Experimental reconstruction of a short cist

An experiment was carried out to determine the methods, labour force and time needed to reconstruct a cist of massive slabs. The most difficult and time-consuming task was the bringing of the slabs to the site. It was concluded that the whole operation of construction would occupy at least eight able-bodied adults for to 3 days.     

Book reviews

Werner Röoll. Indonesien: Entwicklungsprobleme einer tropischen Inselwelt. Stuttgart: Klett, 1979. 206 pp.

Shirley Deane. Ambon: island of spices. London: John Murray, 1979. 222 pp. £5.95.

G. W. J. Drewes (ed. and tr.). An early Javanese oode of Muslim ethics. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1978. viii, 104 pp. (Bibliotheca Indonesica, 18.)

Tunku Shamsul Bahrin and P. D. A. Perera. FELDA: 21 years of land development. [Kuala Lumpur: Federal Land Development Authority, 1977.] x, 167pp., map.

Urs Ramseyer. The art and culture of Bali, [Translated from the German by Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977. 266 pp.

J. P. Sarumpaet. Modern usage in Bahasa Indonesia. Carlton: Pitman, 1980. vii, 264 pp.

F. van Anrooij and others (ed.). Between people and statistics. Essays on modern Indonesian history presented to P. Creutzberg. Editorial committee: F. van Anrooij, D. H. A. Kolff, J. T. M. van Laanen, G. J. Telkamp. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff [for] the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, 1979. 315 pp. Paper, guilders 39.50./     

Kitchen table reflexivity: negotiating positionality through everyday talk

In this article, we explore the role of self-reflexivity in the understanding of positionality in human geography to argue that self-reflexivity in and of itself does not offer researchers sufficient opportunities to question and critique their fluid, ever-changing positionalities. Drawing on the work of feminist scholars, critical race scholars, and experiences carrying out qualitative research, we argue that formal and informal conversations with colleagues and mentors affords the opportunity to deeply engage with positionalities. This article draws on concepts of ‘everyday talk’ to encourage researchers to explore their positionalities through kitchen table reflexivity – an exploration of an individual's positionality and its relationship to their research carried out through formal and informal conversations with others. We demonstrate how everyday talk with each other furthered our understandings of our fluid identities in relation to our research participants. Through these conversations, we were able to more critically interrogate our identity and not simply reduce identity to a laundry list of perceived similarities and differences between research participants and us. In conclusion, we encourage all researchers to use everyday talk as one way to complicate their positionalities and to reflect on how this process relates to the broader societal and academic environment within which they carry out their research.     

Rural response to urban penetration: Baltimore and St Mary's County,Maryland, 1790–1840

Viewed from a city, urban penetration appeared to benefit the economy of a rural hinterland by expanding markets for a wide range of farm produce and by offering in return a wide variety of cheap consumer goods. From a rural viewpoint, cheap goods from cities took trade away from local craftsmen. The probate records of St Mary's County, Maryland, provide evidence for the effects of Baltimore's penetration into a tobacco-growing rural community during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As Baltimore expanded, farmers not only grew more tobacco but also began to supply the city with wheat. A prosperous and diversified agriculture supported millers, merchants and mariners. Up to 1820 an increasing number of young men were recruited as bay pilots, but the introduction of steamships drove sailing ships out of business. After 1820 not only did maritime employment decrease, but most craft industries declined. By 1833, the county's sole cotton mill closed and Baltimore's industrial supremacy was assured.