Lewanika's Achievement

1972 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutumba M. Bull

This article attempts to assess within a broad traditional context the efforts of Lubosi Lewanika, ruler of Bulozi from 1878 to 1884, and again from 1885 to 1916, to find solutions to the problems facing the Lozi state during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.So far scholars of Lozi history have been primarily preoccupied with assessing Lewanika's career within the context of European penetration. Whereas it is true that the extension of British Protection to Bulozi and North-Western Rhodesia came finally to be based on the treaties with Lewanika, for the Lozi state and Lewanika himself this was a solution to only one of a number of problems. And indeed to some sections of Lozi society, Lewanika's accommodation of the forces of the ‘scramble’ was not his greatest achievement.So far scholars of Lozi history have been primarily preoccupied with assessing Lewanika's career within the context of European penetration. Whereas it is true that the extension of British Protection to Bulozi and North-Western Rhodesia came finally to be based on the treaties with Lewanika, for the Lozi state and Lewanika himself this was a solution to only one of a number of problems. And indeed to some sections of Lozi society, Lewanika's accommodation of the forces of the ‘scramble’ was not his greatest achievement.The Lozi central kingship had collapsed in the middle of the nineteenth century as a result of internal political instability, a serious succession crisis, and a military defeat by the Makololo. Before the establishment of any effective colonial control, however, Lewanika had succeeded in establishing a great degree of personal control, exalted Lozi kingship above the level of ordinary people, and extended Lozi influence to its widest limits.

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-198
Author(s):  
SANA HAROON

AbstractThis paper is a reconsideration of the career of the north-Indian Sayyid Ahmed Shaheed (1786–1831). I argue that Sayyid Ahmed used a Sufi devotional premise to understand and explain principles of orthodoxy. He also applied a concept of innate spiritual knowledge to reformed practice, suggesting that ordinary people, without scholarly training, could determine and apply the principles of orthodox practice of Islam for themselves and for others. His movement modified traditional seminary-centred teaching and leadership through the creation of a popular and easily transferrable system of practice rooted in the community and imprinted with the obligation to spread reformist teachings.


Author(s):  
Karanbir Singh

<div><p><em>After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the East India Company defeated the Khalsa Army of Lahore Darbar in two Anglo-Sikh Wars. Being astute political masters, the British felt the lurking fear of simmering discontent among the Punjabis against their rule. For safeguarding the logistics of administration, efficacious precautionary measures were undertaken by them to satisfy the grievances of certain sections of the society so that British rule would face lesser political instability and enmity of the natives. After 1857, the British conducted a thorough study of ethnographic, fiscal, geographical, political, social and religious conditions of Punjab and oriented their administrative policies to suit the best interests of the Empire.  Far-reaching political, economic and social changes were introduced by the British to strengthen their hold over all branches of administration. A new administrative hierarchy, composed of Anglo-Indian elements was firmly established and it embraced every activity of the state.  </em></p></div>


Urban History ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (04) ◽  
pp. 722-746
Author(s):  
ANNE PETTERSON

ABSTRACT:Public monuments are considered an important tool in the nineteenth-century nation-building project. Yet while the intended (nationalist) message of the monumental landscape is often clear, the popular perception of the statues and memorials has been little problematized. This contribution analyses the popular interaction with public monuments in late nineteenth-century Amsterdam and questions whether ordinary people understood the nationalist meaning. With the help of visual sources – engravings, lithographs and the novel medium of photography – we become aware of the multilayered meanings and usages of the monuments in daily urban life, thus tackling the methodological challenge of studying the monumental landscape from below.


2001 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mayo

By 1820, much of Spanish South America had achieved independence, and Spain was on the defensive in those areas where her flag still flew. Amongst the countries that gained their independence in this period was Chile, which after the battle of Maipú in April 1818, faced no further threats to its existence from Spain. For many of the new nations, the period immediately after independence was one of political instability, shading into civil war, and Chile was no exception. However, in comparison with many of its neighbors, the period of instability was short, and the physical destruction not great.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 229-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Guenther

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain the discrepancy between ethnohistorical accounts on north-western Kalahari San of the nineteenth to early twentieth century and recent ethnographic accounts, the former depicting the San as intensely warlike, the latter as basically peaceable. Design/methodology/approach – Review of historical, ethnohistorical and ethnographic source material (reports, journal articles, monographs). Findings – The warlike ways of the nineteenth-century Kalahari San were reactions to settler intrusion, domination and encapsulation. This was met with resistance, a process that led to the rapid politicization and militarization, socially and ideationally, of San groups in the orbit of the intruders (especially the “tribal zone” they created). It culminated in internecine warfare, specifically raiding and feuding, amongst San bands and tribal groupings. Research limitations/implications – While the nineteenth-century Kalahari San were indeed warlike and aggressive, toward both intruders and one another, this fact does not warrant the conclusion that these “simple” hunter-gatherer people have an agonistic predisposition. Instead, of being integral to their sociality, bellicosity is historically contingent. In the absence of the historical circumstances that fuel San aggression and warfare, as was the case after and before the people's exposure and resistance to hegemonic intruders, San society and ethos, in conformity with the social structure and value orientation of simple, egalitarian band societies, is basically peaceful. Originality/value – A setting-the-record-straight corrective on current misunderstandings and misinformation on hunter-gatherer warfare.


