Micro-history of a house: memory and place in a Milanese neighbourhood, 1890–2000

Urban History ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN FOOT

ABSTRACTThe micro-history of one apartment block in the inner-suburb of Bovisa, Milan over a period of 100 or so years is examined using oral history interviews to trace the development of the block and its residents in relation to that of the city of Milan. The piece is bounded by theoretical reflections on the role of micro-history, oral history and other methodologies as tools for understanding the home and urban history, and concludes that the survival of a rural past, the role of gender, the importance of architecture and of nostalgic memory in a rapidly changing world were important influences.

Author(s):  
Alessandro Portelli

This article centers around the case study of Rome's House of Memory and History to understand the politics of memory and public institutions. This case study is about the organization and politics of public memory: the House of Memory and History, established by the city of Rome in 2006, in the framework of an ambitious program of cultural policy. It summarizes the history of the House's conception and founding, describes its activities and the role of oral history in them, and discusses some of the problems it faces. The idea of a House of Memory and History grew in this cultural and political context. This article traces several political events that led to the culmination of the politics of memory and its effect on public institutions. It says that the House of Memory and History can be considered a success. A discussion on a cultural future winds up this article.


Urban History ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
DOROTHEE BRANTZ

In recent years, urban history has witnessed an expansion of actors. Historians have substantially and continuously extended their perspectives when it comes to examining the forces that drive urban developments. This expansion to an ever-broader range of human and increasingly also non-human actors (e.g. animals, technological systems and resources such as water) has opened up many new venues for investigations. It has also raised new questions about the role of cities in the history of social change. One of the most provocative ideas involves the claim that cities themselves should be considered agents and proprietors of change. Such notions of urban agency are premised on the assumption that, on the whole, cities are more than the sum of their parts. In this context, urbanization is not just viewed as the outcome of other determining societal forces, most notably capitalism. Instead, cities themselves are understood as determining entities and powerful enablers or preventers of material transformations. The investigative potential of such a perspective is tremendous, but the possible pitfalls should also not be underestimated. Exploring the explanatory prospects of urban agency requires, first of all, a critical engagement with both of the terms ‘agency’ and ‘the urban’. In my brief contribution to this roundtable, I would like to offer two points to the discussion: the first centres on the relationship between agency and intentionality/responsibilities, which is ultimately a political concern; the second aims to differentiate between the city as an entity and the urban as a process. Such a distinction, in turn, poses conceptual as well as methodological questions regarding the efficacy of agency as an urban concept.


Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136346072094730
Author(s):  
Kate O’Riordan ◽  
Sharon Webb

This paper draws upon oral history interviews and archival work carried out to examine the history of the LGBTQ+ student society at the University of Sussex. It reflects upon the significance of the Society’s name change over time (from GaySoc in the 1970s to its contemporary formation as the LGBTQ+ Society) and considers the role of the Society and its members as an active political and sociable group, concerned with a broad range of political and social justice movements, both on campus and across wider society, locally and nationally. It demonstrates how the experience of student societies relates to individual and group identity and how they help shape national and international politics. It looks at how the groups were positioned as political through their location and in relation to activism beyond LGBTQ+ issues and the University.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-224
Author(s):  
Bilge Deniz Çatak

Filistin tarihinde yaşanan 1948 ve 1967 savaşları, binlerce Filistinlinin başka ülkelere göç etmesine neden olmuştur. Günümüzde, dünya genelinde yaşayan Filistinli mülteci sayısının beş milyonu aştığı tahmin edilmektedir. Ülkelerine geri dönemeyen Filistinlilerin mültecilik deneyimleri uzun bir geçmişe sahiptir ve köklerinden koparılma duygusu ile iç içe geçmiştir. Mersin’de bulunan Filistinlilerin zorunlu olarak çıktıkları göç yollarında yaşadıklarının ve mülteci olarak günlük hayatta karşılaştıkları zorlukların Filistinli kimlikleri üzerindeki etkisi sözlü tarih yöntemi ile incelenmiştir. Farklı kuşaklardan sekiz Filistinli mülteci ile yapılan görüşmelerde, dünyanın farklı bölgelerinde mülteci olarak yaşama deneyiminin, Filistinlilerin ulusal bağlılıklarına zarar vermediği görülmüştür. Filistin, mültecilerin yaşamlarında gelenekler, değerler ve duygusal bağlar ile devam etmektedir. Mültecilerin Filistin’den ayrılırken yanlarına aldıkları anahtar, tapu ve toprak gibi nesnelerin saklanıyor olması, Filistin’e olan bağlılığın devam ettiğinin işaretlerinden biridir.ABSTRACT IN ENGLISHPalestinian refugees’ lives in MersinIn the history of Palestine, 1948 and 1967 wars have caused fleeing of thousands of Palestinians to other countries. At the present time, its estimated that the number of Palestinian refugees worldwide exceeds five million. The refugee experience of Palestinians who can not return their homeland has a long history and intertwine with feeling of deracination. Oral history interviews were conducted on the effects of the displacement and struggles of daily life as a refugee on the identity of Palestinians who have been living in Mersin (city of Turkey). After interviews were conducted with eight refugees from different generations concluded that being a refugee in the various parts of the world have not destroyed the national entity of the Palestinians. Palestine has preserved in refugees’ life with its traditions, its values, and its emotional bonds. Keeping keys, deeds and soil which they took with them when they departed from Palestine, proving their belonging to Palestine.


