Grist for the Mill: On Researching the History of Bulozi

1978 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 311-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwyn Prins
Keyword(s):  
Field Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
African History ◽  
Explanatory Theory ◽  
Rye Flour ◽  
History Of ◽  
Open Discussion ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
The Times

Since African history began to be produced in quantity one-and-a-half academic generations ago, there have rarely been shortages of new explanatory theory, though sometimes there has been paucity of data, more often of field than of archival materials. Usually there has been little open discussion of the kinds of methodological problems that both of the other circumstances pose. This contribution to that debate attempts to be deliberately simple, perhaps naive, in order to permit general points to peer through specific examples. It is about the intellectual, technical, and personal complications of field work generally and is illustrated from my own research on the last hundred years in Bulozi, the western part of Zambia. In topic as well as technique, I hope that these experiences have a wider relevance, for much attention is focused on the times of colonial impact.I have in the title purposely set limits on the discussion. I look at the grist being brought to the mill rather than at what is done with it after it has been ground, in the belief that if the quantity and nature of adulteration can be judged -- for no grain is entirely pure -- one may hope to compensate for it in the baking and so produce reasonable bread. Also, extending the analogy a little, I shall identify types of grain, for no amount of baker's skill can produce a wheat loaf from rye flour.

scholarly journals History, status quo and planned development of the hotel centre „Pastewnik” in Przeworsk

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-185
Author(s):  
Marta Urbańska
Keyword(s):  
Status Quo ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Historic Structures ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Architecture ◽  
The Times ◽  
Wooden Structures ◽  
The Town

The article regards the first initiative of its kind in Poland – i.e. the “Pastewnik” complex in Przeworsk in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship - its history, original plans, status quo, ideas of revitalisation. The complex was founded and partly completed by its spiritus movens, the then county architect Stanisław Żuk, in 1976. The enterprise, called “Przeworski Zamysł” (Przeworsk Concept) contains vernacular wooden structures from Przeworsk, itself a historic town which was located by the King Władysław Jagiełło, and from its vicinity (Gacie, Krzeczowice). The complex is situated at the former farm of the entail of Princes Lubomirski, near the princely residence itself. The transferred vernacular structures are an integral part of the camping facility. Archival descriptions by the architect testify to gigantic difficulties during the completion of the “skansen”, both in the times of the Polish People’s Republic and shortly after 1989. Nevertheless, the extant vernacular wooden structures underwent conservation and conversion (becoming hotel rooms and a renowned inn). Due to the deterioration of relics of wooden architecture in Przeworsk, the town authorities (represented by the then Vice-Mayor, Leszek Kisiel), started the cooperation with the Institute of History of Architecture and Preservation of Monuments, Cracow University of Technology. Its aims were surveys and measurements of the historic structures and studies of development of “Pastewnik”, elaborated by several teams of students within the framework of their summer internships, led by the authoress of this article. Concepts of revitalisation, additions and studies of site plan shall hopefully be implemented. The question of the future of the unusual complex is open – due, on one hand, to its exploitation and substandard of the camping, and on the other on the fact that the newly elected Mayor, dr Kisiel, has ambitious plans.

Eighteenth-Century Identified Copies of MāšāʾAllāh’s Kitāb Qiyām al-Ḫulafāʾ from Yemen: Text Edition and Contextualization

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 270-291
Author(s):  
Anne Regourd
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Field Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
Textual Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Personal Collection

Abstract A copy of the Kitāb Qiyām al-Ḫulafāʾ (Book on the reign of Rulers), identified in Ḏamār, Yemen, in 1993, is dated 8 Ǧumādā Awwal 1150 AH (= Sept. 1737 AD). Under the name of the famous Jewish astrologer MāšāʾAllāh, who practised at the early ʿAbbasid Court together with the Banū Nawbaḫt, this book displays the horoscopes of the Prophet Muhammad and of the caliphs up to Hārūn al-Rašīd. E.S. Kennedy & D. Pingree offered an English translation of the Kitāb Qiyām al-Ḫulafāʾ in The Astrological History of MāšāʾAllāh, Cambridge (MA), Harvard U. Press, 1971, Appendix 2, on the basis of “two late manuscripts”, one from Berlin, the other at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Since then, K. Yamamoto & Ch. Burnett have edited the text on the basis of three manuscripts, adding one from Bursa, and offered a revised English translation. Meanwhile, I came upon a second copy of the book in Ṣanʿāʾ. The copy preserved at the Waqf Library of Ḏamār belonged to the personal collection of a Yemeni cadi, who was a divinatory practitioner (munaǧǧim). At the intersection of textual studies and field work, this paper, following an introduction to the text, will concentrate on the circulation of the 1150/1737 manuscript and its potential uses.

