"That Food of the Memory which Gives the Clue to Profitable Research": Oral history as a source for local, regional, and family history in the nineteenth and early twentieth century

Numerous local, regional and family historians in the nineteenthand early twentieth century collected oral narrations and conductedinterviews as a form to document information that otherwisemight have never been preserved. Family historians, in particular,not only practiced interviewing relatives for family histories,but also encouraged the practice in how-to-do manuals amongtheir peers. While advocating the practice, family historiansalso reflected about the value of "traditionary evidence" collectedthrough interviews and other means. These reflections by familyhistorians mirrored the discussions about the value of traditionsand memories as historical sources among several professionalhistorians at the time. These reflections were shaped by a modernizedunderstanding of tradition, which combined a reverential approachto the authoritarian element of tradition with a critical approachquestioning the validity of tradition. In this context, oralhistory was both a tool to negotiate the value of traditionand a mirror to the contemporary understanding of tradition.     

The boundaries of eros— Sex crime and sexuality in Renaissance Venice

Throughout Western history there have been two sharply differentiated beliefs about the character of creativity. However, one of these beliefs—Judaeo-Christian and neo-Platonic—has occupied such a dominant position that the very existence of the other has been obscured and ignored. Yet the evidence for this second belief is no less extensive or vivid. It has never been formulated in the same way as the first and so has never constituted a tradition as such; yet it has existed over as long a period of time and can therefore be called a tradition. Moreover, this second belief seems to bear a closer relation to the character of creativity displayed by people regarded as ‘creative’, as well as to what we have learnt about creativity in this century from psychologists. Attitudes to creativity in the modern period have generally been based on the first tradition, but the activities of creative people have borne out the validity of the second tradition. The attitudes, in other words, have been based on false expectations. To recover the lost tradition, therefore, may enable us to see more accurately what we may or may not achieve by being creative.     

On the just war tradition in the twenty-first century

This article argues that the rebirth of interest in the just war tradition, both academically and practically, over the last few years rests on a shaky foundation. It suggests that the character of the just war as a tradition is ill suited to certain aspects of the contemporary intellectual and political world and that historical developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have combined unhelpfully to narrow the tradition's concerns. It also suggests that, especially after 11 September, there is a growing temptation to resent the restraints that the tradition is held to impose on warmaking and thus to ignore or abandon the just war as a way of thinking about the relationship between war and politics. Nevertheless, the article argues, to abandon the just war tradition would still bring about more loss than gain and that as an aid to moral reflection and practice on the use of force, it is still a powerful tool and an invaluable aid.     

The character of creativity: Two traditions

Throughout Western history there have been two sharply differentiated beliefs about the character of creativity. However, one of these beliefs—Judaeo-Christian and neo-Platonic—has occupied such a dominant position that the very existence of the other has been obscured and ignored. Yet the evidence for this second belief is no less extensive or vivid. It has never been formulated in the same way as the first and so has never constituted a tradition as such; yet it has existed over as long a period of time and can therefore be called a tradition. Moreover, this second belief seems to bear a closer relation to the character of creativity displayed by people regarded as ‘creative’, as well as to what we have learnt about creativity in this century from psychologists. Attitudes to creativity in the modern period have generally been based on the first tradition, but the activities of creative people have borne out the validity of the second tradition. The attitudes, in other words, have been based on false expectations. To recover the lost tradition, therefore, may enable us to see more accurately what we may or may not achieve by being creative.     

Now More than Ever: Terrorism,Asymmetric Warfare,and the Just War Tradition

Abstract

For more than fifteen hundred years, the just war tradition has provided guidance about when wars should and should not be fought. It has also incorporated standards for how wars should be fought. The tradition rejects the claim that all use of force is evil, suggesting instead that in some circumstances the failure to use force is wrong. War is never desirable, but sometimes it is both right and necessary. The just war tradition helps us understand when this is true. The tradition developed to help control conventional warfare, but it is no less applicable to the terrorism and asymmetrical warfare prevalent in contemporary conflicts. In a world where American military power is unmatched, any opponent's best option is some form of asymmetric warfare. Such warfare is frustrating to conventional forces and tempts them to respond with an "all's fair in war" approach that is both morally wrong and militarily counterproductive. Neither pacifism nor "realism" deals adequately with the challenges of twenty-first century warfare. Only the just war tradition provides clear guidance about when and how it is right to go to war and places this in the context of establishing a peace based on justice and equity.     

What's the good of post-analytic philosophy?

Analytic philosophy began in G.E. Moore's critique of idealist accounts of reality, implicating as dilemmatic F.H. Bradley's identification of the good with self-realization. Neither the tradition of British idealism nor the successor tradition of analytic metaethics was able to sustain the salience previously enjoyed by the concept of good. The essay's second part analyzes Alasdair MacIntyre's account of that longer tradition, and his argument that Aristotelianism's conceptual scheme provides the best solution to modern moral philosophy's dilemma about the human good.     

