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Challenges of archiving contemporary Ukrainian cultural heritage (film production as a case study)
Full text linkThe article focuses on the challenges of the archiving process and various initiatives dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage from the early independence period in Ukraine. The text will cover the institutional, legal, economic, and technical aspects of the archival turn—that is, conventions of conservation–and also non-paper and non-written sources for contemporary Ukrainian history and culture. The Dovzhenko Film Centre, digital restoration of Ukrainian films, and the Кіно-Театр thematic journal of theatre and cinema resources will serve as examples from the film production field and as starting points for depicting a complex question of records vanishing from virtual space, the service life of carriers, and outdated formats. The aim is to identify reasons and practices that, until 2022, impeded the effective preservation and dissemination of some written and visual sources of the history of independent Ukraine
Russia's search for ontological security and the Ukraine invasion
Full text linkRussia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 astounded political commentators across the globe. Seemingly nonsensical from a physical security perspective, the announcement of invasion resulted in economic sanctions against Russia, the rapid decline of President Vladimir Putin’s reputation in the international sphere, and dissent amongst Russian citizens. This article contends that while invasion is difficult to justify from a physical security approach, the pursuit of ontological security is a convincing and meaningful explanation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unpacking how biographical narratives and behavioural patterns sustain a state’s sense of Self demonstrates that Russian state selfhood was reaffirmed through invasion. This argument is developed in reference to masculinist narratives surrounding the Russian Self, including an imperialist role identity, a masculine Self contrasted with a feminine Ukrainian Other, and a drive to defeat supposed fascist forces within Ukraine. In addition, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sustains ontological security through fitting into a behavioural pattern of consistent conflict. Ontological security is a highly necessary consideration when analysing global conflict, particularly in the case of the 2022 Ukraine invasion
Analysing the treatment of Queer people within the early Soviet Union
Full text linkThis essay employs a broad historical approach to complexify common narratives around the treatment of queer people within the early Soviet Union. By examining how structures of control surrounding, and competing conceptions of, factors such as modernity, sexuality, race, location and gender intersect, it challenges notions of a decline from liberatory post-revolutionary policy into oppressive Stalinist policy. It also reveals a more nuanced picture of the treatment of queer people in the Soviet Union, one which highlights the variety of ways in which queer expression was legalised, medicalised, and criminalised, and the resulting plurality of queer experience during this period. As an essay centred on the experiences of queer people, it also serves to prevent the all too common erasure of queer people from historical narratives, which is essential to creating a nuanced historical tradition that itself challenges misconceptions of the nature and existence of queer people
Further notes on the typification of some species in Indigofera (Fabaceae)
Full text linkThe typification of the names of three non-endemic species of Indigofera in Australia is revisited. Firstly, the uncertain typification of an introduced species, I. hochstetteri Baker, is considered; a previous, imprecise lectotypification is recognised and a second step lectotype is designated. Secondly, an earlier error in the citation of the type of another introduced species, I. sessiliflora DC., is corrected and specific details of the holotype are provided. Thirdly, a lectotype is designated for I. seticulosa Harv., a synonym of the widespread native species, I. colutea (Burm.f.) Merr
Aventure or grace: Lucky in Love in the Franklin's Tale?
