The Writing and the Bronze: Commemoration as Historiography

2021 ◽  
pp. e20200042
Author(s):  
Alan Gordon

Historic monuments are the most public and recognized forms of commemoration. In Canada, as around the world, many monuments have come under fire recently for celebrating a vision of the past that is no longer palatable to large segments of the population. The heroes and events they enshrine have been denounced by many as tributes to racism, yet they are valued by others as aspects of our collective history and a celebration of our national heritage. Both these positions gloss over the complexity of the historical act of raising monuments and interpreting their historical meanings. Monuments in Canada, like all forms of commemoration, are reflections of the historiographical and methodological trends contemporary to the discipline of history at the time of their creation. Changes in methods and interpretations have thus also affected their meaning over time. Thus, monuments are not straightforward representations of history but, instead, layered expressions of historiography in physical form. Ascribing to them singular meanings obscures the complexity of the societies that constructed them and simplifies their connections to public life.

PalZ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon T. Haug ◽  
Carolin Haug ◽  
Serita van der Wal ◽  
Patrick Müller ◽  
Joachim T. Haug

AbstractNymphidae, the group of split-footed lacewings, is a rather species-poor group. Split-footed lacewings nowadays are restricted to Australasia, while fossil forms are also known from other areas of the world, indicating that the group was more species-rich and therefore likely diverse in the past. Split-footed lacewings have rather distinct larvae, roughly resembling antlion larvae, but differing from the latter especially with regard to the mandibles. Antlion larvae usually have three prominent teeth on each mandible, while at least extant larvae of split-footed lacewings only have a single prominent tooth per mandible. Fossils interpreted as larvae of split-footed lacewings are well known from amber from Myanmar (ca. 100 myr; Burmese amber) and by a single specimen from Baltic amber (about 40 myr). We here report additional fossil specimens from Myanmar amber, expanding the known record of fossil forms from six depicted specimens to 15. For the extant fauna, we could compile 25 larvae. We compare the diversity of shape of extant and fossil larvae through time using an outline analysis (based on elliptic Fourier transformation) of the head. The results of this analysis indicate that the morphological diversity, or disparity, of split-footed lacewing larvae was higher in the past than it is today. With this type of analysis, we can show a loss of diversity over time, without the necessity to identify the fossil larvae down to a narrow taxonomical range. A similar pattern has already been recognised in silky lacewings, Psychopsidae. This might indicate a general loss of diversity of lacewing larvae.


Author(s):  
David M. Malone ◽  
C. Raja Mohan ◽  
Srinath Raghavan

India has emerged as a leading voice in global affairs in the past two decades. Its fast-growing domestic market largely explains the ardour with which Delhi is courted by powers great and small. India is also becoming increasingly important to global geostrategic calculations, being the only Asian country with the heft to counterbalance China over time. Nevertheless, India’s foreign policy has been relatively neglected in the existing literature. ThisHandbook, edited by three widely recognized students of the topic, provides an extensive survey of India’s external relations. The authors include leading Indian scholars and commentators of the field and several outstanding foreign scholars and practitioners. They address factors in Indian foreign policy flowing from both history and geography and also discuss key relationships, issues, and multilateral forums through which the country’s international relations are refracted.


1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Wiseman

To be a political leader in many parts of the world is to follow an extremely hazardous and insecure occupation. In addition, in sub-Saharan Africa, but elsewhere as well, the element of personal danger exists in a particularly acute form. Althought the extent to which this is true varies considerably not only from place to place but also over time, the evidence of the past 30 years clearly suggests that there are remarkably few states in which an individual could contemplate embarking on a career in politics free from the dauger of incurring severe personal penalties at some stage.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana María Aguilar López ◽  
Marta Miguel Borge

Our model of the world that we perceive within ourselves, our conscience, in short, our psychological balance is influenced by our surroundings. Part of the input to which we are exposed in this immediate environment is related to texts, self-managed discourse, which can also influence our internal model of the world; hence they are deserving of our attention. In the same way as the models of the world that we construct throughout our lives, reality is not static and also changes as time goes by. From a social point of view, we can see that the roles of women in modern-day society and the ways that those roles can be perceived today are a consequence of changes initiated in the past within different areas and in a prolonged process over time up until our day. With the aim of evaluating whether female drama has contributed to that change, we present an analysis in this paper of the play La Cinta Dorada [The Golden Ribbon] by María Manuela Reina, written and set in the 1980s, a decade that for Spain implied a more obvious abandonment of the most traditional conceptions of the role of women. In the analysis of the play, we see how the models of the world of the older people are counterposed with those of the younger people, a generational divide that is enriched with the gender difference, as we also analyze how the psychological structures of the female and male characters confront the clichés pertaining to another era in reference to such topics as success, infidelity, matrimony, and gender. The results of our analysis demonstrate how Reina responds to archaic conceptions, thereby inciting the audiences of the day to question their respective models of the world, especially, with regard to the role of the woman in society. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Tereza Hejzlarová ◽  
Martin Rychlík

