In Orientalism (2002), Alexander Lyon Macfie analyzes the ongoing debate regarding orientalism. This blog post will highlight Macfie’s definition of and his concluding comments regarding orientalism. His comments in the book’s concluding chapter highlight the role of individualism, a topic that appears to be of relevance in relation to the emergence of postmodernity and postmodernism. Definitions […]
Peter Burke’s History and social theory, second edition (2005) deals with links between history and social theory. The book has been discussed in other blog posts, which can be found in the Historiography category at this website. Imagination in historical practice Reading this book has vastly enhanced and clarified my understanding of the role — and […]
As I’ve mentioned earlier, I attended a June 5, 2012 Mimico 20/20 workshop and was impressed with how it was organized. A report based on community input at these workshops has been published. You can access the file by clicking on the link below: Feedback Report Community Workshops Spring 2012 On August 17, 2012 Matthew Premru […]
In Manliness and militarism: Educating young boys in Ontario for war (2001), Mark Moss speaks of a tradition of comparing hunting to warfare. Since antiquity, according to Moss, hunting has been viewed as a war game which served the purpose of preparing young boys for combat. In the author’s view, hunting was seen, in the period between 1867 […]
Update: An Aug. 9, 2014 CBC article is entitled: “Emerald ash borer a costly pest to Toronto tree canopy.” The subhead reads: “Urban forest worth about $7B to local economy, TD report says.” [End of update] By way of an update, please see attached letter regarding the booklet What you need to know about […]
There was nothing liberal about the British empire, claims to the contrary notwithstanding. In Ghosts of Empire (2011), Kwasi Kwarteng argues that “Britain’s empire was not liberal in the sense of being a plural, democratic society. The empire openly repudiated ideas of human equality and put power and responsibility into the hands of a chosen elite, drawn […]
John Vincent in 1966 wrote that the great moral idea of British liberalism was manliness. This is a topic Susan Pedersen discusses in a chapter entitled “What is political history now?” in What is history now? (2002). According to Vincent, for a nineteenth-century man one’s assignment in life was “to provide for his own family, have his own […]