Heteroglossic heritage and the first-place of the Kalahari

Abstract

Using Bakhtin’s concept of ‘heteroglossia,’ this article examines the layering and intersections of multiple claims to heritage places that form dialogics about heritage truths. Social groups derive their collective-self, in part, through association with a place, or places, to which they attribute their origin, described here as a ‘first-place.’ Identity maintenance can occur through the praxis of heritage tourism in which group members exhibit emotional performances during their visits to a first-place. Through the extended example of the Tsodilo Hills in Botswana and the various social groups – local ethnic communities, national citizens, and segments of the global community – who each form a collective-self using Tsodilo as a first-place, this article addresses the roles of science (archaeology) and tourism, and their interplay, in enabling several languages or dialects of belonging to coexist without dissonance. The argument is that heteroglossic heritage is possible because visitors’ affect-mediated encounters with heritage places facilitate the reaffirmation of their shared group identity. While all heritage discourse is heteroglossic, the article focuses on claims to a first-place set within a postcolonial context of nation building and modernising that involves the politicisation and re-spatialization of heritage places through tourism development.     

Youthful escapes? British students,overseas education and the pursuit of happiness

This paper draws upon the findings of a recent project examining the motivations of UK students seeking higher education overseas. We argue that notions of fun, enjoyment and the pursuit of happiness abroad featured strongly in young people's stories, in contrast to an emphasis in recent academic and media accounts on overt strategising around educational decision making. Several students wanted to escape the UK, particularly the rigidity of British higher education; the perceived flexibility of a liberal arts education was extremely appealing. Others saw education overseas as a chance for personal reinvention. Moving the focus away from stressing the negative effects of academic-related pressures upon young people, in this paper, we argue that education can offer up new possibilities for fun and excitement, which for privileged individuals work alongside more strategic objectives around the accumulation of cultural capital.     

Ice Patch Archaeology in Global Perspective: Archaeological Discoveries from Alpine Ice Patches Worldwide and Their Relationship with Paleoclimates

In recent years, in association with global climate change, researchers have found significant quantities of preserved archaeological material melting from kinetically-stable alpine and subalpine ‘ice patches’ all around the world. This paper synthesizes the findings and the methodologies of ice patch archaeology worldwide thus far in an effort to provide researchers with a broadened perspective on artifact collection and interpretation. In addition, I test the hypothesis that increased quantities of alpine ice in prehistory should correlate with decreased human use of these areas, and vice versa. I analyze the relationship between the frequencies of regional artifact dates over time, the nature of these artifacts, and glacial advances and retreats. Ultimately, I conclude that fundamental differences among these assemblages and their correlation (or lack thereof) with prehistoric alpine ice extents stem from the intention and the activity of the people who deposited the artifacts.     

Race,Space, and Nature: An Introduction and Critique

In this essay we put forth nested arguments about the way that racialization remains a powerful force in contemporary society, contending that intersections with space and nature offer important lessons about the (de)construction of race. We argue that the pernicious character traits of racial constructs develop through spatial practices and intersect with ideas about “nature” and belonging. We trace these concepts through recent conversations in geography and environmental studies, and we call for a persistent, critical, and prominent engagement with racialization in the spatial social sciences. Finally, we introduce the papers that constitute this symposium, which engages these questions from a range of perspectives and across a variety of landscapes. We hope to spur the conversation about “race and geography”, broadly conceived, beyond studies conceptualized around race alone. We are hopeful that this work, and the larger body of work it contributes to, travels beyond academic conversations to engage broader social justice debates about the “nature” of racial inequality—to ultimately participate in its dismantlement.     

The Role of Knowledge Intermediaries in Developing Firm Learning Capabilities

Regional innovation systems (RISs) literature has emphasized the critical role of interactive learning and knowledge exchange amongst firms and a variety of spatially connected innovation institutions as the foundation of regional innovation. Knowledge intermediaries have been analysed in terms of the technology-transaction services they provide firms and/or knowledge producers such as universities and therefore the role they play in facilitating interaction within the RIS. However, innovation also depends on the capability of the firm to learn. Some studies have suggested that intermediaries also play a role in that regard as participation in intermediary knowledge transfer programmes can contribute to the development of firm capabilities for problem-solving and learning. Our research is based on two case study intermediary programmes involving interviews with facilitators and participants. Our data show that knowledge intermediaries affect organizational learning capabilities by impacting on firms' network relationships, internal and external communication channels and internal learning processes which in turn affect the ability to interpret and use knowledge within the firm. This suggests that the role of knowledge intermediaries might be greater than facilitating interactions in the innovation system, as knowledge intermediation may affect the ability of firms to learn and absorb knowledge from their environment.     

Beyond the ration: sharing and scrounging on the western front

The assumption to date has been that military provisioning was an unmitigated success for the British Army of the First World War; a judgement not reflected in the accounts of many of the rank and file soldiers on the Western Front. The men were often disappointed not merely by shortfalls, but also by rations that, though high in calories, failed to tempt the palate or reflect the civilian meals that had shaped their eating preferences. Whether driven by hunger or boredom, supplementing the official diet was a regular occupation for the men, through parcels from home, visits to the canteens or less legitimate means. Scrounging opportunities ranged from apples scrumped in a French orchard and an opportunistic raid on a chicken coop, to the pilfering of army stores. This article demonstrates the extent of the role played by this extra food in the men's diet and explores the significance of the way in which it was obtained and consumed. Whatever the source of the food, its even-handed division was a subject repeatedly referenced in the soldiers' diaries, letters, and memoirs. The sharing of food between pals in a just and proper fashion re-created, to some small degree, a microcosm of an ordered, civilized world in the ranks.