Jon Mathieu
Biographic Data
| ID | 3766914 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jon Mathieu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jon |
| FAMILY NAME | Mathieu |
| SIGNATURE | MATHIEU J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Lucerne |
| ORCID | 0009-0000-0324-7613 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Would Switzerland Exist Without the Alps? Mountainous Environment and State Formation from a Historical Perspective
Since the emergence of scientific disciplines in the 19th century, geography and history have had an undefined relationship with each other. Conventions of subject-specific responsibility have developed, but in detail the separation is difficult, and the more the boundaries between the two disciplines are emphasised, the more tempting it sometimes is to cross them. A prominent example of this interdisciplinary tension and challenge is the relatio…
How Sacred the Alps: Recent Incidents and Historical Background
The Alps, with their thousands of mountain peaks, are considered the epitome of nature in Europe. How do people view this nature? Is it also perceived and revered as a religious phenomenon, and if so, to what extent? This is the central question of this paper. For theoretical classification, I use Bron Taylor’s pioneering study on Dark Green Religion, first published in 2010. For the empirical assessment, I focus on three episodes that took place…
Formal Analysis in Research on Small/Minor Literatures: Two Cases Compared
This article compares two studies on small/minor literatures: one by Fabienne Gilbertz on Luxembourgish in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and one by Clà Riatsch on Rhaeto-Romanic in the Swiss Confederation. The design and the argument of the article are based on two methodological considerations. First, both studies take a fairly comprehensive view of their literatures, thereby taking advantage of the benefits that studying small/minor literatures…
Images of Nature: Introduction to the Special Issue
This Special Issue on ‘Images of Nature’ in the longue durée has its origins in a historical conference on ‘Nature’ at the University of Geneva in the summer of 2022 (6th Swiss History Days, 29 June–1 July 2022) [...]
The Politics of Making Kinship: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives
The long tradition of Western political thought included kinship in models of public order, but the social sciences excised it from theories of the state, public sphere, and democratic order. Kinship has, however, neither completely disappeared from the political cultures of the West nor played the determining social and political role ascribed to it elsewhere. Exploring the issues that arise once the divide between kinship and politics is no lon…
How Great Was the “Great Divide of Nature and Culture” in Europe? Philippe Descola’s Argument under Scrutinity
In his much-discussed work Beyond Nature and Culture, anthropologist Philippe Descola gives central importance to the “great divide” between nature and culture in European history. According to him, the “naturalism” created by this gap is at the heart of Western modernity and distinguishes it from the “others” on the planet. One can certainly agree with Descola that the nature-culture dualism cannot claim universal validity. However, the extent o…
History from Scratch: Introduction to the Special Issue
This is the first Special Issue of the online journal “histories”, launched in 2020 [...]
Gehören die Alpen dem Fremdenverkehr? 150 Jahre Tourismuskritik
The term “tourist” appeared in English in the late eighteenth century and spread to other European languages in the first half of the nineteenth century. The corresponding sector first appeared in German as Fremdenverkehr. Since the 1970s, the neutral, internationally used term “tourism” has become the standard for the mobility industry. The industry is unique and in some aspects unlike any other industry. Foreign buyers of tourist services are n…
Czy Alpy są dla turystyki? 150 lat krytyki ruchu turystycznego
The term “tourist” appeared in English in the late eighteenth century and spread to other European languages in the first half of the nineteenth century. The corresponding sector first appeared in German as Fremdenverkehr. Since the 1970s, the neutral, internationally used term “tourism” has become the standard for the mobility industry. The industry is unique and in some aspects unlike any other industry. Foreign buyers of tourist services are n…
Eingegangene Bücher
Connecting Territories: Exploring People and Nature, 1700–1850
The book analyses from a comparative perspective the exploration of territories, the histories of their inhabitants, and local natural environments during the long eighteenth century. The eleven chapters look at European science at home and abroad as well as at global scientific practices and the involvement of a great variety of local actors in the processes of mapping and recording. Dealing with landlocked territories with no colonies (like Swi…
A Case for Global Microhistory
Histories is an international, peer-reviewed open-access journal in its starting phase [...]
