scholarly journals The Narrative Reproduction of Contemporary Montenegrin Identity in The Process of Euroatlantic Intergrations (Part II)

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 519
Author(s):  
Branko Banović

If we conceptualize reality as a large narrative we “build ourselves into” as social beings, and consider social activities and identities as narratively mediated, the full extent of the capacity of narratives in the creation, shaping, transmission and reconstruction of contemporary social identities, as well as the reproduction of the concept of nation in everyday life becomes apparent. The imagined Euro- Atlantic future of Montenegro demands certain narrative interpretations of the past, which, in latter stages tend to become meta-narratives susceptible to consensus. The linkage of significant historical events to the process of Euro-Atlantic integrations of Montenegro is preformed through different meta-discursive practices, most often through ceremonial evocations of memories of significant events from the recent as well as further history of Montenegro. In this context, celebrations of Statehood Day and Independence Day are especially important, as they serve as reminders of the decisions of the Congress of Berlin, the Podgorica Assembly, the antifascist struggle of World War II and the independence of Montenegro attained through the referendum held in 2006. The clearly defined key points, along with the logical coherence the narrative is based on, provide the narrative with a certain “flexibility” which enables it to take in new elements. Narrative interpretations of the past have a significant role in the reproduction of the nation, as well as the shaping and consolidation of a desirable national identity, while the established narrative continuity between the past, present and imagined Euro-Atlantic future of Montenegro emerges as the “official” mediator in the reproduction of contemporary Montenegrin identity in the process of Euro-Atlantic integrations. In order to fully comprehend this narrative, it is advisable to conceptualize it both in a synchronic as well as a diachronic perspective, as can be shown in two charts which, depending on the context, I have tentatively named “the sovereignty graph” (wherein the “end” of the narrative is a prerequisite for the beginning of Euro-Atlantic integrations) and “the identity graph” (wherein Euro-Atlantic integrations are conceptualized as a dialectic equilibrium of independence and non-independence).

Author(s):  
Michaela Sibylová

The author has divided her article into two parts. The first part describes the status and research of aristocratic libraries in Slovakia. For a certain period of time, these libraries occupied an underappreciated place in the history of book culture in Slovakia. The socialist ideology of the ruling regime allowed their collections (with a few exceptions) to be merged with those of public libraries and archives. The author describes the events that affected these libraries during and particularly after the end of World War II and which had an adverse impact on the current disarrayed state and level of research. Over the past decades, there has been increased interest in the history of aristocratic libraries, as evidenced by multiple scientific conferences, exhibitions and publications. The second part of the article is devoted to a brief history of the best-known aristocratic libraries that were founded and operated in the territory of today’s Slovakia. From the times of humanism, there are the book collections of the Thurzó family and the Zay family, leading Austro-Hungarian noble families and the library of the bishop of Nitra, Zakariás Mossóczy. An example of a Baroque library is the Pálffy Library at Červený Kameň Castle. The Enlightenment period is represented by the Andrássy family libraries in the Betliar manor and the Apponyi family in Oponice. 


Urban History ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Simon Briercliffe

Abstract The recreation of urban historical space in museums is inevitably a complex, large-scale endeavour bridging the worlds of academic and public history. BCLM: Forging Ahead at the Black Country Living Museum is a £23m project recreating a typical Black Country town post-World War II. This article uses case-studies of three buildings – a Civic Restaurant, a record shop and a pub – to argue that urban-historical research methodology and community engagement can both create a vivid sense of the past, and challenge pervasive prejudices. It also argues that such a collaborative and public project reveals much about the urban and regional nature of industrial areas like the Black Country in this pivotal historical moment.


