Historiographical Literature Research Articles

Imagining Identity in New Spain: Race, Lineage, and the Colonial Body in Portraiture and Casta Paintings

Like many previous works, this book reminds us that the Spanish imperial hierarchy distinguished rank in a multilayered fashion, primarily on the basis of calidad and policía rather than the more ethnically and racially oriented limpieza de sangre. Indeed, given the nature of the hierarchy, Carrera questions whether colonial notions of raza as lineage can be compared to nineteenth-century notions of race derived from social Darwinism. She uses court documents, literary sources, and edicts and decrees, as would any historian; however, as a trained art historian, she integrates a thorough review of the eighteenth-century casta paintings by Miguel Cabrera, Andrés de Islas, and others. She demonstrates that the clothing worn and mannerisms displayed define the quality and character of the Europeans, Amerindians, and Africans portrayed. This emphasis in late colonial iconography (which does not completely eliminate racial notions more akin to limpieza) helps to explain the transformations, by means of clothing and discourse, found in José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi’s El periquillo sarniento (most of which was published serially between 1816 and 1820). Through the iconography and written discourse of the time, Carrera shows just how much late colonial Mexican society loved metamorphosis, as well as the attempts of royal officials to maintain a static order based on the separation of ranks. The casta paintings demonstrate just how difficult this ideal of separation was to maintain.The strengths of this book are manifold, and they are especially manifested in Carrera’s analysis of an anonymous late eighteenth-century casta painting entitled De Alvina y Español produce Negro torna atrás, Juan Antonio Prado’s Plaza Mayor de la ciudad de México (1767), and Retrato de Matías de Gálvez, attributed to Andrés López. In the first, a Spanish man gazes through a handheld telescope at the geometrical orderliness of Mexico City’s Alameda Park—replete with orderly members of the elite on promenade. This painting can only be contrasted to Prado’s, where the Plaza Mayor—complete with vendors and thieves—threatens the separation of hierarchical ranks with all sorts of legal and illicit mixing. Spaniards surveying this society from afar, like the man with the telescope in the anonymous painting, are thereby warned that their edicts and decrees do not always effect their desires for social control. That fear, according to Carrera, appears in the portrait of Viceroy de Gálvez, where two well-dressed young men are deliberately contrasted with “two shoeless, unkempt, and dark-skinned boys . . . who may represent artisans” (p. 138). Carrera’s analysis is compelling, and while she is influenced by Foucauldian notions of surveillance and Homi Bhabha’s views on “hybridity,” she uses postmodernism judiciously and avoids the dangers inherent in its proclivity to use ambiguous jargon.While Carrera’s use of court cases regarding raza is well done by any historical standards, her use of the historiographical literature is not as broad as some might desire. The discussion of ideology, discourse, and perception might have been informed by the insights of David Brading’s The First America (1991) and Eric Van Young’s The Other Rebellion (2001)—especially Van Young’s analysis of Timothy Anna’s work on the ethnic breakdown of Mexican insurgents, compared to that of New Spain as a whole. Likewise, her skillful epilogue regarding the iconography of citizenship in nineteenth-century Mexican art might have been balanced by some reference to the sixteenth century’s struggle with the hierarchical question. “Hybridity” existed where the républica de españoles and républica de indios were concerned. Her extensive use of Alejandro Cañeque’s recent dissertation on the body politic in seventeenth-century New Spain (1999) is a more than valid contextualization of her work, but she ignores use of the body politic image in the sixteenth century. The imagery of the policía’s body politic used clothing display in the sixteenth as well as the eighteenth century. Likewise, the question of racial mixing was obviously not new to the seventeenth century, and Carrera references Elizabeth Kuznesof’s excellent studies of it. There was a continuity, as well as change, in colonial discourse, as there is throughout human history. No period is so unique that it does not speak to us, despite current rhetorical strategies targeting difference.Still, Imagining Identity in New Spain accomplishes its goals and adds to the art historical literature on casta paintings. By incorporating some key works by historians, she adds to the discussion begun by María Concepción García Sáiz’s 1989 catalog and continued by the works of Ilona Katzew and others. Carrera’s book stands as a real contribution within the conversation on casta paintings.

