J.S. Marais,a great South African historian: a personal re-assessment

This article is a personal assessment aimed to establish J.S. Marais’s legacy. It is written in the light of the insights I gained as I interacted with him as an undergraduate and honours student (starting in 1949), as a research student, and finally as a departmental colleague over a period of ten years or so. It begins with my experience of his teaching. He was a poor lecturer, especially to large classes. This improved with smaller classes. He came into his own in the honours year. He was a specialist in South African history as a case study in the colonial era, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Marais was excellent as a supervisor of postgraduate research from honours to doctoral level, empathetic and patient in handling his students’ needs. A further feature of his honours teaching was his development of a course in historical method and philosophy of history. Next, the article covers Marais’s preparation for an academic career, first at UCT and then at Oxford, leading in both cases to BA and honours degrees. Then his studies culminated in his doctoral thesis on the colonisation of New Zealand. This enabled him by 1927 to become a lecturer at UCT, a post he held until he moved to Wits as a senior lecturer in 1937. Marais’s high reputation rested mainly on his books. The article continues with an assessment of each of these, including their reception by his colleagues. The article ends with an appraisal of Marais’s qualities. Poor as an administrator, he was outstanding as a head of department at the intellectual level and also as a leader of the joint campaign of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and UCT against the imposition of apartheid on the universities.     

C.S. Lewis: an Irish writer

This article examines the effect of C.S. Lewis's Irish background on his work. It attempts to contradict the assumption that this Belfast-born writer should be included in the English and not the Irish canon. It emphasises that Lewis saw himself as Irish, was seen by others as Irish, and that his Irish background, contrary to what some have written, was important to him throughout his lifetime. It goes on to demonstrate the ways in which his work was influenced by his youth in Ireland and by the Irish mythology that he loved. Furthermore, this article maintains that, as a child of pre-partition Ireland with roots throughout the island, Lewis was influenced by the country as a whole, not just his native Ulster. Finally, it attempts to understand why Lewis, a proud Irishman, did not do more to promote himself as an Irish writer.     

Globalizing a Race to Publish an Encyclopedia

In 1912, Daniel Alexander Payne Murray published a prospectus for his “Historical and Biographical Encyclopedia of the Colored Race throughout the World.” He promised to publish what literary historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., would describe as the “Grail” for black scholars. As Murray planned his encyclopedia in the first decade of the twentieth century, persons of African descent in the United States were killed and assaulted because of their race, and racial identification was as critical an issue as it was also ambiguous. Moreover, despite its ambiguity, or perhaps, because of it, race, in 1912 and since the Naturalization Act of 1790, had everything to do with American citizenship. In Murray’s time, whether a person was identified on the one hand as “white” or “octoroon” versus an identity as “black,” “Negro,” “mulatto,” or “quadroon” influenced whether or not that person could exercise his rights as an American citizen (with her rights barely entering the question). However, race, as Murray understood with its skin color codes shading the meaning of American citizenship, was much more a social construction than it was biological evidence of a person’s hereditary origins. Formulating a strategy in support of black American citizenship, Murray developed a global interpretation of the black American experience from a pragmatically ambiguous cultural practice to compose an identity for himself, his people, and his proposed encyclopedia.     

金手铲:80年代考古学的寓言(下)

这篇寓言小说叙述了“我”的一次坐飞机旅行的不寻常的经历,以考古学家最常用的发掘工具－一把金色的手铲为线索,以文学性的语言刻画了上世纪80年代三个美国考古学家的生动形象。新生哲学家是一个理论家,自诩为“理论的创造者”,而将他人贬为“理论的消费者”。70年代为骄子以编辑他人的见解为生,擅长将他人的观点变成自己的观点。以上二位从不参加田野发掘,但是却位居要津,声名显赫。老前辈是个传统而又守旧的考古学家,常年奔波在野外考古工地,但由于跟不上形势的发展而被迫提前退了休。他们争论的话题包括：考古学理论、基建考古学、课题考古学、考古学家的道德等等。小说发表后,由于其语言生动风趣,切中了考古学界的种种弊端,立即在学术界引起了轰动,堪考古学史上的一篇旷世奇文。     

ON THE EMBALMMENT OF S. FRANCESCO CARACCIOLO

The Italian saint Francesco Caracciolo died in June 1608 and his body was transported from Agnone in the Abruzzo region to the city of Naples, where he was interred. According to written sources, his body was embalmed, but the embalmment method is unknown. In the present work, four samples of the remains of S. Caracciolo have been analysed for traces of embalmment. No organic compounds usually used for embalmment were found using GC with MS detection. Only low background levels of As were measured using CV‐AAS (Cold Vapour Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy). In two samples analysed by CV‐AAS, however, very high concentrations of Hg (12.7 μg g^?1 and 4.9 μg g^?1) were measured, these being 100 to 1000 times more than the background Hg levels found in bone tissue of other medieval and Renaissance individuals. Two interpretations seem viable: (1) the high Hg levels are caused by embalmment using Hg‐containing compounds; (2) the excess Hg originates from a medical treatment that S. Caracciolo received in his youth, when he was cured of leprosy, or in connection with his illness just prior to his death. The case of excess Hg in the remains of S. Caracciolo has distinct parallels with those of other Renaissance burials.     

