Ideological others and national identifications in contemporary Poland

Sexual minorities in Poland are excluded from the traditional understanding of “Polishness” premised on conservative, Catholic values. This article examines how ethnic Polish citizens who identify as non‐heteronormative navigate their relationship to “Polishness” at a moment of heightened nationalism. Through 31 interviews with Polish sexual minorities, I show that while national identification is a struggle for some sexual minorities, others work to reframe what “Polishness” means to them. I argue for further research examining the ways that stigmatised members of the ethnic majority—what I term ideological others—understand and navigate their relationship to national identity. The study contributes to the literature on everyday nationhood and national identity by attending to national identification among stigmatised members of the ethnic majority.     

Reenacting ethnic cleansing: people's history and elitist nationalism in contemporary Poland

This article addresses the problem of the present‐day historical discourse in Poland by taking under scrutiny one specific event: the historical re‐enactment of the ethnic cleansing of Polish villagers by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, staged in a small town in southeastern Poland, Radymno, in the summer of 2013. It is based on research, carried out by the author and a group of students in Radymno and its surroundings in the period preceding and following the performance, as well as on content analysis of the press. The comparison of the top‐down political and mass media discourse with local responses to the idea of re‐enactment and, more broadly, local understandings of Polish–Ukrainian relations, reveal many contradictions. In attempting to understand them, the article discusses broader ramifications of the ‘democratization of history’: the political contestation, class rhetoric and societal tensions that are tangled up in historical debates.     

一部研究当代中国政党制度的力作--读《当代中国的多党合作制度》

中国共产党领导的多党合作制度,是在长期的革命、建设和改革的实践中逐步形成和发展起来的具有中国特色的社会主义政党制度.研究和分析这一政党制度的形成和发展过程,总结多党合作实践的经验教训,探讨其中的规律,对于进一步推进多党合作的制度化、规范化和程序化建设,发展社会主义民主政治,推进社会主义政治文明建设,有着十分重要的意义.最近,吴美华教授的新著《当代中国的多党合作制度》[1]正是多年研究这一课题的力作.该书作为中国人民大学马克思主义学院中共党史系承担的教育部"211工程"项目"当代社会主义理论与实践"的系列成果之一,运用马克思主义立场、观点和方法,全面而系统地阐述了当代中国的多党合作制度.具体来讲,该书具有以下几个特点.     

Cavafy in Poland

Abstract

Despite the diversity of Modern Greek poetry available in Polish translation, Cavafy's work has eclipsed the achievements of other poets, just as the shadow of his lifelong translator, Zygmunt Kubiak, has inhibited other attempts only starting to surface in the twenty-first century. While external factors have determined Modern Greek anthologies in Poland, Cavafy translation has been mostly driven by personal passion. Apart from translation, this article reflects on various reasons why the Alexandrian's work should be so attractive to the Polish literary scene. Cavafy's seminal place within Polish literature stimulates further reflection on rewriting Cavafy in Poland.     

Sub-fossil wood from the Rucianka raised bog (NE Poland) as an indicator of climatic changes in the first millennium BC

The dendrochronological studies were carried out on very well preserved sub-fossil pine wood found in the biogenic deposits of the Rucianka raised bog (NE Poland). Local floating chronologies, covering the period 990-460 cal BC, were dated on the basis of radiocarbon analyses. Growth depressions in annual treering widths indicated periodical deterioration of the environmental conditions, which affected tree growth. Identified germination and dying-off phases (GDO) should be related to the wetter climatic periods. The extinction of trees took place during periods of higher groundwater level which, in turn, caused favourable conditions for growth of young pines.     

