Nursing the fatherland? Hohenzollern statebuilding and the hidden transcript of political resistance in Hanoverian female charity during the Second German Empire

In summer 1866 the Austro-Prussian struggle for supremacy in Germany erupted into open conflict. King Georg V of Hanover sided with other governments loyal to the German Confederation against Prussia, but after initially defeating Prussian forces at Langensalza, he was forced to capitulate. Two days after the battle, on June 29, 1866, the widow of the Hanoverian general Sir Georg Julius von Hartmann told her daughter in no uncertain terms how she felt about the Prussian government and its allies. In her opinion they were nothing more than “robber states” that cloaked their disregard for the Ten Commandments in sanctimonious public displays of piety. “These Protestant Jesuits,” she continued, “offend me more than the Catholic ones. You know that I am German with all my heart and love my Germany, but I cannot consider them genuine Germans anymore because they only want to make Germany Prussian.”

The life and adventures of Ernest Moritz Arndt, the singer of the German fatherland.

"Consists mainly of a translation of Arndt's autobiography, abridged in many places, and occasionally enlarged by quotations from his letters and other writings... The account of the later years of his life is drawn from the numerous biographies."--Prefatory note.

Chicano identity and discourses of supplementarity on Mexican cinema: from ‘The Man Without a Fatherland’ (Contreras Torres: 1922) to ‘Under the Same Moon’ (Riggen: 2008)

A radical change took place in Mexican narratives of belonging during the 1990s, when NAFTA was first negotiated. Narratives of migration drastically changed the status of Mexican migrants to the US, formerly derided as ‘pochos’, presenting them as model citizens instead. Following Derrida, I argue the role of the migrant became that of a supplement, which is, discursively, at the same time external to and part of a given unit, standing for and allowing deeper transformations to take place in the whole discourse of bilateral relations and national identity more generally. I use Derrida’s concept of the supplement to discuss changing representations of Chicanos in Mexican cinema, and to assess the extent that they have succeeded in reframing the discourse on national identity, with a focus on gender.

Citizenship education in Switzerland before, during and after the First World War

Citizenship education was intensively discussed during the 1910s. Patriotic ideals and the love of the fatherland were described with diligence in teachers' journals. After the outbreak of the World War I, Swiss teachers reacted immediately to the new circumstances and published lessons in their weekly teacher journals for every day of school for different grade levels. These lessons comprised current events and civic education as well as didactical instructions for the teacher. In pupils' essays, citizens are often depicted as religious members of society who are industrious and hardworking, whereas in the journals, religious aspects are related to peace but not to citizenship education. As a multilingual and neutral country, Switzerland struggled with major domestic problems due to the cultural conflict between the French- and the German-speaking regions, especially during wartime. However, teachers promoted unity from the beginning. Therefore, changes and continuities during this decade concerning citizenship education are of crucial research interest. The practical sections of teachers' journals, including lessons and didactical instructions, and pupils' essays provide insight into what happened in the classrooms. Which forms of national identity and citizenship were taught in classrooms before, during and shortly after WW1 in public schools in Switzerland? How did pupils describe the current issues of war and citizenship?

Sivistyksestä sivilisaatioon. Kulttuurikäsitys J. V. Snellmanin historiallisessa ajattelussa

