History Research Articles

The Loss of Wealth: An Embera Myth on the Origin of Races and Social Inequality

This article analyzes an Embera myth from northwest Colombia that sheds light on the origin of racial disparities and the poverty experienced by indigenous communities in comparison to “whites.” Methodologically, the myth was collected using ethnographic techniques in the Jaikerazabi community, located in the municipality of Mutatá, Antioquia. The interpretation involves identifying the myth’s structure and analyzing the historical and social context that perpetuates inequalities between the Embera and other groups. According to the myth, the subordinate status of indigenous peoples stemmed from their perceived weakness and the decree of the god Karagabí, who supposedly favored the abilities of whites and mestizos. The article concludes that this myth offers insights into racial hierarchies and socio-spatial, economic, and political dynamics resulting from colonization and the country’s development model. The myth legitimizes the historical domination over the Embera people by presenting modern rationality as canonical, diminishing the value of traditionally inhabited spaces and condemning indigenous people to poverty for not conforming to the Western model. However, it also serves as an attempt to comprehend and potentially transform these inequalities. The originality of the article lies in providing insight into Embera culture through the lens of myth to provide a perspective on how indigenous people perceive the inequality they experience. This approach also recognizes myths as evolving narratives that adapt to historical changes experienced by these societies.

State Capitalism as a Crisis of Imagination. Factory Farms in the Polish People’s Republic in the 1970s


 
 
 In this article I will discuss the first, failed attempts to introduce factory farming in Poland in the 1970s and locate them within historical changes in social meat-related imaginaries. My main hypothesis is that the spread of wide-scale meat consumption in Poland was a consequence of emulating Western, capitalist patterns of food production and its accompanying discourse. I argue that the logic of capitalism that dominated food production in the 1970s dramatically changed interspecies relations and promoted meat as something unlimited, available on a daily basis.
 
 

Applying a Big History Analogy to Facilitate Information Sharing

Using analogies we generalize Tyler Volk’s combogenesis concept. A pedagogical application is a narrative that allows us to include some milestones of mathematics and physics in Big History courses. Applying the concept to books and book collections we suggest a philanthropic idea. This simple and potentially powerful application mixes low and high technology: using online bookstores, we propose the reproduction of personal book and video collections in public libraries. We give an example, at Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela, where this has already happened. We finish by proposing to use this idea to create a Big History book and video collection that could be donated to educational institutions around the world where a Big History course could be taught remotely.

Population Genetic Assessment Model Reveals Conservation Priorities for Gymnocypris Species Resources on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has nurtured a rich diversity of species because of its unique geographical and environmental conditions. Gymnocypris species (subfamily Schizopygopsinae) are primitive fishes that live in the special environment of the plateau, and their evolution and distribution are inseparable from the historical changes of the QTP. Recently, the resources of Gymnocypris species have been decreasing due to habit deterioration and the intensification of human activities. Therefore, the scientific conservation of the genetic resources of Gymnocypris species is urgently required. In this study, we established two models for the priority conservation assessment of germplasm resources of Gymnocypris species on the basis of the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of 674 individuals from eight Gymnocypris species populations. The results show that the Gymnocypris potanini (GPO), Gymnocypris eckloni (GE), and Gymnocypris przewalskii (GPR) populations are the most genetically diverse in terms of combined genetic diversity values and should be prioritized for conservation. In terms of genetic contribution, the GPO, GE, and GPR populations have a positive impact on maintaining the distinctiveness and diversity of the entire Gymnocypris species population and should be prioritized for conservation. However, in terms of different evolutionary clades, the Gymnocypris namensis, Gymnocypris waddellii, Gymnocypris dobula, and GE populations in clade A should be given priority for protection, the GE population in clade B should be given priority, and the GPR population in clade C should be given priority. In conclusion, the two models and assessment of conservation priorities will provide a scientific basis for the conservation of Gymnocypris species.

