Alsace-Lorraine/Elsaß-Lothringen: destruction, revival and reconstruction in contested territory, 1939-1960

Alsace-Lorraine passed from French administration to German control for half a century after 1871, and again for the duration of World War II. Widespread material damage was inflicted in this contested territory in both world wars. The first wave of destruction in 1940 was inflicted by German forces, the second was caused by Allied bombers in 1944, and the final wave surrounded bitter fighting between German occupiers and American liberators in 1944-1945. Using archival sources and published accounts, this article examines the complex impact of destruction, very different in chronology from the more familiar story in Lower Normandy; the desperate challenge of coping with a wide range of emergencies that faced the reinstated French regime in the early years of peace; and the prolonged process of definitive reconstruction, which combined respect for traditional design with modern building techniques in some locations, such as the viticultural villages near Colmar, whilst adopting entirely modern approaches in other parts of Alsace-Lorraine.     

The problem of runrig

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Continental Drift. By D. H. and M. P. Tarling. 8 1/2 x 6. 112 pp., 43 illustrations. Bibliography. G. Bell, London. £1–50.

Introduction to Geomorphology. By A. F. Pitty. xvi + 526 pp. Numerous illustrations, Bibliography. Index. Methuen, London, 1971. £5.

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

The Logic of Unity. By Geoffrey Parker. 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, xviii + 178 pp., 36 maps and diagrams. Longmans Geography Paperbacks. Second impression, 1970. £1.15.

Seaports and Seaport Terminals. By James Bird. 5 1/4 x 8 1/2, 240 pp., 22 maps, diagrams. Hutchison &; Co., London, 1971. 90p (paper).

Seaports and Development in Tropical Africa. Edited by B. S. Hoyle and D. Hilling. 8 3/4 x 6, xvi+271 pp. Macmillan, London. £4.

ISLANDS SERIES. Each volume approximately 13.5 x 21.7 cms., 250 pp., plates and maps, bibliographies. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1970/71. £2.50.

1. Orkney. By Patrick Bailey

2. Arran. By Robert McLellan

3. The Isle of Mull, By P. A. Macnab

4. St. Kilda and Other Hebridean Outliers. By Francis Thompson

The Industrial Archaeology of Galloway. By Ian Donnachie. 8 1/2 x 6. Pp. 271, 32 plates, 39 illustrations. David &; Charles, Newton Abbot, 1971. £3–50.     

The Antarctic problem

Pioneering in New Guinea. By James Chalmers. London : The Eeligious Tract Society, 1887. Price 16s.

Australian Defences and New Guinea. Compiled from the Papers of the late Sir Peter Scratchley, R.E., K.O.M.G. By C. Kinloch Gooke, B.A., L.L.M., Barrister‐at‐Law. London : Macmillan, 1887. Price 14s.

Shores and Alps of Alaska. By H. W. Seton Kaee, F.R.G.S. Pp. xiv. + 248. London : Sampson Low and Co., 1887. Price 16s.

The Ancient Cities of the Neiv World, being Travels and Explorations in Mexico and Central America, from 1857–1882. By Désiré Charnay. With numerous Illustrations. Translated from the French by J. Gonino and Helen S. Conant. London : Chapman and Hall, 1887. Pp. xxxii. and 514.

Report on the Administration of the Punjab and its Dependencies for 1885–86. Lahore, 1887.

Précis de Géographic Élémentaire. Par Paul Chaix. Onzième. Édition, revue et modifiée. Geneva : Cherbuliez. 1887.

Lonqmani New Geographical Readers: The Seventh Reader.—The Ocean, Currents, Tides, the Planetary System, and Phases of the Moon. London : Longmans, Green, and Co., 1887. Price 18. 9d.     

The parry problem

Injuries classified as parry fractures, normally the result of a direct blow when the forearm is raised to shield the face, are significant in bioarcheological interpretations because the parry fracture is perceived as an indicator of interpersonal (or extramural) violence. It is therefore necessary that these injuries be correctly identified in order to properly interpret the trauma pattern and its social implications for abuse, gender and power relations among ancient people. Common acute forearm fractures are reviewed here and quantitative guidelines that define the parry fracture configuration are presented. The parry criteria include: (1) an absence of radial involvement, (2) a transverse fracture line, (3) a location below the midshaft (<0.5 adjusted distance to the lesion's center), and (4) either minor unalignment (<10°) in any plane or horizontal apposition from the diaphysis (<50%). A sample of 278 adults from northern Sudan dated to the Nubian Bronze Age (ca. 2500–1500 BC) contained 38 individuals with forearm fractures. Of these fractures, 21 out of the 28 ulna injuries were identified as parry fractures using the parry criteria. Fewer females suffered from parry fractures than when ulna injuries were identified by location on the ulna alone. The use of the parry criteria may not always affect the results significantly, but here interpersonal violence directed against women and amongst ancient Nubians was found to be less prevalent than implied in earlier studies. The absence of perimortem parry fractures suggests that the Kermans interred within mass burials were not physically forced to their graves. Chronic ulna stress fractures associated with sports and habitual activities must also be considered as a differential diagnosis of this injury.     

The valley problem in bottomside ionogram analysis

The use of ordinary and extraordinary ray vitrual height data to estimate valley parameters is studied using a least-squares single-polynomial analysis. For any assumed valley depth this technique enables direct determination of the best-fitting valley ‘width’ and F-region real-height profile. Tests on model profiles show that the method can satisfy the virtual height data, to within normal experimental error, over a considerable range of assumed depths. Thus iteration of valley depth to achieve best agreement with the virtual height data is unsound in the presence of typical scaling uncertainties: there is insufficient information in a standard ionogram to provide useful estimates of both valley width and valley depth. A sample of 130 daytime ionograms have been analysed assuming a zero-depth valley. The resulting valley widths were generally between 0 and 25 km with an average of 11 km.     

The role of the museum in interpretation: The problem of context

The key questions in interpreting objects in museums are: What are they doing there? and Where did they come from? National and local importance are not mutually exclusive: the critical difference is between intrinsic value, and value through context or association. Context is an integral part of interpretation. Experts can visualise an original location or environment; ordinary museum visitors need the context of people, or place, or familiar activities, to be able to relate to unfamiliar objects. Is seeing a good replica as good as seeing the original?     

The decolonial subject and the problem of non-Western authenticity

It is argued in this paper that some decolonising strategies in the study of global politics are precluded by the problem of non-Western authenticity. I question the idea of an identifiable non-Western geo-cultural context that could significantly reconstitute what already is a post-Western subject. I claim that in most cases the asymmetrical encounter between the colonised and the coloniser has fundamentally and extensively redefined human subjectivity in a way that largely negates decolonial emancipatory projects. This is the result of the all-encompassing penetration of Western coloniality (in its political, economic and cultural representations) into the spaces of pre-colonial or uncolonised forms of subjectivity. I draw from Frantz Fanon’s and Jacques Lacan’s theories to argue that attempts to recover non-Western forms of self-identification are useful albeit illusory psychological mechanisms to stabilise hybrid postcolonial subjectivities rather than an actual restoration of non-colonial and purified forms of existing in the world. I suggest that an effective anticolonial politics of resistance will necessarily entail the understanding of post-Western subjectivity in terms of psychological ‘hybridity’ rather than decolonial ‘authenticity’.