The symbolic, socio-economic and exchange value of Imperial German and National Socialist medals and badges, 1701 to the present

This thesis examines the manufacture, use, exchange (including gift exchange), collecting and commodification of German medals and badges from the early 18th century until the present-day, with particular attention being given to the symbols that were deployed by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) between 1919 and 1945. It does so by focusing in particular on the construction of value through insignia, and how such badges and their symbolic and monetary value changed over time. In order to achieve this, the thesis adopts a chronological structure, which encompasses the creation of Prussia in 1701, the Napoleonic wars and the increased democratisation of military awards such as the Iron Cross during the Great War. The collapse of the Kaiserreich in 1918 was the major factor that led to the creation of the NSDAP under the eventual strangle-hold of Hitler, a fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic movement that continued the German tradition of awarding and wearing badges. The traditional symbols of Imperial Germany, such as the eagle, were then infused with the swastika, an emblem that was meant to signify anti-Semitism, thus creating a hybrid identity. This combination was then replicated en-masse, and eventually eclipsed all the symbols that had possessed symbolic significance in Germany’s past. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, millions of medals and badges were produced in an effort to create a racially based “People’s Community”, but the steel and iron that were required for munitions eventually led to substitute materials being utilised and developed in order to manufacture millions of politically oriented badges. The Second World War unleashed Nazi terror across Europe, and the conscripts and volunteers who took part in this fight for living-space were rewarded with medals that were modelled on those that had been instituted during Imperial times. The colonial conquest and occupation of the East by the Wehrmacht, the Order Police and the Waffen-SS surpassed the brutality of former wars that finally culminated in the Holocaust, and some of these horrific crimes and the perpetrators of them were perversely rewarded with medals and badges. Despite Nazism being thoroughly discredited, many of the Allied soldiers who occupied Germany took part in the age-old practice of obtaining trophies of war, which reconfigured the meaning of Nazi badges as souvenirs, and began the process of their increased commodification on an emerging secondary collectors’ market. In order to analyse the dynamics of this market, a “basket” of badges is examined that enables a discussion of the role that aesthetics, scarcity and authenticity have in determining the price of the artefacts. In summary, this thesis demonstrates how the symbolic, socio-economic and exchange value of German military and political medals and badges has changed substantially over time, provides a stimulus for scholars to conduct research in this under-developed area, and encourages collectors to investigate the artefacts that they collect in a more historically contextualised manner.

Between Nation and State: Albanian Associations from Ottoman Origins to a Communist Party, 1880 - 1945

This dissertation addresses the broader antecedents of the Communist Party of Albania (CPA) as one of a number of associations whose experience was central to Albanian political history. This long experience dates back to the informal national associations formed in the Ottoman Empire of the late nineteenth century. The dissertation examines the role of these associations which, pursuing language rights and political representation through imperial state reforms, set a pattern that struggled to connect nation and state, rather than asserting the territorial demands for a nation-state familiar across the region. Starting out in the Ottoman Empire, but then maturing in the Albanian diaspora in Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt and the United States, this dissertation shows politically significant processes of longer-term adaptation that created informal associations as institutional structures able to channel collective action. It then traces the reframing of these patterns through their destruction in the Balkan Wars and the First World War to the emergence of communist associations in the interwar period and beyond. This dissertation is a sustained study that traces long-term Ottoman imperial political legacies in the Albanian successor state. The story of the associations, based on hitherto unexamined archival documents, shows that the Albanians possessed a far greater capacity for political mobilization that previously acknowledged by historians. Moreover, the dissertation successfully challenges the conventional wisdom that portrays the Albanians as irreparably divided along sectarian and regional faultlines. It finds that Albanian national activism was civic in character rather than ethnic as elsewhere in the Balkans. The Albanians fought to remain within a multinational framework because this afforded them political security, social advancement and potential economic growth. In the late Ottoman period, this political objective was manifested in the acceptance of the supranational imperial order whereas during the Second World War, in the aspiration to become members of the Comintern internationalist movement. Another important find, is the newly-discovered evidence concerning the founding of the CPA and its wartime conduct as an organization created and led by the Albanians themselves, albeit with Yugoslav ideological assistance under the transnational umbrella of the Comintern.

