Writing History,Making ‘Race’: Slave-Owners and Their Stories†

This article uses the database created by the Legacies of British Slave-ownership project (www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs) which documents the recipients of the twenty million pounds paid in compensation to the slave-owners at the time of abolition, as a starting point from which to explore some of the implications of the flow of human and financial capital to Australia in the 1830s and 1840s. Once the Caribbean was no longer a place to make a fortune, descendants of slave-owners chose this new colony of white settlement as the next frontier of empire. Colonial officials, sheep farmers and writers were amongst those who attempted to make a new life, carrying with them attitudes to racial difference which inflected their understanding of Aboriginal peoples.     

Heritage and gastronomy: The pursuits of the ‘new tourist’

Abstract

The main thrust of this text is to acknowledge the relationship between gastronomy and heritage as a key motivator for travel. Gastronomy, as a central part of culture, and its influence on other aspects of culture has received scant recognition from the academic world generated by tourism. Gastronomy, heritage and tourism are old friends; the relationship between them is mutually parasitic. Gastronomy's role as a cultural force in developing and sustaining heritage tourism is addressed, as is its increasing role as a catalyst in enhancing the quality of the tourist experience. Today's consumers’ search for an individual lifestyle is changing tourism and the ‘new tourist’ is using the holiday for acquiring insight into other cultures. Recent research and current market trends are examined to reveal the increasing significance of gastronomy to holiday choice. It is argued that gastronomy brings culture and cultures together. Place and setting enhance the food experience and arguably vice‐versa. Heritage and gastronomy combined make for an excellent marriage of tourist resources. The text argues that this combination is both used and viewed by the tourist. As such the tourist becomes engaged in cultural heritage to a deeper level.     

On the edge: ‘Community’ and ‘sustainability’ on the Isle of Harris,Outer Hebrides

Although scholars have recently begun to question the manner in which nationalist temporal narratives are constructed, a similar analysis of nationalist spatial narratives has yet to occur. Instead, scholarship often remains trapped within the territorial boundaries of the nation‐state; the only ontologically given container of nationalism. In order to advance theoretical understanding of nationalism, however, it is imperative that geographers break this sedentary spell, by beginning to map the interstitial historical‐geographies of nation‐building in the context of globalisation. Through an analysis of the transnational development of Irish nationalism in the second half of the 19th century in particular, this paper will illuminate the important role played by the diaspora and other transnational actors in the development of Irish nationalism in Ireland.     

Nationalism,Britishness and the ‘Souring’ of Australian National Art

This article investigates the nationalist historiography of the Heidelberg School, an Australian art movement from the Federation period, known for its iconic representations of national life and landscape. Drawing on recent scholarship of Australian nationalism, it questions conventional accounts of the Heidelberg School in Australian art history, especially those based on Bernard Smith’s radical interpretation of this movement. For Bernard Smith, and the generations of Australian art historians he influenced, the nationalism of the 1890s was a progressive force for national culture. Yet, in the post-Federation decades, national art declined (or ‘soured’) into a reactionary form of insular nationalism. By focusing on the ‘souring’ narrative of Australian national art, this article critiques the nationalist interpretation of the Heidelberg School. It explores an apparent contradiction: the role of Britishness in the construction of a distinctly Australian national art.     

‘Phrases Make History Here’: Churchill,Ireland and the Rhetoric of Empire

In the history of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial 1946–48, it is generally held that the United States was the dominating presence: General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, not only convened the court, but also openly insisted on an exoneration of the Japanese emperor; and American lawyers headed the prosecution team and assumed much of the workload for the defence. However, government documents, including correspondence from and to the participants, show that the Commonwealth governments exerted significant influence in many crucial matters, such as the drafting of the indictment and the judgment of the court. This article questions the standard emphasis on America's role and takes a fresh look at the relationship between the United States and the British Commonwealth of Nations.     

The Making of an ‘All Weather Friendship’ Pakistan,China and the History of a Border Agreement: 1949–1963

China and Pakistan share what is widely known as an ‘all weather friendship’. The historical roots of this friendship can be traced to 1963, when the two countries entered into a border agreement that divided territory in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Since then, China has provided missile and nuclear technology to Pakistan. It has limited the potential for escalation in the time of war between India and Pakistan and is the largest economic investor in Pakistan. The benefits of this friendship for Pakistan are clear. Yet, there is little detail on what led to the making of the ‘all weather friendship’. This article provides a detailed account of Sino–Pakistani relations between 1949 and 1963. It argues that whilst the 1963 agreement led to a turning point, the Pakistani establishment – military and civilian – sought to engage China since 1949. They did so to create strategic options for themselves in the event that the US and the UK – Pakistan's main allies following independence – limited or worse, ended their support for Pakistan in its troubled relations with India. This article is based on primary sources available in the US, Britain, as well as recently declassified and hitherto unused papers in India.     

Shifting monument production chains and the implications for gravestone design on Prince Edward Island, 1820–2005

This paper examines changing gravestone design in Prince Edward Island (PEI) (1820–2005) and relates these changes to changing modes of production in the monument industry. Information from field surveys, newspaper advertisements and business correspondence reveals how supply-side factors helped shape the morphogenesis of the island's cemetery landscapes. Among these, different sources of raw materials and manufacturing innovations over time resulted in the use of harder, more durable types of stone. With these changes, gravestone production and design moved increasingly away from local monument works towards off-island producers in Vermont, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Since the early 20^th century, PEI's gravestone suppliers vertically integrated along Fordist mass-production lines and increased choices available to local monument sellers and their consumers.     

