探花直播 of Cambridge - identity

A feather in your cap: inside the symbolic universe of Renaissance Europe

tdk25 — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 08:50:40 +0000

Later, an eyewitness recalled that officials thought the Duchess had fainted at the sight of blood trickling from her husband鈥檚 mouth. Only the Archduke himself seemed to realise that she, too, had been hit. 鈥淪ophie dear! Don鈥檛 die! Stay alive for our children!鈥� Franz Ferdinand pleaded. Then, 鈥渉e seemed to sag down himself,鈥� the witness remembered. 鈥淗is plumed general鈥檚 hat鈥� fell off; many of its green feathers were found all over the car floor.鈥�

探花直播assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914, had such seismic repercussions in precipitating the First World War that it is easy to disregard the curious little detail of feathers on the floor. In such context, they seem trivial. Rewind a few moments more, to the famous final photograph of the couple leaving Sarajevo town hall, and the plumage sprouting from the Archduke鈥檚 hat looks positively absurd; as if amid all the other mortal perils of that day 鈥� the bomb that narrowly missed his car, the bullets from a semi-automatic 鈥� he somehow also sustained a direct hit from a large bird.

Today, we generally associate feathers with women鈥檚 fashion, and a peculiarly ostentatious brand at that, reserved for Royal Ascot, high-society weddings and hen parties. Among men, wearing feathers is typically seen as provocatively effete 鈥� the domain of drag queens, or ageing, eyelinered devotees of the Manic Street Preachers.

Yet a cursory glance at military history shows that Franz Ferdinand was far from alone in his penchant for plumage. 探花直播Bersaglieri of the Italian Army, for example, still wear capercaillie feathers in their hats, while British fusiliers have a clipped plume called a hackle. Cavaliers in the English Civil War adorned their hats with ostrich feathers.

鈥淗istorically, feathers were an incredibly expressive accessory for men,鈥� observes Cambridge historian Professor Ulinka Rublack. 鈥淣obody has really looked at why this was the case. That鈥檚 a story that I want to tell.鈥�

Rublack is beginning to study the use of featherwork in early modern fashion as part of a project called 鈥楳aterialized Identities鈥�, a collaboration between the Universities of Cambridge, Basel and Bern, and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

To the outsider, its preoccupations (her co-researchers are studying gold, glass and veils) might seem surprising. Yet such materials are not just mute artefacts; they sustained significant economies, craft expertise and, she says, 鈥渆ntered into rich dialogue with the humans who processed and used them鈥�. Critically, they elicited emotions, moods and attitudes for both the wearer and the viewer. In this sense, they belonged to the 鈥榮ymbolic universe鈥� of communities long since dead. If we can understand such resonances, we come closer to knowing more about how it felt to be a part of that world.

Rublack has spotted that something unusual started to happen with feathers during the 16th century. In 1500, they were barely worn at all; 100 years later they had become an indispensable accessory for the Renaissance hipster set on achieving a 鈥榞allant鈥� look.

In prosperous trading centres, the locals started sporting hats bedecked with feathers from parrots, cranes and swallows. Headgear was manufactured so that feathers could be inserted more easily. By 1573, Plantin鈥檚 Flemish鈥揊rench dictionary was even obliged to offer words to describe people who chose not to wear them, recommending such verbiage as: 鈥榯he featherless鈥� and 鈥榰nfeathered鈥�.

Featherworking became big business. From Prague and Nuremberg to Paris and Madrid, people started to make a living from decorating feathers for clothing. Impressive efforts went into dyeing them. A 1548 recipe recommends using ashes, lead monoxide and river water to create a 鈥榲ery beautiful鈥� black, for example.

Why this happened will become clearer as the project develops. One crucial driver, however, was exploration 鈥� the discovery of new lands, especially in South America. Compared with many of the other species that early European colonists encountered, exotic birds could be captured, transported and kept with relative ease. Europe experienced a sudden 鈥榖ird-craze鈥�, as birds such as parrots became a relatively common sight on the continent鈥檚 largest markets.

Given the link with new territories and conquest, ruling elites wore feathers partly to express their power and reach. But there were also more complex reasons. In 1599, for example, Duke Frederick of W眉rttemberg held a display at his court at which he personally appeared as 鈥楲ady America鈥�, wearing a costume covered in exotic feathers. This was not just a symbol of power, but of cultural connectedness, Rublack suggests: 鈥� 探花直播message seems to be that he was embracing the global in a duchy that was quite insular and territorial.鈥�

Nor were feathers worn by the powerful alone. In 1530, a legislative assembly at Augsburg imposed restrictions on peasants and burghers adopting what it clearly felt should be an elite fashion. 探花直播measure did not last, perhaps because health manuals of the era recommended feathers as protecting the wearer from 鈥榖ad鈥� air 鈥� cold, miasma, damp or excessive heat 鈥� all of which were regarded as hazardous. During the 1550s, Eleanor of Toledo had hats made from peacock feathers to protect her from the rain.

Gradually, feathers came to indicate that the wearer was healthy, civilised and cultured. Artists and musicians took to wearing them as a mark of subtlety and style. 鈥淭hey have a certain tactility that was seen to signal an artistic nature,鈥� Rublack says.

Like most fads, this enthusiasm eventually wore off. By the mid-17th century, feathers were out of style, with one striking exception. Within the armies of Europe what was now becoming a 鈥榝eminine鈥� fashion choice elsewhere remained an essential part of military costume.

Rublack thinks that there may have been several reasons for this strange contradiction. 鈥淚t鈥檚 associated with the notion of graceful warfaring,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his was a period when there were no standing armies and it was hard to draft soldiers. One solution was to aestheticise the military, to make it seem graceful and powerful, rather than simply about killing.鈥� Feathers became associated with the idea of an art of warfare.

They were also already a part of military garb among both native American peoples and those living in lands ruled by the Ottomans. Rublack believes that just as some of these cultures treated birds as gods, and therefore saw feathers as having a protective quality, European soldiers saw them as imparting noble passions, bravery and valiance.

In time, her research may therefore reveal a tension about the ongoing use of feathers in this unlikely context. 鈥淚t has to do with a notion of masculinity achieved both through brutal killing, and the proper conduct of war as art,鈥� she says. But, as she also notes, she is perhaps the first historian to have spotted the curious emotional resonance of feathers in military fashion at all. All this shows a sea-change in methodologies: historians now chart the ways in which our identities are shaped through deep connections with 鈥榮tuff鈥�. Further work is needed to understand how far these notions persisted by 1914 when, in his final moments, Franz Ferdinand left feathers scattered across the car floor.

Inset image: Hendrick Goltzius, soldier, c. 1580; credit: 探花直播Rijsmuseum, Amsterdam.
聽

Today, feathers are an extravagant accessory in fashion; 500 years ago, however, they were used to constitute culture, artistry, good health and even courage in battle. This unlikely material is now part of a project that promises to tell us more not only about what happened in the past, but also about how it felt to be there.

Historically, feathers were an incredibly expressive accessory for men. Nobody has really looked at why this was the case. That鈥檚 a story that I want to tell.

Ulinka Rublack

Achille Beltrame

Assassination of the feather-hatted Archduke Franz Ferdinand

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Flamenco: what happens when a grassroots musical genre becomes a marker of culture

amb206 — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 09:03:16 +0000

For audiences around the world, flamenco symbolises the colour and romance of southern Spain. An energetic blend of song, guitar and dance, it is most strongly associated with Andalusia, one of Spain鈥檚 17 autonomous regions. With historic connections to Islamic North Africa, Andalusia stands at a geographical crossroads and its culture is rich with influences from far beyond its shores.

