Controversies About History

2019 ◽  
pp. 167-191
Author(s):  
Rachel Hammersley
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
English Civil War ◽  
The Past ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Democratic Character ◽  
Historical Methodology ◽  
The Relationship

Harrington engaged in controversy over particular historical models, over appropriate historical methodology, and over the relevance of history to politics. He sought not merely to impose past models in the present, but to use research into the past to inform present judgement. Harrington treated the commonwealth of Israel like any other ancient model, and emphasized its Erastianism and, more controversially, its democratic character. Sparta too was presented by him as a ‘democratic’ state against those who emphasized its monarchical or oligarchical elements. Harrington’s theory about the relationship between land and power was also grounded in his historical analysis, providing him with a distinctive account of the causes of the English Civil War. Finally, Harrington’s historical methodology set him at odds with those who championed mathematical over historical demonstration. In his historical debate, as in other aspects of his work, Harrington was charting his own middle course.

Editor's Note

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Kaliel
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Public Memory ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Red River ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The Past ◽  
Relationship Of

The articles published in our Fall 2016 edition are connected loosely under the themes of public memory and the uses of identity in the past. We are thrilled to present to you three excellent articles in our Fall 2016 edition: The article "Dentro de la Revolución: Mobilizing the Artist in Alfredo Sosa Bravo's Libertad, Cultura, Igualdad (1961)" analyzes Cuban artwork as multi-layered work of propaganda whose conditions of creation, content, and exhibition reinforce a relationship of collaboration between artists and the state-run cultural institutions of post-revolutionary Cuba; moving through fifty years of history “’I Shall Never Forget’: The Civil War in American Historical Memory, 1863-1915" provides a captivating look at the role of reconciliationist and emancipationist intellectuals, politicians, and organizations as they contested and shaped the enduring memory of the Civil War; and finally, the article “Politics as Metis Ethnogenesis in Red River: Instrumental Ethnogenesis in the 1830s and 1840s in Red River” takes the reader through a historical analysis of the development of the Metis identity as a means to further their economic rights. We wholly hope you enjoy our Fall 2016 edition as much as our staff has enjoyed curating it. Editors  Jean Middleton and Emily Kaliel Assistant Editors Magie Aiken and Hannah Rudderham Senior Reviewers Emily Tran Connor Thompson Callum McDonald James Matiko Bronte Wells

Group-Differentiated Rights and the Liberal Democratic State: Rethinking the Headscarf Controversy in Turkey

2001 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeşim Arat
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Clifford Geertz ◽  
Ethnocultural Groups ◽  
Special Rights ◽  
The Relationship

The development of liberalism with both the courage and the capacity to engage itself with a different world, one in which its principles are neither well understood nor widely held, in which indeed it is, in most places, a minority creed, alien and suspect, is not only possible, it is necessary.-Clifford Geertz. 2000.Available Light.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, p. 258.Over the past two decades, the debate over multiculturalism challenged the justice of neutral, “difference blind” rules in liberal democracies. Allegedly neutral institutions were shown to be implicitly biased toward the priorities, experiences, or interests of the dominant groups in the society. Criticism of difference-blind rules and claims for justice to minority groups defined the relationship between government and opposition in many contexts. Arguments for special rights to protect minorities, women, or ethnocultural groups gained legitimacy (Young 1990, Jones 1990, Phillips 1991, Taylor 1994, Kymlicka 1995, Kymlicka and Norman 2000).

Seeing the Caesar in Germanicus: Reading Tacitus’ Annals with Lucan’s Bellum Civile

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-126
Author(s):  
Megan M. Daly
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Epic Poetry ◽  
Alexander The Great ◽  
Bellum Civile ◽  
The Past ◽  
Similar Images ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City ◽  
Roman Epic ◽  
Northern Frontier

AbstractThe recognition of the similarities between Roman epic poetry and historiography have led to valuable studies such as Joseph’s analysis of the relationship between Lucan’s Bellum Civile and Tacitus’ Histories. Traces of Lucan’s Bellum Civile can also be observed in Tacitus’ Annals 1 and 2, causing the beginning of Tiberius’ reign to look like a civil war in the making. The charismatic Germanicus sits with a supportive army on the northern frontier, much like Caesar, causing fear for Tiberius at Rome. Germanicus denies his chance to become the next Caesar and march on the city, but he exhibits other similarities with Lucan’s Caesar, including an association with Alexander the Great. Although at some points Germanicus seems to be repeating the past and reliving episodes experienced by Caesar in Bellum Civile, he prevents himself from fully realizing a Caesarian fate and becoming Lucan’s bad tyrant. The similar images, events, and themes presented by both authors create messages that reflect experiences from the authors’ own lives during dangerous times.

