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This article examines how the commercial success of Western-style confectionery (yōgashi) of the Japanese Empire was largely built on the capital and resources of colonial Taiwan. Building on existing studies that acknowledge the importance of Taiwan’s colonization in Japan’s sugar industry, this article explores the tension between sweetness and power in the Japanese Empire through the lens of Western-style confectionery, a product regarded as a symbol of progress and modernity. Through the examination of the activities of two confectionery companies—Niitaka Confectionery and Morinaga Confectionery—in Taiwan, this article addresses how the making of Western-style confectionery required raw materials other than sugar, such as bananas and cocoa, that were obtained through the means of colonialism. By expanding the studies on sweetness and colonialism from sugar to confectionery, the article shows that the sugar industry, confectionery manufacturers, and the Japanese state wove together a complicated network that formed the foundation of Japan’s rising empire of sweetness. It also highlights the significance of the colonization of Taiwan in the rise of Japan’s Western-style confectionery industry that has long been obscured in people’s memories of sweetness.

Historiography of ancient monastic trends has been deeply renewed during the recent years thanks to several conferences which put forward comparative and interdisciplinary approaches, some of them being specifically dedicated to female forms of religious life. Henceforth, scholars dissuade us to read the history of monasticism trough 'Benedictine glasses'. They invite us to take into account every type of sources - written, archaeological, iconographic, epigraphic. The interpretation of the written sources - monastic rules, but also hagiographical and diplomatic sources - has been nowadays deeply renewed. These recent works agree to give to early 'monasticism' a wider definition, taking into account the extreme diversity of the community forms of religious life attested in the West during this period. These works deserve to be continued further through comparative studies focused on precise problematics. This research project aims to explore how some communities tried to reconcile the practice of a monastic life with the service of an important sanctuary, and also how some ancient communities succeeded in holding firm through centuries, often with the support of powerful protectors.

En dialogue avec des recherches récentes menées sur les identités multiples des chrétiens de l’Antiquité tardive, cette contribution propose un cas d’étude sur les sermons adressés au peuple de l’évêque gaulois Césaire d’Arles (vers 470-542), plus précisément sur ceux dans lesquels Césaire aborde les pratiques de ses contemporains face à l’abondance d’enfants et l’infertilité, leurs pratiques de guérisons et leurs cultures festives en lien, notamment, avec les fêtes des saints. Miroirs de situations communicationnelles précises, ces sermons permettent de saisir, malgré leur aspect rhétorique, les tensions existant entre le discours épiscopal de Césaire traitant des enjeux de pastorale et de pouvoir épiscopal d’une part, et l’adhésion des chrétiens à des pratiques sociales, jugées incompatibles avec une identité chrétienne d’autre part. Ces sermons montrent en filigrane l’existence d‘une opposition entre deux modèles d’organisation de références identitaires : un modèle pyramidal qui classe toutes les références identitaires par rapport à la seule christianité versus un modèle latéral de ces mêmes références qui suppose qu’en fonction de situations quotidiennes concrètes, la christianité revêtait, pour les croyants, une importance variable. Ce cas d’étude ne permet pas seulement de souligner l’importance d’un regard scientifique équilibré sur les croyances et les pratiques, mais aussi les limites d’une classification de pratiques jugées tantôt religieuses, tantôt sociales.

An article from Cap-aux-Diamants, on Érudit.

During the Warring States period, scholars and statesmen spent much time debati...

The arrival of handwriting recognition technologies offers new possibilities for research in heritage studies. However, it is now necessary to reflect on the experiences and the practices developed by research teams. Our use of the Transkribus platform since 2018 has led us to search for the most significant ways to improve the performance of our handwritten text recognition (HTR) models which are made to transcribe French handwriting dating from the 17th century. This article therefore reports on the impacts of creating transcribing protocols, using the language model at full scale and determining the best way to use base models in order to help increase the performance of HTR models. Combining all of these elements can indeed increase the performance of a single model by more than 20% (reaching a Character Error Rate below 5%). This article also discusses some challenges regarding the collaborative nature of HTR platforms such as Transkribus and the way researchers can share their data generated in the process of creating or training handwritten text recognition models.

