bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Afro-American Transformation of European Set Dances and Dance Suites
Authors: Szwed John F. , Marks Morton 
Published: May 2006

It is well acknowledged that the court dances which developed in Europe from the seventeenth century onward spread to the rural areas of Europe and to the new world. What has not been properly recognized is that these dances — the quadrille, the cotillion, the contradance and the like — were taken up by Afro-Americans in North and South America and the West Indies and were modified and adapted to local cultural circumstances. In many cases — especially in the West Indies — they continue to be found today. Yet as similar as these dances may look or sound, their functions are not always necessarily the same as those of their European sources. At one extreme, they were “Africanized” for sacred purposes; at the other, they were re-formed and became the basis of a new world popular culture. An example of the former occurs on the island of Montserrat.There country dance orchestras made up of various combinations of fife, fiddle, concertina or accordion, triangle, and two drums known as the woowoo and the babala (or babla) play for social dancing, but the same music is also used for inducing possession on other occasions, called “jombee dances.” On these latter occasions quadrille dance rhythms are intensified and gradually “Africanized” in order that individuals may become possessed and convey the messages of the spirits.
Robert Ellis Dunn: Personal Stories In Motion
Authors: Bélec Danielle Marilyn 
Published: May 2006

The late Robert Ellis Dunn (1928–1996) made a vital contribution to the maturation of modern dance in the twentieth century as a master teacher of improvisation and choreography. His pedagogy in both the professional and academic milieux reinforced interdisciplinary associations between dance and related disciplines in the arts and humanities, and helped situate dance as a science within a theoretical framework worthy of scholarly study. The following article is a study of the principles and pedagogy that Dunn engaged in as a master teacher of improvisation and choreography for nearly forty years.I first met Dunn in 1981 at the Laban Institute of Movement Studies in New York and in 1982, I worked as his teaching assistant at the Dance Notation Bureau in New York and at the University of California Summer School of Dance in Long Beach. During the six-week summer dance intensive in California, I assisted and performed in two events directed by Dunn: Top, a structured improvisation for nine dancers, and Pivot/Delay, a choreographic process for twenty-two dancers (1).
Florentine Religious Experience: The Sacred Image*
Authors: Trexler Richard C. 
Published: May 2006

The pagan Renaissance is no more. A hundred years of interpretation of Burckhardt's thesis has erased most traces of those fearless individuals whose fascination with the almost living statuary of antiquity, whose reckless disregard for Christian symbols, whose awe before the figures of Scipios and Catos had brought them to despise the theological and abnegatory world which had mothered them. Renaissance man remained a Christian, even a pious one. The shapes of the world and its art might be in transition, but the cosmology of its inhabitants remained Christian.What exactly is meant by: ‘This remained a Christian age’? I think the idea is that Christian dogmas and beliefs remained essentially unaltered: first, the authority of the church to define doctrine was unquestioned; second, the leading figures of the age were generally traditionally Christian in their attitudes, neither better nor worse, perhaps, than previous generations.
Alberico Gentili in Defense of Poetry and Acting
Authors: Binns J. W. 
Published: May 2006

Almost all Elizabethan criticism of any seriousness and weight was written in Latin. Yet no one would imagine this, to look at the literary histories.’ A Latin treatise in defense of poetry and acting by Alberico Gentili, which it is my purpose here to edit and translate, has altogether escaped the notice of historians of criticism and students of Elizabethan literature, even though it was published at Oxford by the University Printer, in the greatest days of Queen Elizabedi's reign.The main outlines of the life of Alberico Gentili are well enough known. He was born in Italy at San Ginesio in 1552, and studied at the University of Perugia, whence he graduated as a doctor of civil law in 1572. A Protestant, suspected of heresy, he was compelled to flee the Inquisition, along with his father Matteo, and younger brother Scipione.
Individualism in the Early Italian Renaissance: Burden and Blessing*
Authors: Becker Marvin B. 
Published: May 2006

Almost all Elizabethan criticism of any seriousness and weight was written in Latin. Yet no one would imagine this, to look at the literary histories.’ A Latin treatise in defense of poetry and acting by Alberico Gentili, which it is my purpose here to edit and translate, has altogether escaped the notice of historians of criticism and students of Elizabethan literature, even though it was published at Oxford by the University Printer, in the greatest days of Queen Elizabedi's reign.The main outlines of the life of Alberico Gentili are well enough known. He was born in Italy at San Ginesio in 1552, and studied at the University of Perugia, whence he graduated as a doctor of civil law in 1572. A Protestant, suspected of heresy, he was compelled to flee the Inquisition, along with his father Matteo, and younger brother Scipione.
The Traditions of the Early Kings of Buganda: Myth, History, and Structural Analysis
Authors: Atkinson R.R. 
Published: May 2006

