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The article focuses on the interwoven Indigenous and diaspora identities of the author's family on the island of Guåhan. Topics include the interconnected histories of Black and Indigenous Pacific peoples, the narrative of family discovery that challenges dominant representations of Guåhan, and the author's choreographic practice as a means to engage with and honor her ancestral heritage.

Copyright of Historische Zeitschrift is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article asks questions about the ethnocentrism, xenology, and racism at work in the ways that the history of traditional music in the British Isles has been recorded and understood. It concludes with a thought experiment in which several alternative ancestral figures are selected in the hope that their unexpected presence might reorient those narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural beliefs influence the perceived cause, methods of diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. A qualitative study was conducted among traditional health practitioners (THPs) in the Harry Gwala District Municipality to further explore this influence. Purposive sampling assisted in the recruitment of 31 participants (9 males and 22 females). The four key themes this study investigated in relation to mental illness included its causes, methods of diagnosis, common symptoms observed and treatment approaches used by THPs, and the system of patient management. Culturally, mental illness was reported to be caused by witchcraft and an ancestral calling in this study. Mental illness was predominantly diagnosed by spiritual intervention which included divination through consultation with the ancestors, familial background, burning of incense which can also be part of communicating with the ancestors and through examining the patient. The common symptoms included aggression, hallucination and unresponsiveness. Prevalent modes of treatment included the use of a medicinal concoction and performing cultural rituals where ancestors and other spirits were assumed influential. The duration of the treatment process was dependent on guidance from the ancestors. Most causal aspects of mental illness from diagnosis to treatment seemed to be influenced by cultural beliefs and ancestors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new mitochondrial genome is the most gene-rich one found in a major division of eukaryotes — and it shares remarkable features with that of one of its most distant relatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the first time that the fossil footprints of a group of Middle Eocene elephant ancestors have been discovered in the Gonjo Basin, East Tibet Plateau. The Gonjo Formation is attributed to the Middle Eocene Epoch (U-Pb age = 44.7 ± 1.2 Ma) and consists mainly of purplish-red, medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, siltstones interbedded with mudstones, and conglomerates with sedimentary structures like ripple marks, rip-up clasts, and trough-cross bedding, suggesting fluvial-lacustrine systems. The group of fossil footprints has a characteristic oval-concave shape, and the toe impressions are absent. Some fossil footprints are overstepped with a pockmarked texture resembling Proboscipeda enigmatica. More than 165 fossil footprints of the group are relatively well-preserved with different diameters, which is evidence of highly social behavior and trackmakers of different ages, including calves, juveniles, adolescents, and adults. The size frequency of the fossil footprints enabled us to deduce the body mass, shoulder height, and hip-height distribution of the trackmakers that crossed the East Tibet Plateau 44.7 Ma ago. The trackmakers comprised an estimated average hip-height of 111.8 cm, an average shoulder height of 172.8 cm for males/155.9 cm for females, and an average body mass of approximately 1 218.1 kg for males/907.8 kg for females. The abundance of fossil footprints reveals that in the Middle Eocene Epoch, the environment was extraordinarily conducive for the elephant ancestors to live in the East Tibet region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I introduce the concept of “transcosmogenerationality” to emphasize the sustained and dynamic significance of Ancestral relationalities to particular Indigenous modernities. I draw on the case of certain Akha communities in Southeast Asia and southwest China who are channeling wealth from booms in cash crops, such as coffee, rubber, and tea, into the “ritual economy” bridging the parallel and mutually dependent worlds of Ancestors and descendants. These communities are further channeling their wealth into local and transregional efforts to sustain and vitalize their Ancestral Ways and cultivate a pan‐Akha identitarian movement. Their motivations are to ensure their Ancestors remain always living and thus close to and of moral significance for the living living, sustain their and their descendants' receipt of Ancestral geeqlanq or vital life‐giving energy, redistribute wealth, and promote the status of their families and clans. I emphasize that growing wealth and access to consumer goods among Akha has led not to the decline, but rather, an intensification of Ancestral relationalities, which they view as the very source of this wealth. I further argue that Akha rites of transcosmogenerational commensality are especially concrete and revealing of the co‐presence and conviviality between and among Ancestors, Elders, and