scholarly journals Problems of Criticism of the Communist Poland’s Security Service (SB) Files as Historical Sources

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-580
Author(s):  
Bolesław Szewc

Despite the passage of 20 years since the opening of the archives of the former SB, historians have not developed the principles of criticism of SB files as historical sources, which is conducive to the so-called playing with folders, and consequently the destruction of historical narrative and social life. Among researchers and publicists, an affirmative attitude towards the SB files has been created, causing their criticism to be ignored. Researchers ignore the requirement to separate the theoretical-ideological and rhetorical layers of SB operational files. They also neglect to study the credibility of their authors. Rafał Łatka gave a justification for the affirmative attitude to the SB files. It has been shown that this justification is logically erroneous, and the affirmative attitude to the SB files is contrary to the rational concept of the historical source and to the examples of the lack of credibility of these files. Several ways of creating questionnaires to examine the credibility of SB files were proposed. The first question that was proposed: Was the work of officers and their superiors in the field of interest to the researcher focused on efficiency or on the statistics of results? Further proposals suggest questions about the internal control of the case under investigation. It was justified that it is not enough to state the fact of registration of a given person by SB as a collaborator, because it is necessary to demonstrate specific cooperation. It was justified that the reliability of a note decreases exponentially as a function of the number of intermediaries between it and the facts. The need to ask about the intentions of the officers doing reports, which could be related to their professional careers, the expectations of superiors, the need to demonstrate results, etc., was indicated. The need to investigate deviations of the examined case from the ideal instructional pattern was also indicated. Studies of the reliability of files have their ethical aspect. Studies that may threaten good name of the persons concerned should meet the highest methodological standards and be guided by the principle of in dubio pro reo.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 76-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Farrer

Abstract Every city has built environments that are largely regarded as eyesores, for aesthetic, social, or moral reasons. Urban nightlife streets are examples of such ‘grimy heritage’. Not only shabby and disorderly, they harbour forms of commercial sex, drinking cultures, and ephemeral nightlife cultures that many city residents and government officials consider undesirable. Sometimes their built forms are regarded as the enemy of genuine heritage architecture, since they obscure more solid, carefully designed structures around them. However, in many cities, organic nightlife streets—developing in such spaces precisely because they were derelict or poorly regulated—serve important social functions as spaces of creativity and community formation. This paper examines the ways that such ‘grimy heritage’ has developed in Shanghai and Tokyo, using examples from ethnographic research and historical sources, and addressing the question of the contribution of the ‘grimy heritage’ to authentic, urban social life.


Human Affairs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-364
Author(s):  
Cristiana Senigaglia

AbstractAlthough Max Weber does not specifically analyze the topic of esteem, his investigation of the Protestant ethic offers interesting insights into it. The change in mentality it engendered essentially contributed to enhancing the meaning and importance of esteem in modern society. In his analysis, Weber ascertains that esteem was fundamental to being accepted and integrated into the social life of congregations. Nevertheless, he also highlights that esteem was supported by a form of self-esteem which was not simply derived from a good social reputation, but also achieved through a deep and continual self-analysis as well as a strict discipline in the ethical conduct of life. The present analysis reconstructs the different aspects of the relationship between social and self-esteem and analyzes the consequences of that relationship by focusing on the exemplary case of the politician’s personality and ethic.


Author(s):  
Ausma Cimdiņa

The novel “Magnus, the Danish Prince” by the Russian diaspora in Latvia writer Roald Dobrovensky is seen as a specific example of a biographical and historical genre, which embodies the historical experience of different eras and nations in the confrontation of globalisation and national self-determination. At the heart of the novel are the Livonian War and the historical role and human destiny of Magnus (1540–1683) – the Danish prince of the Oldenburg dynasty, the first and the only king of Livonia. The motif of Riga’s humanists is seen both as one of the main ideological driving forces of the novel and as a marginal reflection in Magnus’s life story. Acknowledged historical sources have been used in the creation of the novel: Baltazar Rusov’s “Livonian Chronicle”; Nikolai Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State”; Alexander Janov’s “Russia: 1462–1584. The Beginning of the Tragedy. Notes of the Nature and Formation of Russian Statehood” etc. In connection with the concept of Riga humanists, another fictitious document created by the writer Dobrovensky himself is especially important, namely, the diary of Johann Birke – Magnus’s interpreter, a person with a double identity, “half-Latvian”, “half-German”. It is a message of an alternative to the well-known historical documents, which allows to turn the Livonian historical narrative in the direction of “letocentrism” and raises the issue of the ethnic identity of Riga’s humanists. Along with the deconstruction of the historically documented image of Livonian King Magnus, the thematic structure of the novel is dominated by identity aspects related to the Livonian historical narrative. Dobrovensky, with his novel, raises an important question – what does the medieval Livonia, Europe’s common intellectual heritage, mean for contemporary Latvia and the human society at large? Dobrovensky’s work is also a significant challenge in strengthening emotional ties with Livonia (which were weakened in the early stages of national historiography due to conflicts over the founding of nation-states).