The Decade of Vaccines is a comprehensive review of the history of vaccines in the Canadian province of Quebec, a province in mutation attracted by alternatives to biomedicine, backed by a dynamic process of hierarchization of health risks. This chapter examines vaccine hesitancy as a spectrum of situated individual and collective behaviors regarding immunization to highlight the vaccine selections that resulted from the political and sanitary emancipation of a society in mutation. The examination of these hesitations determinants brings to light the impact of the political and sanitary emancipation of a society in mutation attracted by alternatives to biomedicine, backed by a dynamic process of hierarchization of health risks. Analysis reveals, apart from the imprint of the new sciences of vaccinology and immunology, the weight of the state disengaging from mass prevention programs, supported in this direction by the hospital-centered healthcare system and the metamorphoses of contemporary public health. It is in these historical contexts that rational, even innovative, and simultaneously plastic and autonomous forms of preventive moderation unfold. The author notes that the return to mandatory vaccination, which has been enforced or implemented here and there in recent years, in the United States as in Europe, cannot constitute a solution to a societal phenomenon that is constantly adjusting. While the exploration of personalized vaccines remains in the realm of utopia and the pandemic risk has once again materialized, it would be good to rethink what public health means and to reinsert with tact, pedagogy and listening vaccination as a common good.

Context: In Quebec, Bill 31, adopted on March 18, 2020, extended vaccination to pharmacists. Despite many advantages, this new practice comes with public health issues reinforced in the context of COVID-19. Therefore, it is essential to understand the opportunities and challenges of the participation of community pharmacists in influenza vaccination, from a public health perspective by (i) describing the year of 2020-2021 influenza vaccination offer, (ii) its opportunities and challenges, and (iii) its impact on the accessibility of this service newly offered by pharmacists to the most vulnerable people. Methods: This research is a case study from one of the most affected areas by COVID-19 in Canada: Laval. Our method combines documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with health professionals and public health actors (n = 23). Researchers used a thematic analysis to analyze these results. Results: Most partners (pharmacists, public health administrators) underlined multiple opportunities of this new practice, ie, pharmacists who can vaccinate, particularly for chronically ill patients. However, structural and strategical challenges remain. More specifically, vaccination seemed to only rely on a “first come, first served” basis, which questions public health objectives of vaccination, such as equitable access. Conclusion: The introduction of new actors, such as pharmacists, represents a major opportunity to improve vaccination coverage and reduce the burden of COVID-19 on the health system. However, this delegation of a public health activity to the private sector undoubtedly requires closer coordination with public health institutions.

Un article de la revue Vie des arts, diffusée par la plateforme Érudit.

Le concept de crise de masculinité a été introduit dans la littérature depuis les années 1990 dans plusieurs contextes du sud comme du nord. Cette crise est due en partie aux changements économiques dans les sociétés patriarcales dont l’éclipse partiel du rôle de l’homme « gagne-pain » et dominant sur l’Espace public. Cet article discute quelques aspects de cette crise de masculinité parmi les jeunes égyptiens de classe moyenne dans un contexte assez conservateur, le Delta oriental du Nil. L’article explore d’abord la masculinité entre modèles, performance et discours. Ensuite, il montre comment les jeunes hommes l’aperçoivent et comment ils s’expriment sur l’ambiguïté actuelle des espaces classiques de performance masculine. Enfin, l’article aborde les nouveaux espaces offrant une certaine mixité tolérée entre les jeunes hommes et femmes. L’article avance l’importance d’une approche qui explore l’espace comme véhicule de pouvoir pour une compréhension plus approfondie des dynamiques des rapports de genre. Mots clés : masculinité, rapports de genre, espaces patriarcaux, Égypte, performance