scholarly journals The Use and Meaning of the Past in Plato

Plato Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 43-58
Author(s):  
Maurizio Migliori
Keyword(s):  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Philosophical Writing ◽  
Adequate Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

This essay is based on two premises. The first concerns the vision of writing proposed by Plato in Phaedrus and especially the conception of philosophical writing as a maieutic game. The structurally polyvalent way in which Plato approaches philosophical issues also emerges in the dialogues. The second concerns the birth and the development of historical analysis in parallel with the birth of philosophy. On this basis the text investigates a series of data about the relationship between Plato and "the facts". 1) If we compare the Apology of Socrates with other sources, we discover a series of important “games” that Plato performs to achieve the results he proposes. 2) The famous passage of Phaedo 96A-102A, which concludes with the Ideas and with a reference to the Principles, expresses definite judgments on the Presocratics. 3) In his works Plato attributes to the sophists some merits, even if the outcome of their contri-bution is overall negative. 4) However, in the fourth complicated diairesis of the Sophist, there is a "sophist of noble stock", an educator who can only be Socrates. 5) Plato in the Sophist shows the weakness of the Gigantomachy, and proposes an adequate definition of the beings: the power of undergoing or acting. This reveals, before the Philebus and the Timaeus, the dynamic and dialectical nature of his philosophy In summary, a multifocal vision emerges, adapted to an intrinsically complex reality.

Justifying Anachronism

2020 ◽  
pp. 108-139
Author(s):  
Patrick Fessenbecker
Keyword(s):  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Rational Reconstruction ◽  
The Past ◽  
Aesthetic Practice ◽  
The Relationship

Perhaps the most influential contemporary versions of formalism are those that justify formal interpretation as a form of historical analysis. A defense of reading for the content, which often involves bringing writers from the past into an anachronistic conversation with contemporary issues, thus requires understanding and responding to the arguments in favor of historicist reading. Richard Rorty’s distinction between “historical” and “rational” reconstructions, where the former renders a view in a thinker’s own words while the latter sympathetically translates it into contemporary terms, clarifies the relationship between the competing impulses to bring texts into conversation with current issues and to understand them in their own terms. Far from betraying the literary text’s artistic nature, moreover, a parsing of the language of appreciation philosophers use in justifying rational reconstruction, suggests that it is at least in part an aesthetic practice.

scholarly journals Narrative postmemories. The relationship between postmemory and narrative in „ Kica Kolbe’s Aegeans” and „ The Snow in Casablanca”

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 179-190
Author(s):  
Marija Gjorgjieva Dimova
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Collective Trauma ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Narrative Conventions

Narrative Postmemories. The Relationship between Postmemory and Narrative in Kica Kolbe’s Aegeans and The Snow in CasablancaStarting from Marianne Hirsch’s thesis that the notion of postmemory can be generalised in various contexts of traumatic transfer, this paper aims to examine the interpretive validity of this con­cept in relation to the so-called Aegean Theme in Macedonian literature, which encompasses collective trauma caused by the exodus of Macedonians from Greece during the Greek Civil War 1944–1949. The paper focuses on two works — Egejci and Snegot vo Kazablanka by Macedonian authoress Kica Kolbe, a member of the so-called postgeneration. Considering that both books are of different genres an autobiography and a novel, the analysis is to offer a comparative presentation of the narrative conventions involved in the affirmation of their postmemorial dimension present in: the variant of postmemory, the elements of secondariness and of mediativeness of postmemory, as well as the post­memorial relation to the past through imagination, projection and creation. Нарративная постпамять Основываясь на тезисе Марианны Хирш о том, что понятие постпамять можно обобщить в различных контекстах травматического переноса, в данной статье мы ставим перед собой цель дать обоснование для использования понятия постпамять, относительно, так называемой эгейской темы в македонской литературе, т.е. темы коллективной травмы, вызванной исходом македонцев из Греции во время Гражданской войны в Греции 1944–1949. Предметом анализа являются два произведения Эгейцы и Снег в Касабланке македонского автора Кицы Кольбе, принадлежащего к так называемому постпоколению. Принимая во внимание тот факт, что книги разные по жанру — автобиография и роман — мы предлагаем сравнительный анализ данных произведений на уровне именно аспекта постпамяти, присуствующего в данных произведениях в виде собственно постпамяти, во второстепенных элементах, так или иначе касающихся постпамяти к прошлому через воображение, проекции и творчество.

