Went the Day Well: Scripts,Glamour and Performance in War‐weekends

The recent growth of interest in heritage events has relied implicitly upon a modernist ontology in the way assumptions are made about the distinctiveness between visitor and performer identities. This article questions these assumptions through an analysis of the different groups of social actors attracted to war‐weekends organised through preserved steam railways. War‐weekends bring together in the same locality visitors, volunteers, performers, dressers‐up and re‐enactors sharing stories, enjoying the present and reflecting on the past—experiences in which each individual’s participation is enhanced. Although these and other ‘events’ are crucial to the continued existence of preserved railways in the UK they provide the participants with more than just a nostalgic trip back to the community spirit articulated through the so‐called ‘blitz mentality’ of the 1940s. They provide the opportunity for participants to engage both in the theatrical act of ‘being on’; of being observed by the ‘audience’ whilst at the same time acting as audience in the way they observe the other participants in the spectacle. The participants’ need to be observed is accomplished without the necessity of engaging in the rigorous training and audition processes associated with formal theatrical environments, whilst audience participation and interaction is not constrained by the usual formalities of traditional theatre.     

The ‘indomitable’ Pignatellis

The fall of Fascism generates contrasting feeling in Italy, now liberated by the Allied troops. In this new scenario, the search for new forms of democratic gathering coexists with its opposite: the aim to recreate an experience now historically ended (the Fascist regime). Indeed, many southern Italians still believe in Fascism and, despite Mussolini's execution in Piazzale Loreto, they kindle the hope of a new Fascist era. Arguably, they see the death of Mussolini as an opportunity to refashion the Fascist ideology, by returning to the myths of its origins. They envision a new form of Fascism, free from political contamination and compromise, and a new regime able to realize the programmes that the old regime has failed to realize. Maria and Valerio Pignatelli represent the dream of a Fascist revival, characterized by innovative and original characters. They find many supporters in the southern regions, especially in Calabria, reversing the stereotype of an ‘apolitical’ and passive south. Therefore, the aim of this article is to reconstruct the Fascist revival in post-war southern Italy through the history of its main exponents.     

Analysis of Medieval and Post‐Medieval Glass Fragments from the Dubrovnik Region (Croatia)

Dubrovnik was an important trade city throughout the medieval and post‐medieval time period, maintaining its own glass production from the 14th to the 16th century. Unfortunately, Dubrovnik glass discoveries have not been well investigated up until now, except via archival data in large data analyses. In the following work, we will shed new light on the glass material found in this region, which has diverse origins, chronology, typology and style. Medieval and post‐medieval glass finds (10th/12th–18th centuries) discovered during archaeological excavations in Dubrovnik and the Dubrovnik region were analysed using particle‐induced X‐ray emission (PIXE) and particle‐induced gamma‐ray emission (PIGE), which revealed three main compositional groups: natron glass, plant‐ash glass and potash glass. This demonstrates the important commercial links present between Dubrovnik and other major glass‐making centres.     

A conflict that did not happen: revisiting the Javakhk affair in Georgia

During and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, several violent conflicts erupted in different parts of its (former) territory. The South Caucasus region has experienced three ethnically rooted violent conflicts, yet other ethnic disputes in the same region remained dormant. Despite an extensive literature on the South Caucasus conflicts, research on those ethnic disputes that could have erupted during the collapse of the Soviet Union is scarce. This article discusses the case of the Armenian populated region of Javakhk (Javakheti) in Georgia. It explores the questions of how, unlike the Abkhazian and South Ossetian movements that were able to effectively mobilize against Georgian calls for sovereignty leading up to the Soviet collapse, Armenian populated territories in Georgia remained relatively quiet. Considering that the primary ethnic minority groups within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic could each be linked by concerns over demographic shifts, economic discrimination/resource allocation, and political representation, the absence of conflict in Javakhk, as well as in Kvemo Kartli, is somewhat surprising. Based on existing theories of nationalism and ethnic conflicts and field interviews with the leaders of the popular movements in Javakhk, the paper examines the underlying reasons for the lack of conflict there.     

