Imperial Role Research Articles

Night Journeys: The Power of Dreams in Transatlantic Quaker Culture (review)

Night Journeys: The Power of Dreams in Transatlantic Quaker Culture. By Carla Gerona. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004. Pp. x, 290. Cloth, $35.00.)There is something deeply private about dreams, and while they have been used for years by psychologists, anthropologists, and literary scholars map the mystic terrains of mind and culture, have remained peculiarly passive, elusive, and resistant historical analysis. a fascinating new book, Carla Gerona seeks rectify this situation, inverting the usual approach dream analysis by examining the social and political dimensions of early modern night journeys and their importance in actively shaping the culture of American Quakerism. Gerona's chief insight is this: are not only models of culture, they are models for it. Rather than understanding as simple (or complex) reflections of internal psychological states, she convincingly demonstrates that in Quakerism, as least, were a collective endeavor (12).Building upon the insights of Phyllis Mack, Mechal Sobel, and Susan Juster, Gerona offers a trenchant analysis of the evolution of Quaker from revolutionary England postrevolutionary America, illuminating the dynamic tension between the implications of direct revelation and the social demands of group membership-or less subtly, between individual agency and social control. The Society of Friends, she notes (in familiar fashion), emerged from a revolutionary milieu in which a belief in the prophetic potential of was ubiquitous, and Friends exploited this potential its fullest, leveling a critique against the state and established church. More than any of their sectarian peers, Quakers developed a uniquely intense practice of recording and circulating their prophetic within their meetings and beyond, each minister sharing in the discussion and interpretation, each dreamer and each auditor imparting his or her own shades of meaning, dialectically, collectively shaping a common Quaker identity in the process.Favoring the historical Weber over the ahistorical Freud, Gerona demonstrates that despite the egalitarian ethos of early Quakerism, not all interpreters were created equal. Following the Restoration, weighty Friends pioneered ways of doing dreamwork that controlled the sect's most radical elements, shifting the interpretive focus of dreaming from church and state onto individuals and the Society (50). Particularly among women, became moralistic, increasingly concerned the regulation of behavior and self (110). Particularly in America, ministers seized control of dreams, encouraging those that instilled a sense of internal restraint and discipline in a widely scattered flock.It is here, when examining the American experience, that Gerona's book is simultaneously at its most provocative and most in need of greater nuance. Her otherwise persuasive narrative is at times held back by a suite of terms that defy easy characterization-empire, radicalism, and privacy among them. America, she argues, became maps for an imaginary (and sometimes tangible) New World, enabling Quakers to structure experiences diverse peoples, especially Native Americans and Africans and develop the cultural characteristics now regarded as peculiar Friends. In short, she argues, Quakers turned dreams into mental maps that guided their expansionist movements, sometimes literally, enabling them deal creatively the new multicultural world into which they had entered, and put a unique stamp on British imperialism (71-72, 129).Yet the unique imperial role Gerona claims for Quakers requires additional attention. The assertion that Quakers were complicit in imperial expansion, pressing forward, as she writes, with much blood and at the expense of indigenous peoples, Africans, and less fortunate Europeans, seems both too obvious and too simple, and Gerona never adequately plumbs what she admits is an ambiguous relationship between Quakers and the state (5, 82). …

Beyond imperialism: the new internationalism

Daedalus Spring 2005 Much has been said about the United States having become, or having to become, an empire. To provide the chaotic world, especially in the wake of the Cold War, with some semblance of law and order, it has been asserted, the international community needs a new world order, a global empire, a superpower that can speak on behalf of all countries and all peoples, a power willing to use its military and economic resources to protect all against the forces of violence and anarchy. There is only one nation that can ful1⁄2ll the task: the United States. In the twenty-1⁄2rst century, therefore, humankind may be forced to choose between continued disorder and imperial governance instituted by the United States. So one side of the argument goes. But others dispute this contention, insisting that for practical or moral reasons the United States should never take on an imperial role. A historian can only contribute to this debate by historicizing it–that is, by noting what empires and imperialism have meant in the past, and by examining what these might mean in today’s world. This essay seeks to put empires and imperialism in the context of modern world affairs and to discuss how they contributed, or failed to contribute, to stabilizing international order.

Interpersonal Expectations as the Building Blocks of Social Cognition: An Interdependence Theory Perspective

In this paper I use interdependence theory as an analytic framework for depicting the logically interconnected network of expectations that determines social interaction. The framework focuses on expectations about a partner’s goals (B) relevant to particular interdependence situations (S), and suggests that expectations about these two elements define the social situation that activates a person’s own goals (A). Together, these elements determine interaction behavior (I). This SABI framework is complementary to Mischel and Shoda’s (1995) CAPS theory of personality in its logic. It depicts a person’s interpersonal dispositions as having profiles or signatures dependent on both the expected features of situations and the expected dispositions of partners. A taxonomic theory for classifying both situations and the functionally relevant goals of interaction partners is outlined. Research on attachment theory and trust is used to illustrate the model. Finally, I suggest that people’s expectations about partners’ prosocial motivations—their perceived responsiveness toward the self—play an imperial role in social cognition, and, further, that complex SABI models can be seen as detailing a set of security operations that serve as a program for social action. SABI models detail the set of mechanisms that constitute the basic survival kit of interpersonal relations.

