Marconi,masculinity and the heroic age of science: wireless telegraphy at the British Association meeting at Dover in 1899

Abstract

In September 1899, at the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) in Dover, Guglielmo Marconi’s wireless telegraphy system was used to transmit messages across the English Channel (and across a national border) for the first time. This achievement represented a highly effective performance of scientific masculinity and constitutes a key turning point in an important struggle between competing interpretations of invention and innovation as masculine practices within British science. The British Association tended to favor a narrative of scientific research as a collectivist, international, gentlemanly-amateur pursuit, largely confined to the laboratory. Marconi, by contrast, explained the development of wireless telegraphy as the achievement of his own genius. Appealing not only to the established scientific elite but to a range of non-traditional audiences, and stressing the possibilities or ‘imagined uses’ of his technology even more so than his actual results, he succeeded in commanding unprecedented influence.     

Presence and Absence: An Exploration of Scurvy in the Commingled Subadults in the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Collection,Lower Manhattan

This paper presents the results of an examination of scurvy in the commingled subadult remains (minimum number of individuals = 70) of the Spring Street Presbyterian Church. This historic congregation in New York City had active burial vaults from 1820 to 1846. Scurvy is a vitamin C deficiency that results in haemorrhaging at the sites of muscle origin and insertion, particularly around the skull. These resulting lesions can occur in subadults undergoing growth, weaning and dietary stress. Applying diagnoses suggested by recent research, this article examines specific sites on the skull for lesions consistent with and suggestive of scurvy. Findings include 30 elements that display associated pathology. This population data are drawn from maxillae, sphenoids and orbits. Two osteobiographies are also presented. By connecting the biological data to the socio‐cultural environment of the church, this article raises questions of how to interpret the presence and absence of scurvy in a commingled collection. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the shock of civil war: cultural trauma and national identity in Finland and Ireland

What role does national identity play after civil war? Is reconstruction possible on the basis of an existing identity, or does a new identity have to be found? Much depends on whether narratives of conflict are unifying. I use the tools of cultural sociology to explain why the Finnish Civil War of 1918 has become a unifying ‘cultural trauma’ for the Finns, whereas the Irish Civil War of 1922–23 never became the dominant referent in Irish national identity. The difference is explained by the greater shock civil war posed to Finnish national identity.     

Towards the Construction of a Typology of Management Models of Shooting Opportunities in Scotland

In Scotland, the shooting industry has a significant impact on the economy, the environment and rural communities. However, styles of land management vary widely, and this is likely to have an effect on the benefits of shooting management. Here we construct a typology of management models, and test its utility in explaining economic benefits. Based on semi-structured interviews with 24 stakeholders representing 28 estates, three management models were defined: ‘Commercial Shooting Estates’ (CSE), ‘Non-commercial Shooting Estates’ (NSE) and ‘Diversified Estates’ (DE). DEs are differentiated from the other models as forestry, farming or biodiversity conservation, rather than shooting, is the main management objective. CSE and NSE are differentiated based on the degree of commercialisation of the shooting: CSEs let almost all of their shooting whereas NSEs do not let any shooting. Were the typology to be applied to a wider, systematic sample of estates, other factors may become more clearly differentiated. We found little variation between the three models in terms of spending and employment directly related to shooting activities. This study presents a typology of shooting management models that can be used to help identify pathways towards a new social contract between Scottish society and its landowners and managers.     

Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Initiatives in Tanzania and Mozambique

The aim of this paper is provide an overview of the capacity building programmes in maritime and underwater cultural heritage (MUCH) conducted by the authors in Tanzania and Mozambique. Tanzania and Mozambique have long histories of indigenous cultures, foreign contacts and influences and African adaptations beginning in the late Greco-Roman period, when the coastal populations exploited the peoples and riches of the interior. Today the coastline contains numerous examples of indigenous tangible and intangible heritage and many sites and histories related to the Swahili culture. Some exploratory research and training has been conducted in Tanzania and Mozambique, but the implementation by local residents of their own MUCH programme is still at an early stage. Under a UNESCO agreement framework, Tanzania in particular has started to develop a MUCH programme, which can assist in highlighting their extensive histories, cultural landscapes and cultural identity.     

The Spatial Distribution of the Internet in the European Union: Does Geographical Proximity Matter?

This paper examines the spatial distribution of the Internet in the European regions. To achieve this aim, our analysis combines a set of non-parametric techniques proposed in the context of the economic growth literature, with various spatial econometric instruments. The results reveal that regional disparities in Internet adoption are greater than territorial inequalities in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. In addition, our findings show that the distribution under consideration is characterized by the presence of positive spatial dependence, which implies that physically adjacent regions register a similar degree of Internet adoption. Finally, the analysis carried out allows us to assess the role played by variables such as GDP per capita, unemployment rate, stock of human capital and population density, in explaining the spatial distribution of the Internet in the European Union.     

Reviews

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