OCTOBER 2025
voices beyond the veil: maurice barbanell, racialized spirits, and the colonial unconscious
University of Waterloo Library. Special Collections & Archives.
Maines Pincock family fonds.
Scenes during seance GA64-219_010.
Nick Richbell ([email protected])
This paper explores the complex and problematic nature of spirit guides in Modern Spiritualism, focusing on the frequent racialized portrayals and the psychological theories that challenge their autonomy. The study delves into the historical and cultural implications of these spirit manifestations, examining the roles they play and the perceptions they evoke. It discusses the dual nature of spirit guides as both potential subliminal creations of the medium and as entities with their own individuality, as described by notable figure Maurice Barbanell and his spirit guide, Silver Birch. The paper addresses the broader implications of these phenomena, including the intersection of colonialism, cultural appropriation, and the spiritualist movement’s evolving cosmology. By analyzing the works of various scholars and historical accounts, this paper provides a nuanced introduction and understanding of the racial and cultural dynamics at play in the spiritualist practices of the 19th and 20th centuries. (Paper in English)
This paper explores the complex and problematic nature of spirit guides in Modern Spiritualism, focusing on the frequent racialized portrayals and the psychological theories that challenge their autonomy. The study delves into the historical and cultural implications of these spirit manifestations, examining the roles they play and the perceptions they evoke. It discusses the dual nature of spirit guides as both potential subliminal creations of the medium and as entities with their own individuality, as described by notable figure Maurice Barbanell and his spirit guide, Silver Birch. The paper addresses the broader implications of these phenomena, including the intersection of colonialism, cultural appropriation, and the spiritualist movement’s evolving cosmology. By analyzing the works of various scholars and historical accounts, this paper provides a nuanced introduction and understanding of the racial and cultural dynamics at play in the spiritualist practices of the 19th and 20th centuries. (Paper in English)
FROM DUNS SCOTUS TO EARLY MODERN SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHY. A HISTORY OF UNEXPECTED LEGACIES AND FLOURISHING CONVERGENCES
View of Ayr from Castle Hill, Scotland, cirka 1830, engraved by J. Swan.
Giovanni Patriarca ([email protected])
This essay deals with Scottish intellectual history, beginning with John Duns Scotus (d. 1308) and ending on the threshold of the early Scottish Enlightenment. The essay is structured through the prism of three perspectives that complement each other. The first level is the foundational idea that Scottish intellectual life between the Fourteenth and Eighteenth centuries was given a certain unity and continuity by the early impulse of Duns Scotus’ work. The crucial and tragic intersections of the ecclesiastical history played a major role in the development of a cultural uniqueness. The second level is that Scottish thought in this period was distinctively open to continental European influence, much more so than England, and certainly in the area of the law. Finally, there is a more implicit and submerged level according to which the specific features of the Enlightenment in Scotland were owing to this distinctively Scotist intellectual tradition and in particular to an entirely local evolution of a (reformed) scholastic orientation which - integrated with the theological novelties of Humanism and the Reformation as well as challenged by the breach of Cartesianism - ventures towards very original epistemological forms, which lay the foundations for the flowering of an exceptional period for Scotland. (Paper in English)
This essay deals with Scottish intellectual history, beginning with John Duns Scotus (d. 1308) and ending on the threshold of the early Scottish Enlightenment. The essay is structured through the prism of three perspectives that complement each other. The first level is the foundational idea that Scottish intellectual life between the Fourteenth and Eighteenth centuries was given a certain unity and continuity by the early impulse of Duns Scotus’ work. The crucial and tragic intersections of the ecclesiastical history played a major role in the development of a cultural uniqueness. The second level is that Scottish thought in this period was distinctively open to continental European influence, much more so than England, and certainly in the area of the law. Finally, there is a more implicit and submerged level according to which the specific features of the Enlightenment in Scotland were owing to this distinctively Scotist intellectual tradition and in particular to an entirely local evolution of a (reformed) scholastic orientation which - integrated with the theological novelties of Humanism and the Reformation as well as challenged by the breach of Cartesianism - ventures towards very original epistemological forms, which lay the foundations for the flowering of an exceptional period for Scotland. (Paper in English)
DIVISIÓN, MOVILIDADES FORZADAS Y GUERRA DE COREA
Crossing The Taedong River. Refugees fleeing from the Chinese Communist forces wade across the Taedong River near Pyongyang in North Korea, during the Korean War, 13th December 1950. Divided Families Foundation.
