Porous Bodies: Environmental Biopower and the Politics of Life in Ancient Rome

2020 ◽  
pp. 026327642092372
Author(s):  
Maurizio Meloni
Keyword(s):  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Ancient Rome ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Urban Architecture ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Porous Bodies ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

The case for an unprecedented penetration of life mechanisms into the politics of Western modernity has been a cornerstone of 20th-century social theory. Working with and beyond Foucault, this article challenges established views about the history of biopower by focusing on ancient medical writings and practices of corporeal permeability. Through an analysis of three Roman institutions: a) bathing; b) urban architecture; and c) the military, it shows that technologies aimed at fostering and regulating life did exist in classical antiquity at the population scale. The article highlights zones of indistinction between natural and political processes, zoē and bíos, that are not captured by a view of destructive incorporation of or over life by sovereign power. In conclusion, the article discusses the theoretical potential of this historical evidence for contemporary debates on ‘affirmative biopolitics’ and ‘environmental biopower’.

scholarly journals Rhetoric

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Ford ◽  
Joe Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Professional Communication ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Ancient Rome ◽  
Literature And Philosophy ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
Theology And Science ◽  
History Of ◽  
Science Rhetoric ◽  
Institutional Relations ◽  
Complex Relationships

Rhetoric was—or is, and the uncertainty here is to the point—an unstable but hegemonic assemblage of categories, practices, doctrines, and institutions that endured from classical antiquity through to modernity. Rhetoric underwent radical transformations over this period of nearly three thousand years, entering into complex relationships with its discursive and educational others, including literature, philosophy, theology, and science. Rhetoric has variously been the pragmatic art of verbal action; the teachable (and so saleable) skill of persuasive speaking; an elite training in literary forms and genres inherited from ancient Rome and Greece; a set of protocols governing textual production and reception; the antiquarian collection of ornate and artificial modes of phraseology; a transcendent spirit of linguistic articulation and creation; and a branch of instruction in professional communication. This article presents five scenes—sometimes more tightly focused, sometimes more diffuse—drawn from the long history of rhetoric: a moment of rhetoric’s inception, in Syracuse in 466 bce; of its Christianization, in Milan, 387; of linguistic productivity, in Cambridge, 1511; of rhetorical transcendence, in Basel in 1872; and of social composition, in Minneapolis, 1968. In each of these moments, rhetoric’s conceptual, discursive, and institutional relations with literature were transfigured. They were scenes in which rhetoric was retied, so to speak, into a series of new knots with literature and philosophy. Other scenes and other itineraries would no doubt generate different stories—other knottings of rhetoric and its others.

Hierarchy and power in the Pacific

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jukka Siikala
Keyword(s):  
Recent History ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Postcolonial State ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Structural Arrangements

Looking at recent turmoil in political processes in the Pacific, the article discusses the relationship of socio-cosmic holism and hierarchy in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji to western ideologies of democracy and individualism. Incorporation of traditional chieftainship into colonial and postcolonial state structures has had different outcomes in each case. The structural arrangements, which according to Dumont are seen as intermediary forms, are looked at using material from the recent history of the societies. Thus the riots in Nukuʻalofa orchestrated by the Tongan democracy movement, the military coup in Fiji and the multiplication of chiefly titles in Samoa are seen as results of the interplay of local and western ideologies culminating in notions of holism and individualism.

scholarly journals Medieval Kazakh History in Arab and Persian Sources

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adil Markhaba ◽  
◽  
Islam Zhemeney ◽  
Aman K. Rakhmetullin ◽  
Kalamkas B. Bolatova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
Systematic Processing ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

