Особенности информативного перевода текстов специального характера

History: questioning the past

There have been suggestions that the work is `Eurocentric', because of the small amount of space devoted to indigenous peoples - and even its title. After explaining that the term `Latin America' is simply the most common one, the Chairman of the editorial committee added, “You shouldn't forget that this General History has been written with the aim of being communicated. Any use of language that cannot translate reality, cloisters knowledge, rather than disseminating it.” Also, the introduction to the collection emphasises that writing a history of Latin American societies has, historically, meant endorsing the hegemony of the Latin American Creole peoples.

And as far as the presumed Creole-centrism of the General History of Latin America, is concerned, Enrique Ayala Mora, a member of the editorial committee, points out that historiography only translates the real situation. For him, the lack of research by indigenous specialists on the history of indigenous peoples - and the even greater lack of research on Afro-Latin American societies by Afro-Latin Americans - is a reflection of the way things really are, and which this collection cannot ignore. “We knew from the outset that a disproportionate amount of space would be devoted to mixed-race history, given the paucity of sources of information about indigenous societies. So, as much as this may be criticized, this work does present a history of the continuity of Creole peoples in Latin America, through the simple fact that there are no other written historiographic approaches to the Latin American reality. Nevertheless, the General History does offer some insight into the more recent reality of indigenous and Afro-Latin American peoples.”

According to the Ecuadorian historian, the choice of devoting a single volume to the Pre-Columbian period and the eight others to the period since the arrival of Europeans, should not be interpreted as ascribing too much importance to the Creole world. “The questions multiply as we approach the present,” he says. “For example, we have devoted two volumes to the Colonial period and four to the Republican period. Each volume on the Colonial period covers more than 100 years, while the average period covered by each volume on the Republican period is about sixty years. The volume on the pre-Columbian peoples covers a period lasting two thousand years. History is a questioning of the past.”

For Enrique Ayala Mora, it is less important to know how many volumes are devoted to the history of indigenous peoples than to ask which are the volumes of the General History that deal with the post-Conquest period, which also mention indigenous peoples still living on the American continent. “In several volumes,” he says, “indigenous peoples occupy an important place, whereas in others, the space given to them is more limited. Once again, this is because of the absence of previous research on the subject. Nevertheless, the rule was to make sure that authors dealt with themes that had hitherto hardly been studied, or even not at all.”

A pan American spirit

Writing this history, then, has helped to train “general” Latin American historians, as Ayala Mora explains. “Before, we only had national monographs, or at best comparative research on two or three countries. Historians have a tendency to avoid general subjects. They prefer to study specific questions, like, for example, mining in Potosн in the 17th century. It was not easy to find a historian who could write on industrialisation across the continent between 1880 and 1930!” The General History will therefore be able to claim to have served as a `school', by raising the awareness of historians to Latin American subjects, inciting them to carry out research on common processes in the countries of the continent.

Finally, Ayala Mora underscores another important aspect of the collection. “This General History,” he says, “is in some ways the echo of pan-American aspirations, which are in currently fashion in certain countries of Latin America.” But, he adds, these aspirations are not recent. The birth of an indigenous identity as such can be traced to the 1781 Tupac Katari indigenous uprising in what is now Bolivia, an identity that was to become a reality during the independence era. Interest in a common Latin American history also received a boost by the integrationist ambitions that were popular in the 1960's among economists of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) and dependency theorists, including the future Brazilian President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso [1995-2002].”

Niels Boel, Danish correspondant for the UNESCO Courier, travelled to Venezuela and Ecuador to meet Germбn Carrera Damas and Enrique Ayala Mora, - respectively Chairman and Member of the editorial committee of the General History of Latin America.

Shared destiny

Bibliothиque nationale de France

Old map of the Antilles.

For the first time, thanks to the General History of the Caribbean, populations united by their common culture but scattered around this region are given prominence in history, not as mere objects but as subjects and actors of their own destiny.

How did this adventure begin?

In December 1981, the Director-General convened in Paris a Working Group for the Preparation of a General History of the Caribbean to which he invited twenty scholars, Caribbean and European, in their personal capacities. To write a history of the region, of its people and their habitat, as if observed from the inside, seemed to the Working Group to require an inclusive vision. More

A history of the Caribbean observed from inside the region, not from the ports and capitals of the European capitals - this was the unprecedented approach taken by the Drafting Committee on the General History of the Caribbean in 1983 in Kingston (Jamaica). The team of 18 scholars, most of them from the Caribbean but also from Africa, the United States, Europe and India, set out to examine the past of Caribbean populations, scattered yet nonetheless linked by custom and culture, in order to present it in a unified historical narrative.

