In search of the authentic nation: landscape and national identity in Canada and Switzerland

While the study of nationalism and national identity has flourished in the last decade, little attention has been devoted to the conditions under which natural environments acquire significance in definitions of nationhood. This article examines the identity-forming role of landscape depictions in two polyethnic nation-states: Canada and Switzerland. Two types of geographical national identity are identified. The first – what we call the ‘nationalisation of nature’– portrays zarticular landscapes as expressions of national authenticity. The second pattern – what we refer to as the ‘naturalisation of the nation’– rests upon a notion of geographical determinism that depicts specific landscapes as forces capable of determining national identity. The authors offer two reasons why the second pattern came to prevail in the cases under consideration: (1) the affinity between wild landscape and the Romantic ideal of pure, rugged nature, and (2) a divergence between the nationalist ideal of ethnic homogeneity and the polyethnic composition of the two societies under consideration

The Resource Curse and Rentier States in the Caspian Region : A Need for Context Analysis

Although much attention is paid to the Caspian region with regard to energy issues, the domestic consequences of the region’s resource production have so far constituted a neglected field of research. A systematic survey of the latest research trends in the economic and political causalities of the resource curse and of rentier states reveals that there is a need for context analysis. In reference to this, the paper traces any shortcomings and promising approaches in the existent body of literature on the Caspian region. Following on from this, the paper then proposes a new approach; specifically, one in which any differences and similarities in the context conditions are captured. This enables a more precise exploration of the exact ways in which they form contemporary post-Soviet Caspian rentier states.Obwohl der Region am Kaspischen Meer im Zuge von Energiediskursen große Aufmerksamkeit zuteil wird, stellen die innerstaatlichen Folgen der Ressourcenproduktion in der Region ein bislang vernachlässigtes Forschungsfeld dar. Ein systematischer Überblick über die jüngsten Forschungstrends zu wirtschaftlichen und politischen Kausalzusammenhängen des Ressourcenfluchs und zu Rentierstaaten offenbart die Notwendigkeit von Kontextanalysen. Hierauf Bezug nehmend, analysiert der Aufsatz sowohl die Mängel als auch viel versprechende Ansätze in der betreffenden Literatur zur Region am Kaspischen Meer. Der Aufsatz stellt letztendlich einen neuen Ansatz vor, der Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten in den Kontextbedingungen erfasst, um zu erforschen, wie diese die gegenwärtigen post-sowjetischen Rentierstaaten in der Region am Kaspischen Meer tatsächlich prägen

The Coming Of Paper

Dans la dernière décennie de sa vie, Harold. A. Innis a rassemblé un grand nombre d’écrits sous le titre : A History of Communications. L’extrait publié est pris dans la première section du chapitre IV, consacré à « l’avènement du papier », qui commence avec son apparition en Chine « remontant à 105 apr. J.-C. » et se termine par la diffusion en Occident de la fabrication du papier au cours du Moyen Âge. Si l’industrie du papier et sa diffusion sont au coeur de la démarche d’Innis, il s’attache aussi particulièrement aux technologies conjointes de la production d’encre et de la xylographie ainsi qu’à l’introduction des caractères mobiles. Il repère également les débuts de l’expansion du papier et de l’imprimerie dans ses différents contextes socio-culturels : la Chine, l’Inde, la Corée, le monde musulman, l’Europe. Après avoir montré en détail comment la fabrication du papier s’est implantée en Europe — en tant que formidable rival du parchemin —, Innis examine le lien entre le papier et un large spectre d’autres évolutions significatives, telles que le développement du crédit, le retour à l’Antiquité, la Réforme et la naissance de l’État moderne.During the last dozen years of his life, Harold A. Innis assembled a massive set of writings entitled A History of Communications. The excerpt published here is from the first section of Chapter IV, “The Coming of Paper,” which begins with the production of paper in China “as early as 105 A.D.” and concludes with the westward diffusion of paper-making during the Middle Ages. While the manufacture of paper and its spread is at the centre of Innis’s discussion, he gives considerable attention to the related technologies of ink production, block printing, and the introduction of movable type. He also traces the onset of paper and printing within a number of different socio-cultural contexts, including China, India, Korea, the Muslim world, and Europe. After detailing how the paper-manufacturing process gained a foothold in Europe—becoming a formidable rival to parchment—Innis examines how paper was linked to the broader process of key developments such as the extension of credit, the revival of antiquity, the reformation of the Church, and the rise of the modern state

L'Oiseau de Minerve

Harold Adams Innis' Presidential Address to the Royal Society of Canada, in 1947, bears the title «Minerva's Owl ». In his Address, Innis outlines a new fíeld of communication research in which media history is related to its cultural, economic, political and military context.Élu président de la Société royale du Canada, Harold Adams Innis prononça, en 1947, une conférence intitulée «Minerva's Owl ». Innis y trace une nouvelle voie de recherche où il devient possible de replacer l'histoire des moyens de communication dans le contexte de leur environnement culturel, économique, politique et militaire.Elegido presidente de la Sociedad real de Canadá, Harold Adams Innis pronunció, en 1947, una conferencia magistral intitulada «Minerva's Owl ». Innis traza allí una nueva vía de investigación que tiene como meta reemplazarla historia de los medios de comunicación en el contexto de su medio cultural, económico, político y militar.Innis Harold adams. L'Oiseau de Minerve. In: Communication Information, volume 5 n°2-3, hiver/été 1983. Il était une fois la théorie. pp. 266-297

A history of the Canadian Pacific railway /

Bibliography: p. 325-337.Mode of access: Internet

American Geographical Society of New York Records, 1723-2010, bulk 1854-2000

Correspondence between Isaiah Bowman and Harold Innis regarding filling the position of head of a new department of geography at the University of Toronto