bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Advice Concerning Pregnancy and Health in Late Medieval Europe: Peasant Women’s Wisdom in The Distaff Gospels
Authors: Garay Kathleen , Jeay Madeleine
Published: December 2016

This paper explores an area which has proven difficult for scholars to penetrate: women’s popular wisdom concerning medical matters in the later medieval period. Contextualized within an examination of medieval medical texts both by and about women, our discussion focuses on a later 15th-century French work, The Distaff Gospels. This text, published recently in English for the first time since 1510, consists of more than 200 pieces of advice or “gospels,” ostensibly conveyed to one another by a group of women who met together during the long winter evenings to spin. A significant portion of the advice might be considered “medical” in nature; it is grouped into two broad categories: pregnancy and health. We conclude that although our text is male mediated, it provides a reliable and valuable guide to peasant women’s medical lore during this period
Malaria and the Emergence of Rural Health in Argentina: An Analysis from the Perspective of International Interaction and Co-operation
Authors: Alvarez Adriana
Published: December 2016

At the end of the 19th century, after having long neglected sanitary conditions in rural areas, Argentinean public health authorities began to recognize the need to combat malaria in the country's northern provinces. The disease was proliferating among workers in the sugarcane and cotton industries, jeopardizing national and international economic interests. The crusade against malaria involved co-operation of the Argentinean, Brazilian, European, and US scientists, whose concerted efforts led to identification of the local characteristics of the disease and its mosquito vector. Argentina's antimalaria campaigns also derived from international interactions, but 19th-century European models proved hard to supplant. This study illustrates how malaria was established as an issue of public concern in Argentina in the early 20th century, highlighting the disease's socioeconomic dimensions and exploring the role of international sanitary co-operation in paving the way for the establishment of a rural hygiene discourse.
A Rockefeller Foundation Health Primer for US-Occupied Nicaragua, 1914–1928
Authors: Torres Ligia María Peña , Palmer Steven
Published: December 2016

The article presents views from above and below of the Rockefeller Foundation's International Health Commission's (IHC's) hookworm control program in Nicaragua from 1914 to 1928. It looks at the meaning, impact, and unique configuration of the Nicaraguan mission, while taking into account the larger global institutional project of this important international health actor. Although the IHC program in Nicaragua complemented some of the social policy goals of the US intervention in Nicaragua, which was a de facto protectorate during this period, the institution cannot be considered a direct expression or agent of US foreign policy. Ultimately the shape and limits of the iHC mission to Nicaragua were determined by the institutional project of the international public health agency itself, and by local considerations ranging from the characteristics of the staff to the response of rural communities to the anti-hook-worm campaigns.
“Couldn’t Live Without It”: Diabetes, the Costs of Innovation and the Price of Insulin in Canada, 1922-1984
Authors: Rutty Christopher J
Published: December 2016

This article traces insulin prices in Canada from 1922, just after its discovery at the University of Toronto, to 1984 when production fell out of Canadian control. Connaught Laboratories (part of the University of Toronto from 1914 to 1972) was the first to manufacture insulin and remained the sole Canadian producer. As a public trust, Connaught remained committed to providing insulin at the lowest possible price despite increasing economic pressures. This article analyzes the context surrounding the price of insulin preparations and how they fell from 1922 to 1942, remained unchanged until 1967, and rose during the 1970s
The Liberal Party and the Achievement of National Medicare
Authors: Bryden P. E
Published: December 2016

The process that led to the implementation of a full national health insurance system in Canada was as complicated and contested as the battles that were fought over Medicare in Saskatchewan. The federal Liberal party had to first adopt health insurance as a serious component of its electoral platform, devise a strategy for dealing with provinces which had constitutional jurisdiction over health, and finally wrestle with those within the party—and within the cabinet—who continued to question whether Canada was financially prepared to administer such a costly program. The strategies were devised and the battles were fought privately, but had an important effect on the timing and shape of a national health insurance system.
Newfoundland’s Cottage Hospital System: 1920–1970
Authors: Lawson Gordon S , Noseworthy Andrew F
Published: December 2016

This article examines the origins, development, and evolution of the Newfoundland Cottage Hospital System (NCHS)—one of North America’s earliest efforts at publicly funded health care that involved the establishment of small “cottage” hospitals staffed by salaried medical personnel. The NCHS is compared with the Highlands and Islands Medical Service and cottage hospitals of Scotland which the established historical accounts suggest were the principal models for the Newfoundland system. The importance of the Newfoundland experience for the development of Canada’s national hospital insurance program is explained. The article concludes with an examination of the issue of salary remuneration within the NCHS.
Sculpting Soldiers and Reclaiming the Maimed: R. Tait McKenzie’s Work in the First World War Period
Authors: Mason Fred
Published: December 2016