Author(s):  
Shailesh Shukla ◽  
Jazmin Alfaro ◽  
Carol Cochrane ◽  
Cindy Garson ◽  
Gerald Mason ◽  
...  

Food insecurity in Indigenous communities in Canada continue to gain increasing attention among scholars, community practitioners, and policy makers. Meanwhile, the role and importance of Indigenous foods, associated knowledges, and perspectives of Indigenous peoples (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014) that highlight community voices in food security still remain under-represented and under-studied in this discourse. University of Winnipeg (UW) researchers and Fisher River Cree Nation (FRCN) representatives began an action research partnership to explore Indigenous knowledges associated with food cultivation, production, and consumption practices within the community since 2012. The participatory, place-based, and collaborative case study involved 17 oral history interviews with knowledge keepers of FRCN. The goal was to understand their perspectives of and challenges to community food security, and to explore the potential role of Indigenous food knowledges in meeting community food security needs. In particular, the role of land-based Indigenous foods in meeting community food security through restoration of health, cultural values, identity, and self-determination were emphasized by the knowledge keepers—a vision that supports Indigenous food sovereignty. The restorative potential of Indigenous food sovereignty in empowering individuals and communities is well-acknowledged. It can nurture sacred relationships and actions to renew and strengthen relationships to the community’s own Indigenous land-based foods, previously weakened by colonialism, globalization, and neoliberal policies.


Author(s):  
Joseph Ben Prestel

Between 1860 and 1910, Berlin and Cairo went through a period of dynamic transformation. During this period, a growing number of contemporaries in both places made corresponding arguments about how urban change affected city dwellers’ emotions. In newspaper articles, scientific treatises, and pamphlets, shifting practices, such as nighttime leisure, were depicted as affecting feelings like love and disgust. Looking at the ways in which different urban dwellers, from psychologists to revelers, framed recent changes in terms of emotions, this book reveals the striking parallels between the histories of Berlin and Cairo. In both cities, various authors associated changes in the city with such phenomena as a loss of control over feelings or the need for a reform of emotions. The parallels in these arguments belie the assumed dissimilarity between European and Middle Eastern cities during the nineteenth century. Drawing on similar debates about emotions in Berlin and Cairo, the book provides a new argument about the regional compartmentalization of urban history. It highlights how the circulation of scientific knowledge, the expansion of empires, and global capital flows led to similarities in the pasts of these two cities. By combining urban history and the history of emotions, this book proposes an innovative perspective on the emergence of different, yet comparable cities at the end of the nineteenth century.


2020 ◽  
pp. 7-32
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kulczyńska ◽  
Natalia Borowicz ◽  
Karolina Piwnicka-Wdowikowska

