Contesting the past on the Chinese Internet: Han-centrism and mnemonic practices

2019 ◽  
pp. 175069801987599
Author(s):  
Yi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Online Groups ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Truth ◽  
Historical Accounts

Digital technology has brought critical changes to mnemonic practices in China, such as the empowerment of social groups to discover previously underrepresented historical accounts and produce alternative historical narratives. This article examines the mnemonic practices of Han-centrism, a type of ethnic and cultural nationalist movement based on the Chinese Internet. It analyzes how Han-centrist netizens reinterpret national history through their efforts to rediscover forgotten historical narratives of glory and trauma. It suggests that digital technology in China facilitates the emergence of online groups that are dedicated to the struggle for “historical truth” and social-cultural changes, motivated by a crisis of identity. Their mnemonic practices may be partly tolerated by the authoritarian state under some conditions. However, given China’s complicated and conflictual history, such online groups can easily turn the Internet into a battlefield of nationalism. This article highlights the confusion and contestation of memory and identity in contemporary China and the role of digital technology in the long battle.

The Perils and Promises of Disability Biography

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim E. Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Cultural Discourses ◽  
The Past ◽  
Helen Keller ◽  
Rigorous Study ◽  
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Biographical scholarship provides a means by which to understand the past. Disability biography writes disabled people into historical narratives and cultural discourses, acknowledging power, action, and consequence. Disability biography also analyzes the role of ableism in shaping relationships, systems of power, and societal ideals. When written with skilled storytelling, rigorous study, nuance, and insight, disability biography enriches analyses of people living in the past. Disability biography makes clear the multiple ways by which individuals and communities labor, make kinship, persevere, and both resist and create social change. When using a disability analysis, biographies of disabled people (particularly people famous for their disability, such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Helen Keller) reveal the relationality and historically embedded nature of disability. In an ableist world, such acts can be revolutionary.

Doing Justice to History

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barrie Sander
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Historical Function

As communities—both local and international—have struggled to make sense of mass atrocity situations, expectations have increasingly been placed on international criminal courts to render authoritative historical accounts of the episodes of mass violence that fall within their purview. Taking these expectations as its point of departure, Doing Justice to History seeks to understand international criminal courts through the prism of their historical function—critically examining how such courts confront the past by constructing historical narratives concerning both the culpability of the accused on trial and the broader mass atrocity contexts in which they are alleged to have participated. The book argues that international criminal courts are host to struggles for historical justice, discursive contests between different actors vying for judicial acknowledgement of their preferred interpretations of the past. By examining these struggles within different institutional settings, the book surfaces the legitimating qualities of international criminal judgments—illuminating, in particular, what tends to be foregrounded and included within, as well as marginalised and excluded from, the narratives of international criminal courts in practice. What emerges from this account is a sense of the significance of thinking about the emancipatory limits and possibilities of international criminal courts in terms of the historical narratives that are constructed and contested both within and beyond the courtroom in different institutional and societal contexts.

Writing about the Past, an Act of Resistance

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-42
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Official Publication ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
On Line ◽  
Historical Truth ◽  
Historical Accounts

Since taking power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has consistently tried to enforce a monopoly on the writing and interpretation of history. However, since 1998 individual initiatives have increased in the field of memory. Confronting official amnesia, victims of Maoist movements have decided to write their versions of history before it is too late. This chapter presents a typology of these endeavours. Annals of the Yellow Emperor (Yanhuang chunqiu), an official publication, enjoyed some freedom to publish dissenting historical accounts but was suppressed in 2016. With the rise of the internet, unofficial journals appeared that were often dedicated to a specific period: Tie Liu’s Small traces of the Past (Wangshi weihen) published accounts of victims of the Anti-Rightist movement for almost a decade before the editor was arrested; Wu Di’s Remembrance (Jiyi) founded by former Red Guards and rusticated youth circulates on line. The third type is the samizdat: targets of repression during Mao’s reign recount their experience in books that are published at their own expense and circulated privately. Most of these “entrepreneurs of memory” are convinced that restoring historical truth is a pre-requisite to China’s democratization. Since Xi Jinping came to power, they have suffered repression.

