scholarly journals Imagining Ro: On the social life of islets and the politics of islandography

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Hadjimichael ◽  
Costas M. Constantinou ◽  
Marinos Papaioakeim

This article engages the challenge of island history as caught in between national historiography and local life stories. It focuses on Ro, a Greek islet bordering Turkey that has been imagined and idealized as a space of national resistance and resilience. The article unpacks the grand national narrative that has been developed with regard to the heroic life story of a solitary woman living on the island. It utilizes local counter-narratives as well as the life stories of other solitary individuals who have periodically lived on the island. To that extent, the article aims, on the one hand, to sensitize as to the politics of islandography and, on the other, to highlight the importance of social history in challenging hegemonic or colonial narratives as well as reimagining island space.

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL MERCHANT

AbstractThis paper is concerned with the use of interviews with scientists by members of two disciplinary communities: oral historians and historians of science. It examines the disparity between the way in which historians of science approach autobiographies and biographies of scientists on the one hand, and the way in which they approach interviews with scientists on the other. It also examines the tension in the work of oral historians between a long-standing ambition to record forms of past experience and more recent concerns with narrative and personal ‘composure’. Drawing on extended life story interviews with scientists, recorded by National Life Stories at the British Library between 2011 and 2016, it points to two ways in which the communities might learn from each other. First, engagement with certain theoretical innovations in the discipline of oral history from the 1980s might encourage historians of science to extend their already well-developed critical analysis of written autobiography and biography to interviews with scientists. Second, the keen interest of historians of science in using interviews to reconstruct details of past events and experience might encourage oral historians to continue to value this use of oral history even after their theoretical turn.


2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Vojin Nedeljković

The author examines the scope and interrelation of two traditional notions concerning non-literary Latin: sermo uulgaris, or plebeius, and sermo familiaris, or cotidianus. While these are really disparate terms, the one designating a sociolect and the other a language register, the author maintains that the old confusion between Colloquial and Vulgar Latin is not merely due to flawed reasoning within an insufficient model of linguistic variation, but rather reflects a fundamental development that took place in the social history of Latin.


2017 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-183
Author(s):  
Roberta M. Styran ◽  
Robert R. Taylor

The technological history of the building of the Welland ship canal (1913-1932) is well recorded with photographs, documents, maps and plans in various archives. On the other hand, the social history of this saga is harder for the reader to discover because the engineers, contractors, and labourers have left little trace of their experiences “on the ground.” Fortunately, a diary kept by the engineer in charge, Alexander J. Grant, has come to life. Covering the longest period of construction, it chronicles the day-to-day problems of a hard-working, intelligent professional -- but also offers glimpses into the emotional and social life of the man. It will be a valuable source for a future biographer of this remarkable engineer.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
Silvano Calvetto

The social research performed by Danilo Montaldi (1929-1975) represented an interpretation of great interest in understanding the transformations of neo-capitalism between the 1950’s and 1960’s. In the ambit of a very critical militancy towards the traditional forms of political participation, his attention to subordinates is marked, in our view, by a significant pedagogical aspect. On the one hand, in fact, he focuses on the political and social processes through which subordinate subjectivity is formed, with particular regard to the role played by the institutions, while on the other hand, he examines strategies with regard to his own emancipation from that condition of oppression, based on the idea of education intended as liberation. Where the educational commitment and political commitment merge in the same project of reconstruction of society, looking beyond the drifts of neocapitalism in view of a world capable of recognizing the rights of all respecting each other’s differences. This, as has been observed by several commentators, seems to be the most significant legacy of Danilo Montaldi’s intellectual commitment.


Author(s):  
Ю.Ю. Александрова ◽  
И.В. Кохова ◽  
Н.С. Пряжников ◽  
Е.Ю. Пряжникова

В статье обосновывается статус «сослагательного проектирования» как перспективного метода психолого-педагогической и профориентационной работы со школьниками и студентами, в основе которого — стремление рассмотреть возможные варианты развития страны, ее регионов и городов, а также конкретных профессий, с учетом готовности молодежи реализовать себя в этих профессиях на благо общества и в соответствии со своими собственными интересами. Кроме того, анализируются проблемы и риски, возможные в процессе практического использования метода «сослагательного проектирования», в частности риски персонификации и чрезмерного «раздувания» реально существующих в обществе и экономике проблем, что провоцирует нежелательную критику власти и даже экстремистские настроения. В качестве противодействия этим рискам предлагается направлять творческую энергию школьников и студентов в конструктивное русло, нацеливая их на поиск путей делового сотрудничества с теми, кто реально обладает властью и другими возможностями, но пока недостаточно использует их для развития страны. При этом эмоциональная включенность участников в обсуждение перспектив развития страны должна рассматриваться как показатель сопричастности, неравнодушия к процессам трансформации России, что соотносимо и с профессиональной, и с гражданской идентичностью. В статье также приводятся примеры использования конкретных профориентационных методик в контексте общего метода «сослагательного проектирования». Опыт использования таких методик показывает, что, с одной стороны, школьники и студенты готовы с интересом обсуждать перспективы развития страны, ее отраслей экономики, конкретных профессий и собственной жизни, но с другой — далеко не все из них делают это осознанно, а большинство вообще не утруждает себя размышлениями о возможных изменениях в технологиях и социальной жизни общества, ориентируясь лишь на реалии сегодняшнего дня. The article substantiates the status of “subjunctive design” as a promising method of psychological- educational, and professional orientation work with schoolboys and students, based on the idea of considering possible options for the development of the country, its regions and cities, as well as — specific professions and their willingness to realize themselves in these professions for the benefit of society and by their interests. Risks and possible problems in the development and practical use of the ”subjunctive design” method are analyzed, in particular the risks of excessive fantasization and personification of real problems in society and economy, which could provoke undesirable criticism of the authorities and even extremist sentiments, including the search for ways of business cooperation with those who have power and other opportunities, but so far, do not use them enough for the development of the country. On the one hand, that schoolchildren and students are ready to discuss with interest the prospects of the country’s development, its branches of the economy, specific professions and their prospects. However, on the other hand, not all of them are ready to do it reasonably, and most of them are not ready to think about possible changes in technology and the social life of society, focusing only on the realities of today.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 127-153
Author(s):  
Maria Łuszczyńska

