Evaluating consistency in typology and classification

Typological systems are essential for communication between anthropologists as well as for interpretive purposes. For both communication and interpretation, it is important to know that different individuals using the same typology classify artifacts in similar ways, but the consistency with which typologies are used is rarely evaluated or explicitly tested. There are theoretical, practical, and cultural reasons for this failure. Disagreements among archaeologists using the same typology may originate in the typology itself (i.e., imprecise type definitions, confusing structure) or in the classification process, because of observer errors, differences in perception and interpretation, and biases. We review previous attempts to evaluate consistency in typology and classification, and use consensus analysis to examine one well-established typology. Both consensus and disparity are apparent among the typologists in our case study, and this allows us to explore the kinds of forces that shape agreement and diversity in the use of all typological systems. We argue that issues of typological consistency are theoretically and methodologically important. Typological consistency can be explicitly tested, and must be if we hope to use typologies confidently.     

Book reviews

Joseph Camilleri, Chinese Foreign Policy: The Maoist Era and its Aftermath. Martin Robertson and Company, Oxford, 1980, pp.xiv + 311. £25.00.

Gerald Segal (ed.), The China Factor: Peking and the Superpowers. Croom Helm, London, 1982, pp.210 £12.95.

Josef Fullenbach und Eberhard Schulz (eds.), Entspannung am Ende? Chancen und Risiken einer Politik des Modus vivendi (An End to Detente: Risks and Opportunities of a Policy of Modus Vivendi). R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich, 1980, pp.381. No price given.

J.J. Fox, R.G. Garnaut, P.T. McCawley, J.A.C. Mackie (eds.), Indonesia: Australian Perspectives, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra 1980, pp. x + 772. $24.00.

Shirley W.Y. Kuo, Gustav Ranis and John C.H. Fei, The Taiwan Success Story: Rapid Growth with Improved Distribution in the Republic of China. 1952–1979. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1981, pp. xviii + 160. No price given.

William H. Newell (ed.), Japan in Asia 1942–1945. Singapore University Press, Singapore, 1981, pp. vii +123. $S12.00.

Elizabeth E. Graves, The Minangkabau Response to Dutch Colonial Rule in the Nineteenth Century. Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University, 1981, pp. ix+ 147.$7.50.

Talukder Maniruzzaman, The Bangladesh Revolution and its Aftermath. Bangladesh Books International Limited, Dacca, 1980, pp. xvi + 259. $US10.00.

U Maung Maung, From Sangha to Laity: Nationalist Movements of Burma 1920–1940. Australian National University Monographs on South Asia No. 4, South Asian History Section, Australian National University, Canberra, 1980, pp. xvi + 311. $7.50.

Roger C. Thompson, Australian Imperialism in the Pacific: The Expansionist Era 1820–1920. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1980, pp. 289. $25.00.

John Robertson, Australia At War 1939–1945. Heinemann, Melbourne, 1981, pp. 269. $27.50.

Adam Bromke, Harold von Riekhoff, Jacques Levesque and J.F. Fedorowicz, Canada's Response to the Polish Crisis. Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1982, pp. 45. $CAN2.00.

Edward C. Thaden (ed.), Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855–1914. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1981, pp. xiii + 497. $US52.50 (cloth), $US23.00 (paper).

Philip Towle (ed.), Estimating Foreign Military Power. Croom Helm, London, 1982, pp. 276. $13.95.

Ted Robert Gurr (ed.), Handbook of Political Conflict: Theory and Research. The Free Press, New York, 1980, pp. ix + 566. $52.95.

G.W. Jones and H.V. Richter (eds.), Population Mobility and Development: Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Australian National University, Development Studies Centre, Monograph No. 27, 1981, pp. xx + 474. $9.00.

John D. Conroy, Essays on the Development Experience in Papua New Guinea, IASER Monograph 17, Port Moresby, 1982, pp. xi + 147. K6.50.

Jan Jelmert Jorgensen, Uganda. A Modern History. Croom Helm, London, 1981, pp.345. £13.195.

