The Parish Community Through the Vicarage Window: Nineteenth-Century Clergy Visitation Returns

Abstract

This article uses the visitation returns of the clergy to Archbishop Thomson at his primary visitation of the diocese of York in 1865 in order to look at the relationships which defined the parish community as seen, idealised and criticised by the clergymen of this mainly rural diocese. Their collective view highlights key elements which helped make or break the community with the parish church at its centre: the support given by local landowners; the central importance of the school; and the relationship with the farmers of the parish and impact of farming practices on church attendance. Though the ideal parish community rarely existed it inspired conscientious clergymen to work for its creation in sometimes difficult circumstances. The study also illustrates the value of visitation returns for the local historian and gives pause for thought as the closure of village schools and churches to-day undermines the communities our forebears strove to create.     

From Democracy to Bureaucracy： The Baojia in Nationalist Thought and Practice, 1927-1949

In the 1939 New County Reforms, the Nationalist government made the baojia system the lowest level of self-government in the country. This decision was the result of more than ten years of discussion among Nationalist administrators and writers who were searching for a tutelary system to train the people in their political rights in preparation for constitutional rule. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nationalist writers claimed to be following Sun Zhongshan＇s （Sun Yat-sen） philosophy by reinventing the baojia as a form of democracy. Harkening back to a reimagined national past, they ＂discovered＂ that the imperial baojia was not a system of local control, but a traditional model of bureaucratically-designed local self-government. Nationalist writers dovetailed this new baojia with Sun Zhongshan＇s philosophy in order to rationalize its position as the foundation of the Three Principles of the People State. Once philosophically legitimized, Nationalist writers endorsed the baojia as a top-down bureaucratic system that would transform the political, social, and economic life of the country; it would become the core political unit of their state-making and nation-building projects. In so doing, the baojia came to represent the Nationalists＇ deeply-held belief in the power of human agency to create state institutions capable of entirely remaking society and transforming the nation.     

黄遵宪的地方自治思想

地方自治是近代宪政的重要内容之一,地方自治思潮在中国的出现是在甲午战争之后。本文主要介绍黄遵宪的地方自治思想的内容、地方自治思想的理论来源和他的地方自治实践活动。黄遵宪的地方自治思想体现了中西文化相互碰撞和相互交融的时代特征,也反映了先进的中国人追求民主、探索宪政之路的不懈努力。     

晚清江苏民变中的反地方自治现象探析

晚清江苏地方自治的推行在当时堪称典型。但由于统治者对自治本意的歪曲及对官办模式的偏重;由于严重的财政危机,国地税改革的功利性与不断加重的捐税;由于下层群众被排除在文化资源拥有者之外,民智民力水平的低下;由于官府与新、旧士绅对基层政治资源的争夺;加之统治者处理民变措施的失误,地方自治陷于困厄并引发江苏省反自治民变。其突出表现为抗捐抗税、反对户口调查、捣毁学校与自治公所等。反地方自治民变表现的社会动员的缺乏、国家—社会关系失序的教训十分深刻。     

Imposed and Home-Grown Colonial Institutions: The Jesuit Chapels of St. Mary’s City and St. Francis Xavier,Maryland

We compare the settings and architecture of a small, community based church in Maryland (US), to that of the Jesuit church in the colony’s capital, St. Mary’s City. The State of Maryland researches and interprets St. Mary’s City, while the parish of St. Francis Xavier supports the search for its first sanctuary. We explore the differences between the sites and their institutions sponsoring the studies, and reflect on what these differences might mean for the relationship of church and state in twenty-first-century Maryland.     

Medieval memories and the reformation of religious identity: Catholic and Anglican interactions with parish church sites in County Limerick,Ireland

SUMMARY: This paper examines parish church sites in County Limerick and their evolving meanings as a result of Ireland’s unsuccessful Protestant Reformation. Unusually for Europe, most Irish parish churches fell into ruin from 1550 to 1700. Conquest, loss of patronage and the Anglican Church of Ireland’s failure to convert most native Catholics ensured this eventuality. Nevertheless, local memories continued to draw people to these sites. There is evidence for Catholic burial in the 18th and 19th centuries, conversion of chancels into burial plots and, sometimes, church maintenance or construction by Anglicans. These activities all reveal contemporary concerns with history, identity and legitimacy.     

From Langford to South Cerney: The Rood in Anglo-Norman England

Abstract

Two fragments of a figure of Christ crucified from South Cerney parish church comprise the sole survivor of a Romanesque wooden Rood with an English provenance. This paper argues that it is an example of a Triumphkreuz originally located at the chancel arch of South Cerney church and seeks to establish its relationship to both pre-Conquest monumental stone Rood sculpture and wooden Triumphkreuze in northern Europe and Scandinavia. The Triumphkreuz appears to have been a standard feature of the greater churches of Norman England, but how common it was in post-Conquest parish churches is less clear. While church dedications suggest that devotion to the Holy Cross was particularly strong in south-west England, late-11th- and 12th-century mural painting and sculpture of chancel arches in parish churches over a wide area exhibit a close connection with the Rood.     

