DOCSLIB.ORG

The Potential of Posthumanism: Reimagining Utopia Through

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Potential of Posthumanism: Reimagining Utopia Through THE POTENTIAL OF POSTHUMANISM: REIMAGINING UTOPIA THROUGH BELLAMY, ATWOOD, AND SLONCZEWSKI by JACOB MCKEEVER Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2014 Copyright © by Jacob McKeever 2014 All Rights Reserved ii Acknowledgements Though on the surface it was the smallest of gestures, this journey could not have begun without Dr. Kevin Gustafson, graduate advisor of English at the time, whose course suggestions helped this once ignorant anthropology major turned hopeful English graduate student begin this path. To Dr. Kenneth Roemer, thesis chair and director, thank you immensely for your insightful comments and guidance throughout this process. Not only were you the ideal committee chair, you were a constant figure of optimism throughout my time in the English program. To Dr. Stacy Alaimo and Dr. Timothy Richardson, committee members, my greatest appreciation goes out for your initial willingness to be a part of this committee and your eventual patience during the final stages. I sincerely appreciate all of you for your roles in both this process and my successful completion of this program. Most importantly, I want to acknowledge my family as my main inspiration and motivation. To Ashley, for subjecting yourself to my endless drafts and for your unending patience every day. And to Alec and Zoe, whose dad can finally come out and play. November 19, 2014 iii Abstract THE POTENTIAL OF POSTHUMANISM: REIMAGINING UTOPIA THROUGH BELLAMY, ATWOOD, AND SLONCZEWSKI Jacob McKeever, M.A. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2014 Supervising Professor: Kenneth Roemer In this thesis, I focus on posthumanist theory, utopia, and the evolving portrayal of technology in the novels of Edward Bellamy, Margaret Atwood, and Joan Slonczewski. The main argument of this thesis is that there is a posthumanist potential within utopia that can be seen as fermenting within Bellamy’s Looking Backward as a way to eliminate social stratification, showing potentiality within Atwood’s Oryx and Crake as a way to open up an other-than-human agency in the form of transgenic organisms, and becoming fully realized in Slonczewski’s A Door Into Ocean through an all-female, alien civilization that is fully grounded in a material posthumanist world-view of reciprocity, balance, and embeddedness within a larger web of life. In terms of methodology, I draw out this potential posthumanism by focusing on how technology is portrayed in the context of each novel’s categorization in the utopian genre. Specifically, where the relatively traditional and simple utopian form of Looking Backward portrays technology as an abstracted, inevitable force of utopia, both Oryx and Crake and A Door Into Ocean reflect transformations within the utopian genre that result in more complex works, thus portraying equally complex views of technology and scientific epistemologies as intimately tied to social structure, philosophy, and world-view. The result is that technology can be seen as an intrinsically good, driving force of utopia iv in Looking Backward, a more complex biotechnological tool of transcendence for humanity and a possible path to either utopia or dystopia in Oryx and Crake, or fully integrated into a posthumanist society in A Door Into Ocean, whose posthumanist philosophy of reciprocity and material embeddedness quells the transcendent nature of technology and leads to a fully realized posthumanist eutopia. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iv Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview of Thesis ................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Background ............................................................................................................. 6 1.2.1 What Is Posthumanism .................................................................................... 6 1.2.2 What is Utopia ............................................................................................... 13 1.2.2.1 Traditional Definitions and Terminology ................................................. 15 1.2.2.2 Utopianism and Social Change .............................................................. 20 1.3 Justifications ......................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 2 Looking Backward to Move Forward: Bellamy’s Utopian Hope ...................... 28 2.1 Genre, Time-period, and Social Reform ............................................................... 30 2.2 Technology: An Abstract Guiding Force ............................................................... 36 2.3 A Burgeoning Posthumanism ............................................................................... 43 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 53 Chapter 3 Transcendent Technology: Rationalizing the Critical Dystopia of Oryx and Crake ............................................................................................................... 57 3.1 From Dystopia to Critical Dystopia: Blurring Genres in Oryx and Crake ............... 59 3.1.1 Dystopia to Critical Dystopia .......................................................................... 60 3.1.2 Blurring Genres.............................................................................................. 63 3.2 Compounds .......................................................................................................... 66 3.3 Biotechnology: The Real and the Imagined .......................................................... 71 3.4 Environment .......................................................................................................... 80 3.5 Posthumanist Implications .................................................................................... 84 vi 3.5.1 Hybridity, Liberation, and the Imaginary Landscape ...................................... 85 3.5.2 Rationalizing Crake’s Desire .......................................................................... 89 3.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 94 Chapter 4 Oppositional Cultures: A Door Into Ocean as Posthumanist Eutopia ............................................................................................................................ 97 4.1 Genre and Utopia ............................................................................................... 100 4.2 Hobbesian Social Contract: Rationalizing Patriarchal Force ............................... 