The Origin of Kinship in Oceania: Lewis Henry Morgan and Lorimer Fison

ABSTRACT This article investigates the importance of Oceania in the early study of kinship. It examines the tensions between evidence and analysis from the Pacific Islands in the development of Lewis Henry Morgan's theory of evolving kinship forms. While other sources from the Pacific islands are investigated it is focused particularly on the correspondence between Morgan and Lorimer Fison, Methodist missionary and key figure in the spread of kinship schedules and anthropological theories throughout Oceania in the 1870s. The empirical data gathered by Fison, challenged Morgan's schema and questioned the orthodox evolutionist hierarchy in Asia and the Pacific. Also investigated is the British response to this unruly evidence.     

Book reviews

The Geography of Europe's Futures. Ian Masser, Ove Sviden and Michael Wegener, London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 225 pp., £12.99, ISBN 1 85293 231/2 7/5.

Cities and Regions in the New Europe. Mick Dunford and Grigoris Kafkalas (Eds), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 339 pp., £42.00, ISBN: 1 85293 221 X.

Regional Development and Contemporary Industrial Response: Extending Flexible Specialisation. Huib Ernste and Verena Meier (Eds), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 256 pp., £35.00, ISBN: 1 85293 214 7.

Understanding Information: Business, Technology and Geography. K. Robins (Ed.), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 207 pp., £37.50, ISBN: 1 85293 109 4.

Humanising the City? Social Contexts of Urban life at the Turn of the Millennium. Anthony P. Cohen and Katsuyoshi Fukui (Eds), Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 228 pp., £29.50 hb., ISBN 0 7486 0388 3.     

Actualites

Nora, P., ed., Les Lieux de memoire (Gallimard, 1984–1993), 7 vols; last published, Les France, 3. De l'archive à l'emblème, 1034pp., ISBN 2 07 072304 6     

Have you heard the one about the disappearing ice? Recasting Arctic geopolitics

This article unpacks the discourse of Arctic geopolitics evident in the space-making practices of a wide variety of actors and institutions, offering an exploration of the ways in which the Arctic is emerging as a space of and for geopolitics. Tracing the well-aired story of Arctic geopolitics through neo-realist readings of climate change, the melting of polar ice, increasing competition for resources and so on, two kinds of spatial ordering are identified as being entwined in orthodox Arctic geopolitics. The first has to do with Arctic space as such, and its open, indeterminate nature in particular. The perceived openness of Arctic space enables it to become a space of masculinist fantasy and adventure, which is mirrored in contemporary accounts of Arctic geopolitics. It is suggested that this is entwined with and nourishes the second ordering of Arctic space in terms of state-building and international relations. The working out of these spatial orderings in recent interventions in Arctic geopolitics is explored via three examples (two Arctic exhibitions in London, the Russian Polar expedition of 2007 and ’sovereignty patrols’ by Canadian Rangers). In conclusion, the article presents avenues for further critical research on Arctic geopolitics that emphasizes embodiment, the resolutely (trans)local, and a commitment to the everyday.     

Crossing the Line: The Early Expression of Pattern in Middle Stone Age Africa

This paper provides a synthesis of the currently known evidence for cross-hatch patterning on stone, ochre and ostrich eggshell from Middle Stone Age Africa, between 100,000 and 60,000?BP. The significance of the incised artefacts is that they are used as proxies for an early capacity for symbolic thought, and potentially the emergence of language to convey their meaning. Beyond their significance in theoretical debates, these marked objects demonstrate conjunctions in the expression of design, exhibiting vertical, horizontal and oblique incised or engraved lines, patterns that have been classified as cross-hatching. Yet very little attention has been paid to the patterns themselves. This paper examines the archaeological evidence and looks at why these patterns might be important from a perceptual perspective. Taking a neurological approach, it considers current knowledge of neural, and especially visual, plasticity and the interconnectedness of brain areas relating to vision, learning, memory and emotion.     

Estonian family farms in transition: a study of intangible assets and gender issues in generational succession

This paper, based on interviews, highlights intangible assets in the intergenerational transfer of farms in two Estonian municipalities from a long-term and gender perspective. The study stretches from the interwar period in the twentieth century up to the present. It has been shown that emotional bonds to the land are generally strong in Estonia. This paper aims to highlight how such bonds and feelings may influence decisions on generational succession. The results of the study indicate that family farming and land transfer have had a significant and persistent role in Estonian society, even during the Soviet period under its collectivised system of agriculture. Transfers of intangible assets were important during Soviet rule, for example, the transfer of knowledge about the pre-Soviet property and the value and importance of the farmhouse. Today, family farming is gradually declining in importance, but older traditions of farm and farmhouse transfer can still be found, such as early decisions on who is to be the successor. This is evident among active farmers but also among former farmers with strong emotional bonds to the land. Traditional gender roles tend towards men’s knowledge still generally being more highly valued in the decision about who is to be the successor to the family land.