Academic literature on the topic 'Mermaid Play Society History'

Anatomía dunha serea (‘Anatomy of a mermaid’) () is a documentary theatre play in which the Galician actor Iria Pinheiro shares the experiences of obstetric violence she went through during and after labour. I filmed Pinheiro’s creative process when putting the play together. As I was filming, I found Anatomía dunha serea presented a reality that is still debated in Spain, disrupting the performative image of the pregnant woman that has been perpetuated in cultural production within western patriarchal society. In this article, I address how I use video essay as a research form to analyse the subversive nature of the play, looking at how Pinheiro uses parody as a device to disrupt, and how she confronts us with the image of the pregnant woman typically portrayed in films. Furthermore, what started as an investigation into the actor’s creative process turned into a personal exploration to understand more about the pregnant woman who infiltrates the Galician and Spanish imaginary. By analysing to what extent the image we get from films has been framed by the depictions of the pregnant Virgin Mary and how subversive portrayals in films are sometimes made invisible, I intend to challenge how we present the pregnant woman on screen.

Exploring John Dewey's hopes for play reveals much about the key role he thought it played in education in a democratic society. PlacingDemocracy and Educationin the context of Progressive Era controversies over play in the kindergarten movement and preschool education illustrates Dewey's view that teacher-guided free play could reconcile the dilemma of the need for individual agency and social discipline. Dewey built upon and critiqued the scripted play pedagogy of kindergarten founder Friedrich Froebel. Drawing in part from progressive kindergarten teachers, Dewey constructed his own notion of play that he argued fostered experiential learning, voluntary participation, and social order. For Dewey, play and work were naturally linked in ways in which the needs of the child and society coalesced. Analysis of sources from the kindergarten movement and the Sub-primary Department at the University of Chicago Laboratory School provide background for interpreting some of Dewey's writings on play, which influenced modern contests over how young children learn and should be taught.

This article is part of an arts-based, auto-ethnographic report that focuses on the complexities of Black women's identity, in relation to my own journey of self-discovery when navigating societal racism and sexism. The body of work documents my process as I devised a 30-minute solo performance, while the rehearsal process highlights assimilation similarities between Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid and the experiences faced by Black women. This revelation opened new dramatic possibilities for me to create four characters based on the negative roles ascribed to Black women in Western society. Moreover, role theory has been applied to promote psychological healing, while the dramatic metaphor acts as a container. Embodiment and role are central to dramatherapeutic practice; by exploring ourselves through role, we can understand the roles and masks we adopt, through either choice or obligation. Throughout history, Black women are said to experience harsher societal and cultural pressures, including disproportionately high levels of racism. Prolonged racial chastisement through Western external and culture-based messages can negatively inform identity and sense of self. This can lead to mental health issues caused by internalised racism, defined as integrating as true the negative stereotypes perpetuated by white-dominant society.

Marxist contributions to biblical criticism are far more sustained and complex than many would expect. This critical survey of the state of play, with a look back at the main currents that have led to that state, deals with Marxist contributions to the reconstructions of biblical societies and the interpretation of the literature produced by those societies. It begins by outlining the major Marxist positions within current biblical criticism and then moves on to consider two possible sources of further insight from outside biblical criticism: Western-Marxist studies of the ancient world (Karl Kautsky, Perry Anderson and G.E.M. de Ste. Croix) and the long and neglected tradition of Soviet-era Russian work on the ancient Near East. I conclude by pointing to a number of lingering problems: the unreliability of the literature for historical purposes; the lack of fit between juridical distinctions in the literature and class distinctions in the ancient world; the question as to whether the state can be a class; and the viability of imposing on the ancient world Marxist categories developed in very different situations.

By the end of the nineteenth century, working-class children increasingly fell under adult supervision. Working-class boys, however, retained much autonomy over their leisure time. By examining memoirs and police archives, this article shows that boys’ play often flirted with the criminal or the dangerous. When boys entered the workplace, this reputation for lawless play followed them. Drawing on accident reports, this article demonstrates that employers and republican labor inspectors blamed boys for dangerous workplace accidents by highlighting boys’ playful nature. The article concludes by showing how reformers constructed spaces for boys’ leisure in an attempt to tame and direct their play. I argue that this reckless play became one of the defining characteristics of working-class boyhood both within peer society and to external observers. Regulating boys’ play thus became a way to ensure that they matured seamlessly into worker-citizens.