探花直播government of Andalusia has long supported flamenco as an important element of regional identity and a magnet for tourism. In 2010 flamenco was recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (ICH), a designation that signals its contribution to culture worldwide. It was a seminal moment in the history of flamenco which has progressed from a tradition embedded in gypsy and working class communities to a genre taught in conservatoires alongside more classical styles.

探花直播listing of flamenco as an ICH raises important questions about culture and identity: how best to keep regional art forms alive and flourishing in an increasingly globalised world and, most specifically, how musical forms intersect with politics. Dr Matthew Machin-Autenrieth (Faculty of Music) addresses these topics and more in his book Flamenco, Regionalism and Musical Heritage in Southern Spain, a detailed study of the ways in which an iconic performative tradition contributes to the formation of identity at local, regional, national and international levels.

Machin-Autenrieth comes to his subject matter as an ethnomusicologist and classical guitar player interested in the shifting politics of a 鈥榞rassroots鈥� art form that has been packaged both as a global commodity and as a symbol of regional identity. His understanding of the guitar and grasp of colloquial Spanish, together with his deep interest in the relationship between music and politics, qualify him for the task of unravelling the ways in which music is grounded not just in place but in notions of place which contribute to powerful 鈥榣andscapes鈥� of belonging.

Much has been written, and contested, about the origins of flamenco which emerged as a genre only in the mid-19th century when it was 鈥榙iscovered鈥� by middle class audiences searching for the exoticism and romanticism of folk traditions. Its deeper roots are entwined with the music of gypsies and other marginalised groups. Its themes play on the highs and lows of human experience 鈥� love and loss, death and sorrow 鈥� reflecting the suffering of a population living in a region scarred by centuries of feudalism.

Flamenco is not universally popular in聽its country of origin聽where some see it as a relic of a more 鈥榖ackward鈥� Spain and 鈥榥ot really European鈥�. Machin-Autenrieth writes in his introduction: 鈥淢any Spaniards I have met (from outside Andalusia) disregard and even detest the conflation of flamenco with Spanish-ness, viewing it as nothing more than an Andalusian-Gypsy tradition. Arguably, a similar process of appropriation is occurring within Andalusia, the tradition being developed by institutions and in the popular media as a definitive symbol of regional identity.鈥�

In setting the context for his discussion, Machin-Autenrieth traces the recent history of flamenco which was repressed and then appropriated by the Franco regime. When the regime ended in the mid-1970s, Spain underwent a process of democratisation and decentralisation in which flamenco was a political tool, becoming a potent marker of the culture of Andalusia. 聽Its popularity may not be universal across the region but, by virtue of educational initiatives and a programme of festivals, all Andalusians are familiar with its distinctive style.

Music has a powerful cohesive effect on communities, and orally-based traditions in particular offer a voice to groups who might remain unheard. But when music is appropriated by institutions, its authenticity and relevance for local communities may be under threat. Concerns about the alleged commercialisation of flamenco are nothing new. Early in the 20th century, the poet Federico Garc铆a Lorca and composer Manuel de Falla, both Andalusians themselves, emerged as champions for an art form which had gained negative stereotypes, and was under attack by antiflamenquistas intent on depicting flamenco as an outdated cultural phenomenon out of step with Spain鈥檚 European ambitions.聽聽

In recent years, however, flamenco has seen an increase in institutional support in a country where regional identity is high on the agenda. But institutional involvement in the arts can be counter-reproductive.聽 Making a point that could apply equally to other art forms, Machin-Autenrieth quotes the Spanish sociologist, Aix Gracia, who argues that 鈥渢he affability with which the administrations treat flamenco in Andalusia, through 鈥榝estivalisation鈥� and its preservation as a representation of identity, is also its biggest threat鈥� I cannot resist the question: could this art die of success? Or more specifically, could it lose its autonomy?鈥�

In exploring the question of artistic freedom, Machin-Autenrieth attended dozens of flamenco performances and interviewed many of those involved as artists and promoters. He describes the tensions that exist between the styles of flamenco approved by the heritage industry and forms out of favour with the dominant institutions.聽 Strength of feeling against the institutional development of flamenco led to the emergence of Flamenco es un derecho (Flamenco is a right), a protest movement that claims flamenco is a gift to humanity 鈥� but one over which Andalusians have a right.

Much scholarly research on flamenco in Andalusia has focused on the role of three cities (Seville, Cadiz and Jerez) as the defining 鈥榞olden triangle鈥� for its performance. As well as exploring the regional politics behind flamenco, Machin-Autenrieth looks beyond the 鈥榞olden triangle鈥� to focus on flamenco in Granada, a city famous for its stunning Moorish architecture. Focusing on specific case studies, he explores the relevance of flamenco for local identity in Granada beyond its regional associations. 探花直播book provides an insight into the range of distinct contexts and styles in Granada that speak to a vibrant and historically-significant flamenco community.

Spanish identity, by virtue of the country鈥檚 history, is strongly local. To be Andalusian is to feel a strong sense of regional belonging, to be granadino or granadina (from Granada) is to have even stronger allegiance to a city with its own sense of history and tradition. With flamenco, a sense of locality splits even further into the competing styles performed in different clubs and venues. It is this richness of diversity, rather than adherence to proscribed authenticity, that will keep the genre moving forward.

Flamenco, Regionalism and Musical Heritage in Southern Spain is published by Routledge.

Inset images: Flamenco (Paolo Signorini); Flamenco, Regionalism and Musical Heritage in Southern Spain front cover (Routledge).

聽

What happens when a musical genre becomes an identifier for a region?聽 In his book Flamenco, Regionalism and Musical Heritage in Southern Spain, Matthew Machin-Autenrieth unravels the cultural complexity and contested politics of an iconic art form.

In 2010 flamenco was recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (ICH). It was a seminal moment in the history of flamenco which has progressed from a tradition embedded in gypsy and working class communities to a genre taught in conservatoires.

Flickr Creative Commons (Veyis Polat)

Flamenco by Veyis Polat (cropped)

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Why be human when you can be otherkin?

amb206 — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In May thousands of people watched a documentary called 探花直播Secret Life of the Human Pups. 探花直播film accompanied Spot and friends (men who dress as dogs) as they travelled to a beauty pageant. Its appearance came just a couple of months after the publication of Being a Beast, a book in which veterinarian/barrister Charles Foster describes living in the wild as a badger, fox and stag. 探花直播protagonists of film and book may have little in common but they share a desire to escape the narrowness of being human.

People who identify as other than human have been described (and describe themselves as 鈥榓nimal-people鈥�, 鈥榣ycanthropes鈥�, 鈥榯herianthropes鈥櫬犅� and, most recently, 鈥榦therkin鈥�. Together they have a history stretching back to antiquity: witness the fabulous beasts which embellish the margins of medieval manuscripts. It was in the course of researching the role of monsters and monstrosity in Renaissance Europe, and the 鈥榓nimalesque鈥� affinities of 16th-century Portuguese witches, prosecuted by the Catholic Inquisition, that researcher Pedro Feij贸 (MPhil History and Philosophy of Science) decided to lean into the worlds of those who, half a millennium later, inhabit the borders of animality and the margins of humanness. 聽

Feij贸 embarked on an exploration of people who are more, or other, than human 鈥� and how such people have been perceived and treated by those around them. 鈥淲e have witnessed, in the last half a century, an explosion of politics grounded on new identities, and on their overcoming. People have been experimenting with and transgressing the limits of what it means to be a woman, of what it means to have a gender, a sex, or a sexual orientation,鈥� Feij贸 says.

