Why Litigation-Driven History Matters

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-53
Author(s):  
Keith A. Zahniser

Litigation drives extensive historical research but often allows only select observers to see the results. Historians have conducted untold studies for litigation that become “secret histories” because these histories are not published. An example is the historical use and regulation of the chemical trichloroethylene (TCE), a hazardous chemical at issue in much environmental litigation, but a topic virtually absent in the secondary literature. This practice seems to contravene accepted standards of open scholarship. Although not directly aligned with the traditional academic model of historical practice, however, historical research and writing for litigation achieve legitimate and important results without abandoning the discipline’s professional standards. History done by consultants for litigation is neither a history of compromised standards nor as “secret” as feared.

2021 ◽  
Vol 102 (s1) ◽  
pp. s1-s31
Author(s):  
M. Max Hamon

Linked to national crises, particularly the Resistances (previously called Rebellions) of 1869 and 1885, Riel is probably the most written about person in Canadian history. As a result, he has been presented and re-presented for different interests: Catholic martyr to Protestant violence, a French patriot crushed by English fanatics, a spiritual leader, a deranged lunatic, the father of a nation, and an Indigenous hero. This introduction reflects on the significance of Riel for Canadian historical research and writing over the hundred years of existence of the Canadian Historical Review (CHR). It argues that the CHR has been an important vehicle for the professionalization of historical practice in Canada, and Riel has played an important part in that process. This introductory essay provides context and a discussion of the shifting approaches and interpretations of Riel in the CHR, identifying four phases: Civilizing and un-Civilizing Riel; Americanizing and un-Americanizing Riel; Mystifying and De-Mystifying Riel; and Provincializing Canada. It concludes that the history of Louis Riel is entwined with the emergence of professional history in Canada.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Hicks

The history of Canadian parks systems, within the realm of environmental history, has been deeply affected by contemporary social, environmental, and political beliefs. The rhetoric of human domination over nature and the inherent separation of the two was entrenched throughout historical works on Canadian parks in the early to mid- twentieth century. The liberalization of history within the past forty years has served to shift this trend. The inclusion of scientific knowledge in historical research, the limitation of past prejudices and biases concerning nature and humanity, and the questioning of political policies affecting nature have aided in the growth of a body of historical research and interpretation that questions past perceptions of the natural. The historiographical exploration of parks history offers researchers an exciting opportunity to identify historical factors impacting the practice of environmental history while also discerning and encouraging future trends in environmental history. Using recent historical publications on Canadian parks history as examples, this paper seeks to both uncover the historical factors impacting past historical practice and acknowledge the major philosophical and practical shifts in historical practice that have fostered an exciting new body of work in environmental history. In questioning what it means to be human, what it means to be Canadian, and what the relationship between humanity and nature is and can be, increasingly nuanced historical work offers readers and historians new realms of exploration – both philosophically and practically.


Author(s):  
Vera V. Serdechnaia ◽  

The article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of literary romanticism. The research aims at a refinement of the “romanticism” concept in relation to the history of the literary process. The main research methods include conceptual analysis, textual analysis, comparative historical research. The author analyzes the semantic genesis of the term “romanticism”, various interpretations of the concept, compares the definitions of different periods and cultures. The main results of the study are as follows. The history of the term “romanticism” shows a change in a number of definitions for the same concept in relation to the same literary phenomena. By the end of the 20th century, realizing the existence of significant contradictions in the content of the term “romanticism”, researchers often come to abandon it. At the same time, the steady use of the term “romanticism” testifies to the subject-conceptual component that exists in it, which does not lose its relevance, but just needs a theoretical refinement. Conclusion: one have to revise an approach to romanticism as a theoretical concept, based on the change in the concept of an individual in Europe at the end of the 18th century. It is the newly discovered freedom of an individual predetermines the rethinking for the image of the author as a creator and determines the artistic features of literary romanticism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Thomas Mikhail

Abstract On the Use of Definitions in Pedagogy and Educational Science. A Historical Journey with Systematic Intent In the academic genre of pedagogy and educational science, definitions were used from the very beginning. The question is if it is possible to differentiate between types of definitions within the history of these sciences. To answer this question the paper revives two different types of traditional definitions in order to generate a typology of definition usage. The typology can be used as a heuristic instrument for further systematic and historical research.


NASPA Journal ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Herdlein

The scholarship of student affairs has neglected to carefully review its contextual past and, in the process, failed to fully integrate historical research into practice. The story of Thyrsa Wealtheow Amos and the history of the Dean of Women’s Program at the University of Pittsburgh,1919–41, helps us to reflect on the true reality of our work in higher education. Although seemingly a time in the distant past, Thyrsa Amos embodied the spirit of student personnel administration that shines ever so bright to thisd ay. The purpose of this research is to provide some of thatcontext and remind us of the values that serve as foundations of the profession.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Skreslet Hernandez

This introduction sets out the scope of the book’s argument and explains why Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī is such an interesting figure in the history of Islamic legal thought. It describes the reception of al-Suyūṭī’s work at home in Cairo and abroad as well as his lasting legacy. It outlines the analytical framework and the importance of interdisciplinary methods, including discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, anthropology, history, religious studies, and literary criticism to the argument of the book. An explanation of how al-Suyūṭī’s life can inform our understanding of the current situation in modern Egypt is followed by a review of the secondary literature and a full outline of each chapter.


1972 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. McManus

This study of Indian behavior in the fur trade is offered more as a report of a study in progress than a completed piece of historical research. In fact, the research has barely begun. But in spite of its unfinished state, the tentative results of the work I have done to this point may be of some interest as an illustration of the way in which the recent revival of analytical interest in institutions may be used to develop an approach to the economic history of the fur trade.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Dorota Dzierzbicka ◽  
Katarzyna Danys

ABSTRACT The paper presents and discusses a series of radiocarbon (14C) dates from a medieval Nubian monastery found on Kom H of Old Dongola, the capital of the kingdom of Makuria located in modern-day Sudan. The monastery was founded in the 6th–7th century AD and although it probably ceased to function in the 14th century, the site remained occupied until the beginning of the 15th century. The investigated courtyard of the monastery was in use from the 11th to the 14th century, as indicated by the ceramics and 14C analysis results presented here. The dates under consideration are the first published series of 14C dates from this site, which is of crucial importance for historical research on medieval Nubian Christianity and monasticism. They permit to begin building an absolute chronological framework for research on the archaeological finds from the site and region. A group of finds in particular need of such a framework are ceramics, and the implications of the 14C dates for pottery assemblages found in the dated contexts are discussed. The conclusions summarize the significance of the datings for the history of the site.


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