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Tammaro De Marinis, Vittorio Forti, and the Acquisition of Islamic Manuscripts for J. P. Morgan in Constantinople in 1913
Full text linkIn winter 1913, the Italian bookdealer Tammaro De Marinis, with his business associate Vittorio Forti, embarked in an ambitious mission: the acquisition in Constantinople of Oriental manuscripts ultimately for purchase by J. P. Morgan. Forti spent about two months there, but his expedition was not as successful as he and De Marinis expected. Moreover, just as the acquired manuscripts began to arrive in Italy, Morgan died, and it took De Marinis more than a decade to find an alternative buyer for the collection, which amounted to more than 400 manuscripts.
This article is based on letters sent from Constantinople by Forti to De Marinis. These letters, still unpublished, paint a vivid picture of Forti's hunt for manuscripts in the Ottoman capital during the period of the First Balkan War. They contain glimpses of influential Turkish figures, as well as European intellectuals, diplomats and artists, and colourful local dealers, all of whom Forti depended on to achieve his goals. By today’s standards, Forti's modus operandi would be unacceptable. He was more than willing to bribe officials to obtain manuscripts from public collections and to take advantage of the volatile political situation. His letters seem particularly pertinent today, when museums and public libraries increasingly face questions about the provenance of some of their acquisitions, and as scholars consider new ethical ways of dealing with the problem
The Trade in Rare Books and Manuscripts Between Britain and America c. 1890-1929: Constructing Cultural Histories
Full text linkThis Element examines the trade in rare books and manuscripts between Britain and America during a period known as the “Golden Age” of collecting. Through analysis of contemporary press reports, personal correspondence, trade publications and sales records, this study contrasts American and British perspectives as rare books passed through the commercial market. The aim is to compare the rhetoric and reality of the book trade in order to assess its impact on emerging cultural institutions, contemporary scholarship and shifting notions of national identity. By analysing how markets emerged, dealers functioned and buyers navigated the market, this Element interrogates accepted narratives about the ways in which major rare book and manuscript collections were formed and how they were valued by contemporaries
The ‘(In)security Decree’: Undermining Practices of Reception in the Italian Hosting Mechanism
Full text linkIn the past decade, academic and field research highlighted the benefits of local integration as a desirable solution for displacement. European migration policies, however, are far from implementing more welcoming migration regulations and are, instead, progressively enforcing stricter reception measures aimed at disincentivizing new arrivals. In step with the general strategy of containment practiced in Europe, Italy’s increasingly anti-immigrant rhetoric has precipitated a permanent state of emergency, empowering the government to progressively introduce various restrictions against asylum seekers and refugees. The anti-immigrant campaign culminated in 2018 with the so-called Security Decree that introduced important changes to the existing migration policy, especially the one governing the reception system.
The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it illustrates the Italian secondary level of reception with its diffused integration model. Such integration is implemented through SAI (System of Reception and Integration) projects and is known for a number of effective practices that encourage social and economic inclusion in the territory. Next, it discusses the impact of the Security Decree (and its amendment) in the reception mechanism. Interviews with practitioners working in SAI projects revealed that the changes and the continuous modifications of the system became a source of disorientation and additional work, which forced many organizations to find alternative ways to continue to help migrants excluded from integration projects as imposed by the Security Decree. Furthermore, the political instrumentalization of the decree engendered an increased perception among professionals that governmental policies were actively trying to weaken the hosting mechanisms at all levels, undermining their work before public opinion. Ultimately, while the diffused integration model still offers solid reception practices, this empirical research reinforced the idea that legality and integration are still strongly interconnected and that a long-term and stable integration takes place when local organizations and national policies are aligned
The Card Index of Leo S. Olschki: The Inner Workings of an Antiquarian Book Business
Full text linkThis article investigates how the card index of Leo S. Olschki can be used for the study of antiquarian book trade in the first half of the twentieth century, focussing specifically on medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. It demonstrates how the index can provide evidence on provenance, buyers, purchase and sale prices, and other aspects of book trade such as the drafting of sale catalogue entries
Presentación del dossier. Extractivismo minero en América Latina: la juridificación de los conflictos socioambientales
No full textShowing its Age: The 1951 Convention and the Right to Work - the Example of Ethiopia
Full text linkThis paper aims to offer a perspective on the 1951 Convention’s aging process by exploring how it approaches refugees’ right to work. Such an analysis seems particularly relevant especially when considering the right to work is a fundamental element of refugee economic inclusion — a priority put in sharp relief by the COVID-19 pandemic —and of refugee self-reliance, one the main objectives promoted in recent key international events such as the Global Compact on Refugees.
The first part of this work will examine Articles 17, 18 and 19 of the 1951 Convention which respectively accord refugees the right to engage in wage-earning employment, self-employment, and participate in liberal professions. The close investigation of these articles will reveal discrepancies and limitations which have allowed signatory states to restrict, sometimes even deny, the right to work to refugees.
