Historical Continuity Research Articles

Solidarity in the Field of Religious Education

This article argues that the field of religious education can have a clearer sense of identity if religious educators recognize the threads of historical continuity in the field and forge bonds of greater unity in our professional guild by adopting a shared commitment to explore various modes of religious learning as expressions of the universal human quest for meaning, value, and understanding. To provide a vision for and direction within the field, we recommend religious educators adopt the guiding image of standing in solidarity with one another at the crossroads of religion and education and research and practice.

Brahmins and Balance of Power: Re-Reading A.P. Rana's Imperatives of Non-Alignment

Abstract In this article, I revisit a modern classic, a book that is often cited but rarely analyzed: A.P. Rana's Imperatives of Non-Alignment. Appearing in 1976, the book was a culmination of decade-long work and claimed to be the first attempt at IR theory from India. Rana was indeed from the first generation of scholars who engaged deeply with International Relation (IR) theory, and the book drew on a range of, sometimes contradictory, theoretical perspectives from Systems Theory to Realism to English School to Hindu Social Theory. In this intervention, I analyze this book and the corpus of Rana's writings with an attempt to contribute to two themes within IR. First, I show how caste plays a prominent role in Rana's thinking about Indian strategies of foreign policy behavior. His analysis makes a case for seeing nonalignment as a historical continuation of a Brahminical mode of balancing. Consequently, this article is also an effort to place caste as a central category of IR theorization from India. Secondly, I discuss the specific ways in which Rana's realism adapted to its Cold War context and advanced a redemptive vision of realism.

Contextual Christology in the phrase ‘apo isa elmaseh’ and the word ‘opo’

This study examines the Christological meaning of the phrase ‘Apo Isa Elmaseh’ and the word ‘Opo’ referring to as the ‘Lord Jesus Christ’ in catechesis books and Bibles in the Minahasa language with Tontemboan and Tombulu dialects. A translation model approach in contextual theology was used to show that the translation process is a way of determining the contextual theology that occurs dialogically between zendeling missionary, translators and indigenous teachers living in Minahasa culture. The result shows that these phrases and words are used in the Minahasa religion to express the Divinity of Christ, who is believed to be Apo Kasuruan Wangko (God of Origin of Life), Apo/Opo and the Great Ancestor, who is always close to the community and the universe. This finding has broad implications to other contexts in Indonesia where with a serious contextual approach, genuine theological knowledge could be explored.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article supplies a new contribution to the cultural, anthropological and theological discussion of Apo Isa Elmaseh to Minahasan-Christian. ‘apo’ or ‘opo’ and ‘Apo’ or ‘Opo’ expresses the spiritual appreciation of human existence in the continuity of history and community life in this region. Furthermore, the finding encourages other disciplines to investigate any issue that relates to culture, religion and theology.

Mapping a good society model in Ayatollah Khomeini’s religious political thought: Possibilities and challenges

This article identifies the components of a good society in the thought of Ayatollah Khomeini. Over several decades, he experienced a voluntary and compulsory odyssey-like journey, the result of which was theorizing about a good society and Islamic government. From the young Ayatollah Khomeini to the late “Imam” Khomeini, several images are attributed to him. We find that the good society can be realized according to pure Mohammadian Islam and religious democracy. We claim that Khomeini’s thought evolved in the face of the Other and this Other has changed the perception of his identity and thought over time. This study shows that in a historical continuum, there are two breaks along the religious-political thought of Khomeini. Contrary to the common orthodox image of him, we claim that despite the contradictions, his thought has the capacity to reconcile Islam and modernity in a new religious-political framework. Nevertheless, one can observe the transformation, the elitist view, and the multiplicity of positions in his political, cultural, and social opinions.

Coming from México ‘for a Better Life Here’: Street Gangs, American Violence, and the Spatialized Contours and Historical Continuity of Racial Capitalism

Chicago’s broader notorious reputation of gang and gun violence dominates popular discursive conversations about the city’s safety and stability. Through a critical structural perspective, this article explores the constitutive historical continuity and spatialized contours of racial capitalism in the facilitation of structured violence and organized death in city neighborhoods. These dynamics are most relevant where individualized and pathological narratives of interpersonal gang-based gun violence are rampant. The focus is on the context of Mexican Chicago, particularly the transnational site of Little Village. Using hyper-local examples on the environment, education, and labor-based economic markets, I showcase how this diasporic Mexican community is an instructive site highlighting the ongoing presence of colonially constituted structures of expropriation, dispossession, exploitation, and displacement endemic to the United States empire and its resultant violence. I suggest that gang-based gun violence is tied to broader death-making machinery, leading us to robust alternative conceptual frames and reactions when socio-politically engineered ‘crime’ and violence take place across urban city neighborhood spaces. I conclude with a paired abolitionist perspective and implications for critical sociology and the study of gangs specifically.

