Britishness, asylum-seekers and the northern working class: 1851

The arrival of a small group of Polish-Hungarian refugees in Liverpool in 1851 reveals a lot about contemporary political views in the United Kingdom. The refugees were members of General Wysocki's Polish legion, which had fought Russia and Austria during the Hungarian revolution in 1848-49. While British liberals had hailed the nationalist cause from a distance, they were made uneasy by the presence of the refugee republicans with radical ideas. For that reason, British liberals worked with the government to try to send the Hungarian refugees to the United States. On the other hand, tradesmen and artisans in Liverpool - who were drawn to the social democratic ideas of liberty expressed by the revolutionaries of 1848 - organized a successful campaign to grant the refugees asylum.     

Negotiating English identity: Englishness,Britishness and the future of the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT. The current interest in Englishness and English national identity, spurred partly by parliamentary devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has been accompanied by calls for an English parliament and even the promotion of a robust English nationalism. This article argues that this is a mistaken direction for the English. English traditions have been non‐national and even supra‐national. English identities have been especially bound up with Britain and Britishness. An England without Britain is hard to conceive, and would be impolitic to pursue. Survey evidence shows continuing Britishness among the English, with scant support for an English parliament or English independence. The expressions of English nationalism remain relatively muted. ‘England for the English’ is neither a realistic nor a sensible strategy.     

The necessity of Britishness: ethno‐cultural roots of Australian nationalism*

ABSTRACT. Until the last third of the twentieth century, Britishness figured prominently in the national identity of Australians. Many scholars of Australian nationalism have assumed an inherent antipathy between British and Australian solidarities; others have appreciated that there was a degree of mutuality between the two; few have explained why. This article offers such an explanation. It focuses on the crucial nation‐building period twenty years on either side of the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901. Drawing on ethno‐symbolist approaches to nationalism, it argues that Britishness provided the necessary ethno‐cultural foundations for Australian nationhood, the only available repertoire of myth and symbol that could fulfil the nationalist aspiration for unity. Yet Britishness in the antipodes was significantly different to that of the British Isles, as were the civic/territorial components of Australian conceptions of nationhood, giving rise to a distinctive British‐Australian composite nationalism.     

Migrating identities: gender,whiteness and Britishness in post-colonial Hong Kong

This paper explores the ways in which notions of nationality, whiteness and gender are drawn upon by British expatriate women in the construction and performance of their identities in post-colonial Hong Kong. A British colony since the mid-nineteenth century, Hong Kong was returned to China in the 1997 handover to become a ‘Special Administrative Region’. Now, as the administrative workings of empire are receding, so too are the expectations about race and nationality which went with them. For the white British, the opportunities to reconfigure discourses and subjectivities of whiteness are there, although the findings of this research reveals the unevenness of take-up. The paper draws on a broad feminist post-structuralist approach to reveal the ways in which four different British women migrants position themselves in the changing landscape. The approach shows important patterns of difference and diversity between the women in the performances of gendered Britishness and whiteness, and in the extent to which these are used to redefine or challenge the memory of relations established through imperialism.     

Perceptions of Discrimination

Despite legal efforts to eliminate employment discrimination, lawsuits and demonstrations suggest that many federal employees believe they are subject to discriminatory practices. This article analyzes responses to a governmentwide survey of federal employees in order to understand such perceptions more fully. Propositions examined, and at least partially supported, include that minority groups hold identifiable, but structurally different, belief systems with regard to discrimination, and that there are identifiable factors correlated with these perceptions.     

Perceptions of the War in Bosnia

Books reviewed in this article:
Roger Cohen, Hearts grown brutal: sagas of Sarajevo
Chuck Sudetic, Blood and vengeance: one family's story of the war in Bosnia
Richard Holbrooke, To end a war
General Sir Michael Rose, Fighting for peace: Bosnia 1994     

Academic Perceptions of University-Firm Technology Transfer

Why do some academics engage in technology transfer activities while others do not? What facilitates technology transfer? What inhibits it? This paper attempts to answer these questions from the vantage point of academic researchers. After briefly reviewing some pertinent literature, findings from a survey of academic researchers in the nation's top 100 research universities are presented. An assessment is made of academic researchers' technology transfer activities and of attributes that differentiate researchers who engage in technology transfer from their non-participating colleagues. Conclusions are drawn regarding the barriers and facilitators of university technology transfer to industry.     