鈥淎cross the western world, individuals and collectives are defying our identity as organic beings, in contrast with mechanical ones, and exploring cyborgism. Social movements of trans and disabled people started questioning what it means exactly to be an able body. 探花直播neuro-diverse and BIID (Body Integrity Identity Disorder 鈥� people who would prefer to be 鈥榙isabled鈥�) have followed in the same footsteps. I thought it would be worth exploring the worlds of those who clash with one central dichotomy: humanity and non-human animality.鈥�

Feij贸鈥檚 essay Doctors Herding Cats: 探花直播Misadventures of Modern Medicine and Psychology with NonhuMan Identities offers a fascinating insight into questions of identity and how they have been mediated. There is no shortage of tales and testimonies about people becoming animals. 鈥� 探花直播Biblical King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, roamed the land for seven years as an ox and countless other tales turn on human to animal transformations,鈥� writes Feij贸. 鈥淒uring the 18th century, accounts of lycanthropy were left behind as the European Enlightenment movement classified them as irrational and obscure. But people who belong to a kind other than the human seem to have sprung from the blind spots of modernity, and have grown strong and visible for the last four decades.鈥�

Feij贸 points to a medley of converging influences 鈥� among them folklore, spiritualism, Tolkien鈥檚 mythopoeia, science fiction, UFO cults and the New Age. By the 1970s, elf groups were well established, and strongly non-apologetic. Explaining their rationale, one of these groups, the Silver Elves, wrote: 鈥淲e are an elusive people who have learned through time to be both hidden and secretive鈥� yet we accomplish this by being both open and obvious.聽 People upon hearing that we are elves simply do not believe their own eyes and ears.聽 They think that we are joking and we share their laughter.鈥�

In the 1990s, with the beginning of the digital revolution, R鈥檡kanadar Korra鈥檛i founded the niche publication Elfkind Digest, initially as a mailing list. 鈥淭his is not 鈥� about role-playing or role-playing games: we鈥檙e elves. Deal with it,鈥� wrote Korra鈥檛i. 鈥淚nitially I expected only to find other elves; as it turned out, I found a large number of people with a large number of self-identifications.鈥�

探花直播term 鈥榦therkin鈥� was coined by a contributor to Elkind Digest. 鈥淚 got tired of typing elf/dragon/orc/etc-kin and just used otherkin,鈥� wrote Torin. As access to the internet spread beyond the professional middle classes, the otherkin community multiplied and diversified. 鈥� 探花直播first decade of the 21st century witnessed a huge diversification in terms of assumed sexual and gender preferences and identities 鈥� especially once otherkin groups migrated to the blog-hosting site, Tumbr,鈥� says Feij贸.

In his essay, Feij贸 highlights the contrast between communities which embrace the experiences of otherkin and the medical corpus which regards non-human identification and behaviour as a subject of inquiry insofar as it is a problem to be treated. He observes: 鈥淧sychiatry sees individual patients, otherkin sees a community and a safe space. Where medicine has seen a syndrome to be explained, otherkin have seen affinities with no need for a unified metaphysical justification.鈥澛�

Accounts of therianthropy (the psychiatric term for the delusional state of being an animal) exist in 19th century medical literature. Feij贸 cites an account of a man who behaves as a carnivorous animal in a French asylum: 鈥渉e walks on all fours, picks up everything he finds in his teeth, and in the same way he uses his teeth to dig up carrots, roots, etc., that he then carries to a corner and swallows, without standing up.鈥� Another source describes a patient who 鈥渢hinks she has become a dog, a bull, a man: all the parts of her body are deformed, enlarged: she doesn鈥檛 recognise herself anymore鈥�.

In the 1960s, heterodox psychological and psychiatric trends began to make space for a very different kind of understanding. 探花直播psychiatrist RD Laing, for example, known for his consideration of delusions as valid accounts, gives the example of a friend who, some years earlier, had a psychotic episode in which he had 鈥渁 voyage into inner space and time鈥� and 鈥渁t one time I actually seemed to be wandering in a desert landscape as if I were an animal 鈥� a kind of rhinoceros or something like that and emitting sounds like a rhinoceros.鈥澛� Laing used this example to point out the importance of allowing trips as therapeutic experiences.

But tolerance of difference is shallow 鈥� and acceptance of people who feel different, and visibly don鈥檛 conform, is frequently tinged with ridicule. Their perceived absurdity was capitalized not only for diagnostic purposes, but also for mercantile ones. 鈥淧ost-1970s medical literature presents lycanthropes as curiosities, as fetishized subjects and ultimately as immaterial commodities. Lycanthrophy is written about not so much for reasons of intellectual inquiry but because it sells. Something analogous happened in the general online community, where otherkin are routinely laughed at,鈥� says Feij贸.

鈥� 探花直播problem is that the ridicule seems to reside elsewhere: modern psychiatry and psychology have not been able to keep up-to-date with new post-human perceptions, which have been unable to admit the problems of distinguishing between a phenomenological symptom and a voluntary behaviour, and furthermore which have chosen to pathologize and ruin the lives of many through the insistence on an obsolete paradigm, while the same people could have found a supporting community off- and online.鈥澛�

Homo sapiens has existed for a mere 200,000 years or so; the earliest land creatures crawled out of around 400 millennia ago. In the tree of life we share our inheritance with creatures as diverse as amoebas, flatworms, insects, fish and birds.聽 In 1997 Pat Califia, the well-known queer author of erotic essays, wrote: 鈥淚鈥檓 never sure if I have gender dysphoria or species dysphoria. I often try to explain that I鈥檓 really a starfish trapped in a human body and I鈥檓 very new to your planet.鈥�

探花直播narratives of those who share the rejection of their full humanity and an entangled sympathy with other beings have taken a new critical role in the last half century. They pose a simple, uncomfortable question: what does it mean to be human? Feij贸 proposes: "Following the struggles of those who have seen themselves excluded from mankind, it might be time to ask if the diagnosis didn鈥檛 have the wrong focus all along: in the 20th century. Perhaps it could be said that humanity itself is a case of species dysphoria?"

聽

As social beings, a sense of identity plays an important role in our relations 鈥� and in our own happiness. But identity doesn鈥檛 have to be narrowly human. In an essay looking at the groups that exist on the edge of conventional boundaries, and are often subject to prurience and ridicule, Pedro Feij贸 considers those who feel different, other than human.

I thought it would be worth exploring the worlds of those who clash with one central dichotomy: humanity and non-human animality.

Pedro Feij贸

Flickr Creative Commons

Angels have the phone box

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Mongolia: unravelling the troubled narratives of a nation

amb206 — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In the spring of 1991 Franck聽Bill茅聽sat in a north London cinema watching the movie聽Urga. Nikita聽Mikhalkov鈥檚聽award-winning film tells the story of the unlikely friendship that develops between a Russian truck driver and a Mongolian herder.聽Bill茅, a Russian language student at the 探花直播 of Westminster, was captivated by the movie鈥檚 narrative and the stunning landscapes. He decided that, instead of going to Moscow for the semester abroad required by his course, he would travel to聽Ulaanbaatar.

