Indigenous Research and Archaeology: Transformative Practices in/with/for the Ngarrindjeri Community

The relationships between Indigenous peoples and archaeologists in Australia have consisted of conflict, consultation and collaboration. The literature looks at very little the roles and challenges met by Indigenous archaeologists and the issues that arise as a result of working between two different knowledge systems. This paper therefore will discuss the question of how archaeologists could modify their practice for better answering the Indigenous communities and treats this particular question by presenting my own work among the Ngarrindjeri nation of southeast South Australia. By the means of a lived experiment of conducting research with/in/for my community, I will consider the effect of the personal identity related to community stories while also examining how the knowledge of the interior can be at the same time complex but very significant for the development of archaeology.

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Resumé Par le passé, les rapports entre les aborigènes et les archéologues en Australie se sont avérés conflictuels, consultatifs et collaboratifs. Même si les aborigènes ont été impliqués dans la recherche archéologique, les chercheurs non-aborigènes ont été à l’avant plan dans le développement de méthodes et de techniques concernant la discipline archéologique à défaut d’avoir des aborigènes formés à cette discipline. Cet article se veut une contribution au développement actuel de recherche sur les méthodologies employées en archéologie par l’intermédiaire d’une discussion sur l’expérience d’un étudiant Ngarrindjeri récemment gradué en archéologie et qui travaille avec les communautés. Même si le cas présenté ici utilise la question hautement contentieuse et politique du rapatriement, l’objectif de cet article est de refléter les pratiques adoptées qui amènent à la transformation significative des procédures pour les archéologues Ngarrindjeri qui travaillent dans/avec/pour leur communauté afin de soutenir les efforts de protection de notre patrimoine culturel.

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Resumen Las relaciones entre los pueblos indígenas y los arqueólogos en Australia han sido de conflicto, consulta y colaboración. La bibliografía sobre el tema no tiene muy en cuenta los roles y los desafíos con los que se enfrentan los arqueólogos indígenas y las cuestiones que surgen como resultado de trabajar entre dos sistemas diferentes de conocimiento. Este artículo, en consecuencia, discutirá la cuestión de la manera en que los arqueólogos podrían modificar sus prácticas para dar una mejor respuesta a las comunidades indígenas; el artículo trata esta cuestión particular al presentar mi propio trabajo entre la nación Ngarrindjeri al sudeste del sur de Australia. Por la experiencia vivida al conducir una investigación en/con mi comunidad, consideraré el efecto de la identidad en relación a las historias de la comunidad a la vez que examinaré de que forma en conocimiento interior puede ser a la vez complejo pero muy significativo para el desarrollo de la arqueología.

     

God,Otherness, and Community: Some Reflections on Hegel and Levinas

Many critics have argued that the alterity of God is negated within Hegel's philosophy of religion. This paper will present the position that Hegel's approach to theology depends on a rigorous hermeneutic which does not negate the meaning and power of religious language and practice as they are found within various Christian traditions, though it does challenge the view that God is absolutely “other” than the human. Further, Hegel's approach to the interpretation of the divine-human relationship need not be limited to Christianity alone. Although Hegel regards Christianity as the highest, most spiritually developed form of religious life, certain fruitful correlations can be established between his work on the ethical dimensions of religious community and Levinas's ethical interpretation of Judaism. These correlations suggest that both Hegel and Levinas offer articulations of what can be seen as a “biblical” mode of thought in which the dialectical relation of God and human beings is central.     

Pierre Marie: gifted intellect,poor timing and unchecked emotionality

Pierre Marie was a prominent member of the French neurological world of the early twentieth century. Having been trained by the celebrated physician, J-M Charcot, Marie remained influenced by his teacher throughout his career. Because of this influence, his career can be logically divided into three phases: first, the early years under the direct mentorship of Charcot (1878-1893); secondly, the aftermath of Charcot's death when Marie left his teacher's institution, the Salpêtrière hospital and established himself at the Bicêtre hospital in southern Paris (1893-1918); and finally, Marie's return to the Salpêtrière to assume the original Charcot chaired professorship, albeit as an aged man (1918-1925). This essay examines Marie's career with an emphasis on documentation of the combined attributes of a gifted intellect as well as a heated emotionality. In the context of his time, these elements prompted Marie to enter into controversies and medico-political battles that advanced neurological knowledge, but likely disadvantaged him in his career successes.     

Low-Fired Earthenwares in the African Diaspora: Problems and Prospects

Local earthenware associated with enslaved African populations in the Americas, variously called Colono-Ware, Afro-Caribbean Ware. Yabbas, and Criollo ware, has received considerable attention from researchers. What unifies this disparate group of ceramics is not method of manufacture, design and decoration, or even form and function but the association or potential association with African diaspora populations. The ceramics incorporate some skills and techniques possibly brought by African potters to the Americas, as well as skills reflecting European and Native American traditions, and local adaptations in form, function, and manufacture. Analogies linking African ceramic traditions to American industries have at times been employed uncritically and have relied on generalized characteristics to infer overly specific meanings. With particular reference to low-fired earthenwares from Jamaica, this paper examines the historical and cultural context of these ceramics and the methodological and theoretical problems faced in their interpretation.     

Sharpening Advocacy Coalitions

The concept of “advocacy coalitions” is the bedrock of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), one of the most established and successful approaches for understanding policy processes across the globe. This article revisits and sharpens the conceptual definition of advocacy coalitions. We summarize the lessons from its theoretical emphases under the ACF and specify its five attributes (policy actors, shared beliefs, coordination, resources, and stability). Through this specification, we identify the ideal coalition type and several coalition subtypes. We then clarify and make a distinction between how we think about coalitions as a concept and how we approach coalitions empirically. This article sharpens the lens for describing and explaining coalitions toward better observations, theorizing, and measurements. It ends with next steps for further deepening and broadening knowledge about advocacy coalitions.     

Positivism as cultural policy: art and social change in the works of Comte and Saint-Simon

When discussing positivism today, it almost systematically falls into the realm of epistemological discourse. This discursive turn is primarily the by-product of the social sciences’ now-traditional approach to positivism—a turn which has been seen as largely dismissive of positivism for its antiquated and reductionist approaches to research. Without trying to make an apologetic account of positivism, this article reframes it in its broader social and historical dimensions. In particular, this article aims to illustrate how positivism—as a social and political movement—conveyed a cultural policy. In other words, this article attempts to re-engage with the intellectual legacy of positivism to resituate its significance in cultural and artistic terms in French culture, society and beyond. By drawing on the notion of implicit cultural policy, this article retraces the steps of positivism and specifically builds a case for its influence on French cultural policy in the Third Republic.