An Interview with Elmer Beard: Remembrances of Black Activism, Communal Solidarity, and the Burning of Roanoke Baptist Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Context The oral history interview with Mr. Elmer Beard, a longtime political activist, politician, and educator, is part of a series of interviews for a study on Black church burnings, arsons, and vandalism from 2008 to 2016. Mr. Beard gives historical context to recent Black church arson with a focus on the mysterious burning of Roanoke Baptist Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on 22 December 1963. On 9 March 2018, the interview took place in Hot Springs at the current church site. The dialogue starts with biographical questions and evolves into details about Mr. Beard’s experience growing up in a racially segregated society, particularly in south-central Arkansas.

Pelican as an ornithic symbol in Ukrainian culture and arts

The purpose of the article. Investigate the determination of the image of the pelican in Ukrainian culture and art as an original manifestation of national symbolics. Methodology. The research methodology is based on the application of a systems approach in combination with historical-genetic, comparative, and art methods, with the involvement of analysis of sources from the field of Ukrainian symbolism. The scientific novelty lies in the actualization of the study of the symbolic image of the pelican as a nationally specific component of Ukrainian culture. Conclusions. The representatives of the Ukrainian avifauna acquired in the popular imagination the forms of established symbolic images, that entered the space of national folklore through mythological thinking. The penetration of the pelican symbol into the arsenal of fine arts of Ukrainian culture did not pass through the mythological element but was borrowed from Christian cult publications and images of European countries. The oldest known images of the pelican in Ukraine belong to the artistic decoration of the book, and since the XVIII century, they are found in Baroque iconography and all kinds of plastic art. In Ukrainian art, as in the art of other countries, the image of the pelican acquires a symbolic meaning in three hypostases: a symbol of Christ's self-sacrifice, paternal self-denial, and human mercy. Priority in the study of the role and place of the symbol of the pelican in the national culture belongs to an art critic, poet, political activist Natalia Kotsyubynska. Further search for information on the role of ornithological symbols in the system of Ukrainian culture opens the prospect of a deeper understanding of the national mentality of our people. Keywords: symbolic image, pelican, art, Ukrainian culture, Natalia Kotsyubynska.

Transgender Microcelebrity Activists: Self-broadcasting as Politics

This research is a qualitative study of Natalie Wynn and Blaire White, two transgender women who empower themselves via social media. Through microcelebrity practices, these two figures have garnered audiences online to disseminate ideas pertaining to their political ideologies. I examine the transgender microcelebrities’ Instagram accounts and YouTube videos via Jerslev’s framework for microcelebrity practices based on observations of self-celebrification on YouTube. The observed content was then examined through a political activist lens using framework from Daskal on digital rights. Participatory technologies become a tool for mobilization and information sharing. Broadcasting one’s experiences and how they relate to larger dialectics of a minority group is political in nature. This self-representation is significant for minority groups that lack sufficient mainstream approval and media representation. This study cannot define what success looks like for a digital activist, as it would be difficult to find and measure qualitative actions directly resulting from self-broadcasting. As more communication takes place on computer-mediated technologies, it must be acknowledged these interactions do not take place within a vacuum, and effects are felt offline, even if we cannot measure each instance of influence from watching a 40-minute video on YouTube.

Community-based learning in higher education: A portal for knowledge production in the time of COVID-19

At the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, the world-renowned writer and political activist, Arundhati Roy, signalled that the pandemic is "a portal, a gateway between one world and the next . . . [and] we can choose to walk through it." Roy's views highlight how we can imagine our world anew through reflection in the time of COVID-19. In this article, we examine the epistemological experiences of students enrolled in a course in community-based learning (CBL) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and consider how CBL during COVID-19 serves as a portal for understanding knowledge that is produced at the nexus between the university and the community. We deemed the Community of Inquiry framework to be a suitable theoretical lens based on its appreciation of the nexus between social (community), teaching (classroom), and cognitive (critical thinking) elements in an online educational experience. Our findings indicate that COVID-19 provides an opportunity for CBL to serve as a portal for understanding how the students' epistemological experiences during the pandemic influenced knowledge production. This is beneficial since university education most often places at the periphery knowledge that students from the surrounding communities bring to the classroom. It is our contention that students bring epistemic value to the university that is not affirmed during the knowledge production process. We conclude that CBL can indeed serve as the gateway for knowledge production between universities and communities during and beyond COVID-19.