Pour faire face aux changements climatiques, les villes sont sommées d'opérer une transition énergétique profonde. Ce problème est cadré d'un point de vue technique, alors que les discussions qui l'entourent sont dominées par un registre issu de l'ingénierie. Pourtant, les transitions énergétiques entraînent aussi des conséquences sociales et matérielles déterminantes. Afin d’éclairer ces thématiques, cette thèse sélectionne une étude de cas historique s'étirant sur quatre décennies, profitant de la longue durée, du point de vue rétrospectif et de l'accès unique à des documents d'archives que seule l'histoire peut offrir. Elle étudie les conséquences des transitions énergétiques urbaines à Montréal, métropole d'un des pays les plus énergivores au monde. Elle se focalise sur la période des Trente Glorieuses entre 1945 et 1973, marquée par une importante croissance économique et une intensification du métabolisme énergétique montréalais et québécois, ainsi que sur la crise de l'énergie des années 1970. Ses quatre chapitres empiriques explorent différentes facettes de l’histoire urbaine de l’énergie dans cet espace-temps. La première facette (chapitre trois) est celle de la contestation de la présence matérielle de l’énergie en ville, étudiée sous l’angle des pétitions et des lettres contre les espaces d’entreposage de bois et de charbon ainsi que les stations-services dans l’immédiate après-guerre. La seconde facette (chapitre quatre) concerne les conséquences environnementales des activités de raffinage de pétrole dans l’est de l’île de Montréal ainsi que leur héritage paradoxal tel qu’appréhendé par des entretiens d’histoire orale. La troisième facette (chapitre cinq) porte sur l’évolution des prévisions de demande d’électricité au Québec durant les années 1960 et 1970, sur les conflits qu’elles génèrent ainsi que sur leur importance dans la planification des infrastructures énergétiques. La quatrième facette (chapitre six) examine les conséquences des transitions dans le domaine du chauffage sur l’aménagement urbain et les pratiques de consommation d’énergie à Montréal. Adoptant volontairement différentes échelles d’analyse et traitant simultanément de plusieurs sources d’énergie, cette thèse démontre les profondes conséquences des transitions énergétiques urbaines sur l’infrastructure énergétique, l’environnement urbain et les modes de vie énergivores. Elle révèle les implications matérielles et sociales de la transition du système énergétique de l’énergie physique, centré autour du bois et du charbon, vers le système énergétique de l’énergie en réseau, constitué autour du pétrole, du gaz et de l’électricité. Cette thèse conclut que les transitions énergétiques urbaines étudiées ont mené à une intensificationet à une externalisation des métabolismes urbaines, alors que la production et la transformation d’énergie s’amplifient et s’effectuent désormais hors de la ville. L’analyse révèle que ces modifications matérielles et spatiales entraînent des changements dans les pratiques de consommation d’énergie et les attentes sociales qui les encadrent. La transition de l’énergie physique vers l’énergie en réseau entraîne un passage d’une culture énergétique marquée par le spectre de la pénurie vers une autre caractérisée par l’attente de l’abondance. Ces changements matériels et sociaux ont entraîné des conséquences profondes sur l’environnement et le climat avec lesquelles nous devons aujourd’hui composer. <br /><br /> To face climate change, cities must undergo profound energy transitions. This problem is generally framed as a technical issue to be solved with engineering tools. However, energy transitions also bring about deep social and material consequences. To interrogate these themes, this thesis focuses on a historical case study spanning across four centuries to benefit from the long view, the retrospective angle, and the unique access to archival documents that only the historical perspective allows. More precisely, it studies the consequences of urban energy transitions in Montréal, the metropolis of one of the most energy-consuming countries in the world. It focuses on the Trente Glorieuses period between 1945 and 1973, marked by rapid economic growth and by the intensification of the city’s energy metabolism, and on the 1970s and its energy crisis. Its four empirical chapters explore in turn the different facets of urban energy transitions in this specific time and space. The first facet (chapter three) studies the dissent around the material presence of energy in the city as approached through petitions and letters against wood and coal energy storage spaces as well as gas stations in the immediate postwar period. The second facet (chapter four) pertains to the environmental consequences of oil refining activities in the east of Montréal as well as to their paradoxical legacy as understood through oral history interviews. The third facet (chapter five) is on the evolution of energy demand forecasts in the province of Québec during the 1960s and 1970s, the conflicts that forecasting generates, and the role of forecasts in planning for energy infrastructure. The fourth facet (chapter six) examines the consequences of transitions in heating on urban planning and on Montréal’s energy culture. Willfully employing a multiscalar approach and simultaneously studying different energy sources, this thesis demonstrates the profound consequences of urban energy transitions on energy infrastructure, urban environments, and energy-hungry lifestyles. It reveals the material and social implications of transitioning from a physical energy system, centered around wood and coal, towards a networked energy regime of petroleum, gas, and electricity. This thesis concludes that the urban energy transitions studied have led to the intensification and externalization of urban metabolisms as energy production and transformation amplified while being expelled from the city. The analysis reveals that these material and spatial changes transform energy consumption practices. The transition from a physical energy system towards a networked energy system produced a shift from an energy culture shaped by the specter of scarcity towards another inspired by the expectation of abundance.