From Bildung to Civilisation. Conception of Culture in J. V. Snellman’s Historical Thinking The research explores Johan Vilhelm Snellman’s (1806–1881) conception of culture in the context of his historical thinking. Snellman was a Finnish, Swedish-speaking journalist, teacher and thinker, who held a central position in the Finnish national discourse during the nineteenth century. He has been considered as one of the leading theorists of a Finnish nation, writing widely about the themes such as the advancement of the national education, Finnish language and culture. Snellman is already a widely studied person in Finnish intellectual history, often characterised as a follower of G. W. F. Hegel’s philosophical system. My own research introduces a new kind of approach on Snellman’s texts, emphasising the conceptual level of his thought. With this approach, my aim is to broaden the Finnish research tradition on conceptual history. I consider my study as a cultural history of concepts, belonging also to the field of intellectual history. My focus is on one hand on the close reading of Snellman’s texts and on the other hand on contextualising his texts to the European intellectual tradition of the time. A key concept of Snellman’s theoretical thinking is his concept of bildning, which can be considered as a Swedish counterpart of the German concept of Bildung. The Swedish word incorporated all the main elements of the German concept. It could mean education or the so-called high culture, but most fundamentally it was about the self-formation of the individual. This is also the context in which Snellman’s concept of bildning has often been interpreted. In the study, I use the concept of bildning as a starting point of my research but I broaden my focus on the cognate concepts such as culture (kultur), spirit (anda) and civilisation. The purpose of my study is thus to illustrate how Snellman used and modified these concepts and from these observations to draw a conclusion about the nature of his conception of culture. Snellman was an early Finnish philosopher of history but also interested in the practice of the writing of history. He did not write any historical presentations himself but followed the publications in the field of history and introduced European historical writing to the Finnish, Swedish-speaking reading audience in his newspapers. The primary source material consists of different types of Snellman’s texts, including philosophical writings, lecture material, newspaper articles and private letters. I’m reading Snellman’s texts in the context of other texts produced both by his Finnish predecessors and contemporaries and by Swedish, German and French writers. Snellman’s principal philosophical works, Versuch einer spekulativen Entwicklung der Idee der Persönlichkeit (1841) and Läran om staten (1842), were both written abroad. Both of the works were contributions to contemporary debates on the international level, especially in Germany and Sweden. During the 1840s and 1850s Snellman had two newspapers of his own, Saima and Litteraturblad, which were directed towards the Swedish-speaking educated class. Both of the newspapers were very popular and their circulations were among the largest of their day in Finland. The topics of his articles and reviews covered literature, poetry, philosophy and education as well as issues concerning the economic, industrial and technical development in Finland. In his newspapers Snellman not only brought forth his own ideas but also spread the knowledge of European events and ideas to his readers. He followed very carefully the cultural and political situation in Western Europe. He also followed European magazines and newspapers and was well acquainted with German, French and also English literature – and of course Swedish literature to with which he had the closest ties. In his newspapers Snellman wrote countless number of literary reviews and critics, introducing his readers to European literature. The study consists of three main chapters in which I explore my research question in three different, yet overlapping contexts. In the first of these chapters, I analyse Snellman’n theoretical thinking and his concepts of bildning, kultur, anda and civilisation in the context of earlier cultural discourse in Finland as well as the tradition of German idealistic philosophy and neo-humanism. With the Finnish cultural discourse I refer to the early cultural discussion in Finland, which emerged after the year 1809, when Finland became an autonomous entity of its own as a Grand Duchy of Russia. Scholars of the Academy of Turku opened a discussion on the themes such as the state of national consciousness, the need for national education and the development of the Finnish language as a national language of Finland. Many of these academics were also Snellman’s teachers in the early years of his academic career and Snellman clearly formulated his own ideas in the footsteps of these Finnish predecessors. In his theoretical thinking Snellman was a collectivist; according to him an individual should always be understood in connection with the society, its values and manners, as well as to the traditions of a culture where an individual belongs to. In his philosophy of the human spirit Snellman was in many ways a Hegelian but his notion of education or ‘bildning’ includes also elements that connect him with the wider tradition of German intellectual history, namely the neo-humanist tradition and, at least to some extent, to the terminology of J. G. Herder or J. G. Fichte, for example. In this chapter, I also explore Snellman’s theory of history. In his historical thinking Snellman was an idealist, believing in the historical development of the human spirit (Geist in German language). One can characterise his theory of history by stating that it is a mixture of a Hegelian triumph of the spirit and Herderian emphasis on humanity (Humanität) and the relative nature of ‘Bildung’. For Snellman, the process of ‘bildning’ or ‘Bildung’ is being realised in historical development through the actions of human beings. Snellman believed in the historical development of the human civilization. Still Snellman himself considered that he had abandoned Hegel’s idea about the process of world history. Snellman – rightly or wrongly – criticised Hegel of emphasising the universal end of history (the realisation of the freedom of spirit) at the expense of the historical plurality and the freedom of each historical era. Snellman accused Hegel of neglecting the value and independency of different historical cultures and periods by imposing the abstract norm, the fulfilment of the freedom of spirit, as the ultimate goal of history. The historicist in Snellman believed in the individuality of each historical period; each historical era or culture had values, traditions and modes of thought of its own. This historicist in Snellman could not accept the talk about one measure or the end of history. On the other hand Snellman was also a universalist. He believed that mankind had a common task and that task was the development of ‘Bildung’, freedom or humanity. The second main chapter consists of two parts. In the first part, I explore the Finnish nationalistic discourse from the cultural point of view by analysing the notions such as a nation, national spirit or national language and showing how Snellman formulated his own ideas in a dialogic situation, participating in the Finnish discourse but also reacting to international discussions on the themes of the nation and nationality. For Snellman nationality was to a great extent the collective knowledge and customs or practices of the nation. Snellman stated that nationality is to be considered as a form of ‘bildning’. This could be seen not simply as affection for the fatherland but also for the mental identity of the nation, its ways of thinking, its practices, national language, customs and laws, the history of the nation. The simplest definition of nationality that Snellman gives is that nationality is the social life of the people. In the second part of the chapter I exam Snellman’s historical thinking and his understanding about historical development, interaction between different nations and cultures in the course of history, as well as the question of historical change; how do cultures or civilisations develop and who are the creators of culture? Snellman did not believe in one dominating culture but understood the course of history as a dialogue between different cultures. On the other hand, his views are very Eurocentric – here he follows the ideas of Hegel or for example the French historian François Guizot – for Snellman Europe represented the virtue of pluralism; in Europe one could see the diversity of cultures which, on the other hand, were fundamentally based on a common Christian tradition. In the third main chapter, my focus is on the writing of history, more precisely on Snellman’s ideas on the nature of history as a science and on the proper way of writing historical presentations. Snellman wrote critics on the works of history and introduced his readers to the writing of history especially in France, Sweden and German-speaking area – in some extend also in Britain. Snellman’s collectivistic view becomes evident also in his reviews on historical writing. For Snellman history was not about the actions of the states and their heads, nor about the records of ruling families and battles fought. He repeatedly stressed that history is a discipline that seeks to provide a total view of a phenomenon. A historian should not only collect information on historical events, since this information touches only the surface of a certain epoch or civilisation; he has to understand an epoch as totality. This required an understanding about the major contours in history, connections between civilisations and an awareness of significant turning points in historical development. In addition, it required a holistic understanding about a certain culture or historical era, including also the so-called inner life of a specific nation, a common people and their ways of life. Snellman wrote explicitly about ‘cultural history’ in his texts, referring to this kind of broad understanding of a society. In historical writing Snellman found this kind of broader view from the works of the French historians such as François Guizot and Jules Michelet. In all of these chapters, I elaborate the conceptual dimension of Snellman’s historical thinking. In my study I argue that Snellman not only adopted the German concepts of Bildung or Kultur in his own thinking but also developed the Swedish concepts in a way that include personal and innovative aspects. Snellman’s concept of bildning is not only a translation from ‘Bildung’ but he uses the Swedish concept in a versatile way that includes both the moral aspect of human development and social dimension of a human life. Along with ‘bildning’ Snellman used also the terms ‘kultur’ and ‘civilisation’ when referring to the totality of a certain nation or historical era, including both the so-called high culture (arts, science, religion) and the modes of thought as well as ways of life of the people as a whole. Unlike many of his Finnish contemporaries, Snellman did not use civilisation as a negative concept, lacking the moral essence of German term ‘Bildung’ or ‘Kultur’. Instead, for Snellman civilisation was a neutral term and here he comes close to the French tradition of using the term. In the study I argue that Snellman’s conception of culture in fact includes a synthesis of the German tradition of ‘Bildung’ and the French tradition of ‘civilisation’.

