September 16, 2017, 7:00 p.m.,
New Global Studies,
Allgemein.
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September 15, 2017, 9:56 p.m.,
Jeffrey Tyssens,
Allgemein.
At first sight, Joseph W. Kinsley could be considered as one of those uncountable ‘grandees’ of American fraternalism whose lives have all fallen into a justified oblivion. Closer scrutiny however reveals a career within different fraternal societies that went far beyond the habitual accumulation of titles and responsibilities in the mainstream orders. Kinsley endeavoured experiments with new types of fraternities wherein the normal exclusion of women and African Americans was to be transcended, first in a frontier town in Montana, later in the federal capital. If all of these orders eventually failed, their short-lived histories nevertheless shed light on those men and women, black and white, who tried to make use of the specific context of the American west to break with segregation and gender exclusiveness. They brought this new formula to other parts of the country. Whatever the limitations of his projects and of the views that he held on race and gender, Kinsley does appear as one of the lonely pioneers who tried to break with deep-rooted fraternal orthodoxies regarding these same categories.
Quelle: https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/JRFF/article/view/34717
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September 15, 2017, 9:55 p.m.,
David Vergauwen,
Allgemein.
The philanthropic activities of Edouard Jonniaux are indicative of the ways freemasons in Brussels mobilized the musical potential of their lodges to compete with Catholic charities. Jonniaux considered it a masonic obligation for the musicians of the capital’s lodges to perform for the latter’s philanthropic endeavours. As charity concerts were frequently being performed in churches, the Brussels masons decided to open up their lodge rooms for similar concerts and when this venue proved to be too small, they happily used the capital’s royal theatre, i.e. the national opera house where they had privileged connections. Especially during the 1860s, Brussels freemasonry was actively recruiting musicians, not the amateurs, but the professional ones. In order to integrate those talented musicians into the lodges, Jonniaux personally watched over their rights and supported free membership for musicians. All this resulted in many concerts that often served as a propaganda tool for the liberal and anticlerical cause.
Quelle: https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/JRFF/article/view/34716
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September 15, 2017, 9:54 p.m.,
Jeffrey Tyssens,
Allgemein.
For a considerable part of the postwar period, biography did not have a good press at all in historiography: in the 1950s and 1960s vanguard historians usually rejected the format as a typical example of an old fashioned way of writing history, i.e. merely event-related and focussed almost exclusively on great (white) men. Since the 1970s however, microhistory and cultural turn helping, the biographical perspective has gradually returned as a legitimate format of historical research and new reflexive approaches towards its objects, goals and practices have come to the fore. In the history of freemasonry and fraternalism, biographies have been written as well (be it far less in number where non-masonic fraternities are concerned), but epistemological debate about its merits and methods has remained largely absent. This article makes a concise overview of theoretical debates about biography in current historiography and points at innovative approaches of biography writing that can inspire its application to the fraternal field at large.
Quelle: https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/JRFF/article/view/34715
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September 15, 2017, 9:51 p.m.,
Simon Deschamps,
Allgemein.
James Burnes (1801–1862) was one of the most charismatic and polarizing figures of nineteenth century Scottish freemasonry. He is best remembered for his work on the history of the Knight Templars and as the primary mover of the first Indian lodge specifically designed to welcome native candidates. In the Indian presidency of Bombay, he became an enthusiastic promoter of freemasonry and a zealous political agent defending British colonial interests wherever his travels took him. Although much has been written about his masonic career in India, there is no extensive biography of James Burnes, or at least no satisfactory attempt at a biographical approach that would seek to situate his masonic career within the more general frame of his career as a soldier and empire-builder. This study is therefore meant both as biographical approach that seeks to attempt to offer a more accurate insight into the life and works of this fascinating character, and as an insight into the intricate relationship between freemasonry and imperialism.
Quelle: https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/JRFF/article/view/31864
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September 15, 2017, 9:51 p.m.,
Susan Mitchell Sommers,
Allgemein.
Until recently, Stephen Freeman (1739–90) was known only as the most obscure of a group of quack doctors attacked by James Makittrick Adair in Medical Cautions for the Consideration of Invalids. Adair’s censure is severe, and sufficiently absurd to be dismissed as hyperbole. However, the current author’s recent rediscovery of an apparently singular survival of Freeman’s reply, Strictures on Adair’s Bath Medical Cautions, demonstrates that while Adair’s description of Freeman as an indentured blacksmith in Antigua who abandoned his family to be supported by the parish is unkind, it is not entirely inaccurate. Freeman’s pamphlet is doubly remarkable as a rare autobiography by a poor and unwilling emigrant to Antigua, and as a memoir of a quack seeking to refashion himself as a reputable physician. In Antigua and London, Freeman relied on strategies commonly used by the rising middling classes to improve financial and social status: He established advantageous family connections, pursued a prestigious career, and joined a variety of societies, including freemasonry, which he may have been introduced to in the West Indies. Strictures is preeminently a documented narrative of Freeman’s struggle to construct and defend his respectability. His, however, is a cautionary tale, and ultimately none of the strategies he employed brought him the regularity and respectability he sought.
Quelle: https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/JRFF/article/view/29628
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September 15, 2017, 9:50 p.m.,
Dan Weinbren,
Allgemein.
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September 15, 2017, 9:50 p.m.,
Steven J. Smith,
Allgemein.
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September 15, 2017, 9:49 p.m.,
Joachim Berger,
Allgemein.
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September 15, 2017, 9:49 p.m.,
Andrew Pink,
Allgemein.
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