Réception de l’Histoire des colonies grecques dans la littérature coloniale des XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles

L’objectif de ce travail était d’apporter une réflexion sur les influences du colonialisme européen aux XVII-XVIIIe siècles. Ayant déjà rédigé mon mémoire de fin de maîtrise sur la Corinthe archaïque et ses colonies, j’ai souhaité approfondir la question, en choisissant de situer la problématique dans un contexte historiographique plus large, dans le temps comme dans l’espace. Plusieurs auteurs se sont intéressés aux réceptions de l’Antiquité à des périodes spécifiques (Grell et Alexandre le Grand en France, Richard et les influences antiques de la Révolution américaine,…). Cependant, aucune analyse sur le long terme n’avait encore été fournie, pas davantage qu’une réflexion de fonds sur la place de l’Antiquité dans la manière de penser les colonies en Europe moderne. Cet état de fait, de même que la relative rareté des sources modernes traitant des colonies grecques, m’ont obligé à élargir au maximum le champ de recherche, en y incluant des auteurs qui, s’ils ne se préoccupèrent pas de colonisation, recoururent néanmoins au précédent grec pour illustrer des problématiques de leur temps. Toutefois, il est possible de constater à quel point les répertoires historiographiques concernant la Grèce antique et ses colonisations se sont développés dans le courant de ces deux siècles qui virent l’apogée et la chute des premiers empires coloniaux européens en Amérique du nord. Si la comparaison à l’Histoire grecque ne relevait souvent que du Topos et de la propagande (comme dans le cas de la comparaison du Grand Condé ou de Louis XIV à Alexandre le Grand), son utilisation dans le cadre de controverses à plus large échelle outrepassait aussi le seul lieu commun pour s’inscrire dans un discours rhétorique plus approfondi. Le choix de la colonisation grecque comme modèle de comparaison s’imposait d’autant plus logiquement que les divers auteurs, depuis les premiers colons jusqu’aux pères fondateurs américains, insistaient sur les mérites économiques des colonies européennes. D’autres régimes, comme l’empire espagnol au XVIe siècle ou l’empire britannique au XIXe siècle, ont davantage recouru à une terminologie d’inspiration romaine. En effet, leur politique se fondait plus sur l’idée d’une extension impérialiste de l’État que sur une vision commerciale du colonialisme. L’article de Krishan Kumar demeure l’un des plus importants sur la question. La réception de l’Histoire des colonies grecques aux Temps modernes fut avant tout le fruit d’une tentative de définition du colonialisme comme phénomène global, et d’une volonté de situer les nations européennes dans un contexte remontant aux origines de l’Occident. À l’heure où l’Europe amorçait sa domination sur la totalité de la planète, et où la course à la colonisation s’accélérait, la majorité des auteurs s’abritaient derrière l’image de thalassocraties antiques qui, si elles ne dénotaient pas un pouvoir politique centralisé, n’en contribuèrent pas moins à imposer la culture fondatrice de la pensée occidentale à tout le bassin méditerranéen. Quant aux guerres qui poussèrent les puissances antiques les unes contre les autres, elles ne faisaient qu’augurer des conflits à large échelle que furent les guerres franco-britanniques du XVIIIe siècle.

Periodismo literario y conflicto social en México en las crónicas de Charles Bowden y Judith Torrea

