Folklore and Basque Nationalism: Language,Myth, Reality

Abstract. This article establishes a precise relationship between folklore and ethno-nationalism. In particular, it argues that the discursive elements of folklore have been used, as political narrative, within the history of Basque nationalism. The Basque nationalist movement, throughout its history, has been especially adept at harnessing the rhetorical power of language, history, myth and memory in its articulation of a Basque, as opposed to a Spanish, identity. The article concentrates on the specific information selected for transmission by the ideology of Basque nationalism. It is this articulation which establishes links between past and present, myth and ideology, and the relationship between culture and identity in the human experience. These are the bonds which are perhaps most pertinent to the general cause of ethno-nationalism, and the Basque case in particular.     

Mass Migration and the Polynesian Settlement of New Zealand

This paper reintroduces the concept of mass migration into debates concerning the timing and nature of New Zealand’s settlement by Polynesians. Upward revisions of New Zealand’s chronology show that the appearance of humans on the landscape occurred extremely rapidly, and that within decades settlements had been established across the full range of climatic zones. We show that the rapid appearance of a strong archaeological signature in the early 14th century AD is the result of a mass migration event, not the consequence of gradual demographic growth out of a currently unidentified earlier phase of settlement. Mass migration is not only consistent with the archaeological record but is supported by recent findings in molecular biology and genetics. It also opens the door to a new phase of engagement between archaeological method and indigenous Maori and Polynesian oral history and tradition.     

The formation of secondary education in Israel, 1948–1964

As in most areas of Israeli historiography, studies in the history of the educational system rely mostly on sources concerning the leaders of the system, and above all, the political arena. However, quite surprisingly, the Israeli government had almost no part in the formation of the secondary education system. With no legal or budgetary sanctions, the Ministry of Education had no authority over the multitude of institutions. High schools were founded according to the parents’ demand for education, and maintained by their tuition fees, without any governmental intervention. Thus, any historical account of the system and its ramifications should take into consideration that it was shaped not by politics and ideology, but by an “Invisible Hand.”     

由“周孔”而“孔孟”:儒家话语体系建构中的“圣人之道”

在中国学术思想史上,"孔孟"取"周孔"而代之,"周孔之道"演化为"孔孟之道",是儒家基于特定历史语境建构话语体系的产物。随着周、孔形象渐趋圣化,汉唐时人多以周、孔并举,包含政治教化与人伦道德两方面内涵的"周孔之道"得以生成。继韩愈"道统论"之后,宋儒建构"性与天道"理论和道统谱系,"孔孟之道"逐渐成为儒学的代名词。统治者藉由教育、祭祀等参与此过程,也彰显出道统与治统的复杂关联。     

Britain,Empire and the Origins of the Cold War Youth Race

The Soviet politicization of international youth during the inter-war and wartime years was identified by British policy-makers as a most serious threat to British imperial power. Asserting the significance of and interplay between colonial youth and imperial ideology in the politics of the cultural Cold War, this article thus examines how the British conceptualized and sought to compete in the Cold War ‘youth race’ between 1945 and 1949. While funding was the most obvious disadvantage, this article argues that Britain’s fatal weakness was its inability to escape the consequences of colonialism, including the tendency to rely on repressive legislation.     

Paradoxes of Gender: Writing History in Post-Communist Russia 1987–1998

The paper analyses the main trends in Russian historiography concerning women's history and gender studies between 1987 and 1998. These developments are evaluated in the context of social, political and cultural changes in Russia in the period of transition from socialist to market economy. The paper argues that, despite the liberalisation of political and intellectual life in Russia following Gorbachev's reforms, the research on gender in the past years and present-day Russia is impeded, on the one hand, by the economic strains on Russia's academic community, which faces a Darwinian struggle for survival, and, on the other, by the persistence of dominant paradigms of history writing inherent in the Soviet ideology. However, the positive developments in the field of gender studies, which should be seen in the context of general regeneration of historical discipline from the ideological constraints, must not be neglected. The paper also draws attention to the field of gender studies and religion, focusing on the outcomes of recent research on Old Believer communities in nineteenth-century Russia.     

