A Meteor That Lit Up Ontario Skies This Week Came All The Way From Beyond Mars (VIDEO)
It even changed colours as it streaked across the sky.

Lisa Belmonte1 day ago
Updated on January 25 

Alan Chen | Unsplash

Parts of the province got an otherworldly visitor that flashed across the dark sky and it had a long journey to get there. A meteor over Ontario came all the way from the asteroid belt which is beyond Mars. Videos and pictures of the space object streaking through the night are spectacular.

If you were in southern Ontario on January 21 and looked up just before 9:00 p.m. you might have seen a bright light streak across the night sky.

That was a meteor fireball that was likely the size of a softball.

It flashed overhead just to the north of Goderich and was spotted by people from hundreds of kilometres away.

Reports about the fireball were sent in from southern Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York and Ohio.

Peter Brown, a meteor scientist from Western University, posted videos on Twitter of the celestial object lighting up the sky.

This visitor from outer space lit up about 80 kilometres above the ground and started just east of the Ontario town.

It eventually fizzled out north of the town, about 30 kilometres above Lake Huron.

Based on the path it took through the atmosphere, Brown was able to trace its origin back to the asteroid belt which is just beyond Mars.

If any small meteorites actually fell from the sky, they likely ended up in the lake

Kintail fireball from Jan 22 as captured early in flight by accident on @westernu most sensitive meteor cameras which use EMCCDs from @nuvucameras. FOV is roughly 15x15 degrees and faintest visible stars are near +12. @amsmeteors @IMOmeteors #fireball #Meteorite pic.twitter.com/exv1OqHPr4— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 23, 2020

Yet another capture of the Kintail fireball, this time with an experimental meteor camera system near Tavistock, ON based on https://t.co/JMV1A8Nciu @westernu @IMOmeteors @amsmeteors #fireball #toomanymeteorcameras pic.twitter.com/ZVtQ3aOqd0— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 23, 2020

A meteor is a streak of light across the sky that happens when space rocks, known as "meteoroids" enter Earth's atmosphere.

Since this flash was intense enough to rival the brightness of Venus, it's called a fireball.

Usually, cameras set up to shoot events like this only capture black and white but two of them actually caught this streak changing colours as it flashed through the sky.

In both photos, you can see the fireball change from red to white to blue and back to red again.

Still image of Kintail fireball last night as seen from Collingwood Observatory of @TCObs pic.twitter.com/gyr1wDthTc— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 22, 2020


Still image of Kintail fireball from Elginfield Observatory as captured by @FireballsSky DFN camera last night. @amsmeteors @FireballsSky pic.twitter.com/ClTBr3M96d— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 22, 2020

The colour of the space rock could be based on what it's made of, the flow of air around it, the speed it travelled at or how it broke apart.

The asteroid belt is between 179.5 and 329 million kilometres away from Earth.

So this little guy travelled a long way to flash across the sky over southern Ontario.

Fireball ‘as bright as the moon’ lands in Lake Huron
Posted Jan 25, 2020

By Tanda Gmiter | tgmiter@mlive.com

A fast, bright burst of what were probably softball-size meteors caught the attention of our Canadian neighbors earlier this week, before likely arcing down to land in Lake Huron.

While it wasn’t seen by too many sky-watchers on the U.S. side of Lake Huron, observatories in Canada, including Western University in London, Ontario, captured an image of the fireball last Tuesday night. It likely was a collection of small meteors grouped together, researchers say, according to CTV News in Canada.,

Spotters say the fireballs looked “as bright as the moon” as they whizzed across the sky.

In a Reddit discussion titled “orange fireball in night sky," a handful of people talked about seeing the fireball overhead.

“Anyone see this incredible sight around 9:10 pm in the sky north of London? An orange fireball streaming across the sky," one person wrote.

“Yes!!! Saw it driving home a few minutes ago. I’ve never seen anything like it before!,” another person posted.

Others who saw it chimed in:

“Yes! Omg my husband and I saw this. We were near Masonville mall! It was so bright. I’ve never seen anything like that. With I had a dash cam to capture it.”

“Was sitting at Carey’s and I saw it for a split second. Buddies thought I was nuts. Was cool though.”