Liberalism and Conservatism in the Writings of Aurel C. Popovic

"In our study we wanted to analyze how the Romanian political activist and ideologist Aurel C. Popovici (1863-1917) perceived liberalism and conservatism, two of the most important ideologies of the nineteenth century. For this purpose, we studied three of his main writings: Principiul de naţionalitate (The Nationality Principle), Statele Unite ale Austriei Mari (The United States of Great Austria) and Naţionalism sau democraţie: o critică a civilizaţiunii moderne (Nationalism or Democracy: a Critical Approach to Modern Civilization). We studied the way in which the renowned Banatian author perceived liberalism, but also the way he percieved several main principles of this ideology: the defense of liberty, the sovereignty of the people, representative government, the refusal of absolutism and pluralism. By analyzing these topics in Aurel C. Popovici’s writings, we identified several paradoxes of his thinking, which we tried to explain by appealing to other sources, like personal letters or memoirs belonging to friends or admirers. Keywords: liberalism, conservatism, Aurel C. Popovici, democracy, Austria-Hungary, nationalism "

The Forgotten Enlightener: Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927)

<p>Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927) is generally known among scholars of Japanese intellectual history as the pioneering advocate of kokusui shugi (maintenance of Japan's cultural identity), a theory which called for spiritual solidarity in the late 1880s when Japan was facing increasing pressure from the West. He is also regarded as an intellectual opponent of his contemporary, journalist Tokutomi Soho (1863-1957), who advocated heimin shugi, total modernisation of Japan. Their so-called rivalry has been understood as Shigetaka being "conservative" and Soho, "progressive", despite the many parallels in their ideas regarding the necessity for industrialisation of Japan: the myth has been created that Shigetaka's ideas are synonymous with those of the "conservative" intellectuals, particularly the "Confucian" scholars (jukyo shugi sha). In fact, Shigetaka strongly rejected the "conservative" label and criticised the "Confucian" scholars when their influence culminated in the promulgation of the Imperial Rescript on Education in 1890 and also when the National Morality Movement gained nation-wide support after 1910. However, his criticism of them has not been sufficiently studied and existing discussions of his thought predominantly focus on the kokusui issue. Other studies deal with Shigetaka as geographer, political activist, and global traveller, but tend to be rather sketchy. Above all, they do not concern themselves with his thoughts on education, which are particularly significant in light of his opposition to the "Confucian" scholars' attempts to achieve national moral control. Despite his opposition, there has been another longstanding myth about him: his kokusui advocacy and his purpose of promotion as well as popularisation of the study of the geography have been interpreted as leading towards Japan's later imperialism. One of the purposes of this study is to challenge these two myths, (Shigetaka as a "conservative" intellectual and Shigetaka as a forerunner of imperialism), by focussing on the areas of his work overlooked by the previous scholars. This thesis presents a more realistic picture of Shigetaka's intellectual activity by examining his thought in two stages: the late 1880s when he advocated Japan's economic reform supported by national (spiritual) solidarity; and after 1910 when he began his outspoken criticism of the "Confucian" scholars. By analysing his criticism of the "Confucian" scholars, the discourse attempts to establish the following two points: first, that the "Confucian" scholars were Shigetaka's intellectual opponents; second, that he was an anti-imperialist who strongly opposed Japan's march towards the "suicidal" World War Two. The thesis also identifies the close relationship between Shigetaka's beliefs regarding education and economic reforms and those of Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901), the most influential enlightener of 1870s in Japan. Both Fukuzawa and Shigetaka had participated in missions overseas and both believed in Western studies, although Shigetaka warned against too indiscriminate an adoption of Westernisation because of his findings of the demeaning effect of Western culture in the South Seas. This thesis demonstrates how Shigetaka supported his reform advocacy with first-hand observations of current world affairs. He believed that Japan's survival and respect in the fast-changing world order depended on education and it was vital to promote and popularise geography as a curricular subject and as a way of understanding the contemporary world. He aimed at not only educating the people through institutions, but also enlightening the general public through journalism. Consequently, this thesis suggests that his views on education, to which insufficient weight has been given until now, are essential to understanding the intellectual activity of this "forgotten enlightener".</p>

The Forgotten Enlightener: Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927)