Itinerario ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-94
Author(s):  
Tapan Raychaudhuri

The Western educated Bengali intelligentsia was the first group of Indians to collaborate closely with the colonial regime in the governance of the country. As middle-ranking to minor functionaries they were to be found in all parts of the British territories from Burma to the North-western Frontier and as far south as the southernmost tip of the Madras Presidency. No other linguistic cultural group in the subcontinent was ever so extensively involved in the functioning of the Raj – Bengali professionals, doctors, teachers, journalists, lawyers and the like, also followed the flag to all parts of the Indian empire and later beyond its limits and were thus among the direct beneficiaries of Pax Britannica. The economic basis of their livelihood was a direct or indirect product of the colonial state. This was even more true of the new class of landed proprietors with their rights guaranteed by the Permanent Settlement. And then there were those who had collaborated with the Company and its servants in their commercial ventures and, in the process, founded some of the great fortunes of nineteenth-century Calcutta. As is well-known, these varied social groups were not mutually exclusive. Besides, their direct or indirect dependence on the colonial order created a basis for cohesion and a shared social ideology. For a long time that ideology was marked by an almost unqualified gratitude and admiration for the British empire and its creators


Author(s):  
Gabrijela Subert

Serbian-German relations were viewed within a specific social and cultural-historical development of both nations, and were also interpreted from the standpoint of cognitive and semiotic theory of culture. The first part of the paper deals with the dominant trends and spiritual tendencies in German culture, from the transformation of the humanist interest in 'exotics' into Herderian romantic understanding of nation and into Grimm's equalization of the poetic and the folk quality, thanks to which in the first half of the nineteenth century, as well as during the Serbian liberation wars against the Turks, the Serbian way of life gained the position of an ideal cultural model. Therefore, special attention is dedicated to Vuk's relations with the most important German minds of the so-called golden age. The paper particularly underlines the contribution of Talfj, who adjusted her translations of Serbian poetry to German sensibility, as well as to the entire contemporary European taste. The second part of the paper follows the changes in the Serbian-German relations from the second half of the nineteenth century till our days, conditioned by unhappy historical-political occurrences. Illustrated both from the German and Serbian standpoint with works, experiences, thoughts and feelings of statesmen and warriors scientists and writers, as well as ordinary people - these relations are presented as ambivalent, but never broken.


2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-305
Author(s):  
Alexia Yates

Abstract In the last decades of the nineteenth century the Paris Exchange was the second largest in the world, and engagement in financial markets had become popular on a previously unknown scale. How ordinary people encountered, thought about, and navigated this new financial landscape has nevertheless proved elusive. This article analyzes everyday financial practice in the first age of global capital from the vantage of letters written by ordinary individuals concerning their investments. As the numbers of investors and bondholders in France grew, “investor letters”—missives to financial, legal, and governmental authorities—proliferated. Their existence and concerns offer rich insights into how and with what effect France's financial markets were evolving at the end of the nineteenth century. These letters prompt us to reconsider the place of routine business correspondence in our studies of epistolary culture and allow reflection on economic life as modest investors “wrote upwards” and across the wealth gap of late nineteenth-century France. Vers la fin du dix-neuvième siècle, la Bourse de Paris était la deuxième place financière la plus importante au monde, et ses marchés étaient devenus « populaires » à une échelle sans précédent. La manière dont les gens ordinaires ont réussi à s'orienter dans ce nouveau paysage se révèle difficile à saisir. Cet article analyse la pratique financière quotidienne de l’âge d'or de la globalisation du capital selon les particuliers écrivant à propos de leurs investissements. A mesure que le nombre d'investisseurs et d'obligataires a augmenté, ces « lettres d'investisseurs » adressées aux autorités financières, juridiques et gouvernementales se sont multipliées. Leur existence et leurs sujets de préoccupation offrent de riches informations sur l’évolution des marchés financiers français de la fin du dix-neuvième siècle. Ces lettres nous incitent à reconsidérer la place de la correspondance commerciale dans la culture épistolaire, et en nous montrant comment de modestes investisseurs écrivent « vers le haut » de la hiérarchie économique et sociale, nous permettent d'accéder à des aspects méconnus de la vie économique de la fin du dix-neuvième siècle français.


Author(s):  
Mark A. Noll

Nineteenth-century interpretation reflected traditional Protestant devotion to scripture and hermeneutical conventions from American experience, especially the democratic empowerment of ordinary people and a republican resentment of intellectual aristocracy. In the antebellum era, interpretations flowed from long-standing Protestant convictions adjusted to republican common sense. Contention over the Bible and slavery generated the sharpest differences. After false starts from Tom Paine in the 1790s and a few New Englanders in the 1840s, modern biblical criticism affected interpretations from the 1870s. In the postbellum era, some Protestants adopted a more liberal understanding of scripture because of the earlier standoffs over slavery. Groups previously marginalized (Catholics, Jews, skeptics, women, African Americans) also became more visible.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-260
Author(s):  
Martin Rheinheimer

This article analyses visual and written materials which indicate some of the interesting changes that the authoritative, Christian doctrine of bodily resurrection underwent in modernity. These materials document a growing gap between the authoritative creed and people’s beliefs, which cannot, I argue, be attributed solely to intellectual changes, but which was also highly reliant on changes in material living conditions and medical and hygienic progress. The article suggests that the belief in the resurrection of the body was quite firm in the general population even in the eighteenth century - the century of the Enlightenment, but that it faded towards the end of the nineteenth century due to changes in the material life conditions, such as medical progress and a decline in child mortality. My sources are gathered from the predominantly Lutheran former Duchy of Schleswig, and particularly from northern Friesland, and consist of personal letters, sermons, and visual sources such as church paintings and gravestone images. By means of selected examples, I investigate what the authoritative dogma of belief in the resurrection of the body meant to ordinary people. I trace the causes of this belief, and I discuss why it faded towards the end of the nineteenth century.


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