The concept of education in the expression of "hutang orang tua" towards children and its relevance to the Profile of Pelajar Pancasila

Education is a basic thing that every human being needs. Education is also a way to internalize the various values and views held and upheld by a group or society. If in education the Indonesian nation proclaimed "Pancasila Student Profile", then the Malay community has the expression "Parents' debt". The phrase "parental debt" in this case is the debt parents owe to their children, where one of the debts is related to education. Both the phrase "Parents' debt" and the concept contained in "Pancasila Student Profile", indirectly indicate the importance of education for society. This research aims to reveal the meaning behind the expression "parents' debt", formulate the educational concept behind the expression "parents' debt", and find out the relevance of the Malay people's expression "Parents' debt" to the educational concept launched by the Indonesian government, namely "Pancasila Student Profile".This research is a literature study with a philosophical hermeneutic method. The methodical elements of this research include deduction-induction, holistic, historical continuity, language analysis, heuristics, and description. This research came up with the following results: a) the expression "hutang orang tua" contains a person's obligations towards their children, where one of these obligations is related to the educational provisions that parents must provide to their children; b) the concept of education contained in the expression "hutang orang tua" includes two aspects, spiritual and physical, because both, physical and spiritual, are one unit with the aim of giving birth to "anak bertuah"; c) the values that constitute the content of education in Malay society have similarities with the "Profil Pelajar Pancasila" such as the values of faith and devotion to Almighty God, good character, mutual cooperation and tolerance. This shows that the values contained in the "Profil Pelajar Pancasila" have essentially existed and been developed in Indonesian society. The novelty in this paper is apart from the relevance of the expression "hutang orang tua" to the Profil Pelajar Pancasila, the novelty is also related to the discovery of the meaning behind the expression "hutang orang tua" and the formulation of the educational concept behind the expression "hutang orang tua".

Investigating the Influencing Factors of the Perception Experience of Historical Commercial Streets: A Case Study of Guangzhou’s Beijing Road Pedestrian Street

Given the complex interplay between economic and cultural–historical factors, this paper explores scene perception and its mechanism in individual and collective cognition of historical commercial streets. Based on a perception model constructed from scene theory, the study utilizes user scene experience feedback from Beijing Road, a commercial pedestrian street in Guangzhou. It conducts a systematic assessment using hierarchical analysis (AHP) across three dimensions: authenticity, theatricality, and legitimacy. The findings reveal the following: (1) according to visitors, traditional cuisine, cultural and creative arts, and Lingnan’s intangible cultural heritage received low ratings; (2) historical relics and traditional cuisine are dominant factors, highlighting public attention to cultural heritage, but the role of historical–cultural characteristics and festival activities is relatively marginalized; (3) cultural–historical relics and traditional cuisine are the leading factors that contribute to an authentic experience, while historical context and festival activities constitute secondary factors; (4) cultural landscapes and arts are central to theatrical experiences, with modern visual elements playing a lesser role; (5) diversified commercial formats and public services are the core factors influencing legitimacy experience, reflecting the role of market diversity and policy orientation in building consumer trust. The design of historical and cultural streets should prioritize the preferences of those experiencing them to promote cultural identity and historical continuity. Additionally, the synergy between commercial diversity and policy orientation should be strategically emphasized to form a business ecosystem supporting sustainable development. Future commercial street renewals should focus on the key role of visual narrative in shaping brand culture. This paper offers insights into the dynamic process of constructing scene experience from perspectives of spatial materialization and emotional empowerment to cultural identity, providing references for strategies in historical place renewal.

Sanctions through the Ages: Historical and Legal Perspective

Sanctions, which hold both the potential to influence state behavior and the risk of imposing unintended harm on civilians, have been a persistent tool of governance since the dawn of civilization. The article challenges traditional narratives that portray sanctions as a linear progression towards effectiveness. Instead, it delves deeper through a 'dual lens' historical analysis, employing a comparative approach to trace the evolution and impact of sanctions across different eras. One lens examines their development as instruments of power, exploring how power dynamics have shaped their application throughout history, alongside the evolving legal framework that governs their use. The other lens focuses on the phenomenon of unintended consequences. By tracing the use of sanctions from ancient Greece to the contemporary era, this article explores how legal norms, diplomatic practices, and interstate dynamics have influenced their effectiveness and limitations. This critical reassessment of sanctions' historical continuum — their evolution, limitations, and unintended consequences — offers valuable insights for engaging in more informed discussions about their potential applications in the 21st century.