African History at Makerere in the 1960s: A Further Perspective

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 479-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Bridges ◽  
Merrick Posnansky
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
African History ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Department ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The One ◽  
The University ◽  
Complete History

As two expatriate academics who taught at Makerere in the 1960s (RB 1960-64; MP 1964-67), we were naturally interested in the article, “Building an African Department of History at Makerere, 1950-1972” in HA 30(2003), 253-82. The story Carol Sicherman has to tell is an important one and she has produced a well-documented and forcefully delivered account. It is to be hoped that she will be able to bring out a complete history of Makerere, which is something that is badly needed. We do, however, have some reservations about the picture of the early 1960s that emerges.Our criticism of the impression given of what was happening at Makerere in the History Department in the early 1960s, before the arrival of J. B. Webster in 1968, is in two main respects. First, it may not be fair to judge everything in terms of how far an African syllabus taught by Africans had been established; the Department and the University might have had legitimate aims in addition to this. Second, even granting that moving towards an African syllabus was an aim in the 1960s—and we think it was—Sicherman tends to underestimate on the one hand the difficulties which then had to be overcome, and on the other the extent to which the aim was realized and the essential basis laid for Webster's work.

cepts, or sermoned at large, as they vse, then thus clowdily enwrapped in Allegoricall deuises. But such, me seeme, should be satisfide with the vse of these dayes, seeing all things accounted by their showes, and nothing esteemed of, that is not delightfull and pleasing to commune sence. For this cause is Xenophon preferred before Plato, for that the one in the exquisite depth of his iudgement, formed a Commune welth such as it should be, but the other in the person of Cyrus and the Persians fashioned a gouernement such as might best be: So much more profitable and gratious is doctrine by ensample, then by rule. So haue I laboured to doe in the person of Arthure: whome I conceiue after his long education by Timon, to whom he was by Merlin deliuered to be brought vp, so soone as he was borne of the Lady Igrayne, to haue seene in a dream or vision the Faery Queen, with whose excellent beauty rauished, he awaking resolued to seeke her out, and so being by Merlin armed, and by Timon throughly instructed, he went to seeke her forth in Faerye land. In that Faery Queene I meane glory in my generall intention, but in my particular I conceiue the most excellent and glorious person of our soueraine the Queene, and her kingdome in Faery land. And yet in some places els, I doe otherwise shadow her. For considering she beareth two persons, the one of a most royall Queene or Empresse, the other of a most vertuous and beautifull Lady, this latter part in some places I doe expresse in Belphœbe, fashioning her name according to your owne excellent conceipt of Cynthia, (Phœbe and Cynthia being both names of Diana.) So in the person of Prince Arthure I sette forth magnificence in particular, which vertue for that (according to Aristotle and the rest) it is the perfection of all the rest, and conteineth in it them all, therefore in the whole course I mention the deedes of Arthure applyable to that vertue, which I write of in that booke. But of the xii. other vertues, I make xii. other knights the patrones, for the more variety of the history: Of which these three bookes contayn three. The first of the knight of the Redcrosse, in whome I expresse Holynes: The seconde of Sir Guyon, in whome I sette forth Temperaunce: The third of Britomartis a Lady knight, in whome I picture Chastity. But because the beginning of the whole worke seemeth abrupte and as depending vpon other antecedents, it needs that ye know the occasion of these three knights seuerall aduentures. For the Methode of a Poet historical is not such, as of an Historiographer. For an Historiographer discourseth of affayres orderly as they were donne, accounting as well the times as the actions, but a Poet thrusteth into the middest, euen where it most concerneth him, and there recoursing to the thinges forepaste, and diuining of thinges to come,

2014 ◽  
pp. 738-738
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Times ◽  
The One

Biosocial aspects of Ainu hirsuteness

1969 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. Harvey ◽  
D. R. Brothwell
Keyword(s):  
Field Work ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Body Hair ◽  
Facial Hair ◽  
Controversial Subject ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Northern Japan

