Reassessing the Oppida: The Role of Power and Religion

For a long time, the origins and development of Late Iron Age oppida were viewed from predominantly economic perspectives and as dependent on contacts with the Mediterranean world. However, advances in research in recent decades make it necessary to qualify and reassess many of the traditional interpretations of the genesis and functions of these centres, one of the most striking phenomena of the last two centuries BC. This article emphasizes the political and religious role of continental European oppida, understanding them as a new ‘technology of power’, which enabled a more hierarchical and centralizing ideology to be articulated. Moreover, new evidence suggests that many oppida may have had their origin in spaces for ritual gatherings. The result is a new interpretation of the genesis and characteristics of Late Iron Age centralization processes.     

Interrogating Notions of the Powerless Oustee

This article investigates the year leading up to the relocation of Botezari village from Tadoba‐Andhari Tiger Reserve, India, and suggests that it does not accord with the conventional scholarly theory of the powerless oustee. The village's pre‐relocation phase was characterized by a genuine local openness to displacement; a socially‐aware displacement authority; lively NGO and press presence; and a relatively assertive and astute village community. This facilitated constructive dialogue, culminating in meaningful concessions and a perceptible power structure shift, which, I argue, indicates that the received wisdom of inevitable oustee powerlessness may in some instances require qualification, at least in the Indian context. There, the last decade has witnessed some broad changes in regimes of governance and civil society, and a growth of cultures of opposition and struggle from ‘below’. Where such wider structural changes come together with other more locally‐specific favourable factors, cases such as the one described here may materialize, in which the acute powerlessness of the displaced should not be assumed.     

Material Culture and the Magical Power of Dance Objects

ABSTRACT This paper takes up the call by scholars such as Alfred Gell to consider objects of material culture as objects, by examining them in the context of production, circulation and reception. Because they are unadorned and without visual interest, langarol, the hand‐held artefacts used in some New Ireland dance performances, do not lend themselves to modes of analysis that see cultural objects as surrogate texts, the hidden meanings of which can be ‘read’. This very ‘lack’ enables us more readily to discern their significance, which lies in their magical potency and in the performance of their creator, the shaman, in attracting, wielding and revealing his awesome power. The power sought is less power over others and more power to — the ability to realise projects that can elicit effects. If consciousness and body are one, such achievements are to be understood as embodiments of intentionality and agency. It is through the production and wielding of such objects that people make themselves.     

The Invisible Dance: The Supreme Court and the Press

Abstract

In America, Tocqueville writes, men were born equal; they did not have to become so.¹ But he is not unaware of the radical democratic character of the American revolution of which Gordon Wood has reminded us.² Prior to 1776, Tocqueville observes, the democratic principle was “far from dominating the government of society.” It was the Revolution that made it “the law of laws.” “The war was fought and victory obtained in its name” (1:1, ch. 4. 59).     

The Religion of the Secularists

Both “religion” and “secularism” are constructs distinctive of the West. They both arise from the peculiar history of Christianity. Hence the double face of modern “religion.” It may cover any inherited cultic practice, safeguard ethnic values, and be respected under multiculturalism. But at the same time it may refer to the intellectual and moral commitments which mark us off socially from others, annoying the secularists. Julian, the first modern‐type secularist, reacted against the Constantinian establishment of the “new religion” by ordering the priests of the old Hellenic cults to adopt the Christian style of social indoctrination to outclass those vulgar innovators. But the Fall of Rome produced the intellectual masterpiece of Augustine which redefined the saeculum and set the framework of modern secularity. Augustine had perceived reality in three dimensions: cosmic, social, and personal. At each level the rationalising logic of Aristotelian science had fixed the pattern of things, by analogy. The whole must be coherent if it is to be true. But the empiricism of Jerusalem had delivered a universe open to change and likely to end. In society power was no longer the proof of virtue. The heart itself was deceptive. Twenty‐first century secularism insists upon such experimental truth, social choice and passionate commitment. This holy trinity is our legacy from the “new” religion.     

Power and Religion in a Modern State: Desecularisation in Australian History

Secularisation is a concept with many meanings making it difficult to analyse historically. Yet it is the default master narrative in much Australian historiography. Secular historians typically criticise the role of religion in history as being either too unengaged or, if engaged, too intrusive and negative in its impact. This article challenges both assumptions, taking five “nodal points” in Australian history and arguing that they are better given a “Christian” than a secular interpretation. Australia's first European settlement was a high‐minded reform experiment, based partly on a humanitarian Christian vision. The Church Acts gave the population ready access to Christian influence, resulting in a highly “Christianised” nation. When federated, that nation refused to give ascendancy to any one Christian denomination, but largely assumed that its polity was that of a “Christian commonwealth.” Out of its Christian commitment, in the middle of the twentieth century, it withstood control by atheistic communists of its industrial and political life. In the first decade of the present century, a surprising number of politicians have sought to define its national identity largely in terms of its Christian heritage rooted in the Classical/Christian tradition.     

The Eternal Quest for a Place in the Sun

Books reviewed:
Alessandro Brogi, A Question of Self-Esteem: The United States and the Cold War Choices in France and Italy , 1944 – 1958 (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2002). 336 pp. $99.95 (cloth).
Jeffrey Glen Giauque, G rand Designs and Visions of Unity: The Atlantic Powers and the Reorganization of Western Europe , 1955 – 1963 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002). 344 pp. Notes, index. $49.95 (cloth), $19.95 (paper).     

1948年上海舞潮案中的舞业同业公会

1947年9月,南京国民政府以“节约”为名,颁布了在全国禁绝营业性舞厅的法令。为维护自身利益,上海舞厅业资方组织——舞业同业公会,联合舞厅业劳方各工会组织,对“禁舞”进行了有组织的抗争,从请愿到集会,从募捐到宣传,从百般周旋到最后失控,冲击和捣毁了上海市社会局。舞潮案发生后。国民党政府加以镇压,舞业劳资双方的矛盾也在扩大,这些都反映出在解放战争时期国民党政府与社会、民众矛盾的尖锐,以及各种社会团体的作用和影响。     

The Longwu Tiger Dance

Ｔｈｅ　Ｌｏｎｇｗｕ　Ｔｉｇｅｒ　ＤａｎｃｅＴｈｅＬｏｎｇｗｕＴｉｇｅｒＤａｎｃｅ￥ｂｙＱｉｎｇＹａｎｇＲｅｓｉｄｅｎｔｓｉｎＬｏｎｇｗｕＴｏｗｎｉｎｔｈｅＨｕａｎｇｎａｎＴｉｂｅｔａｎＡｕｔｏｎｏｍｏｕｓＰｒｅｆｅｃｔｕｒｅ,ＱｉｎｇｈａｉＰｒｏｖ...     

图腾的舞蹈

1还有什么能在高原的四季驻留?除非有黑颈鹤在布哈河上空它独自的舞蹈像散落的念珠在缄默中植根于青海高原的四季烘托北方沉甸甸的预感布置大地之蓝这些霜露之后还保持清醒的事物它从未离开过对河流和山的虔诚就像我从未在故乡威远镇的背景里对古老的东西留下过叹嘘一些马匹曾经在寂静的原野里流下了泪水而那时北方的天空降下一阵祥光打开了高原忧郁的内部一个站在脚手架上的汉子大声高呼“划呀、划呀、父亲们”劈柴的父亲抬起头搅乱了整个秋季的风声巴音河边的女子背起柴火在光线中将美连成一片失去了边界在一个乌有之乡我们的儿女耕田种粮…