The fusion and diffusion of musical traditions1

The question whether the fusion of the musical traditions of different cultures is a good thing or not is irrelevant in practical terms, since there is no realistic possibility of preventing it, but the advantages and disadvantages that the process brings are worth considering nevertheless. The loss of diversity that results when one tradition is overwhelmed by its contact with a more influential one is not redressed by the increased variety that comes about within the dominant tradition, since the latter are variations within a tradition rather than traditions of distinct origins. But the common denominator that allows different traditions to interact meaningfully with one another points to the ability of music to bring us in touch with our common humanity.     

What's the good of post-analytic philosophy?

Analytic philosophy began in G.E. Moore's critique of idealist accounts of reality, implicating as dilemmatic F.H. Bradley's identification of the good with self-realization. Neither the tradition of British idealism nor the successor tradition of analytic metaethics was able to sustain the salience previously enjoyed by the concept of good. The essay's second part analyzes Alasdair MacIntyre's account of that longer tradition, and his argument that Aristotelianism's conceptual scheme provides the best solution to modern moral philosophy's dilemma about the human good.     

Prehistoric hunters and gatherers of Brazil

Although carbon-14 dates prior to 13,000 B.P. have been obtained from several sites east and south of Amazonia, their reliability is uncertain. By about 11,000 B.P., however, two lithic traditions were widespread. The Uruguai tradition, characterized by bifacial stemmed projectile points, was associated with open vegetation in the south; the Itaparica tradition, emphasizing well-formed unifacial artifacts, had dispersed over the eastern tropical parklands. An enormous amount and variety of rock paintings and/or engravings are associated with the latter. Around 7000 B.P., two new traditions emerged to exploit new habitats. The Humaitá tradition, characterized by large bifacial tools and an absence of stone projectile points, expanded over the broad-leaved forests in the south, leaving the open landscapes dominated by the projectile point-using Umbu tradition. The sambaqui (shell midden) tradition, also emphasizing large bifaces, developed along rugged portions of the southern coast. By 4000 B.P., groups along the coast of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo were using domesticated or semidomesticated plants, perhaps sweet manioc. Maize was being grown in Minas Gerais by about 3500 B.P. Carbon-14 dates from numerous sites indicate, however, that the hunter-gatherer way of life persisted in many places long after the advent of pottery-making horticulturalists. The existence of large temporal and spatial gaps even in regions with considerable investigation makes it difficult to reconstruct the process of evolution reflected in these archaeological complexes. Correlations between cultural traditions and environmental fluctuations indicate, however, that adaptation to changing conditions was a significant challenge faced by prehistoric Brazilian populations.     

苏联社会文化定式的形成、特点和演变

文化定式是指在跨文化交际过程中,人们将具有相同特征的一群人或者任何民族、种族塑造成一定的形象。不同的社会文化背景和历史条件下,人们对事物的认识会发生变化,有时认识与真实情况完全相悖。苏联不同时期社会对外部世界的认识不一,根本原因在于官方宣传的引导,次要原因是社会传统和文化传承。既有的社会文化定式将长期影响人们对事物的认识。     

Whose Ethics? Which Cultural Contract? Imagining Arrernte Traditions Today

The paper uses an account of ‘tradition’ by the philosopher, Alisdair MacIntyre, to argue for the view that local Aboriginal culture that has been through extensive change is nonetheless still specifying for the Aboriginal people involved. Therefore these local traditions must be taken into account in discussions about ‘contracts’ or ‘policies’ concerning Aboriginal people today. An example is drawn from the Lutheran tradition of Western Arrernte people in Central Australia.     

An Authoritative Voice: Jane Addams and the Oratorical Tradition

Oratory, the act of speaking in public on civic matters, remained a male prerogative in the United States until the 1830s, when increasing numbers of women began ignoring the taboo and established a female oratorical tradition. This essay outlines how American women claimed the authority to speak and then developed their tradition, which was a social reform in itself, over three generations. It then examines how the youthful Jane Addams, a member of the third generation who became a social reformer, gained her education as an orator and struggled in new ways with society’s continuing doubts about women's civic authority.     

Benjamin Constant and the politics of reason

This paper makes a claim about Constant’s intellectual sources in order to throw additional light on the nature of his liberalism. It assesses Constant’s views against the background of a tradition of political rationalism. Constant both criticized and inherited that tradition. This paper shows how this process of critical re-appropriation occurred principally with two figures that had a particular significance for Constant: the very Francophile William Godwin and Nicolas de Condorcet. Constant resisted these authors’ desire to replace a consent-based decision-making model by a truth-based decision-making model, and condemned their tendency to enrol individual judgment at the service of a politics of truth. At the same time, Constant did not renounce completely to their dream of bringing certainty into politics. As this double-move shows, it is not clear to what extent Constant succeeded in distancing himself from this tradition of political rationalism in order to establish what I call a rationalist liberalism. This problematic intellectual lineage not only challenges received interpretations of Constant’s liberalism either in terms of ‘scepticism’ or ‘pluralism.’ It should also invite us to reconsider the widespread idea according to which the French liberal tradition had a common and exclusive source in Montesquieu.     

