Reviews

The Bryggen Papers. Main Series, vol. 1. Oslo, (1985). ISBN 82–00–07289–4. 280 pp.

Saari, Heikki: Re‐enactment: A Study in R. G. Collingwood's Philosophy of History. (Acta Academia Aboensis. Ser. A, vol. 63,2. 1984). 141 pp.

Suomen taloushistoria 3. Historiallinen tilas to (The economic history of Finland 3. Historical statistics). Ed. by Kaarina Vattula. Helsinki, (1983). ISBN 951–30–5089–0. 470 pp.

Paasivirta, Juhani, Suomi ja Eurooppa 1914–1939 (Finland and Europe 1914–1939). Helsinki, (1984). ISBN 951–26–2588–1. 548 pp.     

Intersections between philosophy and art: expressions of immanence in the seventeenth century — Spinoza and Vermeer*

ABSTRACT

Spinoza's philosophy of immanence represents a turning point that radically changed our conception of human agency and its relation to infinity. Hans Blumenberg rightly called the principle of immanence “a general hypothesis of the epoch”, a principle that applies to philosophy no less than to the sciences and arts in the seventeenth century. This article looks at Dutch paintings by drawing parallels between Spinoza's philosophy and Vermeer's work. Spinoza and Vermeer both deny a dualistic conception of the world and a hierarchical structure between inner and outer spheres. With the example of Vermeer's painting the Milkmaid, this article shows how an analysis of light and colour, time and space, reveal a vision of immanent infinity, with the human agent at its centre.     

Proto-Urban Establishments in Inner Asia: Surveys of an Iron Age Walled Site in Eastern Mongolia

Walled sites attributed to the Xiongnu steppe empire (2nd century b.c.–1st century a.d.) constitute the earliest investments in explicitly non-mortuary built environments among pastoralists of the Mongolian Steppe. These permanent constructions are important precedents to the medieval towns of subsequent steppe empires, yet very little of the complete layouts and surrounding remains of the large enclosures are understood. Our investigations of the walled site at Kherlen-Bars in eastern Mongolia are among the first surveys to fully document all aspects above and below ground across an entire Iron Age walled site area. In addition to detailed documentation of the large structures, our geomagnetic prospections and digital elevation modeling brought to light numerous small sub-surface and subtle-surface features that show such early walled sites, often deemed virtually empty, to be far more complex and diachronic in their formation processes and possible functions.     

Clothing Economy and Clothing Culture: The Farm Wardrobe from a Gendered Perspective in Nineteenth-Century Sweden

This article examines the clothing of landowning farmers in inland Swedish from a gendered perspective during industrialisation in the nineteenth century. It considers clothes as possessions and goods within a European framework of trade and influence. In particular, it shows how clothing was a means of expression that changed during the course of industrialisation and how gender became an important factor in the supply and making of clothes. In the region examined, clothing changed from being a local fashion, characterised by similarities in material and workmanship between men's and women's clothes, to become a part of fashion in general with its emphasis on differences between men's and women's wardrobes. In the early nineteenth century, the female wardrobe accounted for a higher value as it included a greater share of garments made of manufactured fabrics. In late nineteenth century, when industrial forestry had replaced livestock farming as the main source of income in the area, men's wardrobes grew in value due to increased demand for tailor-made garments and purchased fabrics. By contrast, women's garments were often made of simpler fabrics and sewn by seamstresses. These changes responded to the growing breadwinner–homemaker ideal and to national-romantic ideas about folk costume – two tendencies that emphasised female domesticity and home-woven fabrics.     

CHORA IN CURRENT GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT: PLACES OF CO‐DESIGN AND RE‐MEMBERING

Reading places is integrally linked to geographical studies. One of the oldest Western formulations of place is chora, which was introduced in Plato's Timaeus and has thereafter contributed to a rich tradition of interpretations. The geographical interest in chora has gradually increased as it has proven its value in making sense of the flowing conditions of contemporary social change. The gradual turn towards chora is also due to intense methodological rethinking in geography during recent decades. This article discusses the latest formulations of the geographies of chora, and focuses especially on the interpretations inspired by Jacques Derrida and Julia Kristeva. Their formulations of chora, including succeeding critiques, have encouraged us to rethink places of co‐design and re‐membering as illustrations of the paradoxes of chora as a ‘place in‐between’.