“Modernizing” Māori Marriage in New Zealand

In 1952, Māori forms of customary marriage were made legally invalid. This article investigates the application of a state marriage registration system to Māori in the early decades of the twentieth century that was designed to encourage Māori to conform to European marital models. It focuses, in particular, on how Christianity and English law were deployed as modernising forces by a new generation of Māori intellectuals who emerged in the 1890s under the banner of the Te Aute College Students' Association (TACSA), later known as the Young Māori Party. United by their Anglican faith, TACSA favoured a process of adaptive acculturation in certain areas of social life, where select customs were to be retained and protected, so as to secure demographic and cultural survival. Marriage was highly valued because it was linked to the collective interests of whānau (family) and iwi (tribe) in matters of land and inheritance. As marriage was linked to collective futures, the article argues that maintaining and protecting marriage customs was one strategy for holding on to culture, land and autonomy in the face of increasing state efforts to require Māori to conform to European norms and traditions.     

Hatching Feminisms: Czech Feminist Aspirations in the 1990s

This article explores a range of conversations in Czech that have been undertaken by popular and intellectual Czech feminists since 1989. These have attempted to ‘explain the usefulness of feminist thinking’ to frequently reticent Czech audiences. It examines feminists' claim that feminism and feminist social criticism have an important role to play in making a new social order in which what they describe as women's values and cultures would have a central place. It explores the often maternalist strategies that intellectuals have devised for working through the pall of ambivalence that surrounds feminism in the Czech Republic, and it examines how an enthusiastic defence of local feminisms and the desire to highlight intransigent attitudes towards the remaking of gender identities have become important hallmarks of contemporary Czech feminisms.     

A hypothesis on different technological solutions for outdoor and indoor Roman wall paintings

The determination of the chemical composition of different parts of wall paintings (pigments, mortars and binders) provides information about technology of preparation of an artefact. Herein, we present a multi-methodological characterisation of wall paintings from a Roman archaeological site in Cuma, focusing on differences between an indoor (domus) and outdoor fabrication (a temple, Tempio con Portico (TCP)). Both pigments, binders and mortars were studied via a combination of destructive/μ-destructive (mass spectrometry, ionic chromatography, ICP-based techniques) and non-destructive (Raman microscopy, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and X-ray diffraction) methodologies. Particularly, the systematic presence of dolomite only in mortars from TCP may suggest an intentional use of such limestone for the outdoor fabrication of public interest. Differences between TCP and domus are also related to the composition of the pigment binder. In particular, the detected binders (studied by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS) were proteinaceous in the case of domus (possibly egg and animal glue) and drying oils in the case of TCP. Ultimately, our multi-methodological study provides an overall picture of the material components of paintings from fabrications with different use, proposing a hypothesis on technological choices according to conservative and destination reasons.     

Survival properties of organic residues through the human digestive tract

In New Zealand the study of coprolites is seldom undertaken. It was felt that a good deal of basic research was necessary before detailed analyses of prehistoric specimens could be initiated. A short programme of practical research was designed to test the survival properties of a select few common foodstuffs relevant to the study of prehistoric Maori diet. Food items were consumed with a faecal marker, and relevant stools collected and treated with trisodium phosphate solution (0·4% w/v). Flotation was used to isolate the pertinent specimens which were identified microscopically. The results of this research are limited, but they demonstrate the potential value of further work in this field.     

Book reviews

J. J. Ras (ed.). Javanese literature since Independence: an anthology. xi, 442 pp. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979. (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkunde, 88.) Guilders 65.

Hans Rhodius and John Darling. Walter Spies and Balinese art. Zutphen: Terra, 1980. 95 pp. Guilders 39. [Obtainable from Uitgeverij Terra, Postbus 188, 7200 AD ZUTPHEN, Netherlands.]

A Teeuw. Modern Indonesian literature. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979. 2 vols. x, 232 pp, 12 plates; x, 292 pp, 8 plates (Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkenkunde. Translation Series, 10.)

Drs. Ibrahim. Kursus bahasa Indonesia. London: Linguaphone Institute, 1978. [vi], 128 pp. — G. Hoff and J. Pride. Indonesian course handbook. London: Linguaphone Institute, 1978. [v], 130 pp. — Anonymous. Indonesian course instructions. London: Linguaphone Institute, 1978. [ii], 5 pp. — 4 cassettes. £85.