35 research outputs found
Empty spaces and the value of symbols: Estonia's 'war of monuments' from another angle
Taking as its point of departure the recent heightened discussion surrounding publicly sited monuments in Estonia, this article investigates the issue from the perspective of the country's eastern border city of Narva, focusing especially upon the restoration in 2000 of a 'Swedish Lion' monument to mark the 300th anniversary of Sweden's victory over Russia at the first Battle of Narva. This commemoration is characterised here as a successful local negotiation of a potentially divisive past, as are subsequent commemorations of the Russian conquest of Narva in 1704. A recent proposal to erect a statue of Peter the Great in the city, however, briefly threatened to open a new front in Estonia's ongoing 'war of monuments'. Through a discussion of these episodes, the article seeks to link the Narva case to broader conceptual issues of identity politics, nationalism and post-communist transition
Of all foods bread is the most noble: Carl von Linné (Carl Linneaus) on bread1
Carl von Linné was interested in dietetics, which in his time covered all aspects of a healthy life. As a utilitarian he understood the importance of private economy and paid attention to bread in many of his publications. Two texts, Ceres noverca arctoum and De pane diaetetico, were wholly devoted to bread and bread-making. Linné classified different types of bread, and described their nutritional value and health-related aspects, as well as milling, baking and storing, in detail. While discussing the food habits of social classes Linné accepted as a fact that the peasants and the poor should eat less tasty bread than the rich. The less palatable bread had, however, many nutritional and health advantages. Linné paid much attention to substitutes for grain to be used in times of famine, an important topic in eighteenth century Sweden. He regarded flour made of pine bark or water arum roots as excellent famine food, was enthusiastic about the new plant, maize, but considered potato only as a poor substitute for grain. Linné and his followers praised bread not only as the core component of diet, but also for its versatile role both in health and in disease
Skin ulcerations as manifestation of vasculopathy in neurofibromatosis
Vascular involvement in neurofibromatosis sometimes occurs and usually affects larger blood vessels of internal organs. We describe an unusual case of a now 41-year-old man with extensive skin involvement with ulcerations and histopathologic features of fibromuscular dysplasia, which has not been previously reported in the skin
Stories around food, politics and change in Poland and the Czech Republic
This study of the politics of food production/consumption in Poland and the Czech Republic brings together food and post-socialist studies. The food stories explored in the paper, relating to packaging, restaurant dining, self-provisioning and the emergence of an organic food sector, open up the politics of everyday life in these significant cases. We show that there are diverse responses to 'transition' that are resistant or alternative to dominant narratives of linear progression towards Western 'normality'. This finding is of wider significance at a time when debates about globalization and sustainability are promoting searches for alternative economic forms and practices