Sustainability transformations in the balance: exploring Swedish initiatives challenging the corporate food regime

ABSTRACT

This paper explores to what extent organic initiatives that go beyond mainstream organic (so-called Organic 3.0) can challenge the corporate food regime and how they can push the food system towards sustainability transformations. We depart from the assumption that individual initiatives may differ in their potential to influence the corporate food regime and that this potential can be assessed by examining traits linked to reformist, progressive or radical food regime/food movement trends that they may possess. Rather than establishing a dichotomy between niche and food regime or categorizing Organic 3.0 initiatives within one of these trends, we explore the nuances in niche–regime relationships within the food system from a multi-level perspective, using the cases of two Organic 3.0 initiatives in Sweden. The results show that relations between these initiatives and the food regime share key characteristics, but also differ in important respects. While a reformist strategy facilitates niche growth, progressive and radical approaches are more likely to challenge the regime. The choice of approach in both cases involves trade-offs between growth and organic values. We conclude that one of the primary roles of Organic 3.0 initiatives may be to illustrate the viability of alternative models.     

The role of caste in India: Present and future

Pauline Kolenda. Caste in Contemporary India: Beyond Organic Solidarity. Menlo Park, California: The Benjamin Cummings Publishing Company, 1978. 181 pp.     

ORGANIC RESIDUE ANALYSIS IN ARCHAEOLOGY: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL BIOMARKER REVOLUTION*

Organic residue analysis utilizes analytical organic chemical techniques to identify the nature and origins of organic remains that cannot be characterized using traditional techniques of archaeological investigation (because they are either amorphous or invisible). The field is founded upon the principle that the biomolecular, or biochemical, components of organic materials associated with human activity survive in a wide variety of locations and deposits at archaeological sites. The archaeological information contained in organic residues is represented by the biomolecular components of the natural products that contribute to the formation of a given residue. By applying appropriate separation (chromatographic) and identification (mass spectrometric) techniques, the preserved, and altered, biomolecular components of such residues can be revealed. Once identified, the Archaeological Biomarker Concept can be applied, wherein the structure and even isotopic composition(s) of a given biomolecule or suite of biomolecules (the ‘chemical fingerprint’) can be related to the compositions of organisms exploited by humans in the past. As the organic residue field emerges from its pre‐paradigmatic phase, and the organic residue revolution gathers pace, the way is open for challenging many long‐held archaeological hypotheses and offering new perspectives on the study of human activity in the past.     

Oil in the Arctic 2. The Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program

Abstract

Organic chemists are qualified by their knowledge of reaction mechanisms to attempt to predict outlines of biosynthetic sequences leading to natural molecules. The subject is an art, rather than a science, involving several interwoven strands of creative thinking. The evolutions of ideas, distinct from the discovery of facts, are difficult to elucidate from the published literature, and are explored in connection with alkaloids, flavonoids polyketides, and some terpenoids. The advantages and limitations of the chemists' type of thinking are examined with some of the reasons why biochemists have tended to ignore their hypotheses.     

The scientific basis of organic farming

Abstract

Organic farming is frequently dismissed as being unscientific, but this perception is based on a lack of understanding of the underlying concepts. Researchers in the organic field accept the scientific discipline whilst at the same time seeking new methodologies to explore the holistic character of the agricultural enterprise. Of central importance is the notion that health, food quality, and the nature of the farming system are inextricably linked. This paper reviews in scientific terms the key theoretical bases of the organic approach, and discusses the various methodologies used in this area. It is argued that a holistic approach to scientific investigations in agriculture is valid even if at present it is more of an aspiration than a reality.     

Organic geochemical analysis of archaeological medicine pots from Northern Ghana. The multi-functionality of pottery

Sherds from pots found layered under a granite boulder in the Tong Hills of the Upper East Region of Northern Ghana seem, based on their deposition context to have been used for the preparation of medicines. Organic geochemical and isotopic analyses of these sherds and a modern day analogue reveal an n-alkanoic acid composition that is consistent with their being used in the preparation of plant derived substances. Isotopic analyses of the modern medicine pot indicate a contribution of n-alkanoic acids derived from plants that use C₄ carbon fixation, most likely maize, sorghum and/or millet suggesting that this pot was used for cooking C₄ based plant substances, perhaps, based on current analogy, staple porridge type food. The modern medicine pot could thus have had a prior use. The absence of C₄ plant residues in the archaeological sherds suggests that either staple foodstuffs differed radically to today, or, more likely, were not prepared in vessels that were to be used for medicinal purposes.     

