Micro-historical Perspective Research Articles

The Elegant Inkstones and Artful Calligraphy in Modern Korea: The Catalogue of Three Inkstones Studio (三硯齋硯譜, Samyŏnjae yŏnbo)

This study investigates The Catalogue of Three Inkstones Studio (三硯齋硯譜, <i>Samyŏnjae yŏnbo</i>), compiled by Pak Yŏngch’ŏl (朴榮喆, 1879~1939), a prominent Korean bureaucrat, businessman, and collector during the Japanese colonial period. The catalogue centers on three inkstones reputedly associated with notable Chinese and Korean scholars. Pak Yŏngch’ŏl, despite his modernist and enlightenment leanings, was deeply rooted in classical Chinese culture and used his collection to assert his cultural and intellectual identity.</br>The study examines the cultural significance of inkstones, their role in forging social ties, and the strategic utilization of the past by modern intellectuals for self-fashioning. The first inkstone is notable for its inscriptions by Dong Qichang (董其昌), Weng Fanggang (翁方綱), and Kim Chŏnghŭi (金正喜), illustrating the cultural interconnectedness between Chinese and Korean scholars. The second inkstone, crafted by the eighteenth-century scholar Chŏng Ch’ŏlcho (鄭喆祚), is explored in terms of the craftsmanship and social networking practices of the late Chosŏn era. The third inkstone features a poem by Shen Rujin (沈汝瑾) and showcases the transnational cultural exchanges between China, Korea, and Japan.</br>Pak Yŏngch’ŏl’s collection practices and the subsequent compilation of the catalogue reflect his efforts to align himself with the cultural heritage of both China and Korea, while also embracing modernization under Japanese influence. The catalogue not only serves as a historical compendium but also as a reimagined past that aligns with the cultural aspirations of subsequent generations. Through a detailed analysis of the inkstones and their associated texts, the study provides a micro-historical perspective on East Asian intellectual history and material culture, revealing the intricate interplay between cultural memory, networks, and craftsmanship.

The legacy of a 20th-century cleric: a Catholic priest’s economic chronicles. Anthropological insights from written documents

This study focuses on a unique collection of personal economic records and additional documents from the 20th century, belonging to a Catholic priest from Satu Mare County, Romania. The material is exceptional, as it represents a rare collection of written documents from the Hungarian-speaking region of the 20th century, authored by a Catholic priest. These records provide an in-depth look into the life of a priest, who, despite his clerical duties, maintained a strong connection to farming, a legacy from his farmer-herdsman parents of Swabian descent. The economic records, which span from 1949 to the 1960s, offer insights into the priest's personal and economic life. They include narratives about managing a parish, engaging in farming activities, and handling personal financial transactions. These documents not only reflect his efforts to balance religious responsibilities with agricultural interests but also illuminate the socio-economic conditions of the time. The study explores the priest's economic decisions, the value he placed on different assets, and his understanding of wealth in a changing society. It also examines the broader context of peasant embourgeoisement in 20th-century Romania, highlighting how a priest and his family navigated the transition from a traditional peasant lifestyle to a more bourgeois existence. This transition is evidenced by their adoption of modern goods and technologies, changes in family dynamics, and shifts in career strategies, reflecting the complex interplay between personal, economic, and social factors during a period of significant societal change. Overall, the paper offers a micro-historical perspective on the life of this 20th-century priest, providing valuable insights into his unique experiences and the broader socio-economic transformations of the era.

Mitigating Persecution: Intermarried Families and the Significance of Social Networks during the Holocaust in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Abstract This article focuses on the wartime experience of an intermarried family in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It examines the intermarried couple Marie and Jiří Klouda, their daughters, Helena and Mariana, and their closest relatives among the Eisner and Klouda families. Using a microhistorical perspective, this study focuses on the experiences and strategies of particular individuals and their social circles to understand their responses to shifting circumstances. Although I focus on these two families, my questions pertain to the significance of non-Jewish friends and relatives for Jews during the Holocaust. In short, what difference did these social and familial bonds make to Jewish family members? The study shows that familial and social bonds had tangible outcomes in terms of facilitating important, lifesaving contacts and favors within the forced Jewish societies in the Terezín ghetto and Prague. Prewar professional, familial, and cultural networks, and the social capital they embodied, carried over into the lives of Jews forced into Terezín and into the ghettoized society in Prague. Family and friends provided significant material and emotional support for each other. This support was especially important in a family like the Eisners-Kloudas, which experienced multiple forms of victimization during the war. During the Holocaust, non-Jewish relatives and friends could not stop the processes of genocide, but they could mitigate the effects of dispossession, isolation, deprivation, and deportation.

