CULTURAL AND SOCIAL DISCONNECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF A CHANGED PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

The context of the study was provided by the enforced relocation of an old coal mining community in the UK and describes the changes that were experienced by relocatees. The study is longitudinal in design over a six year period and this article is based on the qualitative part of the study. The old village had consisted of five straight rows of terraced houses whereas the new village was built in a curvilinear design with additional housing, occupying a much larger space. Reduced visual access to others not only diminished a sense of connectedness but also restricted an information flow which had been part of the functioning of the previous community, leaving indigenous participants with a sense of isolation. This unwanted isolation diluted the previous collective identity and weakened social support. In addition, an abrupt change in the community's socio‐cultural patterns occurred and previously learned privacy mechanisms were found to be inappropriate in the new setting. New values, priorities, lifestyles and overt materialism were evident and the data suggest that the earlier mostly collective functioning of the community had been replaced by individual functioning. It is proposed that spatial aspects provide constraints and opportunities for different behaviour patterns, highlighting the crucial importance of the physical environment and illustrating the essentially dynamic relationship between person, group and place.     

A real options approach to amenity valuation: The role of uncertainty and risk aversion

Many empirical studies in the fields of urban and environmental economics rely on the hedonic pricing framework. This paper draws attention to two important elements that are not covered by this theory: uncertainty and relocation costs. It develops a theoretical model where agents face uncertainty, but may accumulate savings as a form of self‐insurance. It shows that uncertainty pushes up relocation costs due to the option value of waiting, while self‐insurance helps to reduce this lock‐in problem. Moreover, the model suggests that the implicit price of environmental quality increases with uncertainty even if agents are risk‐neutral.     

The ‘voices’ of children: de‐centring empowering research relations

This paper examines some problematic methodological and ethical issues associated with in‐depth qualitative research with children. The discussion has wider resonance for qualitative studies of young people in ‘rural’ contexts. Particular ethical issues arise when researching with children, which are underpinned by children's relative powerlessness in society. With this in mind, the paper considers substantive strategies to promote ‘empowering research relations’, drawing upon an empirical study with children in primary school spaces. Re‐theorisations of identities and power as fractured, dynamic and contextual, suggest that research is comprised of specific moments or ‘research performances’. It is argued that developing empowering research relations involves negotiating such performances in ways that contest, or transform, dominant societal relations between children and adults. In this paper, I consider some of the specific, embodied performances involved in my research, to expose some of the complexities of power relations and negotiations within space. Bringing to light particular moments emphasises that power relations between children and adults are not reducible to the powerless and the powerful. It is also demonstrated that research performances are influenced and constrained by expectations placed upon adult and child practices in society and institutional spaces, and by researchers' own unconscious reproduction of dominant identities.     

Research and Rhetoric on Women in Papua New Guinea's Village Courts

This paper addresses a recent and popular rhetoric in academic literature that women are discriminated against, often in the name of ‘custom‘, in the male‐dominated village courts of Papua New Guinea. The rhetoric is interrogated with reference to academic research findings and reports since the early days of the legislatively introduced village court system, and to data from the author's own research in recent years. On the basis of these two sources, it is argued that the evidence does not support the rhetoric, and further that the latter does less than justice to grassroots women in Papua New Guinea by portraying them as relatively passive victims of village courts. On the contrary, fieldwork research findings indicate that women are confident and reasonably successful disputants and that village courts are a community‐level resource which is becoming increasingly useful for grassroots women with limited avenues for seeking justice and recompense.     