This article examines the work of Canadian physician and physical educator Dr. Robert Tait McKenzie. It argues that during and after World War I, McKenzie made a unique contribution in military and medicalhistory, spanning physical training, rehabilitation and commemoration via sculpture. McKenzie returned veterans to better physical function either directly by his hand, through devices and techniques of rehabilitation developed by him, or through advice given in his publications. In doing so, McKenzie helped lay a sound basis for modern physical therapy. In addition McKenzie’s sculpture offered healing and consolation in its time. Keywords. military medicine, rehabilitation,
Historical Reflections on Diet, Exercise, and Obesity: The Recurring Need to “Put Words into Action”
Authors: Park Roberta J
Published: December 2016

According to a 2010 announcement by the Centers for Disease Control, more than one third of adults and nearly 20% of children in the United States are obese. Obesity and its attendant health issues are becoming a global problem. In spite of the fact that a monumental number of articles in important scientific and clinical journals now support what Plato and others have been setting forth for more than 2,000 years regarding proper diet and adequate exercise, far too little is being done to "put words into action." This article offers an overview of both lesser known and more familiar works that have addressed this issue.
“He is still unwanted”: Women’s Assertions of Authority over Abortion in Letters to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada
Authors: Stettner Shannon
Published: December 2016

Throughout the 1960s, the public abortion debate was dominated by men. While women’s voices were not absent, they are harder to locate. This article highlights one forum in which women eloquently expresse their feelings about abortion. In submissions to the Royal Commission the Status of Women in Canada, women demonstrated their “right” to speak on the issue in many ways, including by sharing their experiences as mothers or with unplanned and unwanted pregnancies; referencing their professional lives,especially in care giving fields; and drawing moral authority from or opposing religious beliefs. This article analyzes women’s efforts to convey their authority to speak to the legality of abortion, highlighting a component of the 1960s abortion law reform discussion often overlooked.
“A Plea for the Prostate”: Doctors, Prostate Dysfunction, and Male Sexuality in Late 19th- and Early 20th-Century Canada
Authors: O'Shea Christopher D
Published: December 2016

Historical examinations of medical discourse concerning male sexuality have focused on the perceived linkage between masturbation and sexual neurasthenia. However, more tangible conditions such as prostatic hypertrophy were also linked to the sexual misconduct of young and old men. This paper xamines both the medical discourse concerning prostatic hypertrophy and how the development of treatment was influenced by contemporary concerns with both sexuality and masculinity. It argues that mainstream doctors moved away from the Victorian preoccupation with the dangers of illicit sexuality and increasingly regarded therestoration of sexual function as being in the best interests of their patients. This view was particularly evident in their quest for an operative method that would cure prostatic hypertrophy while preserving potency.
Whooping Cough: A Brief History to the 19th Century
Authors: Weston Robert
Published: December 2016

This paper examines the history of whooping cough (pertussis) from its first recorded mention in 1190 to the time when its microbial cause was identified. The historical records of the disease are complicated by the variation in the nomenclature employed and through using the same name for disorders with different symptoms. During the early-modern period it was considered to be a disease new to Europe—contagious, dangerous, and potentially epidemic. Believed to be confined to children, its significance was limited until the 18th century when its incidence increased markedly. This essay argues pertussis may have occurred in the late medieval period in individual, though not epidemical, cases.
Weighing In: The “Evidence of Experience” and Canadian Fat Women’s Activism
Authors: Ellison Jenny
Published: December 2016

This article adds historical dimension to the developing literature on “obesity stigma”: negative treatment and discrimination experienced as a consequence of the belief that overweight people are lazy and lacking willpower and basic knowledge about nutrition. Interviews with women who identified as fat suggest that medical and cultural concern about weight was conflated in their interactions with doctors, peers, and family. Stigma was a cause of frustration and despair for those deemed obese, who felt that unfair assumptions were made about their lifestyle and their abilities. In response, the women interviewed formed organizations, exercise classes, and social activities for “fat women only.” Fat activists offer unique insight, because their work sheds light not only on the impact of obesity stigma but also on how some women responded to and resisted the medicalization and objectification of their bodies.
Les faux-semblants d’une politique internationale : la Société des Nations et la lutte contre l’alcoolisme dans les mandats (1919–1930)
Authors: Bourmaud Philippe
Published: December 2016