Examining the Intersection of Cultural Identities

This essay aims to present the intersections that constitute the cultural identity of Malaysian Chinese and suggest how their migration and settlement experiences have shaped their sense of who they are and who they are becoming through personal and family histories. I utilise a methodology analogous to the microhistory framework, where the individual assumes an active role in the process of memory formation and exercises agency in the selection, alteration and transmission of memories. This perspective encourages “understanding people in light of their own experience and their reactions to that experience.”1
 Most scholarly publications on Malaysian Chinese identity use a macro-level approach, emphasising the study of social and political institutions while giving less attention to personal introspection and micro-level research. A September 17, 2022, New Straits Times article quoted Danny Wong, a Malaysian historian from Sabah, as saying that family history, tales and memoirs help people comprehend both their past and their future trajectory. Wong believes that scrutinising one’s personal history through the medium of family narratives can lead to a critical evaluation of the interconnectedness of familial, communal and national dynamics.
 My artworks, reproduced in this article, aim to visually portray these submerged and accumulated layers of intersecting identity through a microhistorical perspective. Through my art, I present the intersecting and multi-layered inner reality that has accumulated traces of lived experiences. This inner reality is distinguished by its multicultural, multi-religious, multi-lingual character and multiracial experiences that combine to influence identity formation, under the impact of constantly changing social environments. The evolution of these inner realities is conveyed using visual assemblages combining printmaking, photography and digital manipulation in order to visually represent the socio-cultural formation of a Malaysian Chinese individual. The artworks reproducedconvey the mutable nature of ethnic identity in conjunction with variables such as geographic location, degree of interaction, era, and age group.

Babatha's first marriage contract: hiding in plain sight

Babatha's archive of 35 richly informative legal documents from the period 94-132 ce contains only the contract for her second marriage, not her first. This omission invites investigation, in this article from a microhistorical perspective. Admittedly, Greek 'unwritten marriages' were known in Egypt during this period, and there is evidence for the influence of Greek practices in the Dead Sea region. Nevertheless, this article argues, first, that a written contract with the all-important dowry provisions (securing her position in the event of widowhood or divorce) accompanied her first marriage. Second, it is argued that Babatha retained this contract after her husband died. Third, it is argued that her second marriage contract is a copy of the first contract and that, with all its provisions (mutatis mutandis) replicated in the second, she discarded it. This course of events illuminates significant aspects of the lives of Babatha and her family.

Plant “Geophysics” in the 1920s – 1930s in the Context of Soviet Industrial Modernization

Introduction. The relevance of the topic is due to the importance of studying the mechanisms of industrial modernization in the 1920s – 1930s in comparison with the modern period of modernization taking place in the conditions of the information society. The experience of early Soviet industrial modernization can be useful in today’s difficult geopolitical conditions in which the next technological transition takes place. Materials and Methods. The study is based on the theory of modernization, taking into account the development of the economy, technology and the socio-cultural sphere. The formation of one of the enterprises of the optical-mechanical industry of the USSR is considered in the context of industrialization in the optical industry. The combination of macro- and micro-historical perspective of the study made it possible to study the phenomenon of industrial modernization at different levels. Results. In the development of the plant “Geophysics” in the 1920s – 1930s the processes of industrial recovery during the years of the NEP and the features of the Soviet industrialization were reflected. The dynamics of the plant’s development during the first five-year plans is impressive. In terms of technology, the plant moved to the third technological order. The plant began production of sophisticated optical instruments for defense purposes. The mechanisms of the planned economy harmoniously combined with the process of industrial modernization. Discussion and Conclusions. The features of “Stalin’s industrialization” were: a forced character; borrowing imported technologies with adaptation to domestic production; military sector priority. The problems of the first five-year plans (increased planned commitments, limited capital investment, overtime work, shortage of materials, interruptions in the supply of imported equipment, shortage of qualified personnel) were solved with the help of administrative resources, the reliance of the enterprise on internal reserves, the enthusiasm of workers and non-economic incentives, socialist competition, advanced training and a progressive bonus system of remuneration.

