‘Handle with care’: literature,archaeology, slavery

This article examines the relationship between literary and bioarchaeological approaches to slavery, and investigates how the methods and priorities of each discipline might inform each other in understanding what it was like to be enslaved. Both bioarchaeologists and creative writers have attempted to access the inner lives of enslaved people, yet there has been little interaction between them. This paper offers an account of a research project which brought together a literary scholar, two archaeological scientists and seven creative writers to explore how writing might not only communicate a history understood through archaeological evidence, but could itself inform approaches to that evidence. We discuss two key themes which emerged from the project: Conversation and Caring. These themes were crucial to the interdisciplinary process, as it was only through attention to our relationships with each other that we could begin to reassess the nature of material in each of our disciplines.     

Journeys to Empire: Enlightenment,Imperialism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904

The English by Geoffrey Elton. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992. Pp. xiii + 248, 37 plates, 8 figures. £19.99 (hardback). ISBN 0–631–17681–0.

Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837 by Linda Colley. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. x + 429, illustrations. £19.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–300–05737–7.

Myths of the English edited by Roy Porter. Oxford: Polity Press, 1992. Pp. xii + 276. £39.50 (hardback). ISBN 0–7456–08442.

The Tudor Navy: An Administrative, Political and Military History by David Loades. (Studies in Naval History) Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1992. Pp. x + 317, maps. £35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–85967–922–5.

The Armada of Flanders: Spanish Maritime Policy and European War, 1568–1668 by R.A. Stradling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xx + 276, maps. £35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–521–40534–3.

Parameters of British Naval Power 1650–1850 edited by Michael Duffy. Exeter Maritime Studies, Number Seven. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1992. Pp. vi + 144. £11.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–85989–385–5.

The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500–1700: A Political and Economic History by Sanjay Subrahmanyam. London and New York: Longman, 1992. Pp. xiii + 320, maps, tables. £14.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–582–05068–5.

Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640 by James C. Boyajian. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. Pp. xvii + 356, maps, tables. £40.50 (hardback). ISBN 0–8018–4405–3.

A World on the Move: The Portuguese in Africa, Asia, and America, 1415–1808 by A.J.R. Russell‐Wood. Manchester: Carcanet, 1992. Pp. xiv + 230, maps, tables, illustrations. £30.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–85635–994–7.

The Spanish Frontier in North America by David J. Weber. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. xx + 579, maps and illustrations. $40.00; £20. ISBN 0–300–05198–0.

The Intellectual Construction of America: Exceptionalism and Identity from 1492 to 1800 by Jack P. Greene. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. Pp.xiv + 216, illustrations. $32.95. ISBN 0–8078–2097–0.

Sojourners in the Sun: Scottish Migrants in Jamaica and the Chesapeake, 1740–1800 by Alan L. Karras. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1992. Pp. xv + 231. $37.95. ISBN 0–8014–2691‐X.

Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People, Volume 1, From Aboriginal Times to the End of Slavery by Michael Craton and Gail Saunders. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1992. Pp. xxiii + 455, maps, illustrations. $60.00. ISBN 0–8203–1382–3.

Making the Empire Work: London and American Interest Groups 1690 to 1790 by Alison Gilbert Olson. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv + 261. £31.95. ISBN 0–674–54318–1.

The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific by Gananath Obeyesekere. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992. Pp. xvii + 251. ISBN 0–691–05680–3.

Women Against Slavery: The British Campaigns, 1780–1870 by Clare Midgley. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. xii + 281, illustrations. £37.50. ISBN 0–415–06669–7.

Religion and Society in Post‐Emancipation Jamaica by Robert J. Stewart. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992. Pp. xxi + 254, maps and illustrations. $42.50 (hardback); $19.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–87049–749–9.

Poverty Abounding Charity Aplenty: The Charity Network in Colonial Victoria by R.A. Cage. Sydney: Hale &; Iremonger, 1992. Pp. 190. $A35 (hardback); $A17.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–86806–437–8; 0–86806–438–6.

Muslims and Missionaries in Pre‐Mutiny India by Avril Ann Powell. London: Curzon Press, 1993. pp. ix + 339, maps. £30. ISBN 0–7007–021–5.

The Light of Nature and the Law of God: Antislavery in Ontario 1833–1877 by Allen P. Stouffer. Montreal and Kingston: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1992. Pp. xvi + 273. $34.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–7735–0918–6.

Science and the Canadian Arctic: A Century of Exploration 1818–1918 by Trevor H. Levere. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Pp. xiv + 438, map, illustrations and photographs. £40.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–521–41933–6.