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-112
Author(s):  
Muhamad Sopyan ◽  
Andi Ima Kesuma ◽  
Jumadi Sahabuddin

This paper uses a qualitative approach design history that includes Groove heuristics, critique, interpretation and historiography. This paper describes a pattern of ethnic life Sasak Ethnic Balinese. The second encounter was part of the ethnic dynamics of patterns of social life, art and culture of the community of West Lombok, Bali, colonial empire domination Netherlands and Japan as well as the aftermath of independence. West Lombok in the course of its history has its own and unique patterns by showing the existence of the ideal cooperation between different ethnic religion in building a harmonious unity.


Author(s):  
Isabela Cristina Suguimatsu

Since the 1960s the focus of historical research about dress and clothing turned from a purely descriptive approach to a semiotic one: researches have started aiming at the representations and tried to understand the symbols behind the objects. Resting on the so called material culture studies, the objective of this article is to conceive dress no more subordinate to the dimension of the ideal meanings, but rather as materiality actively used in the process of signifying and making of social life. In the article I try to understand the role of dressing for “being a slave” in eighteenth-century Brazil: a society that valued ideals expressed in European fashion, but imposed social barriers for accessing them – for the slaves wear the materiality linked to such ideals. O vestuário dos escravos entre representação e materialidade Desde a década de 1960, os estudos sobre a indumentária e o vestuário passaram de uma abordagem puramente descritiva para outra baseada na semiótica: buscou-se atingir as representações e entender os símbolos por trás dos objetos. Com base nos chamados estudos da cultura material, o objetivo desse artigo é pensar o vestuário não mais subordinado à dimensão dos significados ideais, mas como materialidade ativamente usada no processo de significação e conformação da vida social. Para tanto, busca-se entender o papel do vestuário na constituição do “ser escravo” no Brasil oitocentista: em uma sociedade que valorizava ideais expressos na moda europeia, mas que criava barreiras para o acesso irrestrito a esses ideais e para o uso, pelos escravos, da materialidade a eles associada.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-107
Author(s):  
Linh Kieu Duong

For historians, the media is an important historical source. Con Dao is a special province of Vietnam. The paper presents an approach to Con Dao through historical sources of the Saigon press before 1975 to have a more comprehensive view. Through the content as the name implies, through natural, economic, social and cultural conditions, and potential development evaluation, the original intentions of the government of The Republic of Saigon on prison issues and on the terror cannot be changed. Through a number of important events such as the return of prisoners of war from Con Dao in 1973, etc. the author aims to add a view and wish to confirm the value of historical sources of media while approaching and presenting a problem of history, and so on.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 218
Author(s):  
Intania Ananda Jonisa ◽  
Susas Rita Loravianti ◽  
Rasmida Rasmida