<p>Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927) is generally known among scholars of Japanese intellectual history as the pioneering advocate of kokusui shugi (maintenance of Japan's cultural identity), a theory which called for spiritual solidarity in the late 1880s when Japan was facing increasing pressure from the West. He is also regarded as an intellectual opponent of his contemporary, journalist Tokutomi Soho (1863-1957), who advocated heimin shugi, total modernisation of Japan. Their so-called rivalry has been understood as Shigetaka being "conservative" and Soho, "progressive", despite the many parallels in their ideas regarding the necessity for industrialisation of Japan: the myth has been created that Shigetaka's ideas are synonymous with those of the "conservative" intellectuals, particularly the "Confucian" scholars (jukyo shugi sha). In fact, Shigetaka strongly rejected the "conservative" label and criticised the "Confucian" scholars when their influence culminated in the promulgation of the Imperial Rescript on Education in 1890 and also when the National Morality Movement gained nation-wide support after 1910. However, his criticism of them has not been sufficiently studied and existing discussions of his thought predominantly focus on the kokusui issue. Other studies deal with Shigetaka as geographer, political activist, and global traveller, but tend to be rather sketchy. Above all, they do not concern themselves with his thoughts on education, which are particularly significant in light of his opposition to the "Confucian" scholars' attempts to achieve national moral control. Despite his opposition, there has been another longstanding myth about him: his kokusui advocacy and his purpose of promotion as well as popularisation of the study of the geography have been interpreted as leading towards Japan's later imperialism. One of the purposes of this study is to challenge these two myths, (Shigetaka as a "conservative" intellectual and Shigetaka as a forerunner of imperialism), by focussing on the areas of his work overlooked by the previous scholars. This thesis presents a more realistic picture of Shigetaka's intellectual activity by examining his thought in two stages: the late 1880s when he advocated Japan's economic reform supported by national (spiritual) solidarity; and after 1910 when he began his outspoken criticism of the "Confucian" scholars. By analysing his criticism of the "Confucian" scholars, the discourse attempts to establish the following two points: first, that the "Confucian" scholars were Shigetaka's intellectual opponents; second, that he was an anti-imperialist who strongly opposed Japan's march towards the "suicidal" World War Two. The thesis also identifies the close relationship between Shigetaka's beliefs regarding education and economic reforms and those of Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901), the most influential enlightener of 1870s in Japan. Both Fukuzawa and Shigetaka had participated in missions overseas and both believed in Western studies, although Shigetaka warned against too indiscriminate an adoption of Westernisation because of his findings of the demeaning effect of Western culture in the South Seas. This thesis demonstrates how Shigetaka supported his reform advocacy with first-hand observations of current world affairs. He believed that Japan's survival and respect in the fast-changing world order depended on education and it was vital to promote and popularise geography as a curricular subject and as a way of understanding the contemporary world. He aimed at not only educating the people through institutions, but also enlightening the general public through journalism. Consequently, this thesis suggests that his views on education, to which insufficient weight has been given until now, are essential to understanding the intellectual activity of this "forgotten enlightener".</p>

World War I and its aftermath: Reaching for the past and across the Atlantic

This article focuses on the British West Indies beginning with the involvement of African Caribbean soldiers in the Great War. It challenges the enduring myth of the First World War as a predominantly white European conflict. The main part focuses on C. L. R. James, the Trinidadian historian and playwright, following his paradigmatic trajectory from the colony to the ‘mother country’ and his involvement in the protracted transnational process of decolonization after the First Word War. It concentrates on one of his political pamphlets and on his play Toussaint Louverture. The work of the British writer and left-wing political activist Nancy Cunard is also presented as another ‘outsider’ text which can further an ongoing methodological project: the re-integration and cross-fertilization of received knowledge about the war with seemingly outlying knowledge, unorthodox political commitment and challenging aesthetics to produce a richer understanding of this formative period across the Atlantic divide.

Socio-Religious Visionaries in Bulgaria (1920–1950s): the Christo Oustabachieff Case

The article is a case study of the life, work and ideas of the Bulgarian political and religious figure Christo Oustabachieff (1871–1953). Beginning his career as a financial official, political activist and founder of one of the first xenophobic organizations, after the First World War he devoted himself entirely to religious activities: he founded the “Good Samaritan” Religious Society (1921), became leader and ideologist of the Orthodox Holy Society for Spiritual Renewal of the Bulgarian people (1924), of the "Greater (Peaceful) Bulgaria" Union (Political Party) (1926–1944), of the "St. John of Rila” National Defense Organization (1933) and of the Slavic-Bulgarian People's Christian Union (1945–1953). His ideas have a religious and political character and represent a prototype of the Christian Democratic tradition in Bulgaria. In the context of the post-WW1 crisis and the widespread of the New Religious Movements, he declared himself a spiritual leader and initially guided his numerous followers with oral prophecies, revelations and dreams. Developed in the 1930s in written messages, they acquired an eclectic character, uniting religious fundamentalism, messianism and prophetism. Oustabachieff 's political visions in the 1930s–1940s were strongly influenced by authoritarianism, nationalism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. Their core was an idea of a Slavic monarchy – based on Christian Democratic values, a future center of a Balkan federation, and a realized Medieval and Bulgaria Revival period ideal of "Great Bulgaria”. The study uses historical approach and is based on unknown archival sources, combined with data from periodicals and published works of Oustabachieff.