dirigeantes, et combattre pour leurs intérêts de classe communs ? Alors que l'exemple de la révolution d'Octobre retentissait dans le monde entier, ces questions ont été posées par 2 000 délégués au Congrès des peuples de l'Est en 1920. " Fournit une information fondamentale pour aider à déchiffrer l'enchevêtrement des événements le long de la frontière sud de l'ancienne Union soviétique.
12/1993
Monographies
Hilma af Klint. The Five Notebook 1
In 1896, Hilma af Klint and four other like-minded women artists left the Edelweiss Society and founded the "Friday Group", also known as "The Five". They met every Friday for spiritual meetings, including prayers, studies of the New Testament, meditation and séances. The medium exercised automatic writing and mediumistic drawing. Eventually they established contact with spiritual beings whom they called "The High Ones". In 1896, the five women began taking meticulous notes of the mediumistic messages conveyed by the spirits. In time, Hilma af Klint felt she had been selected for more important messages. After ten years of esoteric training with "The Five", aged 43, Hilma af Klint accepted a major assignment, the execution of The Paintings for the Temple. This commission, which engaged the artist from 1906 to 1915, changed the course of her life. In 1908, Rudolf Steiner, leader of the German Theosophical Society, held several lectures in Stockholm. He also visited af Klint's studio and saw some of the early Paintings for the Temple. In 1913, Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society, which af Klint joined in 1920 and remained a member for the rest of her life.
01/2022
Non classé
Ruling Class Men
What is it like to be a master of the universe ? The authors have researched the desires and fears of the world's most powerful men. The Murdochs, Packers, Kennedys, Agnellis and other men like them, directly determine the fates of thousands and influence the future of the world like no other people. Described as ‘sacred monsters' by one of their own, they are carefully created to be what they are and to enjoy shaping the world in their own likeness. To learn about these often reclusive men, the authors extended the life-history technique to interrogate autobiographies, diaries and biographies and have created a composite picture, a collective portrait, of tycoons over three generations. The book carefully explores the childhoods, schooling, work and play, sexual activities, marriages and deaths of the wealthiest men who have ever lived. It exposes the nature of ruling-class masculinity itself.
02/2007
Lecture 6-9 ans
L'énigme du sabre. Edition bilingue français-anglais
C'est dimanche et comme souvent Louise et Arthur viennent rendre visite à leur grand-mère. Ils aiment bien y aller, elle joue avec eux et leur raconte plein d'histoires. Mais aujourd'hui, elle n'a pas le temps et les deux cousins s'ennuient. Alors, ils décident de grimper dans le grenier où sont entreposés de vieux souvenirs et objets abandonnés. Ils y ont déjà été, mais maintenant ils sont plus grands et peut-être trouveront-ils un trésor qu'ils n'avaient pas aperçu, lors de la dernière visite. Après un long moment de recherche, dans un coin, Louise découvre une malle poussiéreuse. Les deux cousins, l'ouvrent et entrevoient un sabre avec une inscription. Une trouvaille qui va les mener jusqu'à l'école militaire de Saint Cyr de Coëtquidan, sur les traces de leur grand père. It's a Sunday and often as not, Louise and Arthur go and visit their grandmother. They like to go there, she plays with them and tells them lots of stories. But this Sunday she does not have the time, so the two cousins are bored. They decide to climb up into the attic, where old memorabilia and abandoned objects are stored. They have been there before, but now that they are taller, maybe they will find a treasure they did not see during their last visit. After a long moment of searching, in a corner, Louise discovers a dusty trunk. The two cousins open it and see a sword with an inscription. A discovery that will lead them to the military school at Saint Cyr de Coëtquidan, in the footsteps of their grandfather.
06/2018
Histoire internationale
One Artist on Five Continents
Elisabet Delbrück (1876-1967) was one of a number of Germans who came to New Zealand in the late 1930s. Unlike most, she had not intended to emigrate but was touring the country when World War II broke out. She was at first forbidden to leave and then chose to remain in Wellington. Her thirty years in Mahina Bay on Wellington harbour had a profound effect on all who knew her. This study aims to discover why she was so remarkable. It explores her early life, her marriage into a prominent German family and her qualification as an artist. She turned this into a profession, teaching and exhibiting on five continents in the 1920s and 1930s. She always travelled alone, observing the customs and beliefs of the people she met. In Australia and New Zealand in 1938 and 1939 she was wrongly suspected of spreading Nazi propaganda. Her story is also the story of a heroic group of Wellingtonians who helped her in the 1940s and valued her friendship till her death.
