A TEXTILE WEB

The 1830s has been singled out as the decade in which the Swedish consumer market really started to expand. In the same period, cotton textile production expanded in the Gothenburg area. A small group of immigrant Jewish families played an important role in this development. The impact of Jewish merchants on the growth of the consumer goods market is consistent with international research. Their entrepreneurial activities and renewal of textile production and trade have been emphasized. This has, however, not been paid much attention to in the Swedish research. This article discusses what impact the Jewish immigrants had on the increase of the textile market in Gothenburg and its surroundings. Through a couple of case studies and examples, we want to elucidate the significance of Jewish textile production and trade: Jewish calico printers started up mass production of fashionable fabrics in the 1820s. Furthermore, Jewish merchants spread their goods to customers in the countryside in cooperation with Swedish pedlars. The authors also discuss different reasons why the Jews played such a significant role during this particular period: The role of the legislation, the Jewish textile tradition, access to capital, networks, effective distribution, a growing consumer demand, and the geographical context.     

Cultural policies and national identity in Catalonia

This article looks at the general trends regarding identity in Catalan cultural policy. National identity is not a new issue in Catalonia, since language and culture have been key factors in constructing the Catalan nation throughout its history. Nevertheless, the increasing flow of immigrants from other countries, particularly since 2000, has resulted in a strengthening of identity issues. The article examines how this social change has affected the definition of cultural policies and describes the measures implemented by the Catalan government. We conclude that considerable progress has been made in terms of the promotion of national identity through cultural policies, although some questions remain regarding the social use of the Catalan language and the consumption of cultural products in Catalan.     

In situ Preservation Solutions for Deposited Iron Age Human Bones in Alken Enge,Denmark

The rich mass deposition of Iron Age human bone material from the Danish site, Alken Enge, is extraordinary not only from an archaeological perspective but also from a preservation point of view. The main find is situated in a waterlogged, anoxic environment which provides excellent preservation conditions and therefore enables in situ preservation of the human bones. However, major differences in local environmental conditions challenge an in situ preservation of the entire site area as parts of the bone material presently deteriorate. In this paper, a multi-proxy environmental monitoring approach is used to document threats and to suggest the best preservation solution for the archaeological finds, whether in or ex situ.     

A Case of Maternal and Perinatal Death in Neolithic Southern Vietnam,c. 2100–1050 BCE

Despite ostensibly elevated rates of young female mortality in the past, believed to be associated with the risks of pregnancy and child birth, surprisingly few cases of pregnant female burials are reported in the bioarchaeological literature. This paper describes and discusses the case of a young female who died and was interred with an unborn full‐term breech foetus at the Neolithic site of An Son, southern Vietnam c. 2100–1050BCE. Her exceptionally poor oral health, evidence for cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasia, small stature and compromised gynaecological competence, contributes to a differential diagnosis that explores a range of additional complications that may have contributed to the death of both mother and unborn child. An examination and appreciation of this case contribute to our knowledge of the reproductive age and health of young females in Neolithic Southern Vietnam and the challenges they faced during pregnancy and childbirth. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring and Mitigation Works in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits

Monitoring of the archaeological deposits at the World Heritage Site Bryggen in Bergen has been ongoing since 2001. In latter years a large-scale project of mitigation works has been carried out, resulting in the creation of a water-management system aimed at raising groundwater-levels and increasing soil moisture content in areas with poor preservation conditions. Oxygen is a key parameter in the decay of archaeological material in the unsaturated zone, and the monitoring at Bryggen includes in situ monitoring of oxygen concentrations and comparison to soil moisture content, temperature, groundwater-level, precipitation and soil reactivity. This is used to document where and when decay takes place and to estimate “how wet is wet enough” in order to reduce the oxygen diffusion and the decay rate to an acceptable level. The results show that even small changes in the soil moisture can have a large impact on the oxygen dynamics in the ground.     

Contemporary visual art and the construction of identity: maintenance and revision processes in older adults

This article explores how older visitors use meanings created through encounters with contemporary visual art in art galleries for identity maintenance and revision processes. The analysis is based on the results of a 28-month study of the responses of older people to contemporary visual art in art galleries in north-east England, UK. The identity processes used in this study are those defined as maintenance and revision as understood by Kroger (2002) Identity processes and contents through the years of late adulthood. Identity, 2, (1), 81-99, Kroger and Adair (2008) Symbolic meanings of valued personal objects in identity transitions of late adulthood. Identity, 8, (1), 5-24. and Marcia (2002) Identity and psychosocial development in adulthood. Identity, 2, (1), 7-28. Respondents who did not have an existing identity-defining commitment towards art and who had less ability to decode the art works used the art to make symbolic links to aspects of their identity. The meanings created were then used to help satisfy current identity needs. In contrast, those with an existing commitment to art used the experience of the visits to deepen their current knowledge. Engaging with contemporary visual art facilitated identity processes that contributed to participants’ well-being. This study contributes to studies on identity by exploring how content and identity processes interact and provides new perspectives on the role of art in identity formation for older people. It also has significance for museum, gallery and heritage policy and practice.     

