Astronomy,Architecture, and Landscape in Prehispanic Mesoamerica

This article synthesizes recent advances in the study of astronomy and worldview in architectural and urban planning in Mesoamerica. Throughout most of this cultural area, the practice of orienting civic and ceremonial buildings followed similar principles, although regional and time-dependent variations are present. Analysis of alignment data has revealed the existence of distinct and widespread orientation groups; most refer to sunrises and sunsets on particular dates, although two groups can be related to lunar and Venus extremes. Astronomically relevant directions frequently dominate considerable parts of urban layouts. The orientation and the location of important buildings often were conditioned by astronomical criteria and beliefs about specific landscape features; particularly notable are structures that were aligned to prominent mountaintops on the local horizon. Based on a variety of contextual data, I interpret the uses and significance of orientations in terms of agricultural concerns, cosmological concepts, and political ideology. I outline the evolution of orientation practices, drawing attention to pan-Mesoamerican trends, regional patterns, and diffusion processes.     

Disaffection and Everyday Life in Interregnum England

Abstract

This article analyses factional and institutional tensions on late-nineteenth-century Tyneside, using disputes over maritime public health and the prevention of seaborne epidemics as its central case study. The Tyne had a complex institutional landscape in this era, much of it created in the middle decades of the century to meet the challenges of increasing trade, mobility and industrial growth. Institutions such as the Tyne Improvement Commission and the Tyne Port Sanitary Authority struggled to balance their specialist missions against the demands of the town councils and sectional economic interests that were represented on their boards. They also faced difficulties in managing the new professional officers who worked for them, most notably, for the purposes of this article, the physicians responsible for port health. Although highly successful in protecting its communities from epidemics, the Tyne PSA casts revealing light on the tensions of late Victorian public service, and the pronounced localism that permeated Tyneside throughout and beyond this era.     

Everyday Life in Late Qajar Iran

The social history of Iran in general and that of the Qajar era in particular, has been little studied. The subject of this paper, private life in the late Qajar period, has barely been touched upon, probably because it is a subject on which there is not much primary material. There are no comprehensive accounts of people's daily lives of any class or occupation. In this article an attempt is made to give an account of the daily domestic life and activities of the household in the Qajar period. As there were major differences between the daily life and households of urban and rural areas, the discussion is limited to urban areas and Shi'i households. The article discusses the roles of the various members of the household as well as the consumption patterns of the family and those from inside or outside the household who catered to its needs.     

Everyday Life in Byzantium: Some Problems of Aproach

Abstract

In 1554 a Franciscan friar of Angoulěme, André Thevet, published at Lyons his Cosmographie de Levant. The author had recently returned from a three year journey to Constantinople and the Holy Land, and the Cosmographie was the first of a number of geographical works.     

In Comes I: Performance Memory and Landscape

HANDWOERTERBUCH DES DEUTSCHEN MAERCHENS. Herausgegeben unter besonderer Mitwirkung von JOHANNES BOLTE und Mitarbeit zahlreicher Fachgenossen von LUTZ MACKENSEN. Band I. Berlin und Leipzig, 1931. Verlag Walter de Gruyter &; Co. Reviewed by M. Gaster.

THE HILL BHUIYAS OF ORISSA. By RAI BAHADUR SARAT CHANDRA ROY, M.A., B.L. Ranchi: Man in India Office, 1935. 8¾″x5¼″. Pp. iv+320+xxxviii, with 17 Plates. Price, Rupees 8. Reviewed by F. J. Richards.

ORPHEUS AND GREEK RELIGION: A STUDY OF THE ORPHIC MOVEMENT. By W. K. C. GUTHRIE, M.A., Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, with 16 plates and 19 text illustrations. Pp. xix, 287. Methuen and Co. Price 21s. nett. Reviewed by R. M. Dawkins.     

Taking Space: Moments of Rupture and Everyday Life in Occupy London

Taking space has been a common feature of recent social movements worldwide, and was a defining act of the Occupy movement. This article examines the taking of two spaces by Occupy London in October 2011, and argues that there was a tension between taking space as a moment of rupture, lived space‐times of intensity that provide an opening to new possibilities, and everyday life, the routines and rhythms through which social life is reproduced. My argument builds on the work of Lefebvre, bringing together his conceptualisation of “moments” and everyday life, and his radical theory of the production of space. I argue that examining the tensions over taking space provides a useful angle to explore some of the challenges faced by the Occupy movement, such as an unequal division of labour on camp, and may help in negotiating them.     

Books of Life: Biography and Memory in a Bronze Age Barrow

An important round barrow with a primary Beaker interment and numerous secondary burials was excavated at Barnack, Cambridgeshire, in 1974–6. Reading the published report gives the impression that many of the secondary interments, by their location and attitude, reveal a memory of the primary rite. It is argued that the sequence of burials at Barnack reflects the genealogical history of the group which used the site. A series of events emerges, structured primarily by the concept of 'difference', which both retain the unique identities of the buried individuals and form a constructed narrative of society. Similar sequences are evident at other Bronze Age barrows in the east Midlands and elsewhere. Such sites seem to represent our closest approach to the 'embodied experiences' of prehistoric actors.     

National Identity and Consciousness in Everyday Life: Towards a Sociology of Knowledge of Greek-Cypriot Nationalism

Abstract. The concomitants of nationalism and ethnic separation upon Greek-Cypriot consciousness are examined from the perspective of the sociology of knowledge and phenomenological analysis. The focus is upon the perception of Self and the social construction of Greek-Cypriot identity. The issue is examined in light of the ideological contest between Greek nationalism and Cypriotism. Whereas Greek nationalism sets the parameters of ideological orthodoxy and is the dominant force on the level of political consciousness, Cypriotism predominates on the level of everyday consciousness. One key consequence of the ideological class between Greek-Cypriot nationalism and Cypriotism is a structural ambivalence that characterises Greek-Cypriot perceptions of Self and Other. This ambivalence has been one of the main obstacles to the legitimation of an independent Cypriot polity and continues to impede the functional coexistence of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot people on the island.     

英国人的日常生活习俗与环境保护

西方有一个很流行的说法:“挣在美国,住在英国。”意思是说美国商业发达,是一个挣钱的好地方;英国环境优美,是一个享受生活的好地方。英国环境优美,空气清新,大多得益于英国良好的环境保护,而英国良好的环境保护又在很大程度上得益于英国人有利于生态保护的日常生活习俗。一个民族的风俗习惯的形成总是以它特有的自然环境为基础,又反过来影响着它的自然环境。英国是一个小岛国,     

Foxes and Badgers in Anglo-Saxon Life and Landscape

Anglo-Saxon England (c. AD 410–1066) had a diversity of wild animals, yet the majority of studies to date have focused on a select group of species. These include those considered edible, such as roe and red deer (cervids), and those now extinct in England, such as wolves and beavers. Accordingly, the roles and relations of many other wild mammal species have rarely been studied and are poorly understood. This paper explores human perceptions of, and interactions with, two native species: the fox and the badger. By drawing upon archaeological, iconographic, documentary and place-name evidence from the period, the extent to which these animals occupied the minds and lives of people is explored.