the Future of the Past: Historiographical Disputes and Competing Memories in Germany and Israel

During the last two decades, a surge of historical revisionism has commanded considerable attention in both academia and the public sphere, as historians have linked their understandings of the past to salient problems and identity crises of the present. Increasingly, the histories of nations have been problematized and have become the object of commemorative battles. Historiographical disputes thus reveal no less about contemporary political sensibilities than they do about a nation's history. This article situates the proliferation of historical revisionism within the context of ongoing negotiations regarding the meaning of the nation at the end of the twentieth century. Through a comparison of recent historians' disputes in Germany and Israel, I explore the relationship between revisionism and collective memory, and the ways in which both are reflective of and contribute to the reformation of national identification. While national identities are usually predicated on continuities with the past, new German and Israeli identities are being defined in opposition to the founding myths of their nation-states. Both are continuously reassessing their pasts, negotiating the balance between a commitment to universal (democratic) values and the persistence of particularistic (ethnic) traditions. To be sure, national pasts have been contested before, but until recently the primacy of the nation itself was not significantly challenged. I suggest understanding the ongoing phenomenon of national demystification in the context of changing state–society relations. States no longer enjoy the same hegemonic power over the means of collective commemoration. In contrast to the state-supportive role of historians during the formative phase of nationalism, collective memory has become an increasingly contested terrain. In both countries, revisionists from the left and right self-consciously struggle to provide historical narratives of their nation's past to suit their present political views of the future.     

Reserve Selection for Nature Conservation in South Australia: Past,Present and Future

This paper re‐examines the chronology of reserve selection in South Australia in the context of changing social, political and economic attitudes. The effect of these changing attitudes on reserve selection in South Australia is assessed in the light of the principles of a comprehensive, adequate and representative (CAR) National Reserve System. The outcome of reserve selection in South Australia is the establishment of a vast network of reserves in the arid regions and many fragmented and small reserves in the agricultural regions. It is likely that the remnant ecological system in the agricultural regions is not representative of the regional environmental diversity and that land clearance has precluded the establishment of a CAR reserve system in South Australia. The rate of reserve selection for nature conservation has decreased over the past decade as the opportunities for reserve acquisition decrease. It is concluded that large‐scale and strategic revegetation will be required to facilitate a CAR reserve system in South Australia.     

British Muslims: Past,Present and Future

Abstract: Around the European Union, the implication by large sections of society is that there is something intrinsically different about Islam that makes it difficult to integrate Muslims into European societies. Some of these sections of society are non‐Muslim, and are reluctant to allow such integration to take place; others are Muslim. These sentiments raise a number of issues relating to plural identities and their compatibility with modern day Europe and Islam, with such issues finding variable expressions in member‐states. The British example represents an illustrative case study, having a long history of interaction with Muslims and being the home of a large Muslim population. History bears witness that in terms of religious diversity, the U.K. was never a monolithic society based on a monoculture. From the Middle Ages until the beginning of the twentieth century, there is strong evidence to show that there was, at the least, British contact with Muslims. In Britain, just as all over Europe, Islam has a long lineage: “For British Muslims, the past does not have to be ‘another country.’”     

Views and Commentaries: Struggling with the Past: Some Views of African-American Identity

Identity has been, and remains, central to African-American struggles with inequalities in the United States. In this paper I address various portrayals of African-American identity, and consider how these views of the past articulated with contemporary struggles. These portrayals range both in time and authorship, and include the views of former slaves, black intellectuals, and archaeologists. Taken together, they reflect the dynamic nature of identity, as well as the shifting importance of Africa as a root of identity and source of strength in struggles, past and present.     

