1,511 words

Zombie cinema's origins in Vodoun folklore and film

The very nature of the monster in the zombie movies is that they do not think or speak, they merely act. This means that unlike most other monsters in the horror genre, there is no literary precedent.

~8 min read

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2,027 words

Truth commissions versus criminal proceedings in transitional justice

One of the advantages of a truth commission as compared to a criminal proceeding is that often, the government set in place after the fall of a dictatorship or a military regime, for example, is just starting its work and it is still weak and without the possibility to strongly follow the…

~11 min read

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1,787 words

James Monaco's "How to Read a Film" and film criticism methods

Monaco, J. (2000). How to read a film, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press. James Monaco's seminal cinema studies text, How to Read Film, is currently in its third edition.

~9 min read

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4,036 words

Literacy as a tool of subjugation in Frederick Douglass's narrative

Theories differ on how people learn to read and write. The connection between reading and writing is one of the most debated topics in literary circles. However, the debate over this topic pales to the debate over the relationship between culture and literacy.

~21 min read

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16,260 words

Pessimism and uncertainty in Arthur Clough's English poetry

Arthur Clough was a British poet who spent some of his a few of his formative years in the United States. He was considered a genius from a young age, but his consequent stint at Oxford was not fruitful.

~82 min read

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4,480 words

Disneyland as hyperreality: Baudrillard's theory of postmodern simulacra

Disneyland the fading premise of Disneyland: The Fading Premise of Reality in a Postmodern Society Postmodern society is frequently accused of being rife with spectacle.

~23 min read

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9,115 words

Online education versus traditional classroom learning: student preferences and concerns

Whether students prefer online learning or in-class learning largely depends on many factors, including how much socialization a student is looking for and whether he or she is happy with the commute and the classroom setting.

~46 min read

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4,370 words

Al Qaeda: organizational structure, financing, and future threat trends

Many people were heard to observe that "things would never be the same" following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and some even suggested the Osama bin Laden could consider himself a "dead man walking." Almost seven years have passed, though, and while it is reasonable to assert that…

~22 min read

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1,644 words

Donna Haraway's cyborg manifesto and post-organic society

Haraway defines a cyborg as a hybrid between a living organism and a machine. Although these creatures are a product of science fiction, Haraway claims they are indeed real within us in today's society.

~9 min read

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955 words

William McNeill's theory of disease as historical actor

Liberal or conservative, many historians share a fundamental bias, namely that human actions and beliefs, whether political and ideological, are the major factors that impact human history. History, viewed as such, is propelled by the human will, not by nature.

~5 min read

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