The politics of ‘forgetting’ as poetics of belonging: between Greek self‐narration and reappraisal (Michaniona, 2000/3)

ABSTRACT. The repressive mechanisms of collective memory have received due attention in the social sciences, with scholars examining the ethics of remembering and forgetting and their political implications. This study focuses on episodes that took place in a Northern Greek town in 2000 and 2003, when an Albanian student was twice denied the right to hold the Greek flag during a commemorative national parade. It is argued that this line of action against the student, representative of Greek attitudes towards immigrants in Greece, asserted the locality's participation in the Greek ‘imagined community’. This was made possible through a process of ‘forgetting’ the locality's history and the analogies this presents with the experience of contemporary immigration. Questioning the ethical implications of this collective decision, the article links regional micro‐politics to nationalist discourses that originate in the European project itself.     

When Natural met Social: A Review of Collaboration between the Natural and Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper investigates the opportunities for further collaboration between the natural and social sciences. From 81 systematically identified and reviewed papers published in scientific journals, it became clear that complex situations that depend on human behaviour as well as natural processes require natural–social science collaboration. The creation of a community of collaborative natural–social science research, that learns from and can contribute to best practice across the sciences, is advocated to support natural– social science collaboration. Across disciplines, it became clear that such a community should deal with (1) difference between paradigms in the current sciences; (2) creation of skills and competences of the involved scientists; (3) scarcity of institutions sympathetic to collaborative research; and (4) the internal organization of collaborative projects.     

An Island Divided: Politicised Landscapes,Modern Borders,and Shifting Identities

Abstract

This paper looks critically at the division of Cyprus into North and South (the politically unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus respectively) and will consider how this physical division emphasised and further developed a divided identity based on 'ethnic' differences (and the development of the 'other') between the two major populations—Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. The Green Line is just one of several recent manifestations in the landscape of social contestations between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. This paper outlines how the Green Line has structured the lives of people in relation to the ways that they conceptualise their environment, the past and, importantly, the 'other' side. Further, it addresses how this division, this physical line across the landscape, impacts upon the social landscape as it defines and reinforces identity through the processes of memory and forgetting.     

Philosophy,Theology, and the Humanities

Summary

This paper addresses the relation between the natural sciences and the humanities with reference to the work of Ian Hunter. It discusses the history of, role of philosophy in, and value of the humanities; the question of historicism; the issue of critique; and the role of theology in the humanities, all matters raised by Hunter's work. The paper suggests that a reinvented humanities might pay more attention to philosophy and the sciences, including theology. It asks how far such a perspective is compatible with Ian Hunter's pioneering work on the humanities and intellectual history. The paper concludes that a middle position, one between Hunter's historicising and an emphasis on naturalistic constraints, may be possible.     

How ‘creative’ is remembering? Culture-led regeneration and the politics of memory in Bogota,Colombia

ABSTRACT

Recently, Colombia’s post-conflict transition has experienced strong international attention. In Bogota, commemorative politics of the conflict insert themselves in complex processes of place branding: employing culture to rescale the city image from unsafe and violent to culturally vibrant. However, how to reckon with the country’s violent past in the culture-led renaissance of Bogota? Based on the author’s four-month of in-depth qualitative fieldwork on the main street Avenida 26 – at the center of both branding strategies and politics of memory – this paper shows the failure of institutional efforts to promote a brand of Bogota as a ‘City of Memory’. Socio-political divisions over the interpretations of the country’s past result in multi-scalar conflictive negotiations between politics and practices on the street: they reveal the tight link between memory, social justice, and urban segregation while denouncing the exclusionary visions of citizenship bared in political efforts to display memory as a territorial mark.     

Historical shifts in remembering China’s “Nanjing Massacre”

ABSTRACT

Immediately after the occurrence of the Nanjing Massacre, it was reported by both official and nonofficial media, and followed by witness accounts and victim recollections. All this formed the basic memory of the atrocity in Chinese society. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, the National Government conducted preliminary investigations and organized memorial services. However, the investigation was interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil War (1947–49). After the Communist victory in 1949, relationships between the Communists and Nationalists, China and United States and China and Japan all played a role in suppressing and even forgetting the memory of the Nanjing Massacre. It was not until the 1980s, after the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations, that the memory finally entered a process of reconstruction.     