A few months later聽Bill茅聽flew in to Mongolia鈥檚 capital city airport where he was met by the local family he was going to stay with. His knowledge of Mongolia, a country three times the size of France, was confined to what he had read in the聽Lonely Planet聽guidebook. 鈥淚 spoke fluent Russian but only a few words of Mongolian which I鈥檇 picked up from an old conversation book,鈥� he says. All this was to change as he immersed himself in Mongolian culture, and began studying the language.

Today聽Bill茅聽is one of around a dozen researchers based in the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit (MIASU) at the 探花直播 of Cambridge. Recently published books by聽Bill茅聽and his聽MIASU聽colleague Dr Christopher聽Kaplonski聽make important contributions to the scholarship that has emerged from聽MIASU聽since its establishment in 1986. Both books are the outcome of recent fieldwork in Mongolia and both deal with universal human issues that are deeply uncomfortable. A launch of the books takes place at聽Heffer鈥檚聽bookshop in Cambridge next Tuesday (3 March 2015).

In聽Sinophobia: Anxiety, Violence, and the Making of Mongolian Identity, Franck聽Bill茅聽explores the identity of a country that feels increasingly under pressure from its booming southern聽neighbour.聽 探花直播Lama Question: Violence, Sovereignty and Exception in Early Socialist Mongolia聽by Christopher聽Kaplonski聽challenges accepted narratives about the violent crushing of the Buddhist establishment in the聽1930s聽as the monasteries that had dominated life for centuries were torn apart.

With a population of 2.8 million, Mongolia shares a border with two of the world鈥檚 foremost powers which have long played a pivotal role in its identity. Russia, lying to Mongolia鈥檚 north, is a declining player on the global stage. China, to its south, is a flourishing economy hungry for the resources that Mongolia possesses 鈥� notably coal, copper and gold.

From his first visit,聽Bill茅聽was fascinated by the politics of Mongolian nationalism and how this informs the country鈥檚 relationships with its聽neighbours. His initial encounter with the country took place just eight years after its liberation from the Soviet Union. 探花直播Soviets had held the country in a tight grip for 70 years and had presided over the dismantlement of Mongolia鈥檚 traditional nomadic society, a process that saw many thousands of deaths.

Primed by dire warnings in the pages of his guidebook,聽Bill茅聽was nervous that as a Russian-speaking stranger, he would be unwelcome. His fears were unfounded. Instead, he was struck by the lack of post-socialist resentment shown by the Mongolians he met, including the family with whom he lodged. Yet, as聽Buriads, a Mongolian ethnic group living mostly in the Russian Federation to the north of Mongolia, their community had suffered tremendously, particularly in the political purges of the聽1930s. Many of those considered to be 鈥榠ntellectuals鈥� were聽Buriad聽and, as 鈥榚nemies of the people,鈥� they were deported to Siberia, never to be seen again.

Why, wondered聽Bill茅, were the Mongolians so apparently accepting of their recent history as a nation until the control of an outside force?聽鈥淩ussians have made mistakes but generally their presence was positive. They brought a lot of good things,鈥� he was told by his hosts in聽Ulaanbaatar. These good things included forms of 鈥榟igh culture鈥� (such as ballet, opera, urban living) and protection from Chinese territorial ambitions.

On each successive visit,聽Bill茅聽became increasingly aware of the striking differences in Mongolian attitudes to its聽neighbours聽鈥� and modern Mongolia鈥檚 discourses about China form the backbone of his book. Over the course of his fieldwork in聽Ulaanbaatar, he has built up a picture of a nation whose identity is contingent on a deeply-entrenched distrust and dislike of its Chinese聽neighbours聽鈥� a phenomenon described as聽Sinophobia.

Since Mongolia鈥檚 southern border reopened in the early聽1990s, the Chinese have invested heavily in Mongolia, quickly becoming its main trade partner. Mongolia鈥檚 coal resources were crucial to China鈥檚 rapid growth. In turn, China has been able to supply household goods that are no longer available in Russia.聽While the Mongolians have undoubtedly benefited from their position on the border with China, they have remained deeply suspicious of their southern聽neighbour鈥檚聽intentions. China is suspected of sending men to reproduce with Mongolian women and dilute the gene pool. Chinese vegetables are said to be purposefully poisoned. It is even聽rumoured聽that China is biding its time to take over the country.

鈥淚n the west, we see Mongolia as part of Asia, its people and culture enmeshed with those of its聽neighbours. But this is not how the Mongolians see themselves. They draw a clear line between themselves and other Asians, particularly the Chinese. Because Mongolians are so keen to deny any cultural and ethnic overlap, to be called Chinese is perceived as a great insult,鈥� says聽Bill茅.

鈥淚t鈥檚 common to hear derogatory statements about the Chinese and to see insulting graffiti. Hip hop songs, in particular, have been an important vector of national pride and anti-Chinese sentiments. Tourists visiting Mongolia may well return home with little idea of the level of anti-Chinese sentiments but anyone who can read and understand Mongolian will be immediately aware of the聽Sinophobia聽that pervades public discourse.鈥�

At its most extreme,聽Sinophobia聽takes the form of聽Dayaar聽Mongol聽(All Mongolia), a far-right nationalist group.聽 In 2009,聽Dayaar聽Mongol聽聽signalled聽its disapproval of聽Sino-Mongolian聽relationships by posting a video of a woman with her hair shorn as punishment for the 鈥榗rime鈥� of having sex with a Chinese man.

鈥淭hese extreme groups do not enjoy widespread support and are generally seen as hooligans. But, for the vast majority of Mongolians, dislike of China isn鈥檛 seen as racist. It is perceived primarily as聽self-defence. Voicing criticisms of the Chinese is functionally equivalent to a patriotic statement,鈥� says聽Bill茅.

鈥淢any Mongolians will confide in private that they do not have anything against the Chinese. However, making such statements in public would render them suspect. They would be seen as unpatriotic and potentially traitors. And they would also be suspected of being part Chinese.鈥�

Christopher聽Kaplonski聽comes to the subject of his book, which explores the violence again Buddhist monks in Mongolia in the聽1930s, culminating in genocide, as an anthropologist interested in the way in which nations and individuals build narratives around political violence and its aftermath.聽聽Kaplonski聽was one of the first Western anthropologists to carry out fieldwork in Mongolia. He has worked on collective memory, political violence, identity, and coming to terms with the past.聽

Kaplonksi鈥檚聽research covers the dynamics of political conflict, as well as the processes of social-political reconstruction in coming to terms with the past. In the turbulent period covered by his book,聽 探花直播Lama Question: Violence, Sovereignty and Exception in Early Socialist Mongolia, the newly-installed socialist government聽 sought to break the power of the Buddhist establishment, and establish Mongolia as the world鈥檚 second socialist country, following the Soviet Union itself.

In doing so, the socialists waged a decade and a half long struggle from the early聽1920s聽to the late聽1930s聽to win the hearts and minds of the Mongolian populace, deploying a wide variety of measures, such as propaganda, punitive taxes and eventually mass killings.聽

In particular,聽Kaplonski聽looks at the execution of approximately 18,000 Buddhist priests and how this dark episode has been absorbed into Mongolia鈥檚 history. Most significantly, he complicates the accepted narrative that Joseph Stalin ordered the execution of lamas and that the Mongolian government and the Mongolian People鈥檚 Revolutionary Party, as agents of a nation under the thumb of聽Choibalsan, had no choice but to carry out the directives of a Communist dictator.