Molecular evidence of changing foodways across the Mississippian transition at the George Reeves site (11S650)

ABSTRACT

The George Reeves site (11S650) is a multicomponent village on the bluffs in the central American Bottom, Illinois. The site was occupied from the Late Woodland Rosewood phase through the Mississippian Lohmann phase. Pottery use and dietary variation between the Late Woodland and Emergent Mississippian occupations at the site were explored through stylistic analysis, pottery residue analysis, and compound-specific carbon isotopic analysis of pottery residues. Although more samples should be analyzed, diet and pottery use at George Reeves seems to have been varied, with maize present by cal AD 900–1000, but comprising a relatively small portion of lipid residues in pottery. Residue analysis indicates a C₄ presence in 5 of 16 sampled pots from the early Emergent Mississippian deriving from either maize or from meat from animals consuming maize. Pottery residues were mixed, showing C₃ and C₄ plants as well as meat and fish or shellfish. One residue showed a high incidence of C₄ contribution, most likely from Portulaca oleracea (common purslane), as well as large amounts of fish or shellfish and another C₃ plant. Residue from a ceramic pipestem indicates that maize may have been smoked, probably in the form of maize silk mixed with other nontobacco plants.     

Chemical Residues as Anthropic Activity Markers. Ethnoarchaeology,Experimental Archaeology and Archaeology of Food Production and Consumption

ABSTRACT

Chemical residues preserved in floors can be considered anthropic activity markers. In fact, residues are strictly related to the activities performed and reflect their spatial distribution. We present a synthesis of the work carried out over the last few decades in Mexico and Italy related to the study of chemical residues in floors. Residues can be identified performing specific chemical analyses both of plastered or earthen floors samples. We outline a methodological approach concerning the use of the markers of the activities to interpret food production and consumption in the archaeological record, based upon evidence from experimental, ethnoarchaeological and archaeological examples. Here we point out the advantages and problems of such an approach, mainly related to equifinality, of the use of spot tests and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry techniques using examples from different sites in the world.     

Fast food/organic food: Reflexive tastes and the making of 'yuppie chow'

Organic food consumption is one of several new trends in eating read as active opposition to industrialized food provision. While fast food consumption is characterized by compulsive gluttony, manifest in fat bodies, alternative consumption practices are seen to be driven by conscious reflexivity, such that consumers monitor, reflect upon and adapt their personal conduct in light of its perceived consequences. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. One is to examine the evolution of organic food from what Belasco called the 'counter-cuisine' to what organic growers call 'yuppie chow', to show how organic salad mix was the carrier of major changes in the organic system of provision, thereby calling into question the notion that organic food is necessarily an antidote to industrialized food. The other is to problematize the facile dichotomies between fast and slow, reflexive and compulsive, fat and thin, and, hence, good and bad eaters, to show where there is slippage and instability in these categories, in addition to a troubling politics of class and gender. To these ends, I showcase the changing provision of a particular organic commodity (salad mix, or mesclun) in California.     

Molecular Electronics Electronic Applications of Organic Molecules and Polymers

Abstract

This article reviews some of the ways in which organic molecules and polymers are currently being used in the generation of electronic devices. Polymers can be used both actively and passively in electronic circuits. The traditional use of polymers in a passive sense has been as insulators and more recently we have seen polymers used in an active way both from the point of view of their optical and electrical responses. Organic molecules containing donors and acceptors connected by conjugated structures are capable of exhibiting non-linear optical responses and are likely to play an important role in the production of optoelectronic devices in the future. Similarly, polymers doped so that fast conduction can occur between conjugated electronic structures are likely to play an important role in the fabrication of biosensor devices. Polymeric structures in which ions are dispersed may also be used in the future to produce conducting polymer electrolytes for construction of totally solid state battery systems. Ways in which organic structures are likely to make an impact in terms of development of electronics in the next decade are reviewed and the breadth of the area of molecular electronics summarised.     

A Multi-regional Analysis of AMS and Radiometric Dates from Carbonized Food Residues

Abstract

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is increasingly employed to date encrusted carbonized food residues on prehistoric pottery sherds, particularly in regions where other datable material is absent or scarce, or where such materials lack good association with objects of chronological interest. The accuracy of AMS dating of residues has recently been questioned in Europe and North America, with skepticism directly or indirectly attributed to the presence of carbonate rich bedrock, a freshwater carbonate reservoir resulting from association with such bedrock, or the cooking of aquatic resources such as mollusk or fish engaged in the uptake of older carbonates. It is argued that carbonized food residues from such contexts or resources are expected to display older apparent ages than dates on other materials. We evaluate this proposition through hypotheses assessing the accuracy and internal consistency of a broad range of data from the northeastern and midwestern United States. We statistically assess dates from 25 site components where either both dates on residue and context dates on other materials have been obtained. Of the 70 dates on residue tested, only 5.7 percent are considered inconsistent with their respective context dates. We also test for consistency 46 dates on residues from 14 site components lacking context dates. Of these, only 4.5 percent are considered internally inconsistent with expectations at the site or regional level. At present, we conclude that AMS dating of residues provides results consistent with those of other datable materials.     

