History of the Earth, Laboratory of Revolutions

With the exception of the astronomical and cosmological debates of the 16th and 17th centuries, Geology is the scientific discipline that, in early modern and modern European history, seems to be most entangled with politics and authority—possibly the one in which some of the most anti-authoritarian stances of the 18th century were held. It is also the field in which (in an anticipated homage to Reinhard Koselleck’s famous remarks) for the first time the meaning of ‘revolution’ seemingly changed from circularity to linearity. Keywords: History of geology, Earth History, Revolutions in Geology, d’Holbach, Kosellec

From self-discovery to self-assertion: The musical journey of Janki Bai challenging the courtesan’s liminal space

Among the most prominent vocalists of Hindustani music and stars of the gramophone era, Janki Bai Ilahabadi stands out not only as a fine singer and poet but also as a legendary artist whose life was marked by travel as the dominant trigger of change. In this article, I focus on the three journeys that, from songstress courtesan, led Janki Bai to become an accomplished artist who challenged stereotypes. The first journey represented for Janki the opportunity to debunk the cliché of the attractive gānevālī and to assert her autonomy as an artist. The second coincided with the transition of music from mahfils to the living rooms of the middle class through the gramophone. The third was crucial in solemnising Janki’s iconic image. The twilight of her career ran in parallel to the end of the golden era of the tavāyafs, the emergence of the Anti-nautch movement fostered by reformists, and the decline of courtly patronage. This article explores the function of the journey as a catalyst in Janki Bai’s life, emblematic of the broader condition of female performers in colonial India. It also examines how tavāyafs, like Janki, used their journeys to articulate and extend their agency and autonomy beyond the limited spaces they inhabited. As Janki’s story demonstrates, the construction of the female artist’s identity challenges societal expectations of a woman’s image and role. Finally, her journey is framed as one of self-discovery, self-acceptance, and self-assertion in a complex social milieu

L’immagine riflessa: leggere e capire la Cina dal Sudest asiatico

This contribution explores Southeast Asia as a privileged vantage point for analyzing the socio-political dynamics of the People's Republic of China (PRC) beyond the official narrative of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Through the case of Singapore and its distinctive approach to Chinese culture, it highlights how local perceptions reveal a more complex and multifaceted China compared to  dominant views in the West.Questo contributo esplora il Sudest asiatico come osservatorio privilegiato per analizzare le dinamiche socio-politiche della Repubblica Popolare Cinese (RPC) al di là della narrativa ufficiale del Partito Comunista Cinese (PCC). Attraverso il caso di Singapore e il suo approccio distintivo alla cultura cinese, si evidenzia come le percezioni locali rivelino una Cina più complessa e sfaccettata rispetto alla dicotomia dominante in Occidente

The Takaful between economics, law, and religion. Considerations in relation to Islamic contract law and insurance transactions

The takaful industry as it exists today in terms of its growth potential and the challenges associated with its development. The opportunities associated with takaful are numerous, mainly due to its wider market reach and adaptability; unlike conventional insurance, takaful is permissible for Muslims and non-Muslims alike and offers a more diverse range of products. The takaful industry is also one of the fastest-growing businesses, contributing significantly to the global insurance industry. However, despite the promise of takaful, the industry faces many obstacles today. Most importantly, the overall value of the takaful industry in terms of total assets and contributions (premiums) is negligible compared to both the size of the Muslim population and the conventional insurance industry. Not to mention the challenges related to supervision and transparency, standardization, and lack of knowledge. Therefore, this paper will analyze the economic potential and impact of the takaful industry, as well as explore the role of takaful in poverty alleviation, where some research has already proven successful. It will also examine the challenges facing the industry, which are slowing down its development and preventing it from realizing its full potential

Sex and irony in Zhang Dachun’s Bildungsroman Wo Meimei

Growing up in the juancun 眷村 (soldiers’ villages) communities of Taiwan during the 1980s, contemporary Taiwanese author Zhang Dachun 张大春 (b. 1957) appears to have embraced the postmodern ideas and techniques, drawing inspiration from writers like Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco in his literary work. Since the publication of his novel Da Shuohuangjia 大說謊家 (“The Big Liar,” 1989), Zhang Dachun earned the moniker “the big liar,” and his novels have been described as metafictional, employing a postmodern approach that playfully utilizes signs and symbols to convey meanings or “lies” (Peng 2009). In 1993, under the pen name Datou Chun 大头春 (“Big-head Spring”), the author published a semi-autobiographical Bildungsroman (qingchun xiaoshuo 青春小說) titled Wo Meimei 我妹妹 (“My Kid Sister”), adopting a sarcastic teenage narrative voice. The novel depicts his own growth, as well as that of his sister, who is eight years younger, within the complex historical and political backdrop of 1980s Taiwan. Throughout the novel, there are numerous references to children’s sexual instincts and behaviors, often reinterpreted through a Freudian lens. These references are intertwined with the author’s personal experiences rooted in contemporary Taiwan’s reality and metafictional discussions on narrative meaning and strategies. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to gather these references and shed light on Zhang Dachun’s reception of postmodernism while reconstructing his distinct “poetics of the lie.

