In/visible: the inside story of the making of Arts at CERN

ABSTRACT

This is a personal account of the setting up and first five years of CERN's first institutionalized arts programme, in which artists from different art forms were invited to engage with scientists with no requirements for any outputs. The focus instead was on the creative process, the exchanges between the artists and scientists and their shared knowledge-making. Paradoxically, given this freedom, even by the end of the initial phase of the programme they had produced a range of artworks and performances, some of which were to go on to attract international acclaim. The paper identifies some of the key issues and challenges faced when undertaking an arts programme within a science institution. These issues are rarely openly discussed and written about, yet they are vital for shared cultural learning in this rapidly evolving and increasingly popular field.     

Tricky business: Swiss perceptions of informal imperialism in China in the 1920s

This article analyzes the role that commercial interests played in Swiss perceptions of informal imperialism in China during the 1920s. Commercial interests were the driving force behind the establishment of Swiss relations with China in 1918 and Swiss rejections of Chinese demands to abolish extraterritoriality in the 1920s. Swiss commercial relations with China were deeply rooted in the social, economic, and political institutions and processes developed by informal imperialism in China. During the Chinese antiforeign agitation in the 1920s, the Swiss press criticized the unequal treaties as an example of imperialism in China but ignored Switzerland’s participation in it. This discrepancy between the official and media perceptions of Swiss commercial interests in China was caused by the fact that Switzerland’s dependence on privileges connected to the unequal treaties clashed with Swiss national mythology, which was based on neutrality and anti-imperial narratives. Moreover, the negligible importance attributed to Swiss trade with China and the increasing focus on the nationality of foreign companies in China allowed the Swiss media to ignore Swiss commercial interests in China. As a result, Swiss complicity in informal imperialism was downplayed by the Swiss press, which ignored the importance of Swiss commerce to Sino–Swiss relations.     

Who marries whom?: Ethnicity and marriage pairing patterns in Indonesia

This paper examines regional, ethnic-specific patterns and individual-level correlates in same ethnic marriages (endogamy) and ethnic intermarriages in Indonesia. With data from over 47 million couples in prevailing marriages from the full enumeration of the 2010 Census, we outline the provincial variations in endogamy against development indicators and an ethnic fractionalisation index. We compare the prevalence of endogamy for major ethnic groups, and use network plots to examine pairing patterns in ethnic intermarriage. We use multivariate analysis to summarise the relationships between the likelihood of endogamy and migration status, ethnic group size, age group, and education for individuals in two selected provinces: North Sumatra and Jakarta. There is evidence to support negative associations between endogamy rates and provincial development indicators. Endogamy rates vary across major ethnic groups, and as expected, are higher in relatively large ethnic groups. In Jakarta and North Sumatra, individuals in urban areas, with younger age, and higher level of education have lower likelihood of endogamy. We found a positive relationship between ethnic size and endogamy, but conflicting results on the association between lifetime migration and endogamy in both provinces. By studying ethnic pairing patterns, this research provides a unique window to understand the dynamics of development, social change, and social stratification in an ethnically diverse emerging democracy.     

A Context for Concealment: The Historical Archaeology of Folk Ritual and Superstition in Australia

Are there traditions of folk ritual practice in Australian historical contexts, and are they observable in the archaeological record? Studies from the US and UK have documented a range of practices suggesting the persistence of British and European traditions of folk magic well into the twentieth century and previous historical work has identified numerous examples of ritual concealments in Australian buildings. In examining over 4,500 Australian historical archaeological sources, however, we found very few examples of possible folk ritual practices. This raises the question of why such practices are not being captured by current archaeological recording methods. As counterpoint, a general model is constructed from US, UK and Australian work that raises intriguing possibilities for the situating of superstitious behavior in Australian historical archaeology, including the contexts in which people might be more prone to practise such behaviors and how they might be materially identifiable.     

Cross-cultural interaction on Wuvulu Island,Papua New Guinea: the perspective from use-wear and residue analyses of turtle bone artifacts

Recent studies have emphasized the importance of Indigenous producers and traders in the formation of ethnographic museum collections, but have found difficulty in finding concrete evidence for their active roles. A use-wear and residue study of turtle bone cleavers from Wuvulu Island, Papua New Guinea provides the opportunity to test whether objects that comprise a significant component of early collections were made specifically for sale, as hypothesized by contemporary observers in the late 19th century. Comparative studies of used and unused turtle bone artifacts from the Caroline Islands and Papua New Guinea identified differences between wear traces resulting from manufacture and use. Analyses of the Wuvulu turtle bone cleavers showed they had been heavily used prior to sale. Rather than produce artifacts to meet the high demand from German traders, the local people sold old, worn-out objects, many of which had been repaired. The study demonstrates that archaeological approaches to ethnographic museum collections can trace Indigenous agency within cross-cultural interaction. It also showcases the potential of use-wear and residue analytical techniques for the analysis of bone tools and the utility of digital, hand-held microscopes for the analysis of large artifacts.     

The evolution of the cultural policy regime in the Anglophone Caribbean

This paper addresses the complexities involved in developing cultural policies in the Anglophone Caribbean. The first section examines the evolution of the cultural policy agenda in the 40‐odd years since the independence era. It traces and analyses the policy trajectory from one that sought to promote the intrinsic values of culture, to one that currently espouses the more instrumental value of the cultural industries. The next section analyses the efficacy of the policy path by examining a regional cultural policy initiative, the Caribbean Festival for the Arts (CARIFESTA). The paper suggests that the Caribbean cultural policies have under performed because of critical disjunctures. These generally involve the imposition of a nationalistic policy framework on the transnational structure of the Caribbean cultural sector. The paper concludes by suggesting a regional cultural approach to policy formulation can provide a more effective mechanism to encourage and harness the cultural wealth of the Anglophone Caribbean.