This discussion will prepare the setting to analyse Ethiopia’s new refugee legislation, Proclamation No. 1110/2019, and in particular Article 26 on the right to work. This second part of the paper will focus specifically on those aspects of Article 26 replicating Articles 17-19 of the 1951 Convention, thus attesting to the continuous significance of this legal instrument. It will also investigate the most innovative, development-centric feature of Article 26, which links refugees’ right to work to the international community and makes it contingent on foreign investment. This aspect has enabled the Jobs Compact, an initiative aimed at creating jobs for refugees which, however, so far does not seem to have fulfilled its goal.
In conclusion, it will be argued that the 1951 Convention maintains its importance as it constitutes a baseline for refugees’ right to work. However, because of its discrepancies and limitations, it is not fully adequate to respond to today’s challenges and ensure refugee self-reliance. Innovative solutions are urgently needed which should involve the participation of multiple stakeholders, including refugees
Sensitive liberals and unfeeling conservatives? Interoceptive sensitivity predicts political liberalism
Full text linkThe stark divide between the political right and left is rooted in conflicting beliefs, values, and personality—and, recent research suggests, perhaps even lower-level physiological differences between individuals. In this registered report, we investigated a novel domain of ideological differences in physiological processes: interoceptive sensitivity—that is, a person’s attunement to their own internal bodily states and signals (e.g., physiological arousal, pain, and respiration). We conducted two studies testing the hypothesis that greater interoceptive sensitivity would be associated with greater conservatism: one laboratory study in the Netherlands using a physiological heartbeat detection task and one large-scale online study in the United States employing an innovative webcam-based measure of interoceptive sensitivity. Contrary to our predictions, we found evidence that interoceptive sensitivity may instead predict greater political liberalism (versus conservatism), although this association was primarily limited to the American sample. We discuss implications for our understanding of the physiological underpinnings of political ideology
The Eritrean practice of the issuance of identity-proving documents with particular focus on the case of returnees from Ethiopia
Full text linkDifficulties in proving Eritrean nationality are commonly experienced by asylum applicants who have a background of expulsion from Ethiopia. Most of them were expelled from Ethiopia during or after the 1998-2000 border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia and may also have left Eritrea without relevant documentary evidence that proves their identity and nationality. By examining the relevant nationality laws of both countries and the prevailing practice in this regard, this briefing paper explores the likelihood for certain asylum applicants to be recognised as Eritrean nationals, and, if so, whether they would be subject to the fulfilment of the National Military Service Programme (NMSP). The paper also offers a comparative discussion of the nationality laws of Eritrea and Ethiopia, with a view to ascertaining whether there is a group of people who may be entitled to one or both nationalities but in practice can obtain neither
Is Concept Appraisal Modulated by Procedural or Declarative Manipulations?
Full text linkA recent study has established that thinkers reliably engage in epistemic appraisals of concepts of natural categories. Here, five studies are reported which investigated the effects of different manipulations of category learning context on appraisal of the
concepts learnt. It was predicted that dimensions of concept appraisal could be affected by manipulating either procedural factors (spacing of learning, perceptual fluency) or declarative factors (causal knowledge about categories). While known effects of these manipulations on metacognitive judgements such as category learning judgements and confidence at test were replicated, procedural factors had no reliable effects on the dimensions of concept appraisal. Effects of declarative manipulations on some forms of concept appraisal were observed
Dignity in Repatriation: What does it mean for UNHCR?
Full text linkAs part of its mandate to protect refugees, one of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s principal functions is to assist in the promotion of voluntary repatriation, which has been consistently identified as the preference of States and refugees. According to UNHCR, a repatriation movement must be voluntary, safe and dignified for the organization to consider facilitating or promoting it. These three principles, essential as they are to UNHCR activities in this area, are, as Zieck puts it, “rather indeterminate”. The concept of dignity, in particular, contains within it much scope for divergent interpretations. A review of the literature on the meaning of dignity within the fields of law, humanitarianism and refugee studies testifies to the multiplicity of potential understandings of this concept. Dignity’s potential definitions, or presuppositions, are identified through a review of the literature on the meaning of ‘dignity’ as being the realisation of basic human rights, the source of human rights, or synonymous with autonomy and the capacity to make choices. Equally, the literature demonstrates how the word ‘dignity’ can be a vehicle for the insertion of disparate perspectives in a way that renders universal certain texts and assertions, particularly in the realm of international law. Dignity is thus malleable, and could serve an organisational function outside of a literal definition. This paper attempts to elucidate UNHCR’s organisational position on the meaning of dignity by considering its rhetorical treatment of repatriation and of dignity in various key publications, against a backdrop of these potential presuppositions