The period 1800-1919 was quite an active time with regards 10 the development of education in Malta. Government schools were opened with a gradual but s1eady increase in their number from the 1840s onwards. However, there was also an increase in a variety of private educational establishments. Examining the situation of private schools in Malta must also take into consideration the people who established them and those who formed pan of the staff of such teaching institutions. ; peer-reviewed
Aquilina delves into Malta's legal system- providing information about past Maltese judges as well as details about the Maltese Constitution of 1964. His main focus, however, is the process of judicial appointments in Malta throughout history. ; N/A
The grant of the 1921 constitution was part-fulfilment of a quest that had spanned more than a century. It was the result of sustained pressure by the Maltese political elite that had always aspired to local autonomy. The question is, why 121 years? And was this something that in fact had been anticipated by the Maltese? The fact that such a prolonged struggle ensued is evidence of an initial and a rather naive Maltese trust in Britain's willingness to enter into a partnership under which they would gain British protection, administer their own affairs while Britain gained a Mediterranean fortress that would eventually become a great commercial depot. This is what they promised. The Maltese had sought and thought that they had secured the blessings of a benevolent paternalism only to discover that they had entrusted themselves to a form of benign despotism. They had failed to take into account two main things: Britain's determination to retain a free hand in the running of the fortress, this was axiomatic as far as they were concerned. If this was a fortress, we call the shots. We cannot have a civilian government interfering. And secondly, official British contempt regarding Maltese political and administrative abilities. The royal commission of 1812 actually put this on paper. It said that there was no people on earth so unfitting to hold any sort of political power and it would therefore be in the Maltese best interest to ensure that they had no such political responsibility. Of course Imperialists were always known for the great care they took of the well-being of colonialized people! The British kept the politicians at arm's length, claiming that they only represented themselves, and cultivated the loyalty of the population by maintaining excellent relations with the Church, whose influence over the people they well understood. The persistence, however, of Maltese politicians was still there, but it was met by grudging minor constitutional concessions: in 1835, a consultative Council of Government; in 1849, limited representation; in 1864, a certain control on fiscal matters of purely local affairs; in 1887, majority representation with limited responsibility. ; peer-reviewed
This paper was delivered at a conference entitled: 'Reconsidering Colonialism', which was held at The Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies, Newnham College, Cambridge: 5-6 February 2010. ; Until the early twentieth century, bread was graded and its quality sanctioned social distinctions in Maltese society. At a time when harvest failure often meant famine and death, setting the price of bread was one of the most difficult tasks from late medieval times to the early nineteenth century. During its stay in Malta, the Hospitaller Order of St John (1530-1798) depended heavily on imported duty-free grain from Sicily. Matters did not change much when Malta was a British Protectorate (1800-1814) but the island witnessed an overhaul in its system of grain provisioning as a British colony (1814-1964). In an attempt to improve the quality of bread for the mass of Maltese, the British colonial administration introduced a 'free-trade' policy. However, the new policy was based on the introduction of high tariffs on basic commodities like wheat, which in turn led to the fluctuation and steep increase of prices. Thus, rather than improving the quality of life, the new tariff laws forced many Maltese, peasants and urbanites alike, to spend most of their income on bread and they were left with little money to buy other commodities. Hardship reached a climax by World War I and harvest failures culminated in a popular rebellion in June 1919. ; peer-reviewed
In 1903; the British Governor of Malta appointed a committee with the purpose of establishing a National Museum in the capital. The first National Museum; called the Valletta Museum; was inaugurated on the 24th of May 1905. Malta gained independence from the British in 1964 and became a Republic in 1974. The urge to display the island's history; identity and its wealth of material cultural heritage was strongly felt and from the 1970s onwards several other Museums opened their doors to the public. This paper goes through the history of National Museums in Malta; from the earliest known collections open to the public in the seventeenth century; up until today. Various personalities over the years contributed to the setting up of National Museums and these will be highlighted later on in this paper. Their enlightened curatorship contributed significantly towards the island's search for its identity. Different landmarks in Malta's historical timeline; especially the turbulent and confrontational political history that has marked Malta's colonial experience; have also been highlighted. The suppression of all forms of civil government after 1811 had led to a gradual growth of two opposing political factions; involving a Nationalist and an Imperialist party. In the absence of a formal constitution; the political battle between the two factions was necessarily engaged on a largely cultural basis. The Maltese language; its religion; literature and its history were all hotly disputed in a partisan attempt to define the Islands culture according to a pro- Italian or to a pro-British political creed. Archaeology was no exception; finding itself caught up in the frustratingly irrelevant arguments that raged between Imperialists and Nationalists as to the real identity of the 'Maltese race'. (Cutajar; 1995: 70-71) National Museums in Malta are a reflection of the island's long history; politics; culture; values and identity. For centuries Malta depended on the sea and trade and it has had many influences arriving from the surrounding continents; as one can see at