The Role of Martyrdom and Victimhood in the Memory of the Greek Civil War Refugees in Czechoslovakia through the Prism of ‘Refugee’ Literature

This article focusses on the narratives of collective victimhood and martyrdom in the memories of refugees from the Greek Civil War (GCW, 1946–1949) to post-1948 communist Czechoslovakia (later, the Czech Republic). It analyses literary production by refugees, that is, ego-documents, popular history books and fiction, assessing refugees’ motivations in writing their own histories. It investigates the role of collective victimhood and its effect on the diaspora's identity, its aims and its functions. It determines that the narratives of martyrdom were an early representation by GCW refugees to portray themselves as heroic partisans and anti-fascist fighters and gain the high ground on the moral side of the conflict. Such perceptions, however, have in some cases persisted among communist-oriented authors to this day. This article distinguishes them from more personal expressions of collective victimhood, allowing for a plurality of interpretations of their refugee experience as well as a greater variety of motivations for capturing it in written form for a broader audience. This study aims to show how fluid and permeable these narratives of collective victimhood have been and how fundamentally they have affected the constitution of the GCW diaspora's identity.

Remembering Chris Hani: Biography, agency, and political life today

This article is based on research carried out for the author’s PhD dissertation, which focused on the contested ways in which Martin Thembisile ‘Chris’ Hani is remembered and memorialised (in biographies, museums, exhibitions, film, and the public domain more generally), and what these invocations tell us about processes of historical production, the transitional period from apartheid to democracy, and what it means to live on in the wake of apartheid and colonialism. This article takes up some of these debates in an abridged form, focusing on processes of biographical production, the individual and experience, and what can be seen as a tension between romantic and tragic modes of narrative emplotment. Throughout Longford attempts to problematise individualist ideas about freedom, modernity, and agency, and offers alternative routes through which to understand historical change, political struggle, and subjectivity, as well as biographical and historical production as a conflicted and contested terrain.

Using Case Forms for Expressing Temporal Relations in Modern Turkish Language

Many languages, including modern Turkish, employ lexemes with spatial meaning to express temporal relations. However, the Turkish language stands out for its use of case forms of nouns both to describe the spatial position and movement of objects and to establish the temporal reference of actions and events. These differences are systemic, suggest that native Turkish speakers perceive spatial and temporal phenomena in a unique way, and determine the historical change in their models of time perception. They challenge the belief that spatial relations prevail over temporal ones in the perception of the surrounding world by peoples with nomadic roots but highlight the necessity of considering materials from other Turkic languages. The results obtained show that facts from different linguistic levels should be involved to analyze how temporal relations are conveyed. 

Protective Effect of Prunella vulgaris L. Whole 
Plant or Spicas Water Extracts on Hyperthyroidism with Liver-yang Hyperactivity Syndrome

Background: Prunella vulgaris L. (Lamiaceae) is a perennial medicinal plant commonly used to treat thyroid dysfunction, infectious hepatitis, and mastitis in north-east Asia and Europe. In China, there has been a historical change in the medicinal use of P. vulgaris from the use of whole plants to the use of the spicas. Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the protective effects of whole plant P. vulgaris water extracts and spicas on hyperthyroidism with liver-yang hyperactivity syndrome and to preliminarily explain the mechanism of action of these water extracts. Methods: Rats were induced with aconite decoction and levothyroxine and treated with P. vulgaris whole plant and spicas water extract for 28 days at the same time. Body weight, food intake, and rectal temperature were monitored. The serum thyroid function indicators thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroid hormone-free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4), liver function index alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), oxidative damage index malondialdehyde (MDA), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were detected. Liver and thyroid tissues were taken for sectioning and observation. The liver inflammatory factors human tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected by immunohistochemistry, and the expression levels of the apoptotic proteins caspase-3 and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) were detected. Results: Both P. vulgaris whole plant and spica water extract groups exhibited markedly reduced FT3 and FT4 contents, increased the TSH content, and decreased ALT and AST activities. Furthermore, these agents improve thyroid and liver lesion tissue; reduce MDA content; increase SOD activity; reduce IL-6, TNF-α, and caspase-3 expression; and increase Bcl-2 expression. Conclusion: The whole plant and spicas water extracts of P. vulgaris have obvious protective effects on hyperthyroidism and hyperactivity in liver yang, and the protective effect of the water extract of spicas is greater than that of the whole plant water extract.

Unravelling the maternal evolutionary history of the African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus).