COMPUTERS AS CARTOGRAPHIC TOOLS

Abstract

In their exploration of an alternative approach to large historical databases, the authors aim to bridge the gap between the anticipations regarding Web-based collaborative work and the prevailing practices and academic culture in social and economic history. Until now, the collaboratory model has been derived from examples in the natural sciences. Moreover, publications on collaboratories in the social sciences and humanities revolved primarily around the potential of this model and were rarely based on actual research practices. In this article, the authors report on practices, risks, and opportunities of collaboratories in the field of social and economic history. The collaboratory model is a feasible alternative for the creation of large historical databases, but the practical challenges of such an enterprise are greater than generally assumed. In the concluding section, the authors formulate a number of guidelines for scholars interested in setting up collaboratories.     

Geothermal Energy Concept and Problems

Abstract

Sudden changes of state occur at all levels of society, and have always done so, be they marriages ending in divorce, bankruptcies of industrial enterprises, or the collapse of empires. Can such social discontinuities, moving either from order to chaos – the more common event – or from disorder to stability, be compared with perhaps similar events in the natural sciences? Can a valid theory be established to cover the subject of social discontinuities? These questions are addressed after defining the subject, discussing the causes of discontinuities, illustrating various occurrences and stressing the urgency of an analysis of discontinuities, as many assume our present social–technological society is especially prone to collapse. It is concluded that the subject remains a challenge to the social scientist, primarily because the people who are affected by discontinuities constantly change their behaviour and thus affect the phenomenon. This distinguishes the social from the natural sciences.     

The Technology of Submarine Design A Historical Survey 1905–1945

Abstract

The general principles of submarine design are outlined, and the close interaction between operational requirements and technical solutions is illustrated. These solutions involve an exceptional range of physical and social sciences. The engineering development of submarines between 1905 and 1945 is described, and it is shown how steady improvement was made and special requirements met. The main theme follows British developments, but frequent comparisons are made with the best designs from other countries.     

Do social scientists and historians write the same minority histories?

This paper is a comparison between two books, each dealing with the history of a different rural community in Northern Norway. These are Fjordfolket i Kvænangen and Balsfjorden og Malangens historie (Volume 1) written by the social anthropologist Ivar Bjørklund and the historian Anders Ole Hauglid respectively. In this comparison, two main points are emphasized: (1) To what extent can knowledge about ethnic processes of categorization, which has been acquired through contemporary research in the social sciences, be of use in the writing of the history of minorities? (2) Should the history of a minority only be a history of ethnic relations'?     

Gender and Feminist Geography in Colombia

Abstract

The article explains how gender and feminist geography as a transversal analytical category to geography have been introduced recently in Colombia. At the beginning of the XXI century, in the geography department of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, the first undergraduate thesis to focus on the relationship between gender and processes of social construction of space was presented. Since then, the contributions of geographers and researchers from a feminist geographic perspective have contributed to the feminist geographical debates from their own trajectories. The contemporary geographical landscape in Colombia is linked with the transversal debates on feminisms and gender in social sciences, social movements and Latin-American feminisms. This networks and connections allows today a diversity of themes from the deconstruction of hegemonic spatial representations in different contexts, gender and conflicts related to territory and body, to some new approaches to technologies and virtual social interactions and their connotation in the construction of non-normative spatialities.     

More on the structure of British education and the role of geography

Abstract

Geography in higher education is severely constrained by its bureaucratic organisation. There is a need for new directions in social science at this level, for the current courses do not meet the requirements of a mass education system in which an academic training is not required for the majority of students. Such new directions should involve the integration of the social sciences in a structural framework, so that the subject matter of the disciplinary parts is comprehended within the context of the societal whole.     

旅游地理视角下记忆研究的进展与启示

记忆是当前西方人文社会科学的重要研究领域,同时也是一个跨学科的概念。记忆与时间和空间密不可分,随着20世纪90年代以来"旅游潮"和"记忆转向"的兴起,记忆研究日益成为中西方旅游地理研究者的关注领域。本文通过对人文地理学中旅游相关研究中的记忆议题和研究方法的梳理,从记忆、物质景观与地方意义的感知,记忆、仪式与身份认同,以及旅游者的情感体验与地方建构三个方面进行分析,以期展现充满文化、社会、政治乃至经济内涵的记忆地理问题发展脉络及独特意义,为国内旅游地理学开拓新的研究视野。     

Taking the discussion onward

ABSTRACT

This response to the foregoing reviews of The Poetry and Music of Science identifies common themes raised by them, responds to direct questions where this is possible and suggests further avenues of discussion. It focusses in particular on issues of the historical and cultural setting of human creativity, the particular issues raised by poetry, the differences between artistic and scientific imagination, the confusion (and de-confusion) of ‘imagination' and ‘creativity', the social and institutional framings of the sciences and the arts, the question of digital creativity and theological themes. A common emerging idea is that human creativity, whether artistic or scientific, is well-described by neither purely ‘expressive' nor ‘receptive’ actions but by a meeting of both.     

