Swedish limestone paving in 17th-and 18th-century English buildings

Documents concerning buildings by Christopher Wren record the use of Swedish and Danish marble as a paving material. In order to establish the origin of these marbles, original pavings are examined at St Paul's Cathedral and elsewhere. Through analyses of samples and by means of other evidence both marbles are identified as Orthoceras Limestone from the Swedish island of Öland. The stone industry of Öland is described and the import of Swedish stone into England in the 17th and 18th centuries is traced through Scandinavian and English customs accounts.     

Enhancing spatial learning and mobility training of visually impaired people—a technical paper on the Internet-based tactile and audio-tactile mapping

Thanks to advances in technology such as Internet-based mapping and the development of special inks, papers and global positioning systems, map making for vision impaired people can provide a range of products (e.g., tactile, haptic and audio-tactile maps) that can improve their independence, self-confidence and everyday life. The applications of tactile maps include learning spatial concepts and geography; audio-tactile maps combined with access to geospatial information can enhance mobility and independence. In 1998, the Mapping Services Branch (MSB) of the Earth Sciences Sector of Natural Resources Canada initiated a tactile mapping program. Now referred to as the Government on Line—Mapping for the Visually Impaired Project (Natural Resources Canada 2003a), it aims to serve the community with special needs, with emphasis on those who are blind or visually impaired, their teachers and mobility instructors. This technical paper discusses the various types of tactile and audio-tactile maps of Canada developed by the MSB in cooperation with its partners and describe the current research and development activities carried out within the project. It also leads the reader to further information on audio-tactile maps and touch- and sound-based computer interfaces.     

Accident Investigations: a comparative perspective on societal safety in Norway and Sweden, 1970–2010

The topic for the article is the growing awareness of risk and safety in Norway and Sweden during the last decades of the 20th century, and how the two Scandinavian states have organized investigations of accidents. In many western states accident investigations have moved from sector specific boards to permanent multi-modal commissions. This has also been the case in the two Scandinavian states. But this comparative study reveals different paths and varying speed towards a ‘safety culture’. The Swedish Accident Investigation Board was established in 1990, while its Norwegian opposite partner was established in 2008. Common for the two countries is that reorganization of investigation boards has taken place as political actions after major accidents, rather than as a consequence of risk assessments.     

How matter comes to matter in children's nature play: posthumanist approaches and children's geographies

In the present paper, a posthumanist approach is used to analyse children's play activities in natural environments. The aim is to analyse intra-actions between children, the material environment and discourses, with a focus on the material and embodied aspects of these intra-actions. Forty-two children between six and eight years and from two Swedish schools participated in the study. Video observations of play activities have been the most important data source. For the analysis of how matter ‘acts’, play with sensorimotor content has been distinguished from play with symbolic content. In sensorimotor play, matter seems to ‘talk’ more directly to children's hands and bodies. In play activities with symbolic content, matter works both directly and through discourses, when objects are given symbolic meaning. In both kinds of play, discursive practices in the peer groups are influential.     

Introduction to Small Finds,Big Implications: The Cultural Meaning of the Littlest Artifacts

Why do the smallest artifacts found during the excavation of a site elicit the most visceral response from those who find them and study them? Is it because they are portable items that can be tied to people, such as coins, smoking pipes, and children’s toys, or is it because often they are visually appealing? While the range of small finds discussed in this collection will be diverse, the contributors all share a passion for deriving cultural meaning from the context in which they were found. It will be proven that small finds can have big implications when an anthropological framework is employed during analysis.     

Who Deserves Solidarity? Unequal Treatment of Immigrants in Swiss Welfare Policy Delivery

Rising immigration rates in Western Europe concur with increasing anti‐immigrant attitudes. While assessments of welfare eligibility in the United States demonstrably hinge on how public servants perceive different racial groups as deserving, we know less about ethnically motivated discrimination in the European context. This paper argues that Switzerland is a critical case for studying such developments. It combines social construction theory and the deservingness heuristic to analyze how social constructions of Swiss natives and immigrants influence 90 disability benefits insurance procedures. Findings reveal that immigrants are perceived as less deserving and less powerful than Swiss applicants. Thus, Swiss welfare workers do not allocate welfare benefits independently of an applicant's nationality. Our results raise fundamental questions about the equal treatment of welfare applicants in times of rising immigration and anti‐immigrant attitudes. The feed‐forward effects of social constructions imply longer‐term consequences for good administrative practices and society that require scholarly attention.     

Thinking the other,thinking otherwise: Levinas’ conception of responsibility

ABSTRACT

Probably no other philosopher described the encounter with the other (human being) in a more radical way than Emmanuel Levinas. This led him to a new interpretation of responsibility as origin of all our ethical obligations towards others. He put into question a philosophical tradition of thought he accused of taking the ego as sole origin of all foundation of meaning. In this paper, I begin by outlining Levinas’ criticism of the occidental tradition of thought to explain the place of the other in his writings. I go on to explicate Levinas’ peculiar understanding of ‘responsibility for the other’. I will show how important it is in Levinas’ work not to isolate the question of responsibility from the question of justice. Finally, I examine what other capabilities would be required in order to act in a responsible and just way.