Unravelling Church Land: Transformations in the Relations between Church,State and Community in Uganda

Christian churches control substantial areas of land in Africa. While intensifying struggles over their holdings are partly due to the increased pressure on land in general, they also reflect transformations in the relations through which churches’ claims to land are legitimized, the increased association of churches with business, and churches’ unique positioning as both institutions and communities. This article presents the trajectory of relations between church, state and community in Uganda from the missionary acquisition of land in the colonial era to the unravelling of church landholding under Museveni. Drawing on long‐term ethnographic fieldwork, the authors argue that claims to church land in contemporary Uganda draw on: 1) notions of belonging to the land; 2) views about the nature of churches as communities; 3) discontent regarding whether customary land owners gave churches user rights or ownership; and 4) assessment of the churches’ success in ensuring that the land works for the common good. The article develops a novel approach to analysing the changing meaning of the landholdings of religious institutions, thus extending ongoing discussions about land, politics, development and religion in Africa.     

The custom of the English Church: parish church maintenance in England before 1300

A division of responsibility for parish church fabric and contents between rector and parishioners first appeared in English ecclesiastical legislation in the early thirteenth century and was to remain in place until the mid-nineteenth century. It is often suggested that this responsibility was forced onto parishioners by a clergy keen to limit their own financial liability and that this marks the point at which parishioners first become involved in their local churches. This article looks at the development of these statutes from their origins in the Anglo-Saxon period through to their full realisation in the later thirteenth century. It argues that there were many among the thirteenth-century ecclesiastical hierarchy who were opposed to this change, and that far from being forced on parishioners, allowing parishioners to take responsibility for part of the church was a pragmatic solution to problems brought about by changes to both parishes and parish churches.     

The custom of the English Church: parish church maintenance in England before 1300

A division of responsibility for parish church fabric and contents between rector and parishioners first appeared in English ecclesiastical legislation in the early thirteenth century and was to remain in place until the mid-nineteenth century. It is often suggested that this responsibility was forced onto parishioners by a clergy keen to limit their own financial liability and that this marks the point at which parishioners first become involved in their local churches. This article looks at the development of these statutes from their origins in the Anglo-Saxon period through to their full realisation in the later thirteenth century. It argues that there were many among the thirteenth-century ecclesiastical hierarchy who were opposed to this change, and that far from being forced on parishioners, allowing parishioners to take responsibility for part of the church was a pragmatic solution to problems brought about by changes to both parishes and parish churches.     

Unearthing the past: An exploration into the people behind the development of a Victorian suburb

Abstract

Victorian urbanisation created suburban communities out of fields and orchards. In one suburb, east of Oxford City, where piecemeal development occurred in a rural area from the 1840s, a network of religious orders linked to the Oxford Movement provided health and welfare services. The local priest, Father Benson, was a major benefactor and instigator of these services. As the suburb grew and the state became more involved in health and welfare service provision, the church responded accordingly. Using a local graveyard to identify some key individuals and organisations involved in the developing community, combined with an analysis of the census, provides a framework for an outline of the history of the community and the development of its service infrastructure. This gives us an insight into both east Oxford and the wider debates on church and state provision of services.     

Four Pathways to Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada

Abstract

Recent decades have seen the rising of a vital, multifaceted politics in Canada, focused on the future relations between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. While there are many debates about specific arrangements, there is consensus that the negotiated establishment of Aboriginal self-government constitutes a major piece of unfinished business for the Canadian federation. This essay seeks to contribute more structure and focus to contemporary debates by examining four different models of Aboriginal government: “mini-municipalities,” a third order of government institutions, the public government federal option, and nation-to-nation relations. Each form has different implications for the relationship between Aboriginal and Canadian political communities, and each has different implications for the institutions and practices of Canadian federalism. We argue that further concurrency of powers and greater asymmetries in intergovernmental relations are likely to be notable features of the Canadian federation, and that no single model or pathway is likely to emerge as the dominant one in the near and medium term.     

Mapping Common Futures: Customary Communities,NGOs and the State in Indonesia's Reform Era

The post‐Suharto ‘Reform Era’ has witnessed explosive revitalization movements among Indonesia's indigenous minorities or ‘customary’(adat) communities attempting to redress the disempowerment they suffered under the former regime. This study considers the current resurgence of customary claims to land and resources in Bali, where the state‐sponsored investment boom of the 1990s had severe social and environmental impacts. It focuses on recent experiments with participatory community mapping, aimed at reframing the relationship between state and local institutions in planning and decision‐making processes. Closely tied to the mapping and planning strategy have been efforts to strengthen local institutions and to confront the problems of land alienation and community control of resources. The diversity of responses to this new intervention reflects both the vitality and limitations of local adat communities, as well as the contributions and constraints of non‐governmental organizations that increasingly mediate their relationships to state and global arenas. This ethnographic study explores participants’ experiences of the community mapping programme and suggests its potential for developing ‘critical localism’ through long‐term, process‐oriented engagements between communities, governments, NGOs, and academic researchers.     

