The Politics of HDTV in the United States

Policies adopted by the United States government between 1987 and 1993 regarding high definition television (HDTV) were made primarily by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). A brief effort by members of Congress and their bureaucratic and industrial allies to link HDTV to broader industrial policies was thwarted by the George Bush Administration between 1988 and 1990. The FCC's policies with respect to simulcasting and digital signals reflected the concern of that agency to protect the interests of consumers, broadcasters, and electronics manufacturers. The first two interests traditionally were protected by the FCC, whereas the protection of electronics was somewhat unusual and was influenced by perceptions of declining United States competitiveness. In addition, United States policymaking in this area depended strongly on the framing effect of policies adopted in Japan and Western Europe.     

No passion for Brownlow: Models of staffing the presidency

Post‐Watergate critics of the American presidency have directed much attention to the problem of controlling the White House staff. This paper argues that their proposals have ignored an implicit lesson contained in the Brownlow Report of 1937 and that it is unrealistic to build the Cabinet and department secretaries into any model of white House staff functions, particularly as a constraint mechanism on the staff. Such proposals understate the political role of the staff and approaches to reform must search for a political rather than an institutional response.     

Maize Agriculture Evolution in the Eastern Woodlands of North America: A Darwinian Perspective

David Rindos' coevolution theory remains the most comprehensive application of Darwinian theory to issues of prehistoric agriculture evolution. While his theory has drawn attention, there has been a lack of subsequent development of the application of Darwinian theory to prehistoric agricultural evolution. Combining Sewall Wright's shifting balance theory of evolution with aspects of Rindos' coevolution theory provides important new insights into the processes of crop transmission between regions. Using these theories, a model is developed for the adoption and subsequent evolution of maize agriculture in the Eastern Woodlands of North America.     

Translating relics: Victricius of Rouen and fourth‐century debate

This article uses a little‐known sermon by Victricius, bishop of Rouen, as an approach to the fourth‐century debate on the translation of relics. In the last third of the fourth century, the cult of martyrs and their relics was promoted by Damasus of Rome, Paulinus of Nola and Ambrose of Milan, but remained controversial in the western churches. Roman law forbade the disturbance of dead bodies, especially where magic was suspected. Christians as well as non‐Christians were repelled by the veneration of bone, bloodstains and dust, and by the extreme asceticism that was often associated with relic‐cult. The sermon Victricius preached, welcoming to Rouen a gift of relics from Ambrose, is here interpreted as an attempt at cultural translation. Victricius deploys a late‐antique education in rhetoric and philosophy to make relic‐cult and asceticism acceptable. Like many others, he uses the adventus, the ceremonial reception of a visiting emperor or his deputy by local aristocracy and officials, as an analogy for the reception of relics by ascetics and clergy. Exceptionally, he equates corporeal relics with the presence of God; but his unique theology of relics was lost to view.     

Introduction

This introduction will consider how these four papers mark new boundaries of an expanding anthropological project both in their theoretical aspirations and their empirical reach. While the papers address quite different questions, each is relevant to the contemporary relationship between anthropology, indigenous people and the Australian nation. To highlight that relevance I will draw on elements of anthropology's history using some of Stanner's observations in the 1950s. In the last section I discuss some contemporary conditions and criticisms of anthropology.