“Yeah we saw it on a walk last night. It was around 9. Wonderland and Oxford area. It was tracking north fairly slowly. Saw the white ball, orange tail, and even saw some bits breaking off of it.”

Peter Brown, a professor in Western University’s physics and astronomy department, tweeted a series of photos of the spectacle. He dubbed it the Kintail fireball, for the spot near the Canadian shoreline of Lake Huron where it was believed to have crossed over before going into the water. On a map, Kintail is directly across the lake from Michigan’s Thumb.

“Kintail fireball orbit from last night place origins firmly from the asteroid belt. The initial mass was somewhere between a few to ten kilograms - softball sized. Not quite as bright as the full moon," Brown posted on Twitter.

Fireballs are born when particles of meteors hit the Earth’s atmosphere and burn their way across the sky.

There were some reports of this particular fireball from U.S. sky watchers. These came from people in Port Huron, Flint and St. Clair Shores in Michigan, and other spots in Ohio and New York, as reported to the American Meteor Society.

Bright fireball last night at 8:52 pm EST to the North of London. Video below shot from @WesternU @westernuCRONYN. @amsmeteors #fireball #meteor 1/3 pic.twitter.com/vjfV11OAL2— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 22, 2020

Fireball started near Brussels and ended just offshore over Lake Huron near Kintail. Low velocity (~15 km/s) and end height (33 km) suggest small meteorites may have landed, likely in Lake Huron. @WesternU @IMOmeteors #fireball 2/3 pic.twitter.com/Mrbs4IUson— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 22, 2020

Still image of Kintail fireball from Elginfield Observatory as captured by @FireballsSky DFN camera last night. @amsmeteors @FireballsSky pic.twitter.com/ClTBr3M96d— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 22, 2020

Kintail fireball from Jan 22 as captured early in flight by accident on @westernu most sensitive meteor cameras which use EMCCDs from @nuvucameras. FOV is roughly 15x15 degrees and faintest visible stars are near +12. @amsmeteors @IMOmeteors #fireball #Meteorite pic.twitter.com/exv1OqHPr4— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 23, 2020

Yet another capture of the Kintail fireball, this time with an experimental meteor camera system near Tavistock, ON based on https://t.co/JMV1A8Nciu @westernu @IMOmeteors @amsmeteors #fireball #toomanymeteorcameras pic.twitter.com/ZVtQ3aOqd0— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 23, 2020


Photo of a meteor captured by cameras of Western's Southern Ontario Meteor Network.
Fireball recorded in Huron County

BY JANICE MACKAYJANUARY 23, 2020 3:31PM

Video cameras from Western University captured a fireball in Huron County Thursday night.

UWO Meteor Scientist Peter Brown tweeted several images and videos of the fireball.

He reported that the fireball started near Brussels and ended just offshore over Lake Huron near Kintail.

He said a low velocity and an end height of 33 kilometres suggests small meteorites may have landed, likely in Lake Huron.

Yet another capture of the Kintail fireball, this time with an experimental meteor camera system near Tavistock, ON based on https://t.co/JMV1A8Nciu @westernu @IMOmeteors @amsmeteors #fireball #toomanymeteorcameras pic.twitter.com/ZVtQ3aOqd0

— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 23, 2020

Bright meteor over southern Ontario traced back to the asteroid belt
Scott Sutherland
Meteorologist/Science Writer
Friday, January 24th 2020, 12:30 pm - Did you see this fireball?

At just before 9 p.m., on the night of Tuesday, January 21, 2020, southern Ontario had an unexpected visitor - a hunk of rock from space that blazed through the sky as a meteor fireball.

The meteor, which flashed overhead just to the north of Goderich, ON, was spotted from hundreds of kilometres around. The American Meteor Society received over 30 reports from various locations around southern Ontario and southern Michigan, and as far away as Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Rochester, New York, and Columbus, Ohio

This map shows the concentration of reports for this meteor fireball, as well as the likely start, end and trajectory of its passage through the atmosphere. Credit: American Meteor Society

According to Dr. Peter Brown, from the University of Western Ontario's Meteor Group, the meteoroid that caused this fireball was likely the size of a softball, so perhaps 10 centimetres wide, with a mass of up to 10 kilograms, and it was travelling at around 15 kilometres per second (54,000 km/h).

