The Contested Landscapes of World Heritage on a Tourist Island: the case of Garajonay National Park,La Gomera

This paper considers the World Heritage Site of Garajonay National Park on the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands). It is based on a research project carried out during 1999-2000 that explored the circumstances surrounding its declaration as a National Park and inclusion into the World Heritage List, in conjunction with the consequences for local communities which ensued. The proximity of Garajonay National Park to a large concentration of mass coastal tourism constitutes a further source of potential conflict which may have a wider relevance to other sites of a similar and indeed diverse nature. This paper, therefore, examines the configurations of space and social relations occasioned by the processes of social change, conservation and tourism development in and adjacent to this protected forest. In doing so it elucidates the manner in which these processes are locally mediated in and through contested values over the meaning and purpose of nature conservation in this 'world heritage space'. It argues that a sense of the forest as a place of cultural belonging has been marginalised in favour of its intrinsic ecological value.     

Book Reviews

Over the past 150 years, different perceptions concerning the cultural influence that historic buildings should exert on modern life have evolved within the British Isles and Continental (especially Central) Europe. Despite a conservation revival, together with the declining influence of International Modernism by the 1970s, in facilitating the reduction of conceptual differences within state conservation agencies throughout Europe, subsequent events did not allow this process to go much further. The political changes in Central Europe following the end of the Cold War and the subsequent restructuring of the world economy helped to re-emphasise the basic problem. That is, the extent to which the material remains of the past should be considered more as reactive cultural icons or more as proactive normative elements within the European civic tradition. An examination of the general operating philosophies of state conservation agencies in England and Germany can give a plausible insight into how differing values placed on the past and contemporary significance of historic buildings can be directly related to the level of vernacular continuity deemed appropriate within different European regions. The question is also raised whether the convergence of similar urban lifestyles across the European Continent will enable historic material remains to become either integrated and moral realities or hermetic and virtual realities within the broader framework of European civic life.     

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN THE USSR, 1970-1988: PART I (PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY)

The first of two articles devoted to spatial and temporal trends in economic development and levels of living within the USSR focuses on changes in the pattern of absolute and per capita economic output—national income produced and gross value of industrial output (at the republic and economic regional level, respectively). It then investigates the question of whether divergence or convergence has occurred among republics and economic regions in terms of these indicators. Finally, it assesses patterns of change in labor and capital productivity across Soviet republics.     

<Superscript>230</Superscript>Th/U chronology of ore formation within the semyenov hydrothermal district (13°31′ N) at the Mid-Atlantic ridge

A radiochemical study was carried out on massive sulfides from Semyenov hydrothermal district at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. New and published results provide evidence that ²³⁰Th/U ages obtained for massive sulfides are reliable. The sulfide deposits from the West, North-West, North-East, and East hydrothermal sites at the Semyenov hydrothermal district were formed between ∼124 ka and ∼37 ka ago. The hydrothermal activity might have started in the eastern part of the district and moved to the west by episodic ore formation.     

The Economy of the Irish Rath

THE DISCOVERY of a Viking-Age burial in the Kilmainham-Islandbridge cemetery, Dublin, comprising skeleton, spear, sword-fragments and beads, is described from antiquarian MSS sources. The surviving pieces are detailed and the deposit tentatively dated to the late 9th or early 10th century. The grave-goods indicate one, possibly two, burials, one female. A brief survey of similar pagan burials in the British Isles and a close examination of this one would suggest a mixed Irish-Scandinavian cultural milieu for it.