The social value of culture: learning from revolutionary Cuba

As the tide turns against econometric calculations of cultural value, scope exists for careful reconsideration of the social value of culture. In Cuba after 1959, culture was placed at the heart of a society undergoing radical transformation. This article examines the socially orientated initiatives to which this revalidation gave rise. It shows that substantial changes were wrought in professional circles as art was acknowledged as a form of social production and remunerated accordingly. It also outlines the sustained efforts that were made to diminish the gap between creative intellectuals and the rest of society, by encouraging widespread appreciation of, and participation in, creative activity. This comprehensive programme was underscored by ideas around democratisation and emancipation that remain vital to contemporary discussions.     

革命美术的光辉典范——太行木刻选介

在建党八十周年的时候,我们把当年太行革命根据地美术工作者创作的木刻作品介绍给大家。这既是老一辈木刻家留给后代的一份珍贵艺术遗产,也是今天进行爱国主义教育和革命传统教育的形象化生动教材。 太行革命根据地,在抗日战争时期是中国共产党领导的敌后抗日游击战争的战略要地之一,根据地军民保家卫国,抗击日寇,英勇杀敌,用血肉筑起敌后抗战的铁壁铜墙,为抗日民族革命战争的胜利付出了巨大的牺牲。解放战争时期,太行解放区的军民又以空前高涨的革命积极性,投身争取民主自由、光明进步的人民革命战争,为全国解放作出了卓越的贡…     

The British Empire and revolutionary national poetry

ABSTRACT. The British empire set off an explosion of poetry, in English and native languages, particularly in India, Africa and the Middle East. This poetry – largely neglected in the scholarship on nationalism – was often revolutionary both aesthetically and politically, expressing a spirit of cultural independence. Attacks on England and the empire are common not just in native colonial poetry but also in poetry of the British isles. This article discusses some of the most influential poets, including: Shawqi of Egypt, Tagore of India, Rusafi of Iraq, Yeats of Ireland, Iqbal of Pakistan, Greenberg of pre‐State Israel, and Kipling, the ‘poet of empire’. In contrast with other empires, many poets were inspired by British culture to create revolutionary art and seek political independence. Most strikingly, British rule was instrumental in the revival of vernacular Hebrew poetry after 1917 as the centre of Hebrew literature shifted from Odessa to Tel Aviv.     

The emergence and institutionalization of feminist geography in Ghana

Abstract

The emergence and institutionalization of feminist geography in Ghana was in tandem with the global feminist movement in the 1970s and its subsequent international women’s conferences. This paper discusses the pioneering work and research at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, and its effect on the institutionalization and diffusion of feminist geography in Ghana. Through research and external collaborations, the need for gender as an academic discipline was strongly argued for and instituted as an undergraduate course at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana. These external collaborations with other feminist geographers in international geography associations and universities served as a boost as they created opportunities for highlighting the spatial variations in the role and situation of particularly women’s lives in Ghana. Subsequently, there was a diffusion of feminist geography research and its institutionalization as an academic sub-discipline in Geography departments in other Ghanaian universities. These notwithstanding, the departments of Geography in Ghanaian universities are still dominated by male faculty members. Moreover, research work has been mainly in the field of human geography more than the physical aspects calling for the mainstreaming of gender issues in all the systematic branches of the discipline.     

The unique decline of mortality in revolutionary France

This article seeks to draw historians' attention to a neglected reconstruction of the French population and its mortality rates developed by the Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques in the 1970s. The reconstruction shows a sharp decline in French mortality rates, beginning in the 1790s and continuing through the 1820s. This conflicts with recent historiography stressing the negative effects of the Revolution. This article contends that the reconstruction is plausible and that the French mortality decline was unique in Europe in this period. In turn, this suggests that the Revolution had a much more favorable impact than many historians would have us believe.     

光荣的土地——太行革命根据地掠影

太行革命根据地,是中国共产党在抗日战争爆发后,为了在华北敌后坚持持久的抗日游击战争,发展抗日力量,消灭和驱逐日本侵略者而建立的重要的战略基地之一。１９３７年１１月,太原刚刚失陷,根据中共中央和毛泽东主席关于创立以太行山脉为依托的晋冀豫抗日根据地的指示,在中共中央北方局、八路军总部的领导下,八路军一二九师、一一五师三四四旅同中共冀豫晋省委（中共太行区党委的前身）紧密配合,在山西牺牲救国同盟会、山西青年抗敌决死队。冀西民训处等密切协同下,发动和依靠广大人民群众,发展抗日武装,建立抗日民主政权,团结一…     

Doing the Doric: The institutionalization of regional language and culture in the north-east of Scotland

The focus of this paper is on the practices and processes of joint action and knowledge, the performativity of language and the tracing of how particular items of rhetoric move, solidify and change. The paper illustrates the contingent factors that give language and practice variable meanings through an examination of the Doric dialect and culture of north-eastern Scotland. Doric has, in recent years, been increasingly discussed and debated by the press and the academy. Here, it is argued that the continued reproduction of 'north-easterness' is related to the ways in which dialect and culture have been mobilized, politicized and legitimized through the erection and operation of an institutional framework. The role of 'expert' and enthusiast knowledges in the propagation of cultural trends is analysed, contrasting the existence of north-eastern tradition as an allegedly 'organic' culture, when dialect use and 'traditional' practices were unproblematic and everyday, with contemporary institutionalized 'north-easterness'. This is achieved through an exploration of the spectacularization of tradition, unpacking some of the tensions this creates with regard to the Bothy Ballad and literary traditions of the north-east.     

The political ecology of recovery from armed conflict: the case of landmines in Mozambique

The devastation wrought by landmines on local populations is well known. However, the broader effects of mine presence on postwar recovery, and the progress of a ‘peace process’, remain largely unexamined. Both the academic and the practitioner literature regarding landmines lack a framework within which the mix of economic, political, social, agricultural, and ecological repercussions of mine presence in a context of postwar recovery can be investigated. Here, we consider the utility of political ecology to examine the influence of landmine presence on the socioecological relations important to postwar recovery in Mozambique. Landmines constitute the primary obstacle to the reconstruction and development in Mozambique. Because mine presence influences different aspects of recovery differently, we have selected three cases in the country where mine presence has impacted important components of recovery: agriculture, transportation corridors, and international investment. Peace process and recovery efforts by the international community do not presently address the broader, non-medical influences of landmine presence on recovery, and it is the intention of this article to contribute to an initial examination of these issues.