The Lusitania Riots in Pietermaritzburg 13–14 May 1915

During the Great War the sinking of the British liner Lusitania by a German submarine off the Irish coast on 7 May 1915, with the loss of 1198 lives, evoked a strong popular reaction throughout the English-peaking world, and included violent outbursts against Germans in many urban centres of the British Empire. In South Africa these riots resulted in great damage to property and pressure on the Union government to enforce harsh restrictions on enemy subjects and businesses. This is an account of the riots and their consequences in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, one of the most ‘British’ of South African cities.     

‘Man can’t give birth,woman can't fish’: gender dynamics in the small-scale fisheries of Bangladesh

Going beyond the myths prevalent in the socio-cultural embeddedness of rural Bangladesh, this article examines the diverse visible and invisible roles of fisherwomen in small-scale fisheries. This research considered two ethnic groups situated in two different ecosystems: the floodplain freshwater ecosystem is represented by new-entrant Muslim fishers ‘Maimal’ and the coastal ecosystem is represented by caste-based Hindu fishers ‘Jaladas’. From the basic ontological worldview of human dignity, moral individualism, and the social recognition of women’s rights, we argue that fisherwomen’s roles need to be recognized, focused, and valued to develop a horizontal understanding that is a prerequisite to the process of democratization, and the proper functioning of a just society. In the rural societies, a host of attributes, such as the deep-rooted socio-cultural constructions of the motherly myth, extreme tolerance, family teaching, religious antagonism, poverty, lack of education, internalization of a subordinate position, lack of supportive institutions, and fear of loss of societal patronage, profoundly undermine the capacity of women to aspire and raise their voice. Fisherwomen are accrued an inferior social position although they perform unique roles in the areas of childcare, household upkeep, livelihoods, and psycho-social support for the seafaring fishers. Conducive to the ecotone of marine fisheries, this article also portrays how a rigid patriarchal form of society is seasonally transformed to matrifocality when fishermen are away for fishing for half the year.     

A Wavelet‐Based Extension of Generalized Linear Models to Remove the Effect of Spatial Autocorrelation. 基于小波扩展广义线性模型消除空间自相关的影响

Biogeographical studies are often based on a statistical analysis of data sampled in a spatial context. However, in many cases standard analyses such as regression models violate the assumption of independently and identically distributed errors. In this article, we show that the theory of wavelets provides a method to remove autocorrelation in generalized linear models (GLMs). Autocorrelation can be described by smooth wavelet coefficients at small scales. Therefore, data can be decomposed into uncorrelated and correlated parts. Using an appropriate linear transformation, we are able to extend GLMs to autocorrelated data. We illustrate our new method, called the wavelet‐revised model (WRM), by applying it to multiple regression with response variables conforming to various distributions. Results are presented for simulated data and real biogeographical data (species counts of the plant genus Utricularia [bladderworts] in grid cells throughout Germany). The results of our WRM are compared with those of GLMs and models based on generalized estimating equations. We recommend WRMs, especially as a method that allows for spatial nonstationarity. The technique developed for lattice data is applicable without any prior knowledge of the real autocorrelation structure.     

Sourcing archaeological bitumen in the Olmec region

Prehispanic Mesoamerican peoples collected, processed, and used bitumen for decoration, sealant, and adhesive. Among the earliest to do so were the Olmec (1200–500 b.c.) of Mexico's southern Gulf coastal lowlands. Geochemical analysis of bitumen from Olmec archaeological contexts as well as from seeps in the Olmec region reveals that seeps can be geochemically differentiated and can be correlated with archaeological samples. Groups of sites with chemically different archaeological bitumen indicate multiple procurement networks reflecting complex regional systems of exchange and interaction. Organic geochemical analysis of bitumen provides a new tool to study procurement strategies and exchange patterns in Mesoamerica.     

Book reviews

Fumio Itoh (ed.), China in the Twenty‐First Century: Politics, Economy, and Society. New York: United Nations University Press, 1997. xiv + 287 pp. $31.15.

David Lee and Christopher Waters (eds), Evatt to Evans: The Labor Tradition in Australian Foreign Policy. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, in association with the Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1997. ix + 257 pp. $24.95 (paper).

Richard Haass, The Reluctant Sheriff: The United States After the Cold War. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1997. 148 pp. US$24.95 (cloth).

Mark McGillivray and Gary Smith (eds), Australia and Asia. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997. vii + 248 pp. No price given.

Geoffrey Edwards and Alfred Pijpers (eds), The Politics of European Treaty Reform, The 1996 Intergovernmental Conference and Beyond. London and Washington: Pinter, 1997. viii + 353 pp. No price given (paper).