descendants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of CEO narcissism on eco-innovation. Moreover, we explore the moderating influence of CEO ancestor origins and CEO tenure on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a comprehensive dataset comprising 198 non-financial U.S. firms spanning the years 2010–2021, we apply OLS regression. Findings: Our research findings are as follows: (1) CEO narcissism negatively affects eco-innovation. (2) CEO ancestor origins play a moderating role, with this effect being attenuated for CEOs with ancestral origins from highly sustainable backgrounds. (3) CEO tenure strengthens the relationship between CEO narcissism and eco-innovation. This study sheds light on the significance of CEO personality traits in influencing eco-innovation decision-making. The results offer valuable insights for stakeholders, boards of directors and investors. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, none of the studies on sustainable tools have examined the moderating effect of CEO demographics characteristics on the CEO personality traits –eco-innovation nexus, and this offers a great opportunity to make new contributions to the extant literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the possibilities of engaging in playful interactions with ancestral forces, expanding the boundaries of academic writing. Specifically, it examines the interplay between writing and inquiry, emphasizing play as a means of communion with both human and nonhuman ancestors, fostering vulnerable listening within academic discourse. Departing from conventional productivity-centric writing approaches, the paper advocates for a paradigm wherein writing responds to curiosity, evoking play, and imagination, while also embracing experimentation and learning. This conceptual shift envisions writing as a dynamic companion, extending its engagement beyond human ancestors through a posthuman theoretical perspective. Similar to play, writing emerges from interactive experiences, offering a conduit for establishing profound connections with the external world. Engaging with ancestral figures through playful frameworks necessitates embodied practice, encompassing sensory, emotional, and sociocultural dimensions. The paper employs practices of storytelling, metaphors, and nonlinear narratives in an exploration of three nonhuman ancestors in particular: moths, ladders, and trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Xunzi 荀子 is often taken as a coherent text authored by the historical Xun Kuang 荀況 (ca. 314–ca. 238 BCE), it exhibits discontinuities and high rates of repetition, suggesting that many chapters are compilations, not single-author texts. Some meaningful parallels indicate the presence of a skillful compiler who collected variations on the same topic. The best candidate for such an editor appears to be Liu Xiang 劉向 (79–8 BCE). While Liu claimed to have deleted a large number of "duplicates" from his materials, he also seems to have purposefully integrated some of them into his final version of the text. Thereafter, a pian 篇 (chapter) was no longer the same as its pre-Han ancestor; it had become longer and more comprehensive, yet not a linear unit of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characters in the ancestor narratives of Genesis, and especially in the Jacob cycle, are often modeled on the places and peoples that are thought to descend from them. Both Esau and Jacob, as national progenitors of Edom and Israel, occupy similar spaces to their later polities, and behave in similar ways. Yet, strangely, Jacob encounters a threatening Esau at the Jabbok River, far from where the Edomites would have reasonably interacted with the kingdom of Israel. In this article, I look at the literary history and narrative description of Esau and his relationship with the lands east of the Jordan. Before he was made the father of Edom, the character of Esau reflected monarchic-period projections of the broad networks of mobile groups involved in movement throughout the eastern highlands, and which were presented as threatening to inhabitants east of the Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about the unique spatial arrangement of the capital (Nanjing) and imperial mausoleum (Xiaoling) in fourteenth-century China. According to Confucian principles and traditional practices, the location of tombs should be separated from the space of the living for philosophical and emotional reasons. However, this convention was challenged by the Hongwu emperor (1368–1398), founder of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), who built his own imperial mausoleum, Xiaoling, within the confines of the capital, an unprecedented act. According to primary sources—ritual texts, gazettes, tour books, and poetry—this innovative capital–mausoleum plan suggests an extension of the pattern by which the Hongwu emperor honored his ancestors through spatial arrangements and incorporated the imperial ancestors into dynasty-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presented here is an attempt at a comparative analysis of three early modern phenomena in the history of ideas and culture: three ethnogenetic theories about the origins of the Swedish (Gothic) and Polish (Sarmatian) nations and states, as well as that of the Danes, originating from the ancient Cimbri. First, they will be compared as historiographic concepts characteristic of early modern knowledge. The next part of the paper concerns modifications