Literatura académica sobre el tema "Noble County Chapter"

In my study, I summarize the outer and inner topography of the market town of Hájszentlőrinc which existed in the southern part of the historical Kingdom of Hungary, in today’s Serbia. My aim is to provide a methodological example for researchers of the historico-geography of settlements. First, I examine the border of the settlement, its surroundings and the neighbouring settlements, and then I reconstruct the former built-up area of the market town. Spatial analysis is made possible by medieval certificates, 18th-century manuscript maps, and satellite images. Hájszentlőrinc existed east of today’s Küllőd (Kolut, SRB). During the Middle Ages, it was an important centre of Bodrog County: in the 13-14th century it functioned as a place of authentication (locus credibilis), in the 15-16th centuries it was a market town (oppidum). In the late Middle Ages, meetings of the noble judiciary (sedria) of Bodrog County were held here most of the time. Based on the medieval boundary descriptions, the western and southern neighbours of the settlement can be clearly defined. Based on remote sensing sources, it was possible to determine the former inner, built-up area, which was about 800 meters long and had a spindle structure (german Angersdorf). An important result was that the location of the medieval cathedral chapter (capitulum) could also be identified.

In this article we refer to ban Simon, an obscure and enigmatic character from the history of Transylvania. According to Hungarian historiography, he is part of the Szalók clan, the Transylvanian branch called Kendy (after the Chendu citadel, today in Mureș county). As for his properties, they are concentrated around two domains: Chendu and Dârlos. Ban Simon is mentioned directly in documents from 1296, 1299, 1301, 1317 and indirectly in other documents from the 14th century where his sons are referred to. The dignity with which he is remembered, namely “ban”, is an honorific one. At the time of his mentions in the documents, Simon did not run a Banate. The first three decades of the 14th century are tumultuous, encompassing the rise of the voivode Ladislaus II Kán as an autocrat over Transylvania (1301–1315), the rebellion of the Transylvanian nobility led by the sons of Ladislaus II Kán (1316–1321) and the rebellion of the Transylvanian Saxons (1324). Regarding the involvement of ban Simon and his family in these events, Simon was part of the Káns' camp in the first phase, being loyal to the voivode; after 1317 he joined the king's camp, but the documents do not clearly and directly refer to his involvement in the mentioned events. It is not known when he died, but most likely between 1324–1325. On May 2, 1325, the chapter of Alba of Transylvania passes the sentence regarding the division of ban Simon's wealth among his 6 sons. His descendants will form local noble families: Somogyoni-Almási (Șmig-Alma), Kendhidái (Chendu), Bekscsényi (Becsehely, in Hungary), Darlaci (Dârlos), Csikmántori (Țigmandru) and Baládfi (after the proper name Balád).

The family Nikolić of Rudna was one of the most important families of Serbian descent from Hungary. The history of this noble family is largely unknown, as it didn’t receive much attention in the historiography. The present document was written by a member of the Nikolić family and addressed to the adopted son of baron Mihajlo Nikolić, Jovan Tirfelder. The document is an excellent information source about the history of the family. The document was written in German in the first decades of the 20th century. It comprises six pages and nowadays it is preserved, in a good state of conservation, in the document collection of the History department of the National Museum of Banat from Timișoara. The document comprises five short chapters: 1. General data about the Serbians in Hungar, 2. Sources about the history of our family, 3. The name of our family and its notation, 4. The history of our family end 5. Remarks regarding the use of the genealogical charts. The original documents regarding the history of the family before 1848 were lost during a fire, which occurred in Rudna during the 1848-1849 revolution. That is why it was necessary to use other sources in order to write the present document: e.g.: National Archives of Hungary in Budapest or the Archives of the Timiș County. A short history of the family, which contains previously unpublished aspects, constitutes the most significant part of this document and of the present article. Another part of the article is dedicated to the baron Fedor Nikolić of Rudna. He was the most important member of the family and a notability in Banat in the second half of the XIXth century. As a deputy, he represented various districts of Banat in the Hungarian parliament. He had an important position in the governing body of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1882-1886). Additionally he led several associations and commercial companies from Banat and Hungary and received various titles and medals.

The Preamble to the constitution has a noble vision which is reflected in the body of constitution in two parts. Chapter on fundamental rights and directive principles both are constitutional goals. The foundation of welfare state and democratic setup is a basic feature which directs state machinery to respect the way, access to exercise of right to life of millions in India. The Supreme nature of the constitution, Republic and Democratic form of Government. Secular in itself and partially adoption of theory of Separation of powers with Federal character are the basic elements of the constitution which can easily be understand by anybody by simply reading the contents of the preamble. The Constitution-makers with legitimate voice finalized the competency parliament to make amendments in rights to cater the present needs of nation and also to find remedial measures for the problems of socio-economic progress and development of the country. KEYWORDS: Preamble, Basic structure, Amending powers, limited power theory.

Abstract The success of Mauritius as an economy, despite a rather dismal prediction by Nobel Prize recipient James Meade in 1961, has been appealing to many local and international researchers who have written extensively the subject. However, what role have the Constitution of Mauritius and the broad notions of constitutionalism played in this economic success have been critical questions that have been left unanswered. The article discusses firstly how, despite the Mauritian Constitution not being one which is economy-oriented in a direct way, has contributed immensely through the concept of constitutionalism. Secondly, the role of constitutionalism and its impact on the Mauritian economy is also assessed with particular reference to the three arms of government and the judiciary. Finally, the article argues that, as a way forward and to further bolster the Mauritian economy, it is essential now for the Constitution to directly devote a chapter on economic development through relevant and necessary amendments. The main argument to this proposition is that enshrining the concept, methods, and directions that the economy should take in the Constitution confers more constitutional protection and guarantees that no regressive measures are allowed in future.