The Voyages of the Discovery: The Illustrated History of Scott's Ship by Ann Savours. London: Virgin, 1992. Pp. xvi + 384, maps, illustrations. £25.00 (hardback). ISBN 1–852227–117–5.

People and Empires in African History; Essays in Memory of Michael Crowder edited by J.F. Ade Ajayi and J.D.Y. Peel. London: Longman, 1992. Pp. xxv + 254, maps. £36.00. ISBN 0–582–08997–2.

Frontiers: The Epic of South Africa's Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People by Noël Mostert. London: Jonathan Cape, 1992. Pp. xxix + 1,355, maps. £25 (hardback). ISBN 0–224–03325–5.

Occasional Papers on the Irish in South Africa by Donald H. Akenson. Grahams‐town: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Occasional Papers Series, 1991. Pp. 95, figures and tables. R22. ISBN 0–86810–202–5.

The Irish in Southern Africa 1795–1910 edited by Donal P. McCracken. Durban: University of Durban‐Westville, 1992. Pp. 290, maps, tables and illustrations.

Threads of Solidarity: Women in South African Industry, 1900–1980 by Iris Berger. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press; London: James Currey, 1992. Pp. xiv + 369. £35 (hardback); £11.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–8525–5078–2; 0–8525–5077–4.

The Scattering Time: Turkana Responses to Colonial Rule by John Lamphear. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. Pp. xxiii + 308, maps. £ 40.00. ISBN 019–820226–1.

Strike Across the Empire: The Seamen's Strike of 1925 in Britain, South African and Australasia by Baruch Hirson and Lorraine Vivian. London: Clio Publications, 1992. Pp. v + 117. £5.0 (paperback). ISBN 1–897640–00–5.

National Crisis and National Government: British Politics, the Economy and Empire, 1926–1932 by Philip Williamson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xvii + 569. £60. ISBN 0–521–36137–0.

Trade, Tariffs and Empire: Lancashire and British Policy in India 1919–1939 by Basudev Chatterji. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv + 521. Rs. 610; £25.00. ISBN 0–19–562815–2.

The Mystic Life of Alfred Deakin by Al Gabay. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. 208. £30.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–521–41494–6.

Woman Suffrage in Australia: A Gift or a Struggle? by Audrey Oldfield. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Pp. xiv + 263. £35.00 (hardback); £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–40380–4; 0–521–4361–7.

Robert Menzies’ Forgotten People by Judith Brett. London: Macmillan, 1993. Pp. xi + 318. £14.99. ISBN 333–592–859.

L'Afrique noire française: l'heure des Indépendances edited by Charles‐Robert Ageron and Marc Michel. Paris: CNRS Editions, 1992. Pp. 728.

The Internationalization of Colonialism: Britain, France, and Black Africa, 1939–1956 by John Kent. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. Pp. viii + 365. £45. ISBN 0–19–820302–0.

The Political Inheritance of Pakistan edited by D.A. Low. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. vii + 292. £45 (hardback). ISBN 0–333–524373.

Broken Waves: A History of the Fiji Islands in the Twentieth Century by Brij V. Lai. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992. Pp. xxii + 404, maps, tables, illustrations. $38.00. ISBN 0–8248–1418–5.     

Atoms,apartheid, and the agency: South Africa's relations with the IAEA, 1957–1995

A founder member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), South Africa embarked on an ambitious nuclear weapons programme contrary to the IAEA Statute. Against the background of the Cold War, South Africa's threat perception included, amongst others, threats posed by the Soviet Union, which was a nuclear-armed state and a supporter of the banned South African liberation movements. Moreover, the South African government's apartheid policies resulted in the country's increased international isolation, which also affected its relations with the IAEA. A major global campaign to isolate the apartheid government in South Africa spilt over to the IAEA, resulting in several punitive actions against South Africa. Tracing the South African case through several phases, this article illustrates the intimate links between state identity, state ideology, nationalism, status, and threat perception. The South African case illustrates the need for sustained scholarship on all the dimensions of the Cold War.     

