Imagining Palestinian Archaeologies: A Sampler

As three of the articles in this collection demonstrate, one central axis of the Zionist archaeological project is the absolute necessity of diminishing, and ultimately erasing, the importance and existence of aspects of “the archaeological record” that pertain to non-Jewish presences in Palestine, particularly and especially Islamic civilizations and the long-term presence of an indigenous non-Jewish Palestinian population. In this introduction, I focus, however, upon Zionist archaeology’s rearticulation of Jewish identity in nationalist form, an operation that has entailed the elaboration of a consistently simplified, unidimensional, or narrowly channeled interpretive version of Jewish history and Jewish identity in Palestine over time. Through several pointed queries, I suggest alternative interpretations of one element of the Zionist archaeological narrative that in turn could lead to other ways of thinking about the long-term presence of Jewish people in Palestine.     

The Master and Marguerite: Godfrey of Fontaines' praise of The Mirror of Simple Souls*

This article examines the evidence for the intellectual and practical relationship between Marguerite Porete and the secular master of theology Godfrey of Fontaines. It analyses the nature, timing, and importance of Godfrey's response to The Mirror of Simple Souls, and argues that considering the interaction between these two figures has important consequences for our understanding of both of their careers.     

Black Sailors on Red Clydeside: Rioting, Reactionary Trade Unionism and Conflicting Notions of 'Britishness' Following the First World War

The riot at Glasgow harbour in January 1919 was the first ina wave of rioting around Britain's ports in 1919. Violence wastriggered by increased job competition in the merchant navyat the end of the war. Seamen's unions fuelled animosity betweencompeting groups as they sought to protect white British accessto jobs by imposing a ‘colour’ bar on sailors fromracialized ethnic minorities. Many of the seamen targeted inthis way were British colonial subjects from Africa and theCaribbean. Black colonial sailors in Glasgow resisted attacksby white rioters and asserted their rights to employment asBritish subjects. The riot was connected to wider industrialunrest on Clydeside as leaders of the union campaign for a reducedworking week (to maintain full employment following demobilization)brought unskilled labour, including merchant seamen, into ageneral strike alongside skilled workers. Strike leaders, includingShinwell and Gallacher, linked the 40-hours movement to theseamen's unions’ protests against overseas labour by stressingthe common interests of both in preserving the job prospectsof (white) labour. The campaigns proved unsuccessful in theface of government fears over the revolutionary potential ofthe general strike and as the merchant shipping industry slidin to depression.     

Changing Concepts of Embodiment and Illness among the Western Arrernte at Hermannsburg Mission

This paper argues that the interaction between Lutheran missionaries and Arrernte people at Hermannsburg mission was shaped by different body practices and discourses. Notions of sickness, causation and healing were central to the ideas of the body. Both missionaries and Arrernte paid attention to these somatic states in their social interactions. Lutherans attempted to reinforce an individualistic notion of the body, while Arrernte people continued to believe in the fundamental interconnectedness of the person with ancestors and kin. In the new social environment of the missions, the indigenous socio-somatic view of a person remained flexible enough to accommodate aspects of Christian ontology and ritual.