Ian Turner’s The Australian Dream and Australia’s “settler transition”

Focusing on radical labour historian Ian Turner’s The Australian Dream (1968), this article reflects on the evolution of Australia’s settler colonial imagination. During a few crucial decades in the nineteenth century, colonial traditions were overcome by settler colonial ones. The former espoused a system where British rulers would paternally manage a colonial environment and all its populations (pastoralists, free settlers, convicts, emancipated convicts, and Indigenous peoples); the latter advocated the establishment of self-reliant agricultural communities of free settlers. In Replenishing the Earth (2009), James Belich distinguished between settler “transition” and settler “revolution”, and emphasised the imaginative elements that underpin and precede the shift to settler self-government. As the global settler transition took hold, locales usually associated with the perception and expectation of degenerative processes were reconfigured as propitious sites for experimenting in sociopolitical regeneration. Following and expanding on Belich’s framework, this article links Australia’s settler transition with its historiography.     

Some Considerations Regarding the Persistence of the Economic Elite in Mexico in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

This article presents an analysis of some of the most important works on the persistence of the economic elite in Mexico during the first half of the twentieth century. The study seeks to answer the following question: How did the formation and character of the Mexican economic elites change during this period? It examines the effect of events such as the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) and the agrarian reform programmes, as well as political instability and institutional uncertainty, on the persistence or weakening of the landowning and industrial elite who had consolidated their power during the Porfiriato period (1876–1911).     

Recreating the past in the ornamentation of stately homes and the leisure activities conducted within them: the Duchess of Parcent as a case study for the Spanish aristocracy in the early twentieth century

This paper attempts to vindicate the part played by certain Spanish aristocratic women in the management, conservation, and transmission of their artistic patrimony in the decades around the turn of the twentieth century by creating art collections and displaying them in their own homes. The works were exhibited in rooms that were decorated and furnished to suggest historical ambiences in which French trends rubbed shoulders with styles that had been developed in Spain throughout its history, turning their homes into devices that recreated past times. Similarly, retrospective views of Spanish art were the focus of leisure and entertainment activities driven by ladies from the upper echelons of society through the performance of tableaux vivants. The focus of this study will be Trinidad Scholtz Hermensdorff, Duchess of Parcent.     

‘Paz,progreso, justicia y honradez’: law and citizenship in Alta Verapaz during the regime of Jorge Ubico⋆

Prospects for the ‘rule of law’ in the present are shaped by historical experiences of law by elite and non‐elite groups in the past. In this article I explore changing conceptions and practices of‘rights’and‘justice’as expressed in the legal and administrative encounters between indigenous people and state officials during the regime of Jorge Ubico (1931–1944). The extension of the state's coercive and administrative apparatus to remote rural areas, new legislation and changes in public administration transformed relations between working people, coffee fmqueros and the state in Guatemala. This implied new obligations and exactions for Mayans, but also provided them with new opportunities to contest and negotiate their conditions. Indigenous people strategically engaged with the law to contest the terms of their domination by elite actors and to mediate conflicts between themselves. As state ideologies of‘moral behaviour’led to increasing regulation of the private sphere, this was particularly important in the case of conflicts over gendered rights and obligations. Although formally excluded from the category of citizens, indigenous people used the official language and discourse of citizenship to further their claims, in turn reshaping Guatemalan nation‐state.     

Le probléme des origines des Assemblées d'États: Réflexions méthodologiques à la lumière de l'histoire sud‐est européenne de l'institution

Summary

This paper examines the relations between republican and democratic forces in Restoration Spain. From the middle of the last century, republicanism was the political movement most clearly involved with the democratization of Spanish politics. After the collapse of the 1873 Republic, the republican movement went through a severe crisis which led to its fragmentation over issues both of principle (federalists against unitarists) and of practice (revolutionaries against reformists). Between 1873 and 1931 Spanish republicanism underwent a marked transformation. The old republicanism was characterized by the modes of political activity of the nineteenth century — the club, the committee, the masonic lodge. The new republicanism, on the other hand, emerged from the first decade of the present century clearly moving in the direction of the modern political parties which finally crystallized out in 1931. Together the Radical and the Reformist parties are a case‐study in the transition between the classical and the modern which perfectly exemplifies the hybrid nature of republican democracy.

Though Spanish republicanism was socially heterogeneous, embracing within its various parts elements of the upper and middle bourgeoisie, substantial sections of the petty, urban bourgeoisie, and a declining, but still numerous, section of the working class, it still needed an alliance with the socialists (the Conjunción of 1910). However, what was most notable about Spanish republicanism was its link with the intelligentsia; it was they who gave it its character and who made the greatest effort to integrate Spain into the most modern currents of European thought.     