The issue of the elderly people’s rights has been discussed more and more often in the broader context of human rights. There is much evidence from social life that these rights are not being respected to the extent they should be. Securing and respecting the rights of older the elderly is becoming a challenge for state authorities that uphold human rights and create the directions of social policy for the rights protection. It is especially important as the elderly people due to their age, health status, weakened social position, rarely become advocates of their own interests. They are victims of an unobvious and often invisible process of marginalization and self-exclusion from an active social life. The aim of this article is to sketch the phenomenon of the marginalization of the elderly in the context of mechanisms related to their functioning on the one hand, and age, and on the other to social attitudes towards seniors. There are presented the elderly people’s rights and basic conditions for the rights to be respected..


1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lomax ◽  
N. Casey

The degree to which researcher generated visual records (for example video texts) may be used to collect valid information about the social world is subject to considerable academic debate (cf. Feld and Williams, 1975; Gottdiener, 1979 and Grimshaw, 1982). On the one hand the method is assumed, by implication, to have limited impact on the data, the taped image being treated as a replica of the unrecorded event (Vihman and Greenlee, 1987; Vuchinich, 1986). On the other, it is suggested that the video camera has a uniquely distorting effect on the researched phenomenon (Gottdiener, 1979: p. 61; Heider, 1976: p. 49). Research participants, it is argued, demonstrate a reactive effect to the video process such that data is meaningful only if special precautions are taken to validate it. Strategies suggested include a covert approach to the data collection itself (cf. Eibl-Eibesfeldt and Haass, 1974; Gottdiener, 1979; Albrecht, 1985) or the application of triangulative techniques such as respondent validation (Gottdiener, 1979; Albrecht, 1985 and Arborelius and Timpka, 1990). In this paper we suggest that both these views are problematic. The insistence of one on marginalising the role of the research process and the other on attempting to separate the process from the research data is at the expense of exploring the degree to which the process helps socially and interactionally produce the data. As we demonstrate, the activity of data collection is constitutive of the very interaction which is then subsequently available for investigation. A reflexive analysis of this relationship is therefore essential. Video generated data is an ideal resource in as far as it can provide a faithful record of the process as an aspect of the naturally occurring interaction which comprises the research topic.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 1071-1094
Author(s):  
Tiiu Jaago

The theme of this article is how Estonians have described political changes in their autobiographical narratives. The discussion is based on the observation that the establishment of Soviet rule in Estonia in the 1940s is construed in the studies of life stories, on the one hand, as a discontinuity of ‘normal life’, and on the other hand, as continuity. It is remarkable that irrespective of the demarcation of state borders by political decisions, Estonian territory is still perceived as a single and eternal whole. To what extent is the perception of discontinuity or continuity related to experiencing political change and to what extent is it related to the method of narration, and to what extent does it depend on the choices made by the researcher? An analysis of the three life histories discussed in the article indicates that experiencing discontinuity or continuity in a specific historical context does not coincide with its depiction in life histories. The texts reflect both the diversity of narrative methods (coherent representation of different layers of recollections, the comparison and contrast of different situations, etc.), and the context of narratives – for example the interviewer’s effect on discussing a topic or the relation of a story to publicly discussed topics. Recollections are characterised by variability, however this may not become evident as studies focus on certain aspects of the narrative or interrelations of the topic and public discourses. The polysemic and ambivalent nature of the ‘border’ unfolds through the entangled interplay of territorial, political and cultural borders, their narrative articulation in life story telling as well as researchers’ choices.


2016 ◽  
Vol 104 ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
Tomasz Barankiewicz

ON THE EXPLANATORY POSSIBILITIES OF CULTURAL APPROACH TO SYSTEMIC CHARACTER OF LAWThe article discusses the issue of cultural understanding of the law. Generally in this study we describe the condition of society of the period of late modernity. First of all, we assume that, on the one hand, law is a certain system of norms founded traditionally according to the principle of non-contradiction, whereas on the other hand, the constituted law cannot be isolated from other regulators of social life. The law is a complex phenomenon and can be analyzed at many levels. However, using the social and cultural argument, the principle of non-contradiction refers to the whole axiological and normative system of a given culture. The cultural approach applied here points to both the diversity as well as the unity of cultural patterns and rules in social life.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Ahmad Kholil

Sociologically, religion has a double function. On the one hand, religion can be a factor of social cohesion and harmony creation, but on the other hand it can also be a factor religious disharmony between people of different religions. This paper examines the views of  Fethullah Gülen on the social function of  religion that is based on love and peace. Differences of religion, according to him, is a consequence of the choice of each human being in order to establish the absolute truth based on how they believe. Therefore, differences in religion is not something scar y or even harmful for social life, as long as people are able to live in the light of love and peace.


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