Hero Research Articles

African American Adolescent Female Heroes: The Twenty-First Century Young Adult Neo-Slave Narrative by Melanie A. Marotta (review)

African American Adolescent Female Heroes: The Twenty-First Century Young Adult Neo-Slave Narrative by Melanie A. Marotta (review)

A Comparative Study of Female Heroism in Chinese and English Films—A Case Study of Mulan

A Comparative Study of Female Heroism in Chinese and English Films—A Case Study of Mulan

Design of the INARA (Inclusive and Gender Responsive Historia) Application: Accentuating Inclusive and Gender-Responsive History Learning

This article aims to elaborate on the initial development of the historical learning application design, INARA (Inclusive and Gender Responsive Historia). The authors gathered data from literature reviews, including journal articles and online media, which were analyzed using a SWOT approach. The study's results showcase examples of inclusive and gender-responsive features in this application, such as games, quizzes, QR codes, and comics focusing on female heroes in Indonesia. The application is also designed with specific features to support differently-abled students in learning history. It is hoped that INARA can become a creative, engaging, and critical medium for history learning at school levels. Its innovative design and inclusive features make a valuable contribution to the scholarly discourse in education. This article is expected to enrich the understanding of utilizing technology to support inclusive and gender-responsive history learning. As part of further development efforts, INARA is anticipated to become a progressive educational solution supporting various learning needs.
 Keywords: history, application, learning, inclusive, gender responsive

Perils of the princess 2.0: an (auto)ethnographic study of girls playing Super Mario Bros. 2

ABSTRACT This article uses elements of both ethnography and autoethnography to evaluate the role of Princess Toadstool (aka Princess Peach) in the 1988 game, Super Mario Bros. 2. The analysis is primarily qualitative and uses an anonymous online survey. It answers the question of how Princess Toadstool’s presence in the game affected American female players in the 1980s and 1990s when the overarching American message was that “thin,” “white,” and “pretty” are best. The author examines the history of the game, 1980s and 1990s American “princess” culture, and game accessibility for American girls in the 1980s and 1990s. Character choices in game play are then assessed with the aforementioned information in mind. The author concludes that Princess Toadstool’s inclusion as a female option may have been an important first step toward inclusion of female heroes, but Nintendo’s continued use of female stereotypes and beauty standards undermines her move from the damsel in distress to a playable hero.

Review of:] Tashav-haji from Endirey – the hero of the Caucasian War (Collection of studies and materials) / Compiled by: G.M-R. Orazaev, I.I. Khanmurzaev. Makhachkala, 2023. 330 p.

Review of:] Tashav-haji from Endirey – the hero of the Caucasian War (Collection of studies and materials) / Compiled by: G.M-R. Orazaev, I.I. Khanmurzaev. Makhachkala, 2023. 330 p.

A Survey of Female Heroism in Jewish Tradition

Did warrior heroines exist in the Hebrew tradition? The answer is a seemingly reassuring yes, but the paper shows that the topos of female heroism was not a popular theme in Jewish tradition. To imagine ancient war scenes according to depictions in modern media can be misleading; the central purpose of this brief survey is to give a glimpse into this topic. Keywords: heroines, Book of Joshua, Book of Judges, Book of Judith, Josephus, wars in Antiquity

The Split in the Political Elite of the Empire as an Obstacle to the Activities of Mikhail Muravyov: Lessons for Nowadays