Geochemical analysis of Late Classic and Post Classic Maya marketplace activities at the Plazas of Cobá, Mexico

Abstract

Lines of evidence for ancient exchange plazas may include trade routes and trade artifacts, urban open space near public structures, and rock alignments denoting market stalls, but regular patterns in soil chemical concentrations also point to marketplace use. We applied geochemical and geospatial analysis of the floors of the main Plaza of Group B and Plazas A, H, and J of Group D at Cobá, Mexico, to discover the chemical residues of phosphorus (P) and metals associated with the exchange of foodstuffs and mineral workshop items that may have been marketed there. The patterns of chemical residues in the floor of the Group B Plaza suggest ritual activities while the linear, parallel patterns of elevated Mehlich phosphorus and chelate extractable zinc concentrations in Plaza A support the hypothesis of market exchange at that location. Plaza H is associated with several Postclassic buildings, including the Pinturas Structure D-33. During the Postclassic period, Cobá had lost much of its population, though chemical residues from Plaza H are congruent with marketing. We argue that Plazas A and H were not permanent marketplaces but rather multi-purpose locations that also hosted large ceremonies.     

Blood Residue Analysis at Çayönü Tepesi,Turkey

Abstract

A program of blood residue analysis at Çayönü Tepesi in SE Turkey was undertaken from 1984 to 1987. The research began as an investigation of the feasibility of detecting and identifying blood residues in a field setting with subsequent additional analyses and verification in the home laboratory.

In-field and laboratory techniques included Labstix detection of hemoglobin, and the identification of species was done using hemoglobin crystallization. Immunological techniques were used in the laboratory to verify the identification of blood.

The results are significant. Research centered on residue from the “skull building” where the blood of Bos primigenius (the extinct progenitor of modern cattle), sheep, and goat were found in addition to human blood. The conjunction of animal and human blood in a structure where more than 90 human skulls as well as complete and partial skeletons were interred suggests some yet-unknown ritual/mortuary function.     

Becoming a ‘Cultural Destination of Choice’: lessons on vernacularization from Beirut and Buenos Aires

ABSTRACT

This article builds upon the concept of vernacularization as a way to better understand the circulation and implementation of global policy assemblages. The added value of a vernacularization approach is that it combines under one analytical umbrella the separate but interdependent factors which affect policy travel and use including: (a) positionality or the social and spatial status of actors, institutions and localities, (b) processes of communication that go beyond translation to make ideas and practices understandable, resonant, and useful, (c) the resulting vernacularization of aspirations and goals, and (d) the ways in which these factors change over time as policies come to ground, are modified, and circulate once again. Each aspect of vernacularization relies deeply on meaning making and remaking, whether it be the identity of the vernacularizer herself or of the institutions and cities where she is located.     

Archaeologies of flow: Water and the landscapes of Southern India past,present, and future

Abstract

The present and future landscapes and waterscapes of South Asia consist, in part, of many residues of the past—soils, slopes, and a range of water-related infrastructure. As such, many problems related to irrigation and rural water use are directly linked to the embodied histories of this region. Beyond lineal connections, many contemporary problems such as watershed protection, erosion, reservoir siltation, and falling water tables, were also faced by agriculturalists in the past. Archaeologies of flow thus may have some bearing on the present and future as well as the past. This paper provides a review of the evidence for changes in water use over the last 5,000 years in southern India, focusing on the semi-arid interior region of Karnataka state from the Southern Neolithic (c. 3000–1200 b.c.) to the present.     

Identifying a Roman Casting Pit at Tel Dor,Israel: Integrating Field and Laboratory Research

Abstract

The functional identification of industrial features is difficult when few characteristic artifacts are preserved. We studied a Roman-period pyrotechnological feature at Tel Dor, Israel, where the only possibly diagnostic ceramic artifacts were found in fill between the walls and above the floor, rendering their association with the feature itself uncertain. The ceramic artifacts included coarse slabs and fragments of utilitarian vessels, some vitrified with adhering bronze droplets or slag-like residues. Analysis of the sediments within and around the industrial feature, using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer on-site, revealed high concentrations of copper and lead, indicating metallurgical activity. Lead isotope analyses showed that the slag-like residue adhering to a ceramic fragment had the same isotopic values as the sediments, implying that the fragment was associated with the activities carried out in the feature. Microscopic and chemical analyses of the slag-like residue demonstrated that it was produced from melting leaded bronze. Some of the ceramic fragments contained elongated impressions on their inner surfaces, similar to those of casting molds found at other sites. We propose that the feature was used as a casting pit for bronze objects.     

