A Blaze in the Northern Sky: Black Metal and Crimes Against Culture

Abstract

This paper focuses on an act that can be seen to typify what heritage organizations might con?dently describe as a ‘crime against culture’: the deliberate destruction by ?re of a twelfth-century wooden stave church at Fantoft in Norway in 1992. This paper uses the case study of Fantoft to challenge the ways in which heritage organizations (in this case Norway’s Directorate of Cultural Heritage) establish and protect mono-cultural narratives and push interpretative agendas predicated on an uncritical concept of universal ‘value’ and its equation with material authenticity. It also examines how distinct minority communities construct new meanings, values, and traditions without reference to institutional narratives, a process that, whilst arguably initiating a more meaningful dialogue with the past, brings in train a new set of problems.     

Globalisation of R&D: the Indian experience and implications for developing countries

Abstract

Recently some concerns have been raised about the possibility that a high energy ion–ion colliding beam experiment such as the one which has just begun at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA, or a similar one that is planned to begin some years hence at CERN in Geneva, might have cataclysmic consequences, hypothetically amounting to the disappearance of planet earth, although the probability of this happening is of course tiny. In the first part of this paper a review is presented of the motivations for such concerns and of the extent to which they have been studied, and in the context of this treatment the appeasing conclusions of the published studies are examined. In the second part, and in the light of the above example, a brief analysis is provided of some scientific, ethical, political, and sociological issues raised by the dangers associated with human endeavours which might entail a tiny probability of an utterly catastrophic outcome – with special emphasis on related responsibilities of the scientific and technological communities.

First Commandment for experimental physicists: ‘Thou shalt put error bars on all observations.’

First Commandment for theoretical physicists: ‘Thou shall get the sign right.’¹     

Rotten to the core: Against a core curriculum for geography in UK higher education

Abstract

This paper examines some of the main reasons why a core curriculum for UK higher education is seen as being desirable, and challenges these arguments with particular reference to geography. It suggests that a core curriculum would be damaging for six main reasons: that problems exist over the identification of central elements which could provide the basis of a core; that the higher education experience should be enlightening rather than dehumanising; that the strength of geography as a very broad discipline would be damaged by the imposition of a core; that much of the most exciting geographical ‘knowledge’ is created at the research frontier rather than in any potential core; that there are problems over the choice of people who might determine any core; and that there are serious questions over precisely in whose interests a core might be created.     

The Hand-Pump Flotation System: A New Method for Archaeobotanical Recovery

Abstract

At the sites of Acquachiara in Italy, el-Hemmeh in Jordan, and Beisamoun in Israel, archaeobotanical recovery was accomplished using flotation systems powered by hand-pumps, as opposed to non-circulating systems or systems powered by electricity or gasoline. These flotation tanks were simple and inexpensive to construct, easily operated by a single individual, highly durable, and easily transported. The speed of water flow was both ample and could be controlled without difficulty. These systems had the capacity to process samples at a rate sufficient to keep pace with large-scale sampling programs at all three sites. In three case studies, we describe two tanks that recycle water and one that does not, list the parts and procedures necessary to construct a hand-pump system, and detail the results of a recovery test that demonstrates the efficacy of this technique. The type of flotation tank described would be appropriate for a range of research projects with various resource constraints, enabling substantial paleoethnobotanical data collection with only a minimal initial investment of time and money.     

Democracy without Certainty: Derek Malone-France and the Virtue of Anxiety

Abstract

Globalization rocks the world, perhaps even rules it. Whatever the perception, the impact it has on the world's population means it cannot be ignored. A recent development has been the introduction of religious terminology into the debate about the phenomenon. Some commentators have described globalization itself as a ‘new religion’; others refer to new gods, and to the concepts of redemption, salvation and sacrifice. This paper picks up the religious theme by analyzing and critiquing globalization in terms analogous to Christianity. It then assesses the November 2001 meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Doha, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) gathering in Ottawa—which were taking place at the time of writing and were the first such meetings after the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001. A final section considers 9/11 and how the idea of countering terror with trade might work in practice.     