Heritage Visitor Attractions: managing revenue in the new millennium

Heritage visitor attractions represent an integral component of the tourism product in many countries. This is particularly so in Scotland, where visitor attractions of a heritage genre continue to attract more visitors than others. However, with varying types of ownership, funding and organisational objectives, many unrelated to tourism, the management of heritage visitor attractions is particularly challenging. Based on a recent primary research study conducted in Scotland, this paper focuses on one particular component of management, that of revenue, and examines the appropriateness, role and utilisation of the concept of revenue management to the operational and strategic management of heritage visitor attractions. The paper concludes that while the majority of heritage visitor attractions employ a number of well-tested revenue-management techniques, there is limited evidence to suggest that pricing and revenue-generation policies reflect the attractions' organisational objectives. In particular, incumbent policies do not appear to reflect the wider needs of revenue management, such as the need to address seasonal and spatial limitations of demand.     

Reviews

Gino Bedani, Politics and Ideology in the Italian Workers’ Movement: Union Development and the Changing Role of the Catholic and Communist Subcultures in Postwar Italy, Berg, Oxford, 1995, xiv + 365 pp., ISBN 0–85496–827‐X, £44.95.

Anna Bull and Paul Corner, From Peasant to Entrepreneur. The Survival of the Family Economy in Italy, Berg, Oxford, 1993, ix + 174 pp., ISBN 0–85496–309‐X, £29.95.

Daniela Luigia Caglioti, Il guadagno difficile. Commercianti napoletani nella seconda metà dell'Ottocento, Ricerca, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994, 272 pp., ISBN 88–15–04755–7, 36,000 Lire.

Salvatore Casillo and Vincenzo Moretti, False imprese e falsi imprenditori. Dall'industria fantasma allo sviluppo delle aree terremotate nel Mezzogiorno, Koinè, Rome, 1993, 258 pp., 28,000 Lire.

Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994, xiv + 320 pp., ISBN 0–521–40285–9, £25 hbk, ISBN 0–521–40848–2, £8.95 pbk.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia. The Business of Private Protection, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1993, 335 pp., ISBN 0–674–80741–3, £24.95 hbk.

Stefano Zamagni (ed.), Mercati illegaliemafie. L'economia delcrimine organizzato, II Mulino, Bologna, 1993, 410 pp., ISBN 88–15–04159–1, 50,000 Lire.

Marco Giusti and Alberto Piccinini, Ambra, Nuova ERI, Turin, 1994, 121 pp., ISBN 88–397–0902–9, 18,000 Lire.

Antonio Gramsci, Pre‐Prison Writings, edited by Richard Bellamy, translated by Virginia Cox, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994, 350 pp., ISBN 0–521–41143–2 hbk, £40.00, 0–521–42307–4 pbk, £10.95.

Richard M. Locke, Remaking the Italian Economy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1995, xiii + 232 pp., ISBN 0–8014–2221–3, £23.50.

Luisa Passerini, Mussolini immaginario, Laterza, Bari, 1991, 290 pp., ISBN 88–420–3738–9, 45,000 Lire.

Gian Franco Pompei, Un Ambasciatore in Vaticano. Diario, 1969–1977, a cura di Pietro Scoppola, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994, 604 pp., ISBN 88–15–04317–9, 60,000 Lire.

Lucy Riall, The Italian Risorgimento. State, Society and National Unification, Routledge, London, 1994, 101 pp., ISBN 0–415–05775–2.

Salvatore Vassallo, Il governo di partito in Italia (1943–93), Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994, 324 pp., ISBN 88–15–04589–9, 42,000 Lire.     

Enlightenment and reform: an overview of culture and politics in Enlightenment Italy

This essay analyses the influence of the work of Franco Venturi on Italian studies of the eighteenth century over the last fifty years. Venturi's ‘model’ has certainly been of fundamental importance in stimulating new research on the connections between Enlightenment and reform in the eighteenth-century Italian states and is still an essential point of reference for all research in the field. But the direction of eighteenth-century studies in Italy has been shaped also by the contributions of many other scholars. Starting in the 1970s Italian historians became increasingly interested in new questions that were being posed by historians in France and Britain, which contributed to a more general shift away from the biographical focus on individuals characteristic of much of Venturi's work in favour of more collective topics, new types of sources and new ways of interpreting them. This article describes the different themes around which relations between culture and politics in eighteenth-century Italy have been studied, from civil, military and ecclesiastical institutions to the administrative and reform elites, the world of salons and sociability, publishing, religious beliefs, gender differences and science.