Performative Chineseness and Culinary Tourism in Chinese Restaurants in Newfoundland,Canada

Abstract

This article explores Chinese culinary practice in Newfoundland by including a non-Chinese perspective in the sense of ‘culinary tourism’. As it is an open, multivocal, and incomplete system, both Chinese and non-Chinese participate in the everyday negotiation of Chinese foodways, shaping their different and sometimes conflicting understandings of Chineseness in response to various global or local socio-cultural circumstances. In this process, a diasporic Chinese identity is mutually constructed, while a creolized, cosmopolitan sense of being Newfoundlanders—based on shared culinary experience—also emerges.     

Esoteric Tangles

Abstract

I attempt here a very general reply to the preceding sixteen essays by addressing the broad, structural constraints of my book, from which many of the particular problems raised in the essays flow. Philosophy Between the Lines is an effort to give a very sweeping account—theoretically and historically—of a phenomenon that is, in many respects, highly particularized and situation specific. The characteristic sin of the book is overgeneralization or simplification. In the present essay I attempt a brief and partial clarification, primarily by selecting one main theme of the book—defensive esotericism—and redescribing it from a more localized and fine-grained perspective.     

The Novel-ty of Responsible Archaeological Site Reporting: How Writing Fictive Narrative Contributes to Ethical Archaeological Practice

Abstract

The writing conventions governing most contemporary archaeological site reports encourage depersonalized, scientistic narratives that fundamentally misrepresent the context and complexity of most excavations. This means that any invested stakeholder in the archaeological record — whether specialist or layperson — has no means of understanding the full and nuanced nature of the archaeological epistemological process that generates the data and interpretations described in these reports. I argue that fictive narrative has the potential to transcend many of these prevailing problems through its temporal flexibility, inherently pluralistic nature, dynamic contextualization, and essential reliance on creativity — all of which are tropes that also characterize the hermeneutic process of archaeological research.     

Allan Bloom's Message to the State Universities

Abstract

There is a tradition of theory—virtually as old as written literature itself—that views the artist as a maker of new worlds.¹ Reacting against philosophers like Plato, who sees literature as merely the imitation of an imitation, many theorists have ascribed to writers a dynamic and creative power to bring into being that which did not exist before. This article examines two such would-be creators: Friedrich Nietzsche and Chinua Achebe.     

Sociability,Perfectibility and the Intellectual Legacy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the concept of sociability was used mainly to refer to the putative range of primary human qualities or capabilities that preceded—or existed independently of—the formation of political societies. This article is an examination of the impact of Rousseau's thought on this then standard usage. Its initial focus is on Rousseau's concept of perfectibility and its bearing on the thought of Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet, and Friedrich Schlegel. Its broader aim is to show how their respective responses to Rousseau were part of a more deep-seated transformation of the concept of sociability itself.     

Curated Ruins and the Endurance of Conflict Heritage

Abstract

Architectural ruins created by bombing, artillery, and fire are a common feature of post-conflict urban and extra-urban environments, serving as stark reminders of the material impact of warfare and violence. Over time most of these ruins are either restored, demolished, or reclaimed by nature. This paper examines another, more unusual category: sites that are carefully maintained in a freshly ruined state, suggesting that their destruction was more recent than it actually was. These sites — most often configured as memorials — raise interesting questions about memorialization, conflict heritage, authenticity, ethics, and whether or not there is a ‘natural’ lifespan or lifecycle for architectural ruins. To illustrate this argument I will draw on case studies of the Frauenkirche in Dresden, Germany, and the ruins of Oradour-sur-Glane in France.     

Two AHA Sessions: The Revolutionary Mr. Kuhn and the Evolutionary Mr. Bertalanffy

Abstract

Quantitative methods of content analysis have become established in most subfields of political science, but remain relatively unutilized in studies of political theory, despite the exclusive focus of that subfield on textual sources. This article develops a variation of content analysis—termed usage analysis—and employs it to resolve a standing debate in scholarship on Cicero's political theory regarding the synonymy of the major Latin terms for the state (civitas and res publica). The resulting distinction between these concepts then informs an exposition of Cicero's ideal state not as the Roman Republic itself or the mixed constitution alone, but as a universal, everlasting political society supported by justice, a mixed constitution, and active citizenship.     

