Understanding Of History Research Articles

‘Remember the Maine!:’ The Spanish–American War Invades the Parlor

Long before role-playing games or the popular first-person shooter games such as Hell Let Loose and Pavlov VR, people reenacted wars and global conflicts through tabletop board games, puzzles, and card games. Prior to World War II, no American conflicts were highlighted more in board and card games than the Spanish–American War and its offshoot, the Philippine– American War. Game designers joined other cultural producers such as journalists, novelists, and artists in crafting images of the battlefield for home front audiences. Between 1898 and 1902, the toy industry produced a multitude of games and puzzles focused on famous battles, military figures, and patriotism, informing both the public’s contemporary and historical understanding of these conflicts. Through an analysis of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century games depicting the Spanish–American and Philippine–American Wars, I argue that cultural producers used a variety of images, game-types, and instructions to lionize key military leaders, facilitate vicarious participation in the conflicts, and unify citizens on the questions about the wars and their consequences.

Greek Tragedies and Pottery

This paper explores how Greek pottery from the fourth century reflects a historic perception of Greek tragedies that differs significantly from that of modern times. By analyzing Euripides’ Medea and Hippolytus, the study contends that the modern interpretation of these two tragedies is centered on the personality of tragic characters and the emotionality of the tragic plot. It is also evident that, by examining modern productions and adaptations of Euripides’ plays and relevant literary studies, the modern audience is particularly perceptive of the themes of sex, love, and marriage, which are often incorporated into discourses on contemporary issues. An investigation into the depiction of tragedies in classical pottery, however, highlights the significance of divinity in the historic understanding of the plays, reflecting the Athenian audience’s prioritized interest in religion. This paper thus argues that the thematic perception of Greek tragedies is ever-changing throughout ancient and modern times and is greatly influenced by the current of contemporary cultures. The paper also proposes that a theatrical emphasis on religion is conducive to forming a new modern perspective on Greek plays as well as social issues.

THE CREMATION OF CORPSES IN THE CURRENT CANON CODIFICATION AND ITS PASTORALITY

This article, The Cremation of Corpses in the Current Canonical Codification and Its Pastoral Care: A Study Based on § 3 of Canon 1176 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, derived from a master's thesis in Canon Law, is a detailed study on the acceptance of cremation within the context of the Catholic Church, marking a significant evolution from traditional burial norms. Employing a bibliographic research methodology, the article analyzes a wide range of sources, including books, scientific articles, and official Church documents, to outline a historical, theological, and legal panorama on the subject. The research highlights the transformation in the perception of death and funeral practices over time, examining the development of ecclesiastical norms from the initial prohibition of cremation in the 1917 Code to its conditional acceptance in subsequent legislations, culminating in the 2016 instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo. This evolution reflects an adaptive response to social and cultural changes, maintaining consistency with the principles of the Christian faith. The historical and legal understanding of cremation in light of Vatican II provides a clearer and truer comprehension of funerals and cremation in the canonical and pastoral context of the Church. Finally, the article emphasizes the importance of pastoral care in funerals, highlighting cremation as a viable option that, while not preferred, is permitted as long as it does not oppose the doctrine of resurrection, reiterating the message of hope in eternal life.

Scenery deconstruction: a new approach to understanding the historical characteristics of Nanjing cultural landscape

The “Eight Scenic Views Paintings” represent crucial visual materials for investigating the history of cultural landscapes. However, traditional methods of interpreting materials struggle to discern the inherent connections between different landscape elements. This study proposes an approach for deconstructing historical images, taking the example of the Forty Scenic Views in the Late Ming Dynasty in Nanjing, China. To explore the co-occurrence structure, hierarchical clustering, and correlation features among various elements, various digital humanities quantification methods were applied, including spatial analysis of ArcGIS, co-occurrence and clustering of KH Coder, and correlation analysis of SPSS. This study reveals the characteristics of the landscape construction of Nanjing in the Late Ming: natural landscape as the foundation, artificial landscape as the core, and advocating tradition as the fashion. It also uncovers the landscape order: mountains, waters, and scenic views interweaved and coexisted, as well as nature and culture intertwined and clustered. In addition, multiple information graphs of the subordinate and co-occurrence relationships of 20 landscape elements were constructed, 5 landscape paradigms were extracted, and 36 pairs of related relationships were discovered, deepening the historical understanding of the urban landscape construction of Nanjing in the Late Ming. This paper puts forward the idea of analyzing historical images by digital method, which provides some essential and detailed historical basis for explaining the value of cultural landscape heritage and shaping contemporary urban landscape.