Yet another capture of the Kintail fireball, this time with an experimental meteor camera system near Tavistock, ON based on https://t.co/JMV1A8Nciu @westernu @IMOmeteors @amsmeteors #fireball #toomanymeteorcameras https://t.co/ZVtQ3aOqd0Peter Brown on Twitter

As Brown posted to Twitter, the fireball flared to life roughly 80 kilometres above the ground, starting about 50 kilometres east of Goderich, and it winked out around 30 kilometres above the ground, somewhere over the waters of Lake Huron, west of Kintail.

From the path it took during its steep plunge through the atmosphere, Brown was able to trace the meteoroid back to its origin in the asteroid belt, beyond Mars.

Kintail fireball orbit from last night place origins firmly from the asteroid belt. The initial mass was somewhere between a few to ten kilograms - softball sized. Not quite as bright as the full moon. @WesternU @amsmeteors 3/3Peter Brown on Twitter

Given the speed of this meteoroid and the height where the fireball ended, Brown said that small meteorites may have landed from this event. Unfortunately, since the end point of the fireball was over the water, any meteorites that did reach the surface are now likely lying at the bottom of Lake Huron

Meteors are flashes of light, resulting from the passage of some object from space - a meteoroid - travelling at high speed through the atmosphere. As the meteoroid - whether it's a speck of dust, an ice crystal or a chunk of rock or iron - flies through the air, it compresses the air molecules directly in its path, causing them to heat up until they glow. 

Any meteor flash that is intense enough to rival the brightness of Venus is typically called a fireball. If the fireball includes a sudden, intense flash due to the meteoroid breaking apart, it is often called a bolide.

Although most meteor cameras simply capture in black and white, two cameras that caught the Kintail meteor managed to pick up colours as the meteor flashed overhead.

The Kintail meteor fireball, captured by an all-sky meteor camera at Elginfield Observatory, to the southeast of the meteor's trajectory, on January 21, 2020. North is roughly towards the top of the image. Credit: Western Meteor Group

As shown above, the meteor camera at Elginfield Observatory caught the meteor flashing from red to white to blue and back to red.

According to Brown, it is possible to tell something about the composition of a meteoroid based on the colour of the meteor flash it produces. However, the meteor colour can also be influenced by the flow of air around the meteoroid, the speed at which it was travelling, and even how the meteoroid broke apart. So, without actually recovering pieces of it, or having a detailed spectrum from the light to examine, there's no telling exactly what is causing the colours.

Did you see this fireball? Submit a report to the American Meteor Society.

Physics-Defying Particles in Antarctica Still Baffle The Scientists

Amrita Bhinderverified_user

amritabhinder

Antarctic Experiment Reveals Strange 'Ghost' Particles That Physicists Can't Explain "It's commonly said that neutrinos are 'elusive' or 'ghostly' particles because of their remarkable ability to pass through material without smashing into something," https://t.co/o9TPsfqOwI

Physics-Defying Particles in Antarctica Still Baffle The Scientists
Chin Cullin January 26, 2020 

Scientists had been left in awe after some studies on the Standard Model of particle physics. Such a thing helped them also perform many significant discoveries. On the other hand, it can’t explain the noticed mass of dark matter in the universe, the gravity as detailed by standard relativity, or the Higgs mechanism.

Currently, though, researchers decided to look after another intriguing thing that appears to crash an even massive hole in the Standard Model.

Deeply sensitive tools in Antarctica have been identifying a lot of energetic particles coming from the icy ground, and the Standard Model shows how such a fact shouldn’t occur at all.

It is known as very challenging to identify neutrinos due to their considerably low volume. They’re also known for their non-interaction with most encountered forces.

Physics-Defying Particles in Antarctica Still Baffle The Scientists

Antarctica seems to be a one-of-a-kind place for researchers. Its grounds are perfect for hunting one of the most intriguing phenomenons, such as those particles. Above Antarctica, researchers got a floating instrument on a ballon, to scan every radio waves.