to these theories made in national historiographies and the broader visions of the history of the respective countries based on them. The last part of the study presents how these ideas function at the political level, both in relation to broader visions of political reality and political practice. The analysis suggests that while in the case of the 16th-century historical concepts of origo gentis, there are more similarities than differences, the subsequent stages of development show increasing differentiation: the ideas of Sarmatian ethnogenesis underwent greater changes than others. However, there are similarities in the way Gothic and Sarmatian ideas functioned in political life and politics during that period in Sweden and Poland, respectively. The weakest point is the influence of Cimbrian ethnogenesis on the politics of Denmark at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study documented the structure and meaning of the language used in the Buntang ritual, as practised among the Dayak Maanyan in East Barito, Kalimantan, Indonesia. This is a special language spoken by this group, living in the southern part of Borneo, to communicate with their ancestors’ spirits. In our documentation, we observed the Buntang ritual, the location of the ceremony, the participants involved, and the interactions between participants to obtain a complete record of the Buntang ritual. We then interviewed a wadian, “priest”, for a complete transcription of the speech used during the ritual. The language used in ritual features constructions of paired clauses. Drawing on the awakening and summoning practices for ancestors’ spirits in this ritual, we documented 2,868 paired clauses. The first clause of the pair uses words from daily use in the Maanyan language, while the second clause uses words that are only used in the ritual. Pairs are a combined form of two clauses with the same meaning in an unequal number of words. This inequality occurs because of verb, noun, or adverb reductions at the beginning of the second clause and word additions at its end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cumulative culture, the accumulation of modifications, innovations, and improvements over generations through social learning, is a key determinant of the behavioral diversity across Homo sapiens populations and their ability to adapt to varied ecological habitats. Generations of improvements, modifications, and lucky errors allow humans to use technologies and know-how well beyond what a single naive individual could invent independently within their lifetime. The human dependence on cumulative culture may have shaped the evolution of biological and behavioral traits in the hominin lineage, including brain size, body size, life history, sociality, subsistence, and ecological niche expansion. Yet, we do not know when, in the human career, our ancestors began to depend on cumulative culture. Here, we show that hominins likely relied on a derived form of cumulative culture by at least ~600 kya, a result in line with a growing body of existing evidence. We analyzed the complexity of stone tool manufacturing sequences over the last 3.3 My of the archaeological record. We then compare these to the achievable complexity without cumulative culture, which we estimate using nonhuman primate technologies and stone tool manufacturing experiments. We find that archaeological technologies become significantly more complex than expected in the absence of cumulative culture only after ~600 kya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on case studies or 'microhistories' from the author's own research to explore the ethical responsibility of family historians to represent the experiences of those whose lives have been 'hidden from history', and in particular the lives of one's female ancestors, as a way of correcting the omissions and erasures of official histories. It also discusses the ethical dilemmas posed by the discovery that one's ancestors were involved in activities that are now regarded as morally suspect, such as profiting from the ownership of slaves. Finally, the article debates ethical arguments about respecting the rights of the dead to privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study will present the legal basis of the institution of branch inheritance and its primary problems in the application (judicial) practice of Hungarian dualism and I. Czechoslovak Republic. It will also look at the de lege ferenda proposals - Teleszky's 1882 draft law of inheritance, reworked into the government's 1887 draft law of inheritance, the 1900 draft of the 1st Hungarian General Civil Code, and the government's 1933 to 1937 draft laws on branch succession. The draft Czechoslovak legislation was intended only as a temporary solution to the special (sui generis) legal inheritance of inherited property for the inheritance law in force in Slovakia and Subcarpathian Rus. The then Hungarian and Czechoslovak legal scholarship and practice, when repeatedly considering branch inheritance, was based on its acceptable preservation and therefore until the adoption of the first socialist Civil Code (1950) branch inheritance remained a part of the bourgeois inheritance law in Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author intends to reappraise the Naga perceptions of cosmology and spirituality which are rooted in the spheres of ecology, folklore, stone culture, "gennas" (rituals and taboos), and ancestor veneration. Included within the realm of ecology