S. Weir Mitchell’s Prose and Poetry on the American Civil War

The prose and poetry of S. Weir Mitchell (1829–1914) – related to the American Civil War – encompass a very significant portion of his non-medical writings. The Civil War, more than any other single event, shaped his future career as one of the founders of American neurology. Indeed, it should not be surprising how the war was also such a driving force in his non-medical writings. His novels, once widely read, now are scarcely noted. His accounts of the social, political and economic events of the Civil War are of historical interest to students of the period. Neuroscientists as a group, like others, are apt to be unfamiliar with these writings, with the possible exception of “The Case of George Dedlow.” A major purpose of this essay is to introduce readers, especially neuroscientists, to Weir Mitchell’s fictional works in which neurological cases so often appear. One appreciates more the medical aspects of his novels, written as they were by a first-hand observer. His non-medical writings, poetry and prose, are to a large extent timeless and can be appreciated by today’s readers.     

Social Science and the Discovery of a 'Post-Protestant People': Rowntree's Surveys of York and their other Legacy

Abstract

Despite the bitter criticism it evoked, both from clerical professionals and lay experts on its publication in 1951, Rowntree's and Lavers's English Life and Leisure survived to become an enduring classic of modern British social science. Yet, in many ways, the respectability it eventually achieved now masks the true radicalism of its findings. Building on fifty years of his own social survey work in York, Rowntree (and his collaborator) were able to show the full extent of the decline of church organization, affiliation and attendance in twentieth-century Britain. They also demonstrated just how these processes had particularly affected the Protestant community — most notably the Nonconformist Protestant community — in England. Finally, they went on to demonstrate how that — institutional — decline was increasingly related to changes in, and a diminution of, specifically Christian beliefs amongst the population as a whole. Their results anticipated many of the conclusions of the 'pessimistic' sociologists of religion in the 1960s. They also constitute a profound critique of 'optimistic' historical revisionism in more recent years. As such, they are perhaps more relevant than ever.     

The sack that never happened: Little Gidding,puritan soldiers,and the making of a myth

It is commonly asserted that the manor at Little Gidding was deliberately sacked by puritan soldiers in 1646, dispersing the Ferrar family, and abruptly bringing to a permanent end their communal life of formal religious devotion. In his poem Little Gidding, T. S. Eliot used this shutting down of the Ferrars’ religious life to contrast worldly failure with the permanence of spiritual values, and the violent closure of Little Gidding and the destruction of the house is generally seen as emblematic of the religious disputes of the 1640s. But, as this paper shows, the sack never happened, and many of the supporting elements of the story are also imaginary. The myth of the sack can be traced back to one eighteenth-century account of soldiers plundering the house to steal valuables, and the paper examines the way it has since evolved and been embellished to create a compelling but untrue narrative.     

一个了不起的铺路架桥者--杨生茂教授与中国美国史学科建设

杨生茂教授是中国美国史学科的创建者之一,也是中国世界近代史研究领域中一位成就斐然的学者。不论是作为学术的组织者,还是史学教育家,不论是作为微观的研究者,还是宏观的思考者,杨生茂教授的学术工作都促进了中国美国史学科的建设,增进了中国人对美国历史与文化的理解。他所提出的问题,他所研究的课题,他所尝试过的方法,他所追求的理想以及他所投身的事业,已经深深地影响了这一学科的后来人,并转化为中国美国史研究的宝贵财富。     

T.H. Green, advanced liberalism and the reform question 1865–1876

This paper examines Thomas Hill Green's changing attitude to the Reform Question between 1865 and 1876. Section 1 sketches the Radical landscape against which Green advocated reform between 1866 and 1867, paying particular attention to the respective positions of Gladstone, J.S. Mill and Bright on the relationship between responsible citizenship and class membership. Section 2 examines Green's theories of social balance and responsible citizenship at the time of his lectures on the English Civil War. Section 3 argues that, contrary to the established scholarship, Green's Radicalism was closer to Bright than to Gladstone and Mill during this period. Section 4 counters Richter's claim that Green abandoned democracy following the 1874 General Election, while arguing that even sympathetic commentators misunderstand Green's attitude to the Reform Question immediately after this date.     

