Literature

Global Global Green Technology and Sustainability Market Report 2024 - A $44.5 Billion Market by 2028, Registering CAGR of 23%

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

DUBLIN, Feb. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Green Technology and Sustainability Global Market Report 2024" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Key Points: 
  • DUBLIN, Feb. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Green Technology and Sustainability Global Market Report 2024" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
  • Amid the escalation of global environmental concerns, a comprehensive Green Technology and Sustainability Global Market Report has been methodically compiled, summarizing pivotal industry insights projected through 2024.
  • The market is forecast to further grow to $44.55 billion in 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.4%.
  • The Green Technology and Sustainability Global Market Report aims to equip industry leaders, policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders with deep insight to navigate this rapidly growing market effectively.

Love songs in Hindu devotion – the Tamil poets who took on the female voice to express their intense longing for the divine

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

One literary tradition rarely highlighted is that of Hindu “bhakti” or ecstatic devotion, which birthed some of the most stirring mystical poetry composed in the world.

Key Points: 
  • One literary tradition rarely highlighted is that of Hindu “bhakti” or ecstatic devotion, which birthed some of the most stirring mystical poetry composed in the world.
  • This is especially true in the poems to Vishnu, which I study, where many male poets assume the female voice to express their longing for union with the divine beloved, conceived as male.

Poetics of longing

  • Much of the alvars’ poetry reveals an intense longing for a silent and absent god, so much so that it has been called “viraha bhakti,” or devotion in separation.
  • The love appears, at least as presented by the poet, as completely one-sided – sparked by a chance encounter with a mysterious and inscrutable deity.
  • The use of a female voice by a male poet is not unusual in the Tamil or Sanskrit literature.
  • To this cast of characters, the poets also occasionally use, as Kodhai herself does, mythological female figures.
  • The cowherd women of the wondrous town of Vrindavan, where the youthful divine Krishna is eternally at play, is a particular favorite for the alvar poets.

Male poets and female voice of longing

  • Two ninth century alvar poets, Nammalvar and Tirumankai, are particularly deft in their use of these female voices of longing.
  • Their heroine dominates their poems; her tone in turns demanding, insistent and despairing as she seeks through language to call the absent divine beloved back to her.

Love in many shades

  • Not all the male alvar poets use one of these archetypal female voices, and a female voice does not always have to speak about romantic love.
  • These poems are not composed from the vantage of separation; rather, they are poems of intimacy and joy, celebrating maternal love.
  • In the poems of the alvar, love, directed toward Vishnu, takes many forms: humble service; unconditional, protective maternal adoration; and the intense intimacy of lovers.


Archana Venkatesan receives funding from the American Institute of Indian Studies in the form of a four-month short-term Senior Fellowship (June-Sept 30, 2024) to conduct field research in Tamil Nadu, India.

Rethinking masculinity: Teaching men how to love and be loved

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

Many masculinity critics speak of the dangers of traditional gender ideologies, rape culture or toxic ways of being male.

Key Points: 
  • Many masculinity critics speak of the dangers of traditional gender ideologies, rape culture or toxic ways of being male.
  • I live in a world that shows more than enough hatred to Black and Indigenous men.
  • I want to focus more on how Black and Indigenous men can love and be loved.

Patriarchy, ‘interlocking’ oppressions


Many of the ways of being male that are under scrutiny or that some men are trying to reclaim are connected to patriarchy. The late Black feminist philosopher bell hooks defines patriarchy as:
…"a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence"
…"a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence"

  • As hooks and other Black feminists have also noted, patriarchy, racism, sexism and homophobia can be interlocking systems of domination.
  • For these reasons, my work on masculinity also comes out of an anti-racist teaching practice.

Lesser-discussed forms of masculinity

  • As Cherokee scholar Daniel Heath Justice notes in Why Indigenous Literatures Matters, the stories settlers tell about Indigenous communities often amplify toxic stories of lack and deficit.
  • Too often, such stories presume the perverse success of colonialism.
  • Carrying the Burden of Peace: Reimagining Indigenous Masculinities Through Story by white settler scholar Sam McKegney explores “Indigenous literary art for understandings of masculinity that exceed the impoverished inheritance of colonialism.” Likewise, Black feminist scholars like hooks have encouraged men to be better and suggested a central task of feminist criticism ought to be articulating less dominating ways for men to preform their masculinity.

Contempt and politics

  • While I take the point of writers like Pauline Harmange or Blythe Roberson
    that misandry (contempt or dislike) can be politically useful, I fear the language of “hating men” is unproductive — even when meant humourously — and can turn men away from the very feminist work that aims to help them become better lovers, fathers, friends and brothers.
  • Stories we tell about Black and Indigenous men can create fear of them, and this can serve as a justification for racism.

Love and tender feelings

  • Love can be a tool of anti-racist and decolonial education, but only if we encourage men (and women and non-binary people) to take the risk of expressing tender feelings for others.
  • In these books, the characters Michael and French are imperfect men who struggle to show tender emotions.
  • Through trying to process their feelings within found families, these men are healing themselves.


