Science, Play, and the Material Culture of Twentieth-Century American Boyhood

2020 ◽  
pp. 235-252
Author(s):  
Rebecca Onion
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Home Environment ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Parental Supervision ◽  
Acceptable Risk ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter uses the example of the child’s chemistry set to explore the way that American children’s material culture has shaped, and been shaped by, changing perceptions of acceptable risk in the home environment in the twentieth century. Chemistry sets, first sold in the United States in the 1910s, changed over the twentieth century, as companies worried about lawsuits have excluded potentially dangerous elements and presumed less initiative on the part of the child chemist, while calling for enhanced parental supervision. These alterations were first welcomed by parents in the 1960s and 1970s; now, for some, the defanged chemistry set embodies the undesirable unexpected consequences of the quest for new levels of safety in children’s material environments. This chapter follows the potent symbol of the chemistry set through the century to ask how the American movement to keep children safe in the home came about and to identify key cultural explanations for the early-twenty-first-century backlash against these efforts.

The Revival of Quantification: Reflections on Old New Histories

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Steven Ruggles
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social History ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Second Wave

AbstractQuantitative historical analysis in the United States surged in three distinct waves. The first quantitative wave occurred as part of the “New History” that blossomed in the early twentieth century and disappeared in the 1940s and 1950s with the rise of consensus history. The second wave thrived from the 1960s to the 1980s during the ascendance of the New Economic History, the New Political History, and the New Social History, and died out during the “cultural turn” of the late twentieth century. The third wave of historical quantification—which I call the revival of quantification—emerged in the second decade of the twenty-first century and is still underway. I describe characteristics of each wave and discuss the historiographical context of the ebb and flow of quantification in history.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela E. Pennock
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Identity ◽  
First Century ◽  
Arab Americans ◽  
Arab American ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

As we approach the third decade of the twenty-first century, the United States continues to wrestle with defining its role in Middle East conflicts and fully accepting and fairly treating Arab and Muslim Americans. In this contentious and often ill-informed climate, it is crucial to appreciate the struggles, priorities, and accomplishments of Arab Americans over the past several decades, both what has set them apart and what has integrated them into the politics and culture of the United States. Arab American organizing in the environment of minority rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s fostered a heightened consciousness of and pride in Arab American identity....

CULTURE, PSYCHE AND STATE POWER

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 485-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW ZIMMERMAN
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
State Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
Franz Boas ◽  
Conception Of Man ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Historical Moment

The discipline of anthropology has perhaps always been especially close to the exercise of state power, but, in the last two-thirds of the twentieth century, the nature of both anthropology and state power changed dramatically. This was a period when many anthropologists distanced themselves from earlier evolutionist accounts that traced a generalized human development from “primitive” to “civilized.” This evolutionist anthropology, as many scholars have shown, reflected and justified a range of imperialist practices by presenting European conquest as bringing progress to societies existing in a noncontemporary present. Two of the most important variants of post-evolutionist anthropology are the cultural relativism associated with Franz Boas (1858–1942) and the sociological universalism associated with Emile Durkheim (1858–1917). The state power that evolutionist anthropology had once supported also changed radically over the same period. The forms of domination exercised by the global North over the global South gradually shifted from direct colonial rule to the combination of military intervention and economic control that characterizes the postcolonial period. Anthropology, Talal Asad has written, is “rooted in an unequal power encounter between the West and Third World . . . an encounter in which colonialism is merely one historical moment.” Internally, the social welfare state continued its remarkable growth but also, in the 1960s and 1970s, faced challenges from those who rejected the patriarchy and heteronormativity that it often presupposed and reinforced. The two books under review reveal how new types of anthropology in the United States and France came to serve these new forms of state power in the twentieth century. In both cases anthropology adapted to these new political conditions by incorporating psychoanalysis to posit an especially strong bond between individual and culture that produced what one contemporary called an “oversocialized conception of man.”

