Natural Disasters and Comparative State-Formation and Nation-Building: Earthquakes in Argentina and Chile (1822-1939)

Natural disasters in Argentina and Chile played a significant role in the state-formation and nation-building process (1822-1939). This dissertation explores state and society responses to earthquakes by studying public and private relief efforts reconstruction plans, crime and disorder, religious interpretations of catastrophes, national and transnational cultures of disaster, science and technology, and popular politics. Although Argentina and Chile share a political border and geological boundary, the two countries provide contrasting examples of state formation. Most disaster relief and reconstruction efforts emanated from the centralized Chilean state in Santiago. In Argentina, provincial officials made the majority of decisions in a catastrophe’s aftermath. Patriotic citizens raised money and collected clothing for survivors that helped to weave divergent regions together into a nation. The shared experience of earthquakes in all regions of Chile created a national disaster culture. Similarly, common disaster experiences, reciprocal relief efforts, and aid commissions linked Chileans with Western Argentine societies and generated a transnational disaster culture. Political leaders viewed reconstruction as opportunities to implement their visions for the nation on the urban landscape. These rebuilding projects threatened existing social hierarchies and often failed to come to fruition. Rebuilding brought new technologies from Europe to the Southern Cone. New building materials and systems, however, had to be adapted to the South American economic and natural environment. In a catastrophe’s aftermath, newspapers projected images of disorder and the authorities feared lawlessness and social unrest. Judicial and criminal records, however, show that crime often decreased after a disaster. Finally, nineteenth-century earthquakes heightened antagonism and conflict between the Catholic Church and the state. Conservative clergy asserted that disasters were divine punishments for the state’s anti-clerical measures and later railed against scientific explanations of earthquakes.

A State of War: Florida from 1939 to 1945

World War II profoundly impacted Florida. The military geography of the State is essential to an understanding the war. The geostrategic concerns of place and space determined that Florida would become a statewide military base. Florida’s attributes of place such as climate and topography determined its use as a military academy hosting over two million soldiers, nearly 15 percent of the GI Army, the largest force theUS ever raised. One-in-eight Floridians went into uniform. Equally,Florida’s space on the planet made it central for both defensive and offensive strategies. The Second World War was a war of movement, and Florida was a major jump off point forUSforce projection world-wide, especially of air power. Florida’s demography facilitated its use as a base camp for the assembly and engagement of this military power. In 1940, less than two percent of the US population lived in Florida, a quiet, barely populated backwater of the United States.[1] But owing to its critical place and space, over the next few years it became a 65,000 square mile training ground, supply dump, and embarkation site vital to the US war effort. Because of its place astride some of the most important sea lanes in the Atlantic World,Florida was the scene of one of the few Western Hemisphere battles of the war. The militarization ofFloridabegan long before Pearl Harbor. The pre-war buildup conformed to theUSstrategy of the war. The strategy of theUS was then (and remains today) one of forward defense: harden the frontier, then take the battle to the enemy, rather than fight them inNorth America. The policy of “Europe First,” focused the main US war effort on the defeat of Hitler’sGermany, evaluated to be the most dangerous enemy. In Florida were established the military forces requiring the longest time to develop, and most needed to defeat the Axis. Those were a naval aviation force for sea-borne hostilities, a heavy bombing force for reducing enemy industrial states, and an aerial logistics train for overseas supply of expeditionary campaigns. The unique Florida coastline made possible the seaborne invasion training demanded for USvictory. The civilian population was employed assembling mass-produced first-generation container ships, while Floridahosted casualties, Prisoners-of-War, and transient personnel moving between the Atlantic and Pacific. By the end of hostilities and the lifting of Unlimited Emergency, officially on December 31, 1946, Floridahad become a transportation nexus. Florida accommodated a return of demobilized soldiers, a migration of displaced persons, and evolved into a modern veterans’ colonia. It was instrumental in fashioning the modern US military, while remaining a center of the active National Defense establishment. Those are the themes of this work. [1] US Census of Florida 1940. Table 4 – Race, By Nativity and Sex, For the State. 14.