The Cost of a Commute: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Osteoarthritis in New Kingdom Egypt

This article evaluates rates of osteoarthritis of the lower limb in human remains from Deir el‐Medina in order to compare the health of the residents of Deir el‐Medina with previous studies on other ancient Egyptian and Nubian populations. This study focuses on osteological observations from the commingled New Kingdom human remains documented during the 2012–2014 field seasons of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. This is the first publication of osteoarthritis for the human remains at Deir el‐Medina, a dataset which complements comparable populations at sites such as Amarna, Giza, and Tombos. It demonstrates that men in the village of Deir el‐Medina experienced significantly higher rates of osteoarthritis in the ankle and knee in comparison to women at Deir el‐Medina. Rates of osteoarthritis in the lower limb at Deir el‐Medina generally fall between workers' cemeteries and middle‐class or elite cemeteries. This study also includes data from Deir el‐Medina's detailed textual record and intact landscape in order to determine how occupation influenced these higher rates of osteoarthritis. The duration, intensity, and frequency of the workmen's hikes are reconstructed based on the surrounding landscape and 42 texts recording work days. This study compares rates of osteoarthritis with these datasets in order to document how the strain, duration, and frequency of the workmen's hikes may have impacted overall rates of osteoarthritis. Consequently, data from the texts and landscape surrounding Deir el‐Medina not only corroborate osteoarthritis patterns, but offer detailed daily life activity which can be used as a comparison for broader studies on osteoarthritis in ancient and modern populations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why Are Clovis Fluted Points More Resilient than Non‐Fluted Lanceolate Points? A Quantitative Assessment of Breakage Patterns Between Experimental Models

For decades, archaeologists have wondered whether the Clovis Palaeoindian (c.11 600–10 800 radiocarbon years bp ) practice of ‘fluting’, a flake removal technique that creates a distinctive shallow channel extending from the base of the projectile point towards the tip, bestowed a functional advantage over non‐fluted projectile points. Using analytical modelling and static engineering experiments, Thomas et al. (2017) found that points that more effectively redistribute stress and relocate damage can absorb significantly more energy, last longer and remain intact relative to points that do not experience these phenomena. In general, stress redistribution and damage relocation is significantly more likely to occur in fluted points, as opposed to non‐fluted points, suggesting that fluting acts as a ‘shock absorber’. Here, we present a comparative quantitative assessment of breakage patterns between Thomas et al.’s (2017) experimental points that shows those experiencing stress redistribution and damage relocation were also able to significantly better resist breakage, and to incur non‐catastrophic breaks, than points that less effectively redistribute stress and relocate damage. This more beneficial breakage pattern explains the material advantages provided by stress redistribution and damage relocation, and hence the potential motivation for fluting. This does not preclude the possibility that the process of fluting was accorded significance beyond its possible utilitarian value. Additional tests will be necessary to further resolve the ‘shock‐absorbing’ capabilities of fluting.     

Historical Cross-Border Relocations in the Pacific: Lessons for Planned Relocations in the Context of Climate Change

ABSTRACT

Perennial discussions arise about relocating whole Pacific Island communities because of the impacts of climate change. The relocation of Pacific communities to other countries is generally assumed to be a novel, futuristic idea. Yet in the mid-20th century, three such cross-border movements in the Pacific occurred, with at least another three mooted but not carried out. This paper focuses principally on the 1945 Banaban relocation from present-day Kiribati to Fiji but makes some comparisons with the movement of Vaitupuans from Tuvalu to Fiji in 1947. Research draws on interviews conducted in Fiji and Kiribati in 2012 and 2013; official records housed in the national archives of Kiribati, Fiji and the UK; and the colonial records of the Western Pacific High Commission, held in New Zealand.     

Following the Money: Corruption,Conflict, and the Winners and Losers of Suburban Land Acquisition in China

Land acquisition in suburban China is not merely the administrative means through which land is transferred from collectively owned rural land to state‐owned urban land; it is also a process of unlawful profit grabbing by rent‐seeking stakeholders. This licentiousness has been the source of intense controversy in recent years, becoming a major source of social unrest in contemporary China. Although standards of compensation are legally governed by strict policies, these standards are rarely followed as prescribed. As a result, we know very little about how revenue from land acquisition is shared in practice. This is because, as a contentious political issue rife with corrupt practices, accurate data are extremely difficult to obtain. This paper aims to address this vast empirical gap by tracing the flow of profit proliferation and distribution in a land acquisition case, using a suburban village in Shandong province, China, as an example. To expedite the drawn‐out acquisition process, the local government permits the corrupt behaviour of the village party secretary, who exploits his position to amass a great personal fortune. In contrast to previous research, which emphasises low compensation standards or excessive profit grabbing by local government, we find that villagers' protests are triggered by the corrupt practices of the village party secretary.     

