The place of children among the Guji of southern Ethiopia: school,work and play

This article explores everyday life among Guji children in southern Ethiopia and the place of children in an intergenerational social order. Based on data generated through ethnographic fieldwork among the Guji, we show that work, school and play are significant and intertwined social practices. Local knowledge and skills of importance for sustainable livelihood are acquired through children's participation in these different social practices. Oral tradition represents a key element of local knowledge and social practices in everyday life. However, political and social changes, such as settlement policies and the introduction of schools, affect the dynamic interconnectedness of these practices, as well as relations between different generations. These changes also have implications for local knowledge and local livelihoods.     

French adventures in solidarity: revolutionary tourists and radical humanitarians

This article uses the adventures in solidarity of French tiers-mondistes and sans-frontiéristes to introduce these two movements and indicate their position within the intellectual paradigm shift that occurred in France during the 1970s. Focusing on the case of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), it draws attention to the important position of humanitarianism during and following the decline of revolutionary frameworks in French intellectual and public life. The study posits that a fuller appreciation of humanitarianism's relationship to political engagement will be necessary to better understand its contribution to internationalism and contemporary activism.     

Burying key evidence: the social bond between dogs and people

People have been burying or otherwise ritually disposing of dead dogs for a long time. They sometimes treat other animals in such a fashion, but not nearly as often as dogs. This presentation documents the consistent and worldwide distribution of this practice over about the past 12,000–14,000 years. Such practices directly reflect the domestic relationship between people and dogs, and speak rather directly to the timing of canid domestication. In doing so, they contradict recent genetics-based inferences, thus calling into question the legitimacy of focusing mostly on genetic factors as opposed to other factors. This discussion seeks to work towards a sound framework for analyzing and thus understanding the social compatibility between people and dogs. That compatibility is directly signified by the burial of dogs, with people often responding to the deaths of individual dogs much as they usually respond to the death of a family member. Moreover, that special social relationship continues, as illustrated clearly by the establishment, maintenance, and ongoing use of several modern dog cemeteries, in different countries of the world.     

Dystopian space in colonial representations and interventions: Sierra Leone as 'the white man's grave'

This paper explores the power of dystopian imaginations. It does so by examining the form and function of dystopias in colonial contexts, both in general and through one particularly salient and significant colonial dystopia, which was known widely in imperial England as 'the white man's grave'. A detailed analysis of the form and function of dystopian accounts of Sierra Leone, with particular attention to Richard Burton's negative appraisal of the colony, illuminates a particular form of geographical colonial discourse, and clarifies some of the power relations more generally associated with dystopian representations and interventions.     

Dystopian space in colonial representations and interventions: Sierra Leone as 'the white man's grave'

This paper explores the power of dystopian imaginations. It does so by examining the form and function of dystopias in colonial contexts, both in general and through one particularly salient and significant colonial dystopia, which was known widely in imperial England as 'the white man's grave'. A detailed analysis of the form and function of dystopian accounts of Sierra Leone, with particular attention to Richard Burton's negative appraisal of the colony, illuminates a particular form of geographical colonial discourse, and clarifies some of the power relations more generally associated with dystopian representations and interventions.     

Weather sensitivity and climate change perceptions of tourists: a segmentation analysis

ABSTRACT

Many communities rely on tourism spending, so it is important to understand any potential changes to tourist flows resulting from changing climate and weather patterns. However, tourists are not a homogenous group, as they have different motivations, values, and goals. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to better understand potentially varying perceptions and behavior of different tourist types, specifically in regards to their weather sensitivity, climate change concern, and behavioral intention for climate change mitigation. Tourists were randomly surveyed at 20 locations throughout the state of Maine in the United States (n = 704). Segmentation analysis on the activities tourists participated in yielded three segments of Maine tourists: non-nature-based tourists (50.6%), nature-based generalists (16.2%), and nature-based specialists (33.2%). Differences across segments were explored for perceptions of weather impacts, climate change concern, and mitigation intent. Additionally, weather sensitivity was analyzed based on type of overnight accommodations to better understand if this also had a role in differences. Non-nature-based tourists thought that weather variables were less influential during their travels in Maine than the other segments, while nature-based generalists perceived weather to have the highest influence. Additionally, nature-based specialists had the highest level of climate change belief, while nature-based generalists had the highest willingness to engage in climate change mitigation behavior. Results are useful to understand how segments of tourism demand may be altered with a changing climate, such as increased temperatures, precipitation, and storms, and what groups may be the most beneficial to target for marketing or educational efforts to reduce the impact of climate change.     