12/2011
Tourisme étranger
Moroccan tracks Volume 11. The sagho djebel
The Sagho djebel is the eastern extension of the Anti-Atlas, a volcanic mountain with granitic mamelons, basaltic organs, chaos of black shales, pink sandstones... at the gates of the Sahara. As far as the eye can see, large wild, arid spaces. A desolate land made for the lonely DPM. And for a thousand miles around, silence is the only companion. Absolute plenitude and the desire to take to the track. From flat expanses to rolling hills, from sharp relief to steep canyons : pure, original nature. The character is strong, rustic but the heart is soft. The colours are soft and gentle. Ochre, pink, brown, violet, the colour chart stretches in a gradation of shimmering pastels, sometimes accompanied by an overwhelming heat. Eldorado in the heart of the desert, rare are the oases ; modest green spots in the infinitely large, they are the reminders that we are on African soil. The wild charm of the Sagho is due to its exceptional geology : high cliffs and steep peaks, tabular escarpments and deep canyons in the middle of which caravans of camels and mules circulate. When you arrive on these immense plateaus, the lunar horizon is so vast that you want to go everywhere at once to see if it is really as beautiful elsewhere ! The Sagho also surprises by the richness of its lights : limpid like those of the nearby Sahara, or sometimes in half-tone, as in the neighbouring Dades valley. The Sagho is also the Morocco of the last Berber nomads, descendants of the ancient lords Aït Atta. In autumn, after leaving the snows of the High Atlas, they set up their dark wool tents on the slopes of the jebel until spring. They can neither read nor write, but they are sure of their way through the Atlas Mountains and the Moroccan desert. In the Sagho, they have built houses of unbaked stone, dug wells, planted almond trees, grown wheat, barley and various vegetables. Others built herds of goats and sheep, and caravans of camels. Most of them are now sedentary, semi-nomadic or nomadic...
08/2022
Ethnologie
Des taurins et des hommes. Cameroun, Nigeria
Au Cameroun et au Nigeria, les taurins - petits bovins sans bosse - sont très minoritaires par rapport aux zébus. ils présentent pourtant l'avantage
D'être mieux adaptés au milieu : résistants à la mouche tsé-tsé, ils pourraient aider à la mise en valeur des zones infestées et ils apparaissent dans certaines régions humides comme les seuls bovins aptes à favoriser l'inter-pénétration de l'agriculture et de l'élevage. Mais la relance de ces élevages, tant au Cameroun qu'au Nigeria, a toujours posé problème : l'imbrication du social, du religieux et du politique dont ils sont porteurs en fait des élevages
archaïques. difficilement récupérables par les Sociétés villaGeoises contemporaines, et donc en voie d'extinction. La " laïcisation " du taurin et son
introduction dans une économie de marché restent à faire. Cet ouvrage réunit des géographes, ethnologues, anthropologues, vétérinaires-zootechniciens.
Il contribue à une meilleure compréhension du fonctionnement social des élevages, et apporte une description précise de ces animaux et de leur comportement : deux préalables nécessaires à l'identification de " nouveaux types d'éleveurs " et à la mise en œuvre de nouvelles pratiques zootechniques et sociales.
In Cameroon and Nigerina, taurines - small humpless cattle -form a minority in comparison with zebu. Nevertheless, they are better suited to the environment. Taurines (Bos taurus) are resistant to tsetse fly and could help in the farming of infested zones and are the only cattle that can be reared it
in combination with arable farming in certain wet regions However, relaunching taurine rearing in both Cameroon and Nigeria has always been a problem. The overlapping of the social religious and political spheres in which they are involved means that rearing is archaic, difficult to adopt by contemporary village societies and is therefore disappearing, The taurine remains to be rendered "secular" and incorporated in a market economy. Geographers, ethnologies, anthropologists and veterinary/zootechny specialists have contributed to this book. It provides better understanding of the social functioning of taurine rearing and a precise description of the cattle and their behaviour. The latter features are prerequisites for the identification of new types of animal farmers and the implementation of new zootechnical and social practices.
