http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/modernity Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Wed, 22 Apr 2026 06:46:29 -0400 Wed, 22 Apr 2026 06:46:29 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1841/molding-the-peasantry-on-the-road-to-modernity-state-and-peasant-relations-in-russia-and-the-soviet-union By Sophia Hernandez Tragesser - This paper examines the peasantry's response to modernization measures taken by Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the pursuit of modernity, the Tsarist Russian and early Soviet regimes altered the nature of the peasantry through domestic policy and reactions to international crises. The shifting social spheres among peasants prompted two reactions: resistance to governmental forces or adaptation to the new order to maximize personal gain. In both cases, peasants exerted great agency over their situations and although subject to governmental... Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:13 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1841/molding-the-peasantry-on-the-road-to-modernity-state-and-peasant-relations-in-russia-and-the-soviet-union http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1655/the-modern-and-the-traditional-african-women-and-colonial-morality By Rabah Omer - Modernity and tradition are used as contradictory and exclusive concepts where the former indicates progress and the latter indicates a past without contemporary legitimacy. Modernity characteristically denotes a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the transition from feudalism and agrarian structure to capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its institutions with their systems of surveillance (Barker 2005, 444). Conceptually, however, modernity refers to the modern era. For a while in the eighteenth century, culture was... Wed, 18 Oct 2017 09:27 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1655/the-modern-and-the-traditional-african-women-and-colonial-morality http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/917/the-great-divergence-redefined-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-west-and-the-recovery-of-china By Molly B. Kroker - Up until the 19th century, China held a position as a great world power. However, for the last two hundred years the West has dominated the world technologically, economically, and politically. The point at which the West began its relative dominance over all other world civilizations is known as "the Great Divergence." Currently, a steady change has been developing in China. Not only has China caught up to the West but also China's economy is continuing to accelerate at a rapid rate and may even surpass the West in the near future. One of the main reasons for the "Great Divergence" was an underlying... Mon, 22 Sep 2014 12:02 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/917/the-great-divergence-redefined-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-west-and-the-recovery-of-china http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/797/overcoming-modernity-in-yukio-mishima By Joseph Verbovszky - Following the disaster of the Second World War, these issues of Modernity confronted Japanese culture; issues that the now recently fallen Imperial government had attempted to overcome through the welding together of eastern and western sensibilities in the form of the Empire of Japan. Even before this, the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods had themselves severely Westernized Japan. That dream however, now lay amid the smoldering ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, most of Japan accepted the new American domination of their society. A few, however, including some writers and intellectuals... Wed, 20 Nov 2013 04:02 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/797/overcoming-modernity-in-yukio-mishima http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/766/technology-and-justice-the-philosophy-of-authenticity-and-democratic-theory By Matthew McManus - My aim in this work is to sketch, in broad strokes, an idea for a method of both assessing these dynamics and, ultimately, moving beyond them to provide a philosophic foundation for those moral notions I will suggest are attractive. By necessity, this has meant starting primarily with an analysis and critique of modernity and its normative content. While this is hardly a novel idea, I have attempted to contribute originally to the discourse of modernity, as Habermas characterizes it, by suggesting how a reconceptualization of temporality, and a reexamination of time's connection to language, would... Wed, 02 Oct 2013 11:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/766/technology-and-justice-the-philosophy-of-authenticity-and-democratic-theory http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/153/virginia-woolf-on-the-role-of-the-artist-in-the-modern-world By Natasha L. Richter - Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse follows the development of the painter, Lily Briscoe, as she strives to create a meaningful space for her artwork in an increasingly critical and unkind world.  Woolf’s stylistic devices, especially those employed in the segment, “Time Passes,” reveal her thoughts on modernity and on pursuing life as an artist in the modern world.  In “Time Passes,” Woolf breaks from her traditional literary form to forge a new consciousness for society and introduces the typographical device of the square bracket to write from the... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:36 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/153/virginia-woolf-on-the-role-of-the-artist-in-the-modern-world