Transnational Discourse: Bringing Geography Back In

The concept of transnationalism has become an important means of theorizing accelerated cross-border flows of commodities and people over the last two decades. Theorization has often been limited, however, through literal and homogenizing narratives of globalization processes "from above" or by poststructuralist readings emphasizing abstract spaces of movement and the margins of non-essentializing positions "from below." This paper argues for a theoretical approach that reduces these limitations through geographical engagement with both transnational processes and discourses. Bringing geography back in on several different scales and forcing the contextualization of concepts of the hybrid and the marginal may make it possible to harness a more nuanced theorization of transnationalism to a more politically progressive agenda.     

Potassium-argon ages of schist honestones from the viking age sites at Kaupang (Norway), Aggersborg (Denmark), Hedeby (West Germany) and Wolin (Poland), and their archaeological implications

Viking age honestones from four large sites in northern Europe have been made from two different types of quartz-muscovite schist: one dark grey, very fine-grained schist, and a light grey, fine-grained schist. In order to determine the provenance of these schist hones, KAr ages have been determined on 16 selected representative hones. The dark grey schist hones yield Caledonian ages of 403–446 Ma. and consideration of petrographic evidence leads to the conclusion that the hones were quarried in the Caledonian area (presumably) of Western Norway. The light grey schist hones are Precambrian, with KAr ages of 931–946 Ma, and are presumed to originate from Telemark, South Norway. The amount and homogeneity of these honestone groups from different parts of the Viking world indicates the existence of large quarries, and demonstrates that production and trade were more wide-ranging than had hitherto been assumed.     

Prehistoric exchange and interaction in southeastern southern africa: Marine shells and ostrich eggshell

The spatiotemporal distribution of seashells and ostrich eggshell in the Later Stone Age of southeastern southern Africa is used to infer several areas of social interaction. The inferred patterns are supported by comparisons with preferences for lithic raw materials and the distribution of bifacial stone arrows. Plusiers zones de l'interaction sociale sont déduites des distributions chronologiques et spatiales de la coquillage et de la coquille de'autruche de l'Age de la Pierre Récent au sud- est de l'Afrique australe. Ces distributions sont soutenues des préférences pour des matières premières lithiques et de la distribution des flèches bifaciales de la pierre. Provincial names and boundaries are as given on May 1, 1994     

Book Notes

Abramovitz, Mimi. 1988. Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy From Colonial Times to the Present
Bingham, Richard D., Roy E. Green, and Sammis B. White (eds.). 1987. The Homeless in Contemporary Society
Bogen, Elizabeth. 1987. Immigration in New York
Bowie, Norman E. (ed.). 1988. Equal Opportunity
Bryner, Gary C. 1987. Bureaucratic Discretion: Law and Policy in Federal Regulatory Agencies
Comfort, Louise K. (ed.) 1988. Managing Disaster: Strategies and Policy Perspectives
Cook, Brian J. 1988. Bureaucratic Politics and Regulatory Reform: The EPA and Emissions Trading
Cooper, Phillip J. 1988. Hard Judicial Choices: Federal District Judges and State and Local Officials
Culyer, A.J. and Bengt Jonsson (eds.). 1988. Public and Private Health Services
Danziger, Sheldon H. and Kent E. Portney (eds.). 1988. The Distributional Impacts of Public Policies
Davis, Charles E. and James P. Lester (eds.). 1988. Dimensions of Hazardous Waste Politics and Policy
Fagerhaugh, Shizuko Y., Anselm Strauss, Barbara Suczek, and Carolyn L. Wiener. 1987. Hazards in Hospital Care: Ensuring Patient Safety
Forsythe, David P. 1988. Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy: Congress Reconsidered
Gilderbloom, John I. and Richard P. Appelbaum. 1988. Rethinking Rental Housing
Hahn, Harlan and Sheldon Kamieniecki. 1987. Referendum Voting: Social Status and Policy Preferences
Kelly, Rita Mae (ed.). 1988. Promoting Productivity in the Public Sector: Problems, Strategies, and Prospects
Kelly, Rita Mae and Jane Bayes (eds.). 1988. Comparable Worth, Pay Equity, and Public Policy
Plowden, William. 1987. Advising the Rulers
Roessner, J. David. 1988. Government Innovation Policy: Design, Implementation, Evaluation
Weidenbaum, Murray and Kenneth Chilton (eds.). 1988. Public Policy Toward Corporate Takeovers