The African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) has lost a significant proportion of its historical range, notably in north-western Africa and South Africa. Recent studies have explored the genetic diversity and population structure of African leopards across the continent. A notable genetic observation is the presence of two divergent mitochondrial lineages, PAR-I and PAR-II. Both lineages appeared to be distributed widely, with PAR-II frequently found in southern Africa. Until now, no study has attempted to date the emergence of either lineage, assess haplotype distribution, or explore their evolutionary histories in any detail. To investigate these underappreciated questions, we compiled the largest and most geographically representative leopard data set of the mitochondrial NADH-5 gene to date. We combined samples (n = 33) collected in an altitudinal transect across the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, where two populations of leopard are known to be in genetic contact, with previously published sequences of African leopard (n = 211). We estimate that the maternal PAR-I and PAR-II lineages diverged approximately 0.7051 (0.4477-0.9632) million years ago (Ma). Through spatial and demographic analyses, we show that while PAR-I underwent a mid-Pleistocene population expansion resulting in several closely related haplotypes with little geographic structure across much of its range, PAR-II remained at constant size and may even have declined slightly in the last 0.1 Ma. The higher genetic drift experienced within PAR-II drove a greater degree of structure with little haplotype sharing and unique haplotypes in central Africa, the Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the South African Highveld. The phylogeographic structure of PAR-II, with its increasing frequency southward and its exclusive occurrence in south-eastern South Africa, suggests that this lineage may have been isolated in South Africa during the mid-Pleistocene. This hypothesis is supported by historical changes in paleoclimate that promoted intense aridification around the Limpopo Basin between 1.0-0.6 Ma, potentially reducing gene flow and promoting genetic drift. Interestingly, we ascertained that the two nuclear DNA populations identified by a previous study as East and West Mpumalanga correspond to PAR-I and PAR-II, respectively, and that they have come into secondary contact in the Lowveld region of South Africa. Our results suggest a subdivision of African leopard mtDNA into two clades, with one occurring almost exclusively in South Africa, and we identify the potential environmental drivers of this observed structure. We caution that our results are based on a single mtDNA locus, but it nevertheless provides a hypothesis that can be further tested with a dense sample of nuclear DNA data, preferably whole genomes. If our interpretation holds true, it would provide the first genetic explanation for the smaller observed size of leopards at the southernmost end of their range in Africa.

The risk of concurrent heatwaves and extreme sea levels along the global coastline is increasing

Concurrent heatwaves and extreme sea levels could pose a serious threat to coastal communities under climate change; however, the spatiotemporal characteristics and dynamic evolution of them along global coastline remain poorly understood. Here, we use reanalysis datasets and model projections to assess historical and future changes in global concurrent heatwaves and extreme sea levels. We find that 87.73% of coastlines experienced such concurrent extremes during 1979–2017. There is an average increase of 3.72 days in the occurrence during 1998–2017 compared to 1979–1998. A one-percentile increase in heatwave intensity is associated with a 2.07% increase in the likelihood of concurrent extremes. Global coastlines are projected to experience 38 days of concurrent extremes each year during 2025–2049 under the highest emission scenario. The weakening of geopotential height associated with a surface low-pressure system may serve as an important indicator for the occurrence of extreme sea levels during heatwaves.

The Role of Book Production and Libraries in Shaping Reading Attitudes from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment: The Birth of Recreational Reader

The following paper presents an exploration of the history of books and libraries in conjunction with the development of historical reading practices, focusing on the culturally rich periods spanning from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. The study combines literary theory and learning theories with a historical survey of the social and cultural milieu during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras, which influenced the reader's perception of engagement with books and reading. More specifically, the article delves into: a) the interplay between publishing output, library functions, and reader-text dynamics, b) the impact of mass information dissemination on the reading skills prevalent in each era, using specific historical periods as case studies and c) the role of literary salons and the circulation of journals during the Enlightenment era in shaping the archetype of the recreational reader, as observed in contemporary reading communities, library environments and educational settings.

Montaigne, Lukrecjusz i Nowy Świat

In this article, my aim is to interpret Michel de Montaigne’s essay On Coaches, firstly, as consistent, and secondly, as deeply marked by Lucretian ideas. I analyze three contexts in which the titular ‘coaches’ are present: luxury, war, and fear of death. Furthermore, I argue that they constitute mutually interacting ‘force fields’ that should be considered in relation to each other.Following this scheme, I reconstruct the relationship between this essay and De rerum natura on three levels: 1) a discussion involving the Lucretian idea of the finite and young world; 2) a specific repetition of Lucretius’ gesture: moral evaluation imposed on a basically neutral recognition of historical change and movement; 3) the connection of vehicles as symbols of luxury with the problem of the fear of death, or the lack of courage, as a source of moral degeneration.