The device has been dubbed ANITA, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, and it is in a permanent quest for finding the most amazing things. As for those radio waves, they are resulted by an encountering of neutrons with the ice layer. ANITA had been succeeding in capturing three events of ultra-high-energy neutrinos resurfacing from the ice.

The particles appear to have massive cross-parts that make them meet with some regular matter. While approximately all standard neutrinos will pass right through our planet without any issues, that should rarely occur wit ultra-high-energy neutrinos.

Such an event left researchers in awe, mainly because it happened three times/year. Also, new insights suggest that those occurrences couldn’t be part of the Standard Model.

The powers that be at CERN turned on and off and on again the Large Hydron Collider LHC which opened up the Quantum Universe (of everything) allowing Phenomena and events like this to happen. It began with the faster than light neutrinos that could not exist but did the first time they turned it on to find that Goddamn Particle the Higgs Boson. They covered it up by claiming the janitor, unplugged a computer system. That's right the highly paid white collar scientists blamed the janitor, who by profession is trained not to do that.  

Scientists Still Mystified by Physics-Defying Particles in Antarctica

• By Ryan Whitwam on January 24, 2020 

The Standard Model of particle physics has led scientists to many important discoveries, but this framework has strained under the weight of recent discoveries. It can’t explain the observed amount of dark matter in the universe, the Higgs mechanism, or gravity as described by general relativity. Now, scientists are puzzling over a phenomenon that seems to blow an even bigger hole in the Standard Model. Highly sensitive instruments in Antarctica have been detecting extremely energetic particles emerging from the icy surface, and the Standard Model says that shouldn’t happen. 

It is notoriously difficult to detect neutrinos because they have extremely low mass and don’t interact with most known forces. Antarctica happens to be an ideal place to hunt for these particles, though. The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) instrument floats above the continent on a balloon, scanning for radio pulses caused by the interaction of neutrinos with the ice sheet. 

Three times since 2016, ANITA has spotted ultra-high-energy neutrinos emerging from the ice. Unlike regular neutrinos, these particles have large cross-sections that cause them to interact with ordinary matter. While almost all regular neutrinos will pass right through the Earth without a problem, that should almost never happen with ultra-high-energy neutrinos. Scientists liken it to winning the lottery, and it’s happened three times in three years. A new study claims these events fall outside the Standard Model. 

The launch of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, which picked up signals of impossible-seeming particles as it dangled from its balloon over Antarctica. Credit: NASA

Scientists know how many ultra-high-energy neutrinos fill the sky because most of them come from cosmic rays interacting with the cosmic microwave background. So, there would have to be some other mechanism at work if there are so many of these particles hitting Earth that we can see them coming out the other side. The best explanation we have for this within the confines of the Standard Model involves “cosmic accelerators,” sometimes known as “neutrino guns.” An accelerator can be a blazar, a fast-spinning neutron star, or even merging galaxies. One or more neutrino guns “above” Earth firing downward could cause some ultra-high-energy neutrinos to emerge from Antarctica… maybe.

According to the new analysis, there aren’t any cosmic accelerators pointed at Earth to explain the particle detections. If the ultra-high-energy neutrinos were coming from such an object, there should also be a shower of lower-energy particles coinciding with each detection. Scientists used both ANITA and an underground neutrino observatory called IceCube to scan for these spikes, but there are none in more than seven years of data. 

The team believes we don’t have the technological means to fully understand what’s happening with these mystery particles. A new generation of neutrino detectors may shed light on the phenomenon and also put the final nail in the Standard Model’s coffin.

Top image credit: The surface facility of the underground IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica.

Canadian psychedelic drug researcher featured in Netflix's 'The Goop Lab'

BY CASSANDRA SZKLARSKI, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Posted Jan 26, 2020 

TORONTO — Canadian researcher Mark Haden is quickly getting up to speed on the media circus and skepticism that follows Gwyneth Paltrow’s juggernaut wellness brand, Goop.

The 65-year-old Vancouver professor is the very first interview in Paltrow’s new Netflix series “The Goop Lab,” featured in an episode about the potential healing power of psychedelic drugs.

