Mid-twentieth Century Research Articles

Decadal Thermal Variability of the Upper Southern Ocean: Zonal Asymmetry

Abstract As the major sink of anthropogenic heat, the Southern Ocean has shown quasi-symmetric, deep-reaching warming since the mid-twentieth century. In comparison, the shorter-term heat storage pattern of the Southern Ocean is more complex and has notable impacts on regional climate and marine ecosystems. By analyzing observational datasets and climate model simulations, this study reveals that the Southern Ocean exhibits prominent decadal (>8 years) variability extending to ∼700-m depth and is characterized by out-of-phase changes in the Pacific and Atlantic–Indian Ocean sectors. Changes in the Pacific sector are larger in magnitude than those in the Atlantic–Indian Ocean sectors and dominate the total heat storage of the Southern Ocean on decadal time scales. Instead of heat uptake through surface heat fluxes, these asymmetric variations arise primarily from wind-driven heat redistribution. Pacemaker and preindustrial simulations of the Community Earth System Model version 1 (CESM1) suggest that these variations in Southern Ocean winds arise primarily from natural variability of the tropical Pacific, as represented by the interdecadal Pacific oscillation (IPO). Through atmospheric teleconnection, the positive phase of the IPO gives rise to higher-than-normal sea level pressure and anticyclonic wind anomalies in the 50°–70°S band of the Pacific sector. These winds lead to warming of 0–700 m by driving the convergence of warm water. The opposite processes, involving cyclonic winds and upper-layer divergence, occur in the Atlantic–Indian Ocean sector. These findings aid our understanding of the time-varying heat storage of the Southern Ocean and provide useful implications on initialized decadal climate prediction.

How lowrider custom cars went global without being main-street hot rods in the meantime

In the Southwestern United States, during the mid-twentieth century, Mexican Americans introduced a genre of custom cars known as lowriders. They were unique compared to other American custom cars, such as hot rods and other fast cars on American main streets; lowriders rode low and slow and only inches from the ground. In fact, lowriders became central to Chicano culture and to the lives of car owners and their families. The car owner and the rest of the family also drew part of their self-identity not only from the car itself, but also in the act of driving – or lowriding as it is known. The story herewith tells how lowriders, lowriding and car clubs emerged from the heart of Chicano culture in ways that established and supported community building, expanding eventually to worldwide popularity.

Some Notable Chinese in Dublin in the Mid-Twentieth Century

Some Notable Chinese in Dublin in the Mid-Twentieth Century

The right time: women, medicine and maternal age in 1980s Aotearoa New Zealand

In the late twentieth century, increasing numbers of women in wealthy nations waited until they were aged in their 30s to give birth and become parents. This article examines responses...

Editor’s Introduction

After tracing the history of the term “spirituality” and the discipline of spirituality up to the mid-twentieth century, this article describes the contemporary understanding of spirituality as lived religious experience and of the academic discipline which studies this subject. This phenomenology of the discipline grounds a position on the relationship between lived spirituality and theology on the one hand, and the academic disciplines of spirituality and theology on the other.

Caring for/with Modernist Playthings: Fidgeting with Objects in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie.

Modernist literature of the early to mid-twentieth century on both sides of the Atlantic is replete with examples of a particular kind of relationship with objects, namely, the touching, collecting, and grasping of small, often highly personal, and ostensibly quotidian objects. From John's glass collection in Woolf's "Solid Objects," Peter Walsh's stroking of his pocket-knife in Mrs. Dalloway, Miriam's frenzied absorption with flowers in Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, to Laura's fiddling of her glass menagerie in Tennessee Williams's eponymous play, fidgeting in modernist literature and drama reveals a particular tendency of not just characters' possession of things but also their possession by things. This phenomenon, I argue, allows characters to practice care as they withdraw from oppressive narratives of normalcy and (economic and biological) productivity, challenging their exclusionary and othering configurations. My paper looks at fidgeting in The Glass Menagerie as a part of this larger ideological and haptic orientation in modernist literature. The care invested by Laura in her intimate relationship with these "playthings" allows her to intercept not only male narrativizing forces and articulation of herself but also the rhetoric of productivity that circulates both within the play and in the larger economic backdrop of post-depression America. My paper attempts to foreground these objects of care in our readings of the play and modernist texts in general and, in so doing, highlight their importance as lenses of analysis that render visible alternate forms of agency and resistance. Lastly, it attempts to reframe fidgeting as an act of embodied refusal, evoking the radical potential of refusal within feminist and disability studies.

