The Oxford Handbook of the Age of Shakespeare

This handbook presents a broad sampling of current historical scholarship on Shakespeare’s period that it is hoped will prove useful to scholars of his poems and plays. Rather than attempting to summarize the historical ‘background’ to Shakespeare, individual chapters explore numerous topics and methodologies at the forefront of current historical research. An initial cluster shows how political history has expanded beyond a traditional focus on relations between Crown and Parliament to encompass attention to attempts by the government to manage opinion; military challenges; problems in subduing Ireland and mediating relations between the British kingdoms; and the interplay between national affairs and local factions and concerns. Additional chapters deal with relationships between intellectual culture and political imagination, with detailed attention to varieties of early modern historical thought and the emergence of a ‘public sphere’. Other contributors examine facets of religious and social history, including scriptural translation, concepts of the devil, cultural attitudes concerning honour, shame and emotion, and life in London. A final section deals with vernacular architecture, Renaissance gardens, visual culture and theatrical music.

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (156) ◽  
pp. 643-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fitzpatrick

AbstractIt is now widely admitted that the Great War was also Ireland’s war, with profound consequences for every element of Irish life after 1914. Its impact may be discerned in aberrant aspects of Ireland’s demographic, economic and social history, as well as in the more familiar political and military convulsions of the war years. This article surveys recent scholarship, assesses statistical evidence of the war’s social and economic impact (both positive and negative), and explores its far-reaching political repercussions. These include the postponement of expected civil conflict, the unexpected occurrence of an unpopular rebellion in 1916, and public response to the consequent coercion. The speculative final section outlines a number of plausible outcomes for Irish history in the absence of war, concluding that no single counterfactual history of a warless Ireland is defensible.


Author(s):  
Muiris MacCarthaigh

The assertion that the Irish parliament, Oireachtas Éireann, or more specifically its lower house Dáil Éireann, is poor at if not incapable of fulfilling its constitutional role of holding the government to account is an established feature of the study of Irish politics. In this chapter, the development of parliamentary accountability is examined in constitutional and comparative contexts. This is achieved by first looking at the idea of accountability and its manifestation within the Westminster family of parliamentary systems, including the Oireachtas. The chapter examines the three principal methods through which executive accountability to Dáil Éireann has been pursued, namely debates, questions, and, more recently, committees. An analysis of the parliamentary reforms that have been proposed and introduced to address perceived accountability deficits is then presented. In a final section, important changes that resulted from the outcome of the 2016 general election for the operation of parliamentary accountability are examined.


2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fikru Negash Gebrekidan

Abstract:This article examines the early history of disability rights activism in Kenya. The transitional years from colonialism to independence were a period of great expectations. For persons with disabilities in particular, decolonization held additional possibilities and potential. National independence promised not just majority rule but also an all-inclusive citizenship and the commitment to social justice. Among the visually impaired of Kenya, such collective aspirations led to the birth of the Kenya Union of the Blind in 1959. In 1964, after years of futile correspondence with government officials, the Union organized a street march to the prime minister's office to attract attention to its grievances. The result was a government panel, the Mwendwa Committee for the Care and Rehabilitation of the Disabled, whose published report became the blueprint for social and rehabilitation programs. The government possessed limited resources, and the reforms that ensued were long overdue. Yet the sociohistorical dynamics behind the march are of particular significance. From the social historian's point of view, they affirm not only the historical agency of persons with disabilities, but also the need to recast and broaden the scope of African social history.


2012 ◽  
pp. 187-212
Author(s):  
Relja Seferovic

On the basis of the chosen Latin primary sources on religious disputes held by the Greek and Latin theologians in the 12th century we assess the intellectual climate in both camps in the eve of the great crisis and the outbreak of mutual hostilities after the government of the Emperor Manuel I. Komnenos, as well as the concrete contribution of these disputes to the Western intellectual culture.


CONVERTER ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 39-45
Author(s):  
Tian Hu, Wenbin Gong

This paper divided the evolution of modern Chinese vernacular architecture (1949–2010) into 3 stages: early exploration, confine and confusion, and modern development, by taking time line as the clue, vernacular characteristics of modern architecture in Xi’an during different phases as the support, and combining literature research and field investigation. On this basis, it reviewed historical background, relevant context and typical features of modern vernacular architecture in Xi’an during different phases, and further concluded the evolution laws and research level of modern Chinese vernacular architecture.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Garcia Tribunal ◽  
Evalyn M. Pedrosa ◽  
Wayne Custer Alegata ◽  
Ronald John Sayson

