Eurabian Nights: From Narrative Identities to Imagined Communities

Conference (2013, September)

Though the themes of ‘counter-jihad’ and ‘islamofascism’ contributed to somehow renew the far right discourse, it is arguable that the core structure of the underlying political narrative remained ... [more ▼]

Though the themes of ‘counter-jihad’ and ‘islamofascism’ contributed to somehow renew the far right discourse, it is arguable that the core structure of the underlying political narrative remained unchanged – ‘Muslims’ merely taking the place of Jews in the role of ‘enemies from within’, while Islam superseded communism as the major totalitarian threat to the Western world. Taken as a globalised narrative, counter-jihad discourse displays striking differences between its North American and European versions, the former emphasizing Islam as a rather external, terrorist threat, whereas the latter denounces it as a cultural peril, resulting from an alleged failure of multiculturalism both as a policy and as an ideology. The ‘Eurabia’ conspiracy theory often serves as the bedrock of these narratives: a deliberate, albeit covert policy framework set by European and Arab leaders in order to gradually establish a Muslim majority in Europe. Still, the question remains whether these new discursive entities function as pure ‘identity markers’ or reveal original, unprecedented forms of ‘imagined communities’ (B. Anderson). In this respect, the Eurabian scenario contrasts sharply with the traditional far right rhetoric of decline: as it sets a seemingly inescapable, dystopian horizon, it paradoxically presupposes the existence of an organized political community actually able to do something to prevent that dark future from happening. Through ‘heuristics of fear’ (H. Jonas), Eurabia aims at creating a community of politically aware individuals and empowering them for current and future struggles. In our paper, we propose to analyse such ‘imaginary institution’ of a counter-jihad society. Using controversy mapping tools to show the relation between actors of the movement, we will particularly focus on the blogging community and its notably prominent role in the spreading and structuring of the Eurabian dystopia. [less ▲]

Géographies religieuses et migrations postcoloniales: déclinaisons kimbanguistes, pentecôtistes, olangistes en Belgique

in African Diaspora : a Journal of Transnational Africa in a Global World (2013)

Kolmar übersetzen. Studien zum Problem der Lyrikübertragung

Book published by Wallstein (2013)

L'annotation des copies en expression écrite est-elle efficace et équitable ?

Conference (2013, September)

Dans cette communication, nous analyserons les croyances et pratiques des enseignants d'anglais/langue étrangère en matière de rétroactions fournies en expression écrite.

Vom Versmaß zum Gestus. "Rhythmus" als übersetzungspoetologische Kategorie

in Nörtemann, Regina; Viehöver, Vera (Eds.) Kolmar übersetzen. Studien zum Problem der Lyrikübertragung (2013)

Von Holunderblüten zum Holunderbusch. Über Wege und Umwege in Wilhelm Raabes "Holunderblüte" und Theodor Storms "Ein Bekenntnis"

Conference (2013, September)

„Lauter und stärker, wohlhäbiger, fülliger wurden die Straßen.“ – Gertrud Kolmar. Bibliographie der Übertragungen in Wort und Ton

in Nörtemann, Regina; Viehöver, Vera (Eds.) Kolmar übersetzen. Studien zum Problem der Lyrikübertragung (2013)

A small overview of available computer software to support computerized adaptive testing

Conference (2013, August 27)

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is becoming a central tool for testing and assessment. It offers many advantages over fixed (“paper-and-pencil”) methods, such as individualized assessment, reduction ... [more ▼]