探花直播phrase 鈥榯he lama question鈥� (lam聽naryn聽asuudal聽in Mongolian) is the term the socialist government itself used to signify the struggle between the socialist government and religious establishment of Mongolia.

Buddhism, in the shape of over 700 monasteries populated by some 80,000 lamas, had for centuries exerted an influence that extended deep into politics, economics and everyday life, rather in the same way that Roman Catholicism dominated pre-Reformation Europe. Often seen as backward and corrupt, even by reforming Buddhists, the Buddhist establishment represented an almost insurmountable challenge to the socialists determined to bring their vision of modernity and progress to Mongolia.

鈥淥ne of the things that intrigued me most, from an academic point of view, was the fact that the violence took so long to erupt. Political violence is often seen as a tool of first resort for totalitarian governments the world over, but in Mongolia, it was a step they avoided taking for over a decade and a half. 探花直播book is an attempt to answer this question: why did it take so long,鈥� says聽Kaplonski.

In the space of just 18 months, between late 1937 and mid-1939, many thousands of lamas were sentenced to death and shot. All but a handful of the monasteries across the country were destroyed 鈥� and with them countless numbers of religious聽artefacts, books and culture were lost to future generations.聽 It is estimated that a further 18,000 people, many of them聽Buriads, were also killed during a period which is portrayed in both Mongolian and Western history as an episode sparked by Stalin鈥檚鈥楪reat Terror鈥�.聽

A chance discovery in the Mongolian National Central Archives in聽Ulaanbaatar聽of a trial against leading Buddhist monks prompted聽Kaplonski聽to begin the painstaking task of piecing together a story that conflicts with the narrative that most Mongolians recount if they are asked about the聽repressions聽and mass killings of the聽1930s.

Intrigued by what he read,聽Kaplonski聽set about improving his grasp of Mongol聽bichig聽(the classic Mongolian script in use at the time ) and from 2008 to 2011 he spent months sifting through documents held in the Central Archives in and other archives. He also visited some of the surviving monasteries, since restored, and interviewed a wide range of people, those who had lost relatives, had been monks themselves, or grew up next to the ruins of a monastery.

鈥淒ay after day, I sat under a window in the Central Archives and聽ploughed聽through piles of government resolutions and reports in what often seemed like a fruitless exercise, occasionally rewarded by the appearance of a document that provided a key piece of the puzzle 鈥� such as a letter between top officials wondering what to do with the monasteries now that they were all empty,鈥� says聽Kaplonski.

鈥淭he聽organisation聽of the archives is fairly rudimentary 鈥� for example, there is no cross-referencing of files. On top of that, the archives of the secret police, which hold the case files themselves, are closed to foreign, and most Mongolian, researchers.鈥�

Kaplonski鈥檚聽extraordinary determination bore fruit in 2008 when he was given permission to obtain copies of 鈥榬ehabilitation documents鈥� from the secret police (known as the聽Dotood聽Yam) archives. His coup meant that he was able to add a small but important piece to the giant puzzle of the lama question.

A close reading of the 鈥榬ehabilitation鈥� documents enabled聽Kaplonski聽to build a more detailed picture of the process by which people could apply to have their relatives cleared of the charges laid against them in the聽1930s. This process, essentially a re-examination of the original case, not only brought closure to those who never knew what happened to their relatives, but the documents also provided key details to the bureaucracy and reasoning behind the mass killings.

探花直播personal stories of the聽countless lamas who were killed, or fled into the countryside, will never fully be told.聽鈥淢onastic records for the聽1930s聽simply do not exist,鈥� says聽Kaplonski. 鈥淪uch documents were either destroyed by the state or by the monks themselves as their impending fate became evident.聽 Few Mongolians at this period wrote letters or kept diaries. Oral histories and reminiscences can give a personal account of a particular experience but not in the detail required to build a more comprehensive understanding of how and why what took place happened.鈥�

Most other scholars have simply portrayed the events of the聽1930s聽as Stalin鈥檚 Great Terror spilling over into Mongolia.聽Kaplonski聽has taken the inquiry still deeper into uncomfortable territory. His conclusion that the Mongolian secret police and government bureaucracies who carried out the monitoring and eventual killings of lamas, and others, had more agency than has been聽publically聽acknowledged will grate with popular Mongolian narratives for a period that, for many older citizens, falls within well living memory.

鈥淏laming Stalin allows unpleasant and potentially divisive issues of responsibility and guilt to be avoided.聽 Few Mongolians, or other academics have questioned this view. Difficult questions about the agency of Mongolians in the killings for the most part haven鈥檛 really been asked,鈥� he says.

鈥淚ndeed, it is reported that the archives of the security services remain closed precisely because to open them up would be devastating in a country where social networks are tightly intertwined and where it would not be a surprising for a descendent of a repressed person to know the descendants of his or her repressors.鈥�

Sinophobia: Anxiety, Violence, and the Making of Mongolian Identity聽by Franck聽Bill茅聽and聽 探花直播Lama Question: Violence, Sovereignty, and Exception in Early Socialist Mongolia聽by Christopher聽Kaplonski聽are both published by 探花直播 of Hawai鈥檌 Press. Both books will be launched at an event at聽Heffer鈥檚聽bookshop in Cambridge on 3 March 2015, 6.30-8.00pm. Booking not required but please RSVP to david.robinson@blackwells.co.uk.

MIASU聽was established in 1986 by the distinguished anthropologist Professor Caroline Humphrey. Ever since, it has played a pivotal role in the careers of researchers from all over the world seeking to understand this little known yet strategic region.

MIASU聽also facilitates visits from Mongolian and Tibetan scholars who typically stay in Cambridge for a few months, giving them the opportunity to access specialist and rare material in Cambridge 探花直播 Library and discuss their research with colleagues at Cambridge.

Inset images: ger in Ulaanbaatar selling fermented mare's milk and horse meat (Franck Bill茅), street scene in Ulaanbaatar (Chris Kaplonski), anti-Chinese graffiti: Mongolians let's kill Chinese聽(Bill茅),聽Baruun H眉ree, a Mongolian monastery in 脰v枚rhangai province, sutra (books) said to have been buried during socialism and later retrieved, two high-ranking lamas (foreground) on trial as counter-revolutionaries, 1937 (all Kaplonski).

In two separate books, anthropologists Dr Franck Bill茅 and Dr Christopher Kaplonski look at the identity of Mongolia, a country that stands at a cultural and political crossroads.聽 While Bill茅 explores Mongolia鈥檚 relationship with its powerful neighbours, Kaplonski revisits a dark period in the country鈥檚 recent history.

In the west, we see Mongolia as part of Asia, its people and culture enmeshed with those of its neighbours. But this is not how the Mongolians see themselves. They draw a clear line between themselves and other Asians, particularly the Chinese.

Franck Bill茅

Chris Kaplonski

Traffic in Ulaanbaator

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page. For image rights, please see the credits associated with each individual image.

Yes

Creating a shared resource for the endangered culture of the Kalmyks

amb206 — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 11:00:00 +0000

Early in the 1600s, several groups of Mongols travelled thousands of miles west in search of new pastures for their herds. 探花直播migration of the people who became known as the Kalmyks was prompted by tensions between Mongol communities. Their journey lasted several decades and they travelled around 3,000 miles to settle in the wide pastures west of the Caspian Sea. Here they formed the Kalmyk khanate.