State Silence as Acceptance: A Presumption and an Exception

Abstract This study considers State silence which may entail acquiescence and can thus contribute inter alia to the formation of historic rights, the identification of customary international law, and the interpretation of treaties over time. Relying on the historical understanding of acquiescence in British and francophone literature, it argues that there are probability and normative justifications for establishing acquiescence as a ‘presumption of acceptance’ in international law, and that these considerations have influenced the modern international law understanding of acquiescence as an exceptional occurrence subject to stringent qualifications.

The influence of Italian architectural traditions on the formation of the appearance of the Suyumbike tower of the Kazan Kremlin

This article examines options for cultural and historical understanding by humanitarians of the architectural style of the Suyumbike tower. The authors consider the influence of the architectural traditions of the Apennine Peninsula of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance on the architectural concept of the Suyumbike Tower. The hypothesis of "Italian influence" is confirmed in the facts of the biographies of famous architects Aristotle Fioravanti and Pietro Antonio Solari, who arrived in Russia in the 17th century from the Apennine Peninsula. The contribution of Apennine masters to the development of the architecture of the Kazan Kremlin is assessed. The authors made a comparison of the historical iconography of the Suyumbike Tower of the Kazan Kremlin and modern versions of its artistic reconstructions. The conclusion is made about the productivity of cultural and historical synthesis in the architectural appearance of the Kazan tower Suyumbike, which incorporated elements of the Italian and Eastern style, rethought by Russian architects.

Building Global Awareness For Peace Through Reconstruction Of The Study Of Interpretation And Islamic Studies (Reflections On The Palestine-Israel Conflict)

This research proposes a contemporary analytical approach to the development of technology and science, which plays a crucial role in shaping human life today. The focus is on humans' understanding of themselves through exploring various aspects of life, using various branches of science and the latest research findings. In the context of a conflict of beliefs, this research investigates tensions between Israel and Palestine by exploring Muslims' views towards Jews. Reluctance to dialogue and negative perceptions create complexity in achieving sustainable solutions. This study shows that global, historical and cultural understanding on both sides is critical to overcoming differences in beliefs and creating shared understanding. Research also highlights the role of politics and interest groups in prolonging the conflict in the Middle East. Although this conflict involves international interests, it is essential to recognize that unification efforts can still be realized through dialogue and mutual understanding. With hindsight, research reveals that the history of this conflict can be traced back to Yathrib, highlighting a shift from initial good relations to tensions resulting from differences in faith and belief. This research concludes that through dialogue, rejection of fanaticism, and increased awareness, it is still possible to achieve human brotherhood amidst the complexity of conflicting beliefs.

The Cultural Roots of China's Governance: The Logical Reasoning of Firm Cultural Confidence in the New Era

The socialist system and national governance system with Chinese characteristics are rooted in the soil of Chinese history and culture, developed from the long-term historical practice of development, construction and innovation, and have gradually become the cultural power of China's governance. The logical reasoning of firm cultural confidence in the new era is based on the inheritance and application of excellent traditional Chinese culture in the historical logic, the grasp and understanding of high-quality development in the new era in the economic logic, and the realistic grasp of national conditions in the innovative logic. The sorting and explanation of the source of strength of the foundation of culture in the new era is of great importance as a reference and guidance for strengthening the strong foundation of cultural self-confidence and improving the ability of national governance.

