THE OWL OF MINERVA AND THE IRONIC FATE OF THE PROGRESSIVE PRAXIS OF RADICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY IN POST‐APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

Despite its title and stated objectives this edited volume does not provide a broad and inclusive survey of post‐apartheid South African historiographical developments. Its main topic is the unexpected demise in the post‐apartheid context of the radical or revisionist approach that had invigorated and transformed the humanities and social studies during the 1970s and 1980s. In the context of the anti‐apartheid struggle the radical historians had developed a plausible model of praxis for progressive scholarship, yet in the new post‐apartheid democratic South Africa radical historical scholarship itself encountered a crisis of survival. This should not be confused with a general “crisis” of historical scholarship in South Africa, as some of the uneven contributions to this volume contend, as that remains an active and diversely productive field due also to substantial contributions by historians not based in South Africa. If the dramatic and ironic fate of radical historical scholarship in the context of the transition to a post‐apartheid democracy is the volume's primary topic, then it unfortunately fails to provide serious and sustained critical reflection on the origins and possible explanations for that crisis. A marked feature of the accounts of “history making” provided in this volume is the (former) radical historians' lack of self‐reflexivity and the scant interest shown in the underlying history of their own intellectual trajectories.     

THE “THEORETICAL REVOLUTION” IN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY: FROM THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL IDEAS TO THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL LANGUAGES

This article intends to clarify what distinguishes the so‐called new “politico‐intellectual history” from the old “history of political ideas.” What differentiates the two has not been fully perceived even by some of the authors who initiated this transformation. One fundamental reason for this is that the transformation has not been a consistent process deriving from one single source, but is rather the result of converging developments emanating from three different sources (the Cambridge School, the German school of conceptual history or Begriffsgeschichte, and French politico‐conceptual history). This article proposes that the development of a new theoretical horizon that effectively leads us beyond the frameworks of the old history of political ideas demands that we overcome the insularity of these traditions and combine their respective contributions. The result of this combination is an approach to politico‐intellectual history that is not completely coincident with any of the three schools. What I will call a history of political languages entails a specific perspective on the temporality of discourses; this involves a view of why the meaning of concepts changes over time, and is the source of the contingency that stains political languages.     

“If we don't push homeless people out,we will end up being pushed out by them”: The Criminalization of Homelessness as State Strategy in Hungary

In recent years, the intensity of the criminalization of homelessness in Hungary gave rise to a veritable tug‐of‐war between the ruling party and grassroots activists. In fact, today it is the only country in the world where the possibility of penalizing homelessness is encoded in the constitution itself. In this paper, I first provide an overview of the rise of homelessness since the late 1980s. Then, I go on to examine changing public and political attitudes towards homelessness in post‐socialist Hungary and place the growing trend towards penalization in the larger context of an emerging criminal paradigm. After examining the recent authoritarian turn, I argue that the radical intensification of criminalization is a strategy not only to secure political dominance, but also to obscure the failure of the state to address the social, political and economic contradictions that became salient at the time of the regime change.     

Coupling Hydrotoponymy and GIS Cartography: A Case Study of Hydrohistorical Issues in Urban Groundwater Systems,Porto, NW Portugal

The aim of this multidisciplinary study is to retrospectively examine hydrohistorical issues, namely hydrogeographic, hydrotoponymical and hydrogeological features, in order to assess the evolution of the Porto urban groundwater system (NW Portugal). To achieve these goals, the comparison of two main field inventories in a large urban region was performed by (i) historical mapping of sources and groundwater data from scientific reports spanning the late 17th century to the early 20th; and (ii) hydrogeologic and hydrotoponymical field inventory performed under current conditions. These field inventories permitted the location of springs, dug wells, fountains, public washing places and underground water galleries, which collected groundwater to supply the population of Porto until the early 20th century. This study also allowed the development of a hydrotoponymical classification for urban areas and a field hydrotoponymical inventory data sheet. This research integrated several techniques based on historical hydrogeography, hydrogeology and urban geosciences. The results of the field inventories were combined into both a database and a Geographical Information System (GIS) platform. This unified methodology allowed a cross‐check and analysis of several levels of information, namely hydrotoponymy, hydroclimatology, hydrogeology, structural geology and geomorphology. This perspective led to an assessment of the evolution of the quality of water resources in large urban areas over time. In addition, the role of hydrotoponymical features is presented in order to support the hydrogeological conceptual model for large urbanised areas.     

HIGH‐RESOLUTION (PIXE) ANALYSES OF CARBONATE DEPOSITS IN A ROMAN AQUEDUCT (FRÉJUS,SE FRANCE): IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF PALAEOHYDROLOGICAL VARIABILITY AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN SOUTHERN GAUL DURING THE ROMAN PERIOD*

Urban water was supplied to the Roman city of Forum Julii (Fréjus, southeastern France) for at least 200 years by a 39.4 km long aqueduct, operating in ad 50. Two perennial springs were successively collected, the Foux and the Siagnole, located at the outlet of Triassic and Jurassic karstic reservoirs, respectively. In this study, we performed high‐resolution PIXE (Particle‐Induced X‐ray Emission) measurements of Ca, Si, Fe and Sr concentrations on selected cross‐sections of laminated carbonate sampled along the sidewalls, before and after the connection of the two collection channels. Seasonal variations of water composition, suspended sediment load and discharge are recorded by alternating clear and dark layers, and can be traced by their Sr and Fe contents. On the basis of an annual bimodal high‐discharge regime for the two karstic reservoirs, the concentration measurements allow the derivation of a chronological record (117.5 years) of water supply and maintenance activities for a part of the operational period of the aqueduct. The water level in the channel was mainly controlled by the extent of carbonate deposition and by dredging, repair and maintenance operations rather than by the past hydrological regime of the two springs.     

Expertise et Construction de la Valeur Artistique (XIVe–XVe siècle)

Working from a body of Tuscan commission contracts from the 14(th) and 15(th) centuries, this article shows how painting was the object of concrete evaluative practices among professional painters before becoming the subject of discussion for scholars and humanists. This study rests on the legal and economic analysis of clauses of expertise by which painters and commissioners submitted the work to other painters in order to guarantee the proper execution of the contract, thus constituting an essential evaluative measure for the economy of painting.