In 1771, more than half the Kalmyk population attempted to return to their original homeland of Dzungaria, a region of central Asia then depopulated as a result of the Qing-Dzungar war. Only a third of those who set out on this return migration survived the perilous journey. Those Kalmyks who remained on the southern edge of Europe were incorporated into the expanding Russian Empire.

Today the Kalmyk communities living in the Republic of Kalmykia and the neighbouring region of Astrakhan (part of the Russian Federation) are remarkable in being the only Buddhist nation in Europe. Kalmyk culture, however, has long been considered critically endangered by Western scholars. Existing Western research on their distinctive way of life has been directed chiefly at the relatively small Kalmyk diaspora in the USA.

Now researchers at the Mongolia & Inner Studies Unit of the Department of Social Anthropology, 探花直播 of Cambridge, have started work on an ambitious project to document the cultural heritage of a people who are estimated to number around 300,000 worldwide. 探花直播objective of the project is to provide Kalmyk communities with a resource that can be used to compare, revive and popularise their endangered culture.

Making use of audio and video, the Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project will document Kalmyk culture in its broadest sense, including traditional songs and melodies, musical instruments, dances, oral literature, cuisine, crafts, festivals and many other. This unique body of knowledge will be deposited in open-access digital archives so that it can be shared worldwide.

探花直播five-year project is being funded by Arcadia, a charitable fund dedicated to the preservation of at-risk cultural heritage and the environments. 探花直播principal investigator is Dr Uradyn Bulag, a social anthropologist known for his research into transnational studies of people, politics and culture 鈥� and particularly for his work on Mongolia and Chinese minorities.

鈥� 探花直播project will focus on the Republic of Kalmykia and the adjoining Astrakhan region which is home to more than half the worldwide Kalmyk population. It will also look more broadly at Kalmyk communities in China and elsewhere in order to understand the inter-connectedness of Kalmyk culture in the Eurasian context,鈥� said Dr Bulag.

鈥淔rom the outset the project will involve local Kalmyk scholars and students. We hope that the resource we create will provide a means for long-separated communities to understand, communicate and exchange cultural information with each other.鈥�

Throughout history, the Kalmyk people have been repeatedly displaced and oppressed. Many of the Kalmyks who attempted to return to Dzungaria in the second half of the 18th century perished. Those who survived the trip found themselves divided into various segregated settlements by the powerful Qing Empire.聽 In the late 19th century they suffered major devastations in the Muslim rebellions in Xinjiang.

探花直播increasingly marginalised Kalmyks who remained in south west Russia were drafted by the Russian government to fight various wars of conquest which exerted a heavy toll on the population. Between 1943 and 1957 the entire community was exiled to Siberia and Central Asia, charged with betraying the Soviet motherland and collaborating with the invading German army.

探花直播fractured nature of the Kalmyk community 鈥� and the shifting identity of groups within it - represents a challenge to those seeking to document their culture. 鈥淚n terms of the project, we are defining as Kalmyk the people who separated from the Oirats of Dzungaria in the 17th century, travelled to Russia where they formed the Kalmyk khanate, and later scattered,鈥� said Dr Bulag.

鈥淲e hold that these people have a common culture even though, as a result of historical migration processes, some of them later adopted other identities and are now no longer called Kalmyk. In China and Mongolia, for example, they are known as Torghut.鈥�

Under the Soviet Union, observance of traditional cultural practises was discouraged or banned. With the collapse of the Soviet regime, opportunities opened up for minority cultures to rediscover themselves.

鈥� 探花直播Kalmyks in Russia lost many of their traditional knowledge bearers in exile and, when were allowed to return in 1957, they found themselves living as a minority in the autonomous republic that bears their name. In these circumstances, post-Soviet Kalmyk cultural revitalisation has been slow and ineffective,鈥� said Dr Bulag.

"We hope that the Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project will help to redress the balance by capturing and archiving an endangered culture and thus breathing new life into its richly distinctive practices.鈥�

探花直播team contributing to the project reflects its ambitious transnational reach. Dr Bulag and Dr Borjigin Burensain ( 探花直播 of Shiga Prefecture, Japan) will be overseeing the gathering of material among Oirat/Kalmyk groups in China. Dr Baasanjav Terbish and Dr Elvira Churuymova (both 探花直播 of Cambridge) will be working in Kalmykia in collaboration with local Kalmyk scholars. 探花直播project benefits from the expertise of Professor Caroline Humphrey ( 探花直播 of Cambridge) who is renowned for her work on Mongolian cultures.

Inset images: a pagoda in the centre of Elista; opening of a stupa in Shatta village, Kalmykia; an interview in progress (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project)

Arcadia is the charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. Since its inception in 2001, Arcadia has awarded grants in excess of $326 million.聽 Arcadia works to protect endangered culture and nature. For more information please see: www.arcadiafund.org.uk

Almost four centuries ago, ancestors of the Kalmyk people trekked across central Asia to form a Buddhist nation on the edge of Europe. Today Kalmyk communities are scattered across Eurasia, with the largest group in the Republic of Kalmykia.

A new project will document Kalmyk heritage to produce an open-access online resource to help Kalmyk communities revive their culture.聽

From the outset the project will involve local Kalmyk scholars and students. We hope that the resource we create will provide a means for long-separated communities to understand, communicate and exchange cultural information with each other.

Uradyn Bulag

Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project

Dancing at the opening of a stupa in Shatta village

Yes

I鈥檝e been working like a dog: revisiting a 1960s study of the working class

amb206 — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 12:00:00 +0000

In the early 1960s two young Cambridge academics 鈥� John Goldthorpe and David Lockwood 鈥� embarked on a study of the newly affluent working class. 探花直播town they chose to carry out their research was Luton, home of Vauxhall Motors which then employed some 18,000 people. Goldthorpe and Lockwood wanted to capture how greater prosperity was reshaping class divides and their team of investigators interviewed nearly 300 workers, recording their responses to open-ended questions.

Transcripts of these interviews, together with the investigators鈥� field notes, are held by the UK Data Service at the 探花直播 of Essex. Fifty years on, they make compelling reading about an era more readily associated in the public imagination with the rowdy classlessness of sex, drugs and rock and roll than with the fine-tuned nuances of social status. What this remarkable snapshot of British life reveals about the ways in which the boundaries of social class are established, and how cross-class differences are navigated, is the subject of a paper by Cambridge historian Dr Jon Lawrence, published earlier this year by History Workshop Journal.

One of the classic hits of the mid-1960s, Lennon and McCartney鈥檚 A Hard Day鈥檚 Night聽is a聽bitter-sweet tribute to the pain and pleasure of ordinary working-class life seen from the male point of view. 鈥淎rguably the song is about exactly the issues that the men discuss in the Luton study 鈥� how they work hard to provide the good things in life, and how their shared domestic lives are their main reward - Lennon sings 鈥業 work all day to get you money to buy you things鈥�,鈥� said Lawrence. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 significant that the Luton study focused exclusively on married men deeply invested in the idea of being the male provider.鈥�

探花直播men recruited for the study were interviewed first at work and then in their own homes alongside their wives. For these home interviews, success depended on the researchers establishing a rapport with their subjects. 探花直播investigators made notes about participants鈥� manners, the d茅cor and cleanliness of their houses, and the details of any refreshments offered, sometimes right down to the type of teapot and the way in which the sandwiches were cut.聽

One interviewer noted: 鈥淎t the end of the interview I was given a number of cups of tea in a newish tea service. It was served on a tray and I had an egg sandwich, which was cut into 4 diagonally.鈥� He then went on remark that his hosts: 鈥淒idn鈥檛 strike me as being conscious of any middle class strivings even though their house and their desire to pay for their son鈥檚 education certainly indicate an intention to get some of the good things in life.鈥� Half a century on, the sense of approval implicit in this judgement offers a fascinating glimpse of the sensitivity of the researcher鈥檚 class antennae.

