Symbolism and National Identity in Carl Durheim’s Photographic Work

In this article I explore the work of Carl Durheim (1810-1890) as a production of highly symbolic imagery geared toward the visual creation of the Swiss national identity in the wake of the establishment of the Confederation in 1848. After providing some background about Durheim and the early history of photography in Switzerland I focus on Durheim’s pictures of the so-called Heimatlose (vagabonds), which were commissioned by the Police and Justice Department in Bern. I argue that these pictures cannot be interpreted merely as mug shots taken in order to reproduce the identity of the depicted subjects; rather, using the rhetorical force of photography, these images projected onto the Heimatlose the ideal of the new Swiss society, based on bourgeois values and clearly demarcated from everything foreign through an idealized operation of drawing geographical and social borders.

Life and Work of Lieutenant Colonel of Militia Alexey N. Ovchinnikov in 1920s – 1941

This article reconstructs the early history of the Soviet militia in Western Siberia. The research was based on the personal archive of Lieutenant Colonel A. N. Ovchinnikov and previously unpublished official documents stored in the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Altai Krai and in the Novosibirsk Region. The research featured A. N. Ovchinnikov’s professional activity and personal participation in the development of militia in the Altai Krai and Kuzbass. When A. N. Ovchinnikov joined the militia forces, the institution was undergoing some radical reforms, e.g. it merged with the Joint State Political Directorate, became militarized and politicized, etc. In the 1920s – 1940s, the Soviet militia turned into a command and administrative system that made collectivization and industrialization possible. Militia officers were evaluated not only by their professional qualities, but also by their party affiliation, political views, and education. The sources made it possible to reveal A. N. Ovchinnikov’s personal position in the process of militia development in the 1930s – 1940s. Despite the constant personnel shortage and the low level of education, the party managed to improve the discipline, qualifications, moral qualities, and political consciousness of militia officers, thus increasing their performance. The authors believe that personal historic narratives can be a valuable contribution to the historical studies of Soviet militia.

The travel motif of a nimngakan hero as a reflection of the Tungus early history processes

Целью исследования является выявление исторических свойств устного народного творчества на примере типологии сюжетно-мотивного состава эпоса эвенков. Актуальная проблема фольклорного историзма рассматривается с позиции междисциплинарного подхода, в котором привлекаются материалы смежных научных дисциплин. Для достижения цели исследования используются методологические основы фольклорного историзма на материале эпоса восточных эвенков. Проблемы ранней истории тунгусо-маньчжурских народов исследуются на основе анализа популярного мотива путешествия эпического героя эвенков с привлечением материалов устного народного творчества и мировоззренческих традиций этносов дальневосточного региона. Мотив путешествия героя нимнгакана является наиболее распространенным в эпических традициях восточных эвенков, составляя композиционную и содержательную основу текста – основное содержание сказаний восточных эвенков описывает странствия и подвиги эвенкийского богатыря в далеких землях, расположенных к востоку от места его рождения. В своём странствии в страну восходящего солнца герой сражается с враждебными богатырями Нижнего мира, обретает взаимобрачные и родственные связи с аборигенами восточных земель. Характеристики и этнографические детали культурных традиций дружественных племен существенно отличаются. Кроме носителей скотоводческих и оленеводческих традиций, можно выделить две основные этно-племенные группы, с которыми контактирует герой эвенкийского эпоса: носители культуры рыболовства и морской охоты, а также «древние свиноводы». В результате исследования, выдвигается предположение о том, что мотив путешествия эпического героя эвенков представляет собой отражение исторических процессов, сопровождавших развитие этнографического комплекса эвенков и родственных народов тунгусо-маньчжурской группы в Приамурье, Маньчжурии и на побережье Охотского моря. В число групп, с которыми формировались прочные исторические связи тунгусов, следует отнести предков нивхов и этно-племенные формации Приамурья, объединяемые этнонимами сушень и мохэ. Работа представляет интерес для специалистов по фольклору, истории и этнографии, в круг научных интересов которых входят традиции устного народного творчества и история тунгусо-маньчжурских народов. The aim of the study was to identify the historical properties of oral folk art on the example of the typology of the plot-motif composition of the Evenki epic. The actual problem of folk historicism is considered from the position of an interdisciplinary approach, which draws on materials from related scholarly disciplines. To achieve the goal of the research, the methodological foundations of folklore historicism were used based on the material of the epic of Eastern Evenks. The problems of the early history of the Tungus-Manchu peoples were investigated on the basis of the analysis of the popular travel motif of the Evenki epic hero with the use of materials of oral folk art and ideological traditions of the ethnic groups of the Far Eastern region. The motif of the Nimngakan hero’s travel is the most widespread in the epic traditions of Eastern Evenks. The motif constitutes the compositional and substantive basis of the text – the main content of Eastern Evenks’ legends describes the travels and deeds of the Evenki hero in distant lands located to the east of the place of his birth. In his travel to the land of the rising sun, the hero fights against the hostile bogatyrs of the Under World, forms mutual and kinship ties with the natives of the eastern lands. The characteristics and ethnographic details of the cultural traditions of friendly tribes differ significantly. In addition to the carriers of cattle-breeding and reindeer-breeding traditions, the hero of the Evenki epic contacts with two main ethno-tribal groups: carriers of the fishing culture and sea hunting, as well as “ancient pig breeders”. As a result of the research, it is suggested that the motif of the Evenki epic hero’s travel is a reflection of the historical processes that accompanied the development of the ethnographic complex of Evenks and related peoples of the Tungus-Manchu group in the Amur region, Manchuria and on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. The Tungus formed strong historical ties with the groups, which should include the ancestors of the Nivkhs and the ethno-tribal formations of the Amur region, united by the ethnonyms Sushen’ and Mohe. This research is of interest to specialists in folklore, history and ethnography, whose scholarly interests include the traditions of folklore and the history of the Tungus-Manchu peoples.