Commentary: Perceptions of Landscapes in Heaven

Western Places, American Myths: How We Think About the West. Edited by Gary J. Hausladen. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2003. List of illustrations, acknowledgments, introduction, notes, contributors, and index, xiv+343 pp. $49.95 hardback. ISBN 0-87417-531-3.

Holocaust City: The Making of a Jewish Ghetto. By Tim Cole. New York: Routledge, 2003. Preface, acknowledgments, notes, and index, xv+303 pp. $19.95 paperback. IBSN 0-415-92969-5.

Putting Women in Place: Feminist Geographers Make Sense of the World. By Mona Domosh and Joni Seager. New York: Guilford Press, 2001. Figures and tables, acknowledgments, preface, references, and index, xviii+215 pp. $18.95 paperback. ISBN 1- 57230-668-8.

American Space/American Place: Geographies of the Contemporary United States. Edited by John A. Agnew and Jonathan M. Smith. New York: Routledge, 2002. Preface, discussion questions, further reading, and index, xii+365 pp. $26.95 paperback. ISBN 0-415-93532-6.

Mythic Galveston: Reinventing America's Third Coast. By Susan Wiley Hardwick. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 2002. Preface, acknowledgments, bibliography, and index. xii + 175 pp. $42.95 hardback. ISBN 0-8018-6887-4.

It Happened on Washington Square. By Emily Kies Folpe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. Preface, acknowledgments, introduction, epilogue, notes, bibliographic essay, and index, xii+353 pp. $22.50 hardback. ISBN 0-8018 7088-7.     

Author and Reader Perceptions of the Literary Map

There is a continuing need in cartographic communication for reserarch directed toward better understanding of the perceptual properties of maps, particularly as they interrelate between map author and map reader (percipient). This research explores that area by examining the perceptions of authors of maps utilized in science fiction and fantasy, and readers who encounter these maps in the literature.

The first phase of the research demonstrates that authors generally have a positive attitude toward the literary map and view them as critical to the formulation of a story and important to proper understanding of the narrative. By contrast, readers tested in the second part of the study view literary maps as superfluous and in general have a negative attitude toward them.

The literary maps employed in this research fail to communicate effectively with the reader. Poor cartographic communication and the negative attitude of readers toward the literary map is explained in terms of functional illiteracy.     

现代日本历史编纂学的几种伴生观念

19世纪末开始形成的日本现代历史编纂学是模仿西方实证主义历史学建构的,但并没有像西方那样深厚的历史哲学基础,在思维层面对历史编纂学构成重要影响的是各种各样的历史观念。尝试梳理,可见有亚洲主义、东洋史观、皇国史观、现代化论、自由主义历史观等前后贯通,皆对日本历史编纂学产生重要影响,其程度足以提示对日本现代历史学在亚洲各国处于"领先"地位说以及日本实证主义历史学所能实践的客观性程度重新考量。亚洲现代历史编纂学皆在西方殖民主义东来大背景下以对本民族和国家的重新体认与重塑作为核心关照而展开。日本历史编纂学推演中的特殊张力,在于其在发展早期融入建立日本殖民帝国的语境之中,后来又在重述殖民帝国历史与现代化发展关系之间纠结,其对亚洲邻国历史叙述的基调和方式,也应在这一视角下加以透视。     

Perceptions of Academic Librarians in Kuwait of Library 2.0

This paper reports the results of a Web‐based survey designed to explore the perceptions of academic librarians in Kuwait of Library 2.0. It investigates their familiarity with Web 2.0 concepts, tools, services and applications as these relate to academic libraries, and also explores the obstacles to their use. A Web‐based questionnaire was administered to all of the librarians in four universities in Kuwait. It was found that these librarians have a low level of familiarity with Library 2.0 applications. Lack of training was found to be the most inhibiting barrier to their use. There is a positive correlation between their years of work experience and their perceptions of Library 2.0 applications in academic libraries but no correlation between their years of work experience and the barriers to its use. The results from this study contribute to an understanding of the effect of these technologies on academic librarians. They could also be used to create and support appropriate initiatives for the integration of these applications in academic libraries.