Understanding the Crisis in Sudan

Instances of discontent within colonial military establishments in Africa have largely been ignored by historians of colonial Africa. The heavy focus on the incidence of coups in the historiography has helped to obscure the privations suffered by African soldiers in colonial armies. Using the Sierra Leone experience, this study draws on hitherto untapped archival material to examine the complex causes of the “Gunners' Mutiny” of January 1939. While showing that the causes of mutinies could be significantly nuanced, the study helps to bridge a vital gap in Sierra Leone's history.     

How Do We Write the History of Brexit?

The vote to leave the European Union in 2016 and the political crisis that followed offer obvious subjects for the political historian. Yet, the study of Brexit raises serious challenges for academic writing, concerning method, the political preferences of the historian and the implication of history as a discipline in the European debate. This article explores some of the dilemmas and opportunities confronting the historian of Brexit, focussing, in particular, on the challenges to be addressed, the utility of conventional political methods and the insights that might be drawn from allied fields. It argues for a greater emphasis on the imaginative resources on which the different campaigns could draw, urging greater attention to conventional wisdoms, languages of class, collective memory and the forging of cultural or exceptionalist identities.     

The Estonian Economy Under Soviet Rule: A Historiographic Overview

In order to evaluate our current knowledge of some aspects of the Estonian economy under Soviet rule, this historiographic article reviews a number of available treatments, divided into three subgroups (works by authors in Soviet Estonia, publications by Estonians in exile and recent studies). The article demonstrates that different and contradictory interpretations of the economic development of the ESSR can be found. The author concludes that more detailed estimates of the living standard and economic growth during the Soviet years, which would be the basis of economic history writing, have yet to be established.     

女性主义史学中的几个理论问题

近几十年来,女性主义史学家挑战了传统史学,不仅使妇女进入了史册,而且使“性别”(Gender)成为一个重要的历史分析范畴。但是,女性主义史学在几个基本理论问题上存在很多争议:在解释妇女在历史上缺席的原因时,如何区分性别偏见与时代局限;在把妇女作为研究对象时,应该如何认识妇女之间的差异;妇女史学在颠覆使命完成之后,如何处理妇女史与通史关系等。思考这些问题是我们研究妇女史的理论前提。     

Narratives of progress: Zimbabwean historiography and the end of history

This brief commentary takes its inspiration from the opening address delivered by John Hoffman, and printed in these pages; that is, progress is usefully understood as a contradictory, contested and ambiguous process. But rather than attempt a comprehensive survey of the past 40 or so years of academic analyses of Zimbabwe's pasts, what follows has as its focus the emergence of ‘patriotic history’ and particularly its nationalist antecedents. These are critically examined. Although not concerned with the generality of recent studies that are neither nationalist nor materialist in orientation, this paper sketches in outline the rise, fall and rise of radical accounts. It ends by suggesting how such analyses might be taken forward.     

To reject or not to reject nationalism: debating Marx and Engels' struggles with nationalism, 1840s–1880s

The relationship between Marxism and nationalism has been tumultuous. While theoretically attempting to reject nationalism as a transient product of capitalism, Marxism has in practice oftentimes exploited its appeal and utilized its extensive institutional repertoire. To a large extent, the difficult dialogue between the two ideological constellations can be traced back to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels who neglected to leave a definitive statement on the nationality question. The article traces the evolution of Marxism's conceptualization of the nationality question – a slow shift from an outright rejection of nationalism to an acceptance of its progressive features, complexity, varieties and influences. It re-evaluates Marx and Engels' views on the nationality question, from its outright denial to limited acceptance and application. After identifying factors that shaped their perception of the nationality question, the study offers an analysis of the evolution of these attitudes from the 1840s to the 1860s. The objective is to show how Marx and Engels' theoretical dogmatism was tainted by their desire for activism. Their views were not inflexible but rather evolved in response to changing circumstances in the mid 19th century.     

晚清典志体史学名著的时代特色——兼论晚清史学的历史地位

中国史学发展到晚清,新的时代需要推动历史编纂的发展,一批见识卓越的史家均重视对典志体的改造。这一现象实有其深刻的必然性。典志体史书有两大特点:一是内容包涵宏富,适于记载典章制度和社会各方面情状;二是篇目设立极具灵活性,可根据需要增减、扩充,储备新知识,发表新见解。晚清民族危机深重,改造了的典志体正能符合呼唤御侮图强和倡导了解外国、学习外国的迫切需要,因而大放异彩。魏源、徐继畲、黄遵宪等爱国史家先后撰成的名著《海国图志》、《瀛寰志略》、《日本国志》,均具有鲜明的时代特点和宝贵的创新价值,并对探求救国道路产生了深远的影响。     

A Pragmatic Guide to Qualitative Historical Analysis in the Study of International Relations

Researchers using qualitative methods, including case studies and comparative case studies, are becoming more self–conscious in enhancing the rigor of their research designs so as to maximize their explanatory leverage with a small number of cases. One aspect of qualitative research that has not received as much attention is the use of primary and secondary source material as data or evidence. This essay explores the potential problems encountered by political scientists as they conduct archival research or rely on secondary source material produced by historians. The essay also suggests guidelines for researchers to minimize the main problems associated with qualitative historical research, namely, investigator bias and unwarranted selectivity in the use of historical source materials. These guidelines should enable advanced undergraduates and graduate students to enhance the quality of their historically minded political science scholarship.     

史官文化与中国文学民族性的确立

我国古代长期处在宗法式农业经济的社会形态里,史官文化的影响极其深远。这对中国文学的基本性质和发展行程起到了重要的定位作用,以致中国文学从观念到体制都体现了一种独特的民族性。一方面,史官文化以社会政教人伦为本位,崇尚立德保民,它在价值导向上规定了中国文学尤其注重政治教化功能。另一方面,由于史官文化自身的学术包容性,使得中国文学在发展过程中,始终处于文学与非文学因素相互交织的状态,形成了一种独特的杂文学体制。此外,史官文化还促成了中国文学所特有的文学史观的孕育和萌生,即将文学的历史发展与时代政治的兴衰密切联系起来考察,从史的角度追溯文学源流与圣王之道的关系,以确立文学的政治教化统绪。可以说,中国传统的文学、文学观、文学史观和文学体制,无不显现着史官文化理性精神的涵盖。     

Brazilian History as Global History

The article discusses the relationship between global history and Brazilian history and suggests an agenda for future research. It argues that global history scholars could profit from Brazil's great scholarly tradition, which conceptualises key topics of global history such as global encounters and cultural identities, power asymmetries and spatial orders. Scholars interested in Brazilian history, on the other hand, will find a set of approaches and questions from a global history perspective helpful for research on central fields of Brazil historiography such as the coffee economy, scientific racism, the Cold War and the Amazon.