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Introduction To Gendering Modern Japanese History, Barbara Molony

History

Gender, as Joan Scott asserted in 1986, is a useful category of historical analysis.¹ In the last quarter century, gender has emerged as a lively area of inquiry for historians and other scholars. Gender analysis has suggested some important revisions of the "master narratives" of national histories-that is, the dominant, often celebratory, tales of the successes of a nation and its leaders.² These narratives, like all histories, are provisional and incomplete and, to varying degrees, reflect the changing material, discursive, and ideological contexts of their times.³ To mention just two of the fields of history that had …

The Quest For Women's Rights In Turn-Of-The-Century Japan, Barbara Molony

History

This chapter will discuss the goals of women's rights advocates and the meaning of their demands in the context of turn-of-the-century state and society formation. It examines women's rights discourses in late nineteenth-century periodicals, some of them directed to a female readership and some directed to a general, often male, audience. Sources include journals like Meiroku zasshi, Jogaku zasshi, Joken, Tokyo fujin kyofukai zasshi, and some regional publications. ²⁵ Nineteenth-century advocates for women were, of course, of varying minds about the definition of “women’s rights,” but all agreed that women did not have rights at that time. Some argued for …

Book Review: Jonathan Steinberg, Why Switzerland?, Jurg K. Siegenthaler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

"Any decent biography," a New York Times book reviewer recently remarked, "is a work of drama." Jonathan Steinberg's Why Switzerland? is truly a biography of Switzerland, and the story often has the substance of drama. Since the book has no subtitle, the author explains the three ways in which he is intending to answer the question "why." Why has a place such as Switzerland come about? Why should readers abroad care? And why should Switzerland continue to exist? "No country is more frequently visited but less known" (p. 4). What Steinberg manages to do very well is to provide answers …

Sluice Boxes On The Shores: An Environmental History Of Gold Mining On Oregon's South Coast, Tania Louise Hyatt-Evenson

Dissertations and Theses

Environmental historians have researched, analyzed, and concluded that gold mining significantly altered the environment in Southern Oregon. Environmental case studies have examined mining's impact on the watersheds in the Rogue Valley, but none have analyzed the effect gold miners had on the Southern Oregon coast. While gold mining occurred on the South Coast from the 1850s to the 1940s, on a smaller scale, the impact from environmental change is just as significant. The purpose of this study is to understand how mining changed the landscape of the South Coast, and how this change affected the human populations that lived in …

History And Society: Fact, Fiction And Reform In The Serbian Education System, Valerie Ullrich

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

History instruction is a means of disseminating political and cultural “truth” in societies all over the world. History occupies only a small space in the educational schemes that socialize and politicize children to their societies, but it could be argued that it plays a disproportionate role in these processes. In societies with contentious historical records and/or histories of conflict, it is particularly important to examine the role that history instruction does in fact play, as it can have positive or disastrous consequences over the long term. Serbian society provides one example of the potential effects of incomplete, politically influenced historical …

Grand Valley Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 1 Fall 2005, Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley Magazine

Grand Valley Magazine is a quarterly publication about Grand Valley State University produced by University Communications since 2001.

Book Notes

East Texas Historical Journal

No abstract provided.

Grand Valley Forum, Volume 030, Number 07, September 12, 2005, Grand Valley State University

2005-2006, Volume 30

Grand Valley Forum is Grand Valley State's faculty and staff newsletter, published from 1976 to the present.

Grand Valley Forum, Volume 030, Number 06, September 6, 2005, Grand Valley State University

2005-2006, Volume 30

Grand Valley Forum is Grand Valley State's faculty and staff newsletter, published from 1976 to the present.

Grand Valley Forum, Volume 030, Number 05, August 30, 2005, Grand Valley State University

2005-2006, Volume 30

Grand Valley Forum is Grand Valley State's faculty and staff newsletter, published from 1976 to the present.

