Remembering the Charge of the Light Brigade: Its Commemoration,War Memorials and Memory

Abstract

This paper takes a broad approach to the British and Irish commemoration of the Charge of the Light Brigade (CLB), by assessing the contemporary documentary and memorial evidence and providing useful case-studies for further research. It builds upon the 1858 study by Captains Colbourne and Brine on Balaklava memorials and cemeteries by including an appreciation of those memorials and graves in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. In contrast to Colbourne and Brine's purpose, which was to provide a catalogue of graves and memorials, this paper seeks to interpret their impact, imagery or importance as required.     

Bodies,gender, place and culture: 21 years on

This article examines research on embodiment published in Gender, Place and Culture (GPC) over the past two decades. We searched using the keywords ‘body’, ‘bodies’, ‘embodiment’, ‘embody’, ‘flesh’, ‘fleshy’, ‘corporeality’ and ‘corporeal’, the titles and abstracts of all the articles that have appeared in GPC since it first began publication in 1994. Articles containing these keywords were listed in a searchable bibliography. What we found was a growing volume of research inspired by ‘body politics’ produced over a 21-year period that compares favourably to cognate geography journals. We also found that various themes have emerged including maternal and geopolitical bodies. In other areas, we identified gaps. Throughout the article, we engage with the question: has the upsurge of interest in embodiment, as expressed in the pages of GPC since 1994, led to an upheaval of masculinist ways of thinking in the discipline? We conclude by expressing our feelings of ambivalence.     

Tourism development,rights consciousness and the empowerment of Chinese historical village communities

In recent years, China's tourism researchers have started to pay attention to the empowerment of rural communities. Current theoretical research and social practices reflect that tourism needs to seek localized empowerment with respect to different types of tourism destinations. This paper, taking Furong Historical Village in Zhejiang Province as a case study, examines a special kind of Chinese historical village community in which the villagers’ consciousness of their rights is weak and tourism development is only in its initial stages. Based on the field surveys, this paper points out four roots of such a community's disempowerment: (1) the failure of political institutions to ensure the community's public interest; (2) accusations of historical villages ‘damaging protection’; (3) information asymmetry in the relationship between rural leaders and villagers; and (4) a sense of powerlessness in the daily lives of rural residents. Based on these findings, this paper suggests several empowerment paths: (1) placing the enhancement of psychological power as the core of community empowerment; (2) addressing villager empowerment needs according to different types, rather than generalizing a community as a whole; and (3) including a diversity of subjects in the process of empowerment. These empowerment paths would be a moderate extension toward increasing community empowerment, based on this empirical study.     

Being an Israeli: Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel,fifteen years later

This article presents the results of a study conducted in 2006 among a representative sample of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, aged 18 and over, who arrived in Israel between 1990 and 2005. It examines the changes over time in their collective identity, focusing on the relative weight and meaning of the local, Israeli component of their identity, as compared to the Jewish and Russian components. Unlike studies conducted in other concentrations of Russian Jewish emigrés (in the United States, Canada, and Germany), which found that an increase in the intensity of the local component of their identity was held in check by the enduring strength of the Russian component, this study revealed that in Israel the local identity component grew much stronger while, correspondingly, the Russian component declined. In addition, significant similarities between the immigrants and the veteran population were found with regard to how they conceive of the Israeli narrative. These changes over time in the immigrants' identity, which were not observed in the first years of their integration into Israeli culture and society, require a reexamination of the generalizations that dominate the research literature and the professional relationship with this group, concerning its supposed social and cultural self-segregation and low potential for cultural change.     

One thousand years of historical relics: the Huizhou Documents

The Huizhou Documents are a precious repository of historical memory and they have gradually been collected since 1946. This archive dates from the Southern Song period to 1949, and its content is distinguished by its continuity, specificity, accuracy, and representative nature, all of which make these documents extremely enlightening for scholars. Systematically collecting, organizing, categorizing, and utilizing these documents has not only given birth to a new field, Huizhou Studies, but has also provided valuable material in support of research on politics, the economy, law, education, and the civil examination system in late imperial China.     

Under the Danish Cross: flagging Danishness in the years around World War II

This article explores the significance of the Danish flag in the formation of national identities during World War II and the immediate post-war period. During this dark and tumultuous period of Danish history, the flag was claimed by different groups with very different agendas, which in turn engendered differing conceptions of Denmark and Danishness. Three different themes are investigated in the article. The first regards the flag as a symbol of national continuity and endurance. From this angle, the flag functioned as a living, corporeal piece of history, which signalled that old Denmark would prevail, in spite of the crisis at hand. The second theme investigates the coupling of the flag with democracy during the 1943 elections. This event was hailed by the government as a major national celebration, with nationwide flagging for the democratic values of Denmark. At the same time, the elections were criticized as ‘un-national’, both by home-grown Nazis and the resistance movement. The third section dwells on the notion of martyrdom for the flag. This form of Danishness was not connected to peace-loving democracy, but woven into a martial discourse of sacrifice, honour and masculine heroism. Public worship of martyrdom was particularly intense in the early post-war era, when the flag was used to link ordinary Danes to the fallen heroes of the resistance movement. Thus, it was not the democratic spirit of 1943 that was celebrated after Liberation, but the martyrdom of fallen male resistance fighters, whose blood was evoked as the foundation of the re-born nation. The national memory of post-war Denmark, thereby, was based on the notion of a united people, who had stood firm and even been willing to die for the honour of their ancient flag.