Historical Context

The Devils ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Darren Arnold
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The World ◽  
Race War

This chapter discusses the historical context of Ken Russell's The Devils (1973), as the timing of the first appearance of the film is of great importance in a way which spreads out way beyond the confines of the cinema screen. Despite its firm seventeenth-century setting—and its ongoing relevance—The Devils is very much a film for 1971, and its ideas about spirituality said much about the time in which the film was released. Uncomfortable parallels could also be made with the Troubles in Northern Ireland; this conflict, for which both politics and religion provided much of the fuel, had been underway for some time when The Devils was released. And with the world only starting to recover from the Manson murders, which were deemed to have been committed in order to ignite a race war, the film also served up a scarcely needed reminder of the case's chief bogeyman in the form of Father Barré. Audiences in 1971 certainly had plenty to think about, and The Devils did not provide an easy evening of escapism. The film had much to say to the audience of its time, and the vexatious nature of its message endures to the present day.

Beyond the Fife and Drum: Northern Protestant Working Class Cultures

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Paul Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Working Class ◽  
World Order ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Dimensional Image ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Meaning Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
Symbolic Systems

The author contends that throughout the duration of the present conflict in NorthernIreland, the world has been repeatedly given a one-dimensional image of this culture depicting it as mainly a product of ethnicity and also a reflection of class sentiment and lived experience.As drummer and songwriter of Ruefrex, a musical band internationally renowned for its songs about the Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland, Burgess discusses the need to express Protestant cultural traditions and identity through words and music. Citing Weber’s argument that individuals need to understand the world and their environment and that this understanding is influenced by perceptions of world order and attitudes and interpretations of symbolic systems or structures, the author argues that losing the importance of symbolic structures in relation to actual events will result in failure to understand why communities embrace meaning systems that are centrally informed by symbol and ritual. In his mind, rather than seeking to promote an understanding of Protestant or Catholic reality, it is important to speculate how the practice of difference might be used in developing any kind of reality of co-operation and co-ordination

Elegies for Ireland

2020 ◽  
pp. 291-307
Author(s):  
Donncha O’Rourke
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Classical Reception ◽  
The World ◽  
Michael Longley

This chapter investigates the reception of Roman elegy in the work of W. B. Yeats and Michael Longley, a continuum that brings to light both the constant presence and changing shape of classical reception in the century since the 1916 Rising. Ezra Pound’s anti-imperialist reading of Propertius mediates this reception for the Irish poets, but whereas Yeats takes a similarly partisan and anti-imperial line, albeit blended with his personal affairs, Longley’s approach is more ecumenical, albeit interwoven with the Troubles of his native Northern Ireland. As a genre born in civil war, but which views the world through an erotic lens, elegy is found to give Longley the lyrical form for his anti-war appropriation of epic. His versions of Tibullus and Sulpicia also expose cycles of brutality and the imbrication of public and domestic violence. Longley thus offers a more pacific model of the elegiac woman than Yeats’s revolutionary muse.

Ghost-Haunted Land

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Declan Long
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Visual Artists ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
End Point ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Key Points ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Operations

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 — the formal end-point of the thirty-year modern ‘Troubles’ — contemporary visual artists have offered diverse responses to post-conflict circumstances in Northern Ireland. In Ghost-Haunted Land — the first book-length examination of post-Troubles contemporary art — Declan Long highlights artists who have reflected on the ongoing anxieties of aftermath. Conscious of the simultaneous optimism and uneasiness of the peace era, each of these artists has produced powerful, distinctive work that reflects on legacies of the Troubles years and represents the strangeness of Northern Ireland’s changing landscapes: places marked by traces of enduring division, haunted by lingering spectres of the unresolved past.This wide-ranging study of post-Troubles art addresses developments in video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance and more, offering detailed analyses of key works by artists based in Ireland and beyond — including 2014 Turner Prize winner Duncan Campbell and internationally acclaimed filmmaker and photographer Willie Doherty. The art addressed in Ghost-Haunted Land is acutely attentive to specific regional circumstances in Northern Ireland; but it has also developed in dialogue with international art during this period. ‘Post-Troubles’ contemporary art is thus discussed in the context of both local transformations and global operations — and many of the key points of reference in the book come from broader debates about the predicament of contemporary art today: about its current place and purpose in the world, and about the politics and aesthetics of its dominant forms.