Groups and cultures hitherto excluded from the historical narratives, or included as objects rather than as actors in making our history, would appear centre stage - much was at stake.

To write the history of the Caribbean “region” from inside, we had first to define that 'region'. We began with the sea from which the region got its name, and then considered the lands lapped by that sea and finally added all the people who had inhabited those lands from pre-history to the present day, who by their actions had connected the lands to the north, south, east and west of the sea. The General History therefore concerns the islands, but also the coasts on the Caribbean Ocean in South America, from Colombia to Guyana, and in Central America - territories which thereby had similar cultural heritages and experience of polity, economy and society, though at different times.

Bridge to a common history

In choosing to organise the General History through the use of themes, the Drafting Committee avoided the history being written merely as a series of chapters containing summary accounts of the histories of individual islands. Such histories had been written from the 17th century to the early 20th by the Creole elite. The histories written by the European and American academic historians had for their subjects war and trade in the islands and the mainland.

The first changes came through the broadening of historiography in European and American Universities in the first half of the century. Change also came through the movement for political autonomy. Both factors led initially to changes of emphasis in the histories of individual islands, and later to the histories of topics which linked the islands, notably, the sugar industry, slavery, slave laws, and immigration, European and Asian.

In the established universities of Cuba and Puerto Rico, and in the new ones such as the University of the West Indies, departments of Caribbean Studies were opened. Undergraduate courses were offered in Caribbean literature, history, culture and society supported by research the better to understand the activities which had shaped the region, and to identify the main elements which constitute Caribbean culture. The scholars engaged in these studies have come together either in the Association of Caribbean Historians or in the Caribbean Studies Association. By the 1980s therefore the foundations for a thematic General History of the Caribbean had been laid.

What does our History contain?

The main results of scholarship are reflected in the six volumes of our “History” First come the autochthonous people, migrants from the Orinoco who inhabited the islands for hundreds of years before the European migration.

Situated at what had become the gateway to the New World, they were decimated in the north by enslavement, inhumane treatment and disease. In the east their tactical skills, employed both in war and in politics with the Europeans, enabled them to survive longer; nevertheless their numbers dwindled, and in the eighteenth century those that continued to resist were transported to Belize. The communities they established exist to this day and now teach their native language, Garifuna, to the Kalinago who live in Dominica and St.Vincent.

To the North and the East of the Caribbean sea, these migrants from the middle and south of the mainland had over several hundred years made themselves into Caribbean people with a Caribbean culture. They survived long enough to interact with the European migrants to create the New Society, the title of our second volume. There, we look at this society between 1492 and 1650, at the Caribbean environment, at the effects on autocthonous societies of European occupation, at the basis for the forced migration, settlement and enslavement of African peoples, at the nature of the wars for lands and trade among the Europeans.

The third volume looks at The Slave Societies, at the human cost of enslavement, the various forms of resistance to slavery throughout the region with attention to the one which led to Haiti's independence at the beginning of the 19th century. It discusses the abolition of the British trade in enslaved Africans and the eventual Emancipation, the result of a combination of slave rebellions in the islands and the determined campaign of the humanitarians and free traders in Europe.

Volume four, The Long 19th Century emphasizes themes rather than chronology. The disputes between the estate owners and the emancipated field labourers created the opportunity for government sponsored and funded migration from Asia, predominantly Indian. The constraints of indenture and the indignities attendant on being estate labourers affected the ways in which Creole societies developed in the twentieth century. The social and economic relations in societies once dependent on slavery and indenture have been characterized by ethnic and class conflict. However, by persistent resistance to these oppressive regimes, these societies have also endowed themselves with the dignity and self-confidence of free men. The latter part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th have been marked by the impulse towards autonomy, as well as by the expansion of American capital and influence and the diminution of that of Europe in the region.

Volume five, The Caribbean in the 20th Century, looks at decolonization and neo-colonization in the face of the prevalence and persistence of the plantation, the ubiquity of underemployment, and the vulnerability of Caribbean economies. It explores the effects of modernisation and mass communication on local cultures.

The final volume is Methodology and Historiography, in which we make available to readers the historical evidence and techniques used for writing this history. We conclude with the historiography of the particular territories, of history writing in all its branches, and close by tracing the changes in the interpretation of the past.

Roy Augier, historian of Saint Lucia, is the scientific director of the General History of the Caribbean

Messages from Islam

Gйrard Degeorge (courtesy of)

Cupola of Sheykh Lotfollah mosque in Ispahan (Iran).

