Browse Items (6 total)
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The Search for Generational Memory
Essay describing the popularity of American search efforts for "generational memory" - or the shape of one's personal and social origins - through genealogy, oral history, and the new social history movement of the middle twentieth century. Uses the example of Alex Haley's 1976 book, "Roots," as an influence on such popular efforts, and an instance of American historical and cultural identity-searching whose precedents can be traced to the beginning of the twentieth century. Exposition on the craft of oral history and the type of knowledge it generates. Written by the author of "Amoskeag: Life and Work in an American Factory-City" (1978), which focuses on the Amoskeag Mills of Manchester, New Hampshire and its workers. -
Credit Unions : A Theoretical and Empirical Overview
Summary of the international history of the credit union, its functions, and how it operates. Covers the credit union's birth, growth, popularization around the world, and its continuing structural development. Makes mention of the significance of the Quebec and New England "caisse populaire."
Contains the following sections: Introduction Historical Development Classification and Statistical Overview Modeling the Objective Function Structure and Conduct Regulatory Environment Demutualization Concluding Comments References From the author: "In 2009 there were over 49,330 credit unions across 98 countries with more than 184 million members and approximately $1,354 billion in assets. There is a great diversity within the credit union movement across these countries. This reflects the various economic, historic and cultural contexts within which credit unions operate. This paper traces the evolution of the credit union movement...." -
The Alliance Française, Empire and America
An essay describing France's Alliance Francaise, an internationally established cultural institution dedicated to promoting the French language and fostering dialogue with, about, and around French culture throughout the world. A history of the Alliance in the United States, with particular emphasis on its early 20th-century iterations, and on both the "colonial" and "republican" qualities its mission once embodied (229, 233). The Alliance's engagement with different Franco American communities, especially those in New England. From the author: "By giving voice to different constituencies within the French diasporic family, and by creating spaces for cultural exchange, the Alliance has helped to define the contours of New World Francophone identities" (abstract). Includes the segments, "French republicanism at work," "The Alliance Francaise and Franco-America," and "The Alliance Francaise and la francophonie." From the author: "The Alliance Française is in many respects an intermediary between French America's past and present" (240).Tags Acadians, Acculturation and Assimilation, Africa, Biddeford ME, Boston MA, Connecticut, Creoles, Demography, Detroit MI, Education, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, Exploration and Colonization, Fall River MA, France, Great Lakes Region, Hanover NH, Hartford CT, Lafayette IN, Lafayette LA, Lake Champlain VT, Language and Linguistics, Lawrence MA, Lewiston ME, Louisiana, Lowell MA, Lynn MA, Maine, Manchester NH, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Orleans LA, New York NY, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Government and Politics, Nonfiction -- History -- Clubs and Societies, Northampton MA, Pawtucket RI, Portland ME, Providence RI, Québec, Religion, Rhode Island, Salem MA, St. Lawrence River Valley, US Midwest, Vermont, War, Waterville ME, Wellesley MA, Woonsocket RI, Worcester MA -
Flight from Certainty : The Dilemma of Identity and Exile
Collection of essays in cultural criticism, with specific emphases on national, ethnic, and linguistic identities in transit. Divided in the text by the geographies to which each essay pertains. From the introduction: "The authors [in 'Flight from Certainty'] have attempted to combine scholarship, personal experience, wit, and irony in dealing with questions which so far have gone unanswered: 'How far is identity modelled by the country in which people grow up and believe they have their roots? What happens to the concept of identity when a person abandons one country to live in another?'"Tags Acadians, Acculturation and Assimilation, Africa, Australia, Criticism and Review, Emigration and Immigration, England, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, India, Ireland, Italy, Literary Works -- Criticism and History, Louisiana, New England, New Zealand, Québec, Sanford ME, South Africa, South Asia, Sri Lanka, Violence -
Francophone Literatures : An Introductory Survey
From Oxford University Press: "The canon of French literature has undergone substantial transformation in recent years and francophone literature is now an increasingly important element in French literature courses. This study introduces the diverse literatures from the numerous French-speaking areas around the world, including Africa, French Canada, and both the Caribbean and Indian Ocean Creole islands, among others. Moving region by region, Jack details the ways in which the most important authors establish a post-colonial and linguistically and culturally unique literary tradition while they subvert--through rewriting, parody, and pastiche--the established French literary tradition. More importantly, she suggests a new critical approach for understanding these various French-speaking cultures and, consequently, the French culture which they recast and subvert." -
The Search for Generational Memory
Essay describing the popularity of American search efforts for "generational memory" - or the shape of one's personal and social origins - through genealogy, oral history, and the new social history movement of the middle twentieth century. Uses the example of Alex Haley's 1976 book, "Roots," as an influence on such popular efforts, and an instance of American historical and cultural identity-searching whose precedents can be traced to the beginning of the twentieth century. Exposition on the craft of oral history and the type of knowledge it generates. Written by the author of "Amoskeag: Life and Work in an American Factory-City" (1978), which focuses on the Amoskeag Mills of Manchester, New Hampshire and its workers.