Personal Recollections Research Articles

Apprehensive vigilance: Martin L. Davies, philosophy, and the ecological imperative of knowledge

ABSTRACT This essay discusses what I describe as the ecological imperative of knowledge underpinning the work of Martin L. Davies in light of some well-known developments in the history of European philosophy. It also offers some observations that seek to elucidate his view of intellectual life through clarifying his approach to the social and cognitive activities that define it. It ends, in tribute, with some personal recollections of him and his work prompted by his death in late 2021.

Tracing Memory, Trauma, and Childhood: The Bangladesh Liberation War in Sorayya Khan’s Noor

This article addresses the representation of childhood memory and trauma in Sorayya Khan’s novel Noor (2003) against the backdrop of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. It discusses how personal recollections of public events contribute to the collective memory of the nation-state. The exploration includes the intergenerational transmission of trauma, employing Marianne Hirsch’s concept of ‘Postmemory,’ which describes how traumatic experiences are passed down, particularly in the context of the Holocaust. This framework has been contextualized within the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and its aftermath on children, carrying the memories of war trauma forward, as illustrated in the novel through Noor and Sajida’s experiences. Through a close reading of the novel, this article aims to extricate the underlying patterns of childhood war memory and personal experiences that often get subsided in historical representations and emphasizes the pertinence of reading a representational narrative of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War even after half a century.

Manchester at 200: Student Reflections, Differing Cohorts, and Changing Times 1965–2024

In 2024, the University of Manchester is celebrating its ‘bicentenary’. Mindful of this and reflecting recent historiographical trends that have sought to give increased focused to the importance of ‘student voice’, the primary purpose of this article is to present the personal memories and recollections of four graduates of the University of Manchester’s History department over a sixty year period from 1965–2024. Individually and cumulatively, they provide snapshots of the changing nature of university and student experience from both individual and institutional perspectives, as well as first-hand evidence of how both have responded to the changing social and political environments in which they find themselves. In addition, and in order to provide context to this year’s celebrations, the article critiques aspects of the university’s institutional lineage and contrasts its present celebrations with traditional accounts of its founding as well as those of its predecessor organisations.

Personal Recollections on Jack Herring and Developments in Theory of Turbulence, Atmospheric Sciences, and Computational Fluid Dynamics

The majority of articles in this Special Issue illuminate various aspects of Jack Herring’s contributions to the theory of turbulence, atmospheric sciences, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), be it through his publications, presentations, collaborations, work with colleagues and students, or personal contacts [...]

(Invited) S. R. Narayan and the Electrochemistry Scene at the Institute of Science

The late Prof. S. R. Narayan was trained at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India. This author had the fortune of also receiving his Ph.D. degree from the same institution, albeit not quite in the area of electrochemistry but in a closely allied topic, namely, solid state chemistry. This author also did not overlap with the symposium honoree but was quite familiar with the infrastructure and faculty that existed in the department at the time Prof. Narayn graduated. The home department went by the acronym "IPC" and stood for Inorganic and Physical Chemistry. This talk will first summarize the electrochemistry division in that department and the R&D activities in progress in the 1970s and 80s. Then my talk will briefly address the areas where my own research overlapped with Prof. Narayan's research interests in the area of fuel cells. The talk will conclude with some personal recollections and reminiscences of this very fine gentleman and electrochemist.

Development and Unfolding of the Life Course Movement in the Field of Maternal and Child Health: An Oral History.

