Historical Transformation Research Articles

The Transformation of Urban Mobility Practices in Maastricht (1950–1980)

This article reconstructs the historical transformation of mobility in the city of Maastricht in the period 1950–1980, from cycling as the most popular mode of traveling in the 1950s to car driving by the end of the 1970s. Based on an analysis of written sources and oral history interviews with Maastricht travelers and other practitioners who experienced this shift themselves, this article sheds light on this historical transformation, its key actors, and its main drivers. Combining insights from studies of social practice-based perspectives on mobility, historical sociotechnical transitions, and the model of urban obduracy, this study seeks to contribute to understanding why and how cities may transform toward being unsustainable places. Furthermore, it aims to show how social practice approaches can give more context-sensitive insights into processes of transformation and transition compared to established MLP-based transition approaches, by giving more attention to local meanings.

Structure, Ideology, Distribution: The Dual as Honorific in Santali

This article draws on Judith T. Irvine's over two decades of work on ideologies of honorification to investigate and analyze the historical transformation of the use of the dual pronominal form in Santali, an Austro‐Asiatic language spoken in eastern India. In Santali, the dual form is employed for single referents (both for the speaker and the addressee) during interactions restricted to affines of adjacent generations. However, in recent years the dual has also started to be used as a deferential honorific in a generalized sense, regardless of the kinship relation between interactants. The new usage has been driven by several factors, including the increasing exposure to education in the dominant Indo‐Aryan vernaculars such as Bengali and Hindi, which use generalized honorifics, as well as movements that have aligned the use of such honorifics with projects for Santal autonomy centered around the spread of a distinct script for the language. The article argues that debates in the community around the notions of tradition and modernity, cultural and ethnic affiliation, and changing ideas of respect have shaped the ideological field conditioning the use and distribution of the honorific dual in Santali.

Discontinuous History and Magical Realism: A Foucauldian Reading of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant

Michel Foucault’s archaeological approach to history contests Hegelian understanding of evolutionary and progressive history which presupposes an ultimate arrival at a perfect form of society. For Foucault, history does not follow a linear, dialectical line within a cause-and-effect relationship. Each historical period has its own conditions of truth and between these periods, there are breaks, twists, ruptures and discontinuities determined by power relations in that society. These historical transformations occur following a change in épistèmé which connotes to the available set of knowledge produced by discursive practices in a particular period. Within this context, this study aims to analyse historical discontinuities in Kazuo Ishiguro’s magical realist novel, The Buried Giant (2015). In the novel, by benefiting from generic potentials of magical realism, and effectively exploiting the medieval romance, Ishiguro creates a quasimythological historical account of the Anglo-Saxon period. In his version, King Arthur makes Merlin perform a spell on a dragon. Due to the spell, the Britons and the Saxons suffer memory loss which causes historical discontinuities. Moreover, while the spell confines the people into a perpetual here and now, it grants Arthur absolute political power. The study will focus on these discontinuities and present a Foucauldian reading of the text. The study will also theoretically connect Foucault’s discontinuous history with magical realism, which may broaden our understanding of Ishiguro’s text.

Development of accounting science in the light of economic and social transformations

Introduction. One of the integral components of human economic life is economic accounting – a system of creating information about economic activity, which proves the history and genesis of the accounting science development. The study of theoretical and methodological approaches to the functioning of accounting in the past and the assessment of current practices through the prism of the transformation of the social system will predict the development of accounting science and practice in the future.Goal. To identify the impact of economic and social transformations of mankind on the development of accounting as a science and practice. To analyse the historical transformations of the reflection of production and accounting processes in society, to define the concept of «accounting» not only as a phenomenon, but also to understand its deep essence, to identify trends in the development of accounting activities.Research methods.The main research methods were general scientific empirical, logical and historical methods of cognition of socio-economic processes, historical and monographic analysis, logical method, methods of comparison and extrapolation, as well as methods of grouping, generalization and classification, systemic and structural approaches. Collectively, the research methods used allowed to draw reliable conclusions and recommendations. Results. The dependence of the development of accounting practice and methodology on social formations, economic transformations and user needs is proved. There are three stages of change in accounting theory, which are characterized by «accounting revolutions» by analogy with the industrial and scientific revolutions. The genesis of the development of post-industrial society allowed us to conclude that in the middle of the twentieth century. the basic methodological principles of the new formation system are formed, different from the traditional industrialism, which are accompanied by a qualitative change in the place of theoretical knowledge and information in society and economic life. Based on the analysis of trends in the development of accounting knowledge, a forecast of its development in post-industrial society is made.Perspectives. We see the prospects for the development of accounting science and methodology in its reorientation to the internal needs of enterprise management, which requires a creative and innovative approach to creating information resources, obtaining management information and forecasting.