QUANTITATIVE REASONING AND COMMERCIAL LOGIC IN REBUILDING PLANS AFTER THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON, 1666

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1107-1131
Author(s):  
AVITAL LAHAV
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
The World ◽  
Common Logic ◽  
Economic Function

ABSTRACTRebuilding plans submitted after the Great Fire of London in 1666 have been widely treated by historians of the Great Fire and in wide-scope histories of London and modern city planning. However, few attempts have been made to assign an overarching logic to all of them, while paying attention to their texts as well as to their maps. The following article highlights certain common features in these abortive efforts to plan London, assigns a common logic to all of them, and traces the origins of this logic. Such an analysis illuminates the economic principles in plans that are usually examined for their architectural features, and places them in a different historical context. Rather than seeing them as manifestations of contemporary architectural trends, or as a continuation of ongoing attempts to regulate London's cityscape, the plans are presented here as a response to emerging ideas in mid-seventeenth-century England about the nature of value and the economic function of cities within the world of commerce. Such a view reveals the complex interplay between London's early modern growth and the emergence of new forms of knowledge in seventeenth-century England and reasserts the importance of these plans as forerunners of present-day city planning.

Rekindling the Flame: Zoroastrianism in Iraqi Kurdistan

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-188
Author(s):  
Samme Dick
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
Legislative Change ◽  
Iraqi Kurdistan ◽  
The World ◽  
Legislative Changes ◽  
New Religion

This article examines the emergence of Zoroastrianism in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq since 2015 as a new religion inspired by Kurdish nationalism, feminism, ecologism and humanism. The author argues that the emergence of Zoroastrianism at this particular time is due to a combination of the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in 2014, legislative change and the importance some Kurdish nationalists historically attached to Zoroastrianism as the suggested original religion of the Kurds. The article outlines the historical context of Zoroastrianism in Kurdistan, and then explores the origins, beliefs and organisational structure of Kurdish Zoroastrianism. Also discussed are the legislative changes enabling the rise of the movement since 2015. This study draws on interviews with Kurdish Zoroastrian leaders as well as with representatives from the World Zoroastrian Organization, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs and the Alliance of Iraqi Minorities.ABSTRACT IN KURMANJIJi nû ve pêxistina agir: Baweriya Zerduştî li Kurdistana IraqêEv gotar, li ser peydabûna Zerduştiyê li Herêma Kurdistanê ya Iraqê hûr dibe, ku ji 2015an vir ve wek dînekî nû yê ji netewegeriya kurd, femînîzm, ekolojîzm û humanîzmê îlham wergirtî tê dîtin. Nivîskar îddia dike ku peydabûna Zerduştiyê ya bi taybetî wê demê ji ber hejmareke sedeman e: di 2014an de peydabûn û xurtbûna Dewleta Îslamî li Iraqê û Levantê, guherîna qanûnî û girîngiya nêrîna hin netewegerên kurd ku ji aliyê dîrokî Zerduştiyê wek dînê resen ê kurdan dibînin. Gotar, çarçoveya dîrokî ya Zerduştiyê li Kurdistanê bi kurtî rave dike û paşê li kok, bawerî û avahiya rêxistinî ya Zerduştiya kurdî dikole. Ji hêleke din, nîqaş dike ku guherînên hiqûqî ji 2015an vir ve rê li ber xurtbûna tevgerê vekiriye. Ev xebat xwe dispêre hevpeyvînên bi rêberên Zerduştiyên kurd re ligel hin şandeyên ji Rêxistina Zerduştiyan a Cîhanê, Wezareta Bexş û Karên Dînî ya Hikumeta Herêma Kurdistanê û Hevpeymaniya Kêmîneyên Iraqê.ABSTRACT IN SORANIGeşandinewey agireke: Zerdeştêtî le Kurdistanî ÊraqdaEm babete timaşay rewşî  wediyarkewtinî Zerdeştêtî dekat le Kurdistanî Êraqda, le sall 2010da wek ayînêkî nwê debînrêt ke le netewegerîy kurdî, fêmênîzm, jîngeparêzî û mirovparêzî îlham werdegirêt. Nûser bangeşey ewe dekat ke derkewtinî Zerdeştêtî lem kateda ke Dewlletî Îslamî Da'îş le Şam û Êraq le 2013 ser helldeda û be yasa rêgey pê dedirêt, şitêkî giringe  bo gerranewey kurd bo  ayînî neteweyî xoy wek ewey ke hendêk kurdî neteweperist  basî deken.  Babeteke rîşey mêjûyî Zerdeştêtî le Kurdistan nîşan dedat, herwaş rîşey  bawerr û binaẍey damezrawey Zerdeştêtî dedate ber roşnayî. Dîsan guftugoy gorranî yasa lew bareyewe bote hoyî derkewtinî em ayîne le 2015da. Em babete legell serok û bawerrdaranî Zerdeştîy le Kurdistan û damezrawey Zerdeştîyanî cîhanî û legell wezaretî karubarî ayînî le ḧukumetî herêmî Kurdistan û damezrawey kemînekanî Êraqda çawpêkewtinî encam dawe.ABSTRACT IN ZAZAKINewe ra geşkerdişê adirî: Kurdîstanê Îraqî de zerduştîyeNa meqale qayîtê zerduştîye kena ke sey bawerîya newîye serra 2015î ra nat Herêmê Kurdîstanî yê Îraqî de vejîyaye û hetê neteweperwerîya kurdan, femînîzm, dorûverperwerîye û merdimperwerîye ra îlham girewt. Nuştox musneno ke vejîyayîşê zerduştî yê ê demî çend sebeban ra qewimîya: hêzdarbîyayîşê DAÎŞ yê serra 2014î, vurîyayîşê qanûnî û tayê neteweperwerê kurdan ê ke tarîx de giranî daye zerduştîye ser ke aye sey dînê kurdan o eslî pêşnîyaz bikerê. Na meqale xulasaya kontekstê tarîxî yê zerduştîya Kurdîstanî dana û dima esl, bawerî û awanîya rêxistinan yê zerduştîya kurdan ser o cigêrayîş kena. Ser o kî vurîyayîşê qanûnî munaqeşe benê. Nê vurîyayîşî serra 2015î ra nat vejîyayîşê tevger kerd mumkîn. No cigêrayîş roportajanê bi serekanê kurdan ê zerduştîye û bi temsîlkaranê Rêxistina Zerduştîyan a Dinya, Wezaretê Ewqaf û Kar û Barê Dînî yê hukmatê Herêmê Kurdîstanî û Yewîya Eqalîyetanê Îraqî esas gêno

