Agency and Structure in Militarized Conservation and Armed Mobilization: Evidence from Eastern DRC's Kahuzi-Biega National Park

Ongoing debates in conservation studies stress the dire consequences of ‘fortress’ and ‘militarized’ conservation at violent frontiers. Presenting evidence from Kahuzi-Biega National Park in war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this article shows how the park has become a focal point for armed insurgent groups in the region. Although fortress conservation has contributed to one major incident of violent resistance in recent years, it plays only a marginal role in defining the structures shaping the actions of armed groups. These structures — some of which are reproduced and (occasionally) reshaped by armed groups — include the legacies of poverty and insecurity, the geographical features of the park and the presence of illicit trading networks. This perspective emerges only when we zoom out from the park to place it within the context of the history and broader political economy of the DRC. On the one hand, these dynamics severely constrain the agency of conservation organizations, leaving militarized conservation as the only feasible form of enforcement. This approach at times generates violent outcomes for certain groups of people and produces a resource-rich, isolated terrain which provides a staging ground for broader conflicts to play out. On the other hand, militarized conservation could provide basic law and order at the forest's edge. Ultimately, therefore, militarized conservation plays an ambivalent role vis-à-vis security and stability.     

Neurological caricatures since the 15th century

During the Renaissance, different artists began to draw medical illustrations from various viewpoints. Leonardo da Vinci was among those who sought to portray the emotional as well as the physical qualities of man. Other European artists described caricatural aspects of medical activities. In Northern Europe, Albrecht Durer, Hieronymus Bosch, and Pieter Brueghel were also famous for drawing caricatures. Later English artists, notably William Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson, James Gillray, and the Cruikshanks, satirized life in general and the medical profession in particular. In Spain, Francisco Goya's works became increasingly macabre and satirical following his own mysterious illness and, in France, Honore Daumier used satire and humor to expose medical quackery. Also physicians such as Charles Bell and Jean-Martin Charcot were talented caricaturists. Their own personal artistic styles reflected their approach and gave a different "image" of neurology. Caricatures were popular portraits of developments in science and medicine and were frequently used whenever scientific language was too difficult to disseminate, in particular in the field of neurology.     

Middle Stone Age Bifacial Technology and Pressure Flaking at the MIS 3 Site of Toumboura III,Eastern Senegal

African Archaeological Review - Over the past decade, the increasing wealth of new archaeological data on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in Senegal and Mali has broadened our understanding of...     

White and Coloured Marbles of the Roman Town of Urbs Salvia (Urbisaglia,Macerata, Marche,Italy)

The results of an archaeometric study concerning the coloured stones and 14 white marble sculptures found in the ancient city of Urbs Salvia (Urbisaglia, Macerata) – one of the main Roman archaeological sites of the Marche region (east central Italy) – are presented here. Data show the presence of the most important decorative stones used by the Romans, originating in all of the Mediterranean provinces, from Egypt and North Africa to Asia Minor, Greece, Gallia, Iberia and Italy. Thirty‐one different coloured lithotypes have been identified, including red and green porphyries as well as marmor phrygium and numidicum, namely the four most expensive stones cited in Diocletian's edict. Crustae of marmor chium, taenarium, chalcidicum, scyreticum, lucullaeum and sagarium also feature. Another significant presence is that of coloured stones that are generally rare, even in Rome and Ostia, such as cipollino mandolato (which is very abundant at Urbs Salvia, more than anywhere outside Gallia), broccatello di Spagna, alabastro a pecorella, lapis ophytes, brecciated facies of marmor iassene and cottanello antico. Worthy of mention, too, is the abundant presence of so‐called Roman breccia from Lez (Upper Garonne valley, French Pyrenees), a stone never reported outside Gallia. The 14 marble sculptures analysed come from public and private buildings of the Roman city and are now exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Urbisaglia. Our petrographic and isotopic analyses show that they are made of Lunense (five), Pentelic (three), Parian lychnites (three), Thasian (three) and Proconnesian (one Corinthian capital) marbles. The quality of the coloured stones identified, together with the presence of sculptures made of precious imported white marble varieties, reveals an opulent town and a local patronage wishing to decorate public buildings and rich houses with the most sought‐after marbles of Rome.