Zwischen deutschem und kanadischem Identitätsdiskurs im Kanada Kurier 1981 : Zur Vergangenheitsbewältigung in einer Diasporazeitung

Les questions identitaires sont depuis des années au cœur des débats et des réflexions chez les Germano-Canadiens; les évènements du XXe siècle les ont poussés à constamment (re)définir leur identité face à la majorité (anglo-)canadienne. C’est notamment par le biais de médias ethniques qu’ils ont été en mesure de réfléchir à ces questions, sujettes aux débats les plus houleux. Le Kanada Kurier, un hebdomadaire germanophone du Canada, publié à l’échelle nationale pendant plus de cent ans, leur permettait notamment de s’exprimer sur cette question. Le mémoire s’interroge sur le discours identitaire produit par ce groupe et vise à mieux le décrire. Par une analyse de contenu des lettres de lecteurs de 1981, nous mettons en lumière les thèmes qui animent la communauté. Le corpus permet d’abord de voir la place importante qu’occupe la politique allemande, de constater la présence d’un discours identitaire duel, puisant ses références dans les contextes tant allemand que canadien, renforcé par des idéologies (politiques) communes chez certains germanophones du Canada et d’Europe. L’utilisation du concept de transnationalisme permet de soulever la question de la Heimat, sujet devenu éminemment politique après 1945, et illustre la complexité de la notion de patrie dans le cas allemand, surtout face aux revendications des « revanchistes » qui souhaitaient récupérer les territoires annexés par la Pologne et l’URSS après 1945. Au cœur de la majorité des lettres, nous apercevons le rapport complexe qu’entretiennent les Germano-Canadiens avec la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, véritable lieu de mémoire de la communauté. Finalement, le corpus montre surtout un journal dont le rôle aura été multiple et qu’on peut en définitive qualifier de journal diasporique.

