Routes of Resistance: Mobilizing Discourses of Opportunity in Ann Petry’s The Street and Austin Clarke’s The Meeting Point

Ann Petry’s The Street and Austin Clarke’s The Meeting Point provide important representations and affirmations of black people’s use of movements such as educational attainment and economic advancement to create routes to resist inequitable treatment and demand equal access to the benefits of belonging to American and Canadian national communities. In The Street, Lutie employs intellectual and economic movements to achieve her American dream but learns that systematic inhibitions block her intended ascension. In The Meeting Point, Bernice also tries to attain education and make financial strides to achieve her Canadian dream but finds herself barred from fully materializing that dream. Lutie and Bernice continue their quests to fulfill their mobility ideals, despite obstructions they face. Through that movement, which is driven by their knowledge of the implications of their exclusions from promises of the nations they call home, they counter boundaries intended to restrict them. While they do not accomplish fully their upward mobility ideals, their resistance demonstrates their refusal to be denied the benefits of American and Canadian discourses of opportunity. Petry’s and Clarke’s representations of this persistent resistance help inform and give voice to struggles against exclusionary practices blacks in the United States and Canada continually experience.     

Urbanization and mortality decline

We investigate the relationship between mortality decline and urbanization, which has hitherto been proposed by demographers but has yet to be tested rigorously in a global context. Using cross‐national panel data, we find evidence of a robust negative correlation between crude death rates and urbanization. The use of instrumental variables suggest that this relationship is causal, while historical data from the early 20th century suggest that this relationship holds in earlier periods as well. Finally, we find robust evidence that mortality decline is correlated with urbanization through the creation of new cities rather than promoting urban growth in already‐extant cities.     

The Difficult Place of Deserted Coasts in Archaeology: New Archaeological Research on Cooks Beach (Pukaki), Coromandel Peninsula,New Zealand

Sites which have been occupied semi-continuously in the past present some inherent difficulties for archaeology. Here we present new research from a coastal site on the North Island of New Zealand at Cooks Beach where anthropogenic vegetation changes are seen using microfossil analysis of obsidian tools, sediments and pit fill. The results indicate the initial presence of people in AD 1300–1400 followed by subsequent periods of disuse or abandonment and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) cultivation. Around the time of initial settlement, obsidian from this location is found at sites across the country. After AD 1400 the area appears to be deserted for a century or more, after which we see evidence for the cultivation of sweet potato in AD 1500 as evidenced by extensive soil modification and numerous storage pits. There is no evidence of a permanent settlement at the site. The geographic distribution of Cooks Beach obsidian was constricted while the site was used for sweet potato cultivation, a pattern often attributed to increased warfare. It appears cultivation was abandoned after AD 1650 marking a second secession of use, a fact confirmed in AD 1769 when Captain Cook visited the area. We consider the possible drivers for the late abandonment of cultivation at Cooks Beach.     

Experimental studies of personal ornaments from the Iron Gates Mesolithic

Personal ornaments, especially those made from the shells of marine mollusks and animal teeth, have been recovered from many Mesolithic sites across Europe. This paper reviews the evidence of personal ornaments from the Mesolithic of the Iron Gates, where such finds were identified in five sites on the Romanian bank: the cave and rock shelter sites of Climente II and Cuina Turcului, and three open-air sites—Icoana, Ostrovul Banului, and Schela Cladovei. The ornaments from these sites were made from the shells of several gastropod taxa and at least one species of dentaliid scaphopod, as well as the pharyngeal teeth of cyprinids, the teeth of several species of terrestrial mammal, fish vertebrae, and pieces of antler and bone. Particular attention is given to taxonomic identification and questions of taphonomy, provenance, selection, manufacture, and use. Experiments were conducted in which several types of ornament were replicated. Archeological and experimental pieces (at various stages of production) were examined under a microscope, to establish the durability of the beads and estimate the length of time over which they were worn. Our results show that shells of Lithoglyphus and Theodoxus sp. were simply perforated and fixed in composed adornments, as were shells of Tritia neritea in the early part of the time range. In the later Mesolithic, T. neritea shells were processed in a different way and fixed to clothing in the manner of appliqués. No technological modification of the cyprinid teeth was observed; these were sewn individually onto clothing by means of a thread coated with an adhesive substance. The other categories of personal ornament were used mainly as pendants. Experimental use-wear analysis suggests that many ornaments were used over long periods, with broken or missing pieces replaced when necessary.     

Planning for sustainability in expansive metropolitan regions: exploring practices and planners’ expectations in Stockholm,Sweden

In Sweden, local and regional planning practices are faced with the challenge of managing rapid growth in expansive urban regions. However, spatial planning should also contribute to the fulfilment of formalized sustainability objectives and support sustainable development. This includes addressing cross-cutting sustainability issues that transcend established administrative and territorial boundaries. Thus, the management of sustainability issues requires attention from actors at different levels, and challenges how contemporary planning practices plan for development. Based in the expansive Stockholm region, this study explores the cross-level interaction in spatial planning and decision-making and planning practitioners’ experiences and apprehensions of contemporary municipal planning practices with a focus on statutory plans to achieve sustainability targets and objectives. The results show that municipal planning organizations are under pressure because of rapid urban expansion. It is concluded that the role, format and content of statutory as well as informal planning instruments are decisive for the cross-level interaction between planning levels. Moreover, planning instruments find new trajectories resulting in mismatches in expectations from planners at adjacent planning levels. This influences the interplay and preconditions for achieving national and regional sustainability targets and objectives.