Aim and outline of the research The aim of this dissertation is to identify and classify the various Holland country houses landscapes based on the most important factors and motives involved in building of the large amount country-houses between 1630 and 1730. The method combines research to tangible and intangible aspects of the spatial designs of country houses and their surroundings. The main research question is: what physical, societal and mental factors determined the position, orientation and composition of country estates in Holland built or transformed between 1630 and 1730? A second question is: can country estates be grouped on the basis of similar location and composition factors? The research area is Holland and the period covers the years between 1630 and 1730. During this period Holland was the most influential province of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces. New was its form of government led by an upcoming urban elite with no noble origin. The urban elite created a new way of living for themselves.In the city, their houses were built according to the new fashion at streets planted with trees and with large gardens. Similarly they build country estates in the new way in the rural landscapes. In this study the word historic country estate is addressing the house and its garden as an ensemble and this is used for country houses (landgoederen) with a more rural function, as well as for suburban villas (buitenplaatsen) referring to houses for recreation and pleasure. Societal relevance The need to describe Holland’s country estates landscapes is based on the growing attention in heritage policies for the link between the country estates and their surroundings. The attention resulted in attempts to describe estates and suburban villas as groups of country houses. Three phases can be identified in national policies regarding the preservation of country estates: preservation of the objects trees or main building since 1910s (phase 1), preservation of house and garden as an ensemble since 1980s (phase 2) and preservation of groups of estates and its surroundings describing them as biotopes since the 2000s (phase 3). To ensure the spatial quality of and the coherence between these country estates during phases of transformation a scientific approach of the coherence between country estates is required to guard historic continuity (Chapter 1). Research approach The research on classifying groups of country estates is based on a combination of cartographic research and a literature study of historic books on gardening from that period and is worked out on three scales. The research combines the distribution map with the most important themes, based on the literature study. Central to this study is the identifcation of the physical and compositional factors as well as the motives, determined by experience and use by creating of country estates and together they for the physical, social-societal and mental aspects. The most important themes were infrastructure, city and landscape. This information was combined with historic research to elements of the seventeenth century landscape, understanding the physical landscape. Information on personal social and mental motives of the owners for building the estate based on their descriptions in letters, books and diaries of the use and the experience of a country estate. This research implies that the analysis encompasses not only the reading of the landscape but also the reading the authorship of the urban elite. People often used the Dutch word ‘Welgelegen’ to describe their choices, the word used in the title of this thesis. The word strictly means “well positioned” in modern Dutch but the descriptions show it can be interpreted better as well-functioning and entertaining. Location and composition factors The most important physical factors and motives, the answer to the first research question, were: a favorable location in the landscape (i.e., fertile soil, water, height differences, landscape gradients); a position along good and “entertaining” infrastructural connections (land and waterways); and a favorable relation with the city (view of and mental link to a city, accessibility and travel time). The factors were analyzed in relation to the described ideal layout of the plot (chapter 4), to the available infrastructure (chapter 5), to the landscape (chapter 6) and to the city (chapter 7). The three most important motives, stressing the mental and societal aspects were finance, societal and recreation. Urban culture Urban culture was found to be an important location and composition factor for the construction of country estates. This implies that country estates featured specific urban signatures, related to a specific city, its economy, its specific smell or industry. The analysis showed that country estates were part of the new fashion of living of the elite in a ‘green’ environment by the urban elite. This applied both to the house in the city and to the country estate situated in the rural landscapes. The construction of country estates is closely linked to the introduction of trees in the public realm, especially in the new-city layouts but also along the roads connecting the cities with the country estates. The self-conscious citizens chose not only to have a house in a modern architectural style in a rational layout, but also to have trees planted in the public space, so creating well-situated places. View lines to and from the city were important composition factors for most country estates (Chapter 7). Infrastructure The system of heerwegen (main road system between cities) was an important location and composition factor for the majority of the country houses in Holland. This had to do not only with the accessibility, but also with the sense of a pleasant land road. The pleasantness of the road was partly determined by trees on both sides of the road planted at regular intervals. For a particular group of country estates the first phase of the creation of barge canals (1631-1647) became an important location and composition factor because of its novelty. Transport of burghers was organized on these canals according to a fixed timetable with horse-drawn ships or barges (trekvaart). It was important for the urban elite to be seen by the good citizens in the barge vessels passing by every hour or so and to enjoy the sight of the traffic on the canal. During the second phase of the creation of barge canals (1655- 1701), most country estates had already been founded. The old trade routes on water preexisting the barge canals were neither a location factor nor a composition factor (Chapter 5). Road accessibility, the appearance of water infrastructure and its status were probably decisive in the choice of a location for a country estate and for the composition of house and garden. Landscape The landscape played a major role as a location and composition factor for country estates. Soil fertility was not primarily determined by the soil itself (sand, peat, clay), but mainly by the gradients between two types of soil; this way the water would flow and plants, trees and animals could flourish. Country houses were built on different types of soils; the coastal sandy landscapes, the rivers and their clay riverbanks and the newly drained polders, mostly consisting of peat. The choice for one of these landscape was made by the owner. Important factors were gradients in the landscape, availability of water and fertility, but also the sense of landscape beauty, the feasibility of recreation and the general sense of well-being. Spring and fall migration of small birds (vinken) and the use of the North Sea beach were important recreational features of the physical landscape, important for hunting and socializing with peers from the same social class that had similar interests. In the new drained lake polders the location of the country estates was determined by the owner’s status and position in the consortium, a group of wealthy people investing the drainage of the polder. The country estates were built near “entertaining” roads and were modest in size because the main function of these country estates was agricultural (Chapter 6). Grouping in Hollands Tempe The second main research question was if a classification of country estates in country estates landscapes could be made. Four types of country-estates landscapes were identified that differed in the important collective location and composition factors, namely gradients in the landscape, barge canals, land reclamation and the motives of their owners for building the estates. The four types are: group 1-country houses in areas along barge canals), group 2 - country houses in newly drained lake polders, group 3A - country estates in the inner dunes and near ‘s-Graveland, group 3B - country estates in and on the beach ridges and along the Wijkermeer. The groups were called country estates landscapes and made up of a number of zones distributed over the entire province Holland. The four country estates landscapes together form Hollands Tempe (Chapter 8). Identifying individual country estates as parts of different country-houses landscapes explains why the three suburban villas Hofwijck, Zorgvliet and Clingendael, situated close to each other, have such different compositions. It explains the often mentioned pluriformity of country estates as the result of different choices by the owners for the scenic, well-situated places and particularly their different motives. Country estates landscapes form a physical constellation with similarities in physical factors, social inspiration and motives. It makes a coherent narrative possible based on comparable social and mental aspects.

The Prophet’s Sunnah stressed on highlighting the tumultuous strife that will afflict the Islamic Ummah with the characteristics of those arrogant and fanatics. This research focuses on highlighting the prophetic directives that warned from temptations against the contemporary reality of Muslims, by analyzing what was mentioned in some hadiths related to epics which advised on ways to predict the occurrence of seditions and the ways to ward off them by taking lessons from them since they are considered as a treatment of the prophet against seditions. This topic aims to explore the characteristics of sedition advocates in the Prophetic Sunnah, ways to prevent sedition based on Sunnah, and the danger of sedition advocates to the stability of the country. The article employ the analytical and inductive approach. The first was used to analyze some of the narrations related to the chapters on seditions and epics and understanding them in accordance to what our Prophet intended as the main way to prevent the seditions. The second was used to trace the characteristics the seditions’ advocates and illustrating their danger on the five purposes of Sharia. This article indicates that the advocates of sedition are the hard-liners among the Islamists, and the alienated ones among the secularists alike, and they both pose the greatest threat at the present time on the security and stability of nations in the Islamic world, and their danger to the nations is very clear, especially at the present time where chaos prevailed in most of the Islamic countries; Which exposed it to the risk of disintegration at the hands of those who adopted those speeches from the enthusiastic youth. Furthermore, the noble Prophet's Sunnah contains the adequate treatment and healing balm for all the dangers and strife that befell or befall the nation.

Abstract. In the Sisdiknas Law no. 20. Year 2003 in chapter 1 article 3 has been declared that the national education function to develop the ability and form the character and civilization of a dignified nation in order to educate the nation's life, aims for the development of potential learners to be a human being who believes and cautious to God Almighty, be noble, healthy, knowledgeable, capable, creative, independent, and become a democratic and responsible citizen.The purpose of the national education is inversely proportional to the results of a survey that shows that Indonesia country is still perched in the ranks of the most corrupt countries in the world, corruption in various institutions, increasingly loose discipline of increasing violent criminal acts, anarchism, thuggery, alcoholism and drugs struck among the pelajra and students. This paper will discuss the contents of the curriculum and the Competence Standards of Graduation (SKL) of Islamic education to see whether the contents or curriculum materials now meet the expectations or not. So it is necessary to conduct a critical analysis / analysis of the causes of the weak point of Islamic religious education, especially on the content of curriculum materials of Islamic educationKeyword; Policy Analysis, Graduate Competency Standards, Curriculum Content Standards.Abstrak. Dalam Undang-Undang Sisdiknas no. 20. Tahun 2003 pada bab 1 pasal 3 telah dinyatakan bahwa pendidikan nasional berfungsi mengembangkan kemampuan dan membentuk watak serta peradaban bangsa yang bermartabat dalam rangka mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa, bertujuan untuk berkembangnya potensi peserta didik agar menjadi manusia yang beriman dan bertakwa kepada Tuhan yang maha Esa, berakhlak mulia, sehat, berilmu, cakap, kreatif, mandiri, dan menjadi warga negara yang demokratis serta bertanggung jawab.Tujuan pendidikan nasional tersebut berbanding terbalik dengan Hasil survei yang menunjukkan bahwa negeri kita masih bertengger dalam jajaran negara yang paling korup di dunia, KKN melanda di berbagai institusi, disiplin makin longgar semakin meningkatnya tindak kriminal kekerasan, anarkisme, premanisme, konsumsi minuman keras dan narkoba sudah melanda di kalangan pelajra dan mahasiswa.Makalah ini akan mendiskusikan isi kurikulum serta Standar Kompetensi Kelulusan (SKL) pendidikan agama Islam guna meneropong apakah isi atau materi kurikulum saat ini sudah memenuhi harapan atau belum. Maka perlu kiranya melakukan telaah/analisis secara kritis mengenai penyebab titik lemah dari pendidikan agama Islam terutama pada isi materi kurikulum pendidikan agama Islam.Kata Kunci: Analisis Kebijakan, Standar Kompetensi Lulusan, Standar Isi Kurikulum.