Spying in the British Post Office,Victorian Politics and Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White

In 1844, the British public learned that the government was secretly opening exiled Young Italy leader Giuseppe Mazzini’s private letters and sharing information with continental authorities. For outraged citizens, espionage in that quintessential liberal institution, the reformed British Post Office, appeared un-English, despotic and criminal, the makings of a Gothic plot. Representations of the Post Office Scandal in Parliament and print predict the revision of the Gothic into the sensation novel that occurred with the publication of Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White. Attention to the fields of Anglo-Italian studies, mid-Victorian print culture and the development of narrative form in the mid-nineteenth century illustrates the historical and political implications of letter-opening for the emergence of a new fictional genre. The Post Office Espionage Scandal and The Woman in White share a central place in a mid-Victorian moment of evolution in the mutually constitutive relationship between Italian and British national identities, producing and reflecting a crisis in Britishness focused on the secret tyrannies concealed beneath the surface of Victorian liberalism. The letter-opening scandal reveals a crisis in Victorian liberalism in the political realm and the media, while The Woman in White translates this Victorian crisis of confidence into a literary genre defined by exposing the sordid undercurrents of British society: sensation fiction. Together, the espionage scandal and Collins’s novel respond to and generate a challenge to Victorian complacency that emerged out of the collision of British and Italian politics and culture in the mid-nineteenth century.     

明代广西班军制度研究--兼论班军的非军事移民性质

为加强广西地方防御 ,明中央抽调了湖广、广东和贵州的卫所军前去轮番戍守。本文探讨了广西班军的缘起、创制、数量、班期和组织管理等 ,并结合广西与贵州、湖广和广东三地围绕班军存废的争论 ,考评班军制度的合理性、积极意义和存在的问题 ,纠正了“班军属于军事移民”的错误观点。     

U.S. Census Bureau Area Measurements for Sub-County Areas and Clarence Batschelet’s U.S. Population Density Map of 1942

ABSTRACT

During the Second World War, the U.S. Bureau of the Census published a novel population density map for the U.S. that used minor civil divisions as its areal basis. Prior to that time, the national-level area measurements required to calculate densities for such sub-county units were unavailable. The data that enabled the production of the map published in 1942 were collected by clerical workers who were employed as part of a joint project between the Census Bureau and the Works Progress Administration. The area measurements, made using planimeters, were used with 1940 Census of Population data to compute densities that are represented on the map using a choropleth technique.     

非物质劳动的后现代视角探析

随着西方一些发达国家进入后现代社会,后现代进入了人们研究的视野。后现代条件下非物质劳动超越了工业劳动,获得了话语霸权。作为一种新的生产组织形式,通过有意义关系的形成,不但生产商品还生产社会关系,在社会交流的过程中实现了多重价值的增殖,生活具有生产性,生产具有生活性。文章通过对非物质劳动的历史发展的考察,说明非物质劳动是劳动在现阶段的发展。物质劳动与非物质劳动的二分并不是对称性的内涵,非物质劳动对社会生产的新解释,代表了一个新时代的开始。     

‘One Chief Letter Office at New-York’: Packet Ships,Imperial Administration,and the Geography of the American Post, 1692–1783

ABSTRACT

The postal system in the American colonies is an understudied arm of the first British Empire. Although outside the main institutions of colonial administration, the post office followed the overall periodisation of imperial affairs, as America waxed and waned in London’s attention. This directly shaped the geography of the post office, because American officials focused on the post’s ability to connect American towns, while British officials emphasised the transatlantic connection of the postal packet ships. The packets, however, were not as important to transatlantic communications as they imagined, which led the American officials to resist when London wanted to make New York City the headquarters of the American post.     

Nordic Investments in the Former Soviet Baltic Frontier: A Survey of Firms and Selected Case Studies

Nordic companies have been leaders in the rapid expansion of Western business into Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the St Petersburg area of Russia. While joint ventures were being developed prior to the demise of the USSR, investment rose sharply in early 1992. Our survey of companies from Nordic countries revealed a pattern of location and of adaptation to the conditions of former Soviet infrastructure, culture, politics and economy. Initial Nordic investment has renewed economic ties across the Baltic Sea, with inter‐country links stronger between specific countries. Frustrations with changing government rules, communications, work ethic, quality expectations and other conditions were expressed in interviews with managers of Nordic companies in the Baltic area. Optimism was tempered by continued uncertainty about Russian governmental policies and market potential.