In the pages which follow, the traditions surrounding the first eight (of a total of thirty-five) kings of Buganda's traditional history will be investigated from a perspective that has not been utilized before. I hope to demonstrate that these traditions—beginning with the establishment of the first king, Kintu, in Buganda proper and ending with the death of the eighth king, Nakibinge, at the hands of the Banyoro—form an interrelated set which can be analyzed structurally as myth. While so doing, I do not wish to imply that the traditions in question demand this type of analysis and no other; different perspectives have been and will be useful for understanding early Buganda and its traditions. But I do want to show that such a structure can be discerned in the traditions and that the existence of this structure should be taken into account regardless of the type of analysis to be undertaken.One task which will further these ends will be a discussion of the reasons for setting off the particular traditions chosen from the larger context of the set of traditions surrounding all the kings of Buganda. Following this, the selected traditions will be subjected to a structural analysis. In the process, however, I will digress frequently from the dominant mode of analysis to discuss: (1) variant or additional traditions which seem to remain outside the particular structural themes dominating the traditions as a set; and (2) alternative interpretations of the traditions, especially historical ones, which have been or might be offered. Finally, the structural themes discussed in the body of the paper will be represented in a comprehensive chart.
A New Look at Interpretations of the Early Iron Age in East Africa
Authors: Schmidt Peter R. 
Published: May 2006

Since the publication in English in 1965 of Jan Vansina's Oral Tradition, historians of Africa have been increasingly concerned with developing methods which confirm the historical value of oral traditions. Independent proof for the historicity of oral traditions is often lacking; consequently the historian is usually left with comparative analysis as his primary analytical method. Archeologists such as Merrick Posnansky, Frank Willett, and John Sutton have in part attempted to show linkages between oral traditions and archeological evidence.Posnansky, especially, has contributed much to the idea that it is possible to combine the two sources to obtain a more comprehensive view of Hfeways usually referred to as ‘prehistoric’ Recent research, though, now suggests that the concept ‘prehistoric’ must be questioned, particularly in cases where there is a demonstrated tie between archeological evidence and oral traditions. When archeology affirms the accuracy of oral traditions which explain, comment on, interpret, or locate activities and sites which predate a literate tradition, then the germaneness of the concept must be critically questioned. It is my position here that when archeological evidence confirms the historical value of oral traditions about preliterate life, then those cultural phenomena in that time period should be considered historic rather than prehistoric. To retain ‘prehistory’ as a concept in this context ignores and even militates against the historiographies and historical concepts of other cultures. The ramifications of this relativist perspective are considerable both for the study of history and of prehistory. Given this logic, historians must begin to reassess and expand their concepts of what history is and prehistorians must prepare to forfeit part of the temporal domain previously considered as prehistory.
North African Historiography and the Westerner: The Maghrib as Seen by David Gordon
Authors: Smith Albert C. 
Published: May 2006

For the people of the Third World, nationhood in the twentieth century frequently demands the solution of a dual complexity: on the one hand, a search for an identity long suppressed by colonialism; and on the other hand, an effort to come to terms with the problems engendered by often violent entry into modernity. The challenge presented by this quest for self-identity and self-determination is at once paradoxical and parallel. Under foreign domination the colonized is denied his past, his real history; in addition he is forbidden any role in the making of his future. No wonder then that modern revolutionary movements stress the necessity for recovering the colonized's indigenous background — his roots — as a necessary corollary to independence and the eradication of colonialism.In a sense the student of history also shares in the problem. Particularly is this true of students in North African history for in the pursuit of knowledge about the Maghrib's past and present, where does one turn historiographically? For purposes of organization only, three prospective “schools” of historical analysis are considered here: colonialist, nationalist, and Western. In suggesting these three “schools,” I make no attempt to be inclusive; many other variations are possible. The model used here is presented simply as a guide to complement the discussion which follows.The aspiring historian may first seek truth in history as written by the colonialist. In most instances, however, this will prove inadequate because the colonizer usually relegates the pre-colonial past to obscurity; history under dynamic colonialism or protectionism is inevitably seen as forever enlightened whereas independence is chaotic and despotic, if the colonizer bothers to write about the reborn nation at all.
Bulfinch Lambe and the Emperor of Pawpaw: A Footnote to Agaja and the Slave Trade
Authors: Johnson Marion 
Published: May 2006