Zrnosko. Cultural Landscapes and Social Economy of a Village in Mala Prespa

This paper shows the first results of a preparatory fieldwork carried out in Zrnosko, a Macedonian-speaking village in the border region of Mala Prespa, Albania. Through observations and interviews collected around the concept of cultural landscape, it offers some insights into the history of the local social economy. Among these, the longue durée role of the forest and Prespa lake in the more general social geography of the region, the heritage of the collectivistic organization under the socialist regime of Enver Hoxha, and the contemporary marginalization of the village.
 The transformations in productive activities (such as small-scale agriculture and husbandry), as well as in the social organization of the local community, seem to reproduce and reshape local cultural landscapes. The widespread narratives about the lack of jobs offer a broader understanding of the village's social geography, its historical transformations and current condition. In a similar way local toponymy, as a result of an identity-building process, seems to reflect the cultural history of the environment, its productive activities and socio-cultural configurations. The participative mapping method, carried out in dialogue with locals, offers further explorations of the influence on toponyms in villagers' spatial practices, and in local identity narratives concerning ethnic and linguistic borders.
 Both productive activities and local geography seem to influence perceptions on the organization of space and time among inhabitants, revealing their cultural forms of appropriation and socialization of the land, as well as the current perception of its increasing abandonment. A synchronic-diachronic research on productive activities and the changings in space orienting elements mutually suggest a problematic, and ongoing, process of transition to an alternative productive model, which alternates subsistence economy with peripheral and ephemeral market-oriented efforts.

Three myths about eclecticism

This article explores the concept of modern eclecticism in art and architecture through three accounts of it by influential scholars Rudolf Wittkower, César Daly, and Charles Jencks. Writing from different contexts, each of these thinkers respectively presents the origins and contents of eclecticism as: a product of modern historical consciousness; a reciprocal crisis of historical progress; and a pluralistic discourse in Postmodernism. Through these differing, but interrelated, retellings or myths, one can observe eclecticism’s critical malleability as a concept which may be applied equally to design methodology, historical analysis, or even as a social model. A close reading of eclecticism in instances of its most serious invocations challenges the common perception of the term as one of disparaging ambiguity predicated upon an aimless condition of historical borrowing. Arguing against this position, I show that the discourse of eclecticism contains important and lasting tropes of architecture in modernity; chief among them is the tenuous relationship between form and social expression, as well as the utopic notions of progress and historical transformation.

“We Rule from the Great Rurik...”: on the Issue of the Formation of the Common Spiritual and Political Axiological Complex “Russian Land – Russian State – Russian Realm”

The article is devoted to the study of Russian traditional basic values. On the basis of the traditionalist-conservative approach, the authors examine the origin and development of the complex of spiritual and political values and ideals specific to the national intellectual history. In particular, the genesis of the concept of «state» is considered as one of the key ones for the study of traditional Russian spiritual and political values. The authors reconstruct the logic of the development and historical transformation of the idea of «Land-State-Realm» in the public consciousness of Russian people. On the basis of the political-textual and content analysis of a large number of sources on the national intellectual history, the definition of the state as a complicated axiological complex is proposed. The authors arrive at the conclusion that throughout the entire national history the value of the state was determined not only by political reasons of the need for unity, strength and independence, but also by spiritual and moral ones -since «Holy Russia» was the only country in the world where God's grace existed and concentrated. The authors emphasize that the recognition of the state as one of the most important spiritual and moral values is a specific feature of Russian civilization, which is fundamentally important for the formation of a unique political identity and the awareness of the meaning of one's own being.

