Consumption and the ‘Social Self’ in Medieval Southern England

Over the last 30 years we have become increasingly aware of the commercialising nature of the medieval English economy. However, these insights have had little impact on narratives of consumption, which persist in seeing it as a characteristic of modernity. Here it is argued that we must move away from seeing an early modern consumer revolution and instead think about consumption in medieval society, particularly to examine the implications of commercialisation for identity and selfhood. A framework is developed, building upon David G. Shaw’s use of the ‘social self’ and the writing of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, to explore how the increasing variability, and wider range, of objects impacted upon the negotiation of selfhood in the 13th–15th centuries.     

Nairn's England and the progressive dilemma: reappraising Tom Nairn on English nationalism

In British political and intellectual circles, there is a longstanding disagreement between those envisaging an opportunity for the development of a radical English patriotism and those resistant to the idea of a progressive English imaginary. Despite their antithetical quality, both divergent frameworks were explored in the work of Scottish nationalist and New Left intellectual Tom Nairn, long before mainstream social science preoccupied itself with the ‘English Question’. Notwithstanding his later espousal of Englishness as a contribution to democratic renewal, Nairn's earlier notion of an inherently regressive nationalism remains the dominant frame for many intellectuals and politicians confronted by the challenges of increasingly politicised English identities. Whilst he has been only one of a number of thinkers and writers who have informed and contested political thinking on this question in the UK, the influence of his early work upon liberal and left circles has been underestimated, an oversight that this article addresses.     

Exploring subsistence and cultural complexes on the south coast of Papua New Guinea using palaeodietary analyses

We present the results of a palaeodietary study of a skeletal sample (～800–300 BP) from the south coast of Papua New Guinea (Nebira, site ACJ) using multiple stable isotope analysis of bone collagen. The carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope ratios of 28 individuals (n = 12 males, n = 13 females and n = 3 subadults) suggested the diet at Nebira was based on C₃ plants (likely starchy vegetable staples) and included protein resources from the surrounding forested areas and C₃/C₄ savannah grasslands such as wallaby and other wild animals. Domestic species (e.g. Sus scrofa, Canis familiaris and Gallus gallus) may also have been consumed but could not be differentiated from wild species by stable isotope analysis. There were no significant differences in stable isotope values between males and females, but the δ³⁴S values of the juveniles suggest they may have consumed varied protein resources. The sulphur stable isotope ratios indicate there was no discernable marine component in the diet of any of the individuals from Nebira. The stable isotope results are interpreted within a wider context of Papuan south coast trade and exchange systems in an attempt to understand local interaction in the region.