He says he only learned of Goop’s many detractors after taping his interview with Paltrow, but he adds that he’s faced a few critics of his own as executive director of MAPS Canada, which is the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.

MAPS’ mission is to explore the potential psychedelic drugs hold for medical treatment, and so the invitation to appear on a Netflix show helmed by one of Hollywood’s biggest stars appealed to Haden, also an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health.

“We already have engaged fringy folks of the world and so now our next task is to engage the mainstream. You know, we want to heal cops — we’re targeting cops and veterans,” says Haden, whose U.S. counterparts are studying whether MDMA — better known as the club drug Ecstasy — can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

“We want to appeal to guys in suits and housewives.”

To be sure, Goop’s dedicated following is large and ardent but Haden is now aware that its most famous products are resoundingly fringy — among them jade eggs for vaginas and psychic vampire repellent.

Meanwhile its wackier health claims, including coffee enemas and vaginal steaming, have drawn the ire of much of the medical community.

Nevertheless, Haden said he was pleased with the way his episode turned out, deeming it balanced and concerned with “real issues.”

Judging by the six episodes that rolled out Friday, denouncements by mainstream authorities are a badge of honour for Paltrow and the Goop crew, who seem to revel in declaring the topics they tackle as “unproven” and “out there.”

The trailer certainly highlights a seeming effort to appear cutting-edge with outtakes proclaiming that what you’re about to see is “dangerous” and “unregulated.”

The six episodes range from 29 to 36 minutes, with each tackling a specific topic: psychedelics, cold therapy, sexual health, reversing biological age, energy fields and psychic ability.

But none of this is cutting edge, says longtime Goop critic Tim Caulfield, who took Paltrow and the Goop ethos to task in his book “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong about Everything?” and his (no longer airing) Netflix series “A User’s Guide to Cheating Death.”

“On the contrary, a lot of these things are regressive in their approach to health,” says Caulfield, who blames celebrities including Paltrow, Kim Kardashian West, David and Victoria Beckham and Madonna with spreading a decade of health and wellness misinformation.

“It’s frustrating that she’s given the opportunity to spread not just misinformation about particular therapies, but (also) this idea that we should embrace magical thinking and distrust conventional sources of scientific information…. Whether you’re talking about the cold therapy, energy therapy, the use of mediums, all of these things have no evidence behind them.”

Each episode is prefaced by a disclaimer insisting the content is “designed to entertain and inform — not provide medical advice.”

And it’s hard to believe the media-savvy Paltrow would not be hyper-aware of the scrutiny she seems to invite — one of Goop’s more defiant products, a candle named “This Smells Like My Vagina,” hit the market just before the Netflix premiere.

The show itself includes a lighthearted dig at which Goop staffer is “goopier,” and a jab at Paltrow for being a “princess.”

Still, none of that self-awareness gives Paltrow licence “to push pseudoscience,” says Caulfield.

Especially problematic for him is the fact that “The Goop Lab” functions as an extended infomercial for Paltrow’s online and brick-and-mortar retail outlets.

While products are not overtly pitched on the series, the Goop website includes a dedicated section known as “The Goop Lab Shop” where devotees can buy items associated with themes featured on the show.

Toronto brand consultant Angela Wallace stops short of describing herself as a Goop fan but says she likes the fact it explores non-traditional approaches to wellness, believing “a lot of women feel let down by more traditional health-care systems.”

“A lot of the criticism does seem like: ‘Aren’t women silly? Aren’t they frivolous? Aren’t they ridiculous for buying a jade egg or doing whatever they want in terms of making themselves happy and feeling well?'” says Wallace, who has shopped at Goop’s Yorkville outlet and subscribes to the newsletter.

She feels there is a gender bias in the way women are derided for their choices.

“Men have been doing … what they want for a really long time and not necessarily receiving the cultural criticism that women have,” she says.

“Shouldn’t we have some agency in whether we decide to do that or not?”