The Meaning of Eugenics: Reflections on the Government of Genetic Knowledge in the Past and the Present

The recent development of molecular genetics has created concern that society may experience a new eugenics. Notions about eugenics and what took place in the 1930s and 1940s are actively shaping questions about which uses of new genetics should be considered illegitimate. Drawing upon a body of historiographical literature on Scandinavian eugenics, this paper argues that the dominant view of eugenics as morally and scientifically illegitimate is not tenable when it comes to the uses of compulsion, political motivation, and scientific acceptability. In spite of a general condemnation of eugenics, health authorities today are trying to prevent individuals with deviant behavior from reproducing or at least from rearing children. This may not be argued with reference to the risk of transmitting defective genes, but rather the risk of producing undesirable social problems. Drawing on a Foucauldian approach, the paper concludes that eugenics and new genetics should be seen as two historically specific forms of biopower.

Current Work on the History of Science and Religion

24 Historically Speaking · February 2003 textbooks routinelypresentatleastbriefdiscussions ofdie Scopes trial. The effect ofsuch selectivity is to reinforce in the minds of unsuspecting readers die legitimacy of die warfare trope. The research that I've surveyed here reveals die warfare trope's inadequacy. One can only hope diat diis research will reach a broader audience and laydie groundworkfor a more nuanced understanding in die public mind ofdie relationship between science and Christianity. Jon H. Roberts is a professor ofhistory at Boston University. His latest book, written with James Turner, is The Sacred and die Secular University (Princeton University Press, 2000). I am grateful to David Hempton and Ronald L. Numbers for dieir encouragement, advice, and criticisms ofthis essay. 2 FrankM. Turner, "The Religious and the Secular inVictorian Britain," in ContestingCulturalAuthority : Essays in Victorian IntellectualLife (Cambridge University Press, 1993), 5-7; David B. Wilson, "The Historiography of Science and Religion," in GaryB. Ferngren, et al., eds., TheHistoryofScienceandReligion in the Western Tradition:An Encyclopedia (Garland Publishing, 2000), 7. 3 David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers, "Beyond War and Peace: A Reappraisal of the Encounter between Christianity and Science," Church History 55 (1986): 352-53. 4 See, for example, David Bloor, KnowledgeandSocial Imagery, 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 1991); and Martin Rudwick, "Senses ofthe Natural World and Senses ofGod: Another Look at the Historical Relation ofScience and Religion," in A. R. Peacocke, ed., The Sciences and Theology in the Twentieth Century (University of Notre Dame Press, 1981), 241-261. 5 Lindberg's contributions include The Beginnings ofWestern Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, andInstitutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450 (University of Chicago Press, 1992); "Early Christian Attitudes Toward , Nature" and "Medieval Science and Religion," in History ofScienceandReligion in the Western Tradition , 243-47, 259-267; "Medieval Science and Its Religious Context," Osiris, n. s., 10 (1995): 61-79; "Science and the Early Church," in God and Nature, 19-48; and "Science and the Early Church," Isis 74 (1983): 509-530. 6 Edward Grant, God and Reason in the MiddleAges (Cambridge UniversityPress, 2001), 7-16, passim. 7 John L. Heilbron, The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories (Harvard University Press, 1999), 3. " Andrew Cunningham, "Howthe Principia GotIts Name: Or, TakingNatural Philosophy Seriously," History ofScience 29 (1991): 377-392; and Andrew Cunningham, "Getting the Game Right: Some PlainWords on the Identityand Invention ofScience ," Studies in History and Philosophy ofScience 19 (1988): 365-389. ' Peter Harrison, The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise ofNatural Science (Cambridge University Press, 1998). '"EdwardJ. Larson and LarryWitham, "Scientists Are Still Keeping the Faith," Nature 386 (1997): 435-36. 1'StephenJayGould, RocksofAges: ScienceandReligion in the Fullness ofLife (Ballantine Publishing Group, 1999), 50-51. A DISPATCH FROM EUROPE Current Work on the History of Science and Religion William R. Shea and Donald A. Yerxa A rich historiographical literature has all but demolished the notion diat science and religion, particularly Christianity, are implacable foes. The warfare or conflict model ofscience versus religion was shaped by forces diat were potent in die Victorian intellectual world, butare oddlyout oftouch widi historical evidence. Some decades ago, die workofRobertMerton, Reijer Hooykaas, and StanleyJaki—to name but a few—indicated diatfar from impeding science, Christianity had in fact helped to encourage die developmentofscience "byestablishing diat nature behaves in regular and orderly fashion ." As die field ofdie history ofscience has matured, the work of these historians has come to be qualified, butitis nonedieless die case diat die warfare or conflict master narrative is in full retreat. Study after study has demonstrated the inadequacyofdus approach for explaining die interaction between science and religion in the past. In place ofdie military metaphor, historians ofthe engagement ofscience and religion have adopted an approach diatcould be called rich complexity. Space does not permit anydiing like a state of die field assessment [seeJon Roberts' essayin this issue ofHistorically Speaking], but a very brief look at die work ofone group ofhistorians will provide at least a glimpse ofcurrent scholarship in die field. One of the more important historians exploringdie historical interactions between science and religion isJohn Hedley Brooke, die Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and fellow of Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. His Science andReligion...