05/1998
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
The Undergrowth of Science. Delusion, self-deception and human frailty
Walter Gratzer's themes in the stories he relates in The Undergrowth of Science are collective delusion and human folly. Science is generally seen as a process bound by rigorous rules, which its practitioners must not transgress. Deliberate fraud occasionally intrudes, but it is soon detected, the perpetrators cast out and the course of discovery barely disturbed. Far more interesting are the outbreaks of self-delusion that from time to time afflict upright and competent researchers, and then spread like an epidemic or mass-hysteria through a sober and respectable scientific community. When this happens the rules by which scientists normally govern their working lives are suddenly suspended. Sometimes these episodes are provoked by personal vanity, an unwillingness to acknowledge error or even contemplate the possibility that a hard-won success is a will o' the wisp; at other times they stem from loyalty to a respected and trusted guru, or even from patriotic pride; and, worst of ail, they may be a consequence of a political ideology which imposes its own interpretation on scientists' observations of the natural world. Unreason and credulity supervene, illusory phenomena are described and measured, and theories are developed to explain them - until suddenly, often for no single reason, the bubble bursts, leaving behind it a residue of acrimony, recrimination, embarrassment and ruined reputations.
Here, then, are radiations, measured with high precision yet existing only in the minds of those who observed them; the Russian water, which some thought might congeal the oceans: phantom diseases which called for heroic surgery; monkey testis implants that restored the sexual powers of ageing roués and of tired sheep; truths about genetics and about the nature of matter, perceptible only to Aryan scientists in the Third Reich or Marxist ideologues in the Soviet Union; and much more. The Undergrowth of Science explores, in terms accessible to the lay reader, the history of such episodes, up to our own time, in ail their absurdity, tragedy and pathos.
01/2000
Anglais apprentissage
LA VIERGE ET LE GITAN : THE VIRGIN AND THE GIPSY
When the vicar's wife went off with a young and penniless man the scandal knew no bounds. Her two little girls were only seven and nine years old respectively. And the vicar was such a good husband. True, his hair was grey. But his moustache was dark, he was handsome, and still full of furtive passion for his unrestrained and beautiful wife. Why did she go ? Why did she burst away with such an éclat of revulsion, like a touch of madness ? Nobody gave any answer. Only the pious said she was a bad woman. While some of the good women kept silent. They knew. The two little girls never knew. Wounded, they decided that it was because their mother found them negligible. The ill wind that blows nobody any good swept away the vicarage family on its blast. Then lo and behold ! the vicar, who was somewhat distinguished as an essayist and a controversialist, and whose case had aroused sympathy among the bookish men, received the living of Papplewick. The Lord had tempered the wind of misfortune with a rectorate in the north country. [...] "Lorsque la femme du pasteur s'enfuit avec un jeune homme sans le sou, le scandale ne connut pas de bornes. Ses deux fillettes n'avaient que sept et neuf ans respectivement. Et le pasteur était un si bon mari. Certes, il avait les cheveux gris, mais sa moustache était restée noire, il était bel homme et brûlait encore d'une passion furtive pour sa belle épouse immodeste. Pourquoi était-elle partie ? Pourquoi s'était-elle arrachée à lui, dans un tel éclat de dégoût, comme un grain de folie ? Personne n'apporta de réponse. Seules, les dévotes dirent que c'était une mauvaise femme. Cependant que certaines femmes de bien gardaient le silence. Elles comprenaient, elles. Les deux fillettes ne comprirent jamais. Blessées, elles jugèrent que c'était parce que leur mère les tenait pour quantité négligeable. Le vent du malheur qui est censé être bon à quelque chose balaya de son souffle les habitants de la cure. Puis, miracle, le pasteur, qui avait une certaine éminence comme essayiste et polémiste, et dont la situation avait su émouvoir certains intellectuels, fut nommé à la paroisse de Papplewick. Le Seigneur avait adouci l'ouragan du malheur par un bénéfice de recteur dans le nord du pays. " [...]
02/1993
Musique classique
Songs of Love. 12 Romances. 12 Lieder. Soprano (tenor) and piano.
Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940), hitherto consigned to a footnote in musical history as Stravinsky's piano teacher, is undergoing rediscovery. A double graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatoire, she emerged as a virtuoso pianist and composer in the romantic tradition. She was associated with some of the great musicians of her day, including Balakirev and Auer. She performed in both Germany and the UK in the 1900s, but her career petered out after 1920. Songs of Love was first published in 1904. No evidence survives of any public performance in Kashperova's lifetime although it is very likely that they were performed at her regular 'musical evenings at home on Tuesdays' mentioned in her Memoirs. The transparency of the piano writing strongly suggests that she would accompany herself singing. Kashperova, by all accounts, possessed a fine voice, and in the summer of 1906 she decided 'to learn from the artistry', as she put it, of the tenor Raimond von Zur-Mühlen who was widely celebrated for having developed (with Clara Schumann) the Lieder-Abend tradition. His summer-schools on the Baltic coast were frequented by aspiring singers from all over Europe, even Japan and India. Kashperova herself was responsible for the poetic lyrics of Songs of Love (in both Russian and German), which may well have emerged from her own bittersweet experience of life and love ; she was not to marry until 1916 at the age of forty-four. That Kashperova is the author of both the music and the lyrics of Songs of Love would suggest that they express very personal sentiments. Instrumentation : soprano (tenor) and piano
12/2023
Non classé
The Concept of Man in Igbo Myths
In the vast silence of their isolation, the traditional Igbos have learnt the ways of living in harmony with nature. From their origin in distant time, they have kept a sacred perspective on the natural world. In our age, there is the need for traditional wisdoms to retain their validity and be intrinsic to our philosophic and scientific perceptions of the cosmos. We cannot do without their knowledge, their spiritual perspective, and their deep faith in the harmony of all nature. Ignoring these qualities has profound environmental implications. Global warming, environmental pollution, and the exhaustion of nature's resources are but a few of the symptoms of the nature's experiences as we continue to mistreat it in order to satisfy our own ends. This work helps us to realise that wherever we are, we are a part of nature. All the things around us are as presences, representing forces and powers of life that are not ours and yet are all part of us. Then we find them reflecting in ourselves, because we are nature, though not identical with it.
11/1999
Philosophie
«Phädon», or «On the Immortality of the Soul»
This is the first modern translation of Moses Mendelssohn's classic work of 1767, the Phädon. It includes Mendelssohn's own introduction and appendix, as well as footnotes and explanatory introduction by David Shavin. (Charles Cullen's translation of 1789 is the only other extant translation.) The "modern Socrates" of the German classical period, Mendelssohn has created a beautiful translation and elaboration of Plato's Phädo led to a revolution in thought, and a subsequent renaissance in Germany. The debt of the German classical period to ancient Greece is embodied in Mendelssohn's Phädon, as is the promise of the American Revolution. The translation and accompanying notes recapture Mendelssohn's unique marriage of depth of thought and breadth of appeal.
12/2006
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
Thinking about Physics
Physical scientists are problem solvers. They are comfortable "doing" science: they find problems, solve them, and explain their solutions. Roger Newton believes that his fellow physicists might be too comfortable with their roles as solvers of problems. He argues that physicists should spend more time thinking about physics. If they did, he believes, they would become even more skilled at solving problems and "doing" science. As Newton points out in this thought-provoking book, problem solving is always influenced by the theoretical assumptions of the problem solver. Too often, though, he believes, physicists haven't subjected their assumptions to thorough scrutiny. Newton's goal is to provide a framework within which the fundamental theories of modem physics can be explored, interpreted, and understood.
"Surely physics is more than a collection of experimental results, assembled to satisfy the curiosity of appreciative experts," Newton writes. Physics, according to Newton, has moved beyond the describing and naming of curious phenomena, which is the goal of some other branches of science. Physicists have spent a great part of the twentieth century searching for explanations of experimental findings. Newton agrees that experimental facts are vital to the study of physics, but only because they lead to the development of a theory that can explain them. Facts, he argues, should undergird theory.
Newton's explanatory sweep is both broad and deep. He covers such topics as quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, field theory, thermodynamics, the role of mathematics in physics, and the concepts of probability and causality. For Newton the fundamental entity in quantum theory is the field, from which physicists can explain the particle-like and wave-like properties that are observed in experiments. He grounds his explanations in the quantum field.
Although this is not designed as a standalone textbook, it is essential reading for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, and researchers. This is a clear, concise, up-to-date book about the concepts and theories that underlie the study of contemporary physics. Readers will find that they will become better-informed physicists and, therefore, better thinkers and problem solvers, too.
01/2000
Ethnologie et anthropologie
The Wolves Rise Again. New elites born out of chaos
The successive shocks that strike our time have acted as an indicator of men : the bland elites of yesteryear, suddenly rejected by the masses, went back silently into the void where they had first come from. This opportunist plutarchy, that maintained itself so far, thanks to the industry of lying, the targeted elimination of creative people, will soon be engulfed. Around these illusionists with no audience, the hidden alphas will begin to rise. Within a few months, alphas, forged in a new metal, invaded public space. How can it be explained ? In troubled times, the hierarchies of peacetime had left, suddenly, a place to the atomisation of individuals. Chaos then allows the individual alphas to rise to power. Like a pack of wolves, these alphas quickly take the lead of small human groups organising themselves into rival packs. The French Revolution is a striking example of this evolution : the masters of yesterday were relegated because of their unsuitability.