Ethics of care,emotional work,and collective action of solidarity: the Patronas in Mexico

In this paper, we examine the mobilization of the Patronas, a group of Mexican women who have fed thousands of Central American migrants over the past two decades. We argue that the Patronas’ work of feeding and caring for migrants goes beyond essentializing these women’s work as just housewives, mothers, and caregivers. Furthermore, we assert that through these care activities, the Patronas exert a feminist ethic of care that is understood as a set of practices based on trust, reciprocity, and solidarity. The Patronas’ praxis of caring for the migrants resonates with people and attracts hundreds of volunteers to join these women’s emotional and nurturing work leading these women and volunteers to participate in a political practice of solidarity. In this paper, we articulate three key findings: (1) the interplay between the Patronas’ emotional work and the ethics of care, (2) the emergence of a collective act of solidarity around the Patronas’ caring work that leads hundreds of volunteers to visit these women and join them, and (3) the kitchen as a place where the collective act of solidarity begins and where the Patronas experience their personal transformation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this study contributes to further our understanding of the interplay between Latin American women’s participation in social movements, emotional work in these movements, and the ethics of care.     

16—20世纪滇池流域的乡村聚落与人地关系——以柴河三角洲为例

本文选取滇池南缘的柴河三角洲为研究对象,试图在小尺度范围内复原明清以来柴河三角洲乡村聚落的发展、分布,并进一步揭示明清以降在人类活动加剧的背景下滇池流域的人地互动。研究发现,从明代中后期至清代,柴河三角洲在滇池水利开发、三角洲营田技术的运用以及南岸入滇河流自然沉积的共同作用下得以迅速沉积,最终形成于18世纪。聚落随着三角洲的沉积不断向滇池岸边拓展。受到土地开发过程和土壤肥力分布等因素的影响,聚落分布的密度则从三角洲上部到底端逐渐递减。     

The transition from polis to kastron in the Balkans (III-VII cc.): general and regional perspectives

Abstract

Much of the evidence for the changes which scholars perceive in the Late Roman-to-Early Byzantine periods (the ‘Late Antique era’) and in the ‘Dark Age’-to-Middle Byzantine periods in the eastern empire, that is, changes occurring between the mid third and the eighth-to-ninth centuries, whether this evidence is textual, archaeological, or topographical, concerns in one way or another what might be called the upper levels of the settlement-system. These levels consist of settlements or sites distinguishable at various times from the undefended rural majority (or what in most areas forms the majority) of settlements by status (i.e., civic, that of a polis), form, size, situation, or associated functions. They may for present purposes be simply categorised as civic urban settlements, non-civic urban settlements, and non-civic nonurban fortifications or fortified settlements. To study the fate of such places, as settlements and as communities, is to confront the cultural, economic, and internal political history of the period in all its complexity, a task which in most respects is inconceivable without recourse to archaeology and topography. The following observations concern the need to rectify some imbalances in the emphases of research which distort some general analyses of the history of Late Antique and also Middle Byzantine settlements, and so distort our view of cultural, economic, and political change in the periods named.     

Group Identity, Individual Creativity, and Symbolic Generation in a BaKongo Diaspora

This article applies theories of group dynamics and individual agency to past material expressions of core symbols within particular African American religious beliefs. The past creation and use of such artifacts is analyzed using theories concerning modes of symbolic expression, the interplay of dominant and nondominant religions, formation and maintenance of social group identities, and the role of individual creativity and innovation within those processes. This analysis demonstrates the ways in which facets of the core symbolic expressions of the BaKongo people of West Central Africa evolved over time and across the trans-Atlantic region.     

Competing imaginaries: Crypto-utopianism and the material forces of Bitcoin mining

Drawing on Marx's theory of history, this article argues that the competition and capital accumulation inherent in the production of Bitcoin (i.e. ‘mining’) are at odds with the narrative discourses that position Bitcoin as a revolutionary technology capable of subverting traditional power structures. Through an analysis of the evolution of Bitcoin mining, the article demonstrates how the material conditions of its production have shifted over time, leading to the concentration of mining power among a few large corporate entities and a concomitant erosion of the decentralized ethos that underpinned the early Bitcoin community. The article also argues that this shift is not simply a result of the ‘natural’ evolution of the technology, but also the outcome of specific social and economic forces that encourage the accumulation of capital over Bitcoin's democratic and decentralized potentialities. Overall, the article suggests that the narrative discourses surrounding Bitcoin need to be understood in relation to the material forces that shape its production and circulation, and that a more nuanced analysis of the interplay between material and discursive factors is necessary to fully grasp the dynamics of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.     

