Waiting in Line, Moving in Circles : Spaces of Instability in Christian Petzold’s Transit

Loosely based on a 1944 novel by German writer Anna Seghers and set in present-day France, Christian Petzold’s Transit is a story of fateful migration, in which conflicting agencies and shifting identities are translated into an aesthetic principle. Its fluctuating interrelations between images, texts, and temporalities transform the film into an ultimate “non-place,” which, except for a few hints at fascism and a refugee crisis, provides no explanation or overview of its political implications. Alongside the characters, spectators are thrown into a world defined by fragile image spaces and zones of exclusion, always haunted by fragments of the past and glimpses of an uncertain future.

Political Implication of Presidential System Practice in The Jokowi-JK Government

This study focuses on the political implications of the presidential system practice in the Jokowi-JK government. Constitutionally, the Indonesian government system adheres to a presidential system. However, there is a system confusion in practice that causes the President's role and position as head of government to be not optimal because his policies are often criticized and even intervened by the DPR. The purpose of this study is to analyze the political implications of the presidential system practice run by Jokowi-JK, using a case study approach and analyzing primary and secondary data. The specification of the research is analytical descriptive with qualitative method. The theories used include presidential theory, party system, coalition, and leadership theory. The study results show that the presidential-parliamentary-style system run by Jokowi-JK has implications for less than optimal decision-making by the President in the preparation of the cabinet and disruption of relations with parliament.

Jesuit Sanctity: Hypothesizing the Continuity of a Hagiographic Narrative of the Modern Age

The introduction to this special issue provides some considerations on early modern sanctity as a historical object. It firstly presents the major shifts in the developing idea of sanctity between the late medieval period and the nineteenth century, passing through the early modern construction of sanctity and its cultural, social, and political implications. Secondly, it provides an overview of the main sources that allow historians to retrace early modern sanctity, especially canonization records and hagiographies. Thirdly, it offers an overview of the ingenious role of the Society of Jesus in the construction of early modern sanctity, by highlighting its ability to employ, create, and play with hagiographical models. The main Jesuit models of sanctity are then presented (i.e., the theologian, the missionary, the martyr, the living saint), and an important reflection is reserved for the specific martyrial character of Jesuit sanctity. The introduction assesses the continuity of the Jesuit hagiographical discourse throughout the long history of the order, from the origins to the suppression and restoration.

Fractal aspects of natural growth

The work presented here puts forward a fractal aspect of natural growth. The S-shaped pattern of a logistic function is analyzed in terms of several constituent logistic functions. The approach sheds light on two familiar phenomena: the undulatory evolution of growth, which gives rise to an alternation between high-and low-growth periods, and the increasingly noticeable shrinking life cycle of products. There are some economic and political implications for the European nations. A quantitative example is given for computer sales from Digital Equipment Corporation. The approach is further generalized to suggest that any growth process can be analyzed in terms of natural-growth subprocesses. Applied to human growth this analysis yields precise definitions for the timing of transitions such as babyhood to childhood, and childhood to adolescence.

Возвращенная из небытия: борьба за историческую память о 110-й Калмыцкой кавалерийской дивизии. Часть 1

Introduction. The article analyzes historiography and history of the 110th Kalmyk Cavalry Division, the only ethnic Kalmyk (largely) military unit that was engaged in active combat operations during the Great Patriotic War. However, despite its huge contribution to the heroic struggle against invading troops the unit — worthy of decent memory and respect — got surrounded with defamatory myths that bear no relation to actual events. Since most of the Division’s documents submitted to archives had disappeared, it took several decades to objectively examine its history. Materials and methods. The historical genetic method being a principal one for the present research, the latter also employs historical systemic and comparative methods. The sources analyzed are books and articles, official documents and correspondence from various archival repositories, personal messages and memoirs by veterans of the 110th Kalmyk Cavalry Division and researchers of its history. Results. The article is a consistent review of the unit’s historiography that may be divided into five stages to be designated as follows: 1) period of silence and lies (1943–1957), 2) period of ‘sporadic’ studies (1957–1967), 3) period of active scientific work (1967–1977), 4) period of indifference (1977–2011), and 5) period of new scholarly interest (2011 to the present). The Kalmyk Cavalry Division has long been an object of defamatory insinuations and calumny when it was accused of ‘unreliability’, denounced as a ‘gang’ or even as German collaborators — these had clearly political implications. Meanwhile, the historical research was seriously complicated by the loss of most of its documents although after the disbandment those were duly handed over according to inventory lists along with the banners. This severely obstructed the process of preserving historical memory of the only ethnic Kalmyk unit that fought against the enemy during the Great Patriotic War. Hence, the difficulties that scholars in the field have had to overcome were immense. Part One of the article covers stages one to three. Conclusions. Historiography of the 110th Kalmyk Cavalry Division may be described as a difficult and winding path, with periods of both oblivion and activation experienced.

В. Н. Татищев и вопросы улучшения экономического положения калмыцкого народа

Introduction. This article is devoted to the activities of Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev, when Astrakhan governor (1741–1745) responsible for the affairs of the Kalmyk steppes. It is aimed to examine his projects designed to amend the impoverishment of the broad masses of Kalmyks often left without their livestock, even without horses. The question was raised by Tatishchev himself; the governor was worried about its political implications because Kalmyks without horses were of no use for the Russian Empire. Materials and methods. The article is based on archival materials, as well as the historiography that sheds light on Tatishchev as the statesman and politician. Results. The governor repeatedly discussed the issues of the worsened social-economic situation of the people with the Kalmyk namestnik (leader) Donduk Dashi, both on official occasions and in private communication. He had various explanations for their economical degradation, pointing out the difference in the nomads’ situation of the 1840s as compared with that in Khan Ayuka’s time. His involvement in the issues concerning fishing and seasonal work of the impoverished Kalmyks shows that the governor seemed to be interested in helping them, but his projects to improve the Kalmyks’ socio-economic situation were largely unsuccessful. The reasons for the failure may be found both in the resistance of the Kalmyk rulers and zaisangs and the general weaknesses of the administration when dealing with the steppe affairs.

The Shift in the Childbirth Paradigm in Latin America and its Socio-Political Implications

The article tackles the issue of the shift in the model of childbirth taking place in Latin American countries. Based on the analysis of 2012 documentary film Nacer by Jorge Caballero, audiovisual material from organizations dedicated to maternity care, and selected documents and legislation it focuses on values, significances, normative principles and power relations in technological and natural childbirth models. I argue that a shift from the technological paradigm to the natural paradigm of childbirth may contribute to the abolition of patriarchal structures perpetuating violence, the women’s empowerment and the construction of a society supported by the values of respect and love for living beings.