Educational Conquest: Schools as a Sphere of Politics in French Mandate Syria, 1936-1946

This article deals with the significance of the school as aspace for colonial and diplomatic power struggles in the FrenchMandate territories of Syria and Lebanon between 1936 and 1945.Often underestimated in their importance to colonial and internationalaffairs, schools were an integral part of France’s precariouspolitical administration in the Levant. Although fiercely anti-clericalat home, the French government relied extensively on long-establishedCatholic missionary schools to entrench its control. These schoolsemerged as a space for conflict, both symbolically and physically,as a result of their association with France’s policyof promoting non-Sunni communities at the expense of the regionalSunni majority. Within the context of these policies, Frenchschools became a symbol of privilege for francophile Christianelites and of oppression for Muslim or pan-Arab groups disaffectedwith the regime. The discussion here addresses the role of schoolsas a focus for conflict and cooperation among French officialsand educators working in the Levant, as a forum for Franco-Syriancolonial interaction and as an object of international diplomaticdispute as Syria gained its independence.     

Czech Women Writers and Racial Others: (Un)timely Reflections on the History of Czech Nationalism

Czech historians are often reluctant to study negative aspects of the Czech past, including more extreme forms of Czech nationalism and particularly racism. This article examines attitudes of Czech women writers at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to racial Others. Focusing on the works of Bo?ena Bene?ová, Gabriela Preissová, and R??ena Svobodová that featured Jewish and Romani characters, it argues that women’s views resembled those of their male contemporaries and ranged from interest in marginalized groups to implicit and explicit antisemitism. The article explores contradictions characteristic of the three writers’ works with Jewish and Romani themes and points out commonalities and differences in the treatment of both groups. It is intended as an opening of a discussion on a little-studied aspect of Czech nationalism.     

"A fine new child": the Lafargue Mental Hygiene Clinic and Harlem's African American communities, 1946-1958

In 1946, the Lafargue Mental Hygiene Clinic, a small outpatient facility run by volunteers, opened in Central Harlem. Lafargue lasted for almost thirteen years, providing the underserved black Harlemites with what might be later termed community mental health care. This article explores what the clinic meant to the African Americans who created, supported, and made use of its community-based services. While white humanitarianism often played a large role in creating such institutions, this clinic would not have existed without the help and support of both Harlem's black left and the increasingly activist African American church of the "long civil rights era." Not only did St. Philip's Church provide a physical home for the clinic, it also helped to integrate it into black Harlem, creating a patient community. The article concludes with a lengthy examination of these patients' clinical experiences. Relying upon patient case files, the article provides a unique snapshot of the psychologization of postwar American culture. Not only does the author detail the ways in which the largely working class patient community used this facility clinic, he also explores how the patients engaged with modern psychodynamic concepts in forming their own complex understandings of selfhood and mental health.