La presente comunicación analiza las relaciones entre periodismo literario y conflicto social a partir de la visión que sobre la violencia, el narcotráfico, los asesinatos, el crimen, las desapariciones etc., tienen las crónicas de Charles Bowden y Judtih Torrea. Bowden es un periodista norteamericano, recientemente fallecido, que ha vivido en primera persona el problema de la violencia a un lado y a otro de la frontera entre México y Estados Unidos. Por su parte, Judith Torrea, es una periodista española, Premio Ortega y Gasset 2010 de periodismo en Internet, afincada en Juárez y cuya obra se ha centrado en las desapariciones de mujeres en Juárez. La perspectiva de ambos profesionales, de procedencia y generación distinta, nos permite abordar el fenómeno del conflicto social mexicano no sólo desde el ángulo del análisis pormenorizado del problema, sino de la visión personal y en muchos casos subjetiva del periodista que se enfrenta in situ, y de manera personal a estas situaciones de conflicto. Nos centraremos para este doble análisis, de un lado La ciudad del crimen: Ciudad Juárez y los nuevos campos de exterminio de la economía global del periodista norteamericano Charles Bowden y Juárez en la sombra: Crónica de una ciudad que se resiste a morir de la periodista española Judith Torrea. Creemos poder contribuir de esta manera al estudio del periodismo literario a través de la crónica como género a partir de las adaptaciones que esta sufre en función del contexto del que trata. Centramos el caso en el estudio de Ciudad Juárez dada la importancia de este caso y su repercusión social y el eco internacional que tiene a lo que se añade el carácter fronterizo del problema y por tanto un fenómeno que posee una singularidad específica. This communication analyses the relationship between literary journalism and social conflict, from the point of view Charles Bowden and Judtih Torrea chronicles have about violence, drug trafficking, murders, crime, disappearances, etc. Bowden is an American journalist, recently deceased, who has experienced on the first hand the problem of violence on the border between Mexico and the United States. Meanwhile, Torrea is a Spanish journalist, awarded in 2010 with the Journalism on the Internet Ortega y Gasset Prize, settled in Juarez conflict and whose work is focused on the disappearances of women in Juarez. The perspectives of both professionals, who are from different origin and generation, allow us to deal with the situation of Mexican social conflict, from the angle of detailed analysis of the problem, and from the journalist’s personal view, often subjective, who had to cope with this reality. For this double analysis, we will focus, firstly, on Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields by the American journalist Charles Bowden and, secondly, on City of Juarez: Under the Shadow of Drug Trafficking by the Spanish journalist Judith Torrea. Accordingly, we contribute to the study of literary journalism through the chronicle as genre with the adaptation it suffers depending on the context. Ciudad Juarez is the center of this investigation due to the importance of this case and its social impact and international repercussions. Besides, the border problem contributes to give a specific singularity to this.

[Comanche pictograph map of the Battle of Sierra Blanca, 1787].

Shows battle between two warring Plains Indian tribes, the Comanche and Apache.

Financiamento das principais guerras do ocidente no século XX : uma análise exploratória

Mestrado em Contabilidade, Fiscalidade e Finanças Empresariais

A disputa entre a Rússia e a Ucrânia pela região da Crimeia

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a tensão criada entre os países da União Europeia, Estados Unidos da América e Ucrânia relativamente à Rússia após a incorporação da península da Crimeia na Federação Russa em 2014, região que pertencia ao território ucraniano desde 1954. Procura descrever os indicadores que confiram ou não a esta crise características de uma nova Guerra Fria. Com este objetivo, analisou-se primeiramente a Guerra Fria que cessou em 1991, com base nas teorias das Relações Internacionais e de poder, na análise de crise e conflito e as características relevantes desta conflitualidade, como o conceito de dissuasão e guerras por procuração. Com base na contextualização histórica da região da Crimeia e os fatores geopolíticos e geoestratégicos dos intervenientes, fundamentaram-se os interesses dos intervenientes nesta questão. Por fim foram analisados a legalidade da intervenção, o posicionamento das partes envolvidas, bem como os mecanismos desenvolvidos para a resolução da situação. O objetivo será responder à discussão se atualmente o Mundo se encontra ou não numa nova Guerra Fria e compreender como será a relação da Rússia com a Ucrânia com os EUA e os países europeus após a incorporação da península.

Emprego de forças aeromóveis : Uma perspetiva histórica

O presente Trabalho de Investigação Aplicada encontra-se subordinado ao tema “Emprego de Forças Aeromóveis – Uma Perspetiva Histórica”. Tendo este trabalho como objetivo principal explicar como é que a evolução do helicóptero, durante os conflitos em estudo, influenciou o emprego tático de forças aeromóveis. Para a realização deste trabalho de investigação seguimos as etapas do procedimento definidas por Raymond Quivy e Luc Van Campenhoudt, adotando o método indutivo, tendo abordado operações específicas para retirar conclusões gerais da guerra em estudo. Os dados foram recolhidos recorrendo sobretudo à análise documental e pesquisa bibliográfica. Como resultados mais significativos temos o facto de em ambos os conflitos em estudo, o emprego de forças aeromóveis se ter tornado decisivo no decorrer da operação, sendo este tipo de forças consideradas bastante eficazes e uma mais-valia para o comandante aumentando o leque de opções à disposição deste. A capacidade aeromóvel no Exército Português é inexistente, porém esta é uma capacidade dada como adquirida e frequentemente empregue nos mais recentes teatros de operações. É também uma capacidade essencial que um comandante tem à sua disposição, uma vez que aumenta o leque de opções à disposição do mesmo, tornando-se como tal importante estudá-la. Com a evolução dos meios aeromóveis o emprego tático das forças também evoluiu, acompanhando a mudança, o que veio a incrementar importância a este tipo de forças para o conflito em si.