In 1863, the Russian Empire faced a formidable challenge – an armed rebellion of the Polish nobility, supported by Western Europe aspiring to divide Russia into regions dependent on it. The Tsar persuaded the brilliant oppositional politician and 1812 Patriotic War hero M.N. Muravyov, possessing experience in fi ghting the Poles during their last rebellion in 1831, to lead the suppression of the new riot as Governor-General of the Western Region. However, our conservative hero, relying on the Russian spirit and the collectivism of the Russian people, was opposed not only by obvious enemies – rebel Polish gentry, but also by ministers who were adherents of Westernized cosmopolitanism and became the main force restraining the conservative reformer. On the contrary, the spiritual and cultural Russian elite, led by the Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret and poet and thinker F.I. Tyutchev warmly supported Muravyov’s patriotic course. However due to the tsar’s mental dependence on the high-ranking “Рarty of cosmopolitans” and the lesser infl uence on him of the “Russian party”, Muravyov was not allowed to complete the reform program. The author comes to the conclusion that in our time of growing threats to Russia’s security due to the new onslaught of the West on Russia, our political elite should take into account the experience of Muravyov’s struggle “on two fronts” with the inadmissibility, in fact, of internal betrayal. In other words, our political class must avoid splitting while striving for unity on a nationally oriented basis with appropriate personnel recruitment.

Generał brygady Leon Pachucki (1872–1932) – żołnierz Armii Polskiej we Francji i bohater wojny polsko-rosyjskiej 1920 r. Zarys biografii

The subject of the research is the figure of Leon Pachucki, a brigadier general of the Polish Army, who took part in World War I and the Polish-Russian War. The aim of the article is to present his military career, both in the Russian Army and later in the Polish Army. The text is based mainly on documents collected in the Central Military Archives, and on available literature supplementing the archival materials. On their basis, it was possible to analyze the stages of his military career, his achievements on the battlefields, his service in higher command positions in the interwar period and his social activities after retirement. He was a hero of the Polish-Russian War in 1920 – for his courage on the battlefield, he was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari 5th class and the Cross of Valor. The future general was born in 1872 in Suwałki and as a youth he joined the Russian army. He served in this army until 1918, recently in the Russian corps in the Balkans. In spring that year he came to France, where he commanded the 3rd Rifle Regiment (Polish Army in France). Together with him, he came to Poland in April 1919 and took part in the Polish offensive in Volyn. At the end of June this year, he took the position of the commander of the infantry in the 1st Rifle Division of the General Haller's Army. Three months later, he became the commander of the XXV Infantry Brigade. As its commander, he showed courage on leading the defense of the locality of Pohrebyszcze at the turn of May and June 1920. In September 1921, he became the deputy commander of the Corps District No. IV Lodz, and in 1925 he took up a similar position in the Command of the Corps District No. IX Brest. After retiring in 1927, he moved to Lodz, where he died in 1932. It is worth adding, that he was the only one general of the army of the Second Polish Republic buried in this city before World War II.

“Excluded from Memory”: The Question of Passing Down National History

This article considers the (partial) “exclusion” or “self-exclusion” of the “complex heritage” descendants from the “inheritance” of the official narratives of national history. As a rule, such discourses rely on antagonistic logic. In the article, the idea of “complex heritage” descendants denotes people whose family history includes both representatives of mutually exclusive groups (from the point of view of different public discourses of memory). When any single discourse is dominant in the public space or in a competition between antagonistic discourses of national history, descendants of “complex heritage” must independently cope with the emerging internal tension and discomfort (if they arise). In this article, in the context of common European trends, the author shows and analyses different options for such reactions with reference to competing discourses of national history in Russia, i. e., “Triumph” (Victory in the Great Patriotic War) and “Tragedy” (the era of political repression), as well as the most massive public practice of memory dedicated to the Great Patriotic War heroes: the civil event known as the “Immortal Regiment”. The analysis refers to forty indepth interviews conducted by the author in 2021–2023 with descendants of the repressed from the third, fourth, and further generations (as well as those who fought and showed themselves differently in the past). The author relies on the concept of antagonistic memory, supplemented by the ideas of Ts. Todorov on the principles of working with the “difficult past”, the theory of post-memory by M. Hirsch and others. As a result of the research, the author draws the following conclusions: first, the experience of “exclusion” from national history due to the lack of blood ancestors that give the right for “inclusion” into the “fundamental myth of the nation” really exists; second, in the conditions of (even unequal) competition of antagonistic discourses, the descendants of the “complex heritage” find themselves constrained between the narrow limits of each of them. At the same time, the need to meet externally set criteria and the impossibility of doing this lead to resistance to the imposed public antagonistic models of understanding the past; finally, those “excluded” from national history in one or different interpretations thereof, the descendants collect, preserve, and transmit their family histories as “heritage” in the full diversity and inconsistency, as life itself, and the circumstances in which their ancestors were placed.