06/2022
Histoire internationale
On the Border - The Otherness of God and the Multiplicity of the Religions
The Christian theology of religions at present faces a crisis. What precisely is the task of the theology of religions ? Does it merely consist in interpreting the non-Christian religions as steps, phases or contributions in the light of Christianity ? Has one from the theological side conceded the maximum to the non-Christian religions by acknowledging them as anonymous Christianity (Karl Rahner)? This study is an exploration on how one shall liberate the religion of the other from anonymity : how one shall leave the other with his/her own name. The model of thought employed in this study is gained through an analysis of the intercultural process of understanding, explained with instances from Africa and South America.
01/1994
Policiers
Goebius' Strange Model
A company elaborates in great secrecy a project, vital to its very survival. As the project develops, it leads the protagonists far beyond the originally envisioned simple business strategy, and brings them close to the forefront of the physical laws governing the behavior of the universe. Two intrigues intertwine... will they meet ? Or do they form the single-sided face of a Möbius strip ? "This novel is as unexpected as a UFO, and refreshing..." Cédric Villani, Fields Medal 2010. "This book is fascinating, I read it all at once..." Etienne Ghys, Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences.
01/2020
Critique littéraire
Etudes anglaises N° 2/2022 : Contemporary Nigerian literature
ARTICLES Vanessa GUIGNERY : Introduction. Contemporary Nigerian Literature in English : An Orchestra of Pluralities Madhu KRISHNAN : Contemporary Nigerian Literature, Literary Activism and Networks of Production in the Twenty-First Century Moradewun ADEJUNMOBI : Male Waithood and Radical Transformation in A. Igoni Barrett's Blackass Cédric COURTOIS : Visibilizing "Those Who Have No Part" : LGBTQIA+ Representation in Contemporary Nigerian Fiction in English Eleni COUNDOURIOTIS : Unruly Stories : Opening up to History in Helon Habila's Travelers Sule Emmanuel EGYA : The Ecopoetics of Flooding in Contemporary Nigeria Isidore DIALA : Paranoid Messiahs : The Military in Wole Soyinka's Later Satirical Drama COMPTES RENDUS Notes on Contributors Guidelines for Authors
07/2022
Littérature française
Sons of Fantasy
When we were children, we believed anything was possible... This book is a fantasy novel originally written for children. But, if you are a father or a mother, a teacher or a writer, if you still have some bits of fantasy in your soul... then, this novel is for you too. We all know how geniuses changed the world with their childlike Imagination, and how people use creative thinking to solve problems. This is a story about hope ; "Sons of Fantasy" shares the story of M. Alger, a father grieving for the loss of his dear wife, who left him with two beautiful kids. Norris and Socrates were adjusting to life without Mom... But things got more complicated when one of them was paralyzed because of a severe psychological trauma due to an overdose of fantasy... This family has a very interesting neighbor who lives a few feet away. He has a weird little hobby, reading books in the most unlikely places... He for example travelled to Romania and read "Dracula" by Bram Stoker in the Castelul Bran Castle, because it's said that the main character Dracula lived in it. And then all of a sudden he stopped travelling... He got a month ago a big long hat that belongs to the greatest witch that lived during the middle ages, "Moje Gayla". In fact, after being burned by the church, one of her relatives kept her belongings inside a wooden box... and in the twentieth century one of her grandchildren donated the box to "The Magic Square Museum" in London. Genius bought the hat at a public auction as an art relic to decorate one of his rooms. Could this weird neighbor be the reason of Socrates' psychological trauma ? Or maybe he is the one who will cure him ? And what has the hat to do with all this ?
08/2018
Non classé
Experimental Social Dilemmas
Most of the papers on social dilemmas were presented at a conference on social dilemmas that was held at the University of Groningen in the spring of 1984. Social dilemmas are interpersonal situations that are characterized by a conflict between private and collective interest, i.e. in attempting to further their private interests, participants may end up worser off than if they had abandonned self-interest and worked for the good of the community. The chapters in this book describe efforts made by social psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists to advance our understanding of the psychological processes that influence people's behavior in social dilemmas. It is assumed that understanding of these processes can help our search for solutions.