A History of Addis Ababa from Its Foundation in 1886 to 1910

This thesis traces aspects of the political, economic and religious history of Addis Ababa from 1886 to 1910. It is based largely on documentary material, both Ethiopian and European, but also depends on oral information. As a city it was unique in Africa because of the absence of an imposed European direction of its development and as a result it grew ad hoc, influenced by both Ethiopian and foreign concepts of an urban community. From the beginnings Emperor Menilek completely dominated the political and administrative machinery of the capital, but during his illnesses many of his responsibilities were, perforce, delegated to his closest associates who exercised their powers largely through the organisation of the Imperial Palace. The bureaucracy became increasingly civilian in its personnel, rather than military, especially after the Battle of Adwa. Furthermore, since Addis Ababa was also the capital of the empire, the city and its administrators played not only a local but also an imperial role. The economic influence of the capital was even more pronounced, where again the Emperor was more important than any other individual in the land and under his watchful eye foreigners dominated the import and export trade, while Christians wrested the overall control of trade in the Empire from the Muslims. Yet evangelically, the church was rarely very energetic in the capital although its influence was pervasive. While many historians have seen Menilek's reign as a period of significant innovation and modernisation, this thesis regards that as an exaggerated claim. For, when closely examined, the modernisation of even the capital was never very impressive, although it was the acknowledged centre of foreign influence. Nonetheless, the capital did show itself to be the main point for the diffusion of the few modernisations that were introduced into the country from the 1880s to 1910.

Homeland Bavaria: For Whom?

My experience of Germany is very limited, based primarily on an invitation I received in 1991 to participate-along with several artists from the United States and Europe-in creating site-specific installations that related to the history of the Konigsplatz in Munich. I'd like to share this project with you, but let me position it in the context of many years that I've spent thinking about the relationship of representation to power, particularly what kinds of images make their way into public spaces. I want to contextualize myself as one of many contemporary cultural workers who have sought to make visible-or more central-certain marginalized or forgotten images and histories, certain covert ideologies. The curator who invited me to participate in the Konigsplatz project, Werner Fenz, was Austrian, and he had organized a significant public art project in Graz, Austria, in 1988, called Bezugspunkte (Points of Reference), which marked the 50th anniversary of the Nazi invasion there. Artists such as Hans Haacke, a German who has spent most of his adult life in the US, and Beate Passow, from Munich, were among many who marked the relationship of contemporary sites to the Nazi occupation. Haacke recreated the Triumphal Column which the Nazis had installed in Bismarckplatz in 1938; Passow raised the issue of complicity between National Socialism and the Catholic Church by installing photographs and an audiotape at the Bishop's Palace, underlining the silence of Pope Pius XII in contrast to the outspokenness of Thomas Mann. The Konigsplatz in Munich had a longer history: King Ludwig I of Bavaria in the early nineteenth century had commissioned the construction of two great museums, the Antikensammlungen (Museum of Classical Antiquities) and the Glyptothek, which housed his collection of classical sculpture. The Konigsplatz became an important ceremonial site as well. In 1895, for example, the Antikensammlungen was festooned for a celebration of Bismarck's birthday. During the Third Reich, two identical temples of honor were erected to the so-called Nazi martyrs of 1923 at the east side of the square, while the plaza was paved and appropriated for rallies and parades. In the 1980s the grassy areas were restored as part of an ongoing de-Nazification process. I had read about this history before arriving in Munich; but among the things that struck me visually when I first saw the Konigsplatz in June 1991 were the niches around the periphery of the Glyptothek, filled with statues of famous men. Both mythical and historical, the male figures ranged from that of Prometheus to Renaissance artists Donatello and Michelangelo. I responded by creating an installation on the facade of the building opposite the Antikensammlungen, which included a series of simulated niches filled with female figures. Although time and money constraints meant limiting myself to only six figures, I was able to develop a focus in choosing them, thanks to the excellent guidance I received from the Frauenstudien (Women's Studies) group in Munich. The installation was titled Homeland Bavaria-for whom? and was meant to provoke thinking about the issues I mentioned earlier: what is the relationship of representation to power? who belongs-- and whose image belongs-in public space? Anchoring either end of the building facade (east and west wings) I chose two figures who represented traditionally esteemed women connected to the Konigsplatz site: the prototypical blonde Aryan of Nazi Youth League rallies; and the figure of Athena taken from the frieze over the entrance to the Glyptothek. The middle panels superimposed these icons over two additional women who referenced King Ludwig's imperial role as collector: a portrait of Helene Sedelmeyer, the shoemaker's daughter, one of many women chosen by Ludwig to be painted for his Schonheits-- galerie (Gallery of Beauties) at the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich; and the figure of Hecuba, taken from an Attic vase in the collection of the Antikensammlungen. …