History Repeating Itself. The function of turning points and continuity in three historical narratives on operetta

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Mikael Strömberg
Keyword(s):  
Turning Points ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Narrative Strategy ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

The article’s primary aim is to discuss the function of turning points and continuity within historiography. That a historical narrative, produced at a certain time and place, influence the way the historian shapes and develops the argument is problematized by an emphasis on the complex relationship between turning points and continuity as colligatory concepts within an argumentative framework. Aided by a number of examples from three historical narratives on operetta, the article stresses the importance of creating new narratives about the past. Two specific examples from the history of operetta, the birth of the genre and the role of music, are used to illustrate the need to revise not only the use of source material and the narrative strategy used, but also how the argument proposed by the historian gathers strength. The interpretation of turning points and continuity as colligatory concepts illustrate the need to revise earlier historical narratives when trying to counteract the repetitiveness of history.

scholarly journals Paham Nasionalisme dan Pergerakan Kebangsaan di Indonesia dari Tahun 1900-1942

Sosio e-kons ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Iramdhan Iramdhan
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
National Movement ◽  
Book Collecting ◽  
National Movements

<p align="center"><strong><em>ABSTRACT</em></strong></p><p><em>Penelitian aims to understand or further understand the role of nationalist understanding of the nationalist movement in Indonesia. </em><em>The method used in this research is a literature study method to conduct research some important documents, read and examine the books and other resources related to the title. Heuristics, with traces of book collecting relics of the past, as well as make comparisons avatar opinion of some writers who have some differences. Historically, many methods used in historical research merekonstraksikan past attempts to systematically and objectively by collecting and evaluating and systematize robust conclusions that are connected with the facts. </em><em>The results of this study indicate that in general national movement in opposing and fighting the invaders are repleksi resistance as a result of repression committed by the invaders. Growing and growing nationalist movement carried out by the Indonesian figures are also influenced by the ideology of new growth in mainland Europe in its time was the idealism formation of dissatisfaction with layers of European society in the joints of life, growth, and development of Understand-understood new such as nationalism, liberalism, socialism and democracy that spread across the world make basic materials rose and the growth of the Indonesian National movement. In addition to the influence of Understand-understood new Indonesian national movement also influenced by the presence of the nationalist movement that occurred in mainland Asia and Africa, Imperialism western nations lead the nations of the Asia-Africa losing political independence, on the other nations of Asia and Africa are also experiencing suffering in social-economic and cultural. Asian-African nationalism not only wants to pursue national independence but also has other properties that have some aspect of Indonesian National opening. Pergerakan is a reflection of a sense sebuh oppressed because of colonization that happened, the development of the Indonesian National Movement is a process of resistance undertaken by the Indonesian people because of the existence of the factors driving the arrival of domestic and external factors, as well as their understanding of the formation of new ideologies and national movements grew in Asia and Africa.</em></p><p><em> Keywords: Understand Nationalism and National Movement in Indonesia</em></p><p align="center"><strong>ABSTRAK</strong></p><p>Penelitian ini betujuan untuk memahami atau memahami lebih jauh peranan paham nasionalime terhadap pergerakan kebangsaan di Indonesia. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode studi kepustakaan dengan mengadakan penelitian beberapa dokumen penting, membaca serta meneliti buku-buku dan sumber lainnya yang berkaitan dengan judul. Heuristik, dengan menghimpun jejak buku peninggalan masa lampau, serta mengadakan perbandingan anatar pendapat beberapa penulis yang memiliki  beberapa perbedaan. Historis, metode yang banyak digunakan dalam penelitian sejarah yang mencoba untuk merekonstraksikan masa lampau secara sistematis dan obyektif   dengan cara mengumpulkan dan mengevaluasi serta mensistematiskan kesimpulan yang kuat yang dihubungkan dengan fakta. Hasil Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pada umumnya pergerakan nasional dalam menentang dan melawan   penjajah adalah repleksi perlawanan sebagai akibat penindasan yang dilakukan oleh penjajah. Tumbuh dan berkembangnya Pergerakan nasional  yang dilaksanakan oleh para tokoh Indonesia juga dipengaruhi oleh paham-paham baru yang berkembang didaratan Eropa yang pada zamannya merupakan idealisme pembentukan dari rasa ketidakpuasan lapisan masyarakat Eropa pada sendi-sendi kehidupan, Tumbuh dan berkembangnya Paham-paham baru seperti nasionalisme, liberalisme, sosialisme dan demokrasi yang menyebar ke seluruh dunia menjadikan bahan dasar bangkit dan tumbuhnya Pergerakan Nasional Indonesia.  Selain adanya pengaruh Paham-paham baru,  pergerakan   nasional   Indonesia juga  dipengaruhi   oleh  adanya  pergerakan kebangsaan yang terjadi di daratan Asia dan Afrika, Imperialisme bangsa barat menyebabkan bangsa-bangsa di Asia-Afrika kehilangan kemerdekaan politik, selain itu bangsa-bangsa Asia-Afrika juga mengalami penderitaan dibidang sosial-ekonomi dan kebudayaan. Nasionalisme bangsa   Asia-Afrika bukan hanya mau mengejar kemerdekaan nasional melainkan juga mempunyai sifat-sifat lain sehingga memiliki beberapa aspek penting.Pergerakan Nasional Indonesia merupakan sebuh refleksi dari rasa tertindas karena penjajahan yang dialaminya, perkembangan Pergerakan Nasional Indonesia merupakan proses perlawanan yang dilakukan oleh bangsa Indonesia karena adanya dari faktor-faktor pendorong yang datangnya dari dalam negeri maupun faktor dari luar serta adanya pemahaman dari sekian pembentukan paham-paham baru serta pergerakan nasional yang tumbuh di Asia dan Afrika.</p><p>Kata kunci: Paham Nasionalisme dan Pergerakan Kebangsaan di Indonesia</p>