Cultural histories of kumiss: tuberculosis,heritage and national health in post-Soviet Kazakhstan

In the nineteenth century, European doctors began to credit kumiss (fermented mare’s milk) for the apparent absence of tuberculosis among the nomads of the Eurasian steppe. As European and American medical journals published articles on the ‘kumiss cure’ and Russian doctors opened kumiss sanatoria, praise for the drink’s curative powers was wound together with romanticized images of the nomadic pastoralists whose creation it was. In Soviet and now in post-Soviet Kazakhstan, kumiss came to hold the double status of medicine and of national heritage. Yet if in the nineteenth century, the steppe was notable for the absence of tuberculosis, in the late twentieth century, it is notable for its presence: Kazakhstan, like many post-Soviet countries, is currently the site of an epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Discussions of the epidemic now tangle together concerns over the physical health of the population with concern over the cultural health of the body politic.     

The Initiation of the Sino-Indian rivalry

ABSTRACT

Sino-Indian interactions after the mid-19th century had a causal influence on Chinese and Indian elite perceptions. Modern China encountered modern India as an agent of British imperialism. China perceived India as an “imperial” power in the late 1940s by resorting to the availability heuristic while doubting India’s intentions in Tibet/Southeast Asia. By contrast, India viewed China as a fellow victim of colonialism that had sought India’s help during World War II. Consequently, India perceived China as a “partner” in postwar/postcolonial Asia. This interpretation was based on confirmation bias after 1947, despite contradictory Chinese signals. India’s image of China changed only after the 1950–51 invasion/annexation of Tibet. India then ascribed the image of an “expansionist/hegemonic” power to China based on historical analogy. Nevertheless, they carefully calibrated their strategies towards each other in consonance with these images until the 1959 Lhasa Uprising, thereby preventing their relationship from descending into militarized hostilities.     

The Diputación de la Grandeza and the organization of ‘Retrospective Art Exhibitions’ in the second half of the nineteenth century

This paper analyses the art policies deployed by old Spanish nobility in the second half of the nineteenth century, and in particular those who became involved in organising what were then known as retrospective art exhibitions. The old nobility, whose families held titles that dated back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and belonged to the category of Grandes (Grandees) of Spain, joined together in the Diputación de la Grandeza de España – a private association created in opposition to the new nobility. It was a consultative institution attached to the Crown and created in 1815 under the honorary presidency of the King. This paper argues that the distinction sought by this regrouping of the old nobility does not imply lack of engagement in the new artistic model based on the notion of fine arts, in which they were responsible for a number of rather telling nuances. As well as sharing with the bourgeoisie the general idea that the arts were in need of protection, the nobility cultivated the image that patronage of the arts was linked to tradition, and this had consequences for the evaluation of history, the musealisation of their private collections and the public reception of old art.     

Indigenous Peoples in Commonwealth Countries: The Legacy of the Past and Present-day Struggles for Self-determination

Abstract

Although the UK has no indigenous peoples as understood by the UN, its earlier colonial policies in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Caribbean have had consequences for today’s first peoples Colonial policies that deprived the native populations of their lands, resources and self-determination were generally pursued by the independent states that came in their wake. Today the world’s indigenous peoples are looking to bring to an end their colonial-type situations and re-establish control over their lands and futures. After more than 20 years, the United Nations adopted a Declaration setting out the rights of indigenous peoples, but several Commonwealth countries were unrelenting opponents. This article looks at the colonial heritage as it affects indigenous peoples in the Commonwealth countries, some of the contemporary struggles and situations that have marked the last years, and tries to understand why countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand were the last to accept that indigenous peoples had a right to self-determination.     

Regulating the race: Aboriginal children in private European homes in colonial Australia

Abstract

This article focuses on the incorporation of Aboriginal children into European families on a private basis in the colonial era. While state-based missions and reserves were central sites where Aboriginal children were placed, other Aboriginal children were privately placed with European families during the colonial era. This article explores the shifting reasons for this practice. It finds that Aboriginal children who entered European families away from the control of the state came under the control of Europeans through a variety of ways. Initially, Aboriginal child removals were conducted during the course of violent frontier conflict or involved children who had been impacted by introduced European diseases. Smaller numbers of Indigenous children were taken as objects of curiosity. As the nineteenth century progressed, however, it became increasingly common for settlers to take Indigenous children for labour purposes. The article argues that the white middle-class family was positioned as a site for “civilising” children, where the moral regulation of childhood was conducted. This article adds a new dimension to colonial understandings about the role and structure of the family. It also expands understandings about Indigenous child removal in Australia's past.     

