Small States Digest

A free online newsletter published by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Small States Digest carries short articles on issues of concern to small states.

The Commonwealth defines small states as sovereign states with a population size of 1.5 million people or less. Larger member countries – Botswana, Jamaica, The Gambia, Lesotho, Namibia and Papua New Guinea are designated as small states because they share many characteristics of small states. Thirty-two of the 54 member countries of the Commonwealth member are small states.

Small States Digest Issue 2 has just been published and articles include:

• Transforming Guyana’s economy while combating climate change: a low-carbon development strategy
• Globalisation at a crossroad? , and
• Monetary Policy Transmission Work in Pacific Islands: A Study of Vanuatu

Small States Digest Issue 1 was published in April and included the following articles:

• Caribbean economic expansion, trade and investment: an innovative process for exploiting opportunities arising from the economic partnership agreement: implications for CARIFORUM member states
• From monocrop to diversification: The success story of Mauritius
• Natural disasters and small states: Impact of September 2009 tsunami on Samoa

BBC features interviews on 1990 Trinidad and Tobago coup

Twenty years ago on the evening of 27 July 1990, 114 members of the islamic group, Jamaat-al-Muslimeen took over the country's parliament during a sitting of the House of Representatives, and also took over the then only state TV station, Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT). YasinAbu Bakr broadcast several transmissions to the Trinidad and Tobago public saying he had overthrown the government and asking for public support. The armed forces cut off transmissions from TTT, and a state of emergency was imposed with a five-day hostage crisis  ensuing.

The surrender of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen insurrectionists and the release of their hostages brought an end to six of the bloodiest days in Trinidad's history. Twenty four people died, many were injured, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage was done to buildings and shops in the capital of Port of Spain.

BBC Caribbean is charting the personal stories of the key players in the events of 1990 and memories of those caught on the front line during the crisis at TT coup: 20 years on

starting with an interview with Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr who spoke to BBC Caribbean's Tony Fraser in July 2010.

Language Policy and Practice

As part of the Symposium: Commonwealth and the language challenge: identity, governance and global partnerships being held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies today there is a small exhibition in the Library (opposite Room NG12) of material from the collections on this topic.

Language policy is of increasing interest in the Commonwealth, with many bi-lingual and multi-lingual nations as members in both the 'old' and 'new' Commonwealth. For the Commonwealth organisation itself the introduction of new members such as Mozambique and Rwanda who were not British colonies means the role of language is a more important issue in its own operations.

Material on language policy can be found in the library by searching for subjects such as:

• Language policy
• Language and languages - Political aspects
• Linguistic minotities - Civil rights

Surveys of language use will usually be found in the collection in HB, aloingside other statistical surveys and demographic reports, including censuses. Most material will be found under JL or JQ (Constitutional history and administration), and some other material in LB (Theory and practive of education) and P (Linguistics). Some material is also found in special collections, including the political pamphlets collection and some archive collections (in particular relating to language policy in South Africa). More general material can be found elsewhere in the Senate House Library.

The Library is always willing to help support seminars and conferences by offering tours, displays and presentations. Please do get in touch.

Cyprus digital resources - Council of Historical Memory of the Liberation Struggle of EOKA

Council of Historical Memory of the Liberation Struggle of EOKA

1955-1959 (SIMAE) archives

The Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library has strong collections of books and other materials on the recent history of Cyprus, one of the European Commonwealth countries, and has supported a number of researchers, including Institute of Commonwealth Studies doctoral students, examining aspects of the history of Cyprus in the pre- and post-independence era. Our own collections are supplemented by material elsewhere including a new digital resource.

The Council of Historical Memory of the Liberation Struggle of EOKA 1955-1959 (SIMAE) archives  forms part of the University of Cyprus digital library. It provides information and access to a selection of online documents from the archives of the Council for the Historical Memory of EOKA 1955-1959.

EOKA (the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters) was active from 1955 to 1959. Its members were Greek-Cypriots, who aimed by means of guerrilla warfare to rid the island of British rule and unite Cyprus with Greece. The materials included in this collection include online pamphlets and documents, video film clips with former members, historic photographs of events and members and oral history interviews. At the time of writing the collection consists of 2.140 photographs, 28 printed publications, 530 audio tapes and 75 videotapes Topics covered include the political history of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios and relations between Britain and Cyprus. Some materials are in Greek only.

New Zealand Electronic Text Centre

An exciting and growing resource for New Zealand digital content is the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC).

