Suchergebnisse

The family tomb as a physical claim to the patrimony, the attributed powers of the dead and the prospect of post-mortem veneration made the cult of the dead an integral aspect of the Judahite and Israelite society. Over 850 burials from throughout the southern Levant are examined to illustrate the Judahite form of burial and its development. Vessels for foods and liquids were of paramount importance in the afterlife, followed by jewellery with its protective powers. The cult of the dead began to be an unacceptable feature of the Jerusalem Yahwistic cult in the late eighth to seventh century BC

AbstractThe history of St Stephen's cloister in the Palace of Westminster, a fragile and little‐known Tudor survival, exemplifies the long‐standing tensions between preserving parliament's built heritage and meeting its political and business needs. Adjacent to the old house of commons, it was long part of a grand house for the auditors of the exchequer but came under the control of the commons Speaker in 1794. In the 19th century it was restored twice, by James Wyatt in 1802–8, and after having survived the 1834 fire, by Charles Barry in 1850–2. By now uneasily situated in Charles Barry's vast new palace and no longer needed for domestic purposes, in 1852 it was deployed to meet the business needs of MPs. This use it has retained, even after two of its four walks were destroyed in 1940 and painstakingly reconstructed in 1950–1. The epithet 'gothic slum', coined in 1982 by Jack Straw MP for the exquisite lower oratory off the west cloister walk where he found his desk most inconveniently located, encapsulates the long‐standing tensions between the admirers and custodians of the fabric of the cloister and those who require proper space and facilities to discharge their official or parliamentary duties. In tracing the history and uses of the cloister since 1548 this article reveals the long‐standing impact of those unresolved tensions on the cloister's fabric, but suggests that the restoration and renewal programme might prompt a new approach to the use of this fragile and largely unknown survival of Westminster's past.

AbstractIn 1833, the Commons chamber was described as a 'noxious vapour‐bath', while the Lords deemed the insufferable heat and toxic smoke in its House as injurious to health. This situation was not new, as for more than a century both Houses had been battling with officialdom and technology to improve their working conditions. In their continuing quest for effective heating and ventilation they had drawn in many respected men of science and commerce as well as entrepreneurs and showmen of varying abilities, to little avail. Many machines were tried, Desaguliers's ventilating wheel alone achieving modest success. A notable institution arising from all these experiments was the ventilator in the Commons' roof, enabling ladies, barred from the chamber, to witness debates, albeit in considerable discomfort. After the 1834 fire, parliamentarians renewed their ventilating mission in their temporary chambers, before projecting their cumulative experience and opinions onto the far larger canvas of the new Victorian Palace of Westminster.

How does the traveling museum exhibition 1001 Inventions design memories of the Golden Age of Islam to counter Islamophobia in the modern world? The Golden Age of Islam occurred centuries ago but is still a potent rhetorical force; I seek to understand how counter-memories of this era have been used to re-shape current image of Islam, particularly in the West. I also examine the role perspective plays in the rhetorical construction and circulation of countermemory. With American politicians pushing a ban on Muslim immigration, European nations closing their borders to Muslim refugees, and struggles within the Muslim community over the true nature of Islam, it is crucial that rhetoricians examine how different memories have been used to legitimate various ideologies about Islam. To answer this question, I analyze the 1001 Inventions exhibit and its companion book using the concept of perspective as used by Kenneth Burke and Donna Haraway, as well as Michel Foucault's idea of counter-memory. I explain how 1001 Inventions designs memories of the Golden Age to depict Islam as scientific and tolerant. My analysis shows how the exhibit uses Burkean metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche to display a situated, embodied perspective on the Golden Age. It also shows how the exhibit counters anti-Islam discourse and what Bruno Latour would call a "modern" viewpoint by merging past and present, Islam and the West, and religion and science. However, because it emphasizes merger over division, this exhibit reifies a Western narrative of progress and essentializes Islam. These mergers create rhetorical footholds for critics to maintain a sharp divide between past and present, Islam and the West, and religion and science. I conclude that had the exhibit been designed using Burkean irony, offering a perspective of perspectives on the Golden Age, it would have inoculated itself against Islamophobic pushback, blunted criticism, and presented a more robust counter-memorial account of an historical era worth remembering.