A Russian Version of Christian Realism: Spiritual Wisdom and Politics in the Thought of S. L. Frank (1877–1950)

Christian realism is a concept normally associated with the US theologian and ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr. However, Niebuhr was not alone in warning Christians of the dangers of utopianism and trying to promote a religiously inspired political realism; thinkers from a number of countries had similar aspirations. In this context, the Russian philosopher Semyon Liudvigovich Frank (1877–1950) deserves particular attention. A Marxist in his youth, Frank became disillusioned with revolutionary ideas before and after the 1905 revolution, and was drawn away from politics to philosophy. However, he remained interested in political questions, both while he was in Russia and after he was forced into exile in 1922. This found expression in the 1940s in a form of Christian realism. Frank rejected the doctrine ‘the end justifies the means.’ But he was a gradualist in his approach to social change, believing that politicians needed to have a pragmatic attitude of mind. A distinctive feature of Frank's approach was the connection he made between spiritual inwardness on the one hand and effective decision-making on the other, although he also saw spirituality as arising in a social context. Ultimately, there was a mystical dimension to Frank's Christian realism that was absent in Niebuhr's doctrine.     

Explaining Canada–US Differences in Attitudes Toward Crime and Justice: An Empirical Test of S.M. Lipset’s Account

Despite cultural similarities between Canada and the United States, some observers contend that significant differences remain in attitudes and values between the two countries. For example, Lipset has observed that “efforts to distinguish Canada and the United States almost invariably point to the greater respect for law and order and those who uphold it north of the border”. Lipset’s argument is that Canadian values are based on the nation’s founding principles of “Peace, Order and Good Government” while American values stem from the country’s revolutionary origins and are based on the values of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” We test Lipset’s observations, and those of some of his critics, using parallel surveys administered to university students in two institutions on either side of the Canada–US border. This is a very demanding test of his arguments so the supportive evidence we uncover for his arguments is significant.     

Diplomacy and revolution: The London conference of 1830 and the Belgian revolt

This paper examines Thomas Hill Green's changing attitude to the Reform Question between 1865 and 1876. Section 1 sketches the Radical landscape against which Green advocated reform between 1866 and 1867, paying particular attention to the respective positions of Gladstone, J.S. Mill and Bright on the relationship between responsible citizenship and class membership. Section 2 examines Green's theories of social balance and responsible citizenship at the time of his lectures on the English Civil War. Section 3 argues that, contrary to the established scholarship, Green's Radicalism was closer to Bright than to Gladstone and Mill during this period. Section 4 counters Richter's claim that Green abandoned democracy following the 1874 General Election, while arguing that even sympathetic commentators misunderstand Green's attitude to the Reform Question immediately after this date.     

FROM VAGUE SYMBOLS TO CONTESTED CONCEPTS: PEIRCE,W. B. GALLIE,AND HISTORY

This article explores Walter Bryce Gallie's notion of “essentially contested concepts” from a viewpoint that has hitherto been neglected, namely its relation to the philosophy of Charles S. Peirce. As a matter of fact, Gallie was an authoritative reader of the American philosopher. All areas of his work are influenced by his attempt to take up and further articulate a major insight of Peirce's semiotics, namely the idea that symbols are inherently vague, and that their meaning is in a state of perpetual growth. At the same time, Gallie rejected another crucial tenet of Peirce's philosophy, that is, the idea that the growth of signs is regulated by the possibility of a final agreement among sign‐users. Examining this ambivalent relation between the two authors will help us shed light on a question that was of crucial importance for Gallie: to what extent should we let our appreciation of concepts or beliefs depend on a historical examination of their meaning?     

Refining correspondence analysis-based ceramic seriation of regional data sets

Ceramic seriation is one of the primary tools used by archaeologists to create chronologies, especially for surface survey data. In this article, we outline a bootstrapped approach to correspondence analysis-based seriation designed to help assess and improve the stability of relative orderings produced through such analyses. This procedure systematically identifies and removes small samples and sites with unusual samples, such as those with multiple components, which are not handled well by seriation and require secondary interpretation. Our approach combines data from multiple projects in the Zuni region of the American Southwest in order to gauge the effects of intraregional variation in ceramic distributions and reexamine prior interpretations of demographic change based on individual projects. This analysis highlights two previously unknown regional trends, including variation in the distribution of multicomponent sites and potential short-term depopulation of a significant part of the region. Based on this example, we further suggest that our method may be particularly useful in situations where little prior chronological information is available.     

