The Norman invasion of Gwent: a reassessment

Shortly after the Norman conquest of England, William fitz Osbern was created earl of Hereford. Most historians suggest he overran all Gwent east of the Usk before his return to the continent in 1071. This article will argue that his occupation of Gwent was more limited and was possibly confined to the territories claimed by Harold Godwinson, once earl of Hereford, before his death at Hastings. Instead, the accession of William Rufus in 1087 is seen as the context for a new aggressive policy towards South Wales. In the next fifteen years, Gwent and its neighbouring kingdoms of Morgannwg and Bucheiniog were overrun by William's marcher lords.     

Education for Tomorrow: The Vision of Rabindranath Tagore

This article investigates Rabindranath Tagore’s educational vision, which underpinned the three institutions he set up in India – Santiniketan (1901), Visva-Bharati (1921) and Sriniketan (1922). It argues that this vision is still relevant for the world of today and tomorrow, and that it should be taken into account in designing any educational model for the future. Tagore rejected the modern mechanical learning that focuses merely on cultivation of the individual’s mind, in favour of learning that encourages the creativity, imagination and moral awareness of students. He believed that education should be not for mere “success” or “progress” but for “illumination of heart” and for inculcation of a spirit of sympathy, service and self-sacrifice in the individual, so that s/he could rise above egocentrism and ethnocentrism to a state of global consciousness or worldcentrism. In pursuing this argument, I refer to Tagore’s letters, lectures, interviews and essays, both in Bengali and in English, a body of his short stories, his novel The Home and the World and his allegorical poem “Two Birds”. I also explain his awareness of the educational movements of his time in the West, and draw brief parallels with selected Western luminaries in the field, such as Plato, Montaigne, Rousseau and John Dewey. My contention is that although some may dismiss Tagore’s educational principles as “rickety sentimentalism” in a world that is palpable and real, his ideas of human fellowship, unity and creativity, and kinship for nature seem irrefutable with the rise of multiculturalism and the looming ecological crisis threatening world peace.     

The Norman invasion of Gwent: a reassessment

Shortly after the Norman conquest of England, William fitz Osbern was created earl of Hereford. Most historians suggest he overran all Gwent east of the Usk before his return to the continent in 1071. This article will argue that his occupation of Gwent was more limited and was possibly confined to the territories claimed by Harold Godwinson, once earl of Hereford, before his death at Hastings. Instead, the accession of William Rufus in 1087 is seen as the context for a new aggressive policy towards South Wales. In the next fifteen years, Gwent and its neighbouring kingdoms of Morgannwg and Bucheiniog were overrun by William's marcher lords.     

Desert Victory: The War for Kuwait: Norman Friedman

Book reviewed in this article: The Scourging of Iraq: Sanctions, Law and Natural Justice, 2nd ed: Geoff Simons     

Jean le Bel: portrait of a chronicler

The Old French chronicle by Jean le Bel of Liège in Belgium is one of our most important fourteenth-century historical sources. The author was a pain-staking and self-effacing writer, his aim a reliable and truthful narrative, his language and style remarkable for their directness and purity, his hallmarks clarity, order and intelligence. A canon of the Church and a notable figure in society, he was a man of his time and his narrative is mainly concerned with the ruling classes, yet for the attentive reader there are interesting glimpses of the life of the common man. The portrayal of the figures in the chronicle and Jean le Bel's comments on them show a remarkable capacity for accurate observation and independent thought, and provide evidence of sharp psychological insight. We look at these aspects of his work and at his attitude towards God, his views on great kings, good knights and noble ladies, and the characteristics of different nationalities. We consider judgments about him by his contemporaries and by modern critics, and evaluate his qualities as a writer.     

The "Red Spy Queen" in a Male World

Book reviewed:
Kathryn S. Olmsted. Red Spy Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth Bentley.     

The China of Tomorrow: Japan and the Limits of Victorian Expansion

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to the literature on the mechanisms, rhetoric, and limits of mid-Victorian expansion by asking how far late Tokugawa Japan was subject to forms of British imperialism. In September 1862 a British merchant was murdered on the high road between Edo and Kyoto; a year later, a British fleet bombarded Kagoshima in retaliation. By engaging with John Darwin’s concept of the ‘bridgehead’, this article examines the circumstances in which a lonely death on the frontiers of British commerce could be transformed into a Victorian ‘outrage’. It considers what we stand to gain by bringing an imperial history perspective to bear on what remains, for most imperial historians, a largely forgotten conflict. In positing Yokohama as a bridgehead that could gain only fitful purchase in London, it asks new questions about the conduct of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ and the fault lines of mid-Victorian expansion; the place of Japan in British political imaginaries; the nature of informal empire; and the discourses buffeting British expansion in the turbulent 1860s.     

"Adapt,adjust, accommodate": The production of yoga in a transnational World

The Divine Life Society (DLS) is a spiritual organization founded by Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, India. Sivananda's DLS, including associated centers across India and abroad, has figured prominently in expanding the role of yoga as a tool for the development of modern India. In this paper, Sivananda's own poetry and the many pamphlets and books produced by this noted swami, his contemporaries, and his successors through the 20th century in India serve to highlight ways that the promotion and practice of yoga has contributed to the ongoing Indian nationalist project. In addition, yoga is viewed from the perspective of the transnational and global forces that have become dominant in the latter half of the 20th century.     

“走向世界的中国史学”国际学术研讨会综述

2006年8月20日至24日,由北京师范大学史学理论与史学史研究中心与扬州大学社会发展学院共同主办的“走向世界的中国史学”国际学术研讨会在扬州大学召开。包括日本、韩国、美国在内的国内外学者百余人参加了会议,大会收到论文八十余篇。这次会议是中外史学理论学者的盛会,也是史学理论学者与中共党史史学理论学者的盛会。     

历史、本体与象征:"大运河——中国的世界文化遗产"策展

中国大运河博物馆是全流域、全时空、全方位展示中国大运河的风采的专题博物馆,"大运河——中国的世界文化遗产"是最为重要的基本陈列之一.展览以宏观叙事方式,结合数字技术和现代展示手段,通过反映大运河历史、运河价值、运河文化的各类文物、文献、展品,向公众讲述大运河的中国故事,展现大运河的魅力和文化风采.策展团队挖掘、选择合适的文物展品并根据展品和主题进行创意设计,以此来实现展览目的 .科学、直观地揭示历史,同时生动、形象地解读运河文化,这样的策展理念和实现路径,可为我国大型线性遗产的展示提供借鉴.