Malta's Maritime Museum in Birgu. The National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta displays a wealth of artefacts originally located in the prehistoric temple sites of Malta that range from up to 7000 years ago. The successive epoch; being Malta's Medieval period; when Byzantine; Arab and Norman communities occupied the islands; however; is barely represented. The few artefacts on display from that period do not give a clear narrative and educational representation; reflecting the fact that the Catholic faith was and still is highly dominant in the lives of many Maltese. It can be argued that the most represented artefacts on display in Malta's National Museums date to the Baroque period; when Malta was under the Catholic Order of the Knights of St. John; from the sixteenth till the eighteenth centuries. Catholicism; as it is still visible on the streets and in every village and cultural calendar of the Maltese islands; is still highly valued. The history of national museums in Malta goes on up to today; and so do the attempts at improving the current displays and narratives. The need for the setting up of new national museums; showing off the more recent and contemporary identity of the islands; is also strongly felt; especially the setting up of a National Modern and Contemporary Art Museum. The capital city of Malta; Valletta; – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – will be the European Capital of Culture in 2018. Today; three of Malta's national museums are located within the city of Valletta. These are the National Museum of Fine Arts; the National Museum of Archaeology and the National War Museum. The Palace Armoury; housing the National Collections of Arms; is located in the Grand Masters Palace; also in Valletta. The other national museums that will also be briefly discussed are the National Museum of Natural History; located in Mdina; and Malta's Maritime Museum in Birgu. It is hoped that; by 2018; further improvements will be done; reflecting a more contemporary approach in displaying Malta's unique identity. ; peer-reviewed
S.TH.L. ; Although officially the relations between the Maltese Church and current Labour administration are cordial – indeed the two often collaborating to assist the most vulnerable – one can still sense a level of animosity towards the Church from some Labour supporters. These past four years, the contribution of ecclesiastical authorities in the public sphere has been met with anger by those who claim the Church should not be involved in "politics" while recalling the turbulent sittinijiet as a time when the Church aggressively opposed the Labour Party and its supporters. This conflation of partisanship with politics would seem to limit the local church from being prophetic in the public sphere and this study suggests that this is because past wounds have not healed. The study focuses on this particular historical period, in its political, cultural and ecclesiological context. The first chapter analyses why the sittinijiet were the genesis of a traumatic experience for Labour supporters, while the second chapter seeks to understand why the wound seems to persist to this day. The theory of cultural trauma, as developed by Alexander and Eyerman, together with various sociological constructs that explain the deep factionalism that characterizes Maltese culture, offer a robust hermeneutic to explain why these echoes of trauma are still evident today. But, as the third chapter shows, the local church has done little to heal these wounds that partly continue to fester because our ecclesiology also continues to echo a pre-VCII mindset. Thus, the chapter will proceed to argue for a renewal of our understanding of church as "kenotic" and to propose a model of being church in the world that lives Christ's kingship as servanthood, his priesthood as healing and his prophetic office as witnessing a politics grounded in communal living. The healing and reconciling of our turbulent Maltese past is also about our ongoing conversion as local church. ; N/A
Malta had eight Constitutions between 1921 and 1974 Of these, the most important, in so far as religious matters are concerned, are the Self Government (1921), the Independence (1964) and the Republic Constitution (1974). What these three Constitutions have in common is that they all recognize the right to freedom of conscience and worship. In fact, the formulation which the Constitution of 1921 gives of this right is retained in subsequent Constitutions. For this reason, it may sound somewhat strange to speak of the constitutional history of this right in Malta. Yet, it is possible to see this right in a historical perspective, because the context varies from one Constitution to the other. The 1921 Constitution contains only one section on religion which, in the first place, affirms everyone's right to freedom of conscience and worship and, secondly, prohibits religious discrimination in any public career. While declaring the Roman Catholic religion as the religion of Malta and guaranteeing freedom and independence to the Roman Catholic Church, the 1964 Constitution includes freedom of conscience and worship as well as equality of treatment, prohibiting religious (and other forms of) discrimination, among the fundamental human rights. The 1974 Constitution does substantially the same except that it practically abolishes the special guarantee which the Roman Catholic Church enjoyed under the previous Constitution. ; N/A
The brief for this lecture was to discuss the twentieth-century history of archives and libraries, focusing on changes that occurred in Malta with Independence in 1964. I will try to avoid too much narrative of events and focus instead on highlights which in some way reflect the political, professional or lay thinking about the two sectors and whether the post- Independence mentality left a mark on the domains in focus. ; peer-reviewed
This article discusses the legal ramifications of the discontinuing of the teaching of the Arabic language in Malta. Camilleri states that the subject met its end in 1913- during the British occupation of the islands. This fact brought about several legal vantages that needed to be addressed prior to the abolishing of the teaching of Arabic in Malta. ; N/A
A list of Legislation, Parliamentary papers and non-Parliamentary publications relating to the British Government. It is an update of that of Donald Simpson published in Melita Historica, 1954. ; peer-reviewed
