Socio-spatial relations of care in community food project patronage

In light of greater attention to the ethical dimensions of consumption and consumer behaviour in recent years, researchers are increasingly excavating the ethical bases of consumer engagement in various food procurement channels. Only a fairly narrow range of usual suspects has been the subject of study, however, including conventional grocery stores and community supported agriculture. This article considers the same question about community food projects; specifically, it explores the nature of customers’ involvement in, and perceived benefits from, a Good Food Box (GFB) programme in south-eastern Ontario, Canada. Using qualitative evidence from mail-in surveys and interviews, the paper draws from Foucault’s later work to consider the construction and maintenance of particular socio-spatial relations of care for both self and proximate others through food provisioning. As a predominantly self-caring act, GFB participation is motivated by frugality and physical health. When participants care for others through their patronage, prominent themes include helping less economically fortunate others, local farmers and family. The paper concludes by emphasizing the pervasiveness of care in consumerist activity and with outstanding questions about caring at a distance and the politics of educating consumer-subjects for ethical consciousness-raising.     

Evaluating socio-economic change in the Andes using oribatid mite abundances as indicators of domestic animal densities

Tracking social and economic change in Andean societies prior to the invasion of the Spanish has always been a difficult task, especially given that these cultures failed to develop any form of written record. Here we present a new method of reconstructing socio-economic shifts in a rural setting from the analysis of the frequency of oribatid mite remains present in a sedimentary lake sequence. Oribatid mites are soil-dwelling microarthropod detritivores, some of which inhabit areas of grassland pasture. One of the primary controls governing their abundance in such habitats is the level of animal dung present. We propose that past fluctuations in mite remains can be related to the density of domestic animals using the area of pasture and, by extension, may provide a proxy for broad-scale social and economic change through time. To test this hypothesis, we analysed a high-resolution (∼6 years) mite record from a sequence of well-dated sediments from Marcacocha, a climatically sensitive lake site located close to an important Inca trading route across the Andes. The timing and magnitude of mite fluctuations at Marcacocha since the 1530s show remarkable correspondence with a series of major, well-documented socio-economic shifts in the region relating to political and climatic pressures. This provided the confidence to extend the record back a further 700 years and reconstruct changes in domestic herbivore densities for a period of time that lacks historical documentation and thereby infer changes in human occupation of the basin. In particular, high mite abundances appear to correspond clearly with the rapid rise and fall of the Inca Empire (c. AD 1400–1532). We argue that small lake basins such as Marcacocha may be particularly suitable for obtaining continuous oribatid mite records and providing the possibility of reconstructing large herbivore abundances in the Andes and elsewhere.     

Ancient DNA insights from the Middle Neolithic in Germany

Genetic studies of Neolithic groups in central Europe have provided insights into the demographic processes that have occurred during the initial transition to agriculture as well as in later Neolithic contexts. While distinct genetic patterns between indigenous hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers in Europe have been observed, it is still under discussion how the genetic diversity changed during the 5,000-year span of the Neolithic period. In order to investigate genetic patterns after the earliest farming communities, we carried out an ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis of 34 individuals from Wittmar, Germany representing three different Neolithic farming groups (ca. 5,200–4,300 cal bc) including Rössen societies. Ancient DNA analysis was successful for six individuals associated with the Middle Neolithic Rössen and observed haplotypes were assigned to mtDNA haplogroups H5, HV0, U5, and K. Our results offer perspectives on the genetic composition of individuals associated with the Rössen culture at Wittmar and permit insights into genetic landscapes in central Europe at a time when regional groups first emerged during the Middle Neolithic.     

