Geographical representations of the «Other»: the landscape of the Panama Canal Zone

Concentrating on the years 1912–1940, this paper explores why the Panama Canal Zone developed as a hyper-American suburb completely separated from surrounding countryside, cities, and people. It argues that American representations of Panama and Panamanians generated a recognizable Panama Canal Zone residential landscape. Canal Zone towns were designed to remove white American residents from an array of «Others», specifically an «Other» natural landscape (the Panamanian «jungle»), an «Other» cultural landscape (Panamanian Cities), and an «Other» people (the West Indian Panama Canal labour force and Spanish-speaking Panamanians). The negative nature of these representations undergirded American perceptions of the Canal Zone. Importantly, the manner in which Americans understood Panama bolstered the imperial practice of rationalizing discrimination against tropical people, the need for segregated housing, and the creation of an Americanized landscape. In doing so, American representations of Panama as «Other» engendered an American sense of superiority. The paper views the Canal Zone communities as not only reflecting social, moral, and economic outlooks of the American administrators, but also as embodying American perceptions of Panama and Panamanians as the «Other».     

Le médiéviste,le lignage et l'effet de réel

This paper tries to understand how «lineage» became a key-notion by medievalists when dealing with the field of kinship about the medieval aristocracy, although it is quite an unsuitable notion. Beside the role given to medieval kinship by the social and scientific imagination which prevailed when the historical sciences were formed in the XIX^th century, an important part is played by the creation of a discourse on «lineage» in late medieval aristocracy, linked to a redefinition of the modes of reproduction of seigniorial power, a vector of which must be found by means of representation portraying a durable kin-group, especially through the formation and transmission of «family archives». Historians submitted to the reality-effect of documentary bodies, which were transmitted and were but a historical social construction, did not pay enough attention to the genuine meaning of the archivistic structure. They believed they had found the «reality» of a social organization while they had merely perceived its ideational aspect- and thus, they contributed to the social construction of «lineage».     

Who and what is Canada? Constructing cultural identities in health care research

This paper concerns the negotiation of cultural categories embedded in and informing the ongoing nation formation of Canada. It discusses the construction of cultural identities by health care professional students as they participated in a qualitative study concerned with health care practice in an increasingly culturally diverse society. The study methodology, embedded in layers of narrative about «difference», fostered a negotiation of «self» and «other» on the part of the students and provided an intense site for reflection on cultural identities and social categories in a period of rapid demographic change in Canada. As the students defined and interpreted cultural issues during their fieldwork placements they interrogated and contested various dimensions of difference, including their own sense of Canadian-ness as this played out in «lived» multiculturalism in a specific Canadian city. It is argued that the students» negotiations of boundaries of the cultural «self» were closely linked to a changing place narrative and identity of Canada, expressed in discourses and material practices around difference at local and national scales.     

Media,power and space: ways of constructing the periphery as the ‘other’

The article examines the representation patterns of the Israeli geographic periphery in the national media over a period of four decades. Its main goal is to analyse the role that the national press plays in constructing the periphery as the ‘other’ in public consciousness. Our analysis demonstrates how the press makes use of diverse strategies, all leading to the construction of peripheral locations as ‘unimportant’, ‘marginal’ or ‘negligible’, and all characterized by events, customs, culture, norms and behaviour patterns different from those characteristic of the ‘centre’. We will show how the national press glorifies the Israeli ‘centre’, defines who is included within its boundaries and who is not, and delineates between it and the periphery.

Les médias, le pouvoir et l'espace: les manières de construire la périphérie en tant qu’ «Autre»

centre–périphérie, images négatives, médias

Cet article propose un examen des schémas de représentation de la périphérie géographique d'Israël dans les médias nationaux au cours des quatre dernières décennies. L'objectif principal est d'analyser le rôle de la presse nationale dans la construction de la périphérie en tant qu’ «Autre» dans la conscience publique. Notre étude met en évidence comment la presse applique diverses stratégies qui, dans l'ensemble, permettent la construction de lieux périphériques «sans importances», «marginaux» ou «négligeables» définis par des événements, coutumes, normes et comportements distincts de ceux qui caractérisent le «centre». Nous allons montrer comment la presse nationale glorifie le «centre» israélite, détermine qui peut se trouver à l'intérieur de ses frontières et qui en est exclus, et trace une limite entre le centre et la périphérie.