In “Agaja and the Slave Trade” it was argued that the evidence cited to support Akinjogbin's view of Agaja's attitude to the slave trade did not in fact give any support to his view. Particular reference was made to Bulfinch Lambe, whose “Proposal” was quoted by Atkins in support of his interpretation of Agaja's motives for the conquest of Whydah –– the only contemporary to give an interpretation in line with Akinjogbin's.Atkins was not on the coast at the time of the conquest of Whydah (nor, apparently, had he been there since 1722); but it seems that he met Lambe, presumably after Lambe's return to England. Atkins refers to Lambe's “scheme of trade, said to be proposed from that Emperor [Agaja] and laid before our Commissioners of Trade;” he leaves the reader with the impression that nothing was ever done about the matter, “and Captain Lamb, tho' under a solemn Promise to return, never gave any Account of his Embassy to that Prince.”
The Writing of C.W. de Kiewiet's A History of South Africa Social and Economic
Authors: Saunders Christopher 
Published: May 2006

C.W. de Kiewiet's A History of South Africa Social and Economic, published by Oxford University Press in 1941, remains one of the most-used general histories of that country. No other single work by a professional historian on South Africa has been so influential, so often cited and quoted. Yet few readers of the book have known anything about its author's career or about the circumstances under which it was written. “Before you study the history,” advises E.H. Carr in What is History?, “study the historian,” to which he adds: “Before you study the historian, study his historical and social environment.” In this short paper all that can be done is to say something of the historian, and of how he came to write his book. This is, then, the history of A History.Born in Holland in 1902, C.W. de Kiewiet was taken by his parents to South Africa the following year. He grew up in Johannesburg and attended the University College, which from 1922 was known as Wits. There he studied under W.M. Macmillan, the Professor of History, who was then working on the papers of the missionary John Philip and beginning to prepare what would become his two classic works, The Cape Colour Question and Bantu, Boer, and Briton. Macmillan supervised the thesis on the Cape northern frontier which de Kiewiet completed for his M.A. degree in 1924.
Africana in the Indexes
Authors: Scheven Yvette 
Published: May 2006

Hartwig and O'Barr state in The Student Africanist's Handbook that
Students of African affairs are poorly served by standard indexing services in the respective disciplines. Too many periodicals devoted to Africa are simply not indexed in the standard reference works.This paper is the result of a study carried out in late summer 1976, to determine how well that statement stands. My approach was to go directly to the indexes (in the social sciences and humanities) to learn how many Africanist journals are actually indexed, and how well Africana materials are covered.For this study “index” is interpreted in its broadest sense: any bibliographic list arranged in some order to allow a subject approach. Therefore, abstracts and bibliographies were included, as well as current contents and advanced contents indexes, in addition to the more “traditional” indexes, but machine-readable data banks were excluded. Also, I sought indexes that are current and that appear on a regular basis, at least annually. 1975 volumes (or the most recent) were used for comparison.
African Papers in the Southern Historical Collection, The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill
Authors: Durrill Wayne K. 
Published: May 2006

As foundation money for overseas research grows more difficult to obtain, historians of Africa will perforce seek archival resources closer to home. A rough listing of African materials in American archives has been published, the Handbook of American Resources for African Studies, but the catalog evidently relied in part on reports written by American archivists who had little or no training in African history. As a result many available sources have been inadequately described. Take the case of the Southern Historical Collection, a repository for private manuscripts at the University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill. Although several collections with African papers in this repository are briefly noted in the Handbook, there was no indication of important materials like the forty-page eyewitness description of the court of the Mijjerteyn Sultan written in 1878. Nor, for that matter, is this account noted in the unpublished description of the papers available at the Collection; in fact, even if a researcher should ask, the archivist probably could not readily locate the account unless the researcher already had a name and date for it.The Southern Historical Collection holds three kinds of documents relating to Africa: (1) The Khedive of Egypt hired several former Confederate officers to conduct mapping expeditions in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia when he began his military conquests to the south in the 1870s. These officers' papers consist of letters, diaries, and printed material concerning their explorations and their daily lives in Cairo. (2) Several groups of papers contain information on missionary activities, mostly by Episcopalians, in Liberia from 1829 to 1880, and (3)there are a number of scattered items in various collections, mainly travelers' accounts of brief visits to Africa.
A Note on the Archives of the Republic of Cabo Verde
Authors: Fyfe Christopher 
Published: May 2006

