The bi‐national idea in Israel/Palestine: past and present

Abstract. This article reviews four different advocacies of bi‐nationalism in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Despite the differences in their context, content and style, let alone in motivations and implications, the four advocacies – the ‘old school’ and the ‘new school’ of Jewish bi‐nationalism, contemporary Palestinian bi‐nationalism, and bi‐nationalist advocacy that comes from outside observers – present certain similarities which reduce their chances of becoming a mainstream option: (a) in all cases bi‐nationalism is not the most desirable option; (b) they all gained momentum on both sides in periods of instability – due to transformations in the power relations between them or when the conflict reaches a point where the violence seems to become unbearable; (c) all these bi‐nationalisms present a rather uneasy mixture of moralistic arguments and pragmatic ones; (d) in all cases the people who embrace the bi‐national model are intellectuals. This gives their recommendations a touch of ‘ivory tower’ overrationalisation, further reducing thier public appeal.     

Introduction to Relations in Multicultural Fiji: The Dynamics of Articulations,Transformations and Positionings

Focussing on three historically constituted domains of relations of great importance to all inhabitants of the Fiji Islands, this essay draws attention to cultural modalities and political strategies implicated in shaping these. By way of introduction to six papers which together with this preface and an epilogue are presented in the form of a collection, we distinguish three domains of relations: those between past and present; those between people and land; and (not least) those between people. We argue that social actors in Fiji reflect on and deal with such relations in all of which they are simultaneously embodied, i.e. they articulate, transform and position these relations with a view to shaping their identity and place in today's multicultural (and indeed intercultural) Fiji. We conclude that there operates a complex of dialectical processes: while social actors work on relations that exert influence on them, there is also a dynamic in play between articulations, transformations and positionings of relations.     

Microelectrode investigations of the visual system at the Department Of Clinical Neurophysiology, Freiburg i.Br.: a historical account of the first 10 years, 1951-1960

The history of the first ten years of neurophysiological science (1951-1960) at the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology in Freiburg i.Br. (Germany) is described by some of the participants. We describe the concepts of Richard Jung for the development of an experimental neurophysiology, the technical conditions which helped to realize these ideas, and the integration of the newly emerging German neurophysiological science into the international community, through the large number of foreign visitors. A short account is given of the young scientists working at the Freiburg laboratory during this period, their main lines of research, as well as the results of their studies.