Los medios de comunicación, el poder y el espacio: maneras de construir la periferia como ‘lo otro’

centro–periferia, imágenes negativas, los medios de comunicación

Este artículo examina representaciones de la periferia geográfica de Israel en los medios de comunicación nacionales durante un período de cuatro décadas. El objetivo principal es analizar el papel jugado por la prensa nacional en la construcción de la periferia como ‘lo otro’ en la conciencia pública. Nuestro análisis demuestra cómo la prensa hace uso de diversas estratégias que llevan a la construcción de lugares periféricos que son considerados ‘no importantes’, marginales’, o ‘insignificantes’. Estos lugares se caracterizan por acontecimientos, costumbres, cultura, normas y pautas de comportamiento siempre distintos de los del ‘centro’. Enseñamos el modo en que la prensa nacional glorifica el ‘centro’ israelí, define a quién se incluye y a quién no, y traza una línea entre este centro y la periferia.     

Tradition républicaine et république nouvelle à Florence Francesco Guicciardini et lalibertà fiorentina

The wars of Italy (beginning in 1494) and the following upheavals in Florence (where the Grand Council Republic was set up after the fall of the Medici) led Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540) to think about the «natural» obviousness of the concept oflibertà fiorentina. His method was «not to let oneself deceive by words to such an extent that things are no longer considered». It made him abandon the question of good government for the one of the effects it produces, and induced him to give, «under the sweetness of the word liberty», prominence to the political stakes. From then on, there was no longer a natural obviousness for the aspiration forlibertà, but the necessary analysis of the political and historical circumstances, of the «condition of the times».     

Qu'est-ce qu'une ressource locale? Homéostasie et microanalyse en histoire sociale

French historiography is giving increasing attention to the microscopic scale by associating it essentially with the Italianmicrostoria. There are nevertheless in the United Kingdom and in Germany notably, other national traditions of «microhistory», which propose different uses of this level of observation. Similarly, the properties ascribed to the micro (the primacy of the local dynamics, the refusal of functionalist explanations) are not necessarily specific to it. Beginning with a precise issue the question of the relationship between populations and resources and its formulation by the model called «homeostatic», the article strives to nuance the idea according to which each scale would be granted its own attributes. By showing the possible convergences between apparently incommensurable levels of observation, it considers that the effects of scales depend more on local historiographic situations than on abstract properties.     

Échange,Contrat et Civilisation

With the word «exchange», the confusion is often made between the savage of social contract and the savage of the market. This paper would a contrario set the one against the other, in showing how the two characters agree in fact to two absolutely different kinds of argumentation, which the Enlightenment led to coexist according to very distinct issues. Then the modern term of «civil society» has never solved this ambiguity and we find here the matter of several teachings, because it is possible to think at once about what is a «concept», a «historicity» and a «citizen». Methodology, anthropology and politics come therefore into sight as three horizons of an analysis which does not want to reduce the equivocation, but rather to measure its wealth.     

Sur l'expertise anthropologique territoires et identités indigènes au Brésil

Is it possible for an anthropologist to decide whether an individual or a collectivity can or cannot be characterized as « indigenous », and then proceed to establish the limits of the territory which should be assigned (or recognized) by the state? Does his role as a scientist furnish him with the conceptual and methodological instruments necessary for such a task? In epistemological and ethical terms, is this something which he should endeavour to do? The purpose of this paper is to discuss how these questions are being put to Brazilian anthropologists since the 1980s. Torn between an « indianist » and an « indigenist » discourse, between romanticism and political mediation, the anthropologist must define an appropriate posture for dealing with policy-making; one which will simultaneously safeguard the scientific quality of his work while addressing the specific demands of each situation.     

Communautés de Savoirs

The social and institutional history of the university of Paris still frequently remains detached from the study of the intellectual dynamics which were produced in its midst. The concept of «communities of knowledge » allows us to fill this gap by narrowly associating the history of knowledge to its concrete conditions of production and teaching. This model permits us to give attention to the maintenance, in the midst of the Parisian university of diverse «schools » endowed with orientations and specific programmes of research. The appearance of colleges can equally be situated in this perspective, which permits us to better grasp the interaction between the political and intellectual stakes which lay stress on the history of the university in the xiii ^th century. Finally, it neveals the image of an institution more fragmented than unified.     

« Vivre de sa Plume » Réflexions sur un topos de l’Auctorialité Moderne

What does it mean to « live by the pen »? The expression has often been invoked by historians advancing an account of progress in literary practices marked by the passage of writers from patronage to the marketplace; an account hoping to define authorial « modernity » with respect to an older model of the literary figure who is protected by nobility. Yet a careful examination shows that this progress towards economic autonomy based on the sale of works is hardly as self-evident as it has been assumed. This article thus studies the ambiguities of the historical account implicit in the idea of « living by the pen ». It then proposes a different approach, which considers this idea not as the reflection of a new professional reality, but as an element in a new rhetoric of self-presentation as intellectual. As a topos, the image designates and indeed, constitutes the social liberation of the author from nobility as well as his moral authority when his efforts to live off his writing inevitably fail yet he persists nonetheless to sacrifice his personal happiness for his art.     

