scholarly journals Memory and Alterity in Zar: Religious Contact and Change in the Sudan

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M Kenyon
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Life History Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Ninteenth Century ◽  
Dynamic Interplay

Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the Blue Nile town of Sennar, supported by archival and historical documentation, this article explores the history of Zar spirit possession in Sudan, and the light this throws on the interplay of religions over the past 150 years. Life history data supports the argument that contemporary Zar is grounded in forms and rituals derived from the ranks of the ninteenth-century Ottoman army, and these remain the basis of ritual events, even as they accommodate ongoing changes in this part of Africa. Many of these changes are linked to the dynamic interplay of Zar with forms of Islam, on the one hand, and Christianity, on the other. In the former colonial periods, political power resided with the British, and Khawaja (European) Christian Zar spirits are remembered as far more important. Today that authority in Zar has shifted to spirits of foreign Muslims and local holy men, on the one hand, and to subaltern Blacks, on the other. These speak to concerns of new generations of adepts even as changes in the larger political and religious landscapes continue to transform the context of Zar.

Camus's Absurd and the World of Melville's Confidence-Man

PMLA ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Leon F. Seltzer
Keyword(s):  
Careful Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Confidence Man ◽  
Ugly Duckling ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

In recent years, The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, a difficult work and for long an unjustly neglected one, has begun to command increasingly greater critical attention and esteem. As more than one contemporary writer has noted, the verdict of the late Richard Chase in 1949, that the novel represents Melville's “second best achievement,” has served to prompt many to undertake a second reading (or at least a first) of the book. Before this time, the novel had traditionally been the one Melville readers have shied away from—as overly discursive, too rambling altogether, on the one hand, or as an unfortunate outgrowth of the author's morbidity on the other. Elizabeth Foster, in the admirably comprehensive introduction to her valuable edition of The Confidence-Man (1954), systematically traces the history of the book's reputation and observes that even with the Melville renaissance of the twenties, the work stands as the last piece of the author's fiction to be redeemed. Only lately, she comments, has it ceased to be regarded as “the ugly duckling” of Melville's creations. But recognition does not imply agreement, and it should not be thought that in the past fifteen years critics have reached any sort of unanimity on the novel's content. Since Mr. Chase's study, which approached the puzzling work as a satire on the American spirit—or, more specifically, as an attack on the liberalism of the day—and which speculated upon the novel's controlling folk and mythic figures, other critics, by now ready to assume that the book repaid careful analysis, have read the work in a variety of ways. It has been treated, among other things, as a religious allegory, as a philosophic satire on optimism, and as a Shandian comedy. One critic has conveniently summarized the prevailing situation by remarking that “the literary, philosophical, and cultural materials in this book are fused in so enigmatic a fashion that its interpreters have differed as to what the book is really about.”

The Biology of the Genus Pissodes. (George Heriot Research Fellowship Thesis.)

1902 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 319-358
Author(s):  
R. Stewart MacDougall
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Remedial Measures ◽  
Research Fellowship ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Harmful Insect

In the case of any harmful insect of economic importance, in order to war against it, or apply remedial measures at all intelligently, a knowledge of the life-history of the pest is necessary. This proposition will, I think, meet with such ready acceptance as to render proof unnecessary, but I might in illustration mention two cases which came under my own observation, where in the one case a knowledge of the round of life of the attacking insect saved a whole forest, and in the other proved of great importance.

Biography and (Global) Microhistory

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Gamsa
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Forthcoming Book ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
German Origin ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

AbstractThis article has two goals. It reflects on the recent developments and agenda of an approach to historical writing that is now becoming known by the name global microhistory, and it analyses the attention which this approach pays to individual lives. It also explores some of the challenges in writing the biography of a city alongside the life history of a person. The city is Harbin, a former Russian-managed railway hub in Manchuria, today a province capital in Northeast China. The person is Baron Roger Budberg (1867–1926), a physician of Baltic German origin who arrived in Harbin during the Russo-Japanese war and remained there until his death, leaving published works and unpublished correspondence in German and Russian. My forthcoming book about Budberg and Harbin challenges the distinction between writing “biography”, on the one hand, and “history”, on the other, while navigating between the “micro” and “macro” layers of historical enquiry.