To Know Me Is to Exonerate Me: Appeals to Character in Defense of the Willowbrook Hepatitis Study.

The Willowbrook Hepatitis Study is one of the best-known examples of unethical medical research, but the research has always had defenders. One of the more intriguing defenses continually used was that critics did not know the researchers on the study and, therefore, could not assess their ethics. This essay traces the appeal to the researchers' characters across published research and archival sources from the 1960s through today. These appeals reflect the observation as old as Aristotle that one of the most potent modes of persuasion is ethos or character. The specific types of character in these appeals develop out of the paternalistic nature of clinical and research practice in the mid-twentieth century. If the individual physician is the locus of medical judgment, then the physician's character becomes a key concern for bioethics. These appeals still appear and have implications for bioethics in the present day.

Introducing Marxist Literary Criticism

Marxism as an ideology and mode of practice continues to exist in the twenty first century. It is not as orthodox and dogmatic as it used to be in the mid twentieth century. It has absorbed and reformulated many contemporary critical trends like post-Marxism and has reappeared in different theoretical garbs. Marxist literary criticism is by no means a bygone critical mode; it is very much in practice and has taken on different forms of enquiry like post-colonialism and cultural studies. Given the all-pervasive nature and presence of Marxist literary criticism in academic and research world and its usefulness in exploring hidden aspects of texts, it is significant to know its basics and recent developments in its pursuits. As long as people are still thinking dialectically, they are still disagreeing with each other, and as long as people are still disagreeing with philosophers, Marxist literary criticism will be important. Marxism, in particular, had several modifications. It is important to note that someone who really believes in and supports Marxist political theory ought to put it into reality. The present paper tries to briefly sketch its basic assumptions and its mode of enquiry. Researchers and students need to get their ideas and views about Marxist literary criticism clear so that they can apply its tenets to texts for insightful understanding.

Development Paths in a Settler Society: The Challenges of the Communist Movement in Brazil

This article addresses the challenges faced by the Communist movement in Brazil by revisiting the contradictions inherited from a colonial mode of accumulation. This was originally a class system based on slavery and composed of the metropolitan colonizer, the settler, and the colonized class. After independence in 1822, which entailed a settler rebellion against the metropolitan colonizer and the continuing exploitation of the colonized, the settlers reproduced the colonial mode of accumulation internally and oversaw the transition to a capitalist mode of production. An interclass, bourgeois–labor alliance occurred in the mid-twentieth century but was limited to the ranks of the settlers and underpinned by the myth of “racial democracy.” It included a degree of confrontation with imperialism coupled with industrial development but reproduced the colonial mode of accumulation internally. This article sheds light on the contradictions that followed, including the military regime installed in 1964 and the neo-colonial transition in the 1990s, under finance capital. In light of the bourgeoisie’s shifting alliances at the expense of the sovereign aspirations of the working people, an interclass alliance has become impossible. Only a truly popular political project is capable of liberating the nation and that is the only one the Communists should espouse.

Performer vs. Actor?: Grotowski and the Tradition of Italian Theatre

This article is devoted to the provocative proposal of a plausible relationship between Grotowski’s last season (above all his idea of the Performer) and a certain tradition of the Italian actor’s theatre. We understand this relationship and this provocation essentially in terms of micro-theatricality and intra-theatricality. By intra-theatricality we mean that method of composition which is inscribed in the tranches de vie of layered, multi-generational actors, in their ability to reuse existential sequences and to reproduce on stage the complex relational routine that the company represents as a community. Apart from the fact that the distance between the twentieth-century Performer and the traditional Italian actor has often been emphasized, there is something in the traditional profile of the Italian actor that, in the mid-twentieth century, paradoxically coincides with the mission that Grotowski assigns to the Performer. The purpose of this article is to explore these analogies.