The English protoindustrial family: old and new perspectives

English research on protoindustrial communities in general and the protoindustrial family in particular has fallen somewhat behind that in many continental countries. Constrained by inadequate sources and a historiographical literature that has constantly placed the small and simple nuclear unit at the heart of English residential arrangements, English historians have often seen the protoindustrial family as little different in form and function from those to be observed in rural areas or market towns. This article uses sources generated by the English poor law to offer different perspectives. Focusing on Lancashire, as the protoindustrial phase of its development began to truly break down in the early 19th century, the article suggests that the English protoindustrial family was volatile in form and size and that the nature of underlying protoindustrial demography and the communal welfare system provided a powerful impetus to a process that saw the constant redistribution of kin between related households. It concludes that in Lancashire the expectation among protoindustrial families must have been volatility and that complex families rather than simple nuclear families have long held the English imagination.

Das wissenschaftliche Programm von Johann Friedrich Meckel d. J. (1781–1833) und seine Bedeutung für die Entwicklung der Wissenschaft vom Leben

Although Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger was one of the most famous anatomists, his research work has been severely neglected in the recent historiographical literature on the German morphology. The goal of our study is to approach a general characterization of his research program. Our analysis reveals that Meckel introduced the Cuvierian empiricism in Germany, but he also considered the "Abstraktion" as a main component of the scientific knowledge. According to his epistemology on nascent organisms and transmutable species, both, variability and relatedness of the organic forms are important to the same degree. Meckel explicitly adopted the Jean-Baptiste de Lamarcks (1744-1829) evolutionary theories. Even though in Meckel's discourse about diversity the Cuvierian notion of "functional adaptation" was preserved, the main goal of his research program was to demonstrate empirically the "Allgemeinheit des Bildungstypus". For this purpose, he considered the entire variety of the animal kingdom: normal as well as abnormal organisms, adult specimens and above all embryos. Moreover, he believed that the abnormal development is due to the same laws as the normal development. He applied parallelisms to a new domain, the study of malformation. With Meckel's researches on teratology, a new era in the analyses of the anomalies was opened. They became an integral part of the natural diversity and thus a highly exploited subject of biomedical researches. Meckel's empirical and epistemological writings on the embryology, comparative embryology, teratology, pathology, systematics and comparative anatomy have largely contributed to the foundation of the biological research.

Genealogical Notes on the ‘House of David’ and the ‘House of Zadok’

Genealogical data about the kings of Judah serve as organizational devices in the historiographical literature of the Hebrew Bible. The most conspicuous is there presentation of the ‘House of David’ as a continuous father-to-son succession from David b. Jesse to Jehoiachin b. Jehoiakim for 18 generations (excluding Jehoiakim and Zedekiah who came to the throne irregularly due to foreign intervention, and Athaliah). D.V. Etz has shown this number of consecutive father-to-son successions to be ‘exceptional, if not unique’ (‘The Genealogical Relationships of Jehoram and Ahaziah, and of Ahaz and Hezekiah, Kings of Judah’, JSOT 71 [1996], pp. 39-53 [41]). Deepening the suspicion that something is amiss with this representation are the individual discrepancies in the data available for some of the kings, several of which Etzexamines. This article re-examines the data for these and other reigns to establish a more historically accurate genealogical sequence of kings (the ‘House of David’), and then employs that sequence as a benchmark for advancing a defensible genealogical sequence of high priests (the ‘House of Zadok’) for which the relevant data are much sparser and much more resistant to analysis.