Analysing the Female Heroes in the War of Liberation in the Context of a Thematic Museum in the Republic Period

Kurtuluş Savaşı’ndaki Millî Mücadele Dönemi, erkeklerin cephede gösterdiği üstün mücadelenin yanı sıra kadınların da elinden gelenin ötesinde, çoğu zaman erkeklerin görevlerini de paylaşarak ve üstlenerek büyük bir kahramanlık sergiledikleri bir dönem olmuştur. Bu dönemde Halide Edip Adıvar başta olmak üzere, Kara Fatma ve daha birçok kadın kahraman verdikleri bağımsızlık mücadelesiyle Cumhuriyet’in temellerinin atılmasında da önemli role sahip olmuştur. Bu çalışmada, Kurtuluş Savaşı’ndaki kadın kahramanlar hakkında çeşitli bilgilere yer verilerek Ankara’da tematik bir müze olarak açılan Halide Edip Adıvar ve Kadın Kahramanlar Müzesi yerinde incenmiş ve ziyaretçilerin müze deneyimiyle ilgili yorumları nitel analiz programı ATLAS.ti aracılığıyla analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmadan elde edilen sonuçlara göre; müze tarihe ışık tutmasıyla millî bilinci pekiştirerek Millî Mücadele Dönemi’nin anlaşılmasına katkı sunmaktadır. Bununla birlikte, ziyaretçilerin müzede yaşadıkları turizm deneyiminden memnun oldukları, müzede millî duygular yaşadıkları anlaşılmıştır. Tematik bir müze olarak kurulmuş olan Halide Edip Adıvar ve Kadın Kahramanlar Müzesi’nin, Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi Tarihî Millî Parkı içerisinde yer almasının önemli bir avantaj olduğu düşünülmektedir. Müzenin içeriğinde yer alan canlandırmalar, maketler, ses sistemi, izletilen belgeseller de görsel açıdan ziyaretçilerin deneyiminin kalitesinin artmasına ve gerçeklik duygusuyla adeta zamanda bir yolculuk yaparak çeşitli duygular hissetmesine hizmet etmektedir. Kurtuluş Savaşı’nda yaşanılan zulme karşı özgürlük mücadelesi vermede ve vatanı düşman işgalinden kurtarmada halk, büyük fedakârlıklar göstermiştir. Bu fedakârlıkların içselleştirilmesinde ve kadınların Millî Mücadele’deki rolünün anlaşılmasında Halide Edip Adıvar ve Kadın Kahramanlar Müzesi ağırlıklı bir konumda bulunarak Türk kadınını da onurlandırmaktadır.

“De-liberated”, Stigmatised and “Ungrateful”: Practices of Bolshevik “Re-Sovietization” of Ukraine and Ukrainians (1943–early 1950s)