Sous l’influence de mouvements coloniaux humanitaires, la Société des Nations impose aux puissances de tutelle des ex-colonies allemandes, devenues mandats B et C, de mener une politique antialcoolique. Celle-ci constitue ce qu’on appellerait aujourd’hui un « agenda international ». Elle est maintenue par l’instance chargée de superviser les administrations mandataires, la Commission Permanente des Mandats, en dépit de doutes croissants sur la validité de l’argument démographique qui contribue à la justifier : la dépopulation des colonies censément entraînée par les importations d’alcool européen. Confrontée à l’incertitude de ses experts sur l’incidence réelle de l’alcoolisme, et à la hausse tendantielle des importations d’alcools dans les mandats, cette commission s’en tient néanmoins à l’agenda antialcoolique, et exerce en la matière une influence normative manifeste sur l’exercice colonial du pouvoir dans les mandats.
“Our Power to Remodel Civilization”: The Development of Eugenic Feminism in Alberta, 1909–1921
Authors: Gibbons Sheila
Published: December 2016

In addition to being a prominent political figure in equal rights legislation, Emily Murphy was a vital contributor to programs which sought to improve the human race through forced sterilization. These negative aspects of this period in feminist history tend to be described as outside of the women’s sphere, representing instead the patriarchal realm of men. However, both eugenics and the first-wave feminist ambitions for equal political rights were connected through an agrarian construction of “mothers of the race.” As “mothers of the race,” women in Alberta were responsible for the physical and moral betterment of the nation, and were directly engaged in concepts of intelligent motherhood, healthy childhood, and an overarching moral philosophy that was politically driven.
Filles et justice : l’ambivalence de la prise en charge institutionnelle des « cas-problèmes » (Belgique, 1922–1965)
Authors: Massin Veerle
Published: December 2016

Cet article s’intéresse à l’ambiguïté des pratiques en place dans les institutions de rééducation pour jeunes délinquantes en Belgique (1922–1965). Souvent conduites devant un juge parce qu’elles refusent de se conformer aux standards sociaux, certaines filles ont des difficultés pour s’adapter au régime des établissements de rééducation : elles sont envoyées dans l’institution de Bruges pour filles difficiles. Elles se retrouvent alors au coeur d’un système institutionnel à cheval sur du conventuel, du scolaire, de l’asilaire, de l’hospitalier et du carcéral. La mission de l’institution n’est pas claire et les objectifs de rééducation sont littéralement écrasés par les exigences institutionnelles.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Example of Ecological Succession?
Authors: Buchanan W. Watson , Laurent Rodger M
Published: December 2016

The history of one of the most common of modern-day diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, is reviewed. The disease probably existed prior to 1800 when it was first clearly described, but appears to have become much more common after this time. During the past two decades both the incidence and severity may have been declining. Vasculitis appears today certainly to be less common. The reason for this decline is considered in comparison with the decline in other infectious and non-infectious diseases. A hypothesis is put forward to explain the decline in terms of the botanical concept of ecological succession.
Military Surgical Practice and the Advent of Gunpowder Weaponry
Authors: DeVries Kelly R
Published: December 2016

In 1536, at the siege of Turin, French military surgeon Ambroise Paré changed surgical history. At that time, it was the custom to treat gunshot wounds by pouring boiling oil into them, often without removing the fragment or bullet. Paré, having run out of this cauterizing mixture, was forced to use a non-abrasive digestive to treat some of his wounded patients. This surgical procedure ultimately proved that gunshot wounds should not be treated by cauterization.

Gunpowder weapons, however, had been in use for more than two centuries before Pare's discovery. During this time undoubtedly many victims wounded with gunshot must have suffered through cauterization. This has given rise to the belief among modern medical historians that the tradition of treating gunshot wounds which Paré corrected was formed and developed during the late Middle Ages.

This article takes an opposing viewpoint to that theory. Using both late medieval surgical manuals and examples of gunshot wound treatment found in chronicles of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it shows instead that those late medieval surgeons who treated gunshot wounds did so in a manner not unlike their treatment of non-gunshot wounds, without cauterization. Moreover, the responsibility for the harsh treatment which Paré altered should instead be laid at the feet of the early sixteenth-century surgeon Giovanni da Vigo. It was from his popular surgical manual that most surgeons, including Paré, had learned incorrectly their treatment of gunshot wounds.
“Victims of Vaccination?”: Opposition to Compulsory Immunization in Ontario, 1900–90
Authors: Arnup Katherine
Published: December 2016

During the past two decades, many parents in Europe and North America have begun to question the routine use of immunization for the prevention of disease. Their concerns are the latest segment in the long history of lay people attempting to control the medical treatment they and their children receive. This article focuses first upon the social and political dimensions of one particular struggle over compulsory vaccination against smallpox in the city of Toronto during the first two decades of this century. Drawing upon newspaper accounts, minutes and reports of provincial and municipal departments of health, archival documents and pamphlets, it presents the opposing points of view in the battle over compulsory vaccination laws. The article then turns to the current controversy over the use of the pertussis vaccine, examining the work of the Committee Against Compulsory Vaccination, the group battling against immunization legislation. This examination raises the issue of how to resolve the conflict between “the public good”, and the rights of individual citizens to determine the scope and method of their own medical treatment.
Damascus Merchants and Trade in the Transition to Capitalism
Authors: Reilly James A.
Published: December 2016