107 4.2.1 The Patriarch as Sovereign ......................................................................... 108 4.2.2 Sovereign Power to Biopower ..................................................................... 110 4.3 Binary Structures: Undermining Sovereignty ...................................................... 112 4.3.1 Posthumanist World-View: Reciprocity and Relationality ............................. 113 4.3.2 Social Stratification ...................................................................................... 117 4.3.3 Centralized Authority ................................................................................... 121 4.4 Posthumanist Eutopia: Lifeshaping Technology ................................................. 126 4.5 Conclusion and Comparisons ............................................................................. 133 Chapter 5 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 138 References .................................................................................................................... 148 Biographical Information ............................................................................................... 153 vii Chapter 1 Introduction “How, utopias ask, can we ensure food, shelter, safety, and fulfillment for all human beings? And what could be more important, more fundamental?” Lyman Tower Sargent, “Choosing Utopia” Perhaps the fact that Lyman Tower Sargent’s assertion that the fundamental question that utopia must ask is, in fact, human-centered is all the justification necessary to write a thesis on utopia and posthumanism. However, perhaps a better use of Sargent’s question is to situate it in a more appropriate context. In this way, it is no wonder that we find our starting point for this thesis just before the turn of the twentieth century and towards the end of the industrial revolution, a movement of industrial and technological progress that held the utopian perception of serving to not only answer Sargent’s proposed questions but also extending this utopian hope as a means for socio- economic and socio-political equality (Roemer, “Paradise Transformed” 82). Popularized by utopians of the late nineteenth century, the path to utopia rested on the notion that technological progress was not only inevitable but that it was intrinsically good. However, the progression of the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television the Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television
    The Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television The Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television Edited by Michael Hauskeller University of Exeter, UK Thomas D. Philbeck World Economic Forum, Switzerland Curtis D. Carbonell Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE Selection and editorial matter © Michael Hauskeller, Thomas D. Philbeck and Curtis D. Carbonell 2015 Individual chapters © Respective authors 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-43031-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Are You the Next Secretary-General of Young Humanists International?
    Are you the next Secretary-General of Young Humanists International? At its General Assembly on May 30th in Reykjavík, Iceland, Young Humanists International will elect its new Secretary-General. The application deadline is May 14th, 2019. ​ ​ What is Young Humanists International? Young Humanists International or YHI is the youth branch of Humanists International. Young is defined as ages 18 to 35. Our purpose is to build and represent the global humanist movement that defends human rights and promotes humanist values worldwide. We are a dynamic team of young adults all over the world sharing this vision and giving ourselves the mission to bring into active association youth groups and young humanist individuals throughout the world interested in promoting humanism. For more info, visit humanists.international/young! ​ ​ What does a Secretary-General do? The Secretary-General works closely with the President, Vice-President, Communication Officer, and Working Groups to make Young Humanists International what it is. More specifically, the Secretary-General prepares and annotates the monthly Skype meeting with all parties, overlooks all processes related to the internal workings of the organizations (elections of Working Group chairpersons, preparing the General Assembly, being a point of contact, …) and manages all collective resources (Gmail, Slack, Archives, …). What are the perks of being Secretary-General? ● You can attend YHI international meetings and meet young Humanists all over the world, for which YHI does provide limited travel support. ● You can contribute to the network and support young humanists all over the world. ● You will learn more about governing an international community and gain management skills.
    [Show full text]
  • DOWNLOAD 2019 Annual Report File Type
    Annual Report 2019 Bold and brave. We are the global representative body of the humanist movement. 2 Foreword 3 Foreword Much of 2019 was marked by the ongoing persecution of my dear friend and Board colleague Gulalai Ismail. You will read more in this report about the ongoing requests we continue to receive from humanists at risk around the world. I Annual Report and my fellow members of the Board take these concerns seriously, and in late 2019 2019 approved plans from the Chief Executive to greatly increase the resources available to support humanists at risk. These are needed Contents more than ever. 2019 also was the year where I was re- Introduction 4 elected for the second time directly by our members at the General Assembly. It is a Our objectives 6 Gulalai was detained by Pakistani security huge privilege to be President of Humanists services on her way home from a Humanists International, and I am very grateful to you Our people 7 International Board meeting in October all for your continued support. Our joint 2018. Within minutes of her being detained work for human rights and human progress Key figures 8 our staff were alerted and had begun the has never been more vital and I thank you process of compiling information and Update on Gulalai 10 for allowing me to serve in leading it in the coordinating our global campaign to ensure coming years. her safety. Report on the General Assembly 12 Thank you. Almost an entire year of campaigning and Advocacy 14 lobbying followed. You may remember that when we met in Reykjavik in June 2019, we Our members 20 took a moment to reflect on the situation for our friend, and to redouble our efforts Growth and development 22 to bring her to safety.