2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Hogenraad

McClelland has shown how passionate reformist zeal for social justice is often the link between an “imperial motivation pattern” (i.e., high need for power and low need for affiliation) and subsequent wars. If we could predict the outbreak of past conflicts from observing the gap between affiliation and power in stories and documents of the past, we could also analyze documents of the present and point at the gap as a signal of alert of future conflicts. With the help of the new computer-readable MOTIVE DICTIONARY, I content analyzed literary stories and real-life documents concerned with war and conflict. The dictionary rests on three axes, which are: the need for achievement, the need for affiliation, and the need for power. Examples of such narratives and documents are William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, Tolstoy's War and Peace, a 373-page document produced in Washington in 1944 under the title of Events Leading Up to World War II. Chronological History Of Certain Major International Events Leading Up To and During World War II with the Ostensible Reasons Advanced For Their Occurrence. 1931-1944, and Robert F. Kennedy's Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. With close to impeccable precision, the gap between affiliation and power widens as the conflicts develop, with power higher than affiliation, and narrows if and when serenity resumes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 171-196
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Nowak

From 1999 Polish and Romanian humanists face each other on conferences in Suceava (Romanian Bucovina) which are part of “Polish Days” in Romania organized by the Association of Poles in Romania. Polish and Romanian historians, ethnographers, sociologists, politologists and linguists deliver lectures and discuss Polish-Romanian contacts and relations in the past and present. from the Polish part many historical lectures concern the interwar period and the problem of Polish refugees in Romania during the World War II. In the period between1918–1945 the relations between Poles and Romanians were rather friendly and now these topics are discussed most frequently. Among the Romanian historians there are more specialists on the relations between Moldova and the Polish Kingdom till the end of 18th century. Many historians focus on the Polish-Romanian relations in the years 1945–1989. Most of the lectures concerning the political present were delivered by the Poles. Cultural sections of the conference concentrate on mutual language influences, Polish–Romanian literature contacts, translations of Polish literature into Romania and Romanian literature into Poland, the analyses of literary works, Polish studies in Romania and Romanian studies in Poland, the perception of Romanian culture among the Poles and vice versa, the problems of religions, education, libraries, music and tourism. Polish etnographers concentrate on the problems of Polish Bucovinians but the most discussed subject is not the history of Polish Bucovinians but their local dialect. Most of the conference lectures were printed. “Polish Days” in Suceava are the most important event organized by the very active Association of Poles in Romania and they help breaking the stereotypes and enhance the integration between the Poles and Romanians.. In general the conferences in Suceava do not have their equivalent in the contacts between humanists of other countries.


1984 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 380-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred S. McLaren

This paper examines the evolution of the arctic submarine and the ever-increasing scientific and commercial potential which have accompanied this evolution over the past 340 years. It is a sporadic history of arctic submarine ideas, concepts and actual experiences with vessels at sea. It happens to be a history that is largely American, with important additions as a result of the experiences of the Germans, Soviets and the British, particularly during World War II. Finally, it is a history in which five early visionaries in particular stand out: Bishop John Wilkins of England; Jules Verne of France; Professor Anschutz-Kampfe of Germany; the submarine designer Simon Lake, of the United States — whose influence extended over four decades until well into the twentieth century; and Sir Hubert Wilkins of Australia.


1978 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 351-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Vansina

One wonders what Fernand Braudel and the school of the Annales have done to become a kind of Trojan Horse for the wholesale condemnation of the historical value of oral tradition. Yet they are the banner raised by W.G. Clarence-Smith in a recent article in his journal to preach jihad against its historical value. Clarence-Smith claims that the historiographical revolution effected by Annales has resulted in the definitive exclusion of oral traditions from the halls of Clio. Oral traditions are at best ambiguous “signs” about the past and are very much of the present. They lack absolute chronology and they are selective, so away with them. If they be worthy of attention at all, let anthropologists and sociologists be concerned, save in a few rare instances where a historian wants to check on some European printed source. And even then, caveat emptor. Significantly, the article is not just the expression of the views of one person; rather it is symptomatic of much of the criticism which has been leveled at oral tradition, mostly by fasionable anthropologists. And it brings this criticism to its logical conclusion.But first a word about Braudel, the Annales, and oral tradition in general. The Annales School was founded by Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch before World War II. Fernand Braudel is its most distinguished exponent. His major theoretical pronouncements can be found in his Ecrits sur l'histoire, a collection of articles reprinted and published in 1969. This and his two major historical works should be read by those who want to know more about his views and ways of dealing with history. The basic tenets that members of the Annales School hold is that the history of events is but the spray of past developments; other time depths tell us more about the waves of the past. There is the time of the conjoncture, the trend, and the even longer time periods -- sometimes many centuries long -- the longue durée or long term. Successful history writing does not liminate the study of events, but analyzes them against the movement of these longer and deeper-running trends.


