Applying Habermas to Australian political culture

This article seeks to explore some problems in Jurgen Habermas's account of political norms and values in Western society. Using examples from Australian political discourse, it is argued that Habermas has neglected to analyse some of the ways in which political consensus can be generated in Western society. In particular, he has failed to acknowledge adequately the role played by liberal norms and values in attempts to reconcile conflicts between the individual and general interest While Habermas has made important contributions to social theory, such deficiencies limit his usefulness for Australian political scientists who wish to analyse some crucial aspects of Australian political culture.     

Crossing the Line: Limits and Desire in Historical Interpretation

This essay focuses on the relationship within western humanism between attitudes toward textual interpretation and views of the human self in an attempt to unsettle the dichotomy between humanist and antihumanist approaches to the past. It has three main parts. First, it uses Umberto Eco's recent reflections on the limits of interpretation to explore current debates about the aims of interpretation. In particular, it asks what it means to frame the problem of interpretation specifically as a problem of establishing limits. Given the many possible vocabularies to compare and evaluate competing hermeneutic approaches, what are the implications of adopting one that speaks in terms of limits, of an “in bounds” and an “out of bounds?” Second, the essay draws on the work of Donna Haraway and Stephanie Jed to argue that a discourse about interpretation that seeks to establish the limits of interpretation excludes as out of bounds precisely those methodological strategies that most effectively analyze the mutually sustaining relationship between assumptions about texts and assumptions about selves. Third, the essay explores the relationship between interpretation and subjectivity at one key historical moment to show how to move beyond the strict dichotomy between humanist and antihumanist assumptions.     

The Seasonal Mobility of Prehistoric Gazelle Herds in the Azraq Basin,Jordan: Modelling Alternative Strategies Using Stable Isotopes

The hunting of Gazella subgutturosa was a dominant practice for Epipalaeolithic and early Neolithic hunter–gatherers in the east Jordan steppe. The seasonal mobility of this taxon in the Levant is poorly understood, especially for early prehistory when herd movements would have influenced hunter-gatherer use of the steppes. This paper proposes four patterns of seasonal herd mobility for G. subgutturosa centred on Jordan’s Azraq Basin. The four patterns are modelled using oxygen, carbon and strontium stable isotopes. Seasonal environmental signatures of each are understood through carbon and strontium isotopic variation in sixty modern plant specimens collected from twelve selected locations in north Jordan, published data on oxygen isotopes in local precipitation, and the adaptive behaviour of G. subgutturosa. The integrated isotopic datasets provide clear discriminatory markers for each proposed mobility pattern. Results will be applied in future to isotopic data from archaeological gazelle teeth from the Azraq Basin.     

Reviews

The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane, Beatrice Forbes Manz, Cambridge, 1989, xi + 227 pp., including notes, maps, bibliography, index.

The Arts of Persia, ed. R. W. Ferrier, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989, 334 pp, $60.00.

Silent Boundaries: Cultural Constraints on Sickness and Diagnosis of Iranians in Israel, Karen L. Pliskin, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987, 283 pp., bibliography, index.

Social Origins of the Iranian Revolution, Misagh Parsa, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1989, xiii + 348 pp., cloth $40.00, paperback $15.00.

Persian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Marie Lukens Swietochowski and Sussan Babaie, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989, 87 pp.

The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran, Said Amir Arjomand, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, 210 pp., appendixes, notes, glossary, bibliography, and index to p. 283, hardback $21.95.

Iran: From Royal Dictatorship to Theocracy, Mohammed Amjad, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1989, 179 pp., including glossary, bibliography, index, cloth $35.00.

Cry for My Revolution, Iran, Manoucher Parvin, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1987, pp. 383, $14.94.

Her Eyes, Bozorg Alavi, trans. John O'Kane, Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1989, 222 pp.

Iranian Short Story Authors: A Bio‐bibliographic Survey, John Green, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1989, viii + 250 pp., $29.95.

Asrar al‐tawhid fi maqamat al‐shaykh Abi Sa'id, Mohammad b. Monavvar, ed. Mohammad Reza Shafi'i Kadkani, 2 vols., Tehran: Agah, 1366 S./1987.

Colloquial Persian, Leila Moshiri, The Colloquial Series, London: Routledge, 1988, 222 pp., £6.95.

Land Reform and Social Change in Iran, Afsaneh Najmabadi, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1987, 246 pp.

Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan: Anthropological Perspectives, ed. M. Nazif Shahrani and Robert L. Canfield, Research Series No. 57, Institute of International Studies, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California, 1984.

Musaddiq's Memoirs: The End of the British Empire in Iran, Muhammad Musaddiq, ed. Homa Katouzian, London: Jebhe, 1988, lxxxvii + 340 pp., appendixes 46 pp., index 7 pp., cloth $50, paperback $30.

The Pilgrim's Rules of Etiquette, Taghi Modarressi, New York: Doubleday, 1989, 279 pp., $18.95.

Buying Security: Iran Under The Monarchy, Ann Tibbits Schulz, Boulder, San Francisco & London: Westview Press, 1989, xi + 192 pp.

Shi'ism: Doctrines, Thought, and Spirituality, ed., annot., and with an introduction by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi, and Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988, xviii + 401 pp., cloth $73.50, paper $24.50.

Expectation of the Millennium: Shi'ism in History, ed., annot., and with an introduction by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi, and Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989, xxxiii + 460 pp., cloth $73.50, paper $24.50.     

The Southwest Michigan Historic Landscape Project: Exploring Class, Gender, and Ethnicity from the Ground Up

The Southwest Michigan Historic Landscape Project was initiated in 1994 to examine how the cultural landscapes and associated material culture of the region became transformed since the pioneer settlement of the early 19th century (ca. 1830s). Thus far we have used various methods to investigate four sites in Allegan, Calhoun, and Jackson counties at varying levels of intensity. From these initial efforts we have begun to compile comparative information on the built environment. Here we present the theory and methods used in the project and discuss how class, gender, and ethnic identities are expressed in the material record of the region.