From the "Phoenix of Legends" to the "Ultimate Monument" of the times: stadia, spectators, and urban development in postwar Paris

This article analyzes the renovation and construction of the Parc des Princes and the Stade de France in post-Second World War Paris. The history of the two stadia testifies to a shift in the envisioned role of stadia in the Parisian basin between the late 1960s and the end of the twentieth century and stands as evidence for the emergence of new urban planning actors. Both stadia were also critiqued as symbols of broader problems with Parisian urbanization, notably as manifestations of anti-democratic planning processes. At the same time, the Parc and the Stade also reflected an emerging consensus over the role of spectator sport in society, accompanied by attempts to re-envision mass sporting spectatorship as a more democratic and familial practice. This article thus situates the two stadia within the history of Parisian urbanization and within broader global urbanizing processes.     

"De-humanised females and Amazonians": British wartime fashion and its representation in Home chat, 1914-1918

Popular representations of the fashionably dressed female body between 1914 and 1918 were highly contradictory and, as this essay will show, were sharply delineated in Home Chat, one of a growing number of relatively new women's magazines which addressed the needs of an expanding skilled working-class and lower-middle-class female readership. Aiming to provide women with practical advice about all aspects of their daily lives, from the traditional concerns of fashion and beauty, marriage and children, to the more contentious issue of women's aspirations beyond the home, Home Chat was uniquely placed to reflect shifting gender and class relations.     

从“中间派”到“民主党派”：中国民主同盟在香港（1946—1949）

1946—1949年间,受国民党排斥的民主派被逼暂移香港。中国民主同盟这个曾据有国、共以外的全国第三大党地位的中间力量联盟在成立之始即利用香港,并借助中共,来建立其舆论机关。1947年国民党宣布中国民主同盟为非法团体后,该盟的核心分子在香港已放弃中间派的立场．向左派靠拢。1948年,他们在香港召开三中全会,并积极参与对中间路线的批判。香港特殊的政治生态环境,为这批国民党的异见分子提供了一个重整力量的空间,更有利于中共对他们的统战,并有助于中间派的彻底改变和转向。中国民主同盟及其他旅港小党派的代表终在1949年前后全数北上回国,迎接中共对全国的解放,成为中共领导下的民主党派。如果说,中国民主同盟所经历的是一个“中间派→中间偏左派→左派→中共领导下的民主党派”的发展历程,那么它就是在香港进入了这一发展历程的最后阶段。这个历程可说是中国民主党派主流的发展轨迹。     

From trusteeship to development: how class and gender complicated Kenya's housing policy, 1939–1963

Colonial rule required the control of territory, nowhere more than in cities. In the early twentieth century, colonial policy in Kenya and the rest of East and Southern Africa had only grudgingly accommodated Africans in urban areas. After 1939 policy changed, not only in response to poor local conditions and social unrest but also because London's new colonial development policy made a place for African workers in towns. From 1940, new housing and colonial policies acknowledged the importance of the discourses of class and gender. Administrators stabilised an African working class by building better municipal housing, and then sought to fashion a middle class by promoting home ownership. They began to promote housing for families, having recognised that African women could help to make their men at home in the city, and to educate children to become good citizens. The evolution of Kenya's housing policy illuminates the characteristic pressures, calculations, and responses of colonial rule that were being played out internationally in the late colonial period.     

Culture,technology and policy in the informal sector: attention to endogenous development

