Tourism,leisure and work in an east African pastoral society (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This article investigates what happens with leisure experience between cultures when the Mursi of southwestern Ethiopia meet with international tourists. I propose that instead of regarding leisure as a fixed human condition within one society, it might fruitfully be approached as a process that evolves when different societies meet, i.e. as a constantly emerging (and disappearing) practice in cross‐cultural encounters. Tourism, studied broadly from an anthropological point of view, offers an excellent field for this investigation. The Western ideology of leisure, mobilized by tourists in non‐Western settings, is a good entry point to make tangible how societies understand leisure pursuits in intercultural encounters.     

Book reviews

The Grand Strategy of Philip II by Geoffrey Parker. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp.xx + 446, illus. £25.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–300–07540–5.

Milton and the Imperial Vision edited by Balachandra Rajan and Elizabeth Sauer. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1999. Pp.vi + 376. £49.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–8207–0303–6.

If the Irish Ran the World: Montserrat, 1630–1730 by Donald Harman Akenson. Kingston and Montreal: McGill‐Queen's University Press, distributed in Britain by Liverpool University Press, 1997. Pp.x+273. £29.95 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 085323–952–5; 985323–962–2.

Pleasure and Guilt on the Grand Tour: Travel Writing and Imaginative Geography 1600–1830 by Chloe Chard. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. Pp.ix + 278. £45.00 (hardback); £16.00 (paperback). ISBN 0–7190–4804–4; 0–7190–4805–2.

Sir Robert Chambers: Law, Literature and Empire in the Age of Johnson by Thomas M. Curley. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. Pp.xxii + 698, illus. £69.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–299–15150–6.

The Oxford History of the British Empire, Volume II: The Eighteenth Century edited by P.J. Marshall. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp.xxi + 639. £30.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–19–820563–5.

Pacific Empires: Essays in Honour of Glyndwr Williams edited by Alan Frost and Jane Samson. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1999. Pp.viii + 334, illus. £29.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–522–84791–9.

The Search for the North West Passage by Ann Savours. London: Chatham Publishing, 1999. Pp.x + 342, maps, illus. £25.00 (hardback). ISBN 1–86176–059–0.

Earl Bathurst and the British Empire 1762–1834 by Neville Thompson. Barnsley, Yorkshire: Leo Cooper, 1999. Pp.xii + 308. £25.00 (hardback), ISBN 0–85052–650–0.

Imperial Cities: Landscape, Display and Identity edited by Felix Driver and David Gilbert. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. Pp.xvii + 283, illus. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–7190–5413–3.

Work and Community among West African Migrant Workers since the Nineteenth Century by Diane Frost. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999. Pp.viii + 278. £32.00 (hardback); £15.95 (paperback). ISBN 085323–523–6; 0853222–533–3.

Carnival, Canboulay and Calypso: Traditions in the Making by John Cowley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xv + 293, illus. £37.50 (hardback); £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–48138–4; 0–521–65389–4.

Steel, Ships and Men: Cammell Laird, 1824–1993 by Kenneth Warren. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1998. Pp.xiv + 313, maps and illus. £29.95 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–85323–912–6; 0–85323–992–3.

Embassies in the East: The Story of the British Embassies in Japan, China and Korea from 1859 to the Present by J.E. Hoare. Richmond: Curzon, 1999. Pp.xvi + 238, illus. £40.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–7007–0512–0.

The New Cambridge History of India, IV.2: Women in Modern India by Geraldine Forbes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 and 1999. Pp.xix + 290. £35.00 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–26812–5; 0–521–65377–0

Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830–1914 by Bruce Vandervort. London: UCL Press, 1998. Pp.xviii + 274, maps. £45.00 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 1–85728–486–0; 1–85728–487–9.

Disease and Empire: The Health of European Troops in the Conquest of Africa by Philip D. Curtin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp.xiii + 256. £45.00 (hardback); £15.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–59169–4; 0–521–59835–4.

Frontiers of Medicine in the Anglo‐Egyptian Sudan 1899–1940 by Heather Bell. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999. Pp.xvi + 261, maps. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–19–820749–2.

The South African War 1899–1902 by Bill Nasson. London: Arnold, 1999. Pp.xvi + 304, maps. £45.00 (hardback); £16.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–340–74154–6; 0–340–61427–7.

