scholarly journals Counterfactuality as a Polyphonic Assemblage. Entangled Human and Nonhuman Stories of Early Modern Sciences in Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-121
Author(s):  
Mateusz Chaberski
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Multispecies Ethnography ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Neal Stephenson ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ways Of Being ◽  
Point Of Departure

Summary In recent science-fiction literature, we can witness a proliferation of new counterfactual narratives which take the 17th century as their point of departure. Unlike steampunk narratives, however, their aim is not to criticise the socio-political effects caused by contemporary technological development. Such authors as Neal Stephenson or Ian Tregillis, among others, are interested in revisiting the model of development in Western societies, routing around the logic of progress. Moreover, they demonstrate that modernity is but an effect of manifold contingent and indeterminate encounters of humans and nonhumans and their distinct temporalities. Even the slightest modification of their ways of being could have changed Western societies and cultures. Thus, they necessitate a rather non-anthropocentric model of counterfactuality which is not tantamount to the traditional alternative histories which depart from official narratives of the past. By drawing on contemporary multispecies ethnography, I put forward a new understanding of counter-factuality which aims to reveal multiple entangled human and nonhuman stories already embedded in the seemingly unified history of the West. In this context, the concept of “polyphonic assemblage” (Lowenhaupt-Tsing) is employed to conceptualize the contingent and open-ended encounters of human and nonhuman historical actors which cut across different discourses and practices. I analyse Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle to show the entangled stories of humans and nonhumans in 17th century sciences, hardly present in traditional historiographies. In particular, Stephenson’s depiction of quicksilver and coffeehouse as nonhuman historical actors is scrutinized to show their vital role in the production of knowledge at the dawn of modernity.

The development of biomedical gerontology in Ukraine – a historical priority

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2b) ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
I. Stambler ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discipline ◽  
National Development ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
International Growth ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Further Development

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, it is important to remember the historical achievements of Ukrainian science, to honor the heroes of the science of the past and to draw inspiration from their achievements for the development of science of the future. In this regard, the history of medicine, as a special academic discipline, plays a vital role an important academic and civic role, as it helps to trace the medical scientific achievements of the past and draw conclusions about their strengths and priorities for future national and international growth and development. Analyzing the scientific strengths and priorities of science and medicine in Ukraine, it is safe to say that biomedical gerontology is one of the most important scientific and historical values and priorities of Ukraine on a global scale. There are good reasons to continue and develop this tradition, building on the strengths that exist, drawing inspiration from the past and looking to the future. Currently, the development of biomedical gerontology is becoming increasingly important for Ukraine, given the rapid aging of the country's population. The resulting economic and social problems are related to the aging population, which puts biomedical gerontology as a discipline that seeks solutions to achieve healthy and productive longevity, at the forefront of social significance, demanding further development and support of this field for the sake of internal national stability, and to preserve the country's international contribution. It is hoped that the outstanding history of biomedical gerontology in Ukraine, its honorable historical place in national development and international cooperation, will inspire further growing support and development of this field in Ukraine and abroad.

American diplomatic history and international thought: a constitutional perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C Hendrickson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Diplomatic History ◽  
American Founding ◽  
History Of ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
International Thought

This essay offers a constitutional perspective on the American encounter with the problem of international order. Its point of departure is the American Founding, a subject often invisible in both the history of international thought and contemporary International Relations theory. Although usually considered as an incident within the domestic politics of the United States, the Founding displays many key ideas that have subsequently played a vital role in both international political thought and IR theory. The purpose of this essay is to explore these ideas and to take account of their passage through time, up to and including the present day. Those ideas shine a light not only on how we organize our scholarly enterprises but also on the contemporary direction of US foreign policy and the larger question of world order.

A Hint of Things to Come …

2019 ◽  
pp. 12-36
Author(s):  
Charles R. Cobb
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Historical Anthropology ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Landscape Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
Landscape Transformations ◽  
Point Of Departure

This chapter provides an overview of landscape studies in archaeology, particularly as practiced in the southeastern United States. There is an extended discussion justifying historical anthropology as an important point of departure for this study, in particular because of its usefulness for exploring processes of colonialism. The chapter provides summaries of the major Native American groups and European powers that appear in the remainder of the volume. Generally speaking, the three major European players, or the Spanish, English, and French had different goals and methods of colonization. These methods cumulatively spurred a highly ramified history of landscape transformations for Native Americans. The chapter’s approach resonates well with post-colonial approaches that attempt to decolonize the past by removing Europeans as the primary lens by which we view the actions of Indigenous peoples. Working under rubrics such as “Native-lived colonialism” and “decolonizing the past,” archaeologists increasingly are seeking to integrate European texts, the archaeological record, oral histories, and the perspectives of Native peoples to try and achieve a plural perspective on past lifeways.

