From the Sacred to the Secular: Ethnic Identity and Monetary Value embodied in Jewish Ceremonial Textiles according to the Pinkassim of Amsterdam

Images ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Julie-Marthe Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Monetary Value ◽  
The Social ◽  
Written Sources

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Jewish intelligentsia developed a historical and scholarly interest in material objects of Jewish culture. In new exhibitions they organized, ritual objects that had been associated exclusively with religious observance, were moved to the public domain and divested of their purely religious ritual function. In a secular setting, Judaica became an expression of Jewish ethnic identity defined by its surrounding and religion, and evoked a new appreciation as objets d’art that implicitly assumed a monetary market value. This article examines whether this expression of ethnic identity and aesthetic and monetary appreciation developed first in the context of nineteenth-century secularism. By presenting three case studies based on written sources, I argue that ethnic and monetary value were already manifest in prior centuries and underline the value of written sources for an understanding of the social and cultural historical context of Jewish ceremonial objects.

The Languages of Petitioning in Early Colonial India

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 581-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Jaffe
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Western India ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Levels

With relatively few exceptions, personal petitions from individuals have received much less attention from historians than those from groups in the public political sphere. In one sense, personal petitions adopted many of the same rhetorical strategies as those delivered by a group. However, they also offer unique insights into the quotidian relationship between the people and their rulers. This article examines surviving personal petitions to various administrators at different levels of government in western India during the decades surrounding the East India Company’s conquests. The analysis of these petitions helps to refine our understanding of the place of the new judicial system in the social world of early-nineteenth-century India, especially by illuminating the discourse of justice that petitioners brought to the presentation of their cases to their new governors. The conclusion of this article seeks to place the rhetoric of personal petitioning within the larger context of mass political petitioning in India during the early nineteenth century.

scholarly journals The Public Sphere in the Field of Power

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Calhoun
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Social Foundations ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
The Public Sphere

In this article I ask (1) whether the ways in which the early bourgeois public sphere was structured—precisely by exclusion—are instructive for considering its later development, (2) how a consideration of the social foundations of public life calls into question abstract formulations of it as an escape from social determination into a realm of discursive reason, (3) to what extent “counterpublics” may offer useful accommodations to failures of larger public spheres without necessarily becoming completely attractive alternatives, and (4) to what extent considering the organization of the public sphere as a field might prove helpful in analyzing differentiated publics, rather than thinking of them simply as parallel but each based on discrete conditions. These considerations are informed by an account of the way that the public sphere developed as a concrete ideal and an object of struggle in late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Britain.

scholarly journals Migration, Occupational Identity, and Societal Openness in Nineteenth-Century Belgium

2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (S13) ◽  
pp. 179-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Van de Putte ◽  
Michel Oris ◽  
Muriel Neven ◽  
Koen Matthijs
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Partner Selection ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Occupational Identity ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sectoral Composition ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Selection Of

This article examines social heterogamy as an indicator of “societal openness”, by which is meant the extent to which social origin, as defined by the social position of one's parents, is used as the main criterion for selection of a marriage partner. We focus on two topics. The role first of migration and then of occupational identity in this selection of a partner according to social origin. And in order to evaluate the true social and economic context in which spouses lived, we do not use a nationwide sample but rather choose to examine marriage certificates from eleven cities and villages in Belgium, both Flemish and Walloon, during the nineteenth century. By observing different patterns of homogamy according to social origin we show in this article that partner selection was affected by the relationship between migration, occupational identity and class structure. It seems difficult to interpret all these divergent patterns in terms of modernization. In our opinion the historical context creates a complicated set of conditions reflected in differences in the type and strength of migration and in the sectoral composition and evolution of the local economy. The whole exerts an influence over partner selection.

