The Elphinstone Review
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Elphinstone Review Volume 6 May 2020 ISSN 2058-8348 The Elphinstone Review Volume 6: May 2020 Head Editors Mariana Consoni Rubio Miruna Hadu Temitope Sarah Bodunrin Editors Ebenezer Gyampoh Amoah Francesca Lombardo Hamish Gray Izabella Kuna Jasper Friedrich Jenna Fults Johanna Jakab Luciana Blaha Maxwell Donaldson Administrative Support Christopher Knight Front Cover © Josiah Bircham Text © The Contributors Financial Support from Development Trust Student Experience Fund 2019/2020 Production design and Print by UNIPRINT Published by The University of Aberdeen in conjunction with Uniprint King's College, Old Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX Contents Editorial Mariana Consoni Rubio, Miruna Hadu, Temitope Sarah Bodunrin ............ 5 The Elphinstone Review Head Editors The Art of Food and the Pursuit of Collectivity: Exploring Italian Gastronomic Traditions in an Ethnographic Perspective Sofia Galli ..................................................................................................... 7 edited by. Maxwell Donaldson Seeing the Monsters beyond the Abyss: A Discussion of the Use of Voyage Narratives in Imaginary Representations of Geology Isabella Maria Engberg ............................................................................... 23 edited by. Hamish Gray Why is Immigration Perceived as a Contemporary Challenge in the EU? Pavel Dostalík ............................................................................................. 33 edited by. Mariana Consoni Rubio Comparing the Origins and Ideology of the UK Independence Party and Alternative für Deutschland: Is it Justified to include Respective Parties as Members of the ‘Extreme Right’ Party Family? Harry Bowles .............................................................................................. 48 edited by. Ebenezer Gyampoh Amoah The Nexus between Discrimination and Statelessness: A Case Study on the Romani People of Europe Lea Anna Berndorf .................................................................................... 63 edited by. Jasper Friedrich Thinking with Gulls: Multi-species Interactions in the Anthropocene Hanna Gia Louise ...................................................................................... 80 edited by. Miruna Hadu Plato’s Treatment of Women: A Feminist Perspective Anastasia Roscia ......................................................................................... 94 edited by. Jenna Fults To What Extent can Christine de Pizan be Considered a Feminist in the Middle Ages? Paula Louise Duncan ............................................................................... 107 edited by. Francesca Lombardo Politicising Girlhood: Emancipation and Indoctrination in the League of German Girls Caroline Beaumelou ................................................................................ 118 edited by. Izabella Kuna Critiquing the Usefulness of Setting Quotas in Improving Gender Diversity in Leadership Positions Linda Olivia Heyd ................................................................................... 130 edited by. Temitope Sarah Bodunrin Children as the ‘Forgotten Victims’ of Domestic Abuse: An Analysis of the Significance of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 Arch Mitchell Whyte ............................................................................... 141 edited by. Luciana Blaha Painting Modernity: Léger and Post-World War I Euphoria Velia Cavallini .......................................................................................... 153 edited by. Johanna Jakab Editorial This 6th volume of The Elphinstone Review aims to represent the great scope and quality of academic work produced by undergraduate students at the University of Aberdeen. The aim of this publication is to reinforce academic excellence in our community, bring the best writing from different areas of study together, to create an accessible and interdisciplinary journal that encourages intellectual excitement, curiosity, and motivation among our readers. Each one of the twelve papers you will find in this Volume contributes with a unique perspective to the journal. We would like to express our gratitude to Christopher Knight, from the School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture for his kind support and administrative assistance. We would also like to thank the Development Trust Student Experience Fund for making the printing of this journal possible. The availability of Dr Nancy Wachowich and Dr Marta Trzebiatowska as academic advisors has also been greatly appreciated. We thank everyone who has shown interest in being part of this publication. We are especially grateful for the work put in by our team of editors and authors, in bringing these published articles to their final and best form. Making this Volume of The Elphinstone Review has been challenged by the global situation; we acknowledge and appreciate the extra work, effort, and commitment. this year’s contributors have put into creating this publication. To our readers, thank you for picking up this copy of The Elphinstone Review. We hope you find yourself inspired by its contents and enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed putting it together. The Elphinstone Review Head Editors _______________________________________________________ The opinions expressed in the articles presented hereafter do not necessarily reflect the views of the institution, the editorial board, or the contributors. They are should be viewed as exercises of academic criticism intended to spark intellectual debate. 5 6 The Art of Food and the Pursuit of Collectivity: Exploring Italian Gastronomic Traditions in an Ethnographic Perspective Sofia Galli1 _______________________________________________________ Gastronomy is a form of cultural heritage related to processes of food production and traditions of conviviality, transmitted in local communities across multiple generations. Consequently, the art of food is interrelated with notions of individual and collective identity. Gastronomy incorporates both tangible and intangible heritage because it deals with both traditions and products. This paper will argue that the inherent duality of food culture lends itself to socio-political collectivity. In this framework, Italy will be presented as a country that is particularly committed to the preservation of culinary values and customs. This will be considered in the context of the effects mass-production and -consumption have on the way food is prepared and distributed. By drawing on a number of ethnographic studies, this article explores individuals’ connection to territory, and their conception of authenticity. Consideration will then turn to how food can be framed as a social instrument to confront global trends – such as through the rise of the Slow Food movement. By exploring examples like olive oil in Tuscany, the salame nostrano from Bergamo, the Cinta Senese pig from Siena, and sagre (local fayres) in Piemonte, this paper delves into the growing collectivity through which locals unite with the common aim of preserving traditions, and with them identity. Introduction Culture is the defining trait of human existence; individuals make sense of reality and shape their identities through it. People’s understandings of culture, and its practices, delineate the notion of cultural heritage, definable as a ‘group of resources inherited from the past which people 1 Sofia Galli is a 4th year student in International Relations & Sociology. She is predominantly interested in cultural heritage and the arts. Her essay ‘The Complex Nature of “Religious” Terrorism’ was inserted in the 2017 edition of The International Academic, and her novel Anima e Corpo (‘Soul and Body’) was self-published in 2018. Sofia wrote for the Art & Culture section of The Gaudie, and her published articles include ‘Strong Women in Cinema: Case Studies’, ‘Pause: Listen, Re-discovering Classical Music’ and ‘The Subversion of Symbolic Dichotomies through the Art of Marina Abramović’. Her most recent essay was published in The International Viewpoint in 2020. 7 identify, independently of ownership, as a reflection and expression of their constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and traditions’ (Da Re, 2017, p.641).2 Cultural heritage is closely associated with the concept of individual and collective identity, since cultural belonging is at the base of the notion of society (Tarca, 2017). The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation [UNESCO] (2011; 2017) is committed to the conservation of tangible and intangible forms of cultural heritage: the former includes monuments, manuscripts, paintings, and architecture; meanwhile, the latter comprises traditions, rituals, and performing arts. The two aspects of cultural heritage are intrinsically related: physical objects become heritage when they reflect the values of a society, which means that tangible forms of art can only be interpreted through intangible practices, and vice versa (Munjeri, 2004). Gastronomy is an interesting example of cultural heritage characterised by both physical and nonphysical attributes. Raw materials and final products can be portrayed as tangible forms of art, whereas the recipes and customs at the heart of food culture remain intangible. This paper will look at Italian gastronomic culture, providing a brief historical background. This will then be considered in a wider framework of globalisation and sustainability, looking at the implications of that framework for Italy. Afterwards, it will explore