Oligocene-Miocene calcareous nannofossils from the Torquay Basin,Victoria, Australia

Oligocene-Miocene rocks of the Torquay Basin contain at least 55 different species of calcareous nannofossils. These species allow zonation of an offshore subsurface section (Nerita No. 1 Well) and two onshore sections (near Torquay). The Angahook Formation and the base of the Jan Juc Formation in the Nerita No. 1 Well belong to Martini's (1971) NP 22 calcareous nannofossil Zone (early Oligocene). The NP 23 Zone could not be identified with certainty, but Zones NP 24/25 (late Oligocene) to NN 2 (early Miocene) were recognized in the Jan Juc Formation. The Oligocene-Miocene boundary is present between 122 m and 135 m below the sea floor at this site. The Puebla Formation, exposed at the sea floor, contains NN 5 spanning the early-middle Miocene boundary.

Onshore along the Torquay coast, NP 24/25 (late Oligocene) is present in the Angahook Formation; the Jan Juc Formation at Bird Rock also contains NP 24/25, except the uppermost 2.5 m which belongs to NN 1. The NN 2 Zone begins at the contact between the Jan Juc and Puebla Formations and continues upward for at least 3 m. After a covered interval, NN 4 was identified 10 m above the contact. The Oligocene-Miocene boundary is placed at the base of the hard band capping Bird Rock in the type section of the Jan Juc Formation.

Nannofossil assemblages in the Torquay sections suggest deposition in cool, shallow continental shelf waters. The assemblages in Nerita No. 1 Well also suggest cool shelf waters, although deeper than at Torquay.     

Conflict in Water Use in Victoria,Australia: Bolte's Divide

In 1964, the Premier of Victoria, Australia, Henry Bolte, announced that, in order to protect irrigation interests in the north of the state, he would prevent Melbourne from developing new water resources from the north of Victoria's Great Divide. Neither the water resource needs of Melbourne, the need for irrigation development nor the changing economic structure of the state provides a satisfactory explanation for this decision. Instead, Bolte's policy appears simply to have provided a means of improving the parliamentary position of the Victorian Liberal government. Bolte's principle has never been formally revoked and continues to influence water resource planning in the state. In order to make the most appropriate use of Victoria's limited natural resources, it is imperative that ‘Bolte's divide’ should not continue to influence future resource development and allocation.     

The Archaeology of Al-Andalus: Past,Present and Future

Abstract

THIS PAPER PRESENTS AN OVERVIEW of the archaeology of al-Andalus (the Arabic name for Islamic Spain and Portugal), from its beginnings in the late 1970s to the present day. Innovative approaches and challenging theoretical stances made the archaeology of al-Andalus the spearhead of medieval archaeology in Iberia between the 1980s and 1990s. A problematic, and often conflicting, relationship between archaeology and history has characterised medieval archaeology in Spain since its inception, however, and a new awareness of these problems is emerging. This paper reviews past and current attitudes to such challenges and reflects on the future needs of the discipline. It also reflects on the politics of archaeology and on the role of medieval archaeology in revealing social change, which has until now been underrated.     

Graham Connah: The So Pots of Central Africa: Memories of the Past

African Archaeological Review -     

Agency and Archaeology: Past, Present, and Future Directions

In light of the growing social scientific interest in agency theory, this paper sets out to examine and critically evaluate recent approaches to agency within archaeology. To this end, the paper briefly outlines the foundational theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens before turning to discuss the central themes and issues that emerge from some of the more influential contemporary approaches to agency within archaeology. Drawing from these differing approaches, this paper seeks to establish conceptual clarity in archaeological thinking about agency through a discussion of the importance of distinguishing between intentions, consequences, meanings, and motives when seeking to understand the situated subjectivities of historical actors.     

Playing the Ghost: Ghost Hoaxing and Supernaturalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Victoria,Australia

This article employs a Jungian analytical perspective in its exploration of the phenomenon of ghost hoaxing in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century colonial Victoria, Australia, as observed through its reportage in the print media of the era.     

An allosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Victoria,Australia

The discovery of an astragalus of an allosaurid theropod in southeastern Australia extends the geographic range of the Allosauridae to include all continents except Antarctica and the Indian subcontinent. In addition, it confirms the presence of this family during the Early Cretaceous.