Emergence and Growth of Mjärdevi Science Park in Linköping,Sweden1

The development of science parks constitutes an interesting example of policy to enhance the technology-based development of a region. These parks, it is argued, contribute to fostering technological innovation and transfer and stimulating the growth of high-level economic activities. This article examines the role that science parks play in the promotion of regional development with particular reference to one of Sweden's most successful science parks, the Mjärdevi Science Park. During the 1990s, Mjärdevi was recognized as one of Northern Europe's most rapidly growing science parks, and it has an enviable record with respect to the launching of local, new technology-based firms. This article traces the historical events related to the creation of Mjärdevi Science Park that have influenced its technological and industrial development. It then outlines the park's path of development and subsequently addresses key factors affecting the growth dynamics of the park.     

Gender,Vulnerability, and the Experts: Responding to the Maldives Tsunami

This article examines the initial response by national and international agencies to gender issues during the aftermath of the Maldives tsunami, arguing that it was, in general, inadequate. Some agencies took a gender blind approach, ignoring different impacts on men and women, as well as the effects of complex gender relations on relief and recovery efforts. Other agencies paid greater attention to gender relations in their response but tended to focus exclusively on the universal category of the ‘vulnerable woman’ requiring special assistance, whilst at the same time ignoring men's vulnerabilities. This article argues that such language entrenched women as victims, excluding them from leadership and decision‐making roles and as such served to reinforce and re‐inscribe women's trauma. It is suggested that it is partly because of the nature of international bureaucracies and the fact that this disaster drew foreign ‘experts’ from around the world that the response neglected or over‐simplified gender issues.     

Preliminary U-series and Thermoluminescence dating of excavated deposits in Liang Bua sub-chamber,Flores, Indonesia

We report the results of a test excavation of deposits in a limestone cave sub-chamber located beneath the main chamber of Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia; the discovery site of the small hominin species, Homo floresiensis. Well-preserved remains of extinct Pleistocene fauna and stone artefacts have previously been identified on the surface of a sediment cone within the sub-chamber. Our excavation of the deposits, at the base of the sediment cone in the sub-chamber (to 130 cm depth) yielded only a few fragmentary bones of extant fauna. Uranium/Thorium (U-series or U/Th) dating of soda straw stalactites excavated from 20 to 130 cm in depth demonstrates that the excavated sediments were deposited during the Holocene. Red Thermoluminescence (TL) dating of the sediments at the base of the excavation (130 cm depth) indicates these sediments were last exposed to sunlight at 84 ± 15 ka (thousand years), similar to red TL ages of cave sediments from the main chamber. Together, these results indicate that the surface faunal remains, which are morphologically analogous to Pleistocene finds from the main chamber excavations, were transported to the sub-chamber relatively recently from the main chamber of Liang Bua and probably originated from conglomerate deposits at the rear of the cave and from deposits around the front entrance. There is no evidence for hominin occupation of the sub-chamber, instead it seems to have acted as a sink for cultural materials and fossil remains transported from the surface via sinkholes. Despite the small number of finds from the test excavation, it is possible that more extensive excavations may yield additional transported cultural and faunal evidence at greater depths.     

The changing Neolithic household: Household autonomy and social segmentation, Tell Halula, Syria

While households are widely held to have existed as the fundamental building block of early agricultural villages, researchers have only a limited understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households. Expanding our archaeological understanding of the Neolithic household beyond architecture, settlement organization, and subsistence practices, in this paper we explore how gradual changes in mortuary practices at Tell Halula, Syria, help us to understand the process of household development around 7500–7300 Cal. BC. Drawing upon high-resolution mortuary data we consider the tempo and mechanisms of change and how these patterns help us understand the organization of the household. Material patterns including the increased use of burial objects, an increased frequency of the placement of burial objects among adults, and the differential use of burial objects between households. These represent subtle, yet observable, small-scale shifts in how social roles were redefined and materialized. We argue that these reflect a series of gradual changes that are suggestive of increased household autonomy and an increase in social segmentation within and between households. The Tell Halula data highlight elements of continuity and how household members adhered to a broadly shared physical and organizational framework of life. Data also illustrate how household members developed subtle means by which practices were personalization, and potentially, reflect growing means by which households and individuals were identified within these communities. Collectively, this research provides a detailed understanding of the grass-roots building blocks of Neolithic households over a short time frame and a more detailed understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households.     