As the name suggests, the humanities is largely a study of the human condition, in which history sits as a discipline concerned with the past. Environmental history is a new field that brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to consider the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. Critiques of anthropocentrism that place humans at the centre of the universe or make assessments through an exclusive human perspective provide a challenge to scholars to rethink our traditional biases against the nonhuman world. The movement towards nonhumanism or posthumanism, however, does not seem to have had much of an impression on history as a discipline. What would a nonhumanist history look like if we re-centred the historical narrative around pigs? There are histories of pigs as food (see for example, The Cambridge History of Food which has a chapter on “Hogs”). There are food histories that feature pork in terms of its relationship to multiethnic identity (such as Donna Gabaccia’s We Are What We Eat) and examples made of pigs to promote ethical eating (Singer). Pigs are central to arguments about dietary rules and what motivates them (Soler; Dolander). Ancient pig DNA has also been employed in studies on human migration and colonisation (Larson et al.; Durham University). Pigs are also widely used in a range of products that would surprise many of us. In 2008, Christien Meindertsma spent three years researching the products made from a single pig. Among some of the more unexpected results were: ammunition, medicine, photographic paper, heart valves, brakes, chewing gum, porcelain, cosmetics, cigarettes, hair conditioner and even bio diesel. Likewise, Fergus Henderson, who coined the term ‘nose to tail eating’, uses a pig on the front cover of the book of that name to suggest the extraordinary and numerous potential of pigs’ bodies. However, my intention here is not to pursue a discussion of how parts of their bodies are used, rather to consider a reorientation of the historical narrative to place pigs at the centre of stories of our co-evolution, in order to see what their history might say about humans and our relationships with them. This is underpinned by recognition of the inter-relationality of humans and animals. The relationships between wild boar and pigs with humans has been long and diverse. In a book exploring 10,000 years of interaction, Anton Ervynck and Peter Rowley-Conwy argue that pigs have been central to complex cultural developments in human societies and they played an important role in human migration patterns. The book is firmly grounded within the disciplines of zoology, anthropology and archaeology and contributes to an understanding of the complex and changing relationship humans have historically shared with wild boar and domestic pigs. Naturalist Lyall Watson also explores human/pig relationships in The Whole Hog. The insights these approaches offer for the discipline of history are valuable (although overlooked) but, more importantly, such scholarship also challenges a humanist perspective that credits humans exclusively with historical change and suggests, moreover, that we did it alone. Pigs occupy a special place in this history because of their likeness to humans, revealed in their use in transplant technology, as well as because of the iconic and paradoxical status they occupy in our lives. As Ervynck and Rowley-Conwy explain, “On the one hand, they are praised for their fecundity, their intelligence, and their ability to eat almost anything, but on the other hand, they are unfairly derided for their apparent slovenliness, unclean ways, and gluttonous behaviour” (1). Scientist Niamh O’Connell was struck by the human parallels in the complex social structures which rule the lives of pigs and people when she began a research project on pig behaviour at the Agricultural Research Institute at Hillsborough in County Down (Cassidy). According to O’Connell, pigs adopt different philosophies and lifestyle strategies to get the most out of their life. “What is interesting from a human perspective is that low-ranking animals tend to adopt one of two strategies,” she says. “You have got the animals who accept their station in life and then you have got the other ones that are continually trying to climb, and as a consequence, their life is very stressed” (qtd. in Cassidy). The closeness of pigs to humans is the justification for their use in numerous experiments. In the so-called ‘pig test’, code named ‘Priscilla’, for instance, over 700 pigs dressed in military uniforms were used to study the effects of nuclear testing at the Nevada (USA) test site in the 1950s. In When Species Meet, Donna Haraway draws attention to the ambiguities and contradictions promoted by the divide between animals and humans, and between nature and culture. There is an ethical and critical dimension to this critique of human exceptionalism—the view that “humanity alone is not [connected to the] spatial and temporal web of interspecies dependencies” (11). There is also that danger that any examination of our interdependencies may just satisfy a humanist preoccupation with self-reflection and self-reproduction. Given that pigs cannot speak, will they just become the raw material to reproduce the world in human’s own image? As Haraway explains: “Productionism is about man the tool-maker and -user, whose highest technical production is himself […] Blinded by the sun, in thrall to the father, reproduced in the sacred image of the same, his rewards is that he is self-born, an auto telic copy. That is the mythos of enlightenment and transcendence” (67). Jared Diamond acknowledges the mutualistic relationship between pigs and humans in Guns, Germs and Steel and the complex co-evolutionary path between humans and domesticated animals but his account is human-centric. Human’s relationships with pigs helped to shape human history and power relations and they spread across the world with human expansion. But questioning their utility as food and their enslavement to this cause was not part of the account. Pigs have no voice in the histories we write of them and so they can appear as passive objects in their own pasts. Traces of their pasts are available in humanity’s use of them in, for example, the sties built for them and the cooking implements used to prepare meals from them. Relics include bones and viruses, DNA sequences and land use patterns. Historians are used to dealing with subjects that cannot speak back, but they have usually left ample evidence of what they have said. In the process of writing, historians attempt to perform the miracle, as Curthoys and Docker have suggested, of restoration; bringing the people and places that existed in the past back to life (7). Writing about pigs should also attempt to bring the animal to life, to understand not just their past but also our own culture. In putting forward the idea of an alternative history that starts with pigs, I am aware of both the limits to such a proposal, and that most people’s only contact with pigs is through the meat they buy at the supermarket. Calls for a ban on intensive pig farming (RSPCA, ABC, AACT) might indeed have shocked people who imagine their dinner comes from the type of family farm featured in the movie Babe. Baby pigs in factory farms would have been killed a long time before the film’s sheep dog show (usually at 3 to 4 months of age). In fact, because baby pigs do grow so fast, 48 different pigs were used to film the role of the central character in Babe. While Babe himself may not have been aware of the relationship pigs generally have to humans, the other animals were very cognisant of their function. People eat pigs, even if they change the name of the form it takes in order to do so:Cat: You know, I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m not sure if you realize how much the other animals are laughing at you for this sheep dog business. Babe: Why would they do that? Cat: Well, they say that you’ve forgotten that you’re a pig. Isn't that silly? Babe: What do you mean? Cat: You know, why pigs are here. Babe: Why are any of us here? Cat: Well, the cow’s here to be milked, the dogs are here to help the Boss's husband with the sheep, and I’m here to be beautiful and affectionate to the boss. Babe: Yes? Cat: [sighs softly] The fact is that pigs don’t have a purpose, just like ducks don’t have a purpose. Babe: [confused] Uh, I—I don’t, uh ... Cat: Alright, for your own sake, I’ll be blunt. Why do the Bosses keep ducks? To eat them. So why do the Bosses keep a pig? The fact is that animals don’t seem to have a purpose really do have a purpose. The Bosses have to eat. It’s probably the most noble purpose of all, when you come to think about it. Babe: They eat pigs? Cat: Pork, they call it—or bacon. They only call them pigs when they’re alive (Noonan). Babe’s transformation into a working pig to round up the sheep makes him more useful. Ferdinand the duck tried to do the same thing by crowing but was replaced by an alarm clock. This is a common theme in children’s stories, recalling Charlotte’s campaign to praise Wilbur the pig in order to persuade the farmer to let him live in E. B. White’s much loved children’s novel, Charlotte’s Web. Wilbur is “some pig”, “terrific”, “radiant” and “humble”. In 1948, four years before Charlotte’s Web, White had published an essay “Death of a Pig”, in which he fails to save a sick pig that he had bought in order to fatten up and butcher. Babe tried to present an alternative reality from a pig’s perspective, but the little pig was only spared because he was more useful alive than dead. We could all ask the question why are any of us here, but humans do not have to contemplate being eaten to justify their existence. The reputation pigs have for being filthy animals encourages distaste. In another movie, Pulp Fiction, Vincent opts for flavour, but Jules’ denial of pig’s personalities condemns them to insignificance:Vincent: Want some bacon? Jules: No man, I don’t eat pork. Vincent: Are you Jewish? Jules: Nah, I ain’t Jewish, I just don’t dig on swine, that’s all. Vincent: Why not? Jules: Pigs are filthy animals. I don’t eat filthy animals. Vincent: Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood. Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I’d never know ’cause I wouldn’t eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That’s a filthy animal. I ain’t eat nothin’ that ain’t got sense enough to disregard its own feces [sic]. Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eats its own feces. Jules: I don’t eat dog either. Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? Jules: I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way. Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true? Jules: Well we’d have to be talkin’ about one charming motherfuckin’ pig. I mean he’d have to be ten times more charmin’ than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I’m sayin’? In the 1960s television show Green Acres, Arnold was an exceptional pig who was allowed to do whatever he wanted. He was talented enough to write his own name and play the piano and his attempts at painting earned him the nickname “Porky Picasso”. These talents reflected values that are appreciated, and so he was. The term “pig” is, however, chiefly used a term of abuse, however, embodying traits we abhor—gluttony, obstinence, squealing, foraging, rooting, wallowing. Making a pig of yourself is rarely honoured. Making a pig of the humanities, however, could be a different story. As a historian I love to forage, although I use white gloves rather than a snout. I have rubbed my face and body on tree trunks in the service of forestry history and when the temperature rises I also enjoy wallowing, rolling from side to side rather than drawing a conclusion. More than this, however, pigs provide a valid means of understanding key historical transitions that define modern society. Significant themes in modern history—production, religion, the body, science, power, the national state, colonialism, gender, consumption, migration, memory—can all be understood through a history of our relationships with pigs. Pigs play an important role in everyday life, but their relationship to the economic, social, political and cultural matters discussed in general history texts—industrialisation, the growth of nation states, colonialism, feminism and so on—are generally ignored. However “natural” this place of pigs may seem, culture and tradition profoundly shape their history and their own contribution to those forces has been largely absent in history. What, then, would the contours of such a history that considered the intermeshing of humans and pigs look like? The intermeshing of pigs in early human history Agricultural economies based on domestic animals began independently in different parts of the world, facilitating increases in population and migration. Evidence for long-term genetic continuity between modern and ancient Chinese domestic pigs has been established by DNA sequences. Larson et al. have made an argument for five additional independent domestications of indigenous wild boar populations: in India, South East Asia and Taiwan, which they use to develop a picture of both pig evolution and the development and spread of early farmers in the Far East. Domestication itself involves transformation into something useful to animals. In the process, humans became transformed. The importance of the Fertile Crescent in human history has been well established. The area is attributed as the site for a series of developments that have defined human history—urbanisation, writing, empires, and civilisation. Those developments have been supported by innovations in food production and animal husbandry. Pig, goats, sheep and cows were all domesticated very early in the Fertile Crescent and remain four of the world’s most important domesticated mammals (Diamond 141). Another study of ancient pig DNA has concluded that the earliest domesticated pigs in Europe, believed to be descended from European wild boar, were introduced from the Middle East. The research, by archaeologists at Durham University, sheds new light on the colonisation of Europe by early farmers, who brought their animals with them. Keith Dobney explains:Many archaeologists believe that farming spread through the diffusion of ideas and cultural exchange, not with the direct migration of people. However, the discovery and analysis of ancient Middle Eastern pig remains across Europe reveals that although cultural exchange did happen, Europe was definitely colonised by Middle Eastern farmers. A combination of rising population and possible climate change in the ‘fertile crescent’, which put pressure on land and resources, made them look for new places to settle, plant their crops and breed their animals and so they rapidly spread west into Europe (ctd in ScienceDaily). Middle Eastern farmers colonised Europe with pigs and in the process transformed human history. Identity as a porcine theme Religious restrictions on the consumption of pigs come from the same area. Such restrictions exist in Jewish dietary laws (Kashrut) and in Muslim dietary laws (Halal). The basis of dietary laws has been the subject of much scholarship (Soler). Economic and health and hygiene factors have been used to explain the development of dietary laws historically. The significance of dietary laws, however, and the importance attached to them can be related to other purposes in defining and expressing religious and cultural identity. Dietary laws and their observance may have been an important factor in sustaining Jewish identity despite the dispersal of Jews in foreign lands since biblical times. In those situations, where a person eats in the home of someone who does not keep kosher, the lack of knowledge about your host’s ingredients and the food preparation techniques make it very difficult to keep kosher. Dietary laws require a certain amount of discipline and self-control, and the ability to make distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, pure and defiled, the sacred and the profane, in everyday life, thus elevating eating into a religious act. Alternatively, people who eat anything are often subject to moral judgments that may also lead to social stigmatisation and discrimination. One of the most powerful and persuasive discourses influencing current thinking about health and bodies is the construction of an ‘obesity epidemic’, critiqued by a range of authors (see for example, Wright & Harwood). As omnivores who appear indiscriminate when it comes to food, pigs provide an image of uncontrolled eating, made visible by the body as a “virtual confessor”, to use Elizabeth Grosz’s term. In Fat Pig, a production by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2006, women are reduced to being either fat pigs or shrieking shallow women. Fatuosity, a blog by PhD student Jackie Wykes drawing on her research on fat and sexual subjectivity, provides a review of the play to describe the misogyny involved: “It leaves no options for women—you can either be a lovely person but a fat pig who will end up alone; or you can be a shrill bitch but beautiful, and end up with an equally obnoxious and shallow male counterpart”. The elision of the divide between women and pigs enacted by such imagery also creates openings for new modes of analysis and new practices of intervention that further challenge humanist histories. Such interventions need to make visible other power relations embedded in assumptions about identity politics. Following the lead of feminists and postcolonial theorists who have challenged the binary oppositions central to western ideology and hierarchical power relations, critical animal theorists have also called into question the essentialist and dualist assumptions underpinning our views of animals (Best). A pig history of the humanities might restore the central role that pigs have played in human history and evolution, beyond their exploitation as food. Humans have constructed their story of the nature of pigs to suit themselves in terms that are specieist, racist, patriarchal and colonialist, and failed to grasp the connections between the oppression of humans and other animals. The past and the ways it is constructed through history reflect and shape contemporary conditions. In this sense, the past has a powerful impact on the present, and the way this is re-told, therefore, also needs to be situated, historicised and problematicised. The examination of history and society from the standpoint of (nonhuman) animals offers new insights on our relationships in the past, but it might also provide an alternative history that restores their agency and contributes to a different kind of future. As the editor of Critical Animals Studies, Steve Best describes it: “This approach, as I define it, considers the interaction between human and nonhuman animals—past, present, and future—and the need for profound changes in the way humans define themselves and relate to other sentient species and to the natural world as a whole.” References ABC. “Changes to Pig Farming Proposed.” ABC News Online 22 May 2010. 10 Aug. 2010 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/22/2906519.htm Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania. “Australia’s Intensive Pig Industry: The Intensive Pig Industry in Australia Has Much to Hide.” 10 Sep. 2010 http://www.aact.org.au/pig_industry.htm Babe. Dir. Chris Noonan. Universal Pictures, 1995. Best, Steven. “The Rise of Critical Animal Studies: Putting Theory into Action and Animal Liberation into Higher Education.” Journal for Critical Animal Studies 7.1 (2009): 9-53. Cassidy, Martin. “How Close are Pushy Pigs to Humans?”. BBC News Online 2005. 10 Sep. 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4482674.stmCurthoys, A., and Docker, J. “Time Eternity, Truth, and Death: History as Allegory.” Humanities Research 1 (1999) 10 Sep. 2010 http://www.anu.edu.au/hrc/publications/hr/hr_1_1999.phpDiamond, Jared. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. Dolader, Miguel-Àngel Motis. “Mediterranean Jewish Diet and Traditions in the Middle Ages”. Food: A Culinary History. Eds. Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari. Trans. Clarissa Botsford, Arthus Golhammer, Charles Lambert, Frances M. López-Morillas and Sylvia Stevens. New York: Columbia UP, 1999. 224-44. Durham University. “Chinese Pigs ‘Direct Descendants’ of First Domesticated Breeds.” ScienceDaily 20 Apr. 2010. 29 Aug. 2010 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419150947.htm Gabaccia, Donna R. We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998. Grosz, Elizabeth. Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1994. Haraway, D. “The Promises of Monsters: A Regenerative Politics for Inappropriate/d Others.” The Haraway Reader. New York: Routledge, 2005. 63-124. Haraway, D. When Species Meet: Posthumanities. 3rd ed. London: University of Minnesota Press, 2008. Henderson, Fergus. Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking. London: Bloomsbury, 2004. Kiple, Kenneth F., Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas. Cambridge History of Food. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Larson, G., Ranran Liu, Xingbo Zhao, Jing Yuan, Dorian Fuller, Loukas Barton, Keith Dobney, Qipeng Fan, Zhiliang Gu, Xiao-Hui Liu, Yunbing Luo, Peng Lv, Leif Andersson, and Ning Li. “Patterns of East Asian Pig Domestication, Migration, and Turnover Revealed by Modern and Ancient DNA.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, United States 19 Apr. 2010. 10 Sep. 2010 http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0912264107/DCSupplemental Meindertsma, Christien. “PIG 05049. Kunsthal in Rotterdam.” 2008. 10 Sep. 2010 http://www.christienmeindertsma.com/index.php?/books/pig-05049Naess, A. “The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement.” Inquiry 16 (1973): 95-100. Needman, T. Fat Pig. Sydney Theatre Company. Oct. 2006. Noonan, Chris [director]. “Babe (1995) Memorable Quotes”. 10 Sep. 2010 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/quotes Plumwood, V. Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. London: Routledge, 1993. Pulp Fiction. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Miramax, 1994. RSPCA Tasmania. “RSPCA Calls for Ban on Intensive Pig Farming.” 10 Sep. 2010 http://www.rspcatas.org.au/press-centre/rspca-calls-for-a-ban-on-intensive-pig-farming ScienceDaily. “Ancient Pig DNA Study Sheds New Light on Colonization of Europe by Early Farmers” 4 Sep. 2007. 10 Sep. 2010 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070903204822.htm Singer, Peter. “Down on the Family Farm ... or What Happened to Your Dinner When it was Still an Animal.” Animal Liberation 2nd ed. London: Jonathan Cape, 1990. 95-158. Soler, Jean. “Biblical Reasons: The Dietary Rules of the Ancient Hebrews.” Food: A Culinary History. Eds. Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari. Trans. Clarissa Botsford, Arthus Golhammer, Charles Lambert, Frances M. López-Morillas and Sylvia Stevens. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. 46-54. Watson, Lyall. The Whole Hog: Exploring the Extraordinary Potential of Pigs. London: Profile, 2004. White, E. B. Essays of E. B. White. London: HarperCollins, 1979. White, E. B. Charlotte’s Web. London: HarperCollins, 2004. Wright, J., and V. Harwood. Eds. Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’. New York: Routledge, 2009. Wykes, J. Fatuosity 2010. 29 Aug. 2010 http://www.fatuosity.net