Neurognostics Answer

William S. Halsted was the founding chief of surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Among his basic principles were (1) the use of the experimental laboratory to solve intraoperative surgical problems, (2) gentle handling of all tissues, and (3) full-time surgical subspecialization. Halsted trained Harvey Cushing, who used Halsted's principles to reinvent neurosurgery to make it successful by lowering mortality and morbidity rates.     

The challenge of the spaceship: Arthur C. Clarke and the history of the future, 1930–1970

Arthur C. Clarke’s 1946 essay on ‘The Challenge of the Spaceship’ was one of the founding manifestoes of the Space Age, and helped to establish him as the West’s leading techno-prophet. Restating his ideas in subsequent factual and fictional works, Clarke successfully propagated the belief that man’s destiny lay in space and that the process was already underway. On the surface Clarke’s oeuvre offers a classic astrofuturist model of progress as technology-driven, but on closer examination it also incorporates a more pessimistic, historically based strand of philosophy, British rather than American. This essay traces the genesis of Clarke’s early work and the influence upon him of the historian Arnold J. Toynbee and the moral philosophers Olaf Stapledon and C.S. Lewis. Toynbee was essentially a Christian pessimist who believed that western civilization was on the way out; his long historical perspectives were an important source of inspiration for Clarke, leading him to a cyclical rather than a simply progressive model of history which contemplated both the beginning and the end of civilizations. The concerns of Stapledon and Lewis with grand narratives of decline and redemption were also influences on Clarke. All this needs to be understood in relation to both the European experience of World War I and to the coming of the atomic bomb, the latter a profound influence on Clarke’s generation. Such perspectives gave European astroculture a more modulated vision of the human future in space than the technologically based astrofuturism which dominated in the USA.     

戈鲲化与中美跨文化交流

近代以来,中美两国之间的文化交流长期处于极不对称的单向交流状态.1879年戈鲲化应聘出任哈佛汉语言文学教职之举,才最终打破了这种极不对称的单向交流局面,正式开启了中美跨文化双向交流的进程.戈鲲化以他诗人特有的气质,以诗歌、梅花笺等为载体,在美国不遗余力地传播中国文化,不仅赢得了美国朋友的尊敬,极大地改变了美国人对中国人的偏见,而且也使美国精英人士看到了中国文化的独特魅力,认识到在中国人身上,在中国文化里边,也有很多值得他们学习的地方.     

The Rolt Memorial Lecture 2015: Defining the Vintage Car: L.T.C. Rolt,the Vintage Sports Car Club and the Rise of Motoring Heritage

This paper examines the role played by the engineering historian, biographer and pioneer of canal and railway preservation, L.T.C. Rolt, in the development of an appreciation of motoring heritage. It concentrates on his involvement with the Vintage Sports Car Club in the 1930s, in which he played a key role in defining what a vintage car was. It examines the way in which this helped develop many of the themes that ran throughout his writing and gave him the practical skills needed in his later campaigning for the preservation of industrial heritage.

It also looks at the way in which Rolt's views on the car's impact mirror those held by others, and at the difficulties this posed to someone who was passionate about engineering and yet was horrified by the consequences of industrialisation. His advocacy of the vintage car was the beginning of his lifelong campaign to uphold craftsmanship and skills and to commemorate the role of the engineer and the craftsman in Britain.     

Leo Fouché and history at Wits University, 1934–1942

Leo Fouché, the first Professor of History at Pretoria University, was the surprise choice to replace W.M. Macmillan, the first Professor of History at Wits University, following his resignation in 1933. Fouché served at Wits from 1934 to 1942, departing to take up the post of chairman of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. His tenure at both Pretoria and Wits was assessed negatively in the official histories of the two universities. In Ad Destinatum: Gedenkboek van die Universiteit van Pretoria 1910–1960, A.N. Pelzer ignored Fouché’s major contribution in building up history at Pretoria and focussed instead on his failure to serve the Afrikaans movement. In Wits: The Early Years, B.K. Murray represented the conservative Fouché as a major disappointment, both as a researcher and as a teacher, following his productive and progressive-minded predecessor. In this article, an attempt is made to present a more detailed and rounded assessment of his tenure at Wits. While he published little, and his syllabus changes, with their narrow focus on white South African history, did not outlast him, his tenure was generally a positive one for the Department of History. Student numbers grew substantially, an additional staff post was secured, and postgraduate research was actively promoted. Three of his postgraduate students went on to distinguished academic careers in history.