scholarly journals Looking for Africville - Complementary Visual Constructions of a Contended Space

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Stephen Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Still Images ◽  
Parallel Argument ◽  
Complex Construction ◽  
The City ◽  
Over 40 Years

This paper explores the historical sources, personal narratives and representations of Africville, an area beside the Bedford Basin near Halifax in Nova Scotia which has been the site of a struggle for social justice and reparation since it was destroyed by the city of Halifax authorities over 40 years ago. The article examines the complex construction of the place as a source of identity and protest, the persistence of the community in memories and stories retrieved in walking the site with a former resident. Through careful consideration of video and still images, artworks and archive maps, the study traces the intersection of different discourses and shows how visual representations and their interpretation produce a complex understanding of place. Images, it is argued, have a different ontology to writing and produce a gradually unfolding, parallel argument. Africville is considered through a combination of traditional written texts, visual ethnographic sources and popular cultural signs, producing a complementary and intersubjective appreciation of a place and its lines of possibility.

scholarly journals Between field and home: notes from the balcony

2021 ◽  
pp. 147447402110205
Author(s):  
Shruti Ragavan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Liminal Space ◽  
Lower Middle Class ◽  
The Past ◽  
Urban Village ◽  
The City

Balconies, windows and terraces have come to be identified as spaces with newfound meaning over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and concomitant lockdowns. There was not only a marked increase in the use of these spaces, but more importantly a difference in the very nature of this use since March 2020. It is keeping this latter point in mind, that I make an attempt to understand the spatial mobilities afforded by the balcony in the area of ethnographic research. The street overlooking my balcony, situated amidst an urban village in the city of Delhi – one of my field sites, is composed of middle and lower-middle class residents, dairy farms and farmers, bovines and other nonhumans. In this note, through ethnographic observations, I reflect upon the balcony as constituting that liminal space between ‘field’ and ‘home’, as well as, as a spatial framing device which conditions and affects our observations and interactions. This is explored by examining two elements – the gendered nature of the space, and the notion of ‘distance and proximity’, through personal narratives of engaging-with the field, and subjects-objects of study in the city.

scholarly journals “His Soul Is Weeping inside That He Cannot Bury the Dead as before.” Plague and Rebellion in Debrecen (Hungary), 1739–1742

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 687
Author(s):  
Ildikó Sz. Kristóf
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Anthropological Study ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
Religious Piety ◽  
The City

This is a historical anthropological study of a period of social and religious tensions in a Calvinist city in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first half of the 18th century. The last and greatest plague epidemic to devastate Hungary and Transylvania between cca. 1738 and 1743 led to a clash of different opinions and beliefs on the origin of the plague and ways of fighting it. Situated on the Great Hungarian Plain, the city of Debrecen saw not only frequent violations of the imposed lockdown measures among its inhabitants but also a major uprising in 1739. The author examines the historical sources (handwritten city records, written and printed regulations, criminal proceedings, and other documents) to be found in the Debrecen city archives, as well as the writings of the local Calvinist pastors published in the same town. The purpose of the study is to outline the main directions of interpretation concerning the plague and manifest in the urban uprising. According to the findings of the author, there was a stricter and chronologically earlier direction, more in keeping with local Puritanism in the second half of the 17th century, and there was also a more moderate and later one, more in line with the assumptions and expectations of late 18th-century medical science. While the former set of interpretations seems to have been founded especially on a so-called “internal” cure (i.e., religious piety and repentance), the latter proposed mostly “external” means (i.e., quarantine measures and herbal medicine) to avoid the plague and be rid of it. There seems to have existed, however, a third set of interpretations: that of folk beliefs and practices, i.e., sorcery and magic. According to the files, a number of so-called “wise women” also attempted to cure the plague-stricken by magical means. The third set of interpretations and their implied practices were not tolerated by either of the other two. The author provides a detailed micro-historical analysis of local events and the social and religious discourses into which they were embedded.

scholarly journals Quezon's City: Corruption and contradiction in Manila's prewar suburbia, 1935–1941

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Pante
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Spatial Representation ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Quezon City ◽  
The Future ◽  
Weak Points ◽  
The City

Quezon City was founded in 1939 as a planned city and envisioned as the future capital of the Philippines, which was anticipating its independence in a few years. Led by President Manuel Quezon, Philippine politicians conferred upon the city narratives of nationhood and social justice to make it the best spatial representation of a nation-in-waiting. However, underneath these state-centric ideologies was the authoritarianism of the Quezon regime, which used urban politics to centralise power. But far from being a symbol of the President's undisputed dominance, Quezon City's inherent contradictions became weak points in the city's official narrative.

scholarly journals Research of technical characteristics of wall leveling signs in the context of the ethymology of terms

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (I) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
I. TREVOHO ◽  
◽  
A. DRBAL ◽  
E. ILKIV ◽  
M. GALYARNYK ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geodetic Network ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Term Operation ◽  
Geodetic Networks ◽  
City Environment ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
The City ◽  
Technical Recommendations