Brief History of Tibet＇s Cutled-up Dragon Stamps, London Edition, with Affixed Revenue

In order to unify the nationwide postage,in 1909(the first year of Emperor Xuantong‘s reign) the Qing Dynasty sent Deng Weibing, a postal patrol official, to Tibet from Beijing to make preparations for the launch of Tibetan postage. In igio(the second year of Emperor Xuantong‘s reign), the Qing Dynasty set up a postal head office in Lhasa,     

Who identifies with the “Russian World”? Geopolitical attitudes in southeastern Ukraine,Crimea, Abkhazia,South Ossetia,and Transnistria

Abstract

The concept of the Russian world (Russkii mir) re-entered geopolitical discourse after the end of the Soviet Union. Though it has long historical roots, the practical definition and geopolitical framing of the term has been debated and refined in Russian political and cultural circles during the years of the Putin presidency. Having both linguistic-cultural and geopolitical meanings, the concept of the Russian world remains controversial, and outside Russia it is often associated with Russian foreign policy actions. Examination of official texts from Vladimir Putin and articles from three Russian newspapers indicate complicated and multifaceted views of the significance and usage of the Russkii mir concept. Surveys in December 2014 in five sites on the fringes of Russia – in southeastern Ukraine, Crimea, and three Russian-supported de facto states (Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria) – show significant differences between the Ukrainian sample points and the other locations about whether respondents believe that they live in the Russian world. In Ukraine, nationality (Russian vs. Ukrainian) is aligned with the answers, while overall, attitudes toward Russian foreign policy, level of trust in the Russian president, trust of Vladimir Putin, and liking Russians are positively related to beliefs about living in the Russian world. In Ukraine, the negative reactions to geopolitical speech acts and suspicions about Russian government actions overlap with and confuse historical linguistic-cultural linkages with Russia, but in the other settings, close security and economic ties reinforce a sense of being in the Russian “world.”     

‘Globalization with hardware’: ITER’s fusion of technology,policy, and politics

This article explores the history of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a fusion energy megaproject currently being built in southern France. It examines three main aspects of the project’s history, focusing largely on the European research community’s perspective. First, it explores how European scientists and science managers constructed a transnational research community around fusion energy after 1960 that was part of Europe’s larger technological integration. This article also expands Gabrielle Hecht’s concept of ‘technopolitics’ to the larger international dimension and explores how the political environment of the late Cold War and the post‐9/11 era helped shape ITER’s history, sometimes in ways not entirely within researchers’ control. Finally, this essay considers ITER as a technological project that gradually became globalized. At various stages in the project’s 30‐year history, we discover processes whereby national borders became less important while social, economic, legal and technological linkages created a shared social space for fusion research on an expanding scale.     

Flirting with Neutrality: The Shah,Khrushchev, and the Failed 1959 Soviet–Iranian Negotiations

Despite the Eisenhower administration's strong support for the Pahlavi monarchy, tensions simmered under the surface of Mohammad Reza Shah's relationship with the United States throughout the 1950s. Following the Qarani coup attempt and the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958, the shah sought to diminish the Soviet threat to his regime and reduce his dependence on the United States by exploring Moscow's offer of a non-aggression treaty. Drawing on American, British, and Iranian sources, this article provides the first detailed history of these secret Soviet–Iranian negotiations that ended in disastrous failure for the shah in February 1959.     

Talking to the Muslim world: how,and with whom?

The struggle against terrorism in the Middle East, and the success of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in its use of social media to spread its ideas, has led to a search for new messages to counter the appeal of violent extremists. Thus far, United States counter‐messaging has failed to articulate a normative position that is compelling to its target audiences. The US has also not found an effective way to speak to and with other parts of the Muslim world. The article shows that these failures are not accidental but reflect profound factors in American culture and society. The US’ normative position has also failed to take into account the crucial differences between ‘liberals’ and ‘moderates’ in the Muslim world. To proceed one must acknowledge that there are two fundamentally different interpretations of Islam, both of which are supported by a close reading of the Qur’an and other major texts. To draw on that difference, the article shows, requires drawing on voices and resources not available in the US. The article proposes a way forward that both acknowledges the inherent weaknesses and liabilities of the US government as a messenger and points to more credible messengers within the Muslim world.     

“Intellectually Promiscuous”: An Interview with Linda Hutcheon (Konstanz,September 19, 2013)

Linda Hutcheon, University Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, was the University of Konstanz’s choice to give the prestigious Wolfgang Iser lecture in September 2013, which simultaneously opened that year’s annual convention of the German Anglistenverband (organized by Silvia Mergenthal and Reingard M. Nischik). Within this framework, Linda Hutcheon spoke to me about the development of various strands of thought in her impressive body of work—encompassing nine monographs, several collaborative books, and literally hundreds of articles and book chapters. We discussed the importance of crossing borders between disciplines, media, and nations, as well as of positioning oneself as a reader and critic. Other topics included her own intellectual background in comparative literature, in Canadian Studies, and in her more recent interdisciplinary projects on opera; recent developments in and since postmodernism; and the interconnections within her work on various practices of repetition with a difference, whether seen as postmodern, as parody, or as adaptation.     