Conflicting Interests: The British and Irish Suffrage Movements

This article uses a case-study of the relationship between the British suffrage organization, the Women's Social and Political Union, and its equivalent on the Irish side, the Irish Women's Franchise League, in order to illuminate some consequences of the colonial relationship between Britain and Ireland. As political power was located within the British state, and the British feminist movement enjoyed superior resources, the Irish movement was at a disadvantage. This was compounded by serious internal divisions within the Irish movement — a product of the dispute over Ireland's constitutional future — which prevented the Franchise League, sympathetic to the nationalist demand for independence — from establishing a strong presence in the North. The consequences of the British movement organizing in Ireland, in particular their initiation of a militant campaign in the North, are explored in some detail, using evidence provided by letters from the participants. British intervention was clearly motivated from British-inspired concerns rather than from any solidarity with the situation of women in Ireland, proving to be disastrous for the Irish, accentuating their deep-rooted divisions. The overall argument is that feminism cannot be viewed in isolation from other political considerations. This case-study isolates the repercussions of Britain's imperial role for both British and Irish movements: ostensibly with a common objective but in reality divided by their differing response to the constitutional arrangement between the two countries. For this reason, historians of Irish feminist movements must give consideration to the importance of the ‘national question’ and display a more critical attitude towards the role played by Britain in Irish affairs.

Finance and capitalism: the City's imperial role yesterday and today

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Britain, the Commonwealth and the Defence of the Middle East 1948-56

Histories of the British post-war Labour government based upon official sources have now been available for some time, and it is generally recognized that the years 1945-51 saw a major adjustment of Britain's role in the world, with the advent of the Cold War and the independence of India. Recently, attention has turned to the succeeding Conservative governments of 1951-57, and it is possible to examine how policies were continued over the longer post-war era. The Middle East was one of the most important global regions for Britain after 1945, and both the Labour and Conservative governments believed it to be vital for Britain's post-war recovery and her continuing position as a world power. Even though Western Europe became Britain's first priority for defence after 1950, the Middle East remained a theatre of great importance and concern until well after Suez in 1956. In many respects, the Middle East replaced India as the basis for Britain's imperial overseas role, and all the arguments for 'protecting the routes' to India were used for the Middle East after 1947. A great deal has now been written about the Anglo-American relationship in the immediate post-war Middle East; indeed, attaining US support for the British position in the Middle East was the main goal of British policy between 1945 and 1948, and was achieved at the 'Pentagon Talks' in Washington in October 1947. However, the Imperial and Commonwealth sides to the issue have been little considered. The Middle East featured in British Commonwealth as well as 'Grand Alliance' strategy, especially after 1948. In that year, during which the British ingloriously withdrew from their mandate in Palestine, a new approach was made by Britain to her oldest and closest allies, the white Commonwealth countries, to contribute further to the defence of the Commonwealth as a whole. In the British official mind, this meant first and foremost the Middle East and its

Soviet Imperial Role

Soviet Imperial Role

Changes in the Concept of the Emperor

This is the first example of Japanese scholarship to appear in PROD Translations. The author examines the historical role of the Emperor in Japanese political life, especially in relation to the shogunate, or military government, that ruled in his name until the 1860's. The shogunate was overthrown by members of the feudal nobility who professed a return to the traditional idea of the effective absolute authority of the Emperor, and demanded the expulsion of foreigners, yet who paradoxically destroyed the feudal order, organized the Japanese government along Western lines, and developed a new concept of the Imperial role. The historical material presented here is not new to Western scholars; its interpretation very likely is new.

British Postgraduate Medical School

H.M. THE KING formerly opened the British Postgraduate Medical School at the L.C.C. Hospital, Ducane Road, Hammersmith, on May 13. It will be recalled that the School arose out of a recommendation of a committee under the Earl of Athlone that London should have a centre for medical postgraduate work comparable with the great continental medical schools, which should be attached to the University and receive substantial Government support. By the co-operation of the Government, the University of London and the London County Council, one of the hospitals under the last-mentioned body was allocated and specially enlarged and equipped for the purpose (see NATURE, April 21, 1934, p. 600). Their Majesties were received by Sir Austen Chamberlain, chairman of the governing body of the School, who described its inception, stating that the School has three great tasks: to enable general practitioners to become familiar with the latest developments in diagnosis and treatment; to provide instruction for graduates undertaking specialist studies; and to promote research and advance medical knowledge. The King, in his reply, said that “The provision within the University of London of a new centre for clinical teaching marks a notable advance in the continuous effort of the medical profession to increase its capacity for service to mankind”. He concluded by expressing the hope that “this school, with its happy union of ward and laboratory, university and local authority, drawing students and teachers alike from all parts of our Empire, and … from regions even more widely spread … [may] play an imperial role in the winning and dissemination of medical knowledge, in the relief of suffering … and in enabling the doctors of all lands to come together in a task where all must be allies and helpers.”