L'art au temps des fractales

Fractals, as a mathematical concept, made their way into many scientific fields, but have also inspired artistic creations, in particular the plastic arts. The art exhibition «Fractal Time» gives us the opportunity to analyze the link between «art under fractalism» and mathematics. Metamorphoses of the concept, as it goes further its original field, provide us information on the relation between its initial theoretical ground and its additional esthetical meaning. We propose to distinguish, according to a criterion of theorical but non esthetical distance, three ways of derivation for «fractalism»: technical derivation, esthetical actualization and ideological actualization. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A01KB003 00010     

L'«École de l'ETH» dans l'œuvre de Gaston Bachelard

We retrace here spectral presence in the work of Gaston Bachelard which we call «The School of the ETH». We have chosen three fundamental figures: hermann Weyl, Wolfgang Pauli and Gustave Juvet. For the first one, we consider his central and permanent place in the Bachelardian constitution of a philosophy which seeks to be at the height of the new «physical geometry» rigorously constructed in a Riemannian spirit. As for Pauli, we show an unsuspected affinity which is backed up by the remarkable analyses brought to it by philosophy: from the urgent construction of a «quantic metaphysics», founded on the implications of aPauli principle well understood, to the idea of a «metaphysical particle», going on to the decisive and so promising stakes of the «postulate of non-analysis». In the framework of this convergent polyconstruction of the «surrationalist», enterprise, we treat the third figure, less known but equally important, of the mathematician-philosopher Gustave Juvet.     

Le Débat Wolffien Sur L’Idéalisme de Leibniz Lors de la Première Diffusion de la Monadologie Latine

This paper proposes a reconstruction of the Wolffian debate on Leibniz’s idealism arising from the initial response to Leibniz’s Monadology. This reconstruction requires us to revisit some problems central to the debate: an inaccurate translation of a term in the latin Monadology («le composé» is translated as «substantia composita»); status of body as composed substance; status of elements as simple substances from which bodies result (which goes against the Cartesian conception of substance); status of Leibnizian notions of perception, force and pre-established harmony; status of experience as a holistic and systematic process (which goes against its conception and the tabula rasa in Locke) in the Wolffian response and system. A thorough examination of the founding texts of the response (Bilfinger and Wolff) allows us to reconsider the relation between Leibniz and Wolff from a new perspective.     

Cosmopolitisme et transferts culturels le cas des Juifs allemands

During the XIX^th century, the socio-economic rise and cultural assimilation of the German Jews generated two contradictory tendencies: on the one hand, their integration into the German nation, which they pursued willingly; and, on the other, their cosmopolitanism, which resulted from their location at the center of a socio-economic network on a continental scale and a wide migratory movement. The Jews thus contributed to the development of a cultural concept ofMitteleuropa as opposed to the geopolitical and expansionist concept upheld by Pan-Germanism. German-Jewish cosmopolitanism found its expression on different levels: in the religious field, the school of the «Science of Judaism» (Wissenschaft des Judentums) became a model for the modernisation of Jewish culture in most European countries: in the economic field, emancipated German Jews consolidated their financial and commercial transnational network, which existed from the age of the «Court Jews» (Hofjuden); in the political field, radical German Jews played a leading role in the diffusion of Marxism as a universalist intellectual current, crossing national borders. Generally speaking, German Jews played a pivotal role in a process of cultural transfers stretched on more than a century. After Nazism came to power, German-Jewish cosmopolitanism took the way of exile, trying to preserve the legacy ofAufklärung.     

Thèses de sociologie et romans à thèse

Are the rhetorical markers in sociological discourse specific and of a «scientific» nature? To tackle this delicate question, let us start by drawing up the generic characteristics of sociological texts. Let us compare these characteristics with those of a literary genre: the French «roman à thèse» from the beginning of the XX^th century. This old-fashioned and decried literature will serve as a driving bolt in order to demonstrate that a formalism sometimes asserted as scientific, does not guarantee scientific character, but just conformity to editorial requirement. To conclude, if the difference between sociological these and novel is not embedded in the text itself then, what eventually make its «scientific nature»? May be just the fragile conditions of its production and reception: debate and criticism of the sources if effectively implemented. But is this always the case?     

