Singulières archives

Archives, although fundamental to historical research, are rarely appreciated in terms of their place in epistemology. The concept of «archive»-usually given in the singular-has, however, been treated by several philosophers, including most recently Paul Ric?ur. This paper focuses on Ric?ur's latest work,La Mémoire, l'histoire, l'oubli, to analyse Ric?ur's use of the term «archive» and its resonances with the work of Michel Foucault and Michel de Certeau. It investigates, as well, how the concept of archive, closely linked to that of witnessing or testimony, presents certain difficulties from the vantage point of historical epistemology, and proposes another use of the term, one involving greater attention to the historicity and materiality of the «archive» in the interests of a more textual and hermeneutic interpretation.     

The Irish Sí Tradition: Connections Between the Disciplines,and What’s in a Word?

One of the most prominent features of the Irish landscape is the great multitude of megalithic sites which date back to the Neolithic. In this paper, I will attempt to demonstrate that the understanding of these sites in Ireland can be enhanced by referencing the native tradition, including the Irish word for the sites, sí, and the sís powerful cultural tradition attested to throughout native Irish folklore, literature, onomastics, and traditional knowledge. In doing so, I will explore the difficulties and the potentials of interdisciplinary communication between archaeology and folkloristics, and the related issues regarding communication between official and unofficial discourses.     

An Archaeological Survey of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro,Las Cruces—El Paso

Archaeologists from New Mexico State University surveyed El Camino Real, the earliest long-distance trail established by European colonists in North America, from Las Cruces, New Mexico, to El Paso, Texas. Our goal was to determine the location and condition of this historic trail within a strip of land that has witnessed significant agricultural, suburban, and urban development in recent years. Due to this development, many scholars have assumed that all physical traces of the Camino Real have been destroyed. Results of our research, however, suggest that not all remnants of the trail and related campsites have been lost.     

The intuitions of higher dimensional algebra for the study of structured space

Higher dimensional algebra frees mathematics from the restriction to a purely linear notation, in order to improve the modelling of geometry and so obtain more understanding and more modes of computation. It gives new tools for noncommutative, higher dimensional, local to global problems, through the notion of «algebraic inverse to subdivision». We explain the way these ideas arose for the writters, in extending first the classical notion of abstract group to abstract groupoid, in which composition is only partially defined, as in composing journeys, and which brings a spatial component to the usual group theory: An example from knot theory is used to explain how such algebra can be used to describe some structure of a space. The extension to dimension 2 uses compositions of squares in two directions, and the richness of the resulting algebra is shown by some 2-dimensional calculations. The difficulty of the jump from dimension 1 to dimension 2 is also illustrated by the comparison of the commutative square with the commutative cube-discussion of the latter requires new ideas. The importance of category theory is explained, and a range of current and potential applications of higher dimensional algebra indicated.     

Geographies of Swimming Pool Provision: Lessons from Glasgow 1804–2014

Swimming is a popular form of recreation and exercise in the UK and US. Swimming can take place outdoors but, particularly in the UK, largely takes place in designated indoor pools. Existing research tends to focus on ‘public’ or ‘municipal’ pools leaving broader spatial geographies of swimming pool provision under explored. In response to concern about swimming pool closures, this paper draws from extensive archival research into all swimming pools in the City of Glasgow, Scotland, since the first opened in 1804. Formal and informal programmes of pool building and closure were revealed. Rather than decreasing, public provision has remained constant for the last 100?years but become progressively more spread out in relation to the city’s changing size. Broadening exploration beyond the ‘public’ category exposed a vast drop in school pool numbers around the year 2000 due to a Private Finance Initiative project that consolidated the secondary school estate and outsourced school building management. The lessons: researching all types of swimming pool through time greatly enriches understandings of the changing meaning and extent of public service provision.