Historical Paradigm Research Articles

Unveiling the female experience through adult mortality and survivorship in Milan over the last 2000 years

This study challenges historical paradigms using a large-scale integrated bioarchaeological approach, focusing on the female experience over the last 2,000 years in Milan, Italy. Specifically, 492 skeletons from the osteological collection of Milan were used to elucidate female survivorship and mortality by integrating bioarchaeological and paleopathological data, paleoepidemiological analyses, and historical contextualization. Findings revealed changes in female longevity, with a notable increase from Roman to contemporary eras, albeit plateauing in the Middle Ages/modern period. Significant sex-specific differences in mortality risk and survivorship were observed: females had higher mortality risk and lower survivorship in the Roman (first-fifth century AD) and Modern (16th-18th century AD) eras, but this trend reversed in the contemporary period (19th-20th century AD). Cultural and social factors negatively impacted female mortality in Roman and modern Milan, while others buffered it during the Middle Ages (sixth-15th century AD). This study underscored the importance of bioarchaeological inquiries in reconstructing the past, providing answers that may challenge historical assumptions and shedding light on how the interplay of cultural, social, and biological factors shaped the female experience across millennia.

In Search of Beauty Formula

The main category of aesthetics — beauty is the focus of the study. Our epoch is a revision of some spiritual meanings both in the sphere of human life and in science and art. The aim of this paper is to derive a universal formula of beauty through the image of Venus on the basis of a comparative analysis of works of classical art, art of postmodernity, as well as to determine the possibilities of modern neural networks. Art of the 21st century is multifaceted, neuro-art is another of its aspects, artificial intelligence and Man of Art compete here. Neural network is a program built on the principle of organisation and functioning of nerve cells of a living organism. The neural network was tasked to represent the modern ideal of beauty in the image of Venus, similar to the way painters of previous epochs acted. Can modern neural networks create? Create spiritual values? Create beauty in art? In total, more than a thousand images were generated according to our requests, which allows us to draw certain conclusions about the representation of the image of Venus by artificial intelligence. An attempt to derive a formula of beauty for each period of art development and to find a universal one is presented. The modern understanding of beauty has absorbed all historical paradigms, but on a qualitative, essential level. Beauty is a subjective sensual perception of the appearance of an object that is capable of evoking positive emotions. It is not the beauty itself that is important, but the feeling of beauty. Beauty is the dominant value of being, which contains a harmonious combination of absolute values, what makes a person a Personality.

Periodisation and modernity: an introduction

ABSTRACT Dividing time into separate epochs is fundamental to historical research. However, while periodisations reflect particular interpretations of political, economic, social, and cultural developments, they often rely on the concept of ‘modernity’ as a foundation. This nexus between modernity and periodisation is well-established yet deeply problematic. Pre- or non-modern times and spaces are deemed deficient and backward, as not yet modern. This bias extends to colonial and postcolonial regions, where Western historical paradigms were imposed to interpret political and social realities. Confronting these biases unveils how historians conceptualize space and time and highlights the normative assumptions embedded within different forms of periodisation. However, simply expanding the scope or timeframes of research alone does not address the dilemma. Historians do well to historicise this nexus and develop alternative approaches to writing history. The intricate relationship between periodization and modernity forms the intellectual starting point of this special issue. Originating from dialogues between medieval and modern European history, this issue aims to critically reevaluate classical periodisation models and explore alternative paradigms. By integrating contributions from scholars of medieval, early modern, modern, and contemporary European history, this issue bridges previously separated debates, promotes a comprehensive understanding of historical temporalities and challenges established historiographical norms.

Feminist Readings of Space, Body, and Performance: An Overview of Emerging Feminist Theatre in India

The theatre has been an amalgamation of history, society, and its representation where it connects with the audience directly. It has been a medium of resistance, protest, and entertainment and a cultural and social tradition in various countries. This paper is an analytical study of feminist theatre and its nuances, showing that theatre, which has been used as a mode to protest and resist, becomes a tool to reclaim and re-own space and body for women. It is essential to theorize Feminist Theatre so that its congruency can be established with the socio-cultural and historical paradigm. All the genres that were written to stabilize feminist thought in the discourse fell back on the conventional praxis of mythology and other texts. For example, Indian narratives borrowed feminine tropes from the classical texts whether it was Rabindranath Tagore or Girish Karnad, women were phenomenal yet subdued. Hence, when men wrote women, there was always a hint of “othering” the female gender in these write-ups; there was always a moralistic judgment of these women. Thus, this study is an attempt to theorize women playwrights and feminist performances that have made an attempt to pave the way for feminist scholarships and feminist theatres to evolve.

