Narratives of democracy: A call for historical studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-134
Author(s):  
Tim B Müller ◽  
Jeppe Nevers

Historians have long been aware of the power of narratives; but they have been hesitant to analyse the production of national narratives of democracy, in which their own profession played an important role. This issue and introduction aims to insert and study the role of narratives in the history of democracy. It builds on the growing literature in both the conceptual and political history of democracy, which has stressed the importance of the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century in the coming of modern democracy, albeit in non-linear and highly contested ways and often in contrast to the retrospective teleology at work in most older histories of democracy. Therefore, from the 19th century onwards, languages and narratives of democracy developed in many countries, but it happened at different times, at different speeds, and in different forms. This issue encourages and exemplifies systematic and comparative historical analysis of how narratives of democracy were created in that context: What national narratives of democracy did, in fact, exist in specific periods and contexts? Where have these narratives come from? How were nations ‘narrated’ as democratic, what purposes did different narratives serve, and how did they change over time?

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seema Alavi

AbstractThe essay highlights the role of one individual, Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan (1832-90), in writing the cultural and intellectual history of imperialisms. It brings his biography, journeys and intellectual forays together to show how he used the temporal moment of the mid 19th century ‘age of revolts’, and the spatial connectivity offered by British and Ottoman imperialisms and re-configured them to his own particular interests. Locating Siddiq Hasan in the connected histories of the British and Ottoman Empires, it views his in-house cosmopolitanism as a form of public conduct that was shaped by Islamic learning that cultivated urbane civility as Muslim universalist virtuous conduct. This was a form of cosmopolitanism enabled by imperial networks, informed by pre-colonial webs of interaction between India and West Asia, and deeply rooted in the scriptures.


Author(s):  
Pablo Azócar Fernández ◽  
Zenobio Saldivia Maldonado

In the history of cartography and in critical cartography, there is a link between the role of maps and power relations, especially during the conquest and domination of territories by national states. Such cartographic products have frequently been used—for both their scientific and persuasive content—in different places, such as in Chile in the Araucanía region during the so-called pacification process, led by the Chilean state during the second half of the 19th century. From a cartographic perspective, the “epistemological and unintentional silences on the maps” can be observed for maps produced during this process. It implied that the “scientific discourse” and the “social and political discourse” of the cartographic images generated during this process of conquest and domination were relevant for the expansionist objectives of the Republic of Chile.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1 (460)) ◽  
pp. 33-43
Author(s):  
Piotr Koryś

The article discusses the role of plants in Poland’s economic development over the last 500 years. The author presents the role of five plants in the history of Poland’s development: cereals (wheat and rye), potatoes, sugar beet and rape. The specificity of the economic development of modern Europe has made Poland one of Europe’s granaries and an important exporter of cereals. This shaped the civilization of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and contributed to its fall due to institutional specificity. In the 19th century, potatoes played an important role in the population development of Polish lands, as they helped feed the rapidly growing population. The spread of sugar beet cultivation created the conditions for the development of modern sugar industry in the second half of the 19th century. It became one of the first modern branches of the food industry in Poland and contributed to the modernization of the village. Quite recently, oilseed rape was to become a plant that would bring back the times of agricultural sheikhs – no longer the nobility would trade in cereals on the European markets, but entrepreneurs producing a vegetable substitute for diesel oil.


2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. E12 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Ryan Ormond ◽  
Costas G. Hadjipanayis

The history of neurosurgery is filled with descriptions of brave surgeons performing surgery against great odds in an attempt to improve outcomes in their patients. In the distant past, most neurosurgical procedures were limited to trephination, and this was sometimes performed for unclear reasons. Beginning in the Renaissance and accelerating through the middle and late 19th century, a greater understanding of cerebral localization, antisepsis, anesthesia, and hemostasis led to an era of great expansion in neurosurgical approaches and techniques. During this process, frontotemporal approaches were also developed and refined over time. Progress often depended on the technical advances of scientists coupled with the innovative ideas and courage of pioneering surgeons. A better understanding of this history provides insight into where we originated as a specialty and in what directions we may go in the future. This review considers the historical events enabling the development of neurosurgery as a specialty, and how this relates to the development of frontotemporal approaches.


