‘At intervals I was nearly stunned by the noise he made’: Listening to African American religious sound in the era of Slavery

Sharply differing perceptions, between blacks and whites, as to the role of sound in religious performance challenge us to recover what we can of the aural universe of African American slaves. To whites during the era of slavery, the sounds emitted by African American preachers and their congregations often seemed wildly inappropriate. In particular, the sermons of black preachers sounded like a mere jumble of thoughts, so much intellectual trash. Blacks, however, heard different things in these sermons, communal, interactive sounds, meanings conveyed through the shifting tones and culturally compelling rhythms of the preacher's voice. Rather than proceeding in linear, logical fashion, black sermons grouped loosely and often surprisingly juxtaposed ideas and images around a theme or series of themes, and in this respect were consonant with other forms of black cultural expression.     

Applying GIS tools to define prehistoric megalith transport route corridors: Olmec megalith transport routes: a case study

Applying spatial data management and analytical tools is an accepted method for investigating potential settlement patterns. This study applied Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to the study of Preclassic Olmec megalith transport in Mesoamerica. The GIS slope gradient tool was used to identify potential transport corridors with gradients of less that 1:10, which defines the limit of human effort needed to control these stones as demonstrated in ethnographic and replication experiments by various researchers. These outcomes were also used to refine transportation methods and likely start points that would be used to cross lowlands near to the San Lorenzo centre of Olmec society.     

Does Patronage Still Drive Politics for the Rural Poor in the Developing World? A Comparative Perspective from the Livestock Sector

Is the analysis of patron–client networks still important to the understanding of developing country politics or has it now been overtaken by a focus on ‘social capital’? Drawing on seventeen country studies of the political environment for livestock policy in poor countries, this article concludes that although the nature of patronage has changed significantly, it remains highly relevant to the ways peasant interests are treated. Peasant populations were found either to have no clear connection to their political leaders or to be controlled by political clientage. Furthermore, communities ‘free’ of patron–client ties to the centre generally are not better represented by political associations but instead receive fewer benefits from the state. Nonetheless, patterns of clientage are different from what they were forty years ago. First, patronage chains today often have a global reach, through trade, bilateral donor governments and international NGOs. Second, the resources that fuel political clientage today are less monopolistic and less adequate to the task of purchasing peasant political loyalty. Thus the bonds of patronage are less tight than they were historically. Third, it follows from the preceding point and the greater diversity of patrons operating today that elite conflicts are much more likely to create spaces in which peasant interests can eventually be aggregated into autonomous associations with independent political significance in the national polity. NGOs are playing an important role in opening up this political space although at the moment, they most often act like a new type of patron.     

Considerations of minimum numbers: a response to Horton

This paper discusses a recent evaluation of bone assemblage quantification methods based in large part upon a critique of our own published work. We aim to show that the critique reveals a misunderstanding of our proposals and of the aims of quantification techniques in this field.