“Thinking of Britain” from Afar

This chapter reviews the history of research on Roman Britain from the early twentieth century down to the first decade of the twenty-first century. It discusses changes in the scope and character of research activities with a particular emphasis on the historical context and the personal and professional connections between those involved in the subject. This involves looking at the links between teachers and their students as well as the networks created by joint participation in fieldwork. This analysis includes a summary of the networks connecting the contributors to this Handbook. The principal figures active in the study of Roman Britain are discussed and key publications on the subject evaluated in the context of changing patterns of research.

There have been numerous publications in the last decades on the Bible in literature, film, and art. But until now, no reference work has yet appeared on the Bible as it appears in Western music. In The Bible in Music: A Dictionary of Songs, Works, and More, scholars Siobhán Dowling Long and John F. A. Sawyer correct this gap in Biblical reference literature, providing for the first time a convenient guide to musical interpretations of the Bible. Alongside examples of classical music from the Middle Ages through modern times, Dowling Long and Sawyer also bring attention to the Bible’s impact on popular culture with numerous entries on hymns, spirituals, musicals, film music, and contemporary popular music. Each entry contains essential information about the original context of the work (date, composer, etc.) and, where relevant, its afterlife in literature, film, politics, and liturgy. It includes an index of biblical references and an index of biblical names, as well as a detailed timeline that brings to the fore key events, works, and publications, placing them in their historical context. There is also a bibliography, a glossary of technical terms, and an index of artists, authors, and composers. The Bible in Music will fascinate anyone familiar with the Bible, but it is also designed to encourage choirs, musicians, musicologists, lecturers, teachers, and students of music and religious education to discover and perform some less well-known pieces, as well as helping them to listen to familiar music with a fresh awareness of what it is about.

This paper aims to perform a comparative study of the philosophies of Aristotle and the laws enshrined in the Manusmriti. This comparative study examines Aristotle's philosophical perspectives on women as delineated in his works, particularly "Politics" and "Nicomachean Ethics," juxtaposed with the portrayal of women in the Manusmriti, an ancient Hindu legal text. This study aims to illuminate the divergent conceptions of women's roles, capabilities, and societal status in ancient philosophical and legal frameworks by analyzing these two distinct yet influential sources from different cultural and historical contexts. By navigating the complexities of interpreting ancient texts within their historical and cultural contexts, this comparative study aims to contribute to ongoing discourses on gender equity, social change, and the intersections of philosophy and law in shaping perceptions of women's roles and status in antiquity and beyond.

