Between Virgins and Priests: The Feminisation of Catholicism and Priestly Masculinity in Nineteenth-Century Spain

The feminisation of religion in the nineteenth-century has been broadly discussed by historians and sociologists. Considering the main contributions of that debate from a critical perspective, this article defends the hypothesis that the Catholic Church identified itself with the same characteristics with which it defined femininity in the nineteenth-century through the symbolic link with the Virgin Mary. Although this discursive feminisation of Catholicism left laymen in a difficult situation, it did contribute to reinforcing the patriarchal and hierarchical structure of the Church. The great challenge to bishops and priests, the leading subjects in the project of re-Christianising society, was to demonstrate their condition as men within a feminised organisation. This article will mainly focus on Spain, although with the international perspective that any study about Catholicism requires.     

Between the sword and the wall: Spain's limited options for Catalan secessionism

We propose a game theoretical model to assess the capacity of Catalonia to become a recognised, independent country with at least a de facto European Union (EU) membership. Support for Catalan independence has been increasing for reasons pertaining to identity and economics. Spain can avoid a vote for independence by effectively ‘buying‐out’ a proportion of the Catalan electorate with a funding agreement favourable to Catalonia. If, given the current economic circumstances, the buying‐out strategy is too expensive, a pro‐independence vote is likely to pass. Our model predicts an agreement in which Spain and the EU accommodate Catalan independence in exchange for Catalonia taking a share of the Spanish debt. If Spain and the EU do not accommodate, Spain becomes insolvent, which in turn destabilises the EU. The current economic woes of Spain and the EU both contribute to the desire for Catalan independence and make it possible.     

Possible sources of archaeological maize found in Chaco Canyon and Aztec Ruin,New Mexico

Maize played a major role in Chaco's interaction with outlying communities in the southern Colorado Plateau. This paper seeks to determine where archaeological corn cobs brought to Chaco Canyon were grown. Strontium-isotope and trace-metal ratios of 180 soil-water and 18 surface-water sites in the Southern Colorado Plateau have revealed possible source areas for some of 37 archaeological corn cobs from Chaco Canyon and 10 archaeological corn cobs from Aztec Ruin, New Mexico. The most probable source areas for cobs that predate the middle-12th-century drought include several Upper Rio Chaco sites (not including Chaco Canyon). There are many potential source areas for cobs that date to the late A.D. 1100s and early 1200s, all of which lie in the eastern part of the study area. Some Athapascan-age cobs have potential source areas in the Totah, Lobo Mesa, and Dinetah regions. One Gallo Cliff Dwelling cob has a strontium-isotope ratio that exceeds all measured soil-water values. Field sites for this cob may exist in association with Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks found 80–90 km from Chaco Canyon. Potential source areas for most Aztec Ruin cobs (many of which were found in rooms dating to the first half of the 13th-century) appear to be associated with a loess deposit that blankets the Mesa Verde and McElmo Dome regions.     

世界遗产:人和遗产的关系变革

纵观1978年以来《世界遗产名录》的变化轨迹,可以清晰地看到世界遗产事业发展所走过的道路:从精英阶层的遗产到平民百姓的遗产;从人类征服自然的杰作到人与自然和谐共生的产物;从单一文化的代表到文化交流和交融的成果;从单点小规模遗产到跨区域跨国境巨尺度遗产;从古代遗产到现代遗产;从静态遗产到活态遗产.这种发展还反映在全社会对遗产关注点的变化,即:从关注遗产点的时代断代到关注遗产点在整个历史进程中的地位、作用及影响;从关注文化到关注文化与自然的互动;从关注物质遗产到关注物质与非物质遗产共生:从关注物质遗存到关注物质遗存与社会和人的关系;从关注利益相关者的权益到关注全民参与保护,保护惠及民生的实践.这种认识上的发展体现了"以人为本"的精神,也体现出遗产保护与当地社会发展的和谐共进.     

《斜阳》与太宰治的基督情结

昭和22年太宰治发表的《斜阳》在描写二战战败后的日本社会的同时,融入了《圣经》思想来歌颂女性的解放,并结合了《圣经》来塑造人物形象。本文将深入考察《斜阳》这部作品与《圣经》的关系,并进一步探讨太宰治对《圣经》的独特理解,以及所受的影响。     

The Disciples of Christ in Antebellum Indiana: Geographical Indicator of the Border South

The Disciples of Christ originated in the Ohio River Valley of the border South in the early 19th century. Based on the distribution of the Disciples in Indiana in 1845 and 1860, it is apparent the group settled largely in that portion of the state which was border South in heritage. This belies the model which argues that central Indiana was an area of great cultural mixture, and supports the alternative model which proposes that north-central Indiana remained an extension of Pennsylvania-Midland culture, with little southern influence.     

Local and Regional History as Heritage: The Heritage Process and Conceptualising the Purpose and Practice of Local Historians

The expansion and evolution of local history over the last half century has given rise to both celebration and critical self‐reflection. This attention has been stimulated by the continued importance of local history as a popular cultural activity, in parallel with, paradoxically, a relatively recent decline in academic teaching provision in the subject. The reflection on the characteristics and role of local history has yielded searching consideration of its relationship with the pursuit of history more broadly, most especially in the academic discipline. However, little work has approached comprehending local history as being by its very nature also heritage. This paper turns to a series of essays by academic and non‐academic practitioners for a county history society’s journal over a period of 35 years, in order to shed light on the place of local history in evolving understandings of heritage as process.     

Aztec period houses and terraces at Calixtlahuaca: The changing morphology of a Mesoamerican hilltop urban center

Abstract

Calixtlahuaca, a Middle–Late Postclassic site in the Toluca Valley of central Mexico, was occupied ca. a.d. 1100–1530. Our excavations reveal some of the processes involved in the creation, functions, and decay of a large hilltop urban center. At its height, the majority of the site’s surface (264 ha) was covered with residential-agricultural terraces supported by a complex water management system. House construction techniques included the use of adobe brick, wattle-and-daub, and stone pavements. Our fieldwork contributes to a growing body of research on hilltop political capitals in Mesoamerica. Using a refined chronology, we illuminate the processes by which people constructed the residential zones of this ancient hilltop city.     

Spain's love affair with Russia: the attraction of exotic (Br)others

This article examines a specific case of identification and desire between two countries at the extremities of Europe. In a cultural love affair located largely in the imaginary, Russia constituted a desired and exotic brother for Spain, while its revolution provided the possibility of a realistic engagement with a different culture. Central to these writings is the figuring of Russia as the exotic woman. In the travel writings, despite periodic attempts to figure women as individuals, non‐essentialised, and newly formulated in their post‐revolutionary situation, we find that the myth of woman as flesh, groundedness and the repository of positive experience is presented with insistence.