Bhutan

2019 ◽  
pp. 180-183
Author(s):  
Tandin Wangyal
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Pentecostal Movement ◽  
Linguistic Barriers ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Leprosy Patients ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
National Life ◽  
The 1960S

Bhutan is the only surviving monarchy in the Himalayas, having resisted any foreign colonial power. It is a predominantly Buddhist nation; Buddhism permeates all facets of their lives. Bhutan’s first exposure to Christianity came in 1627, with the visit of two Portuguese Jesuits, who were stymied by linguistic barriers. However, in the second half of the twentieth century Bhutan slowly opened up to medical missions that treated leprosy patients. From the 1960s Christians from Darjeeling and Kalimpong in India came to the country to work, and through their influence some Bhutanese came to faith in Christ. Late twentieth century/early twenty-first century conversions via ‘power encounters’ has led to a Pentecostal movement in Bhutan. In 2004 the Bhutan Council of Churches’ Fellowship (BCCF) was formed, in response to a need for local institutionalized unity. Translation work in the Tsanglha language began in 1989 and the New Testament was completed in 2009. A significant challenge lying ahead is the contextualisation of theology in Bhutan in relation to Buddhist culture. Work in this area can help to demonstrate that Christian Bhutanese are loyal citizens, with a valuable contribution to make to national life.

Transformation in Jamaica, Grenada, and Haiti

Freedom Roots ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 281-318
Author(s):  
Laurent Dubois ◽  
Richard Lee Turits
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cuban Revolution ◽  
State And Society ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Popular Classes ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

In the last decades of the twentieth century, the Caribbean saw multiple and dramatic political efforts to transform state and society. New governments sought to embrace popular classes as equal members of society as almost never before and to create unprecedented forms of equality, both economically and culturally. This chapter explores three such attempts at transformation: Jamaica under Michael Manley, Maurice Bishop and the Grenada Revolution, and Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s first government in Haiti. Unlike the Cuban Revolution, these leaders excited expectations for change within still mostly capitalist economies. Manley and Aristide led democratic governments, while Grenada sustained one-party rule. The outcomes of reform efforts in these three nations varied from enduring progress to poignant tragedy. The chapter explores the powerful challenges these new Caribbean governments faced, domestic and foreign, economic and political. It shows how after the English-speaking Caribbean gained independence in the 1960s and 1970s, their trajectories began to overlap with that of the older independent Caribbean, as national sovereignty made them suddenly more vulnerable to the region’s predominant twentieth-century empire, the United States.

Romanticism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Coeckelbergh
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
1960S And 1970S

In chapter 2 historical Romanticism is outlined as it emerged and thrived in Germany, Britain, and France around 1800 and as it reached deep into the nineteenth century. The works and lives of Rousseau, Novalis, Morris, and others are discussed for this purpose. Moreover, he social and political side of Romanticism (Ruskin, Morris, and Marx) and romantic Gothic are discussed. Historical Romanticism is then linked to romanticism more broadly defined. The author argues that in many ways romanticism still persists today and that there is a line to be drawn start from Rousseau in the late eighteenth century to twentieth century counterculture and beyond. Even in the early twenty-first century forms of subjectivity are very much shaped by Romanticism - mainly in the form of our heritage from 1960s and 1970s romantic counterculture.

From Memorization to Inspiration: Teaching Paleobiology in the Twenty-First Century

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Donald R. Prothero
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
First Century ◽  
Basic Information ◽  
Old Field ◽  
Idiographic Approach ◽  
Nomothetic Approach ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Stratigraphic Ranges ◽  
The 1960S

For most of the twentieth century, paleontology instruction focused on memorization of taxa, morphology, and stratigraphic ranges. Consequently, paleontology got the reputation as a boring, stagnant, musty old field with this “idiographic” approach that focused on details at the expense of the broader implications. The “Paleobiology Revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s radically changed paleontological pedagogy. New generations of paleontologists who were weaned on the 1972 Raup and Stanley textbook (which had no systematic coverage of invertebrates) adopted a more dynamic, “law-like” or “nomothetic” approach. The emphasis on ideas, concepts, and controversies over memorization of names and dates makes paleontology far more interesting and relevant to geology majors, most of whom will not become paleontologists and will not need huge numbers of names to do their jobs. However, paleontology instructors still must include basic information about the major phyla of fossils or else the theoretical ideas lack any reference in reality. My own approach mixes both theoretical and systematic concepts, with lectures on major topics (taphonomy, ontogeny, population variation, speciation, micro and macroevolution, extinction, paleoecology, biogeography, functional morphology) alternating with lectures supplementing lab exercises.