Sixty-Second Annual Report of the Public Service Commission of South Carolina 1939-40

Each year the South Carolina Public Service Commission reports to the Office of State Budget that includes the agency's mission, goals and objectives to accomplish the mission, and performance measures regarding the goals and objectives.

Fifth Annual Report OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY TO THE ADVISORY BOARD AND Audit Report OF THE SANTEE-COOPER PROJECT July 1, 1939-June 30, 1940

The South Carolina Public Service Authority makes annual reports to the Advisory Board, reports are submitted to the General Assembly by the Governor, in which full information as to all of the Acts of said Board of Directors shall be given, together with financial statement and full information as to the work of the Authority.

De la popularité à l’obscurité : Les rouages de la montée et du déclin de Federal Union, Inc. aux États-Unis, 1939-1945

Ce mémoire examine les fondements de la montée ainsi que du déclin de l’organisation non gouvernementale Federal Union, Inc. aux États-Unis entre 1939 et 1945. Ce regroupement, mis sur pied par Clarence K. Streit dans l’optique de faire la promotion de son projet internationaliste décrit dans son livre intitulé Union Now: A Proposal for a Federal Union of the Democracies of the North Atlantic, connut durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale un élan de popularité remarquable qui l’amena à l’avant-scène des débats sur la gestion des relations interétatiques, avant de s’essouffler rapidement, malgré l’intérêt qu’il suscita au cours de ses premières années d’existence. Dans les faits, ce phénomène, s’avéra étroitement lié au contexte historique, à l’idéologie défendue par le mouvement, de même qu’à l’organisation et à la gestion des activités de Federal Union, Inc. Ainsi, par l’étude d’un cas particulier, ce mémoire ouvre une nouvelle fenêtre sur l’internationalisme américain durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, un champ d’études négligé par les chercheurs. Avec pour principal objectif d’offrir une réflexion articulée sur le fédéralisme mondial, une idéologie toujours très peu étudiée à ce jour par les historiens, cette étude mettra en lumière les rouages expliquant les hauts et les bas de cette ligne de pensée politique à l’époque. Ce faisant, le lecteur sera amené à repenser le mouvement internationaliste américain, traditionnellement perçu comme triomphant au cours de la guerre de 1939 à 1945. Il permettra de surcroît de réfléchir aux facteurs favorisant la transformation de la pensée politique au sein d’une société, tels que l’opinion publique et le rôle des organisations non gouvernementales ainsi que des groupes d’intérêt.

O Megalitismo no Alentejo (Portugal): as intervenções de Manuel Heleno (1931-1939) e o seu contributo para a Arqueologia portuguesa

Entre a primavera de 1931 e a primavera de 1945, Manuel Heleno, Diretor do Museu Etnológico e Professor na Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, dedicou-se ao inventário e escavação de centenas de monumentos megalíticos no Alentejo Central. Apesar do volume de informação recolhido este investigador, acabou por não publicar os seus dados o que trouxe graves consequências para o estudo do megalitismo funerário alentejano. Para além de uma caracterização dos trabalhos realizados por Manuel Heleno, apresenta-se um conjunto de reflexões sobre questões relacionadas com a produção e divulgação de informação, em Arqueologia e a responsabilidade social do arqueólogo.

Estudo do mecanismo de rotura dos sismos de 1939 (M7) e 2007 (M6) na faixa S. Miguel – Glória (Açores): uma contribuição para a compreensão da sismotectónica local

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo o estudo de 3 dos mais significativos sismos instrumentais ocorridos na faixa S. Miguel-Glória, Açores: o de 8 de Maio de 1939 e os de 5 e 7 de Abril de 2007. A investigação envolveu a concepção e desenvolvimento de um método que permite recuperar os movimentos reais do solo em formato digital a partir de sismogramas antigos. Os resultados obtidos para o sismo de 1939 relocalizam o evento numa posição mais próxima da fronteira de placas e com mecanismo também mais próximo da generalidade dos eventos estudados. O estudo da fonte dos sismos de 2007 reforçam o mecanismo padrão da zona.

