Recounting,retrieving, rereading: approaches to the history of genocide

This essay, delivered at a conference that commemorated Primo Levi, asks about the continuing status of witnesses' testimony about the Holocaust and genocidal murder as their generation disappears. It finds their particular contribution to lie less in what they report than their claim to moral authenticity, as confirmed by their own suffering; and it points out the problematic aspects of subjective identification this may raise, especially by comparing witnesses' accounts with the alleged authenticity of Holocaust fiction. On the other hand, the limits of archival evidence, which are manifested almost as retrieved archaeological artefacts, are also highlighted, as are the difficulties of history centred on victims as collective protagonists. In the end, it is proposed, keeping witnesses present through continued re-examination and reading forms the historian's only recourse against the inevitable dilemmas of writing the history of mass atrocities.     

‘I had a hard time actually trying to catch the essence of Englishness’: participant photography and the racialised construction of place and belonging in a South London suburb

This article draws on findings from a study conducted in a South London suburb that employed photograph participation methods alongside semi-structured qualitative interviews in order to explore the extent to which identifications as English are racialised. While initial data analysis utilised a somewhat reductive photo-elicitation approach, this article presents findings from a reanalysis in which the photographic data were approached on an equal footing with verbal constructions of Englishness. It will be demonstrated that the mobility and movement within space reflexively discussed and captured by participants provide important new perspectives on the ways in which associations between Englishness, whiteness and a sense of belonging are stabilised and destabilised in relation to racialised, gendered and classed interpretations of place. However, whilst these findings are valuable, the reanalysis also raises serious questions about the hugely difficult, even futile, task requested of participants—that of ‘representing Englishness’—during the photography stage of the methodology. The article will conclude by arguing that studies such as these should ideally try to enable ‘messier’ and more socially positive outcomes to emerge.     

To Die on the Steppe: Sino-Soviet-American Relations and the Cold War in Chinese Central Asia, 1944–1952

Through a narrative retelling of a little known but incredible journey from Xinjiang to New York City made by a group of ethnic Russians in the mid-twentieth century, this article shows how some of the earliest and most poignant manifestations of the Cold War, including nuclear rivalry and espionage, were made evident in Chinese Central Asia. Wrapped up within an intense competition for resources, information, and influence between the United States, the Soviet Union, and two Chinese regimes, the Russians at the heart of this article reveal how the Cold War was a truly global conflict which was intimately experienced by ordinary peoples and often times in the places most far removed. This episode is furthermore a reminder that even if the Cold War did produce stability at the macro-level, the outcomes of the strategic rivalry and competition between the Soviet Union and the United States were violent and tragic, not necessarily or exclusively for these countries but especially for their allies and accomplices.     

Public support for ANZUS: Evidence of a generational shift?

Recent polling has shown that younger Australians are less likely to support the alliance with the USA than older Australians. This may reflect the passing of the wartime generation from the Australian population and the rise of a new, better educated, more multicultural Australia less sympathetic to the USA. Some have concluded that Australia may be undergoing a generational shift away from alignment with the USA. In this article, I pool all Australian Election Studies from 1993 to 2013 to assess this possibility. I find that ageing, not formative political experiences, pushes Australians in a more pro-American direction. Additionally, degree holders and Australians from non-Anglo-Australian backgrounds are slightly less likely to support Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS), but the alliance still commands comfortable majority support even here. ANZUS is therefore likely to remain a popular component of Australian foreign policy for the foreseeable future.

最近的民调显示,相对于老辈,年轻的澳大利亚人不大会支持美澳联盟。这也许是因为战争一代逝去,受过良好教育、多文化的新一代对美国较少好感。一些人认为澳大利亚正在经历一个代际转移,不再站美国一边。笔者网罗了1993至2013年澳大利亚的全部选举研究,以评估这种可能性。笔者发现,年龄的增长而不是形成阶段的政治经历造成澳大利亚人更为亲美。再有,有学历的和非盎克鲁撒克逊背景的澳大利亚人对澳新美安保条约的支持度要稍低一些。但即便是这部分人口,支持美澳联盟的也占大多数。在可预见的未来,澳新美联盟依然会是澳大利亚对外政策得民意的一部分。     

From Frontier to Border Along the Iroquois Southern Door

The Upper Susquehanna drainage in New York assumed increasingly greater prominence as a borderland during the eighteenth century. Contrary to the idea that geopolitical boundaries were Colonial impositions, the creation of this borderland ensued from long-term strategies on the part of Native American as well as Euro-American powers. Reacting to Colonial encroachments from south and east, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) populated the valley with multi-ethnic towns consisting of both refugee tribes from the Atlantic seaboard and Iroquois representatives. These actions created a distinctive zone of creolized communities, and reflected the Haudenosaunee ability to play off English notions of demarcating the landscape.