Janie Hubbard, Adam Caldwell, Paige Moses Bahr, Ben Reed, Kristen Slade Watts and Broolyn Mims Wood
The purpose of this paper is to explore a true World War One event, the Christmas Truce of 1914. The paper is inspired by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) award…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore a true World War One event, the Christmas Truce of 1914. The paper is inspired by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) award winning book, Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by John Hendrix, which narrates the truce through a fictitious letter from a British soldier. On Christmas Eve, German soldiers on the western front line, specifically near the Belgium border, ceased fire and invited British soldiers to celebrate Christmas. Descriptions of events derive from oral histories and photos collected from actual soldiers who experienced this unusual historic event.
Design/methodology/approach
This lesson engages students in inquiry centers focused on events, location, soldiers, remembrance, and primary sources to answer the question: Why did the First World War Christmas Truce of 1914 occur?
Practical implications
World War One (AKA the First World War and The Great War) classroom history studies typically focus on tragic components of, what many call, a needless war. Many lessons examine military technologies, political power struggles, horrors of trench warfare, disease and casualties. In essence, “World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people – soldiers and civilians alike – were dead” (history.com Staff, 2009). This lesson reveals a spontaneous, impactful, emotionally charged event occurring during the worst of times. The Christmas Truce of 1914 moves students from thinking about the ravages of war into thinking deeply about what it truly means to be enemies, friends or even to mend relationships. Who are soldiers – what do they feel, need, believe and miss? During the truce, the longing for peace and human interaction superseded political ideologies, for a while. This lesson starts with students participating in a class discussion to uncover prior knowledge of the famous event. Students examine their real-life feelings regarding personal truces, answer guiding questions while rotating through classroom research centers, and collectively create a generalized response to answer the compelling question: Why did the First World War Truce of 1914 occur? Students will apply their understandings of the event, location, and feelings associated with the truce by taking a soldier’s persona and writing a letter home. Illustrations and maps further engage students’ creativity.
Social implications
This true story about the Christmas Truce of 1914 reminds us that countries may have differing ideologies and political beliefs which cause conflicts, yet people, as individuals, find commonalities making them seek peaceful connections with one another.
Originality/value
“The soldiers of 1914 remind us of the choice we all can make: we can see others as humans who matter like we matter – even when they’re our enemies. They also show us what can happen when we make that choice: enemies can become friends and, at least for a moment, there is peace” (Arbinger Institute, 2017, Section 3). This quote embodies the lesson’s value, because it brings understanding to a personal level – soldiers on the field. First World War soldiers were typically powerless. For instance, as many as 250,000 boys under the age of 18 served in the British army during the First World War. Patriotic fervor, escape from poor conditions or hopes for adventure were motives for joining. Birth certificates were uncommon; war recruiters received money for each sign-on, so boys as young as 14 went to war. In this lesson, students examine First World War background information; analyze the truce’s events, geography, soldiers and memorials. Students are immersed in large numbers of resources including videos, music, photographs, maps, books, articles, newspapers, historians’ perspectives, oral histories, museum archives and the First World War soldiers’ original letters that help reveal the story and help students understand underlying feelings of soldiers and their families.
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Janie Hubbard, Adam Caldwell, Paige Moses, Ben Reed, Kristen Watts and Brooklyn Wood
My Country ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights offers insights into the historic significance of the song’s familiar melody as an instrument for change…
Abstract
My Country ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights offers insights into the historic significance of the song’s familiar melody as an instrument for change Protesting for freedom is universal, and songs have long provided a sense of solidarity and a means to communicate messages for protesters with strong beliefs about various causes. By hearing an instrumental recording, students first engage in an activity to identify the song, which, since 1831, has been known as “America” to many in the USA. Students become familiar with concepts and historic people named throughout the book by manipulating and sorting concept cards. Using historic events depicted in the book, students create timelines using a technological timeline tool. Then, after listening to a read-aloud of the book, they use clues to match different sets of lyrics with corresponding historical events. Civil rights history is revealed through different lyrics of this song.
This chapter analyzes the semiotic construction of US claims to sovereignty in Hawai‘i. Building on semiotic theories in sociology and theories within critical Indigenous and…
Abstract
This chapter analyzes the semiotic construction of US claims to sovereignty in Hawai‘i. Building on semiotic theories in sociology and theories within critical Indigenous and settler colonial studies, it presents an interpretive analysis of state, military, and academic discursive strategies. The US empire-state attempts to construct colonial narratives of race and sovereignty that rehistoricize the history of Hawaiians and other Indigenous peoples. In order to make claims to sovereignty, settler-colonists construct narratives that build upon false claims to superiority, advancement, and discovery. Colonial resignification is a process by which signs and symbols of Indigenous communities are conscripted into the myths of empire that maintain such sovereign claims. Yet, for this reason, colonial resignification can be undone through reclaiming such signs and symbols from their use within colonial metanarratives. In this case, efforts toward decolonial resignification enacted alternative metanarratives of peoples' relationships to place. This “flip side” of the synecdoche is a process that unravels the ties that bind layered myths by providing new answers to questions that underpin settler colonial sovereignty.