Empresa bananera e intervención política en Costa Rica (1899-1939) y Honduras (1912- 1933)

Resumen Analizar los diversos mecanismos de intervención empleados por las compañías bananeras para ejercer presión e intervenir en la vida política en Costa Rica y Honduras, durante la primera década del siglo XX. Abstract Analyses the diverse mechanisms of intervention used by the banana companies to exert pressure and to interfere in the political live in Costa Rica and Honduras during the first decades of the 20 th century.

La política social, y el estado y la cuestión social en Costa Rica: 1845-1939

Introducción La intervención activa del Estado en la cuestión social ha sido un fenómeno relativamente tardío en Costa Rica. Antes de la década de 1940 hubo muy  pocos ejemplos importantes de legislación en política social y sola cuando Rafael Calderón Guardia ocupó la presidencia en 1940, el Estado comenzó a  ocuparse activamente en los problemas generales relativos al bienestar social, a los derechos de los trabajadores y a la seguridad social.

Las causas de la prostitución josefina: 1939-1949. Entre lo imagina y el estigma

ResumenAnaliza las causas explican la presencia y crecimiento de la prostitución en San José entre los años 1939-1949, según el criterio de autoridades y formadores de opinión.AbstractAn analysis of the causes behind prostitution in San José and its increase between 1939 and 1949, based on the criteria expressed by the authorities and by opinion makers.

The experience of xenophobia in South Africa

In May 2008, xenophobic violence erupted in South Africa. The targets were individuals who had migrated from the north in search of asylum. Emerging first in township communities around Johannesburg, the aggression spread to other provinces. Sixty-two people died, and 100,000 (20,000 in the Western Cape alone) were displaced. As the attacks escalated across the country, thousands of migrants searched for refuge in police stations and churches. Chilling stories spread about mobs armed with axes, metal bars, and clubs. The mobs stormed from shack to shack, assaulted migrants, locked them in their homes, and set the homes on fire. The public reaction was one of shock and horror. The Los Angeles Times declared, “Migrants Burned Alive in S. Africa.” The South African president at the time, Thabo Mbeki, called for an end to “shameful and criminal attacks.” Commentators were stunned by the signs of hatred of foreigners (xenophobia) that emerged in the young South African democracy. The tragedy of the violence in South Africa was magnified by the fact that many of the victims had fled from violence and persecution in their countries of origin. Amid genocidal violations of human rights that had recently occurred in some countries in sub- Saharan Africa, the new South Africa stood as a beacon of democracy and respect for human dignity. With this openness in mind, many immigrants to South Africa sought safety and refuge from the conflicts in their homelands. More than 43,500 refugees and 227,000 asylum seekers now live in South Africa. The majority of people accorded refugee status came from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. South Africa also hosts thousands of other migrants who remain undocumented.

Review of refugee mental health interventions following resettlement : best practices and recommendations

There are increasing numbers of refugees worldwide, with approximately 16 million refugees in 2007 and over 2.5 million refugees resettled in the United States since the start of its humanitarian program. Psychologists and other health professionals who deliver mental health services for individuals from refugee backgrounds need to have confidence that the therapeutic interventions they employ are appropriate and effective for the clients with whom they work. The current review briefly surveys refugee research, examines empirical evaluations of therapeutic interventions in resettlement contexts, and provides recommendations for best practices and future directions in resettlement countries. The resettlement interventions found to be most effective typically target culturally homogeneous client samples and demonstrate moderate to large outcome effects on aspects of traumatic stress and anxiety reduction. Further evaluations of the array of psychotherapeutic, psychosocial, pharmacological, and other therapeutic approaches, including psychoeducational and community-based interventions that facilitate personal and community growth and change, are encouraged. There is a need for increased awareness, training and funding to implement longitudinal interventions that work collaboratively with clients from refugee backgrounds through the stages of resettlement.