Land conflict and Mayangna territorial rights in Nicaragua's Bosawás reserve

Abstract— This paper examines conflicts over land and resources in Nicaragua's Bosawás rainforest reserve between Mestizos and Mayangna Indian people. Mestizos are people of mixed Indian and European descent who speak Spanish and do not consider themselves to be Indians. Bosawás is one of the last refuges of the Mayangna indigenous group and is also the largest area of protected tropical rainforest in Central America. The Mayangna village of Sikilta, in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region, is used to illustrate the nature of land conflicts in the region. Such conflicts–between economic development and conservation, between livelihoods and conservation, and between peasant livelihoods and indigenous territorial rights–are symptomatic of rainforest areas in other parts of the world. Land conflicts in Bosawás are examined within the broader economic, political and institutional context. Potential solutions to land conflict in Sikilta are explored. The paper illustrates the complexities surrounding the demarcation and upholding of indigenous land rights. It highlights the institutional complexities and weaknesses which have allowed Sikilta's land problem to go unresolved. It is argued that until national problems of unequal access to land and unsustainable forms of forest use are addressed, communities like Sikilta will continue to suffer invasion of their land.     

Modernizing the Estonian Farmhouse,Redefining the Family, 1880s–1930s

In the nineteenth century, the transition from a Baltic-German-controlled manor-and-serf economy to individually owned farmsteads transformed all aspects of life including the spatial organization and form of farmhouses in the western provinces of Tsarist Russia. Agricultural experts and social reformers discussed how to update the traditional threshing-room dwelling house (rehielamu) into a healthy dwelling for successful farmers and, after the Estonian War of Independence, for new settlers. Using material culture such as contemporary plans, I show that changing household relationships, in addition to economic and technological factors, helped to transform the ancient rehielamu into a modern dwelling.     

Deforestation in the Postwar Philippines,by David M. Kummer,Power from the Forest,by Marites Danguilan Vitug; Hope for the Seeds,by Vincent Busch

Abstract

During the second half of the twentieth century, the forests of the Philippines have been destroyed at an unprecedented rate. In 1934, 57.3 percent of the total land area of the Philippines was classified as forest land. Sixty years later that figure had dropped to only 13.5 percent. Many observers believe that parts of the country are on the brink of ecological collapse and that, if the country is to remain habitable, drastic action is needed to protect the remaining forests and rehabilitate the ones that have been destroyed. Furthermore, the destruction of the forests has been highly detrimental to many of the country's indigenous people, whose way of life depends on access to forest resources.     

Miscommunication in the COVID-19 Era

This article discusses issues around the communication of preventive health messages related to COVID-19 to indigenous language-speaking communities in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Official communication is primarily in Spanish, and the many translation initiatives that have arisen do not always succeed in getting the message across due to the lack of cultural interpretation that needs to accompany the linguistic message. This situation compounds the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in the face of the crisis.     

Exhibiting the collections of the Spanish Crown and nobility for the nation: the Count of Valencia de Don Juan and the 1892 European historical exhibition

This article focuses on the place and role accorded to the collections of the Spanish Crown and nobility at the Exposición Histórico-Europea organized in Madrid in 1892. It sets the exhibition in the political and cultural context of the Fourth Centenary of the Discovery of America and analyses the role of Juan Crooke y Navarrot, the Count of Valencia de Don Juan to understand how royal and aristocratic collections were instrumentalized in a bid to assert the place of the Spanish monarchy on the European and international scene and strengthen its prestige. Commissioner of Crown property, the Count of Valencia de Don Juan was one of the members of the nobility who exhibited their collections to the public. Therefore, his investment in the organization of the exhibition, as a non-professional curator, helps understand what the event meant for Spanish nobility. This enables us to gauge what role such exhibiting played in the construction of the national heritage and art historiography of Spain.     