SummaryThere are as yet few studies of body hair variation in man. Of all human populations, the Ainu of Japan are most famous for their alleged hirsuteness, and the history of this somewhat controversial subject is reviewed. Data are presented on chest, back and facial hair pattern and quantity in a sample of Ainu and Ainu/Japanese hybrids, resulting initially from field work by the Cambridge Expedition to Northern Japan in 1964. Methodological problems are discussed. Social attitudes to hairiness in Japan over the past few centuries are commented on, in view of their possible relevance in maintaining the biological distinctiveness of the Ainu. It is concluded that although the Ainu have more body hair than other Japanese, compared with some other groups—for instance American ‘Whites’—they can not be considered exceptionally hirsute.

Afrika-Archiv: A New Series of the Frobenius Institute for the Purpose of Publishing Source Material

1997 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 437-439
Author(s):  
Beatrix Heintze
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Source Material ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
African History ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Written Sources

“[D]as Wirkungsvolle wird gepflegt, die Gewissenhaftigkeit schwindet; an Stelle der Fähigkeit zu bergründen, der Kraft zu überzeugen, tritt die Sicherheìt im Behaupten.”[T]hat what impresses is cultivated, conscientiousness dwindles; the capability to explain, the power to convince are replaced by self-confidence in asserting.There is nothing more absurd—yet also nothing more common—than a scholarly lifetime of publishing based on materials to which no one else has access.The series “Afrika Archiv” (“Africa Archives”) was founded recently with the aim of publishing source material referring to the history and anthropology of Africa. In this connection the term “source material” shall be considered in a very broad sense. Thus, beside the usual library and other written sources, as well as written records of oral traditions, for instance, even editions of ethnographic collections or photographic documentation will be taken into consideration. African scholars will be able to publish material from their own countries to which we Europeans and Americans have only difficult access. Western scholars, on the other hand, could publish sources from public and private European or American archives, museums, or even widely dispersed articles in periodicals and newspapers on African history of the nineteenth century which are available only with great difficulty and expenditure of time. As a reviewer once commented, such source editions will still continue to be valued when contemporary interpretations have already long fallen into oblivion.Endeavors to record systematically varied sources on the history of the continent, the cultural and scientific history of Africa, and to make the essentials generally available to the scientific public still appear inadequate.

A Historiography of German Togoland, or The Rise and Fall of a “Model Colony”

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 195-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Laumann
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
African History ◽  
African Continent ◽  
The West ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Historical Episode ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Town

The literature on German Togoland, as compared with that of most of the other former European colonies on the African continent, is far from extensive. While the colony was relatively small and short-lived, the dearth of academic work is notable, since Togoland not only was prized by the Germans as their most successful colonial venture but was also viewed as a “model colony” by contemporary observers in other European imperial nations.Only a handful of books devoted exclusively to the colony have been published since the emergence of African history in the late 1950s as an academic field in the West. The authors of these books, as well as a number of articles and dissertations, thoroughly consulted the relevant archival materials housed in Europe and North America and, to a lesser extent, in West Africa, but failed to collect the oral history of the period. Thus these studies tend to be based almost solely on the observations of Europeans and focus on the activities of the German imperialists, in particular on their administrative and economic policies. A few scholars have attempted to emphasize African experiences during this historical episode, despite a reliance on those same archival materials.The Togoland colony dates to February 1884, when a group of German soldiers kidnapped chiefs in Anécho, a town located in present-day southeastern Togo, and forced them into negotiations aboard the German warship Sophie. Further west, a protectorate was proclaimed over the Lomé area in a treaty signed in July by Gustav Nachtigal, a German Imperial Commissioner, and one Plakkoo, an official of the town of Togo, after which the new colony was named by the Germans.

scholarly journals The Story of the Torah from the Perspective of the Qur'an and History

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Seyyed Mohammad Razavi ◽  
Marziyeh Saemi
Keyword(s):  
Jewish People ◽  
The Other ◽  
Original Version ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

The history of the Bible implies that the Torah has been formed and distorted over time. The Qur'an also confirms this issue. The Holy Qur'an, in addition to introducing the Jews as the People of the Book, uses the word "Torah" eighteen times, "which is a collection of divine teachings bestowed on Prophet Moses." On the one hand, the Holy Qur'an acknowledges and affirms it, and on the other hand, it attributes distortion to this book and introduces the Torah as one of the books that has been distorted throughout history, however, the holy Qur’an considers the part of the Torah that has been preserved to contain the teachings of God and can be acknowledged in general, and considers it a means of guiding the Jewish people and advises them to refer to it. The collection of information in this writing is library-based and their processing is descriptive-analytical. This article seeks to prove the view that the current Torah, with its various versions, has been disappeared in the ups and downs of the times, and that what exists is a very blurred and inconsistent face of the original version, and the Holy Qur'an confirms this.

