The Changing Faces of Manx Witchcraft

ABSTRACT

The nature of witchcraft beliefs and trials in the early modern Isle of Man has recently been the subject of some excellent research. The history of attitudes to witchcraft on the island is, however, also susceptible to a different approach: that of examining the manner in which they have developed and adapted over the time since the opening of the modern period. This longer perspective reveals, as did the close study of the early modern material, that Man both exhibited a number of individualistic features and acted as a microcosm of more general alterations in belief. As those alterations have, as yet, failed to attract any sustained interest from historians, the perspective shed upon them by the Manx material is all the more important. Man's abundant early modern archives and rich modern literary culture together provide ample evidence for such a case study, while the latter presents wider implications for the treatment of the subject in a broader context.     

Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland. By Elizabeth Ewan and Janay Nugent

ABSTRACT

In response to recent discussions in the UK about the history national curriculum in schools, Cultural and Social History invited several historians to comment on the issues. Their responses to our questions have been interleaved and lightly edited.     

Some Reflections about the Use of the Berber Language in the Medieval and Early Modern Maghrib: Data from Hagiographic Sources

The Berber language has historically been a key element in the socio-cultural and ethnic fabric of the Maghrib. Consequently, in recent years there have been several initiatives to recover and interpret the information Arabic sources provide on the Berber language and the role played by Berber peoples in the consolidation of Islam in this area.

Studies of the Berber language and peoples have primarily centred on chronicles and geographical sources, but scholars have devoted less attention to other sources, especially hagiographies. With the exception of some specific work, the role of the Berber language and peoples in hagiographic literature has not been systematically analysed. The analysis presented in this article suggests that some hagiographic sources, especially those written by Berber authors, while avoiding an open defence of Berber identity, in fact hid it behind comments and quotes of a linguistic nature. This study, although it includes some additional references to the Mārinid, Wa??āsid and Sa?did periods, concentrates on the Almohads, and deals with written sources, both Andalusi and Maghribi.     

Patterns of intergroup attitudes in South Africa after 1994

In the heterogeneous South African society, race has become not only the major organizing principle, but also the primary unit of social analysis. The concept “intergroup relations” has consequently predominantly been associated with racial relations and “intergroup attitudes” with “interracial attitudes”. Interest in South African race relations has furthermore been enhanced by the tumultuous struggle against apartheid. A substantive body of research acquired during apartheid indeed points to interracial tension. The advent of a new political dispensation in 1994 has been accompanied with expectations that increased intergroup contact, in particular, would result in improved interracial relations. The current study investigates intergroup attitudes after 1994. Three countrywide surveys were conducted in 1998, 2001 and 2009 using representative samples of all major racial groups. The results indicate that overall attitudes were more positive among more affluent and urbanized communities. However, there are indications of prevailing negative relations, in particular between Blacks and Afrikaans-speaking Whites. While the attitudes of Afrikaans-speaking Whites seem to have become more positive, that has not been the case to the same extent for Blacks. Blacks also appear to be less positive towards English-speaking Whites than during apartheid. Overall, the results point to more positive intergroup attitudes in some instances, but also to potential emerging points of tension.     

The role of discordant acculturation attitudes in perceived threat: An analysis of host and immigrant attitudes in Germany

The present research examines discordant acculturation attitudes of host society members and immigrants as an antecedent to intergroup threat. Based on integrated threat theory and the concordance model of acculturation, we posited that discordance on culture maintenance and on desire for contact would predict intergroup threat beyond the influence of other antecedents of threat, such as in-group identification, knowledge, and negative contact. A study with 202 German host society members and 151 Turkish and Italian immigrants was conducted. In line with our assumptions, path analyses revealed that culture discordance and contact discordance contribute independently to the prediction of realistic threat, symbolic threat, and intergroup anxiety for host society members and immigrants. Moreover, differences in threat between cultures were mediated by the discordance in acculturation attitudes.     

小凉山毕摩仪式调查

大约在15世纪初，因为四川大凉山彝族内部的部族纷争，其中一支迁到了云南宁蒗定居，发展成为现在的小凉山彝族。小凉山习惯上指以云南宁蒗彝族自治县为主，包括永胜、华坪等毗连宁蒗的彝族聚居区。居住此狭长地带的彝族自称“诺苏”，操彝语北方方言，人口近20万。近300年来，小凉山彝族较为完整地保存了原有的母体文化特征。     

Antisemitism in a City Without Jews: Crime,Print and a Used-Clothes Dealer in Early Modern Paris

Seventeenth-century Paris had not had a Jewish community for centuries, yet Parisians created and circulated textual, and occasionally visual, anti-Jewish representations. Parisians made these concrete by projecting them onto a group of Christians, the used-garment dealers. Parisians were able to avoid questioning their society’s moral and Christian identity by associating theft, deceit and murder with the supposedly non-Christian dealers. The article examines the historical background to this, analyzes the representations and, through one dealer and her family, suggests their social and legal impact. This contributes to our understanding of early modern anti-Jewish representations, views of crime, identity and marginalization.     

Acculturation Preferences,Ethnic and Religious Identification and the Socio-Economic Adaptation of Russian-Speaking Immigrants in Belgium

This study tests a model of the socio-economic adaptation (SEA) of Russian-speaking immigrants in Belgium. It examines the roles of language skills and length of stay in Belgium, and of ethnic and religious identification in their acculturation preferences in their adaptation. The study showed that language skills were positively related to preferences for integration and assimilation, while length of stay was negatively related to separation. In turn, integration and assimilation predicted higher SEA, and separation predicted lower adaptation. Ethnic and religious identification also played a role. In sum, more orientation toward the host society (integration and assimilation) promoted better adaptation.     

Comfort,Class and Climate Change: The Rise of Glass in Late Medieval and Early Modern Domestic Architecture

ABSTRACT

In the modern world, glass windows are considered an indispensable element of the built environment. Throughout premodern times, however, glass was not universally used in European architecture. This article argues that the rise of glass in Western architecture was neither an inevitable nor a linear process, but rather a response to certain social, cultural and environmental factors that gained increasing relevance from the late medieval period onwards. In other words, glass windows are a cultural convention, reflecting some of the wide-ranging and transformative challenges that Europeans faced in the late medieval and early modern period.     

The relation between ethnic diversity and fear of crime: An analysis of police records and survey data in Belgian communities

In the framework of intergroup threat theory, it is routinely assumed that the presence of immigrant groups in a local community could contribute to fear of crime among the majority population. This could be explained by a direct relation between ethnic diversity and some forms of crime, but it can also be expected that stereotypes toward specific groups of the population contribute to a perception of group threat. In this article it is assessed how the real and perceived presence of immigrant groups and the occurrence of criminal acts are related to fear of crime. The analysis is based on a combination of newly available official police records and survey data for local municipalities in Belgium. The results show there is no significant relation between reported crime and fear of crime. The community level of ethnic diversity is, however, significantly related to fear of crime. The findings suggest that applications of group threat theory should not only focus on economic and cultural threat, but also on the perceived impact of diversity on crime and safety.