WAC at a Crossroads

The Sixth World Archaeological Congress in Dublin is likely to be a crossroads for the organisation, as it negotiates a number of key issues. One set of issues is concerned with the manner in which we negotiate the sharply politically divided nature of the contemporary moment. It is one of the extraordinary ironies of the current moment that the world of Dublin 2008 is, in many ways, more sharply divided, less securely predictable, and less amenable to immediate analysis than the world of Southampton 1986. So how does WAC find a way through these contending forces, pressures and identities? One answer comes from reminding ourselves that WAC has always been an oppositional organisation of a particular kind, cutting against the grain of received modes of thought and practice. Another answer comes from reminding ourselves of WAC’s core intellectual project. The WAC of 2008 exists as a loose conjunction of at least three different projects. The first is concerned with asserting the rights of Indigenous persons and groups in relation to archaeological processes. The second is about asserting the interests of archaeologists from the global South. The third is about contesting a particular politics of knowledge, and framing an epistemological challenge to received modes of thought and practice. These projects share a number of points in common, although they also pull in different directions. WAC was founded on a discussion of “sameness”, the extent to which we formed part of a “one world” archaeology. Perhaps it is time to find a way—seriously, respectfully—to talk about the points on which we differ?     

Quebec and Canada at the Crossroads: A Nation within a Nation

Abstract. I argue first that there are many different concepts of the nation, and advocate a certain conceptual pluralism. I also argue that a population as a whole cannot constitute a nation unless it has a certain national consciousness. I then show that we must adopt a fundamental principle of tolerance. I also try to attend to the complexities of the relations between Quebec and Canada, and argue that different populations represent themselves as nations in different ways and with different concepts. 1 show that Quebec constitutes a nation within a nation. I then wonder what it would mean for Canadians to accept a Quebec nation. Finally, I try to explain why a very large proportion of the population of Quebec has increasingly been favourable to sovereignty, and favourable to making a partnership proposal to Canada.     

The Two Cultures and a World Apart: Archaeology and Science at a New Crossroads

Within the past decade or so, archaeology has increasingly utilised and contributed to major advances in scientific methods when exploring the past. This progress is frequently celebrated as a quantum leap in the possibilities for understanding the archaeological record, opening up hitherto inaccessible dimensions of the past. This article represents a critique of the current consumption of science in archaeology, arguing that the discipline’s grounding in the humanities is at stake, and that the notion of ‘interdisciplinarity’ is becoming distorted with the increasing fetishisation of ‘data’, ‘facts’ and quantitative methods. It is argued that if archaeology is to break free of its self-induced inferiority to and dependence on science, it must revitalise its methodology for asking questions pertinent to the humanities.     

European Union at the Crossroads: A Framing Comment

In a framing comment embracing the preceding four papers devoted to the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, a prominent American geographer reviews some of the major problems confronting the European continent. The paper, which begins with the author's view of Europe's dilemma in late 2006, covers a number of geographic implications of the May 2004 expansion. Noted are Russia's overland access to Kaliningrad, the addition of ca. 8 million underprivileged Roma (presently the Union's largest minority population), the potentially divisive new boundary with Russia, the future candidate states emerging from the former Yugoslavia, the prospects of Ukraine's possible membership, and the challenge of Turkey's quest for admission to the EU. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F02, F20, P20. 2 figures, 34 references.     

Bioprospecting: from theory to practice (and back again)

This paper critically assesses the theory and practice of biodiversity prospecting in the developing world. Taking the case of perhaps the most famous bioprospecting broker – Costa Rica's National Institute of Biodiversity – rival theoretical discourses on the 'selling nature to save it' approach to environmental conservation are unpacked. This approach, currently de rigueur in mainstream global environmental organizations, is touted by its advocates in the academic and policy world as an effective tool for 'green developmentalism'. For a cohort of university-based left critics, however, bioprospecting is one more troubling example of 'post-modern ecological capital' in action, representing the further commodification of nature for profit purposes. By treating the rival theoretical discourses on bioprospecting produced by differently situated knowledge communities as objects of analysis, the paper asks fundamental questions about the grounds on which evaluations of bioprospecting might be made. It is argued that the radical critique buys its logical and moral power at the expense of its practical relevance, while advocates of selling biodiversity have made their case with only limited empirical persuasiveness. On the basis of a heuristic distinction between immanent and external critique, the paper seeks to put the evaluation of bioprospecting in particular, and green developmentalism more generally, on a new cognitive and normative footing. In so doing it impinges on recent debates over the wider relevance of 'critical' thinking in human geography and cognate fields in the current conjuncture.     

Tailored for Panama: Offshore Banking at the Crossroads of the Americas

With the steady integration of a deregulated world of hypermobile capital, offshore banking has become an increasingly significant part of the geography of international finance. Many interpretations tend to treat offshore banking centres as identical sites of investment that can be easily substituted for one another by completely mobile, fungible capital. This paper explores the nature of offshore banking in one largely overlooked centre, Panama. It charts the historic context that led to the creation of Latin America's most important centre of international banking, emphasizing the unique qualities that stand in contrast to hyperglobalist interpretations, including the Canal and the role of the US dollar. Second, it summarizes the regulatory changes initiated in the face of global neoliberalism, including the absence of a central bank and recent reforms designed to attract foreign capital. Using primary and secondary data, the paper maps Panama's growing role as a net capital exporter, charting domestic and foreign loan markets. Finally, it also addresses the trade–offs between confidentiality, and transparency in the context of illicit activities frequently alleged to occur in offshore banking centres, which in Panama revolve around drug trafficking and money laundering. It concludes by noting that even in an ostensibly seamless world, offshore banking exhibits the place–based embeddedness of financial capital within local institutional relations.     

也谈秦俑二号坑出土的绿面俑

1999年,秦俑二号坑出土了一尊非常罕见的绿面俑,这尊陶俑的出土引起了学术界的极大争议。本文在考究其他学术观点的基础上,从秦兵马俑作为秦始皇陵的陪葬品这一性质来探讨绿面俑的含义。     

陈云在中共十一届三中全会上再次成为中央领导集体重要成员原因探析

陈云在中共十一届三中全会上再次成为中央领导集体的重要成员,其原因主要有以下几个方面:一、在党内长期的地位和威望,是陈云在十一届三中全会上再次成为中央领导集体重要成员的历史条件;二、在粉碎"四人帮"后的历史关头所起的重要作用,是陈云在十一届三中全会上再次成为中央领导集体重要成员的现实基础;三、在十一届三中全会前的中央工作会议上,陈云敢于斗争,善于斗争,冲破原定议程.扭转会议方向,为中央人事调整开辟了道路;四、邓小平、李先念等人的一再提议,以及中央工作会议上与会代表的强烈呼吁,直接推动了陈云在中共中央领导职务的恢复.