scholarly journals A Parapsychologist, an Anthropologist, and a Vitalist Walk into a Laboratory: Ernesto de Martino, Mircea Eliade, and a Forgotten Chapter in the Disciplinary History of Religious Studies

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 304
Author(s):  
Flavio A. Geisshuesler
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Western World ◽  
Mircea Eliade ◽  
Program Of Study ◽  
Disciplinary History ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Clifford Geertz ◽  
History Of

While the work of the Italian historian of religion, Ernesto de Martino (1908–1965), has frequently been compared to that of Mircea Eliade, Claude Lévi-Strauss, or Clifford Geertz, he has hardly received any attention in anglophone scholarship to date. Taking an all-but-forgotten controversy between de Martino and Eliade at a conference on parapsychology in France in 1956 as its starting point, the article fills part of this lacuna by first reconstructing the philosophical universe underlying the Italian thinker’s program of study. In the process, it introduces the reader to three Weimar scientists, who have never before been inserted within the canon of the study of religion, namely the parapsychologist Albert von Schrenck-Notzing (1862–1929), the anthropologist Leo Frobenius (1873–1938), and the biologist and philosopher Hans Driesch (1867–1941). Contextualizing these thinkers within their historical context, it becomes clear that they were part of a larger scientific crisis that affected the Western world during the first half of the twentieth century. Finally, the article uncovers surprising affinities, particularly the fact that the Romanian thinker had his very own parapsychological phase during his youth.

The Outline of the History of Mounting Art on Paper in Poland in the 19th and 20th Centuries

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 173-195
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Garczewska-Semka
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
National Library ◽  
Visual Form ◽  
Historical Collections ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of

Abstract The National Library of Poland holds three historical collections with a unified visual form. The arrangement of the Wilanów collection was carried out in the first half of the nineteenth century, whereas the Krasiński collection was arranged in the early twentieth century respectively the 1950’s or 1960’s in the case of drawings by Norwid. This contribution describes the structure of mountings found in these collections, as well as the historical context in which they were created. It serves as a starting point to provide an outline of the history of conservation methods and preservation of prints’ and drawings’ collections in Poland.

Collecting Chinese Objects in Slovenia at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-180
Author(s):  
Nataša Vampelj Suhadolnik
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Specific Position ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Cultural Connections ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article addresses the practices of collecting Chinese objects that were brought to the territory of present-day Slovenia by sailors, missionaries, travellers, and others who travelled to China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At the time, this territory was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; we will, therefore, begin with the brief historical context of the Empire and its contact with China, followed by a discussion on the nature of collecting Chinese objects in Slovenian territories at that time. We will further examine the status of the individuals who travelled to China and the nature and extent of the objects they brought back. The article will also highlight the specific position of the Slovenian territory within the history of Euro-Asian cultural connections, and address the relevant issues—locally and globally—of the relationship between the centres and peripheries with regard to collecting practices.

Konstantin Stanislavsky Michael Chekhov Vsevolod Meyerhold Jacques Lecoq

2006 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-150
Author(s):  
Jerri Daboo
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Actor Training ◽  
Konstantin Stanislavsky ◽  
Four Books ◽  
History Of ◽  
Complete Series ◽  
Performer Training ◽  
Selection Of

The Routledge Performance Practitioners series, edited by Franc Chamberlain, is a new set of introductory guides to a range of key figures in the development of twentieth-century performance practice. Each book focuses on a single practitioner, examining his or her life, historical context, key writings, and productions, and a selection of practical exercises. These concise volumes are intended to offer students an initial introduction to the practitioner and to “provide an inspiring spring-board for future study, unpacking and explaining what can initially seem daunting” (Merlin, ii). The list of practitioners in the complete series include Stanislavsky, Brecht, Boal, Lecoq, Grotowski, Anna Halprin, and Ariane Mnouchkine, thus examining a range of performance styles and practices, creating a valuable overview of the development of performer training through the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries. Such interest in the history of specific approaches to training performers has been addressed in other volumes, such as Twentieth-Century Actor Training, edited by Alison Hodge (New York: Routledge, 2000), and Acting (Re)considered: A Theoretical and Practical Guide, edited by Phillip Zarrilli (London: Routledge 2002). Both those collections contain in-depth chapters focusing on aspects of the selected practitioners' theoretical and practical approaches to the principles and concerns in their work. Where the books in the Routledge Performance Practitioners series differ is that they offer a more general overview of the practitioner in one volume, and in addition to the historical context, they provide a set of practical exercises that can be carried out by the student or teacher, as well as by the actor or director. The books are well presented, divided into clear sections, with relevant photographs and diagrams. There are also sidebars providing definitions and further information on key figures and terms mentioned in the main text. This review covers the first four books in the series, examining the work of Konstantin Stanislavsky, Michael Chekhov, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and Jacques Lecoq.