Image 1: A Little Free Library. Image credit: Nadine Kozak.IntroductionLittle Free Libraries give people a reason to stop and exchange things they love: books. It seemed like a really good way to build a sense of community.Dannette Lank, Little Free Library steward, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, 2013 (Rumage)Against a backdrop of stagnant literacy rates and enduring perceptions of urban decay and the decline of communities in cities (NCES, “Average Literacy”; NCES, “Average Prose”; Putnam 25; Skogan 8), legions of Little Free Libraries (LFLs) have sprung up across the United States between 2009 and the present. LFLs are small, often homemade structures housing books and other physical media for passersby to choose a book to take or leave a book to share with others. People have installed the structures in front of homes, schools, libraries, churches, fire and police stations, community gardens, and in public parks. There are currently 50,000 LFLs around the world, most of which are in the continental United States (Aldrich, “Big”). LFLs encompass building in multiple senses of the term; LFLs are literally tiny buildings to house books and people use the structures for building neighbourhood social capital. The organisation behind the movement cites “building community” as one of its three core missions (Little Free Library). Rowan Moore, theorising humans’ reasons for building, argues desire and emotion are central (16). The LFL movement provides evidence for this claim: stewards erect LFLs based on hope for increased literacy and a desire to build community through their altruistic actions. This article investigates how LFLs build urban community and explores barriers to the endeavour, specifically municipal building and right of way ordinances used in attempts to eradicate the structures. It also examines local responses to these municipal actions and potential challenges to traditional public libraries brought about by LFLs, primarily the decrease of visits to public libraries and the use of LFLs to argue for defunding of publicly provided library services. The work argues that LFLs build community in some places but may threaten other community services. This article employs qualitative content analysis of 261 stewards’ comments about their registered LFLs on the organisation’s website drawn from the two largest cities in a Midwestern state and an interview with an LFL steward in a village in the same state to analyse how LFLs build community. The two cities, located in the state where the LFL movement began, provide a cross section of innovators, early adopters, and late adopters of the book exchanges, determined by their registered charter numbers. Press coverage and municipal documents from six cities across the US gathered through a snowball sample provide data about municipal challenges to LFLs. Blog posts penned by practising librarians furnish some opinions about the movement. This research, while not a representative sample, identifies common themes and issues around LFLs and provides a basis for future research.The act of building and curating an LFL is a representation of shared beliefs about literacy, community, and altruism. Establishing an LFL is an act of civic participation. As Nico Carpentier notes, while some civic participation is macro, carried out at the level of the nation, other participation is micro, conducted in “the spheres of school, family, workplace, church, and community” (17). Ruth H. Landman investigates voluntary activities in the city, including community gardening, and community bakeries, and argues that the people associated with these projects find themselves in a “denser web of relations” than previously (2). Gretchen M. Herrmann argues that neighbourhood garage sales, although fleeting events, build an enduring sense of community amongst participants (189). Ray Oldenburg contends that people create associational webs in what he calls “great good places”; third spaces separate from home and work (20-21). Little Free Libraries and Community BuildingEmotion plays a central role in the decision to become an LFL steward, the person who establishes and maintains the LFL. People recount their desire to build a sense of community and share their love of reading with neighbours (Charter 4684; Charter 8212; Charter 9437; Charter 9705; Charter 16561). One steward in the study reported, “I love books and I want to be able to help foster that love in our neighbourhood as well” (Charter 4369). Image 2: A Little Free Library, bench, water fountain, and dog’s water bowl for passersby to enjoy. Image credit: Nadine Kozak.Relationships and emotional ties are central to some people’s decisions to have an LFL. The LFL website catalogues many instances of memorial LFLs, tributes to librarians, teachers, and avid readers. Indeed, the first Little Free Library, built by Todd Bol in 2009, was a tribute to his late mother, a teacher who loved reading (“Our History”). In the two city study area, ten LFLs are memorials, allowing bereaved families to pass on a loved one’s penchant for sharing books and reading (Charter 1235; Charter 1309; Charter 4604; Charter 6219; Charter 6542; Charter 6954; Charter 10326; Charter 16734; Charter 24481; Charter 30369). In some cases, urban neighbours come together to build, erect, and stock LFLs. One steward wrote: “Those of us who live in this friendly neighborhood collaborated to design[,] build and paint a bungalow themed library” to match the houses in the neighbourhood (Charter 2532). Another noted: “Our neighbor across the street is a skilled woodworker, and offered to build the library for us if we would install it in our yard and maintain it. What a deal!” (Charter 18677). Community organisations also install and maintain LFLs, including 21 in the study population (e.g. Charter 31822; Charter 27155).Stewards report increased communication with neighbours due to their LFLs. A steward noted: “We celebrated the library’s launch on a Saturday morning with neighbors of all ages. We love sitting on our front porch and catching up with the people who stop to check out the books” (Charter 9673). Another exclaimed:within 24 hours, before I had time to paint it, my Little Free Library took on a life of its own. All of a sudden there were lots of books in it and people stopping by. I wondered where these books came from as I had not put any in there. Little kids in the neighborhood are all excited about it and I have met neighbors that I had never seen before. This is going to be fun! (Charter 15981)LFLs build community through social interaction and collaboration. This occurs when neighbours come together to build, install, and fill the structures. The structures also open avenues for conversation between neighbours who had no connection previously. Like Herrmann’s neighbourhood garage sales, LFLs create and maintain social ties between neighbours and link them by the books they share. Additionally, when neighbours gather and communicate at the LFL structure, they create a transitory third space for “informal public life”, where people can casually interact at a nearby location (Oldenburg 14, 288).Building Barriers, Creating CommunityThe erection of an LFL in an urban neighbourhood is not, however, always a welcome sight. The news analysis found that LFLs most often come to the attention of municipal authorities via citizen complaints, which lead to investigations and enforcement of ordinances. In Kansas, a neighbour called an LFL an “eyesore” and an “illegal detached structure” (Tapper). In Wisconsin, well-meaning future stewards contacted their village authorities to ask about rules, inadvertently setting off a six-month ban on LFLs (Stingl; Rumage). Resulting from complaints and inquiries, municipalities regulated, and in one case banned, LFLs, thus building barriers to citizens’ desires to foster community and share books with neighbours.Municipal governments use two major areas of established code to remove or prohibit LFLs: ordinances banning unapproved structures in residents’ yards and those concerned with obstructions to right of ways when stewards locate the LFLs between the public sidewalk and street.In the first instance, municipal ordinances prohibit either front yard or detached structures. Controversies over these ordinances and LFLs erupted in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, in 2012; Leawood, Kansas, in 2014; Shreveport, Louisiana, in 2015; and Dallas, Texas, in 2015. The Village of Whitefish Bay banned LFLs due to an ordinance prohibiting “front yard structures,” including mailboxes (Sanburn; Stingl). In Leawood, the city council argued that an LFL, owned by a nine-year-old boy, violated an ordinance that forbade the construction of any detached structures without city council permission. In Shreveport, the stewards of an LFL received a cease and desist letter from city council for having an “accessory structure” in the front yard (LaCasse; Burris) and Dallas officials knocked on a steward’s front door, informing her of a similar breach (Kellogg).In the second instance, some urban municipalities argued that LFLs are obstructions that block right of ways. In Lincoln, Nebraska, the public works director noted that the city “uses the area between the sidewalk and the street for snow storage in the winter, light poles, mailboxes, things like that.” The director continued: “And I imagine these little libraries are meant to congregate people like a water cooler, but we don’t want people hanging around near the road by the curb” (Heady). Both Lincoln in 2014 and Los Angeles (LA), California, in 2015, cited LFLs for obstructions. In Lincoln, the city notified the Southminster United Methodist Church that their LFL, located between the public sidewalk and street, violated a municipal ordinance (Sanburn). In LA, the Bureau of Street Services notified actor Peter Cook that his LFL, situated in the right of way, was an “obstruction” that Cook had to remove or the city would levy a fine (Moss). The city agreed at a hearing to consider a “revocable permit” for Cook’s LFL, but later denied its issuance (Condes).Stewards who found themselves in violation of municipal ordinances were able to harness emotion and build outrage over limits to individuals’ ability to erect LFLs. In Kansas, the stewards created a Facebook page, Spencer’s Little Free Library, which received over 31,000 likes and messages of support. One comment left on the page reads: “The public outcry will force those lame city officials to change their minds about it. Leave it to the stupid government to rain on everybody’s parade” (“Good”). Children’s author Daniel Handler sent a letter to the nine-year-old steward, writing as Lemony Snicket, “fighting against librarians is immoral and useless in the face of brave and noble readers such as yourself” (Spencer’s). Indeed, the young steward gave a successful speech to city hall arguing that the body should allow the structures because “‘lots of people in the neighborhood used the library and the books were always changing. I think it’s good for Leawood’” (Bauman). Other local LFL supporters also attended council and spoke in favour of the structures (Harper). In LA, Cook’s neighbours started a petition that gathered over 100 signatures, where people left comments including, “No to bullies!” (Lopez). Additionally, neighbours gathered to discuss the issue (Dana). In Shreveport, neighbours left stacks of books in their front yards, without a structure housing them due to the code banning accessory structures. One noted, “I’m basically telling the [Metropolitan Planning Commission] to go sod off” (Friedersdorf; Moss). LFL proponents reacted with frustration and anger at the perceived over-reach of the government toward harmless LFLs. In addition to the actions of neighbours and supporters, the national and local press commented on the municipal constraints. The LFL movement has benefitted from a significant amount of positive press in its formative years, a press willing to publicise and criticise municipal actions to thwart LFL development. Stewards’ struggles against municipal bureaucracies building barriers to LFLs makes prime fodder for the news media. Herbert J. Gans argues an enduring value in American news is “the preservation of the freedom of the individual against the encroachments of nation and society” (50). The juxtaposition of well-meaning LFL stewards against municipal councils and committees provided a compelling opportunity to illustrate this value.National media outlets, including Time (Sanburn), Christian Science Monitor (LaCasse), and The Atlantic, drew attention to the issue. Writing in