Resilient Small Peasants: Historical Continuity and Modern Transformation—Vitality and Autonomous Responsibility of Small Peasants in China

The question of understanding and dealing with the small peasants (xiao nong) in the course of the transition from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society is a significant theoretical and practical issue. Previous views emphasized the peasants’ vulnerability and suggested that they would eventually be replaced by other business entities. Such proposals cannot explain the fact that it was traditional small peasants who created China’s agrarian civilization and that the small farming household based on the household contract responsibility system is still the main force in China’s agricultural modernization. Re-examining the historical position and vitality of the small peasants, we can see that despite being vulnerable, they are “fragile but unbreakable; weak but never slackening” in their interaction with the external environment under various pressures. Historically, this kind of resilience has been endogenous within the long-term autonomous responsibility mechanism of China’s small peasants, expressed in their reciprocal responsibility as a community of a shared future; in their sharing of burdens as a living community; in their internalization of responsibility as a community of production; and in their joint responsibility as a political community. After 1949, rural reform created conditions for the modern transformation of the resilient small peasant. Organization, socialization and state involvement have further enhanced the modern small peasants’ resilience and developmental capacity, fueling the organic integration of small peasants and modern agriculture and driving the vigor of agricultural modernization.

From “the unpublished edition” to “the iconic book of the twentieth century”: The reception history of Gustaw Herling’s Un mondo a parte in Italy

The article presents the reception history of one book (“Un mondo a parte”) in four different historical periods. The key social, political, and historical transformations in post‑war Italy will provide an important context for the reflection. “The unpublished edition” from 1958 is now part of the canon of twentieth‑century world literature. The belated and turbulent reception history of “Un mondo a parte” in Italy was conditioned by ideology and can also be read as the story of the slow discovery of Gustaw Herling as a writer whose books are published in Italian.

The transformation of Plato’s theory of soul in the philosophy of Florentine Neoplatonism

The object of this research is the Platonic tradition of understanding of soul. The subject of this research is the interpretation of Plato's concept of soul in the philosophy of Florentine academicians. The goal is trace the historical-philosophical evolution of Plato's theory of soul from the Antiquity to the Renaissance philosophy. The article represents the authorial historical-philosophical and comparative analysis of the primary sources. Analysis is conducted on the works of Plato, Plotinus, Augustine of Hippo, Aristotle, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, M. Ficino, and D. Pico della Mirandola. The article outlines the key provisions of Plato's concept of the soul, reveals the tendencies of gradual historical transformation of this tradition within the history of philosophical thought. The topic at hand has not been previously covered in the scientific research, which defines the novelty of this paper. Soul is viewed as the mirror of the divine world that is in need of catharsis. Special attention is given to Neoplatonic comprehension of the luminous nature of soul. The concept of “universal soul”, which eclectically connects with the Christian understanding of soul as the individual and free principle is revealed. Analysis is conducted on components of the soul described by Plato, namely rational, appetitive, and the spirited. Special attention is turned to the rational soul as an immortal active principle. Position of the soul in the world hierarchy is considered. The article examines the soul as “bond of peace”, which encompasses the dialectical opposites of rational and sensuous, sole and numerous, separable and inseparable, time and eternity.

Locating Muslim Cinema(s)

The four essays collected here raise a series of questions that unsettle and reconfigure some of the most persistent boundaries in studies of world cinema. In “Hollywood’s Bad Muslims: Misrepresentations and the Channeling of Racial Violence,” Imed Ben Labidi highlights the potential pitfalls of such an attempted mapping, focusing on Hollywood’s essentialized and essentializing portrayal of Muslims and Arabs. Conversely, while remaining within the confines of a small national industry, in “The Poetics of Tajik Cinema,” Sharofat Arabova transcends the implicit distortions of schematic periodization, tracing evolving traditions of film poetics across the major historical transformations of the Soviet and sovereign periods. Similarly, while feminist theory has been at the core of film studies since its inception, the two pieces in this collection complicate understandings of the construction of gender in Muslim cinemas. Sitara Thobani’s “Locating the Tawa’if Courtesan–Dancer: Cinematic Constructions of Religion and Nation” resists the impulse to understand tawa’if solely in terms of gendered spectacle, instead exploring the less examined question of this figure’s Muslim identity. In the final piece, “Defa’-e Moghaddas (The Sacred Defense), Hamdeli va Mehrvarzi (Camaraderie and Love from Knowing the Other), and the Making of Social Cinema in Post-Revolutionary Islamic Iran,” Fakhri Haghani contrasts the front-line masculinist cinema of the Iranian “sacred defense” with social dramas that reveal undertheorized gender dynamics of sacrifice and justice. Each of these pieces, then, invigorates core questions within the field of religion and popular culture by positing Muslim cinema as a point of intersection at which Muslim participation in the creation and viewing of film may productively be explored, while simultaneously offering a broader, more universal alternative perspective by attending to cinema′s functions in the quotidian lives of members of religious communities.