A Popular Public Theology

Abstract

The article begins by exploring what is meant by a popular public theology drawing on the work of the missiologist Werner Ustorf. A popular public theology refers to the informal and unofficial theological speech of society, distinct from the more formal theology of the Church and academy. Such popular public theology is found in contemporary culture, albeit often in diffuse and incoherent form. It is then argued that a popular public theology has an inbuilt relevance to the concerns of society, avoids problems associated with public theologians needing to be fluent in more than one academic discourse, and is not in danger of being reliant on the social sciences. Finally, it is suggested that by discussing the implications of cultural theological statements, public theologians are able to contribute critically to social and political debates.     

Quantifying the Family Frailty Effect in Infant and Child Mortality by Using Median Hazard Ratio (MHR)

Abstract

Most microlevel studies in the social sciences have focused on the impact of different measured variables. While some studies have also dealt with unobserved variation, it has usually only been controlled for to perfect the estimates of the observables. In this article, the authors applied a modified version of a recently developed method designed to quantify the effect of unobserved variation in continuous time multilevel models, called a median hazard ratio. It allows a direct comparison of the effect of unobserved heterogeneity with standard relative risks. The method is used in an analysis of infant and child mortality in southern Sweden during the period 1766–1895. The empirical findings indicate that unmeasured differences between families were more important than either socioeconomic status or gender throughout this period.     

小平同志对发展哲学社会科学的殷切期望--纪念邓小平同志诞辰百周年

邓小平高度重视哲学社会科学的战略地位。邓小平认为 ,中国的哲学社会科学还存在许多不足 ,应该积极发展。邓小平认为 ,哲学社会科学必须坚持正确的发展方向 ,坚持马克思主义的指导 ,必须处理好对中国传统文化和外来文化的吸收借鉴与批判继承 ,还必须发扬理论联系实际的学风。邓小平主张尽快培养哲学社会科学人才 ,并营造良好的学术环境 ,建立良好的人才队伍管理体制。     

Recovering social memories from the past: the 1884 novel Ramona and tourist practices in turn‐of‐the‐century southern California

Scholars studying social memory have identified a priority for future work: using the study of documented social memories to understand constructions of the past and social identities in the present. Recovering such lived, individual engagements with social memory is challenging when those engaging the memory are deceased, yet that is what this article attempts to do: Through fine‐grained study of archival traces, I explore the lived practices of tourists in an attempt to understand how the immensely popular 1884 novel Ramona changed the way people thought about southern California's past, creating a new, Ramona‐inspired social memory for the region. In so doing I suggest that those interested in recovering social memories (like these) from the past use such detailed analysis, paying close attention to even the tiniest of details.     

Entropy vs. human ontogeny: the Shannon information measure; a reliable general indicator of human health?

ABSTRACT

A measure of health based on exact sciences is not considered by social sciences to evaluate human development. We propose the H measure of information of Shannon ([1948]. “A Mathematical Theory of Communication.” The Bell Systems Technical Journal 27 (3): 379–423, 623–656), renamed as H _cto , as a general indicator of human health which can be subsequently aggregated at any statistical level. Several advantages of H _cto are explained: (i) connections with thermodynamics and information theory; (ii) combination of physical and statistical elements; (iii) measurements of entropy and/or information depending on the reference point, and (iv) a collection of examples based on the scientific literature that supports the application of H _cto . Simplified graphical models of the ontogeny of health condition are also shown. The empirical feasibility of using H _cto is also analysed, by concluding that it could be a tangible reality in the near future.     

Creativity in 3D: Poets and Scientists Converge on Writerly Invention

Abstract

Data from interviews with accomplished poets is used alongside findings from neuroscience, to examine three aspects of writerly invention: automaticity, emotional knowledge, and the social dimension. Writerly invention references the creative process writers use to originate ideas via writing. It is shown that a three-dimensional view of writerly invention becomes tenable when scientific findings are viewed in a consilient manner with the introspections of poets. In addition, a call is made for the sciences to help elucidate a mind-state found to be germane to writerly invention — the receptive stance.