Reviewed by: Origins of the Chinese Avant-Garde: The Modern Woodcut Movement Rossella Ferrari (bio) Xiaobing Tang . Origins of the Chinese Avant-Garde: The Modern Woodcut Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. xii, 300 pp. Hardcover $60.00, ISBN 0-52-024909-7. With this impeccably researched and beautifully illustrated volume, Xiaobing Tang has written the definitive account of a significant yet understudied topic within English-language scholarship on China: the modern woodcut movement that revolutionized Chinese art in the early 1930s. Tang traces its genesis and subsequent dissemination through the Nanjing decade (1927-1937), specifically, from the inauguration of Nanjing as the new Nationalist capital in 1928 to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in 1937. The first three chapters reconstruct the historical and institutional context of the early decades of the twentieth century, addressing the key artistic movements and personalities that populated the cultural-artistic field of modern China in the prewar era. Alongside visual artists such as Liu Haisu, Lin Fengmian, and Xu Beihong, the activities of prominent public intellectuals and writers such as Cai Yuanpei, Tian Han, Ouyang Yuqian, and Guo Moruo are also surveyed. One chief protagonist of Tang's engaging narrative is Lu Xun, who is widely acknowledged as the "spiritual patron of the woodcut movement" (p. 4). All three chapters begin with the year 1928, a crucial historical moment in which artistic production started to be institutionalized by the newly-established Nanjing government. They vividly flesh out the excitement, energy, intellectual diversity, and animated spirit of discussion of the time—especially in the commercialized and cosmopolitan environment of Shanghai. Chapter 1 examines various proposals for art instruction on a national scale, in particular Cai Yuanpei's advocacy of "aesthetic education" (meiyu), and traces the emergence of a notion of "art movement" since the second half of the 1920s. Tang details the major debates of the period relating to the modernization of the Chinese visual arts and highlights the decisive role played by Chinese students in Japan and Europe in the introduction and dissemination of foreign styles and aesthetic concepts. The question of function or purpose of the artwork, which constitutes a central aspect of avant-garde theory, is repeatedly addressed in this and other chapters, and so are related notions of autonomy and "art for art" (the "ivory tower") as opposed to "art for life" (the "crossroads," p. 35). This moment was critical in the history of Chinese art, as new trends and schools emerged and cultural producers constantly redefined their historical mission and social role. The "meaningfulness and consequentiality of art" became persistent concerns (p. 3), and increasingly greater emphasis was laid on art's closeness to life praxis and on the artist's direct involvement in social reform. The woodcut movement, [End Page 271] too, came to address questions of function and purpose, but their responses and approaches to contemporary events "would be critically different" (p. 4) from those of other promoters of aesthetic modernity and cultural reform. This difference, along with its anti-institutional disposition, political drive, and innovative visuality, became the key marker of distinction of the modern woodcut community as "a truly avant-garde movement" (p. 218). Chapter 2 deals specifically with the literary field and its intersections with the visual arts. The intellectual journeys of Tian Han and Guo Moruo from Japan to China, their subsequent involvement with the Creation Society, and its shifting ideological orientations testify to the increasing appeal of left-wing political theories and artistic conceptions since the late 1920s. Emergent notions of proletarian and revolutionary art and literature, also shaped by Marxist movements in Japan, paved the way for the advent of the first generation of modern printmakers in the early 1930s. Chapter 3 introduces Lu Xun's long-standing involvement with the visual arts field, his interest in modern Japanese and European prints, and his advocacy of the "creative woodcut" (chuangzuo muke) as a truly modern, vigorous, and revolutionary art form—a belief that would direct his unremitting patronage of this medium until his death in 1936. The key artists, exhibitions, and publications that contributed to the flourishing and expansion of the movement are comprehensively surveyed in chapters 4 and...

Reviewed by: Word, Image, and the New Negro: Representation and Identity in the Harlem Renaissance Cheryl R. Ragar Word, Image, and the New Negro: Representation and Identity in the Harlem Renaissance. By Anne Elizabeth Carroll. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2005. Anne Elizabeth Carroll argues that pictures should matter as much as words in studies of Harlem Renaissance texts. Just as mainstream artists and scholars struggled in the interwar years to express a distinct national character, Black Americans sought to stake their place within the development of that identity. Carroll enters the debate on the ultimate effectiveness of efforts of New Negro leadership to shape African American identity with a study of five key publications. Starting with the NAACP national magazine, The Crisis, and the National Urban League's monthly, Opportunity, Carroll argues that previous studies of these publications favored the written texts over the visual texts, thereby ignoring significant material in understanding the social and political goals of the editors (W. E. B. Du Bois at The Crisis and Charles S. Johnson at Opportunity). For example, she points to the regular use of photographs of successful African Americans (mostly male) in both magazines to offset negative reports of racial prejudice and group struggle. The mix, she says, offered "a multi-pronged response to the racism that faced African Americans in the early 1920s and a multi-media redefinition of African American identity" (87). Even as close readings of key texts provide fresh insights into the material, readers would be served with the inclusion of more historical context to provide deeper understanding of the debates in which the leaders engaged. Carroll turns next to a pair of publications produced under the direction of Alain Locke: the March 1925 special issue of Survey Graphic, which focused upon Harlem, and the subsequent expanded book published a year later as The New Negro. Carroll ends her book with the one-issue publication of Fire!!, edited by Wallace Thurman, and produced through the efforts of a team of "younger" Harlem artists that included Langston Hughes, Aaron Douglas, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Bennett, and Richard Bruce Nugent. Carroll argues that "the range of images available in these volumes is a challenge to the process of stereotyping, the process of reducing individuals and groups of people to simplified, homogenous entities" (224). She points out that as all the publications shared in the use of multiple kinds of texts (sociological, literary, visual, statistical, etc.), they increasingly provided an appropriately diverse picture of Black America. This central argument is the strength of Carroll's book. Carroll's call for more interdisciplinary approaches that account for visual as well as written messages offers potential for fuller readings of both. Her own analysis of visual texts reflects the limits of her training as a literary scholar as she relies too heavily on the written texts as a lens to read the visuals. Her book, nonetheless, invites more study along these lines. Carroll's book would serve well in an upper-level undergraduate course as an introductory study of the interaction of texts and visuals in American magazines of the twentieth century. Her ideas are generally clear (if sometimes repetitive) and easy to follow. As the debates regarding the effectiveness of identity efforts continue, delving deeper into the varieties of Harlem Renaissance texts gives us more to think about. [End Page 208] Cheryl R. Ragar Kansas State University Copyright © 2010 Mid-America American Studies Association