The purpose of this article is to analyse the first steps of “liberation” and restoration of the pre-war status quo for the Bolshevik government in Ukraine. The task is to find out what practices of “liberation” the people experienced under the Soviet occupation; in what way did the Bolsheviks react to the revitalization of the national idea; how re-Sovietization became the foundation for the restoration of the Russian imperial order; how Ukraine became a kind of a bridgehead for reinventing the model of Soviet imperialism in its “Russo-centric” posture. In this text, re-Sovietization will be considered as the mechanisms and practices (together with the tools) of the Bolshevik government in relation to Ukrainian communities that came out of the war with intentions of public solidarity and the ability to resist, dangerous for the Kremlin. The source base of the work includes archival documents of central authorities, security services, memoirs, statistical data, and correspondence. The methodological basis is the concept of agency, which implies the ability to choose options for people’s own life under any circumstances. Conclusions: right at the first stages of returning to Ukrainian lands, the Bolsheviks resumed the repressive and marauding practices that were widespread before the World War II. Through condemnation and repressive policy, a blow was struck on the Ukrainian national revival. Due to broad campaigns against “Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism” and for “gratitude to the Russian people for liberation”, Ukrainians were “pushed aside” both as victims and as heroes of the World War II.

The contribution of the parliamentary press to Oliver Cromwell’s image as a military hero of the first English Civil War

Abstract This article examines the parliamentary press’s role in promoting Oliver Cromwell’s heroic image during the first civil war, a topic that has received relatively little scholarly attention. Based on a detailed study of contemporary pamphlets and newsbooks, it suggests three phases of press coverage that correspond to the conflict’s campaigning seasons. It shows that Cromwell’s image in print was greatly assisted by his close relationship with the Independent leadership at Westminster, and their expertise in the manipulation of the press. For them, Cromwell’s successes in the field were essential for securing victory. His military reputation, initially nurtured by the civil war press, laid the foundations for his eventual role as lord protector.

The Effacement of Women in the French Resistance

Women who participated in the French Resistance effort have been thought to self-efface themselves from history. This paper aims to show that though it might be possible to come to this conclusion if the words they say are taken at face value, women in the French Resistance often represented their contributions in similar ways notably through the medium of memoirs that focus on duty, banalities of life, and a refusal to succumb to negative attitudes or victimization despite the horrors of the 1940’s. By comparing three notable female resistance figures (Lucie Aubrac, Germaine Tillion, and Agnés Humbert) in conjunction with numerous interviews of other women, it is evident that these women do not seek to efface themselves or other women’s contribution. Instead, the common bias of looking at Resistance efforts through a masculine heroism lens marginalizes these women’s contributions. By removing this lens or rethinking what female heroism means reconciles these women’s efforts to their true place in the historical record. The fact that these women deny their heroism does not downplay their contribution to the resistance effort, especially after constantly affirming the importance of these efforts.

Astley before Astley’s

Our prevailing image of Astley’s is the 1808 Thomas Rowlandson-Auguste Pugin engraving in Rudolph Ackerman’s The Microcosm of London in which a rider, standing upright on the back of a capering horse (as a clown-to-the-horse stands by) performs before a packed auditorium of fashionable ladies and gentlemen. Our account precedes that moment by more than four decades when, in 1759, the teenage Philip Astley, escaping family poverty, enlists in the Earl of Pembroke’s 15th Light Dragoon regiment. Sent for cavalry training to Wilton House (near Salisbury in Wiltshire) and in the Earl’s indoor manège, young Astley was trained in military equitation and use of cavalry weapons by Pembroke, Col. George Eliot, and Pembroke’s riding master Domenico Angelo, the trio advocating and enforcing a style of riding which sharply differed from conventional cavalry horsemanship. This style and the very choice of horses on which he was trained would thereafter be the basis for Astley’s great skill, his feats in battle, the horses employed in his arenas, and the approach to riding which he would demand of his actors and performers. Astley returned a war hero from the Seven Years’ War, rising to the rank of sergeant major and displaying exceptional equestrian skills. His feats in battle earned the patronage of George III which Astley was to repeatedly exploit. Discharged c .1768, Astley, now married, busked in the public parks, showing some of his trick-riding feats before opening a riding school in Lambeth. In this essay, we discuss how the vogue for riding amongst the emerging middle classes made the teaching of equitation a profitable enterprise, and we look closely at Astley’s riding school, his pupils, and the displays of horsemanship and other acts demanding physical skills at that school. These performances, initially in an outdoor venue subject to the vagaries of weather and to the hostilities of the Royal Patent holders, led to Astley’s enclosed Royal Grove Theatre and, after a 1794 fire, an even grander structure on the same site, just south of Westminster Bridge. We identify how Astley acquired his patent.