Crítica a la acrítica en Cantos de las guerras preventivas, de Fernando Contreras

Este artículo presenta un análisis de la novela Cantos de las guerras preventivas, de Fernando Contreras tratando de establecer los elementos posmodernos que funcionan a nivel textual, como medio para abordar el texto como antiutopía. Se estudia el papel del deseo insatisfecho en relación con la trama textual, con el fin de señalar las fallas que existen en relación con la crítica que el autor pretende dirigir contra las guerras preventivas.This article presents as analysis of Fernando Contreras’ novel Cantos de las guerras preventivas, in an effort to establish the post-modern elements existing in the text, and to approach it within the anti-utopian genre. The role of unsatisfied desire is addressed with regard to the plot, in order to discuss the failures existing with regard to the author's criticism of preventive wars.

Estados Unidos : regionalizar a questão afegã

O artigo trata da política externa dos Estados Unidos concernente ao Afeganistão. Nesse sentido, ele aponta a necessidade de mudar a atual diretriz militar, a fim de envolver os países da região enquanto se preparasse a retirada das tropas da OTAN. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT

Veteranness : Representations of Combat-related PTSD in U.S. Popular Visual Media

Posttraumatic stress and PTSD are becoming familiar terms to refer to what we often call the invisible wounds of war, yet these are recent additions to a popular discourse in which images of and ideas about combat-affected veterans have long circulated. A legacy of ideas about combat veterans and war trauma thus intersects with more recent clinical information about PTSD to become part of a discourse of visual media that has defined and continues to redefine veteran for popular audiences. In this dissertation I examine realist combat veteran representations in selected films and other visual media from three periods: during and after World Wars I and II (James Allen from I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Fred Derry and Al Stephenson from The Best Years of Our Lives); after the Vietnam War (Michael from The Deer Hunter, Eriksson from Casualties of War), and post 9/11 (Will James from The Hurt Locker, a collection of veterans from Wartorn: 1861-2010.) Employing a theoretical framework informed by visual media studies, Barthes’ concept of myth, and Foucault’s concept ofdiscursive unity, I analyze how these veteran representations are endowed with PTSD symptom-like behaviors and responses that seem reasonable and natural within the narrative arc. I contend that veteran myths appear through each veteran representation as the narrative develops and resolves. I argue that these veteran myths are many and varied but that they crystallize in a dominant veteran discourse, a discursive unity that I term veteranness. I further argue that veteranness entangles discrete categories such as veteran, combat veteran, and PTSD with veteran myths, often tying dominant discourse about combat-related PTSD to outdated or outmoded notions that significantly affect our attitudes about and treatment of veterans. A basic premise of my research is that unless and until we learn about the lasting effects of the trauma inherent to combat, we hinder our ability to fulfill our responsibilities to war veterans. A society that limits its understanding of posttraumatic stress, PTSD and post-war experiences of actual veterans affected by war trauma to veteranness or veteran myths risks normalizing or naturalizing an unexamined set of sociocultural expectations of all veterans, rendering them voice-less, invisible, and, ultimately disposable.

A Critique of the Representation of Violence in American Literature:

The purpose of this thesis was to draw new insights on Thomas Berger’s classic American novel, Little Big Man, and his representation of fictional violence that is a substantial aspect of any text on the Indian Wars and “Custer’s Last Stand”. History’s major world wars led to shifts in the political climate and a noted change in the way that violence was represented in the arts. Historical, fictional, and cinematic treatments of “Custer’s Last Stand” and violence were each considered in relation to the text. Berger's version of the famed story is a revision of history that shows the protagonist as a dual-member of two violent societies. The thesis concluded that Berger’s updated American legends and unique “white renegade” character led to a representation of violence that spoke to the current state of affairs in 1964 when the world was becoming much more hostile and chaotic place.

