Relict Soils and Early Arable Land Management in Lofoten, Norway

Relict arable soils dating fromc.AD700 provide an opportunity to identify early arable land management practices in the agriculturally marginal landscapes of the Lofoten archipelago, northern Norway. Synthesis of field survey and soil thin section micromorphology supported by image analysis suggests that there was deliberate management of erodible sandy soils in sloping locations to create small areas of cultivation terrace, with a range of materials used as soil amendments to stabilize the accumulated soil and enhance fertility. Small areas of sandy soils in more gently sloping locations were also cultivated, again with a range of materials used as amendments and which contributed to a significant increase in soil thickness. The last phase of cultivation commenced during the late 1800s and involved the reclamation of wetter, peaty soils by spade. These patterns of arable land management are repeated in different parts of Lofoten and indicate that despite the climatic and economic marginality of arable activity in Lofoten, land management practices were developed and applied to permit barley production from small areas.     

Book reviews

CHINA

JANE KATE LEONARD. Controlling from Afar, The Daoguang Emperor's Management of the Grand Canal Crisis, 1824–1826. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, 1996. 331 pp. Maps, figures, notes, reference list, index. US$50.00, hardcover.

KAM LOUIE and LOUISE EDWARDS, editors and translators. Censored by Confucius: ghost Stories by Yuan Mei. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996. xxxv, 223 pp. List of stories by theme, illustrations, preface, introduction. US$67.95, hardcover; US$24.95, paper.

KARMA LEKSHE TSOMO. Sisters in Solitude: two Traditions of Buddhist Monastic Ethics for Women. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. xii, 198 pp. US$19.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

MARK T. BERGER and DOUGLAS A. BORER, editors. The Rise of East Asia: critical Visions of the Pacific Century. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. xii, 308 pp. Introduction, editors’ preface and acknowledgments, figures, tables, index. US$25.99, UK£15.99, paper.

SOUTH ASIA

LISE McKEAN. Divine Enterprise: gurus and the Indian Nationalist Movement. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1996. xviii, 361 pp. Index, plates, bibliography. US$21.99, paper.

STANLEY J. TAMBIAH. Leveling Crowds: ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia. Berkeley: California University Press, 1996. x, 395 pp. Index, plates, maps, bibliography. US$20.00, paper.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

NGUYEN VAN CHINH. Social Change in Rural Vietnam: children's Work and Seasonal Migration. Canberra: Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University, 1997. 65 pp. A$8.00, paper.

JOHN GILLESPIE, editor. Commercial Legal Developments in Vietnam: Vietnamese and Foreign Commentaries . Singapore: Butterworths Asia, 1997. A$81.25, hardcover.

MARGARET LEIDELMEIJER. Van Suikermolen tot Grooibedrijf: technische Verniewing in de Java‐Suikerindustrie in de Negentiende Eeuw . [From sugar mill to factory: technical innovation in Java's sugar industry during the nineteendi century]. Amsterdam: Neder‐lands Economisch‐Historisch Archief, 1997. 388 pp. Tables, graphs, photographs. Dfl.52.50, paper.

NIELS MULDER. Inside Philippine Society . Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1997. No price given.

FAYDUMAGAT. Itneg (Tinggian) Justice & Conflict Resolution. Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1996. No price given.

RAUL PERTIERRA. Explorations in Social Theory and Philippines Ethnography. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1997. vii, 262 pp. Foreword by Clive Kessler. Introduction, photographs. No price given, paper.

DAVID M. E. ROSKIES, translator and editor. Black Clouds over the Isle of Gods and Other Modern Indonesian Short Stories . Armonk, New York, London, England: M. E. Sharp, 1997. xxiii, 224 pp. Introduction, notes and comments, suggested readings, glossary, index. US$62.95, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.     

