THE MISSING NARRATIVIST TURN IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF SCIENCE

The narrativist turn of the 1970s and 1980s transformed the discussion of general history. With the rejection of Rankean historical realism, the focus shifted to the historian as a narrator and on narratives as literary products. Oddly, the historiography of science took a turn in the opposite direction at the same time. The social turn in the historiography of science emphasized studying science as a material and practical activity with traceable and documentable traits. This empirization of the field has led to an understanding that history of science could be directly describable from scientific practice alone without acknowledging the role of the historian as a constructor of narratives about these practices. Contemporary historians of science tend to be critical of science's ability to describe its object—nature, as it is—but they often are not similarly skeptical of their own abilities to describe their object: past science, as it is. I will argue that historiography of science can only gain from a belated narrativist turn.     

POSTMODERNISM AND HISTORY: MISSING THE MISSED CONNECTIONS

O n the F uture of H istory : T he P ostmodernist C hallenge and I ts A ftermath . By Ernst Breisach.     

THE IDENTITY OF THE MISSING TOGATUS AND OTHER CLUES TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE GEMMA AUGUSTEA

Summary. (see Figs. 1 and 3) In previous attempts at an interpretation of what is depicted on the famous Gemma Augustea in Vienna, little if any attention has been paid to the missing figure whose toga folds can be seen between the spokes of the chariot wheel near the left-hand edge of the cameo. This figure is undoubtedly of crucial importance. According to the hypothesis advanced in the present paper, the cameo represents the glorification of Germanicus (no. 2) following his successes in the Pannonian war AD 6–9. He is welcomed by his stepfather Tiberius (no. 1, the missing togatus) and ceremonially presented to the emperor (no. 6); the younger Drusus is also in attendance (no. 4). Augustus is crowned supreme victor by the Magna Mater (no. 7), whose assistance he had invoked at the beginning of the war. In the lower register are barbarian captives and personifications: on the left, beneath a trophy in process of erection by Roman soldiers, the Pannonian leader Pinnes, and 'Pannonia'(nos. 14–15); on the right the Dalmation leader Bato, and 'Dalmatia'(nos. 21–22). The latter are receiving rough treatment at the hands of Bendis and Neoptolemos (nos. 19–20), tutelary representatives of Thrace and continental Greece, respectively. After Germanicus' death in AD 19 Tiberius' figure was deliberately removed, presumably at the instigation of Germanicus' widow Agrippina. If so, the cameo is likely to have been confiscated and transferred to the Imperial Treasury on her banishment in AD 29.     

EPICENTRES OF MISSING DAUGHTERS

The spatial spread of the female child deficit in India has been explored in terms of hot spots (with high deficits) and cold spots (with more female-favourable child sex ratios). It has been argued, using the Census of India data from individual censuses, that there is a contagion effect for both hot spots and cold spots. This paper takes this discussion forward by asking whether such an effect can be seen across censuses. To do so, it develops the concept of an epicentre to see whether a hot or cold spot in one census spreads shock waves across a wider region in later censuses. The longitudinal analysis of child sex ratios over three censuses—1991, 2001 and 2011—shows that the hot spots are epicentres for the spread of female child deficits, while the cold spots display a reverse effect.