Heritage designation and scale: a World Heritage case study of the Ningaloo Coast

As heritage research has engaged with a greater plurality of heritage practices, scale has emerged as an important concept in Heritage Studies, albeit relatively narrowly defined as hierarchical levels (household, local, national, etcetera). This paper argues for a definition of scale in heritage research that incorporates size (geographical scale), level (vertical scale) and relation (an understanding that scale is constituted through dynamic relationships in specific contexts). The paper utilises this definition of scale to analyse heritage designation first through consideration of changing World Heritage processes, and then through a case study of the world heritage designation of the Ningaloo Coast region in Western Australia. Three key findings are: both scale and heritage gain appeal because they are abstractions, and gain definition through the spatial politics of interrelationships within specific situations; the spatial politics of heritage designation comes into focus through attention to those configurations of size, level and relation that are invoked and enabled in heritage processes; and researchers choice to analyse or ignore particular scales and scalar politics are political decisions. Utilising scale as size, level and relation enables analyses that move beyond heritage to the spatial politics through which all heritage is constituted.     

Miliacin in palaeosols from an Early Iron Age in Ukraine reveal in situ cultivation of broomcorn millet

During the archaeobotanical investigation of Scythian–Sarmatian period (Early Iron Age), pits with crop processing waste, discovered in the floodplain of Donets River, eastern Ukraine, and charred remains of cereal grains, dominated by broomcorn millet, were recorded. The grains from the pits were radiocarbon dated to the fifth to first century BC. Those pits are distant from any known contemporaneous settlement. The apparent disconnection of these pits from any local settlement suggests that (1) millet was brought from other locations by mobile groups, or (2) millet was cultivated locally by populations whose settlements have left no discernible archaeological trace. The analysis of molecular biomarkers preserved in palaeosols that are stratigraphically connected to the pits revealed high levels of miliacin, a molecule that can be preserved in ancient soils and sediments, and that is consistent with broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum). High levels in miliacin in soils stratigraphically connected to the pits are interpreted as the result of a large biomass of P. miliaceum produced at time of soil formation. Our biogeochemical results applied to a palaeosol thus attest to the in situ cultivation of crops dominated by the broomcorn millet during the early Iron Age in the floodplain of Donets River. Biochemical examination of soils and palaeosols can thus provide useful information on past dynamics of land-use by ancient population, especially when settlements or macrobotanical remains are absent.     

Multi/Interdisciplinary investigations into Italy and World War I: An introduction

This introductory article details some of the main points that characterized Italian politics and culture in the period leading up to World War I and during the war itself, and then surveys the contributions of each article in this series that further investigates the period. The authors note the febrile nature of Italian domestic politics before the war which challenged traditional liberal parliamentarism. This political challenge was accompanied by a challenge to traditional art, and no movement epitomized these twin challenges to the old order like Futurism. Yet, though the Futurists and other nationalist groups glorified war and helped push Italy into the conflict, the country was hardly united. In fact, the hope was that war would finally unify the nation and erase the shame of Italy’s lackluster military performances since unification. As such, Italy’s cultural experience of the war was somewhat unique, in that the desire to prove its martial valor did not lead to the level of denunciations that other nations’ artists and writers produced – though there were some critics. Ialongo’s article traces the Futurist contribution to this pro-war ethic. Reich shows how the popularity of the Maciste alpino film during the war built upon this desire to unify the nation behind the war. And Palanti’s analysis of the post-war film Umanità notes that there were critics in Italy willing to challenge the cult of war.     

The Bullock Report on Industrial Democracy and the Post-War Consensus

The post-war settlement among the policy elite is central to much historical literature. This article considers the rise and fall of the idea of ‘industrial democracy’, and its relationship to this settlement. The elite failed to respond coherently to claims for workplace democracy. The notion that politicians could work with ‘the unions’ and ‘industry’ was shown to be deficient. The unions contained numerous views, many hostile to industrial democracy in the form proposed by Bullock and the TUC. Industry was almost uniformly antagonistic. The notion of consensus ostensibly underpinned the attempts of Labour and Conservative politicians to progress this issue. In truth, this was a curious approach. The debate over Bullock was, at root, an argument over whether the owners of capital should cede some of their power in favour of organised labour. There was never likely to be agreement on this. The inconclusive debate over Bullock ultimately showed how fragile the consensus was. The political elite could not forever smooth over underlying disagreements between capital and labour, or between groups of workers with differing interests.     

(Re)Inhabiting awareness: geography and mindfulness

This paper opens up a dialogue between mindfulness and the discipline of geography. As a meditative practice that cultivates ‘present-centred non-judgmental awareness’, we claim that the practices and insights of mindfulness have important implications for various forms of geographical enquiry. This paper argues that mindfulness can inform geographical practices in relation to epistemology and methodology, and contribute towards geographically informed critical psychological theory and action. More specifically, we claim that mindfulness could offer a practice-based context to support the study of affects, extend the application of psychoanalytical geographical methods beyond the therapeutic, and contribute to emerging geographical studies of behavioural power and empowerment. This analysis explores these sites of interaction through a series of reflections on the Mindfulness, Behaviour Change and Engagement in Public Policy programme that was developed and delivered by the authors. This more-than-therapeutic mindfulness programme has been delivered to approximately 47 civil servants working in the UK Government.