are village territory, land, forest, and agricultural fields. The Naga spirituality is perceptible in persistent survival of revered human relationships with the nature and the supreme creator, enduring roles of shaman-priests and clan/village elders as also commitment toward village customs and gennas, including agricultural rituals plus reverence for elders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The memories of the past, called nostalgia in terms of literature, can be the primary motivation for human life. A lot has been written about it in the literature; nostalgia also has profound effects on Urdu literature. Those who directly experienced the division of the subcontinent have made it the subject of their writings. There are many effects of nostalgia in the novel “Aagy Samandar Hai” How the partition destroyed the houses and then how the people tried to rebuild them, what mental agonies they went through, how many psychological and physical difficulties they faced in leaving the land of their ancestors, and What is the tragedy of memory. All of this has been tried to be considered in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes Antonio Cassese's vital influence on the 'European tradition of international law' through an attentiveness to those specific activities through which Cassese, as heir, received this tradition and through which Cassese, as ancestor, transmitted it. The specific activity that the article chooses to describe is that of writing – one of the several activities through which a tradition might be transmitted and received. It does so especially through close readings of several pieces of international legal writing wherein Cassese explicitly sought to dialogically redescribe the practices of an older generation of Euro-American international lawyers, including The Tokyo Trial and Beyond (1994) and Five Masters of International Law (2011). This training repertoire is his 'spiritual exercises', and, as the article shows, it invites others to take up their role as international lawyers and to conduct themselves as international lawyers in a specific way by cultivating in them conscience as a capacity to actualize judgment in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is motivated by the problem of collective responsibility for the actions committed by our ancestors and by the question about the legitimacy of demands for forgiveness. Turning to the conceptual universe of Hannah Arendt, this argues for the exercise of the capacity for judgment as a catalyst for both the demand for forgiveness and collective responsibility. Forgiveness is thus presented not only as a moral category but as fundamentally political one, essential for reconciling with what has happened and for looking to the future with hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The humanitarian crisis in Syria has fuelled the Circassian issue in Russia. Escaping from the war, hundreds of Syrian Circassians (Adyghe) chose Russia as their destination because their ancestors came to the Middle East from the North Caucasus. Syrian Circassians have faced difficulties in entering Russia and staying there regardless of the state's ability to accept a large number of immigrants. In the case of receiving Syrian Adyghe, Russian authorities were suspicious about: (1) growing Circassian activism before the Olympics in Sochi; (2) ISIS infiltration; and (3) ethnic tensions in the Southern regions. Nevertheless, many Syrian Circassians settled in Russia due to the support extended by local Adyghe. Our findings are based on interviews and public polls conducted in Karachay-Cherkessia in 2017 and Adygea in 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egungun is believed to be a visible appearance of the dead ancestors as spirits who occasionally revisit the living for festivals. During this visit, the egungun is clothed with beautiful attire that will become the embodiment of attraction. Despite several studies on egungun in Yoruba land, there is no comprehensive study on this type of egungun, thus creating a dearth of literature in this area of art history and thereby leaving in-depth research on the costumes of egungun elewe of Igbomona land. This study is targeted on the artistic and aesthetics analysis of egungun elewe of Igbomina land aiming to promote the Yoruba decorative art to document the findings in the annals of history. The study is descriptive as each of the items of the egungun elewe's costume is analyzed using the qualitative method. Findings reveal that the role, functions, and cultural significance of the egungun elewe of Igbomina land have aesthetic qualities different from other forms of egungun known in other parts of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Odeere is the property of Edicoes UESB and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article builds upon African American literary theorist Margo Perkins's conception of political autobiography from her award-winning book Autobiography as Activism: Three Black Women of the Sixties , and the work of critical prison studies scholars Angela Y. Davis and Dylan Rodríguez. It reads Susan Burton's 2017 narrative, Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women , as reflecting an untheorized subgenre of African American confinement literature: the post-Black Power neo-abolitionist memoir. In the memoir, Burton alludes to slavery and anti-slavery activism to contextualize historically the post-Black Power-era prison-industrial complex and galvanize opposition to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, Beatrice Faye explores the relationship between life and death in Africa. In African tradition, death is considered a continuation of life in the afterlife, and life does not end with death, but rather continues in the village of the ancestors. This conception of continuity between life and death is rooted in initiation rites, where people learn to symbolically "live" their death in order to reach a new phase in their existence. Additionally, it is emphasized that Africa is oriented towards life and not towards death. The author examines the value of life in Africa, initiation rites, and the meaning of resurrection in African culture. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Romanian Review of Private Law / Revista Română de Drept Privat is the property of Universul Juridic Publishing House and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses is the property of Universidad de La Laguna and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Mediterranea - Ricerche Storiche is the property of Mediterranea-Ricerche Storiche and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The bee louse (Braula coeca) is a honeybee inquiline and a long-standing taxonomic mystery. A new study unravels their genomic architecture and shows that these enigmatic flies have evolved from scale insect-exploiting drosophilid ancestors and share genetic similarities with their honeybee hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural Psychology (CP) is a relatively young perspective, growing in the field of social sciences, nevertheless, its ideas are found throughout the fields and its ancestors' -Naturwissenschaften and Philosophy- history. CP has several central notions which are introduced in the following paper. Thru their introduction, the central goal of the revelation of the essence of the idea of CP is proffered. The core idea of CP is a general psychological concept that should be considered as a starting point from where new ideas, innovations and challenging theories can emerge. In other words, a new general psychological perspective we can use as a starting point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of grave goods provides information about the rituality of ancient populations. The present investigation aspires to broaden the knowledge about the funerary use of spindle whorls among pre-Hispanic Mayas. These objects are generally interpreted as part of the identity of the buried individuals. However, in Palenque, southern Mexico, spindle whorls are deposited in contexts that present evidence of posthumous rituals and secondary manipulation of the skeletal content. In this research, six recently excavated funerary contexts from Group IV, an elite household from Palenque, are examined in detail. These graves are compared with burials of other domestic groups and with an example of the Palenque’s royalty: the Red Queen’s sarcophagus. Iconographic, historical and ethnographic sources allowed to infer that the spindle whorls in Palenque were used to carry out posthumous rites that involved the production of thread to materialize a communication route with the ancestors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through unravelling the historical domination to reveal the original dominion of nature, different influences will be looked at that has impacted the relationship between human beings and the natural environment. The historical factors of the domination of nature and the responsibility given to the first human ancestors regarding the dominion of nature are important in this analysis. Reference to dominion of nature, dates back to the book of Genesis in the Bible, where dominion of the creation was given as a responsibility to human beings. Tragically, the original plan was not realized, leading to the establishment of the two worldviews which are a non-religious worldview and the God centred worldview. These two divergent paths have prevailed throughout history and developed in their own unique ways. Following the Renaissance, a division occurred between science and religion. Humanism became more dominant eventually leading to the Enlightenment where intellectuals such as Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, confronted with dramatic changes in society which impacted the environment, addressed this and other issues. Development occurred in the religious worldview. God had guided humanity, for those who could hear his voice, in a direction to represent his views in society and throughout the world. Significant individuals were Francis of Assisi, Francis Bacon and Rudolph Steiner. The division between science and religion has been problematic in the development of science and technology and has influenced the current dilemmas impacting the earth and humanity. In this research paper proposals are looked at regarding a deeper understanding that can shed light on the current situation and help resolve so many of the issues confronting humanity and the environment currently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preston Greene (2020) argues that we should not conduct simulation investigations because of the risk that wemight be terminated if our world is a simulation designed to research various counterfactuals about the world of the simulators. In response, we propose a sequence of arguments, most of which have the form of an "even if? response to anyone unmoved by our previous arguments. It runs thus: (i) if simulation is