The Tempo of Solid Fluids: On River Ice, Permafrost, and Other Melting Matter in the Mackenzie Delta

Seasonal and historical transformations of ice and permafrost suggest that the Mackenzie Delta in Arctic Canada can be understood as a solid fluid. The concerns and practices of delta inhabitants show that fluidity and solidity remain important attributes in a solid fluid delta. They are significant not as exclusive properties, but as relational qualities, in the context of particular human projects and activities. Indigenous philosophies of ‘the land’ and Henri Lefebvre’s notion of ‘tempo’ in Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life (2004) may help to illustrate the predicament of living in a world that is solid and fluid rhythmically, and in relation to particular practices. Economic, political, sociocultural and physical transformations can all be experienced as both solid and fluid, depending on the degree to which they resonate with people’s purposes. In a world where everything seems to be changed and changing, solidity and fluidity may best be seen as indications of relative differences in tempo.

Bir Türkmen Babasından Bektaşi Babasına Dönüşümün Hikâyesi: Halifet Baba Zaviyesi

Dervishes of Heterodox sects such as Yasawiyya, Haydariyya and Kalenderiyya migrated to Anatolia from the thirteenth century. These people, who were kind of propagandists, found a suitable ground in Anatolia, not in cities, but in villages and among nomads. Turkmen “baba” (father) and dervishes, belonging to Heterodox groups, settled in western Anatolia, especially on the Byzantine border, and established their zawiyas. Because these dervishes, who also have warrior identities, have had the opportunity to propagate jihad and Islam in this border region. As they were seen by the Turkish sultans as colonizers who would make the military conquest permanent in the region, the zawiyas they opened were supported by waqfs. In western Anatolia, where nomadic and semi-settled Turkmen communities were heavily inhabited, Turkmen dervishes became figures who shaped the spiritual world of the communities and warmed them to Islam. Halifet Baba Zawiya was built in the village of Arabhisar, which was founded on top of the ancient city of Alabanda after the Turkish raids. Stones from the ruins of an ancient Christian temple were also used in its construction. These zawiya was part of the process of The Turkification and Islamization of the Anatolian lands. During the Ottoman period, his primary name was forgotten, and he became known as Baba Sultan. Currently, it is one of the sacred temples visited by the Alawites and is known as the Arab Dede. In this study, the historical transformation of the Halifet Baba Zawiya will be emphasized in accordance with the Ottoman archival records. The adventure of turning from a Christian cult to an Islamic cult and then into a place considered sacred by the Bektashis and Alawites will be described.

Geography’s trajectories in Philippine higher education

AbstractThis piece situates the challenges and opportunities for Geography as a discipline amid the setting of Philippine higher education. By charting the discipline’s historical transformations and contemporary trajectories in the spheres of pedagogy, research, and service learning, it presents a particular picture of Geography’s place and possible futures within a global South context. Despite its disciplinal marginality rooted in institutional constraints in the country’s higher education system, Geography is at a crucial juncture in expanding its visibility and reach, and magnifying its relevance and transformative potentials in the Philippines.

Characterizing historical transformation trajectories of the forest landscape in Rome's metropolitan area (Italy) for effective planning of sustainability goals

AbstractWith the aim at developing a landscape dynamics framework for environmental planning and management and testing the effectiveness of protected areas in achieving the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations sustainability goals, we characterized the historical transformation trajectories of forest area changes from 1936 to 2010 in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital (Italy). Remote sensing‐based products coupled with landscape pattern metrics and fragmentation analysis have been implemented, comparing different historical forest maps. The results show a remarkable forest area gain – from 17.6% to 25.5% – thanks to 68,299 ha of recently established forest. Statistical descriptors showed that the highest relative gain occurred in mountain zones, confirming a wide European forest recovery pattern in marginal areas from past deforestation and overexploitation. Deforestation mainly occurred in the flat and hilly areas where almost 26,000 ha of forests were lost since 1936. In summary, two main forest landscape dynamics were reconstructed: (I) the increase of forest cover fragmentation in the lowland areas; and (II) the rise in the forest area in the interior sectors of the mountain landscape, mainly within protected areas. Restoring the forest ecosystem's bioecological integrity has been highlighted as an urgent action for biodiversity conservation and carbon mitigation. In lowland areas, the study revealed the urgent need to establish new protected areas and rewilding spaces as landscape metrics are relatively below the sustainability targets for healthy forest ecosystems. The proposed framework can be used for testing the effectiveness of environmental planning and management in other forest landscapes to achieve the Agenda 2030 goals.