The relevance of this topic lies in the analysis of the study of medieval Kazakh history. After gaining independence, the processes of the revival of national identity, reinstatement of primitive spiritual and moral values and human mentality, which were sharply suppressed during the period of the Soviet totalitarian system, became widespread. Therewith, the widely discussed national-historical structure of the population, the knowledge of ethnic roots, the restoration of traditions and customs, which served as a connecting link, as well as the specificity and originality of the approach are of particular importance. Currently, the problem of objective reading, coverage, and popularisation of the ancient and medieval Kazakh history and culture is acute. By rejecting one-sided interpretations of historical events, established clichés require impartial, academic analysis based on evidence drawn from a wide range of sources. The purpose of this study is to identify the problems of the history of Kazakhstan in the 13th-14th centuries, the general laws of world historical development and the features of the historical process, folk traditions by using a scientific and systematic approach. Based on the systematisation and classification of data from the geographical and Arab historical records of the 13th-14th centuries, the analysis of written monuments is performed, their interdependence is established, and the degree of completeness and reliability of the data in the works of the narrative is determined in an integral system. Due to the scientific expeditions and research trips to Mongolia, China, and Germany, Kazakh orientalists analysed and performed the first systematic processing of archival materials and historical evidence of the early history of resettlement based on the ancient Turkic manuscript, ancient Indian, and Chinese sources that formed a picture of the proto and ancient history. For example, the features of stone figures give an idea of the military hierarchy, military operations, the settlement of ethnic groups (ethnogeography), the worldview of the Turks, etc.

scholarly journals Characteristic features of the second Karabakh war

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 30-40
Author(s):  
Khayal Iskandarov ◽  
Piotr Gawliczek
Keyword(s):  
Retrospective Analysis ◽  
Military History ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The Military

The factors that led to the outbreak of the Second Karabakh War in late September, 2020 – enshrined in the military history of Azerbaijan as a Patriotic War or “Operation Iron Fist” – have been clarified on the basis of retrospective analysis. The military-political processes that took place during the 44-day war have been studied, their characteristic features have been presented, the contributions of “Operation Iron Fist” to world’s military art have been theoretically substantiated.

scholarly journals The Rule of Abd аl-Fattah al-Sisi: Politics, Economics and International Relations of Egypt in the 2010s.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-77
Author(s):  
G. Sh. Kadirova
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Supreme Council ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The Military

The article is devoted to the history of coming to power and the analysis of the domestic and foreign policy of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE), Field Marshal Abd-аl Fattah al-Sisi. The author notes that the new leader of the country chose a tough internal political course aimed at strengthening his own power and suppressing the opposition, fi rst of all, the Muslim Brotherhood (the organization’s activities are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation), and the 2014 Constitution and its 2019 amendments led to the virtual disappearance of the independent branches of power and its concentration in the hands of the president, as well as the consolidation in the Basic Law of provisions on the special role of the military in the life of society. Thus, the head of state and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces determine the political processes in the country, controlling civil institutions. Unlike the traditional ARE course, Abd-al Fattah al-Sisi is building a tougher and more uncompromising policy, demonstrating a readiness to use force, primarily in Libya, narrowing his scope for diplomatic maneuver.

Political psychology

2013 ◽  
Vol 154 (16) ◽  
pp. 619-626
Author(s):  
Mária Resch ◽  
Tamás Bella
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Psychology ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
History Of

In Hungary one can mostly find references to the psychological processes of politics in the writings of publicists, public opinion pollsters, philosophers, social psychologists, and political analysts. It would be still important if not only legal scientists focusing on political institutions or sociologist-politologists concentrating on social structures could analyse the psychological aspects of political processes; but one could also do so through the application of the methods of political psychology. The authors review the history of political psychology, its position vis-à-vis other fields of science and the essential interfaces through which this field of science, which is still to be discovered in Hungary, connects to other social sciences. As far as its methodology comprising psycho-biographical analyses, questionnaire-based queries, cognitive mapping of interviews and statements are concerned, it is identical with the psychiatric tools of medical sciences. In the next part of this paper, the focus is shifted to the essence and contents of political psychology. Group dynamics properties, voters’ attitudes, leaders’ personalities and the behavioural patterns demonstrated by them in different political situations, authoritativeness, games, and charisma are all essential components of political psychology, which mostly analyses psychological-psychiatric processes and also involves medical sciences by relying on cognitive and behavioural sciences. This paper describes political psychology, which is basically part of social sciences, still, being an interdisciplinary science, has several ties to medical sciences through psychological and psychiatric aspects. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 619–626.