Resettlement,Rights to Development and the Ilisu Dam,Turkey

A cursory attempt to measure the extent of displacement over the past two decades indicates significant increases in conflict‐induced displacement and displacement resulting from development projects. At the same time a growing opposition to the latter form of displacement has raised questions over its legitimacy through a variety of media, including public campaigns and protests. This article focuses on some of the challenges that this presents to the displacement and resettlement discourse. In particular it considers the influences of the rights to development agenda on the spatial context of displacement and its associated economic and political changes. There appears to be a disjuncture between the practices of mainstream development, which tend to interpret development policy as it is defined and applied by a nation state and to assess inequalities within clear geographical definitions, and the universality of a rights based approach to development. This article examines these tensions in the context of displacement and resettlement management, drawing on evidence from a case study of the Ilisu dam in South East Anatolia, Turkey.     

An inevitable transition: the erosion of traditional vernacular building forms in the Alpujarras,southern Spain

This paper examines continuity and change within the domestic architecture of the village of Laroles in the Alpujarras region of southern Spain. The distinctive characteristics of this typological form are identified and the principal features of change at the level of the individual building are surveyed. It is argued that change in the architectonic details of houses within the village is inevitable but that such changes do not necessarily lead to the loss of a distinctive type of building and they may be considered to be a necessary consequence of the natural evolution of vernacular architecture. However, some recent developments give significant cause for concern as, although superficially similar to traditional typologies, in reality they amount to a different typological form and are frequently merely a pastiche of the original type. In addition to the issue of visual landscape change, traditional vernacular architecture is a source of continuity and meaning and the erosion of this form represents a threat to identity and the long-established basis of communal life.     

Interregional Wage Disparities, Relocation Costs, and Labor Mobility in Canada

This paper evaluates possible reasons why interregional wage differences might persist over long periods of time, such as a century or more. A general equilibrium model of interacting regions is developed which can consider explanations including interregional differences in production costs, changes in relocation (migration) costs, and differences in interregional transfer payments. Implications from the model are tested using panel microdata from the Canadian Labour Market Activity Surveys of 1989 and 1990. Key findings are that younger, better educated, native English-speaking workers, who presumably have better information and lower mobility costs, appear to have the smallest interregional wage differences. Thus, because the extent of spatial wage dispersion varies across workers with different characteristics, changes in the pattern of spatial wage disparities over time may be in part a demographic phenomenon.     

In‐Situ Marginalisation: Social Impact of Chinese Mega‐Projects

This study offers a detailed analysis of an under‐researched social problem of in‐situ marginalisation and its causes by drawing on the concept of state entrepreneurialism. Our empirical data stem from the Lingang mega project in Shanghai and one of its neighbourhoods named Neighbourhood No.57 where we find that the residents have not been relocated but are instead suffering from declining public services and environmental quality from surrounding industrial developments. The root cause of this problem is the municipal government’s prioritisation of its strategic objectives of economic development over the livelihood of local residents. The strategic vision of the municipality has led to mass relocation in its early phases of development but in its later stages leaves many residents waiting for relocation whilst being gradually surrounded by industrial developments. Despite continued residential complaints and petitions, in‐situ marginalisation is not resolved due to the institutional arrangement of Lingang, which has centralised planning and financing powers to newly created project‐oriented state organisation. Social responsibilities have been relegated to lower‐tiered governments in Lingang which have neither planning power nor the financial resources to resolve the problems of residents. By examining the case of Lingang, this paper provides a different analytical framework for explaining the social problems emerging from China’s mega urban developments.     

