Cultural History

The July 1974 invasion of Cyprus by Turkey caught the Greek Colonels (1967–74) off guard, as they proved entirely incapable of responding to the casus belli, partly provoked by their own actions. Greece remained technically in the state of military mobilisation for about four months and with the democratic transition well underway. This article catalogues the ways in which this conflict mobilised Greek civil society in unprecedented
ways. Using oral testimonies, press clippings and three major documentaries of the time (Nikos Koundouros’ The Songs of Fire, Michael Cacoyannis’ Attila 74, and Nikos Kavoukidis’ Testimonials), the article dissects the cultural resistances against the war in one of the most traumatic moments in contemporary Greek history. It analyses the gigantic concerts that took place in the largest stadiums of Athens to
protest the war, next to mass demonstrations and popular films protesting the invasion. It argues that these cultural events and artifacts re-enacted facets of the anti- Vietnam War movement and the respective countercultural scene in the US of the late 1960s. The article concludes that these modes of cultural and political resistance activated post-authoritarian Greek civil society, renegotiating the parameters of political participation and partly resetting the agenda of the country’s foreign policy following
popular demand.

This article is a continuation ofthe author’s study of the historiography of boyars and the Boyar Duma in Early Modern Russia (See the first part of this study in Canadian American Slavic Studies 52,no.4[2018]:1–22.)The article explores the period when Marxist theories dominated and controlled the study of this topic. Marxist historians set for themselves the goal of fitting the history of the boyars into the Marxist paradigm.Their theories and conclusions were not based on the study of sources but on the application of the Marxist theoretical model.Their main conclusion was that the boyas constitute are actionary resistance in Muscovy ,though there were differences among historians about how and why boyar resistance took the forms it did. Beginning in the 1960s, there was a movement away from a strict Marxist interpretation in the Soviet historiography of the boyars and the Duma; and by the 1980s, historians were only very formally and nominally placing the topic inside the Marxist paradigm and instead moving in the direction of close source analyses.On a basis of a comprehensive study of the historiography, the author concludes that the Marxist paradigm actually made no important contribution to the study of the topic and perhaps even slowed the progress that would have been made by Soviet specialists without it. Even so,Soviet historiography produced, inadvertently, a turn toward source study, which has been a foundation for new and productive avenues of research on the boyars today.

This essay shows Mexican independent cinema’s innovative approach towards the representation of children’s universe in the 1960s. The films En el balcón vacío, En el parque hondo and Tarde de agosto explore the child protagonists’ perspective on violence and exile, that contrast stereotypical and hegemonic representations of childhood constructed by the Mexican film industry in previous decades.

Este estudio explora las causas y consecuencias de las labores de orientación turística realizadas por los niños, niñas y adolescentes en el complejo arqueológico de Narihualá. Desde una mirada de los mismos actores, esta investigación presenta una noción de trabajo que no encubre el sentido negativo que tiene en el modelo dominante en sociedades urbanas y modernas, e ilustra la importancia de incorporar el contexto cultural e identidad en el diseño de políticas públicas. Encontramos que esta práctica no estuvo principalmente determinada por las restricciones monetarias familiares, sino por la percepción de la infancia en la comunidad así como por la búsqueda de autonomía de los niños. Asimismo, esta práctica tuvo consecuencias positivas en la formación de habilidades de los niños, niñas y adolescentes.

Despite the centrality of the institution of the university to liberalism, the trajectory of the institution in non-western, postcolonial democracies like India has scarcely received attention. The subject has rarely generated the kind of scholarly enquiry and reflection that liberal political institutions like the state and other institutions of the civil society have. Indeed, the dominant framework has been to think of education (higher or otherwise) and its attendant institutions as concomitant with the nation-state, often thought of as serving no other purpose than the state's developmental agenda.