The aim is to clarify the etymology of the terms “wall leveling mark” and “wall leveling benchmark” in the context of the historical sequence of the appearance of leveling networks in the Ukrainian lands to present the author’s view on these definitions in scientific reference and encyclopedic geodetic literature. To conduct a chronological study of the phenomenon of leveling wall signs of different structures and the corresponding technologies of binding to them in leveling networks, which were created in the Ukrainian lands during the XIX–XXI centuries. Pay attention to the fact that level marks and wall frames, which are valid (working) independent geodetic signs in leveling networks, due to long-term operation are carriers of important geodetic information. Method. To study the results of the analysis of historical sources, standards, reference, encyclopedic and scientific literature in the context of the analysis of the definitions of “level mark” and “wall benchmark” was used analysis of patterns of functioning of the relevant geodetic terminological units. Results. On the territory of Ukraine during the XIX–XXI centuries. Created a leveling (height) network [State Geodetic Network, experimental operation], which operates to this day. The functioning of the leveling (height) network is regulated by legislative acts and regulations. Thanks to the geo-portal of the DGM of Ukraine created by NDIGK, it is possible to obtain information about the preserved level signs. The peculiarity of the leveling (height) network is that it was created by different departments of different countries [Glushkov V.V., 2003] with different height systems and taking into account the access of Ukrainian lands to the Black Sea. All this led to the use of different designs of wall leveling signs and, accordingly, their interpretation, which is not sufficiently reflected in the geodetic reference and regulatory literature. Scientific novelty. The performed comprehensive analysis of information sources can serve as a basis for development of scientific and technical recommendations formonitoring of level signs ofDGMofUkraine and will allow to reveal weaknesses of their functioning which are caused by changes in vital activity of the city environment. The practical value of the work is to solve the problem of distinguishing the production characteristics of the wall leveling mark and wall leveling benchmark, which are fixed leveling signs in geodetic networks of thickening and leveling networks to develop technical developments for inspection and updating points II, leveling networks classes and geodetic networks of thickening in the context of monitoring of geodetic points of DGM of Ukraine and their corresponding representation in the scientific and reference geodetic literature.

scholarly journals Under the Tourist Gaze: Kathmandu in Popular Culture

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Arvind Dahal
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Tourist Gaze ◽  
Image Production ◽  
Cultural Negotiations ◽  
The City

 This research explores the shifts and continuities of representing Kathmandu City in Western cinematic and musical creations since 1970s. My research concerns with the representations of Kathmandu in the popular culture intends to explore the imagination of Kathmandu as a touristic place and how they represent the city and produce images in the popular culture which expands far beyond the visual apprehension and enjoyment of a landscape. While doing so my research first explores the representations, practices and processes of identity formation and cultural negotiations that are brought about in the city by tourism and secondly, it analyses the content and the visual representations of the movies and songs relying primarily on the theoretical tools of Popular Culture and secondarily the image production of the landscape in terms of Tourist gaze.

The Politics of Planning

2012 ◽  
pp. 738-758
Author(s):  
J. Phillip Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
The City

This article examines the political aspect of urban planning. It discusses Robert Beauregard's opinion that planning should not reject modernism entirely or unconditionally embrace postmodernism, and that planners should instead maintain a focus on the city and the built environment as a way of retaining relevancy and coherence, and should maintain modernism's commitment to political reform and to planning's meditative role within the state, labor, and capital. The article suggests that planners should also advocate utopian social justice visions for cities which are not so far-fetched as to be unrealizable so that planning can then attach itself to widespread values such as democracy, the common good, or equality.

The Mothers of Tiananmen: Curating Social Justice

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna C. Ashton
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Women Artists ◽  
International Collaboration ◽  
Tiananmen Square ◽  
Chinese Populations ◽  
Creative Resistance ◽  
Participatory Arts ◽  
The City

Focusing on the activist exhibition The Mothers of Tiananmen (2019), this article examines my methodology of curating for social action and justice using international collaboration and participatory arts-as-research. The exhibition responded to the ongoing campaign for justice for the victims and survivors of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, as well as sought to support women’s creative resistance and voice. The Mothers of Tiananmen was co-created with artist Mei Yuk Wong, the 64 Museum (Hong Kong), and artists participating in the Centre for International Women Artists (Manchester). The context for the exhibition is the city of Manchester, which has one of the highest Chinese populations in England, along with a diverse international demographic with over 200 languages spoken. Through this case study, curating is presented as a creative and critical tool by which to respond to the range of justice and activist concerns of international and diasporic communities.

Ecclesiastical Monuments of Brașov/Kronstadt/Brassó and the (Imagined) Topography of a Transylvanian City in Late Medieval and Early Modern Times

Transilvania ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 59-64
Author(s):  
Liviu Cîmpeanu
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Early Modern Times ◽  
The City ◽  
Insight Into

By definition, a monument has extraordinary features that mark landscape and human minds alike. Without any doubt, the Medieval and Early Modern World of Europe was marked by ecclesiastical monuments, from great cathedrals and abbeys to simple chapels and altars at crossroads. A very interesting case study offers Braşov/ Kronstadt/Brassó, in the south-eastern corner of Transylvania, where historical sources attest several ecclesiastic monuments, in and around the city. Late medieval and early modern documents and chronicles reveal not only interesting data on the monasteries, churches and chapels of Braşov/Kronstadt/Brassó, but also on the way in which citizens and outsiders imagined those monuments in their mental topography of the city. The inhabitants of Braşov/ Kronstadt/Brassó and foreign visitors saw the monasteries, churches and chapels of the city, kept them in mind and referred to them in their (written) accounts, when they wanted to locate certain facts or events. The present paper aims in offering an overview of the late medieval and early modern sources regarding the ecclesiastical monuments of Braşov/Kronstadt/Brassó, as well as an insight into the imagined topography of a Transylvanian city.

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