Concepción Arenal and the place of women in modern international law

2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 211-253
Author(s):  
Ignacio de la Rasilla
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
International Congress ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
History Of International Law ◽  
Academic Study

Summary This article examines the long-forgotten first book-length treatise on international law ever published by a woman in the history of international law. The first part places Concepción Arenal’s Ensayo sobre el Derecho de gentes (1879) in the historical context of the dawn of the international legal codification movement and the professionalisation of the academic study of international law. The second part surveys the scattered treatment that women as objects of international law and women’s individual contributions to international law received in international law histories up to the early twentieth century. It then draws many parallels between Arenal’s work and the influential resolutions of the first International Congress of Women in 1915 and surveys related developments during the interwar years. The conclusion highlights the need of readdressing the invisibility of women in international legal history.

Religionshistorie og aksetid

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Lundager Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
English Summary ◽  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Axial Age ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Robert Bellah ◽  
Religious Evolution

English summary: The article presents and discusses two articles by Robert Bellah, “Religious evolution” from 1964 and “What is Axial about the Axial Age?” (2005). In what seems to be a general lack of interest in a history of religion (different from a history of religions) among academic scholars in the science of religion, Bellahs model, especially in its combination with recent approaches to the ‘axial age’ and to Merlin Donald’s biocultural cognitive model for hominid evolution, is recommended as a useful starting point for revitalization of an honorable branch of religious studies.  Dansk resume: Artiklen præsenterer og diskuterer to artikler af den amerikanske religionssociolog Robert Bellah, “Religious evolution” fra 1964 og “What is Axial about the Axial Age?” (2005). I forhold til en generel mangel på interesse for en religionens historie (forskellig fra religionernes historie) blandt religionsvidenskabelige forskere anbefales Bellahs model som et frugtbart udgangspunkt for en revitalisering af en hæderværdig del af religionsvidenskaben, særlig når den kombineres med aktuelle diskussioner af ‘aksetiden’ og Merlin Donalds biokulturelle, kognitive model for hominid evolution.

On the history of the title and surname inheritance of Counts Perovsky by Mikhail Mikhailovich Petrovo-Solovovo in 1907: legal norms and archival reconstruction of circumstances

2019 ◽  
pp. 250-259
Author(s):  
Kseniia Donik
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Transfer Process ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Local History ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
New Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire

We highlight unknown circumstances of the title and surname transfer of Counts Perovsky to M.M. Petrovo-Solovovo – a statesman, a representative of an ancient aristocratic family who owned an estate in the Kirsanovsky County of the Tambov Governorate on the basis of new archive sources that were not previously introduced into scientific circulation. In various local history interpretations, modern periodicals that somehow transmit a historical narrative about the last owner of the Karay-Saltykovsky estate, there is a wide variety of versions of how M.M. Petrovo-Solovovo became Count Perovsky (mainly the title inheritance from mother is men-tioned). The purpose of this study is a detailed reconstruction of the titled surname Perovsky transfer in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. Methodologically the study is based on historiographic criticism of documents and analysis of legislation on noble surnames based on the data of genealogical studies of different years. We pay special attention to the historical context of the analyzed events. We prove that the transfer initiative came from M.M. Petrovo-Solovovo’s aunt – maid of honor of the Empress, Countess V.B. Perovskaya, who, having previously secured the permission of the emperor, was able to begin the formal transfer process, although under the law as a female person she did not have such rights. We introduce new information both in Russian genealogical historiography as a whole, and in the history of the Petrovo-Solovovo clan and Tambov’s local history in particular.