Abstract The 2014 staging and publication of Jonathan Moore’s play Inigo offers a unique commentary on the relationship between acting and spirituality within the Society of Jesus, the official name of the Jesuit Order. Through a close analysis of Moore’s play, this article contends that Jesuit spirituality draws on performative skills to inspire exemplary behavior and foster an embodied and long-lasting response to devotional narratives. In probing post-secular readings of hagiographical drama, the author considers the reasons for the ongoing fascination exerted by saints as stage characters in contemporary plays and argues that the success of Inigo is due to its humanistic reconfiguration of the notions of sanctity, faith, and redemption, as well as to its understanding of sainthood as the result of answering a religious and artistic vocation.

The article discusses the question of forming "patriotism" category in Russian history. The author, summarizing the ongoing and implemented principles of patriotic education in the country, gives examples of the elements that can play a positive role in implementing patriotic education goals and objectives.

During the three decades of 1915-1944, the national currency was subjected to long periods of instability and depreciation. Domestic prices have evolved under the strong influence of internal and external factors and the economic policy of the state. New influences came into play with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. At the end of 1939, in determining the value of the expenses, the displacement produced in the structure of consumption was also taken into account with the disappearance of some of the products or the decrease of the number of others. After 1948, food and service expenditures increased in 20 years of existence among the families of employees, but not significantly, instead the share of expenditures for non-food products decreased; among peasant families, food consumption increased more than among employees and non-food and service expenditures fell.

L'objet de cette thèse est une monographie du théâtre traditionnel tibétain, ou ache lhamo, souvent appelé lhamo tout court, tel qu'il était joué à l'époque pré-moderne (antérieure à 1950) et tel qu'il est encore joué actuellement en Région Autonome du Tibet (République Populaire de Chine) et dans la diaspora tibétaine établie en Inde et au Népal. Comme la plupart des théâtres d'Asie, il est un genre composite :à la fois drame à thématique religieuse (issue du bouddhisme mahāyāna), satire mimée, et farce paysanne, il comprend de la récitation sur un mode parlé, du chant, des percussions, de la danse et des bouffonneries improvisées, ainsi qu'un usage de masques et de costumes flamboyants, qui tranchent avec la sobriété absolue des décors (la scène est vide) et de la mise en scène. Bien qu’il ait été encouragé et financé par le gouvernement des Dalai Lama, de grands monastères et des familles aristocratiques, c’est un théâtre avant tout populaire, et non pas réservé à une élite lettrée. Cette étude a circonscrit à la fois le contenu, le rôle social, le langage artistique et les implications politiques du théâtre dans la civilisation tibétaine.

La méthodologie a été composée en combinant les apports et réflexions critiques de trois disciplines :l'ethnologie, la tibétologie et les études théâtrales. L'approche est fondamentalement ethnologique, en ce que la production des données repose sur une immersion de plus de deux ans parmi des acteurs de théâtre de la Région Autonome du Tibet (1996-1998) et de près d'un an parmi ceux de la diaspora d'Asie du Sud (1998-2000). Elle l’est aussi en ce que l’intention a été de constituer une intelligibilité englobante pour l'ache lhamo, c'est-à-dire de mettre au jour l'intrication des dimensions culturelle, sociale, politique, économique, rituelle et symbolique de la pratique théâtrale. L’une des contributions principales du travail est d’étoffer l’ethnologie régionale du Tibet central, mais ses conclusions et son esprit critique le placent également dans la liste déjà importante des travaux consacrés à l'invention des traditions. La tibétologie a fourni le cadre interprétatif fondamental des données recueillies. Une importance très grande a été accordée à l'histoire du pays ainsi qu'à la philologie et aux terminologies vernaculaires particulières au théâtre. L’étude s’inscrit dans l’un des courants novateurs de la tibétologie, privilégiant les aspects non plus religieux et politiques de cette civilisation, mais sa partie « populaire » et anthropologique, mettant au premier plan l’analyse des pratiques et non celle des doctrines. Des sources écrites (textes pré-modernes et sources secondaires de folkloristes tibétains et chinois) ont été intégrées aux observations. En ce qui concerne la troisième approche méthodologique, cette étude ne s'inscrit ni dans le courant des « performance studies » de Richard Schechner, ni dans l'anthropologie théâtrale d’Eugenio Barba, ni dans l'ethnoscénologie telle qu'elle est défendue par Jean-Marie Pradier, mais plutôt dans l'anthropologie du théâtre, au sens d'étude interprétative et multidimensionnelle, utilisant les référents établis de l'anthropologie et les savoirs indigènes pour décrire une expression culturelle déterminée et reconnue comme un genre à part entière, le théâtre.

