Going ‘backstage’: observant participation in research with young people

This paper reflects on fieldwork undertaken at youth-led community radio station, KCC Live. It draws on Goffman to elucidate the differences between front and backstage spaces at KCC Live, and provides snapshots from research encounters to illustrate the importance of observant participation (over participant observation) in permitting access to these spaces. This paper celebrates the embeddedness of the researcher as a member of the community under study. In doing so, it argues that immersion in community research settings can enable insight into the functioning, relationships, rules and peculiarities of the place and people, all of which are fundamental to ethnographic research.     

The age of the Takatika Grit,Chatham Islands,New Zealand

Hollis, C.J, Stickley, C.E., Bijl, P.K., Schiøler, P., Clowes, C.D., Li, X, Campbell, H. March 2017. The age of the Takatika Grit, Chatham Islands, New Zealand. Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

The oldest Paleogene strata on Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand, are the phosphatized conglomerates and sandstones of the Takatika Grit that crops out on the northeastern coast at Tioriori and unconformably overlies the Chatham Schist. An intact Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary transition is not preserved at this locality. New biostratigraphic analysis of dinoflagellate, diatom and radiolarian microfossil assemblages confirms that the Takatika Grit is of late early–middle Paleocene (New Zealand Teurian stage) age but contains reworked microfossils of early Campanian (Early Haumurian) age. Vertebrate fossils found in this unit are inferred to be a mixture of reworked Cretaceous and in situ Paleocene bones and teeth. The overlying Tutuiri Greensand is of middle–late Paleocene age in its lower part and also contains reworked Cretaceous microfossils.

Christopher J. Hollis [c.hollis@gns.cri.nz], Chris Clowes [c.clowes@gns.cri.nz], Xun Li [x.li@gns.cri.nz], Hamish Campbell [h.campbell@gns.cri.nz], GNS Science, PO Box 30-368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand; Catherine Stickley, Evolution Applied Limited, 50 Mitchell Way, Upper Rissington, Cheltenham GL54 2PL, UK [catherine.stickley@gmail.com]; Peter Bijl [p.k.bijl@uu.nl], Marine Palynology and Paleoceanography, Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands; Poul Schiøler [poul.schioler@mgpalaeo.com.au], Morgan Goodall Palaeo, Unit 1/5 Arvida St, Malaga, WA 6090, Australia.     

Labour Regime Transformation in Myanmar: Constitutive Processes of Contestation

This article studies the case of a workers’ strike in Myanmar's ready‐made garment sector to illustrate how differently‐situated actors have engaged at multiple scales to influence emerging forms of labour regulation in the country. The analysis is drawn out through the historicization of domestic regulatory transformation. As a hegemonic project targeting industrial peace for purposes of capital accumulation, Myanmar's labour regime has been shaped by various actors outside of government circles, including International Labour Organization (ILO) personnel, Myanmar trade unionists, foreign governments, transnational corporations, domestic capitalists and Myanmar workers. Proposing a multi‐scalar reading of labour regime transformation attentive to constitutive processes of contestation, the study analyses ways in which varied, and at times unofficial, relations coalesce to shape labour regulation.     

Social and Material Connections: Otis T. Mason’s European Grand Tour and Collections Exchanges

As a method of collections building within the practice of natural history, the exchange of duplicate specimens was carried out by anthropology curators and collectors in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This paper examines exchanges resulting from a three-month tour of European museums by Smithsonian Institution Curator of Ethnology Otis T. Mason in 1889. Framed by the idea of a network of social and institutional ties, we evaluate the role of specimen exchange in the development of anthropology and museums on an international scale.     

Microclimate and Salt Crystallization in the Crypt of Lecce’s Duomo

Ancient masonry structures are often damaged by soluble salt crystallization, which is activated by even small microclimatic variations. Unsuitable environmental conditions can accelerate this process, affecting the type and the quantity of salts and the consequent damage to the masonry. Therefore the importance of monitoring salt diffusion to control salt crystallization and microclimate over time is widely recognized. This study proposes an integrated monitoring methodology to obtain information on the relationship between salt efflorescence and microclimate in the Crypt of the Duomo of Lecce (South Italy). By combining ion chromatography, powder X-ray diffraction analysis, and Raman microscopy with environmental monitoring and deterioration maps, salt components were identified and efflorescence diffusion on masonry was monitored over time. Due to this approach, a possible explanation for the process is finally given.     

Chinese Bronze Age Political Economies: A Complex Polity Provisioning Approach

Journal of Archaeological Research - In this article we argue that several of the dominant narratives concerning the political economy of the Chinese Bronze Age are in need of major revision,...     

Civiliser en Grèce Ancienne Adoucir la Nature et Naturaliser la Force

Ancient Greeks had neither a single notion nor a single word to express the idea of civilization. As a process of living since the origins, civilization appears as a serie of acquisitions or losses that lead to an ambivalent human condition. As a state, it is a blend of three factors: a diet and an education that tame nature; a legal political system and just foreign politics. But in the Greek language, the same word expresses a political system and domination (archê). Dionysius of Halicarnassus by speaking of the Roman domination as a just and natural phenomena, makes it a civilizing power.