Full text linkThe end of the Franklin's Tale is undoubtedly satisfactory to all the parties in the action. Everyone gains something, intangible though the gains of the warm inner glow may be: such rewards are, if less than anticipated, perhaps more than deserved. This general satisfaction has not extended to all readers of the tale. The capacity of the characters to experience and practise true love, Christian marriage, gentillesse, trouthe, self-control, and self-abnegation has been examined and explained in a large critical literature, and the challenge of the teasing final question has been exhaustively answered. Whether or not the tale was intended to address itself to such serious matters when it was written, the last eighty years of Chaucerian criticism have determined that it does so now; and once the proposition is assumed that the tale is seriously concerned with difficult issues of right conduct and divine guidance, the ending cannot but fail to resolve its complexity
“The inevitable steam-boat”: Archibald John Little and steam navigation on the Yangtze river
Full text linkKeywords: Archibald John Little; Yangtze; navigation; progress; environment
In the second half of the nineteenth century the area surrounding the Yangtze river became increasingly crucial for Britons: they regarded it as their sphere of interest, firmly believed in its commercial potential, and thus strove to facilitate trade by introducing steam navigation beyond the Three Gorges. However, they encountered formidable obstacles, due to the nature of the river itself and to the opposition of Chinese authorities. Archibald John Little, a British merchant and author, played a prominent role in the opening of the Upper Yangtze to steamers, and discussed his project in print in order to gain the support of public opinion in Britain. Through a reading of his travelogue, Through the Yang-Tse Gorges, or Trade and Travel in Western China (1888), this paper explores the multi-layered significance that steam navigation on the Yangtze acquired for Britons: while it offered the chance to expand their economic power in the region, it was also a constant source of friction with Qing authorities, epitomising the difficulties that characterised the interaction between the two empires; for some, it also acquired the symbolic value of a challenge to demonstrate the superiority of Western technology and to force upon China a Western model of progress. Yet, the encounter with the river, which has been central to Chinese history and culture for two millennia, also challenged assumptions on the superiority of the West and its conquering attitude towards the environment; moreover, the opportunity to observe junkmen and trackers eroded received stereotypes about ‘the Chinese’, testifying to a degree of admiration and respect seldom voiced in this period. Crucially, Little’s account captured the overlapping of aesthetic, economic, and human considerations that characterised British discussions of the Yangtze, a unique environment which focalised, and partially reshaped, current views of China, its people and its nature
From Worst-Practice Disaster Recovery to Best: Lessons from Ōtautahi Christchurch
Full text linkThe Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (2010, 2011) devastated central Christchurch, necessitating wholesale urban renewal. But national government’s ensuing recovery efforts were castigated for exemplifying global worst practice, providing a textbook case in how not to undertake recovery. Alliteratively, I argue that the issues underpinning this failure to build back better cluster around questions of complexity, control and coherence. The government’s blueprint, the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, illuminates several fantasies of mastery associated with the technocratic mindset: that a central authority can dictate local interests, that community is homogenous, that their wishes can be proscribed from the top down, and that a fixed recovery plan can deal with emergent complexities. For, while we can formulate blueprints, design buildings and even mandate precincts, we cannot engineer urban life. Having identified problems, we can look to community activities in Ōtautahi to recommend three best-practice solutions: enacting co-governance (between Crown and iwi – Māori kinship group, tribe, nation), undertaking meaningful collaboration (between authorities and affected communities) and harnessing communitas (the distinctive social energy that emerges after disaster). All three elements often combine as social infrastructure
“I don’t want anything to do with research, but I will talk to you”: Doing research in the context of disasters
Full text linkOn the 14th November, 2022 the small village of Eugowra in the Central West of New South Wales was hit by an ‘inland tsunami’ with widespread destruction and the loss of two lives. This small village was the place I was raised and many previous generations of my family had lived. Coincidentally, since 2015 I had been slowly drawn in the world of ‘disaster research’, with a specific focus on the experiences of communities navigating the terrains of disasters. I had heard stories and seen the destruction caused by floods, fires, storms and of course the Covid pandemic. But I had never imagined that my past and my present would collide in such a manner. Some 40% of the homes in Eugowra and all the active businesses were damaged by unprecedented (this type of language seems increasingly wrong) flooding. My initial engagement was as a volunteer, sorting material donations and listening to people still in shock. I wondered though right from the beginning how might my research knowledge of disasters be useful, although aware of its limitations in such a chaotic situation. Over time I realised that research knowledge could be useful in supporting community responses to disasters if it was offered with generosity, caution and humility. Navigating relationships and building trust repeatedly arose as requiring ongoing attention. In this article I aim to explore what there is to learn about disaster research when it becomes personal