To Swear or Not to Swear?: Britain,Southeast Asia and the Attempt to Reform the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 1964–1971

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to explore the British government’s perception of the role of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as a method of strengthening cohesion amongst the Commonwealth community, and in particular delves into the constitutional and diplomatic challenges that the British government faced in its attempt to utilise the Judicial Committee in order to maintain close ties with its former Southeast Asian colonies in the 1960s. Suggestions were made by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Privy Council Office from the mid-1960s that newly-independent republics such as Singapore and Malaysia should be allowed to send its citizens to London as members of the Judicial Committee in order to dilute the prejudice against the Committee as a remnant of colonial rule. However, the proposals were rejected by the Lord Chancellor’s Office on the grounds that Asian judges were of insufficient calibre to sit as members of the Judicial Committee, and that citizens of republics were unable to swear an oath of loyalty to the British monarch as was required for all Privy Counsellors. The Privy Council Office were of the opinion that a new system could be introduced whereby the Judicial Committee member would not have to be a fully-fledged Privy Counsellor and therefore would not have to swear the oath, while the Commonwealth Secretariat put forward its argument that Asian judges were good enough to ensure standards of the Judicial Committee would not be lowered. However, the Lord Chancellor’s Office argued that such non-Privy Counsellors would only be ‘second-class’ constituents of the Judicial Committee whose rulings would be unacceptable to countries such as Australia and instead proposed the creation of a Commonwealth Court of Appeal which the Foreign Office deemed unrealistic. In the end, no judges from the Asian republics were allowed sit on the Judicial Committee, resulting in Malaysia and Singapore abolishing their appeals to the Judicial Committee in 1984 and 1994 respectively.     

Computer Use in Pottery Studies at Aphrodisias

Abstract

This article is intended primarily for archaeologists who may know little about computers, but suspect that the computer might be useful to them in their research. The emphasis is on the application of the computer to ceramics at the site of Aphrodisias, Turkey, where this system of field recording has evolved. The excavations at Aphrodisias have unearthed a relatively continuous stratigraphic sample of pottery from the Chalcolithic through to the Roman and Byzantine periods. This rich and varied corpus of material culture is now being analyzed with the aid of the computer. This article familiarizes the reader with the problems, methodology, and computer mechanics used to retrieve these data and shows how such a system can be used when a direct tie-up with a computer is impossible.     

“Who teaches,learns”: writing groups in geographical education

Abstract

The ability to communicate is acknowledged by employers to be a valuable attribute of a university graduate. That ability is also vital in fulfilling geography discipline objectives of mutual understanding and emancipation. Writing groups have been used in geography departments in Australia and the USA as a means of improving student skills in written communication as well as to stimulate positive attitudes to writing, intellectual growth and rhetorical skills. From the point of view of teachers, writing groups were employed to fulfil pedagogic objectives and to free up time for instructional improvements and other academic business. This paper outlines the rationale for using writing groups in geography courses, means by which they might be applied, and their merits and shortcomings.     

Missile defence and the transatlantic security relationship

This article examines the re-emergence of ballistic missile defence (BMD) as a contentious issue in US-European security relations since 1999. It begins by outlining three phases in the recent evolution of US missile defence policy from 1995 to mid-2001. The article then examines five key factors that have dominated European views and concerns in relation to BMD: a divergence between European and American assessments of the emerging ballistic missile threat; concern over the implications for nuclear arms control stemming from Russian and Chinese opposition to BMD; the impact of missile defence on deterrence and the Atlantic alliance; scepticism about the technological feasibility of BMD; and the potential opportunity costs associated with resource allocation to missile defence. It is shown that European anxieties have been exacerbated by a perception of a growing unilateralism in American security policy in recent years. The article proceeds by arguing that the US-European debate over BMD looks set to evolve in one of two directions. The more likely and most desirable scenario would involve the US reaching an understanding with its European allies on the way forward. The less desirable scenario would involve key European countries, such as France and Germany, deciding ultimately to withhold their political support for BMD, which would have the potential of causing significant rifts in both transatlantic and intra-European security relations. In both cases, it is argued that the BMD debate will be defined by the interaction of several key variables. These include the extent to which the Bush administration engages in meaningful consultations with the Europeans; the administration's ability or otherwise to reach an agreement with Russia on the way ahead; the architecture options of a future allied or global BMD system; the related issues of technological feasibility and financial cost; and the evolving missile threat.     