Self-Education Into Maturity in Light of the Theoretical Approach of Zdzisław Chlewiński

This paper aims to answer the research question: How to educate oneself towards maturity in light of the theoretical approach of Zdzisław Chlewiński? Chlewiński developed the theory of mature personality, identifying three components: reliable insight into oneself (authenticity), autonomy and a personalistic attitude towards other people. In this paper, self-education towards maturity is considered as developing the qualities listed by Chlewiński, thus becoming increasingly authentic and autonomous as well as increasingly human in one's relation to the other. Using Chlewiński's method of text analysis, the following areas (tasks) of self-education towards maturity were identified: (1) in terms of honest insight into oneself (authenticity): distancing oneself from the excessive, inflexible use of defence mechanisms that lead to the formation of a distorted self-image and playing inaccurate roles; a reliable answer to the question about the most important life values; the formation of an attitude of gratitude; (2) in terms of autonomy: the formation of pro-social and altruistic life plans; the development of a solid willpower and self-reliance; (3) in terms of the personalistic attitude towards other people: building empathic and supportive relations, distancing oneself from manipulative behaviour (including ingratiation). To illustrate self-education with respect to the aforementioned areas, the selected aspects of biographies of truly mature individuals, prominent Polish people representing different lifestyles, were referred to: Karol Wojtyła, who later became Pope John Paul II; General Fieldorf “Nil” – a hero of World War II; and Wanda Półtawska – a doctor of psychiatry, 102 years old in 2023 when this paper is being written. Their biographies provide inspiration for self-education towards maturity. On the basis of the analysis undertaken, it was concluded that Zdzisław Chlewiński's theory can serve as a source of guidance for further analyses of the biographies of truly mature people.

Comparing Fictional War Hero, Paul Baumr, and US Marine, Sam Siata: A Trauma Study of PTSD Victims in Soldiers

This research focuses on new PTSD symptoms highlighted in C. J. Chiver's case study in "The Fighter" published in the New York Times under the trauma theoretical perspective with the aim to interpret the same in the character of Paul Baumer, the fictional war hero of All Quiet on the Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque. The research first defines PTSD in modern psychiatric terms and reviews it in light of the psychiatric theoretical studies outlined by Miriam Reisman and the trauma theorized by Dominick LaCarpa and Judith Herman. Reviewing the relevant literature to form a theoretical framework for the analysis of PTSD in Baumer, the research seeks to prove that Baumer suffers from PTSD signs. The research finds that Baumer is a soldier tougher than Siam Siatta, the US marine, who suffered the same during his Afghanistan tour. The research also highlights Baumer's peaceful death as compared to Sam Siatta's pulverization of the social fabric to highlight its significance as well as demonstrate ways to cope with such war victims.

Gendered Nationalism: Bangladeshi Narratives of the War of Liberation

Within the frameworks of postcolonial analysis and gender studies, focused on the involvement of women in the struggle for independence of Bangladesh in 1971, this article presents and discusses three literary and filmic representations of Bangladesh’s War of Liberation. This analysis combines non-fictional and fictional perspectives and input and clearly confirms that, contrary to popular perceptions of predominantly male war heroes, women also participated in the struggle for independence. Women’s sacrifices and commitment to independence and justice have helped build Bangladesh and strengthen gender equality in the context of Bangladeshi nationalism. The analysis establishes the Bangladeshi Liberation War of 1971 as an aftermath of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. This theme assumes particular importance upon the 50th anniversary of the War of Liberation in 2021 and the 75th anniversary of the Partition in 2022.

