This paper discusses competing visions of the decolonization of Ghana’s economy during the first decade of the country’s independence from Britain (1957–1966), and the agency and horizon of choice available to the Ghanaian decision-makers in charge of implementing these visions. It focuses on Ghana’s construction industry, both as an important part of the national economy and as a condition for Ghana’s broader social and economic development in the context of colonial-era path-dependencies and Cold War competition. By taking the vantage point of mid-level administrators and professionals, the paper shows how they negotiated British and Soviet technological offers of construction materials, machinery, and design. In response to Soviet claims about the adaptability of their construction resources to Ghana’s local conditions, the practice of adaptation became for Ghanaian architects and administrators an opportunity to reflect on the needs, means, and objectives of Ghana’s construction industry, and on broader visions of Ghana’s economic and social development. Beyond the specific focus on the construction industry, this paper conceptualizes the centrality of adaptation in enforcing technological hegemony during the period of decolonization, and discusses African agency beyond the registers of extraction and resistance that have dominated scholarship on the global Cold War.

In the wake of the establishment of the Portuguese in the region, slavery was fundamentally constitutive of early modern society on the west coast of India. While indigenous hierarchies and existing systems of slavery shaped Portuguese slavery, over time, indigenous society too was transformed by the extensive reliance on enslaved labor facilitated by European trafficking networks. Centering slavery in the study of South Asian history underscores the importance of considering the difference between elite projects of enforcing boundaries, both spatial and social, and the ways in which enslaved people negotiated these projects. Thus, instead of taking for granted the classificatory labels of race, caste, and blackness imposed upon enslaved peoples by elite institutions, a social history of slavery elucidates instead the evolution of these mechanisms for policing identity, and the centrality of the expropriation of labor in identity formation.

While the motivations of individuals to become foreign fighters have been at the forefront of academic interest, an important motive—revenge—has so far remained under-researched. Drawing on the case study of pro-Ukrainian Chechen foreign fighters self-deployed in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War, this article seeks to fill the gap in the extant literature by identifying and conceptualizing revenge. This article posits that two intertwined motives—revenge for perceived historical injustices and revenge for personal wrongs—have played an important role in motivating Chechens to become foreign fighters in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. This article suggests that while revenge might be a potent driving force of foreign fighting, its appeal may be stronger in the cultures of honor with the persisting notion of retaliation.

The Bosniak and Albanian minorities in postcommunist Montenegro have supported and been represented by mainstream Montenegrin parties more than by their ethnic parties. This stands in striking contrast to the situation in neighboring Serbia and North Macedonia where the Bosniak and Albanian minorities vote almost exclusively for their ethnic parties. The Montenegrin case stands out as deviant also when one considers a number of extant explanations, all of which would predict a different outcome. Montenegrin Bosniaks and Albanians constitute two native, sizeable and geographically concentrated minority groups inhabiting a country with an institutional framework and several special electoral arrangements favoring minority parties. Drawing on original data on Bosniak and Albanian legislators elected across 12 parliamentary elections in Montenegro (1990–2023), municipality and country-level parliamentary election results and 12 semi-structured elite interviews, I argue that what explains the deviance in the Montenegrin case is the peculiar nature of Montenegrin identity, specifically the fact that it does not pit the majority against minority, but rather it pits the Montenegrin and Serbian components of the Orthodox majority against each other and in such a context the non-Orthodox minorities become critical political allies of the Montenegrin bloc against the Serbian one.

The article addresses the important question of the calendar used in dating the Payagyi Pyu urns from Sri Ksetra (mod. Pyay) in Myanmar. It shows that, of the four calendars used in Myanmar at the time, two—the Ajjagona and Buddhist eras—can be ruled out. This leaves the Saka and Myanmar eras as the only possible options. However, although the Saka era was used for dating Indian records up to East Bengal, it was only used twice for dating an inscription in central Myanmar and, in addition, the early dates on the Payagyi urns seem to preclude its use in Myanmar that early on. The article concludes therefore that, for dating the Pyu urns, most likely the Pyu–Myanmar calendar of 638 CE was used.

By the second half of the first millennium CE, a substantial body of texts written in Literary Sinitic developed into a shared repertoire of writings throughout Central and East Asia. In no small part, this was the result of the spread of Buddhism, which, in many regions, was adopted in its Sinitic form and relied on Chinese versions of the scriptures. As part of the means to cope with Sinitic Buddhist texts, most states also adopted a range of auxiliary texts, including primers and dictionaries. While modern scholarship has directed substantial attention at the participation of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in the world of Sinitic texts, it has placed much less emphasis on the western and north-western regions of what is now China. This article attempts to redress the imbalance and demonstrate not only that, at one point, Inner Asian states actively participated in the Sinographic world, but also that they did this through a similar process of adaptation to that documented elsewhere. Primers played a special role in this, in that they had a more immediate connection with the core competency of reading and writing.