Speaking of these men in terms of the struggle to love is, in itself, an anti-racist practice. Almost all of the young men I work with struggle to express tender emotions, and seeing these characters struggle helps them see Black and Indigenous men as emotional role models.

Encouraging flourishing

  • Love cannot come from places of domination or abuse, nor can it be maintained through cultures of power and control.
  • As analytic philosopher Harry Frankfurt argues in The Reasons of Love, love is an orientation to the beloved, whereby I care about doing thinks that encourage their flourishing as human beings.

Taking responsibility for thinking, loving

  • In poet Adrienne Rich’s essay “Claiming an Education,” she distinguishes between the passive act of receiving an education and the active act of thinking of education as a responsibility to oneself.
  • This works best, I have found, when it comes from a loving disposition.


Jamie Paris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Assessing the macroeconomic effects of climate change transition policies

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

This box assesses the impact on euro area real GDP and inflation of green fiscal discretionary measures as included in the December 2023 Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections.

Key Points: 
  • This box assesses the impact on euro area real GDP and inflation of green fiscal discretionary measures as included in the December 2023 Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections.
  • These simulations suggest modest downside risks to GDP and upside risks to inflation from transition policies to achieve EU targets, but the effects depend on the transition policy mix.

Global trade in the post-pandemic environment

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

The pandemic triggered the deepest global recession (albeit short-lived) since the Second World War amid large-scale policy support, and led to a sweeping fall in world trade.

Key Points: 
  • The pandemic triggered the deepest global recession (albeit short-lived) since the Second World War amid large-scale policy support, and led to a sweeping fall in world trade.
  • Following the initial COVID-19 shock, trade staged a rapid recovery, but from the second half of 2022 world trade growth started to decelerate markedly and in 2023 it is estimated to have been considerably below its pre-pandemic average.

Corporate vulnerabilities as reported by firms in the SAFE

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

The current rise in vulnerabilities identified in the SAFE is driven mostly by firms in industry, construction and trade and by large firms rather than by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Key Points: 
  • The current rise in vulnerabilities identified in the SAFE is driven mostly by firms in industry, construction and trade and by large firms rather than by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
  • Balance sheet data on firms in the SAFE confirm that corporate vulnerabilities have implications for their investment rate and employment growth.

The Toy Association™ Announces 2024 Toy Trends

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- From spooky, sustainable, and anime-inspired playthings, to holistic toys that give young minds and bodies a boost, The Toy Association™ today unveiled the top trends expected to drive consumer spending on toys, games, and youth entertainment products in 2024. The announcement was made during The Toy Association's annual Toy Trends Briefing, a virtual press conference that gave retailers and media a first look at the latest developments in toys and play.

Key Points: 
  • The announcement was made during The Toy Association's annual Toy Trends Briefing, a virtual press conference that gave retailers and media a first look at the latest developments in toys and play.
  • The Toy Association's team of trend experts meets with hundreds of global toy companies throughout the year to track the latest developments in toys, play, and youth entertainment, as well as parallel industries.
  • A summary of the top 2024 trends follows:
    Forty-five percent of parents under the age of 40 consider a toy's environmental impact when making buying decisions, according to a Toy Association survey of U.S. parents.
  • A fervent global fandom is bringing anime to the forefront in 2024, and its impact on the toy space is expected to reach unprecedented heights.

The Ultimate Guide to Maximizing Your Fortune in Hong Kong

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

With this “Ultimate Guide to a Prosperous Year of the Dragon” curated by feng shui master Mak Ling Ling, you can effortlessly unlock a perfect new year while immersed in the festive bliss around Hong Kong!

Key Points: 
  • With this “Ultimate Guide to a Prosperous Year of the Dragon” curated by feng shui master Mak Ling Ling, you can effortlessly unlock a perfect new year while immersed in the festive bliss around Hong Kong!
  • No Chinese New Year trip to Hong Kong is complete without a visit to the temple!
  • Among the numerous temples in Hong Kong dedicated to Kwun Yum, the one in Hung Hum is the largest and most famous in Kowloon.
  • Don’t miss out on the festivities and temple-hopping itineraries to usher in good fortune for the Year of the Dragon!

Dewey Celebrates World Read Aloud Day with New York City Public Schools Chancellor and New York City Mayor

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Dewey, an organization that creates educational products with the goal of sparking joy in reading and writing, celebrated World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) with some very special role models and superheroes. Dewey's CEO and the creator of WRAD, literacy expert Pam Allyn, and New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks and Mayor Eric Adams celebrated the power of reading aloud at P.S. 123 Mahalia Jackson in Harlem.

Key Points: 
  • Dewey's CEO and the creator of WRAD, literacy expert Pam Allyn, and New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks and Mayor Eric Adams celebrated the power of reading aloud at P.S.
  • Allyn, Adams and Banks read aloud to a group of elementary students in the school's library.
  • "World Read Aloud Day originated in the vibrant heart of New York City, and it's an honor to be partnering with the city's esteemed leaders, Chancellor Banks and Mayor Adams, to spread the importance of reading aloud with your children," said Pam Allyn, founder of World Read Aloud Day and CEO of Dewey.
  • For more information about Dewey and World Read Aloud Day, reach out to Jocelin Leon at [email protected] .