243 blacksmiths in Sierra Leone were interviewed in 1984-85 in an effort to focus on both the activities and attitudes of traditional blacksmiths in the country's economy. Due to the fact of an shortage of foreign exchange with which to import and maintain equipment, agriculture using high-technology equipment accounts for less than 15% of total production. Consequently, blacksmiths are vital to the nations' survival, despite prevailing attitudes toward them. The interviews were conducted in 9 of the 12 districts in Sierra Leone. The blacksmith operates not simply in terms of producing and servicing goods; cultural values frame his position in the community. In all of West Africa, and particularly among Mende-related peoples, there historically exists a mystique surrounding a blacksmith. In some societies, blacksmiths were believed to be witches. The arguments that most likely could account for this would probably lie in the fact that the blacksmith made farm tools and weapons of war, means of survival in the community. Thus, his position was vital. Traditionally the importance of the smith's profession lies in the fact that some of the implements he fabricates and the materials he uses are believed to provide elements of social control or to have healing powers. An appreciation of the cultural significance of the blacksmith demonstrates the degree of attachment of the population to this profession as well as the context within which one could relate to possible technological changes in the trade. An attempt was made in the interview to gather some information about levels of production. The figures represent averages, and production capacity varied owing to a number of factors, including the degree of organization of the unit, the capacity of the head of the forge to keep his team busy when work was intensive, and the degree of energy and determination of an operator to get the greatest amount of work done in 1 day. The most obvious factor influencing production levels was the size of the units. Pricing of commodities and the blacksmith's services depended on a combination of factors, but, generally, in semi-urban areas, where more impersonal relationships tended to obtain, prices appeared relatively more fixed than in rural areas. All smiths interviewed complained about the increasing scarcity of scrap iron. As there is every reason to envisage a continued dependence on informal-sector production by blacksmiths, official attitudes need to take these trades more seriously.     

从“容共”到“容国”1924—1927年国共党际关系再考察

1924—1927年间国共关系演变的复杂情形,实际远非过去人们认知中的“容共”或“联共”等语词所能简单概括。其时国共对相互关系的认知和表述既不尽一致,而且随着两党力量对比的变化,这种认知和表述亦发生相应的变化。无论“容共”还是“联共”,都难以单独完整表述该时期国共关系的动态变化过程。1925年后,加入国民党的中共党员只是其中一部分而非全部;与此同时,大批国民党青年转入共产党。国共关系的初始形式在发生改变,亦即由初期中共党员加入国民党的单向流动,发展为两党党员之间的双向互动。到后期,中共党员加入国民党渐少,而国民党青年转入中共日多。另一方面,中共意识形态的强势宣导,中共对国民党地方组织和民众运动的日趋“包办”,以及中共组织严密与国民党组织散漫的强烈反差,使国民党人感到共产党大有“反客为主”的态势,担心国民党“容共”,将转化为共产党“容国”。国民党人对共产党“容国”的危机意识,加速了第一次国共合作的破裂。     

从班洪事件到中缅"1941年线"的划定

班洪事件及“1941年线”的划定,是近代中国边疆史上较为重要的历史事件,直接影响了今天中国的西南边界。学术界对于班洪事件的发生多认为是英帝国主义的越界入侵,至于“1941年线”的产生则很少有人探讨。本文主要借助中、英双方的有关档案对班洪事件的前因后果进行了探讨,认为英政府利用中国方面“刘陈线”绘制的错误,单方面进入滇缅未定界内进行矿藏勘测,从而激起了中国人民的强烈反对,中国国民政府在边界问题上也进行了一定的抗争,但面对抗战的危局与英国的要挟,最终还是做出让步,划定了中缅边界的“1941年线”。     

From policy to platform: the digitization of Danish Cultural Heritage

This article scrutinizes the dominant discursive formations within digitization of cultural heritage in Danish cultural policy, with the ‘Danish Cultural Heritage’ portal serving as a case. The paper analyzes how the portal frames users’ participation potentials and how this relates to the objectives of the portal and official Danish digitization strategies issued in the period of 2007–2015. Furthermore, the article incorporates interviews with experts working with the portal and the digitization strategies in order to gain a closer understanding of the transformation from policy to reality. Even though discourses on participation and user engagement are detected within official cultural policy documents, the dominant discourses are those of administrative and managerial effectiveness and cooperation as well as increased production, innovation, and competition. A similar pattern emerges on the portal, where focus is on digitization and preservation rather than access and use. The interactions between technology, user/usage, and content are thus tailored on premises of ‘read only’ and ‘sit back and be told’ cultures rather than on the user-engaging ‘read write’ and ‘making and doing’ cultures.