Imperial Cults is a comparative study of the transformation of imperial religion and imperial authority in the early Han and Roman empires. During the reigns of the Emperor Wu of Han and Octavian Augustus of Rome, the rulers undertook substantial reforms to their respective systems of cult, at a time when they were re-shaping the idea of imperial authority and consolidating their own power. The changes made to religious institutions during their reigns show how these reforms were a fundamental part of the imperial consolidation. Employing a comparative methodology the author discusses some of the common strategies employed by the two rulers in order to centre religious and political authority around themselves. Both rulers incorporated new men from outside of the established court elite to serve in their religious institutions and as advisors, thus weakening the authority of those who had traditionally held it. They both expanded the reach of their imperially-sponsored cult, and refashioned important ceremonies to demonstrate and communicate the unprecedented achievements of each ruler. Emperor Wu recruited experts in mantic knowledge from far reaches of the empire, while Augustus co-opted loyal followers into the newly revived priestly colleges. Robinson shows how the rulers used their respective religious institutions to consolidate their authority, secure support, and communicate their authority to the elite and commoners alike. By using the comparative approach, the author not only reveals similar trends in the formation of ancient empires, but also shows how new perspectives on familiar material can be found when engaging with other societies. , Imperial Cults is a comparative study of the transformation of imperial religion and imperial authority in the early Han and Roman empires. During the reigns of the Emperor Wu of Han and Octavian Augustus of Rome, the rulers undertook substantial reforms to their respective systems of cult, at a time when they were re-shaping the idea of imperial authority and consolidating their own power. The changes made to religious institutions during their reigns show how these reforms were a fundamental part of the imperial consolidation. Employing a comparative methodology the author discusses some of the common strategies employed by the two rulers in order to centre religious and political authority around themselves. Both rulers incorporated new men from outside of the established court elite to serve in their religious institutions and as advisors, thus weakening the authority of those who had traditionally held it. They both expanded the reach of their imperially-sponsored cult, and refashioned important ceremonies to demonstrate and communicate the unprecedented achievements of each ruler. Emperor Wu recruited experts in mantic knowledge from far reaches of the empire, while Augustus co-opted loyal followers into the newly revived priestly colleges. Robinson shows how the rulers used their respective religious institutions to consolidate their authority, secure support, and communicate their authority to the elite and commoners alike. By using the comparative approach, the author not only reveals similar trends in the formation of ancient empires, but also shows how new perspectives on familiar material can be found when engaging with other societies.

Une révolution a lieu en ce moment dans les archives et dans la manière de reconstituer le passé. Plusieurs partenariats, dont Donner le goût de l’archive à l’ère numérique, démontrent qu’il y a moyen de mettre l’Intelligence artificielle au service de la recherche historique. Il s’agit d’abord de préserver les archives paroissiales, judiciaires, notariales, architecturales et archéologiques en les rendant accessibles au plus grand nombre, par la numérisation, la transcription automatique des écritures avec l’outil Transkribus, le traitement massif des documents ainsi transcrits et la recherche plein texte dans des centaines de milliers de pages — tout en partageant et en faisant fructifier les expertises grâce à l’Atelier permanent d’analyse documentaire et à l’arrimage en un guichet unique des bases de données issues de ces archives. À terme, cela permettra d’entrer le nom d’un individu dans un moteur de recherche pour avoir accès à toutes les archives le concernant.

This article examines one of the most prominent and powerful credit rating agencies in North America, the Mercantile Agency and its Montréal-based counterpart, Dun, Wiman & Co. The paper considers the context surrounding the first North American credit rating agencies, their managers’ profiles, the specific characteristics of the Montréal offices and, finally, the two primary methods of information transmission offered by the agency: the reference book and the credit report. I argue that issuing the reference book resulted in increasing access to credit for companies with high capitalization rates from creditors who possessed a subscription. Meanwhile, credit reports allow for greater flexibility in interpretation than a credit score. They thus offer additional leeway to debtor merchants who have little capitalization precisely because the creditor can interpret in various ways the content of the written evaluation. Foremost, the article provides an introduction to credit rating agencies as well as a general overview of the Montréal branch of the Mercantile Agency. Finally, the purpose of this research is to contribute to historiography by presenting an institution of credit regulation that has yet to receive much attention from the field of Canadian history.