Managing the South African War, 1899–1902: Politicians v. Generals by Keith Terrance Surridge. Woodbridge: Boydell Press for the Royal Historical Society, 1998. Pp.ix + 205, maps. £30.00 (hardback). ISBN 086193–238–2.

Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape by K.S. Inglis, assisted by Jan Brazier. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Press, 1998. Pp.xvi + 522, illus. $49.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–522–84572–8.

Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters, 1914–18 selected and edited by David Omissi. Pp.xx + 382, illus., maps. £40.00 (hardback); £17.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–333–75144–2; 0–333–75145–0.

Mandates and Empire: The League of Nations and Africa, 1914–1931 by Michael D. Callahan. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 1999. Pp.ix + 297, map. £55.00 (hardback). ISBN 1–902210–23–9.

Writing West Indian Histories by B.W. Higman. Basingstoke: Macmillan, Warwick University Caribbean Studies, 1999. Pp.xiv + 298. £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–333–73296–0.

Uganda's Katikoro in England by Ham Mukasa with notes and introduction by Simon Gikandi. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998. Pp.xvii + 211, maps. £40.00 (hardback), £13.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–7190–4898–2; 0–7190–5437–0.

Imperialism, Race and Resistance: Africa and Britain, 1919–1945 by Barbara Bush. London: Routledge, 1999. Pp.xviii + 394, illus. £17.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–415–15973–3.

Alan Lennox‐Boyd: A Biography by Philip Murphy. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1999. Pp.xi + 276, illus. £24.50 (hardback). ISBN 1–86064–406–6.

A History of Selangor (1766–1939) by J.M. Gullick. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1998. Pp.vi + 220. Paperback (no price given). ISBN 967–9948–10–2.

The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya by T. N. Harper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xviii + 417. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–521–59040‐X.

Isle of Discord: Nationalism, Imperialism and the Making of the Cyprus Problem by Yiannis D. Stefanidis. London: Hurst, 1999. Pp.xi + 315. £40.00. ISBN 1–85065–415–8.

Free Trade, Free World: The Advent of GATT by Thomas W. Zeiler. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Pp.xi + 288. $39.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–8078–2458–5.

Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1999. Pp.xxviii + 529. £21.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–520–21511–7.

Militarism in India: The Army and Civil Society in Consensus by Apurba Kundu. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998. Pp.viii + 230, maps, tables. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 1–86064–318–3.

Freedom, Trauma, Continuities: Northern India and Independence edited by D.A. Low and Howard Brasted. New Delhi and London: Sage Publications, 1998. Pp.237. £35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–7619–9225–1.

Another Reason: Science and the Imagination of Modern India by Gyan Prakash. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999. Pp.xiii + 304. $49.50/£31.00 (hardback), $17.95/£11.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–691–00452–8; 0–691–00453–6.

Refashioning Futures: Criticism after Postcoloniality by David Scott. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999. Pp.233. $49.50/£29.95 (hardback); $16.95/£10.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–691–00485–4; 0–691–00486–2.     

Selecting and Sampling Shipwreck Timbers for Dendrochronological Research: practical guidance

In this article, we provide practical and straightforward guidance for the selection and sampling of shipwreck timbers for dendrochronological research. We outline sampling strategies and present informative figures that illustrate how to proceed in a variety of scenarios that archaeologists regularly encounter. However, in order to fully exploit the potential of tree‐ring research on these objects, we would urge archaeologists to involve dendrochronologists during the project planning phase to carefully plan and conduct adequate sampling of shipwreck assemblages.     

From the Parish to the Publich Realm

The parish church held a central place in local communities in the 18th century, both physically and symbolically; however, the institutions and practices governing the churches differed significantly between the Scandinavian countries. This article traces the development of local church government in Norway from its position under 18th-century absolutism to its inclusion into the new system of local self-government, established in 1837. It is compared to the very different institutions of self-government in Sweden in the same period. Although there were many lines of continuity within local government across the political dividing line marked by the Norwegian constitution of 1814, both local church offices and the parish community underwent conceptual changes related to the new constitutional system. Local church government therefore provides an example of how the notion of the population in general changed from absolutism to constitutional rule; from commoners in contradistinction to the state to communities constituting the very foundation of the state.     