THE IMPORTANCE OF “THE CONTINUITY OF HISTORY”: IGNAZIO GARDELLA’S MONUMENT TO THE VICTIMS OF THE PARTISAN STRUGGLE AND THE VICTIMS OF PIAZZA LOGGIA

“The continuity of history” appears in the project report written by Ignazio Gardella for the monument built in 1984 at the Vantiniano cemetery in Brescia. The Vantiniano stands out as the first monumental cemetery in Italy (1815). The architectural layout, the relationship it establishes with the city and the unified composition of the project by Rodolfo Vantini will constitute a model for many 19th-century Italian cemeteries, such as the one designed by G. Barbieri in Verona (1829). The paper traces the research in progress about the Vantiniano site from the historical-architectural and symbolic point of view, focusing on Gardella’s Monument to the Fallen of the Partisan Struggle and the Victims of Piazza Loggia, and introducing a study of its architectural features and symbolic aspects. We propose to consider the cemetery not as a set of buildings and monuments placed within a perimeter (the city of memory separated from the city of the living people) but as a spatial system which must have a relationship with the city. This relationship is applied in Gardella’s project. The analysis and the survey of the monument demonstrate this link and highlight this architecture as a “continuity of history” symbol. Gardella’s monument embodies the theme of the external envelope and the relationship with the context. Its geometry and the brick façades give a modern touch to the cemetery and create an intense dialogue with the roughness of the brick walls of neighboring industrial sites.

A New Epoch: Charting India’s Path to Global Arbitration Prominence

The practice of arbitration, in India, traces its origins back to ancient legal systems like the Mitakshara School of Law and further evolved under British colonial enactments, notably the inception of the India Arbitration Act of 1899. This historical continuum has been punctuated by significant developments marked by amendments in 1996, 2015, 2019 and 2021, indicative of India’s unwavering commitment to cultivating a robust arbitration culture. Strengthened by this historical foundation and fortified by British legal influences, India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, harbors the aspiration to firmly establish itself as a global arbitration hub. The development has been gradual and ongoing with various initiatives, reforms and pivotal judicial decisions being implemented. This paper critically scrutinizes India’s potential within the evolving legal landscape, examining its legislative foundation and contemporary ambitions in the global arbitration arena.

La configuración literaria de los líderes castellanos e indígenas en las crónicas de conquista canaria y novohispana

The chronicles of conquests are documents that serve as a tool to understand the series of events that took place during the expansionist period of the Spanish Crown; nevertheless, they are not entirely objective since they also follow different political and literary criteria. From this perspective, the study of the main characters of the chronicles allows us to comprehend how the history and the narrative of the wars for conquest were built and the place the literary texts took in the construction of the imagery surrounding the principal figures of the conquerors and indigenous leaders and in what aspects their characterization in the chronicles written in the Canary Islands and in New Spain coincide; since they are part of the same historical continuum and present many similarities in the narrative style, even though they were written in different territories. Keywords: Chronicles of Conquest, Canary Island

Literary Criticism Based on the Theory of Information Dissemination-The Spiritual Recasting of Cast Swords in Moonlight Chopping

Abstract By reading and analyzing Moonlight Chopping and Cast Swords meticulously, this study reveals the polysemous textual world constituted by these two works, covering the mockery of dystopian realities, the inheritance of the spirit of vengeance, as well as the profound reverence for the essence of life. Web crawler technology is employed to obtain the textual content of Moonlight Chopping and Cast Swords, and the data is pre-processed. A corpus is constructed using a lexical algorithm. The in-depth extraction of thematic linguistic features of the two works is realized by combining Gibbs sampling and EM algorithm to accurately estimate the parameters of the LDA topic model. It is found that Moonlight Chopping and Cast Swords show significant correlation on the story and ideological level, but apparent differences in story focus, expression form and aesthetic style. Specifically, the average sentence length of Moonlight Chopping is only 1.18 units longer than Cast Swords. At the same time, its STTR value is only about 4.3% higher than Cast Swords, indicating that Moonlight Chopping has successfully achieved subtle thematic differences while maintaining the vengeful narrative style of Cast Swords, demonstrating a profound transformation of traditional culture and historical continuity.