Chemical and Pedological Delimiting of Deeply Stratified Archaeological Sites in Frozen Ground

Abstract

Delimiting and testing deeply stratified archaeological sites in frozen ground is facilitated by drilling and analyzing soil cores. After a test grid of the proposed area has been surveyed, a lightweight, portable diamond drill is used to sample those subareas selected through the use of (1) surface clues, (2) test-pit data, and (3) knowledge of standard site patterns of the cultures represented. Gross core analysis demonstrates soil profile continuities and discontinuities throughout the site. Munsell colours, thicknesses and gross inclusions of soil levels are recorded before thawing of the cores. Most cultural and human chemical residues are studied following thawing and dissection of the cores. The locations of bone, lithics, and human waste in frozen arctic and alpine soils and possibly in augured southern soils aid in vertical and horizontal site delimitation. Small samples of archaeologically important trace chemicals such as bone apatite and phosphorous can be taken for field analysis. Reflected fluorescence caused by ultraviolet light on apatite in buried bone may be measured spectrophotometrically by lowering an appropriate probe in the drill hole and plotting light intensity with depth of levels. Primary application of soil-core studies is pedological.     

Hardwood ash nixtamalization may lead to false negatives for the presence of maize by depleting bulk δC in carbonized residues

Among the multiple proxies for detecting maize in precontact economies is the use of δ¹³C analysis of carbonized residues from ceramic cooking vessels. Although maize horticulture was widely established in Eastern North America (ENA) by A.D. 1000, there are carbonized residues from ceramic assemblages after this date that lack the elevated δ¹³C values indicative of the presence of maize. This may be due to the true absence of maize, or other factors including the masking of maize. Prior experimental research by Hart et al. demonstrated that the addition of C₃ plants or consumers to two part mixes with maize can mask maize presence even when maize is the dominant ingredient. Here we investigate the effect of alkali processing of maize (nixtamalization) on δ¹³C using the widespread ENA process of boiling maize kernels with wood ash, a C₃ product, to create hominy. Our experiments test whether or not the process of hardwood ash nixtamalization can mask the presence of maize in adhering carbonized residues by depleting δ¹³C values, and whether there is a reciprocal δ¹³C enrichment effect on the hardwood ash employed in nixtamalization. Overall, there is substantial δ¹³C depletion of residues when maize is cooked with hardwood ash, and hardwood ash cooked with maize shows the reciprocal enrichment. Therefore, the depleted values after the adoption of maize may be false negatives due to the nixtamalization process.     

Tourism planning and place making: place-making or placemaking?

ABSTRACT

Tourism destination planning and marketing are fundamentally place making actions intended to shape the image and imageability of a place. Place making is an innate human behavior, ranging from the organic and unplanned actions of individuals, defined here as ‘place-making,’ to planned and intentional global theming by governments and tourism authorities, defined here as ‘placemaking.’ Place-making and placemaking are ends on a continuum of options, with most places have a mix of local and global elements. These elements also range from the tangible (base in urban design) to the intangible (peoplescapes and imaginations). The tools of place making are essentially the same for both organic place-making and planned placemaking, but the intentions and outcomes can vary enormously. Tourism development, as an economic activity, almost always has a neoliberal planned placemaking agenda. Organic place-making emerges through individual agency, which if allowed to proceed, will make its imprint even in a heavily master planned tourism landscape. An understanding of place-making and placemaking gives insight into research questions on the political economy of tourism and the roles of hosts and guest in co-producing tourism places. Examining the elements of place making in a tourism landscape can more clearly identify how different worldview perspectives have contribute over time to the making of tourism places, and thereby assist in planning for the future development of destination communities.     

Chastity Models in the Legenda Aurea and in the Sermones de Sanctis of Jacobus de Voragine

Abstract

The Sermones de sanctis of Jacobus de Voragine is not an independent text but the last written link of a communicative chain that starts with the holy figurae of the Legenda aurea and is completed with a final speech from a preacher to his audience. Chastity is represented in this hagiographical material, which is closely connected to the most important saints of the Dominican calendar, through absolute models that are removed from everyday experience: these models need to be interpreted by a preacher's spoken words and to be illustrated with a choice of exempla to reach laypeople effectively.