Insatiabilities

In July 2022, the Performance in Historical Paradigms Working Group brought together five artists whose creative work engages with issues related to food, hunger, and insatiability. Taking up the provocation of the PSi #27 conference theme “Hunger,” we explored the matrices of the material practices, embodied experiences, socio-economic conditions, as well as the psychosomatic and affective modalities of hunger. The formally diverse works that comprised the online exhibition–and which are now included here–approach these issues from a distinctly feminist perspective: they problematize the fetishization of the deprived female body, the oppressive powers that generate inequities of food distribution, and the heteronormative gender norms that perpetuate women’s responsibilities as nurturers, providers, and caretakers. Further, they examine the ways in which these processes are socially structured and transmitted intergenerationally. The pieces demonstrate how instances of contemporary crises are rooted in enduring historical legacies and entrenched in systemic inequities.

A Contract Unto Love or entering into polyamorous love with Goodrich

A contract of love composed on the basis of Peter Goodrich writings on law and love. The difference, however, is that, rather than focusing on the historical paradigm of monogamous relationships and courtships, this contract caters for the “space-amongst” polyamorous lovers (A, B, C and C*) whose liaison may or may not be corporeal, but it will always include intimacy, textuality, continuous amorous education, and ethical care for all involved. Most importantly, nothing in this contract is binding, yet all contributes to the bonding of the lovers.

The poetry of Maria Konopnicka in the context of belarusian-polish literary connections.

The purpose of the article is to study the artistic features of the lyrics of Maria Konopnicka, analyze the ideological and aesthetic foundations of her creative method and poetic style, as well as scientific understanding of the place and role of this bright representative of Polish positivism literature within the Belarusian cultural and historical paradigm. The introduction substantiates the novelty and relevance of the study of the poetic heritage of M. Konopnicka in the context of Belarusian-Polish literary ties. In the main part, on the example of individual poems, the ways of artistic comprehension by the poetess of a number of aesthetic, philosophical and socio-political ideas that are relevant both among the Polish and Belarusian creative intelligentsia are shown. This fact led to the emergence of literary followers, translators and interpreters of M. Konopnicka’s work, one of which is Yanka Kupala, the first national poet of Belarus. Also, the genuine interest of Belarusians in the Polish writer is explained by common cultural and historical values and traditions, a similar orientation towards representatives of the previous era (Adam Mitskevich, Juliush Slovatsky and some other Polish-Litvinian romantics). In summary, conclusions are formulated about the ideological and aesthetic searches of M. Konopnicka, as well as about the place of her poetry in the system of realism and the context of Belarusian-Polish literary ties.

Overcoming the apocalypse in the pluralistic space of poetics and politics

In the shift toward the Early Modern era, the end-centric temporality of the Middle Ages underwent a critical reevaluation, which spawned four distinct historical paradigms in the interplay between eschatology and politics. This article delineates these paradigms as follows: the revolutionary, where political constructs undergo a metamorphosis toward the eschatological, culminating in their complete dissolution within it; the progressive, in which political elements evolve in the direction of eschatological thought while retaining their distinct existence; the conservative, where political structures act to curtail the influence of eschatological expectations; and the post-apocalyptic, wherein both political and eschatological spheres merge into the economic, exemplifying the cultural logic of late capitalism. Utilizing process tracing as a methodological tool within the framework of critical realism, the study investigates the dynamic processes through which societies confront and potentially overcome apocalyptic scenarios. It reveals that poetic and political pluralism serves as a transformative mechanism, facilitating the potential overcoming of apocalyptic threats. However, this overcoming is only achieved in the progressive model, which is marked by the adoption of a polytheistic political myth and a clear separation between the domains of politics and ethics. In contrast, the post-apocalyptic model is characterized by a radical proliferation of apocalyptic narratives, which leads to the normalization and institutionalization of a metaphorical ‘worldly hell.' In this context, the political and eschatological are reconstituted within the economic domain, signaling a shift to a new cultural and ideological paradigm dominated by capitalist ideology.