Exclusion and Counter‐exclusion: The Struggle over Shrimp Farming in a Coastal Village in Bangladesh

This article explores the processes whereby control over land and water is exercised in the context of commercial shrimp cultivation in coastal Bangladesh. The authors draw on the insight that the exercise of control over resources implies both inclusion for some and exclusion for others, and that shifting the boundary between the two involves the deployment of four interacting ‘powers of exclusion’ — regulation, the market, force and legitimation — the effectiveness of which depends on specific historical conjunctures. The article uses a case study of a village in Khulna District to explore: (a) the processes by which poor farmers were excluded from their land by large shrimp farmers; (b) the ways in which villagers experienced the changes in land use and social relations associated with the shrimp boom; and (c) the conjunction of internal and external factors that enabled smallholders to collectively mobilize to reverse their exclusion from the land. Understanding these messy and contingent processes of exclusion and counter‐exclusion helps to inform strategies aimed at securing the property rights and livelihoods of the rural poor.     

INTERDEPENDENT BEHAVIOR WITH RELOCATION COSTS: THE COMPARATIVE STATICS OF SPATIAL HISTORY*

Relocation costs are a form of sunk costs because they are relevant to new entrants, not to agents at their existing locations. With sufficiently high relocation costs, initial (historically given) locations and other conditions determine the equilibrium assignment of agents to locations. Comparative static results depend on initial conditions, i.e., history matters and historical persistence can be characterized. The model suggests empirically-relevant results which can be tested by collecting data on relocation and transportation costs. For example, appropriate levels of these costs imply that suburbanization always occurs with the entry of new firms. Sequential entry strategies may be adopted by existing firms which earn pure profits. This may be contrasted with traditional NUE models which predict changes in the boundaries of central zones.     

Spondylolysis in non‐adult skeletons excavated from a medieval rural archaeological site in England

Spondylolysis is studied in a large series of non‐adult skeletons, ranging in age at death from 28 weeks gestation to 18 years old, from the deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy. The aim is to shed light on the age of occurrence of the lesion. Among those with complete lumbar spines, the prevalence of spondylolysis is 0.7%. The prevalence in adults from this group is 12% with no age patterning. Age of occurrence of spondylolysis in this population is inferred generally to be during late adolescent or early adult life. This contrasts with a published study of a modern reference group, unselected for activity patterns or medical complaints, which reported that in most cases spondylolytic defects had already formed by 6 years of age. The Wharram Percy group appeared to resemble rather more the pattern seen today in those involved in strenuous activities, such as competitive sports, both in the relatively late age of occurrence of defects and in the eventual high prevalence. This may be consistent with the observation that, during adolescence, individuals in medieval rural communities were beginning to take on adult tasks which would have been physically strenuous. However, it is unclear why individuals from Wharram Percy did not also form defects in early childhood as modern children appear to. A late age of occurrence appears consistent with published data which suggest a paucity of cases in non‐adults in British archaeological populations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

UPWARDS,OUTWARDS AND WESTWARDS: RELOCATION OF ETHNIC MINORITY GROUPS IN THE OSLO REGION

Our purpose in this article is to examine socio‐economic and spatial integration of ethnic minorities in the Oslo region. We analyse relocation between 1998 and 2008 for members of ten minority groups along three overlapping dimensions: upwards in the neighbourhood hierarchy, outwards from the inner city to all suburbs, and westwards from a less affluent to a more affluent part of the region. The results provide some limited support for spatial assimilation theory. Two minority groups, Iranians and Vietnamese, comply partly with the theory. Another group, Filipinos, has stagnated in its socio‐economic and spatial integration. The remaining groups do not relocate in accordance with the native pattern, or fail to integrate in socio‐economic terms. The discrepancy between theory and results is most pronounced along the westward axis. We interpret the results in a broader context of regional and national circumstances: spatial assimilation theory may have different utility in different welfare regimes, depending on spatial inequality and the politics of place.     

Ghwair I: A Small,Complex Neolithic Community in Southern Jordan

Abstract

The past several years have witnessed exciting developments in defining the transition to food production in the Near East. In particula1; the documentation of large mega-sites has caused considerable revision in our comprehension of the trajectory of early Neolithic village life. At the same time, recent excavations at smaller villages have also provided considerable new data. One such site is Ghwair I, a small but exceptionally preserved Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) village located in the Wadi Feinan of southern Jordan.