BACKGROUNDThe new Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, designed to depict links between health and learning, is founded on concepts of coordinated school health (CSH) and a whole child approach to education.METHODSThe existing literature, including scientific articles and key publications from national agencies and organizations, was reviewed and synthesized to describe (1) the historical context for CSH and a whole child approach, and (2) lessons learned from the implementation and evaluation of these approaches.RESULTSThe literature revealed that interventions conducted in the context of CSH can improve health-related and academic outcomes, as well as policies, programs, or partnerships. Several structural elements and processes have proved useful for implementing CSH and a whole child approach in schools, including use of school health coordinators, school-level and district-level councils or teams; systematic assessment and planning; strong leadership and administrative support, particularly from school principals; integration of health-related goals into school improvement plans; and strong community collaborations.CONCLUSIONSLessons learned from years of experience with CSH and the whole child approaches have applicability for developing a better understanding of the WSCC model as well as maximizing and documenting its potential for impacting both health and education outcomes.

This chapter argues that the concept of context as it is commonly used in historical textbooks for explaining historical phenomena and events is problematic as it implies an historically fixed structure. Instead, the chapter suggests meaning-making contexts, and seeks to render visible the activity involved in creating historical contexts and to demonstrate that it is always the historian who produces these meaning-making contexts. Implicitly or explicitly, historical textbooks produce and use different types of contexts. The chapter explores nine different textbooks on Thomas More’s Utopia. It discusses three different ways to describe the meaning-making contexts that the authors of these textbooks create. Firstly, diachronic lines are formulated both forwards and backwards. Secondly, the textbook authors formulate synchronous contexts that focus on the historical conditions that prevailed when Utopia was written. Thirdly, the chapter brings light on an “occidental narrative” of progress, based on nineteenth and twentieth century historiography that the textbooks use for contextualization. In addition, the chapter draws attention to how the contexts in the textbooks are more often implicit constructs rather than explicitly developed tools of analysis. The aim of the chapter is to indicate how a discussion about these ways of contextualizing historical material can contribute to making visible how certain notions of context always influence history writing. As historians, we have everything to gain from actively describing and discussing how we produce and use different historical contexts to understand, explain and bring order to the multifaceted polyphony of the past.

