Conducting Research in Lebanon: An Overview of Historical Sources in Beirut (Part I)

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-81
Author(s):  
Sara Scalenghe ◽  
Nadya Sbaiti

Nearly two decades of war in Lebanon crippled possibilities for historical research during a period when scholarship underwent significant theoretical and methodological developments. The last several years, however, have seen a renewed vigor to preserve, catalog, and promote all types of sources that could possibly shed light on the rich history of the country and of the Middle East in general. Sources and resources in Lebanon are largely decentralized, rendering the country something of a logistical labyrinth that can cost scholars considerable expenditures of time and energy. This article is a modest attempt to facilitate research in Beirut. Although mostly geared towards historians, we hope that this article may prove useful to scholars from other fields as well. It is slightly slanted towards the British and American academies, particularly since the Francophone world has been so much more embedded in the intellectual and scholarly atmosphere of the country.

Author(s):  
E. V. Sitnikova

The article considers the historical and cultural heritage of villages of the former Ketskaya volost, which is currently a part of the Tomsk region. The formation of Ketsky prison and the architecture of large settlements of the former Ketskaya volost are studied. Little is known about the historical and cultural heritage of villages of the Tomsk region and the problems of preserving historical settlements of the country.The aim of this work is to study the formation and development of the village architecture of the former Ketskaya volost, currently included in the Tomsk region.The following scientific methods are used: a critical analysis of the literature, comparative architectural analysis and systems analysis of information, creative synthesis of the findings. The obtained results can be used in preparation of lectures, reports and communication on the history of the Siberian architecture.The scientific novelty is a study of the historical and cultural heritage of large settlements of the former Ketskaya volost, which has not been studied and published before. The methodological and theoretical basis of the study is theoretical works of historians and architects regarding the issue under study as well as the previous  author’s work in the field.It is found that the historical and cultural heritage of the villages of the former Ketskaya volost has a rich history. Old historical buildings, including religious ones are preserved in villages of Togur and Novoilinka. The urban planning of the villages reflects the design and construction principles of the 18th century. The rich natural environment gives this area a special touch. 


Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieke Vandenbroucke

AbstractThis paper focuses on how different historical stages of socio-economic development in Brussels are played out on the ground over time in one particular inner-city neighbourhood, the Quartier Dansaert. In particular, I document the history of this neighbourhood and how urban change and gentrification have impacted the outlook of multilingualism and the development of multilingual discourses and language hierarchies in its material and semiotic landscape over time. By using the rich history of multilingualism in the Quartier Dansaert as a case-study, I argue in favour of more historically-sensitive and longitudinal approaches to social and, in particular, linguistic change as played out in urban landscape.


2020 ◽  
pp. 46-55
Author(s):  
ZUKHRA ARIPOVA

This article is dedicated to the life and work of historians of the Mamluk period (1250-1517) in Egypt and the rich heritage left by them. In the XIII-XV centuries, Egypt had a special place among the countries of the Middle East due to the activities of the Mamluks. The prestige of the Mamluk sultans increased due to their victories in the fght against the Crusaders and the Mongols in the Middle East. The establishment of Mamluk rule in the history of Egypt, the growth of the superiority of military Mamluks in the country, the rise of the Bakhrit Mamluk sultans (1250-1382) and the political processes of the Burjit (Circassian) Mamluk period (1282-1517) are of particular interest for s this study. This article provides extensive information on the activities and works of medieval historians such as Abu alMahasin, Ibn Daud Al-Sayraf, Abd Ar-Rahman As-Sahawi, Jalal ad-Din As-Suyuti, Ibn Iyas Muhammad ibn Ahmad and Ibn Zanbal Ar-Rummal, Ali ibn Ahmad Ibn al-Asir, Abd Ar-Rahman Ibn Khaldun, al-Umari, Shahab ad-din alKalkashandi, Taki ad-din Al-Makrizi, Az-Zahiri, Khalil ibn Shahin. Relevance: After Uzbekistan gained independence, orientalists have new opportunities to search, study and disseminate information about Islam and the history of Islam among the general public. When studying the period of the history of the Mamluks in Egypt, many aspects of the history of Mavaraunnahr of that time are also revealed. Studying the primary sources containing information on this topic makes it possible to objectively evaluate the political, social and economic processes of this period. Methods. The article uses generally accepted historical methods based on the principles of historicity, structurality and objectivity. Conclusions: Also, it must be pointed out that objective coverage of the history of this period, in addition to the historical works of the above authors of the 13th-15th centuries, is facilitated by the study of various scientifc treatises, commentaries, shortened versions of works (almukhtasar), dictionaries, prose and poetic works.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Grall ◽  
Emily S. Finn