Review of The Routledge Companion to Architectural Drawings and Models: From Translating to Archiving, Collecting and Displaying

A recent book edited by architectural historian Federica Goffi considers how architectural drawings and models can take new life by virtue of their inclusion within archives. The Routledge Companion to Architectural Drawings and Models: From Translating to Archiving, Collecting and Displaying explores what Goffi calls the “afterlives” of architectural media, adopting a concept from art historian Aby Warburg. The volume gathers 35 essays that examine the many ways drawings and models survive their use for building to become “instruments of imagination, communication, and historical continuity” (i) in new contexts. If the architectural office or construction site is where the productive lives of drawings and models originally unfold, the archive is the primary site of their afterlives. Contributions from architects, artists, historians, collectors, curators, and archivists recount how archives, as structures and sites, allow for interpretive, creative, and ultimately “constructive” modes of engagement with drawings and models to produce new architectural knowledge.

Dismantling Reductionism in the Green Revolution Project with Vandana Shiva’s Approach

<p>This research is philosophical research on actual problems. This study tries to present Vandana Shiva’s critique of the Green Revolution project. This research uses the philosophical hermeneutic method with methodological elements consisting of description, historical continuity, and critical reflection. After the Second World War ended, one of the major impacts experienced by various countries was the destruction of the agricultural industry and an increasing food crisis around the globe. The newly independent Indonesia also experienced the impact of the war on national agriculture. This condition triggers a new demand for modern agricultural technology to achieve maximum yields. The Green Revolution project promises to meet this new demand, this project brings modern agricultural technology with superior seeds and mass production systems. In reality, the Green Revolution project reduces local knowledge about sustainable food production and replaces it with mass production of food. The diversity of local people’s food is seen as unfavourable in the Green Revolution era. Vandana Shiva criticizes the impact of the Green Revolution project on life. Shiva explained the Green Revolution had the following impacts: creating a food monoculture, destroying the environment, promoting the capitalization of the agricultural industry, and displacing local knowledge. Therefore, local people are powerless as a result of reductionism in the Green Revolution project. Local knowledge is considered inferior compared to Western knowledge presented in the Green Revolution project.<br></p>

КЕҢЕС ОДАҒЫНЫҢ БАТЫРЫ С. НҰРМАҒАМБЕТОВТЫҢ ЖАУЫНГЕРЛІК ЖОЛЫ МЕН ҚОЛБАСШЫЛЫҚ ҚЫЗМЕТІ

The article reveals the features of the social origin and formation of the Hero of the Soviet Union Sagadat Nurmagambetov (1924-2013). His life reflected all the historical events of his country: the Sec-ond World War, the difficult post-war period, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of independent Kazakhstan. It was S. Nurmagambetov who became the first commander of the defense of Kazakhstan in the conditions of a sovereign state of the country. The article uses the biographical method, the methodological features of which made it possible to consider the process of identification and true assessment of personality. The source material was based on materials from archival funds and websites dedicated to the creation of the new Armed Forces of independent Kazakhstan, memories of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, memories of S. Nurmagambetov’s friends and colleagues about his role in the creation of a modern army, improvement of military service and the military education system. The article shows military educational institutions named after S. Nurmagambetov, provides an analysis of books about military events at the front during the war, describes his contribution to the formation of traditions and the foundation of the armed forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This article contributes to the development of historical memory of local actors of the Second World War, patriotism and histori-cal continuity.

A biy’s court and a council of elders as a historical prerequisite for mediation in Kazakhstan

In Kazakh history, there was a tradition of solving various conflicts in society with the help of the biys and a council of elders. These types of government institutions were the most accessible to the people. Their activities were based on the ideology of justice, humanity, and its ultimate goal was to reconcile the disputing parties and lead them to peace. It was every biy’s and elder’s sacred duty to show full justice to the disputing parties during the settlement of the case. "The ideal of conflict is peace" was found to be one of the main principles underlying the court of biys in nomadic Kazakh society. This, in turn, is one of the main tasks of mediation in modern Kazakhstan. The article attempts to identify the historical continuity of modern mediation and two traditional institutions (the court of biys and the council of elders) with peacemaking and reconciliation activities. A review of the writings of various scholars and historical archive materials was made to determine the court of biys and the activities of biys aimed at peacemaking and reconciliation. The specifics of the activities of the сcouncil of еlders, which is one of the oldest institutions in the traditional Kazakh society, were also identified. The principal avenues for the revitalisation and modernisation of traditional institutions in the context of the Republic of Kazakhstan's current developmental trajectory have been identified.

