Ancient Athens: democracy and empire1

This paper looks at the principal features of the Athenian democracy in the fifth century BC and of the Delian League, the fifth-century alliance which became an Athenian empire, and asks how it was that at the same time the Athenians built up an unprecedented degree of democracy in their internal affairs and an unprecedented degree of rule over other Greek states.     

Gender and Colonial Space

The aim of this article is to highlight the gendered nature of colonial space. I aim to destabilise the assumption that imperial masculine idealised/desired space is the only spatial relation within colonial contexts, by focusing on the spatial relations of British and indigenous women at an idealised level and at the level of the 'contact zone'. Through an analysis of the complexity of different spatial relations within the colonial context, I hope both to bring to the fore different kinds of actors and actions from those generally considered within post-colonial theory, and also to make it possible to inflect the theoretical terminology developed within post-colonial theorising in a more materialist way.     

从家庭和私人生活看古雅典妇女的地位

在以男性为中心的古雅典社会 ,不同类型的妇女在家庭和私人生活中 ,都处于屈从男性统治的低下地位 ,这种地位是雅典的社会制度、经济、政治、教育、结婚年龄和社会风尚等多种文化因素相互作用的结果。     

Urban Open Space and Governance in Ancient Mesoamerica

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Analyzing the nature of governance of early states and cities is a major challenge for archaeology today. Blanton and Fargher’s (Blanton and...     

Gender and Mahalle (Neighborhood) Space in Istanbul

Studies of gender have an important place in studies of Turkey because the discourses of Islamism and secularism, and modernity and tradition, make the bodies and practices of Turkish women the site of debate. However, few studies have used a spatial analysis to examine the production of gender in daily life. This article is simultaneously a study of how gender is produced through space and of the creation of various kinds of spaces in an Istanbul mahalle (neighborhood). The mahalle is the space of intimate daily life in the Turkish urban context, and narratives of and ways of life in the mahalle articulate competing notions of what it means to be a woman in Turkey. This study of gender and mahalle space reveals the linkages between space and gender to be multiple and shifting and the boundaries between private and public spaces to be fluid. Furthermore, this reading of gender and urban space, when brought back to the Turkish context, also contributes to research which interrogates the idea of modernity at the core of national identity in Turkey, of which gender is a central and constitutive element.     

Space,Gender and Institutions in Processes Creating Difference

Along with a number of scholars in feminist, English-language geography, the author makes a case for renewed attention to be paid to causal processes of differentiation in the analysis of geographies of gender. In particular, she argues for a greater concern with the gendered spatiality of organisations and institutions themselves, rather than seeing them as ‘black boxes’, or unchanging and exogenous aspects of the contexts to be analysed. The paper discusses the manner and the extent to which feminist geographies have examined differentiating processes associated with three notional ‘sites’ examined closely in feminist geography: the city, the family and the nation.     

Valuing an Ancient Palaestra in the Centre of Athens: The Public,the Experts,and Aristotle

Abstract

This paper investigates the values assigned to the archaeological site widely known as ‘Lykeion’ of Aristotle’ — the famous ancient Greek philosopher — by experts and non-experts. The paper revolves around the premise that values should be holistically conceived as both the ‘what’ is valued and the ‘whys’ that drive the ‘whats’. Based on semi-structured interviews and quantitative questionnaires, the diverse values attributed by professionals, such as architects, archaeologists, or conservators, and the wider public will be unveiled. It will be demonstrated that values vary fundamentally not only between experts and non-experts but also within groups of experts. Furthermore, it will be argued that the conduct of in-depth research aimed at exploring experts’ and non-experts’ values and meanings, prior to interventions for the enhancement of any archaeological site, is vital for managing potential tensions and for offering an integrated interpretation strategy.     

从宗教看古罗马社会的性别关系

本文从社会性别和阶级等不同的视角对古罗马宗教中的性别关系以及古罗马妇女的宗教地位作了探讨 ,指出在以家长制为重要文化特征的古罗马社会中 ,男性主宰着宗教世界。不过 ,由于女性在生育等方面的作用 ,她们仍然被包括在宗教领域之中 ,她们的祭祀活动也是古罗马宗教不可或缺的组成部分 ,维斯塔女祭司、朱庇特女祭司和西比尔女预言家等在古罗马宗教生活中起了重要作用。然而 ,女性的宗教活动主要与生育、贞洁相联系 ,这体现了在父权制社会中 ,男性对女性的角色期望。由于阶级、家庭等身份和婚姻状况的不同 ,古罗马女性不同群体的宗教地位也有较大差别。     

Sexing the Self: Geographies of engagement and encounter

Geographic research on the construction of sexual identity takes inspiration from two main sources. The first is the post-structural literature that suggests sexual subjects are sutured to identities created in the realms of discourse. The second is a psychoanalytical tradition concerned with the desires and disgusts experienced by sexual subjects as they seek to reconcile their inner selves with the outside world. In this paper an attempt is made to combine these contrasting perspectives by exploring the way sexualities are negotiated by individuals as they encounter a world that is both real and imagined. The utility of this approach is illustrated with reference to the author's research on sex work, which demonstrates that the making of sexual identities involves a dynamic relation between Self and Other--a relation that is subsequently encoded in representations of space. The paper concludes that the making of sexual identities can only be understood by examining the ways that representation and experience entwine in specific places to create sexual identities that are fractured, contested and always becoming.     

Blood from the Moon: Gender Ideology and the Rise of Ancient Maya Social Complexity

Archaeological data suggests that there is a direct link between the rise of social complexity and the erosion of women's status. Through a look at the ways in which gendered practices and symbols may shift as men and women (and males and females) negotiate their relationships and interactions within shifting social contexts, this article sets out to explore this linkage between social complexity and gender equality in the ancient Maya region. Building from the notion that ‘gender’ is produced and reproduced through practice and symbol as a culture constitutes and bounds gender roles and expectations by symbolically associating certain activities and materials with each gender as iconic representations and ritual enactments of those normative gender roles then serve to naturalise a gender ideology, this article argues that the rising ancient Maya elite attempted to legitimise increasing social inequalities through the manipulation, ritualisation and abstraction of female symbols of power associated with pregnancy, menstruation and childbirth. This appropriation and contestation of symbols and performances of gender identity can be observed in wide variety of powerful representations and practices within the Maya cosmology such as genital piercing, the 260‐day calendar and the neutering of female sexuality in monumental art.