Past Imperfect (Journal)
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The Interwoven Effects of Regionalism in Southeast Thessaly: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Ancient Pastoralism
No full textThis study investigates possible evidence of seasonal movement of animals – transhumance – in the Greek archaeological record. By engaging with the so-called Agropastoral Debate in Thessaly this analysis argues that regionalism and rising urbanization forced a marked reliance on wool-based economy. The increased demand for wool created herd sizes larger than what local subsistence agriculture could support. Shepherds were required to move with their herds and utilize either short- or long-distance transhumance within Thessaly. This multidisciplinary approach examines transhumant domestication through ethnographic, ethnohistoric and literary sources integrated with palaeobotanical, material, cultural, and zooarchaeological evidence at Classical-Hellenistic sites in the regions of Thessalian Phthiotis (Pharsalos) and Achaia Phthiotis (New Halos, and Kastro Kallithea) in southeast Thessaly. Preliminary data supports mobile pastoralism in antiquity and argues for transhumant domestication in Thessaly by at least the Hellenistic period. This study is part of a larger research project interested in animal management practices and domesticated sheep and goat herd movements in ancient Thessaly
By Pen, Sword, and Struggle: African American High School Student Activism in Lawnside, New Jersey
No full textThis article is an examination of African American high school student activism during the black freedom struggle by youth from Lawnside, New Jersey; one of ten self-governing African American communities in the United States. A critical factor in Lawnside’s historical narrative is that its young people both historically and today attend segregated elementary school and then integrated high school in the historically all white community of Haddon Heights. From 1965-1971, many African American young people from Lawnside were inspired to address decades of inequality and African American educational and cultural concerns by engaging in acts of collective violence and non-violent direct action. These protest efforts included a boycott, two sit-ins, a protest march, and a formal list of demands. African American high school students from Lawnside expressed similar grievances to African American youth in other locations, they demonstrated considerable activist autonomy from parents and outside organizations, and female students often held positions of influence and leadership
Armoured in Righteousness: The Insular Mindset of the Teutonic Knights and Their Affinity for Lutheranism
No full textLooking at Failed Masculinity: An Attempt at Reading Medieval Sexuality
No full textIn this article, I offer to look at Narcisus et Dané and the Roman de Silence, two pieces of Old French poetry which have in common the refusal of the physical love of a noblewoman by the main character, leading to the unveiling of the “male nature” of Narcisus and the hidden female nature behind the manly appearance of Silence. I propose to read these passages as failures of a sexual initiation expected from young noblemen, and thus as a missed step toward an accomplished manhood. From this disruption into courtly narratives emerges the issue of unconventional desire and gender deviance, because the failure is not just a negative act, but also the creation of something unexpected, a different narrative and a new space. Following Judith Halberstam, I interrogate the possibility of a transgender or transversal look into these two stories, especially with the play between gendered expectations and agencies, the blurring of male and female points of identification for the reader and the gaze of Merlin, the wild man who sees the truth of nature under social surfaces. The purpose is to open up toward a more global understanding of what it is to become a man in the Middle Ages, what sexual behavior is expected from young people and how the poetry manages both gendered expectations and their questioning
“We Must Be Ready”: Teaching and Learning About Nuclear Weapons in American Elementary Schools in the Early 1950s
No full textOn 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union conducted its first successful detonation of a nuclear weapon, ending the American monopoly on atomic technology and introducing the threat of imminent nuclear annihilation to the American homeland. This essay explores the effect of Cold War atomic culture on the school lives of elementary-aged American children during the early 1950s. In examining this cohort schoolchildren, this study emphasizes the potency of the nuclear beliefs, fears, and concerns that led legislators, educators, and activists to forcefully push for even the youngest of children to meaningfully learn about the atomic threat. I focus on curricular guidelines produced by the Federal Civil Defense Administration and the states of North Carolina and Michigan, as well as the landmark film Duck and Cover. These teaching resources shared four major themes: they attempted to conventionalize the new atomic threat; urged children to obey authority figures; emphasized the importance of self-reliance for survival; and characterized nuclear attack as unavoidable. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that what was taught to schoolchildren about nuclear weapons in this period was indicative of the nuclear attitudes and beliefs of their educators, parents, and communities. Thus, in seeking to understand school curricula it is necessary to understand the broader historical context from which the curricula emerged; similarly, school curricula can reveal the major issues and concerns of society that were deemed so important as to permeate the lives of the youngest of children
Time as Rational: Historical Methodologies and the Republican Calendar in Revolutionary France
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