The article examines how merchants of Damascus responded to and took advantage of Syria’s integration into the world economy in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It argues that merchants used the transition to capitalism that accompanies integration to bolster their economic position and extend their markets. By 1914 some merchants formed the nucleus of a manufacturing bourgeoisie. The Damascus case is relevant to the ongoing discussion in Fertile Crescent studies regarding interactions between the world economy and regional economies, including merchants' roles. The first section examines the city’s regional trade prior to and during the initial stages of Syria’s opening to cheap industrial manufactures, particularly textiles. The importance to merchants of overland caravan routes for disseminating European manufactures is emphasized. Initially at least, new products reached markets through old commercial channels. The second section explores shifts in the pattern of Damascene trade that accompanied the opening of the Suez Canal and the growth of steamship transportation. Caravan routes lost their former importance, and merchants shifted their activities to the sea trade with Alexandria and Izmir via Beirut. Whereas in earlier times the most important Damascene merchants had Iraqi connections, by the end of the nineteenth century they had Egyptian and Anatolian connections instead. The third section discusses particular merchant families, classifying them according to their interests: regional trade, European trade, manufacturing and trade, agriculture and trade. The final section looks at political and organizational expressions of merchant interests in the last years of Ottoman rule, and suggests a connection between merchant class fractions and the emergence of bourgeois values among some of the literate public. Sources include consular and travelers’ reports, literary works and biographical dictionaries.
La misère à Paris dans la 1ère moitié du 19e siècle: contribution à la critique des statistiques officielles
Authors: Piette Christine
Published: December 2016

The main finding of this article is that the reality of indigence in Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century was markedly different from the official picture. This was because the elites who administered poor relief attempted to limit government intervention as much as possible and because the selection of which indigents should receive aid rested on strict criteria that reflected upper-class prejudices.

Official statistics show indigence to be marginal and of declining importance in this period. They also indicate that it was restricted to a few isolated arrondissements and chiefly affected older people and those without a trade, as well as single women and recent immigrants to the city. A critical analysis of these statistics leads to the conclusion that since the conditions that generated extreme poverty had not changed during the period, about a quarter of the Parisian population was regularly indigent. It also shows that, with the exception of a few arrondissements, the proportion of indigents in all parts of the capital either remained stable or increased. It reveals further that even young couples with trades and even skilled trades, as well as native-born Parisians, could frequently fall into extreme poverty. The picture of a city where the spread of industry improved the lot of the poor, which elites liked to paint, was thus far from accurate. One of the characteristics of Paris was widespread misery which, because of increasing residential segregation, these elites saw less and less.
Santé publique et développement urbain: les conditions sanitaires à la Nouvelle-Orléans, 1850-1885
Authors: Vandal Gilles
Published: December 2016

In their studies of New Orleans public health, historians have generally noticed how the city government paid little attention to health issues during the first half of the nineteenth century. The pioneer role played by Louisiana in establishing the first state board of health during the 1850s has also been closely examined. Moreover, scholarship has acknowledged the historical importance of the New Orleans public health movement of the early 1880s. However, the evolution of public health in New Orleans during the Civil War and Reconstruction has not yet received the attention it deserves.

The goal of the present article is to demonstrate how the years 1862 to 1872 represent a watershed period in the development of a global policy of public health in New Orleans. Indeed, the first major sanitary reforms were introduced in New Orleans from outside, following the fall of the city to the federal troops in May 1862. The Republican administrations which governed the city until 1872 strengthened these policies by adopting and rigorously enforcing new sanitary ordinances, strengthening public services, establishing a sanitary police, regularly inspecting and disinfecting houses and other buildings within the city, establishing a regular campaign of vaccination, and launching large programmes of public works. However, the return to power of a conservative Democratic administration in November 1872 put a temporary end to the process of modernizing public services in New Orleans. Public health was the area that suffered most from the new policy.
No Eternal Friends or Enemies: British Defence Policy and the Problem of the United States, 1919-1939
Authors: McKercher B.J.C.
Published: December 2016