So-called “naturalistic” stimuli have risen in popularity in cognitive, social, and affective psychology and neuroscience over the last 15 years. However, a critical property of these stimuli is frequently overlooked: Media—like film, television, books, and podcasts—are fundamentally not natural. They are deliberately crafted products meant to elicit particular human thought, emotion, and behavior. Given the rich history of scholarship on media as an art and science, subsuming media stimuli under the term “naturalistic” in psychological and brain sciences is inaccurate and obfuscates the advantages that media stimuli offer because they are artificial. Here, we argue for a more informed approach to adopting media stimuli in naturalistic paradigms. We empirically review how researchers currently describe and justify their choice of stimuli for a given experiment and present strategies to improve rigor in the stimulus selection process. We assert that experiencing media should be considered a task akin to any other experimental task(s), and explain how this shift in perspective will compel more nuanced and generalizable research using these stimuli. Throughout, we offer theoretical and practical knowledge from multidisciplinary media research to raise the standard for the treatment of media stimuli in psychological and neuroscientific research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (01) ◽  
pp. 17-34
Author(s):  
Ajeng Triwuri Widyastuti ; Giosia P. Widjaja

Abstract - The Arab Panjunan kampong serving as the research object happens to be one of the heritage areas of Cirebon Town. This urban kampong has certain ethnic characteristics typical of Arab quarters that make it unique, thus contributing to the rich cultural history of Cirebon. As a heritage area, it is important for this ethnic Arab neighbourhood of Panjunan to draw up an inventory of the specific architectural elements that are still traceable, such as the urban lay-out and its contents as well as the landmarks of this area observed from a physical-spatial angle. The aim of this research project is to find out about this kampong’s various architectural elements that are recognized as such by the locals. This will be the contributing factor in the process of determining which environmental elements can be classified as typical landmarks. The first step taken in the research conducted is field observation in order to establish the elements that have survived in the kampong, including the architectural, social, and cultural ones. The observation related to architectural elements has been identified in accordance with the theory concerning Elements of Urban Design as proposed by Hamid Shirvani in his book The Urban Design Process. The next step is conducting research using the Cognitive Method as applied to the kampong dwellers in Panjunan by way of sketched maps and guided interviews. The respondents, classified based on ethnic heritage (descent) and gender, were requested to describe the environmental elements in this ethnic Arab kampong as far as they could recognize or identify them. Those who experienced difficulties in describing the sketches were assisted by the researcher based on the stories that had been supplied. Based on the acquired data containing these environmental elements, the aspect of memories contained therein was studied by way of interviews linked to the Continuity Theory by Breakwell. Subsequently, an analysis was made of the basis underlying the recognition of these elements based on the Landmark Theory by Kevin Lynch, and classified based on the criteria drawn up by Eko Budihardjo. Through the analysis, it was discovered that Panjunan’s Merah Mosque and its Asy Syafi’i Mosque indeed qualify as as architectural elements that show continuity of memory, gaining validity as iconic elements or landmarks on the regional scale of Cirebon’s ethnic Arab kampong of Panjunan. Keywords : mosque, landmark, recognition, local community, Arab Panjunan kampong


Author(s):  
Elbachir Abarzak

Form of requirement to rewrite the history of Morocco, end and destined for historical writing since the dawn of contemporary Moroccan independence to today. To achieve this endeavor went searching at first with the pioneers of traditional historical writing about writing encyclopedic local dates for various parts of the country, leaving archival sources and the rich historical material, formed an indispensable starting point for subsequent generations of researchers. Has contributed to those pioneers in founding the transformation of historical research in Morocco beginning in the 1970s, crystallized modern path generated in regional history, formed in some respects a continuation of historical writing traditional regional hand and open to Thematic issues and new methodology.