This paper summarizes the results of interdisciplinary archaeological investigations at Ghwair I, One of the project's primary research objectives was to examine if a “rural” and “turban” (or “core/periphery”) distinction could be made between Ghwair I and mega-sites. Our findings suggest that Ghwair I was not a peripheral village linked to larger sites. Rathe1; it was an unexpectedly complex settlement that may have served as a local regional center. we also sought to precisely define the site's chronology, artifactual variability, village development, and social structure. Our results show that Ghwair I isfirmly dated to the Middle PPNB; that artifactual diversity and variability is considerable, especially amongst chipped and ground stone; that the village became increasingly complex throughout its occupation; and that social o1lJanization was sophisticated as reflected by artifacts, burials and both residential and non-residential architectural features. Finally, initiated an ecologicalstudy to determine if small settlements such as Ghwair I caused the same negative efficts as have been proposed for some larger sites. The evidence here is ambiguous, but does not suggest the same degree of human effict as at larger settlements. This paper concludes with a discussion of Ghwair I's place within the wider Neolithic world.     

Cooked Bones? Method and Practice for Identifying Bones Treated at Low Temperature

Is it possible to determine low‐temperature cooking in archaeological bones? The indirect exposure of bones to fire at low temperature (≤ 100 °C), linked to cooking, produces macroscopic modifications on these bones. These modifications have not been clearly or systematically described previously. Instead, physicochemical changes at nanometric level are only now beginning to be understood. In this paper, our principle aim is to explore new methods and techniques that correlate macroscopic features such as smoothness or light transparency with physicochemical characterization results that could aid towards detecting cooked bones in the archaeological record. This study then selected 11 archaeological samples, both human and non‐human. Bones were considered to be thermally treated or not, on the basis of macroscopic criteria. Complementary characterization techniques were used to study morphology (scanning electron microscopy and small angle X‐ray scattering), structure (X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy), local composition (energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy) and texture (gas adsorption). Indeed, fractal dimension, particle size, crystalline percentage or specific surface area may well explain some of the macroscopically observed modifications on these samples. The possibility that such apparent modifications may also be due to diagenesis is also considered. From an archaeological point of view, the results are promising. Our characterization of human and non‐human bones demonstrates that physicochemical techniques are complementary and provide good criteria against which to distinguish boiled from un‐boiled archaeological samples. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Whose Minerals,Whose Development? Rhetoric and Reality in Post‐Conflict Sierra Leone

Despite boosts in mineral exports, popular post‐conflict minerals‐for‐development reforms in Sierra Leone have failed to significantly reduce poverty. This article uses power as an analytical lens to explore the reasons for this failure, with empirical material from the diamond sector's mining cooperatives scheme (2005), the Diamond Areas Community Development Fund (DACDF), and Kono District. The study shows that there was no significant improvement along four dimensions: material deprivation, education and health, vulnerability, and powerlessness. The authors argue that understanding the impact of these reforms requires a nuanced multi‐scalar examination of power relations, actors, and the social, political, economic and historical context within which mining is embedded. Their findings point to: 1) limits to mineral‐led poverty reduction and the need for realistic expectations and diversification of livelihood opportunities; and 2) the need for interventions that balance power asymmetries and the way that power is exercised among diverse actors, wherein decentralization offers early hope.     

FIRM HETEROGENEITY,MULTIPLANT CHOICE,AND AGGLOMERATION

We examine the organization and location choice of heterogeneous firms in a two‐region economy. When some high‐productivity firms engage in multiplant production, a reduction in transport costs causes two changes in a small region: the closure of plants by high‐productivity multiplant firms and the relocation of low‐productivity single‐plant firms to the region. In the presence of high‐productivity multiplant firms, therefore, a decline in transport costs reinforces the spatial sorting of firms by productivity, enlarging the productivity gap between large and small regions. Conversely, reducing investment costs weakens the spatial sorting effects on regional productivity disparities.