On the construction of ‘outstanding universal value’: Some comments on the implementation of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention

Abstract

A number of imbalances in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention and in the composition of the World Heritage List have recently been noted. This paper restates the intention of the Convention to establish a select list of cultural and natural heritage of ‘outstanding universal value’. Criteria established to assist in the assessment of this World Heritage value are noted here as being indistinct in their articulation of type and level of value and their wording is assessed as having made it difficult to ensure the recognition of interactions between people and the environment of ‘outstanding universal value’. In a recent initiative cultural landscapes of World Heritage value are now beginning to be inscribed in the World Heritage List and are interpreted as being just one part of the whole range of interactions between nature and culture. At its 20th session in December 1996 the World Heritage Committee will consider the development of an overarching Global Strategy for a representative World Heritage List and a single common set of criteria and conditions of integrity to be applied when assessing and evaluating both cultural and natural heritage as recommended by the ‘Expert Meeting on Evaluation of general principles and criteria for nominations of natural World Heritage sites’. The paper concludes by noting the pragmatic necessity of defining ‘outstanding universal value’ as an extraordinary combination of the unique and the representative.     

‘We Have Been Making History’: The League of Nations and the Leticia Dispute (1932–1934)

This article sheds a historical light on the League of Nations’ role in the settlement of the Leticia dispute between Peru and Colombia (1932–1934). It first describes how the Geneva organization conducted the negotiations with the two opposing parties and reached an agreement for the establishment of a temporary territorial administration of Leticia. Then, it examines the work of the International Commission, scrutinizing the challenges the Commissioners had to overcome to fulfil their mandate. Based on the League of Nations’ archives, this research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the settlement of the Leticia dispute. It also shows the innovative character of the Geneva organization's intervention to maintain international peace.     

Rome’s Uncomfortable Heritage: Dealing with History in the Aftermath of WWII

Rome is a city famed for its outstanding cultural heritage stretching back two and a half thousand years. However, the events of the Second World War raise particular problems in dealing with this patrimony. This article examines the issues raises by the monuments built during the Fascist period and the Roman remains excavated by the Fascists. It also examines how commemoration throughout the city since 1945 reflects the changing attitudes to the war. The article argues that Rome has not yet come to terms with its Fascist past and that this constitutes a barrier to a sustainable heritage plan.     

‘The Bay and the Ocean’: A History of the ANC in Swaziland, 1960–1979

Abstract

South African political refugees first began arriving in Swaziland in significant numbers in the late 1950s. In the mid-1960s the ANC tried to recruit these refugees to engage in operational activities but with little success. After Swazi independence in 1968 the kingdom's rulers were too scared of South African retaliation to provide active support for the ANC's armed struggle. Meanwhile ANC members in Swaziland were cut off from ANC structures in central Africa because the kingdom was landlocked between white-ruled South Africa and Mozambique. This changed following the army coup in Lisbon in 1974 which led to Mozambican independence. Mozambique's provisional government allowed the ANC access to Swaziland. The ANC sent Thabo Mbeki to try and establish links with activists in South Africa, but whilst he made some progress, this was reversed by police countermeasures early in 1976. A rump of activists left behind after Mbeki's expulsion led ANC efforts to handle the exodus of youths into Swaziland after the June 1976 Soweto uprising. In the late 1970s Swaziland formed part of what the ANC referred to as the ‘Eastern Front’ of its liberation struggle. In trying to stop ANC infiltrations South Africa made use of an extensive network of highly-placed agents in the Swazi establishment. However this collaboration proved ineffective in stopping the ANC because, even if it wished to, Swaziland lacked the resources to prevent its territory being used, whilst there were also many prominent Swazis, including King Sobhuza II, whose sympathies lay with the ANC. By the end of the 1970s ANC activity in Swaziland had grown to such a scale that it began to unnerve the Swazi authorities. This set the stage for the closing of the ‘Eastern Front’ in the early 1980s.     

‘Who Will Write the History of Tears?’ History of Ideas and History of Emotions from Eighteenth-Century France to the Present

Summary

The aim of this article is to shed light on the methodological relationship between the history of ideas and the history of emotions, starting from the conception of weeping in the eighteenth-century French reflection. This period was critical for the defining of the modern concept of emotion because it encompassed the development of a new aesthetic and moral code centred on the exasperation of sensitivity and an exaggerated use of tears. This study brings out, in terms of methodology, the importance that the analysis of tears assumed from two points of view: on the one hand, it places the problem in a framework determined by history and culture (the object of study for the history of emotions); on the other, it recognises the unavoidable axiological and moral element that characterised crying (the object of study for the history of ideas). After a brief reconstruction of the discussion of tears in the history of emotion—from the histoire des mentalités to the ‘emotional turn’—and in the history of ideas, respectively, the article outlines some potential areas for research in an interdisciplinary perspective.     

Heritage views through urban exploration: the case of ‘Abandoned Berlin’

This article frames the practice of urban exploration and its interest towards abandoned places from a heritage perspective. It is argued that most urban explorers prioritise the excitement of trespassing and the creation of their own narratives over the historic importance of the sites they explore. These ‘performative’ explorers avoid deliberate attention that may lead to vandalism or touristification – an alternative way of ‘preserving by not preserving’ that celebrates decay and assumes the sites’ progressive loss. To achieve this, they prefer not to disclose exact locations, creating a divergence towards a minority of practitioners who prefer to collect data on history and current state of conservation to make it public. Attention is paid to these ‘communicative’ explorers, whose documentation renders abandoned places visible, opening further debates about a more inclusive preservation and memorialisation. By distinguishing both heritage views, the objective of this article is to contribute to the enlargement of Heritage Studies by incorporating urban exploration as a space for reflection between loss and bottom-up preservation and interpretation.