Globalisation of Alpinism in the Twentieth Century: Publicity, Politics, and Organisational Endeavours
Die Globalisierung des Alpinismus begann im späten 19. Jahrhundert und setzte sich während des ganzen 20. Jahrhunderts fort, wenn auch in komplexer, kontextabhängiger Weise, mit Rückschlägen und unterschiedlichen Geschwindigkeiten auf verschiedenen Ebenen. Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht diesen Prozess mit einer Kontrastmethode. Zwei Aspekte der Globalisierung des Alpinismus werden einander gegenübergestellt: ein zentraler Schauplatz, bestehen…
Is Historical Temporality “Heterogeneous” and “Contingent”? William H. Sewell’s Cultural Turn
“Time” and “temporality” are difficult and central notions for historical scholarship. They exist in many varieties, which renders generalizations challenging. An interesting attempt has been made by US-scholar William H. Sewell in his Logics of History. Social Theory and Social Transformation (2005). He qualifies historical temporality as fateful, contingent, complex, eventful, and heterogeneous. It is rare for a historian to be so explicit. Sew…
Temporalities and Transitions of Family History in Europe: Competing Accounts
Standard collective publications on European family history manifest large differences in their temporal structure. This article examines three examples from different countries and currents of research for the last five centuries. It discusses the question of whether, and to which degree, time theory can be applied to adjust and balance investigations of the domestic domain in the long run. For that purpose, this article uses the theoretical fra…
Lektüren
Hans-Rudolf Wicker Die Guaraní im Tiefland Südamerikas. Studien zu einer indigenen Minderheit
The European Alps – an exceptional range of mountains? Braudel’s argument put to the test
In his classic work about the Mediterranean in the period of Philipp II, French historian Fernand Braudel designates the European Alps an ‘exceptional range of mountains’ and offers several reasons therefor. In contrast to other parts of Braudel’s work, this argument has gone largely unnoticed in scholarship. This article intends to put it to the test in light of recent publications on the Alps. The first two sections give an outline of Braudel’s…
Long-Term History of Mountains: Southeast Asia and South America Compared
This article compares the historical trajectories of the mountain areas of Southeast Asia and South America in order to assess the impact of environmental constraints over time. The two areas have been selected because of the striking contrast they present in the early modern period. In Southeast Asia, the core population area was located in the lowlands, whereas in South America, power and population were concentrated in the uplands. These regio…
Histoire des anciennes populations de montagne. Des origines à la modernité. Essai d'histoire comparée
Mountain Pastoralism 1500-2000: An Introduction
This special issue of Nomadic Peoples presents a collection of articles that give an idea of the continuities and changes of pastoralism in upland areas during the past five centuries. They are the result of a lengthy project on 'Mountain Pastoralism and Modernity' organized by historians from different continents. The following introduction aims to trace the framework of that enterprise. It takes up a few key concepts: mountain pastoralism, hist…
Kinship in Europe: Approaches to Long-Term Development (1300-1900)
Since the publication of Philippe Ariès’s book, Centuries of Childhood, in the early 1960s, there has been great interest among historians in the history of the family and the household. A central aspect of the debate relates the story of the family to implicit notions of modernization, with the rise of the nuclear family in the West as part of its economic and political success. During the past decade, however, that synthesis has begun to break …
The Sacralization of Mountains in Europe during the Modern Age
In the debate about sacred mountains, authors often voice the opinion that sacredness is endangered by, or even lost under the influence of, modern economic and social development. But how legitimate is it to generalize this assumption or assessment? The present article shows that, in the case of Europe, history has proceeded in the opposite direction: here, one can observe clear indications of a sacralization process during the modern era, while…
Gibt es eine Geschichte der Berge: L’Homme et la Montagne von Jules Blache neu gelesen
Conditions historiques de la spécificité montagnarde
Les historiens qui se risquent à étudier la spécificité montagnarde et ses multiples facettes feraient bien de commencer par s'intéresser aux acteurs: tout d'abord les hommes et non la montagne. Cela permet de prendre de la distance par rapport aux représentations populaires et savantes et aux a priori qu'elles véhiculent au sujet des sociétés de montagne. En réalité, la spécificité se mesure à l'aune de nombreuses manifestations de l'existence h…
The European Alps – an exceptional range of mountains? Braudel’s argument put to the test
In his classic work about the Mediterranean in the period of Philipp II, French historian Fernand Braudel designates the European Alps an ‘exceptional range of mountains’ and offers several reasons therefor. In contrast to other parts of Braudel’s work, this argument has gone largely unnoticed in scholarship. This article intends to put it to the test in light of recent publications on the Alps. The first two sections give an outline of Braudel’s…
Mountain Pastoralism 1500-2000: An Introduction