The archives of the Republic of Cabo Verde contain the official records of Portuguese rule up to 1975. I did not see any documents that dated from before the early eighteenth century. At independence in 1975 the jubilant crowd broke into the main administrative building in Praia, the capital, and threw the records into the street. The records of the Praia municipal administration and of the Instituto de Trabalho were also ransacked. Eventually the dispersed documents, together with several thousand volumes from the Praia Public Library, were gathered up and packed haphazardly into wooden crates. In 1978 a large municipal warehouse was allocated as an archives store. Shelves were installed and the documents were slowly disinterred from the crates, where they had accumulated thick layers of dust.The earlier documents, about 1500 manuscript volumes of the eighteenth and earlier nineteenth centuries, have been put on shelves, but not in any systematic order. Many are defective or fragile. The documents from the later nineteenth century up to 1949 are preserved in about 1300 metal boxes. They too have been put on shelves, but not in chronological order (if only because many of the boxes have lost their labels). The documents from 1950 to 1975 were enclosed in cardboard file covers. Some have been put on shelves, others are stacked on the floor. None are in order. Many have come loose from their covers and have been tied up arbitrarily in bundles, along with documents from the municipal and Instituto de Trabalho archives. There are also many bundles of miscellaneous municipal records.
Patterns in Linguistic Geography and the Bantu Origins Controversy
Authors: Bennett Patrick R. 
Published: May 2006

The Bantu languages of Africa constitute a large cluster of languages sharing so many common features that their probable relationship was recognized very early. Doke and Cole summarize the history of this recognition, and of the comparative studies that grew out of it, up to 1943. Given an early start, a closely-knit group of languages, and workers of the quality of Meinhof, Meeussen, and Guthrie, Bantu linguistics has progressed to a stage equalled by few comparative fields outside Indo-European. Detailed reconstructions of Bantu phonology (including tonology and intonation), morphology, syntax, and lexicon have been possible.The problems that remain are those of internal and external relationships. What are the subgroups of Bantu and what is the history of their development from the hypothetized ancestral language? What languages are related to Bantu, and what is the status of Bantu in any larger language grouping? Both questions together may be put as--does ‘Bantu’ exist? That is, do the languages recongized as Bantu--all and only those languages--constitute a well-defined linguistic group?The simplest, and most common, assumptions are 1) that Bantu (possibly including some of the languages recognized as Bantu by the followers of Greenberg, but rejected by Guthrie) is a linguistic unit, with a common ancestor, Proto-Bantu, not shared with any other languages; 2) that it constitutes one division of a sub-group of Niger-Congo; and 3) that it in turn consists of two principal dialect areas, showing either an east-west division or a break between the forest languages (Guthrie's Zones A, B, and C) and the remainder. The principal problem for this view is the lack of support in shared innovation for any of the groupings it postulates. There is plentiful evidence in lexicostatistics both for the existence of Bantu as a distinct unit and for either of the internal borders postulated. There is even evidence for these in the form of numerous lexical and grammatical Isoglosses roughly coinciding at the boundaries of Bantu, and primarily lexical isoglosses internally. But there do not seem to be any cases where one of these boundaries is parallelled by an isogloss such that a clearly innovative feature occurs only on one side of the line.
Histoire des Mentalités et Histoire des Missions au Burundi, ca. 1880–1960
Authors: Feltz Gaëtan 
Published: May 2006

L'histoire sociale et l'histoire des mentalités permettent certainement de mieux évaluer les rapports qui se créent entre des sociétés dont les fondements culturels sont tout à fait différents. Peut-être serait-il utile de réexaminer ces orientations historiques au vu des tendances actuelles de l'historiographie contemporaine, en tenant compte de la spécificité de la conscience des sociétés africaines qui semble poser parfois des problèmes de réflexion et d'ordre méthodologique, tels que l'ethnocentrisme et l'originalité des sources de l'histoire africaine. Notre approche théorique et notre problématique concernent essentiellement le terrain préparé par l'expansion missionnaire à la faveur du mouvement de colonisation dès la fin du XIXe siècle. Cette expansion, perçue dans toutes ses formes, a nécessairement occasionné des répercussions au sein des sociétés colonisées dans un grand nombre de domaines de la vie sociale. Notre propos, ici, est de voir comment l'historien peut arriver à cerner ces effets, surtout à segmenter les divers secteurs où une station missionnaire a sécrété une influence. L'historien doit donc, dans la mesure du possible, percevoir les données historiques qui couvrent tous les domaines de l'évolution d'une société.D'emblée, nous tenons à souligner que nous n'aborderons pas la question de la domination culturelle d'une religion sur une autre, telle qu'on pourrait le faire pour le christianisme au cours de la situation coloniale. Au niveau de la dynamique des groupes en présence, nous serons plutôt porté à essayer de comprendre les mouvements d'interaction culturelle produit par l'installation d'une station missionnaire dans un endroit déterminé et d'en dégager les facteurs qui permettront à l'historien de faire une histoire des mentalités.