Historical Archaeology of France in the New World

The author introduces this special issue of the journal that is focused on the historical archaeology of French colonial and post-colonial settlements in the New World. Case studies from widely separated regions reveal both the similarities and differences that existed in French colonial and descendant communities.     

Archaeology and the Forensic Investigation of Recent Mass Graves: Ethical Issues for a New Practice of Archaeology

The close of World War II marked the advent of international human rights legislation and the prosecution of individuals for human rights crimes, by both nation states and international tribunals. The prosecution at such trials often presents evidence from forensically excavated mass graves. Forensic archaeology is a new and expanding field and as such has yet to establish a uniform code of ethics, standard operating procedures, and transparency. In addition, there are complex and conflicting agendas of mass grave excavation. Mass grave investigation in Iraq since the 2003 American-led invasion is presented as a case in point.

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Résumé  La fin de la seconde guerre mondiale a marqué l’avènement international de la poursuite judiciaire des individus ayant commis des crimes de guerre et d’une législation des droits de l’homme à la fois de la part des nations et des tribunaux internationaux. La poursuite judiciaire engagée à souvent fourni la preuve de la présence, par excavation, de tombes de masse. L’archéologie des expertises médico-légales est devenue un champ nouveau en pleine expansion, et, en tant que tel, a établi un code éthique généralisé, ainsi que des procédures standard et de transparence. De plus, il existe des agendas complexes et conflictuels de tombes de masse découvertes par excavation. Ceci s’applique à l’Irak depuis 2003 où l’invasion menée par les. américains est sujette à enquête.

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Resumen  El fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial marcó la aparición de una legislación internacional de derechos humanos y los juicios contra los acusados de crímenes contra los derechos humanos, tanto por parte de los estados nacionales como los tribunales internacionales. En los procesos de estos juicios a menudo se presentaban pruebas de la existencia de fosas comunes excavadas por forenses. La arqueología forense es una nueva disciplina en crecimiento y por ello, aún no ha establecido un código ético uniforme, procesos de funcionamiento estándar ni transparencia. Asimismo, hay programas complejos y conflictivos de excavación en fosa comunes. La investigación de fosas comunes en Irak desde la invasión del 2003 encabezada por EE.UU. se presenta como un caso paradigmático.

     

WITH OR AGAINST HAYDEN WHITE? REFLECTIONS ON THEORY OF HISTORY AND SUBJECT FORMATION

This article reflects on Hayden White's understanding of the subject and explores how best to move forward discussions in theory of history after his arguments about narrativity. To do so, I reconsider his arguments in light of more recent feminist and queer theorizations. Through a reconstruction of the current international new wave of feminism and LGBTQ+ activism as a rich and complex social movement that involves a narration of its own (practical) past, I will recontextualize and revaluate White's insight from the perspective of Judith Butler's theory of subject formation. The argument will unfold in four parts. First, I will recall White's ironic and existential stance on language and narrativity in the representation of reality and in relation to social beliefs. Second, I will again raise the question of the value of narrativity, as framed by White, in the context of the publication of a recent feminist manifesto. It is here that another issue will emerge as crucial: the relationship between the limits of linguistic self-consciousness and the question of the subject. In the third part, my argument will take a partial turn “against White” and toward Butler's subject formation theory. My claim will be that there is a residue of the belief in the sovereign individual in White's insistence on self-consciousness. However, I will also show that his suspicion regarding the psychological impulse toward narrative closure can be re-elaborated as the challenge Butler is facing with their theory of subject formation: that of critically resisting the belief in our being coherent and self-sufficient individuals. In the fourth part, I will present Butler's refiguration of the thesis of the subject's opacity in terms of the primary relationality that binds human beings to one another, and I will offer a new understanding of the individual, norms, agency, infancy, and ethics. Finally, I will conclude that we are bodies in history and that theory of history can find a promising line of research through this conception of the subject, a conception that reframes how we understand the intimate links between political consciousness, historicity, and embodiment. I also claim that this line of research constitutes an ethics for our historical undoing.     

Palynology of glacial sediments from the Guandacol Formation (Middle Carboniferous) in the Cerro Bola area,Paganzo Basin,Argentina

The palynoflora of surface samples of glacial deposits from the Guandacol Formation in the Cerro Bola area of the Argentinian Paganzo Basin is documented. The existence of glacial related diamictites in this area has been previously ignored. The fossiliferous levels are located in section B of the formation, which corresponds to the earlier stages of deglaciation. The assemblage contains abundant monosaccate pollen grains whose global incoming is not older than early Namurian (Middle Carboniferous). Many species of this palynoflora are present in equivalent stratigraphic sequences of Argentina and can be referred to Sub-biozone A of the Raistrickia densa-Convolutispora muriornata Biozone (Namurian-Stephanian). New species described here are Cyclogranisporites rinconadensis and Tricidarisporites gutii.