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Ravit Mizrahi-Shtelman and Gili S. Drori
The study discusses the professionalization of academic leadership in Israel by analyzing and comparing two different training programs: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s…
Abstract
The study discusses the professionalization of academic leadership in Israel by analyzing and comparing two different training programs: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s (HUJI) program and the CHE-Rothschild program. The HUJI program began in 2016 to train the professoriate to take charge of leadership positions alongside a separate program for administrative staff, while the CHE-Rothschild program was launched in 2019 to train academic leaders, both professors and administrators from universities and colleges nationwide. The analysis reveals two “ideal types” of collegiality: While Model A (exemplified by the HUJI program) bifurcates between the professoriate and administrative staff, Model B (exemplified by the CHE-Rothschild program) binds administrative and academic staff members through course composition, pedagogy, and content. The study suggests a pattern of redefinition of collegiality in academia: we find that while academic hierarchies are maintained (between academic faculty and administrative staff and between universities and colleges), collegiality in academia is being redefined as extending beyond the boundaries of the professoriate and emphasizing a partnership approach to collegial ties.
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Stuart J. Kaswell and Megan C. Johnson
On December 17, 2003 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved an overhaul of the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE’s) system of corporate governance. After questions…
Abstract
On December 17, 2003 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved an overhaul of the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE’s) system of corporate governance. After questions arose concerning the NYSE’s ability to discharge its self‐regulatory functions following the resignation of former Chairman and CEO Richard Grasso, Interim Chairman John Reed proposed new governance architecture including a newly independent Board of Directors and a separate Board of Executives designed to represent the NYSE’s various constituencies. The new architecture reflects an effort to strike a balance between an independent board of directors and the desire for input from the industry, i.e., self‐regulation. This new structure should not be seen as the SEC’s determination of the future of self‐regulation, but simply as the most recent step in refining and improving the self‐regulatory process at the NYSE and other marketplaces as well.
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Rachel Ashworth, Tom Entwistle, Julian Gould‐Williams and Michael Marinetto
This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School,Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005
Abstract
This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005
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Kaixiao Jiang and Liam O'Callaghan
This chapter explores how the development of football fandom for the Chinese national team and local football clubs is strongly associated with societal changes. Although the…
Abstract
This chapter explores how the development of football fandom for the Chinese national team and local football clubs is strongly associated with societal changes. Although the performances of Chinese football teams, especially the national team, have failed to impress the world, football remains the most popular because of millions of supporters with loyalty and passion. Most studies related to fans mainly focus on the economic and political implications of spectatorship along with the rise of China. Nevertheless, few articles are available to answer the fundamental questions, such as ‘When did these supporters come out?’ and ‘What were the factors of the development of fandom?’. By going through archival records and published documents over the last decades, this chapter offers a comprehensive and historical analysis of the development of football fandom in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and deals with these unanswered questions. As such, this chapter does not intend to be the most authoritative one but is one of the rare sources to lay down the foundation for research on Chinese football fandom. Furthermore, this chapter also proves that studies on football fandom can be a useful window for observing Chinese society.
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“Wanted”, it said above a hunted culprit on the front of a national, Swedish tabloid. The two grim‐faced mug shots belonged to Kurt Hellström, CEO of Ericsson, Sweden’s most…
Abstract
“Wanted”, it said above a hunted culprit on the front of a national, Swedish tabloid. The two grim‐faced mug shots belonged to Kurt Hellström, CEO of Ericsson, Sweden’s most important telecommunications company. Over in England, Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of Britain’s largest telco, BT, made his 48th company pep talk since joining the company just nine months previously. It fell on anxious, unhumored ears. Needless to say, for shareholders and employees across Europe, the telecom industry is not a comfortable place to be.
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Dagmar Daubner-Siva, Sierk Ybema, Claartje J. Vinkenburg and Nic Beech
The purpose of this paper is to provide an inside-out perspective on the practices and effects of talent management (TM) in a multinational organization.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an inside-out perspective on the practices and effects of talent management (TM) in a multinational organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an autoethnographic approach focusing on the experiences of the first author during her employment in a multinational organization. This approach contributes to the literature by providing an insider talent perspective that thus far has not been presented in TM research.
Findings
Applying autoethnography as a means to address the inside-out perspective in TM reveals a tension. The authors label this phenomenon the “talent paradox,” defined as the mix of simultaneously occurring opportunities and risks for individuals identified and celebrated as a talent.
Originality/value
The paper may be of value to TM scholars and practitioners, as well as to employees who have been identified as high potentials or talents in their organizations. In contrast with the TM literature’s optimism, the findings illuminate that being identified as a talent may paradoxically produce both empowerment and powerlessness. Attending to personal aspects of TM processes is relevant for organizations as well as for individuals as it enables reflection and sensemaking.