Partitions: A transnational history of twentieth-century territorial separatism

The book’s conclusion discusses ways in which pedology and its legacies have been framed in late Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, while at the same time providing an overview of this book’s core contributions to the historiography and conceptualization of Russo-Soviet child science. The chapter begins with a summary of how pedology’s ‘ghost’ was treated in the late Soviet Union and how some of its strands ended up ‘haunting’ other institutional, disciplinary, or occupational frameworks. This is followed by a discussion of post-Soviet narratives about pedology and its fateful demise, especially constructions of pedology as a ‘repressed science’ (repressirovanaia nauka). The chapter critiques the rhetorical reification of pedology as a science that has developed in this context. It also considers the emergence in contemporary Russia of a number of movements focused on the scientific study of the child, which, in one way or another, make reference to the legacies of early twentieth-century Russo-Soviet child science (childhood studies, pedagogical anthropology, psycho-pedagogical diagnostics). The chapter ends with a summary of the book’s main conclusions, tying together key analytical points made across the preceding chapters. This section emphasizes the interest and importance that the history of child science presents for Russo-Soviet history more generally and revisits the question of where and how Russo-Soviet child science fits into a transnational history of this complex field.

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Just the Basic Facts: The Certification of Insanity in the Era of the Form K

Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences ◽

10.1093/jhmas/jraa014 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 75 (2) ◽

pp. 171-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Filippo Maria Sposini

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

Transnational History ◽

Victorian England ◽

Unique Case ◽

Legal Procedure ◽

Main Thesis ◽

History Of ◽

Basic Facts

Abstract This paper investigates the certification of insanity through a standardized template called Form K which was used in Ontario between 1873 and 1883. My main thesis is that the introduction of the Form K had profound and long-lasting effects on the determination of insanity. In particular, it created a unique case in the history of certification, it grounded civil confinement on a strategy of consensus, and it informed mental health documentation for more than a century. As the result of a transnational mediation from Victorian England, the Form K prescribed an examination setting which involved a high number of participants, including three physicians and several witnesses. By comparing this case with other jurisdictions of the time, this paper shows how Ontario became a distinctive case worldwide. In order to get a closer look at this medico-legal procedure, I consider the archival records of the Toronto asylum and conclude that the certification of insanity relied on a strategy of consensus. While the Form K proved quite successful in preventing legal actions, it produced financial, logistic, and bureaucratic issues. The Form K was thus discontinued after a decade, yet its structure influenced Ontario’s mental health documentation throughout the twentieth century. This paper shows the relevance of the certification of insanity for transnational history and for understanding contemporary issues of involuntary confinement and stigma in mental health.

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History

Sincerity After Communism ◽

10.12987/yale/9780300213980.003.0002 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Ellen Rutten

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

World War Ii ◽

Western Europe ◽

The United States ◽

Transnational History ◽

World War ◽

Classical Studies ◽

History Of ◽

Soviet Russia

This chapter traces the transnational history of sincerity rhetoric, with particular emphasis on those traditions within older debates that inform and shape today's sincerity concerns. Linking Henri Peyre and Lionel Trilling's classical studies to recent research into sincerity rhetoric, the chapter considers discursive historical threads that prevail in contemporary readings of the term especially (although not only) in Russia. It explores the historical roots of the three thematic interconnections that dominate contemporary sincerity talk: sincerity and memory, sincerity and commodification, and sincerity and media. It also discusses the notion that contemporary views of sincerity are sociopolitically defined, skeptical by default, and media specific; how idiosyncratic they are for post-Soviet Russia; and how post-Soviet takes on sincerity use and revise historical and non-Russian readings of sincerity. Finally, it describes how sincerity emerged as a concern for cultural critics in mid-twentieth-century Western Europe and the United States, especially after World War II.

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