Fundamental Mechanisms in Membrane Receptology: Old Paradigms, New Concepts and Perspectives

Receptology, the science of receptors, is a multidimensional field of research which can be dissected into biosynthesis, membrane sorting, ligand binding and signal transduction. Plasma membrane receptors connect the cells with their environment and transmit signals that are translated into biological information. The historical paradigm of ligand–receptor interactions is the lock-and-key model. This model presupposes that both partners have a precise 3D shape that perfectly fits together to form the ligand–receptor complex. However, this simple model suffers from severe limitations due to several levels of simplifications: (i) water molecules and membrane lipids are not considered; (ii) not all ligands have a stable 3D structure; (iii) the ligand-binding pocket of the receptor is often flexible and conformationally rearranged after the initial binding step (induced fit mechanism) and/or subjected to conformational selection by the ligand; (iv) there are signal transduction mechanisms which can be either purely mechanical (conformational change of the receptor induced after binding of the ligand), lipid-assisted (e.g., by raft lipids such as cholesterol or gangliosides), or in some instances of quantic nature (detection of odorant molecules). The aim of the present review is to challenge the old paradigms and present new concepts of membrane receptology that consider the impact of critical parameters such as water molecules, membrane lipids, electrostatic surface potential and quantum mechanisms.

Back to the past: The roots of Indonesian middlepowermanship

This article challenges prevalent perspectives on Indonesian foreign policy by delving into the nuanced intricacies of the country's strategic culture, especially from its role as a middle power. The conventional understanding categorizes Indonesia as capable of embracing either a status quo or revisionist stance. However, this analysis proposes a comprehensive re-evaluation through the lens of strategic culture theory to decipher the distinctive approach of Indonesian middlepowermanship. The argument posits that Indonesian leaders draw inspiration from and strategically utilize the historical legacies of pre-modern kingdoms—specifically, the Majapahit and Mataram kingdoms. These ancient empires serve as pivotal references in shaping contemporary foreign policy orientations. The Majapahit kingdom becomes instrumental when Indonesia pursues revisionist-like foreign policies, seeking to assert its influence and challenge established norms. Conversely, the Mataram kingdom's legacy is invoked when the state aims to maintain a status quo, prioritizing stability and regional harmony. By scrutinizing these historical paradigms, this article unpacks the intricate interplay between Indonesia's strategic culture, its historical antecedents, and its foreign policy orientations. It seeks to provide a more nuanced understanding of Indonesian middlepowermanship, elucidating the adaptive utilization of historical narratives in shaping the country's geopolitical behavior on the modern global stage.

Embodied cognition and the imaging of bio-pathologies: the question of experiential primacy in detecting diagnostic phenomena.

This article investigates the origins of the experiences involved in the diagnostics (detection and normative evaluation) of biological entities in image-based medical praxis. Our specific research aim presupposes a vast discussion regarding the origins of knowledge in general, but is narrowed down to the alternatives of anthropomorphism and biomorphism. Accordingly, in the subsequent chapters we will make an attempt to investigate and illustrate what holds the diagnostic experiential situation together-biological regularities, manifestation via movement, conscious synthesis, causal categories, or something else. We argue that as long as knowledge originates out of practices, a promising way forward is to oscillate between the prominent although controversial ideas of the history of philosophy and observations of concrete human practices, such as, in our chosen example, image-based medical diagnostics of biological pathologies. Although a number of thinkers are involved in the discussion, Aristotle and Husserl are most important here as the representatives of historical paradigms on the matter. The body in this research was not taken solely as the physical entity (Körper) but rather as a transcendental, constitutive structure where diagnostic and biological processes synchronize in teleological movement (Leib). However, philosophical speculations are illustrated by actual radiograms, the interpretation of which brings us back to the aforementioned question of primacy regarding cognition.

T3N0 Rectal Cancer: Radiation for All, None, or Some?

The optimal management of T3N0 rectal cancer is an area of active debate that has withstood multiple decades of research. In this comprehensive review, we delve into the many nuances that come with treating T3N0 rectal cancer, particularly examining the role and evolution of radiation therapy. We review both the historical paradigms and latest advances in treatment and highlight the significance of precise preoperative staging. As the field continues to evolve, this review highlights a shift toward more tailored treatments, considering both patient goals and the desire for optimal oncologic outcomes. In the current era, clinical decision-making for T3N0 rectal cancer requires a patient-centric approach that balances effective therapy while minimizing undue side effects.

Charting the future: Twentieth-anniversary issue of Atlantic Studies: Global Currents

ABSTRACT The Introduction to the special issue “Charting the Future: Twentieth-anniversary issue of Atlantic Studies: Global Currents” traces the first two decades of the journal’s publication. A survey of essays serves to exemplify its methodological and theoretical perspectives that embody fundamental questions moving beyond the historical paradigm of Atlantic Studies to explore, for example, images and paintings, cultural theory, the novel and poetry, and the narratives and iconography of popular culture. Its title reflects the recognition that all the world’s oceanic flows and currents feed into and out of the Atlantic world, as do the varied transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship published by the journal.

