Irrigated taro (Colocasia esculenta) farming in North Kohala,Hawai‘i: sedimentology and soil nutrient analyses

How did traditional farming transform the natural environment in the Hawaiian Islands? This question is one that has largely been addressed for rainfed farming of crops like sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), but evidence is lacking for irrigated farming of the critical staple crop taro (Colocasia esculenta). We describe the results of soil nutrient and sedimentological analyses of deeply-stratified pondfield deposits representing a 600-year-long record of irrigated taro farming in the North Kohala District, Hawai‘i Island. Soil is categorized by particle size to determine modes of transport and deposition, and concurrent soil nutrient analyses were conducted to infer shifts in the source of sediments and changes associated with taro harvesting. The advent of farming is clearly detectable in sedimentology, the presence of charcoal found within sediments, and soil chemistry. However, diminished nutrient concentrations can be attributed largely to deposition of a mixture of upstream sediments. Overall, there is no clear evidence for nutrient draw-down by taro harvesting, but we cannot yet rule it out as a factor. This study demonstrates the inherent difficulty of correlating changes in soil nutrients evident in irrigated pondfields with the long term history of soil nutrient cycling.     

Alive and Kicking: Municipal Affirmative Action Policy in Texas Cities, 1980s–1990s

This article evaluates the impact of opposition originating at the national level on affirmative action policies in 13 Texas cities in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We find that increased national hostility to affirmative action in hiring and contracting has had little effect on the content and strength of affirmative action programs in Texas municipalities. In fact, most programs have been maintained or strengthened since the 1980s. However, there is no clear and consistent relationship between the strength of municipal programs and either minority political representation or the size of a city's minority population. City size appears to be a relevant, but not decisive, factor in maintaining comprehensive policies. As such, we explore two additional hypotheses—policy time lag and bureaucratic insulation—to account for the survival and strengthening of municipal affirmative action policies in the 1990s.     

Book reviews

P.G. Edwards, Prime Ministers and Diplomats: The Making of Australian Foreign Policy 1901–1949, Oxford University Press in association with The Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1983, pp. vii + 230. $24.99.

Ghanshyam Pardesi (ed.), Contemporary Peace Research. Harvester Press, Brighton, 1983, pp. xi + 374, £30.00

Cosmas Desmond, Persecution East and West. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1983, pp. 172. $5.95.

B.G. Ramcharan (ed.), International Law and Fact‐Finding in the Field of Human Rights. Martinus Nijhoff. The Hague, 1982, pp. x + 260. $US48.00.

M. Akehurst, A Modern Introduction to International Law. Fourth edn. George Allen & Unwin, London, 1982, pp. 304. $49.50 (cloth) $17.95 (paper).

T. Nardin, Law, Morality, and the Relations of States. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1983, pp. xii + 350. $45.00 (cloth) $19.00 (paper).

Allan McKnight and Keith Suter, The Forgotten Treaties. Law Council of Australia, Melbourne, 1983, pp. xi + 136. $5.95.

D.E. Rosenthal and W.M. Knighton, National Laws and International Commerce. Chatlam House Papers 17. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and Royal Institute of Internationa! Affairs, 1982, pp. xi + 96. $9.95.

R. Kay (ed.), The Surrender and Occupation of Japan (Documents on New Zealand External Relations, Vol II), Department of Internal Affairs, Historical Publications Branch, Wellington, 1982, pp. 1782. $75.

Mike Muller, The Health of Nations: A North‐South Investigation. Faber and Faber, London, 1982, pp.255. $10.95.

Phiphat Tangsubkul, ASEAN and the Law of the Sea. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1982, pp. xv + 148. $S24.00.

D.P. O'Connell (edited by I.A. Shearer), The International Law of the Sea, Vol. I. Oxford University Press, New York, 1982, pp. xxxiii + 634. $100.00.

R.A. Herr, R. Hall, and B.W. Davis (eds.), Issues in Australia's Marine and Antarctic Policies. Public Policy Monograph, Department of Political Science, University of Tasmania, 1982, pp. xii + 201. $7.95.

Jürgen Tampke. The People's Republics of Eastern Europe. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1983, pp. 178. $27.50.

Alexandre Bennigsen and Marie Broxup, The Islamic Threat to the Soviet State. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1983, pp. vii + 170. $22.50.

Aryeh Y. Yodfat, The Soviet Union and the Arabian Peninsula. Soviet Policy Towards the Persian Gulf and Arabia. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1983, pp. xiii + 191. $23.50.

Saburo Okita. Japan's Challenging Years: Reflections on my Lifetime. Australia‐Japan Research Centre. Australian National University, Canberra, 1983,pp.xii,+ 147.$p10.00(Australia) $12.00 (overseas).

Martin Stuart‐Fox (ed.), Contemporary Laos. University of Queensland Press. St. Lucia. 1982. pp. xxii + 345. $19.95.

Jim Dunn, Timor: A People Betrayed, Jacaranda Press, Milton, 1983, pp. xiii + 402. $15.95.

J. Southwood and P. Flanagan, Indonesia: Law, Propaganda and Terror, Zed Press, London, pp. 272. £12.95 (cloth) £5.95 (paper).

Stephen Feuchtwang and Athar Hussain (eds.), The Chinese Economic Reforms. Croom Helm, London, 1983, pp. 373. £15.95.

Yearbook of International Organisations 1983–84, 20th Edition, Volume 1 K.G. Saur, Munich, for the Union of International Associations, Brussels, 1983, pp. 910. DM 428.     

Breaking down ceramic variation: Testing models of white mountain redware design style development

Design styles on White Mountain Redware pottery from the American Southwest are analyzed, drawing on ethnoarchaeological work conducted among the Kalinga of northern Luzon, the Philippines, to establish a strong relationship between distinct social groups and ceramic decoration. From this base, regional production zones are identified for several White Mountain Redware design styles in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. In addition, the temporal and spatial distribution of these styles is compared to expectations generated by three models of design style development, none of which is completely acceptable. An alternative explanation is proposed in which White Mountain Redware stylistic change is linked to the development of (1) symbolic association between design styles and regions or communities of production, (2) increasing exchange of pottery over longer distances and in larger numbers, and (3) part-time specialization in pottery production. These trends, in turn, are a likely consequence of population increase and aggregation into larger puebloan communities in which contradictory processes, such as economic interdependence and competitive interaction between settlements, may have emerged to disrupt the late prehistoric evolutionary tendency towards greater social complexity.     

Migration with a composite amenity: the role of rents

An attempt is made to analyze the phenomenon of migration using rent as the single variable that could serve as a proxy for the many amenities that might affect migration patterns. A theoretical treatment of the implications of rent capitalization for migration is first outlined. Empirical results indicating the usefulness of this approach are then presented. The geographic focus of the study is on the United States.