Families

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dewar
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Dominant Theme ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of

Family law is largely an aggregation of instrumental legislation, designed to achieve specific social and political purposes. Unlike disciplines that take a legal concept as its starting-point — such as contract, trust, or restitution — family law tends to be more than usually susceptible to shifts in politics and social behaviour, and the complex interplay between the two. This means that a dominant theme of family law scholarship has been that of change and transformation. This article offers a brief history of these transformations in family law, and describes how change has been described and analysed. This historical narrative provides a framework for a discussion of the debates that have characterized the discipline in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Ireland and the Black Atlantic in the eighteenth century

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (126) ◽  
pp. 174-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nini Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Western World ◽  
Atlantic Trade ◽  
Economic Progress ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Actual Operation

In the second half of the twentieth century few subjects have excited more extensive historical debate in the western world than black slavery. American investigation has centred upon the actual operation of the institution. An impressively wide range of historical techniques, cliometrics, comparative history, cultural studies, the imagination of the novelist, have all been employed in a vigorous attempt to recover and evaluate the slave past. In Britain, the first great power to abolish the Atlantic trade and emancipate her slaves, the emphasis has been on the development of the anti-slavery movement, described by W. E. H. Lecky in 1869 as ‘a crusade’ to be rated ‘amongst the three or four perfectly virtuous pages comprised in the history of nations’, and therefore an obvious candidate for twentieth-century revision. Any discussion of black slavery in the New World immediately involves the historian in economic matters. Here the nineteenth-century orthodoxy launched by Adam Smith and developed by J. S. Mill and his friend J. E. Cairnes, author of The slave power (1862) and professor of political economy and jurisprudence in Queen’s College, Galway, saw slavery as both morally wrong and economically unsound, an anachronism in the modern world. Since the 1970s this view has been challenged head-on by American historians arguing that, however morally repugnant, slavery was a dynamic system, an engine of economic progress in the U.S.A. Such a thesis inevitably revives some of the arguments used by the nineteenth-century defenders of slavery and has equally inevitably attracted bitter anti-revisionist denunciation.

The protean nature of Stanford University's biological sciences, 1946––1972

2004 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC J. VETTEL
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
World War ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fundamental Research

ABSTRACT: Academic literature has paid scant attention to the biological sciences at Stanford University, an omission all the more conspicuous considering their productivity since World War II. This article draws on previously unused archival material to establish a starting point for further study of the biological sciences at Stanford. It traces the evolution of Stanford's biological sciences through three experimental fields: self-directed developmental and evolutionary studies; fundamental research at the molecular level; and biomedical applications of fundamental knowledge. Taken together, a history of Stanford's biological sciences offers a remarkably fertile example of organizational flexibility in historical context. This essay ends by suggesting that a fourth phase of biological research at Stanford will be governed by commercial interest in biology.

The Student of Religion as Critic: A Marxist View

1982 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-326
Author(s):  
James Thrower
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Western World ◽  
University Departments ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

That the study of religion can be pursued and, as a matter of fact, has been pursued, from a variety of standpoints - some overt and some covert - is today something of an uncomfortable commonplace to those involved in teaching Religionswissenschaft and Religionsgeschichte in Western university departments of Religious Studies. In thus exhibiting a diversity of approach the study of religion is, however, not alone among the humane disciplines: the study of history, of politics, of society, of art and of literature are equally beset by problems of Problematik and of methodology that take up much of the time and much of the energy of their practitioners. The student of each of these disciplines must confront, both at the outset of his studies and continually throughout their pursuit, questions relating to point, purpose and meaning, and in the study of any of the disciplines I have mentioned - of history, literature, art, politics, society and, today, we must add, of science also - there is in the contemporary Western world little, if any, agreement among those involved in the pursuit of learning in these areas either on the Problematik - that is, on the questions to be put to the material that forms the subject matter of the discipline concerned, or about the methods to be employed in describing, understanding, analysing and ultimately synthesising the material of these disciplines into a coherent and meaningful whole.

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