Disconnective futures: Uncertainty, unfathomability, and the collapse of narrative crisis management

Abstract The article explores the exhaustion of narrative as a cognitive instrument in trying to make sense of the “disconnective futures” of the Anthropocene and runaway technological imaginaries. Having its point of departure in the organic ties between narrative form and modern historical understanding, the article’s argument begins by sketching how the modern idea of a historical process entails constant crises of uncertainty, on the one hand, and functions simultaneously as the manager of the very crises it brings about, on the other. The means of this crisis management consists of crafting historical narratives which tame uncertainty and smooth ruptures in time into deeper continuities. It is this narrative crisis management of establishing connections between past, present, and futures, which breaks down when encountering the temporal disconnections of the Anthropocene and technological prospects. Narrative crisis management was created to attend to crises of uncertainty, but it is inadequate to cope with disconnective futures which are not merely uncertain, but unfathomable. Based on a distinction between uncertainty and unfathomability, the article argues that efforts to project narrative connections over disconnective futures produce cognitive failures, and concludes on a note of potential resolutions, hinting at the development of non-narrative and yet historically-minded cognitive instruments attuned to making sense of temporal disconnections.

The banal significance of family history research: Experiences and narratives from participants of Swedish non-formal family history courses

Is family history research always life-changing and sensational? Or is there something significant in the banal that the participants in this study reported? This study aims to explore the spectrum of experiences of family history research, focusing specifically on the banal. I argue that it is in examining the banal everyday motivations, experiences, and findings that a greater understanding of how the average individual negotiates and builds meaning through their use of cultural heritage, family history, and the past. The everyday banal is what is reproduced and remains after the effervescence fades away and the normal redundancy in traditional society continues. The banal withstands the sands of time and effectively (re)produces narratives and binary tropes of identity and the past. This study examines the narratives collected from semi-structured interviews with seven participants from two Swedish non-formal courses in family history research. These narratives are important as they reveal participants’ engagement with historical consciousness and the relationship between the past, present and future. Moreover, the stories they tell are significant in revealing that participants learn family history research for numerous reasons, including “something to do” alongside those who wish to have a deeper historical understanding. Family history research is a collective and collaborative activity despite the individualised nature of focusing on one’s ancestors. Participants’ research led to discoveries that were not always revolutionary, reinforcing, for example, banal traits seen in themselves and banal activities they carry out today. This study found that while the reasons for participation, the act of attending class, and participants’ research may not necessarily result in the extraordinary–thieves or kings–for these individuals participating in family history research, the banal reasoning and banal results are significant.

Fragments of solidarity: the social worlds of African migrants moving northwards

ABSTRACT The article provides a framework through which to analyse the experiences and social trajectories of migration from East Africa to North Africa and Europe. On the one side, it explores the systematic relationship between war and mobility, and on the other, it highlights the social worlds generated by such mobility. The article argues that these social worlds represent crucial elements for understanding contemporary (Eastern) African societies and their political dynamics, in relation to (a) the increased relevance of migration diplomacy, (b) the spatial interconnectivity constructed through mobility and (c) the transnational and diasporic spheres that lie at the core of the social and economic reproduction of states and societies in the Horn and more generally in Eastern Africa. We highlight, through these interconnections, the genealogies and transformations of the systems of violence composing the reality of migration in the regions explored, but also the various and interconnected systems of solidarity which, although fragmented and even misused at times, sustain migrants’ trajectories, social projects and resistance. In doing so, the article argues that it is necessary to explore present and historical local understandings and conceptualisations of migration, in relation to solidarity practices, forced migration, migrant smuggling, imaginaries of mobility.

A Gap in the Literature: The Evolution of Britain’s Second World War Yugoslav Policies

ABSTRACT The decision processes behind the formation of Britain’s wartime policies represented the intersection of multiple, sometimes competing variables, from political to military and from immediate to long-term. There remain unanswered questions that arise from these competitions and contradictions within the British government’s, oftentimes multi-track policies, which hold far-reaching implications for understanding events. Britain’s policies of support for resistance movements in occupied Yugoslavia during the Second World War serve as a striking example. The historical understanding of how British policy developed concerning Yugoslavia, its motivations, objectives, and how these were defined and prioritized by the individuals and agencies involved with these processes, represents a small but deeply contentious corner of Second World War literature, wherein much remains unresolved. This article, based on doctoral research carried out at the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London, analyses the forces that shaped British policy concerning Yugoslavia in the light of what Graham Allison has called ‘the essence of decision.’ That is, by looking to the British government as a policy arena and examining the ‘official mind(s)’ of the policy community in that context, highlighting the multiple overlapping forces, both internal and external, that interacted in shaping the evolution of British policy. By resurveying various British archives, it has been possible to resolve many longstanding historiographical disputes, as well as present new alternative approaches to viewing British policy development concerning Yugoslavia. Those findings, presented here, suggest a view of Britain’s Yugoslav policy that was far more reactive and constrained than previously presented. The reality of the British government, its policy development, and its chosen course is far more chaotic and disjointed than the ‘all behind you, Winston’ myth, and when viewed with this appreciation present British policy development as less sensation, but far more remarkable.

