Cet article vise à donner un aperçu de l’essor récent des travaux historiques portant sur les violences sexuelles faites aux enfants dans l’espace européen. Il couvre toutes les périodes, de l’Antiquité jusqu’au xxie siècle, abordant une grande variété de thématiques : la pédérastie à but pédagogique, la question de l’innocence ou de la dépravation infantile, les violences au sein des familles, la protection infantile ou encore l’évolution des dispositifs législatifs. La conclusion évoque les enjeux contemporains de ces études et revient (...) sur le défi historiographique que constitue le dilemme entre approche essentialiste et approche relativiste des violences sexuelles faites aux enfants. (shrink)

Les princesses participaient pleinement à la mobilité qui caractérisait le mode de vie et l'habitus de la haute noblesse à l'époque moderne. La plupart du temps délaissés par les études sur le voyage ou considérés comme de simples “ affaires de famille ” dépourvues de toute importance sociale ou politique, les voyages de princesses revêtaient, au contraire, un caractère hautement politique. Dans la haute noblesse, les femmes qui visitaient des cours différentes, jouaient un rôle clé pour les relations extérieures d'une (...) maison au même titre que les voyageurs hommes. La fonction politique du voyage allait souvent de pair avec de nombreux transferts culturels, destinés à augmenter le prestige et le rang d'une cour. Les voyages de princesses laissaient ainsi des marques durables sur la vie de cour et, au-delà, sur la société de leur pays d'origine. (shrink)

Les princesses participaient pleinement à la mobilité qui caractérisait le mode de vie et l'habitus de la haute noblesse à l'époque moderne. La plupart du temps délaissés par les études sur le voyage ou considérés comme de simples “ affaires de famille ” dépourvues de toute importance sociale ou politique, les voyages de princesses revêtaient, au contraire, un caractère hautement politique. Dans la haute noblesse, les femmes qui visitaient des cours différentes, jouaient un rôle clé pour les relations extérieures d'une (...) maison au même titre que les voyageurs hommes. La fonction politique du voyage allait souvent de pair avec de nombreux transferts culturels, destinés à augmenter le prestige et le rang d'une cour. Les voyages de princesses laissaient ainsi des marques durables sur la vie de cour et, au-delà, sur la société de leur pays d'origine. (shrink)

This work describes the nano field in Norway as currently emerging in the dynamics between two forms of nano research activities described along a centre-periphery axis. 1) There are strategic research initiatives committed to redeem the envisioned potential of the field by means of social and material reorganisation of existing research activities. This activity is seen as central as it is one of our premises that the standard circulating nano vision implies such a work of reorganisation. The fact that nano (...) is often taken as a paradigmatic example of the shift from Mode-1 to Mode-2 research, supports this assumption. 2) In parallel to this activity, a wide variety of research projects pursuing nano strategies are being funded. We regard such research activity as peripheral in so far as the activity is not marked by being committed to the circulating nano vision, as may often be the case. In the process of reorganising, this article argues, the research activity at the periphery provides a crucial arena for discussing and validating what is to be achieved through the work of reorganisation that takes place at the centre. Our analysis is informed by two Norwegian cases. We examine a major nano research initiative at a Norwegian university as a centre and a research project utilising nanoparticles in fish vaccines as a periphery. (shrink)

The diversity of nanotechnologies and of the governance challenges that their applications raise calls for exploration and learning across different cases. We present an Upstream Oversight Assessment (UOA) of expected benefits and potential harms of nanoparticles made of a synthetic polymer (PLGA) to improve vaccines for farmed salmon. Suggested by Jennifer Kuzma and colleagues, an UOA may help identify and prioritise research needs, and it may support evaluations of the adequacy of relevant existing regulatory frameworks. In this work, the UOA (...) approach is modified and supported with elements from the uncertainty analysis framework developed by Warren Walker and colleagues. Empirically, we draw on relevant available published literature and insights generated in an ongoing nanoparticle salmon vaccine project, in which one of the authors participates. Nanotechnologies have not previously been encountered in the regulatory context of fish vaccines, which in part raises unique challenges due to prospective large scale vaccine use in semi-open aquatic systems. Strengthened through cooperation between ELSA and technology researchers we found the UOA useful for an early mapping of benefits and concerns, and for identifying areas in need of further research prior to a nanoparticle based salmon vaccine is developed and taken into use. We consider our approach to represent one among several complementing initiatives that seek to contribute to early stage evaluations of possible negative side effects, broadly conceived, in order to facilitate a more robust nanotechnology development. (shrink)

The playwright Edward Bond has recalled the impact of seeing photographs of Nazi atrocities at the end of World War Two: “It was the ground zero of the human soul.” He argues we need a different kind of drama, based in “a new interpretation of what it means to be human.” He has developed an extensive body of theoretical writings to set alongside his plays. Arguably, his own reflections on “what it means to be human” are based in his reaction (...) to the Holocaust, and his attempt to confront “the totality of evil.” Bond argues we are born “radically innocent.” There is a “pre-psychological” state of being. The neonate does not “read” ideology; it has to use its own imagination to make sense of the world. To enter society, however, the child must be corrupted; its imagination is “ideologized.” Bond claims that “radical innocence” can never wholly be lost. Through drama, we can escape “ideology” and recover our “autonomy.” It leads us to confront extreme situations, and to define for ourselves “what it means to be human.” The terms of Bond’s theory are Manichean. His arguments are based in the assumption that there is a fundamental “humanity” that exists prior to socialization. In fact, the process of socialization begins at birth. As an account of child development, “radical innocence” does not stand up to close scrutiny. Arguably, however, Bond’s work escapes the confines of his own theory. It can be read, not in terms of the “ideologized” vs. the “autonomous” mind, but rather, in terms of “conscious” and “unconscious.” In Coffee, Bond takes character of Nold on a journey into the Dantean hell of his own unconscious. He does not recover his “innocence,” but, rather, he has to face the darkness of both history and the psyche. (shrink)