CANADA IS A BASTION OF PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH 

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PSYCHEDELIC 

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=WEYBURN

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LSD

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=TIMOTHY+LEARY

SEEhttps://plawiuk.blogspot.com/searchq=ALBERT+HOFFMAN

SEEhttps://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=ALDOUS+HUXLEY

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=RAW

SAVOY BROWN WITCHY FEELIN'

1. Why Did You Hoodoo Me (5:15)
2. Livin´on The Bayou (6:01)
3. I Can´t Stop The Blues (5:27)
4. Witchy Feelin´ (4:37)
5. Guitar Slinger (3:53)
6. Vintage Man (3:08)
7. Standing In A Doorway (5:41)
8. Memphis Blues (4:14)
9. Can´t Find Paradise (4:30)
10. Thunder, Lightning & Rain (7:56)
11. Close To Midnight (4:08)

MY PAPER GOTHIC CAPITALISM

Full text of "The Horror Of Accumulation And The ...

https://archive.org › stream › The+Horror+of+Accumulation+and+the+Co...

Full text of "The Horror Of Accumulation And The Commodification Of Humanity" ... Marshaling an impressive range of original research from archives in the ... A journal of Libertarian Communist analysis and comment by Eugene Plawiuk Non ...

Gothic Capitalism - Anarkismo  

https://www.anarkismo.net › article

The Horror of Accumulation and the Commodification of Humanity. Anarkismo.net is an ... by Eugene Plawiuk Report this post to the editors. The Horror of ...

AND IT HAS RECENTLY BEEN USED IN A MA THESIS FROM MY ALMA MATER UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE 

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Imagining race and neoliberalism in young adult ... - OPUS

https://opus.uleth.ca › handle › RICKARDS_NICHOLAS_MA_2018

by NG Rickards - ‎2018 - ‎Related articles

accumulation and to restore the power of economic elites” (p. 19). Surely Katniss' ... The first season of The 100 is explicit about the horrors of nuclear war, the troubles of population ... under capitalism” (Plawiuk, 2005). However, since the ... https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/03/the-hunger-games-.

POPULAR CULTURE STUDIES: MONSTROSITY SPECIAL ISSUE

  POPULAR CULTURE STUDIES: MONSTROSITY SPECIAL 


SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-2005-paper-gothic-capitalism-full.html

Gothic "Voodoo" in Africa and Haiti

E Tropic, 2019

Eric J Montgomery

This paper seeks to historicize and demystify “Voodoo” religion in Africa and Haiti while also drawing comparisons and contrasts to concepts and themes related to “the gothic”. What is assumed to be “supernatural” or “paranormal” in Western and Gothic circles has long been a part of everyday reality for many peoples of African descent and devotees of Vodun in Western Africa and Vodou in Haiti. Tropes that are essential to realms of the gothic (supernatural characters, mystery, the macabre, spirits, and paranormal entities) — are also central to the cosmology and liturgy of so-called “Voodoo”. As “the gothic” undergoes a resurgence in academic and popular cultures, so too does “Voodoo” religion. And yet, both terms continue to be conflated by popular culture, and by equating “voodoo” with “the gothic”, the true spirt of both concepts become confounded. A certain racialized Eurocentric hegemony devalues one of the world’s least understood religions (“Voodoo”) by equating it with equally distorted concepts of “the gothic”. As globalization transforms society, and the neo-liberal order creates more uncertainty, the continued distortion of both terms continues. Vodun does more than just speak to the unknown, it is an ancient organizing principle and way of life for millions of followers. Vodou/Vodun are not cognates of the “American Zombie gothic”, but rather, are a mode of survival and offer a way of seeing and being in an unpredictable world.