Smart Architectural and Urban Heritage: An Applied Reflection

The aim of this paper is to present the use of 3D models and augmented reality (AR) to study and communicate architectural and urban values and, therefore, favor the development of dedicated forms of “smart heritage”. The study rises from a reflection on the concept of “heritage”, as defined in the international documents, intended as an evolving idea that puts together tangible and intangible aspects. Moreover, digital technologies favor “phygital” applications where the digital dimension support the traditional ones. In this way, AR allows the superimposition of multimedia information to heritage, respecting the historical matter of the artefacts, and supporting a “smart heritage” application. In particular, mobile AR, with real-time and ubiquitous visualizations, offers the opportunity to show past urban and architectural configurations to investigate and describe the transformations that have led to the current configuration, and consequently highlighting the present historical and architectural values of the buildings. Two case studies are presented: the square of St. Basilio Monastery, with its historical transformations, and the Basilica of Collemaggio, a pivotal building in the rites of “Perdonanza Celestiniana”.

Концептуальные аспекты устойчивого развития экономических систем: эволюция подходов и современная парадигма

Introduction. The relevance of scientific substantiation of approaches to sustainable development management is due to the need to take into account external changes and the development of conceptual provisions for the adaptation of economic systems. Theoretical analysis. The article summarizes the main approaches to the interpretation of the “sustainable development” concept. The evolution of economic thought and the historical transformation of views towards the study of sustainable development concerning various objects are considered. The scientific approaches and studies of leading foreign and domestic scientists are presented, which constituted the theoretical and methodological basis of the sustainable development concept. The essence of the category “sustainability of development” concerning economic systems is revealed. Empirical analysis. The economic, social and environmental substantiation of the sustainable development concept is given. The external and internal factors influencing the stability of economic systems are investigated. The stability of the system is considered through the prism of such interrelated system characteristics as controllability and adaptability. Results. The relevance of the application of an integrated approach to the study of the triad “society – economy – ecology” is shown. It is substantiated that the synergy of the main provisions of economic theory, conceptual principles of sustainable development, system analysis of the countries’ development determinants in the context of new global challenges and threats should underlie the strategic provision of sustainable development in the long term.

Explosive Stamping Goals and Objectives Historical Transformation (to the 70th Anniversary of KhAI Scientific School)

The sequence and development the impulse stamping goals and production objectives are described. A new idea development from a primitive “field” technology to modern integrated technologies that allow obtaining unique quality indicators of manufactured parts is shown. The article covers the description of pulse technologies for sheet stamping by the blasting agents explosion and an underwater high-voltage discharge.

Rebranded Philosophy of History

This article focuses on the one of the many outcomes of the so-called rebranded philosophy of history, namely, the continuity-discontinuity issue. Eelco Runia’s, Noël Bonneuil’s and Paul A. Roth’s conceptions of historical time will be analyzed as representative of this subject in the landscape of the theory of history from 2010 on. The authors sampled not only provide the evidence that historical discontinuity remains alive as a theoretical and historiographical challenge, but they also disclose different arrays to think the relationship among past, present, and future, and historical transformation. The concepts of historical time analyzed recall Foucault’s discontinuously-base model of thinking historical time and add to it different varieties of historical discontinuity. Moreover, the continuity-discontinuity issue in the new backdrop involves operation of translating time into space (spatialization of time). As a result, the discontinuously-based model of historical time’s main characteristics will be summarized and its strength as a heuristic tool for further analyses of the concepts of historical time is outlined.

A City Profile of Malaga: The Role of the Port-City Border throughout Historical Transformations

The relationships Malaga has established with its port have changed over the centuries, conjuring up a variety of scenarios and circumstances. The past and present are closely linked phenomena in this case study where the porosity of the port‐city fabric has marked the city’s development and constitutes a key issue in the current and future challenges it faces. Malaga provides a particularly interesting example of a post‐industrial city that has reopened its port to its inhabitants’ acclaim while maintaining port activity. However, the growth tourism has seen in recent years has come to dominate the local economy. Cruise ships have taken on a significant role and have brought about important changes in the dynamics and flows between the port and the city, unsettling the balance between the two. This profile explores port‐city development through the lens of boundaries and flows, demonstrating how their dynamics have determined Malaga’s spatial, functional, and social development over time and how they continue to do so to this day. This article reviews the transformations the city has undergone and its future opportunities to achieve a balanced and sustainable port‐city relationship.