Rejuvenation after encounters between different artistic forms: a synopsis of studies of indigenization of Christian art in China

Religion and art are symbiotic. The ecumenical propagation of Christianity inherently entails a mission of indigenization. Since it spread to China, Christianity has produced many renovated art forms which combined indigenization and local artistic expression on the one hand, with original religious notions and Western art on the other. This article reviews Chinese scholarship on the indigenization of Christianity in modern China and emphasizes that the renovated Chinese architecture, music, and fine art, after integrating with religious ideas and techniques, largely promoted the modern transformation and rejuvenation of traditional Chinese art.     

The Azazo Project: Archaeology and the Community in Ethiopia

Abstract

In this article we discuss the motivations, aims, and preliminary results of working with a local community in Ethiopia. Trying to escape from the (neo)colonial archaeology that is still practised in Africa, this project aims to achieve a cooperative and participative archaeology. This work with the community has been one of our main priorities in our last seasons, and although we have focused on elementary school and university students, we have opened up a number of different paths to follow in future years. The experience has been very positive, and engagement with local people has helped us to create awareness about the importance of cultural heritage, hopefully ensuring the future protection of the sites.     

Craniofacial variation between southern and northern Neolithic and Modern Chinese

Previous studies propose that the Yangtze River is the geographic boundary separating northern and southern Chinese populations. In order to test this hypothesis, 19 Neolithic and 15 Modern human cranial samples from north of the Qinling Mountain Range, south of the Yangtze River and in between were chosen for morphometric analysis. Our results indicate that cranial variation exists in Holocene Neolithic and Modern northern and southern Chinese. In the Neolithic sample, the northern Chinese crania are characterised by greater upper face height and orbit height, while the southern Chinese skulls are depicted by a wider nose. The morphology of the crania between the Qinling Mountain range and the Yangtze River feature a mosaic of characters that suggest affiliation with both north and south groups. In the Modern day sample, northern crania are characterised by a broad and wide face, and a tall nose. From the Neolithic to Modern day, a series of microevolutionary processes that apply to both the northern and southern samples can be discerned. Overall, the head gets lower, the face and nose become narrower and the orbits tend to be narrower and higher. Our results support the suggestion that the Qinling Mountain Range and the Yangtze River represent a natural barrier to the movement of Chinese populations. Climatic variation and the transition to an agricultural lifestyle are proposed as the primary factors influencing human craniofacial morphologies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

John Milton and the Beard-Hater: encounters with Julian the Apostate

ABSTRACT

This is a study of John Milton and Julian the Apostate, last of the pagan emperors. It follows two trajectories. The first takes as its subject Julian’s “School Edict” of 362 AD, which barred Christians from traditional classical education; while the second concerns a literary text by Julian himself, the Misopogon or “Beard-Hater,” in which he ironically attacked his own aversion to Antiochene Christianity, including the performance of plays. These discussions offer an opportunity to re-examine Milton’s comments on early Christian views of drama, as well as his own drafts for sacred dramas. All these discussions turn on the question of how the Christian is to approach pagan literature, one of the oldest intellectual debates within Christianity. I argue that Milton’s attitude to Greek literature as an entire process was shaped by his attitude to this specific debate, and that this can be seen afresh by viewing it through the eyes of its most powerful critic in antiquity, Julian the Apostate. I also furnish an account of the early-modern editorial tradition of Julian.     

The iron age in Mediterranean France: Colonial encounters, entanglements, and transformations

During the last seven centuries of the first millennium BC, the indigenous societies of Mediterranean France underwent a series of gradual social and cultural transformations that are linked in complex ways to their encounter and increasing entanglement with the broader Mediterranean world. This article presents a synthesis of current knowledge of this issue and explores some of the main themes guiding research. New evidence concerning the alien colonial agents (Etruscan, Greek, Punic/Iberian, and Roman), and the contrasting nature of their presence and power in the region, is discussed, as is evidence concerning forms of indigenous engagement with colonial states and paths of social and cultural change. The consumption of alien goods (wine, ceramics) and the adoption of foreign techniques and practices (ceramic production methods, coinage, writing) are examined in terms of the locally situated logic of demand and the ramifications for entanglement and change. Transformations in settlements, ritual spaces, funerary practices, and the agrarian landscape are discussed.     