Virginia Woolf and Being-in-the-world

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Simone
Keyword(s):  
Virginia Woolf ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cartesian Dualism ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
The World ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Existential Perspective

Virginia Woolf and Being-in-the-world: A Heideggerian Study explores Woolf’s treatment of the relationship between self and world from a phenomenological-existential perspective. This study presents a timely and compelling interpretation of Virginia Woolf’s textual treatment of the relationship between self and world from the perspective of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Drawing on Woolf’s novels, essays, reviews, letters, diary entries, short stories, and memoirs, the book explores the political and the ontological, as the individual’s connection to the world comes to be defined by an involvement and engagement that is always already situated within a particular physical, societal, and historical context. Emma Simone argues that at the heart of what it means to be an individual making his or her way in the world, the perspectives of Woolf and Heidegger are founded upon certain shared concerns, including the sustained critique of Cartesian dualism, particularly the resultant binary oppositions of subject and object, and self and Other; the understanding that the individual is a temporal being; an emphasis upon intersubjective relations insofar as Being-in-the-world is defined by Being-with-Others; and a consistent emphasis upon average everydayness as both determinative and representative of the individual’s relationship to and with the world.

Staging the World: The Devils as Theatrum Mundi

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-514
Author(s):  
Christophe Van Eecke
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Tidal Wave ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Mise En Abyme ◽  
Political Allegory ◽  
The World

When Ken Russell's film The Devils was released in 1971 it generated a tidal wave of adverse criticism. The film tells the story of a libertine priest, Grandier, who was burnt at the stake for witchcraft in the French city of Loudun in the early seventeenth century. Because of its extended scenes of sexual hysteria among cloistered nuns, the film soon acquired a reputation for scandal and outrage. This has obscured the very serious political issues that the film addresses. This article argues that The Devils should be read primarily as a political allegory. It shows that the film is structured as a theatrum mundi, which is the allegorical trope of the world as a stage. Rather than as a conventional recreation of historical events (in the tradition of the costume film), Russell treats the trial against Grandier as a comment on the nature of power and politics in general. This is not only reflected in the overall allegorical structure of the theatrum mundi, but also in the use of the film's highly modernist (and therefore timeless) sets, in Russell's use of the mise-en-abyme (a self-reflexive embedded play) and in the introduction of a number of burlesque sequences, all of which are geared towards achieving the film's allegorical import.

The Integral Nature of Ethnicity and Religion during Northern Ireland’s Troubles

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Peter Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Religious Conflicts ◽  
The World ◽  
Sectarian Conflict ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Religious Other

Northern Ireland’s Troubles conflict, like many complex conflicts through the world, has often been conceived as considerably motivated by religious differences. This paper demonstrates that religion was often integrated into an ethno-religious identity that fueled sectarian conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland during the Troubles period. Instead of being a religious-based conflict, the conflict derived from historical divides of power, land ownership, and civil and political rights in Ireland over several centuries. It relies on 12 interviews, six Protestants and six Catholics, to measure their use of religious references when referring to their religious other. The paper concludes that in the overwhelming majority of cases, both groups did not use religious references, supporting the hypothesis on the integrated nature of ethnicity and religion during the Troubles. It offers grounding for looking into the complex nature of sectarian and seemingly religious conflicts throughout the world, including cases in which religion acts as more of a veneer to deeply rooted identities and historical narratives.

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