Charles Geisler and Ben Currens
Recreancy is a concept that received William R. Freudenburg’s studied attention. Freudenburg moved beyond its conventional meaning – shirking duty – to a larger realm of…
Abstract
Recreancy is a concept that received William R. Freudenburg’s studied attention. Freudenburg moved beyond its conventional meaning – shirking duty – to a larger realm of irresponsibility by public actors who breach a societal trust they assume. This research focuses on the issue of “Peak Farmland,” a rendering of global carrying capacity that, we suggest, qualifies for what Freudenburg called “privileged discourse” and possibly recreancy. Scholars identified with dematerialized progress argue that finite farmland in the face of increasing population will improve human welfare and spare land for nature. This iconoclasm presents an arena for testing academic probity with respect to global food security. After an overview of past carrying capacity debates, we summarize the “Peak Farmland” position of the dematerialization school and suggest an important blind spot: the dematerialization of the global land base itself. Gathering the results of multiple studies on land loss, we offer evidence that the world’s warehouse of productive land is not just peaking but eroding on a grand scale. Ignoring this form of dematerialization while proclaiming nearly unlimited carrying capacity for Earth’s denizens strains the meaning of responsible scholarship.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review of investigations into the specific disability of deafness in the field of sociology and other closely related fields.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review of investigations into the specific disability of deafness in the field of sociology and other closely related fields.
Methodology/approach
After a pilot search using databases appropriate to social science research, we developed key search terms and, using an inductive approach, we identified major themes in the literature.
Findings
Our review shows that deafness has been investigated for a long time in sociology and other related fields, that there is a wide range of themes in scholarly work on the experiences of deaf communities and deaf people, and that conceptualizations of deafness and d/Deaf communities have changed over time. We organize this paper around six major themes we identified, and a few highlighted pieces of scholarship illustrate these themes along the way. We particularly focus on scholarship from the late 1960s through the early 1990s as emblematic of seismic shifts in studying deafness, although we do highlight little known nineteenth century work as well.
Research implications
This paper captures the legacy of this past scholarship and reveals that deafness is a rich site of inquiry that can contribute to the field of sociology. It is also a valuable resource for any future sociological research into deafness, deaf people, and deaf communities. We conclude with a discussion of our findings, commentary on the extent to which previous scholarship on the sociology of deafness has or has not figured into current scholarship and suggestions for future research.
This chapter explores the perspectives of rural librarians about the information behaviors of children with special needs (CSN) and services available for the disenfranchised…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter explores the perspectives of rural librarians about the information behaviors of children with special needs (CSN) and services available for the disenfranchised population in the Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA) region.
Methodology/approach
Qualitative feedback is collected from 31 SCA rural librarians via phone interviews and a web-based survey about: (1) The most important information needs/wants of the CSN in the SCA rural libraries; (2) The most important information resources and services that the CSN seek/use in the SCA rural libraries; (3) Extent of perceived need for effective library services for the CSN in rural areas; (4) Ways that the SCA rural libraries can improve to better serve the CSN in their local communities.
Findings
Content analysis of the data generated quantitative representation of response counts for specific themes that resulted in practical user-centered suggestions for positive change in delivering effective library services for the CSN in the SCA region.
Originality/value
Research significance lies in its first-time effort to understand the information needs and information uses of the CSN in the SCA rural library environments from the perspective of a rural librarian immersed in an American society that perceives a parochial regional work setting. This research presents data that challenges notions stereotyping and marginalizing of the “South” in its documentation of positive and meaningful efforts that rural librarians suggest should be made to improve the conditions experienced by the CSN in this region.
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THE fuel content of an intercontinental aircraft at take‐off constitutes a considerable proportion of the all up weight of the aircraft. The weight of fuel in a typical subsonic…
Abstract
THE fuel content of an intercontinental aircraft at take‐off constitutes a considerable proportion of the all up weight of the aircraft. The weight of fuel in a typical subsonic passenger carrying aircraft at take‐off represents about 45 per cent of the aircraft's all up weight and this proportion increases to about 55 per cent in a typical supersonic transport aircraft. Due to the substantial change in the weight of these aircraft between the take‐off and landing phases, and the cost of the fuel, the importance of precise and effective fuel management will be readily appreciated if the trim of the aircraft and the operational economics is not to be disturbed during an intercontinental flight.
THE complete Concorde fuel system, part of which is described below, has been designed by the British Aircraft Corporation in conjunction with Aerospatiale of France. Plessey…
Abstract
THE complete Concorde fuel system, part of which is described below, has been designed by the British Aircraft Corporation in conjunction with Aerospatiale of France. Plessey Dynamics Group's contribution has been to design and develop the several types of fuel pump to meet the very exacting requirements of the B.A.C. specifications.
WE have now to regard Indexing from quite another standpoint. Hitherto we have been assuming it to be undertaken from a co‐operative point of view, as in the case of Poole's Index…
Abstract
WE have now to regard Indexing from quite another standpoint. Hitherto we have been assuming it to be undertaken from a co‐operative point of view, as in the case of Poole's Index and also in that of the Review of Reviews. In special work, the greater the magnitude of the task, as in the instance of Science as a whole, and any large divisions of Science, the more likely is co‐operative effort to be required, but speaking generally special indexes are largely the result of individual effort. It is here that that discrepancy in execution, allusion to which has been made earlier, becomes so manifest. It is my principal object to show how these contradictory methods, the natural result of several minds working on no fixed or settled plan, may be avoided. No space, therefore, will be wasted on detailing these inconsistencies, for the reader's and student's interests will be better served by the more positive method of pointing out how to index on a fixed and settled system. As in the previous section practical illustrations will appear later on to demonstrate this.
It is not to be expected, nor even wished, that an institution like the Public Library, especially an institution which in little more than a half‐century of life has met with a…
Abstract
It is not to be expected, nor even wished, that an institution like the Public Library, especially an institution which in little more than a half‐century of life has met with a success so far beyond the dreams of the men who brought it into being, should escape some adverse criticism from time to time. It is well that this should be so, and well that those who have the direction of these institutions should examine any such criticism which is honest and intelligent, meeting it where they fairly can, acknowledging it when it seems just, and profiting by it where it is possible so to do. The profoundest believer in the mission of the Public Library will not pretend that there is nothing which can be urged “on the other side,” or that the good which he avers the library has done and does is unalloyed with some counterbalancing evil, like every other human institution. There is nothing in this world which is wholly bright or wholly dark, and the best and purest institutions and movements are at their highest only greys.
Rachel E. Friedensen and Ezekiel Kimball
Disability is a multivalent, fluid concept that encompasses a broad set of phenomena that shape the experiences of individuals as they interact with others; social systems and…
Abstract
Disability is a multivalent, fluid concept that encompasses a broad set of phenomena that shape the experiences of individuals as they interact with others; social systems and processes; and legal structures. A disability identity also encompasses a range of different diagnoses and levels of visibility, which serve to influence whether others perceive a person to have a disability. Recognizing the multivalent nature of disability-as-identity makes it possible to understand more fully the experiences of students with disabilities in higher education institutions. Since there is no single theoretical framework that can account for the multivalent nature of disability identity, we utilize the concept of theoretical borderlands (Anzaldúa, 1987) – spaces where ideas come into conflict with one another – to bring crip theory (Kafer, 2013; McRuer, 2006) and critical queer theory (Muñoz, 1999; Wilchins, 2014) into conversation with each other to explore disability identity. We explore the medical, legal, diagnostic, environmental, social, and cultural dimensions of disability identity, concluding with a call to consider the intersectional nature of disability. We also consider the implications for higher education research and practice.