Relativités et puissances spectrales chez Gaston Bachelard

La Valeur inductive de la relativité is undoubtedly the least known «philosophical» work of Gaston Bachelard. Before an almost total silence, with the absence of readings, the replies are only «first type» interpretations supported by a certain discursive hearsay, but which have the authority of pseudo-standards. The Bachelardian positions are here confronted byLa Déduction relativiste of Émile Meyerson. The weight of the analysis will essentially rest upon a display of the Bachelardian device ofinduction and ofconstruction. The «inductive» preparation must be thought out on the electromagnetic model and the «constructivist» position is always linked to the effort of synthesis. In short, it is a veritablemeta-physics which seemingly must generate this «thought of the sciences».     

Leibniz, Wolff et la Métaphysique Traitée Selon la Méthode Scientifique

Wolff’s philosophy is often defined by commentators as « dogmatic leibnizism ». However, if we try to read the expression in a positive light, we discover what exactly distinguishes Wolff’s metaphysics from that of Leibniz, thereby establishing Wolff’s real contribution to the history of thought. First of all, the notion of « dogma » presented in Wolff’s philosophy is analyzed. This notion recalls the demonstrative model provided by mathematics and especially, Euclid’s Elements. According to axiomatic patterns, ontology is thought of as the « first philosophy ». This aspect cannot be separated from the function of a posteriori knowledge in Wolff’s thinking. This permits us to comprehend the function of ontology, Wolff’s cosmology, and his invention of the notion of « teleology ».     

La Découverte de L’Amérique

This article examines the significance accorded to the discovery of America in the period between 1492 and the publication of Alexander von Humboldt’s Kosmos in 1855. It argues that, the « discovery » of America was perceived as the « uncovering » of not merely a place, but of an epistemological challenge which both transformed, Europe’s intellectual dependence on Antiquity, and shaped its evolving perception of both space and time. It argues that, after the discovery, human history came to be seen, in terms of as series of inventions all of them related to human movement, which were projected, as more and more of the globe was « discovered » into an unpredictable future.     

Induction, probabilités et confirmation chez Carnap

The idea of associating probability and induction is not a theme suitable for the xx^th century but it has received a systematic development when the neo-positivist philosophers seized it. Beginning with the 1940's, the philosopher Rudolph Carnap proposed to affront the «Humian challenge» by founding a theory of confirmation through the construction of a probabilistic logic called «inductive». This project had been outlined in Cambridge during the 1920's by the economist John M. Keynes. To examine Carnap's program in its totality, to situate it in its historical context, to follow its evolution and the influences it has had, these are the aims of this article.     

Du Rutabaga et Encore du Rutabaga: Daily Life in Vichy France

‘Amerindians’ represent only a small proportion—currently estimated at 3–4%—of the sparse but rapidly growing population of France's South American département d'outre-mer. Yet the existence of ‘autochthonous’ communities in Guyane presents legal, political, cultural and environmental challenges to the concepts of republican universalism ostensibly established in 1946 alongside its status as an overseas department of France. Using an Amerindian cultural centre as a case study, this article seeks to explain how representations of ‘Amerindian’ identities in Guyane are constructed both alongside and against a traditional framework of opposition between universal commonality and cultural particularism. Through engagement with museum ethnography and analysis of personal narrative and collective action, the article traces conflicts and compromises surrounding ‘indigeneity’ and citizenship in the face of state non-recognition of ethnicity. It argues that the politics of Amerindian identity, from citizenship rights to ecotourism, has increasingly been characterised by an emphasis on ‘ecological’ relationships.

Les « Amérindiens » ne constituent que 3 à 4 % de la population de la Guyane – seul département d'outre-mer de France en Amérique du Sud – une population relativement faible et dispersée mais qui connaît une croissance rapide. Cependant, l'existence de communautés « autochtones » dans ce département présente des défis juridiques, politiques, culturels et environnementaux face à l’universalisme républicain établi au moment où la Guyane est devenue département, en 1946. Cet article s'appuie sur le cas d'un centre culturel amérindien pour exposer comment les représentations de l'identité « amérindienne » en Guyane se construisent à la fois avec et contre l'opposition traditionnelle entre les communalités universellement partagées et le particularisme culturel. S'appuyant sur l'ethnographie muséologique et sur l'analyse des récits individuels et de l'action collective, l'article reconstitue les conflits et les compromis autour de « l'autochtonie » et de la citoyenneté face à l'aveuglement officiel de l'État par rapport à l'idée de l'ethnicité. L'article suggère que, des droits citoyens à l'écotourisme, la politique identitaire « amérindienne » se caractérise de plus en plus par une emphase sur les relations sociales « écologiques »; c'est-à-dire entre hommes, femmes et environnement.