 

The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre has four aims:

• To create a digital library providing open access to significant New Zealand and Pacific Island texts and materials. This encompasses both digitised heritage material and born-digital resources.
• To effectively partner with other organisations, as a collaborator and service provider, on a variety of digitisation and digital content projects.
• To build a wider community skilled in the use and creation of digital materials through teaching and training activities and by publishing and presenting the results of research.
• To work at the intersection of computing tools with textual material and investigate how these tools may be used to make new knowledge from our cultural inheritance.

The NZETC is engaged in an ongoing programme of digitisation and hosts an expanding online library, full and free access to a range of materials in multiple formats for download or online browsing. Today the NZETC collection contains over 2,600 texts (around 65,000 pages) and receives over 10,000 visits each day.

 

Subjects covered in the collections include: Autobiography; Biography; Journals; Correspondence;  Contemporary Māori and Pacific Islands; Historical Māori and Pacific Islands;  

Language; Literary Criticism and History; Literature; New Zealand History and; Science and Natural History

 

Projects include:

 

Ancient History of the Maori

A series of texts by John White (1826-1891) that covers, in Māori with English translation, many aspects of Māori knowledge, history and tradition, including karakia (prayers), Pūrākau (myths), waiata (songs), whakapapa (genealogies) and whakatauki (proverbs).

 

He Pātaka Kupu Ture / Legal Māori Archive

A collection of full text documents that presents the bilingual nature of New Zealand’s legal history.

 

Histories of Victoria University of Wellington

A selection of books about the history of Victoria University of Wellington.

 

Home and Building

The New Zealand Home and Building magazine, published between 1937 and 1998.

 

John Cawte Beaglehole Letters

A collection of letters written by eminent historian J.C. Beaglehole to his family.

 

Kōtare : New Zealand Notes & Queries

A journal of New Zealand Studies.

 

New Zealand in the First World War 1914–1918

The campaign and regimental histories covering New Zealand's involvement in the First World War.

 

New Zealand Texts Collection

A wide selection of books relating to New Zealand, including fiction, diaries, history and other general non-fiction.

 

New Zealand Wars (1845–1872)

A selection of texts relating to the nineteenth century New Zealand Wars, and the events surrounding them.

 

Nineteenth-Century Novels Collection

This corpus aims to assemble in digital format a comprehensive collection of nineteenth-century New Zealand fiction. Although the focus will be on full-length novels, shorter pieces published as pamphlets, newspaper supplements, and journal articles will also be included. The corpus as it stands at September 2008 consists of 56 texts, along with a scholarly introduction and the full-text critical monograph Maoriland: New Zealand Literature, 1872-1914.

 

Print History Project

This project gives an overview of the history of the print industry in Wellington from 1840–2000, as seen through a sampling of the printers' works and correspondence.

 

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand was published in six volumes between 1897 and 1908 by the Cyclopedia Company Ltd. Each volume deals with a region of New Zealand and includes information on local towns and districts, government departments, individuals, businesses, clubs and societies.

 

The Kia ora coo-ee : the magazine for the ANZACS in the Middle East, 1918

The ten monthly editions of the Kia ora coo-ee : the magazine for the ANZACS in the Middle East, 1918

 

The Moko Texts Collection

This corpus collects together Horatio Gordon Robley's Moko; or Maori Tattooing and contextual material relating to Ta Moko, mokamokai, Robley himself and his art.

  

The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945

 The official history of New Zealand in the Second World War.

 

The Railways Magazine

A magazine initially for Railways men and their families, and later the train-riding public.

 

The Third New Zealand Division Histories

The histories of the Third New Zealand Division in the Pacific during the Second World War.

 

Bloemfontein Bantu and Coloured People's Directory available online

Biographical sources are supremely suited to digistisation and availability in online, full text formats. It was pleaseing to recently discover that much of John Mancoe's classic, and very long out of print, biographical directory, First edition of the Bloemfontein Bantu and Coloured People's Directory. Bloemfontein : A.C. White, 1934., is now available online at:


http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/online%20books/bloemfonteindirectory/toc.htm

The directory lists members of the Native Advisory Board and Native Education Advisory Board, employees of the Government Civil Service, South African Railways and Harbours, General Post Office and South African Police, as well as the National and Mental Hospitals. There is information on churches and schools, Bantu commercial travellers, Bantu and Coloured boxers, musical combinations, motor mechanics and drivers, chefs and waiters, and "Organised Public Bodies and Societies" including the African National Congress, Industrial and Commercial Workers, Union of Africa (I.C.U.), Non-European Conference, Orange Free State Afiican Teachers' Association, (O.F.S.A.T.A.), Joint-Council of Europeans and Bantu, Young Men's Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.), Independent Order of True Templars, (I.O.T.T.), Magasa Regiment, Barolong Land Fund ft Co, African Diugaka Association (A.D.A.), Bantu Masons' Association, Bantu Traders' Association, Bantu Taxi-Owners' Association and Barolong Burial Society.
 
