Dystopian space in colonial representations and interventions: Sierra Leone as 'the white man's grave'

This paper explores the power of dystopian imaginations. It does so by examining the form and function of dystopias in colonial contexts, both in general and through one particularly salient and significant colonial dystopia, which was known widely in imperial England as 'the white man's grave'. A detailed analysis of the form and function of dystopian accounts of Sierra Leone, with particular attention to Richard Burton's negative appraisal of the colony, illuminates a particular form of geographical colonial discourse, and clarifies some of the power relations more generally associated with dystopian representations and interventions.     

Party system fragmentation,social cleavages,and social media: New Zealand’s 2017 election campaign on Facebook

ABSTRACT

Explorations of the predictive relationship between party system fragmentation and social cleavages beyond a single dimension remains an undeveloped area of research, one which rarely accounts for the changing technological landscape where parties now compete. This case study of New Zealand's 2017 election campaign on Facebook contributes to this area. It reveals an environment where parties compete within social cleavages for support, and users demonstrate a diverse preference for cleavage appeals. The findings also offer a compromise between the competing theories about New Zealand’ social cleavage structure. Finally, we revisit the predictive relationship between party system size and social cleavages in a postdictive fashion, demonstrating the continued explanatory power of cleavage structure, this time with data derived from social media.     

Cultivating the Common Good at the Margins of the Commons: An Ethnographic Portrait of Transformative Pluralism in a High-Security Prison

ABSTRACT

Arising from an ongoing research project, this article presents an approach to religious and societal pluralism through ethnography. During a course convened inside a high-security prison, with a combined group of students currently resident in the prison and students currently studying in the University of Cambridge, participants and lecturers from diverse faiths and no faith explored concepts of citizenship and the common good. Bringing Rowan Williams’s proposals for “interactive pluralism” together with the transformative pedagogical framework of the course and its resonance with liberative theologies, I describe how the course participants co-created a space in which we were able to enact a transformative approach to the societal pluralism of which our gathering was a microcosm.     

Listing and protecting culturally significant events: intangible cultural heritage and policy considerations for hockey broadcasting in Canada

ABSTRACT

Listed events are policies enacted by states to protect the free-to-air rights of specific television and radio broadcasts that are identified as being of particular national significance. Some states (including the UK, Belgium, and Argentina) have begun to adopt these listed events policies, typically regarding significant national sporting events. We re-conceptualize listed events as a practical means by which to protect the intangible cultural heritage of states – an issue addressed by international institutions such as ICOMOS and UNESCO. Furthermore, we engage in a critical analysis regarding both the merits and potential problems involved in the possibility of Canada adopting listed broadcasting events policies, specifically involving hockey broadcasts.     

Singers without borders: a performer’s rotulus and the transmission of jeux partis

The jeu parti – a debate in song weighing questions of love, sex, wealth, ethical behaviour – enjoyed popular acclaim across social classes in thirteenth-century France. Despite the appeal of these texts as historical sources, suggestive of the mentalité of a medieval community through frank discussion of taboo subjects, jeux partis have received sporadic scholarly attention. A rare scroll, copied by an Anglo-Norman scribe (London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 1681) supplies new evidence of the genre’s transmission outside the pages of a codex and outside northern France. The only known document of its kind to contain jeux partis, it has been overlooked by scholars for a century, yet it suggests that the transmission of music and culture could be achieved textually, borne along the performance circuits of medieval Europe. This study investigates how jeux partis were composed, transmitted and refashioned for new audiences with the aid of text and improvisation.     

Detection of blood proteins in ancient human bone using ELISA: A comparative study of the survival of IgG and albumin

ABSTRACT The immunological identification of species-specific blood proteins in skeletal remains has an important role in the reconstruction of ancient dietary, ritual and domestic behaviour. However, which protein provides the most suitable target for such work has not been considered previously, and the present investigation was carried out on human bone to assess the relative merits of IgG and albumin. Extracts of bone from 31 individuals (from the English Civil War, medieval, Early Saxon, Roman, Iron Age and Bronze Age periods) were tested by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using monoclonal antibodies. Albumin was detected in 23 of the 31 skeletons, including those from the Iron and Bronze Ages, whereas IgG was identified in only one; this difference was very highly significant (P < 0.0005, χ² 30.0). The better detection rate for albumin was thought to be due to its higher original blood level, inherent differences in survival pattern being considered unlikely. Testing the same extract for both proteins in the same assay system ensured that any effects due to soil factors, burial conditions, physical integrity of the bone, chronological age, amount of original specimen, method of analysis and type of reagent were the same for each part of the study, thus permitting a valid comparison of antigen survival to be made. Control samples, including fresh and ancient animal bone extracts and human and animal sera, confirmed that the results were consistent and specific, with no cross-reactivity between human and animal material, and that as little as 10 ng of protein was detectable. In summary, the investigation compared the suitability of IgG and albumin for osteoarchaeological studies using a highly specific, sensitive and versatile ELISA; the results showed that albumin was a far better target molecule for such work and that it can survive in ancient bone for long periods of time.