The Early History of Writing

Antiquity ◽  
1937 ◽  
Vol 11 (43) ◽  
pp. 261-277
Author(s):  
S. H. Hooke
Keyword(s):  
Early History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Path Tracing ◽  
History Of Writing ◽  
History Of ◽  
Greek Alphabet ◽  
The Times ◽  
Pastoral Staff ◽  
Main Entrance

On the 29th of June, 1910, at the consecration of Westminster Cathedral, a curious piece of ritual was performed called ‘The Ceremony of the Alphabet’, almost identical with a ceremony which had been witnessed by the London of a by-gone day at the dedication of Westminster Abbey in 1065. The Times of 29 June 1910 described the ceremony as follows:‘On the floor of the spacious nave, from the main entrance to the sanctuary, were painted in white two broad paths, which connected the corners diagonally opposite, and intersecting at the centre of the nave formed a huge figure x, or St. Andrew’s Cross. Where the lines converged was placed a faldstool ; and here the Archbishop, still in cope and mitre, knelt in prayer, while the choir continued to sing the ancient plainsong of the “ Sarum Antiphoner ” … Meanwhile attendants were engaged in strewing the nave with ashes. This meant the laying of small heaps of the ashes, about two yards apart, along the lines of the St. Andrew’s Cross. Beside each heap of ashes was placed a piece of cardboard containing a letter of the alphabet–the Greek on one line and the Latin on the other. The Archbishop then went towards the main entrance, attended by the deacon and sub-deacon, and preceded by the Crucifix carried between lighted candles. Starting first from the left-hand corner Dr Bourne advanced along one path of the St. Andrew’s Cross, tracing with the end of his pastoral staff the letters of the Greek alphabet on the heaps of ashes ; and returning again to the main entrance repeated the process on the other path, tracing this time on the heaps of ashes the letters of the Latin alphabet. This curious ceremony is variously interpreted as symbolizing the union of the Western and Eastern Churches, or the teaching of the rudiments of Christianity, and as a survival of the Roman augurs in laying their plans for the construction of a temple, or as the procedure of Roman surveyors in valuing land for fiscal purposes’.

Finlay's ‘History of the Insurrection in Crete’

1926 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 92-112
Author(s):  
William Miller
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Corrected Proof ◽  
Original Manuscript ◽  
Unpublished Letter ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times ◽  
Newspaper Articles

The following article, sent by Finlay to The Times on October 3, 1867, and corrected in proof and returned by him on September 5, 1868, was never published, but is preserved, like the similarly unpublished article on the same subject for Blackwood's Magazine, in both the corrected proof and a copy of the original manuscript in the Finlay Library. The longest of all his newspaper articles, it contains his view of the ‘great’ Cretan insurrection of 1866–69; and, together with his subsequent articles on the same subject published in The Times of December 18 and 25, 1868, January 8, 16 and 22, and February 5, 1869, may be regarded as a supplementary chapter of his History. As a contribution to the history of this insurrection, it may be compared with Ballot's Histoire de l'Insurrection Crétoise, Hilary Skinner's Roughing it in Crete in 1867, and The Cretan Insurrection of 1866–7–8 by Stillman, then U.S. Consul in Crete, and subsequently correspondent of The Times in Athens and Rome—all three eye-witnesses—and with such later works as Wagner's Der kretische Aufstand, 1866–67, and ῾Η διπλωματικὴ ῾Ιστιρία τη̑ς Κρητικη̑ς ᾿Επαναστάσεως του̑ 1866, by Papantonakes, published in 1926. Finlay paid two short visits to the island during the insurrection, one described in The Times of June 1, 1867, the other in an unpublished letter to that journal, dated June 11, 1868. I have added a few explanatory footnotes.

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