Book Reviews

Abstract

I begin with an attempt to discern the contours of the "debate" contained in the edited volume Theology and the Political: The New Debate. While the Radical Orthodox contributors are eager to critique those outside the fold, only two authors seem to talk back to them: Kenneth Surin and Mary-Jane Rubenstein. I agree with Surin's rejection of ontological hierarchy and Rubenstein's recommendation of Nancy's notion of "being-with," and I use their arguments to critique Radical Orthodoxy's ontology and their simplistic approach to "secular" authors, respectively. Insofar as one must discuss ontology in relation to theology and the political, I propose that we must actually develop a new ontology rather than simply reassert some version of the Thomistic synthesis. Finally, I fault the relative lack of reference to actual political practice, and above all the complete absence of Latin American liberation theology, in a volume ostensibly discussing "theology and the political."     

Response of cathodoluminescence of alkali feldspar to He+ ion implantation and electron irradiation

Cathodoluminescence (CL) of minerals such as quartz and zircon has been extensively studied to be used as an indicator for geodosimetry and geochronometry. There are, however, very few investigations on CL of other rock-forming minerals such as feldspars, regardless of their great scientific interest. This study has sought to clarify the effect of He+ ion implantation and electron irradiation on luminescent emissions by acquiring CL spectra from various types of feldspars including anorthoclase, amazonite and adularia. CL intensities of UV and blue emissions, assigned to Pb²⁺ and Ti⁴⁺ impurity centers respectively, decrease with an increase in radiation dose of He⁺ ion implantation and electron irradiation time. This may be due to decrease in the luminescence efficiencies by a change of the activation energy or a conversion of the emission center to a non-luminescent center due to an alteration of the energy state. Also, CL spectroscopy of the alkali feldspar revealed an in-crease in the blue and yellow emission intensity assigned to Al-O^?-Al/Ti defect and radiation-induced defect centers with the radiation dose and the electron irradiation time. Taken together these results indicate that CL signal should be used for estimation of the α and β radiation doses from natural radionuclides that alkali feldspars have experienced.     

The elemental chemistry of lithic microwear: an experiment

This paper examines the ability of elemental analysis to distinguish microwear traces on stone tools. Our research hypothesised that cleaning procedures of experimental specimens may have heavily influenced previous studies in this area. Experimental flakes are used and cleaned by two alternative methods before laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is applied to study use-wear chemistry. The results show that elementally recognisable traces remain on stone surfaces even with severe cleaning. Also studied were archaeological sickle blades from two sites in Northern England. The results were counter-intuitive demonstrating that experimentally validated models potentially require extensive modification and clarification before being applied to archaeological material. This research identifies methodological problems and errors concerning cleaning within previous experimental studies and highlights new directions for this quantitative analytic approach in microwear analysis.     

Incipient aquaculture in prehistoric California?: Long-term productivity and sustainability vs. immediate returns for the harvest of marine invertebrates

California archaeologists have proposed two alternative methods for harvesting mussels—“stripping” and “plucking”. These two methods are modeled and compared with experimental data from central California (Jones, T.L., Richman, J.R., 1995. On Mussels: Mytilus californianus as a Prehistoric Resource, North American Archaeologist 16, 33–58) and archaeological data from the Punta Gorda Rockshelter, a well-stratified coastal shell midden in northern California. Foragers at the Punta Gorda Rockshelter appear to have practiced a “stripping” technique at approximately 24 month intervals. It is argued that, while this strategy reduced immediate foraging returns, it increased the long-term net productivity of the mussel beds.     

Road-kill on the information highway: repetitive strain injury in the academy

Most critical scholars who study disabilities question how specific environments effectively enable or disable persons with mental or physical impairments, and avoid locating disabilities as objective realities for affected individuals. Applying such insights to intensive use of desktop computers within office environments such as universities, affords a critique of the disabling aspects of computer keyboarding and video display terminal viewing. Computer-related repetitive strain injury is a physical impairment whose seriousness, treatment, solutions and accommodation within the workplace are currently in dispute; in part due to lobby efforts by the IT industry and computer‐intensive employers.     