This article focuses on the puzzling circumstances that led to the production of the first bottle of Coca-Cola in Eastern Europe—in Bulgaria in 1965. The curious story line is revisited be- cause, while opposition to the expansion of the iconic drink after World War II in Europe has been well studied, more has come to light about the economic activities and intentions of the Bulgarian Communist Party. A central argument is that the ideological opposition of communist parties across Europe held less power than did local economic interests. What
looked like the surprising “breakthrough” of Coca-Cola instead fit a general strategy to intensify trade with the West. The article broadens the understanding that local actors contributed to the cracking of the Iron Curtain at least as much as did the “irresistibility” of Western culture.

Testaments as an alternative to a legal, i.e. customary way of inheritance of the legacy, formed in Rome in the 4th century BC. In Western Europe during the Middle Ages and the Baroque period a specific feature of testaments of those epochs revealed itself – attribution to the religious sphere. The custom of inheritance by testaments in the GDL was begun to be adopted after the state’s baptism. It was completely adapted within two hundred years (1387–1588). All testaments were begun with the formula of invocation – calling God’s name. After it, usually in the preamble a moral-ethic substantiation of making the testament was presented. The most important part of the testament was disposition. There, according to the will of the testator property was distributed, executors of the testament and guardians of the minors were specified, various obligations to the heirs were written, etc. First and foremost, “devout legates” intended for the church were listed. Then issues of debts were regulated upon elucidating of which the property was divided among the family members. Usually the welfare of the spouse came first; another important part of the property went to sons and daughters. Distant relatives, as well as brothers and sisters usually received by testament some part of the property only if the testator had no spouse or was childless. Though often a threatening sacral phrase was put in testaments it did not frighten the parties interested in inheritance and often the last will was disregarded and posthumous cases were taken to court.

Anthropophagy in Medieval Sicily: a cultural theme between chronicle and representation. Anthropophagy is the consumption of human flesh and the most extreme form of destruction of the human body, a physical violence which is the quintessential taboo of the self-described “civilized” societies. It provokes disgust, surprise and sometimes fascination, creating a deep connection between the text and the reader, and between the message and the audience. With regard to Sicily, anthropophagy is a cultural theme useful to discern between the account of real events and their representation. The construction of the image of Sicily, and even more of its inhabitants, the Sicilians, is based on an accumulation of clichés, often of ancient origins, transmitted and interpreted over the ages. One of them is surely the “bestiality” of its first inhabitants, intended as the ancient Cyclops or the Giants sons of Saturn, both of them “tyrants” described as man-eaters. During the Early Middle Ages the idea that the Sicilians eat human flesh was transferred to the new conquerors of the island: the Muslims, an infidel enemy to be fighted and considered beyond the boundaries of humanity and nature, meant as a divine law and therefore “civilization”. In both cases the accusations came from the outside, i.e. from groups as the ancient Greeks or the Christians (both Byzantine and Latin-Norman) who had an interest in representing the old and modern inhabitants of the island as anthropophagists to be feared, conquered, subjugated and converted to religion and/or civilization.

This critical study of video games since 9/11 shows how a distinct genre emerged following the terrorist attacks and their aftermath. Comparisons of pre and post–9/11 titles of popular game franchises—Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Grand Theft Auto and Syphon Filter—reveal reshaped notions of identity, urban and suburban spaces and the citizen's role as both a producer and consumer of culture: New York represents America; the mall embodies American values; zombies symbolize foreign invasion. By revisiting a national trauma, these games offer a therapeutic solution to the geopolitical upheaval of 9/11 and, along with film and television, help redefine American identity and masculinity in a time of conflict.

The Tweed Ring spawned a vibrant financial sector that was integral to its brief success but has never been previously examined. William “Boss” Tweed and his allies employed banks controlled or comanaged by Tammany politicians to embezzle funds, build political alliances, and invest in a wide array of business ventures. The capital of these savings and commercial banks—city money, deposits from Catholic charities, and the savings of immigrant laborers—was accumulated through political channels. During their operation between 1867 and 1871, politician-bankers engaged in a mix of patronage deals and profit-driven financial speculation. In effect, Tammany banks were ground zero for the Ring's conversion of political hegemony into a windfall of economic capital that fueled party activities and buoyed personal fortunes. Importantly, the anti-Ring mobilization by upper-class reformers was more than a revolt of wealthy taxpayers concerned with abstract goals of good government or rescuing city credit; it was also a reaction by old-line bankers in direct competition with Tammany upstarts. A dramatic bank run catalyzed by reformers in November 1871 drove them into bankruptcy, bringing this novel experiment in political capitalism to an end.