The bequest ofIlegalja: contested memories and moralities in contemporary Kosovo

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 953-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers
Keyword(s):  
Local System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Self Organisation ◽  
The One

In this essay I explore the ways in which the internal Albanian politics of memory in Kosovo rely on a longer, lived history of militant self-organisation than the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) war period alone. On the basis of recent ethnographic research, I argue that the memory of prewar militant activism is symbolically codified, ritually formalized, and put on the public stage in Kosovo today. Not only has this process effectively rehabilitated and consolidated the personal, social, and political status of specific former activists, it also has produced a hegemonic morality against which the actions of those in power are judged internally. On the one hand, this process reproduces shared cultural references which idealise ethnonational solidarity, unity and pride and which have served militant mobilisation already before the 1990s. On the other, it provides the arguments through which rival representatives of the former militant underground groups (known asIlegalja)compete both socially and politically still today. Although this process demarcates some lines of social and political friction within society, it also suggests that international efforts to introduce an identity which breaks with Kosovo's past and some of its associated values, face a local system of signification that is historically even deeper entrenched than is usually assumed.

Memory of Futures

KronoScope ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Adam
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Modification ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Memory Aids ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One ◽  
Far Future

AbstractWe think of memories as being focused on the past. However, our ability to move freely in the temporal realm of past, present and future is far more complex and sophisticated than commonsense would suggest. In this paper I am concerned with our capacity to produce and extend ourselves into the far future, for example through nuclear power or the genetic modification of food, on the one hand, and our inability to know the potential, diverse and multiple outcomes of this technologically constituted futurity, on the other. I focus on this discrepancy in order to explore what conceptual tools are available to us to take account of long-term futures produced by the industrial way of life. And I identify some historical approaches to the future on the assumption that the past may well hold vital clues for today's dilemma, hence my proposal to engage in 'memory of futures'. I conclude by considering the potential of 'memory aids for the future' as a means to better encompass in contemporary concerns the long-term futures of our making.

scholarly journals La genesi del nuovo nella storia della chirurgia tra desiderio di conoscenza e conflitti etici

2012 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Giardina ◽  
Antonio G. Spagnolo
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Of Surgery ◽  
The Past ◽  
Salient Points ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Ideological Resistance

L’articolo delinea i momenti salienti nella storia della chirurgia, quali la scoperta dell’anestesia, dell’asepsi e antisepsi che ne hanno consentito l’ascesa dopo secoli di oscurità. Il desiderio di conoscenza appagato da tali scoperte si è spesso accompagnato a dilemmi etici da un lato e a resistenze ideologiche, da parte della comunità scientifica (spesso ostile alla genesi del nuovo nella medicina) dall’altro. È questo uno dei più forti ostacoli che i grandi del passato, coloro che hanno avuto il coraggio di andare controcorrente (rompendo i paradigmi esistenti), hanno dovuto superare. Questi uomini rappresentano uno stimolo per ricondurre il sapere scientifico ad un confronto attivo con l’etica al fine di sanare una dicotomia che ha radici antiche. L’antico, dunque, non è semplicemente passato ma rivive attraverso la narrazione storica di vite esemplari di medici. ---------- This article traces salient points in the history of surgery, such as the discovery of anesthesia, asepsis and antisepsis, which permitted surgery’s ascendancy after centuries of unimportance. Encouraged by such breakthroughs, the yearning to learn was often accompanied by ethical dilemmas on the one hand and on the other by ideological resistance on the part of the scientific community, which was often hostile to new medical findings. This was one of the greatest obstacles of the past for the distinguished individuals who had the courage to go against the tide, to break with existing paradigms, to overcome opposition to innovation. These men functioned as a stimulus to bring scientific knowledge head to head with ethics with the goal of healing ancient irreconcilable differences. The past is not simply the past; it lives on through the historical narrative of exemplary lives of certain physicians.