A biy’s court and a council of elders as a historical prerequisite for mediation in Kazakhstan

In Kazakh history, there was a tradition of solving various conflicts in society with the help of the biys and a council of elders. These types of government institutions were the most accessible to the people. Their activities were based on the ideology of justice, humanity, and its ultimate goal was to reconcile the disputing parties and lead them to peace. It was every biy’s and elder’s sacred duty to show full justice to the disputing parties during the settlement of the case. "The ideal of conflict is peace" was found to be one of the main principles underlying the court of biys in nomadic Kazakh society. This, in turn, is one of the main tasks of mediation in modern Kazakhstan. The article attempts to identify the historical continuity of modern mediation and two traditional institutions (the court of biys and the council of elders) with peacemaking and reconciliation activities. A review of the writings of various scholars and historical archive materials was made to determine the court of biys and the activities of biys aimed at peacemaking and reconciliation. The specifics of the activities of the сcouncil of еlders, which is one of the oldest institutions in the traditional Kazakh society, were also identified. The principal avenues for the revitalisation and modernisation of traditional institutions in the context of the Republic of Kazakhstan's current developmental trajectory have been identified.

Paradoxes of Historical Consciousness in Ulaanbaatar Monumental Sculpture. Ideological Function of Monuments in the Context of “Mongolian National Revival” in the 21st Сentury

This article deals with Ulaanbaatar monumental sculptures which have been produced during the course of the last 20 years. It studies various processes typical of the socio-political and cultural life of present-day Mongolia that impressed greatly content as well as style of many monuments erected in honor of the outstanding leaders of this country. The core idea of these artworks consists in developing the concept of the national identity which became characteristic of the spiritual life of Mongolia after the Democratic Revolution of 1990. In its turn, this concept is based on specific interpretation of Mongolia’s historical past which is focused on the figure of Chingis khan as an embodiment of the national idea. The establishment of his cult in the democratic country with market economy forms an essential element in the process designated in this article as “Mongolian national revival”. Within the general framework of the state cultural policy, this tendency found its expression in erecting a wide range of various monuments dedicated to the Great Khan as well as other rulers of mediaeval Mongolia. On the other hand, it’s also evident that this policy implies an idea of historical continuity that provides a link between different epochs of Mongolian history. This leads to the conclusion that Communist leaders of the People’s Republic of Mongolia are nowadays considered as the true hears of the mediaeval rulers of the country because they also contributed to the Mongolian civilization building. This article demonstrates what kind of artistic means have been implemented in solving this task. One of the major concerns consisted in involving the viewer in comprehending meaning of the monuments. This stimulated the emergence of the new and highly innovative artistic typology of the monumental-didactic sculptural ensemble exemplified in the monument to the singer S. Tsogtsaihan.

Exclusion through Inclusion?: Museum Architecture and the Institutionalization of Critique

Architecture is not only a social product; the social is also constituted through architecture. This holds particularly true for the museum. Museum architecture is a spatialized expression of social order and an infrastructure through which collective imaginations are generated. I will show how the German Bundeswehr uses its principal museum to apply a post-heroic mode of identity formation. The Bundeswehr has to distance itself from the past while it also has to articulate a minimum of historic continuity to legitimize itself. The Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr (Dresden) achieves this through a twofold spatial tactic. First, through a dramatic architectural intervention, and secondly, through the interpretation of this spatial arrangement. Articulated in and through architecture, the ‘critical engagement with the past’ becomes institutionalized. Providing a sociological explanation of why the critical negation of the past became a prominent narrative within German memorial culture, I argue, that it allows for a coherent self-narration below the horizon of historical fractures and multiple conflicts in the refigured modernity. Although a similar discourse is at work at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, its affirmative architecture, however, contradicts any claims of a ‘critical engagement with the past’.

The Birth of Modernity: The Influence of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution

While the emergence and global spread of modernity is a complex phenomenon, it is known that certain political, economic, and social developments led to its rise and spread. Looking closely at these factors, it is possible to say that the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and capitalism in the Western world are the five main historical developments that shaped modernity. On a historical continuum, these developments are interrelated. Some of them gave modernity its soul. Others made it much more influential and global. In this regard, it is arguable that the first three developments gave modernity its soul, while the last two gave it a much more effective scope. This study examines the first three historical developments using the descriptive research method based on these premises. It considers the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution as the developments that gave birth to modernity and gave it its soul. At the same time, this study argues that these are moments or developments that are intrinsically supportive of each other, seeing these historical moments as moments of rupture and crisis in the Western world. These moments and developments are crucial components of the problems and phenomena we currently discuss today. No literary, aesthetic, philosophical, or political criticism of the 20th century can be analyzed without taking these developments into account. In this respect, this study reconsiders, within a historical continuum, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, which shaped modernity and its philosophy, modernism.