Polish republicanism of the Four Year Seym at a doctrinal crossroads

The aim of the article is to analyse the most intellectually challenging conceptions of Polish political thought at the time of the Four Year Seym, specifically those of Stanis?aw Staszic and Hugo Ko???taj, when viewed from the perspective of the dilemmas of the republicanism of the period. At its heart, it places the issue so provocatively put forward by Rousseau’s Considérations sur le gouvernement de Pologne, that of reforming a previously noble republic against the monarchical tendencies that prevailed in Europe. The analysis shows that, indeed, in both reformers’ advocacy for the hereditary throne, having no other justification but geopolitical reasons, and especially in some Ko???taj’s later proposals, one can find evidence of their doctrinal compromises. On the other hand, their argumentations revealed an extraordinarily modern approach that could pave the way for new promising prospects of Polish republicanism. Its value lay mainly in the fact that they combined the ideals of more passionate civic (and military) patriotism with those of an economically free and active society. At any rate, all their endeavours can confirm, especially when juxtaposed with those of their political adversaries, that that tradition was approaching perhaps one of its most challenging turning points.     

Building the City of Women: creating a site of feminist resistance in a northern Colombian conflict zone

Against all odds, in uncertain and violent times, Colombian women are mobilising for peace. They do so even when they face ongoing violence and personal threats from a variety of armed actors. Despite a well-established tradition of studying women’s social movements in times of conflict, there is a lacuna when it comes to analysing feminism as a mobilisation strategy. This article uses the case study of the League of Displaced Women, the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas (LMD) to illustrate the utility of Zulver’s High Risk Feminism framework to explain how and why women chose to build the City of Women, despite the real and threatened danger that this implied. The article narrates the history of the LMD, from its foundations in a geography of marginality to its creation of a space of resistance for displaced women and their families. In all, this articles demonstrates how feminist resistance has not only become a way of life for the women of the LMD, but also a strategy for creating pockets of safe places in the midst of a conflict zone.     

Book reviews

Nationalisms and Sexualities. A. Parker, M. Russo, D. Sommer & P. Yaeger (Eds), 1992. New York, Routledge. 384 pp., £40.00 hardback, £12.99 paperback. ISBN 0–415–90432–3 hardback, 0–415–90433–1 paperback.

Sexuality and Space. B. Colomina (Ed.), 1992. New York, Princeton Papers on Architecture, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press. 389 pp., $14.95 paperback. ISBN 1–878271–08–3.

Racialized Boundaries: race, nation, gender, colour and class and the anti‐racist struggle. F. Anthias & N. Yuval‐Davis, 1992. London, Routledge. 226 pp., £40.00 hardback. ISBN 0–415–01813–7.

Refusing Holy Orders: women and fundamentalism in Britain. G. Sahgal & N. Yuval‐Davis (Eds), 1992. London, Virago. 244 pp., £8.99 paperback. ISBN 1–85381–219–6.

Different Places, Different Voices: gender and development in Africa, Asia and Latin America. J. H. Momsen & V. Kinnaird (Eds), 1993. London, Routledge. 322 pp., £40.00 hardback, £12.99 paperback. ISBN 0–415–07538–6 hardback, 0–415–07563–7 paperback.

Gender, Development and Identity: an Ethiopian study. H. Pankhurst, 1992. London, Zed Books. 216 pp., £29.95/549.95 hardback, £12.95/$19.95 paperback. ISBN 1–85649–157–9 hardback, 1–85649–158–7 paperback.

‘Viva’: women and popular protest in Latin America. S.R. Radcliffe & S. Westwood (Eds), 1993. London, Routledge. 270 pp., £40.00 hardback, £12.99 paperback. ISBN 0–415–07312‐X hardback, 0–415–07313–8 paperback.

Seeking Common Ground: multidisciplinary studies of immigrant women in the United States. D. Gabaccia (Ed.), 1992. Westport, CT, Praeger. 272 pp., $55 hardback, $17.95 paperback. ISBN 0–313–27483–5 hardback, 0–275–94387–9 paperback.

The Women Outside: meanings and myths of homelessness. S. Golden, 1992. Berkeley, CA, University of California Press. 319 pp., $25.00 hardback. ISBN 0–520–07158–1.

The Transformation of Intimacy: sexuality, love and eroticism in modern societies. A. Giddens, 1992. Cambridge, Polity Press. 212 pp., £19.50 hardback. ISBN 0–7456–1012–9.

Situating the Self: gender, community and postmodernism in contemporary ethics. S. Benhabib, 1992. Cambridge, Polity Press. 266 pp., £45.00 hardback, £11.98 paperback. ISBN 0–7456–0998–8 hardback, 0–7456–1059–5 paperback.

Made from this Earth: American women and nature. Vera Norwood, 1993. Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Press. 368 pp., $37.50 hardback, $17.95 paperback. ISBN 0–8070–2062–8 hardback.     

The Making(s) of an Alternative Urban Policy: What Happens When Free Fares Come to Town?

While many urban policies and practices claim to offer an “alternative” to the “mainstream” of urban entrepreneurialism, they remain under-theorised and prone to alignment with entrepreneurial agendas. In this paper I examine fare-free public transport (FFPT) as a salient example of an alternative urban policy. Looking at Aubagne (France) and Tallinn (Estonia), I explore what happens when an alternative policy “comes to town”. I detect how FFPT enters local urban regimes, and study the (non-)participation of public transport passengers and workers in the decision-making process about whether and how to abolish public transport fares. My analysis reveals that albeit alternative policies such as FFPT seem to oppose entrepreneurialism, they may hinge on urban regimes that span across institutions, leave the local configurations of power unchallenged, and strenghten local elites. The adaptability of alternatives to diverse political and intellectual positions explains their resilience. Consequently, their radical character cannot be taken for granted and remains an object of political struggle.     

Monks on the move? An assessment of mobility at the medieval Nubian monastery of Ghazali,Sudan (ca. 680–1,275 CE)

The location of Ghazali monastery away from the Nile valley within the relatively isolated environs of the Bayuda desert presents a landscape suggestive of mobility toward the monastery by those who chose to reside there as monks. To assess this potentiality, a sample of 37 individuals from the monastic cemetery (Cemetery 2) were analysed for ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O to assess residency during dental enamel formation. The data generated bring into question the nature of mobility to Ghazali monastery, particularly in regard to the potential movement of people from the Nile valley, adjacent desertic landscapes, and further afield.     

From ‘Breathless Catalogue’ to ‘Beyond Text’: A Hundred Years of Children’s Folklore Collecting

This lecture draws attention to research into children’s folklore in Britain from the last century, stressing its potential to inform understandings of contemporary childhoods, particularly children’s play. The emphasis is on archival sources, such as the collections of Norman Douglas, James Ritchie, and Iona and Peter Opie. The changing nature of contemporary evidence, such as children’s self-produced films of their play shared on YouTube, is also illustrated, and the importance of a multimodal approach stressed. The author compares the historical sources with the collectors’ published work, and highlights the need for rigour in appraising these differing forms of evidence.