Childhood narratives: adult reflections on encounters with difference in everyday spaces

Research on children and young people commonly focuses on the present experiences of childhood. Yet Philo, C. [2003. “‘To Go Back up the Side Hill’: Memories, Imaginations and Reveries of Childhood.” Children's Geographies 1 (1): 7–24] has argued that we might also access the ‘worlds’ of children and childhood through the memories or recollections of adults, given that we have all been children once. In response, this paper explores the narratives of adults reflecting on their childhood experiences and in particular, on the formation of their attitudes towards difference. The paper offers a means of understanding how adults reflect on their childhood encounters with difference, how their attitudes towards difference are developed over time and the extent to which these childhood narratives are carried into adult lives. This is not to suggest that early experiences are deterministic. Rather, individuals can reflect on their own lives and encounters and choose to change or react to wider social relations in new ways such that they produce and embody new dispositions.     

Motives and opportunities for domestication: an ethnoarchaeological study in southwest Ethiopia

Farmers of southwest Ethiopia are currently transplanting yams (Dioscorea cayenensis) from wild contexts to home gardens. Ethnoarchaeological study of this practice can inform considerations of agricultural origins in prehistoric times by revealing motives and opportunities that shape decisions to adopt wild-growing plants. In one part of the study area, case studies demonstrate that decisions to manipulate yams may arise mainly among individuals of a particular gender or household composition. Comparisons across the study area illustrate the effects of slight variations in environment and human mobility upon adoption of wild-growing yams. The social and environmental factors that favor or impede manipulation of yams are highly specific and nuanced, and operate on both intra- and inter-community levels.     

'Liberty and truth' or 'the sovereignty of reason': Carlo Cattaneo and the place of politics in the modern world

My purpose here is to place the thought of Carlo Cattaneo in relation to French Restoration liberalism, and I therefore consider the doctrinaire school (among others, Guizot and Cousin) and the Coppet Circle (notably, Constant, StaËl and Sismondi). A concern to render reason sovereign was perhaps shared by all in post-revolutionary Europe who were cultivating human or social science, yet there was in Guizot's concept of 'the sovereignty of reason' a spiritualist, authoritarian and anti-individualist implication. By contrast, Cattaneo wished to honour 'the truth of local facts', that is the specific attributes of all the parts of which a state consisted, and in this regard his thought is descended not from the doctrinaires but from the individualist liberalism of Constant. I also remark upon Cattaneo's debt, openly declared, to the earlier historical writings of Thierry,and therefore to the political precepts of the late id é ologue tradition. Il mio scopo è quello di porre il pensiero di Carlo Cattaneo in relazione al liberalismo francese durante il periodo della Restaurazione, e confrontarlo in particolare con l'Ecole Doctrinaire (tra gli altri, Guizot e Cousin) ed il Circolo Coppet (principalmente, Constant, StaËl e Sismondi). L'idea di rendere la ragione sovrana era forse un sentimento condiviso da molti intellettuali nell'Europa post-rivoluzionaria, specialmente in coloro che dedicavano attenzione ed interesse alle scienze umane e sociali; tuttavia, nel concetto di Guizot sulla 'sovranitÀ della ragione' era insita una componente spiritualista, autoritaria ed antindividualista. Cattaneo, diversamente, tendeva ad onorare 'la veritÀ delle realtÀ locali', ossia di tutte le caratteristiche insite negli innumerevoli elementi di cui lo stato è composto; ed in questo aspetto, il suo pensiero traeva ispirazione dal liberalismo individualista di Constant piuttosto che dai doctrinaires. Credo anche che il liberalismo di Cattaneo sia dichiaratamente debitore verso gli scritti di Thierry ed inoltre nei confronti della filosofia politica appartenente alla tradizione degli idéologues.     

Urban encounters with difference: the contact hypothesis and immigrant integration projects in eastern Berlin

Recent urban scholarship celebrates the increased cultural and ethnic diversity of contemporary cities as promoting conviviality and intercultural sensibilities. The contact hypothesis and immigrant integration policies drawing on it similarly stress the importance of increased face-to-face contact for reducing inter-group prejudice and conflict. Drawing on ethnographic research in eastern Berlin, this paper examines spaces of encounters between local residents and recent immigrants and their potential for decreasing negative stereotypes, prejudice, and conflict. We find that contact between Russian Aussiedler and local German residents in public and quasi-public spaces remains fleeting, often reinforcing pre-existing stereotypes. Local immigrant integration projects, despite their intentions of increasing contact between migrant and non-migrant residents, often fail to provide opportunities for deeper contact. On the other hand, sustained and close encounters are enabled in spaces of neighborhood community centers, where immigrants and native residents work side-by-side on common projects. These sustained encounters engender more empathy and positive attitudes toward individual immigrants but these are not scaled up to the group, contradicting claims of recent contact theorists. We suggest that scholars and integration practitioners be cautious of overoptimistic assumptions about how encounters across difference can contribute to decreasing resentment and interethnic conflict, as these are underwritten by much broader processes of marginalization and deeply entrenched unequal power relations.