Pragmatic potential of authorial strategies of the blogosphere

The article deals with the pragmatic potential of speech impact of authors of popular video blogs on the audience of the Internet space. The effectiveness of communication with blog subscribers allows their authors to purposefully form an audience around them and become “opinion leaders”. The purpose of this study is to determine the authors’ strategies of speech impact of video bloggers in the historical paradigm - in comparison with the genres of newspaper and magazine media of the previous period. The subject of the study was both the statements of bloggers and the perlocutive effect of their impact on the audience in the form of comments in blogs, and the reaction of blog addressees.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AMONG SERBS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR PRESERVING NATIONAL IDENTITY

The subject of our work is to point out the importance of religious education among Serbs, starting from the historical paradigm – the first half of the 18th century when Slavic and Latin schools were opened in Sremski Karlovci, thanks to the activities of the then Metropolitan of Belgrade, Mojsej Petrović, and later Vićentije Jovanović. Within these schools begins the education of Serbian students and the development of the school system in the Russo-Slavic language, the official language of the Serbian Orthodox Church and equivalent to the first Serbian literary language. It is indisputable that the Serbian people joined the community of civilized nations, with a clearly recognizable and strong national identity thanks to Orthodoxy. Serbian Orthodox Church played the essential role in the national integration and preservation of national consciousness and identity. Therefore, it becomes quite clear that any current “speech” on the renewal and development of the Serbian national identity cannot “put out of sight” its Orthodox component, nor declare it anachronistic and outdated. Further, the paper considers the need for higher quality religious education in the Republic of Serbia, as well as the assumptions (conditions) for their implementation. The provision of Religious Education in primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Serbia is of great importance for the improvement of educational system, mostly because it provides the insight of the connection between religion and science. Its introduction into the educational system has a significant impact on the evaluation, nurturing and preservation of national values. The provision of Religious Education in primary and secondary schools also provides students with a complete religious view of the world and enables the building and preservation of national and cultural identity. Also, the introduction of Religious Education has a great impact on the construction of a multi-ethnic and multicultural society within the community of European states.

The Role of Agroforestry Systems in Enhancing Climate Resilience and Sustainability- A Review

Agroforestry, as the synergistic integration of woody perennials with crops and livestock systems, is posited along with a multi-functional land-use strategy with substantial implications for climate adaptation and mitigation. The article embarks on an analytical journey through historical paradigms, typologies such as silvo-pastoral and agro-silvicultural systems, and evaluates their contributions to enhancing soil health, water management, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and microclimate regulation. Distinctive case studies spanning diverse geographic regions including Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe and South America are scrutinized to elucidate how agroforestry initiatives can be contextually optimized for addressing region-specific environmental challenges and socio-economic needs. Sustainability aspects are dissected into economic, social, and environmental benefits, thereby constructing a holistic view of the multi-dimensional advantages of agroforestry systems. The review identifies significant research lacunae, anticipates technological innovations such as remote sensing and machine learning algorithms for data-driven management, and delineates strategies for scaling up best practices. Additionally, the article explores the impediments to widespread adoption, which encompass land tenure complications, economic viability, socio-cultural factors, and policy and regulatory constraints. In the review accentuates the need for an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach involving concerted efforts from researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders for the actualization of agroforestry's full potential in achieving global sustainability and climate resilience objectives.

The Old Rite Orthodox Community at the Lower Danube, between Tradition, Modernity, and Globalization

Written history has recorded communities unique in their origin and structural mode of survival. One such community is that of the Old Russian believers, Staroveri, spread across the globe for religious reasons, like many other faiths, and still retaining their identity. What is the state of preservation of this identity, how long will it survive over time, and in what geographical area - these are all general questions. These questions, when put into concrete terms in Romania, are the object of investigation and meditation for what we imagine the old believers to be. However, we must be realistic and note that beyond the conservative spirit of the founding fathers of the community, there is a spirit of the times that erodes the principles of the founders. We will try to highlight some of the coordinates that have marked the evolution of a theocratic community in the two historical paradigms known to human society, at the crossroads of which we now find ourselves: the ethnocratic one, exhausted, with the prospect of dissolution, and the technocratic one, in full swing and in the process of establishing a new way of life. We are looking at the national community paradigm and the globalization paradigm.

