1811 research outputs found
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Front Matter
No full textInformation relating to the publisher, publication frequency, editorial staff, purchase options, submission requirements, and contact information for the American Communal Societies Quarterly
New History or Old Nationalism
Full text linkThis paper discusses the historiography of the 1948 Israeli-Arab war specifically focusing on the work of the “New Historians”, a group of scholars who, beginning in the late 1980s, issued a revisionist history of the war using newly declassified archival documents. The paper’s main argument is that the New Historians largely replace the established nationalist historiography with a revised nationalist narrative rather than offering a narrative that positions itself away from nationalist ideology. Furthermore, the paper discusses the porous nature of the term new history as the New Historians do not represent any unified scholarly movement but simply share in their attempt to revise their predecessors, something common in historical study. The paper principally discusses the work of Benny Morris, Simha Flapan, and Ilan Pappé who each represent different streams within the New Historiography. In addition to evaluating the work of these three principal new historians, this paper also evaluates some of New History’s chief critics from the Zionist right and the Palestinian left. This paper’s discussion of New History illustrates the centrality of the 1948 war to the construction of national identity in Israel- Palestine and seeks to offer ways to write history that break from the current national constructions which continue to plague the region with violence
“Whatever is in you has to come out”: An Individual’s Journey through Bhagwan’s Communes and Beyond
No full textThis essay seeks to recount the intimate history of Madhuri Z K Ewing\u27s late-twentieth century experience in a mystical intentional community under the Indian guru known as Bhagwan. Rather than focusing on aspects of the Rajneesh movement that have since been sensationalized by popular media, I explore a deeply personal account of one woman’s experience over the course of her twenty-six years spent in Bhagwan’s communes in India and Oregon. To embark on her path towards the Self, Madhuri muddled through decades spent in community where she submitted to authority and let the powers working around her strip her bare. This essay is far from comprehensive and seeks to illustrate facets of Madhuri’s journey that speak to her identity formation within the Rajneesh movement and the tension between intense individualism and collectivism
“For the benefit of Believers only”: The Remarkable Odyssey of Thirty Medical Receipts
No full textDeep within the Sabbathday Lake, Me., library rests a book of medical receipts attributed to Alfred Shaker, Sister Joanna Barnes. Its contents are similar to many contemporary handwritten collections in that it concerns a wide range of ailments and offers recipes from various eighteenth and nineteenth-century resources. However, in perusing this apparently commonplace manuscript a curious admonition about the receipts\u27 origin and permitted uses.
Beneath the surface lies a much larger story—one that includes early advertising, the hard-nosed and unregulated American medical marketplace of the nineteenth century, identity and gender politics, snatched opportunity, and ultimately, the business of health. Furthermore, it begs a series of questions. From whom were these recipes purchased? Who was this patent-holder and how did they come to meet the Shakers? Were these recipes circulated throughout the Society? And finally, did this information remain within the sect or was it exposed to the World? If the latter, how
Back Cover
No full textBack cover illustration: Arthur Rothstein, photographer. Untitled photo, possibly related to: Melting snow, Utopia, Ohio. United States Ohio Utopia, 1940. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017726788/
Friends in Hired Places: An Evaluation of Authority Mechanisms Among Peers in Higher Education Academic Resource Centers
No full textThis study focuses on the mechanisms that allow peer tutors to exert authority over fellow peers in academic resource centers at Forest College, a liberal arts college located in Upstate New York. The relationship between a peer tutor and their student is a site of authority negotiation, with peers lacking typical authority present in higher education, like formal credentials. This study draws upon previous research indicating that race, gender, and certain tutoring strategies can be seen as potential mechanisms for exerting authority. Moreover, the study uses an ethnography and survey, utilizing mixed-methods research to identify and classify other variables that may impact a peer tutor’s authority. The findings indicate that counter to previous studies, a tutor being male may negatively impact a student’s perception of their authority; furthermore, male students were far more likely to view their tutor as less authoritative, regardless of the tutor’s gender. While gender is a salient factor in authority negotiation, race is = not as relevant at Forest College, with the exception of non-white students trusting their tutor’s advice more. Furthermore, tutoring strategies like information exchange and non-directive questioning do contribute to higher perceptions of authority, with tutors frequently balancing the two strategies across an interaction to establish an authoritative role. Finally, this study finds that tutors derive some relational authority from professors. Tutors are perceived by students as navigators of the educational bureaucracy led by professors, meaning tutors can present themselves as guides to content-based knowledge, rather than experts. This study demonstrates how these multiple mechanisms help establish and shape authority negotiation among peers
Defending the House of David: Mary Purnell’s 1923 Testimony before a Michigan Grand Jury
No full textThe following document comes from early 1923, when the House of David, a Christian Israelite commune in Benton Harbor, Michigan, was in serious legal jeopardy. State circuit judge Harry J. Dingman (1881-1949) began a grand jury investigation following a civil judgement against the House of David earlier that year to determine if sufficient cause existed to bring criminal charges against Benjamin or the colony for alleged “immoralities.” Dingman subpoenaed more than fifty witnesses to give testimony before the grand jury, including sixty-one year old Mary Purnell (1862-1953), Benjamin’s wife as well as the co-prophet and co-founder of the House of David, who was was called to the witness stand to give testimony before Judge Dingman on May 9 and 10, 1923. The House of David published the complete proceedings from the Hansels’ civil case but did not include testimonies from the related grand jury investigation. We offer Mary’s testimony from the grand jury hearings to ACSQ readers and researchers as a valuable primary source from the co-founder of the Israelite House of David
Kaliflower: A Selection of Covers
No full textOf the dozens of communes with roots among the Diggers of San Francisco, California, one has survived—the one popularly but unofficially known as Kaliflower. It was founded by Irving Rosenthal in 1967, and soon organized a print shop that did free printing for countercultural groups and individuals. In 1969 the commune began producing a free intercommunal newsletter called Kaliflower (to suggest flowers growing from the present negative age of the Hindu demon Kali), a name that gradually began to be applied to the commune. In the 1970s the commune typically had over a dozen members; in 2002 it had eight
Heavy Metal Presence in the Connecticut River as a Product of Socioeconomic Status
Full text linkFor decades, communities of lower socioeconomic status have been disproportionately affected by hazardous waste and other harmful environmental toxins due to phenomena like redlining and white flight. Specifically, locations of lower socioeconomic status experience greater instances of heavy metals in the environment and in drinking water. In this study, we placed samples of ribbed mussels (Geukensia demissa) in the Connecticut River in four locations of varying socioeconomic status based on median household income: Hartford, Middletown, Haddam, and Glastonbury, CT. Using these mussels as a bioindicator, we sought to determine whether heavy metal concentrations varied based on location socioeconomic status. After collecting samples of the mussels weekly over a five week period, we analyzed the heavy metal concentration of lead, chromium, and cadmium, as well as other metals, using a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Using one-sample t tests, we found that lead, chromium, and cadmium were reliably present in each sample location (with the exception of lead in Haddam and Hartford). Using independent-groups t tests, we found that the concentration of lead did not differ based on socioeconomic status, but that chromium and cadmium existed in higher concentrations in locations of higher socioeconomic status. These results indicate that some factor other than socioeconomic status may be responsible for heavy metal concentration differences. Based on the trends in our data, we posit that relative location upriver/downriver may play a bigger role in determining these concentrations than socioeconomic status