The study aims to analyze the formation of Norwegian national consciousness during the Danish-Norwegian Union (1536-1814) and the importance of Johann Friedrich Struensee's reforms in this process. Within the framework of this work, it was possible to consider the main approaches to the concepts of "ethnicity" and "nation", as well as the resulting construct - "national identity". Since by now various concepts of national identity often absolutize the emphasis on one side of the problem, a "synthesized" approach was used in the work, expressed in the following thesis: the role of the intelligentsia in the formation of the Norwegian national identity is great, with the objective existence of socio-economic and political prerequisites. To understand the issues of the topic, the historical context from 1536, when Norway fell into a position dependent on Denmark, expressed in several forms, is briefly considered. The socio-economic reasons for the emergence of Norwegian identity among the intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie, the reasons for the growth of the national movement, which manifested itself in the field of culture and the press, since the second half of the 18th century, are revealed. The crisis of Danish power in the 1770s and the nature of Struensee's reform activity, which gave rise to the era of "Trykkefrihedstiden" - the era of the free press, are studied. Based on the study of key publications of the Norwegian intelligentsia: Even Hammer, Gustav Str0mbu, Peter Frederick Suhm, Gerhard Sch0ening, the main contradictions between Denmark and Norway by the second half of the 18th century were revealed. In this work, the methodology is based mainly on the constructivist concept of the formation of national identity, using historical-genetic, problem-chronological, retrospective methods of historical research. The study showed that for several centuries the positions of the king and the state in Denmark and Norway were stronger than in many other European countries. In 1770, thanks to the freedom of the press introduced by Struensee, a number of pamphlets, books and newspapers were published, which criticized the situation of the country and put forward Norwegian demands on the central government. The Norwegian publications reviewed show growing trends towards an even greater discrepancy between the prevailing national political ideas among the Norwegian elite and the established machine of the autocratic system in Copenhagen. Under the conditions of the beginning of the capitalist rise in Norway in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the strengthening of the absolutist Danish policy, the problems that the intelligentsia claimed were felt by most representatives of Norwegian society. The concessions organized by Struensee contributed to the formation of a civil society in Norway, which later became the main reason for the revolution of 1814. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

The main arguments of the ecological marxism of Elmar Altvater are presented referring to key publications in their historical context. Altvater’s work on ecology starts in the 1980s, developing along a critique of the contradictory social forms of capitalist nature relations. His approach articulates world market and international politics with the spatially differentiated development of regional societal formations, capturing the materiality of nature by thermodynamic categories while highlighting the properties of fossil fuels. Contours of a critical reception of how Altvater conceptualizes societal relations with nature are outlined.

The given article dwells on the significant contributions of Professor Nizomiddin Murodi to the study of literary ties between Tajik-Persian and Chinese literatures, focusing specifically on the influence of Persian-Tajik traditions on Uyghur literature. Professor Murodi’s extensive research, encompassing monographs, articles, and international lectures, explores themes such as Tajik folklore in classical Persian-Tajik poetry, and the transmission of these traditions into Uyghur literary works, the historical context, and impact of the destruction of the ancient Uyghur alphabet. The findings highlight Murodi key publications and academic engagements demonstrating his crucial role in illumination the complex cultural and literary exchanges between the Persianate world and China, particularly through the lens of Uyghur literature. Thus, N. Murodi’s work provides a vital foundation for understanding the enduring legacy of Persian-Tajik literary influence in the region.

The formation of gender stereotypes is a complex process shaped by various factors rooted in cultural, social, and historical contexts. These stereotypes, which encompass preconceived notions and expectations about the behaviors and roles of individuals based on their gender, are influenced by several key factors. Cultural traditions, societal norms, media portrayals, educational practices, and historical legacies all contribute to the creation and perpetuation of gender stereotypes. The interplay of these elements reinforces traditional gender roles, shaping perceptions and expectations about masculinity and femininity.

This research delves into the societal implications of fraudulent general election results in Indonesia, with a specific focus on the 2024 presidential election. Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics, the study examines the language use in elections, the repercussions of fraudulent activities on public trust, and the broader impact on Indonesian society. Through detailed data collection and analysis methods, the study uncovers linguistic patterns in fraudulent clauses, discourse strategies employed, and the manipulation of language to influence public sentiment. By identifying fraudulent clauses in news reports, the research sheds light on the intricate nature of election fraud and its historical context. The findings underscore the significant role of language in shaping perceptions and behaviors within the electoral system, emphasizing the need for valid data in understanding and addressing fraudulent practices. Ultimately, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of election fraud's complexities and its far-reaching consequences on Indonesian society.

