title: Being there and being then: Ideal presence and historical tourism

authors: Weston, Rowland

abstract: Should history be affecting? Should we engage with it emotionally? These concerns were central to eighteenth and nineteenth century historiography and remain relevant to historians, especially public historians. Eighteenth century historians like Godwin were highly exercised by the effect of history on the reader, particularly the moral effect. Relatedly, eighteenth and nineteenth historians speculated constantly on the extent to which the reader ought to be proximate to and engaged with their subject(s) and the extent to which they should be detached and maintain a distance from them. There is a tension here – some say a choice – between history as a primarily affective and aesthetic discipline and history as a cognitive, objective, scientific discipline. That history thus has a “curious doubleness” is a perennial observation, going back to Herodotus and Thucydides.
But assuming the ongoing, central place of affect in History, I have to account for the general lack of affect on me of the historical place. This seems to put me at odds with most people though not, I suspect, all historians. In what follows I would like to reflect on a recent personal experience of historical tourism in Mexico. I am not an historian of Mexico: I have never formally studied Mexican history nor written about it. Yet I have been fascinated with it since being exposed to parts of William Prescott’s classic History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) as a young boy. Nearly forty years later I managed to travel to Mexico and visit some of the places about which I had enjoyed such a profound literary-historical experience. In terms of Mexican history I was an amateur historian; above all, I was a tourist.

text: Being there and being then: Ideal presence and historical tourism Should history be affecting? Should we engage with it emotionally? These concerns were central to eighteenth and nineteenth century historiography and remain relevant to historians, especially public historians. Eighteenth century historians like Godwin were highly exercised by the effect of history on the reader, particularly the moral effect. Relatedly, eighteenth and nineteenth historians speculated constantly on the extent to which the reader ought to be proximate to and engaged with their subject(s) and the extent to which they should be detached and maintain a distance from them. There is a tension here – some say a choice – between history as a primarily affective and aesthetic discipline and history as a cognitive, objective, scientific discipline. That history thus has a “curious doubleness” is a perennial observation, going back to Herodotus and Thucydides.
But assuming the ongoing, central place of affect in History, I have to account for the general lack of affect on me of the historical place. This seems to put me at odds with most people though not, I suspect, all historians. In what follows I would like to reflect on a recent personal experience of historical tourism in Mexico. I am not an historian of Mexico: I have never formally studied Mexican history nor written about it. Yet I have been fascinated with it since being exposed to parts of William Prescott’s classic History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) as a young boy. Nearly forty years later I managed to travel to Mexico and visit some of the places about which I had enjoyed such a profound literary-historical experience. In terms of Mexican history I was an amateur historian; above all, I was a tourist.

year: 2011

title: Essential aspects of China’s Tax Law

authors: Liao, Zhixiong (Leo)

subjects: law

abstract: China fundamentally reformed its tax law in 1993. Currently, the most important types of taxes in China are income tax, valued-added tax (VAT), and business tax.

text: Essential aspects of China’s Tax Law China fundamentally reformed its tax law in 1993. Currently, the most important types of taxes in China are income tax, valued-added tax (VAT), and business tax.

year: 2012

title: The Portrayal of Maori offenders by the Media

authors: Farr, Heather Marama

abstract: In this study I examine the dominant discourses represented in the print and internet media reporting of offending by Maori.  The purpose of which is to analyse the dominant discourse and subject positions associated with offending by Maori.  Foucault Discourse Analysis was utilised whereby the data was collected through articles printed in the New Zealand Herald and the Dominion Post.  This study suggests that there are multiple and complex factors relating to Maori offending, whereby reporting about Maori offending is presented from a mainstream worldview.

text: The Portrayal of Maori offenders by the Media In this study I examine the dominant discourses represented in the print and internet media reporting of offending by Maori.  The purpose of which is to analyse the dominant discourse and subject positions associated with offending by Maori.  Foucault Discourse Analysis was utilised whereby the data was collected through articles printed in the New Zealand Herald and the Dominion Post.  This study suggests that there are multiple and complex factors relating to Maori offending, whereby reporting about Maori offending is presented from a mainstream worldview.

year: 2019