12/1986
Littérature française
Les inventeurs. Essai
What do Christopher Columbus, Reneke, Zénobe Gramme and Louis Pasteur have in common ? They were all inventors. Well fine, but who invented the crab's claw, the suction cups and the flight of squids or the proboscis of blood sucking insects ? Is invention intellectual fantasy, an industrial tool or a fundamental biological reaction ? How is this riddle to be solved ? Should we go through the list of inventions or inventors ? Is it a question of circumstances or motivations ? Who is in charge ? The Material or the Spirit ? In order to try to find a way of answering these questions, first a few very different inventors and their inventions will be presented. A few paradoxes emerge from this first part. Then we will devote an entire chapter to an exceptional inventor whose extraordinary work revolutionized how we now approach this topic. Finally, what can be said about all the inventions like the wings of birds or butterflies, the eyes of fish or insects, the leaves of trees or the social organization of beehives ? In these cases, man is not the inventor. There are countless marvels like these in the world around us. Can we explain them ? This will be the subject of the third part of this essay.
02/2017
Littérature française
My Ulster haven
1989, a 23-year-old French woman, an English student with a burdensome family background, leaves for Northern Ireland. She's on her way to start her French assistant job. She discovers this unknown part of Ireland, so underestimated and still plunged into civil war. There, she settles down and blossoms until she decides she actually wants to live there. An unexpected event will bring her back to France in 1991, but the link with this country will carry on until the Brexit announcement in 2016, and well beyond. An intimate journey to the core of Irish History, that reaches the depths of its wars, its men, its women, a journey at the very heart of the past. "A page of history - and of my history - is turning and it throws me off."
02/2022
Beaux arts
New worlds
"New Worlds" presents a selection of five outstanding nautical atlases known as portolan charts, or "portalans".These historic documents are the work of eminent scholars from Majorca, Lisbon, Le Havre, and Amsterdam. Cartographers by trade, and sometimes also skilled illuminators, they mapped what was the most probable imago mundi for their time, each exemplar crafting a fascinating visual chronicle. Jean-Yves Sarazin, head of Charts and Maps at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, scrutinizes thèse charts or atlases, and situates them in the great history of European discoveries and voyages from the early 14th to the late 17th century, from the Portuguese reconnaissance of the coasts of Africa, through the adventures of Columbus,Vespucci, and Magellan, to the Dutch voyages in the Pacific and Australia.The book's many colour reproductions are alive with picturesque details: camel caravans in the heart ofAsia, Portuguese andArab ships sailing in the Indian Ocean, wild beasts or chimaera, countless exotic plants, naval battles, and not least the frequent strangeness of the indigenous people.
10/2012
Non classé
The Search for Lyonnesse
Although Mme de Lafayette is acknowledged as the founder of the modern novel, her precise legacy has been understood only in relation to male-authored texts. However, she wrote as a woman, addressing issues that concerned women of her day, particularly the problem of the apparent incompatibility of sexual fulfilment and the institution of marriage. This study seeks to identify how La Princesse de Clèves was interpreted by three of Mme de Lafayette's most talented women successors and to show how their more sombre and subversive view of society was mediated in works of fiction which have strong affinities with the contes de fées for which they are well known. The novels of Mlle Bernard, Mme d'Aulnoy and Mlle de La Force are significant, not simply for what they tell us about themselves as women writers but also for what they reveal about the origins of the eighteenth-century novel.
07/1999
12 ans et +
Les 8 royaumes mortels Tome 1 : La cité de Pierre-de-Vie
Raised as a slave in the Darkoath camps of Aqshy, Kiri dreams of a better life. Of a city of wonders, the place of her birth… Lifestone ! She despairs of ever reaching it until a fateful day arrives when her barbarian captors are attacked by Sigmar's noblest warriors, the Stormcast Eternals. Seizing her chance, Kiri flees through a mysterious realmgate that takes her far from the fiery lands of Aqshy. She arrives in the realm of Ghyran and finds the city of Lifestone. But a curse lies on this place, withering its noble spirit. Her path leads her to a special group of children who, like her, are realm-marked the prophecised saviours of Lifestone. There's Thanis, the fighter ; Alish, the inventor ; Kaspar ; the sneak and Elio, the healer. But dark forces are allying against the children and will do anything to stop them achieving their destiny.
06/2019