Why Diamonds Really are a Girl's Best Friend: Another American Narrative

Daedalus ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
Linda K. Kerber
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Domestic Relations ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
American Law ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

The old law of domestic relations and the system known as coverture have shaped marriage practices in the United States and have limited women's membership in the constitutional community. This system of law predates the Revolution, but it lingers in U.S. legal tradition even today. After describing coverture and the old law of domestic relations, this essay considers how the received narrative of women's place in U.S. history often obscures the story of women's and men's efforts to overthrow this oppressive regime, and also the story of the continuing efforts of men and some women to stabilize and protect it. The essay also questions the paradoxes built into American law: for example, how do we reconcile the strictures of coverture with the founders' care in defining rights-holders as “persons” rather than “men”? Citing a number of court cases from the early days of the republic to the present, the essay describes the 1960s and 1970s shift in legal interpretation of women's rights and obligations. However, recent developments – in abortion laws, for example – invite inquiry as to how full the change is that we have accomplished. The history of coverture and the way it affects legal, political, and cultural practice today is another American narrative that needs to be better understood.

Tito Caula’s photographic imaginary and mid-century Caraqueño modernity

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-79
Author(s):  
Russell White
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
North American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Consumer Society ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Shopping Malls ◽  
Urban Forms ◽  
Economic Boom ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Physical Changes

The photography of the Argentinian photographer Francisco ‘Tito’ Caula tracked some of the key social and physical changes that Caracas underwent during the middle decades of the twentieth century. This period saw the country transition from dictatorship to democracy. Caula’s advertising photographs together with his images of spectacular spaces and buildings such as the Sabana Grande and the Centro Simón Bolívar presented Caracas as a mecca of mid-century ‘petro-modernity’ (LeMenager 2014). In contrast to late nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century modernity, which was predominantly European in influence, Caraqueño modernity at mid-century was more cosmopolitan, taking particular inspiration from the United States. Caula’s photographs speak to the process of Americanization, defined as the adoption of North American cultural products, urban forms and patterns of living that Venezuela underwent during the years Caula spent in the country. Venezuela witnessed an economic boom in the 1960s and 70s, which was fuelled by the US acquisition of Venezuelan oil. In Venezuela, the boom facilitated the growth of a consumer society as well as the development of such quintessentially North American urban forms as freeways, shopping malls, drive-in movie theatres, suburbs and skyscrapers. It was also accompanied by the adoption of violent security tactics by the state’s security apparatus and the political marginalization of the radical left. Given that Caula held left-wing views, it is perhaps surprising that his photographs (at least those that have been published) do not explore the tensions at the heart of the Pacto de Punto Fijo, instituted to ensure that the transition from dictatorship to democracy would hold following elections in 1958. The celebration of North American influence within Caula’s photographs puts them in dialogue with critical perspectives that have seen US cultural influence rather more negatively. Moreover, their celebration of prosperity and their presentation of Caracas as an exciting city means that, for some, they have taken on a nostalgic hue.

India and Global Governance

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poorvi Chitalkar ◽  
David M. Malone
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
First Century ◽  
Climate Change Negotiations ◽  
Economic Diplomacy ◽  
Meaningful Participation ◽  
Tremendous Progress ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

India’s engagement with the institutions and norms of global governance has evolved significantly since independence in 1947. This chapter traces the evolution—beginning with early engagement with international organizations under Nehru, to the waning of its enthusiasm for multilateralism in the 1960s and 1970s, and its struggle for greater voice and recognition internationally in the twenty-first century. Through the prism of its quest for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, its approach to climate change negotiations, global economic diplomacy, and its engagement with global norms, this chapter traces India’s rise as a vital player in the rebalancing of international relations in a multipolar world. However, despite its tremendous progress, some ongoing challenges continue to constrain India’s meaningful participation in global governance at times. The chapter concludes with an assessment of India’s contribution to global governance and its prospects as a stakeholder and shareholder on the global stage.

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