The Double Legacy of Bernalism in Science Diplomacy

Recent debates in the history of science aimed at reconstructing the history of scientific diplomacy have privileged the analysis of forms of diplomacy coming from above. Instead, the objective of this paper is to raise awareness of these debates by looking at attempts at scientific diplomacy from below. Such a shift in perspective might allow us to observe the impact of marginalized social agents on the construction of international diplomatic choices. This article particularly focuses attention on how the legacy of Bernalism has fostered the emergence of two different types of science diplomacy. On the one hand, Bernalism has influenced the goals of organizations such as UNESCO and the World Peace Council, which are forms of science diplomacy I would term from above. On the other hand, Bernalism has also been at the origin of radical scientific movements that I propose to interpret as forms of scientific diplomacy from below. These have, in fact, played a cardinal role not only in raising public awareness of the social and political roles of science, but also in the more direct participation of scientists in defining the political objectives of their research activity. From this point of view, I analyze how an association like the World Federation of Scientific Workers proposed (at least in the beginning) greater democratic participation than the top-down structures of other forms of scientific internationalism.     

The Takarazuka Girls’ Revue in the West: public–private relations in the cultural diplomacy of wartime Japan

This essay examines wartime Japan’s establishment of culture bureaus and its promotion of the Takarazuka Girls’ Revue in allied European nations and the United States in a moment of international crisis. This overseas cultural policy was part of a series of alternative strategies employed by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an effort to persuade the West to acknowledge Japan’s self‐appointed role as a leader in East Asia, capable of producing advanced cultural products on a par with those of western nations. Key features of this essay include the negotiation between state goals and private interests in the performance of cultural diplomacy, as well as the aesthetic articulation of a hybrid Japanese culture which was traditional yet fully modern, particularly as presented on stage through a display of the female body.     

‘That Moral League of Nations against the United States’: The Origins of the 1856 Declaration of Paris

The Declaration of Paris, signed by seven European powers on 16 April 1856, is almost forgotten today. Yet it marks the beginning of modern international law as we know it: multilateral treaties open for accession by all powers with the intention of creating new universal rules. Its extension of neutral rights to trade undisturbed in peace-time was a radical reversal of the centuries-old British tradition of extensive belligerent rights. But there is no convincing explanation why Britain signed this treaty and lobbied for its global acceptance. This article shows that the Declaration was a package deal in which Britain accepted broader neutral rights but gained the abolition of privateering. Privateering was no anachronism, but the linchpin of US strategy in case of a conflict with Britain. The Declaration of Paris closed most of the world's ports to privateers and thus ended the practice. The Declaration was also the first multi-lateral law-making treaty and marks the invention of the main instrument we use today to create international law.     

The emergence of Baltic Moorkultur: visions of scientific-technological mastery of peatlands in the age of great social change, 1850–1914

ABSTRACT

This article looks at the imaginaries of progress through technology and new activities by tracing the emergence of Baltic Moorkultur in Estonia and Livonia from the 1850s to the early 1910s. Baltic Moorkultur, a set of modern drainage and peat extraction techniques, has been viewed as part of a modernisation process and evolving visions of future, which touched the identity of Baltic German landowners, scientists and entrepreneurs. General reasons for an impetus for the large-scale reclamation of peatlands were the growth of population, economic liberalisation, growing demand for fuels and the fact that the basis of manorial economy gradually crumbled and led to increasing urge to modernise its source of livelihood. Baltic Moorkultur can be thought as a high-tech response of that time to the exploitation of peatlands. This article explains why it became adopted and how it altered the appraisal of environments that had been perceived as suboptimal.     

Science,industry and the colonial state: a shift from a German- to a Dutch-controlled cinchona and quinine cartel (1880–1920)

This study shows how control over delicately balanced supply chains from raw material to the final product shifted from one national industry to another. By 1920, Dutch cinchona producers and quinine manufacturers dominated the international cartel that controlled the worldwide production and distribution of quinine (an antimalarial), quinine sulphate (a semi-finished product) and cinchona (the raw material). Twenty years earlier, however, this cartel had been controlled by the German pharmaceutical industry. How can we understand the shift of power in the world’s first pharmaceutical cartel? We argue that the internal shift of power was largely the result of the following three factors: a global industrial laboratory revolution; the vertical integration of a transoceanic network of cinchona producers, quinine manufacturers, (colonial) scientists and state officials across the Dutch Empire; and Germany’s economic isolation during the First World War.     

The Myth of Reserpine-Induced Depression: Role in the Historical Development of the Monoamine Hypothesis

For five decades it has been generally accepted that reserpine, an antihypertensive and antipsychotic drug, causes depression. The discovery that reserpine depletes brain monoamines was an important factor in the development of the monoamine hypothesis of depression, and it continues to be widely cited in support of this hypothesis. The present paper argues that, contrary to prevailing belief, reserpine is not depressogenic. The reason for perpetuation of this myth is reluctance to discard the monoamine hypothesis. This hypothesis ushered the modern biochemical paradigm into psychiatry and is still of great importance. It serves as a heuristic to guide research, it enhances psychiatry’s prestige, and it helps to validate and promote drug therapy for depression and other mental disorders.     

Descartes and the pineal gland in animals: A frequent misinterpretation

Abstract

Rene Descartes presented a number of reasons for his choice of the pineal gland as a logical place for the soul to interact with the physical machinery of the body. It is often stated that one of his reasons was that be believed animals do not have pineal glands, whereas humans alone possess a soul and this small structure. This is a misinterpretation of Descartes. The philosopher knew that barnyard and other animals possess pineal glands, having seen this with his own eyes. His point was that the pineal is unique in humans only because of a special function — acting as the seat for the rational soul.     

Ivane Beritashvili: Founder of Physiology and Neuroscience in Georgia

This paper is dedicated to one of the outstanding scientists of the twentieth century—Ivane Beritashvili. He was a Georgian physiologist who graduated from St. Petersburg University and worked under the supervision of N. Wedensky. He founded the Department of Physiology and the Institute of Physiology at the University of Tbilisi, Georgia. Among his numerous contributions was the discovery of the rhythmical course of reciprocal inhibition in spinal reflexes, the first demonstration of the excitatory and inhibitory reactions in the brain stem neuropil. But Beritashvili's most significant contribution was the discovery of the mediation of animal psychoneural behavior by image-driven memory.     

On the Supernatural and Extraordinary Experience: Multiple Views and a Call for Synthesis

This review describes four disparate books that relate to the anthropology of religion. Each has a distinctive approach, ranges over a wide subject matter, and makes provocative claims. In summarizing and critiquing them most attention is paid to their perspectives on the natural and the supernatural. This leads to consideration of related work in the anthropology of extraordinary experience. It is argued that while our different approaches to the supernatural may reflect deep epistemological divisions within anthropology and, more broadly, in society, a form of semiotics that takes emergent complexity into consideration does provide opportunities for consensus.     

Many voices: Medical anthropologists explore the meaning of health,illness, and cure

Franz Boas organized and shaped American anthropology. No academic discipline of similar scope owed so much to just one person. Within three decades of coming to the United States from Germany he had trained the anthropologists who established its place within the universities and redirected its tone and ethos as well as its theories. The biographies under review help us understand the background, aims, and drive of the man. We shall consider, in particular, the impact he had on the political and ethical tone of the field, the prevalence of women in it, and the importance of his scientific background.