Archetypal literary criticism and intertextuality

Literary criticism was an important part of Western literary theory in the 20th century and has not lost its importance to this day. Criticism has an active influence on the literary process, as well as directly on the formation of public consciousness. This article discusses two important approaches, the principle of literary criticism. The archetypal literary criticism and the theory of intertextuality. Archetypal literary criticism is a theory that interprets a text by focusing on mythological motifs and archetypes in narrative, symbols, imagery, and character types that recur in different literary works. Analysis of the inclusions of intertext in the text of a work of art gives reason to consider them as one of the most important devices in the writer's stylistic system. The ability to integrate elements of another text into one's own work and introduce one's own text into the public consciousness is called "intertextualization" within the framework of this theory. Intertextuality is a common property of texts, expressed in the presence of links between them, due to which texts (or parts of them) can explicitly or implicitly refer to each other in a variety of ways. It is worth noting that the archetypal literary criticism and the theory of intertextuality have deep internal theoretical connections, which boil down to three main points: these are literary repetitions, general views on literature, and the consideration of literature as a repository of memory. Although these theories arose in the era of different cultural and historical paradigms - structuralism and post-structuralism, they have much in common in terms of connotation. Being different theoretical systems of literary criticism, archetypal criticism and intertextuality are closely connected by the presence of an element of psychological criticality in both. This article searches for similarities between the two indicated systems in these three aspects and substantiates their theoretical connection, which proves the complementary nature of these two theories.

Features of Soviet Industrial Development in 1957–1964 (On the Example of the Mari, Mordovian and Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics)

Introduction and Methods. The relevance of the work is due to the demand for the experience of the economic council reform, including its regional aspect, at the present stage of Russian modernization. The basis of the methodology of the work is the modernization historical paradigm, aimed at the study of various kinds of progressive transformations of society, noted in the process of its development. The main methods used are comparative-historical, historical-cultural, problem-chronological. Results and Discussion. The economic councils of the Mari, Mordovian and Chuvash economic administrative regions already in the first years of their existence showed very worthy economic results. The decentralization of the economic sphere, the removal of bureaucratic “obstacles” stimulated the rapid development of new high-tech industries in all three republics: electrical, machine-building, metalworking, instrument-making, etc. However, having given the industrial development of the Mari, Mordovian and Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics a maximum exhausted itself quickly. Founded in the early 1960s the crisis phenomena were expressed in the growth of isolation of the economic regions headed by economic councils as economic cells striving for self-sufficiency (autarky), which gave rise to a number of problems, in particular in matters of supplies between different economic regions, in drawing up plans and their implementation. The regional material of the studied republics eloquently testifies to the typical (universal) nature of such negative manifestations. Conclusion. For the Mari, Mordovian and Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, the main result of the economic reform was, in fact, their synchronous transformation from agrarian-industrial to industrial-agrarian regions. The rather rapid pace of this process (1957–1964) can be explained by the decentralization of the economy that occurred as a result of the economic reform, which brought management closer to production and unloaded the industrial management system from excessive bureaucracy. However, the effect of decentralization turned out to be extremely short-lived, since the shortcomings of the territorial administration system soon showed themselves, leading to the rapid exhaustion of its capabilities.

Socialist Competition: Organization, Dynamics of Premium Payments (the Second Half of the 1940s)

Introduction. One of the methods of restoring the economy destroyed by the war and eliminating the economic consequences of the war was socialist competition. The purpose of the work: to characterize the policy of socialist competitions in Soviet urban society, to analyze the volume of bonus payments in various industries, to identify their dynamics that occurred in the second half of the 1940s. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the research is the modernization historical paradigm. When writing the article, the author was guided by the principles of historicism and objectivity. Work with historical sources was carried out through general scientific and historical methods. Results and Discussion. The organizational mechanisms of socialist competitions are considered, bonus payments for victory at enterprises of various industries are analyzed. It was revealed that the largest payments and the number of bonuses for winning the All-Union socialist competition were recorded at the enterprises of the Ministry of Railways, enterprises and construction sites of the coal industry, electrical industry. The size of individual bonuses of workers varied depending on the industry, the status of the competition, the position of the employee. In 1948, the prizes for winning the socialist competition were reduced by 50 %. Conclusion. Socialist competition, as a practical method of intensifying production and increasing labor productivity, in the post-war years demonstrated its effectiveness and efficiency in solving economic problems facing the state.