Unveiling histories: navigating ideological constructs and cultural memories in the contemporary art of Iran

ABSTRACT This special issue explores the multifaceted landscape of the contemporary art of Iran, unveiling diverse approaches to historical narratives and cultural memory while challenging the concept of a ‘correct history.’ Focused on the post-revolutionary period, the essays scrutinise how Iranian artists navigate and contest an ideologically structured history imposed by the political system. This structured history, often divergent from creative historical understanding, prioritises abstract ideals and diminishes alternative perspectives. Central questions explored include how contemporary Iranian artists position themselves in relation to history and cultural memory, manifesting their way of looking in their works. Examining strategies such as irony, fantasy, intertextuality and deconstruction, these artists engage in critical re-tellings of a past that persists in haunting the present. Their creations reflect on the self by narrating history, contributing to the ongoing debate on historical narratives. The essays investigate how contemporary art practices in Iran grapple with social, cultural and political issues, including censorship, transforming challenges into critical tools that give rise to a multi-faceted aesthetics of resistance. The issue sheds light on these alternative approaches and elaborates on the broader discourse on artistic engagement with historical and socio-political contexts.

Rewriting history: a conversation between Parham Taghioff and Hamidreza Karami

ABSTRACT This illustrated conversation between Parham Taghioff and Hamidreza Karami focuses on Taghioff’s profound engagement with history and the philosophy of history within his photographic projects. The dialogue explores how Taghioff’s work reveals the common tendency for individuals to unwittingly cast themselves as characters in the historical drama without a conscious understanding of their roles. Key projects, such as the ‘Hands On/Hands Off’ (2014) and the ‘Asymmetrical Authority’ series (2018), are discussed, emphasising the artist’s reliance on personal historical understanding and historical memory. Taghioff highlights the dynamic nature of historical comprehension, stressing that continual emergence of new facts, documents and narratives prevents a definitive understanding of the past. The conversation also touches on Taghioff’s perspective as a contemporary artist in Iran, highlighting the need to examine history to grasp one’s contemporary position. The conversation concludes with insights into Taghioff’s artistic methodology, involving the analysis and use of archival materials, texts and images to reconstruct and critically examine various historical perspectives.

Por um gesto de leitura materialista do discurso da avaliação em saúde: critérios e padrões

ABSTRACT This essay is based on the epistemological concerns of health evaluators in their search to understand the meanings of their professional practice and their theoretical formulations. Such concerns emerge from the strangeness accumulated over years of work in the field and a growing questioning, given the naturalization of the relationship between the concepts used in health evaluation and their implications for the maintenance of power relations. In this essay, we present an analytical proposal for understanding the concepts mobilized by health evaluation supported by Michel Pêcheux’s Discourse Analysis, Louis Althusser’s Materialist Philosophy, and Georges Canguilhem’s Historical Epistemology. We propose a materialist reading approach for the analysis of the standardized discourse about the development of evaluation, seeking to contribute to overcoming idealistic readings around approaches and standards that succeed one another and are stabilized as truths, with a view to advancing towards a historical understanding. Understanding the formation of the conceptual discourse around the social practice of health evaluation in Brazil-and, thus, understanding the ideological functioning of its enunciation-can aid us to deepen the analysis of the meanings that operate in the practice and formulation of this social space.

Teaching Palestine

Abstract This article explores theories and methodologies for an activist teaching and reading of Palestinian literature, including Susan Abulhawa's novel Mornings in Jenin and Remi Kanazi's poetry. Based on student responses — empathy with individual Palestinian characters but not resistance to Israeli settler colonialism — the author suggests that empathetic identification, often perceived as a means of comprehending the other, instead blocks political and historical understandings. Building on Saidiya Hartman's and Lorenzo Veracini's arguments, the author posits the need for seeing the other through a Levinasian radical alterity (which he denied Palestinians), not through similarity. Moments when texts disturbed readerly identification were moments of activist potential.