The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf critically noted:I wish I was writing this to merely extol this trend [of community building via LFLs]. Alas, a subset of Americans are determined to regulate every last aspect of community life. Due to selection bias, they are overrepresented among local politicians and bureaucrats. And so they have power, despite their small-mindedness, inflexibility, and lack of common sense so extreme that they’ve taken to cracking down on Little Free Libraries, of all things. (Friedersdorf, n.p.)Other columnists mirrored this sentiment. Writing in the LA Times, one commentator sarcastically wrote that city officials were “cracking down on one of the country’s biggest problems: small community libraries where residents share books” (Schaub). Journalists argued this was government overreach on non-issues rather than tackling larger community problems, such as income inequality, homelessness, and aging infrastructure (Solomon; Schaub). The protests and negative press coverage led to, in the case of the municipalities with front yard and detached structure ordinances, détente between stewards and councils as the latter passed amendments permitting and regulating LFLs. Whitefish Bay, Leawood, and Shreveport amended ordinances to allow for LFLs, but also to regulate them (Everson; Topil; Siegel). Ordinances about LFLs restricted their number on city blocks, placement on private property, size and height, as well as required registration with the municipality in some cases. Lincoln officials allowed the church to relocate the LFL from the right of way to church property and waived the $500 fine for the obstruction violation (Sanburn). In addition to the amendments, the protests also led to civic participation and community building including presentations to city council, a petition, and symbolic acts of defiance. Through this protest, neighbours create communities—networks of people working toward a common goal. This aspect of community building around LFLs was unintentional but it brought people together nevertheless.Building a Challenge to Traditional Libraries?LFL marketing and communication staff member Margaret Aldrich suggests in The Little Free Library Book that LFLs are successful because they are “gratifyingly doable” projects that can be accomplished by an individual (16). It is this ease of building, erecting, and maintaining LFLs that builds concern as their proliferation could challenge aspects of library service, such as public funding and patron visits. Some professional librarians are in favour of the LFLs and are stewards themselves (Charter 121; Charter 2608; Charter 9702; Charter 41074; Rumage). Others envision great opportunities for collaboration between traditional libraries and LFLs, including the library publicising LFLs and encouraging their construction as well as using LFLs to serve areas without, or far from, a public library (Svehla; Shumaker). While lauding efforts to build community, some professional librarians question the nomenclature used by the movement. They argue the phrase Little Free Libraries is inaccurate as libraries are much more than random collections of books. Instead, critics contend, the LFL structures are closer to book swaps and exchanges than actual libraries, which offer a range of services such as Internet access, digital materials, community meeting spaces, and workshops and programming on a variety of topics (American Library Association; Annoyed Librarian). One university reference and instruction librarian worries about “the general public’s perception and lumping together of little free libraries and actual ‘real’ public libraries” (Hardenbrook). By way of illustration, he imagines someone asking, “‘why do we need our tax money to go to something that can be done for FREE?’” (Hardenbrook). Librarians holding this perspective fear the movement might add to a trend of neoliberalism, limiting or ending public funding for libraries, as politicians believe that the localised, individual solutions can replace publicly funded library services. This is a trend toward what James Ferguson calls “responsibilized” citizens, those “deployed to produce governmentalized results that do not depend on direct state intervention” (172). In other countries, this shift has already begun. In the United Kingdom (UK), governments are devolving formerly public services onto community groups and volunteers. Lindsay Findlay-King, Geoff Nichols, Deborah Forbes, and Gordon Macfadyen trace the impacts of the 2012 Localism Act in the UK, which caused “sport and library asset transfers” (12) to community and volunteer groups who were then responsible for service provision and, potentially, facility maintenance as well. Rather than being in charge of a “doable” LFL, community groups and volunteers become the operators of much larger facilities. Recent efforts in the US to privatise library services as governments attempt to cut budgets and streamline services (Streitfeld) ground this fear. Image 3: “Take a Book, Share a Book,” a Little Free Library motto. Image credit: Nadine Kozak. LFLs might have real consequences for public libraries. Another potential unintended consequence of the LFLs is decreasing visits to public libraries, which could provide officials seeking to defund them with evidence that they are no longer relevant or necessary. One LFL steward and avid reader remarked that she had not used her local public library since 2014 because “I was using the Little Free Libraries” (Steward). Academics and librarians must conduct more research to determine what impact, if any, LFLs are having on visits to traditional public libraries. ConclusionLittle Free Libraries across the United States, and increasingly in other countries, have generated discussion, promoted collaboration between neighbours, and led to sharing. In other words, they have built communities. This was the intended consequence of the LFL movement. There, however, has also been unplanned community building in response to municipal threats to the structures due to right of way, safety, and planning ordinances. The more threatening concern is not the municipal ordinances used to block LFL development, but rather the trend of privatisation of publicly provided services. While people are celebrating the community built by the LFLs, caution must be exercised lest central institutions of the public and community, traditional public libraries, be lost. Academics and communities ought to consider not just impact on their local community at the street level, but also wider structural concerns so that communities can foster many “great good places”—the Little Free Libraries and traditional public libraries as well.ReferencesAldrich, Margaret. “Big Milestone for Little Free Library: 50,000 Libraries Worldwide.” Little Free Library. 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Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press, 2015.Annoyed Librarian. “How to Protect Little Free Libraries.” Library Journal Blog 9 Jul. 2015. 26 Mar. 2017 <http://lj.libraryjournal.com/blogs/annoyedlibrarian/2015/07/09/how-to-protect-little-free-libraries/>.American Library Association. “Public Library Use.” State of America’s Libraries: A Report from the American Library Association (2015). 25 Feb. 2017 <http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet06>.Bauman, Caroline. “‘Little Free Libraries’ Legal in Leawood Thanks to 9-year-old Spencer Collins.” The Kansas City Star 7 Jul. 2014. 25 Feb. 2017 <http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article687562.html>.Burris, Alexandria. “First Amendment Issues Surface in Little Free Library Case.” Shreveport Times 5 Feb. 2015. 25 Feb. 2017 <http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2015/02/05/expert-use-zoning-law-clashes-first-amendment/22922371/>.Carpentier, Nico. 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Deciding What’s News: A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2004.“Good Luck Spencer.” Spencer’s Little Free Library Facebook Page 25 Jun. 2014. 26 Mar. 2017 <https://www.facebook.com/Spencerslittlefreelibrary/photos/pcb.527531327376433/527531260709773/?type=3>.Hardenbrook, Joe. “A Little Rant on Little Free Libraries (AKA Probably an Unpopular Post).” Mr. Library Dude (9 Apr. 2014). 25 Feb. 2017 <https://mrlibrarydude.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/a-little-rant-on-little-free-libraries-aka-probably-an-unpopular-post/>.Harper, Deb. “Minutes.” The Leawood City Council 7 Jul. 2014. <http://www.leawood.org/pdf/cc/min/07-07-14.pdf>. Heady, Chris. “City Wants Church to Move Little Library.” Lincoln Journal Star 9 Jul. 2014. 25 Feb. 2017 <http://journalstar.com/news/local/city-wants-church-to-move-little-library/article_7753901a-42cd-5b52-9674-fc54a4d51f47.html>. Herrmann, Gretchen M. “Garage Sales Make Good Neighbors: Building Community through Neighborhood Sales.” Human Organization 62.2 (2006): 181-191.Kellogg, Carolyn. “Officials Threaten to Destroy a Little Free Library in Texas.” Los Angeles Times (1 Oct. 2015). 25 Feb. 2017 <http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-little-free-library-texas-20150930-story.html>.LaCasse, Alexander. “Why Are Some Cities Cracking Down on Little Free Libraries.” Christian Science Monitor (5 Feb. 2015). 25 Feb. 2017 <http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2015/0205/Why-are-some-cities-cracking-down-on-little-free-libraries>.Landman, Ruth H. Creating the Community in the City: Cooperatives and Community Gardens in Washington, DC Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1993. Little Free Library. Little Free Library Organization (2017). 25 Feb. 2017 <https://littlefreelibrary.org/>.Lopez, Steve. “Actor’s Curbside Libraries Is a Smash—for Most People.” LA Times 3 Feb. 2015. 25 Feb. 2017 <http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0204-lopez-library-20150204-column.html>.Moore, Rowan. Why We Build: Power and Desire in Architecture. New York: Harper Design, 2013.Moss, Laura. “City Zoning Laws Target Little Free Libraries.” Mother Nature Network 25 Aug. 2015. 25 Feb. 2017 <http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/city-zoning-laws-target-little-free-libraries>.National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Average Literacy and Numeracy Scale Scores of 25- to 65-Year Olds, by Sex, Age Group, Highest Level of Educational Attainment, and Country of Other Education System: 2012, table 604.10. 25 Feb. 2017 <https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_604.10.asp?current=yes>.National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Average Prose, Document, and Quantitative Literacy Scores of Adults: 1992 and 2003. National Assessment of Adult Literacy. 25 Feb. 2017 <https://nces.ed.gov/naal/kf_demographics.asp>.Oldenburg, Ray. The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. New York: Marlowe & Company, 1999.“Our History.” Little Free Library. Little Free Library Organization (2017). 25 Feb. 2017 <https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourhistory/>.Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. 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Police and Community in Chicago: A Tale of Three Cities. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.Solomon, Dan. “Dallas Is Regulating ‘Little Free Libraries’ for Some Reason.” Texas Monthly (14 Sept. 2016). 25 Feb. 2017 <http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/dallas-regulating-little-free-libraries-reason/>.“Spencer’s Little Free Library.” Facebook 15 Jul. 2014. 25 Feb. 2017 <https://www.facebook.com/Spencerslittlefreelibrary/photos/pcb.527531327376433/527531260709773/?type=3>.Steward, M. 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This chapter discusses the Duchess Sophie-Elisabeth's many accomplishments, as well as the cultural legacies that surrounded her and nourished her talents. Born a princess at the court of Güstrow, an active north German cultural center, Duchess Sophie-Elisabeth of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (August 20, 1613–July 12, 1676) made a distinctive mark on the course of German baroque music. Her noble rank and multifaceted talents gave her access to leading avenues of German cultural life, above all in music, along with a number of the most distinguished composers and performers of the seventeenth century. An ambitious and effective impresario, an ardent arts patron, and a serious, if not exceptional, composer, she triumphed over many adversities, administering and supporting the musical life at her husband's court of Wolfenbüttel with a strong sense of reality and initiative.

