Encountering soviet geography: oral histories of British geographical studies of the USSR and Eastern Europe 1945–1991

This paper considers the history of British geographical studies of the USSR and Eastern Europe 1945–1991, presenting material from a research project which has included thirty-two oral history interviews. Oral history is an especially fruitful research methodology in this context due to the distinct issues of formality and informality involved in researching the Soviet bloc. After discussing the nature of the subdiscipline and the Cold War context, including the role of the British state in shaping the field, the paper considers the role of formal academic meetings and exchanges, and the place of unofficial spaces of encounter in the formation of an intellectual culture. The paper concludes by reflecting on the merits of oral history in studies of the production of geographical knowledge.     

关于医学社会史的理论思考

医学社会史是从社会史的角度,运用多学科的研究方法,通过对历史上人们医药活动的考察来认识社会(文化)的形态及其变迁的历史学分支学科;其研究对象包括历史上人们医药活动的共时性结构和历时性变迁;其研究方法要求做到传统史学方法现代化,西方史学方法本土化以及其他学科方法史学化;从学科价值上看,医学社会史的研究不仅可以丰富社会史的内涵,而且可以促使史学工作者重新审视历史学的对象和价值。     

Does the History of Medicine Begin where the History of Philosophy Ends? An Example of Interdisciplinarity in the Early Modern Era

Abstract

A popular saying attributed to Aristotle states that ‘medicine begins where philosophy ends’—but this principle does not seem entirely valid for the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when medicine and philosophy were considered to be integral parts of the same branch of knowledge. For this reason, although today medicine and philosophy are clearly distinct disciplines, historians of ideas cannot study them entirely separately. Indeed, since the early modern era was a period of profound revision of knowledge, probably only a truly interdisciplinary investigation can identify the conceptual shifts and transfers capable of reinstating medicine in its fundamental role in the development of civilisation and modern thought, in particular as a model of a rational knowledge aimed at improving the social good through a fitting interpretation of experience. This article intends to offer arguments in support of such a historiographical approach, and to illustrate certain interesting methodological ideas that emerge from a study in which the history of philosophy and history of medicine cross-pollinate.     

Developing an 'energy sustainability index' to evaluate energy policy

Abstract

Fishing industries should, at least in theory, be governed by the same sound business management principles-foresight, long-term future planning and sustained profitability – as any other industry. But, whenever or wherever man fished in Europe, salmon in the River Rhine, eel in Lake IJssel, brown shrimps sole and herring in the North Sea, greedy overfishing brought decline and near bankruptcy to the respective industries. In this interdisciplinary review, the author analyses this mismangement and concludes that the only hope is to follow sound scientific advice: give stocks of fish a chance to revive, if it is not already too late.     

关于冷战问题研究的几点思考

二次世界大战改变了由欧洲人支配世界近5个世纪的国际关系格局。二战时的同盟美国和苏联,战后不久便分道扬镳。形成各自的政治军事集团。在政治、军事、经济以及思想意识形态方面进行全面对抗。欧洲成为东西方冲突的焦点．是两极格局形成的标志。由于双方大搞军备竞赛,导致“冷战”在全球范围内展开。对冷战研究,西方学术界存在着不同看法,在美国有所谓“正统派”和“修正派”的学术之争,他们在冷战问题上的分歧,主要体现在政治意识形态方面。他们的观点,为研究冷战提供不同的视野。     

Three Twentieth-Century Multiauthored Neurological Handbooks – A Historical Analysis and Bibliometric Comparison

The emergence of neurology as a separate specialty from internal medicine and psychiatry took several decades, starting at the end of the nineteenth century. This can be adequately reconstructed by focusing on the establishment of specialized journals, societies, university chairs, the invention and application of specific instruments, medical practices, and certainly also the publication of pivotal textbooks in the field. Particularly around 1900, the German-speaking countries played an integral role in this process. In this article, one aspect is extensively explored, notably the publication (in the twentieth century) of three comprehensive and influential multivolume and multiauthor handbooks entirely devoted to neurology. All available volumes of Max Lewandowsky's Handbuch der Neurologie (1910–1914) and the Handbuch der Neurologie (1935–1937) of Oswald Bumke and Otfrid Foerster were analyzed. The handbooks were then compared with Pierre Vinken's and George Bruyn's Handbook of Clinical Neurology (1968–2002).