From the early 1950s, the USSR was the second largest contributor to the UN. Following UN rules, it gave much of its contribution in rubles, an infamously unconvertible currency that generally limited Soviet actions overseas. In the hands of UN officials, however, these ‘weak’ rubles became a powerful lever that made UN development projects more Soviet. Seeking to extract value from the ruble, officials increased the amount of UN development training held in the USSR, prioritized the purchase of Soviet equipment, and incentivized agencies to distribute Soviet manuals. Exploring the ruble lever contributes to our knowledge of the Soviet presence at the UN while foregrounding political economy as a key mechanism shaping UN practices more widely. Following the money in forms other than the dollar can reveal how economies of power at the UN intersect with global economic history, as well as the conceptual and contemporary challenges of international cooperation among wildly unequal economies.

This interdisciplinary study contributes to the understanding of the use of raw materials and pottery production techniques in Late Punic–Late Republican Malta, focusing on the Tas-Silġ sanctuary and the Żejtun Villa. Plates, bowls and cooking vessels were described typologically, and their fabrics were characterised using polarised light microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence. The aims were to classify these vessels into integrated and coherent fabric groups based on all analyses, to better understand the local production of vessels and to assess a possible local provenance.

Four integrated fabric groups were identified and represent local productions using distinct raw materials or production techniques. These groups can be distinguished typologically, macroscopically, petrographically and chemically. Multivariate techniques, including the chemical analysis of Maltese clays, were produced to enhance the fabric classification and discuss their raw materials. The raw materials identified are consistent with what is known in Maltese geology. One group is distinctive, and the results suggest the possible use of a previously unidentified raw material, Terra Rossa, found over the Upper Coralline Limestone. This new classification provides the basis for further studies of Late Punic–Roman sites in the Maltese islands and the future identification of imports and exports from the Maltese islands.

This article compares and connects two episodes of political violence in the late nineteenth century: the Haymarket Affair in Chicago in 1886 and the bombing of the offices of the De Beers Company, chaired by Cecil Rhodes, at Kimberley on the South African diamond fields in 1891. These episodes were connected by the existence in both countries of an American and then global movement, the Knights of Labor/Labour. The Knights’ American history was shaped by Haymarket. Their South African history was radically altered by the De Beers explosion, which both the Knights and their enemies interpreted through the prism of Haymarket. They drew lessons from it that determined their own conduct and may have contributed to the demise of the South African Knights less than two years later. This article charts those connections and the context to the De Beers explosion, the trial that followed, and the lessons that South African Knights drew from the experiences of their American brothers and sisters.

Although Greek was the dominant epigraphic language in Cyrenaica throughout the Classical period, Latin was introduced by Roman merchants and administrators at the time of the formation of the province of Crete and Cyrene c. 67 BC, and remained in use, albeit by a constant minority, until at least the fourth century AD, with the last well-dated Latin inscription dating from the Valentinian dynasty. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of Latin inscriptions in the region, based on the IR Cyrenaica 2020 corpus, which brings together hitherto scattered documents and also includes many texts published for the first time. After a general overview of the corpus in terms of geographical, typological and chronological distribution, we will look at the linguistic landscape of ancient Cyrenaica, focusing on the multilingualism of the region, the literacy of the populations, the borrowings from one language to another (Latinisms), and the influences of the western provinces on the Latin of the region, among other topics. Lastly, a series of Latin funerary inscriptions allow us to examine the multiple identities claimed by the populations, as well as the cultural influences between Greek-, Latin- and Libyan-speaking populations.

This article brings to light a previously unedited short treatise, the Masʾalatān (Two Questions), attributed to Avicenna (d. 1037). While the earliest witness to the text is the Ayasofya 4853 manuscript, containing a substantial portion of Avicenna's Nachlass, some of which is integrated into the Mubāḥaṯāt and Taʿlīqāt, the Masʾalatān has remained a standalone work with limited circulation. Consequently, the primary concern revolves around the verification of its authenticity and its feasibility given the available data. This article presents a critical edition of the text alongside a parallel translation but it also serves as a case study on the possibilities of authorship verification. It also compiles information from codicology, nevertheless, it primarily focuses on the commentary that analyses and compares the arguments to Avicenna's unquestionably authentic solutions. The first question addresses whether every existent is spatially located, while the second explores the impossibility of an actual infinite body. The commentary endeavors to interpret the text against the cultural and theological background that may have inspired such inquiries, meanwhile also seeks to address its later influence. In addition to unveiling a hitherto unseen text to the scholarly community for further research, it also offers an insight into the limitations of authorship attribution.

