History Commons^™

“Race And The Liberal Imagination: The Representation Of African Americans In To Kill A Mockingbird.”, Sundiata K. Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

Written during the summer of 1959 and published fifty years ago day, To Kill a Mockingbird is perhaps the most insightful and prescient work of fiction on race in America—Black and white--written by a white author at its time. It is part of what cultural critics describe as the racial liberalism of the 1950s. Though uneven in its depiction of African Americans and the Black community and perhaps not fully cognizant of the thread of resistance that though tattered runs throughout the African American sociohistorical experience, it nonetheless offers a humanistic portrayal of Black people. In my remarks, I will …

Lincoln: Yesterday And Today, Sundiata K. Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

No abstract provided.

Felon Voting Rights And Democracy, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

The Light Of The Ancestors (By Idris Bazorkin), Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

"Light of the Ancestors" is excerpted from the Ingush writer Idris Bazorkin's novel, Dark Ages.

Evening Prayers (By Idris Bazorkin), Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

"Evening Prayers" is a stand-alone translation from the Ingush writer Idris Bazorkin's novel, Dark Ages (Iz Tmy Vekov, 1963).

“The New Nadir: The Contemporary Black Racial Formation,” In Special Issue, “Black Political Economy.”, Sundiata K. Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

"THE NEW NADIR: The Political Economy of the Contemporary Black Racial Formation" explores how the transformation to financialized global racial capitalism has structured the lives of contemporary African Americans. My main thesis is that the transformation to a new capitalist accumulation structure has reversed or mitigated most of the socioeco- nomic, but not the political gains achieved by the civil rights and Black Power movements.

"The Extraordinary Movement Of The Jews Of Great Britain": 1827-1831, C. S. Monaco

C. S. Monaco

This article identifies a previously ignored social movement that existed in London during 1827–1831. The Jewish rights movement, as it will be called here, actually involved a coalition of Jews and Christians. During the movement’s initial phase, London Jews, led by Moses E. Levy (an activist from the United States), joined in solidarity with their oppressed brethren in Russia: their public protests against tsarist policies drew a broad response from the national and international press. This unparalleled movement influenced national political agendas and major legislative reforms, and resulted in striking changes within the Anglo-Jewish community. By utilising the modern social …

In The Reign Of Queen Victoria: Fourteen Texts On Cyprus, 1878-91, Kyriakos N. Demetriou

Kyriakos N. Demetriou

This volume includes fourteen long neglected texts on the history, anthropology, politics and society of Cyprus during the first decades of the British rule. The volume is informed by a lengthy introduction by K. Demetriou, who examines the contribution of the British to modernizing the island, by introducing political reforms and improving the island’s economy and infrastructure. It also explores and analyses their perceptions of the indigenous population within the context of imperialist culture and racialist prejudices. Thus apart from being primary sources that belong to the a certain literary genre, this collection has sociological, historical and topographical interest, especially …

John Brown, Frederick Douglass, Detroit & The Path To Freedom, Sundiata K. Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

No abstract provided.

Georgian Literary Modernism: Poems By Titsian Tabidze, Paolo Iashvili And Galaktion Tabidze, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

This feature section, originally published in the literary journal Metamorphoses, introduces the poets Titsian Tabidze, Galaktion Tabidze, and Paolo Iashvili to an English readership. These three major exponents of the Georgian Literary Modernism were all either executed (Titsian) or committed suicide (Paolo and Galaktion) as a result of Stalin's and Beria's repressive policies. Collectively, these texts movingly testify to the intimate relation between politics and poetics in Georgian literature, as in other literatures of the former Soviet Union. An introduction called "The Twlight of Georgian Literary Modernism" is followed by the original Georgian texts and English translations of the following …

Port Jews Or A People Of The Diaspora? A Critique Of The Port Jew Concept, C. S. Monaco

C. S. Monaco

This article offers a critical examination of the port Jew concept that was first introduced in the late 1990s. The port Jew "social type" has been construed as an alternate path to modernity, a phenomenon that was distinct from the European Haskalah and intrinsic to the supposedly liberal environment of port towns and cities. Drawing on a body of historical evidence (primarily from the Dutch and British Caribbean), this article questions key characteristics of the port Jew thesis and argues that a diaspora framework is better suited for conceptualizing the Jewish Atlantic world.

Diabolical Frivolity Of Neoliberal Fundamentalism, Sefik Tatlic

Sefik Tatlic

Today, we cannot talk just about plain control, but we must talk about the nature of the interaction of the one who is being controlled and the one who controls, an interaction where the one that is “controlled” is asking for more control over himself/herself while expecting to be compensated by a surplus of freedom to satisfy trivial needs and wishes. Such a liberty for the fulfillment of trivial needs is being declared as freedom. But this implies as well the freedom to choose not to be engaged in any kind of socially sensible or politically articulated struggle.