Vocal Ornamentation in Caccini: From Theory to Practice

The main purpose of the published article is to study the role and determine the possibility of using jewelry in Giulio Caccini vocal music. The composer, the creator of the “new” style, the first among his contemporaries in the preface to the collections of arias and madrigals Le nuove musiche (1602) and Nuove musiche e nuova maniera di scriverle (1614) outlined the main positions of the school of artistic singing, where he reports on the recording of his compositions how to perform. This often leads performers into confusion about the possibility of using any jewelry. As a result, today, in some cases, Caccini music sounds monotonous, uninteresting. In the Baroque era, there was a clear discrepancy between practice and musical notation. An in-depth study and comparison of musical sources, their historical understanding, evaluation based on documentary and theoretical evidence allows us to identify the real practice and features of reproducing jewelry offered by Caccini for performance. As a result, the author of the article emphasizes the need to rethink the approach to performance, in particular, concerning the application of various ornamental effects. In this regard, it becomes important to observe their main purpose: to enhance the affect and mood of the composition through expressive transmission of the word.

Russian economy and industry in decarbonization focus: Problems and solutions

The article discusses the main stages of the emergence and awareness of the need for global measures to combat excess greenhouse gas emissions. The main emphasis is placed on the legislative and regulatory aspect, taking into account the opinions of official and interested organizations. The analysis of the materials of publications on the sources of greenhouse gas emissions and the volume of their entry into the atmosphere is carried out. In the Russian Federation, there is a noticeable change in attitude to the situation, both at the level of basic concepts and in the applied aspect. The historical and modern understanding of the greenhouse gas problem has been partially traced. The timber industry is becoming an important component of a set of measures to harmonize the performance of emission producers and carbon depositing companies. The possibility of economic regulation of emissions has the greatest potential in the hands of both the European Union and the Government of the Russian Federation. The quota trading system should become an effective fine-tuned tool in the field of regulating greenhouse gas emissions. The existing quota trading systems in the world are briefly described. Some indicators of the quota trading system for Russian companies are given. The possibilities of the timber industry and the forest fund to compensate for the consequences of the introduction of the “green tax” are presented. The main dangers from the introduction of a “green tax” for the industry of the Russian Federation are assessed. The results of emission calculations for a number of enterprises supplying products for export are analyzed. The main ways of minimizing the consequences of the introduction of a “green tax” for the economy are substantiated.

Curating Emergent Publics Through Domain Crossing

Audiences for messages divide attention among a variety of media outlets, sources, and venues. Such segmentation creates a challenge for message creators to (re)engage audiences’ attentional capacities. This research investigates how domain elites may curate emergent attentive publics for public affairs content by engaging in processes of domain crossing to potentially redirect audience attention. Conceptually, we contribute to historic and contemporary understandings of how societal leaders attempt to build engaged and attentive publics for their messages. Methodologically, we employ large data and network analytic methods to study the creation of emergent publics online around a pseudo-event. We illustrate how leader-directed domain crossing could overcome audience challenges in a fragmented media ecology.

Exploring empathic thinking among history student-teachers in Ghana: A case of Dr J.B. Danquah's letter to Dr Kwame Nkrumah in prison

Learning about emotionally tricky topics sometimes creates educational tension among teachers and learners in the learning environment. In history education, one primary goal of teaching the subject is to promote empathic understanding among learners in the classroom. This study assessed 135 student-teachers ability to understand the actions of past historical actors. Specifically, it explored the student-teachers’ process of contextualising past actions and making moral judgments. The study adopted the qualitative research approach, where student-teachers wrote essays based on a letter Dr J.B. Danquah wrote to Dr Kwame Nkrumah with a follow-up think-aloud to explore the student-teachers thoughts on the letter. The study found that cognitive knowledge of the past promoted the student-teachers ability to contextualise the actors' actions. The student-teachers also viewed historical empathy as a dual construct by using moral and emotional expressions to empathise with the actions and decisions of the historical actors. The seeming suggestion brought forward by these findings is that student-teachers may be able to support their would-be students to empathise with the actions of historical actors in their pedagogical practices. It also points to a need for support in the training of student-teachers where the emphasis is placed on procedural and substantive knowledge as a necessary step for achieving historical understanding.