scholarly journals The Historical Irish Harp: Myths Demystified

2015 ◽  
pp. 253-280
Author(s):  
Andrew Lawrence-King ◽  
◽  
Katerina Antonenko ◽  
Natalia O'Shea ◽  
◽  
...  

This article presents the work of three scholars from three disciplinary areas, surveying the history of the Irish harp through the lenses of organology and musicology, supported by literary and mythological studies. The historical Irish harp, also known as Cláirseach or Early Gaelic harp, is simultaneously one of the world’s most famous and least known musical instruments. We see it on various romanticised “Irish” flags, on the State arms of Ireland (and indeed, representing Ireland, on those of the UK and Canada), on the Irish Presidential standard and the flag of the Irish province of Leinster, on Irish Euro coins, and painted on the tails of aeroplanes. The Guinness brewing company exports millions of images of the harp, labelling the bottles of its most famous product. But we hear it far less often, and our knowledge of its technical workings is clouded by a mist of repeated half-truths and patriotically inspired legends. The popular vision of ancient harpers is surrounded by an aura of romantic mysticism, but it is generally assumed that they not only enjoyed the privileges of freemen, but could influence listeners’ emotions with mysterious power. “The only entertainer with independent legal status (soíre) is the harpist… He is expected to be able to play music to bring on tears (goltraige), to bring on joy (gentraige) and to bring on sleep (súantraige)”. Now that the political tensions surrounding such a national symbol have declined, there is a new opportunity for rigorous, international research with full use of modern methodologies. The first step in this renewed research effort should be to abandon any preconceptions, to re-examine some musicological folklore and debunk some cherished myths.

Author(s):  
Peter D. McDonald

The section introduces Part II, which spans the period 1946 to 2014, by tracing the history of the debates about culture within UNESCO from 1947 to 2009. It considers the central part print literacy played in the early decades, and the gradual emergence of what came to be called ‘intangible heritage’; the political divisions of the Cold War that had a bearing not just on questions of the state and its role as a guardian of culture but on the idea of cultural expression as a commodity; the slow shift away from an exclusively intellectualist definition of culture to a more broadly anthropological one; and the realpolitik surrounding the debates about cultural diversity since the 1990s. The section concludes by showing how at the turn of the new millennium UNESCO caught up with the radical ways in which Tagore and Joyce thought about linguistic and cultural diversity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 144 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
Victor A. Pchelkin ◽  
◽  
Galina Yu. Kuznetsova ◽  
Tatiana А. Zheltonozhko ◽  
◽  
...  

A step-by-step and objective review of the history of the State Planning Committee of the USSR (Gosplan), presented by the authors, helps to form a holistic idea of how the power of the USSR arose and what objective necessity or what subjective factors led to a radical change in the political and socio-economic structure of the country.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-149
Author(s):  
Damien Mahiet

Despite the lively scholarly debate on the place of The Sleeping Beauty (1890) in the political and cultural history of the Franco-Russian alliance in the 1890s, the representation of international relations in the first production of The Nutcracker (1892) has so far received little attention. This representation includes the well-known series of character dances in the second act of the ballet, but also the use of French fashion from the revolutionary era to costume the party guests, the mechanical dolls, the toy soldiers, and even Prince Nutcracker. The fairy-tale world offered a frame that not only promoted the absolutist aspirations of Alexander III's regime, but also solved the symbolic challenge of a problematic alliance between republican France and tsarist Russia. The same visual repertoire informed diplomatic life: four years after The Nutcracker, in 1896, the décor for the state visit of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna in France duplicated that of the fairy-tale world on stage.


Author(s):  
Ruth Patrick

This chapter outlines the rationale behind conducting repeat interviews with out-of-work benefit claimants in an effort to better understand lived experiences of welfare reform. It introduces readers to the political and theoretical context, and highlights the value in employing social citizenship as a theoretical lens in order to tease out citizenship from above and below. The recent context of welfare reform in the UK is also introduced, highlighting the extent to which successive rounds of welfare reform have cumulatively reworked the relationship between the citizen and the state. The research on which this book is based is detailed, and the value in working through and across time by taking a qualitative longitudinal approach highlighted.


Author(s):  
Nicolai Von Eggers ◽  
Mathias Hein Jessen

Michel Foucault developed his now (in)famous neologism governmentality in the first of the two lectures he devoted to ’a history of governmentality, Security, Territory, Population (1977-78) and The Birth of Biopolitics (1978-79). Foucault developed this notion in order to do a historical investigation of ‘the state’ or ‘the political’ which did not assume the entity of the state but treated it as a way of governing, a way of thinking about governing. Recently, the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has taken up Foucault’s notion of governmentality in his writing of a history of power in the West, most notably in The Kingdom and the Glory. It is with inspiration from Agamben’s recent use of Foucault that Foucault’s approach to writing the history of the state (as a history of governmental practices and the reflection hereof) is revisited. Foucault (and Agamben) thus offer another way of writing the history of the state and of the political, which focuses on different texts and on reading more familiar texts in a new light, thereby offering a new and notably different view on the emergence of the modern state and politics.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-93
Author(s):  
Anna Ceglarska ◽  