Caesium-137 as an indicator of geomorphic processes in a drainage basin system

Caesium-137 from fallout from nuclear weapons tests is adsorbed on fine sediments and becomes an effective tracer. It is hypothesised that within a drainage basin, sites undergoing little or no erosion accumulate ¹³⁷ Cs in their upper layers; cultivated soils will have ¹³⁷ Cs uniformly distributed within the cultivated layer; eroded soils, cultivated or not, will have relatively less ^l37 Cs, depending on the severity of erosion. Accumulated sediments will have characteristic ¹³⁷ Cs profiles reflecting temporal fallout variations and sedimentation history. This hypothetical model is largely confirmed by results from Maluna Creek basin, where erosion and accumulation of sediments has taken place. Soils under viticulture have about one third the ¹³⁷ Cs content of soils with grass cover, indicating more severe erosion under cultivation. Caesium-137 profiles in alluvial fan and flood plain deposits correlate with sediment layers and known cultivation history.     

壁画起甲修复材料性能评价指标体系的构建初探

材料性能评价指标体系是材料研究、应用推广中的重要一环,具有建立量度标尺、规范性能参数和推动行业发展等重要作用和意义。在航空、航天,汽车,建筑工程,油漆涂料等行业,目前已建立了相对成熟、完善的针对各类型材料的评价指标体系,拥有科学、系统的指标评价方法,及相对深入的理论研究。相比之下,相对小众的文物保护、修复材料应用领域,如古代壁画保护修复材料的性能评价与研究,发展还相对缓慢,研究基础相对滞后。 本研究分析了壁画起甲病害的材料学成因(各种物理、化学作用),总结了国内外壁画修复材料性能评价研究的进展(包括简要的修复材料应用历史),借鉴上述成熟行业评价、研究的模型和方法,采用“需求-性能-评价指标”体系,分析并尝试提出了壁画起甲修复材料的评价指标、方法及体系。初步提出的指标总分为材料有效性、安全性和耐久性3类,具体包括材料的黏结性、渗透性、水汽透过性、流动性、光学性能、化学惰性(酸碱性)、无毒害性、耐温湿度、光照、盐害及微生物作用等14项。 此外,本研究还分析了所列指标评价方法的适用性、存在的问题和面临的困难,指出了壁画是受到本体(多种材料、多层结构)因素和所处环境因素多重作用叠加的特点,说明了从修复实践中发展来的工艺、手艺性(操作)也是壁画修复对材料要求的一种特殊性表现;讨论了进一步完善起甲修复材料评价指标体系所需的数学建模分析的工作构想。 该评价指标体系的提出,将为我国文物保护、修复材料评价研究中壁画起甲修复材料的研究、应用推广、新材料研发;为已有材料的合理使用与持续优化;为壁画修复项目的规范开展,奠定坚实的科学工作基础。     

Charcot in contemporary literature

Charcot and his medical observations remain an enduring topic of scientific study in neurology, but he is also the topic of modern literary works. This essay examines the depiction of Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) as a character in late-twentieth-century literature as an index of the contemporary nonmedical literary public's interest in neurology and Charcot. It focuses on three contemporary works that involve Charcot as a central figure with comparison between primary source documents and the rendered context, character development, and plot lines of these literary works. The two French novels [Slumbers of Indiscretion and Dr. Charcot of the Salpêtrière] and one American play [Augustine (Big Hysteria)] approach Charcot and neurology with differing levels of historical accuracy. All create a figure of authority, each with a different coloration of the balance between power and its abuse. Two focus almost exclusively on his work with hysteria and inaccurately amplify Charcot's concern with symbolic sexual conflict as the origin of hysteria and fictionalize more extensive interactions with Freud than historical documents support. The three works demonstrate that Charcot retains an enduring fascination with an enigmatic personality, a controversial career, and a pivotal role in the development of studies involving the brain and behavior. Neurologists should not look to these works as replacements for more seriously composed historical studies, but as enrichments anchored in the imaginative possibilities of Charcot and his fin de siècle era.     