    [Show full text]
  • Part Three Autoevolution and Posthumanism
    Part Three Autoevolution and Posthumanism Pawe Majewski - 9783631710258 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/23/2021 08:08:01PM via free access Pawe Majewski - 9783631710258 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/23/2021 08:08:01PM via free access 17 Themes of Lampoon of Evolution In Part Three of this book I will discuss the last chapter of ST, and then some of the currents in contemporary philosophy and sociology, which in one way or another seem to be akin to Lem’s project of autoevolution. These are mostly convergences rather than any kind of genetic affinities, and will partly be constructed through my interpretations. The aim is to show that Lem’s work, especially ST, has great albeit so far unacknowledged significance for the con- temporary problems of our civilization. The last chapter of ST is titled “Lampoon of Evolution.” It includes a descrip- tion of the project of autoevolution of human species, the very description to which the rest of ST is but a set of introductory studies, as I have suggested ear- lier. The word “lampoon” ought to be taken with a grain of salt, just as other rhetorical devices Lem uses in the titles of his chapters and sections of ST. It is a testimony to Lem’s personal and internally diverse attitude to bioevolution. He both admires the phenomenon, which he often hypostatizes, and is critical and hostile to it. The admiration comes from the fact that bioevolution has pro- duced such amazing beings as a biological cell and rational humans.180 The crit- icism and hostility stem from the fact that for Lem the rationalist the process is unbearable in how blindly random it is.
    [Show full text]
  • Are You the Next Vice-President of Young Humanists International? At
    Are you the next Vice-President of Young Humanists International? At its General Assembly on May 30th in Reykjavík, Iceland, Young Humanists International will elect its new Vice-President. The application deadline is May 14th, 2019. ​ ​ What is Young Humanists International? Young Humanists International or YHI is the youth branch of Humanists International. Young is defined as ages 18 to 35. Our purpose is to build and represent the global humanist movement that defends human rights and promotes humanist values worldwide. We are a dynamic team of young adults all over the world sharing this vision and giving ourselves the mission to bring into active association youth groups and young humanist individuals throughout the world interested in promoting humanism. For more info, visit humanists.international/young! ​ ​ What does a Vice-President do? The Vice-President works closely with the President, Secretary-General, Communication Officer, and Working Groups to make Young Humanists International what it is. As a Vice-President, you are a representative of YHI and are the stand-in if the President is not available. The Vice-President is also responsible for keeping an eye on the finances, takes part in developing YHI’s strategy, and helps with other internal tasks. What are the perks of being the Vice-President? ● You can attend YHI international meetings and meet young Humanists all over the world, for which YHI does provide limited travel support. ● You learn more about financial management in an international setting. ● You learn about the international governance of a vibrant community. ● You can contribute to the network and support young humanists all over the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Testimony of Rafida Bonya Ahmed, Humanist Activist and Author On
    Testimony of Rafida Bonya Ahmed, Humanist Activist and Author On behalf of the American Humanist Association Before the United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations and Oversight and Reform Committee Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Joint Hearing on “Ending Global Religious Persecution” January 28, 2020 Washington, District of Columbia 1 Chairman Raskin, Ranking Member Roy, Members of the Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Chairwoman Bass, Ranking Member Smith, and Members of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, thank you for this opportunity to testify on behalf of the American Humanist Association concerning the harm caused by the numerous prohibitions against blasphemy that exist around the world. My name is Rafida Bonya Ahmed. I am a Bangladeshi-American author and blogger. I am a humanist and atheist. I am a mother to a recent John’s Hopkins graduate. I am a U.S. citizen and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics Human Rights Centre. And I am here today to provide a much-needed voice for the nonreligious communities and individuals harmed by religious persecution. While I would not venture to represent the interests of all nonreligious people, I am a person who knows first-hand the violence accusations of blasphemy can incite. I appreciate that the committees are putting an overdue spotlight on the egregious violations of human rights conducted in the name of religion, and I urge both committees and Congress to pursue policies that hold bad actors to account.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Humanism: Reflections on Trans- and Posthumanism