The vigorous and doux soldier: David Hume’s military defence of commerce

ABSTRACT

If war is an inevitable condition of human nature, as David Hume suggests, then what type of societies can best protect us from defeat and conquest? For David Hume, commerce decreases the relative cost of war and promotes technological military advances as well as martial spirit. Commerce therefore makes a country militarily stronger and better equipped to protect itself against attacks than any other kind of society. Hume does not assume commerce would yield a peaceful world nor that commercial societies would be militarily weak, as many contemporary scholars have argued. On the contrary, for him, military might is a beneficial consequence of commerce.     

A cultural justice approach to popular music heritage in deindustrialising cities

ABSTRACT

Deindustrialisation contributes to significant transformations for local communities, including rising unemployment, poverty and urban decay. Following the ‘creative city’ phenomenon in cultural policy, deindustrialising cities across the globe have increasingly turned to arts, culture and heritage as strategies for economic diversification and urban renewal. This article considers the potential role that popular music heritage might play in revitalising cities grappling with industrial decline. Specifically, we outline how a ‘cultural justice approach’ can be used within critical heritage studies to assess the benefits and drawbacks of such heritage initiatives. Reflecting on examples from three deindustrialising cities – Wollongong, Australia; Detroit, USA; and Birmingham, UK – we analyse how popular music heritage can produce cultural justice outcomes in three key ways: practices of collection, preservation and archiving; curation, storytelling and heritage interpretation; and mobilising communities for collective action.     

War and Place: Landscapes of Conflict and Destruction in Prehistory

Abstract

The concept of place has rarely been applied to the archaeological study of warfare. Given that cultural landscapes embody meaning, however, the idea that places can be the focus of competition makes it evident that they can also shape associated conflict. As archaeologists move toward a more nuanced study of conflict in the past, such considerations will take on increasing importance, although as of yet most such studies are heavily reliant on textual sources and overtly symbolic material culture. This paper presents a case study from Burnt Corn Pueblo, in the Galisteo Basin, New Mexico, USA, and argues that evidence for conflict there at the beginning of the 13th century CE can be usefully interpreted through Ancestral Pueblo concepts of place.     

Stable isotope insights (δ18O, δ13C) into cattle and sheep husbandry at Bercy (Paris,France, 4th millennium BC): birth seasonality and winter leaf foddering

Abstract

Bercy is a prehistoric village sited by the Seine river (Paris, France), whose main period of occupation was dated to the very beginning of the 4th millennium BC. The animal subsistence economy relied heavily on cattle husbandry, complemented by other species including sheep. Cattle and sheep isotopic history (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O) was investigated at the seasonal scale, through sequential sampling in tooth enamel, providing new insights into seasonality of birth and diet. Sheep were lambing in mid-spring, only slightly later than expected from what is observed nowadays in temperate Europe at similar latitude. Cattle were born over a period spanning approximately six months, which was an unexpected result compared with a two to three months calving period in free-ranging cattle populations. The extension of the calving period might have been related to seasonal food supplementation. Some cattle and some sheep fed on a ¹³C-depleted resource in winter, potentially leafy fodder. A direct consequence of an extended calving period would be the availability of cow milk, which would have covered the whole year at Bercy. This is important information in a context where the exploitation of cattle milk by the human community was highly suspected from the demographic management of the herd.     

The European Union—a Reflection: The Theological Challenge

Abstract

The advisor on religious affairs of the European Commission's President recently suggested the need for a European political theology. He was acknowledging Christianity's past impact on European culture. He was also intimating that a creative Christian contribution to the making of Europe's future might partly depend upon some systematic theologically informed reflection upon the nature of the challenges which the continent currently confronts. This paper does not purport to supply such a theology which, by the nature of things, must be the fruit of a long-term collaborative exercise. It does, however, seek to provide a few pointers that might become the subject of further discussion. Following clues provided by Vatican II we may seek to discern some of those "signs of the times" which might disclose the issues at stake and which, in the light of general Christian understandings, may ultimately provide some guides for subsequent action.     

Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: Australia’s New Policy on Treaty-Based Investor-State Arbitration and its Impact in Asia

Abstract

Treaties allowing investors to initiate arbitration claims directly against host states for illegally interfering with cross-border investments are becoming increasingly common in Asia, but Australia announced in 2011 that it will no longer include such protections in future treaties. The backdrop to this decision includes keen interest from Asia in foreign direct investment (FDI) into Australia’s resources sector, meaning that potential investors may not be significantly deterred by a lack of arbitration provisions in future treaties. This article argues, however, that Australia’s policy shift risks undermining the entire investor-state arbitration (ISA) system, with the earliest impact being felt by major pending treaty negotiations by Australia with Japan, China and Korea (respectively); and that the shift may significantly reduce FDI flows or have other adverse effects. The article criticises the cost-benefit analysis of ISA protections in one pivotal study conducted in 2010 by an Australian Government think-tank, arguing that this assessment is insufficiently nuanced. Instead, the article presents a justification for more tailored and moderate changes to ISA provisions in future treaties. Its tentative interest-group analysis suggests, however, that there may be surprisingly few public or private constituencies that would prefer such moderate reforms, and that most may well prefer the more extreme position recently adopted by Australia, despite the damage that will be done to the ISA system as a whole. The article also argues that Australia’s policy shift and think-tank analysis may make Asian countries more cautious about ISA, especially those (like the Philippines and Vietnam) which have traditionally been more cautious about this dispute resolution system.     

The Caesarea Ancient Harbor Excavation Project (C.A.H.E.P.): Preliminary Report on the 1980–1983 Seasons

Abstract

Underwater and shoreline survey and excavation at the Herodian harbor of Sebastos, the port of Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, have provided important new information on Roman harbor design and construction. Local and imported materials were carefully selected and used to construct two immense breakwaters that framed outer and inner basins. Hydraulic concrete was used in a sophisticated manner, and ingenious sluice gates and a subsidiary breakwater provided protection against siltation and storm damage.     

Our Own Monument: Landscape in the Linguistic Others of Quebec and Puerto Rico

ABSTRACT

It is common in discourse surrounding Québécois and Puerto Rican nationalism to discuss both regions in terms of their linguistic marginality to Anglo-majorities found in Canada and the USA, respectively. As two areas faced with the common American task of inventing a national identity in displaced settings in the New World, English becomes an easy “other” against which the French Quebecker and Spanish Puerto Rican may define themselves. However, language becomes a problematic means of definition when considered in relation to its intrinsically Old World origins. This paper reexamines Quebec and Puerto Rican nationalism from a larger New World perspective that focuses on the role of American landscapes and settings in conjunction with the traditional linguistic approach.     

Archeological Recording Systems

Abstract

The labeling of artifacts and other collections is considered in the light of archeological needs at the present time. It is suggested that labeling systems be evaluated by four criteria: information content, accuracy, efficiency, and computer compatibility. There is a discussion of a labeling system and how it might be adapted to various circumstances.     

Comment by Jeffrey Herf

Abstract

Although fuel cells have been considered promising technology since the nineteenth century, fresh expectations – expressed by engineers, company leaders, politicians and journalists – began to flourish in the 1990s later on associated with the vision of a ‘hydrogen economy.’ Inspired by research in the history and sociology of expectations, the present paper analyzes this recent history of global fuel cells and hydrogen potentials as played out in the USA, EU, and especially Sweden. It is demonstrated that automotive shows, the mass media, and forecast projects were significant arenas in promoting and circulating the idea that fuel cells represented energy efficient and clean technology that almost by necessity would be utilized in the ‘vehicles of the future.’ This paper also highlights the framing of water both as a potential source of energy and as a symbolic purifying bath that would restore an environmentally friendly society, interpreted as an ecomodern utopia.     

‘Navigating sovereignty under a Cold War military industrial colonial complex: US military empire and Marshallese decolonization’

Abstract

As World War II unsettled the global balance of power ushering in a wave of decolonization, the postwar period also saw the expansion of US military imperialism into Micronesia. In this central Pacific region, a new colonial era began rooted in US strategic concerns and mandated under a 1947 United Nations Trusteeship Agreement. During the Cold War, the United States buttressed its nuclear arsenal by testing its deadliest weapons of mass destruction (nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile) in the Marshall Islands, residing on the eastern edge of Micronesia. This weapons testing program would inform Marshallese struggles towards self-determination, ultimately shaping the contours of Marshallese sovereignty as the region achieved formal decolonization through a Compact of Free Association in 1986.