2004 ◽  
pp. 225-252
Author(s):  
Miodrag Nikolic

From 1804 and the liberation from the foreign rule, Serbia tried to build a state of the European type. These efforts are indicated by the creation of numerous institutions which include statistics, too. Statistics offers testimonies about states and societies, representing them to the domestic and world public. It does so by collecting data about the territory and population, economy and culture of a country. The collected data are processed and published. Thus the politicians, scientists, businessmen and broad public acquire insights useful for the implementation of their activities and for a better understanding of the environment in which they work. Even before The First Serbian Uprising there were state institutions in the territory of the then Serbia. For the needs of that administration certain counts were made. But it was the work of foreign empires. Only the statistics created for the needs of Serbia?s own Principality, later Kingdom belongs to the history of Serbian statehood. That is why the national uprising begun in 1804 marks its justified historical start, and World War II was a logical moment for the end of this review. Understanding the development of the statistic service requires at least two types of information. First, it is useful to bear in mind those factors of social development which imposed the need for statistics in Serbia. The second set of remarks is related to the fact that Serbia at the time took the example of the statistical services in the more developed part of the world. Remarks about the stimuli from these two sources given in this text are only a reminder of the obligation to carry out still unfinished essential studies of the past. There were statistic reaserches in Serbia even before the foundation of the statistics service. Everything done in this area before 1862 belongs to the pioneering attempts, to the preparatory period, to prehistory. However, precisely these first endeavours clearly reveal governmental reasons for which statistics was created. That is why the statistics endeavours even before the establishment of the state statistics service also deserve attention.


Author(s):  
Galina N. Kaninskaya ◽  
Natalya N. Naumova

The article is devoted to the participation of French pilots of the Normandy squadron in battles on the Soviet-German front as part of the Red Army in 1943-1945. After the defeat of France at the first stage of World War II (1940), the occupation of its territory by Germany and the organization of the Resistance movement “Fighting France” in London by General Charles de Gaulle, the pilots joined him expressed a burning desire to fight the enemy in the skies over Soviet soil. Their participation in the ranks of the Soviet Air Force was a unique event in the history of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union (1945-1945). The article analyzes the information of the Soviet press during the war years about the French squadron “Normandie-Niemen”, which fought in the Soviet Air Force on the Soviet-German front. It is shown that Soviet readers during the Great Patriotic War could get a very complete and reliable idea of the military exploits of French pilots, find out the names of heroes, get acquainted with the military everyday life of officers, appreciate their patriotism and sincere friendly feelings for the Soviet Union and its people. Along with stories about the air battles of the Normandy, the articles of Soviet correspondents contained information about the history of France, how the pilots reacted to the defeat of their country, how and where they fought in the first stage of the Second World War. The press of the war years gave brief sketches of the everyday life of French fighters on Soviet soil, about the curious events that happened to the pilots of the squadron. On the example of newspaper publications 1943-1945. about the military alliance of our and French pilots, you can get an idea of how the cooperation of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition developed and strengthened.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 205-249
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz S. Więch

From Mościska to Jugów. Testimonies of Józefa Wójcik and Maria Kocur, repatriates from the Eastern Polish BorderlandsThe history of the inhabitants of the former Polish Eastern Borderlands is an interesting research topic, especially when connected to everyday life issues. Oral testimonies are important historical sources which help explore the subject better. This paper presents transcriptions of two conversations with sisters Józefa Wójcik (born in 1930) and Maria Kocór  (born in 1928). Both of them were born and spent their prime years around Mościska near Lviv, and after World War II were re-settled to Jugów in Lower Silesia. The interviews were conducted in 2014 as part of a research project in the field of oral history entitled “Everyday life of inhabitants of the Owl Mountains in 1945-1970”.


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