Frontiers of Urban Control: Lawlessness on the City Edge and Forms of Clientalist Statecraft in Zimbabwe

This article develops the concept of “urban frontier” to explore conflicts over state regularisation of city edge informal settlements in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare. It conceptualises the presence of “lawless” urban frontiers and “illegal” territorial authorities in capital cities as expressions of a permissive form of central statecraft. In so doing, the article takes forward debates over the politics shaping the margins of Africa’s rapidly expanding cities, redressing scholars’ tendency to neglect central party‐state strategic calculations and party politics in their analyses of unregulated settlements. Dominant interpretations generally hinge on state absence or weakness and emphasise localised influences. The case of Harare’s highly politicised city‐edge informal settlements reveals the inadequacy of apolitical approaches particularly clearly, as all were controlled by the ruling ZANUPF party. The conflicts provoked by regularisation provide a lens on disputes within the ruling party, which we interpret as disputes over different forms of clientalist statecraft. Analyses of urban frontiers can thus help move away from generic one‐size‐fits‐all explanations of informality and patronage politics in Africa’s expanding cities.     

国外乡村聚落地理研究进展及近今趋势

乡村聚落地理的研究是乡村地理学的重要研究领域。本文通过对大量的文献资料分析,系统梳理了国外乡村聚落地理的研究动态,将其研究历程划分为:萌芽起步、初步发展、拓展变革、转型重构四个阶段。对乡村聚落地理的研究内容体系进行归纳总结,主要集中在聚落布局、聚落形态与分类、聚落景观、聚落用地、聚落生态等方面。在此基础上对近今乡村聚落地理的研究趋势及发展方向进行了分析,发现乡村聚落的人文社会化和乡村重构的研究趋势。以期能对国内乡村聚落地理的研究提供借鉴和参考。     

Beyond Elites: Reassessing Irish Iron Age Society

The past two decades have seen an expansion of archaeological activity on the island of Ireland that has transformed our knowledge and understanding of most periods in Irish prehistory and history. However, Iron Age sites and artefacts remain rare finds and are often ephemeral, particularly in the case of settlements. It is now clear that the peculiarly sparse record of the Irish Iron Age is genuinely representative of the surviving archaeology. It is also clear that this evidence does not fit the traditional ‘Celtic’ picture of warrior elites, druids and tribal hierarchies imported from other regions and later insular texts. This paper proposes an alternative model for the Irish Iron Age of the first millennium BC, one that centres on nomadism and heterarchy.     

“通经”以何“致用”——龚自珍、魏源西北研究之比较

道成之际,经世致用之风重新兴起,西北史地研究渐成“显学”。龚自珍、魏源关于西北史地的研究以及开发西北、经营西北的思想体现了他们的经世意识,也具有一些近代意识。二人西北研究的经世目的、政策有很大的相似之处,也由于经历与时代的不完全相同而在经营西北、抵制侵略的策略上有明显差异。他们关于西北的历史、地理、风俗、制度、人17、文化的基础性研究,不仅对于历史、今天的西部开发有重要价值,而且为后世树立了榜样。     

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE POLICE-TRACKER STORY GENRE IN GOONIYANDI

This paper investigates the structure and socio-cultural functions of a class of narrative texts in the Gooniyandi language of the Fitzroy Crossing area (Kimberley, W.A.). These are ‘police-tracker stories’: narratives relating actual incidents involving the police and police trackers; most are autobiographical accounts told to me by Jack Bohemia, a former police tracker. It is argued that the texts of this type constitute a genre, characterised structurally in terms of episodes: all the texts consist of a set of seven inherent episode-types, six of which form two ternary episode-sequences. A variety of other, optional episodes may also occur. The episodal structure of the texts reflects, in an iconic way, their socio-cultural meanings and the narrator's ideology. It is argued that the texts represent an ideology of place as the organising principle for past experiences; and that they project a moral view of the world, in which ‘crimes' are ‘punished’. Some brief comments are also made rejecting the category label ‘oral history’.     