scholarly journals Two crossbows and a carbine: Out of the commentary on A.N. and B.N. Strugatsky’s novel “Hard to be a God”

2020 ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
Irina N. Arzamastseva ◽  
Alexander V. Kuznetsov
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sea Monster ◽  
Intertextual Connections

The article is devoted to the study of the functions of the characters’ weapons in A.N. and B.N. Strugatsky’s novel “Hard to be a God”. It is important for writing a commentary on the prologue of the novel. The authors used the historical-typological and mythopoetic research methods. As the result of reviewing the history of words-concepts, as it made by A.N. Veselovsky, the authors managed to study the intertextual connections of “Hard to be a God” with V.T. Shalamov’s poem “Crossbow” and his story “May”, as well as N.S. Gumilev’s poem “Just looks through the cliffs...” and E. Hemingway’s play “The fifth column”. Through these connections, the image of weapons is formed in the work of science fiction writers. It is necessary to destruct the mythological enemy – the sea monster, which symbolizes the social evil within the novel framework. As we have found out, the reason for such an intricate symbolism lies in the peculiarities of the age: the image of the sea monster standing for public evil is due to historical reasons. And since the elimination of social problems by such radical methods, according to the authors, is impossible, the movement towards a bright future should be only gradual and peaceful. As in reality, weapons are fundamentally unable to perform their task. Moreover, the weapon is dangerous for its owner, which indicates the ambivalence of the image. In addition, the comparison, important for the novel “Hard to be God”, of the past and future appears the first in the comparison of crossbows and carbines, further developing by other means. Weapons are involved in creating a number of important motives: doom, the danger of using force, and interference in the course of history.

The British Committee and International Society: History and Theory

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brunello Vigezzi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
International Society ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
English School ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Moment ◽  
British Committee ◽  
Point Of Departure

The British Committee on the Theory of International Politics is generally considered the original core of the “English School.” Equally often, scholars have identified as one of its characteristic elements the importance it attributed to “international society” as a force aimed at enlivening and regulating, as far as possible, power relations between states. The attention it paid to international society is also seen as consistent with the importance the authors of the British Committee attributed to “history” and in particular to the “history of international society” as a means to understand and reconstruct international life in the past and the present. However, the internal history of the British Committee is all too often neglected. Studies concerned with the orientations of the English School have mainly sought to analyze the thinking of this or that author without considering the work of the British Committee as a whole. In other words, scholars have tended to pay little attention to the moment when the British Committee began to examine “international society” and the manner in which it did so. In particular, the achievement of the British Committee discussions during 1961–1962 was important, and it was the beginning of a development of great interest. The various texts, the debates, do not limit themselves to a sort of rich and varied list of the component parts of an “international society.” Instead, they paint an overall picture, and they guarantee an interconnection between the reflections of the individuals and the overall orientation of the Committee. Moreover, they are the critical point of departure for the future development of theory.

Who Really Shaped American Science Fiction?

Prospects ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 45-72
Author(s):  
Eric S. Rabkin ◽  
James B. Mitchell ◽  
Carl P. Simon
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Letters To The Editor ◽  
The Past ◽  
American Science ◽  
History Of

Treating science fiction, critics have taught us to understand that the field shrugged itself out of the swamp of its pulp origins in two great evolutionary metamorphoses, each associated with a uniquely visionary magazine editor: Hugo Gernsback and John W. Campbell Jr. Paul Carter, to cite one critic among many, makes a case that Hugo Gernsback's magazines were the first to suggest thatscience fiction was not only legitimate extrapolation… [but] might even become a positive incentive to discovery, inspiring some engineer or inventor to develop in the laboratory an idea he had first read about in one of the stories. (5)Another, critic and author Isaac Asimov, argues that science fiction's fabledGolden Age began in 1938, when John Campbell became editor of Astounding Stories and remolded it, and the whole field, into something closer to his heart's desire. During the Golden Age, he and the magazine he edited so dominated science fiction that to read Astounding was to know the field entire. (Before the Golden Age, xii)Critics arrive at such understandings not only by surveying the field but also — perhaps more importantly — by studying, accepting, modifying, or even occasionally rejecting the work of other critics. This indirect and many-voiced conversation is usually seen as a self-correcting process, an informal yet public peer review. Such interested scrutiny has driven science fiction (SF) criticism to evolve from the letters to the editor and editorials and mimeographed essays of the past to the nuanced literary history of today, just as, this literary history states, those firm-minded editors helped SF literature evolve from the primordial fictions of Edgar Rice Burroughs into the sophisticated constructs of William S. Burroughs.