REGIONOLOGY ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-302
Author(s):  
Evgeny V. Kremnyov ◽  
Vladimir V. Ananiev

Introduction. The variety of elements of the field of regional studies in Japan makes it possible to state that the sources of regional studies are heterogeneous not only in content, but also in their relation to different historical periods. The objective of the study is to analyze the processes of development of proto-regional knowledge in Japan from ancient times until the middle of the 19th century Materials and Methods. Japanese works on history and geography, as well as works by Russian researchers in the considered fields were used as the materials of the study. Particular attention was paid to historical and geographical texts; other sources (religious texts, poetic texts, etc.) were also considered. The basic methods employed were those of systemic, comparative, conceptual and terminological analysis. Results. The article discusses the stages of development of proto-regional knowledge in Japan in the framework of traditional science. Based on the analysis of works created before the middle of the 19th century, the authors conclude that the basic factor in the formation and development of knowledge about regions was the opposition “We vs. Others,” characteristic of Japanese ethnoculture, and this knowledge itself is largely Japanocentric. The article reveals the role of several schools of traditional science: kokugaku (school of national sciences), rangaku / yogaku (Dutch / European studies) and kangaku (school of Chinese sciences), as well as the role of their cultural and ideological confrontation in stimulating the development of proto-regional knowledge. Discussion and Conclusion. The article presents the results of the initial stage of a comprehensive study, which will examine the history of the development of Japanese regional knowledge and the methodology of regional research in Japan. The results of the work may be useful to researchers and specialists in the field of history of regional development of various countries and regions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
鬼谷 子

The research focuses on how the Nguyen dynasty it became the first to have the largest territory in the history of Vietnam in its nearly 60 years of establishing and reigning over the unified country in the first half of the 19th century. It is seen that in terms of organizing the state apparatus, Gia Long and Minh Mang retained the system of agencies of the previous dynasties and continued reforms to ensure socio-political stability in their governance at that time. The study also clarifies the social role of Confucianism in the Nguyen dynasty, i.e. in the first half of the 19th century, which, in our opinion, is theoretically and practically significant, with the hope of further unraveling the role of Confucianism in that period.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-74
Author(s):  
A. O. Hashimi

The nineteenth Century was a revolutionary period in the history of societies, kingdoms and empires in Yorubaland. The Century witnessed profound and irreversible social, religious and political transformations in the lives of the people who lived in the region. Both internal and external factors were responsible for these processes of change. The consequential events centred on commerce, politics, religion, warfare, intra-and intergroup relations, and reform and adjustment to new ways of life. This paper describes the activities of the Muslims in the 19th century Yoruba Politics, and the significant roles played by the ‘Ulama in the period under study. Islam was introduced to Yorubaland before the 19th century, and the population was reinforced by the ingress of Muslim immigrants and Hausa slaves who were brought to Oyo Empire. In this diverse group different roles were played by the Muslim community and the ‘Ulama (clerics). The activities of the Muslims had momentous impact on 19th century Yoruba politics in different ways as recorded in Arabic documents and other historical materials. In the course of time, Muslims occupied positions of great authority in royal administration. They used their position to promote Islam. This paper argues that the roles of the ‘Ulama in the political transformation and social change in Yorubaland was so important that its impact is felt till today.


Author(s):  
Rosaura Sánchez

Several 19th-century Californio testimonios are the product of interviews of Californio men and women made by H. H. Bancroft’s agents, looking for historical information that would be incorporated in what became, in time, Bancroft’s History of California. In their narratives, Californio informants discuss the 19th-century political and economic periods, with particular interest in the periods of Spanish, Mexican, and US colonization, which brought the dispossession and exploitation of indigenous people in California. These testimonios offer information on the treatment of the Indians within the mission, and their demise after close contact with missionaries and settlers. The role of missionaries in the colonization is also examined—the secularization of mission lands, the pastoral economy dominant in Alta California, and the subsequent dispossession of the Californios after 1848 by the Land Act of 1851, incoming US settlers and squatters, and land speculators. The testimonios offer a first-person account of numerous events, problems, and conflicts in Alta California during the 19th century.


Author(s):  
Aleksandr A. Vahrushev

The article deals with the history of library work in Vyatskaya province of the 19th century, educational mission of libraries among the provincial reader and their value in development of cultural level of the population. There features of the organization and operational experience of the first public, private and national libraries of the region, the role of local democratic intelligence representatives in formation of cultural forces and traditions are shown in the article.


1980 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 35-51
Author(s):  
Gerardo Ojeda Ebert

The article describes the role of German immigrants in the formation of the Chilean nation in the 19th Century. The processes and problems related to Chile's emergence are of great complexity. The role of German immigrants was also very complex and important. According to Ebert they had great influence on economic, socio-political and military organization, and as well as on shaping of democratic institutions of the state. The presence of Germans in the late 19th Century also facilitated international relations, as it resulted in improved relations with the newly united Germany, which had official policies supporting foreign based Germans. English abstract/description written by Michał Gilewski


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