Recent narratives on galileo and the church: or the three dogmas of the counter-reformation

this article confronts an old-new orientation in the historiographical literature on the “galileo affair.” it argues that a varied group of historians moved by different cultural forces in the last decade of the twentieth century tends to crystallize a consensus about the inevitability of the conflict between galileo and the church and its outcome in the trial of 1633. the “neo-conflictualists” — as i call them — have built their case by adhering to and developing the “three dogmas of the counter-reformation”: church authoritarianism is portrayed by them as verging towards “totalitarianism.” a preference for a literal reading of the scriptures is understood as a mode of “fundamentalism.” and mild skeptical positions in astronomy are read as expressions of “instrumentalism,” or “fictionalism.” the main thrust of the article lies in an attempt to historicize these three aspects of the catholic reform movement. finally, the lacunae in insufficiently explored historiographical landscape are delineated in order to tame the temptation to embrace the three dogmas, and to modify the radical conflictualist version of the story of galileo and the church.

Recent Narratives on Galileo and the Church: or The Three Dogmas of the Counter-Reformation

The ArgumentThis article confronts an old-new orientation in the historiographical literature on the “Galileo affair.” It argues that a varied group of historians moved by different cultural forces in the last decade of the twentieth century tends to crystallize a consensus about the inevitability of the conflict between Galileo and the Church and its outcome in the trial of 1633. The “neo-conflictualists” — as I call them — have built their case by adhering to and developing the “three dogmas of the Counter-Reformation”: Church authoritarianism is portrayed by them as verging towards “totalitarianism.” A preference for a literal reading of the Scriptures is understood as a mode of “fundamentalism.” And mild skeptical positions in astronomy are read as expressions of “instrumentalism,” or “fictionalism.” The main thrust of the article lies in an attempt to historicize these three aspects of the Catholic reform movement. Finally, the lacunae in insufficiently explored historiographical landscape are delineated in order to tame the temptation to embrace the three dogmas, and to modify the radical conflictualist version of the story of Galileo and the Church.

Mythes et archives

Henri Chambert-Loir Myths and Archives Indonesian historiography seen from Bima Bima, a small kingdom in the Lesser Sunda Islands, owes its commercial activity that flourished around the fifteenth century and its significant contacts with Javanese, Malay and Makassarese (South Sulawesi) cultures, to its geographical situation on the maritime road from Melaka to the Moluccas. After its conversion to Islam at the beginning of the seventeenth century and subsequently its relative isolation due to the seizing of control of the region by the Dutch some fifty years later (1667), Bima developed a multifarious historiographical literature aimed at asserting the history of the nation and legitimising its centralised government. The four known types of historiography (Nusantarian, Javanese, Malay, and Makassarese) did not replace each other ; on the contrary, they became accumulated and intertwined over the centuries. Bima's case shows that totally different modes of thought (conceptions of the world, of the supernatural world, and of one's relation to time and history) can coexist in the mentalities of one society. It also provides an example of the interaction of Indonesian literary traditions, which should indeed be studied not separately but as a whole.

Protomedicato y curanderismo

This brief article reviews the writings on popular healers which can be found in Spanish medical historiographical literature. Our knowledge of this topic is still clearly insufficient, and we note the possibilities that the Protomedicato could offer to increase it. Finally we review the ways in which the study of popular healing can enhance our knowledge of health care in the past.

The Reception of William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in the United States and West Germany, 1960-62

In the vast historiographical literature on the nazi period, few works have achieved as enduring a reputation or attained as unique a commercial success as William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. First published in October 1960, Shirer's epic history of the nazi dictatorship has, over the years, acquired a status unparalleled by any prior or subsequent historical work on the subject. In the thirty years since the book's initial appearance, it has sold millions of copies in the United States and millions more worldwide.' Still in print today, Shirer's work has been translated into numerous European and non-European languages and published in several special editions.2 It has even been made into a documentary film and recorded as a dramatic cantata.3 Undoubtedly the bestknown book ever published on the nazi era, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich has become more than just another work of history. A singular literary institution, it has acquired a reputation as 'the bestselling historical work ever written in modern times'.4 Certainly the most popular study ever published on the nazi period, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich was arguably the most controversial as well. Although widely acclaimed in the United States and in various European countries, Shirer's work was bitterly attacked in West Germany. Indeed, the contrast between the initial American and West German reactions to the book could not be more striking. In the US in 1960, it was an undisputed sensation, dominating the bestseller list for over a year, setting publishing records and reaping numerous honours and awards. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich coupled impressive sales with significant critical acclaim. While some dissenting voices were heard, the praise

Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel

Part 1 Scribal comments and corrections: the role of scribes in the transmission of biblical literature lexical and explicative comments pious revisions and theological addenda. Part 2 Legal exegesis: the scope and content of biblical law as a factor in the emergence of exegesis legal exegesis with verbatim, paraphrastic, or pseudo-citations in historical sources legal exegesis with covert citations in historical sources legal exegesis and explication in the Pentateuchal legal corpora. Part 3 Aggadic exegesis: preliminary considerations aggadic exegesis of legal traditions in the prophetic literature aggadic transformations of non-legal Pentateuchal traditions aggadic exegesis in historiographical literature. Part 4 Mantological exegesis: the shape and nature of mantological material as factors for exegesis the mantological exegesis of dreams, visions, and omens the mantological exegesis of oracles generic transformations. Epilogue.