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is becoming a central tool for testing and assessment. It offers many advantages over fixed (“paper-and-pencil”) methods, such as individualized assessment, reduction of fraud, and straightforward estimation of proficiency levels. CAT has been studied for decades and remains an up-to-date research field in psychometrics and educational science. Practical CAT administration, however, is less frequently considered in such studies. Assigning CAT to respondents requires both the sufficient availability of computer machines, and the use of a powerful and easy-to-use CAT software. With the fast increase of computer resources at moderate cost, the availability of computer machines is becoming a less central, yet important, issue in the practical assessment of CAT tests. The choice of an accurate CAT software, on the other hand, should be guided by its flexibility, its underlying statistical modeling, and its user-friendly potential. According to the type of research or data analysis, some CAT software might be preferred to another. It is therefore important for the researcher or the clinician to know about the current availability of such software, in line with current research and practice in the CAT framework. Moreover, these software should allow enough flexibility to incorporate updates and new theoretical developments, such as e.g., new rules for next item selection. This talk proposes a simple and user-oriented presentation of several CAT software that are currently available. The software to be presented are: the Firestar software (Choi, 2009), the R package catR (Magis & Raîche, 2012), the R package catIrt (Nydick, 2012) and the CAT web-platform Concerto (Kosinski & Rust, 2011). The first three are non-commercial software, while Concerto is a web interface between end users (willing to develop computerized assessment tests) and catR (as underlying routine software). Both R packages are written to be most useful for researchers, without end-user interface, and are therefore less appealing for applied researchers who are not familiar with R. Yet, they offer flexible solutions by means of many options to optimize the design of the test and generate many response patterns for further analyses. Also, they can be easily integrated as sub-routines for more sophisticated CAT software. Firestar provides a user interface and makes all necessary computations with underlying R code. This talk aims at focusing on freely available CAT software. For this reason, only the four aforementioned programs will be presented, although it exists other, commercial CAT software such as e.g., the CATSim software (Assessment Systems Corporation, 2012). The different CAT software are briefly presented and their advantages and drawbacks, flexibility and usefulness are compared, mostly from the point of view of the applied researcher and clinician. The following criteria were retained for objective comparison: (a) their main goal of application; (b) the type of data and IRT modeling they can deal with; (c) the type of users they are focusing on; (d) their operating options; (e) their availability and flexibility for further improvements. A small demonstration of the R package catR will be proposed optionally, depending on time limitation. References Assessment Systems Corporation (2012). CATSim: Comprehensive simulation of computerized adaptive testing. St. Paul, MN. URL: http://www.assess.com/. Choi , S. W. (2009). Firestar: Computerized adaptive testing simulation program for polytomous item response theory models. Applied Psychological Measurement, 33, 644-645. Kosinski, M., & Rust, J. (2011). The development of Concerto: An open source online adaptive testing platform. Paper presented at the International Association for Computerized and Adaptive Testing (IACAT), Pacific Grove, CA. Magis, D., & Raîche, G. (2012). Random generation of response patterns under computerized adaptive testing with the R package catR. Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 1-31. Nydick, S. W. (2012). catIrt: An R package for simulating IRT-based computerized adaptive tests. R package version 0.3-0. [less ▲]

Recipes of the self. Moroccan women and culinary practices in migration context.

Scientific conference (2013, August)

This paper aims at exploring the culinary practices exerted by Moroccan women living in Milan's (Italy) hinterland, highlighting their role in the definition of one’s own identity in the context of ... [more ▼]

This paper aims at exploring the culinary practices exerted by Moroccan women living in Milan's (Italy) hinterland, highlighting their role in the definition of one’s own identity in the context of migration. The analysis will focus on the praxeological and material basis of female agency and on the role of the concept of “style” in the dynamics and processes studied. In the context of the everyday life of some Moroccan women living in a city of the province of Milan (Italy), cooking practices play a fundamental role, because of their importance in the construction of personal and collective identities. The ethnographic work reveals that the choice of the used objects and the performing of precise gestures reflect a dynamical positioning between two poles. On the one hand a commitment to the home country’s culinary traditions is needed to overcome a state of disorientation due to being perceived as a foreigner in Italy as in Morocco; on the other hand taking a distance of these same practices is functional to adhere to the "modernity" rules or the dietary ones. Within these processes, the active dialogue with the concept of Moroccan “style”, defined locally as transnationally, results as a crucial factor. The life stories collected and the material culture analyzed reveal in fact singular strategies of self-definition, which allow women to exercise their own agency both in the family context and in public spaces. [less ▲]

The « boring billion » : an exciting time for early eukaryotes !

Conference (2013, August)