A life course perspective in maternal, child, and family health allows for integrated exploration of outcomes, incorporating multifactorial determinants of health to interrogate sources of inequity and identify opportunities for intervention. This article explores the historical development, integration, and implications of the contemporary life course perspective in the field of maternal and child health (MCH), and particularly the people and events which institutionalized the framework as central to national and local MCH practice and research over the last decades. Drawing on an oral history approach, key leaders of the life course movement in MCH were interviewed. Lived experiences and personal recollections of six interviewees were recorded and synthesized using a narrative descriptive approach to portray the social ecology of the movement's origins. We documented systematic efforts made in the first two decades of the 21st century to consciously promote life course through convening a National MCH Life Course Invitational Meeting, incorporating life course as a foundational framework for strategic planning at the Maternal Child Health Bureau, and development of tools and resources by MCH professional organizations. The integration of life course theory into the MCH field signified a major shift towards addressing protective and social factors, which aligns with the field's historical emphasis on social justice and rights-based approaches, and parallels the broader public health movement towards social determinants of health and the need to address structural racism. The ongoing relevance of the life course approach in promoting reproductive justice and addressing inequities in health underscores the historical importance of its adoption and use in the current mainstream of MCH research, policy, and practice.

The Transition of Bulgarian Military Intelligence in the Post–Cold War Era: From Warsaw Pact to NATO (1989–2004)

The reconstruction of the history of the Bulgarian military intelligence services in the first fifteen years of post–Cold War democratic transition until the accession of the country to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been rarely discussed in contemporary historiography so far. The proposed publication was based on various newly declassified archival sources, as well as on some personal recollections. The transformation of the Bulgarian military intelligence services in those years could be separated into three basic stages, in parallel with the transformation of the Armed Forces and the society as a whole.

Personal reminiscences of Steven Weinberg

My personal recollections are presented regarding my interactions with Steven Weinberg and the impact he had in my career from when I was his graduate student until the present.

Social and legal regulators. Conceptual developments by V.I. Nizhechek

The role of the Soviet scientist-activist V.I. Nizhechek in the development and establishment of social regulation concepts, and its importance in governing societal affairs, as well as functions and potential of law, and its relationship with morality as a social regulator are thoroughtly explored. V.I. Nizhechek posits that legal and social regulations share a common nature, are deeply interconnected, and exhibit numerous practical manifestations of unity. While aknowledging the independent nature of law, the scientist concludes that legal norms essentially form a component of social regulation in society. Notably, the author emphasizes moral regulation, and the interplay between legal norms and morality, while examining various social regulators such as corporate norms, ethincs, religion, and others. V.I. Nizhechek does not differential between morality ad ethics; however, he asserts that morality holds a dominant role in the system of social regulation, highlighting the so-called “proximity” of morality and law. Morever, the author draws relevant parallels that substantiate the systematic nature of social regulation. V.I. Nizhechek delves into the crucial question of the theory of law as a tool of legal regulation in historical and contemporary contexts. He considers the evolution of legal regulation in terms of broadening its scope and reinforcing its role in Soviet society, unlimately concluding that legal regulation has become more complex. The concept of the intimate connection between economic and legal methods of regulation is presented; the author asserts that there may be no contradiction between these methods of regulation since all economic methods are mediated by legal norms. The material is prefaced by the author's personal recollections of meetings and conversations with V.I. Nizhechek, as well as with scholars, colleagues, who were associated with him.

Art, pictoriality and semiotics – a reflection on Göran Sonesson’s contribution to art theory

Abstract This reflection on Göran Sonesson’s writings and theoretical engagement in art is also a survey of a set of semiotic concepts related to this area. As a semiotician Sonesson wrote about varying sub-genres like fine art, photography, film and architecture. The reflection is also a personal recollection – as a colleague, friend and participant in the Lund circle of semiotics – of ideas and discussions highlighting the relation between semiotics, art theory and artistic practice. This reflection captures a couple of notions of importance in Sonesson’s contributions to semiotic theory relating to pictoriality, art and culture, such as “secondary iconicity”, “projected Ego, Alter and Alius”, “sedimentation of impressions”, “picture subject and picture object”, etc. The reflection ends in stating the importance of the specifically Lifeworld-based semiotic contribution by Sonesson to art theory, a contribution perhaps yet to be fully appreciated, and how this contribution also corresponds with how practicing artists reach out to, but also goes beyond, the art world itself.