Back to the future – a journey from current education reforms to reformations in the past

2020 ◽  
pp. 275-288
Author(s):  
Yvette Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Education Reforms ◽  
The Past ◽  
Causal Connections ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
19Th And 20Th Century ◽  
The University ◽  
Point Of Departure

Learning from history does not automatically mean that history prevents us from repeating mistakes. We cannot see what happens in the future, even with the most profound knowledge of the past. Although it is not possible to make such causal connections, the study of structural components, which recur and make up patterns, can certainly contribute to sharpening political judgement. How can the teaching of the history of mathematics education then help to support an understanding of possible courses of individual actions without indoctrination through the political or even ideologically influenced production of time references? The paper presents the concept of a lecture course in mathematics education, held at the University of Mainz. We take as a point of departure the everyday experience of our prospective mathematics teacher with various current education reforms and present seemingly similar processes during former reforms. Here we limit ourselves to reforms during the 19th and 20th century.

Big Business in African Studies

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Social Consequences ◽  
The Past ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Quality Of Research ◽  
Source Materials

This article surveys research into the business history of Africa completed during the past decade, taking as a point of departure the author's previous essays, ‘Imperial business in Africa’, in this Journal (XVII, (1976), 29–48 and 291–305), and using as a point of reference the published proceedings of two conferences held in Paris and London in 1981 and 1983. It is apparent that knowledge of indigenous and expatriate business in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has expanded considerably during the past ten years, and also that the studies produced by specialists on Africa have particular strengths: they remain integrated with other branches of history; they have illuminated the relationship between business enterprise and official policy; and they have been concerned to explore the wider social consequences of business activities and to relate historical research to current development issues. The literature reveals some characteristic weaknesses too, quite apart from limitations of source materials: the market for knowledge remains imperfect, and specialists often fail to incorporate work which is available; and their analysis is frequently limited by a reluctance to make use of theories of the firm and of accounting techniques. An explanation of these characteristics is offered, and it is concluded that once the present deficiencies have been recognized they can be overcome, and that the quality of research will improve still further as the subject continues to grow during the next decade.

scholarly journals INCREASING EFFECTIVENESS WAQF ROLE IN EDUCATION IN INDUSTRI REVOLUTION 4.0 ERA

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
pp. 53-63
Author(s):  
Cecep Soleh Kurniawan ◽  
Mas Nooraini Mohiddin
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Individual Style

The vital role of waqf institution and its contribution in many sectors becomes the core of the strongest economy in the Muslim community in the past at present. Waqf is the main sponsorship for the Muslim community when its function is to eliminate ignorance through education. Education is the most important thing in this era which can change an individual style of life. The success of education can become a medium in developing the country through the success of producing a quality, potential, creative and innovative product. This research tends to explore the history of waqf and education in order to identify the way of improving the waqf role in this era. A descriptive research methodology will be used. Analyzing information from secondary data such as journals, paper works, and relevant articles will be done. Waqf Management and administration should be done in order to prepare for the Industry Revolution 4.0 which robotic has replaced human resources. The effectiveness of waqf in education will enable to produce quality human resources and provide a better education for the community.

scholarly journals Leksem świnia i formy pokrewne jako wyrazy motywujące w polskiej onimii

Onomastica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urszula Wójcik
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Organization ◽  
Historical Anthropology ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Layer I ◽  
Lexical Field ◽  
Point Of Departure

The aim of the article is an attempt to trace the fate of several appellatives grouped in the lexical field around the hyperonym świnia ʽpig, swine’ (wieprz ʽhog’, knur/kiernoz ʽboar’ and prosię ʽpiglet’) as the motivation of many names in Polish onymy, mainly in anthroponymy and toponymy. My research has been conducted along the lines of historical anthropology. Proper names in this approach play an important role in the reconstruction of the past. The field of interest of this article includes mainly names belonging to the old onymic layer. Proper names arise from the lexicon of a given language, which is why my analysis is based on lexical and semantic methodology. My point of departure is the meaning (often reconstructed) of appellative lexical units, including their semantic modifications in the proprial layer. I interpret proper names on the basis of findings regarding their origin and motivation. The first names motivated by the lexeme świnia were associated with the economic organization of the Piast state. In the article I present the history of their creation. I go on to discuss the other lexemes which became the basis of many names belonging to different naming categories. The presence of etymons of interest to us in so many proper names during the Middle Ages allows us to draw the conclusion that pigs played an extremely important role in the lives of our ancestors.

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