scholarly journals Berbagai Pembacaan al-Qur’an Kontemporer

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Andy Hadiyanto
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

The different interpretations of the holy texts of the Qur'an further broaden the horizon of Muslim understanding of the content of God's messages on the one hand. But on the other hand, the greater the interpretation if not accompanied by an attitude of openness will lead to idiologization (talwiin) to certain understandings arising from that interpretation. Such an idiologisation will elicit a blind and faithless fanatic attitude in religion. Violence in the name of religion and the various conflicts among fellow Muslims recorded in the history of Islam from the past until now is concrete evidence of the negative effects of an interpretation. Therefore this paper is present to provide a comprehensive picture of the recitation of the Qur'an.  Keywords: Al-Qur'an, Contemporary Tafsir, Interpretation  Abstrak Perbedaan penafsiran terhadap teks suci al-Qur’an semakin memperluas horizon pemahaman umat Islam tentang kandungan pesan-pesan Tuhan di satu sisi. Namun di sisi lain, semakin banyaknya penafsiran tersebut apabila tidak dibarengi dengan sikap keterbukaan akan menimbulkan idiologisasi (talwiin) terhadap pemahaman-pemahaman tertentu yang muncul akibat penafsiran itu. Idiologisasi tersebut akan memunculkan sikap fanatik buta dan ketertutupan dalam beragama. Kekerasan atas nama agama dan berbagai konflik antar sesama pemeluk Islam yang tercatat dalam sejarah Islam dari dulu hingga sekarang adalah bukti kongkrit efek negatif sebuah penafsiran. Oleh karena itu tulisan ini hadir untuk memeberikan gambaran yang komprehensif terhadap pembacaan al-Qur’an.  Kata Kunci: Al-Qur’an, Tafsir Kontemporer, Penafsiran

Problems in global history

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Washbrook
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Understanding ◽  
Global History ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

The long periodization of global history puts notions of the modern under scrutiny. Global history challenges us to convert our understanding of Europe from a ‘knowing subject’ into much more of an object of that history. If the global history of the ‘British’ Industrial Revolution takes us to China, on the one side, and the Americas, on the other, by what rights does it deserve, any longer, to be described as ‘British’? How successful has global history been, thus far, at finding or erecting signposts to a new, and significantly different historical understanding of the past?

scholarly journals LTP after Stress: Up or Down?

2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Joëls ◽  
Harm J. Krugers
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Long Term Potentiation ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Stressful Situation ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
The Past ◽  
Term Potentiation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain

When an organism is exposed to a stressful situation, corticosteroid levels in the brain rise. This rise has consequences for behavioral performance, including memory formation. Over the past decades, it has become clear that a rise in corticosteroid level is also accompanied by a reduction in hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). Recent studies, however, indicate that stress does not lead to a universal suppression of LTP. Many factors, including the type of stress, the phase of the stress response, the area of investigation, type of LTP, and the life history of the organism determine in which direction LTP will be changed.

scholarly journals Progress and Historical Reflection in Philosophy

2018 ◽  
pp. 51-68
Author(s):  
Thomas Grundmann
Keyword(s):  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Systematic Philosophy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
The One ◽  
Historical Reflection ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Over Time

What is the epistemic significance of reflecting on a discipline’s past for making progress in that discipline? The author assumes that the answer to this question negatively correlates with that discipline’s degree of progress over time. If and only if a science is progressive, then what people have thought and argued in the past in that discipline ceases to be up to date. This chapter distinguishes different dimensions of disciplinary progress and subsequently argue that veritic progress, that is, collective convergence to truth, is the most important dimension for disciplines with scientific ambitions. It then argues that, on the one hand, veritic progress in philosophy is more significant than many current philosophers believe, but that, on the other hand, it also has severe limitations. The author offers an explanation of these limitations that suggests that the history of philosophy should play some role, though only a minor one, in systematic philosophy.

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