One of the major components of Cuban racial ideology is the notion of anti-racialism. The phrases “there is no racism here” or “I am not racist” are the common responses when asked about racism or discussing one’s own beliefs. Consequently, the revolution’s noble declaration and goal of creating a racism-free country has produced a norm in which racism is an external concept. Chapter 5 argues that this norm has hindered any discussion or reflection on race and racism in Cuba such that its presence goes ignored. Additionally, the act of ignoring racism allows for negative racial stereotypes to continue to be expressed with little challenge. The chapter examines interviews with whites on their opinions regarding racism in Cuba as well as their own connection to anti-black attitudes. It also uses survey data to highlight blacks’ position on race relations in Cuba, particularly in their individual relations with whites.

The chapter discusses representations of Hajar and Mariya, two prominent female figures from the early Islamic tradition, widely treated in Arabic-Islamic biographical dictionaries, Quranic exegeses, and Tales of the Prophets literature. It treats the varied images of both women, with a focus on two elements: Both women were slaves and both bore children to prophets. Islamic sources, penned almost exclusively by men, expunge nearly all other aspects of these women’s stories. But, slave women had an impact not just on family structures and notions of marriage and sexuality that people often associate with “women’s history,” but also on official, predominantly male-oriented ideologies. The two images informed the loftiest notions about who deserved to rule and who counted as a noble Arab.