    A peer-reviewed electronic journal published by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies ISSN 1541-0099 21(2) – October 2010 Beyond Humanism: Reflections on Trans- and Posthumanism Stefan Lorenz Sorgner Department of Philosophy University of Erfurt, Germany [email protected] Journal of Evolution and Technology - Vol. 21 Issue 2 – October 2010 - pgs 1-19 http://jetpress.org/sorgner.htm Abstract I am focusing here on the main counterarguments that were raised against a thesis I put forward in my article “Nietzsche, the Overhuman, and Transhumanism” (2009), namely that significant similarities can be found on a fundamental level between the concept of the posthuman, as put forward by some transhumanists, and Nietzsche’s concept of the overhuman. The articles with the counterarguments were published in the recent “Nietzsche and European Posthumanisms” issue of The Journal of Evolution and Technology (January-July 2010). As several commentators referred to identical issues, I decided that it would be appropriate not to respond to each of the articles individually, but to focus on the central arguments and to deal with the counterarguments mentioned in the various replies. I am concerned with each topic in a separate section. The sections are entitled as follows: 1. Technology and evolution; 2. Overcoming nihilism; 3. Politics and liberalism; 4. Utilitarianism or virtue ethics?; 5. The good Life; 6. Creativity and the will to power; 7. Immortality and longevity; 8. Logocentrism; 9. The Third Reich. When dealing with the various topics, I am not merely responding to counterarguments; I also raise questions concerning transhumanism and put forward my own views concerning some of the questions I am dealing with.
    [Show full text]
  • Rereading Posthumanism in the War of the Worlds and Independence Day
    eSharp Issue 12: Technology and Humanity Rereading Posthumanism in The War of the Worlds and Independence Day Alistair Brown (Durham University) Science Fiction as the Discovery of the Future In a 1902 presentation to the Royal Institution on ‘The Discovery of the Future,’ H.G. Wells contrasted two types of mind: the legal or submissive type, and the creative or legislative. 1 The former, which predominates in society, is retrospective, fatalistically understanding the present in terms of precedent. The more modern, creative type ‘sees the world as one great workshop, and the present no more than material for the future’ (Wells 1989, p.19) and is implicitly associated with the writer of science fiction (or the scientific romance, as then known). Given our acquaintance with Wells’ descendents like Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke, this seems fairly uncontentious. However, in a climate of postmodern relativism we may be less comfortable with the way in which Wells went on to formalise the relationship between present and future. He compared the creative predictions of the future to those analyses of distant prehistory made by the relatively recent sciences of geology and archaeology, and contended that it ought to be possible to produce a long term portrait of the future as has been done with the ancient ‘inductive past’ (1989, p.27). Though many prominent science fiction writers assert that science fiction is the reasonable extrapolation of present 1 A shorter version of this paper was presented to the British Society of Literature and Science conference in Keele in March 2008. I am grateful for all the comments received there, in response to which some parts of this paper have been modified.
    [Show full text]
  • The Goldfish Syndrome. Human Nature and the Posthuman Myth Copyright Cuadernos De Bioética
    Cuadernos de BioéticaLUCA XXV VAL ERA2014/3ª AND VITTORADOLFO TAMBONE THE GOLDFISH SYNDROME. HUMAN NATURE AND THE POSTHUMAN MYTH Copyright Cuadernos de Bioética THE GOLDFISH SYNDROME. HUMAN NATURE AND THE POSTHUMAN MYTH EL SÍNDROME DEL PEZ ROJO. NATURALEZA HUMANA Y EL MITO POSTUMANO LUCA VALERA* VITTORADOLFO TAMBONE** Institute of Philosophy of Scientific and Technological Practice Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Roma * [email protected]; ** [email protected] ABSTRACT: Keywords: Posthumanism is a myth. This does not mean to say that it constitutes a narrative devoid of any foun- Posthumanism, dation, inspired by mere fantasy, far from it. The myth, as shown by Ries, Eliade and Lévi-Strauss on several myth, space and occasions, is based on something real and true, and appeals to conceptual structures that keep it away time, identity, from a mere scientific report: having had to do with the essence of things, it does not even have a purpose extensionism. of classification in a given place or time. In this sense, the posthuman myth lives outside of time and out of the common space of existence, or perhaps, it lives in its own time and in its own space. Just like the myth, posthumanism lives in consciousness: to prove this assumption, we will discuss in greater depth the spatial and temporal coordinates of posthumanism, as well as its cosmological and anthropological point of view. Once demonstrated its mythical essence, it will therefore be easier to remember how the posthuman myth – despite intending to present itself as a radically innovative and progressive thought – makes no more than re-emerge some coordinates that have always been present in the history of philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • Seaman Postsecular Posthumanism (MLA 2016)