In his essay, Social Science Encounters and the Negotiation of Difference in early 1960s England, Lawrence explores the ways in which the investigators carried their own deep-rooted perceptions of class 鈥� the 鈥榗lasses of the mind鈥� 鈥� into their interactions and how these judgments shaped their conclusions that British workers remained untouched by middle-class values and aspirations. It was a conclusion that provided scientific legitimacy to the Left鈥檚 rehabilitation of class politics in the aftermath of Labour鈥檚 surprise defeat in the 1970 election.

探花直播Luton study, which followed a pilot carried out in Cambridge, presented a considerable challenge to the research team of a dozen or more investigators, some of whom were recent graduates. 鈥� 探花直播working-class poor had long been accustomed to providing accounts of their lives to those with more power. Written records of these encounters are essentially transcripts that speak volumes about inequality. They give historians rich opportunities to explore the negotiation of class and power differentials,鈥� said Lawrence.

鈥淏ut cross-class encounters are not always so unequal. Once social investigators turned their attentions to the worker-citizens at the heart of the post-war vision for Britain, they were engaging with a fiercely independent culture summed up by the phrase 鈥榳e keep ourselves to ourselves鈥�. 探花直播lengthy questionnaire researchers used to gather their data covered workers鈥� lifestyles, attitudes and behaviour. It probed subjects on topics often considered taboo: child rearing, relations with family and neighbours, party politics and, above all, class.鈥�

Goldthorpe and Lockwood were keen to test 鈥� and disprove 鈥� the widely-held belief that prosperity was making British workers 鈥榖ourgeois鈥�, and this led them to spend much of the home interview probing attitudes to social class. Less used today in discussions of class, bourgeois was a label carrying with it a burden of upwardly-mobile pretention which grated with the notion that to be 鈥渨orking class and proud鈥� was to stand in the face of class snobbery.

Apparent from the transcripts of the Luton and Cambridge interviews is that the interviewers were acutely sensitive to the class symbolism of material culture, dress and social etiquette. 鈥淢any of the interviewers saw their task as to identify examples of the so-called bourgeois worker, and they meticulously recorded examples of workers who appeared to display middle-class taste. They were most likely to label as bourgeois, not those who shared their own taste but those they considered to be both status-conscious and aspiring,鈥� commented Lawrence.

探花直播researchers drew heavily on the nature of their interactions with respondents when making these judgments: were respondents trying to impress or was their behaviour 鈥榥atural鈥� and lacking in pretention?聽 Interestingly, it appears that none of the researchers saw themselves as bourgeois.

探花直播Luton study took place when sociology was only just emerging as a discipline in its own right 鈥� albeit one regarded with a fair degree of scepticism 鈥� and it was a field profoundly influenced by the methods of social anthropology. However, some of the notes made by the Luton researchers read as startlingly bald judgments about taste.聽 In describing a car worker鈥檚 house, one interviewer lamented a 鈥済arish side-board鈥� and a 鈥渞evolting vase and ewer of peach, gold and other colours.鈥� In contrast, another researcher remarked approvingly of the 鈥渄elightful coffee cups of chunky Scandinavian build鈥� observed in one Luton home.聽

One researcher declared of a clerk鈥檚 home: 鈥� 探花直播living room at the back was furnished in goodish petit-bourgeois taste.鈥� A visit to the 鈥渦pper middle鈥� home of a young teacher prompted the observation: 鈥淭aste perhaps a little shaky?? brass ornaments and a large photo of a poodle on the wall.鈥�

Observations made about the presence or absence of books and art in interviewees鈥� home reveal researchers鈥� sensibilities about working-class affluence. 鈥淭ime and again, one sees the investigators making distinctions between rational 鈥� and good 鈥� consumption made possible by rising living standards, and irrational 鈥� and bad 鈥� consumption driven by the status anxieties that advertising and the mass media played on,鈥� said Lawrence. 鈥淪uch thinking drew on the New Left鈥檚 critique on affluence: rising prosperity was not itself a problem, so long as workers did not become slaves to 鈥榝alse鈥� wants and the culture of 鈥榙isplay鈥�. Workers who shared the interviewers鈥� modern, non-conformist sensibilities were deemed free of bourgeois pretentions.鈥�

探花直播researchers鈥� field notes reflect a growing awareness that their own theoretical assumptions were being undermined by what Lawrence describes as the 鈥渕essy complexity of qualitative research鈥�. After interviewing an ex-army couple, from who he elicited precious little, one of the investigators wondered whether the team鈥檚 theoretic model of class might be 鈥渟uffering from a fallacy of misplaced concreteness鈥�. Most people will construct their picture of the classes, but what they 鈥榮pontaneously recognise鈥� hasn鈥檛 much to do with reference groups鈥�.

Most striking was that few workers felt that the distinction between the shop-floor and the office (between 鈥渨orks鈥� and 鈥渟taff鈥�) had any meaning outside the factory despite being, for the researchers, the fundamental dividing line in the society of 1960s Britain.

Over the last decades, many politicians (most famously Margaret Thatcher) have argued that class is irrelevant. Lawrence, however, argues that there is still a need to talk about class 鈥� not least because a framing of society in crude and often cruel class terms (from self-obsessed Vicky Pollard to ineffectual Tim Nice-but-Dim) in popular media and beyond remains ubiquitous in modern Britain. What it means to be working class, and how class identity has changed over the past 50 years, is a theme he explored in a recent BBC Radio 4 programme called 探花直播Unmaking of the English Working Class.

Talking about the Luton study, Lawrence argued that: 鈥淚f we reconceptualise class in cultural terms, and see it as a malleable resource through which people construct claims about personal, familial and group identity, we can see how class runs through the interviews as a structuring presence. 探花直播fixity of the researchers鈥� emphasis on class images precluded capturing the inherent fluidity of class as a cultural resource. They hoped to find a thing, not explore a process.鈥�

探花直播researchers went into the field with stronger preconceptions about what was bourgeois than what was proletarian. 鈥淭hey were clear that a new working class was in the making and in a sense set out to establish that it was making itself to its own blue print, not that of the conformist and judgemental English middle class. 探花直播鈥榗lass in the head鈥� for researchers was not the working class, traditional or new, but the traditional middle class 鈥� a class that many of them had shrugged off in their own lives in favour of the modern and meritocratic world of the new professions,鈥� said Lawrence.

鈥淯nless workers presented themselves as aspiring Hyacinth Buckets, with her la-di-da airs and graces, they were unlikely to be labelled bourgeois 鈥� and for reasons that probably have more to do with gender than class, there were very few Hyacinth Buckets among Luton鈥檚 factory workers in the early 1960s. But there were plenty of men who found redemption in home life even if, being interviewed by Cambridge academics, few chose to give it the sexualised twist of Lennon鈥檚 lyrics - 鈥楤ut when I get home to you I find the things that you do/Will make me feel alright鈥�.鈥�

Inset images: Vauxhall VX4/90, dainty sandwiches, a birthday party, 1960s ceramics, Hyacinth Bucket (all Flickr Creative Commons)

探花直播Beatles' song A Hard Day鈥檚 Night was released 50 years ago today. Its runaway success in the charts overlapped with a major sociological study of the newly-affluent working class that features in Lennon and McCartney鈥檚 lyrics. Cambridge historian Dr Jon Lawrence discusses what this study reveals about perceptions of class identity in 1960s Britain.聽

探花直播researchers appear to have worked with strong existing ideas about class taste which were then mobilised not only to identify workers displaying signs of 鈥榖ourgeois鈥� pretension, but also to place all respondents into a broad class schema based on cultural markers.