The Cambridge History of Africa has described this Directory, along with publications such as Macmillan's Red Book of West Africa, 1920, M J Sampson's Gold Coast Men of Affairs, 1937, and Mweli Skota's African Yearly Register, c.1931, as an expression of the emergence of a new African middle class, and a reflection of the 'self-image' of this new class.

Podcasts available from Canadian Military History Conference

Colleagues in the School of Advanced Study, the Institute of Historical Research have been podcasting a selection of seminars and conferences this year. Now available are podcasts from the following conference:

Podcasts of Military History conference - Military History in Canada 
22 June 2010

A one day conference hosted by the Institute of Historical Research, in collaboration with the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and the Department of History, University of Calgary and the History of Warfare Research Group, King’s College London

Panel 1: Military Intellectuals and British Strategy

Chair: Dr. William Philpott, King’s College, London
Andrew Lambert, Laughton Professor of Naval History, Department of War Studies, King’s College, London
A Meeting of Minds? Sir Julian Corbett and the Naval War Course, 1902-1914
Paul Ramsey, Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Calgary, Canada
Analysing Defence and Thinking Strategically: The Works of Henry Spenser Wilkinson
Daniel Whittingham, Doctoral Student, Department of War Studies, King’s College, London
Charles Callwell and British Strategy

Keynote Speech

Professor David Bercuson, Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary, Canada
Canadian Military History

Panel 2: First World War

Chair: Professor Brian Bond, King’s College, London
Nikolas Gardner, Associate Professor of Strategy, Department of Strategy and Leadership, Air War College, Alabama, USA
Charles Townshend's Advance on Baghdad: The British Offensive in Mesopotamia, September-November 1915
Meighen McCrae, Doctoral Student, University of Oxford
The Supreme War Council’s Inter-allied War Planning for 1919
Peter Jackson, Reader in International History, Aberystwyth University
Contending Conceptions of Security in French Policy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919

Panel 3: Economic Warfare

Chair: Professor David French, University College, London
John Ferris, Professor of History, University of Calgary, Canada
Reading the World’s Mail: British Blockade Intelligence and Economic Warfare, 1914-1918
Keith Neilson, Professor of History, Royal Military College, Canada
R.H. Brand, Imperial Unity and Munitions from Canada, 1914-1917

Panel 4: Second World War

Chair: Professor David Bercuson, University of Calgary, Canada
Christine Leppard, Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Calgary, Canada
Canada and Coalition Warfare: The Italian Campaign, 1943-44
Russ Benneweis, Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Calgary, Canada
Well-Balanced and Hard-Hitting or Uneconomical and Hypertrophied: Manpower Allocation in the Canadian Army during the Second World War
Abraham Roof, Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Calgary, Canada
Not What is Desirable But What is Possible: The Soviet Union and British Strategy, 1941-1942

For full details, please see here.

http://www.history.ac.uk/podcasts/military-history/conference/2010-06-22

Nelson Mandela Day at the British Museum

Sunday 18th July is recognised as international Nelson Mandela Day. Details of events at the British Museum are detailed below:

Nelson Mandela Day at the British Museum
Sunday 18 July, 11.00–16.00
Great Court
Free, just drop in

Celebrate South African culture and the legacy of Nelson Mandela with music and dance performances, talks and storytelling. To mark the 67 years that Mandela has been involved with human rights work, visitors can come and pledge 67 minutes of their time to charitable causes which will be on hand throughout the day to talk about their work.

Full events programme

Includes two sign-interpreted talks

Related to the South Africa Landscape

SAS Visiting Fellowships in Human Rights - Call for Applications

Visiting Fellowships in Human Rights - Call for Applications
Applications are invited for Visiting Fellowships in Human Rights, hosted by the Human Rights Consortium at the School of Advanced Study, University of London.


Visiting Fellowships in Human Rights are granted for a period ranging from one to six months. Fellows are expected to help develop the activities of the Human Rights Consortium at the School by presenting at a conference or seminar or contributing to a publication, and to pursue their own research. Office space, access to computing and printing facilities and a library card are provided.