The comprehensive checklist of myxomycetes of Ukraine, based on extended occurrence and reference datasets

A significant body of valuable data about the myxomycetes of Ukraine lies in a “grey zone”. This encompasses undigitised historical books and articles published in languages such as Polish, French or German, as well as proceedings from local conferences, articles featured in local scientific journals and annual reports submitted to public authorities by employees of protected areas, published in Ukrainian or Russian. Yet, due to their exclusive existence in print and often the Cyrillic alphabet, these publications remain neither findable nor accessible to a wider audience. The datasets presented here aim to summarise over 150 years of myxomycetes research in Ukraine. The majority of the data has been extracted from published literature sources spanning the years 1842 to 2023, with a minor supplement from unpublished herbarium specimens. The datasets include 5036 georeferenced occurrences, 339 taxa and 91 literature sources. Seventy-one of the used literature sources, mostly published before 2010, were uploaded to Zenodo and are available in open access.

Authoritarianism and majoritarian religious nationalism in contemporary India

AbstractThis first article in the 2024 World Affairs special issue examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is attached to official policies of the regime, creating fear and hopelessness within sections of the population. In this study, five sets of political activities of the government are evaluated. First, cultural authoritarianism became apparent with complicity toward “cow vigilantism,” slapping sedition charges against those showing political dissent, banning the history books of selected progressives, and stereotyping sections of the left and liberals as antinationals. Second, the demonetization policy was implemented without adequately following the economic protocols of the state. Third, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill indicates the thwarting of democratic and federalist ideas. Fourth, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam demonstrate the communal‐fascist worldview of the regime in profiling population groups. Finally, the sloppy handling of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the new Information Technology rules show the government's callous approach toward science and privacy. By analyzing such political activities, the article points out that majoritarian religious nationalism, coupled with authoritarianism, has been the ideological expression of the Modi regime, coexisting with both state surveillance and electoral democracy.

Contextualized education with the semiarid: analysis of teaching books of fundamental teaching II used in the Piamonte region of Diamantin-BA

The discourse of coexistence with the semi-arid region seeks to demystify the image of a semi-arid region represented by drought, dead animals and water scarcity. Relying on the discussions of socioeconomic, cultural, socio-environmental, economic, political and educational phenomena. Thus, the textbook must be understood within the context of social dialogue, contributing to the work of the teacher (a). The objective of this work is to analyze the didactic books of Portuguese, Mathematics, History, Geography and Sciences of Elementary School II of the schools of the public network of Piedmont da Diamantina in Bahia, as well as the presence of contextualization on the Semiarid. We analyzed the books cited according to criteria and descriptors related to living with the Semiarid. All the books were considered decontextualized, although some, mainly those of geography and those of science, approached some aspects related to Semiarid. The textbooks of elementary school II used in the public network in the Piedmont region of Diamantina / BA, do not present contextualization with the Semiarid.

Study on the Influence of Land Use Change on Carbon Emissions Using System Modeling under the Framework of Dual Carbon Goals

At the crucial period of addressing climate change, especially to the carbonization of land use change, it is vital that relevant actions are taken to enable two ambitious dual-carbon goals, namely, ensuring that carbon emissions peak before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060. This research investigates the impacts of land use changes on carbon emissions using a novel approach that integrates Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) with Geographic Information System (GIS). This approach is innovative due to its high quality three-dimensional representation to quantified exact carbon stock and forest emissions occurring due to specific land-use change. Therefore, through actual LiDAR, this research helps demarcate the pattern emitting different land-use measures, including deforestation, urban programs, agricultural differences, and forest and land changes, over historical change records and verified carbonization formulas. Similar qualitative levels between LiDAR and GIS analysis help determine the varying degrees of carbonization occurring due to enhanced deforestation, urban additions, and agricultural contributions while reporting the possible procedural carbons acquired during reforestation and other measurements. The results helped clarify that the most distinct level of land utilization shows the least level of carbon sent into the air. Therefore, the implication is that strategic land use measures and better working conditions can curb carbon indications. These signals support land-use policy and preparedness goals in a low carbon level. This study creates valuable records for the land utilization and cartograph, created through the power of LiDAR and GIS analysis.

While clearing the forests: The social-ecological memory of trees in the Anthropocene.