    Myra Seaman MLA 2016 (Austin) Roundtable: Becoming Human: Medieval In Pursuit of a Postsecular Posthumanities A new constellation, sometimes called “the posthuman turn,” sometimes “the nonhuman turn,” has come into view in recent years. Marked by the bright lights of the new materialisms, object studies, assemblage theory, critical animal studies, and media studies, its appearance has been hailed for the new routes it provides for (in the words of Julian Yates) “configuring the textual traces named ‘past’ as an archive or contact zone which may offer occluded or discarded ways of being” (Yates, 2010). New routes such as those brought to light through the posthuman turn use as landmarks certain traces of the past that have previously registered only as meaningless blips on the landscape. In recent years, posthumanism’s decentering of the human and flattened ontologies have helped us see in familiar medieval texts any number of participants that had remained invisible to dominant humanist approaches—the previously autonomous chivalric knight, for instance, was revealed by Jeffrey Cohen to be an assemblage of man, metal, animal (in forms both living and dead)—working in concert with any number of intangible agents. Where the humanist reading esteemed the singular valor of Sir Lancelot as exemplifying human exceptionalism, posthumanism reveals that the productive collaboration of the Round Table extends well beyond its human participants, and that chivalry (and the Human it praises) is insufficient in itself—that, in effect, it has never existed. In the light of the nonhuman turn, the late medieval past appears to have conceptualized human existence in ways we’d only partially perceived, complicating our understanding of medieval ethics, intercultural relations, natural history, and religion, among other very salient cultural markers.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanism As Demystification
    The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 3 Issue 3 January Article 8 January 1976 Humanism as Demystification Alfred McClug Lee City University of New York Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw Part of the Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation McClug Lee, Alfred (1976) "Humanism as Demystification," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 3 : Iss. 3 , Article 8. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol3/iss3/8 This Article is brought to you by the Western Michigan University School of Social Work. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 HUMANIS( AS DEMYSTIFICATION by ALFRED McCLUG LEE, Professor of Sociology Emeritus, Brooklyn College and the Graduate School, The City University of New York Under a variety of labels, many academic disciplines focus on the unsettling impact of fresh and vivid interpersonal experiences upon pre-existing beliefs and behaviour patterns. Reference is to philosophical discussions of sophism and humanism, historical theor- ies about frontier influences, anthropological interest in culture shock, psychiatric concern with empathy and with perceptive listen- ing, and sociological analyses of marginality, uses of participant observation and life-history data, and clinical studies of social behavior. Their significant similarity is that they are all dis- cussions of demystifying influences on social thought and action. They are demystifying in the sense that they tend to translate the distant, the abstract, into immediate, specific, and personal terms. They throw traditional patterns into contrast with what is here and now and with quite different traditional formulations.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Practical Guidelines for Starting and Running Humanist Groups
    Groupwise Some practical guidelines for starting and running Humanist groups Produced for the British Humanist Association First edition 1989 Second edition (revised) 2005 This 2005 edition, which has been revised, renamed and extended by Barrie Berkley of North East Humanists and Jane Wynne Willson of Birmingham Humanists, is also available in electronic form. Details are on the BHA website (www.humanism.org.uk). Thanks are due to members of other Groups and to Jemma Hooper at the BHA for their suggestions and contributions, to William Wynne Willson for the layout and design, and to Birmingham Humanists and North East Humanists for covering the cost of the booklet’s initial production. CONTENTS 1. Introduction 5 2. Starting a new Group 7 3. Preparing a programme 9 4. Officers and committee 11 5. Publicity 13 6. The cost of running a Group 16 7. Welcoming newcomers 18 8. Meetings and speakers 20 9. Social events 23 10. Campaigns and lobbying 24 11. Education and SACREs 26 12. Communicating with your Group 28 13. Practical Humanism 30 14. Affiliations 32 15. Humanist Groups Network 36 16. A sample constitution 38 17. Humanist publications 40 3 4 Introduction This booklet is intended to provide some material and helpful suggestions for those involved in the running of local Humanist Groups. It does not seek to pontificate on how a Group should or should not be run and recognises that Groups can vary in size and structure according to their needs and the people involved in running them. However there is a core of practice that has evolved among well-established Groups over the years.
    [Show full text]