Book reviews‐Comptes rendus

B. CUNLIFFE, ed., The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994, 532 p., 46 colour plates, numerous line drawings and black & white plates, ISBN 0–19–814385–0.

Carlin A. BARTON, The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: the Gladiator and the Monster, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1993, 210 p., ISBN 0–691–45696‐X.

Dominique BARTHELEMY, La société dans le comté de Vendôme de l'an mil au XIVe siècle, Fayard, Paris, 1993, 1118 p.

Colloque international, Les métiers au Moyen Age. Aspects économiques et sociaux, Louvain‐La‐Neuve, 7–9 octobre 1993.

Yuri L. BESSMERTNY, Life and death in the Middle Ages. Essays in the demographic history of France (in Russian), Nauka, Moscow, 1991, 240 p., ISBN 5–020–09052–2.

Ulrich IM HOF, Les Lumières en Europe (traduction de Jeanne Etoré et Bernard Lorthol‐ary), Le Seuil (collection “Faire l'Europe"), Paris, 1993, 316 p.

Antoine DE BAECQUE, Le corps de l'histoire. Métaphores et politique (1770–1800), Calmann‐Lévy, Paris, 1993, 435 p.

Christopher R. BROWNING, Ordinary Men—Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1992, ISBN 0–060–99506–8.

Traduction française par Elie Barnavi: Des hommes ordinaires. Le 101e bataillon de réserve de la police allemande et la solution finale en Pologne, avec une préface de Pierre Vidal‐Naquet, Les Belles Lettres (Collection “Histoire"), Paris, 1994, ISBN 2–251–38025–6.

Stefan BREUER, Anatomie der konservativen Revolution, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1993, 232 p., ISBN 3–534–11802–2.

Congrès international, Vers une identité et une conscience européennes au XXe siècle, Paris, 1993.

Frédéric DELOUCHE, ed., Histoire de l'Europe, Hachette, Paris, 1992, 380 p., ISBN 2–010–19254–0.

Michel MOLLAT DU JOURDIN, Europa und das Meer, traduction de Ursula Scholz, C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (Collection “Europa bauen"), Munich, 1993, 320 p., ISBN 3–406–36726–7.

Henry KOZICKI, ed., Western and Russian Historiography. Recent Views, Macmillan Press, Houndmills, 1993, 218 p., ISBN 0–333–57829–5.

Josep FONTANA LAZARO, La Historia despues del fin de la Historia. Reflexiones acerca de la situación actual de la ciencia historica, Critica, Serie general, no. 255, Barcelone, 1992, 153 p.     

Are universities ready for interculturality? The case of the Intercultural University ‘Amawtay Wasi’ (Ecuador)

This article focuses on the creation of the Intercultural University ‘Amawtay Wasi’ in 2003, and its evolution up until its final suspension from the university system in Ecuador. I reflect on the difficulty of implementing educational approaches based on locally situated cultural identities that involve epistemologies different from those which are hegemonic in academic spheres on the global level. From the point of view of the indigenous movement, the current situation is solely the result of the ignorance and arrogance of the state, which ‘has led to a backlash against the gains made by indigenous people that has even led to a decline in terms of indigenous rights’, calling the current government a government of ‘a new colonization’ (Salvador). However, interviews conducted in the years after the closure of Amawtay Wasi bring to light certain discourses and opposition that go beyond the obvious intellectual and political reluctance of the current government to maintain the Amawtay Wasi Intercultural University.     

Useful work for idle hands or a brightening and elevating influence? The introduction of the Brabazon Employment Scheme to Glasgow’s public institutions in the late 19th century

Women’s ability to effect changes in welfare policy during the later workings of the new Poor Law has been presented as a ‘marginal influence’ within past historiography. This perspective is contested in recent empirical work, which argues for a more positive view of female agency. The Brabazon Employment Scheme was a charitable initiative, which occupied the poor unable to take part in the routine work of public institutions. Findings from its operation in Glasgow demonstrate how women drew upon philanthropic experience as well as elected positions in the management of institutions to secure the scheme’s introduction in these settings. While the initiative originated in the English workhouses, local women extended the Brabazon activities to address gaps in welfare provision for asylum patients. In doing so, the article shows how organised charity continued to function as an avenue of support for the poor alongside municipal relief into the early 20th century.