Translational Public Archaeology? Archaeology,Social Benefit,and Working with offenders in Wales (Part 2)

This article reports on a second case study in the relationship between archaeology and social benefit through working with young offenders in Wales. Whereas a previous article (Pudney, 2018), focused on the MORTARIA project — an archaeological education project engaging adult offenders in South Wales — this study explores the distinctive methods and challenges faced by the subsequent Heritage Graffiti Project (HGP). This project encountered similar, but also different, experiences to MORTARIA, involving different skills and technologies, as well as specific artistic engagement with place. The article considers the effectiveness of the HGP before reflecting on the two projects’ shared implications for future, translational public archaeology projects that wish to work with offenders.     

Trace element concentrations in teeth – a modern Idaho baseline with implications for archeometry,forensics, and palaeontology

Concentrations of 69 minor and trace elements were measured in situ using laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry in multiple teeth of modern herbivores (Cervus elaphus, Odocoileus hemionus, Odocoileus virginianus; n = 52), omnivores (Ursus americanus; n = 56), and carnivores (Felis concolor; n = 33; Canis lupus; n = 4) from Idaho, USA. On each tooth, two to five analyses were collected on enamel, primary dentine, and secondary dentine with spot diameters of 30–100 μm. Continuous 30-μm-wide line traverses were collected across deer, elk, and wolf teeth. Results confirm trace element concentrations below 1 ppm for many elements, including Li, Be, transition metals (excepting Mn, Fe and Zn), heavy metals (excepting Hg and Pb), the rare earths, and actinides. Strontium and Ba generally biopurify with increasing trophic level, but Ba shows decreasing discrimination with tissue type in the order secondary dentine – primary dentine – enamel. Most elements show strong zoning within tissues and variable trophic level behavior, so concentrations in omnivores rarely fall between herbivores and carnivores. Trace element mass balance suggests that soil and dust, not food, commonly deliver the largest trace element load in terrestrial carnivores and omnivores, even for elements that biopurify, like Ba. Use of trace elements for inferring past diets are likely compromised by unknown rates of dust and soil ingestion rather than indicating the degree of herbivory and carnivory. The low concentrations of many elements provide multiple sensitive markers of post-burial overprinting that can be used to discriminate altered vs. original biogenic compositions. REE and actinide trends do not directly follow bedrock compositions.     

Unfinished family business. Algernon Sidney’s arguments with Henry Hammond,Sir William Temple,Henry Sidney,Charles II,and the public executioner

Recent work about the life and thought of the republican Algernon Sidney (1623–1683) has emphasised the formative importance of the history, intellectual culture and personal matrix of the Sidney family. This essay underlines the richness of that context by casting new light on a series of key, previously undiscussed themes. These include Sidney’s lifelong relationship with the diplomat Sir William Temple and his family; the origin of his pioneering contribution to restoration resistance theory in an argument with Henry Hammond, one-time rector at Penshurst Place; the extent to which the European diplomatic contest which helped determine England’s political direction between 1679 and 1689 may be understood as a squabble between siblings; and the domestic and family circumstances attending Algernon’s arrest and execution for treason in 1683.     

‘In Accord with British Traditions’: The Rise of Compulsory Religious Education in Ontario,Canada, and Victoria,Australia, 1945–50

This article examines the establishment of legally mandated Protestant training in the Australian state of Victoria and the Canadian province of Ontario. Fearing moral decay at home and a menacing world environment seemingly unfavourable to the ‘British way of life’ in the 1940s, educators asserted that religion, and specifically Protestant Christianity, was the only means by which the moral core of their British democracy could be preserved. The teaching of religious instruction was highly controversial in both places. Supporters of the new curriculum believed the religious courses would strengthen the British identity and moral backbone of the Canadian and Australian nations, while opponents argued that imposing religion in the classroom was antithetical to British ideals of freedom and toleration. Educators struggled to reconcile these divergent views on how religion fitted into a wider British identity, and the resulting tension exposed the points of ethnic and cultural fracture that undermined the credibility of Britishness after 1950. The very efforts to impose a unifying sense of Britishness were so controversial and problematic that they ultimately required an alternative understanding of what it meant to be a citizen of Ontario or Victoria.