Based largely on the axiom that Britain had no eternal friends or enemies, only eternal interests, British defence policy saw the list of potential adversaries change between 1919 and 1939. War against most powers was considered at one time or another, but not against the United States. Political isolation and geographic segregation removed it from British war planning. Nonetheless, the American question presented problems for British defence planners. In the 1920s, when successive American governments sought naval equality with Britain, the threat that a neutral United States might seek to break a British maritime blockade of an enemy led to hard feelings in London. But the conclusion of the London naval treaty in 1930, began a period of Anglo-American co-operation which lasted until the Roosevelt administration withdrew from internationalism into a preoccupation with domestic matters. However, in the worsening international situation by late 1937, the British, even the suspicious Neville Chamberlain, began to see American economic and diplomatic support as adjuncts to British efforts to oppose the totalitarian powers. Roosevelt reluctantly concurred, and the basis for the wartime Anglo-American alliance began to be laid as the Polish crisis of 1939 unfolded.
Enlightened Nationalism in the Early Revolution: The nation in the Language of the Société de 1789.
Authors: Olsen Mark
Published: December 2016

The Société de 1789 was established in April 1790 by Condorcet and Siéyès to promote enlightened political ideals and the principles of constitutional monarchy. The club failed to have a significant impact on the course of events in 1790 and 1791 because it retained an ancien régime model of political action which was unsuited to the new revolutionary political culture. In spite of its political failure, the club may be considered an important conduit of late Enlightenment thought and figures into the French Revolution. Central to the discursive reorganization of French political life during the revolution was the new role of the nation. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, this study examines the central features of the nation in the writings of 1789. The nation, in this discourse, tended to be portrayed as an administrative and economic entity rather than the moral entity depicted by more radical revolutionaries such as Marat and Robespierre. This administrative discourse suggests that members of 1789 were accustomed to thinking of France in national terms using a vocabulary inherited from ancien régime reformers and the physiocrats.
Ethnicity, Religion and Repression: The Denial of African Heritage in Costa Rica
Authors: Harpelle Ronald N.
Published: December 2016

The experience of West Indians in Costa Rica in the first decades of the twentieth century was marked by instances of racism and intolerance. The West Indian immigrants were English-speaking Protestants of African descent, and they found themselves in a Hispanic country that distinguished itself as a white settler society in Central America. West Indians were discriminated against by their Hispanic neighbours, United Fruit Company officials, and the Costa Rican government. Tension increased as the banana industry faltered and the world economy declined in the 1930s.

This article examines the reaction of West Indian community leaders and the Costa Rican government to the proliferation of African-influenced religious sects in Limón during the 1930s. The sects were a source of division within the community and a target of discrimination by Hispanics. The article looks at the rise in popularity of the sects and studies some of the reactions to the heightened profile of the religious groups. Hysteria is shown to have replaced common sense after the local press alleged that the sects committed all sorts of atrocities. The government’ s response was to arrest and attempt to deport suspected practitioners. The local West Indian elite, mindful of the tenuous footing the community had in Costa Rica, joined in the condemnation of and attacks against the dissident religious groups. The increased popularity of African-influenced religion was not just a passing episode in the history of the West Indian community in Costa Rica. It was part of a larger social malaise that marked a turning point in the relationship between the West Indian minority and Hispanic majority in Costa Rica.
Pour la sauvegarde du roi et du royaume. L’expulsion des Jésuites de France à la fin des guerres de religion
Authors: De Waele Michel
Published: December 2016

On 12 July 1594, an important trial began before the Parlement of Paris. It opposed the University of Paris and the parish priests of the capital to the Society of Jesus. The impact of this trial was enormous. Antoine Arnauld, the University’s lawyer, accused the Jesuits of having master-minded France’s wars of religion that nearly consumed entirely the realm since 1562 for Spain’s profit. Although those accusations were grossly exaggerated, they showed that a number of royalist partisans were concerned that external agents could destroy the peace that was slowly gaining all the kingdom. For the realm’s sake the Jesuits, who were accused of entertaining the idea of a regicide and of misappropriating France’s wealth for Philip II, had to be expelled from the kingdom.
Defying Infection: Argentine Foot-and-Mouth Disease Policy, 1900-1930
Authors: Sheinin David
Published: December 2016

In light of the rapid late nineteenth century expansion of the cattle sector in Argentina, and a surge in export-led growth before World War I, Argentines believed that growing beef exports would continue to stimulate the Argentine economy in the post-war years. But between 1900 and 1930, Foot-and-Mouth disease (F.M.) became endemic in the countryside and in municipal slaughterhouses. The virus diminished the productivity of Argentina's most important economic sector and, as a result of a 1926 United States sanitary ban against Argentine chilled and frozen meat, helped dash Argentine hopes for ongoing economic expansion. The Argentine response to F.M. remains an area of notable and lasting controversy in the history of Argentine-United States affairs. Bilateral relations were embittered for more than two decades by Argentine accusations that the sanitary ban was a disingenuous ploy to exclude Argentine beef from American markets, and by American counter­criticisms that Argentine beef was tainted. This article documents the appearance and spread of F.M. in Argentina, the evolution of Argentine F.M. policy between 1900 and 1930, and the factors that explain that policy. These include uncertainty in the international scientific community on the pathogenesis and epidemiology of F.M., Argentine resentment over growing American commercial protectionism after 1920, and the distinct responses of Great Britain and the United States to the threat of F.M. Bilateral tensions caused by the conflict over F.M. had a range of lasting ramifications for Argentine foreign affairs. These include a decision to resume close trade relations with Great Britain after 1930 and the inability of Argentina and the United States to reach agreement on a most­favoured-nation treaty until 1941, despite over a decade of difficult negotiation.
“Our Position in the Far East would be Stronger without this Unsatisfactory Commitment”: Britain and the Reinforcement of Hong Kong, 1941
Authors: Perras Galen Roger
Published: December 2016