Jon Lawrence

hdluckhardt (Flickr Creative Commons)

London Picadilly Circus 1964

Yes

Cultural heritage after conflict

bjb42 — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Cultural heritage is frequently damaged or destroyed during periods of war and violence. But this is not always an accidental by-product 鈥� in some cases, sites of cultural heritage have been deliberately targeted as a means of inflicting pain and societal trauma. A community鈥檚 shared sense of belonging is often rooted in its heritage sites and landscapes, giving such places particular social significance. And the impact on society doesn鈥檛 stop with the breaking down, destruction, defaming or neglecting of such sites; it continues post-conflict, through the political and psychological impacts of the decisions made during reconstruction.

探花直播complexities of the relationship between post-conflict scenarios, heritage and identity are increasingly recognised, but with this recognition has come an awareness of how little we actually understand about its nature. What role does cultural heritage play during post-conflict reconstruction? What is the impact of reclaiming and rebuilding on people鈥檚 sense of identity? By investigating these relationships, we might learn more about how heritage can be harnessed to both personal and political agendas. On this basis, research in this area can help to guide crucial decisions by policy makers and regional practitioners regarding the reconstruction of cultural heritage.

CRIC

A four-year interdisciplinary project on Cultural Heritage and the Reconstruction of Identities after Conflict (CRIC), now midway through its research programme, aims to shed light on these issues.

Dr Marie Louise Stig S酶rensen in the Department of Archaeology leads the 鈧�1.2 million project, which is funded through the European Union Seventh Framework Programme and brings together researchers in Spain, France, Sweden, Germany, Cyprus, Bosnia and the UK. Her research interests and those of her team in Cambridge 鈥� archaeologist Dr Dacia Viejo Rose and social anthropologist Dr Paola Filippucci 鈥� lie in examining the link between heritage, identity and social memory. Collectively, the project is drawing on strengths in archaeology, social anthropology, history, human geography, sociology, political sciences and psychology.

Case by case

Five case studies provide the backbone of CRIC. Each focuses on physical cultural heritage 鈥� from landscapes to monuments, churches to bridges 鈥� damaged during civil war, ethnic violence and World War. Geographically, the studies cover Spain, Bosnia, France, Cyprus and Germany, and give insight into the recovery of rural landscapes as well as urban centres or whole towns. 探花直播project covers historical scenarios that range from recent conflicts in Bosnia and Cyprus, to the planting of forest over the First World War battlefield of Verdun in France, with its muted metaphors of covering and healing.

In Bosnia and Cyprus, case studies highlight the importance of comparing processes of destruction and reconstruction. Although both are ethnic conflicts, the fate of cultural heritage within the two areas differs substantially. In Bosnia, heritage is being re-shaped, as exhibitions and monuments are given new interpretations. Different agencies have sponsored the rebuilding of religious buildings and, in the process, have altered the traditional cultural landscape. Denominations of churches have changed, new minarets have been added to mosques 鈥� all representing departures from local architectural and cultural history. In Cyprus, on the other hand, differences in the intensity of development on either side of the divided city of Nicosia have resulted in substantial variation in the preservation of traditional buildings. In the north of the city, little has changed; yet in the south, old buildings have either been replaced by modern development or have seen changes in use.

探花直播case studies also illustrate different types of urban reconstruction projects, with Dresden in Germany exemplifying the faithful, apparently accurate, reconstruction of selected parts of the city centre, bombed during the Second World War, within an otherwise much-modernised city. In Spain, reconstruction of the Basque town of Gernika, bombed in the Spanish Civil War, exemplifies Franco鈥檚 architectural vision of the 鈥楴ew鈥� Spain. This vision was based on an idealised version of historic Spain and brought together several architectural forms and elements to be used throughout the country in its reconstruction.

In all, the CRIC project looks back over almost a century of European history. Each study has been designed to track the sequences of historical events that led to the destruction of cultural heritage, to investigate what effect this has had on communities and their sense of identity, and to identify how different perceptions of the event emerge and are affected by the form of the reconstruction. This makes it possible to trace specific examples of reconstruction as they unfold, pinpointing similarities and differences among them.

Memorials and meaning

When efforts are made to reconstruct cultural heritage, a new fabric of meaning and memory can be woven into the result. 探花直播findings of the research project are helping to identify what factors are important for understanding the impact of reconstruction, including how they can change the way that events are perceived, or can even become yet another means of conflict.

One thread of the research has therefore been the recording and analysis of anniversary events, both archival and current. This has demonstrated how the staging of memorials can manipulate the manner in which past events are remembered and what they are used for. A reconstruction of the sequence of commemoration events that have happened on 13th February, the anniversary of the 1945 bombing of Dresden, include those under the communist regime and following the recent appearance of neo-fascist groups. This reconstruction has shown how, even from very early on, the memorial events involved both those who mourned and those who used the anniversary for political ends.

In Gernika, the 26th April anniversary of the 1937 bombing first became a public event after the death of Franco. 探花直播project has traced the acceleration in the anniversary鈥檚 international status, and the tensions and competition for control between local groups and regional government, as well as between the church and secular groups. Even recently established anniversary events, such as those at the Srebrenica memorial site in Bosnia and Herzegovina, appear far from uncomplicated, as some groups see the anniversary as a provocation or a reminder, whereas others see it as an opportunity to mourn and simultaneously express rights.

Anniversary events are only part of the equation. CRIC research shows that contributing to the complex mix are also such factors as the role of national and international communities involved in reconstruction, and how memories are transmitted from one generation to the next. Symbols too play an important role, both at the mundane level of mass culture and as part of public rituals. This is seen for example in Gernika, where the traditional symbol of the oak tree represents the historic civil liberties bestowed on the region since the Medieval period. 探花直播current tree 鈥� propagated through generations 鈥� still stands on the same spot, but the symbol also appears today in many other contexts such as advertisements.

Societal impact

探花直播CRIC research programme provides a much-needed understanding of the main characteristics of post-conflict reconstruction processes and their implications for society. Not only does this help us to understand how we behave socially and culturally, but it is also highly relevant to policy makers and organisations invol

ved with reconstruction efforts. Too often, despite the best intentions, reconstruction efforts have been found to prolong conflicts and tensions simply because their impacts are not properly understood.

For more information, please contact the author Dr Marie Louise Stig S酶rensen (mlss@cam.ac.uk) at the Department of Archaeology, or Ben Davenport, CRIC Administrator (bkd20@cam.ac.uk) or visit www.cric.arch.cam.ac.uk/). Images collected as part of the CRIC project are stored at DSpace (www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/), the institutional repository of the 探花直播 of Cambridge.

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A collaborative study led by Cambridge is examining the impact on society of the destruction and reconstruction of cultural heritage.

探花直播CRIC research programme provides a much-needed understanding of the main characteristics of post-conflict reconstruction processes and their implications for society.

Kim-Michael S酶rensen

Case de Juntas, Gernika

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