This chapter depicts Korematsu’s uncertain legal and political status. It starts with a capsule of 9/11 security measures and charges of excess and abuse. It also surfaces a hidden piece of liberty and security controversies—the philosophy of the noble (or ignoble) lie that enables some officials, ostensibly in good conscience, to dissemble to the courts and public on security matters in justifying what might be otherwise unjustifiable. With this backdrop, the chapter explores clashing contemporary usages of Korematsu. It charts the case’s “Chameleonic Deployment,” starting with policymakers’ volatile rhetoric and reliance upon Korematsu to legitimate sweeping Muslim exclusion and segregation proposals. Then the chapter canvasses Cold War cases citing Korematsu as standing precedent and cases after the Gulf War and into the Obama era clearly relying on Korematsu but without explicit citation. The chapter closes with a recitation of judges’ characterizing Korematsu as a stinging cautionary tale.

This chapter discusses John Philip Sousa's move from Washington to Philadelphia to prove himself as a violinist, arranger, and composer. Following his tours with Nobles, he “decided to go to Philadelphia and see the Centennial. It was a big event in the life of any young American and I believe the first event of its kind that the country had ever had.” It was in the Centennial City that Sousa earned his stripes writing songs and stage works, and it was also in Philadelphia that he began to plot a return to the capital. By the time he left Philadelphia in 1880, Sousa had orchestrated several complete operettas.

The introductory chapter defines the concept of political disgrace as it was understood under the Bourbon monarchy and sets out the principal themes of the book. Why was the rebellious French nobility of the early seventeenth century gradually persuaded to abandon a culture marked by rebellion and resistance to the crown and learn to submit to a simple royal command? It explores contemporary attitudes towards monarchy and its ideological and cultural foundations and the role of disgrace in the life of the court and wider noble society. It also discusses current historiographical debates, and argues that a study of political disgrace provides an ideal vehicle for demonstrating that Old Regime political culture far from being ossified was fluid and dynamic.

While princely residential cities such as Dresden provided key focal points for the Empire’s spiritual and cultural life during the later seventeenth century, Chapter 8 shows that the appeal of the Lutheran baroque extended well beyond courtly circles. Not only princes and nobles but also prosperous burghers commissioned magnificent churches and religious images, as the examples investigated here demonstrate. The chapter uses case studies from two Saxon territories, the Erzgebirge and Upper Lusatia, to suggest that wherever finances permitted churches were rebuilt or redecorated in the new style, employing visual magnificence in the service of Lutheran piety. There were some splendid monuments in Brandenburg as well, for example Andreas Schlüter’s pulpit for Berlin’s Marienkirche (1703). There, however, Lutheran culture was also shaped by the presence of Calvinists and Pietists.

Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, once named urbanization in China and the new technical revolution led by the United States as the two great events shaping the world of the 21st century. British specialist Tom Miller refers to China’s urbanization as “the greatest migration in human history.” China's Urbanization: Migration by the Millions is a full-range description of how millions of farmers in China became urban citizens in different periods of history. It further explores the deep-rooted issues of the country’s land system and household registration system, issues that will be confronted by urbanization for a long time to come. China is the world’s largest single-country population transfer and urbanization country. Its urbanization is faced with ever more stringent constraints on resources and environment. This means China has to take a brand new path of urbanization with Chinese characteristics. Through this book, readers can get both the ropes of official and mainstream views on the new urbanization initiative and get familiar with multi-directional probes on this issue in academic circles so they may gain a comprehensive and balanced understanding of the whole picture. This book was first published by New World Press in 2014, and republished jointly by New World Press and Global Century Press in 2016. This joint publication is the first volume in the ‘China Urbanization Studies’ series. We have retained the original typesetting, but we have added DOI numbers for the book, Series Editors’ Prefaces and all chapters, as well as a section of dual language additions from Global Century Press in English and Chinese.

A few decades ago in a series of articles, the Russian orientalist Vladimir Minorsky argued that the Persian romance novel Vīs u Rāmīn by As’ad Gurgānī re-elaborated materials derived from the court minstrel tradition of the Parthian period noble houses. His assumption was mainly based on the political system described in the poem. Enlarging the scope of the investigation this paper aims at connecting what is known about the role of women at the Arsacid court with the prominent role of women as decision makers in the novel.

AbstractIn this chapter I discuss another German case, that of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel. The Thirty Year’s War led to a governmental crisis and Landgrave William V went into exile where he died. The minor William VI inherited the occupied principality, which his regent-mother Amelie Elisabeth set out to reconquer. In 1646 Amelie required 4000 Malter of corn for her armed forces, and she convened an assembly requesting the nobility for their consent. The nobility, however, needed more time to debate the matter but was confronted with the illegal requisition of the resources. They saw this as a violation of their noble privileges led to an assembly of the nobility, which was consequently banned by the landgravine. The situation triggered a fierce reaction by the nobility, suggesting that the landgravine was attempting to establish an arbitrary rule. Since communication became strained, the nobility brought the situation under the attention of the Imperial Chamber Court in 1651. The lawsuit that followed showed that fatherland terminology was accepted in the formal, legal language by lawyers of both parties. In the argumentation sedition, privileges, traditions and the fear of the establishment of an arbitrary government are all used.

The accession of Charles I exacerbated the tensions experienced between monarch and Parliament under James I and Herbert’s courtly career gradually faded following the deaths of the duke of Buckingham and earl of Pembroke. Chapter 13 examines Herbert’s attempts, after his return from France, to secure noble title, appointment to the Privy Council, and payment of his long-overdue allowances. It explores his efforts, as old age approached, to retain a place for himself among the rising stars at court, carve out a role for himself as a member of the Council of War, avoid active involvement in parliamentary criticism of the royal prerogative, offer occasional (unsolicited) advice to the king, and reassert his authority in county government in Montgomeryshire and Shropshire. It looks at his extensive remodelling of Montgomery Castle to provide a fashionable country house appropriate to his rank, his use of prestigious rental properties in London, and his efforts to increase the income derived from his neglected estates in England, Wales, and Ireland. It charts his difficult relationship with his wife and adult children and neglect of his patriarchal responsibilities, including his failure to marry his daughter and his longstanding dispute with his eldest son, Richard, over his allowance, debts, and inheritance of his mother’s estates. It briefly probes Herbert’s unsuccessful attempt to remarry in the late 1630s.

This chapter reflects on the vision that had inspired Jim Coffed, the detective and insurance investigator who teamed in the 1980s and 1990s with World War II combat veteran and Oswego County fishing guide Bud Duell to find and salvage Getaway Gertie. The chapter highlights that Jim was an enthusiast—perhaps the only person who had invested more time than John McLaughlin in researching the story of Getaway Gertie. Although an accident expert, Coffed possessed neither the expertise nor the wherewithal for diving. The chapter examines how Coffed eventually teamed with Mike McGourty of Emark Marine Services in the search for Gertie in Oswego County. The chapter also introduces Dale Coffed, Jim's older brother, which was an important figure to Jim the way older brothers often are to younger siblings. It notes that Jim Coffed had envisioned an ending with honor and dignity. Yet, as the chapter argues, his expectation to raise the plane and recover the bodies was as ingenuous as it was noble. Today, this kind of enterprise, well-intended or otherwise, is essentially forbidden.

On our arrival in Denmark,* we found the king and queen of that country elevated in two arm-chairs on a kitchen-table, holding a Court. The whole of the Danish nobility were in attendance; consisting of a noble boy in the wash-leather boots...

For all the research that has been done into French politics and society in the fifty years before the Revolution, only a handful of serious studies have looked at the great noble families and the royal court. Moreover, the history of the army, where leading noble families dominated the upper ranks, has been integrated neither with that of the court, nor with that of intra-noble relations. This chapter therefore examines the most prestigious units of the French army — the privileged forces associated directly with the royal households — to bring together the history of the military and the court and suggest why, by the time the old regime collapsed in 1787–89, the great nobility was at loggerheads with the monarchy, and why relations between higher and lesser nobles had deteriorated a great deal since the reign of Louis XIV. The collapse of elite cohesion was ultimately disastrous for all concerned.