Others among Others: Latvians’ View of Members of Ethnographic Shows

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 261-284
Author(s):  
Ilze Boldāne-Zeļenkova
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Public Space ◽  
The Public ◽  
Freak Shows ◽  
The Right

Abstract In the second half of the nineteenth century, Latvians, like several other non-dominant nations that were part of large European empires, actively argued for their status as a nation and fought for the right to be equal partners in economy and politics and for the recognition of their culture. The process of constructing an ethnic identity involves not only inclusion, but also the formation of boundaries and exclusion, defining characteristics in the public space that separate the group Us from Others, that is, other members of society as well as complete strangers. Groups offering ethnographic and freak shows stopped by the Russian imperial city of Riga with guest performances, arousing interest in the local public. The performers exhibited at ethnographic shows were the different others against the background of local others, and Latvians viewed them with more compassion than sense of superiority.

The Social Architect and the Myopic Mason: The Spatial Politics of the Muséum d'Histoire naturelle in Nineteenth-Century Paris

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Young Lee
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Reform ◽  
Comparative Anatomy ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Spatial Politics ◽  
The Public ◽  
Georges Cuvier ◽  
The Social

ArgumentDuring the first half of the nineteenth century, the Muséum d'Histoire naturelle was both workplace and home to functionalist Georges Cuvier and morphologist Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, whose doctrinal differences became enmeshed with political dialogues regarding social reform. Surprisingly, the public not only viewed the arrangement of the collections in terms of the social platforms they were understood to be supporting, but critiqued the Muséum's buildings as expressions of their anatomical dispute. The Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 pushed these critiques forward, suggesting to some observers that true reform of the natural sciences would begin by reforming the Muséum's architectural program, thereby placing the goals of Comparative Anatomy in correct relationship to human progress.

scholarly journals ETHNIC IDENTITY AS STIGMA: KALMYKS IN DEPORTATION (1943–1956)

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (47) ◽  
pp. 154-180
Author(s):  
Elza-Bair Guchinova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Ethnic Identification ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
External Forces

The article is devoted to the study of the ethnic identification of the Kalmyks during the deportation of 1943–1956. These thirteen years in Siberia represented a special historical context during which the Kalmyk ethnic group was completely outlawed and its ethnic identity problematized. The purpose of the article is to show how the Kalmyk ethnicity was stigmatized under the pressure of a large society, how the Kalmyk ethnicity disappeared from the public sphere, retreating into the private sphere, and how the weakening of markers of Kalmyk ethnicity played out in Siberia: Kalmyk personal names changed to Russian ones, the ritual order of calendar holidays was reduced, knowledge of the native language declined. Special attention is paid to the problem of constructing ethnic boundaries of the group by the local population and by the deported Kalmyks. Moreover, the stigmatization of Kalmyks and the influence of external forces on the cohesion of the group are discussed. Contrary to the view that such a dependence is always directly proportional to external pressure, the study shows that this trend does not always hold: Kalmyks were resettled so dispersedly and lived through such hardship that stigmatization did not allow group cohesion to develop. Relying on “local voices”, the article discusses the complexity of ethnic identification based on constructivist views on the nature of ethnicity as a way of organizing cultural differences. To convey the voices of the older generation “in person” is a fundamental authorial position for the researcher. The article was written based on field materials from the “Everyone Has Their Own Siberia” project — a collection of spontaneous oral interviews that the author compiled in 2002–2004 and 2016–2018 in Kalmykia and Moscow, supplemented by published memoirs of Kalmyks about life in Siberia.

Spatial practices and narratives

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 732-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Óscar García Agustín ◽  
Félix J. Aguirre Díaz
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Fictional Narrative ◽  
Santiago De Chile ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global Movement

The Chilean students’ rebellion emerged in 2011 within the wave of global protests. Even though it is an organized movement, with roots in a specific historical context, it shares with the global movement the use of new media technologies, the appropriation of public spaces, and the concern for democracy and equality. The movement deploys flexible forms of organization and mobilization such as flash mobs, in the case analyzed in this article, the GenkiDama for Education. The students create a narrative based on the famous Manga series Dragon Ball Z to reframe the conflict between students and government. As Manga fans, they open up participation to other less politically defined identities. The flash mob moment works as a communicative event in which the narrative is put into place and strengthens a sense of community in the streets of Santiago de Chile. To analyze the connections between the fictional narrative of Manga and the use of the public space, we draw on Michel de Certeau’s theory on spatial practices and the function of stories and place/space. Spatial practices during the flash mob challenge the social and spatial order in order to represent a symbolic victory of the students over the political system.