Early Holocene palaeoseasonality inferred from the stable isotope composition of Unio shells from Çatalhöyük,Turkey

Seasonal δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O data are presented from 14 Unio sub-fossil shells unearthed at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey, spanning the occupation period ca. 9150–8000 cal years BP. The shells likely lived in the small lakes/wetlands around the site before being gathered and taken to Çatalhöyük. Wet-dry seasonal cycles are clearly apparent in the δ¹⁸O_shell profiles with low winter values reflecting winter precipitation and high δ¹⁸O in the summer resulting from evaporation. The most striking trend in the δ¹⁸O data is the drop in maximum summer δ¹⁸O ca. 8300 years BP, which we infer as indicating lower summer evaporation and hence a reduction in seasonality. Previous palaeoclimate records from the area have suggested cooler and more arid conditions, with reduced precipitation, around this time. While the drop in summer δ¹⁸O values could be due to reduced summer temperatures reducing summer evaporation, but there was little change in winter δ¹⁸O, perhaps suggesting winter growth cessation or reduced influence of winter climate change on δ¹⁸O. This shift in seasonal climate could be linked to solar-forced climate change beginning ca. 8600 years BP, and enhanced by the regional expression of the 8·2k event. Changing water balance over the occupation period is likely an important contributory factor behind observed cultural changes at Çatalhöyük in the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic period. Our results might be considered to support the fission-fusion farming hypothesis as we provide additional evidence for wet winter/early spring conditions during the Early Holocene which likely caused flooding of the Çar?amba Fan. The changing water balance after ca. 8300 years BP (i.e. reduced seasonality and potentially reduced local summer evaporation) is also coincidental with the proposed end of this farming system due to multi-decadal drought.     

Stable isotope analysis of Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) from archaeological sites in Mangareva (French Polynesia): The use of commensal species for understanding human activity and ecosystem change

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was applied to archaeological specimens of the commensal Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) to investigate nutrient fluxes in prehistoric socio-ecosystems on Mangareva (Gambier Islands) and their implications for anthropogenic environmental change. The Pacific rat – ubiquitous in Polynesian archaeological sites – is characterised by low dietary selectivity and a limited home range, making it an ideal candidate for assessing changes in island food webs. Temporal trends in diet-derived bone collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values are assessed from three sites: The Onemea Site, Taravai Island (TAR-6), Nenega-iti Rockshelter, Agakauitai Island (AGA-3) and Kitchen Cave Rockshelter, Kamaka Island (KAM-1). An overall trend of decreasing δ¹⁵N values in rat bone collagen over time reflects archipelago-wide changes to island socio-ecosystems most likely resulting from seabird population declines. Differences in site function and human activity may have also influenced local rat dietary patterns. Stable isotope analysis of the Pacific rat provides a low-impact line of evidence towards the reconstruction of human-centred food webs and the flow of nutrients within island socio-ecosystems.     

Legal Dispossession: State Strategies and Selectivities in the Expansion of Indonesian Palm Oil and Agrofuel Production

This article examines the role of the state in the appropriation and control of land in Indonesian palm oil and agrofuel production. Drawing on political ecology and critical state and hegemony theory, it focuses particularly on the legal state strategies that support the hegemonic project of agro‐industrial and export‐oriented palm oil and agrofuel production. The article analyses the structural, strategic and spatial selectivities — the mechanisms of marginalization and privilege — that accompany the strategies the state employs. Three important strategies are discussed, namely the codification of land ownership, the concentration of land possession and the valorization of natural resources in the context of de‐ and recentralization. The article concludes that these legal state strategies represent an important means to organize and protect a large‐scale palm oil project as they succeed in universalizing dominant interests whilst at the same time (partially) integrating subaltern interests.     

Linguistic incomprehension in British asylum appeal hearings

For the thousands of appellants who navigate Britain's asylum appeal courts every year, attending a hearing conducted in a language they do not understand and participating via an interpreter, is usually viewed as a significant disadvantage. The findings of a study that entailed ethnographic and structured observations of over 390 asylum appeal hearings in England and Wales during 2013 and 2014, however, indicate that the presence of interpreters often offers an important source of support in adversity. While the natural assumption may be to associate linguistic incomprehension with detriment, it transpires that there are important exceptions to this rule. Given the toughening of UK border controls in recent years, as well as British reluctance to share responsibilities for international refugees such as those fleeing from violence in Syria, these observations offer rare solace in a bleak policy landscape.