Spaces of Exclusion: The Significance of Cultural Identity in the Formation of European Residential Districts in British Hong Kong, 1877–1904

10.1068/d310 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Alex Bremner ◽  
David P Y Lung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Social History ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
European Population ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Residential District ◽  
Cultural Self

In this paper we discuss the role and significance of European cultural identity in the formation of the urban environment in 19th-century and early-20th-century British Hong Kong. Our purpose is to offer an alternative reading of the social history of Hong Kong-the orthodox accounts of which remain largely predominant in the general historical understanding of that society-by examining the machinations that surrounded attempts by the European colonial elite to control the production of urban form and space in the capital city of Hong Kong, Victoria. Here the European Residential District ordinance of 1888 (along with other related ordinances) is considered in detail. An examination of European cultural self-perception and the construction of colonial identity is made by considering not only the actual ways in which urban form and space were manipulated through these ordinances but also the visual representation of the city in art. Here the intersection between ideas and images concerning civil society, cultural identity, architecture, and the official practices of colonial urban planning is demonstrated. It is argued that this coalescing of ideas, images, and practices in the colonial environment of British Hong Kong not only led to the racialisation of urban form and space there but also contributed to the apparent anxiety exhibited by the European population over the preservation of their own identity through the immediacy of the built environment.

An Anatomy of Facelessness: On Halfdan Pisket’s Dansker Trilogy

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-302
Author(s):  
Øyvind Vågnes
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Social History ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Individual Human

AbstractA significant contribution to the social history of immigration in the Nordic countries, Halfdan Pisket’sDanskertrilogy (2014–2016) is also a resonant visual-verbal reflection on the relationship between the face and the mask and its impact on the formation of individual and cultural identity. Pisket’s depiction of the hardship and alienation of the struggling immigrant is marked by a striking symbolism, and the article addresses how the three books collectively can be said to outline “an anatomy of facelessness”. The analysis revolves around three central aspects of Pisket’s depiction of the trilogy’s central protagonist: the imaginative re-appropriation of the myth of the Minotaur, the ambiguous deployment of the hooded figure, and the use of the facial portrait as an ambivalent emblem of the reservoir of individual human experience.

From periphery to centre and back again: elite transformations in Mechelen (fourteenth to sixteenth centuries)

Urban History ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 610-631
Author(s):  
Frederik Buylaert
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social History ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Urban Elite ◽  
Craft Guilds

AbstractThis article explores the social history of the political elites of Mechelen, a town that evolved from a seigneurial enclave within the duchy of Brabant to the de facto capital of the Burgundian–Habsburg Low Countries between the 1470s and 1530. Proceeding from a quantitative analysis of lists of aldermen, fiscal registers and epitaphs, the article argues that the short-lived functioning of Mechelen as a capital city had great impact on its ruling classes. Mechelen was traditionally ruled by a coalition of craft guilds and prominent citizens, but the latter reoriented their social networks to the court elite, as the latter's presence supercharged pre-existing trends towards ennoblement among the urban elite.

scholarly journals On the “second wind” of civilizational development (reflections on the report of N.I. Lapin)

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Nadezhda A. Kasavina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
General Process ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cultural Self ◽  
Cultural Dialogue ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
World Development

The text is a response to some of the passages of the report by N.I. Lapin, which was pre­pared for discussion of the methodological grounds of the “Russian Civilizational Devel­opment Project” (Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences). In the continuation of the methodological searches of N.I. Lapin, the concept of the historical development of the civilization of K. Jaspers is considered in more detail in accordance with the all-human idea of A.V. Smirnov, as well as in the context of the justification of civilizational unity through the phenomenon of transversal reason (V. Welsh). Based on these ideas, the justification for the importance of constructing the unity of world civiliza­tion, which should take place not through the priority of individual cultures, countries or their associations, but on the basis of their originality, is provided. The concept of histori­cal development of K. Jaspers allows us to conclude that the distinction of the first axial time is the formation of cultural identity, local cultural self-awareness as a result of the path of civilization to the transcendent. The second axial time tends to the formation of an all-human civilization, transversely “collecting” local cultural achievements. In modern times, the most important factor in this formation is the progress in science and technology, which determines the main paths of civilizational development. At the same time, the social and humanitarian sciences have a mission to ensure cultural dialogue and participate in the general process of dis­cussing the current problems of our time. Globalization can be thought of as interaction, including the interaction of projects of further world development, taking into account both the unique cultural features and the history of civilizations, and their coexistence in the world as a whole.

Early Cinema in Scotland

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Early Cinema ◽  
Popular Song ◽  
Feature Film ◽  
Local Newspapers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Production History ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Audience

This collection of essays, drawn from a three-year AHRC research project, provides a detailed context for the history of early cinema in Scotland from its inception in 1896 till the arrival of sound in the early 1930s. It details the movement from travelling fairground shows to the establishment of permanent cinemas, and from variety and live entertainment to the dominance of the feature film. It addresses the promotion of cinema as a socially ‘useful’ entertainment, and, distinctively, it considers the early development of cinema in small towns as well as in larger cities. Using local newspapers and other archive sources, it details the evolution and the diversity of the social experience of cinema, both for picture goers and for cinema staff. In production, it examines the early attempts to establish a feature film production sector, with a detailed production history of Rob Roy (United Films, 1911), and it records the importance, both for exhibition and for social history, of ‘local topicals’. It considers the popularity of Scotland as an imaginary location for European and American films, drawing their popularity from the international audience for writers such as Walter Scott and J.M. Barrie and the ubiquity of Scottish popular song. The book concludes with a consideration of the arrival of sound in Scittish cinemas. As an afterpiece, it offers an annotated filmography of Scottish-themed feature films from 1896 to 1927, drawing evidence from synopses and reviews in contemporary trade journals.

Editor's Notes

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-7
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

In this opening issue of volume 31 we are presented with both nuanced and bold entry into several long enduring issues and topics stitching together the interdisciplinary fabric comprising ethnic studies. The authors of these articles bring to our attention social, cultural and economic issues shaping lively discourse in ethnic studies. They also bring to our attention interpretations of the meaning and significance of ethnic cultural contributions to the social history of this nation - past and present.

“Sou Inglesa! Sou Inglesa!”: Memórias de uma Menina Anglo-Portuguesa (1907-1930)

2017 ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
Miguel Alarcão
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social History ◽  
Travel Literature ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Cultural Encounter ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times

Textualizing the memory(ies) of physical and cultural encounter(s) between Self and Other, travel literature/writing often combines subjectivity with documental information which may prove relevant to better assess mentalities, everyday life and the social history of any given ‘timeplace’. That is the case with Growing up English. Memories of Portugal 1907-1930, by D. J. Baylis (née Bucknall), prefaced by Peter Mollet as “(…) a remarkably vivid and well written observation of the times expressed with humour and not little ‘carinho’. In all they make excellent reading especially for those of us interested in the recent past.” (Baylis: 2)

The Social Dynamics of Dedication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy Constantakopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Annual Basis ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

This chapter provides a methodological discussion on how to use the evidence included in the Delian inventories in order to write the social history of the dedicants. The inventories were produced by the Delian hieropoioi and recorded on an annual basis the dedications kept in the Delian treasuries. The chapter focuses particularly on dedications which are attached to named individuals and communities. It then discusses the material according to the parameters of gender, individual versus community dedications, elite dedicants, and distance of travel. Using the inventories we are able to reconstruct who came to the Delian sanctuary to dedicate objects.

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