In search of the other Europe: The city of Ivano-Frankivs’k in the works of Yurii Andrukhovych

Yurii Andrukhovych is one of the first writers in post-Soviet Ukraine who created their own concept of Central Europe with a particular focus on the historical region of Galicia as a legacy of the Habsburg Empire. The West Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivs’k, the author’s place of birth and residency, appears in his texts as a part of the historical region of Eastern Galicia and the embodiment of Andrukhovych’s vision of the region and, by extension, Central Europe. Showing the relationship of the city to the Habsburg monarchy while referencing his own family memories, Andrukhovych combines the pre-war history of the town with contemporary history. Thus, Ivano-Frankivs’k is depicted by the writer not only through the prism of its Habsburg era, but also through post-Soviet reality. Furthermore, in his first publications, the Habsburg history of Galicia represents the idea of belonging to European civilization as an alternative to the more recent totalitarian past, but Andrukhovych has always attempted to create a new image of modern Ivano-Frankivs’k rather than to reconstruct the Austro-Hungarian past of the region: the subjective and personalized Austrian past of the city is more akin to a point of reference and signpost to other perspectives. Both Ivano-Frankivs’k and Eastern Galicia are portrayed by the author as ambivalent and hybrid spaces. On the one hand it is a peripheral area between East and West; but, on the other hand, it is Andrukhovych’s personal part of Europe, where the processes and figures that shaped the continent gain an individual, unique dimension.     

Border wars: the ongoing temple dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and UNESCO’s World Heritage List

This article traces the history of the ongoing tension between Thailand and Cambodia over a beautiful Khmer temple located on the unresolved border between the two countries. The struggle is noteworthy for its transethnic character, the deep and imbricated history of the players, and the fight’s intersection with dramatic contemporary politics in both countries. The paper argues that the dispute implicates existential challenges to ancient and contemporary political legitimacy. It emphasizes the significant role iconic sites can play in the construction of national identity as well as in the competitive global tourism market. The paper questions UNESCO cultural heritage policy concerning contested nominations to the World Heritage List and offers a recommendation for future treatment of similar cases.     

社会时代与历史认知：70年来五四运动研究衍变评述

社会时代对于人们认识历史的活动有着强烈的影响。中华人民共和国成立70年来,随着社会的发展,思想与生活的变迁,五四运动研究也相应地经历着某些值得关注的变化。特别是在运动的性质、领导权、与传统文化及西方文化的关系及某些关键人物的评价等问题上,不同时期的社会政治状况与思想倾向均对学界的相关认识与评价发生着明显的、强烈的影响,使之随着社会时代的发展而在不断地衍变。总地看来,70年来学界对五四运动的认识是愈来愈深入,愈来愈全面了。唯物史观认为,社会意识形态是社会经济、政治及社会生活的反映。历史认识是意识形态的重要内容,现实社会状况对于历史学研究的影响或制约也相应地更为明显。人们对于五四运动认识与评价的衍变证明着这一点。     

Ideological change and settlement continuity in the French countryside: the development of agricultural syndicalism in Loir-et-Cher during the late-nineteenth century

The development and spread of new ideas within rural France during the late-nineteenth century was essentially effected within an old pattern of rural settlements. In general, this paper considers the basic dichotomy between nucleated and dispersed settlements and its influence on the spatial patterning of a particular rural ideology, agricultural syndicalism. It also examines the role of the basic conflict between urban and rural attitudes in the transformation of ideas about the organization of agricultural activity. More specifically, this paper analyses the relationships between the clustering of populations, proximity to urban centres, literacy levels and the spatial diffusion of agricultural syndicalism in Loir-et-Cher during the late-nineteenth century. It concludes that the character of rural settlements was not a directly moulding influence on the spread of agricultural syndicalism, that the transformation of rural ideologies was essentially achieved under urban influence and that generalizations about agricultural syndicalism applicable at one scale are not necessarily applicable at another scale.