Susan Pitchford
Fioretti ("little flowers")
A "florilegium" is a collection, or bouquet, of writings. It comes from the Latin "flora" (flower)+ "legere" (to gather). It has the same meaning as the Greek word "anthology."
In the Middle Ages and beyond, when books were rare and expensive, people copied their favorite excerpts from books into a booklet they carried with them, a florilegium. In a similar vein, the "fioretti" or "little flowers" of Francis of Assisi are a series of stories about the saint that were gathered into a single volume. In this florilegium (nicer than "blog," isn't it?), I'd like to gather some of my favorite bits of writing by various authors, adding a little commentary but mostly letting the quotations speak for themselves. I hope it will grow into a garden that will be a pleasant place to linger for a bit. Enjoy! Archives
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FlorilegiumModern Slavery, Part IIIDecember 17, 2009
This autumn, I included a unit on slavery in both of my sociology courses. After the presentation in my Intro Soc course, a student made an appointment with me. She sat across my desk from me and demanded to know what could be done – what could she do? I suggested that she consider doing an independent study with me this winter to find some answers to that question, and she signed up. And so have nine others so far including, as of yesterday, a student I taught two years ago. These young people want to learn more, and they want to act. Winter quarter is three weeks away, but they are already planning their part of the antislavery movement, and I’m in awe of them, honored to be included. (more…)
Modern Slavery, Part IIDecember 16, 2009
We tend to think of slavery as the legal ownership of one person by another. But that definition belongs to the past, as does our “Gone With the Wind” image of plantation slavery. Slavery today takes multiple forms, but all slaves are people who are forced to work without compensation, who are kept at it by violence or the threat of violence, who are unfree, controlled through physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual coercion. (more…)
Modern Slavery, Part IDecember 15, 2009
Did you know that there are something like 27 million slaves in the world today? Not sweatshop laborers, not people working in “slave-like conditions,” but actual slaves. Free the Slaves, an anti-slavery organization, defines a “slave” as:
A person held against his or her will and controlled physically or psychologically by violence or its threat for the purpose of appropriating their labor. (more…) |
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