An honorarium of up to £2,000 is offered to one Visiting Fellow in Human Rights each year. Non-stipendiary fellowships may also be offered, subject to space availability.

The application deadline is 30 September 2010 for a visit in 2011. Prospective applicants are encouraged to apply at least six months before their proposed visit.

For more information, please go here:

THE NORTH ATLANTIC TRIANGLE - A CANADIAN MYTH?

THE NORTH ATLANTIC TRIANGLE - A CANADIAN MYTH?

BACS HISTORY CONFERENCE, 16 JULY 2010

SENATE ROOM, SENATE HOUSE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Registration and coffee, 10.00am-10.45am
Welcome, 10.45am

Session 1 - 11.00am-12.30pm

John Bartlet Brebner and the "North Atlantic Triangle"
Tony McCulloch, Canterbury Christ Church University
"Equilateral, Isosceles or Obtuse? Getting the Measure of the North Atlantic Triangle"
David Haglund, Queen's University, Kingston
"What took you so long? The Impact of US-based Ethnic Diasporas on the Formation of the North Atlantic Triangle"
David Woolner, Roosevelt Institute, Hyde Park, and Marist College
"Cordell Hull, Britain and the Canadians, 1933-44"

Lunch - 12.30pm-1.30pm

Session 2 - 1.30pm-3.00pm

The North Atlantic Triangle and World War Two
Galen Perras, University of Ottawa
"Losing Their Breakfasts? American, British and Canadian Opposition to the Ogdensburg Agreement of 1940"
Alan Dobson, University of Dundee
"Flying Between John Bull and Uncle Sam: Canadian Civil Aviation Diplomacy in World War Two"
Hector Mackenzie, DFAIT, Ottawa, and Carleton University
"North Atlantic World: Canada and the Global Economic Order, 1941-47"

Coffee, 3.00pm-3.30pm

Session 3 - 3.30pm-5.00pm
The North Atlantic Triangle in the Post-War World
Lara Silver, University of British Columbia
"Canada a Junior Member of the Anglo-American Alliance: The 'Anglo-Saxon Triangle' downplayed by the Department of External Affairs, 1946-57"
Michael Carroll, Grant MacEwan University
"Linch-pin at Last? Canada and the North Atlantic Triangle in 1956"
JJ Jockel, St Lawrence University
"The Canada-US Defence Relationship and the North Atlantic Triangle"

CONFERENCE ARRANGEMENTS

This event is the annual conference of the BACS History Group and is run in conjunction with the London Canadian Studies Association (LoCSA). It normally takes place at Canada House but it has been moved to Senate House this year with the support of the Institute for the Study of the Americas because Canada House is undergoing a major refurbishment.

There is no registration fee and refreshments and a light lunch are available free of charge.

If you would like to attend please email Tony McCulloch to register.

The conference will be held in the very distinguished Senate Room, on the first floor of Senate House, which houses the Institute for the Study of the Americas, the BACS Office and the University of London Library. Senate House lies between Malet Street and Russell Square and is adjacent to the rear entrance of the British Museum (in Montague Place).

The conference hotel is The Imperial Hotel at Russell Square, which is a short walk from Senate House.

Happy Canada Day - and a Canadian collections overview

Canada Day is Canada's national day, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act (today called the Constitution Act, 1867), which united two British colonies and a province of the British Empire into a single country called Canada.

Canada Day is being celebrated with a number of events in London, taking place in Trafalgar Square.

The Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library Canadian collections cover modern history from about 1850, politics and international relations, economics and a wide rage of other subjects including environmental policy, race relations, human rights, migration, indigenous peoples and gender. Most publications are in English, although there is some material in French, mainly relating to Quebec. Coverage of Quebec affairs is greater then for other provinces because of the calls for changes in its constitutional status.

With thanks to the Canadian Government's Depository Services Porgramme, the Library has a good collection of Canadian official publications. Many of these are also available online. Canadian material is held in the collection of political pamphlets and ephemera, and archive collections inclue a collection curated by Library staff of material relating to the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution and repeal of the British North America Act (1982), ICS10.

The Senate House Library contains additional material in the History, Social Sciences and Literature collections, as well as hosting the former Canadian High Commission Library.

The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies includes a strong collection on Canadian law, including statutes, law reports, journals and monographs, at both federal and provincial levels. The library has published a research guide to Canadian materials.

The Institute of Historical Research supplements the Institute of Commonwealth Studies collection with its collection on the early colonial history of Canada.