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The historian in prosecutor’s garb, or, The idea of legal and/or moral responsibility in historiography: The Example of Communism.
No full textLaw and historiography share several fundamental paradigms: the search for truth based on facts from the past; investigation; the presentation of “exhibits;” testimony and the evaluation of witnesses (according to the kind of jurisprudence that forms source criticism); the use of “pieces of evidence,” etc. If it is true that “legal principles cannot be transferred as-is into historical research,” that the demands in terms of evidence are not of the same nature, and that—and this is a decisive difference, but one that is not always observed, far from it, and it’s precisely this difference that will be the theme of my reflections today—the historian is not supposed to, having reconstructed the facts, regardless of how incriminating they are, pass judgement on, nor present a prosecutor’s charge against (nor plea for the acquittal of) figures from the past.With a belated but exceptionally violent spurt, the 1997 publication of The Black Book of Communism in France rekindled the long-lasting debate on the role and record of communism, mobilizing the press as a whole and every essayist in sight, with no signs that controversy is about to die down. Un pavé dans l’histoire, by Pierre Rigoulot and Ilios Yannakakis, recounts the first months of the polemic surrounding the “memory of communism” in France, positioning itself from the accusatory point of view of the book’s contributors. Several years later, the collective text Du passé faisons table rase! introduced French readers to the contrasting receptions The Black Book’s translations met in all of Europe’s countries and languages: very favourable in the East, reticent in the West—with intellectual France, as always, a clear exception, diverging from the countries who had known “real socialism,” despite the reluctance of a rearguard of prudently recycled apparatchiki who had preferred not to “stir up the mud” of the past
"The Serious Business of Arts and the Humanities"
No full textThe continuing crisis in the humanities and the arts has affected funding and demands novel approaches. Using business techniques to facilitate the production and dissemination of the arts and the humanities in a university setting can be risky. This article discusses approaches that have proved to be successful
"Just Get 'em in the Air"
No full textOnce the strongest airpower in the Middle East, the Al Quwwa al Jawwiya al Iraqiya, or the Iraqi Air Force (IQAF), was powerless when the US invaded Iraq in 2003. After realizing the importance of the IQAF for Iraq’s future, the US began to rebuild it from scratch in 2004. Since then, the IQAF has made significant strides with help from the Coalition Air Force Training Team (CAFTT): the IQAF’s functional output has grown exponentially; Iraqi officers are commanding their own units; and Iraqi pilots are being recruited and trained. However, CAFTT struggled to effectively overcome many challenges, including American-perceived cultural barriers as well as an ongoing counterinsurgency (COIN) battle. Circumstances beyond US and Iraqi control caused these challenges. However, a lack of preparation by both players also fueled these struggles. Through a primarily American lens, this paper paints a panoramic picture of the new IQAF by analyzing CAFTT’s strategy, achievements, and failures. Specifically, personal interviews with US military officials offer insight into the less tangible difficulties that the US faced in rebuilding the IQAF. This insight enables a more in-depth critique, leading to the conclusion that the IQAF’s future remains gravely uncertain. Furthermore, it shows that the IQAF is neither independent nor sustainable, and it will rely on the US military for many years
The Immigrant as/in Crisis: the Citation and Appropriation of Lavapiés in Narratives of Progress in Contemporary Madrid
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Los movimientos migratorios y la simbología del territorio en La luna siempre será un amor difícil de L. H. Crosthwaite
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Limb Regeneration in Humans: Micromanaging a Plastic Environment
No full textA popular topic as of late, stem cell research has intrigued many with its remarkable potential in the realm of human health. Multipotent stem cells have been found throughout the entire human body, indicating that adult tissues may be able to repair and regenerate themselves. Although organs such as the heart, liver, or lungs do not currently regenerate in humans, the presence of these somatic stem cells indicates that we possess the necessary structures to do so. By studying the axolotl, a species of salamander known to effectively regenerate limbs and organs, scientists have come closer to understanding human regeneration. After various studies performed on the axolotl, results have indicated that limb regeneration occurs in a step-wise fashion, in which certain qualifications must be met to progress to the next step. This is groundbreaking because the lack of human regeneration can be attributed to the absence of a correct preliminary environment, not in our sheer inability to do so. If we can determine the factors that influence each individual step of limb regeneration, we could theoretically micromanage regenerating environments to provide the exact outcome we desire