Estimating Disenfranchisement in US Elections, 1870–1970

While it is commonly understood that the poll tax and literacy tests, among other measures, were used effectively in the South to disenfranchise Black voters from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, what is not well known is how much those disenfranchising laws mattered. Specifically, how much did the enactment of poll taxes or literacy tests affect turnout in federal and state elections? And how much did those disenfranchising provisions dampen vote totals for Republican candidates in the South? Using the staggered implementation and removal of several disenfranchising policies over a 101-year period, we answer these questions and provide some precision to our collective knowledge of the “disenfranchising era” in American electoral politics. Overall, we find that the poll tax was the main driver of disenfranchisement in Southern elections, with literacy tests and the Australian ballot providing some secondary effects. We also find that ex-felon disenfranchisement laws were considerably more important—both in reducing turnout as well as Republican vote share in Southern elections—than has been traditionally understood. Finally, we unpack the “South” and unsurprisingly find that racial politics drove these results: the disenfranchising institutions were more impactful in states with a larger Black population share. Our results show the powerful effects of disenfranchising policies on electorates and electoral outcomes. We discuss these results in both their historical context as well as with a mind to the continuing use of disenfranchising provisions in law today.

Actinomycetes are a natural resource for sustainable pest control and safeguarding agriculture.

Actinomycetes, a diverse group of bacteria with filamentous growth characteristics, have long captivated researchers and biochemists for their prolific production of secondary metabolites. Among the myriad roles played by actinomycete secondary metabolites, their historical significance in the field of biocontrol stands out prominently. The fascinating journey begins with the discovery of antibiotics, where renowned compounds like streptomycin, tetracycline, and erythromycin revolutionized medicine and agriculture. The history of biocontrol traces its roots back to the early twentieth century, when scientists recognized the potential of naturally occurring agents to combat pests and diseases. The emergence of synthetic pesticides in the mid-twentieth century temporarily overshadowed interest in biocontrol. However, with growing environmental concerns and the realization of the negative ecological impacts of chemical pesticides, the pendulum swung back towards exploring sustainable alternatives. Beyond their historical role as antibiotics, actinomycete-produced secondary metabolites encompass a rich repertoire with biopesticide potential. The classification of these compounds based on chemical structure and mode of action is highlighted, demonstrating their versatility against both plant pathogens and insect pests. Additionally, this review provides in-depth insights into how endophytic actinomycete strains play a pivotal role in biocontrol strategies. Case studies elucidate their effectiveness in inhibiting Spodoptera spp. and nematodes through the production of bioactive compounds. By unraveling the multifunctional roles of endophytic actinomycetes, this review contributes compelling narrative knowledge to the field of sustainable agriculture, emphasizing the potential of these microbial allies in crafting effective, environmentally friendly biocontrol strategies for combating agricultural pests.

Teaching Medical Procedural Skills for Performance.

Procedures are a core element of medical professional practice. Today's training approach was formulated in the mid-twentieth century based on a computer analogue of the brain. Despite minor modifications, the system has remained relatively unchanged for the past 70 years. It delivers competence. However, competence is not reliable performance. The inability to adapt to the variety of patients and variations in the performance environments, such as the operating room, results in patient morbidity and mortality. There is a need for changes in the development and training of medical procedural skills based on current theories of skill acquisition, movement theory, and motor control. Achieving optimal performance necessitates the ability to adapt through training in diverse patient and performance environments rather than merely imitating prescribed movements. We propose a novel model of training, the Constraints-Led Approach, which allows for robust training by altering the factors affecting skill acquisition and lifelong learning.

Comics and the culture of free speech: the case of Neil Gaiman

ABSTRACT Comics have been especially vulnerable to censorship. A history of repression has been well documented in the scholarship and is part of fan lore and culture – so much so, in fact, that the topic risks becoming calcified. This paper argues for a broader examination of free speech and comics, the better to understand how the creation and circulation of texts shapes the medium. Here, Neil Gaiman serves as a valuable case study, a creator who not only advocates for free speech but whose intellectual formation depended upon it. Attending to the liberalising forces of mid-Twentieth Century, the paper illustrates how the availability of texts was essential to the formation of Gaiman’s distinct comics aesthetic. Moreover, as Gaiman’s case suggests, comics depends on free speech not only to protect creators, but to guarantee access to the materials out of which traditions can be built.

Empty old graves of the Korean War Hill Fight

The Hill Fight of the Korean War constitutes an important chapter of the formative military conflict of the mid-twentieth century where the South Korean and other UN forces confronted the Chinese and North Korean forces. Currently, it has become a vital site of contested memory, especially in relation to the growing contest of power between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Describing South Korea’s recent initiative of missing in action (MIA)/killed in action (KIA) accounting activities on these old battlegrounds since 2000, this article looks at how public actions concerning the remains of war are intertwined with changing geopolitical conditions. This will be followed by a reflection on the limits of the prevailing art and technology of war-remains accounting.