Author(s):  
Njoroge Njoroge

In those days it was either live with music or die with noise, and we chose rather desperately to live. —Ralph Ellison Black music has always been a tremendous source of information and inspiration for musicians, dancers, and music lovers. Listening to the music opens new worlds and windows onto the rich history of black music, society, and struggle in the circum-Caribbean, and provides a rich archive of the creative musical genius of the African diaspora. Music always expresses the interrelationships of movement, memory, and history, but this is preeminently true of the music of the African diaspora. This book uses music as both optic and focus, to examine and rethink both the modes of black cultural production and social formations in the African diaspora. The music has always been both an expression of “black” life and part of the philosophy that developed and emerged with that life, “as history and as art” (...


Author(s):  
DIANE E. DAVIS

What constitutes modern Mexico? Is there a clear distinction between the historic and modern Mexico City? And if there are, does this distinctions hold up throughout the twentieth century, when what is apparent is a mix of legacies coexisting overtime? This chapter discusses the semiotics of history and modernity. It discusses the struggle of the Mexico City to find its own image including its struggle to preserve historic buildings amidst the differing political alliances that either promote change or preserve the past. However, past is not a single entity, hence if the preservation of the rich history of Mexico is pursued, the question arises as to what periods of history represented in the city are to be favoured in its future development. In this chapter, the focus is on the paradoxes of the Torre Bicentenario and on the pressures to preserve Mexico’s past, the ways they have been juxtaposed against the plans for its future and how the balance of these views has shifted over time. It determines the key actors and the institutions who have embraced history as opposed to progress, identifies the set of forces that dominated in the city’s twentieth-century history, and assesses the long-term implications of the shifting balance for the social, spatial and built environmental character of the city. The chapter ends with a discussion on the current role played by the cultural and historical authorities in determining the fate of the city.


Author(s):  
Lynn Zastoupil

This essay re-examines the fact that J. S. Mill’s published work registers surprisingly few direct examples of influence from India, despite his lengthy East India Company career. Situating Mill’s contact with South Asia in the rich history of Anglo-Indian intellectual exchange that colonialism engendered, it argues that this missed opportunity to connect is striking because of the confluence of extraordinary motives and opportunity in Mill’s early life. During the 1830s, European intellectual influences and colonial imperatives combined to lead Mill to advocate a form of Einfühlung—sympathetic understanding of others—at the very moment when the visiting Indian reformer Rammohun Roy was being celebrated across Britain by many individuals close to Mill, such as Jeremy Bentham. Yet Mill never met Rammohun and he virtually ignored the celebrated Bengali in his correspondence and published work. This neglect, the chapter argues, is astounding: not only did Mill and Rammohun campaign alike for freedom of the press in the 1820s, but numerous people that Mill knew used Rammohun’s example to argue that social progress depends on such liberties, a view of progress that Mill shared at the time. The essay concludes that Mill’s rejection of this foundational idea of liberty in favour of the famously restrictive one espoused in On Liberty awaits proper investigation, as does the abandonment of Einfühlung in his later publications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 91 (03) ◽  
pp. 1028-1044
Author(s):  
Dmitry D. Vasyukov ◽  
Olga A. Krylovich ◽  
Dixie L. West ◽  
Virginia Hatfield ◽  
Arkady B. Savinetsky

AbstractWe discuss the cultural roles of dog and red fox recovered from Carlisle Island, Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska, within the context of Aleutian ethnographic and zooarchaeological records. Three dog bones were recovered from the Ulyagan archaeological site, Unit 5, in levels that date to AD 1450–1645. Three red fox bones come from the Ulyagan site, Unit 4, in levels that date 460 BC–AD 95. Our analyses show that both red fox and domestic dog date earlier than the contact with Russians and that these canids do not extend west of the Islands of Four Mountains archipelago. Given the rich history of human intervention on the Aleutians ecosystems over the last 250 years, we argue that indigenous red fox inhabited the Islands of the Four Mountains region prior to western contact; however, foxes did not have a pronounced cultural role for prehistoric Aleuts. Domestic dogs accompanied humans in the Aleutians after AD 950, suggesting that these canids might be linked with the Neo-Aleut culture. In the light of Arctic and oceanic cases of human use of dogs considered in the paper, we suggest that dogs might have served as reserve food sources during long trips for people migrating west.


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