This special issue of Nomadic Peoples presents a collection of articles that give an idea of the continuities and changes of pastoralism in upland areas during the past five centuries. They are the result of a lengthy project on 'Mountain Pastoralism and Modernity' organized by historians from different continents. The following introduction aims to trace the framework of that enterprise. It takes up a few key concepts: mountain pastoralism, hist…
Conditions historiques de la spécificité montagnarde
Les historiens qui se risquent à étudier la spécificité montagnarde et ses multiples facettes feraient bien de commencer par s'intéresser aux acteurs: tout d'abord les hommes et non la montagne. Cela permet de prendre de la distance par rapport aux représentations populaires et savantes et aux a priori qu'elles véhiculent au sujet des sociétés de montagne. En réalité, la spécificité se mesure à l'aune de nombreuses manifestations de l'existence h…
Ovini, bovini, caprini. Cambiamenti nell'allevamento alpino dal XVI al XIX secolo
From ecotypes to sociotypes: Peasant household and state-building in the alps, sixteenth–nineteenth centuries
Ecological arguments have long been used in research to explain the forms of peasant households. In the rich family literature concerning the European Alps they hold a particularly prominent position. Using alpine macro- and microdata, the article shows that the proposed ecological models do not hold up under scrutiny, and that sociopolitical approaches are more effective. An investigation of three regions from different parts of the Alps indicat…
Storia delle Alpi e antropologia. Osservazioni in margine a un nuovo libro di Jon Mathieu
Ovini, bovini, caprini. Cambiamenti nell'allevamento alpino dal XVI al XIX secolo
Verwandtschaft als historischer Faktor: Schweizer Fallstudien und Trends, 1500-1900
Conditions historiques de la spécificité montagnarde
Les historiens qui se risquent à étudier la spécificité montagnarde et ses multiples facettes feraient bien de commencer par s'intéresser aux acteurs: tout d'abord les hommes et non la montagne. Cela permet de prendre de la distance par rapport aux représentations populaires et savantes et aux a priori qu'elles véhiculent au sujet des sociétés de montagne. En réalité, la spécificité se mesure à l'aune de nombreuses manifestations de l'existence h…
The Sacralization of Mountains in Europe during the Modern Age
In the debate about sacred mountains, authors often voice the opinion that sacredness is endangered by, or even lost under the influence of, modern economic and social development. But how legitimate is it to generalize this assumption or assessment? The present article shows that, in the case of Europe, history has proceeded in the opposite direction: here, one can observe clear indications of a sacralization process during the modern era, while…
Gibt es eine Geschichte der Berge: L’Homme et la Montagne von Jules Blache neu gelesen
Kinship in Europe: Approaches to Long-Term Development (1300-1900)
Since the publication of Philippe Ariès’s book, Centuries of Childhood, in the early 1960s, there has been great interest among historians in the history of the family and the household. A central aspect of the debate relates the story of the family to implicit notions of modernization, with the rise of the nuclear family in the West as part of its economic and political success. During the past decade, however, that synthesis has begun to break …
Mountain Pastoralism 1500-2000: An Introduction
This special issue of Nomadic Peoples presents a collection of articles that give an idea of the continuities and changes of pastoralism in upland areas during the past five centuries. They are the result of a lengthy project on 'Mountain Pastoralism and Modernity' organized by historians from different continents. The following introduction aims to trace the framework of that enterprise. It takes up a few key concepts: mountain pastoralism, hist…
Histoire des anciennes populations de montagne. Des origines à la modernité. Essai d'histoire comparée
Long-Term History of Mountains: Southeast Asia and South America Compared
This article compares the historical trajectories of the mountain areas of Southeast Asia and South America in order to assess the impact of environmental constraints over time. The two areas have been selected because of the striking contrast they present in the early modern period. In Southeast Asia, the core population area was located in the lowlands, whereas in South America, power and population were concentrated in the uplands. These regio…
The European Alps – an exceptional range of mountains? Braudel’s argument put to the test
In his classic work about the Mediterranean in the period of Philipp II, French historian Fernand Braudel designates the European Alps an ‘exceptional range of mountains’ and offers several reasons therefor. In contrast to other parts of Braudel’s work, this argument has gone largely unnoticed in scholarship. This article intends to put it to the test in light of recent publications on the Alps. The first two sections give an outline of Braudel’s…
Hans-Rudolf Wicker Die Guaraní im Tiefland Südamerikas. Studien zu einer indigenen Minderheit
Temporalities and Transitions of Family History in Europe: Competing Accounts
Standard collective publications on European family history manifest large differences in their temporal structure. This article examines three examples from different countries and currents of research for the last five centuries. It discusses the question of whether, and to which degree, time theory can be applied to adjust and balance investigations of the domestic domain in the long run. For that purpose, this article uses the theoretical fra…
Lektüren
A Case for Global Microhistory
Histories is an international, peer-reviewed open-access journal in its starting phase [...]
