Material culture as memory: combs and cremation in early medieval Britain

This paper argues that mortuary practices can be understood as 'techno-logies of remembrance'. The frequent discovery of combs in early medieval cremation burials can be explained by their mnemonic significance in the post-cremation rite. Combs (and other objects used to maintain the body's surface in life) served to articulate the reconstruction of the deceased's personhood in death through strategies of remembering and forgetting. This interpretation suggests new perspectives on the relationships between death, material culture and social memory in early medieval Europe.     

What do the World Bank's Poverty Assessments teach us about Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa?

As part of the World Bank's poverty reduction strategy, Poverty Assessments have been carried out for a number of countries which analyse who the poor are, the causes of poverty and poverty reduction policies. This article reviews what can be learnt from the twenty-five Assessments prepared for countries in sub-Saharan Africa up to 1996. Whilst other factors are acknowledged in identifying the poor, the Assessments over-emphasize income-poverty defined against an inevitably arbitrary poverty line. The Assessments are shown to be weak in addressing the causes of poverty, often ignoring the historical perspective, political context, and international dimensions such as debt and commodity price trends, focusing instead on the lack of growth in recent years as the main cause of poverty. Weak understanding of the causes of poverty undermines the basis for country-specific poverty reduction strategies: policy recommendations are usually an uncritical presentation of the World Bank's three-pronged strategy of growth, investment in human capital and social safety nets. Although the Assessments do not explicitly acknowledge the point, they suggest that the number of poor people in Africa will continue to rise; nor is there any basis for confidence that policies are being put in place to redress the situation.     

L‘ŒUVRE DE PAUL VIDAL DE LA BLACHE: NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES

Note de rédacteurs: À l'occasion du vingt-cinquième Congrès International de Géographie à Paris en 1984, plus d'un demi-siecle depuis que l'ugi se soit rassemblée dans cette ville - le siège de Vidal de la Blache pendant quarante ans de sa vie professionelle - il a paru tout convenable aux rédacteurs du Géographe canadien de faire hommage, quoique modeste, à cet homme illustre, un des plus célèbres géographes de l'histoire de notrc discipline. Plutôt qu'une réflexion générate sur sa pensée ou même une étude critique sur quelques-unes de ses ouvrages - il y en a bien assez déjà - il nous a paru plus désirable de faire une contribution concrète aux études vidaliennes et aux outils de recherche sur l'histoire de la géographie franchise. Nous espérons que les notes et la bibliographie qui suivent aideront à relever l'intérêt et la qualité de la recherche dans ce domaine.