尧都平阳的传说和华夏文明的起源

今山西临汾,古称平阳,相传是帝尧的都城。 这个传说目前虽然还没有得到考古学上的直接证明,但历史 文献的有关记载和已有的考古成果,却间接表明它是有一定 的历史背景的。从帝尧时代的中国社会性质来看,尧都平阳已 不完全是部落组织对其中心居地的选择,实际上已具备了真 正意义上的国家或政权首都的性质。尧都平阳的传说表明,包 括今临汾地区在内的晋西南地区是华夏文明的直接起源地, 是中国历史的主要源头。     

Theory and the analysis of Australian politics

Sharman's 1989 APSA Presidential Address is a welcome critique of the interpretation of Australian politics, but the questions that it raises need to be taken further. The importance of Australian political experience in the formation of an indigenous political tradition is recognised, but it is misleading to see it as stemming from the desire to limit executive power. This article explores the nature of this indigenous governmental tradition, and goes on to consider what we learn from this debate about the nature of constitutional theory, and the relationship of academic debate to constitutional models.     

Die Anfänge des Heiligen Jahres von Santiago de Compostela im Mittelalter

Since the time of General Franco the cult of the Apostle James has served to buttres the Spanish government. The Holy Years regularly held in Santiago de Compostela are the most important manifestations of this. According to Spanish tradition, this Holy Year was founded by Pope Calixtus II in the twelfth century. In what follows the author seeks to show that the tradition is based on a forgery originating in about 1500 and reflecting changes in the cult of St James during the fifteenth century. Furthermore, his research demonstrates clearly what changes in pilgrim life occurred as Rome became the most important pilgrim centre, and the obtaining of indulgences the pilgrims' principal motive.     

The archaeology of the Eastern Sahel,Sudan: preliminary results

This paper reports the combined preliminary results of the Italian Mission to Kassala and the joint University of Khartoum/Southern Methodist University Butana Project. Both groups have been carrying out extensive survey and test excavations in the Southern Atbai of the East Central Sudan, between the Atbara and Gash Rivers. This work has led to the recognition of a previously unknown culture area and ceramic tradition which spans about 5000 years and, at its peak, probably covered about 100,000 sq. km east of the Nile. This ceramic tradition, the Atbai Tradition, is associated with the development of large villages (over 10 ha) during the 4th millennium bc.

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Résumé Le présent article rapporte les résultats préliminaires combinés de la Mission italienne à Kassala et du projet Butana entrepris en commun par les universités de Khartoum et Southern Methodist. Ces deux groupes ont réalisé des reconnaissances archéologiques extensives et des sondages dans le sud de l'Atbai, dans la partie centrale orientale du Soudan, entre les rivières Atbara et Gash. Leur travail a mené à la reconnaissance d'une civilisation et d'une tradition céramique auparavant inconnues qui durèrent quelque 5000 ans et qui couvraient à leur apogée environ 100,000 km² à l'est du Nil. Cette tradition céramique, la tradition Atbai, est associée au développement des grands villages (de plus de 10 ha) au cours du 4^e millénaire avant notre ère.

     

Die Anfänge des Heiligen Jahres von Santiago de Compostela im Mittelalter

Since the time of General Franco the cult of the Apostle James has served to buttres the Spanish government. The Holy Years regularly held in Santiago de Compostela are the most important manifestations of this. According to Spanish tradition, this Holy Year was founded by Pope Calixtus II in the twelfth century. In what follows the author seeks to show that the tradition is based on a forgery originating in about 1500 and reflecting changes in the cult of St James during the fifteenth century. Furthermore, his research demonstrates clearly what changes in pilgrim life occurred as Rome became the most important pilgrim centre, and the obtaining of indulgences the pilgrims' principal motive.     

A break from the past: The labor party and the political economy of Keynesian social democracy

Arguments about the nature of the Australian Labor Party have been somewhat revived over the past few years. Those who argue that there has been a fundamental break with Labor tradition are criticised from both the right of the labour movement and the Marxist left. Both, interestingly, argue that to see the Hawke‐Keating years as too distinct is to misread history. Both schools of thought argue that those who defend a Labor tradition ‐which is fundamentally different from contemporary Labor are glorifying the past. This paper gives an account of Keynesian social democracy, and employs a comparative case study of economic debate in the 1940s and 1980s, in order to argue that there has indeed been a fundamental change in Labor's approach to political economy.     

The Frankish tradition and new perceptions of the monarchy: Louis XV—the new pharamond?

During the last century of the ancien régime in France, perceived notions of history, the rediscovery of the past, and the recourse to tradition were closely linked to each other as well as to political considerations or implications. Notions about the past and interpretations of tradition had relevance and meaning for the political élites, enabling them to explain the origins of the monarchy as well as its nature. The purpose here is to explore these links and to show how, in one particular instance, they came to affect the artistic representation of the monarch himself.