AbstrakKarya tari yang berjudul “Guriah Limpapeh” terinspirasi dari kehidupan sosial perempuan Minangkabau yang pengkarya amati di sekeliling pengkarya bersikap dan bertingkah laku tidak sesuai dengan etika idealnya perempuan Minangkabau. Dalam aplikasinya menginterpretasikan bergesernya nilai dan etika perempuan hari ini dan mengungkap nilai yang relevan dengan adat dan budaya Minangkabau. Dalam konsep gerak sebagai media utama tari pengkarya mengembangkan gerak yang relevan dengan konsep garapan, selain itu diperkuat dengan menggunakan drum sebagai properti dan setting. Karya ini digarap dalam tiga bahagian yakni pada bagian pertama menginterpretasikan tentang kehidupan dan aktivitas masyarakat di Kecamatan Matur, bahagian kedua menggambarkan perubahan memori pada dahulu dan zaman sekarang, kemudian bahagian ketiga menginterpretasikan bagaimana pola tingkah laku perempuan yang dalam adat Minangkabau yang disebut Simarewan dan Mambang Tali Awan yang menjadi konflik dalam garapan, sedangkan bagian endingnya adalah mengekspresikan idealnya perempuan Minangkabau yang disebut dengan Parampuan. Karya ini diperkuat dengan musik untuk memperkuat suasana, demikian juga elemen-elemen dan artistik lainnya untuk penampilannya memilih ruang terbuka atau outdoor. Kata Kunci: interpretasi, perempuan, adat MinangkabauAbstractThis work of dance entitled  as "Guriah Limpapeh" which is inspired from the social life of Minangkabau women, that the observed around the worker’s attitude and behaved not in accordance with the ideal ethics of Minangkabau women. In its application interpet the shifting values and ethics of women today and reveal values relevant to the customs and culture of Minangkabau. In the concept of motion as the main medium of the dance the developer develops a motion that is relevant to the concept of arable, besides being strengthened by using drums as property and settings. This work is worked on in three parts, namely in the first part of interpreting the life and activities of the community in the mature sub-district, the second part describes the change of memory in the past and present, then the third part interprets how the female behavior patterns in the Minangkabau tradition called simarewan and mambang tali awan  which becomes conflict in claim while the final part is expressing ideally the Minangkabau women who is called parampuan. This work is strengthened by music to strengthen the atmosphere, as well as other artistic and elements for his appearance in choosing open space or outdoor.Keywords: interpretation, women, adat Minangkabau.


Author(s):  
Pablo Gilabert

This chapter offers a justification of labour rights based on an interpretation of the idea of human dignity. According to the dignitarian approach, we have reason to organise social life so that we respond appropriately to the valuable capacities of human beings that give rise to their dignity. That dignity is a deontic status in accordance with which people are owed certain forms of respect and concern. Dignity at work involves treatment of people that enacts the ideal of solidaristic empowerment as it pertains to their life as workers. This requires that we generate feasible and reasonable social schemes to support each other in the development and exercise of our valuable capacities to produce in personally and socially beneficial ways. The spectrum of dignitarian justice goes from basic rights to decent working conditions to maximal rights to flourish in working practices that are free from domination, alienation, and exploitation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Aars ◽  
Audun Offerdal ◽  
Dan Rysavy

This article is concerned with the political careers of local councillors. More specifically, the key question is about a possible professionalization of councillor careers at the local level in Europe. If the careers of local councillors tend to follow a number of standard routes, to what degree can these be perceived of as professionalized? In our effort to identify dominant courses of mobility, we distinguish between three successive stages of councillor careers: Pre-electoral experiences, in-council orientations, and future career aspirations. In the ideal model of professionalization there is a strong link between career stages. Professionalization is seen as a unidirectional process by which an occupational group gradually acquires the traits of a profession. By and large, local political careers in European countries do not adhere to the linear model of professionalization. Instead, a fits-and-start model seems more suitable, indicating that professional careers to a large extent are shaped incrementally, through learning and practical experience.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-312
Author(s):  
Muhammad IWan Abdi

Islamic education philosophy is an educational philosophy based on Quran and al-Sunnah as a source of Islamic teachings. In addition, Islamic education philosophy also adopts sources from others that are not contrary to Islamic teachings. Thus, the source of guidance for Islamic education philosophy consists of two categories: the source of normative and historical sources. Normative sources are sources derived from the Quran and al-Sunnah (nash); while the historical source is a thought about the philosophy of Islamic education adopted from outside of Islamic teachings. Thus, there are three schools in the philosophy of Islamic education: the liberal, conservative, and critical groups that combine the two earlier groups (sholih li kulli zaman wa makan). This paper will discuss the subject matter of Islamic education philosophy and the sources of the three groups of flow by discussing the elements contained in the teachings of Islam, such as God, man, and nature. The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding that the basic principles contained therein can be applied in Islamic education


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