The Diary in Islamic Historiography: Some Notes

In the Western world, the earliest extant diary is the anonymous French Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris de 1405 a 1449.1 The earliest extant diary in English is dated 1442.2 No previous diaries are known to exist. It is generally believed that diaries, the product of a heightened sense of individualism and self-awareness, had to wait for the Renaissance, after the close of the Middle Ages. The individualism of the Renaissance, in contrast to the communalism of the Middle Ages, is said to have been needed in order to produce the personal diary, as differentiated from the keeping of daily public records.3 In striking contrast to the West, Islam developed the diary very early in its history, earlier than has heretofore been known. And there is reason to believe that it antedates and is related to, three genres of historiographical literature: the annalistic, the biographical, and the combination of both in two separate sections under the same year. The following pages will therefore treat the diary and its relation to these other forms of historiography.

La Révolution Française et la « Féodalité » : bilan du thème de l'« abolition » dans l'historiographie française (1815-1914).

This article wants to throw a light on the history of the theme of abolition in french historiography. Starting from an analysis of feudalism as an objet of revolutionary legislation, through a close study of contemporary texts, it aims especially in its central part at pointing out what means feudalism in historiographical literature about Revolution : pro or counter-revolutionary, scholarly or ideological, between 1815 and 1914. Finally, a conclusion attempts to synthétise theoretical heritage of one century of revolutionary historiography, and its place in actual controverse.

ARCHBISHOP STEPINAC, THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA AND WESTERN ALLIES

There are various doubts and ambiguities regarding the dispatch of the memorandum by the Government of the Independent State of Croatia (ISC) to the Western Allies asking for military intervention in early May 1945, giving rise to different interpretations in historiography. These varying interpretations are related to the circumstances of the dispatch of the memorandum, its text, the actions of prominent representatives of the Ustasha government, relations between the new Yugoslav authorities and Western allies, especially the British and the role of Archbishop Stepinac and the Holy See in the ISC. In order to understand the memorandum, it is necessary to consider the most important political and military circumstances at the end of World War II in Yugoslavia, especially the politics of the new Yugoslavia and the Western powers, primarily the British. The representatives of the Holy See in the ISC and the Archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac, played an important role in efforts to preserve the Ustasha state. This paper was written based on unpublished and published archival sources and relevant historiographical literature.

The Relaciones Geográficas of the Spanish Indies, 1577-1586

THE Relaciones Geogrdficas compiled on order of Philip II have long been recognized by historians as a major group of sources on sixteenth-century Spanish Indies. Surprisingly little, however, is found in the historiographical literature about this body of materials. They are replies by local officials in Middle and South America and apparently the Philippines to a standard questionnaire developed by imperial bureaucrats in Madrid, making 50 broad queries applicable alike to Spanish, Indian, and maritime communities in the overseas realms. Designed to elicit basic information about diverse regions, the questionnaire, a Memoria, was accompanied by printed instructions specifying in detail how alcaldes mayores, corregidores, and others assigned to answer it were to do so. The stipulated procedures required a map of the area as well as the detailed textual report. Hence, in addition to a documentary corpus on the American and Philippine dominions in the years 15781585, there is a lesser but quite significant cartographic and pictorial body of material for the same period. It complements and often extends the written statements. Some indication of the value of the maps may be gleaned from the fact that Alfonso Caso, one of Mexico's major archeologists, was able to begin unravelling the history of the Mixteca region of southern Mexico through intensive study of native genealogies included on the RG [The abbreviation we shall use hereafter for Relaciones Geogrdficas] Pintura of Teozacualco. He calls this map the Rosetta Stone of Mixteca studies. Since 1949 he and others have been able to show conclusively that related native pictorial documents carry detailed Indian histories from about fifth century A.D. to Spanish conquest in the early sixteenth century.' Apart from the useful data