Divination and Human Nature

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter T. Struck
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Observable Fact

This book casts a new perspective on the rich tradition of ancient divination—the reading of divine signs in oracles, omens, and dreams. Popular attitudes during classical antiquity saw these readings as signs from the gods while modern scholars have treated such beliefs as primitive superstitions. The book reveals instead that such phenomena provoked an entirely different accounting from the ancient philosophers. These philosophers produced subtle studies into what was an odd but observable fact—that humans could sometimes have uncanny insights—and their work signifies an early chapter in the cognitive history of intuition. Examining the writings of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Neoplatonists, the book demonstrates that they all observed how, setting aside the charlatans and swindlers, some people had premonitions defying the typical bounds of rationality. Given the wide differences among these ancient thinkers, the book notes that they converged on seeing this surplus insight as an artifact of human nature, projections produced under specific conditions by our physiology. For the philosophers, such unexplained insights invited a speculative search for an alternative and more naturalistic system of cognition. Recovering a lost piece of an ancient tradition, this book illustrates how philosophers of the classical era interpreted the phenomena of divination as a practice closer to intuition and instinct than magic.

From the history of the military past of composer and conductor Boris Galaev

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-44
Author(s):  
Felix S. Kireev
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Musical Activity ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Time ◽  
First World

Boris Alexandrovich Galaev is known as an outstanding composer, folklorist, conductor, educator, musical and public figure. He has a great merit in the development of musical culture in South Ossetia. All the musical activity of B.A. Galaev is studied and analyzed in detail. In most of the biographies of B.A. Galaev about his participation in the First World War, there is only one proposal that he served in the army and was a bandmaster. For the first time in historiography the participation of B.A. Galaev is analyzed, and it is found out what positions he held, what awards he received, in which battles he participated. Based on the identified documentary sources, for the first time in historiography, it occured that B.A. Galaev was an active participant in the First World War on the Caucasian Front. He went on attacks, both on foot and horse formation, was in reconnaissance, maintained communication between units, received military awards. During this period, he did not have time to study his favorite music, since, according to the documents, he was constantly at the front, in the battle formations of the advanced units. He had to forget all this heroic past and tried not to mention it ever after. Therefore, this period of his life was not studied by the researchers of his biography. For writing this work, the author uses the Highest Orders on the Ranks of the Military and the materials of the Russian State Military Historical Archive (RSMHA).

State-run celebration of Liberation Day in Czechoslovakia (based on audiovisual sources)

2019 ◽  
pp. 251-268
Author(s):  
Timur Gimadeev
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Military

The article deals with the history of celebrating the Liberation Day in Czechoslovakia organised by the state. Various aspects of the history of the holiday have been considered with the extensive use of audiovisual documents (materials from Czechoslovak newsreels and TV archives), which allowed for a detailed analysis of the propaganda representation of the holiday. As a result, it has been possible to identify the main stages of the historical evolution of the celebrations of Liberation Day, to discover the close interdependence between these stages and the country’s political development. The establishment of the holiday itself — its concept and the military parade as the main ritual — took place in the first post-war years, simultaneously with the consolidation of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Later, until the end of the 1960s, the celebrations gradually evolved along the political regime, acquiring new ritual forms (ceremonial meetings, and “guards of memory”). In 1968, at the same time as there was an attempt to rethink the entire socialist regime and the historical experience connected with it, an attempt was made to reconstruct Liberation Day. However, political “normalisation” led to the normalisation of the celebration itself, which played an important role in legitimising the Soviet presence in the country. At this stage, the role of ceremonial meetings and “guards of memory” increased, while inventions released in time for 9 May appeared and “May TV” was specially produced. The fall of the Communist regime in 1989 led to the fall of the concept of Liberation Day on 9 May, resulting in changes of the title, date and paradigm of the holiday, which became Victory Day and has been since celebrated on 8 May.

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