Увековечение памяти воинов-казахов в Оренбургской и Волгоградской областях

Introduction. The paper investigates interactions between memory projects — both all-Russia ones and those implemented in regions bordering Kazakhstan. Special attention is paid to the unfolding narratives underlying annual commemoration ceremonies in Orenburg and Volgograd oblasts for Yestekbay Batyr (hero of war against Dzungars) and for soldiers/officers who participated in the Great Patriotic War, military conflicts in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Special Military Operation in Ukraine. Goals. The work aims to describe memorial objects associated with individuals who performed exploits for the sake of their compatriots, and to analyze commemorative practices carried out by local communities. Results. The article focuses on activities of local Kazakh communities of Orenburg and Volgograd oblasts aimed at memorializing war heroes collected by our research group during field studies of places sacred to Kazakhs, summarizes the authors’ observations and stories recorded from informants. Acts of commemoration for warriors are somewhat re-readings or re-inclusions of the past into the present-day agenda. Such venerations articulate significant ethnic values, norms, and behavioral patterns. The work traces a certain trend towards ‘militarization of consciousness’ in commemorative practices associated with particularly revered places of memory relating to the Great Patriotic War — and in sacralizing names of soldiers/officers who have taken part in local military conflicts.

글로벌 K-드라마의 여성영웅 서사

The purpose of this paper is to discuss effective K-Drama storytelling strategies on the global OTT platform by analyzing the contents of the Netflix original drama series “My Name”. In the Netflix platform, where global networking, securing original IP, and expanding reproduction through remediation of content are being promoted as competitive strategies, K-drama is considered a representative content recognized by others. “My Name” shows a story structure that puts emphasis on the ‘growth’ of female characters while advocating a heterogeneous combination of ‘female’ and ‘revenge’. Naturally, the drama utilizes the “hero's adventure” schematic of “monomyth,” which is recognized as the prototype of the growth narrative, and completes the narrative of the subject who pursues own identity (name) in a universal conflict between human social norms and natural survival laws. It seems to be the result of considering the global context that is not bound by the locality of Korea, while reflecting the demand for content from female audiences as changing Korean society and its cultural representatives.

Художественно-документальные повести Г. А. Ходырева в серии «Наши герои» книгоиздания Удмуртии

The paper considers the works included in the series of military-patriotic books for young people “Our Heroes”. Founded in 1968, this series consists of books by Udmurt writers about fellow Udmurt heroes, the Great Patriotic War veterans. The documentary fiction novellas of the national writer of the republic G. A. Khodyrev “The Eagle: The Tale of Pyotr Babkin” (1969; co-author V. V. Golubev) and “Soldier Spyridon Strelkov” (1976) were among the most prominent books in the series. The aim of the study is to identify the ways of reality reflection in the Udmurt documentary fiction prose for children and adolescents that uses the human experience of war heroes as the material and document as the medium as exemplified in the creative work of Herman Alekseevich Khodyrev (1932-1995). Scientific novelty lies in the following: it is the first time that based on the material of G. A. Khodyrev’s novellas, the role and place of the documentary-factual principle in Udmurt prose for children and adolescents were examined, the features of the aesthetic assimilation of the fact as the most important part of the poetics of a work were determined. The results of the study suggest that in the Udmurt children’s literature of the late 1960s – mid-1980s, documentary fiction works appear in which the image of a real hero is recreated through the use of the authentic facts and human fates of the Great Patriotic War period. G. A. Khodyrev’s novellas published in the series “Our Heroes” are characterised by the fact that the author managed to show the synthesis of universal national heroism and the manifestation of the individual human spirit in war. In his prose, such qualities of the “series” as a clear image of a real young hero’s formation against the background of specific historical events, the appeal to children’s perception through the memories technique, the lyrical descriptions of the nature of the native land, the author’s focus on activating the educational role of literature, the transformation of dry “newspaper” language into vivid, imaginative artistic speech are manifested.