National Values and Theatrical Values. The Battle of the Siege de Calais (1765)

This article underscores the complex relationship between national concerns and dramatic criticism by interrogating the role of theatre in the creation of a 'national culture' during the last few decades of the Ancien regime. The author focuses more specifically on the forms of patriotism proposed by Pierre-Laurent De Belloy, author of Le Siege de Calais, France's "first tragedy in which the nation is given the pleasure to take an interest in itself," as well as by his adversaries and his allies. The version of patriotism proffered by De Belloy - a 'fatherland' that he defines as both bourgeois and monarchical - renders problematic several aesthetic and political norms in place in 1765. The author thus responds modestly to one of the most essential questions posed by research on eighteenth-century political and cultural history: how did patriotism operate before the French Revolution?

Leaving Home: Philo of Alexandria on the Exodus.

For Jewish-Hellenistic authors writing in Egypt, the Exodus story posed unique challenges. After all, to them Egypt was, as Philo of Alexandria states, their fatherland. How do these authors come to terms with the biblical story of liberation from Egyptian slavery and the longing for the promised land? In this chapter I am taking a close look at Philo’s detailed discussion of the Exodus and locate it within the larger context of Jewish-Hellenistic literature (Wisdom of Solomon, Ezekiel’s Exagoge). In Philo’s rewriting of the Exodus the destination of the journey is barely mentioned. Contrary to the biblical narrative, in the scene of the burning bush, as retold by Philo, God does not tell Moses where to go. Philo’s main concern is what happens in Egypt: both in biblical times and in his own days. The Exodus is nevertheless important to Philo: He reads the story allegorically as a journey from the land of the body to the realms of the mind. Such a symbolic reading permitted him to control the meaning of the Exodus and to stay, literally and figuratively, in Egypt.

La imagen de país en cuatro escritores argentinos contemporáneos: L. Lugones, J. L. Borges, J. Cortázar y T.E. Martínez

El propósito del trabajo no deja de ser ambicioso: tratar de recorrer casi un siglo (1910-2002) de un país controvertido, de una historia compleja expresada a través de algunos textos de sus exponentes más representativos. El planteo es sencillo: a comienzos de siglo, en el contexto modernista, Lugones propone una visión altamente positiva, de alabanza y de grandeza. Borges reconoce algunos desaciertos pero pervive fervientemente en él el orgullo de ser argentino y de ser el descendiente de quienes forjaron la patria. En nuestro esquema, este autor constituye el gozne entre la imagen inicial de principios de siglo y la que sobrevendrá después, en la segunda mitad y fines del siglo XX. En efecto, Cortázar y Tomás Eloy Martínez abandonan la mirada positiva y se inscriben en la crítica afanosa, en la desesperanza y el profundo dolor de pertenecer a un país que parece eyectarlos, rechazarlos, enviándolos al extranjero, donde estos escritores producirán lo mejor de su obra. Los textos elegidos son también un pretexto para reflexionar sobre nuestra identidad y nuestra literatura.

Forasteros y migrantes. Un acercamiento a la construcción de la trama social en la ciudad de San Miguel de Tucumán en las últimas décadas coloniales

El crecimiento de los sectores populares urbanos hacia fines del siglo XVIII y comienzos del XIX, quizás haya sido uno de los fenómenos demográficos más significativos y que ha producido más rupturas en la organización social corporativa y jerárquica de Antiguo Régimen. Recién cuando la ciudad creció y adquirió características de urbe (que no eran sinónimos), pudo hablarse de la presencia de un grupo social que no pertenecía a la corporación de vecinos y que incluso se oponía a ésta. El tema que se plantea en este trabajo es la construcción de la trama social urbana en San Miguel de Tucumán en las postrimerías coloniales. En este contexto, problematizamos la situación de forasteros y migrantes como un problema para las autoridades en torno a su ubicación social y su control. La hipótesis que planteamos es que la definición de "forastero en la ciudad" aplicada por las autoridades, estaba dirigida a los migrantes "de baja esfera", es decir, a quienes no eran reconocidos por los vecinos como pares. Progresivamente, la referencia de identificación utilizada fue la patria: el lugar de origen. Cada vez era más frecuente la expresión "natural deÔǪ" como única referencia de identidad, más allá de las señas personales.