Les résultats sont présentés en trois parties, qui peuvent être résumées de manière lapidaire par trois adjectifs :culturelle, sociologique, artistique. La première partie, intitulée "Le cadre culturel du lhamo avant 1959", est consacrée au contexte (historique, religieux et littéraire) dans lequel le théâtre est inscrit, ainsi qu’aux textes (leur contenu, leurs modalités de composition et de transmission) qui révèlent l'imaginaire propre du théâtre. La deuxième partie est une analyse de "L'ancrage sociologique du lhamo". Les conditions matérielles des représentations y sont examinées :les divers types de troupes, leur organisation interne, le statut social des acteurs, l'inscription de la pratique du théâtre dans le système socio-économique pré-moderne, et les rapports d'obligations tissés entre acteurs et seigneurs, ainsi qu'entre acteurs et commanditaires des représentations. La dernière partie, "Art et savoirs des acteurs", jette un éclairage sur la matière vive du lhamo. Elle rend compte des conceptions, valeurs, plaisirs et difficultés de ceux qui pratiquent cette forme d'art. Les divers registres de leur discipline sont analysés en détail :costumes, masques, gestuelle, chant, accompagnement musical (percussions) et sentiments exprimés. L'appréciation qui en est faite par le public est aussi consignée. Au cœur de cette partie se trouve une réflexion sur la nature rituelle et non rituelle du lhamo, et sur les liens éventuels de ce dernier avec d'autres activités religieuses, telles la possession. Les dernières pages de la thèse constituent un épilogue, qui fait le point sur la situation contemporaine, donc les implications politiques, du théâtre des deux côtés de l'Himalaya.

L'image anthropologique du lhamo qui a pu être dégagée de ces trois volets d'analyse le fait apparaître comme essentiellement ambivalent :le lhamo est un théâtre de paradoxes. À l'image de la civilisation tibétaine, il est composite et cohérent à la fois. Sa cohérence réside dans son ambivalence :il traverse et relie des aspects contrastés de la culture. Il introduit du jeu entre les polarités que Tibétains et tibétologues établissent parfois un peu trop à la hâte entre culture savante et culture populaire, écriture et oralité, éléments exogènes et apports autochtones, bouddhisme et cultes qui ont précédé son implantation, aspiration religieuse et intérêts mondains, spécialistes rituels et bénéficiaires qui les rémunèrent. Combinant fonction pédagogique et fonction rituelle, sacré compassé du texte et irrévérence grivoise des improvisations, le lhamo correspond aussi très bien à la manière dont les théâtrologues appréhendent le théâtre :comme un objet curieux, créé par les hommes et qui pourtant ne cesse de les intriguer, comme s'il était venu d'ailleurs.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis examines the social politics of literary production at London's Inns of Court from 1572 to 1634. Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of cultural production are widened beyond his own French academic context so that the Inns may be located as institutions central to the formation of literary and, in particular, dramatic culture in early modern London. A significant part of Bourdieu's research has concerned the establishment of a foundation for a sociological analysis of literary works. The literary field, Bourdieu argues, is but one of many possible fields of cultural production—social networks of struggle over valued economic, cultural, scientific, or religious resources. As a historically constituted arena of activity with its own specific institutions, rules, and capital, the juridical field of early modern London was a competitive market in which legal agents struggled for the power to determine the law. Within this field, the Inns of Court served as unchartered law schools in which the valuable cultural currency of the common law was transmitted to the resident students, whose association with this currency was crucial for their pursuit of social prestige. Focusing on the four Inns of Court as central institutions in the juridical field and their relationship with the larger political and economic forces of London, that is, the field of power, the thesis demonstrates how the literary art associated with these institutions relates to the students' struggle for social legitimation, particularly in their interaction with the City and the Crown. By demonstrating how the structures of literary texts reflect the structures of the relationship between the Inns and other centers of urban power, this analysis examines the pivotal role(s) played by law students in the development of London's literary culture.