Antonín J. Liehm: The Life and Work of a Twentieth-Century Journalist and Public Intellectual

ABSTRACT Antonín J. Liehm (1924–2020) was a prominent Czechoslovak journalist and cultural critic, who played a significant role in the cultural liberalization during the 1960s as editor of the literary magazine Literární noviny. Following the Soviet invasion of 1968, Liehm went into exile and joined the struggle to liberate his homeland. He was a major contributor to the exile magazine Listy, established in Rome in the early 1970s by Jiří Pelikán. After some years of teaching at universities in the United States, Liehm moved to Paris where, besides teaching at a number of institutions of higher learning, he founded the cultural magazine, Lettre internationale. In 2010, I met Liehm for the first time and we remained in close contact until his death ten years later. In this article I present Liehm’s most significant achievements and my own personal recollections of him as a public intellectual.

VOICES OF RESILIENCE: REFLECTIONS OF UKRAINIAN SOCIAL WORKERS IN TIMES OF WAR

This article focuses on the challenges and adaptations faced by social workers in Ukraine in response to the full-scale Russian invasion that began in February 2022. Employing a narrative research design, the article analyzes semi-structured interviews with 12 social workers from various regions of Ukraine, conducted during February-March 2024. These interviews aimed to collect in-depth personal recollections and experiences related to the impact of the war on social work practice. From the analysis of the gathered information, three key themes were identified: (1) reactions to the onset of the full-scale invasion and actions of social workers; (2) the manifestation of resilience by social institution workers in wartime; (3) lessons and prospects. The interviews revealed that, in wartime conditions, social workers face unprecedented difficulties, including the loss of documents by clients during evacuation, an increase in the number of vulnerable individuals, and risks to their own lives and health. Despite this, they demonstrate remarkable dedication to their mission, adapting to changing circumstances and continuing to provide essential support and assistance. The article examines how the military conflict affects the practice of social work, highlighting innovative approaches and adaptation strategies. Special attention is given to the need for developing standardized procedures for crisis situations, the importance of international cooperation and experience exchange, and the role of technology in supporting effective social work. Given the overall situation, the article offers recommendations for the further development and strengthening of the social work system in Ukraine. In particular, it emphasizes the necessity of preparing social workers for wartime conditions, including training in self-help and self-recovery techniques, engaging communities in mutual support, and the importance of optimistic hope and faith in the future as critical components of resilience.

85 ÉVES AZ ANGOL SZAKOS KÉPZÉS A DEBRECENI EGYETEMEN: IGAZGATÓI KEREKASZTAL-BESZÉLGETÉS

In 2023 the University of Debrecen's Institute of English and American Studies celebrates the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Department of English and thus the launching of an English studies degree program at the University of Debrecen. The history of the institute and the careers and achievements of its prominent figures have been the subject of a dedicated volume and a number of studies. The aim of the present roundtable is to explore, with the involvement of some of the former directors of the Institute, the less known aspects of its past that are of relevance for the history of the university as well, nuanced by personal recollections, linking the past with the present and the future. The discussion was initiated and moderated by Balázs Venkovits, the current director of the Institute, and involved four former directors, Zoltán Abádi Nagy, István Rácz, Péter Szaffkó and Zsolt Virágos.

Curating the history of socialist reuse: how two east German castles address their multi-layered heritage

ABSTRACT Across Eastern Germany, many castles and stately homes were used as shops, schools or community buildings during the GDR. Since the 1990s, many of them have been turned into museums. This paper discusses the challenges of dealing with the history of socialist reuse in East-German heritage buildings comparing the former Prussian castles of Schönhausen (Berlin) and Rheinsberg (Northern Brandenburg). The comparison is based on five in-depth semi-structured interviews providing insights into the considerations of curatorial decision makers. It shows that there is still a high sense of uncertainty in how to address the GDR past, in particular when the role of the building was not clearly political. Personal recollections of the recent past lead to uneasiness in addressing this part of history. At the same time, the paper shows how attitudes have changed over time. Today, the GDR past is increasingly seen as an opportunity to connect to a wider audience and foster a more participatory and democratic memory culture.