Book reviews

Dynamique de l'espace français et aménagement du territoire. (The Dynamics of French Space and Spatial Planning), Michel Rochefort. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1995, 138 pp, £15.00, ISBN 2 7384 3338 3

Urban Process and Power. Peter Ambrose. London and New York: Routledge, 1994, 245 pp, £12.00 pb, ISBN 1 415 00850 6; £40.00 hb, ISBN 0 415 00850 4

Transport Systems, Policy and Planning: a Geographical Approach. R. Tolley and B. Turton. Harlow: Longman, 1995, xviii + 401 pp, £20.99 pb, ISBN 0 582 00562 0

Transport Policy—Ways into Europe's Future (Strategies and Options for the Future of Europe: Basic Findings 8). K. Button, with contributions by W. Weidenfeld, G. Wolfgang Heinze, H. H. Kill, R. Münch, N. Walter, G. Topmann, H. Holzapfel and K. O. Schallaböck. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Foundation Publishers, 1994, 227 pp, £9.00, ISBN 3 89204 065 6

The European Challenge: Geography and Development in the European Community. M. Blacksell and A. M. Williams (Eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 429 pp, 1994, £45.00 hb, ISBN 0 19 874176 6; £15.95 pb, ISBN 0 19 874177 4     

COMPUTER CARTOGRAPHY IN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH

The potential value of maps in historical geographical research has increased as a result of clearer understanding of the nature of maps and new developments in computer cartography. The computer has made possible the rapid transformation of appropriately organized sets of data into maps of many different types. The manipulation of such data sets replaces many time-consuming drafting operations of conventional cartography and adds new flexibility to mapping operations. Maps of the early colonial settlement of the Cape Colony demonstrate the flexibility and value of computer cartography in historical geographical research.
La valeur potentielle des cartes pour la recherche en géographie historique a connu un essor considérable suite à une meilleure connaissance de la nature des cartes et les développements récents dans la cartographie automatisée. L'ordinateur a rendu possible la transformation rapide des ensembles de données organisés d'une facon appropriée en cartes de divers types. La manipulation de tels ensembles de données remplace un grand nombre d'opérations manuelles de la cartographie traditionnelle qui ont demandé beaucoup de temps, et elle a ajouté une nouvelle flexibilité aux opérations de cartographie. Des cartes du peuplement au début de l'époque coloniale du Cap démontrent la flexibilité et la valeur de la cartographie automatisée pour la recherche en géographie historique.     

THE IDEALIST DISPUTE IN ANGLO-AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY: A COMMENT

Curry has raised some new and important issues concerning the value of the idealist philosophy in geography, and his paper makes a significant contribution to a clearer understanding of this approach. Although in his final judgment Curry comes down hard on my position, declaring it to be 'fundamentally misguided,' his actual view of idealism is more ambivalent and not nearly as clear-cut as the words 'fundamentally misguided' might suggest. This is revealed by his defence of the position in the earlier part of the paper and his mild treatment of Collingwood, on whose book The Idea of History much of my own position is based.¹ There are also parts of Curry's paper that would seem compatible with idealism as I understand it, and with some clarifications and modifications to both our positions a basis of broad agreement between us would appear to exist.     

Moderation and religious criticism in William Cartwright’s The Ordinary (1635)

Building on the recent revival of critical interest in the drama of William Cartwright, this article explores the politics of religious moderation in his 1635 play The Ordinary. I situate the concept of moderation in Caroline England in relation to recent historical work on the subject, examining how Cartwright treats the subject in his poetry, where he argues that religious extremism inhibits the proper articulation of moderate politics. I then consider religious criticism in The Ordinary, suggesting that it attacks aspects of Puritan and Arminian theology alike. Although he ranges over a number of topics, Cartwright is particularly concerned with the way in which religious innovation is undermined by economic unfairness, incompetence, and greed. The play shows how Caroline comedy engages with polemical culture in subtle and sophisticated ways.