In the autumn of 1941 Canada, at the request of Britain, despatched 1,975 soldiers to bolster the beleaguered imperial garrison at Hong Kong. But within six weeks of their arrival at the colony, the Canadians and their fellow British and Indian defenders were compelled to surrender to an attacking Japanese force. That defeat has spawned a body of historical literature that for the most part labels the decision to reinforce Hong Kong an egregious error that flew in the face of available evidence and common sense.

This paper argues that the decision to bolster Hong Kong was a reasonable choice that with the wisdom of hindsight has acquired an unnecessary moral taint. Those criticizing the despatch of the Canadian troops have failed to understand fully the context in which that decision was made or the longstanding debate within British decision-making circles about Hong Kong’s strategic usefulness. In the first case, the British had become convinced that the United States would not stand by idly if Japan attacked British possessions in Asia. Therefore, in tandem with an American effort, Britain set out to reinforce its Asian garrisons, including Hong Kong, in the hope of deterring a Japanese assault. Second, for much of the interwar period, the British military had argued about whether Hong Kong could or should be defended, and while the consensus was that the colony was a dangerously exposed outpost, attempts to demilitarize Hong Kong did not succeed in the face of opposition from those who believed there were substantial military and political advantages to be gained from defending that outpost.
Peruvian Politics and the Eight-Hour Day: Rethinking the 1919 General Strike
Authors: Parker David S.
Published: December 2016

The general strike for the eight-hour day (13-15 January 1919), has long been considered the founding moment of Peru’s labour movement. Central to the heroic mythology of the strike is the belief that the government capitulated to the workers’ demands reluctantly, in the face of an overwhelming show of resolve and solidarity. This paper offers a major revision of that view, arguing that while the strike was a great tactical success, historians have overlooked the reasons why President Pardo chose to negotiate with workers and decree the eight-hour workday.

1) A significant and growing circle of elites had come to view the adoption of “advanced,” European social legislation as a way to “improve” Peru’s working class and foster the country’s development. They saw the eight-hour day as a reasonable demand, in keeping with precedents set in the so-called “civilized countries.” 2) Momentary political concerns played a crucial role in President Pardo’s decision, as his Partido Civil sought to counter growing working-class support for the imminent opposition candidacy of Augusto B. Leguia. 3) Most importantly, the textile factories most affected by the strike did not object to the principle of the eight-hour day. Because they paid piecework rates rather than day-wages, reducing the hours of labour did not alter their costs per unit of production. In retrospect, therefore, the eight-hour day was hardly the overwhelming victory it first appeared to be, and the workers’ misreading of what had happened led them to overestimate their strength, setting the stage for a shattering defeat later that year.
Price-Setting in English Borough Markets, 1349-1500
Authors: Britnell R.H.
Published: December 2016

This study, concentrating in particular on the sale of grain and fish, examines evidence of the way in which prices were determined in the market places of English boroughs in the later Middle Ages. It argues that public intervention, inspired by principles of Canon Law, was more active than has previously been supposed, and that free-bargaining between buyers and sellers was not allowed. On the contrary, there was at any given moment an official market price, authorized by market officials, that was binding on both buyers and sellers. For large consignments of grain or fish entering urban markets, there was a further, subsidiary procedure for fixing prices whereby sellers had to agree to a selling price with the town authorities before the goods were put on sale. The object of these procedures was to hold down prices in the interests of urban consumers. The offence of forestalling, usually understood simply as the creation of monopolies by those who bought up produce on its way to market, often involved the further charge of evading these price-setting arrangements. The paper demonstrates that urban price-setting policies were not wholly neutral between different types of households, since a widespread system of rationing favoured free burgesses over others in times of scarcity. It may also be observed that many prosecutions for offences relating to high prices were more a symbolic assertion of the liberties of free burgesses than a response to serious misdemeanours. There was inevitably some potential for conflict in the enforcement of policies based on the assumption that grain prices were set from day to day in urban markets, given that, in reality, price changes often originated in the countryside in the course of negotiations between rural producers and urban buyers.
The Mobilization of Labour in the Milling Industry of Thirteenth- and Early Fourteenth-century England
Authors: Langdon John
Published: December 2016