Kolumbus transnational: Verflochtene Geschichtskulturen und europäische Medienlandschaften im Kontext des 400. Jubiläums der Entdeckung Amerikas 1892

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-447
Author(s):  
Clara Frysztacka ◽  
Klaus Herborn ◽  
Martina Palli ◽  
Tobias Scheidt
Keyword(s):  
National Identities ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
European Regions ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Press ◽  
Historical Truth

Columbus in Transnational Perspective: Entangled Historical Cultures and European Media Landscapes in the Context of the 400th Anniversary of the Discovery of America (1892) While in historical research there is a general call for transnational history, the transnational level of historical cultures often remains under-represented. The latter has for long focused on the development of single national narratives when dealing with historical cultures. This is especially true for late nineteenth-century Europe, when the continent can be seen at the height of national divide and imperial ambition. Consequently, its historiographies are perceived to play a major role in the construction of separate national identities. By contrast, this article utilises the celebrations around the quartercentenary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas as a case study to analyse how forms of approaching, interpreting and transmitting history in different European contexts were deeply entangled. The study is based on illustrated newspapers and popular periodicals from five European regions, which provided access to textual and visual material for mass audiences to an unprecedented extent. The analysis of articles covering the anniversary unveils regional, national, transnational and pan-European patterns of historical sense-making. These affect historical narratives as well as the ways in which the press illustrated the past, produced historical truth, and created identification with the historical personage. Columbus and his deeds became symbols of modernism and embodiments of European superiority that were open for adaptation into different contexts. Therefore, historical cultures in Europe have to be characterised as both permeable and multi-dimensionally entangled.

scholarly journals The State of Women and Women’s Education at the Beginning of Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1651)

IZUMI ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-130
Author(s):  
Riza Afita Surya ◽  
Teresa Angelina Kaluge
Keyword(s):  
Women's Education ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
The Past ◽  
Tokugawa Period ◽  
Historical Writings ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Historical Methods

This study attempted to draw a more critical analysis of women and their education at the beginning of the Tokugawa period. Tokugawa, or the Edo period in Japan, was a warrior society. It is one of the most studied fields for many scholars as it highlighted the feature of Japanese culture until today. In Japan, women’s studies began in the 1970s, which is considered late than Western. Recently, there is still limited research regarding women’s education activities being conducted under the Tokugawa shogunate. This study engaged historical methods, namely heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. At the beginning of the Tokugawa era, women’s education was varied based on social status and families’ occupation. The gap of education between men and women and noblewomen and commoners is a mystifying matter as some historical accounts address the contrary facts. Many historical writings indicate that women at the beginning of the Tokugawa period experienced great repression and hierarchical subjugation. However, several accounts addressing the role of women during Tokugawa were relatively better as women received fitted and suitable education during the period. Therefore, it is necessary to identify Tokugawa’s social and political context more closely than making the judgment based on how it used to be since many classical historiographies in the past solely focus on the ruling class. Finally, the time needed for education equality toward women in Japan indicating that education was important for the whole population that would need to be given to all.