Between Indigenous Paramountcy and Democracy: How Differentiated Citizenship and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Could Help Fijian Self‐determination

Contemporary Fijian politics is shaped by a colonial legacy of extraordinary complexity and political tension. Since gaining independence from Great Britain in 1970, Fiji's history has been distinguished by incoherent and inconsistent accounts of political power. These concern the political rights belonging to indigenous peoples as first occupants vis‐à‐vis the claims to political recognition by the descendants of Indian indentured labourers. The relative power between the indigenous aristocracy and commoners is a further complicating variable. Following three coups (1987 and 2006) and a putsch (2000), indigenous paramount authority has been positioned against various forms of democracy and military oversight of the political process. However, none of these political arrangements has enhanced indigenous self‐determination. This article argues that indigenous self‐determination is more likely to be realised through a form of differentiated liberal citizenship consistent with the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This reasonably requires the extension of the Declaration's provisions to indigenous Fijians, who, as a recent majority indigenous population, are constrained by colonial legacy in a similar manner to the minority indigenous populations for whose benefit the Declaration was primarily adopted.     

Estonian school societies in St. Petersburg Province, 1885–1914

Abstract

Using published reports and contemporary newspaper accounts, the author argues that Estonian school societies in St. Petersburg Province provided Estonian-speaking settlers of the region with a sense of community, the nucleus of a national self-identity, the basic attitudes and ideals of civil society, and chances to participate in local community affairs. These school societies achieved their educational objectives and encouraged active social relations within new Estonian communities in the region.     

Land Reform: Unfulfilled Obligation in Southern Africa and Beyond

ABSTRACT

Land reform remains a relevant but contentious issue in southern Africa. It nearly caused the collapse the Southern African Development Community (SADC) after its tribunal ruled against the Zimbabwe land reform programme (which resulted in the removal of white settlers from land they had occupied for decades and, in some cases, for over a century). The major challenge for southern Africa and most of the African continent is to untangle itself from the provocative and salient legacy of social, economic and psychological apartheid on its territory for almost a century without disrupting development endeavours (Chigara 2012). This article exposes the theoretical foundations influencing the powers at play that compromise most of the efforts that have been directed at trying to facilitate transitions from colonialism and its legacies to societies egalitarian. Land rights have suddenly become very important and it appears that these rights only apply to those whose ownership of land has been legitimised by colonialism. The article recommends the application of already existing legal frameworks at domestic, regional, continental and global levels to meaningfully engage land reform challenges that confront SADC and the continent of Africa as whole as a consequence of the general non-compliance to the rule of law and justice itself.     

MEDIA,IDENTITY, AND STRUGGLE IN TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY CHINA

The experience of international migration is generally found to turn migrants into culturally hybrid communities. Yet, migrant communities often hold on to their religious moorings even as they relocate. From the 1970s onwards, the emerging leadership of Hindu settlers in Denmark consciously tried to transfer with them what they saw to be key aspects of Hinduism as they migrated to Denmark. In 1985, Hindus organized a major conference to position the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) as the umbrella organization for Hinduism in Denmark. Later on they established a Temple of Indians called Bharatiya Mandir to provide a place of worship for local Hindus. The philosophy behind the temple conformed to the nondenominational Hindu nationalist vision of Hindus as a unified community. This article, which contrasts the aim of Hindu nationalism with the on-the-ground realities of Hindu mobilization in Denmark, reveals that two major factions spearheaded Hindu nationalist endeavors in Denmark from the 1980s until 2006. The two factions successfully launched several projects, and even collaborated in their execution, but the initiatives were beset with rivalries that hampered the communal unity they had set out to achieve. The authors analyze this factional rivalry as an expression of Indian political culture, arguing that tensions among Hindu activists in Denmark is an instance of the political factionalism prevalent in the Indian subcontinent. The unintended emergence of such factionalism represents the successful transfer of a core element of Indian political culture to a new locale through Hindu nationalist politics. The authors base their argument on field observations since the 1980s, recent interviews with key religious players, and more than two hundred pages of written materials that offer a rare entry point to the study of Hindu nationalism ex situ.     

Playing the “Game” of Transparency and Accountability: Non-elite Politics in Kyrgyzstan’s Natural Resource Governance

ABSTRACT

This article demonstrates the role of non-elites in the struggle for transparency and accountability in Kyrgyzstan’s mining sector. Most existing accounts foreground elite strategies and political machines in the governance of post-Soviet societies. Drawing on recent anthropological work on post-Soviet politics and applying it critically to the literature on neopatrimonialism, this article sheds light on the adoption of political game strategies by community members (non-elites) to advance their interests and challenge elite dominance within the case study’s mining communities. This finding responds to recent calls to interrogate the activities of non-elites at the margins of neopatrimonial contexts. The article advances a research agenda on how practices by non-elites shape the multiple meanings and enactments of transparency and accountability by elites in natural resource governance. It also points to the need to explore how and why “communities” exert their “agency” in governing natural resources within post-Soviet contexts.