Mobility in an Age of Imperialism, Nation-Building, and Revolution: Kawata Masazō's Late-Nineteenth-Century Pacific World

Throughout the nineteenth century, the forces of imperialism, nationalism, and revolution were changing the world's geopolitical landscape at the same time that steamships enabled unprecedented mobility in the Pacific. This article examines Kawata Masazō's life and news reports to ask what he can tell us about how travel, foreign encounter, and intellectual exchange intersected with East Asian geopolitics just prior to the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War in the summer of 1894. Kawata's micro-historical perspective shows that the unique nexus of relationships among Japan, Korea, and China were embedded in the deeply intertwined and contradictory tensions of imperialism, nationalism, and revolution that were playing out across multiple societies in the Pacific world. His story also shows that travel and imperialism are not always, or only, mutually supporting.

The Baptism of an Indian Juggler: Event and Narrative in the Swedish Press, 1827–1852

In 1827, an Indian juggler named Mooty Madua Samme converted to Christianity in Stockholm, Sweden. This historical event got much attention in the press at the time – as did his succeeding marriage to a Swedish woman named Erica – and was celebrated as a victory for the Evangelical Lutheran faith. Later, in the 1840s, a narrative depicting the event spread via a travelogue by Xavier Marmier, which was translated and mediated through the Swedish press, and reacted to by Samme's priest; in the 1850s, Samme's name surfaced again – now in context of the contemporary freedom of religion debates in Sweden. In this article, we explore Samme's baptism (and interrelatedly, his marriage) by looking at newspaper mediations of the event and the related narratives. Seen from a microhistorical perspective, we show how Samme's conversion and religious otherness was utilised in contemporary religious and political discussions, and we argue that the event and narratives surrounding the baptism can augment our understanding of the Swedish nineteenth century religio‐cultural landscape in which he was situated.

Colonial Education Goes International: A Micro-History of Knowledge Production and Circulation in an Age of Imperial Crisis

AbstractBy focusing on the individual trajectory of Albert Charton (1893–1980), a French educationalist and civil servant who was active in West Africa and Indochina during the 1930s and 1940s, this article offers an original approach to the analysis of knowledge production and circulation in relation to the colonial world. More specifically, the study of Charton's involvement in several imperial, international, and interimperial bodies allows for a new understanding of the evolution of discussions concerning the content and aims of colonial education, including its growing importance within development paradigms. Such a micro-historical perspective also reveals the mechanisms and sometimes contrasting (political) rationales of the process of internationalisation of educational knowledge, thus providing new insights into the interconnections between imperialism and internationalism.

“Taken to German Villages and Liquidated.” The “Selbstschutz” Organization and the Bogdanovka Massacre in 1941

Abstract The killing of up to 40,000–50,000 Jews in Bogdanovka in the winter of 1941–1942 represented one of the largest murder operations carried out during the Holocaust outside of Auschwitz, Sobibor and Treblinka extermination camps. The massacre was the result of a cooperation between the German "Sonderkommando Russland" with the support of the "volksdeutscher Selbstschutz" as well as the Romanian gendarmes and their Ukrainian auxiliary forces. This article examines this massacre in three different aspects. The first part reconstructs how Transnistria was administered on a bilateral level between Nazi Germany and fascist Romania, and became a place of mass extermination. The second part of the article deals with the reconstruction of the massacre in a micro-historical perspective by using chiefly eyewitness interviews of local residents. The last part of this work, which is based on an organizational sociological approach, examines the mobilization and willingness to kill of those ethnic Germans who were recruited by the Sonderkommando Russland.

A Journey to Justice: Transnational Civil Rights and Ramnath Biswas, an Indian Globetrotter from Bengal, 1938–40

Ramnath Biswas (1894–1955) independently travelled around the world on a bicycle between 1931 and 1940. His travelogues about Africa and the US reveal Biswas to be an active supporter of the nascent transnational civil rights movement. This article connects his endeavours to achieve social justice for African, African American and Asian people with the phenomenon of ‘coloured cosmopolitanism’. Biswas’ observations—in particular, his portrayal of racial dynamics between Indians and Africans—are striking. Exploring Biswas’ narratives from a micro-historical perspective allows us to envision an alternative history of solidarity between non-white (‘oshwet’) people and to place his journey at the intersection of Indian Ocean Studies and studies of transnational civil rights activities during the inter-War period.

