In most countries' history classrooms, a textbook still plays a key role, and the narratives of these texts help to shape students' perceptions of their nation and others. A large body of American...Show moreIn most countries' history classrooms, a textbook still plays a key role, and the narratives of these texts help to shape students' perceptions of their nation and others. A large body of American research exists examining the historical narratives of ethnic minorities in the United States, including Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, but few studies have examined this question using a textbook sample from across the border aimed at mainstream secondary students. This research raised the question of inclusion of the ""other"" (Mexico in American texts and US in Mexican texts) for the period of the twentieth century. It did this through quantitative analysis of index entries, highlights, pictorial inclusion and text spacing, and also through a qualitative approach of positive/negative coding and using existing theoretical frameworks for narrative analysis. The findings indicated that Mexican texts include references to the US on over 30% of text pages, while US texts average 5% references to the southern neighbor. Additionally, by a 2:1 margin in both cases the coding reveals more negative references than positive, though this can also include victimhood of racial discrimination or economic imperialism. Still, the texts are generally more inclusive than those used in past studies and decades, and sparse but relevant emphasis on cross border cooperation may provide insight into future direction for transnational history provided to a broad audience of secondary students.Show less
In this thesis, French Catholic responses to the Space Race, starting with the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, and ending with the moon landing of Apollo 11 in 1969, are analysed. This is done by...Show moreIn this thesis, French Catholic responses to the Space Race, starting with the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, and ending with the moon landing of Apollo 11 in 1969, are analysed. This is done by looking at four major Catholic newspapers. Each of these papers represented an aspect of the fragmentised French Catholic society. When taken together and compared, these papers allowed for a study of the different opinions towards spaceflight in France during the Space Race. To find out whether these opinions were specific to Catholics or more generally held across society, as a point of reference, the response in the secular paper Le Monde are also taken into the equation. Even though the topic is far from conventional, this study is able to provide relevant additions to several fields. These additions can be divided between more theoretical findings about the development of religion, and more practical observations regarding French history and Catholic history. Firstly, on a more abstract level, this study questions the master narrative of secularisation. This is done by showing that the teleological framework used to explain the development of religion is not able to incorporate the way Catholics reacted to modernisation in the form of spaceflight. In other words: the classical image of the decline of religion in the face of modernity does not show from this case study. But apart from fulfilling this negative role in this thesis, secularisation also features as an object of study. For the way French Catholics saw their present and future was very much influenced by the spectre of secularisation. But, with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), a new progressive stance was taken regarding modernisation. Spaceflight played a crucial role in this Catholic repositioning, for it was the live broadcasted Genesis- reading aboard Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968 that remystified spaceflight and space, and convinced many Catholics that scientific modernisation was not a threat to religion anymore. So even though some already saw the possibility for science and religion to integrate, after this single event, this thought became much more widespread amongst French Catholics. In abstract words, from that point on, the developments of spaceflight caused scientific progress to be definitely detached from the master narrative of secularisation in the minds of French Catholics. Moreover, the Genesis-reading greatly boosted Catholic confidence, making the secularisation seem less menacing than before. Apart from these observations regarding the development of religion, this thesis also provides a new insight into French history and Catholic history. It for example showed that the split within French Catholic society grew during the timespan of the Space Race, but, surprisingly, that the diverse factions came closer together regarding their views on spaceflight. Another interesting conclusion is that spaceflight influenced the way French Catholics perceived the Cold War. The Space Race was clearly seen as a struggle between the superpowers in which France, despite its relatively successful space program, had no role to play. Crucially for the image of spaceflight, the same rockets that were used for the exploration of space could also be used to carry a nuclear payload, and spacefaring therefore always remained connected to the danger of atomic warfare. Another important conclusion is that French Catholics perceived the Cold War differently than non-Catholics. Instead of seeing the familiar Cold War between the communist Soviet Union and capitalist America, French Catholics lived through a Catholic Cold War in which Catholicism above anything struggled against anti-religiousness. And spaceflight offered a unique argument for Catholics in this confrontation, because towards the end of the Space Race, the Soviet space program was sometimes framed as a profane program, symbolising the negative, self-destructive force of communism, and atheism in general. Lastly, by comparing the findings of this thesis with secondary literature about the responses of American believers, it turns out that French Catholics evaluated spaceflight differently than religious Americans. Whereas Americans generally had a much more positive outlook on spaceflight and saw reacted to the exploration as Americans rather than believers, while for French, this was the other way around.Show less
In this thesis, I will research the academic practices of some selected historians during the first years of the Portuguese New State. These can be divided in two kinds of practices: those directly...Show moreIn this thesis, I will research the academic practices of some selected historians during the first years of the Portuguese New State. These can be divided in two kinds of practices: those directly implicated in the histories they wrote — the final product —and those which are related to their habits and work ethics, be it of socialization with other scholars in academic organizations and correspondence, or work-habits related to how they thought history should be researched and transmitted. This approach provides a holistic view of particular cases within the Portuguese historiography landscape, focused on epistemic, political and moral aspects, and their connection with the Regime in which they were inserted. It also provides the key features of the phenomenon of Discipline at the time, given its emergence in Portuguese Academia, and in History in particular, highlighting the goods, virtues, skills and habits which defined History as collective endeavor.Show less
Three remarkable minds shaped the computer world as we know it today. Douglas Engelbart invented the man-machine interaction system and Theodor Holm Nelson laid out the basic structure of hypertext...Show moreThree remarkable minds shaped the computer world as we know it today. Douglas Engelbart invented the man-machine interaction system and Theodor Holm Nelson laid out the basic structure of hypertext, which serves as the underpinning principle of the Internet. Both men were inspired by Vannevar Bush, the science advisor to president Roosevelt during World War II and an influential information theorist after that. The question is, were these authors already thinking about the future of humanism as an intellectual discipline? As it turns out, formative ideas for humanism in the computer were already present from the outset.Show less
Ludwig Von Mises is consensually seen as the father of modern libertarianism, but little is known about the deeper roots of his uncompromising laissez-faire way of thinking. This dissertation tries...Show moreLudwig Von Mises is consensually seen as the father of modern libertarianism, but little is known about the deeper roots of his uncompromising laissez-faire way of thinking. This dissertation tries to present a better understanding of the origins of Mises thought and, more particularly, how Mises, from a very technical economist before the First World War, turned into an ideologist in his book Nation, State, and Economy (1919). Through a careful description of the historical background an analysis of the evolution of his political thought from 1907 to 1919, it is argued that the three Mises’ main biographies, from Jörg Hülsmann, Murray Rothbard, and from Mises himself, interpreted his pre-war ideas in a teleological and anachronistic manner by applying posterior concepts that did not hold before the war. The main conclusion of this thesis is that Mises shifted from a technician to an ideologist as a reaction against the First World War and the excessive centralization of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After suggesting that the psychological roots of this shift should be explored, it is also argued that Mises is, in the end, conceptually mimicking the socialists he criticizes, and that the second wave of the Austrian School starts not in the twenties, but in 1919 with Nation, State, and Economy.Show less