"To Hold the World in Contempt": The British Empire, War, and the Irish and Indian Nationalist Press, 1899-1914

The era between the close of the nineteenth century and the onset of the First World War witnessed a marked increase in radical agitation among Indian and Irish nationalists. The most outspoken political leaders of the day founded a series of widely circulated newspapers in India and Ireland, placing these editors in the enviable position of both reporting and creating the news. Nationalist journalists were in the vanguard of those pressing vocally for an independent India and Ireland, and together constituted an increasingly problematic contingent for the British Empire. The advanced-nationalist press in Ireland and the nationalist press in India took the lead in facilitating the exchange of provocative ideas—raising awareness of perceived imperial injustices, offering strategic advice, and cementing international solidarity. Irish and Indian press coverage of Britain’s imperial wars constituted one of the premier weapons in the nationalists’ arsenal, permitting them to build support for their ideology and forward their agenda in a manner both rapid and definitive. Directing their readers’ attention to conflicts overseas proved instructive in how the Empire dealt with those who resisted its policies, and also showcased how it conducted its affairs with its allies. As such, critical press coverage of the Boxer Rebellion, Boer War, Russo-Japanese War, and World War I bred disaffection for the Empire, while attempts by the Empire to suppress the critiques further alienated the public. This dissertation offers the first comparative analysis of the major nationalist press organs in India and Ireland, using the prism of war to illustrate the increasingly persuasive role of the press in promoting resistance to the Empire. It focuses on how the leading Indian and Irish editors not only fostered a nationalist agenda within their own countries, but also worked in concert to construct a global anti-imperialist platform. By highlighting the anti-imperial rhetoric of the nationalist press in India and Ireland and illuminating their strategies for attaining self-government, this study deepens understanding of the seeds of nationalism, making a contribution to comparative imperial scholarship, and demonstrating the power of the media to alter imperial dynamics and effect political change.

Significant history and historical orientation : Ugandan students narrate their historical pasts

In 2012, Uganda celebrated 50 years of independence. The postcolonial era in the country has been marked by political turmoil and civil wars. Uganda, like many other postcolonial states in Africa, cannot be described as an ethnically or culturally homogenous state. However, history education has globally been seen as a platform for constructing national identities in contemporary societies. At the same time, it is assumed that specific historical experiences of countries influence historical understanding. This study takes its starting point in the theories of historical consciousness and narrativity. A narrative could be viewed as a site where mobilization of ideas of the past to envisage the present and possible futures is made and hence the narrative expresses historical orientation. Through the concept of historical orientation historical consciousness can be explored, i.e. what history is viewed as significant and meaningful. The aim in the study is to explore in what ways students connect to their historical pasts.   The study explores 219 narratives of 73 Ugandan upper secondary students. Narratives elicited through written responses to three assignments. Designed to capture different approaches to history: either to start from the beginning and narrate history prospectively or to depart from the present narrating retrospectively. The colonial experience of Uganda affected the sampling in the way that students were chosen from two different regions, Central and Northern Uganda. The comparison was a way to handle the concept of ‘nation’ as a presupposed category. Narrative analysis has been used as a method to explore what the students regarded as historically significant and what patterns among the narratives that point towards particular historical orientations.   The empirical results show how different approaches to history, a prospective or a retrospective approach, influence the student narratives. For instance, valued judgments on past developments were more common with the retrospective approach. The results also show differences in evaluating past developments according to regional origin. Students from northern Uganda were generally more inclined to tell a story of decline. Also, it is argued that the student narratives were informed by a meta-narrative of Africa. It was as common to identify oneself as African as it was to identify as Ugandan.

Empleo de la diplomacia preventiva por parte de la Organización de Naciones Unidas en el conflicto de Kosovo de 1998-1999

En el interés de alcanzar la estabilidad y promover el mantenimiento de la paz internacional, la diplomacia preventiva nace como un concepto generador de estrategias encaminadas a actuar antes, durante y después del conflicto. El siguiente documento busca analizar el funcionamiento de los instrumentos de diplomacia preventiva empleados por las Naciones Unidas en la crisis de Kosovo de 1998 y 1999. Esta crisis surgida a raíz del conflicto entre el gobierno serbio y un movimiento disidente, conocido como el Ejército de Liberación Albano-Kosovar, que pretendía darle un perfil más autónomo al territorio y a la población albano-kosovar, reveló una serie de debilidades estructurales que sigue enfrentando este mecanismo en la resolución de conflictos étnicos al interior de los Estados.