Agricultural Cooperatives as Social-Engineering Mechanisms: Fragments of Evidence from Two Case Studies from the Interwar Greek Macedonia

Centered on rural Greek Macedonia, this article constitutes an attempt to assess the role of agricultural cooperatives as mechanisms capable of molding a sturdy and efficient farmer. As it will be argued here, this was the intention of the Ministry of Economics (and later, Ministry of Agriculture) officials who composed the standard statute for agricultural cooperatives. By applying a micro-historical perspective, based on the archives of two agricultural cooperatives of interwar Greek Macedonia, this article provides evidence that gives cause to doubt whether the proclaimed goals were achieved.

História da Educação na biografia da transexual José Honorato Batista Neta

The article deals with the narrative of the life story of José Honorato Batista Neta, with emphasis on the institutionalized education of a transgender, poor, black, resident of the periphery, who can school to gain entry to public and free higher education, constantly tensioning inherent prejudices formal education in Brazil. The aim of the study was to understand paradigms that do not present the context of educational institutions that endorse prejudices historically instituted in transsexuals, especially the poor and black. A biographical research was developed, supported theoretically in Cultural History, with a micro-historical perspective, which used the methodology of Oral History. Situated in the history of the present, the time frame was delimited by the year José Neta began his schooling and the year he joined as a Pedagogue at Universidade Estadual do Ceará-UECE (2000-2017). It was found that José Neta was born with the male body, but soon realized that no such anatomy was identified, as well as with the behavioral patterns instituted for males. During childhood and adolescence suffered psychological and physical violence due to their sexual orientation –name calling, physical assault, rape, etc.–. The prejudice marked, in a veiled way, its educational life, however, unlike most Brazilian transsexuals, breaks with the normative paradigms conveyed by the family and school, assumes itself as a woman, empowers herself through participation in social movements during graduation and gain recognition in LGBT activism.

On "Alienated Consumption" - How a Large Company in the GDR Dealt With Alcohol Abuse

The paper investigates the treatment of alcohol abuse in the GDR, and specifically in Rostock, and was written using insights from the documentary film Abhängig [Addicted], which was filmed in 1983. This is not a film analysis. Rather, the paper functions as an impetus to examine from a micro-historical perspective the various dimensions of the way in which alcoholism was dealt with in a large GDR enterprise. From a historical perspective, the documentary is interesting in several respects and is ideally suited as both a source and an analytical tool for the study of the history of psychiatry in former East Germany. By intertwining perspectives from the history of ideas and social history, the film makes it possible to experience the tension between social ostracism, on the one hand, and acceptance of alcoholism as a disease, on the other. Moreover, it also shows attempts to establish therapies in multiprofessional teams and thus, ways out of addiction. Extensive archival material, viewed here for the first time, as well as interviews with contemporary witnesses are used as sources to supplement the film. The insight which the combined sources provide into the social space of a large, "volkseigener" [nationally owned] enterprise (the Neptune shipyard with polyclinic) permits a more nuanced insight into real socialist society and - in the broadest sense - into its specific approach towards deviant and depending on interpretation, marginal-asocial or pathological excessive alcohol consumption. In addition to highlighting different perspectives on alcoholism in the GDR, in the course of whose existence/history an expansion of the scope of medical definitions took place, the paper aims to provide impetus for comparative research and to point out where shifts in perspective may be necessary. In the long-term, the goal of such research would be to make generally valid statements about the role of psychiatry in the context of the healthcare system of the GDR.

Multilingualism in Venetian Dalmatia: studying languages and orality in written administrative documents from Split (fifteenth/sixteenth centuries)

This article addresses the linguistic situation in late medieval Venetian Dalmatia, where a predominantly Slavic-speaking population met an administration working in Latin and the Venetian variant of Italian. On the basis of Venetian archival records, mostly notarial acts and case files, and by examining the city of Split from a micro-historical perspective, two questions are addressed: the first concerns the methodological challenge of studying spoken language and orality by using written administrative documents. The interplay between written Latin, written and spoken Venetian, and spoken Slavic makes the archival records of the Venetian administration highly interesting and illustrates the complex linguistic situation the notaries had to cope with. The second question addresses the social consequences of Dalmatia’s multilingualism, as well as the ways Venice faced the language barrier to its Slavic-speaking subjects. To make communication and thus trade and rule possible, Venice established the communal office of a translator in Split only in 1472, several decades later than in other Dalmatian towns. The examples given in this article will show that there existed a tendency towards a correspondence between social status and knowledge of language. However, given the long-standing Romance-Slavic-symbiosis in Dalmatia, no clear division between Romance-speakers on the one hand, and Slavic-speakers on the other can be affirmed.