El modelo antropomórfico en la traducción de las locuciones prepositivas en dos romanceamientos bíblicos del siglo XIII

Resumen En este trabajo se realiza un estudio contrastivo de las locuciones prepositivas somáticas en dos libros bíblicos, el Libro de Daniel y el Eclesiástico, presentes en dos traducciones coetáneas, la Biblia escurialense I.i.6 y la cuarta parte de la General Estoria. El objetivo es determinar cuál es la dinámica traductora de las locuciones prepositivas somáticas, qué versiones traducen con más propiedad los esquemas latinos y qué soluciones ofrecen los romanceamientos medievales y de qué dependen los cambios morfosintácticos y la variación que manifiestan.Abstract This paper presents a contrastive study of the somatic complex prepositions in two biblical books, the Book of Daniel and the Ecclesiasticus, present in two contemporary translations, the Bible preserved in the codex Escorial I.i.6 and the fourth part of the General Estoria. Our goal is to determine what the translation dynamics of somatic complex prepositions are, which versions most appropriately translate the Latin schemes and what solutions the vernacular translations offer and what the morphosyntactic changes and the variation they manifest depend on

Aspetti storici ed etici del rapporto tra medici e farmacisti. La Convenzione di Bologna del 1606

In 1606 in Bologna a document titled Conventioni fra l’eccellentissimo Collegio dei Medici et l’honorabile Compagnia delli Speciali Medicinalisti di Bologna was drafted. It established regulations for the preparation, preservation, and sale of medicines, also regulating the relationship between doctors and pharmacists. The text emphasized the ethical value of collaboration between doctors, responsible for diagnoses and prescriptions, and pharmacists, who prepared and administered the medicines. Indeed, the cooperation between these two professional roles was seen as essential for ensuring effective patient treatment.Nel 1606 a Bologna fu redatto un documento intitolato Conventioni fra l’eccellentissimo Collegio dei Medici et l’honorabile Compagnia delli Speciali Medicinalisti di Bologna, che stabiliva le normative per la preparazione, la conservazione e la vendita dei medicinali, regolando anche il rapporto tra i medici e gli speziali. Il testo evidenziava il significato etico della collaborazione tra i medici, responsabili delle diagnosi e delle prescrizioni, e gli speziali, che preparavano e dispensavano i farmaci. Infatti, la cooperazione tra queste due figure professionali era vista come fondamentale per garantire un trattamento efficace dei pazienti

The general and the artist: Travel narratives in 1930s’ Italy by Cai Tingkai and Huang Juesi

The first half of the twentieth century witnessed unprecedented mobility from China to Europe. Many Chinese travelers came to Europe to travel or study and, once home, contributed in various ways to the construction of the newly born Chinese republic (Levine 1993). During their journeys, many of them visited Italy for practical reasons – being the place to leave the continent via sea – or often under the influence of the education received in other European countries such as France, Belgium, Germany, and the UK, where the memory of the Grand Tour was still alive. The paper illustrates a research project on Italian cultural itineraries whose main purpose is to identify types of travelers and travel modes, and map cultural itineraries covered by Chinese people in Italy mainly through the analysis of Chinese travel literature written in the first half of the twentieth century. Particular attention is paid to the close relationship between literature and movement from a Mobility Studies perspective (Merriman & Pearce 2017), and to the variety of accounts dealing with Italy, its culture and society as perceived and narrated by this generation of Chinese travelers. The possibilities of quantitative and qualitative analysis of such a research project are then illustrated through two case studies: the accounts of the coeval journeys to Italy by the former general Cai Tingkai 蔡廷楷 (1892-1968) and by the artist Huang Juesi 黄觉寺 (1901-1988) which respectively led to the publication of the Haiwai yinxiang ji 海外印象记 (Impressions from abroad, 1935) and Ouyou zhi shi欧游之什 (European writings, 1944)