In the lure of Geistesgeschichte: the theme of decline in Hungarian historiography and historical thinking in the first half of the twentieth century

Decline was the fundamental issue in Hungarian historiography and historical thinking between the two world wars. This article primarily analyses the views of historian Gyula Szekf?, the writers and essayists Dezs? Szabó and László Németh, and those of philosophers Lajos Fülep and György Lukács. In this period, the so-called spiritual history (Geistesgeschichte) prevailed in Hungarian intellectual circles, in which the themes of decline and even fall were fundamental. Of the most important representatives of Geistesgeschichte, Spengler, Ortega, Huizinga, Croce and Maritain had significant influence on the authors mentioned above. Historians were ready to reject the ideas of these thinkers regarding the criticism of culture, and rather followed the power- and state-centred streams of Geistesgeschichte, conceived by Ranke, Troeltsch and Meinecke. At the same time it is also true that the decline and generation theory developed by the historian Gyula Szekf? (e.g., in his book Three Generations), is one of the most original interpretations of modern Hungarian history. It was shared by many Hungarian intellectuals of the period. Paradoxically, the theme of decline also appeared in the views of the so-called ‘Századok’ (Centuries) circle, mainly in the writings of the historians István Hajnal and István Szabó. They rather followed the social-history-oriented French Annales School, and even attempted to offer a solution to the problems of the so-called ‘third way’ alternative. Almost all of the above-mentioned concepts were tied in the later political discourse to the so-called right-wing tradition of Hungarian political–historical thinking, but the author also touches briefly upon the notion of decline in the leftist (Marxist) tradition of György Lukács, whose ideas had an impact on the beginnings of the Frankfurt School. The article also offers a brief overview of the main ideas of spiritual history/Geistesgeschichte, since the author suggests that this was a common feature in all the interpretations of decline in the period treated here.     

Application of Particle Motion Technique to Structural Modal Identification of Heritage Buildings

Determining the behavior of a structure estimated by means of finite elements analysis requires not only an in-depth knowledge of its geometry and dynamic properties but also an experimental validation to corroborate the adequacy of the characteristics of the structure. Most of the current structural identification techniques are based on linear methods that call for many measurement points and/or a relative simple structure. Complex structures are somewhat still an unexplored field due to the difficulties with the finite element method and the experimental corroboration of its results. This study presents the use of particle motion computation applied to each structural vibration mode to improve the identification of its dynamic properties, and its application to the Gothic Cathedral of Palma de Majorca (Spain).     

In Situ Characterization of Rammed Earth Wall Renders

The Algarve region in southern Portugal has one of the most significant rammed earth construction legacies in the country. This construction method is characterized by its high susceptibility to water damage and external renderings are essential to the longevity of these constructions. This study collects and organizes data that provides the basis for the conservation and repair of renderings. Five earth buildings from western Algarve were selected to represent this heritage and its diversity of composition and susceptibility to water damage. Some of their commonest anomalies result from the interaction between the earth substrate and the traditional external renderings, given their distinct characteristics and behavior. The selected sample is described and the mechanical strength of the rammed earth walls and their renderings are evaluated through in situ tests. Samples of the external renderings and earth substrate of the five buildings comprising the sample were also collected and characterized in the laboratory. The characteristics of these two materials and their behavior as an assembly were analyzed. The results of the in situ and laboratory tests are compared and the viability of using a method based on in situ tests for the wider characterization of the type of construction under analysis evaluated.     

The Status Problem of Iberian Holocene Equids: New Data from Cueva de El Mirador (Sierra de Atapuerca,Spain)

Equid remains are scarce and very fragmented in Iberian Neolithic and Bronze Age sites. Evidence suggesting that horses were domesticated does exist, but it is often inconclusive, thus leaving the question unanswered. Today, DNA analyses have provided information about a, most likely Iberian, nucleus of horse domestication, making it crucially important to expand the database. The Holocene sequence (6^th and 3^rd millennium cal bc ) of the Cueva de El Mirador (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) has yielded 92 equid remains distributed in 12 Neolithic and Bronze Age levels. In this paper, we present the study of the equid remains from the Cueva de El Mirador from an archaeozoological perspective, giving indirect evidence of horse domestication. Our results vary widely and lead to open interpretations about horse domestication and how humans used these animals. This study of horse remains focuses on species identification and on determining how humans economically used these animals. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.