Struggles for the Folk. Politics of Culture in Czechoslovak Ethnography, 1940s–1950s

Focusing on politics of culture in early socialist era, this article explores struggles for imposing particular visions of “folk” during the revolutionary zeal characterizing the post-1948 period's development in the discipline of Czechoslovak ethnography. It examines the self-proclaimed turn from previous ethnographic traditions, accused of bourgeois nationalism, to socialist orientation towards studying “true folk”. By tracing struggles around the re-conceptualization of constitutive criteria and boundaries defining the essential object of ethnographic inquiry, the socialist ethnographers readjusted to the changes by focusing on more “progressive” traditions and shifted towards the “working-class” seen as possessing revolutionary spirit and the true authentic essence of the nation. The article argues that the new ethnographic wave ultimately re-inscribed the essentialist categories they virtually combatted by embedding them within the same structural framework rooted in the national order of things.     

Selective woodland exploitation for charcoal production. A detailed analysis of charcoal kiln remains (ca. 1300–1900 AD) from Zoersel (northern Belgium)

A detailed study of charcoal burning activities has been made for the Zoersel forest (Northern Belgium) based on an inventory of charcoal kiln remains, the analyses of wood charcoal and other charred botanical macroremains and radiocarbon dating of 10 of these kilns. Age determination of the youngest kilns was refined by dendrochronological analysis of trees growing on top of these kiln sites. The results show that, although many kilns were found, charcoal was produced in Zoersel only at certain moments during late and post-medieval times suggesting that charcoal burning was not a part of the regular management practice of these forests. The wood used for the production of charcoal mainly consists of taxa of alluvial (alder) forests while the kilns are situated on sites that currently are rather dry, with an oak dominated vegetation. For the older kilns, this contrast could be explained by an important change in local soil conditions. The younger kilns may be related to the conversion of alder woodland to grassland in the lower parts of the domain, with the kilns being constructed in the nearby dryer woodland areas.     

Preferences for Housing, Jobs, and Commuting: A Mixed Logit Analysis

This paper reports stated preferences of Dutch workers for combinations of housing, employment, and commuting. The analysis uses standard logit models as well as mixed logit models. Estimation results offer insights into the relative importance of various aspects of housing, employment, and commuting. Households dislike commuting and the value of commuting time implied by the model is high in comparison to the wage rate. Nevertheless, preferences for some housing attributes are strong enough to make substantially longer commuting acceptable to most workers. Of special interest is the strong preference for living in small-or medium-size cities, especially among two income households. Using a mixed logit model instead of a standard logit model results in a substantial improvement of the loglikelihood, reflecting the importance of heterogeneity among respondents. If no individual characteristics are incorporated into the model, the mixed logit implies substantially lower average monetary evaluations of most attributes. These differences are much smaller if some individual characteristics are incorporated into the model.     

Book reviews

John C. Garnett, Commonsense and the Theory of International Politics. Macmillan, London, 1984, pp. x + 153. $14.95

Moshe M. Czudnowski, Political Elites and Social Change. Northern Illinois University Press, Dekalb, 1983, pp. xi + 255. $US 12.50.

J. Breuilly, Nationalism and the State. Manchester University Press. Manchester, 1982, pp. 421. £25.00.

Dudley Seers, The Political Economy of Nationalism. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1983, pp. xii + 218. $37.50 (cloth), $17.40 (paper).

Otto van den Muijzenberg, Pieter Streefland and Willem Wolters (eds.), Focus on the Region in Asia. Comparative Asian Studies Program, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 1982, pp. 349. No price given.

Frank Moulaert and Patricia W. Salinas (eds.), Regional Analysis and the New International Division of Labour. Kluwer‐Nijhoff, Boston, 1983, pp. 171. $29.30.

T. Duncan and J. Fogarty, Australia and Argentina: On Parallel Paths. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1984, pp. xiv + 172. $22.50

A. Curthoys and J. Merritt (eds), Australia's First Cold War 1945–1953 vol.1 Society, Communism and Culture. George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1984, pp. xiv + 243. $24.95 (cloth), $12.95 (paper).

C. O'Faircheallaigh, Mining and Development. Groom Helm, London and Sydney, 1984, pp. 302. $33.95.

C. O'Faircheallaigh, Host Countries and Multinationals. Canberra Studies in World Affairs No.7. Department of International Relations, Australian National University, Canberra, 1982. pp. 106. $6.00

Anthony Verrier, Through the Looking Glass: British Foreign Policy in the Age of Illusions. Jonathan Cape, London, 1983, pp. x +385. £12.50

Ritchie Ovendale (ed.), The Foreign Policy of the British Labour Governments 1945–1951. Leicester University Press, Leichester, 1984, pp. 198. £15.00.

Bernard Porter, Britain, Europe, the World 1850–1982: Delusions of Grandeur. Allen & Unwin, London, 1983, pp. xv + 178. $27.00

Elim Papadakis, The Green Movement in West Germany. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1984, pp. 230. $31.95.

Yoo See‐Hee (ed.), Political Leadership and Economic Development: Korea and China. The Institute for Sino‐Soviet Studies, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea, 1983, pp. vii + 240. No price given.

Kalyani Bandyopadhyaya, Burma and Indonesia: Comparative Political Economy & Foreign Policy. South Asian Publishers, New Delhi and Madras, 1983, pp. vii + 250. No price given.

Narongchai Akrsanee (ed.), ASEAN‐Japan Relations: Trade and Development. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1983, pp. viii + 191. $US15.00.

Sueo Sekiguchi (ed.), ASEAN‐Japan Relations: Investment, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1983, pp. viii + 274. $US 16.00.

K.K. Nair, ASEAN — Indochina Relations Since 1975: the Politics of Accommodation. The Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, 1984, pp. 239. $10.00

John Drysdale, Singapore: Struggle For Success. George Allen & Unwin Australia, Sydney, 1984. pp. xxiv + 506. No price given.

David Bourchier, Dynamics of Dissent in Indonesia: Sawito and the Phantom Coup. Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, Ithaca, New York, pp. 128. $US9.00.

Tariq Ali, Can Pakistan Survive? Penguin Books, Harmonds‐worth, 1983, pp. 237. $7.95.

Robert C. Marshall, Collective Decision Making in Rural Japan. Michigan Papers in Japanese Studies No. 11, Centre for Japanese Studies, Ann Arbor, 1984, pp. xiii + 178. $US7.00.

Deon Geldenhuys, The Diplomacy of Isolation: South African Foreign Policy Making. Macmillan, Johannesburg, 1984, pp. 295. R 19.95.     

Empowering marginal lifescapes: the heritage of crofters in between the past and the present

There is a rich, but unacknowledged, heritage of rural subalterns, crofters, in Scandinavia. A Swedish-Norwegian interdisciplinary research-network investigated the most prominent category – the remains of crofts. Due to industrialisation, urbanisation and the modern welfare state, the institution of crofting was abolished, and many crofters left for opportunities elsewhere. The welfare state transformed a landscape of living and working people into a one filled with relicts mostly from the nineteenth century. Although numerous and important to local citizens, these sites fall outside the authorised heritage discourse (AHD) in terms of both research and heritage management. This paper takes an environmental justice perspective to challenge the AHD. Three themes are in focus: (1) bringing out the history of a subaltern and marginalised group of people; (2) promoting crofts as heritage of importance to local citizens and demanding complex management due to the various historical narratives and risks; (3) considering the crofting landscapes in relation to the (economisation) framing of heritage in development processes, especially in relation to fair development in present rural communities.