History of the rise of the Roman Republic as described by Polybius The aim of this article is to refer Polybius’s political theory, included in Book VI of The Histories, to the history of the rise of the Roman Republic. This theme must have been particularly significant for Polybius. For him, Rome was the most perfect example of a mixed government system, and the aim of describing its history was to show the development of this perfect system. The article presents the mutual relation of theory and history, starting with the period of kingship, up to the emergence of the democratic element, i.e. the moment when Rome acquired the mixed system of government. Both the political and social contexts of the changes are outlined. The analysis suggests that Polybius related his political theory to the history of the state he admired, thus providing the theory with actual foundations. Reconstructing his analysis makes it possible to see the history of Rome in a different light, and to ponder the system itself and its decline, even though the main objective of both Polybius and this article is to present its development.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rizka Wahyu Nurmalaningrum

Often the link between politics, economics and history escapes our attention so far. Much of the history of Indonesian development even the political history of the Indonesian nation itself has been forgotten by this millennial era society. They prefer mobile phones rather than books. Prefer cellphones from history. Even though history is important. The successors of the nation in the millennial era are more concerned with social media than knowing the origin of a country. Many do not understand the history of someone who can become president. There are various theories about history, such as Aristotelian theory, and the theory of plateau. Arisstoteles can be made a reference for learning for the ideals of the State with a fair and calm manner. The discussion with this theme takes the example of the fall of Soeharto as President of the Republic of Indonesia.


Author(s):  
I. V. Karpova ◽  
K. A. Karpov

The paper is aimed at studying the features of the migration legislation of Japan and the study of the legal status of the immigration bureau of this state. Japan is a country that has passed a special path of historical development. In many ways, this specificity was due to the state policy of isolationism. The existing cultural traditions largely determine the attitude of the Japanese government to immigration. The paper studies the history of the formation of migration control authorities of the state in question, the peculiarities of the legal status of the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice of Japan and its structure, analyzes the powers of the Immigration Bureau employees. The paper also provides information on the size of the Immigration Bureau and state funding of the activities of this body.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
Rully Aprilia Zandra ◽  
Rustopo Rustopo

Keroncong merupakan musik, instrumen musik, dan genre yang diklaim sebagai warisan budaya indonesia. Keroncong sebagai warisan budaya tentunya memiliki sejarah yang panjang.sejarah yang panjang juga tidak akan luput dari pasang surut dan perkembangan. Pasang surut dan perkembangan umumnya dipengaruhi politik dan situasi sosial. Untuk memetakan sejarah keroncong di Indonesia yang diwarnai politik dan situasi sosial, data dikumpulkan melalui dokumentasi, telaah pustaka, dan wawancara. Data valid dikonfirmasi dan dipaparkan secara kronologis berdasar periodesasinya. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa keroncong bermula dari diseminasi instrumen musik bangsa Portugis yang menjalin hubungan dengan Majapahit. Diseminasi instrumen fado di nusantara mengalami perubahan morfologi dan teknik perlakuan alatnya. Perubahan morfologi dan perlakuan alat ini melahirkan instrumen keroncong atau cukulele. Gaya lirik dibangun oleh kearifan lokal nusantara sesuai demografi dan situasi sosial di masing-masing lokasi penciptaannya. Gaya lirik dan pasang surut popularitas keroncong sebagai kelompok musik didorong dan dihentikan oleh naik turunnya kekuatan politik Portugis, Majapahit, Belanda, Jepang, dan Orde Lama dan Orde Baru. Political and Social Situations in the History of Keroncong in IndonesiaAbstract:Keroncong is music, musical instrument, and the genre that is claimed to be Indonesia's cultural heritage. Keroncong, as a cultural heritage, certainly has a long history. A long history will not escape its ups and downs and developments. Political and social situations generally influence the ups and downs and developments. In order to map the history of keroncong in Indonesia, which is colored by politics and social situations, data is collected through documentation, literature review, and interviews. Valid data are confirmed and presented chronologically based on the periodization. The results of this study indicate that keroncong originated from the dissemination of Portuguese musical instruments, which had a relationship with Majapahit. The dissemination of fado instruments in the archipelago has changed the morphology and treatment techniques of the tools. Changes in the morphology and treatment of this tool gave birth to the keroncong or Cukulele instrument. The local wisdom of the archipelago builds the lyric style according to the demographics and social situations in each location of its creation. The lyric style and the ebb and flow of keroncong's popularity as a musical group was driven and stopped by the ups and downs of the political power of the Portuguese, Majapahit, Dutch, Japanese, and the Old and New Order.


2004 ◽  
Vol 76 (9) ◽  
pp. 426-436
Author(s):  
Danilo Basta

The history of reception and the history of interpretation of Kant's legal deliberation are not the same even after two centuries. This was not only due to the recipients and interpreters of Kant's thoughts but also and above all due to Kant, i.e., the content and the spirit of his philosophy. The law of the state, the international law, and the cosmopolitan law are the ways to approach the eternal peace, which was considered by Kant as the final goal of the entire international law. The existence of the State is based on the idea of the Initial Agreement. According to Kant, in the Initial agreement all the individuals abandoned their external freedom in order to attain the freedom in a legal order as members of the political union. Kant did not always succeed to stay on the level of his own legal and political principles, and hence the light of his philosophy is sometimes covered with the dark shadows.


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