WikiLeaks,Anarchism and Technologies of Dissent

Abstract: WikiLeaks is a controversial organisation that attracts polarised responses. This is not unexpected given its key objective of exposing the secrets and social control ambitions of the powerful. While its supporters laud its pursuit of an informational commons, its detractors condemn its antisocial character, its megalomania—and its anarchism. It is the latter that particularly interests us here. This paper treats the “charge” of anarchism seriously, however, giving it the analytical attention it warrants. It does this by first identifying those characteristics of the organisation that would render it anarchist, and then to conceptualise what this anarchism means. It highlights two important elements of the WikiLeaks story: the anarchical character of the technologies it utilises to foment its dissent; and the anarchical ethos of the organisation's radical politics. We conclude by also considering the tensions and contradictions in WikiLeaks that temper both its anarchism and its social change objectives.     

Poverty Point Objects Reconsidered

In this paper we examine the enigmatic but plentiful hand-molded, baked-clay objects known as Poverty Point Objects (PPOs) from a number of different facets. Although the vast majority of these Terminal Archaic artifacts are found in the Lower Mississippi Valley, they also are found at sites as far north as Clarksville, Indiana, and as far east as the Atlantic Coast of Florida. Although most archaeologists generally assume PPOs were used primarily for roasting food, we consider a variety of other possible functions, including their use in boiling water and as symbolic tokens linking the far-flung Poverty Point culture area. We demonstrate that even though a few other archaeological cultures in the world used round clay balls for cooking, the Poverty Point culture was unique in the care, variety, and standardized forms of its baked-clay objects. We discuss the various PPO types and their possible functions in nine distinct regions in the southeastern United States and, based on our thin-section analyses of 66 samples, we demonstrate that PPOs circulated among different sites in these regions.     

Spaces of Belonging: Home,Culture and Identity in 20th-Century French Autobiography

ALEXANDRE, P., Les Patrons de presse. Quinze ans d'histoires secrètes de la presse écrite en France (1982–1997), Anne Carrière, 1997, 297pp., 120FF., ISBN 2 84337 010 8

ATKIN, N., Pétain, Longman, 1998 238pp., £13.99, ISBN 0 582 07037 6 pbk; £39.99, ISBN 0 582 07036 8 hbk

BALL, R., The French‐speaking World, Routledge, 1997, 228pp., £10.99, ISBN 0 415 12987 7

BATCHELOR, R. E. and CHEBLI‐SAADI, M., French for Marketing: Using French in Media and Communications, CUP, 1997, 350pp., no price indicated, ISBN 0 521 58538 X

BEZBAKH, P., Histoire de la France, vol. 1, Des origines à 1914, vol. 2 De 1914 à nos jours, Larousse, 1997, 512pp. and 570pp., no price indicated, ISBNs 2 03 507141 0 and 2 03 507142 9

B?UF J.‐L., Quinze ans de décentralisation, Problèmes politiques et sociaux, 787 Documentation française, 11 juillet 1997, 45FF., ISSN 0015 9743

BRETON, A. (translated by Mary Anne Caws and Geoffrey T. Harris with notes and introduction by Mary Ann Caws), Communicating Vessels, Bison Books, 1997, 159pp., $12.00, ISBN 0 8032 6135 7

CHARAUDEAU, P., Le discours d'information médiatique. La construction du miroir social, INA‐Nathan, 1997, 286pp., 129F., ISBN 2 978209 190

COHEN, W. B. (ed.), The Transformation of Modern France. Essays in Honor of Gordon Wright, Houghton Mifflin, 1997, 242pp., £15.95 pbk

DROUIN, I. Salauds de pauvres! Programmation d'un génocide européen, Infrarouge, 1997, 253pp., 80F., ISBN 2 9086 14 20 0

FEBVRE L. (présentées et annotées par Jacqueline Pluet et Gilles Candar), Lettres à Henri Beer, Fayard, 1997, 640pp., 250F, ISBN 2 213 59566 6

FLOWER, J. E., France Today,, 8th edn Hodder &; Stoughton, 1997, 248pp., ISBN 0 340 63093 0

FOURIER, C. (edited by G. S. Jones &; I. Patterson), The Theory of Four Movements, Cambridge University Press, 1996 328pp., £14.95, ISBN 0521 35693 8

FRIOT, B. and ROSE, J., (eds), La construction sociale de l'emploi en France, L'Harmattan, Collection Forum de l'IFRAS, 1996 248pp., 130F., ISBN 2 7384 4764 3

GARAPON, A. and SALAS, D., La République pénalisée, Hachette, 1996 144pp., 59F., ISBN 2 01 235230 8