Ejército y Nación : Un estudio sobre las estrategias de inscripción de lo/as oficiales del Ejército Argentino en la comunidad nacional

Figuras tales como "reserva moral de la nación" o "salvadores de la patria" dan cuenta no sólo del lugar privilegiado que el ejército mantuvo en su vínculo con la nación sino también de un tipo legítimo de agencia que debía ejercer. Luego del terrorismo de Estado y de la derrota de guerra de Malvinas, en un contexto de pérdida de prestigio y declinación de la elite militar, lo/as oficiales se ven obligados a gestionar las relaciones de reconocimiento mutuo que establecen con la sociedad y la nación de las que son parte. A partir del análisis e interpretación de las representaciones, creencias y valores que lo/as oficiales actualizan en el ejercicio cotidiano de su profesión, el propósito de este trabajo es dar cuenta de los sentidos que, provenientes del pasado pero también sujetos a los cambios y necesidades del presente, enmarcan, alimentan y sostienen un tipo de inscripción de la agencia histórica de la fuerza en la comunidad nacional.

Forasteros y migrantes. Un acercamiento a la construcción de la trama social en la ciudad de San Miguel de Tucumán en las últimas décadas coloniales

El crecimiento de los sectores populares urbanos hacia fines del siglo XVIII y comienzos del XIX, quizás haya sido uno de los fenómenos demográficos más significativos y que ha producido más rupturas en la organización social corporativa y jerárquica de Antiguo Régimen. Recién cuando la ciudad creció y adquirió características de urbe (que no eran sinónimos), pudo hablarse de la presencia de un grupo social que no pertenecía a la corporación de vecinos y que incluso se oponía a ésta. El tema que se plantea en este trabajo es la construcción de la trama social urbana en San Miguel de Tucumán en las postrimerías coloniales. En este contexto, problematizamos la situación de forasteros y migrantes como un problema para las autoridades en torno a su ubicación social y su control. La hipótesis que planteamos es que la definición de "forastero en la ciudad" aplicada por las autoridades, estaba dirigida a los migrantes "de baja esfera", es decir, a quienes no eran reconocidos por los vecinos como pares. Progresivamente, la referencia de identificación utilizada fue la patria: el lugar de origen. Cada vez era más frecuente la expresión "natural deÔǪ" como única referencia de identidad, más allá de las señas personales.

Ejército y Nación : Un estudio sobre las estrategias de inscripción de lo/as oficiales del Ejército Argentino en la comunidad nacional

Figuras tales como "reserva moral de la nación" o "salvadores de la patria" dan cuenta no sólo del lugar privilegiado que el ejército mantuvo en su vínculo con la nación sino también de un tipo legítimo de agencia que debía ejercer. Luego del terrorismo de Estado y de la derrota de guerra de Malvinas, en un contexto de pérdida de prestigio y declinación de la elite militar, lo/as oficiales se ven obligados a gestionar las relaciones de reconocimiento mutuo que establecen con la sociedad y la nación de las que son parte. A partir del análisis e interpretación de las representaciones, creencias y valores que lo/as oficiales actualizan en el ejercicio cotidiano de su profesión, el propósito de este trabajo es dar cuenta de los sentidos que, provenientes del pasado pero también sujetos a los cambios y necesidades del presente, enmarcan, alimentan y sostienen un tipo de inscripción de la agencia histórica de la fuerza en la comunidad nacional.

Ejército y Nación : Un estudio sobre las estrategias de inscripción de lo/as oficiales del Ejército Argentino en la comunidad nacional

Figuras tales como "reserva moral de la nación" o "salvadores de la patria" dan cuenta no sólo del lugar privilegiado que el ejército mantuvo en su vínculo con la nación sino también de un tipo legítimo de agencia que debía ejercer. Luego del terrorismo de Estado y de la derrota de guerra de Malvinas, en un contexto de pérdida de prestigio y declinación de la elite militar, lo/as oficiales se ven obligados a gestionar las relaciones de reconocimiento mutuo que establecen con la sociedad y la nación de las que son parte. A partir del análisis e interpretación de las representaciones, creencias y valores que lo/as oficiales actualizan en el ejercicio cotidiano de su profesión, el propósito de este trabajo es dar cuenta de los sentidos que, provenientes del pasado pero también sujetos a los cambios y necesidades del presente, enmarcan, alimentan y sostienen un tipo de inscripción de la agencia histórica de la fuerza en la comunidad nacional.