This thesis studies the ways in which infanticide was handled by communities and by the judicial system in New France. It draws on multiple textual and demographic sources, most notably the ten criminal trials for infanticide that occurred in the colony during the Old Regime. The dynamics between the accused, the members of their community and the magistrates during the trials reveal the existence of relations of power and solidarities that characterized collectivities in the early modern period. I therefore examine the roles played by the community in the prosecution of women suspected of infanticide. How did the women and men of New France conceptualize the act? What factors led the community to judicialize infanticide? I also examine the magistrates’ motivations. What goals did they have? What severity did they demonstrate toward accused women? Further, the thesis addresses the resistance that women could exert against these forces. What influence did the accused have on the course of the trials and the sentences pronounced against them? What strategies could they devise and execute in their own defence? Analyzing the role that witnesses played throughout the process illustrates the fundamental participation of the community in the treatment of infanticide as well as the gender and class norms imposed on the accused by their contemporaries (chapter 2). The study of the accused’s strategies and the sentences handed down against them reveals both the weight of the social and marital order reinforced by the judicial institution and the agency shown by the women of New France (chapter 3).

Abstract This thesis focuses on the prevention of early childhood accidents in the Middle Ages. Through the study of three compilations of miracula, we will analyze the thematic of the child that they present. These compilations are the Miracles of the Blessed Virgin by Gautier de Coincy, the Miracles of Nostre-Dame de Chartres by Jean le Marchant and the Rosarius. In this study, we will look at the diversity of normative discourses surrounding this theme. These analyze allow us to take stock of the precautions surrounding children in the Middle Ages. We conclude that the Miracles of Nostre-Dame de Chartres are not representative of the general miracula corpus, cause the miracula it contains present a preventive character more focused on the physical dangers faced by the child.

Based on a comparative study of the communities that migrated from India to French Indochina and British Burma, this thesis examines the place of Indian migrants in these two colonies during the first half of the 20th century. Indian minorities had a special place in the colonial system because of their various legal status, political and economic influence, and intermediary roles. These dynamics and the interest in studying them are illustrated by three specific case studies: 1. the dispute between Indian police officers and the municipality of Saigon in 1907; 2. Negotiations during the separation of Burma from the British Raj in 1935; 3. the repercussions of the 1929 stock market crash on government discourse on these communities and their place in colonial settings. The interaction of Indian minorities with colonial administrations indicates their understanding of imperial workings. They illustrate their skillful navigation of government structures and their mobilization to defend their interests. The analysis of their position as intermediaries highlights how minority communities have used their relationships to bypass lines of authority and power and sheds light on the plurality of hierarchical axes in colonial situations. These three case studies provide a more holistic conceptualization of colonial Indian minorities and support their complexity, highlighting their ambiguous allegiances and how they define and redefine themselves. The colonial authorities' speeches on those communities highlighted the link between the desirability of Indian minorities and Indian minorities and the need for their presence in the two colonies. This thesis helps deepen our understanding of what an empire is and the complex place that groups deemed homogenous and marginal may have occupied within it.

This dissertation focusses on the Breve storia, a medical biography published in September 1744 by physician and anatomist Giovanni Bianchi. This novella recounts the life and autopsy of a young Roman servant, Giovanni Bordoni, known in many villages in Tuscany as an enthusiastic seducer and womanizer, until his death on June 28th, 1743. At this point, when the body is stripped for the autopsy, the physician notes female reproductive organs. In fact, even though Bordoni led his adult life under a male identity, his biological sex becomes a subject of discussions and writings after his death, immortalizing him as a woman with same-sex desires, cross-dressed as a man. However, by delving into sexuality and gender as they were understood in early modern Europe, this dissertation deconstructs two main claims: first, that female same-sex desires were intrinsically linked to clitoral hypertrophy, second, that gender existed only in a strict normative link to the biological sex. Thus, by analyzing the Breve storia and Bianchi’s correspondence with his readers, it is possible to shed light on the diverse ways of naming and understanding female homoeroticism in the 18th century, linking it for example with genital anatomy, psychology, and emotions. This master’s thesis highlights that, while the early moderns considered that gender’s essence is found in sex, they could understand it as sometimes fluid, but also as not fully masculine or feminine.