Surveying Coastal Archaeological Sites Damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Rhode Island,USA

Supported by the U.S. National Park Service's Historic Preservation Fund program, the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission administered surveys of coastal archaeological sites damaged by 2012's Hurricane Sandy in Rhode Island, USA. This project documented the transformative effects of Hurricane Sandy on coastal archaeological sites, evaluated the eligibility of many of those sites for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and provided new insights into ancient Native American coastal occupation. Notable project limitations include incomplete property access, bureaucratic delays, and a Tribal collaboration that fell short. Because preserving most of these erosion-prone sites through shoreline stabilization is unlikely, management efforts will consider preemptive archaeological salvage excavations. This case study may prove useful to archaeologists worldwide who are managing coastal sites threatened by rising sea levels and storms of increasing intensity and frequency.     

Making and Mastering Violent Environments: Following the Infrastructures of Accumulation in Coastal Louisiana

Louisiana’s coastal wetlands have been disappearing at an alarming rate over the past several decades, with the greatest harm experienced by vulnerable populations (poor and racialised residents). It was not until 2005 that the state legislature responded with a much-lauded Master Plan tasked with integrating the construction of new flood control infrastructure with wetland restoration. Seeking to unsettle this initiative, we develop a historical-geographical materialist approach to follow the entanglements between infrastructural production and capital accumulation in Louisiana over the past several hundred years. In so doing, we present a two-fold argument: that the making and mastering infrastructural violence has always been part of the historical unfolding of the socio-spatial dynamics of capitalism; and that infrastructural development has played an integral role in this duality at every historical turn. The capitalist state, at both the federal and state levels, has played a vital role in producing and controlling this violence.     

A Powerful Place of Pictland: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Power Centre of the 4th to 6th Centuries ad

OUR UNDERSTANDING of the nature of late and post-Roman central places of northern Britain has been hindered by the lack of historical sources and the limited scale of archaeological investigation. New work at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (NJ 49749 26345), has begun to redress this through extensive excavation and landscape survey. This has revealed a Pictish central place of the 4th to 6th centuries ad that has European connections through material culture, iconography and site character. In addition to reviewing the place-name and historical context, this article outlines preliminary reflections on five seasons of excavation and survey in the Rhynie landscape. The article also provides a detailed consideration of chronology, including radiocarbon dating and Bayesian statistical analysis. The results reveal the multi-faceted nature of a major, non-hillfort elite complex of Pictland that comprised a high-status residence with cult dimensions, a major centre for production and exchange, and a contemporary cemetery. A series of sculptured stones stood in association with the settlement and cemetery and the iconography of the stones, along with the wider archaeological evidence, provides a rich dataset for a renewed consideration of the central places of early medieval northern Britain with broader implications for the nature of power and rulership in late and post-Roman Europe.     

Cuban Landscapes: Heritage,Memory, and Place

Growing individual mobility has been a key element in the re-evaluation of the links between (national) place and identity in what has been labelled a'borderless world'. In this paper, an alternative perspective is provided by exploring the ways in which discussions around travel are used to redefine the nation as a bounded, familiar and homely place.

In the first section, a number of key themes in the wider literature on ‘home’ are identified and applied to the nation, notably the idea that ‘homely spaces’ are imagined and experienced in relation to journeys elsewhere. This idea is then evidenced by a range of empirical data, which shows how individuals are often made aware of their own national identity and allegiances, when negotiating encounters with other people and cultural forms.

In discussing the discomfort and uncertainty they experience in ‘foreign’ locales, the national home is defined as a secure base from which to proceed and, most importantly, to return. Interestingly, these types of views were expressed by a range of social actors, ranging from college students, who travelled widely and with great enthusiasm, to retired people, who were increasingly restricted in their ability to visit foreign locales.     

Memorializing Race in the Deep South: The 'Good Darkie' Statue,Louisiana, USA

Abstract

The period between World War I and World War II saw the development of several memorials commemorating African Americans in the Southern USA. The 'Good Darkie' is unique amongst these in being a life-size bronze statue. It was erected in Natchitoches, northwestern Louisiana in 1927, where it remained in a prominent position in the centre of the town until it was taken down in 1969, ending up in the Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum where it is displayed as the statue of 'Uncle Jack'. The various meanings and values given to the statue over the last 80 years, from acceptable paternalism to its politicization in the 1960s, to the criticism currently levelled at its use make this an important case study in public commemoration. This paper explores the various meanings given to the statue by different social groups, which reveal how the concept of race, and solutions to the 'race problem' of the Southern USA have evolved over time.     

Place Out of Place: a Pohnpeian Chiefdom in Kansas City

This article describes the formation of the Kansas City area as a section in the Pohnpeian sociopolitical system. Pohnpeian chiefdoms are traditionally marked out as ‘sections’ of land on the island of Pohnpei. Pohnpeians’ connection to their land is powerful and imbued with meaning but the Compact of Free Association propels Pohnpeian out‐migration to the United States. As the immigrant population of Pohnpeians in Kansas City increased, a paramount (tribal district) chief organized the ‘Section Over Heaven of Kansas City’ at the urging of collaborating Pohnpeian Kansas City residents. As the only fully functioning section outside of Pohnpei, the Kansas City section chief assigns chiefly titles, conducts tribute feasts, and incorporates the location into the Pohnpeian sociopolitical system. By integrating people and environment in meaningful ways, the Kansas City section creates a Pohnpeian place, separated from Pohnpeian land, integrated into Pohnpeian chieftainship. Pohnpeians in the United States refer to Kansas City as a Pohnpeian place in part on the basis of the paramount chief's organization of the Kansas City section.     

Place, Culture and Identity: Summer Music in Upper Galilee

The Kfar Blum festival is an annual chamber music festival at a kibbutz in northern Israel involving three public bodies. Soon after its inauguration, it was dominated by audiences of élite groups who gave it a specific character and made it a highly desirable social event. The demand created for participation caused the festival to change in character, and what had been an artistic celebration became a cultural commodity. This challenged the overall purpose of the festival and brought changes in artistic direction, as new audiences were sought through programmes with wider appeal. The Kfar Blum festival is an example of a contested arena reflecting social trends in Israel. Place becomes a metaphor for social trends.