KERAMIK SITUS KUTAI LAMA: TINJAUAN BENTUK DAN KRONOLOGI [KUTAI LAMA CERAMICS: A REVIEW ON FORM AND CHRONOLOGY]

Kutai Lama merupakan salah satu kota lama yang terdapat di daerah aliran Sungai Mahakam. Salah satu bukti hubungan antara Kutai Lama dengan dunia luar adalah banyaknya sebaran pecahan keramik asing, terutama dari Cina, yang padat di sepanjang tepian sungai. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah memahami keberadaan keramik kuno di daerah aliran Sungai Mahakam. Adapun sasaran penelitian ini adalah bentuk dan variasi keramik, sehingga diketahuifungsi serta peranan keramik Cina pada masa itu. Penelitian ini dilakukan karena belum ada penelitian terdahulu yang mengulas tentang besarnya pengaruh eksistensi keramik Cina dalam perkembangan kebudayaan di kawasan Kutai Lama. Situs Kutai Lama merupakan kawasan penting bagi rekonstruksi sejarah awal perkembangan Islam di Kutai Kartanegara. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah kualitatif-deskriptif, dan perbandingan-perbandingan berdasarkan literatur keramik Cina. Hasil analisis morfologi dan kronologi menunjukkan bahwa keramik Dinasti Song-Yuan mendominasi populasi temuan keramik di Kutai Lama. Hal ini menjadi indikasi komoditi dagang tersebut dihargai sebagai suatu hadiah, sehingga menjadi barang berharga yang dimiliki oleh kalangan tertentu atau tokoh masyarakat. Kutai Lama is one of the old towns located in the Mahakam River catchment. One of the items of evidence of the relationship between Kutai Lama and the outside world is a large number of fragments of foreign ceramic, especially from China, which was densely found along the banks of the river. The objective of this study was to understand the existence of old ceramics in the Mahakam River catchment. The target of this research was the form and variation of ceramics, thus providing information on the purpose and role of Chinese ceramics then. This research was conducted because there were no previous studies that reviewed the magnitude of the influence of the existence of Chinese ceramics in the cultural development in the Kutai Lama region. The Kutai Lama site is an important area for the reconstruction of the early history of Islamic development in Kutai Kartanegara. The research method used was qualitative-descriptive, and comparative based on Chinese ceramics literature. The results of the morphological and chronological analyses showed that the Song-Yuan Dynasty ceramics dominate the population of ceramic findings in Kutai Lama. This is an indication that such trade commodity was also valued as gifts, therefore, it became valuable items owned by certain groups or community leaders.

Enlightening the Chemistry of Infalling Envelopes and Accretion Disks Around Sun-Like Protostars: The ALMA FAUST Project

The huge variety of planetary systems discovered in recent decades likely depends on the early history of their formation. In this contribution, we introduce the FAUST Large Program which focuses specifically on the early history of solar-like protostars and their chemical diversity at scales of ∼ 50 au, where planets are expected to form. In particular, the goal of the project is to reveal and quantify the variety of chemical composition of the envelope/disk system at scales of 50 au in a sample of Class 0 and I protostars representative of the chemical diversity observed at larger scales. For each source, we propose a set of molecules able to (1) disentangle the components of the 50–2000 au envelope/disk system, (2) characterize the organic complexity in each of them, (3) probe their ionization structure, and (4) measure their molecular deuteration. The output will be a homogeneous database of thousands of images from different lines and species, i.e., an unprecedented source survey of the chemical diversity of solar-like protostars. FAUST will provide the community with a legacy dataset that will be a milestone for astrochemistry and star formation studies.

How Well Does Evolution Explain Endogenous Retroviruses?—A Lakatosian Assessment

One of the most sophisticated philosophies of science is the methodology of scientific research programmes (MSRP), developed by Imre Lakatos. According to MSRP, scientists are working within so-called research programmes, consisting of a hard core of fixed convictions and a flexible protective belt of auxiliary hypotheses. Anomalies are accommodated by changes to the protective belt that do not affect the hard core. Under MSRP, research programmes are appraised as ‘progressive’ if they successfully predict novel facts but are judged as ‘degenerative’ if they merely offer ad hoc solutions to anomalies. This paper applies these criteria to the evolutionary research programme as it has performed during half a century of ERV research. It describes the early history of the field and the emergence of the endogenization-amplification theory on the origins of retroviral-like sequences. It then discusses various predictions and postdictions that were generated by the programme, regarding orthologous ERVs in different species, the presence of target site duplications and the divergence of long terminal repeats, and appraises how the programme has dealt with data that did not conform to initial expectations. It is concluded that the evolutionary research programme has been progressive with regard to the issues here examined.