French military officers and the mapping of West Africa: the case of Captain Brosselard-Faidherbe

Through the study of projects conceived to shape colonial space, this article aims to reconsider the motives and means of French colonial expansion in West Africa in the 1880s and 1890s. The Plan Faidherbe, designed by the Governor of Senegal in the 1860s, outlined a plan for eastward development, including a road and rail link between the Senegal and the Niger Rivers (and beyond, between Algeria and Sudan). The implementation of these routes of penetration called for a number of military-led topographic missions. The study of these missions and of the maps that were produced at the time reveal how such projects and their implementation were mediated by both cartographic and field practices. The case of Captain Henry Brosselard (1855-93), General Faidherbe’s son-in-law, is an interesting example because of the diversity of the missions he led and the extent of territory which he traversed and mapped. This case also shows how, in the course of a career, an officer could assume several different functions and come to conceive the process of building colonial territory from different perspectives. This paper questions a common view of the military as having a purely strategic vision of space as a field of conquest, a view which reserves a more development-oriented outlook for civil administrators and the business community. Indeed, Brosselard’s varied career somewhat blurs the conventional divide between civilians and soldiers, requiring us to reconsider accepted ways of categorising colonial actors.     

Negotiating Nuclear Control: The Zangger Committee and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group in the 1970s

ABSTRACT

In the 1970s, the Zangger Committee and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group published guidelines on nuclear trade that drew a line between peaceful and dangerous nuclear technology, defining what was sensitive enough to require safeguarding and what was not. Given the ambivalence of nuclear technology, how was that line drawn? Historically, the understanding of whether a nuclear item is benign, sensitive, or especially sensitive has changed in response to the shifting balance between political, commercial and non-proliferation interests. The 1970s, however, merit special attention; they saw an unprecedented codification of nuclear sensitivity in the form of the published trigger lists that are still used today. In the absence of clear technical criteria, what interests and perceptions determined the sensitivity of specific nuclear items by the nuclear suppliers in the 1970s? Archival sources provide a unique insight into how the trigger lists and guidelines were negotiated and with what aims and considerations. This paper finds that nuclear sensitivity was driven by commercial interests in ensuring a level, and open commercial playing field, political interests in securing co-operation and practical interests in implementation and reputation, all of which outweighed technical considerations of how nuclear technology exports might assist a nuclear weapons programme.     

Exploring Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Habitat Collection via Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry and its Implications for Ritual and Mound Construction at Crystal River and Roberts Island,Florida

Research at Crystal River and Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex, on the western coast of Florida, USA, offers a quantitative assessment of the temporality of shell deposit construction, Native subsistence practices, and mobility patterns through stable oxygen isotope data from eastern oyster (C. virginica). The δ¹⁸O_water values of oysters vary synchronously with salinity, assuming relatively constant δ¹⁸O_water/salinity gradients since the time of occupation, allowing for an examination of shifts in oyster habitat exploitation over time. Our previous (Thompson et al. 2015) study indicated that midden accumulation occurred throughout the year, while oysters from mound deposits were collected in colder months. New data indicate that in addition to differential season of collection, habitat exploitation also varied. During early occupation at the site, oysters were collected primarily from lower saline habitats, while in later phases oysters were obtained from higher salinity waters; we relate this to a lower sea level and concomitant settlement shift seaward. Additionally, oyster from later mound contexts was collected from higher saline habitats relative to those in midden contexts; Native people may have targeted specific bioherms at certain times for the year for feasting-related mound construction.     

Investigating experimental knapping damage on an antler hammer: a pilot-study using high-resolution imaging and analytical techniques

Organic (bone, antler, wood) knapping tools were undoubtedly a component of early human tool kits since the Lower Palaeolithic. Previous studies have identified pitting and the occasional presence of embedded flint flakes as important features for recognizing archaeological bone and antler percussors. However, no systematic protocol of analysis has been suggested for the study of this rare archaeological material. Here we present qualitative and quantitative results of a preliminary analysis of an experimental knapping hammer, using a novel combination of microscopy (focus variation optical microscope and scanning electron microscope), micro-CT scanning and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. These imaging and analytical techniques are used to characterize use-damage from the manufacture of handaxes. This paper highlights the strengths and weakness of each technique. Use-wear on the working area included attritional bone loss, micro-striations and compaction of the outer layer of the antler matrix from repeated hitting of the beam against the sharp edge of the handaxe during knapping. Embedded flint flakes were also identified in the pits and grooves. This combination of high-resolution imaging techniques is applicable to fragile archaeological specimens, including those encrusted by sediment or encased in matrix.     

Solidarity Economy for Development and Women's Emancipation: Lessons from Bolivia

This article critically assesses the relationship between the solidarity economy (SE) and women's emancipation through a case study of SE groups in El Alto, Bolivia. It highlights the fact that the failure to harness the potential of SE as a development alternative and as a means for the emancipation of women can partly be attributed to the neglect of gender‐related issues in the study of SE. Following an examination of SE in the Bolivian context of class and ethnicity, the article deepens the analysis by focusing on gender. It shows that the significant participation of women in SE is a response to the double imperative imposed by the current processes of monetization of production and home‐based reproduction. Compared with their insertion into the market individually, participation in SE allows women to increase and smooth their income. In general, however, their income remains lower than that of men and also below the poverty line. This reflects a continuing gender asymmetry and points to the limitations to what solidarity among poor women can achieve. The article concludes with an assessment of the possibilities as well as the difficulties inherent in a new pathway to women's emancipation through SE, a pathway which would necessitate a reorganization of the social sphere of reproduction.     

Des Professionnels de la Chaire dans la France de L’?ge Classique

Starting in the 1630s, in French towns, the rise of sermons gave an increasing group of clerics the possibility to become preachers. This article analyses this process of professionalization. First, it takes a look at a number of long - and sometimes quite profitable - careers of men as preachers. Second, it analyzes the know-how that was then developed for to make and recite the sermon. Finally, the article focuses on the transformations brought about by the increasing importance of written communication during the 18(th) century.     

Exploring the season of mound building through oxygen isotope geochemistry at the Garden Patch site,Gulf Coast Florida,USA

ABSTRACT

The American Southeast saw the development of large ceremonial village centers, the coalescence of households, and monumental architecture integrated into village layout during the Middle Woodland period (ca. AD 1–600). These shifts toward more sedentary lifeways occurred independently of, and prior to, the domestication of plants across the Southeast. This paper examines the seasonality of monumental construction at the Garden Patch site located on the central Gulf Coast of Florida. This site contains evidence for rapid mound construction that followed a predetermined site plan. Here, we present oxygen isotope analyses of archaeological mollusk shells (Crassostrea virginica) to evaluate the seasonality and periodicity of monument construction. We conclude that mound construction occurred during the cooler months of the year. Ultimately, this contributes to an anthropological understanding of the development of these early ceremonial centers in the Southeast.