Doi: 10.25120/etropic.18.1.2019.3666

Issue: 1

Volume: 18

Publication Date: 2019

Publication Name: E Tropic

Tropical Gothic: arts, humanities and social sciences

eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics, 2019 

Anita Lundberg

Katarzyna Ancuta

Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska

The Gothic is undergoing a pronounced resurgence in academic and popular cultures. Propelled by fears associated with massive social transformations produced by globalisation, the neoliberal order and environmental uncertainty-tropes of the Gothic resonate. The gothic allows us to delve into the unknown, the liminal, the unseen;; into hidden histories and feelings. It calls up unspoken truths and secret desires. In the tropics, the gothic manifests in specific ways according to spaces, places, cultures and their encounters. Within the fraught geographies and histories of colonisation and aggression that have been especially acute across the tropical regions of the world, the tropical gothic engages with orientalism and postcolonialism. The tropics, as the region of the greatest biodiversity in the world, is under enormous stress, hence tropical gothic also engages with gothic ecocriticism, senses of space, landscape and place. Globalisation and neoliberalism likewise impact the tropics, and the gothic imagery of these 'vampiric' capitalist forces-which impinge upon the livelihoods, traditions and the very survival of peoples of the tropics-is explored through urban gothic, popular culture, posthumanism and queer theory. As the papers in this special issue demonstrate, a gothic sensibility enables humans to respond to the seemingly dark, nebulous forces that threaten existence. These papers engage with specific instances of Tropical Gothic in West 

Doi: 10.25120/etropic.18.1.2019.36 

Publication Date: 2019 

Publication Name: eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics

Tropical Gothic' Special Issue

Tropical Gothic, 2019

Verena Bernardi

The rise of supernatural creatures throughout different media in the post-­2000 era has resulted in a significant change of audiences' perceptions of vampires, werewolves and witches (among others). Traditionally used to reflect human fears, lack of morals or instinct-­related insufficiencies, these creatures are no longer fear-­inducing monsters. Instead, their depiction tends to adopt human qualities to confront the audience with missteps and downfalls of contemporary societies and politics. This paper analyzes the television series The Originals as a supernatural mirror image of American society, where the different communities' struggles for power and their place in New Orleans becomes a micro-­cosmos for the American nation. The setting plays a crucial role in the series, which Gothicizes New Orleans to construct a space in which the characters are shown to operate in a posthuman context. This paper will clarify how the protagonists' posthuman characteristics and their placement in the subtropical landscape of Louisiana uncovers contemporary societal concerns and brings aspects such as Urban Gothic and tropicality closer to the audiences' reality. Ultimately, it is in the capital of the subtropical Deep South of America where the hegemonic discourse and practices of discrimination and spatial separation are reflected and challenged.

Doi: 10.25120/etropic.18.1.2019.3689

Publication Date: 2019

Publication Name: Tropical Gothic

blood_and_soil_2018 

https://www.academia.edu/37005421/blood_and_soil_2018.pdf

Lisa Lampert-Weissig

The third season of The Vampire Diaries introduces the story of the “Originals”, a family who came to North America with Vikings in the eleventh century and became vampires as a way to protect themselves against ‘native werewolves’. This mythology draws on the legend of Vinland, a paradise supposedly settled by Vikings in North America and recounted in thirteenth-century saga of the same name. The Vinland story has been used since the nineteenth century to legitimate white nationalism in North America. Further, medievalism more generally permeates both vampire narrative and the mythology of the ‘Old South’ so important to the fictional Mystic Falls where The Vampire Diaries is set. Focusing primarily on season three of The Vampire Diaries, I argue that the series’ emphasis on a Nordic origin for its “Original” vampires, combined with obfuscation of the history and legacy of slavery and racism in the United States, results in a narrative that ultimately, if inadvertently, legitimates white nationalist claims.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-2005-paper-gothic-capitalism-full.html

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CLR+JAMES

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BLACK+JACOBINS

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=HAITI

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=VOODOO

Syncretism in Vodu and Orisha
Journal of Religion in Society, 2016

Eric J Montgomery

This article is a comparative and ethnographic analysis of syncretism as a theoretical tool for explaining " African-based " religions (Vodu and Orisha) in West Africa and the New World. Vodu and Orisha defy syncretism as a valid concept for explaining the creativity of ritual life because it fails to account for the historicity, the religious imagination, or the cultural context of these forms. This article discusses that despite many shortcomings and problems with syncretism as a concept, it continues to be employed across many disciplines, even as it conflates and mystifies the different aspects and elements of African religions. Syncretism approaches tend to mystify African symbols and explain away things that, from the inside, are fundamental to African systems. This article will explain and contextualize many of these flaws and deficiencies with the concept through fieldwork and archival research.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-2005-paper-gothic-capitalism-full.html