The Sharper Image: Bringing Irish Nationalist Identity Into Focus, 1880-1923, Meghan M. Ferriter

History Theses & Dissertations

From 1880 to 1923, Irish nationalists created and sustained an independent cultural identity shaped by external and internal forces. British political cartoons reveal key external cultural perceptions of the Irish, while Irish nationalist writings endorse internal concepts of character and project political aims. Irish nationalists present an uninterrupted internal identity in pursuit of autonomy. Images published in Punch, or the London Charivari, provide external factors of identity that evolve from exaggerated threat to trivial concern while the nationalist political demands they represent escalate.

Identity is the product of complex interaction and compromise between external and internal definitions. Individuals …

At The Portal Of America, Karen J. Sangren

Swedish American Genealogist

No abstract provided.

Interesting Web Sites

Swedish American Genealogist

No abstract provided.

Full Issue Vol. 25 No. 2

Swedish American Genealogist

No abstract provided.

Transnational Health Promotion: Social Well-Being Across Borders And Immigrant Women's Subjectivities., Denise Gastaldo, Amoaba Gooden, Notisha Massaquoi

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

In this article, the authors use two qualitative studies to address transnationalism in the intersection of migration, gender and health promotion studies. The experiences of women who have recently (less than 3 years ago) immigrated to Canada are examined focusing on their transnational health promotion activities. Despite the invisibility of women’s unpaid work in transnational and migration studies, we argue that the well-being of families, communities and nations is currently being produced in local, national, and international networks of health promotion and care giving and by the wealth generated by women’s labour. Our contribution is to bring together gendered health …

Feminist-Medievalist Editorial Practice And The Early English Text Society, Christine M. Rose

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The True Patron Of Ireland : Saint Brigit And The Rise Of Celtic Christianity, Autumn Dolan

Honors Theses

When Saint Patrick landed in Ireland in 432 AD, history says that he brought Christianity to the Irish. In actuality, though, Patrick's arrival was the beginning of a religious struggle between Rome and Ireland. Patrick's Church was based on Roman traditions and his mission in Ireland was not just to defeat paganism, but to intercede in the foundations of an already developing Celtic Church. To challenge Patrick and his Roman ways, Ireland exalted a saint of its own. Saint Brigit ( 452-525 AD) and the characteristics she represented in Irish hagiography clearly illustrated the ideal Irish saint. Ireland's reverence for …

Lanthorn, Vol. 39, No. 29, April 7, 2005, Grand Valley State University

Volume 39, July 15, 2004 - June 16, 2005

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

(Review) The Myth Of Nations: The Medieval Origins Of Europe, Frederick S. Paxton

History Faculty Publications

Reviews Patrick J. Geary's, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe. First paperback ed. Princeton N.J., and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003. Pp. xi, 199. $16.95.

Review Of "The Habsburg Monarchy: From Enlightenment To Eclipse" By R. Okey, Pieter M. Judson , '78

History Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Italian Homiliary: Texts And Contexts, Michael Thomas Martin

Dissertations

For the Carolingians, preaching was the best manner in which to teach good, Christian behavior orally to the largely illiterate masses. Studying early medieval sermon collections then can provide historians with a great amount of information on, for example, the intended audience and current moral instruction, who wrote the sermons, and the intended impact of the reform requirements. Too often however these early collections are grouped into a rather generalized classification of being little more than an exposition of Scripture composed with little or no originality. Some scholars claim we have no evidence for sermons produced for popular preaching prior …

Czech Fiction? Kafka And History In Czech Literature, Zachary Macholz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Much of Czech literature of the twentieth century leans heavily on the political and historical context of a given time period. This is not true of Franz Kafka, but his work is nonetheless reflective of many elements of Czech history after the turn of the century. This paper explores the role that Kafka’s The Trial and Czech political and social history plays in the formation of works of fiction and drama, and concludes that Czech authors Hašek, Hrabal, and Havel all deal explicitly with political and historical themes, and draw from Kafka, while the authors Škvorecky and Kundera are also …