Christian P. Potholm and Richard A. Fredland (eds.), Integration and Disintegration in East Africa. University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland, 1980, pp. x + 219. No price given.

Olga A. Narkiewicz, Marxism and the Reality of Power 1919–1980. Croom Helm, London, 1981, pp. 337. £14.95.

P.T. Bauer, The Third World and Economic Delusion, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1981, pp. x + 293. £15.00.

Andrew P. Rasiulis, On the Utility of War in the Nuclear Age. Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1981, pp. 95. $CAN4.75.

Edward Dommen (ed.), Islands. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1981, pp. 135. No price given.

Wilfred Burchett, The China Cambodia Vietnam Triangle. Zed Press, London, and Vanguard Books, Chicago, 1981, pp. 235. $9.95.

Andrei Amalrik, Will the Soviet Union Survive until 1984? Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1980 (revised from 1970 edition), pp. 224. $5.50.     

A preliminary study of patterns of replication in Scoring linear enamel hypoplasias

In order to investigate replicability in scoring linear enamel hypoplasias 59 anterior teeth were evaluated by three observers. Hypoplasias were identified with low-power microscopy and by the unaided eye. Location on the tooth was determined through caliper and micrometer measurement as well as assignment to tooth ‘thirds’. Hypoplasia size was determined through measurement of episode width and comparison with a cast designed to categorize types of hypoplasia severity. Intra-observer analysis showed consistent scoring of about 65 per cent of individual hypoplasias between rounds, with high replicability in episode location, size and severity using all methods tested. Inter-observer error was similarly low for episode size and location, but consistent scoring of individual hypoplasias between observer pairs ranged between 21 and 39 per cent. It is likely that the most important factor in the low level of replicability is the slight size of the majority of hypoplasias involved. Thus, the results suggest that further work should be directed toward developing the minimum threshold for scoring episodes. Other issues include measures to control ‘drift’ in scoring procedures over time, and procedures to score large cervical hypoplasias in canines, which can appear as multiple episodes with magnification. Among the various scoring methods tested, determination of episode location was highly replicable using all three techniques. Episode width was also highly replicable using the micrometer, but the cast association proved less successful.     

Reinventing Imperata: Revaluing Alang‐Alang Grasslands in Indonesia

This article takes a new look at the economic value and cultural significance of Imperata cylindrica grasslands in Indonesia, drawing particularly on fieldwork in Bali, Lombok and West Timor, where the focus is on the use of alang‐alang grass for roof thatch. The development of tourism has resulted in the commodification of thatch in Bali and Lombok for quality roofing and insulation. With its visual impact reinforcing its traditional cultural significance, the thatched roof has become a tourist artefact, its resulting high price elevating Imperata to the status of temporary cash crop and lucrative export. In West Timor, on the other hand, the grass has become a scarce commodity for roofing traditional houses. While it lacks the high prices of Bali‐Lombok, in Timor the cheapness of thatch in this time of economic crisis has increased its value over alternatives. This article explores the valuing and revaluing of Imperata within various agro‐ecological and economic niches, and provides case studies of some of the highly adaptive and opportunistic responses of local people to land‐use change. While the Bali case represents an extreme example of the grass as commodity, the more significant view of its value is the place it continues to occupy, in a subsistence or contingency sense, in many rural economies.     

White migrant masculinities in Thailand and the paradoxes of Western privilege

This study examines the counter-paradigmatic migration of Westerners into Thailand, focusing on men in transnational intimate relationships in the northeastern region. We explore how the particular spaces in which they settled affected these migrants' capacities to perform what they saw as hegemonic masculinities over time. We find that they initially experienced an increase in status that they were able to convert into assets in romantic relationships, permitting them to position themselves as ‘providers’ and ‘real white men,’ drawing on masculine ideals from their home countries as well as a diffuse neocolonial imaginary. In the long run, however, these identity constructions were subject to internal contradictions and attrition. They were also place-bound, creating both financial and social obstacles to a return home, particularly for those without ties to transnational capital. The ways these patterns differ from those in existing scholarship underline how both the particular spaces of migrant settlement and temporal dimensions are critical for the analysis of migrant masculinities.