AbstractTo overcome capitalism, the strategies of reform and revolution continue to play a prominent role. Historically, both strategies have led to state-dominated societies with a top-down structure of domination. This is no coincidence, as both strategies are fundamentally state-oriented and aim at gaining state power by “climbing the mountain” or “jumping over the gorge” and a subsequent reorganisation of society by the state. However, both strategies provide valuable insights into overcoming capitalism, with reformism strengthening the process element and revolution heralding the necessary break. Strengths and weaknesses of both strategies are discussed and variants critical of the state are evaluated. In the end, it is not the name that matters, but combining reformist and revolutionary insights with the development of a societal alternative as part of the struggle to overcome capitalism.

AbstractCultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that a re inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations.What role does software play in it? We claim that software source code is an important product of human creativity, and embodies a growing part of our scientific, organisational and technological knowledge: it is a part of our cultural heritage, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that it is not lost.Preserving the history of software is also a key enabler for reproducibility of research, and as a means to foster better and more secure software for society. This is the mission of Software Heritage, a non-profit organization dedicated to building the universal archive of software source code, catering to the needs of science, industry and culture, for the benefit of society as a whole.In this keynote talk we survey the principles and key technology used in the archive that contains over 12 billion unique source code files from some 180 millions projects worldwide.

Natural History Museums continue to play a significant role as centres for educational and scientific activity of society; as new types of research potentially evolve in the future, the importance of such Museums does not diminish but only increases. The educational and scientific perspectives of natural history museums in generating knowledge of natural heritage and preserving biological diversity vouchers, have great importance and will be in increasing demand at the nearest future. All scientists working on natural profiles and environmental change are strongly recommended to pay special attention to Museum collections, visit them and help their progress to any extent possible.

High strain rate events pose high levels of complexity when analyzing a materials deformation characteristics. In high strain rate events like blast and impact, understanding the damage progression within the tested material is crucial when optimizing material design to give a desired performance. Under extreme loading cases inertial effects play a large role on how a material system performs. When a structure is blast loaded and begins deformation, inertial effects cause the structure to continue to deform past its stressed equilibrium point even after the main front of the shock wave has passed until it stabilizes its inertial effects with the material’s strength. At the point of momentary rest, the inertial effects are zero, and the structure begins to rebound causing the structure to elastically “snap back”. This behavior may repeat and oscillate to release the energy that was transferred into it until remaining at rest at its plastically deformed state. In this work, high-pressure impact loading was implemented on a thermoplastic-metal hybrid panel via free piston shock tube. Finite element models, and pressure-time and deflection-time histories, were used to correlate the deformation characteristics to an applied blast loading. Deformation characteristics are obtained in real time during the blast test using fringe projection methods. To correlate and better describe experimental observations, finite element models were developed in LS Dyna for the blast apparatus and hybrid composite panel, and the results are compared to the experimental blast tests. The results show a lag in the deformation response within the material structure from peak loading to peak deflection of 0.5ms in both the model and fringe projection analysis. Furthermore, the deflection-time history between the model and fringe projection data show similar correlations behaviorally for the duration of valid testing.

As an important part of literary form, novels have a wide audience. Novels play an important role in recording and reflecting the changes of history, society and people's spiritual consciousness. The novel has various forms of expression, and its narrative methods and techniques have been fully developed. Through the interpretation of the narrative expression of the novel, we can find that: with the development of the times, the change of social background, the change of people's spiritual ideology, the expression forms and methods of the novel also show diversity. Mining and refining the epitome of historical development from novels also reflects its importance as a literary carrier.