The recourse to wage labour has traditionally been seen by historians as a second-rate option for medieval people, where access to land remained the key factor for ensuring their survival. Yet, labour opportunities, especially for craftsmen, were seemingly attractive for much of the thirteenth century at least, both in relation to the levels of pay and the probability of finding work during a time of notable investment, particularly in building. This article investigates the opportunities for labour in the milling industry of thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century England. By using mill data drawn from manorial accounts for the construction, operation and maintenance of water-mills and windmills, it was possible to estimate the equivalent full-time labour requirement for the industry. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, this ranged from 15,000 to 25,000 equivalent full-time workers per year. Employment opportunities of this scale reveal the power of industries like milling to draw substantial and varied workforces around them. The milling industry, however, peaked around 1315, after which opportunities for employment seemingly declined. Considering this in the context of the medieval economy as a whole, there seems to be a case for thinking of the adversities of the early fourteenth century in terms of recession rather than purely as a crisis in subsistence.
Confederates and Rivals: Picard Urban Alliances during the Catholic League, 1588-1594
Authors: Finley-Croswhite S. Annette
Published: December 2016

In a 1953 article that examined French provincial urban alliances during the Catholic League, Henri Drouot addressed the foundation of provincial councils of urban allies in 1588-89, without exploring their effectiveness and survival. This article picks up where Drouot left off by focusing on a provincial alliance of towns called the Chambre des États de Picardie. The Picard alliance was short-lived. Catholic League elites founded the chambre in January of 1589 and hoped to control the entire province from the capital in Amiens. The chambre suffered a rapid breakdown of authority, however, and disintegrated nine months later in September 1589.

To explore the Picard urban federation the author addresses three main issues. First, pre-existing linkages within the province that might have promoted an urban alliance are scrutinized. Secondly, the establishment and breakdown of the alliance is examined in detail. Finally, the failure of provincial unity and its relevance to the demise of the Catholic League are discussed in the conclusion.

By examining the structural weaknesses of the French Catholic League in Picardy, the author speculates that League-affiliated regional alliances never functioned effectively. Their failure suggests that the Catholic League may have been weaker at its inception than previously believed. Urban particularism and devotion to self-interest inhibited regional co-operation in Picardy as Amiens and Abbeville acted more like rivals than allies and the chambre proved to be nothing more than a cabal of the duke of Aumale’s clients. A key component of the Catholic League’s demise, therefore, pivoted on the fact that in failing to create a political framework capable of serving as an alternative to monarchy, the league remained a collection of disunited urban cells. Town populations thus looked to Henry IV to restore the unity never realized during the Catholic League.
“Why Can’t a Saxon be More Like a Prussian?” Regional Identities and the Birth of Modern Political Culture in Germany, 1866-67
Authors: Retallack James
Published: December 2016

Before the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, many Saxons regarded their kingdom as a “lucky” little homeland, undisturbed by the militarist spirit and constitutional crisis that afflicted Prussia to the north. Hence military defeat, occupation by the Prussians, and involuntary incorporation into the North German Confederation came as tremendous psychological and political shocks to the Saxon people. As Reichstag elections were organized for the first time under Bismarck’s universal manhood suffrage, the Saxon electorate provided no signal that the national idea had triumphed in Germany. Its political temper turned so sour that the pro-Prussian National Liberal Party became a virtual pariah in the kingdom. The modernization of German political life may have been unavoidable in the long run. But in this watershed era, parochialism and resentment were trump.

This paper addresses these psychological orientations in order to illuminate the interpenetration of local, regional, and national identities. On the one hand it offers a micro-level analysis of municipal politics, associational life, parliamentary debates, and key constituency races. It also explores the contentious civil liberties environment in Saxony. In these ways it evokes the ambiguity of regional political alignments in ways that national-level studies typically cannot. On the other hand, this essay speculates that the harsh Prussian occupation may have contributed initially to the slow progress of the liberal democratic ideal by fueling resentment against the “disease” of mass politics.