The lost half. Quantitative methods and historical studies: a critical review Michele Nani

Starting from three recent publications (a handbook, a conference proceeding, and an edited volume), this article discusses the limited use of quantitative methods among historians, especially in the Italian context, despite the widespread debate about digital history and historical "big data". After the great promises made between the 1960s and the 1980s, and the opposite trend of the following 20 years, the spread of personal computers and the great diversification and refinement of methods have allowed for direct and experimental uses of quantitative analysis, even on a small corpus of data or from a micro-historical perspective. Widespread quantitative training would strengthen historians' reflexive and interpretative skills.

‘Visca Catalunya Lliure!’ – Battles for Catalan Autonomy in the Ramblas in the Immediate Aftermath of World War One

The short period from November 1918 to January 1919 marked a very distinct episode in the history of Catalan nationalism and in the history of Barcelona. The after-war years in the Catalan metropolis became known as Pistolerismo due to the bloody struggles between workers and entrepreneurs. The first months after the armistice, however, were dominated by the confrontations of Catalan nationalists and the police as well as radical proponents of the Spanish central state in Barcelona’s main avenue, Las Ramblas. This article analyses these violent street protests for Catalan autonomy in a microhistorical perspective aiming for a better understanding of how these struggles emerged, why they reached such a radical dimension, and under which conditions they came to a sudden end in February 1919. Firstly, the socio-political developments are examined, arguing that Catalanism underwent a transformation from a cultural to a political movement at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century and that despite Spain’s neutrality, the raise of nationalisms caused by the First World War also affected Catalonia. Secondly, the importance of the Ramblas as a stage of street protest in Barcelona is highlighted. Thirdly, the logics and the routines of these violent confrontations are analysed. Finally, it is demonstrated how the 'Canadiense strike' in February 1919 immediately pushed the quest for Catalan autonomy completely into the background for several years. In general, this article contributes to both the history of Catalan nationalism as well as to the history of urban violence in contemporary Barcelona.

Constructing global missionary families: Absence, memory, and belonging before World War I

The separation of parents and children was a quite common imperial family constellation before World War I. Many children left the respective colonial or mission territories at the beginning of their seventh year. They were sent to their parents’ regions of origin in Europe to spend their childhood and youth in the households of relatives or in missionary boarding schools specially set up for them. This article examines German-speaking missionary families in the imperial context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and focuses on letter communications between parents and children as an expression of family construction at a distance. I will mainly focus on two families (Kaundinya, Nommensen) in order to examine from a micro-historical perspective, the construction of missionary families in a transimperial framework. Rooted in the pietistic milieu of German-speaking missionaries from the Basel Mission and the Rhenish Mission, these families enable us to compare the results of imperial and missionary family historiography, which has developed over the last 20 years within the British context, with empirical material from other national and imperial contexts.

A tale of two plains: migrating landscapes between Italy and Argentina 1870–1955

This article offers an analysis of the encounter between the two natural environments of the Italian Po Plain and the Argentinian Pampa Gringa through the migration of Italian rural workers. Notably, we focus on the migration micro-histories of Emiliano-Romagnoli, who moved from Italy to Argentina during Italian Great Migration Era (1870–1955). Building on oral histories gathered in Italy and Argentina between 2005 and 2007, these micro-histories show how place-based landscapes of Italianness hybridised with the local landscape of the South American plains through Italian migrants’ embodied memories, labour, and socio-environmental transformation practices. By focusing on Po Plain migrants’ memories and experiences of the lowlands of northern Italy and the Argentinian pampas, we aim to offer a micro-historical perspective on the environmental history of migration.

Emilia Pardo Bazán, una intelectual moderna, también de la Edad de Plata

El concepto de Edad de Plata requiere ser revisado para que se ajuste al proceso de transformación social femenino que se inició con la Revolución de 1868 y culminó en 1939. El uso restringido al siglo XX que se viene haciendo en el campo literario responde a esquemas y ritmos masculinos que excluyen a mujeres como Emilia Pardo Bazán. Desde una perspectiva microhistórica, observaremos cómo las estrategias de la escritora, como intelectual moderna, son testimonio de las vicisitudes que encontraron las mujeres para salir de los paradigmas tradicionales y conquistar un espacio propio entre las élites culturales y artísticas