How Newness Enters The World: The Methodology Of Sheldon Pollock, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

Black Audiences, Blaxploitation And Kung Fu Films, And Challenges To White Celluloid Masculinity, Sundiata K. Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

The roots of African Americans’ attraction to kung fu films are deeply embed- ded in their sociohistorical experiences. Simply put, it is a product of blacks’ political and cultural resistance to racial oppression. Although “repression breeds resistance,” opposing oppression is never simple; it is always varied and complex. Resistance is as likely to include cross-cutting strategies and discourses as mutually reinforcing ones. Two different but overlapping ideo- logical discourses, Pan-Africanism and Black Internationalism, help explain African Americans’ fascination with kung fu films. Pan-Africanists view the diverse dispersed peoples of African descent as one family. And perhaps, more importantly, they locate …

Transgressive Sanctity: The Abrek In Chechen Culture, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

The ancient tradition of the abrek (bandit) was developed into a political institution during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century by Chechen and other Muslim peoples of the Caucasus as a strategy for dealing with the overwhelming military force of Russia's imperial army. During the Soviet period, the abrek became a locus for oppositional politics and arguably influenced the representations of violence and anti-colonial resistance during the recent Chechen Wars. This article is one of the first works of English-language scholarship to historicize this institution. It also marks the beginning of a book project entitled A …

Constructing Indigenousness In The Late Modern World, Robert Cribb, Li Narangoa

Robert Cribb

Examines changing meanings of the term 'indigenous" in relation to other ideas that have been valued in various (mainly Western) philosophical system, such as priority, attachment to the land, and technical knowledge.

評陳佳宏著《台灣獨立運動史》, Weider Shu

Weider Shu

No abstract provided.

“The 'Long Movement' As Vampire: Temporal And Spatial Fallacies In Recent Black Freedom Studies.”, Sundiata K. Cha-Jua, Clarence E. Lang

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

Over the past three decades, scholarship on postwar African American social movements became a mature, well-rounded area of study with different interpretative schools and conflicting theoretical frameworks.' However, recently, the complexity generated by clashing interpretations has eroded as a new paradigm has become hegemonic. Since the publication of Freedom North by Jeanne F. Theoharis and Komozi Woodard, the "Long Movement" has emerged as the dominant theoretical interpretation of the modem "Civil Rights" and "Black Power" movements. The Long Movement interpretative framework consists of four interrelated conceptualizations that challenge the previous interpretations of black freedom movements. The four propositions are: (1) …

Race, Roots, & Resistance: Revisiting Black Power, Sundiata K. Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

Conference on Black Power

The Abrek In Chechen Folklore, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

Ignaty Krachkovsky’S Encounters With Arabic Literary Modernity Through Amīn Al-Riḥānī, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

'The Montage Of Tbilisi Culture' By Zaza Shatirishvili, Film International, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

Georgian cultural critic Zaza Shatirishvili discusses Tbilisi's cinematographic culture, concentrating particularly on the works of Otar Ioseliani, Sergei Paradjanov, and Robert Strurua.

Book Review: Postmodern Gandhi And Other Essays - Gandhi In The World And At Home By Lloyd I. Rudolph And Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, Ananya Vajpeyi

Ananya Vajpeyi

No abstract provided.

“Assimilating To Power In Two Different World-Systems: An Analysis Of Paul And Herzl”, Khaldoun Samman

Khaldoun Samman

No abstract provided.

The Conservation Of Mayan Artifacts, Russell M. Franks

Russell M. Franks

Paper will examine the conservation methods and techniques used for the preservation of Mayan artifacts. Particular emphasis will be given to the four Mayan Codices known as the Dresden, Paris, Madrid, and Grolier Codices.

These four documents are unique in that, not only have they survived until recently in less than ideal conditions for almost five hundred years, but they represent a culture whose written record was almost entirely destroyed by the religious zeal of the early Spanish missionaries.

The fact that these codices still exist today is reason enough that special attention should be given to the care and …

Chechens Through The Russian Prism, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

Behind The Wall Of The Caucasus, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

The Enigma Of Mayan Hieroglyphs, Russell M. Franks

Russell M. Franks

Much of the confusion in deciphering Mayan hieroglyphs that has occurred over the centuries can be traced directly to Bishop de Landa. Landa is infamous for his religious persecution of the Maya peoples, and beginning in 1562, the systematic destruction of their birch-bark books. It wasn't until 1922 that the Russian linguist Yuri Knorozov made the breakthrough analysis that the glyphs stood for sounds and not symbols.

The Murderous Insanity Of Love: Sex, Madness, And The Law In The 19th Century, Russell M. Franks

Russell M. Franks

The late 19th century was a time of dynamic change for the United States. High ideals, progressive reform movements, accelerated industrial expansion, explosive immigration rates, and an increase in urban growth all characterized the Gilded Age of America.

This paper will examine the factors and social conditions that revolutionized how abnormal sexual and gender behavior was interpreted as insanity in and out of the courtroom during this Gilded Age.

“‘A Warlike Demonstration': Legalism, Violent Self-Help And Electoral Politics, In Decatur, Illinois, 1894-1898.”., Sundiata K. Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

This project addresses the limitations of previous lynching research. It explores the racial-class struggle unleashed in Decatur, Illinois, a middle-sized northern industrial town, after the lynching of Samuel J. Bush in 1893. This work examines Bush’s efforts to save his own life and his commentary on his accuser. Thus, I treat him as an active agent rather than as a passive victim. Moreover, by examining the black community’s social networks, institutional structures, and leadership, I provide a detailed analysis of its racial-class capacities. By focusing on the organizing activities of the black community, this case study explores a wider range …