Governing the local in the North Caucasus

Abstract

The article provides an in-depth analysis of local governance in the North Caucasus, by example of land tenure conflicts in Kabardino-Balkaria. We follow an iterative analytical strategy, systematically combining qualitative case studies to develop grounded hypotheses, with subsequent statistical hypothesis testing. Based on fieldwork conducted in Kabardino-Balkaria, we identify the most relevant patterns and dynamics of natural resource governance. Our research shows that there are three dominant patterns. The first pattern is formed in areas where land is of little value and communities are left to themselves to solve issues. In the second case, larger businesses with state backing manage to monopolize land resources and sideline local communities. In the third case, local communities are strong enough to defend their control over external attempts to take hold of land resources. Finally, we use original survey data to further investigate plausible causes for stronger and weaker local self-governance and its consequences for state-society relations. We show that local self-government (LSG) lacks independence, and its functional quality depends on the degree of state interference via patronage. Despite this challenging environment, we find that higher perceptions of LSG quality predict more trust in the state at central and subnational level.     

The Incorporation of Kendal in 1575

This study establishes why, after centuries as a manorial borough, Kendal was incorporated in 1575 and who brought this change about. It assesses the relationships between the town, its parish and its local region and looks at the impact that the new corporation had on them. These issues are of general importance to incorporations in other towns, especially those which, like Kendal, had previously been dominated by the manorial lord, and where borough self-government was relatively unsophisticated. Of course, there is no space to discuss every aspect of the incorporation here and so the paper concludes by suggesting some further avenues for research in the run up to the 450^th anniversary of Kendal’s incorporation.     

论清末东北宪政改革的特点

以实施宪政为中心的政治改革是清末东北政治现代化的重要特征。具体表现在 :一是通过官制改革调整了地方行政机构 ,加强了地方公署对边疆的控制 ,为东北实施宪政铺平了道路。二是把司法独立作为实施宪政的关键 ,完善了近代地方司法体系。三是以地方自治为实施宪政的基础 ,促进了东北近代民主运动的发展。四是以谘议局为实施宪政的后盾 ,扩大了谘议局参政的深度和广度 ,并充分利用谘议局与商会的特殊关系 ,使公署、谘议局、商会形成一个有机体 ,从而东北的宪政改革得以顺利进行。     

Archaeological Intelligence

The county of Norfolk is well known for its huge number of ruined and abandoned medieval churches. ‘St Mary's Chapel’ at Ashwellthorpe has not usually been, reckoned among these. Although local tradition always maintained that it was the parish church of the lost village of Ashwell, some architectural historians have been sceptical, suggesting that it is merely a post-medieval domestic building on which part of a church roof has been re-used. Renovation of the property has not only confirmed its ecclesiastical origin, but revealed that it is the chancel of a church later used as a chantry chapel, with a major refurbishment in the fifteenth century.     

Constitutional change: an explanation

This paper first distinguishes the explicit changes that have been made in the text of the Italian constitution from others that have affected how constitutional balances work (e.g. new electoral laws), before considering both together. The turning point in both cases was 1989 and the transition from the first to the second Italian political party system. Down to that time the first system that originated in the Cold War fractures in Italian politics remained in force with only marginal and incremental changes. After 1989, however, both Italy's highly centralized structure and its system of proportional representation were called into question, resulting in the constitutional reform of 2001 that increased the powers of the regions and the electoral law reforms (which were not changes to the constitution). In both cases the consequences of these changes have proved to be contradictory, which is why reform of the Senate is now being contemplated to make the project for increasing the powers of regional and local government more coherent, as well as the form of government and the electoral laws in ways that will produce the majorities needed to make governments more cohesive and stable.     

INTERNAL BOUNDARIES AND DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION: A CHALLENGE TO DECENTRALIZATION AND DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA

Traditional institutions in Africa and their role in a decentralized administrative framework has been the subject of analysis in recent times. However, these discussions have centred largely on political power and local control of resources, to the neglect of the challenges of local government boundary setting and its consequences for local development. Therefore, in countries implementing decentralization with existing strong chiefdoms and traditional areas of jurisdictions, such as Ghana, little consideration has been given to the effects of local government boundaries on community cohesiveness and local development. This article examines the challenges of decentralization in Ghana with particular focus on district administrative boundaries. It argues that the non-coincidence of the 'traditional' ethnic boundaries, namely Traditional Areas, and the 'formal' district administrative boundaries of some districts as well as the absence of an integrative system of traditional and modern governance present a challenge to local and district development under the present decentralization process. The article concludes that district boundary setting should be a process of 'negotiated contract' between the state and communities of which the boundary is meant to create a local government territorial area of jurisdiction. This process entails that the criteria for boundary setting take into account both cultural and economic factors.     

Governors,Provincial Administration,and Local Self-Government in Late Imperial Russia

After long neglect in the Soviet period, the study of Russia's provincial governors and local institutions of self-government is attracting new interest among contemporary historians, who struggle with questions that preoccupied their late imperial predecessors.