On the occasion of the publication of Rudolf Flotzinger's book "Johann Joseph Fux. Leben - musikalische Wirkung - Dokumente" (Graz 2015) this article assesses the situation of current Fux research. It reviews the symptomatic problems in Flotzinger's edition of documents and presents a great number of unknown Fux sources. This study intends to open a perspective for new way of Fux research, applying stricter and more accurate scholarly methods in the future

Resumo

Resumo: a abordagem de ?A Lógica da História faz com que seja possível concretizar a dialética do natural (incluindo o biológico) e o social. O desenvolvimento criativo do método de investigação científica foi possível revelar a interligação interna sistemática das leis e categorias da teoria social que refletem a estrutura da sociedade desenvolvida, mas também tornou possível delinear a periodização teórica da história humana (as leis objetivas de sua ?subida desde o início, o surgimento, a formação, até a maturidade) por meio de um prisma de interconexões de fatores naturais e sociais. As fases do processo de desenvolvimento são analisadas aqui: como a unidade do natural (incluindo o biológico) e o social, como um processo de emergência do social que surge do natural, como a transformação do natural pelo social.
Palavras-chave: Lógica da história. Materialismo Histórico. Método. Dialética. Desenvolvimento.

Auch wenn die kulturhistorische Entwicklung von Tschechen und Deutschen über die Jahrhunderte von Rivalitäten in dem von Bergen umschlossenen Land Böhmen geprägt war, so ist am Beispiel der Entwicklung der Märchen zu erkennen, wie viel beide Bevölkerungsgruppen in der Erzähltradition inhaltlich lind stilistisch miteinander verbindet. Auch die „Sprachgrenze“ wurde in der Vergangenheit nicht nur mental ebenso bewältigt, wie verwandtschaftliche Bindungen den Scheitel des Habichtsgebirges, diesseits und jenseits des „Glatzkogels“, überwanden. Dies macht besonders der zauberhafte Hintergrund der Großen Doktoren-Geschichten deutlich.
Für CAPEKS und PREUSSLERS Geschichten kann, Walter SCHMITZ folgend, gleichermaßen festgestellt werden, dass sie die Tradition in lebendige Gegenwart des Erzählens übertragen, sie die Landschaft der Heimat in einen Raum der Geschichten verwandeln, der jedem zugänglich ist.

Ein weiterer Zug seiner Originalität liegt in der Art, wie er deutsche und französische Kultur verarbeitet und zusammenführt. Ich wüßte keinen Kritiker in Europa, der mit derselben Sympathie und demselben Verständnis über Madame de Noailles und Simmel, über Marcel Proust und Max Scheler zu schreiben vermöchte.

In this latest addition to the acclaimed War & Conflict Through the Ages series, Brian Sandberg offers a truly global examination of the intersections between war, culture, and society in the early modern period. Sandberg traces the innovative military technologies and practices that emerged around 1500, then explores the different forms of warfare—including dynastic war, religious warfare, raiding warfare, and peasant revolt— that shaped conflicts during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He explains how significant social, economic, and political developments transformed warfare on land and at sea at a time of global imperialism and growing mercantilism, forcing states and military systems to respond to rapidly changing situations.

Engaging and insightful, War and Conflict in the Early Modern World will interest scholars and students of world history, the early modern period, and the broader relationship between war and society.

Movendo dalle metamorfosi dei castelli del Tirolo nelle nuove forme (e funzioni) architettoniche delle residenze nobiliari, analizza le categorie di Umanesimo, Rinascimento e Classicismo, descrivendone la storia linguistica e semantica: un Rinascimento e tante metamorfosi del Classicismo, di cui è protagonista quel miles litteratus che volle farsi gentiluomo

The chronicles are the historical narratives, popular as vaṃśāvalīs in Nepāl and India as well. Such vaṃśāvalī have so far been most considered by scholars of history and historiography in their academic pursuit, while lately other social-science disciplines too have claimed its relation with such writings. In such context, this dissertation tries to analyze the messages, especially heritage information contents, of these vaṃśāvalīs using Harold D. Laswell's model of communication.