It's not a lie … If you believe it: Narrative analysis of autobiographical memories reveals over-confidence disposition in patients who confabulate

Humans perceive their personal memories as fundamentally true, and although memory is prone to inaccuracies, flagrant memory errors are rare. Some patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) recall and act upon patently erroneous memories (spontaneous confabulations). Clinical observations suggest these memories carry a strong sense of confidence, a function ascribed to vmPFC in studies of memory and decision making. However, most studies of the underlying mechanisms of memory overconfidence do not directly probe personal recollections and resort instead to laboratory-based tasks and contrived rating scales. We analyzed naturalistic word use of patients with focal vmPFC damage (N = 18) and matched healthy controls (N = 23) while they recalled autobiographical memories using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) method. We found that patients with spontaneous confabulation (N = 7) tended to over-use words related to the categories of ‘certainty’ and of ‘swearwords’ compared to both non-confabulating vmPFC patients (N = 11) and control participants. Certainty related expressions among confabulating patients were at normal levels during erroneous memories and were over-expressed during accurate memories, contrary to our predictions. We found no elevation in expressions of affect (positive or negative), temporality or drive as would be predicted by some models of confabulation. Thus, erroneous memories may be associated with subjectively lower certainty, but still exceed patients' report criterion because of a global proclivity for overconfidence. This may be compounded by disinhibition reflected by elevated use of swearwords. These findings demonstrate that analysis of naturalistic expressions of memory content can illuminate global meta-mnemonic contributions to memory accuracy complementing indirect laboratory-based correlates of behavior. Memory accuracy is the result of complex interactions among multiple meta-mnemonic processes such as monitoring, report criteria, and control processes which may be shared across decision-making domains.

The American Board of Pathology cytopathology board examination: Personal recollections of the first cytopathology board exam and a brief historical perspective.

The American Board of Pathology cytopathology board examination: Personal recollections of the first cytopathology board exam and a brief historical perspective.

Tribute to Steven Anthony (Tony) Wolfe, MD: A Personal Recollection.

Tribute to Steven Anthony (Tony) Wolfe, MD: A Personal Recollection.

Teresa Wennberg, Pioneer Video and Computer Artist: Early Experiences in Video and Computer Art

Abstract The author, a Swedish artist, arrived in Paris in the 1970s as a painter. She then began working with electronic images and was one of the first artists to produce video in France. Following the evolution of the technology very closely, she continued to develop 2D and 3D computer art, often presented as multimedia installations. Eventually, she began working with virtual reality. In this article, she delivers a personal recollection of the beginning of her artistic meandering, current through the time of writing.

Professor James Albert Lock (1948–2023): A life of honor and work of excellence

In this obituary, the life and work of Professor James Albert Lock is summarized (if it is possible to summarize a life spanning more than seven decades and work presented in about 200 communications, including 160 refereed papers). The charming, peaceful and friendly personality of “Jim” (as he wished/liked to be called by his relatives, family and friends) is best described by personal recollections from the authors of this obituary. Personalities like Jim’s make us still go on believing in the chances of the human species, whatever would be the foolish agitation of the world.

OPW and de Ste. Croix: the Past and Present Views of a Pupil

Abstract This survey, by a pupil of Geoffrey de Ste. Croix and eventual successor in his Oxford job, combines personal recollections of de Ste. Croix’s horizons and intellectual range with a penetrating study of his Origins of the Peloponnesian War, its underlying debts and detailed contentions. It addresses his, and Thucydides’, engagement with origins and causes, his central contention about votes by the Spartans and their allies on whether to go to war, the roles of Corinth, Megara and the much-discussed Megarian decree. It also presents a close reading of an Athenian involvement in Macedon and the north and its relevance to de Ste. Croix’s views on Athenian imperialism. It then sets the book’s conclusions in a wider context, ranging from modern writings on the origins of war to its concluding echo of Lenin.