Morgellons disease (MD) is a rare and contentious health condition characterized by dermatological symptoms including slow-healing skin lesions 'attributed' to fibres emerging from or under the skin. Patients also report sensations of crawling, biting and infestation with inanimate objects. This review examines the aetiology, patient characteristics, epidemiology, historical context, correlation with Lyme disease, role of internet, impact on quality of life and treatment approaches for MD. Despite ongoing debate, MD is not officially recognized in medical classifications, with differing views on its aetiology. Some link MD to Lyme disease, while others view it as a variant of delusional infestation. The literature suggests both psychiatric and environmental factors may contribute. The manuscript explores the association with substance abuse, psychiatric comorbidities, infectious agents and the role of internet communities in shaping perceptions. MD's impact on quality of life is significant, yet often overlooked. Treatment approaches are varied due to limited evidence, with low-dose antipsychotics being considered effective, but patient beliefs may influence adherence. A patient-centred, multidisciplinary approach is emphasized, considering both the physical and psychological dimensions of MD. Addressing the controversies surrounding MD while focusing on patient well-being remains a critical challenge for healthcare professionals.

Whose name is hidden behind the anonymity of the key publication on Mediterranean Lingua Franca? What linguistic reality does the label 'Lingua Franca' conceal? These and related questions are explored in this new book on an enduringly important topic. The book presents a typologically informed analysis of Mediterranean Lingua Franca, as documented in the Dictionnaire de la langue franque ou petit mauresque, which provides an important historical snapshot of contact-induced language change. Based on a close study of the Dictionnaire in its historical and linguistic context, the book proposes hypotheses concerning its models, authorship and publication history, and examines the place of the Dictionnaire's Lingua Franca in the structural typological space between Romance languages, on the one hand, and pidgins, on the other. It refines our understanding of the typology of contact outcomes while at the same time opening unexpected new avenues for both linguistic and historical research.

In this groundbreaking study, Caroline Warman offers a new assessment of Diderot’s Éléments de physiologie and its legacy. Observing in the opening pages that editors have neglected whole sections of the Éléments, Warman identifies a ‘general view’ of the text as ‘a fragmentary series of reading notes and scattered thoughts scribbled by the ageing philosopher’ (p. 17). One explanation for this is that critics have accepted Jacques-André Naigeon’s description of the text as ‘quelques matériaux épars’, in his 1823 Mémoires devoted to Diderot (cited p. 20); another is that, since the Assézat–Tourneux edition of the Éléments was published in 1875 (some three-quarters of a century before the Fonds Vandeul came to light), the editors had to rely on an early draft. However, Warman also emphasizes that the prefaces which Diderot himself wrote for successive versions of the text already presented it as fragmentary. Particularly telling is the Vandeul avertissement, in which Diderot describes the mature version of the Éléments — not remotely accurately — as though it were indeed a hodgepodge of scribblings, ripe for posthumous ordering and completion. This, together with the fact that the 1770s saw two new editions of Pascal’s Pensées, may suggest that Diderot’s final avertissement is in fact a ‘mystification’ designed to invite comparison with the earlier thinker. After all, the Pensées had famously reached posterity as bundles of fragments, in which Pascal defies atheists to provide a response to the kind of Christian apology he seems to be working towards. This fascinating hypothesis is supported by a careful comparison of relevant passages by both writers (pp. 39–60). In the remainder of Part One, Warman shows how Diderot manages the improbable feat of rendering the physiology of his era clear, succinct, and vivid, and that he presents his ideas within an overtly materialist framework. At the same time, she notes that he draws on theories advanced by predecessors over the course of more than a century, in addition to the writings of contemporaries such as Albrecht von Haller, Charles Bonnet, and Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. In Part Two, Warman investigates the dissemination of Diderot’s Éléments after his death. Here, she reviews a series of key publications in which the text ‘was being mentioned, quoted, or drawn on’ (p. 395), but in largely veiled terms. After all, those inclined to propagate Diderot’s specifically materialist, atheistic ideas were constrained by ‘the pressures operating on the public sphere during the French Revolution and in the subsequent years of reaction, first Napoleonic and then monarchical’ (p. 397). One major player on this scene was Naigeon, in the Mémoires and elsewhere; others were Dominique-Joseph Garat and the Idéologues, who channelled Diderot’s physiology into their lectures at the École normale. Thus, in a tour de force of genetic criticism, close reading, and attention to historical and political context, Warman does justice to the dissemination of Diderot’s materialism in all its complexity. Overall, this is a truly impressive study that works extremely diverse and challenging materials into an engaging, coherent account.