This study deals with haircare, hair ornaments, hairstyles, and hairrelated rituals of the Southern Altaians (Altai Kizhi, Telengits) and their development over time. Haircare has played an important role in Altaian society for centuries. It has been a ritual symbol, an indicator of gender, age, marital or social status. In context, hair has played a significant cultural and social role across societies and historical periods around the world. For this reason, haircare has also been sometimes included among the so-called cultural or human universals, i.e. phenomena that are common to all known human cultures in time and space. The source of information for this study was the authors’ own field research, relevant literature and visual sources documenting the broader context of haircare. The issue is viewed from historical and cultural perspectives, with the main focus on the current haircare of the Altaian people in connection with changes compared to the past. The study focuses on selected phenomena that proved to be the most important in the field research in terms of their existence and the role they currently play in Altaian society. It does not therefore aim to cover the full breadth of the topic, but leaves room for further research on sub-topics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-32
Author(s):  

“Batik” or “Pateh” is an important cloth in the south of Thailand. Its unique features such as pattern, colour, and production process make Batik different from other cloth in the other part of Thailand. Traditionally, Batik was originated in Indonesia and India where people used paraffin wax as a dye-resist paint. It was also reported that other Asian countries such as Japan and India made Batik fabric in their country. In Thailand, local people in the south made their clothes from Batik fabric and wore them in daily life or during special social events. They designed pattern and applied wax-resist dyeing by hand or blocks on the fabric to create colourful and creative designs. Batik is a cultural identity of the south of Thailand. The study found that the process of creating pattern and colour for Batik was used a long time ago. In the past, artisans primarily employed wooden molds or blocks and wax to create patterns. Through the accumulation of knowledge and experience over time, the development of metal blocks makes Batik’s patterns more delicate and vivid. In addition, the research aimed to study about Batik pattern in the southern provinces of Thailand.It can be said that Batik is a uniquely beautiful fabric that should be collected as a national heritage and for the future study of this fabric. The study of Batik pattern in the south revealed that former patterns simply used basic geometric shapes such as lines, squares, and circles. Then, these patterns have been developed by integrating rhythms and spaces to create more distinctive and delicate designs. Moreover, the patterns of Batik in the south were inspired by nature, religious beliefs, and ways of life. Warm tone colours such as red, brown, yellow and cool tone colours such as blue and green were employed. It was also found that the materials used in the past were primarily from plants and nature. Nowadays, artificial colors are also used because they allow vivid and durable effects.


2022 ◽  
pp. 302-321
Author(s):  
Jorge Ramos

Avid readers find in literature real or imaginary scenarios, which are written in such a way that make them visit the portrayed places. The same goes for films, or documentary series, where the narrator plays a fundamental role in captivating the viewer. Both means are inductors of cultural and/or nature tourism, regardless of everyone's personal motivations. The transmission of values is important and varies over time. In the past some marine animals were perceived negatively by humans, which has faded over time. Ecotourism with activities related to the sea is a relatively recent tourism niche. Nature films or series are often boosters of impulses in tourists for the search for natural, unexplored places or places with little human pressure. Some tourist activities in the nature tourism line developed all over the world—from this induction—such as the cases of diving and observation of marine animals.


2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 314a-314a ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Volk

In 2005 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization accepted Lebanon's archaeological site of Nahr al-Kalb into its Memory of the World Programme, turning it from national heritage into a globally memorable text. I argue that it is not the content of the commemorative inscriptions but the mode of repeated commemoration that makes it possible to reinterpret potentially divisive markers of Lebanon's past into icons of national unity and a shared humanity. By focusing on the intersection of public monumentality, repetition, and the construction of community identity based on the logic of resemblance, I show that governmental elites at times of political transition need to make public interventions into the past to bolster their legitimacy, new commemorations are confined by rules and conventions of public memorializing, and the logic of resemblance inherent in commemorative processes can be used to convert a fragmented history into a memory of unity and strength


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 3940-3948

The word 'crime' is not a word; there is a lot of pain and loss behind it. The word 'crime' is the most horrible word that scares human society. Even as this article is being read, somewhere in a corner of the world, a man is currently suffering as a result of a crime. Crime has changed its shape over time according to the dimension of men. The system of detection of crimes and punishment of criminals has reached considerable development. Efforts have been made to prevent crimes in the past, but no amicable solution has been reached. To date, there have been lots of strategies to prevent this. The intention of this research article is to analyze the research articles that have been used in various criminal cases/activities that have taken place at different locations, and to identify the criteria, concepts, tools, conclusions, credentials and shortcomings found in those articles.


Author(s):  
Lisa Blee ◽  
Jean M. O’Brien

This chapter explains the connection between monuments and the stories about the past they convey to viewers over time. While monuments are considered static and place-bound, this statue of the Massasoit became mobile in numerous ways: in stories that travel with the viewer; as small replicas carried away as souvenirs or purchased as art across the country and the world; and in full-sized casts installed in diverse public settings in the Midwest and West. This chapter argues that the fact that the statue represents a Native leader with a connection to the story of the first Thanksgiving makes its mobility uniquely revealing of the fraught historical memory of colonialism in the U.S. This chapter introduces the argument that Wampanoag and other Native peoples have long resisted, challenged, and refigured the popular celebratory story of peaceful colonization often attached to the figure of the Massasoit. This chapter also introduces the history of the Thanksgiving myth, recounts Wampanoag and English settler relations, explains the popular interest in Indian statuary, and provides background on the public art movement that lead to the commission of the Massasoit statue.


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