Asymmetric Encounters in Native Canada

Occasionally in recent decades, relations between the Canadian state and particular Native communities have spiralled into open confrontation and violence. While such instances reflect the failure of conciliatory or decolonizing politics within a liberal–democratic milieu, scholarship has barely begun to analyze these events in a systematic fashion. This article applies to long-standing questions about political behaviour to the study of Native-state relations in Canada. By this, the authors particularly mean the dynamics of Native peoples' mobilization and institutional engagement. Examining several recent cases of open confrontation, this article looks for the basic circumstances in which violence arises, and how confrontation alters internal political dynamics in Native communities.     

Promoting tourism through the EU LEADER programme: understanding Local Action Group governance

ABSTRACT

For many European rural areas, the rural development programmes based on the LEADER approach constitute the main policy for promoting tourism. Going a step further than a rural development programme, LEADER represents an ideal method for overcoming some of the challenges involved in rural tourism development, such as the integration of tourism supply through public-private organizations or the coordination of multi-level policies. Despite its potential, there are difficulties involved in putting this approach into practice. This article aims to provide in-depth understanding of the challenges faced by some managers responsible for developing tourism strategies through the LEADER approach. To do this, semi-structured in-depth interviews have been held with Local Action Groups managers from Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). The main findings reveal that the actions of regional governments lead to the limitation and strangulation of the principle of subsidiarity according with the LAG manager? opinion.     

Soil formation in archaeological pits and adjacent loess soils in Southern Germany

The soil formation in a number of pits on a neolithic excavation was compared with that in adjacent loess soils (Hapludalfs) under forest and arable and in Bavaria, Southern Germany. The differences between the soils under consideration were mainly characterized by micromorphological quantification of the illuviated fine clay. In the archaeological pits the amount of illuviated fine clay proved to be nearly twice as much as that in the undisturbed soils. The amount of illuviated coarser matrix components (fine and coarse clay and fine silt) in the neolithic pits did not differ significantly from that in the natural soils. The large amount of illuviated fine clay in the pits was ascribed to the presence of potash during the period of their formation. The formation of coarse grained illuviation cutans was related to deforestation, after which illuviation of the fine clay decreased in intensity and came to a stop.     

Hydraulically fractured: Unconventional gas and anthropology (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

The predicted increase in unconventional gas production is set to change global energy and concomitant geopolitical relations. The scale and required infrastructure of unconventional gas extraction result in profound changes in the landscape where extraction and processing take place. Widespread public concerns about the impacts of this industry have emerged, particularly with regard to fracking, surface and subterranean water contamination, air pollution and a host of other environmental issues, as well as social impacts and health risks. This article sets out some of the emerging anthropological engagements with unconventional gas and fracking, including analyses of materiality, politics, discourses, rights, risk and knowledge.     

The eagle owl (Bubo bubo) as a leporid remains accumulator: taphonomic analysis of modern rabbit remains recovered from nests of this predator

The eagle owl (Bubo bubo) is the main leporid predator among nocturnal raptors. Although its role as an accumulator of leporid remains in archaeological sites has already been demonstrated, the taphonomic signature of this predator has not been properly characterised. Here we present the analysis of two samples of modern leporid remains recovered from eagle owls' nests with the aim of contributing new data to this subject. Results show that although variability occurs, the observed anatomical representation, breakage and digestion patterns allow us to distinguish this raptor from other rabbit predators. Finally, several characteristic features are noted to distinguish eagle owls as agents of leporid bone accumulations in the fossil record. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.