‘The house cannot stay empty’: a case of young rural Nepalis negotiating multilocal householding

Over the past few decades, the mobility of young people abroad for education and labour has been rapidly increasing in Nepal, which has impacted both rural communities and household life. Based on ethnographic field data from Eastern Nepal, this paper explores how multilocality affects the socio-spatial dimensions of householding, i.e. how siblings negotiate their roles as movers and stayers in relation to household obligations, individual aspirations and shifting socio-economic opportunities. This paper draws on and contributes to scholarly debates on how migration impacts social transformation in places, with a particular focus on the dynamics of multilocal householding. We argue that a common agreement between generations and siblings that ‘the house cannot stay empty’ reinforces the importance of the household as a meaningful place exercised through the maintenance of traditional intra- and intergenerational contracts and the practice of rotating presence and absence.     

Archaeology as State Heritage Crime

North American archaeology is evaluated in light of state and heritage crime theory. When analyzed with preexisting typologies, the practice is shown to meet the threshold for state-sanctioned heritage crime. This study also demonstrates how current models of heritage crime do not adequately account for (1) the pivotal role states and state-sanctioned heritage experts play in committing heritage crime and (2) the implications of heritage crime for living descendant communities, not just physical artifacts and buildings. Typically thought of as crime against the state, seeing a state heritage regime as organized heritage crime opens the door to a host of theoretical and practical possibilities, including legal remedies for affected communities. Despite these opportunities, major impediments to meaningful change exist.     

The MSA sequence of Diepkloof and the history of southern African Late Pleistocene populations

This paper presents the first multidisciplinary synthesis of the Middle Stone Age sequence of Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa). We explore the main cultural changes that characterized southern African hunter–gatherer societies from OIS 5 to the beginning of OIS 3. We discuss the tempo of these changes, test the current interpretative hypotheses and explore an empirical model to explain the early appearance of symbolic marking within the Pleistocene hunter–gather societies of southern Africa.     

Museums and cultural sustainability: stakeholders,forces, and cultural policies

This paper explores the relationship between museums, cultural sustainability, and cultural policies. Specifically, it offers a theoretical model for the sustainable development of museums and a process for designing appropriate cultural policies for museums with cultural sustainability in mind. The case of Cyprus is used to demonstrate how strengths and gaps in cultural sustainability can be identified within a broader museum environment. The study examines the main stakeholders (the state, municipalities/ communities, and individuals), types of museums (archaeological, art, ethnographic, etc.) they establish and the forces influencing their decisions (such as politics, a sense of national identity, cultural tourism, economic revitalization, and personal agendas) in order to map the Cypriot museum environment and identify the emphasis placed on different parameters of cultural sustainability. By identifying cultural sustainability strengths and gaps on a national level, it becomes easier for cultural policy-makers to design appropriate cultural policies for museums.     

Rock Art Between Preservation,Research and Sustainable Development—a Perspective from Southern Ethiopia

This paper focuses on southern Ethiopia, along the outer rim of the Rift Valley and not far from the Kenyan border, in an area forming part of a larger region known as a cradle of humankind. However, it also hosts a diverse Holocene rock art heritage, which is still underestimated and underdocumented. Paintings and engravings are widespread in the region, both in rock shelters and open-air sites, often located in remote areas currently inhabited by communities belonging to different ethnic groups. The aim of this paper is to present the first results of a new project in the area around Yabelo, within the broader framework of rock art research in East Africa, integrating archaeological research, preservation and heritage management with a relevant involvement of local communities. The outstanding cultural importance of these contexts offers new prospects for both scholarly research and sustainable development. The recording and study of the artworks is underway, using digital technologies that guarantee a high standard of accuracy of the documentation and non-invasive recording methods. This provides important insights for reconstructing cultural dynamics in the area between the final Pleistocene and onset of the Holocene. Moreover, the focus on rock art makes it possible to enhance local knowledge, increasing the awareness of local communities, with a significant impact on the preservation of this fragile heritage and the development of local, sustainable tourism projects. Differently from other archaeological features, rock art can have a more immediate attractiveness for contemporary observers, in terms of the apparent immediacy of the images and their emotional impact, raising awareness of cultural heritage and fostering major involvement in its preservation.     

The meaning of literacy: an Italian reappraisal

Abstract

This article discusses the literacy trend in modern Italy in the light of recent literature on history of reading and, more generally, cultural history. The focus is on two subjects: (1) the essential features of Italian literacy in the modern age, highlighting elements such as heavy censorship, hostility to compulsory education from the ruling classes, training essentially based on voice and memorizing, etc., and (2) the uses of literacy, that is the access to and the comprehension of written texts, especially regarding people with minimal skills or cut off from college training (i.e. children, women and peasants).     

The lower jaw and dentition of the traversodontid Exaeretodon riograndensis Abdala,Barberena & Dornelles,from the Brazilian Triassic (Santa Maria 2 Sequence,Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone)

Exaeretodon riograndensis Abdala, Barberena, & Dornelles, 2002 Abdala, F., Barberena, M.C. and Dornelles, J.E.F. 2002. A new species of the traversodontid cynodont Exaeretodon from the Santa Maria Formation (Middle/Late Triassic) of Southern Brazil. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22: 313–325. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] is the most abundant traversodontid preserved in the basal Santa Maria 2 Sequence (Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone), southern Brazil and is closely related to Exaeretodon argentinus Cabrera, 1943 Cabrera, A. 1943. El primer hallazgo de terápsidos en la Argentina. Notas del Museo de La Plata, Paleontología, 8: 317–331.  [Google Scholar] from the Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina. Previous anatomical studies of E. riograndensis have focused mainly on cranial material and little is known about the morphology of its lower dentition or postdentary bones. We describe the first fairly complete postdentary series of the mandible of E. riograndensis and provide additional information on its lower dentition. The postdentary bones of E. riograndensis include a complex coronoid, an angular with a delicate reflected lamina and a stout retroarticular process of the articular, contrasting with the morphology reconstructed for Argentinean specimens, which possess a small retroarticular process. Apart from that, the postdentary bones do not differ significantly from those known for E. argentinus, a fact expected due to the great similarity between other skeletal features of these species. Furthermore, the lower postcanines of E. riograndensis have virtually the same structure as those of E. argentinus, with an approximate quadrangular shape in occlusal view. Moreover, the transverse cusp row is placed anteriorly and comprises a lingual and a buccal cusp, and the occlusal basin delimited by the four main cusps is relatively deep. The new material does not add any taxonomically diagnostic features to E. riograndensis. However, the fossils greatly improve our understanding of the anatomy of the Brazilian species.