John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. x + 425 pp. $75.00 (cloth).

Melvyn P. LeMer, A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992. xvii + 689 pp. US$25.00 (cloth).

Donatella Delia Porta and Yves Meny (eds), Democracy and Corruption in Europe. London: Pinter, 1997. viii + 208 pp. £45.00 (cloth), £13.99 (paper).

Rodney Gouttman, Bondi in the Sinai: Australia, the MFO and the Politics of Participation. Maryland: University of America, 1996. xiii + 202pp. US$29.50 (cloth).

James Cotton and John Ravenhill (eds), Seeking Asian Engagement: Australia in World Affairs, 1991–95. Melbourne: Oxford University Press with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1997. xiv + 362 pp. $29.95 (paper).

Godfrey Linge and Doug Porter (eds), No Place for Borders: The HIV/AIDS Epidemic and Development in Asia and the Pacific. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1997. xxii+ 191 pp. $29.95 (paper).

Aharon Levran, Israeli Strategy After Desert Storm: Lessons of the Second Gulf War. London: Frank Cass, 1997. ix+ 169 pp. £35.00 (cloth), £17.50 (paper).

Daniel Fineman, A Special Friendship: The United States and Military Government in Thailand, 1947–1958. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1997. viii + 357 pp. $70.00 (cloth).

The United Nations and Rwanda, 1993–1996. United Nations Blue Book Series, Volume X. New York: Department of Public Information, United Nations, 1996. 750 pp. US$29.95 (paper).

Edmond Keller and Donald Rothchild (eds), Africa in the New International Order: Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1996. ix + 253 pp. US$49.95 (cloth), US$19.95 (paper).     

Dog in the Night: The Limits of European Nationalism, 1789–1895

Abstract. The article questions the widely held view that nationalism was a significant feature of modem civilisation and particularly of nineteenth-century Europe. Two groups of events are chosen for examination: reputedly classic instances of nationalism (the French Revolution, German responses to Napoleon, the Italian and German revolutions of 1848, Italian and German unification and the Eastern crisis of 1875-8), and important international events which in an age of nationalism should reflect it (the Crimean War, Bismarck's alliances and the Franco-Russian alliance). Defined as the effort of nation/peoples to defend/extend their power, nationalism is evaluated specifically for its breadth of support and its influence on decision-makers which prove to be limited. This conclusion has implications not only for these events but also brings into question the established system of historical periodisation which presumes the distinctiveness of the nineteenth century and modem civilisation precisely because of their distinguishing features such as nationalism.     

ALTERNATIVE MODELS FOR ORGANIZATION OF STATE COURT SYSTEMS*

The dominant theme in court reorganization has been to state judiciaries by consolidating trial courts and centralizing their administration in a state level office. This article suggests that the debate over the relative merits of a centralized vs. a decentralized (or fragmented) court system ignores the rich variety of organizational structures used in other fields. The potential judicial implications of three models-franchise, corporate, and federal-are examined in detail. Their underlying assumptions are compared with those of the centralization approach. The argument is made that none of the models is appropriate for all circumstances. Each approach to court organization emphasizes a particular set of objectives at the expense of another set. An effort is made to identify what each approach has to offer.     

Luminescence dating of anthropogenic deposits from Tall Zarʿa in the Jordan Valley

This study uses quartz-based optically stimulated luminescence dating to determine when a massive fortification wall (W11186) was constructed in the archaeological site of Tall Zarʿa in the Jordan Valley. A total of 11 samples of sediments were taken from a trench on the north side of the wall (extramuros). The extracted quartz grains had good luminescence characteristics and were identified as well bleached by comparison with feldspar infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) ages. The optical ages showed that the deposition against the wall occurred in two different periods. The first was around 3.20 ± 0.07 ka ago (Iron Age), and the second was around 2.28 ± 0.08 ka (Hellenistic period). Human activity was evident because of the intermixing of cultural material with the presumed naturally deposited units.     

Accounting for Air Pollution Emissions in Measures of State Manufacturing Productivity Growth

A Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index is employed to account for both marketed output and the output of pollution abatement activities of U.S. state manufacturing sectors for –1986. The index allows us to decompose the change in productivity into measures of change in efficiency and technical change. By accounting for the change in emissions, average annual productivity growth is 3.6 percent, whereas it is 1.7 percent when emissions are ignored. We also find adjusted productivity growth improved after 1977, and "Frost Belt" states with rapidly growing manufacturing sectors have significantly higher rates of productivity growth than "Sun Belt" states with slow growing manufacturing sectors.