Joaquina L. González Castro ([email protected])
The analysis of forced mobilities caused by the Korean War has been largely overlooked in academia, especially in the West. This article seeks to explore the concept of division as an analytical category that allows a deeper understanding of the consequences, perceptions, and representations of forced mobilities. Drawing on ideas from the literature on Korean division and the notion of the “division system” developed by Paik Nak-chung, division is defined as the fragmentation of what is or once was considered a unit. Once the concept is established, the novels The Square by Choi In-hun and That Distant Mountain by Park Wan-seo are examined as examples of how the idea of division can be applied to the analysis of experiences of forced mobilities. In doing so, it becomes evident how each author portrays forced mobilities differently, highlighting the contradictions and fragmentations of their environment. In sum, the concept of division enables researchers to uncover units, processes of fragmentation, and the relationships between divided parts, as well as the experiences of those who perceive the fragmentation. (Paper in Spanish)
The analysis of forced mobilities caused by the Korean War has been largely overlooked in academia, especially in the West. This article seeks to explore the concept of division as an analytical category that allows a deeper understanding of the consequences, perceptions, and representations of forced mobilities. Drawing on ideas from the literature on Korean division and the notion of the “division system” developed by Paik Nak-chung, division is defined as the fragmentation of what is or once was considered a unit. Once the concept is established, the novels The Square by Choi In-hun and That Distant Mountain by Park Wan-seo are examined as examples of how the idea of division can be applied to the analysis of experiences of forced mobilities. In doing so, it becomes evident how each author portrays forced mobilities differently, highlighting the contradictions and fragmentations of their environment. In sum, the concept of division enables researchers to uncover units, processes of fragmentation, and the relationships between divided parts, as well as the experiences of those who perceive the fragmentation. (Paper in Spanish)
Conservative technocratic industrialization, international organizations and its influence in auxiliary pensions reforms (1966-1973
Caja Nacional de Jubilaciones y Pensiones en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Actual Instituto de Enseñanza Superior "Alicia Moreau de Justo". Wikimedia Commons.
Fernando Alejandro Remache Vinueza ([email protected])
The analysis of forced mobilities caused by the Korean War has been largely overlooked in academia, especially in the West. This article seeks to explore the concept of division as an analytical category that allows a deeper understanding of the consequences, perceptions, and representations of forced mobilities. Drawing on ideas from the literature on Korean division and the notion of the “division system” developed by Paik Nak-chung, division is defined as the fragmentation of what is or once was considered a unit. Once the concept is established, the novels The Square by Choi In-hun and That Distant Mountain by Park Wan-seo are examined as examples of how the idea of division can be applied to the analysis of experiences of forced mobilities. In doing so, it becomes evident how each author portrays forced mobilities differently, highlighting the contradictions and fragmentations of their environment. In sum, the concept of division enables researchers to uncover units, processes of fragmentation, and the relationships between divided parts, as well as the experiences of those who perceive the fragmentation. (Paper in English)
The analysis of forced mobilities caused by the Korean War has been largely overlooked in academia, especially in the West. This article seeks to explore the concept of division as an analytical category that allows a deeper understanding of the consequences, perceptions, and representations of forced mobilities. Drawing on ideas from the literature on Korean division and the notion of the “division system” developed by Paik Nak-chung, division is defined as the fragmentation of what is or once was considered a unit. Once the concept is established, the novels The Square by Choi In-hun and That Distant Mountain by Park Wan-seo are examined as examples of how the idea of division can be applied to the analysis of experiences of forced mobilities. In doing so, it becomes evident how each author portrays forced mobilities differently, highlighting the contradictions and fragmentations of their environment. In sum, the concept of division enables researchers to uncover units, processes of fragmentation, and the relationships between divided parts, as well as the experiences of those who perceive the fragmentation. (Paper in English)
Reviews
Gonzàlez i Vilalta, Arnau; Josep Puigsech i Parràs; Enric Ucelay Da-Cal (eds.). Nuestro hombre en Barcelona. La mirada británica ante la España republicana y en guerra a través del cónsul Norman King (1931-1939). Comares, 2025. Reviewed by David Martínez Fiol
Pi de Cabanyes, Oriol. Reconsideració de Víctor Balaguer, maçó, progressista i liberal. El Cep i la Nansa, 2025. Reviewed by Georgina Requena Cortés
Crexell, Joan. El complot de Garraf (1925). Dalmau Editor, 2025. Reviewed by Frederic J. Porta