Washington State began legal cannabis retail sales in 2014. Legalization of adult use cannabis and retail sales may result in more cannabis products in homes and opportunities for accidental exposures among young children. Consumption of cannabis by young children can result in significant adverse health effects. This study examined details of cannabis exposure events involving children under age 12 that were reported to the Washington State Poison Center (WAPC) during January – December 2016. Redacted charts were obtained from the WAPC “Toxicall” database. 50 eligible events were identified. Structured data were used to describe child age and gender and to obtain information about the involved products, route of administration, exposure setting, and clinical effects. Additional information about the exposure event was available in case notes; qualitative methods were used to develop themes and categorize the cases. Most exposure events (62%) were for children ages 0-2, and 26% were for ages 3-5. None of the exposures were reported as intentional. Of those where the source of the product could be determined (N=29) either a parent (n=20, 69%) or grandparent (n=6, 21%) was the most common source. Nearly all (94%) exposures occurred at the patient’s home and involved a single substance (90%). Of those that noted the type (N=13), 85% indicated that the cannabis was obtained for medical purposes. Most exposures were by ingestion (86%), and edibles were the most often reported form (52% of 41 cases with product specified). Nearly all edibles were brownies, cookies, and candies (96%). Baked goods were reported to be both homemade and purchased. Three cases were exposures to cannabidiol (CBD) among children being treated for seizures by their parents: one was the result of a therapeutic error, one an adverse reaction, and one an unintentional exposure. A single child was reported as exposed through breastmilk. Of those with known medical outcomes (N=33), nearly all caused no or minor clinical effects (78%), and nearly all had symptoms for less than 24 hours, most commonly lethargy and drowsiness (50%), but five children were hospitalized for non-critical care and one child with a history of seizures, who was given CBD oil containing THC, required intensive care and intubation. Risk for accidental exposures to cannabis among young children may be increasing as legal cannabis markets become more common. Although most exposures do not cause long-lasting harms, some children can experience significant harm requiring medical intervention. Caregivers of young children are advised to safely store cannabis products in the home so that they are out of reach of children, and to use caution and consult with a healthcare provider about use of cannabis products for medical treatment of a child or adult use while breastfeeding. Clinicians may play a role by screening for household cannabis use among parents and other caregivers, and advising about safe home practices. Continued regulatory approaches to limit exposure, such as limits on THC potency and single-serving packaging designs, may also be useful.

Abstract This research project has successfully built a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) based prototype using R3 Corda open source. Its purpose applies in the oil & gas underground injection control (UIC) operations for the underground aquifer protection. This DLT prototype is a permissioned network that allows oil & gas companies to create, disseminate, and trace immutable records. The network enables oil and gas companies, government regulatory agency, and all other participants to share secure records such as well information while maintaining data integrity, traceability, and security. The purpose is to create a network of trust among all the stakeholders in the UIC processes for underground aquifer protection. In this DLT network, a company submits well information, which will be digitally signed and notarized. Unauthorized changes to the information, ownership, or history will become infeasible, thanks to the underlying cryptographic technologies of DLT. The network designs so that information stored and communicated will have a high level of trustworthiness. Every participant in the network can get simultaneous access to a common view of the data. Corda platform also provides multiple functionalities, e.g., Smart contract, Vault, Identity Management, Scheduler, Notary Services, etc. Many of the functionalities automate the data processing within the DLT databases. This project's results expect to enhance public safety and improve the aquifer protection review and operational processes. Kern County uniquely poises for a project to develop more streamlined, effective, and entirely digitized DLT-based workflows that will secure regional environmental data integrity. Water contamination is a primary concern in a region where water and petroleum play vital roles in the economy. Both industries and regulatory agencies pay close attention to environmental quality. Data integrity is a primary issue concern for those that monitor and analyze environmental data. Monitoring and forecasting based on available immutable data are imperative to mitigate complications. We have changed the manual workflow into DLT applications which takes advantage of built-in functionalities. The new review process can avoid repetitive reviews among all participants and shorten the approval time. The embedded smart contracts on the DLT network will also help automate the workflows, and therefore, will be able to help eliminate human errors and improve the turnaround time. The prototype model proves the concept of using DLT. Our research work demonstrates DLT successfully implement into energy technology. The prototype model will further expand to all the UIC processes, such as thermal, wastewater disposal, waterflood, gas injection & disposal, etc. It is a substantial cost and time savings for all the oil and gas companies. The results of this analysis could provide the government with valuable information for significant policy and regulation decisions to further benefit the community and society.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.