Morasko University Campus in Poznań – origin, spatial and functional structure, transport solutions The purpose of the paper is to characterize the most recently created part of the Adam Mickiewicz University – the Morasko Campus. The paper consists of three parts. The first concerns the origins and development of the campus. The second part presents its spatial and functional structure on the basis of a field inventory, while the third one – campus transport solutions based on a survey conducted among students. The history of the campus located in the northern, peripheral part of the city began with laying the foundation act and the cornerstone in 1977. The agricultural role of this area, dominant until the 1980s, has been replaced with new functions, mainly academic and scientific ones. The first university buildings were commissioned in the 1990s, and the construction boom began after 2000. A total of nine faculties (out of 21 existing) are housed in eight buildings in the campus, including exact and natural sciences, as well as a part of social sciences and humanities. To this day, neither student dormitories nor accommodation for PhD students have been constructed (although they are likely to be built), which would emphasize the academic function of the campus. The campus also comprises areas with recreational, sports, residential and other service functions (e.g. catering, beauty, hairdressing, and commercial services), which are complemented by areas that serve transport functions. Location in the northern periphery of the city, and above all the railway line for freight (the northern bypass of Poznań) separating the city from the campus, makes transport to this part of the city limited. The results of the survey revealed a lack of a safe bicycle path between the western and eastern part of the campus, insufficient number of parking places for motorists, a lack of paved roads from the north and west, only three narrow access roads for car commuters, and difficult access by public transport to the eastern and north-eastern parts. In the latter case, the planned extension of the tram line towards Umultowo after the year 2022 is expected to solve the problem. Zarys treści: Celem opracowania jest charakterystyka najmłodszej przestrzeni Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza – Kampusu Morasko. Opracowanie składa się z trzech zasadniczych części. Pierwsza część artykułu dotyczy genezy powstania i rozbudowy miasteczka uniwersyteckiego. W drugiej części przedstawiono strukturę przestrzenno-funkcjonalną kampusu w oparciu o inwentaryzację terenową, w trzeciej zaś obsługę transportową na podstawie badań ankietowych przeprowadzonych wśród studentów. Historia położonego w północnej, peryferyjnej części miasta kampusu rozpoczęła się od wmurowania aktu erekcyjnego i kamienia węgielnego w 1977 r. Dominująca do lat 80. XX w. funkcja rolnicza tego obszaru została zastąpiona przez nowe funkcje, głównie akademickie i naukowe. Pierwsze budynki dydaktyczne oddano do użytku dopiero w latach 90. ubiegłego wieku, a boom budowlany rozpoczął się po roku 2000. Swoją siedzibę znalazły tutaj nauki ścisłe i przyrodnicze, a także część nauk społecznych i humanistycznych, w sumie dziewięć wydziałów (na 21 istniejących) w ośmiu budynkach. Do dzisiaj nie wybudowano akademików czy domu doktoranta (choć istnieją realne szanse na ich powstanie), co podkreśliłoby funkcję akademicką kampusu. W strukturze kampusu wyróżnia się ponadto obszary o funkcjach rekreacyjnych, rekreacyjno-sportowych, mieszkaniowych i innych o charakterze usługowym (np. usługi gastronomiczne, kosmetyczne, fryzjerskie, handel), których uzupełnieniem są obszary o funkcjach komunikacyjnych. Położenie na północnych peryferiach miasta, a przede wszystkim linia kolejowa dla przewozów towarowych (północna obwodnica Poznania) oddzielająca miasto od kampusu sprawiają, że obsługa transportowa tej części miasta jest ograniczona. Wyniki badań ankietowych wskazują na brak bezpiecznej drogi rowerowej między zachodnią i północno-wschodnią częścią kampusu, niewystarczającą liczbę miejsc parkingowych dla zmotoryzowanych, brak utwardzonych dróg od strony północnej i zachodniej, zaledwie trzy wąskie wjazdy na kampus dla dojeżdżających samochodem czy utrudniony dojazd komunikacją publiczną do części wschodniej i północno-wschodniej. W tym ostatnim przypadku rozwiązaniem ma być planowana po 2022 r. rozbudowa linii tramwajowej w kierunku Umultowa.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1–2) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Benno Gammerl

This opinion piece enquires into the history of male homosexuality in West Germany since the 1950s and focuses on the transition from the homophile bar to the gay disco as a prototypical meeting place for same-sex desiring men. Which emotional shifts did this spatial variation entail? Based on oral history interviews and gay magazines, the analysis explores intricate changes in queer everyday life beyond the all too simple supposition that closeted shame was supplanted by openly gay pride. In addition, the study shows on a methodological level that the allegedly antagonistic approaches in emotion research – constructionism, praxeology, affect-theory and phenomenology – can actually be fruitfully combined with each other, especially when it comes to analysing the interplay between spaces and feelings.


Author(s):  
Natalya Gavrilova ◽  
Irina Dameshek ◽  
Sofia Kuras

The article provides the analysis of the main stages in the research career of the famous historian, urbanist and expert in the history of Siberian entrepreneurship, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor V. Shakherov. The evolution of the scholar’s scientific interests is highlighted in the text. The author outlines the main areas of the scientist’s research: studying the role of the city in building economic and socio-cultural environment of Siberia in the period from the 18th to the early 20th century, history of merchant class and entrepreneurship in pre-revolutionary Siberia, history of banking and credit system of the region, historic and cultural monuments of Siberia. The article presents the analysis of Shakherov’s major works, which reflect his contribution to the development of Siberian studies. Special attention is paid to his scientific, pedagogical and social activity aimed at preserving historical heritage of Irkutsk. The author of the article emphasizes that the research career of V. Shakherov and History Faculty of Irkutsk State University are tightly connected.


Author(s):  
Carla Souza Mota ◽  
Valdir Reginato

ABSTRACTThe population aging has brought social issues of great repercussion, among them try to identify the role of caregiver, as humanizing agent, in this dynamic process of aging was the challenge that gave rise to this study. The attempt of our project is to give importance to the history of the Elderly Life, valuing it as a unique, experiencing your opportunity to speak and be heard, approaching caregiver and elderly and involving them in a therapeutic process.RESUMOO envelhecimento populacional têm trazido questões sociais de grande repercussão, dentre eles procurar identificar o papel do cuidador, como agente humanizador, neste processo dinâmico do envelhecimento foi o desafio que originou este estudo. A tentativa do nosso projeto é dar importância à História de Vida do Idoso, valorizando-o como ser único, experenciando sua oportunidade de falar e ser ouvido, aproximando cuidador e idoso e envolvendo-os num processo terapêutico.


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