Political reconciliation in Timor Leste,Solomon Islands and Bougainville: the dark side of hybridity

In recent years, the study and practice of political reconciliation has experienced a turn to hybridity. This turn has been defined by the increased rate at which liberal international and local peacebuilding practices, and their underlying ideas, have become merged, integrated or co-located in time and space. While hybrid approaches to reconciliation have been praised as an effective means of engaging local populations in peacebuilding operations, little attention has been paid to examining whether or not they also bring unintended negative consequences. Drawing on the cases of Timor Leste, Solomon Islands and Bougainville, this article examines the potentially dark side of hybridity. It demonstrates that, in each of these cases, hybrid approaches to political reconciliation have brought both positive and negative consequences. On the positive side of the equation, hybridity has seen imported international approaches to reconciliation adapted to meet local demands and ensure resonance with local populations. On the negative side, however, the misappropriation and instrumentalisation of local practices within hybrid approaches has served to damage their legitimacy and to jeopardise their contributions to reconciliation. The article thus concludes that the existence and extent of this dark side necessitates a re-evaluation of how hybrid approaches to political reconciliation are planned and implemented.     

Experimental Kiln Firings at Barton-on-Humber,S. Humberside 1971

TECHNIQUES ASSOCIATED with the firing of replica medieval open-topped, doublefilued, and multi-flued updraught kilns have been investigated and are reported here. Particular interest has been taken in the method of forming a cover for the loaded kiln oven, and various solutions are discussed. The experimental open-topped kilns were capped rather than built with a permanent dome.     

Action research and reducing the vulnerability of peri‐urban agriculture: a case study from the Montreal Region

Important pressures still increase the vulnerability of peri‐urban farming despite initiatives to protect agricultural land and activities since the mid‐1960s in several jurisdictions in the USA and Canada. Often, farmland is still removed from agricultural reserves for the ‘good of society’ (for example, creating industrial parks). In 2008, an action research project was initiated to attempt to reduce agricultural vulnerability in several peri‐urban and rural areas near Montreal by emphasising the importance of the appropriation of the value of these farmlands by non‐farm citizens and actors. The action research roles involved accompanying the farmers, facilitating meetings, mobilising non‐farm actors, and informing farmers of possibilities when asked to do so. In this article, one specific project is analysed in Senneville (in the west of Montreal Island). While the project was initiated by the farmers to guarantee their long‐term future, they also sought to involve other, mostly non‐agricultural, actors. In a colloquium, a collective vision for the project was constructed, integrating other functions of farmland such as conservation and leisure activities. Many meetings were organised over a three‐year period and formal presentations were made to the municipality. The project is ongoing, including new farm operations and the reinforcement of local markets for marketing mainly organic produce. The area is now an integral part of an emerging ‘green belt’ of the Montreal agglomeration and is already part of a ‘green coalition’ of both urban and peri‐urban actors (farmers and non‐farmers), and an emerging food system movement which represents a more holistic approach to food production.     

The integration of action research and traditional field research to provide sustainable solutions to maintaining periurban agriculture

Maintaining periurban agriculture and prime periurban farmland has become a leitmotiv in land use planning and management around many cities in North America and Western Europe since the 1960s. This article focuses on the changing perspectives associated with these planning and management initiatives as well as changing research approaches. Initially, periurban farmland was often seen by planners as a land reserve for urban development. Subsequently, concern was expressed about maintaining the prime agricultural land resource via farmland protection programmes, especially in North America in the 1960s and 1970s. Early research into periurban agriculture involved statistical analyses of farmland losses and changing agricultural production systems, and farmer interviews to identify pressures and opportunities facing periurban agriculture. Gradually, it became clear that maintaining farmland resources and farm activities required more than just ‘protecting’ them from urbanisation. Two types of initiatives developed: (1) the construction of agricultural development plans to ensure sustainable farm development, e.g. in Quebec since 2008, in France since the mid‐1970s and more recently in Wallonia (Belgium) in 2014; and (2) a change in the research approach to support periurban agricultural sustainability. While still using interviews with farmers and other actors, more important is the emergence of action research to provide support to farmers, their neighbours, elected officials and professionals in developing agricultural development plans, with the aim of achieving a better integration of periurban agriculture into the regional urban system. This paper develops this reasoning using research in Canada, France, and principally Belgium to illustrate the argument.     

Analysis of suspected human coprolites from Terra Amata, Nice, France

Dietary analyses were conducted on 400,000 yr old specimens recovered during the excavation of the Terra Amata Palaeolithic site in Nice, France and initially identified as coprolites. The results of our analyses demonstrate that the identification of these specimens as coprolites is difficult to confirm due to the age of the samples. Consequently, they provide no new data pertaining to the suspected dietary habits of prehistoric man.