A Mimetic Reading of the Passover

The use of sacrificial animal blood in the Hebrew Bible has generated much discussion. While various scholars have attempted to explain the significance of these blood rites, each of these attempts has proved problematic. The current paper employs mimetic theory to develop a more robust and plausible model for exploring biblical animal sacrifice. Using the Passover ritual as a model, I develop a model of sacrificial blood rites as pantomimes of mimetic violence. These pantomimes re-create a violent yet transformative crisis from the community's collective memory. Such rituals allow the community to enter into and re-experience the cleansing violence of a mimetic crisis, albeit in a more controlled manner. Through these pantomimes, the community attempts to appease the primitive sacred's blood lust and re-discover the divine blessing secured through the original crisis. This model may prove helpful when applied to more opaque examples of biblical blood manipulation.     

Becoming No-Thing: Eckhart and Hegel on Identity and Difference

Abstract: My goal in this paper is to draw productively on Meister Eckhart's concept of the ‘no-thing’ in order to illuminate Hegel's ontotheological account of both human and divine kenosis. I advance the view that just as divine kenosis is understood as the outpouring of the divine which includes the death of Christ in its economic activity, human kenosis also requires an engagement with death, namely, a spiritual death to the finite. It is via this species of death which is a becoming ‘no-thing’ that the reconciliation between the human and the divine is disclosed as a unity that relies on the shared identity of the divine and the human while simultaneously respecting the integrity of both. Indeed, it is in and through their parallel activity of kenosis that finite and infinite being achieve their respective transcendence by necessarily engaging with the being of the other. Hence, Hegel's ontotheological work is not reducible to sheer immanentism as some scholars suggest, but instead upholds the genuine transcendence of the divine.     

Centering culture in the treatment of opioid use disorder with American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: Contributions from a National Collaborative Board

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities are disproportionally impacted by the opioid overdose epidemic. There remains a dearth of research evaluating methods for effectively implementing treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) within these communities. We describe proceedings from a 2-day Collaborative Board (CB) meeting tasked with developing an implementation intervention for AI/AN clinical programs to improve the delivery of medications to treat OUD (MOUD). The CB was comprised of Elders, cultural leaders, providers, individuals with lived experience with OUD, and researchers from over 25 communities, organizations, and academic institutions. Conversations were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded by two academic researchers with interpretation oversight provided by the CB. These proceedings provided a foundation for ongoing CB work and a frame for developing the program-level implementation intervention using a strength-based and holistic model of OUD recovery and wellbeing. Topics of discussion posed to the CB included engagement and recovery strategies, integration of extended family traditions, and addressing stigma and building trust with providers and clients. Integration of traditional healing practices, ceremonies, and other cultural practices was recommended. The importance of centering AI/AN culture and involving family were highlighted as priorities for the intervention.     

Eco-restrictive experiences forming extraordinary consumer experiences

This article contributes to different research traditions when proposes to reflect on theoretical fields, such as consumer culture and contemporary marketing. The study in a tourist and ecological conservation project revealed eco-restricted extraordinary experiences. We found a group of volunteers that build meanings and practices connected with new actions and habits that offer, not only ecological and sustainable benefits, but new value consumption relations. In contextualizing our findings, we highlight experiences and curiosities that are glossed over in academic and practical accounts that celebrate the extraordinary experience. It was observed, by analyzing data from various qualitative techniques, that the findings cross borders of mundane ingrained practices and bring an emerging domain, where both, consumption and anti-consumption experiences, offer insights into to a diversity of areas of knowledge.     

Auditory evoked brain responses: Intensity functions from bipolar human scalp recordings

Average evoked brain responses were computed from four simultaneous recordings during binaural tone stimulation at 10 intensity levels. Amplitudes and latencies were measured for the prominent components, and linear regression coefficients were computed. The results indicate that the sensitivity of the evoked response to stimulus intensity is dependent upon the selection of the appropriate measure. Linear amplitude functions were demonstrated. Additional research relating these responses to psychophysical measures is suggested.     

A pseudorandom noise generator for use in auditory research

A noise generator that is capable of delivering long-duration samples of reproducible noise is described. The noise is generated as a pseudorandom telegraph waveform but may be filtered so that its amplitude distribution is approximately Gaussian. The design and construction of the generator are detailed and a few possible applications are given.     

The role of response processes in the formation of cross-modality assimilation effects

A unimanual, two-digit choice-reaction-time task was used in conjunction with visual signals presented in the extreme peripheral field. The position of the signal on the retina, the eye stimulated, the hand used in responding, and the operating digits were all controlled for their effects. Stimulus-response compatibility was maintained throughout. It was found that RT to ipsilateral S-R pathways was consistently faster than when the pathways involved transcommissural connections. Subsidiary findings related to differences between the operating digits and the side of signal occurrence. These effects are discussed in connection with known interhemispheric phenomena and other CRT findings.     

SOME EFFECTS OF CULTURAL TRAINING ON LEADERSHIP IN HETEROCULTURAL TASK GROUPS1

Diriger des groupes de travail d'une autre culture : effets de I'initiation préalable à cette culture. — Etude exploratoire portant sur l'utilité de programmes d'enseignement culturel pour accroître l'efficacité de ceux qui sont amenés à diriger des groupes de travail appartenant à une autre culture que la leur. La recherche a porté sur vingt-quatre sujets américains (cadets ROTC, engagés volontaires dans une compagnie des Forces Spéciales de l'armée américaine) et a également requis la participation de douze étudiants arabes, inscrits à I'Université de l'Illinois. Les vingt-quatre sujets américains ont été divisés en deux groupes égaux d'après la note qu'ils ont obtenue au LPC (Least Preferred Coworker : partenaire le moins aimé) qui permet d'apprécier les attitudes manifestées dans l'exercice du commandement. Ces groupes sont de nouveau dichotomisés selon deux types de formation : douze sujets reçoivent pendant trois heures un enseignement programmé sur la culture arabe, les douze autres reçoivent un enseignement de même durée et de même forme, sur un sujet sans rapport avec la culture arabe, à savoir la géographie du Moyen-Orient. Après la phase d'enseignement, on demande à chaque S. américain de diriger un groupe composé de deux arabes et de lui-même. Chaque équipe de deux arabes est utilisée une fois dans chacune des quatre conditions expérimentales (deux types de chefs, deux types de formation), l'ordre étant contrebalancé. Chaque groupe travaille sur trois tâches différentes (une tâche coopérative non structurée, une tâche coopérative structurée, une tâche de négotiation). On obtient généralement un plus haut niveau de performance, mesurée à la fois par la productivité et par la qualité des relations dirigeant-dirigé, avec les moniteurs qui ont reçu un enseignement sur la culture arabe. On trouve également des différences entre les moniteurs libéraux, soucieux de bonnes relations inter-personnelles et les moniteurs autoritaires et répressifs. l'interaction entre I'initiation à la culture et le style de commandement montre que les moniteurs qui ont des styles différents bénéficient de manière spécifique du programme d'initiation culturelle. On constate que I'initiation à la culture et I'interaction face à face avec des gens d'une autre culture entraînent des changements positifs dans les attitudes.     

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