Holocene prehistory of the northernmost north Pacific

We examine evidence for Holocene contact between Asia and North America across what is now the Bering Strait, emphasizing maritime adaptation. After 10,000 B.P. residual influence of the Siberian Paleolithic is clear, and derivative Americans were moving southward along the open Pacific coast and settling in the eastern Aleutian Islands. By 6000 B.P. maritime adaptation is evident in the Kodiak Island region, and expansion westward brought colonization of the entire Aleutian chain of islands before 3000 B.P. In Asia there was marine subsistence on Hokkaido by 6000 B.P, but in the lower Amur River region, the southern and northern regions of the Okhotsk Sea, the coast of Kamchatka, and the Chukchi Peninsula no major maritime interest can be dated until after 2700 or even 2500 B.P In north Alaska, the mainland was cut off from Siberia by 6000 B.P with the rise of postglacial seas, but contact was reestablished 5000 B.P at the cultural level of the nonmaritime Siberian Neolithic. Pronounced marine orientation appears intrusively in north Alaska somewhat before 3000 B.P, when the only known source for the technology was the region extending from the Gulf of Alaska through the Aleutian Islands. Thereafter developed the maritime culture of the historic Eskimo people.     

Book reviews

Nicholas Tarling: South East Asia: Past and Present, F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne, 1966, pp. 334, $5.55.

W. H. C. Eddy, ed.: Studies In Demoracy, F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne, 1966, pp. 178 + xi, $3.75.

Ruth Knight: Illiberal Liberal, Robert Lowe in New South Wales, 1842–1850, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1966, pp. 299 ‐f ix, $6.00.

B. D. Graham: The Formation of the Australian Country Parties, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1966, pp. 320 ‐f xiv, $6.90.

C. Sanders, ed.: Technical Education for Development, University of Western Australia Press, 1966, pp. 302 ‐f‐ vii.

Cyril Pearl: Wild Men of Sydney, Cheshire‐Lansdowne, pp. 255, $2.50 paper, $4.20 bound.

Bruce Mansfield: Australian Democrat, Sydney University Press, 1965, pp. 322, $3.00.

T. H. Rigby, ed.: Stalin, Great Lives Observed series, Spectrum Books, Prentice‐Hall, N.J., 1966, pp. 182, paperback $1.95, boards $4.95.

D. G. Bettison, C. A. Hughes and P. W. van der Veur, eds.: The Papua‐New Guinea Elections, 1964, The Australian National University, Canberra, 1965, pp. 545, $9.00.

Denis Warner: Reporting South‐East Asia, Angus & Robertson, 1966, pp. 342, $4.50.

Patrick Ford: Cardinal Moran and the A.L.P.—A Study in the Encounter Between Moran and Socialism, 1890–1907, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp. 319 + xxii, $7.50.     

“Situated Bystandership” During and After the Rwandan Genocide

The dominant account of the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath focuses on victims and perpetrators, and rescapés and génocidaires. Less is known about bystanders, mainly Hutu non-perpetrators, who are held collectively responsible for having witnessed violence without trying to stop the killers or help the victims. This article challenges the homogenous portrayal of the unresponsive bystander group, and introduces the novel concept of “situated bystandership” to draw attention to the proximal and representational contexts that shape bystanders’ responses, roles and positions in society. First, to be a “situated bystander” means to resist the pressure to participate in genocidal violence and to belong to a moral order that is distinct from that of the extremists: the moral world of the ordinary, good-hearted people. Second, Rwandans who are “neither pursuing nor being pursued” occupy multiple roles at different points in time. Many are bystanders to specific episodes of violence and their “acts of non-intervention” shape the course of history. Given the pressure to participate in the genocide, the inaction of bystanders could be considered as passive resistance to the ideology of mass killing. Therefore, in a continuum between victims and perpetrators, bystanders might be positioned closer to the victims than the perpetrators. Third, gacaca is a process through which not only is culpability ascertained but individual innocence is also established. This reconfiguration makes it possible to shift the homogenized perception of Hutu non-perpetrators from the position of the morally guilty bystander group towards that of the individual innocent bystander. In contrast to the tendency to essentialize accounts of violence, homogenize groups and reframe controversial stories to fit political strategies, there is value in standing back and identifying the contexts that shape bystanders’ roles, responses and representations. “Situated bystandership” is a lens through which this objective can be achieved.     

Review article: Religion,modernization and Zionism

Ehud Luz, Parallels Meet: Religion and Nationalism in the Early Zionist Movement (1882–1904), Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1988 (Originally published in Hebrew — Tel Aviv, Am Oved, 1985), xix + 365 pp.

Yosef Salmon, Religion and Zionism — First Encounters: Essays (Hebrew), Jerusalem, Hassifriya Hazionit, 1990, 366 pp.     

Italy as a negotiator in the EU equal opportunities policy process

The creation of both a Ministry and a Department for equal opportunities has been Italy's main institutional response to EU pressures in the field of equal opportunities policy. Nevertheless, the impact of Italian negotiators in the EU depends not only on the institutional resources available to them, but also on the political credibility acquired by presenting well‐defined and clear preferences during the bargaining process in the Council. This article considers how the Italian position was presented, and how successful it was, in two recently approved Directives, one decided by qualified majority vote, the other on a basis of unanimity. The aim of the analysis is to assess Italy's capacity to influence EU social affairs. Information was gathered by conducting qualitative interviews with the main political actors involved in the decision‐making process at the national and European levels.     

The Geography of Radioactive Contamination in the Former USSR

A detailed survey of the location and scope of radionuclide contamination in the former USSR examines the character and spatial patterns of such contamination by source—e.g., commercial and military reactor operation (including reactors on submarines and icebreakers); uranium mining and enrichment; plutonium production; nuclear waste storage and disposal; and “peaceful” nuclear explosions and nuclear weapons tests. Attention also is focused on updating the situation at sites known to have sustained some of the most severe radionuclide contamination—e.g., Chornobyl' (Chernobyl') and adjacent areas; Mayak, Tomsk-7, and Krasnoyarsk-26; Novaya Zemlya; the Barents and Kara Seas; Lake Ladoga; and Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. 5 figures, 8 tables, 60 references.