Landscape Sacralisation in Post-communist Poland

Landscape sacralisation is the process of filling the cultural landscape with religious phenomena and giving it a sacred character with elements of ritualised devotion. This paper examines this process in Poland during and since the communist era (1945–1989), and with a particular emphasis on late communist and post-communist times (1980–2013). It is argued that faith, politics, economy and religious ‘traditions of place’ are the most important factors shaping landscape sacralisation in Poland, particularly since 1980. Three types of landscape sacralisation are identified – architectural, linguistic and seasonal – and this paper discusses recent trends in these processes of landscape sacralisation with respect to their prevailing religious and non-religious dimensions. In recent decades, the Polish landscape has been filled with diverse religious objects and forms (churches, crosses, monuments, public processions, annual festivals and rural and urban nomenclature) associated chiefly with the Roman Catholic Church, the dominant denomination in the country. It is argued that scholarly appreciation of landscape sacralisation is a vital means of identifying the religiosity of Polish people during and since the communist era.     

The contemporary in post-medieval archaeology

SUMMARY: Contemporary archaeology is an emerging field of enquiry within the wider discipline associated with the questioning of temporal boundaries in what we study and why we engage with material remains of the recent past more generally. This article argues that contemporary archaeology should be broadly defined at this stage in its development and therefore can be located in Post-Medieval Archaeology through research that explicitly engages with what it is to conduct contemporary archaeology, but also through those implicitly considering how the past intrudes into the present. We believe that Post-Medieval Archaeology will continue to highlight archaeological studies of the contemporary into the future.     

General housing characteristics of Poland

Poland has a relatively higher proportion of households as compared to number of housing units available. The distortions in housing stock have increased in Poland since the 1960s and 1970s as deficits remained very high and the demand increased in Poland while other socialist nations of eastern Europe reduced their housing deficits. Housing is important irrespective of the economic system of the country, whether socialist or non‐socialist In a socialist economy, housing is heavily subsidized to meet the minimal requirements of all the people. Though the expressed policy of the socialist country is to minimize the differences between the rural and urban areas there are still basic socio‐economic differences in existence between the rural and urban housing stock. This study found that there were distinct differences between the different macro‐regions: the buildings varied in their age, condition, uses and composition. In Warsaw or Central Poland, roofs are constructed of tar boards and the buildings are used for subsidiary uses. In the eastern and southern regions of Poland, it was found that the majority of buildings are used as single‐family buildings. Many of the dwellings in the south are single family, with roofs constructed of tin plate and sheet metal. The walls of the buildings in this area were constructed of logs and boards. Endemic to the north‐western portion of Poland are roofs constructed of tile. Many of the characteristics found within the regions of Poland stem from the cultural influences.     

Oral history studies in contemporary China

The rise of oral history is a new trend in historical studies in China that began in the late twentieth century. This promising tendency has so far achieved important results in two areas: theoretical exploration and oral interviews. This article proposes the theory of oral history’s four realities and three curtains and by so doing preliminarily clarifies the relations among historical memories, historical narratives, and the authenticity of oral history. These theories represent the current understanding of the discipline of contemporary Chinese history in regard to the core questions of oral history. Oral history in China has currently reached a new phase of self-conscious disciplinary construction and has the following tentative plans: to strengthen the study of basic theories and methods of oral history; to intensify the training of talented scholars and to establish a professional group of oral historians; to promote the general implementation of oral history projects; to create new oral history websites and academic journals, and to prepare for the establishment of oral history archives in China.     

Security and alienation in contemporary China

Barlow, Tani E., and Donald M. Lowe. Chinese Reflections: Americans Teaching in the People's Republic. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1985. xviii + 250 pp. including index. $17.95 cloth.

Yue Daiyun, and Carolyn Wakeman. To the Storm: The Odyssey of a Revolutionary Chinese Woman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. xxv + 405 pp. including index. $17.95 cloth.     

Mapping contemporary Catholic politics in Italy

This editors’ introduction opens a special issue of the Journal of Modern Italian Studies on the topic of ‘Mapping Contemporary Catholic Politics in Italy’. It briefly identifies the political, sociological and ideational changes that have occurred in Catholic politics since the collapse of the Democrazia Cristiana party, and introduces the contributions to the special issue, highlighting the common threads and the important divergences in their analyses.