A Preliminary Study Of The Kaogong Ji (The Book Of Artificers), Hanmo Zhang

Masters Theses

The focus of this paper is on the ancient Chinese text of the Kaogong ji, which is now included in the Zhouli as one of its chapters. Through a careful comparison between the Kaogong ji and the rest of the Zhouli and through a synthetic analysis of academic discussions of the completion date and authorship of the Kaogong ji, this paper attempts to show that the Kaogong ji had been an independent text before its inclusion. It goes on to disprove the argument that the Kaogong ji was forged by the Han scholar Liu Xin as political propaganda. …

Book Reviews

East Texas Historical Journal

No abstract provided.

Grand Valley Forum, Volume 029, Number 22, January 10, 2005, Grand Valley State University

2004-2005, Volume 29

Grand Valley Forum is Grand Valley State's faculty and staff newsletter, published from 1976 to the present.

Bossier Tribes, Caddo In North Louisiana's Pineywoods, Jon L. Gibson

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Clarence Webb (1948) christened Bossier more than a half century ago. Its namesake was the northwestern Louisiana parish where several Bossier sites were located, but it could just as easily been named after Webster, Claiborne, Harrison, Columbia, or other political subdivisions in northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, or eastern Texas where its distinctive pottery was found. This is Caddo country, linguistically and ethnically. Bossier is the issue of Caddoan cultural tradition, a culmination of agents, practices, and histories that transpired in the Red River valley and adjoining Pineywoods hills between ca. A.D. 1300 and 1500.

Bossier is best known for its …

Archeological Investigations At Mission Espíritu Santo (41gd1), Goliad County, Texas, Kristi M. Ulrich, Antonia L. Figueroa, Jennifer L. Thompson, Anne A. Fox, Johanna M. Hunziker, Steve A. Tomka, Cynthia M. Muñoz

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Excavations were carried out at Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zuñiga (41GD1) in November of 2004 and February of 2005 by the Center for Archaeological Research of The University of Texas at San Antonio under contract with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The work was conducted in advance of the planned construction of a French drain system. Shovel tests, 1-x-1-meter test units, and controlled backhoe trenches were used to explore areas that would be impacted by the proposed drainage system along the northern walls of the chapel and museum (granary) and across the center of the courtyard. …

Archeological Testing And Monitoring Of The Proposed Roma Visitor Complex, City Of Roma, Starr County, Texas, Barbara A. Meissner, Kristi Miller Ulrich, José E. Zapata, Steve A. Tomka

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

In February and March 2003, staff from the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio conducted archeological testing and monitoring within the boundaries of the National Historic Landmark District of Roma, Texas. This work was conducted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the Programmatic Agreement of the Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Texas Antiquities Code. The archeological services were conducted under contract with Kell Muñoz Architects of San Antonio and in coordination with the City of Roma and the Pharr District of the Texas …

At Home In The City: Urban Domesticity In American Literature And Culture, 1850-1930, Elizabeth Klima

University of New Hampshire Press: Open Access Books

An interdisciplinary study of urban literature and domestic architecture in the United States from 1850-1930. With chapters on the hotel, Central Park, tenement houses, and apartment buildings, At Home in the City juxtaposes literary criticism with a history of the built environment to show the inception of American modernity. Works treated include: The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ruth Hall by Fanny Fern, The Bostonians by Henry James, How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis, Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's feminist urban utopias, and Nella Larsen's Quicksand.

Proverbs Are The Best Policy, Wolfgang Mieder

All USU Press Publications

Widely considered the world's greatest living proverb scholar and known as the author of, among numerous other books, the Encyclopedia of World Proverbs and the coeditor of A Dictionary of American Proverbs, Wolfgang Mieder has brought particular attention and understanding to the uses of proverbs in politics. In this new collection of eight essays, he considers the role of proverbial speech in the American political scene from the Revolutionary War to the present.

Mieder introduces this survey with an examination of what characterizes American proverbs, what are their origins, and how they have spread internationally with the expansion of America's …