Culture and history harbor the beauty of one’s society. In view, the study of artifacts could best explain our cultural and historical background. The study aimed to examine the personal furniture in the museums of Silay City to preserve the culture and tradition of the old society in Silay through material culture analysis. The study is a qualitative research conducted within the context of descriptive and historical research. Interview method was used in gathering information. McClung Fleming’s two conceptual tools of artifact analysis were utilized to help distinguish precise information about its five properties. Personal furniture in Manuel Severino Hofileña Ancestral House and Bernardino-Ysabel Jalandoni Museum were examined and analyze. The result showed that the personal furniture in two museums have significant influence in the culture and tradition of every Filipino-Spanish family in Silay. The study concludes that material culture analysis on the personal furniture could help preserve the culture and tradition of the past. The study further recommends that teachers and students can utilize the result of the study as material for understanding literature, culture, and history. Also, the government could use the study as basis for their cultural and historical preservation programs. Keywords— Archaeology, material culture analysis, personal furniture, cultural and historical preservation, qualitative research design, Bacolod City, Philippines


Author(s):  
Estelle James

The possibility of “privatizing” education and other quasi-public services has been widely discussed in the United States today, and in other chapters of this volume. Policies such as a voucher or tax credit system, which would give public subsidies to private schools, are examples of privatization proposals. Many people feel that such policies would bring variety, choice, consumer responsiveness, and greater efficiency to our schools. Others fear that they would increase social segmentation, damage the public schools, and enable wealthy people to receive a better education for their children privately, but (partially) at the public expense. To expore these issues, this chapter examines the experience of the Netherlands, a country which, in effect, has had a voucher system in education for many years. In Holland, education and most health and social services are financed by the government but delivered by private nonprofit organizations, often religious in nature. As shall become evident below, the Dutch educational system avoids many of the possible pitfalls of privatization. This is due partially to particular mechanisms the Dutch have adopted to avoid these problems, which could conceivably be replicated here, and partially to broader structural features of the Dutch educational system and its role within society, which could not readily be replicated. The chapter proceeds as follows: The first section summarizes the historical background of the public-private division of responsibility for education in the Netherlands. The policy of privatization is seen as a response to diverse tastes about education, stemming from basic cultural (religious) differences, in a political setting where no one group was in a position to impose its preferred product variety on the others. This is consistent with a hypothesis I am testing in a multicountry study: that degree of reliance on private provision of quasi-public goods is positively related to cultural (particularly religious and linguistic) heterogeneity in democratic societies. It also is relevant to the discussions, found in several previous chapters, of why families choose private schooling.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Segun Joshua ◽  
Samuel Sunday Idowu ◽  
Faith Osasumwen Olanrewaju

The world is currently faced with the problem of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Africa and Middle East has the highest figure of IDPs. Nigeria tops the list of countries with largest population of IDPs in Africa. The Boko Haram insurgency has made Nigeria one of the flash points of high concentration of IDPs. Anchored on forced /involuntary migration theory, using primary and secondary data gathering techniques, the study examines insurgency and conditions of IDPs camps in Nigeria, focusing on NYSC camp in Girei Local Government, Adamawa State. The study finds that the condition in NYSC IDP camp is deplorable as IDPs lack access to basic essentials of life. The study recommends among others the need for the government to be more committed to the welfare of IDPs and also curb corruption of government officials in the camp as this has worsen the already deplorable condition of IDPs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fajer Tawayha ◽  
Luis Braganca ◽  
Ricardo Mateus

The strongest point of vernacular architecture is the harmony between environment and buildings. Mediterranean vernacular architecture is harmonized with its local context, including culture and traditions. In addition, it respects environmental and climatic factors, construction materials, and morphology. In the past, people in Palestine built their houses according to their possibilities, needs, available materials, topography, and culture. Without any control from the government or any legal limitations or architects, it was people’s architecture, simple architecture. This paper discusses the differences between vernacular and contemporary residential buildings of the city of Nablus at the building scale. The research methodology adopts explanatory qualitative analysis and comparative synthesis methods for both the old and the new buildings of the city of Nablus and considers many parameters of residential buildings such as building materials, interior spaces, openings and vegetation, and the effect of sociocultural values on each. The outcomes of this research allow understanding how the new city residential buildings are far away from the sustainability principles and how the old city is close to it and how the architects and stakeholders could learn from the strategies of vernacular architecture.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Ruzza

The capacity of Myanmar’s government to effectively rule and administer peripheral areas of the country has been challenged since independence by a vast array of non-state armed groups (NSAGs), and the country is home to the most long-lasting insurgencies still active today. The core interest of this article rests on analysing the degree of continuity and change in the strategy enacted by Myanmar’s government in order to counter, contain and re-absorb insurgencies in the wake of the recent liberalisation process. The government activity vis-à-vis insurgencies is assessed in two core dimensions: economic and military. The analysis is developed in diachronic perspective, spanning three key phases. The first, meant to provide the essential historical background and benchmark, is the post-1989 period, characterised by the implementation of the ceasefires. The other two focus on the current transition, splitting it into two (2008–2011 and 2011–2015), taking Thein Sein’s new peace plan as a turning point. Moving through these three phases the paper assesses how Myanmar’s government achieves a balance between military pressure and economic incentives in the face of three major insurgencies: in Shan state, versus various NSAGs; against the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO); and against the Karen National Union (KNU).


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