Depuis son édition par Heiberg au XIXe s., on savait que le texte grec de La mesure du cercle d'Archimède qui nous est parvenu est fautif, altéré par l'intervention d'un compilateur. Pour certaines de ses parties au moins, il est donc d'une authenticité douteuse. Plus récemment, l'examen de la traduction latine (au IXe siècle) de la traduction arabe de ce texte a permis de conclure que le manuscrit grec traduit appartient à une tradition textuelle meilleure et plus ancienne que le texte édité par Heiberg. Dans cette étude, on trouve l'editio princeps de la traduction arabe de La mesure du cercle, sa première traduction et une analyse historique et mathématique. Les nombreuses lectures de cette traduction faites au cours des siècles ont inspiré plusieurs « rédactions ». Trois d'entre elles seront éditées, traduites et examinées dans une prochaine étude.

The School Principal introduces readers to a disillusioned and sarcastic teacher who transitions to the role of school principal in a peripheral primary school. Often regarded as a social criticism treatise rather than a work of art, the novella is characterized by the narrator's pervasive cynicism. However, amidst the sarcasm, the principal's actions reveal a surprising undercurrent of compassion, particularly evident in his interactions with children. This article proposes a compassionate reading of the text, positioning it within the framework of childhood history. The narrative, seen through the lens of childhood history, unveils a cultural shift in Iran during the first half of the 20th century, specifically in the realm of education. It explores the complexities of transitioning from child labor to formal schooling and the evolving perceptions of children as innocent, passive, and dependent. A key conflict in the novella revolves around the clash between Iranian patriarchy and the emerging concept of modern childhood. The principal grapples with adapting to a new model that places children at the center of societal and familial concerns. Despite attempts to prioritize children's welfare, the principal struggles to reconcile the demands of patriarchy with the evolving notion of childhood.

While the 7th/13th-century Persian Muslim scholar of the Mongol era ʿAzīz-i Nasafī actively engaged with Sufi traditions in his writings, he also introduced an overlooked distinction by drawing a line between Sufis (ahl-i taṣavvuf) and monists (ahl-i vaḥdat), aligning himself with the latter. This paper argues that Nasafī's clear differentiation between these two groups reflects broader transformations in the intellectual landscape of the Persianate Mongol world. These changes marked the emergence of new modes of thought not easily explainable by the established linguistic conventions of classical Sufism. Consequently, Nasafī's works serve as a window into the intellectual and linguistic challenges faced by Muslim intellectuals as they endeavored to shape the pre-modern and early modern Islamic cosmopolis (7th/13th–9th/15th centuries), revealing points of convergence and divergence with their intellectual predecessors.

Focusing on the years between 1895 and 1897, this article reconstructs what happened after the arrival of Young Turk revolutionaries into the cities of the Danubian hinterland, particularly centering on Rusçuk (Ruse in today’s Bulgaria). In tracing the footsteps of İbrahim Temo and Mustafa Ragıp, two self-exiled figures from İstanbul, this study captures a particular moment when the Danubian cities became the hotbed of transnational radicalism, as a number of assassination plots began to be hatched by Muslim revolutionaries. A well-connected port city serviced by regular steamship links, Rusçuk was where professional revolutionaries met with the local Muslims, much to the ire of Ottoman diplomats in the region. In capturing their encounters, the goal is to point to the significance of Young Turk activities in the Balkans before the turn of the century, a phase which remains understudied in the existing literature. By focusing on a secondary port city that became home to failed assassination plots, this article also seeks to contribute to ongoing discussion in global history that warns against narratives of unhindered globalization. In studying fin-de-siecle radicalization, I hope to contribute to these debates by reflecting upon the limits of globalization as a productive field of historical inquiry.

This article explores the turn to human rights of Tunisian Maoist activists in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many of these Tunisians later became human rights activists. I argue against prevailing views that ideological changes toward human rights in the late 1970s were the result of paradigmatic ideological shifts or the demise of socialist, anti-imperialist thinking, or an outcome of international human rights norm diffusion. Doubt or loss of faith in some or all parts of Marxism-Leninism led to a diversity of ideological transformations that were complex and hybrid. Drawing on interviews with former Tunisian Maoists, as well as on their writings, the article outlines the political and ideological environment in which they operated. It describes their solidarity work for political prisoners and explores their encounter with Amnesty International as well as the Tunisian League for Human Rights in its first years of existence, showcasing how multiple approaches to human rights existed among the activists.

When the Egyptian singer ʿAbd al-Halim Hafiz passed away in 1977, a group of fans began meeting at his tomb to celebrate his memory and music. Since then, their gathering has become an annual multi-day event attracting thousands of the singer's devotees from across Egypt and the Arab world. This article explores the unique fan culture around ʿAbd al-Halim, tracing its emergence after his death and expansion into various ritual activities organized by fans. As I show, central to the affective power of Halim fandom is the sense that the singer is close and tangible. I examine how fan practices foster this feeling, but also argue that it is rooted in the music ʿAbd al-Halim made during his lifetime. Investigating Halim fandom, this article offers a new ground-level perspective of how ordinary people in the region interact with music, popular culture, and each other.