Globalisation of Alpinism in the Twentieth Century: Publicity, Politics, and Organisational Endeavours
Die Globalisierung des Alpinismus begann im späten 19. Jahrhundert und setzte sich während des ganzen 20. Jahrhunderts fort, wenn auch in komplexer, kontextabhängiger Weise, mit Rückschlägen und unterschiedlichen Geschwindigkeiten auf verschiedenen Ebenen. Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht diesen Prozess mit einer Kontrastmethode. Zwei Aspekte der Globalisierung des Alpinismus werden einander gegenübergestellt: ein zentraler Schauplatz, bestehen…
Is Historical Temporality “Heterogeneous” and “Contingent”? William H. Sewell’s Cultural Turn
“Time” and “temporality” are difficult and central notions for historical scholarship. They exist in many varieties, which renders generalizations challenging. An interesting attempt has been made by US-scholar William H. Sewell in his Logics of History. Social Theory and Social Transformation (2005). He qualifies historical temporality as fateful, contingent, complex, eventful, and heterogeneous. It is rare for a historian to be so explicit. Sew…
History from Scratch: Introduction to the Special Issue
This is the first Special Issue of the online journal “histories”, launched in 2020 [...]
Gehören die Alpen dem Fremdenverkehr? 150 Jahre Tourismuskritik
The term “tourist” appeared in English in the late eighteenth century and spread to other European languages in the first half of the nineteenth century. The corresponding sector first appeared in German as Fremdenverkehr. Since the 1970s, the neutral, internationally used term “tourism” has become the standard for the mobility industry. The industry is unique and in some aspects unlike any other industry. Foreign buyers of tourist services are n…
Czy Alpy są dla turystyki? 150 lat krytyki ruchu turystycznego
The term “tourist” appeared in English in the late eighteenth century and spread to other European languages in the first half of the nineteenth century. The corresponding sector first appeared in German as Fremdenverkehr. Since the 1970s, the neutral, internationally used term “tourism” has become the standard for the mobility industry. The industry is unique and in some aspects unlike any other industry. Foreign buyers of tourist services are n…
Eingegangene Bücher
Connecting Territories: Exploring People and Nature, 1700–1850
The book analyses from a comparative perspective the exploration of territories, the histories of their inhabitants, and local natural environments during the long eighteenth century. The eleven chapters look at European science at home and abroad as well as at global scientific practices and the involvement of a great variety of local actors in the processes of mapping and recording. Dealing with landlocked territories with no colonies (like Swi…
The Politics of Making Kinship: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives
The long tradition of Western political thought included kinship in models of public order, but the social sciences excised it from theories of the state, public sphere, and democratic order. Kinship has, however, neither completely disappeared from the political cultures of the West nor played the determining social and political role ascribed to it elsewhere. Exploring the issues that arise once the divide between kinship and politics is no lon…
How Great Was the “Great Divide of Nature and Culture” in Europe? Philippe Descola’s Argument under Scrutinity
In his much-discussed work Beyond Nature and Culture, anthropologist Philippe Descola gives central importance to the “great divide” between nature and culture in European history. According to him, the “naturalism” created by this gap is at the heart of Western modernity and distinguishes it from the “others” on the planet. One can certainly agree with Descola that the nature-culture dualism cannot claim universal validity. However, the extent o…
History (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Geography (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Archaeology (6 works) · Art (6 works) · History (6 works)