possible, then simulators are as likely to care about simulating simulations as they are likely to care about simulating basement (i.e. nonsimulated) worlds. But (ii) even if simulations are interested only in simulating basement worlds the discovery that we are in a simulation will have little or no impact on the evolution of ordinary events. But (iii) even if discovering that we are in a simulation impacts the evolution of ordinary events, the effects of seeming to do so could also happen in a basement world, and might be the subject of interesting counterfactuals in the basement world. Finally, (iv) there is little reason to think that there is a catastrophic effect from successful simulation probes, and no argument from the precautionary principle can be used to leverage the negligible credence one ought have in this. Thus, if we do develop a simulation probe, then let?s do it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most people are familiar with claims concerning entire generations. Whether used to praise the legacy of past generations or to protect posterity, the emphasis on generational aspects is common in the realm of politics. Regardless of their prevalence, generations are rarely studied from a conceptual perspective. This article both demonstrates the need to place more emphasis on generational concepts and proposes a theoretical approach for doing so. By discussing mid-eighteenth-century British petitions, it demonstrates how historical actors operationalized generational concepts (generation, ancestor, forefather, posterity, and descendant) in practice. As a conclusion, the article suggests that their uses are best understood through Michael Saward's notion of representative claim-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on five years of intermittent ethnographic work at Kariba, I discuss the impoverishment of the Tonga of Mola chiefdom in the context of escalating human–wildlife conflict and frequent drought. I critically examine emerging competing forms of knowledge regarding traditional authority and environmental challenges between the chief and his subjects. I argue that persistent environmental crisis in the region is generating different conflictual forms of knowledge regarding traditional authority. In advancing this argument, I draw extensively upon the broader literature on power, authority and legitimacy. Local people firmly believe that these problems are induced by the current chief's avoidance and reluctance to enact rainmaking ceremonies and to appease ancestors. I document people's opinions about the current chief's 'rebellious' behaviour and how they believe it exacerbates their impoverishment and suffering through drought and attacks by animals. I demonstrate why and how the chief's behaviour contributes to the waning of his authority. The chief offers counter-narratives but, interestingly, both the chief's and the people's narratives relate to their relationship with the spirits and ancestors. By documenting these spiritual and religious narratives of human–wildlife conflicts and droughts, I extend the debates on power, knowledge and authority in southern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It's a matter of great regret to note that women even in this century play second fiddle to men. The condition of marginalized women in this context is quite inexplicable. Many writers have tried to focus their attention on this unfortunate section of the society. A number of authors have emerged over the recent years to represent them as they are so as to elevate their condition and way of life but no such spectacular improvement is marked in the society so far.Bama through her novel Sangati has made her voice more articulate over the deplorable plight of the Dalits in general and the subjugated people of Tamil Nadu in particular. The paper will also try to show the three fold discriminations that these marginalized in their day to day life. Here, Bama has not just portrayed these characters as victims, rather, they have come forward to assert their existence and have put up strong protest whenever they are humiliated and discriminated. Their voice becomes more distinct, serious and acute when they raise concern over the unjust issues they face in life. The author has given a concrete picture of the life of these female characters who maintain their life as worse as their generations of ancestors put together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genomes of extant organisms contain conserved blocks of regions that can be traced back to ancient ancestors, yet the evolutionary pressures that maintained such genomic segments remain unclear. New research on a curious organism with two different genomes sheds light on why our genomes are organized as they are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"A Spiritual Geography of Early Chinese Thought: Gods, Ancestors, and Afterlife" by Kelly James Clark and Justin Winslett challenges the assumption that the Chinese do not believe in God. The authors argue that China has a rich theistic tradition and even suggest that Confucius may have been a theist. The book analyzes historical texts to support these claims and also explores the belief in the afterlife in early Chinese thought. The authors conclude by discussing the relevance of contemporary cognitive science of religion to the study of early Chinese thought. This book provides an important resource for those interested in Chinese philosophy and sinology. [Extracted from the article]