La clerecía del Fernán González

The Poema de Fernán González is usually regarded as a hybrid text—while its subject matter is deemed epic, its expression, intentionality, and ideology are considered clerical. This article studies several elements shared by Fernán González and the other poems of the mester de clerecía school: the same stanza (the cuaderna vía) and poetic rules; similar modes of composition, transmission, and reception; and common structural, thematic, and verbal patterns. The article concludes that the Poema de Fernán González fully participates in the common artistry of the mester de clerecía and therefore can be regarded as the attempt to produce epic poetry by this learned clerical school.     

Más de cincuenta años del nacimiento del teatro catalán moderno: retrospectiva del Teatro Independiente

More than fifty years after the founding of Els Joglars and several similar events, it is time to evaluate what Catalan independent theater meant for the whole of Spanish drama and the future of theater in Catalonia. This article outlines an original route through theater companies, directors, playwrights, etc., with the aim of a retrospective drawing of a new map of Catalan theater of the 1960s and 1970s.     

The City's Continuous Cycle of Consumption: Towards a New Definition of the Power Over Time?

In postmodern societies, the power over time is exercised not only through norms and laws—the traditional devices of a modern state—but also through the production of systems of desire and need. In some cases, the role of pleasure as an instrument of command is far stronger than that of pain and coercion. Consumption is a very important area in which this kind of power over time is active. The reduction in the length of the production cycle in driving sectors of capitalist economies induces the acceleration of exchange and consumption. Thus, striking transformations in the ways goods are circulated occur, resulting in increasingly rapid movements of consumers. The city is a concrete manifestation of the centrality of consumption in contemporary society, a great container and distributor of commodities, services and images that is increasingly becoming a focal point for a range of "nonplaces" functional to mass consumption.     

Arnold J. Toynbee’s Quest for a New World Order: A Survey

This article surveys the work of the controversial historian and internationalist Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975). In particular, it examines Toynbee’s understanding of foreign politics and his constant search for a stable world order. From the idealism of his youth, through his temporary disenchantment with his youthful expectations, to the religiously inspired utopianism of his final years, this essay discusses the development of Toynbee’s work and understanding of international affairs throughout the twentieth century.     

The Image of the Sámi in Finnish Visual Arts before the Second World War

Abstract

This article examines how Finnish artists depicted the Sámi people in their paintings from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the Second World War. In the first paintings that represented the Sámi, the attitude was very romantic and artists were not interested in knowing the Sámi culture or even in encountering the Sámi people. In the nineteenth century, nationalism required building an image of the Finns, thus most Finnish artists were not interested in the Sámi. The French philosopher Hippolyte Taine's writings influenced the young artist Juho Kyyhkynen, who started to depict the Sámi culture. In the 1920s and 1930s, Sámi were thought to be primitive or Mongolian, so Finnish artists painted relatively few portraits of Sámi. All this time it was only Finnish painters who depicted the Sámi, as the voice and ideas of the Sámi themselves did not become prominent in Finland until the 1970s.     

“Rooted in Demographic Reality”: The Contribution of New World Censuses to Indigenous Survival

One of the most powerful narratives deployed by colonists in the nineteenth century was that the colonized natives were inherently too weak to survive contact with those who were colonizing them—the Dying Native story. I argue that to understand the history of this story, we should differentiate between three senses in which it could be taken as true or false: physical destruction, genetic adulteration and loss of distinct culture. The physical destruction version of the “Dying Native” was contested by some settler-colonial governments as they developed the capacity to manage and measure the numbers of those whom they classified as “Indian” or “Māori” or “Aboriginal”. However, the “Dying Native” story persisted as a narrative of these peoples' loss of genetic and/or cultural distinction. One strategy of Indigenous intellectuals has been to assert that they have survived as “populations” by adapting as “peoples”. In this paper, I show how an authoritative demography of colonized Indigenous populations in North America and New Zealand afforded discursive opportunities to some Indigenous intellectuals.     

The role of T.A. Smiddy in Fianna Fáil economic policy-making 1932–45

Professor Timothy Aloysius (T.A.) Smiddy was economic advisor to Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Eamon de Valera between 1932 and 1945. Notwithstanding a distinguished public service career, Smiddy’s role as the first independent economic advisor to an Irish political leader post-1922 has escaped examination in the existing literature. This research identifies that Smiddy had a real and prolonged influence on the banking and monetary policies pursued by de Valera during the 1932–45 period. Ultimately, however, the often progressive nature of his proposals was circumscribed by de Valera’s reluctance to supersede the more traditional views of the Department of Finance and the Currency Commission. This paper also identifies that de Valera took a keener interest in economic matters than has been generally assumed. However, such an interest did not result in a coherent, or consistent, Fianna Fáil banking and currency policy in the 1930s and early 1940s.     

The New World and the ‘New Turks’: the American-Turkish Claims Commission and Armenian-Americans’ contested citizenship in the interwar period

The flourishing of nativist political sentiments during the recent United States presidential election has resulted in popular speculation about who is, and who is not, a ‘real’ American. Foreign-born citizens’ struggles to forge a sense of civic belonging amid fears of national disloyalty have significant precedent. This article examines one such historical episode, which centres on a claims commission established between the United States and Turkey during the interwar period. The American-Turkish Claims Commission was intended to aid the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two nations through the resolution of private claims. For the hundreds of Armenian-Americans who filed claims, the Commission provided an unparalleled opportunity to seek their new government’s assistance in claiming compensation from the Republic of Turkey for losses incurred during the Armenian genocide. However, such faith was unwarranted, as the United States excluded from consideration all of the claims made by American citizens who were former Ottoman subjects. This article examines the reasons behind the exclusion of these claims and raises questions as to how immigrant communities can overcome the narrowing of what it means to be American both on the world stage and at home.