The faith of Islam in God and mankind has enabled it to play a significant part in the edification of human civilization. But its strength emanates not so much from the “fixism” of an imposed order, but from the durability of a model that is always ready to be reinvented, starting from divine inspiration and the demands of the moment.

The geo-cultural coverage of Islam during the Middle Ages made it a universal pole of attraction, exercising an undeniable influence on its neighbours. More.

The Muslim world displays an extraordinary cultural and doctrinal diversity - it is a veritable linguistic Tower of Babel, an ethnic patchwork, geographical mosaic, and a political kaleidoscope. This is reflected in UNESCO's collection titled Different Aspects of Islamic Culture. While Allah may be unique, Islam is multi-faceted, varying from one country to another and changing over the course of time.

It would be wrong to think that Islam has fulfilled its mission once and for all, and can now only be proud of its past achievements. Islam has made major contributions to the edification of human civilization in such diverse fields as philosophy, geography, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and the arts, but its mission is still active, and is continuously being renewed. It is also important to ensure that the meaning of Qur'anic faith is updated, as verse 148 of the second Surah reminds us: “Every one has a direction to which he turns. So hasten towards all that is good.”

Faith in Islam - like all other faiths - has no meaning unless it is rooted in the present. Faith is as much an interior practice as an openness towards others. It is true that, in Islam, man is an “object” within nature, but a special object, in that he is also a subject - of God, of course - but also an autonomous subject, able to make choices and therefore to be responsible for his actions.

Integration of religious and social life

Some of our best writers were invited to contribute to a book, which I edited, entitled “The Different Aspects of Islamic Culture: The Individual and Society in Islam”. In sixteen chapters, they attempted to show how the - sometimes faltering - quest to achieve a fragile equilibrium between rights, responsibilities and freedoms has liberated the individual in Islamic societies. A priority has been to calm our fears and anxieties, despite the rigour of certain key texts and the imperious interests of an often closed society.

Drawing on a mass of historical and recent information, we tackled some fundamental issues, taking account of the subtle, but determinant polemics concerning the principles expounded within the Qur'an and the Sunnah [the set of declarations made - or tacitly approved - by the Prophet] and the burdens of everyday life.

Rather than presenting an exposition of Islamic doctrine, we decided to trace its penetration of the history of civilization, in an attempt to understand its influence - how it constituted a powerful and unifying force across a vast geographical, social and cultural area, and how Qur'anic teaching has been interpreted and translated into actions.

A living religion and culture

From the Middle Ages to today, the Qur'an has been used as the reference not only when defining laws, but also the collective attitudes and individual behavior of peoples that have embraced Islam, from the China Sea to the Atlantic coast of Africa. The two specificities of Islam are, then, its creative continuity and its mission to bring peoples together.

We know that the creation of values and their integration with reality has had a vast sphere of application, ranging from law to psychology, society, politics, economics and the arts. We should also remember that this organizing force of Islam does not emanate from the “fixism” of an imposed order, but from the durability of a model that is always ready to be reinvented, starting from divine inspiration and the demands of the moment. The image of an Islam fossilized in its medieval form is in stark contrast with a living Islam, able to find new solutions, like Life itself.

The notion of Islamic fraternity leads to a more universal fraternity, which is necessary for the defense and education of man, of all men: preparing the child for its tasks as an adult, serving human rights, organizing relations between communities, confronting deviancy, injustice, inequality and oppression. In other words, the mission of Islamic faith is to bring all mankind together, regardless of beliefs, language or ethnicity. In contrast to the caricature of Islamic culture, our book shows just how the law has been - and continues to be - the object of dialectic debate, providing the means to live by one's religion and also to live in today's world, while facing and overcoming ever renewed challenges. And it reminds us that the spiritual vacuum we suffer from today cannot be filled by fanaticism, by abdicating or by denigrating others.

Abdelwahab Bouhdiba, sociologist, is president of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Literature and Arts (Beпt el Hikma).

UNESCO/Michel RavassardOutside view of UNESCO's newly-renovated headquarters with flags

UNESCO has its headquarters in Paris. It is housed in an outstanding, Modernist building inaugurated in 1958 and recently renovated. The Organization also has more than 50 field offices around the world.

UNESCO/Michel RavassardPlenary hall of UNESCO's 34th General Conference with flags

UNESCO has 193 Member States and seven Associate Member States. It is governed by the General Conference and the Executive Board. The Secretariat, headed by the Director-General, implements the decisions of these two bodies.

UNESCO/Niamh BurkeUNESCO 'Symbolic Globe'

Founded in 1945, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the UN.

Размещено на Allbest.ru