Autonomia and the Political: An Italian Cycle of Contention, 1972–1979

Sidney Tarrow has identified a ‘cycle of contention’ taking place in Italy between 1966 and 1972; Tarrow characterises the left-wing terrorism of the late 1970s as an after-effect of this cycle. However, there was a second cycle of contention between 1972 and 1979, incorporating the left-wing ‘armed struggle’ milieu alongside a group of related mass movements (notably the ‘area of Autonomia’, the ‘movement of 1977’ and the ‘proletarian youth movement’). The second cycle, unlike the first, was met with repression, and with the exclusion of its ideological and tactical innovations from the political mainstream. The difference between the two cycles relates to the role played by the Italian Communist Party, which functioned as a ‘gatekeeper’ in each case; the party's engagement with the first cycle can be characterised as inclusive, while its engagement with the second cycle was unremittingly exclusive.     

Palaeoenvironments, the archaeological record and cereal pollen detection at Clickimin, Shetland, Scotland

The Loch of Clickimin, Shetland, is well known for its broch and associated monuments supposedly of the Bronze and Iron Ages, although the former date is disputed. Pollen, diatom and sedimentological investigations permit fresh insights into the landscape and economic impacts of those who constructed the monuments, reveal that the environs of the site experienced environmental change from Neolithic times onward and provide the first Holocene radiocarbon dates from the immediate locality. The broch-building period witnessed a continuation of pre-existing pastoral husbandry for which heather burning may have exacerbated the natural spread of blanket peat. Initially, no evidence was adduced for local arable activity in the present investigation, and this was thought to be consistent possibly with the low numbers of excavated querns and the absence of cereal macrofossil finds when compared with other Shetland broch sites. The application of ‘rapid scanning’ techniques, however, led to the discovery of a consistent cereal-type pollen representation from Bronze Age times onwards. The discrepancies between the palaeoenvironmental evidence and the environmental and palaeoeconomic inferences made by the excavator of the site are explored. Evidence is presented that both supports and contradicts previous assumptions surrounding an important archaeological site.     

Gender and the ��virtue of violence��: Creating a new vision of political engagement through the 1911 revolution

In this article, we explore the way men and women used the idea of violence to transform their broader political roles in their desired new Republic. We argue that the espousal of violence, whether or not actually undertaken, became an important part of the accoutrements of progressive political forces in China at this time. Violent action was perceived as virtuous rather than villainous among reformers and radicals in the late Qing and early Republic. We demonstrate that the impact and significance of this turn to violence differed for men and for women. For men, the ability and willingness to take violent action symbolized a break with the effete literati of the imperial past by their envisaging of a muscular Confucianism; for women, it provided a platform on which their claims to equal citizenship with men could be performed. The gendered nature of the virtue of violence within this rapidly changing political context produced unexpected results for both male and female political aspirants.     

La Psychologie des Peuples et Ses Applications Durant L’Entre-Deux-Guerres

Résumé  La psychologie des peuples a connu un grand succès dans les années 1930 dans les milieux les plus divers: sur les bancs de l’Université, tant des facultés de lettres que de celles de médecine, comme dans le monde colonial. Elle demeure imprégnée des postulats raciologiques du siècle précédent: hérédité raciale, influence du milieu géographique et du climat dans la formation des caractères nationaux, représentation inégalitaire de la différence et ses usages politiques ont été manifestes dans le domaine de la politique coloniale. Les enseignements de la psychologie ethnique ont, en effet, eu des applications directes dans la politique scolaire à travers la mise en place d’un enseignement rudimentaire et à tendance ségrégationniste qui a réduit considérablement les ambitions de la mission civilisatrice. Carole Reynaud Paligot, née en 1966, est actuellement boursière de la Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah. Ses recherches portent sur l’histoire des pensées raciales et l’histoire des intellectuels aux xix ^e et xx ^e siècles. Elle a notamment publié Parcours politiques des surréalistes 1919–1969 (Paris, CNRS éditions, 1995), La République raciale 1860–1930. Paradigme racial et idéologie républicaine, préfacé par Christophe Charle (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2006) et Races, racisme et antiracisme dans les années 1930 (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2007).