Over the span of nearly a century these publications became ever more comprehensive and developed into a global, encompassing project as is reflected in the increasing number of foreign authors. Whereas the first two handbooks were published mainly in German, “Vinken & Bruyn” was eventually published entirely in English, indicating the general changes in the scientific language of neurology after World War II. Distinctions include the uniformity of the series, manner of editorial involvement, thematic comprehensiveness, inclusion of volume editors in “Vinken & Bruyn,” and the provision of index volumes. The increasing use of authorities in various neurological subspecialties is an important factor by which these handbooks contrast with many compact neurological textbooks that were available at the time.

For historiographical purposes, the three neurological handbooks considered here were important sources for the general study of the history of medicine and science and the history of neurology in particular. Moreover, they served as important catalyzers of the emergence of neurology as a new clinical specialty during the first decades of the twentieth century.     

学术转型期的民国史研究--中华民国史国际学术讨论会纪要

2002年8月21－23日在北京举行了“中华民国史国际学术讨论会”。从提交此次会议的论文可以看出近年来民国史研究的几个基本特征：民国政治史在致力于突破,民国外交史因新史料的出现而凸现新意,民国社会史的研究日益深化,民国经济史的研究更加细化,民国思想文化与教育史领域的研究在不断拓宽,民国史料的不断发掘与学术史研究的重视。     

Geography in Higher Education in Australia

Within the last 30 years, geographical information systems (GIS) have been used increasingly in the training of geographers. On the basis of the philosophy of technology and instrumental genesis, we sketch how the use of instruments interacts with learning processes and outline how this can be studied. We empirically analyse students' learning processes and the influences of teaching practice in an introductory course in GIS. We show that students have different strategies for creating their personal instrument for spatial thinking and how teaching interacts with the students' learning processes. Finally, we discuss how GIS may gradually alter future professional development of geographers.     

1959年全国急性传染病学术会议的历史考察

1959年5月,为适应防疫的需要并迎接新中国成立10周年,中华人民共和国卫生部、中国人民解放军总后勤部卫生部和中华医学会在北京联合召开了全国急性传染病学术会议。会议贯彻中西医结合的卫生工作方针,结合时代发展需要,交流并总结了新中国成立以来医学界在防治急性传染病方面取得的成功经验,制定了8种急性传染病防治方案,对此后的传染病防治和研究起到了重要的推动作用。此次会议既为当代中国防疫史增添了浓墨重彩的一笔,同时也在我国医学发展史上具有重要意义。     

Dismantling the Soviet Security System. Soviet–Finnish Negotiations on Ending Their Friendship Agreement, 1989–91.

The Soviet Union had tied Finland to its security system through the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (FCMA) signed between the two in 1948. As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate at the end of the 1980s, Finland exited the Soviet sphere of influence – the region controlled through a system of bilateral and multilateral agreements. This article analyses the Soviet–Finnish negotiations to discard the FCMA treaty as a case study of the changing Soviet European neighbourhood policy. It gives important insights into the disintegration of the Soviet foreign policy mechanism during the Gorbachev era as it elaborates on both the intra-bureaucracy conflicts between the Kremlin and the Soviet foreign ministry, MID, and later between the Soviet central government and the Russian republic. As Finland was part of the Soviet security system, analysing Finland's exit from it sheds light onto the crucial change that took place in the Soviet foreign policy doctrine during the perestroika years. The Gorbachev leadership's decision not to defend its sphere of influence with force paved way for the upheavals of 1989 which led to the Cold War's end.