scholarly journals From madness to mental illness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Syndrome ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Treatment Approaches ◽  
Typical Symptom ◽  
The Past ◽  
Diagnostic Approaches ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Symptom Progression ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Over Time

Reports of psychotic episodes characterized by irrational, unintelligible behaviours and hallucinations are frequent throughout historical narratives. Appropriately contextualized, some of these descriptions appear to resemble the paranoid, and catatonic characteristics of schizophrenia, respectively, yet holistic accounts of schizophrenia-like syndromes rarely exist prior to the 19th century.1 Despite evolving diagnostic criteria and treatment approaches, and more than 100 years since the demarcation of schizophrenia by Eugen Bleuler in 1908, the etiology, neuropathology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia remain elusive.2-4 No biological markers possess the sensitivity and specificity expected of a diagnostic test, and schizophrenia persists conceptually as a broad clinical syndrome characterized by a range of subjective symptoms with varying patterns of course.5-8 This heterogeneity coupled with a lack of coherence between clinical and preclinical evidence have fueled speculation about the validity of current conceptualizations of the illness.9-12 Nevertheless, patients exhibit typical symptom progression over time, appear to respond favourably to particular treatment approaches, and despite inconsistencies in diagnostic classification, alternative proposals do not offer improvements in any of these categories.13,14 Undoubtedly, further parsing of schizophrenia and related disorders will be necessary to advance future treatment and diagnostic approaches. In this review, we briefly outline the origins of schizophrenia as it is conceptualized contemporarily by linking ancient medical descriptions with modern clinical perspectives, and discuss why historical accounts of schizophrenia may not accurately reflect its prevalence in the past.

scholarly journals Blinkered Learning, Blinkered Theory: How Histories in Textbooks Parochialize IR

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 957-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brieg Powel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Grand Narrative ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The Past

Abstract Calls for a more “global” international relations (IR) based on theories grounded in world rather than Western histories have highlighted the Eurocentrism of history within the discipline. Global IR literature, however, neglects the role of tempocentrism in fostering that Eurocentrism. Tempocentric IR portrays the past as an extrapolation of the (Eurocentric) present, suggesting an inevitability and normality to Western dominance of international relations and obscuring non-Western significance. It also deprives IR theory-building of a broader pool of examples to inform existing theories. This article locates those centrisms in the textbooks of the discipline, while drawing on interdisciplinary research to reveal the disproportionate influence of the first years of higher education on students’ future worldviews. It is here that students are exposed to a historical grand narrative that establishes the boundaries of their inquiries and outlines what is, and what is not, significant. For a more “global” IR, therefore, it is suggested that textbook historical narratives require reconstructing in two ways. First, textbook history should be presented through connections and relations rather than substances. Second, historical chapters should reveal the multiple layers of time, including the deeper past, that have been instrumental in constituting the international relations of today.

scholarly journals Contesting the Past: Narratives of Trinidad & Tobago history

2008 ◽  
Vol 81 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 169-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Brereton
Keyword(s):  
Trinidad And Tobago ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Public History ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
The Past

Discusses the national narratives developed historically in Trinidad and Tobago. Author describes how the past has been interpreted differently, for different purposes, and by different ethnic groups. She first pays attention to 2 hegemonic historical narratives during the colonial era: the British imperial historical narrative and the French Creole one, associated with political and/or planter elites. Next, she discusses how since the mid-20th c. the anticolonial, nationalist movement responded to this, including academics, resulting in the Eric Williams-led Afro-Creole narrative, dominant in the decades since the 1961 independence, connecting Trinidad as a nation with African-descended Creoles. Further, she highlights challenges to the dominant Afro-Creole narrative, mainly since the 1970s, emerging partly in the domain of "public history", and mostly ethnicity-based. She discusses the politics of (Amerindian) indigeneity in Trinidad, the Tobago narrative, related to its distinct history, the Afrocentric narrative, and the Indocentric narrative, the latter including a more recent extreme Hinducentric narrative. Author points out that the Afro-Creole master narrative, and subsequent (ethnic) counternarratives eclipsed (at least academically) increasing class-based, or gendered historical narratives.

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