Asumiendo la pluralidad de respuestas que encierra hoy la pregunta sobre el ser judío, el siguiente trabajo buscará abrir un camino para la interpretación del proceso de construcción histórica de la identidad judía, a través del estudio de la indumentaria en su dimensión simbólica y desde su carácter dialéctico: como marcador de pertenencia a la comunidad judía y como marcador de no-pertenencia al contexto socio-cultural dominante. Se propondrá comprender el mosaico de identidades que conforman hoy el judaísmo a través del concepto de resiliencia, como una forma de adaptación al medio.

Assuming the plurality of answers to the question " what does it means to be Jewish today? " , this article aims to open up the interpretation about the Jewish identity making process through the study on clothing on its symbolic dimension and its dialectic characteristics: as mark of Jewish community membership and as a mark of no-membership to the dominant socio-cultural context. This article proposes to understand the identity mosaic that the Judaism constitutes today as an adaptation way to the environment through the concept of resilience.

This paper focuses on the Guadalhorce Valley, Málaga Province, Spain, where a rich farmer-managed irrigation tradition has flourished since Arab times.
Local communities diverted water from the river, managing numerous small-scale systems. These systems have now been destroyed. We trace the causes back to the profound impact that early twentieth century discourse about water control had on Spain’s socio-natural landscape: an impact that extended far beyond water management. The idealistic Política Hidráulica discourse, linked with ‘regenerationism’, glorified small-farmer irrigation and promoted
hydraulic works and the expansion of irrigation as a socio-economic and cultural-political solution for Spain’s bankrupt and ‘degenerated’ condition in the mid-19th Century. We follow the thinking and accomplishments of Rafael Benjumea, Count of Guadalhorce, Minister of Public Works and devoted follower of regenerationist leader Joaquin Costa. Benjumea was founding father of the widely acclaimed River Basin Confederations and one of Spain’s
chief ‘hydraulic heroes’.
We analyse the irony of the water policy discourse, the political paradoxes and conceptual contradictions of hydraulic utopianism. This politicalideological
current aspired to install decentralized watershed management and defend local collectives’ autonomy. Yet the policies, institutions and hydraulic works it established destroyed much of the local autonomy that did exist. The pursuit of the utopian project involved an iron-fisted, surgical policy of expertocracy, designed to restore ‘natural order’, which entailed overturning existing local water users’ institutions, rights frameworks and knowledge systems. Analysing historical material and empirical data gathered during long-term field research on the Guadalhorce, we examine four bitter ironies of ‘utopian hydraulism’.

Resumen
Este artículo está estructurado en tres partes. En la primera se expone el modelo de criminalidad medieval que las investigaciones han centrado en la conducta violenta y en el delito de homicidio como principal protagonista. En la segunda parte se explica el argumento del proceso de modernización de la criminalidad medieval, según el cual al final de la Edad Media se iniciaría un proceso de disminución multisecular de las tasas de delitos de sangre. En la tercera y última parte, se reflexiona sobre los límites interpretativos y metodológicos de este modelo de criminalidad medieval centrado en la violencia y su evolución posterior.
Palabras clave: criminalidad, violencia, homicidio, Edad Media, evolución de la criminalidad.

Abstract
The present paper is divided into three sections. The first one deals with that model of
medieval criminality in which research has focused on violent conduct and on the crime of homicide as a main issue. The second section accounts for the modernization process of medieval criminality. According to it, a multisecular decline in blood crimes rates would be started in the late Middle Ages. The third and final section offers some reflections on the interpretative and methodological boundaries of this medieval criminality model focused on violence and its subsequent evolution.
Keywords: criminality, violence, homicide, Middle Ages, evolution of criminality.