CORPORATE IDEOLOGY AND THE POLITICS OF ENTREPRENEURISM IN NEW ORLEANS

In this article, Louis F. Miron presents a case study of the effects of local ideology and culture on corporate-lead progrowth movements in New Orleans. Miron borrows from critical theory to illustrate how "hegemonic" ideologies such as economic growth may be resisted in local settings. The findings suggest that economic structural relations do not predetermine the course of human agency, and that the success of progrowth movements is contingent upon local cultural conditions and ethos. Through a document analysis of "fiscal reform," a pro-growth ideology advanced by corporate and political elites in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana, the author probes the connections among material conditions, ideology, and the politics of entrepreneurism.     

Death's dance of women

The 1486 edition of La grant danse macabre des femmes by Martial d'Auvergne, also known as Martial de Paris, is the subject of this study. The skeleton, representing death, queries each of the thirty-six women described in the poem. The answers they give tell us about their occupation and the chances of their salvation. The author is a realist who represents only those women he is familiar with and shows deep understanding of the women portrayed. The concerns of the flesh get more attention than the spiritual factors.Death was very important in the middle ages, especially in the late fourteenth and fifteenth century. It was featured in public curiosity, religion, literature, visual and dramatic presentations, and popular beliefs. The authors attempt to describe it and give an answer to the pressing problems of death in the fifteenth century.