A Plague O' Both Your Houses : Medicine, Power and The Great Flu of 1918 -1919 in Britain and Singapore.

Master'sMASTER OF ART

The Frontier of Patriotism

With the centenary of the First World War, communities across Canada arranged commemorations of the war experience to honour local servicemen who, through their triumphs and sacrifices, were presented as laying the foundation for a free and independent country. Often overlooked are the triumphs and sacrifices of those who supported those soldiers, and the war effort in general, back at home. The Frontier of Patriotism provides an in-depth look at all aspects of Alberta's involvement in the war, reflecting Albertans' experiences both on the battlefield and on the home front. Contributors of the 40 essays all draw heavily on national and local archival resources. The war is seen through the letters, diaries and memoirs of the individuals who lived through it, as well as through accounts in local newspapers. Readers will come away from this collection with a deeper appreciation of the different ways that the First World War, and its aftermath, shaped the lives of Albertans. For many, these four tumultuous years represented a time of individual valour and of communities pulling together and sacrificing for a noble cause. Yet, for others, the war left disillusionment and anger. Exploring these regional and local stories, as well as the national story, helps us understand the commonalities and distinctiveness of what it means to be Canadian. The Frontier of Patriotism is the most comprehensive treatment of Alberta during these critical, transformational years

The implications of handwritten text recognition for accessing the past at scale

Before Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR), manuscripts were costly to convert to machine-processable text for research and analysis. With HTR now achieving high levels of accuracy, we ask what near-future behaviour, interaction, experience, values and infrastructures may occur when HTR is applied to historical documents? When combined with mass-digitisation of GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) content, how will HTR’s application, use, and affordances generate new knowledge of the past, and affect our information environment? This paper’s findings emerge from a literature review surveying current understanding of the impact of HTR, to explore emerging issues over the coming decade. We aim to deconstruct the simplistic narrative that the speed, efficiency, and scale of HTR will “transform scholarship in the archives” (Muehlberger et al., 2019: 955), providing a more nuanced consideration of its application, possibilities, and opportunities. In doing so, our recommendations will assist researchers, data and platform providers, memory institutions and data scientists to understand how the results of HTR interact with the wider information environment.We find that HTR supports the creation of accurate transcriptions from historical manuscripts, and the enhancement of existing datasets. HTR facilitates access to a greater range of materials, including endangered languages, enabling a new focus on personal and private materials (diaries, letters), increasing access to historical voices not usually incorporated into the historical record, and increasing the scale and heterogeneity of available material. The production of general training models leads to a virtuous digitisation circle where similar datasets are easier – and therefore more likely – to be produced. This leads to the requirement for processes that will facilitate the storage, and discoverability of HTR generated content, and for memory institutions to rethink search and access to collections. Challenges include HTR’s dependency on digitisation, its relation to archival history and omission, and the entrenchment of bias in data sources. The paper details several near future issues, including: the potential of HTR for the basis of automated metadata extraction; the integration of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) processes (including Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI) into HTR systems; legal and moral issues such as copyright, privacy and data ethics which are challenged by the use of HTR; how individual contributions to shared HTR models can be credited; and the environmental costs of HTR infrastructure. We identify the need for greater collaboration between communities including historians, information scientists, and data scientists to navigate these issues, and for further skills support to allow non-specialist audiences to make the most of HTR. Data literacy will become increasingly important, as will building frameworks to establish data sharing, data consent, and reuse principles, particularly in building open repositories to share models and datasets. Finally, we suggest that an understanding of how HTR is changing the information environment is a crucial aspect of future technological development. <br/

Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective

Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective examines how conspiracy theories and related forms of misinformation and disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic have circulated widely around the world. Covid conspiracy theories have attracted considerable attention from researchers, journalists, and politicians, not least because conspiracy beliefs have the potential to negatively affect adherence to public health measures. While most of this focus has been on the United States and Western Europe, this collection provides a unique global perspective on the emergence and development of conspiracy theories through a series of case studies. The chapters have been commissioned by recognized experts on area studies and conspiracy theories. The chapters present case studies on how Covid conspiracism has played out (some focused on a single country, others on regions), using a range of methods from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history, politics, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Collectively, the authors reveal that, although there are many narratives that have spread virally, they have been adapted for different uses and take on different meanings in local contexts. This volume makes an important contribution to the rapidly expanding field of academic conspiracy theory studies, as well as being of interest to those working in the media, regulatory agencies, and civil society organizations, who seek to better understand the problem of how and why conspiracy theories spread

The Anthropology of Epidemics

Over the past decades, infectious disease epidemics have come to increasingly pose major global health challenges to humanity. The Anthropology of Epidemics approaches epidemics as total social phenomena: processes and events which encompass and exercise a transformational impact on social life whilst at the same time functioning as catalysts of shifts and ruptures as regards human/non-human relations. Bearing a particular mark on subject areas and questions which have recently come to shape developments in anthropological thinking, the volume brings epidemics to the forefront of anthropological debate, as an exemplary arena for social scientific study and analysis

Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective

Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective examines how conspiracy theories and related forms of misinformation and disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic have circulated widely around the world. Covid conspiracy theories have attracted considerable attention from researchers, journalists, and politicians, not least because conspiracy beliefs have the potential to negatively affect adherence to public health measures. While most of this focus has been on the United States and Western Europe, this collection provides a unique global perspective on the emergence and development of conspiracy theories through a series of case studies. The chapters have been commissioned by recognized experts on area studies and conspiracy theories. The chapters present case studies on how Covid conspiracism has played out (some focused on a single country, others on regions), using a range of methods from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history, politics, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Collectively, the authors reveal that, although there are many narratives that have spread virally, they have been adapted for different uses and take on different meanings in local contexts. This volume makes an important contribution to the rapidly expanding field of academic conspiracy theory studies, as well as being of interest to those working in the media, regulatory agencies, and civil society organizations, who seek to better understand the problem of how and why conspiracy theories spread

Reflections on Emotions, Populism and Polarisation : HEPP2 Conference proceedings

Non peer reviewe

Women‘s Resiliency, Power, & Leadership: A Study of Jewish Immigrant Women of the Progressive Era

This dissertation study is an historical feminist ethnography with feminist theory analysis. Thematic exploration through qualitative research methodology included women‘s resiliency, power, and leadership, based on a study of Jewish immigrant women of the Progressive Era. I focused on characteristics and qualities women exhibited and drew upon to cope and manage their challenging social conditions of lived experience. Women‘s abilities and strategies included the implementation of a ―both/and‖ model, high level multitasking, relentless and empowering work ethic, entrepreneurial enterprise, and actions endemic to social justice. Ethnographic research and analysis was the basis I chose for the dissertation study, inductively compiled to provide findings for informing women in other ethnic groups as well as my own. An opportunity arose to learn about women and resources, based on individual and collective strengths of character. Character traits carried them through their daily challenges, and inspired their recurrent state of resiliency, power, and leadership. Course of study placed women in context of their environment and contiguous realities globally and locally. Themes of resiliency factors were ethnicity, class and culture of the Jewish immigrant group, and skills. I found these factors matched with women‘s character assets of persistence, effectiveness, adaptability, courage, determination, and relentlessness. Resiliency was sum and substance of their survival, and women internalized habits of courage, lifted their voices, and propelled themselves forward in lives filled with empowerment. Regarding women‘s character asset of power and empowerment, power represented real choices in living life, caring for families, and involving themselves in community. Power influences included freedom, independence, education, and mazel (luck). Women exercised moral power with social justice, dedicated to welfare of their community and improvement of their lives and lives of others, thus shaping lives of future generations. Women‘s character assets of leadership and effective use of moral power involved substantial leadership talents, skills, and abilities. Capable, powerful women leaders primarily devoted energies to social activism, transformed traditional roles and expectations, and managed practicalities associated with adaptation and assimilation to the American environment and culture. My intention in this dissertation was to give Jewish immigrant women opportunity to express their voices of power, lament, progress, accomplishment, and victory, in their lived history of the Progressive Era. This dissertation is about women of the past. I approached my research with the intention to educate, inform, and serve women of the present and the future

The Anthropology of Epidemics

Over the past decades, infectious disease epidemics have come to increasingly pose major global health challenges to humanity. The Anthropology of Epidemics approaches epidemics as total social phenomena: processes and events which encompass and exercise a transformational impact on social life whilst at the same time functioning as catalysts of shifts and ruptures as regards human/non-human relations. Bearing a particular mark on subject areas and questions which have recently come to shape developments in anthropological thinking, the volume brings epidemics to the forefront of anthropological debate, as an exemplary arena for social scientific study and analysis

Migrant Ecologies

&lt;p&gt;Migrant Ecologies: Environmental Histories of the Pacific World is the first volume explicitly dedicated to the environmental history of Earth’s largest ocean. Covering nearly one-third of the planet, the Pacific Ocean is remarkable for its diverse human and non-human inhabitants, their astounding long-distance migrations over time, and their profound influences on other parts of the world. This book creates an understanding of the past, present, and futures of the lands, seas, peoples, practices, microbes, animals, plants, and other natural forces that shape the Pacific. It effectively argues for the existence of an interconnected Pacific World environmental history, as well as for the Pacific Ocean as a necessary framework for understanding that history.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;The fifteen chapters in this comprehensive collection, written by leading experts from across the globe, span a vast array of topics, from disease ecology and coffee cultivation to nuclear testing and whaling practices. They explore regions stretching from the Tuamotu Archipelago in the south Pacific to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far north, resisting the depiction of the Pacific as isolated and uninhabited. What unites these diverse contributions is a concern for how the people, places, and non-human beings of the Pacific World have been shaped by, and have in turn modified, their oceanic realm. Building on a recent renaissance in Pacific history, these chapters make a powerful argument for the importance of the Pacific World as a coherent unit of analysis and a valuable lens through which to examine past, ongoing, and emerging environmental issues. By showcasing surprising and innovative perspectives on the environmental histories of the peoples and ecosystems in and around the Pacific Ocean, this work adds to current conversations and debates about the Pacific World and offers myriad opportunities for further discussions, both inside and outside of the classroom.&lt;/p&gt