Metaverse Management as Urban Planning: Lessons from Paradise (Nevada)

Metaverse architects face challenges akin to urban planners developing a new city: multiple stakeholders must coordinate on technical standards for interoperability and establish social consensus around specific choices. The article presents an analogy between the metaverse and the Las Vegas Strip in the unincorporated town of Paradise, NV, which arose in the mid-twentieth century as a focal destination for immersive entertainment delivered by eclectic interconnected resorts. It integrates this case study of the Las Vegas Strip with theories of technology management to derive practical insights for building the metaverse: focusing social momentum around a new destination and governing cooperation among de facto competitors.

Drift and Modernity: On Mid-Twentieth Century Japanese Intellectual Discourses

ABSTRACT This article explores the subject of drifting (hyōryū) at sea and its relationship with modernity in mid-twentieth century Japanese intellectual discourse. During this period, castaway stories and the figure of the castaway or drifter (hyōryūsha) drew the attention of key Japanese intellectuals as an important subject in the formation of the modern world and society. This article focuses on the discourses of three radical and progressive Japanese intellectuals influential in the mid-twentieth century, namely Fukumoto Kazuo (1894–1983), Tsurumi Shunsuke (1922–2015), and Hanada Kiyoteru (1909–1974), whose works engage extensively with the subject of those adrift at sea. While paying attention to the different methodological perspectives of the three intellectuals, this article argues that their discussions of the drift addressed a shared interest in a re-examination of modernity. By addressing the ways in which the sinuous passage of the drift inspired a critical examination of modernity, this article helps expand the discussion of modernity in Japanese intellectual history.

Instilling liveliness: archives of neo-avant-garde art as sites of activation

Artists’ archives, typically a legacy trove rather than a site for public engagement, are not expected to encompass art. However, since the mid-twentieth century, factors like the ‘dematerialisation of art’, defiance against conventional art categorisations, and the prioritisation of the creative process over its outcomes, have all blurred the lines between artworks and their documentation. Consequently, a significant portion of art produced during the 1960s and 1970s still resides in archives, distributed in art objects and documents. By examining the archives of Ecart, an artistic collective that operated within the broader Fluxus network in 1970s Switzerland, this study proposes activation as an alternative strategy for caring for and securing the continuation of such art, which is often found scattered across various archival holdings. Ultimately, the research suggests activation as a way of expanding conservation beyond the exclusive domain of trained conservators, transforming it into a collective responsibility shared by diverse archive stakeholders.

Rallying Europe: young women and men searching for a life and a future

ABSTRACT The turmoil of the mid-twentieth century saw young people mobilized for action across Europe in an unprecedented manner. Concurrently, against the backdrop of the struggle between democratic and authoritarian projects, war and fragile peace, young people increasingly became a target of state legislation, (mass) organizations and other institutions. From the end of the First World War to the aftermath of the Second World War, Europe witnessed fundamental changes in the social regimes that determined societal power distribution. This special issue approaches the first half of the twentieth century through the lens of age and gender as interdependent categories of analysis. In doing so, the authors reveal how adult perceptions of youth and gender framed young men and women’s lives, as well as their roles in society. Vice versa, the authors explore how these perceptions collided with youth agency, probing the specific age – and gender-related dynamics of empowerment and organization. By zooming in on the concrete young actors and the institutional settings that limited their scope of action, processes of wayward appropriations will be contrasted with institutionalized attempts to control and lead ‘the young’. As such, the authors contribute to a global academic discussion on age, gender, the lifecycle and intersectionality.

«Философия беспорядка»: рецепция работ Н.А. Бердяева в арабской печати середины ХХ в.

The article is devoted to the Arabic reception of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev works in the mid-twentieth century. The author demonstrates the influence of Berdyaev’s theories on a number of Arab intellectuals (e.g. ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī (1917–2002), ʻAbbās Maḥmūd al-ʻAqqād (1889–1964) and Anṭūn Saʻādah (1904–1949)), and also reveals the influence of the work “Slavery and Freedom” on the political press of the 1940s. The popularity of Berdyaev’s existentialism in the intellectual circles of Lebanon and Egypt is explained as a natural consequence of its manifestative nature and terminological simplicity. The study is preceded by a brief summary of the translations of Berdyaev’s works into Arabic, completed in 1960–2019.