Metamorphosis of root dentine and age

Transparency in the location of the tooth root apex is a normal phenomenon in human ageing and provides important information for determining a person's age. The illumination of root dentine may prove useful when trying to obtain an approximate estimation of a person's age, particularly when no other data can be obtained. Regression analysis could provide a reasonably reliable means of determining an approximate age of human remains and could be used in archaeological investigations. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cardinal Markers of Finland's Identity Politics and National Identity

This paper analyzes geopolitical themes prevailing in dominant sectors of the Finnish government and society that have shaped Finland's national identity from the early 19th century to the present. The focus is on the ways cardinal markers (compass directions) have become geopolitical and identity markers. Notions of "West," "Between East and West," "Neither West nor East," and "North" have been used both to position Finland on the world political map and to forge a Finnish national identity. The influence of Russia and Karelians are examined at some length as part of the eastern dimension of Finnish identity. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O52, Z13. 1 figure, 1 table, 94 references.     

Identity and change

Mark A. Tessler, William M. O'Barr, and David H. Spain. Tradition and Identity in Changing Africa. New York: Harper & Row, 1973. xvii + 363 pp. Tables, figures, bibliography, and index. $4.95 (paper).     

从事实性认同到建构性认同——20世纪90年代“国学热”的反思

20世纪90年代,“国学热”的兴起,表明新文化保守主义形成。这虽然有外在的因素和内在的依据,并且得到了多人的肯定,但就文化认同而言,新保守主义陷入了事实性认同的误区。本文认为,进入新世纪,面对全球化浪潮的冲击,建构性认同是民族认同的正确选择。     

华夏民族与国家认同意识的演变

华夏民族与国家的演进和互动走着一条与西方不同的发展道路,由此形成古代中国民族认同与国家认同的同一性传统及民族意识中的民族与国家认同相一致的深层价值结构,同时也导致古代中国独特的政治地缘与民族地缘的特征。它使中国在国家与民族认同上呈现重要特点:即族别上的兼容性、民族统一与国家安全的一致性、文化的开放性。近代以降,传统家天下的国家与民族意识受到严峻挑战,其认同观念面临断裂和重新阐释、再塑的问题。以孙中山为代表的近代仁人志士积极探索民族国家的重建途径,创造性地提出政治革命与民族革命相统一的思想,并以此为核心构建近代中华民族国家中民族认同与国家认同新的一致性。     

Reconsidering the Metamorphosis of Io: on Texts,Images and Dates

This article reconsiders the portrayal of Io's metamorphosis in texts and images from the fifth century BCE. It discusses points of synchronicity and diachronicity, innovation and variety in this myth. While the depiction of Io on vases may not help us date with more certainty the texts of the fifth century BCE, including the Prometheus Bound and Bacchylides’ Ode 19, I argue that the comparison between texts and images may draw attention, instead, to a synchronic variety in the depiction of Io in the decades preceding and following the mid-fifth century BCE. This shift in perspective leads me to advance the proposition that myth interpretation may be revitalized by a paradigm shift from “tree” to “network”.     

The Metamorphosis of Woman: Transmission of Knowledge and the Problems of Gender

This study investigates the perceived inequality of male and female education, focusing geographically on the lands of Loire and Rhine and distinguishing between: (a) the way knowledge was acquired; (b) the media in which it was set down; (c) the content of the knowledge; and (d) the way it was transmitted to others. Starting with Guibert of Nogent's characterisation of both his (lay) mother's and his (lay) uncle's religious formation as well as his own training as a cleric and an abbot (c. 1125), developments in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are inventoried and the findings are tested on an example from the late middle ages, Christine de Pizan.     

论欧洲认同和欧洲一体化中的认同问题

欧洲在历史上曾经有过以基督教为基础的文化上的同一性,但并非完全意义上的"欧洲认同".近代以来,民族国家的认同成为欧洲人们的主要和基本的认同.当代欧洲一体化中始终存在是否坚持民族特性/认同的斗争,一体化进程没有取消民族国家认同,也没有形成真正超越民族国家的欧洲认同.但是,欧洲民族国家的认同发生了变化,变得具有开放和兼容性.这对于当今时代人们对待"认同"问题,具有启示意义.     

To Fashion Identity

Book reviewed in this article: The Hostage, Zayd Mutee' Dammaj, Translated by May Jayyusi and Christopher Tingley Ramza, Out el Kouloub, Translated with an Introduction by Nayra Atiya     

Archaeology and Regional Identity in Saxony

Abstract

The paper discusses the interrelation between archaeological method and regional identity using the example of Saxony, a federal state of Germany. While the role of archaeology in the nationalist and ethnic discourse has been discussed relatively intensively, little is known about the hidden or open resistance present and the subnarratives used on a more local level. Saxony, with a multi-ethnic past (Germanic, Slavic and German settlement) and strong indications of a multi-ethnic identity, can be used to demonstrate the changing strength of the ‘Germanocentric’ view of German prehistory.

The paper follows the evolutions of the ‘Saxon character’ and its reflection in the archaeological narrative from the Romantic phase (c. 1817–70), through Nationalism, Fascism and archaeology in the GDR to modern times. This specific point of view does not only determine the evaluation of past events, but the questions asked and the methods used to interpret archaeological finds as well.

In conclusion, the ‘instrumentalization’ of archaeology as part of the public domain is seen as inescapable. But archaeologists retain responsibility for the use their data are put to. Any construction of identity by way of a common past is exclusive and potentially xenophobic. The author argues for a greater independencce from the past that leaves room for the recognition of distance and ‘strangeness‘.