GRUBB A., The Politics of Pessimism. Albert de Broglie and Conservative Politics in the Early Third Republic, University of Delaware Press, 1996 427pp., £42.00, ISBN 0 87413575 3

JACOB G., Une histoire du cinéma moderne, Ramsay, 1997, 255pp., ISBN 2 84114 287 6

KOFMAN, M., Edgar Morin. From Big Brother to Fraternity, 140 pp., Pluto Press, 1996 £10.99, ISBN 0 7453 0852 X

MARICOURT, T., Les Nouvelles Passerelles de l'extrême‐droite, Syllepse, 1997, 199pp., 120F., ISBN 2 907993 52 6

MILZA, P., Sources de la France du XX^e siècle (de 1918 à nos jours), Larousse, 1997, 789pp., no price indicated, ISBN 2 03 741022 0

MORI, J., William Pitt and the French Revolution 1785–1795, Keele University Press, 1997, 305pp., £17.95, ISBN 1 85331 137 5

MOURIAUX, R. (ed.), L'année sociale., Editions de l'Atelier/Editions Ouvrières, 1997, 240pp., 98FF., ISBN 2 7082 3270 3

NOIN, D. and WHITE, P., Paris, John Wiley, 1997, 286pp., £45 hbk., ISBN 0 471 94944 2

NORTHCUTT, W., The Regions of France: a Reference Guide to History and Culture, Greenwood, 1996 310pp., no price indicated, ISBN 0 313 29223 X

O'BRIEN C., Women's Fictional Responses to the First World War, Peter Lang, 1997, 204pp., £28., ISBN 0 8204 3141 9

PÉAN, P. and NICK, C., TF1, un pouvoir, Fayard, 1997, 695pp., 160FF., ISBN 2 213 59819 3

RHODES, M., HEYWOOD, P., and WRIGHT V. (eds), Developments in West European Politics Macmillan, 1997, 363pp., no price indicated, ISBN 0 333 65128 6

RUFFIN, A., Normandie 1939–1944: le Temps des Épreuves, Presses de la Cité, 1997, 335pp., 130FF., ISBN 2 258 04417 0

SCHMIDT, V. A., From State to Market? The Transformation of French Business and Government, Cambridge University Press, 1996 447pp., £55.00 hbk, ISBN 0 521 49742 6

SCOTT, J., W., Only Paradoxes to Offer: French Feminists and the Rights of Man, Harvard University Press, 1996 229pp., £10.95, ISBN 0 674 63931 6

SHEPPARD, D., SPARKS, S. and THOMAS C. (eds), On Jean‐Luc Nancy. The Sense of Philosophy, Routledge, 1997, 219pp., £14.99, ISBN 0 415 14794 8

TULARD, J., Napoleon, le pouvoir, la nation, la légende, Le Livre de Poche, 1997, 153pp., 30 F., ISBN 2 2539 0534 9

WILLIAMS, J., S., The Erotics of Passage. Pleasure, Politics, and Form in the Later Work of Marguerite Duras, Liverpool University Press, 1997, 243pp., £14.95, ISBN 0 85323 501 5

WISE, H., The Vocabulary of Modern French. Origins, Structure and Function, Routledge, 1997, 256pp., £45 hbk, ISBN 0 415 11738 0; £14.99 pbk, ISBN 0 415 11739 9

WISEMAN B., and GROVES, J., Lévi‐Strauss for Beginners, Icon Books, 1997, 175pp., £8.99, ISBN 1 874166 625     

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.     

Sheepcotes: Evidence for Medieval Sheepfarming

SHEEPCOTES were late medieval buildings for the shelter of flocks and the storage of fodder, among other functions. They are visible as earthworks and are recorded in documents. This study uses mainly Gloucestershire examples to provide insights into medieval sheep husbandly, and changing patterns of land management.     

Medieval Tin-Glazed Painted Tiles in North-West Europe

ALL OF THE KNOWN medieval tin-glazed tiles from NW. Europe beyond the Mediterranean littoral are discussed. They appear first c. 1290 in the Toulouse region and 14th-century examples are known from scattered sites in southern France, from the lower Loire valley and SE. Brittany, and from Flanders and Holland, with related material in Hamburg and East Anglia. The tiles are generally painted in green and brown and were locally produced. There is extensive documentation for the manufacture of such tiles for the Duke of Burgundy's chateau at Hesdin in French Flanders in the 1390s, and documentary evidence also records two Spanish tilers working for the Duke of Burgundy and the Duke of Berry at Dijon and Poitiers in the 1380s. Extant fragments from these sites and from Bourges and Mehun-sur-Yièvre include for the first time some with designs painted in blue. There is as yet no evidence for the continuing production of tin-glazed tiles in any of these areas during the 15th century or for locally-produced tin-glazed pottery before the late 15th or 16th century.