God’s Sovereign Word

Abstract

Much political theory is funded by a purportedly “theological” notion of sovereignty. This essay re-reads and thereby deconstructs such a view. The argument presented herein is that certain political theorists—notably Schmitt, Bodin, and Hobbes—uncritically appropriate a “theological” notion of sovereignty as an analogy for political sovereignty. Engaging the work of Karl Barth, this essay undercuts such analogizing tendencies, contending that the “theological” superstructure on which so-called political theology is constructed is not theological but anthropological. Barth’s reconfiguration of theology, grounded not on natural law or reason, but on God’s self-revelation of Godself in Jesus Christ, offers a very different terminus a quem for political theology.     

Rough Justice: Lars von Trier's Dogville and Manderlay and the Book of Amos

Abstract

In his films Dogville and Manderlay, Lars von Trier offers an account of divine justice which has paradoxically offended humanists but has struck a chord with some Christian theologians. This paper seeks to show that the account of divine justice in the book of Amos and in the Hebrew Bible more generally is illuminated by juxtaposition with von Trier's work. Importantly, however, the two films cited have to be seen as part of a uncompleted trilogy which means that the criticisms directed at von Trier on the basis of the first film alone need to be reassessed in the light of the second. Key issues that emerge are the relationship between individual and communal guilt and the arrogance involved both in judging and not judging others. Justice is not to be equated with law or individual deserts in either Von Trier or Amos but is more closely related to the inevitable restoration of balance in a natural system. Such justice is rough—both approximate and violent—but arrogant attempts to mitigate that roughness almost always end up with even more approximate and violent results.     

Protecting a Cemetery in Saqqara: Site Works 1975–2009

Abstract

This article considers the varied threats to Ancient Egyptian architectural remains that have been exposed by modern excavation. A number of possible measures that counter such threats are outlined, together with the practical difficulties facing the architectural conservator working in this context. The approach taken at the New Kingdom Necropolis in Saqqara — a group of elite tombs constructed c. 1350–1250 BC — during the post-excavation phase is detailed, with an emphasis on the works carried out by the author from 2004 to 2009. This encompasses the conservation of surviving limestone relief decoration in situ, the reconstruction of missing masonry elements, and the final presentation of the site to visitors.     

Churchwarden Clay Tobacco-Pipes and the Southorn Pipemaking Family of Broseley,Shropshire

Abstract

The origin of the term ‘Churchwarden pipe’, now used to describe any long-stemmed clay—and sometimes even brier—pipe, is examined and the suggestion made that it was originally invented by the prominent Broseley, Shropshire, clay pipemaking family of Southorn to describe a specific type among their long-stemmed pipes. The Southorn family, whose products were possibly the premier-quality British clay pipes of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, is also discussed in the light of available evidence, much of which is confused or contradictory.     

Water Mamas among the Makushi in Guyana

Abstract

This article examines folklore concerning water spirits among the Makushi Amerindians in Guyana. Makushi accounts of spirits called ‘water mamas’—twingram or Tuenkaron in Makushi—associate these beings with white people in both past and present. The case is presented here that this folklore reflects Makushi histories and experiences of European contact, colonialism in Dutch and British Guiana, and ongoing relations with Europeans and other outsiders. The themes of abduction, enticement, capricious wealth, and exotic ‘palaces’ found in stories of water mamas relate to these histories and experiences and inscribe them into the present landscape in Guyana. In addition to describing beliefs in water mamas and examining Makushi histories of interaction with Europeans, the article begins to explore the comparative context of this folklore in relation to other beliefs in water spirits across Amazonia and beyond.     

Objects for Peaceful Disordering: Indigenous Designs and Practices of Protest

Abstract

This paper identifies a number of theoretical approaches to devices known as 'lockons': sundry objects found in builders' merchants, and some people's bodies—ie peace activists pursuing non-violent direct action. This paper raises the possibility that the transforming power of designing may be enhanced if it is acknowledged that it is most powerful when it takes place in full articulation with practices.     

A Human Rights "Soul" for a Secular World of "Faiths": A Contradiction,or Just a Paradox?