These approaches seem particularly fruitful for the historian interested in more than just election outcomes. By examining the interplay of electoral inputs in a specific historical context, and by suggesting that the concept of “electoral culture” merits further consideration, this essay throws light on the broader evolution of German political cultures (in the plural). It concludes that a Prussocentric perspective is no longer adequate to explore continuities stretching across the historical divide of 1866.
Control and Citizenship: The Case of St. Helenian Agricultural Workers in the U.K., 1949-51
Authors: Behar Joseph
Published: December 2016

This article uses a hitherto unexamined, small scale labour recruitment scheme to demonstrate mechanisms used to control Black colonial migrants in postwar Britain. The recruitment of one hundred men from the tiny island colony of St. Helena in the late summer of 1949 blended elements of foreign labour recruitment in postwar Britain (which mainly comprised east European refugees) and Black colonial migration to the mother country. The cross currents of these two migratory waves are examined within the context of postwar social citizenship and the recodification of British nationality legislation in 1948. Working mostly from bureaucratic records of the scheme’s implementation in Britain, the paper argues that the St. Helenians were constructed as poor candidates for assimilation on the basis of their skin colour, and that subsequent policy reinforced this official assumption and worked to isolate and marginalize these men. Moreover, this marginalization was purposefully undertaken in order to maintain control over British citizens who, because of the colour of their skin, were assumed to pose a threat to the social stability of the postwar welfare state. It is argued that control was exercised through a process of obfuscation in which the rights of St. Helenian British subjects in the U.K. were obscured in order to lessen their sense of possibilities and keep them separated from an indigenous population that, it was assumed, would be hostile to them. The paper offers by way of comparison a brief synopsis of social issues and policy regarding east European foreign labour, as well as some theoretical foundation for the discussion of citizenship, race, and national identity issues. It is the main contention of the author that the social citizenship of the postwar period, combined with the statutory liberality of the 1948 British Nationality Act, created the context in which a racialized construction of Britishness formed the basis of a policy meant to restrict and control the access of Black colonial migrants to full citizenship of the comprehensive British welfare state.
The Legacy of Bevölkerungspolitik: Venereal Disease Control and Marriage Counselling in Post-WW II Berlin
Authors: Timm Annette F.
Published: December 2016

This paper explores the uneven legacy of German population politics (Bevölkerungspolitik) in the context of the catastrophic conditions of military defeat and Allied occupation in post-WW II Berlin. Its underlying assumption is that state-sponsored pro-natalism in Germany should be evaluated as an ideology. A fundamental policy assumption of the Weimar, Nazi, and post-war German regimes, Bevölkerungspolitik was deeply rooted in nationalist and racialist interpretations of geo-political and economic conditions. Two sites of Bevölkerungspolitik, venereal disease control and marriage counselling, are examined in detail. Retying on previously unused documents, the account compares developments in East and West Berlin and contrasts German and occupation policy. The author argues that while laws and decrees marked the key turning points for health care practice, practitioners at the lowest level often reacted pragmatically to popular demands for sexual freedom and reproductive choice even before laws protected individuals from such invasions of the private sphere as forced V.D. examinations and eugenics-inspired denials of permission to marry. In both East and West, traditions of population policy reaching back into the 1920s coexisted and overlapped with attitudes formed in the Nazi era, and the influence of the occupiers. Yet neither West nor East German health authorities were entirely immune to influences from below. The more democratic system established by West Germany’s Basic Law in 1949 eradicated abuses of individual rights more quickly, but fears of excessive emigration and the Cold War political context also prompted East German health authorities to move towards positive incentives and away from coercion in reproductive health care. Bevölkerungspolitik was part of the East German strategy to use the "superiority" of its health care system as an ideological weapon against the West.
Announcements of Capitalism and Their Reception in Eighteenth-Century Europe: The Dispute Between Diderot and Morellet in 1770-71
Authors: Klang Daniel M.
Published: December 2016

In the second half of the eighteenth century various Europeans began to write about the investment of capital in broad and dramatic terms, identifying it as a transforming force capable of making immense headway against poverty and scarcity. However, despite their powerful import, these “announcements of capitalism” were often ignored or misconstrued. In the dispute between Morellet and Diderot the former called for the bringing of capital and entrepreneurs to French agriculture while the latter, rather than rejecting the plea, simply circumvented it and went on to other issues. Morellet’s use of abstractions or ideal types to advance his economic ideas contrasted with Diderot’s insistence upon drawing insight only from a known landscape which happened to be short on capital and entrepreneurs. Likewise, when Morellet neglected to distinguish the entrepreneur from other kinds of European leasefarmers Diderot could suppose the argument won by pointing to operators who were too poor to produce much or who used their money to establish commercial monopolies. Nonetheless, we do not argue that Diderot failed to understand Morellet’s literary presentation of agrarian capitalism just because he had at his disposal no actual examples of it. Instead, we offer the instance of Austrian Lombardy where rich and productive leasefarmers dominated agriculture in the wet plains and where the accomplished student of political economy, Pietro Verri, residing practically next door to the great dairy farms of the Lodigiano, never managed to make sense of them, in particular refusing to see in the substitution of capital for labour anything other than a narrow pursuit of personal gain. In sum, if the Enlightenment invented the ideas of capitalism and the entrepreneur it also put up effective barriers to their reception.