The Anthropocene concept raises awareness of human-induced planetary changes but is criticized for being 'too global'. We examined the social-ecological memory that emerges from people-tree relationships in South American temperate territories, Chile. We integrated dendrochronology (analysis of tree rings of 35 memorial trees; 17 species) with dendrography (participant observation complemented with semi-structured and go-along interviews with 14 interviewees; six women, eight men). We found that assemblages of people-tree relationships reflect marked historical changes in the territory, associated with the historical clearing of forests, which may be imprinted in both tree growth rings and in the social meanings and practices associated with memorial trees. In devastated territories, practices of tree care emphasize interconnectedness, multispecies collaborations, and the blurring of boundaries between humans and other-than-humans. We discuss some of the interdisciplinary and relational insights of our study, which may prove valuable for future research, political agendas, and educational programs in South America and beyond.

Sabdopalon Nayagenggong's Thesis: Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Education Studies

Abstract: This article aims to explore in depth the historical, philosophical, and educational aspects of Sabdopalon Nayagenggong's thesis. For this reason, this research is carried out through literature studies with a historiographic approach which includes heuristics, verification, interpretation, and historiography with a theoretical framework built based on thoughts in fibers, and historical books. Therefore, the research question of this study is how is Sabdopalon Nayagenggong's thesis from historical, philosophical, and religious education aspects. The findings of this study show that in the historical aspect, Sabdopalon Nayagenggong was an advisor to the last king of Majapahit Barwijaya V who was abandoned because he converted to Islam and who would restore Budi 500 years later. Jayabhaya called him Putra Betara Indra, Prabu Siliwangi called Budak Angon, Ranggawarsito called Satria Pinandhita Sinisihan Wahyu, among Balinese people known as Dang Hyang Nirartha/Mpu Dwijenndra Pedanda Sakti Wawu Rawuh/Tuan Semeru, in hinterland described as Semar; In the philosophical thesis, Sabdapalon (Semar) teaches Javanese concepts (kejawen), with its form or manifestation as 'among' kings / Javanese people as the conscience of every human being who comes from Allah / khalifatullah. In the thesis of religious education, it can be said that Sabdapalon-Nayagenggong has the characteristics of God, which is described as a divine reality with an abstract nature.

Changes in Digital Collections and Their Metadata: A Longitudinal Study of UIUC Digital Library

Discussions surrounding digital libraries and their metadata have become less robust than before, given that creating and hosting digital collections have become the norm for most cultural heritage institutions over the last 20 years. Consequently, there are fewer discussions of how the characteristics of digital collections and their metadata have changed over time. This article showcases the evolution of digital collections and their metadata at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Library in the last 20 years. It discusses the growth of its collections and their characteristics, examines historical changes in the use of metadata elements, and explores responses to the changing nature of digitized and born-digital materials. Based on a large-scale data analysis of the digital collections and their metadata housed in UIUC Digital Library, the paper also examines the challenges and opportunities of the curation and management of digital collections and digital libraries in the future.

Observing the dynamics of urban growth of Al-Baha City using GIS (2006–2021)

This study observes and records land cover changes in Al-Baha to track urban growth. The study develops a schematic vision of urban mass's current and future shape and distribution and its growth to achieve sustainable urban development, reduce service and social differences between city areas, and integrate urban and rural areas. The study uses inductive methods to monitor urban developments, population growth, and land use through Al-Baha's structural schemes by extracting digital data from satellite imagery to survey historical land cover changes. The mapping software ArcGIS v10.8 processed these digital data and the final map compositions. Through this urban mass study, the research predicted city growth and development. Capabilities and functions must shape urban and rural-urban communities. The development must also consider the National Urban Development Strategy, the relative importance of rural-urban communities, and their expected functional role in influencing the development of small rural communities adjacent to them to reduce migration from rural areas near the city. The study highlighted changes in city land coverage. Al-Baha expanded from 1982 to 1995. Al-Baha's transformation from village to city accelerated, increasing its area from 31 km2 to 44 km2. Many villages beyond 40 were included in the decisions. From 2006–2021, the city's area grew 221%. It increased from 60 km2 to 133 km2 in an urban area, indicating false urban growth. The study stressed the importance of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS). The study recommends urban development in suitable areas because agricultural development is not feasible, especially in the northeast. Land use changes should be prevented by planning regulations because these agricultural areas are essential. Helping urban development move away from agricultural areas, especially on the eastern axis, is crucial. Create new urban centers along Al-Baha's western cliff to attract residents and relieve pressure. Limited linear expansion, especially in the northeast, and more expansive urbanization are also significant. Maps should also show when the Al-Baha region's expansionary scope changed and the urban boundaries that had to be reached by a specific time while development plans were efficiently monitored.