Abstract

The critically important role of groups associated with the infant World Council of Churches in the process of introducing ‘human rights’ into the post-World War II international order, and then helping to define them in the Universal Declaration (1948), has been forgotten. It was asserted in those years that (at any rate Christian) faith is properly concerned with the inter-dependence of healthy religion and religiously neutral human-rights institutions. The principle was advanced, not only by Christians, that this conviction could be held in good conscience by any of the world-faiths. To open educational windows would increase knowledge of the beliefs of ‘the other’, and foster both self-criticism and mutual respect. This vision has been only very partially realised. Now, many difficult public issues spring from claims made by religious traditions, and many religious groups have rejected ‘universal’ human rights as a threat. This paper argues that the mutuality of religious faith and human rights needs to be re-enterprised urgently—and not only by elites—for the health of both and for the sake of containing violence. This is not a responsibility to which political authority—however religiously neutral—can or should remain indifferent.     

The Interview Hurdle to Postgraduate Studies and the Job Market

Abstract

This paper explores the educational value of a rural trail—a field visit on foot—using as an example a trail in a small area of countryside near Lancaster in northern England. This trail provides those teaching rural geography in higher education with a means of developing their students’ skills of informed observation and interpretation of field evidence based on study and discussion on‐site. A trail can enhance the appreciation and teaching of conceptual matters such as cultural approaches to rural geography. It also encourages the integration of diverse theoretical approaches to rural studies (based on culture, planning and management) and the simultaneous consideration by students of both local (often personal) details and national (or even global) pressures for change. The paper concludes that the rural trail has considerable pedagogical and academic merit for rural geographers.     

Appropriation,Absence and the Canadian Studies Classroom

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on “appropriation of voice” or “cultural appropriation” in the Canadian Studies classroom. It is aimed at instructors who teach Canadian Literature outside Canada, in places where Canada is itself a strange, foreign or even exotic country. Keeping classroom practice in mind, I divide the article into three sections. The first provides a classroom-oriented overview of appropriation debates; the second looks at tokenism on reading lists; the third reflects on problems of absence or of dealing with canonical texts that skim over Canada’s Indigenous Peoples—specifically, by analyzing two brief examples from Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912) and one from Anne Michaels’s Fugitive Pieces (1996).     

Risks and Consequences in Energy Production

Abstract

The word risk is often used in association with energy production and in some case it is equated with consequences. The distinction is important and has implications for the study of energy system. Failure in a given energy system, such as nuclear power or hydroelectric dams, can give rise to human consequences, such a deaths, injuries or disease. The extent of these consequences varies from one system to another. Furthermore, the probability of such failures is a characteristic of the given system. For example, a nuclear reactor or hydroelectric dam may have a probability of one catastrophic failure in x years of operation where x is a large number. The probability multiplied by the number of deaths, injuries and illnesses caused by the failures—the consequences—can be taken as a measure of the risk, or risk index.     

Roman-Period and Byzantine Landscapes Between Sepphoris and Nazareth

Abstract

A reinterpretation of the Roman-period (late first century BC to fourth century AD) and Byzantine-period (early fifth to early seventh century AD) landscapes between Sepphoris and Nazareth, in the Lower Galilee, Israel, is presented. This derives from a multi-period archaeological survey, in September 2004 and September 2005, of a 5 km×3 km transect — Israel grid 1760–2340, 1790–2390. Some of the relevant results from the 2004–2005 seasons are outlined, rather than providing a full report on this survey, which will form part of a forthcoming PEF monograph. For this reason, survey data are described in summary form and — as it is the Roman-period and Byzantine evidence that is the focus of attention — both earlier and later material are mentioned here only in relation to those periods.     

A Note on the Meaning of Ḥamas in Ezekiel

ABSTRACT

The entries for ?amas in the biblical lexicons read “violence, wrong”; “treat violently”; or “theft, exploitation, social oppression;” namely, this word is understood as referring to the social sphere. On this basis, in the usual exegesis of the verses in which it appears in Ezekiel, ?amas is understood to refer to social violence. I suggest, however, that a closer examination of each of the seven occurrences of this term in Ezekiel indicates that it refers to the sins of the people that led to the destruction of the Temple—including idolatry and bloodshed—and that Ezekiel utilized and adjusted this pentateuchal concept to his prophetic needs.