Radical Parliamentarians and the English Civil War

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Como
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
English Civil War ◽  
Charles I ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Press ◽  
King Charles I ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

This book charts the way the English Civil War of the 1640s mutated into a revolution (paving the way for the later execution of King Charles I and the abolition of the monarchy). Focusing on parliament’s most militant supporters, the book reconstructs the origins and nature of the most radical forms of political and religious agitation that erupted during the war, tracing the process by which these forms gradually spread and gained broader acceptance. Drawing on a wide range of manuscript and print sources, the study situates these developments within a revised narrative of the period, revealing the emergence of new practices and structures for the conduct of politics. In the process, the book illuminates the appearance of many of the period’s strikingly novel intellectual currents, including ideas and practices we today associate with western representative democracy—notions of retained natural rights, religious toleration, freedom of the press, and freedom from arbitrary imprisonment. The book also chronicles the way the civil war shattered English Protestantism—leaving behind myriad competing groupings, including congregationalists, baptists, antinomians, and others—while examining the relationship between this religious fragmentation and political change. Finally, the book traces the gradual appearance of openly anti-monarchical, republican sentiment among parliament’s supporters. Radical Parliamentarians provides a new history of the English Civil War, enhancing our understanding of the dramatic events of the 1640s, and shedding light on the long-term political and religious consequences of the conflict.

scholarly journals Psychiatry past and present: do we need history?

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-130
Author(s):  
Claire Hilton
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Clinical History ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Methodology ◽  
Service Policy ◽  
The Uk

Historical evidence can be useful to inform debate about current dilemmas in health service policy. However, concepts of historical analysis may be problematic for doctors, for whom a model of ‘history’ is often based on clinical history-taking: a clinical history aims to explain the present, whereas a historical analysis aims to elucidate the past. This article discusses and illustrates these concepts, and highlights potential pitfalls of poor historical methodology. It also provides pointers about researching the history of psychiatry in the UK and how to contribute historical evidence to health service policy debates today.Declaration of interestNone.

Biography and Memory: Sandal Castle and the English Civil War

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Askew
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
English Civil War ◽  
Social Discourse ◽  
Richard Iii ◽  
Charles I ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
King Charles I ◽  
Biographical Approach

The post-medieval castle is often neglected in English archaeology, with most analyses focusing on whether the castle was built for status or defence, a debate which has become known as ‘the Battle for Bodiam’. However, in the English Civil War between 1642 and 1651, many castles were fortified either for King Charles I or his rebellious Parliament. Although the fortification of castles during this period is often attributed to acts of desperation and a lack of more suitable defences, an examination of the Royalist occupation of Sandal Castle in West Yorkshire demonstrates how this view is simplistic. The decision to fortify Sandal can be directly linked to the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, when Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, the father of King Edward IV and Richard III, was killed outside its walls. This episode heavily influenced subsequent events, culminating in the occupation of the castle at the outbreak of the English Civil War. The importance of the past during this later conflict is reinforced by the faunal and artefactual assemblages, and the locations in which they were found (and consumed). The complexity of the social discourse at Sandal challenges current approaches in castle studies and highlights the need for a biographical approach which sees the interpretation and interaction of the castle through time and space as far more important than the motivations behind its initial construction. Such a way of proceeding complements existing methodologies but also relies on material culture and history to create a subtler interpretation of these complex buildings.

scholarly journals Church and People in Interregnum Britain

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Social Order ◽  
English Civil War ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

The English Civil War was followed by a period of unprecedented religious toleration and the spread of new religious ideas and practices. From the Baptists, to the “government of saints”, Britain experienced a period of so-called ‘Godly religious rule’ and a breakdown of religious uniformity that was perceived as a threat to social order by some and a welcome innovation to others. The period of Godly religious rule has been significantly neglected by historians- we know remarkably little about religious organisation or experience at a parochial level in the 1640s and 1650s. This volume addresses these issues by investigating important questions concerning the relationship between religion and society in the years between the first Civil War and the Restoration.

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