Charity Bazaars In Nineteenth-Century England

1977 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. K. Prochaska
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Social ◽  
Drawing Room

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to announce a sale of many interesting, beautiful, rare, quaint, comical and necessary articles. Here you will find objects of taste, such as Babies' Shoes, Children's Petticoats, and Shetland Wool Cravats; objects of general usefulness, such as Tea-cosies, Bangles, Brahmin Beads, and Madras Baskets; and objects of imperious necessity, such as Pen-wipers, Indian Figures carefully repaired with glue, and Sealed Envelopes, containing a surprise. And all this is not to be sold by your common Shopkeepers, intent on small and legitimate profits, but by Ladies and Gentlemen, who would as soon think of picking your pocket of a cotton handkerchief, as of selling a single one of these many interesting, beautiful, rare, quaint, comical and necessary articles at less than twice its market value.Spoken amidst trumpet flourishes by Robert Louis Stevenson's “allegorical Tout,” these words introduce an institution familiar to all of us and one full of interest to the social historian — the charity bazaar. Tea-cosies, bangles, Brahmin beads, and Madras baskets may seem only quaint and comical, but they and similar trifles filled countless stalls in innumerable bazaars and raised tens of millions of pounds in nineteenth-century England for causes of every conceivable description. Men and women of all social classes found bazaars, fancy fairs, fancy sales, or ladies' sales as they were variously called, a most popular and fashionable way of making money for the charity of their choice. Many philanthropic societies depended on them for annual funds. Clergymen of all persuasions, not without a touch of compromise, looked to them as a last resort to build a church or to enlarge a school or drawing room.

Attitudes and Responses to Vagrancy in Ireland in the Long Nineteenth Century

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Crossman
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Criminal Offence ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Considerable Debate ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Special Category

This essay focuses on a special category of Irish crime: vagrancy. While vagrancy was a criminal offence in its own right, it was often its association with other forms of criminality and immorality that ensured ‘tramps’ could be viewed with fear and contempt in the Irish countryside. The relationship between crime and poverty has been a subject of considerable debate in numerous scholarly fields. This essay makes the important point that tramps were viewed with suspicion, not on account of their poverty intrinsically, but rather because they consciously rejected social norms in favour of an itinerant lifestyle. The ‘tramp problem’ occupied the attentions of the public and the administrators alike at the turn of the century: the former sometimes startled by the arrival at their door of a ‘big lazy fellow’ demanding relief, and the latter busily issuing circulars to magistrates and police imploring them to clamp down on the offenders. In the end, however, an unsatisfactory justice system predicated on punishment merely reinforced existing prejudices and did little to alleviate the social inequality that gave rise to vagrancy in the first place.

scholarly journals Cuba, Pearl of the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula De La Cruz-Fernandez ◽  
Ivette Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Content Management ◽  
Digital Collections ◽  
University Of Florida ◽  
The Public ◽  
Intellectual Content ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The University

The George A. Smathers Libraries Graduate Internship Program Exploring the Work and Times of Cuban Intellectuals in the Nineteenth Century has published the digital resource Cuba, Pearl of the Caribbean (http://cubanthinkers.domains.uflib.ufl.edu/) to promote the rich and enlightening intellectual content of the Cuban Thinkers online collection of the University of Florida Digital Collections as well as to introduce and develop the skills of a UF graduate student in fundamental tools in Digital Humanities, including TimelineJS, Zotero, and the popular Content Management System WordPress. Through the bilingual website, the public can learn about the historical context of key Cuban thinkers of the nineteenth century and be encouraged to explore the extensive and freely accessible Cuban patrimony material of the Celebrating Cuba! Collaborative Digital Collections of Cuban Patrimony project.

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