In September 2020, the British Academy was asked by the Government Office for Science to produce an independent review to address the question: What are the long-term societal impacts of COVID-19? This short but substantial question led us to a rapid integration of evidence and an extensive consultation process. As history has shown us, the effects of a pandemic are as much social, cultural and economic as they are about medicine and health. Our aim has been to deliver an integrated view across these areas to start understanding the long-term impacts and how we address them. Our evidence review – in our companion report, The COVID decade – concluded that there are nine interconnected areas of long-term societal impact arising from the pandemic which could play out over the coming COVID decade, ranging from the rising importance of local communities, to exacerbated inequalities and a renewed awareness of education and skills in an uncertain economic climate. From those areas of impact we identified a range of policy issues for consideration by actors across society, about how to respond to these social, economic and cultural challenges beyond the immediate short-term crisis. The challenges are interconnected and require a systemic approach – one that also takes account of dimensions such as place (physical and social context, locality), scale (individual, community, regional, national) and time (past, present, future; short, medium and longer term). History indicates that times of upheaval – such as the pandemic – can be opportunities to reshape society, but that this requires vision and for key decisionmakers to work together. We find that in many places there is a need to start afresh, with a more systemic view, and where we should freely consider whether we might organise life differently in the future. In order to consider how to look to the future and shape the COVID decade, we suggest seven strategic goals for policymakers to pursue: build multi-level governance; improve knowledge, data and information linkage and sharing; prioritise digital infrastructure; reimagine urban spaces; create an agile education and training system; strengthen community-led social infrastructure; and promote a shared social purpose. These strategic goals are based on our evidence review and our analysis of the nine areas of long-term societal impact identified. We provide a range of illustrative policy opportunities for consideration in each of these areas in the report that follows.

The British Academy was asked by the Government Office for Science to produce an independent review on the long-term societal impacts of COVID-19. This report outlines the evidence across a range of areas, building upon a series of expert reviews, engagement, synthesis and analysis across the research community in the Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (SHAPE). It is accompanied by a separate report, Shaping the COVID decade, which considers how policymakers might respond. History shows that pandemics and other crises can be catalysts to rebuild society in new ways, but that this requires vision and interconnectivity between policymakers at local, regional and national levels. With the advent of vaccines and the imminent ending of lockdowns, we might think that the impact of COVID-19 is coming to an end. This would be wrong. We are in a COVID decade: the social, economic and cultural effects of the pandemic will cast a long shadow into the future – perhaps longer than a decade – and the sooner we begin to understand, the better placed we will be to address them. There are of course many impacts which flowed from lockdowns, including not being able to see family and friends, travel or take part in leisure activities. These should ease quickly as lockdown comes to an end. But there are a set of deeper impacts on health and wellbeing, communities and cohesion, and skills, employment and the economy which will have profound effects upon the UK for many years to come. In sum, the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities and differences and created new ones, as well as exposing critical societal needs and strengths. These can emerge differently across places, and along different time courses, for individuals, communities, regions, nations and the UK as a whole. We organised the evidence into three areas of societal effect. As we gathered evidence in these three areas, we continually assessed it according to five cross-cutting themes – governance, inequalities, cohesion, trust and sustainability – which the reader will find reflected across the chapters. Throughout the process of collating and assessing the evidence, the dimensions of place (physical and social context, locality), scale (individual, community, regional, national) and time (past, present, future; short, medium and longer term) played a significant role in assessing the nature of the societal impacts and how they might play out, altering their long-term effects.