Getting inside our informants' heads

William H. Geoghegan. Natural Information Processing Rules: Formal Theory and Applications to Ethnography. Monograph of the Language‐Behavior Research Laboratory, Number 3. Berkeley: University of California Language Research Laboratory, 1973. viii + 448 pp. Figures, tables, appendixes, and bibliography. $6.50 (paper).     

From International to Global Development: New Geographies of 21st Century Development

Recent claims of 21^st century global convergence and the ‘rise of the South’ suggest a profound and ongoing redrawing of the global map of development and inequality. This article synthesizes shifting geographies of development across economic, social and environmental dimensions, and considers their implications for the ‘where’ of development. Some convergence in aggregate development indicators for the global North and South during this century challenge, now more than ever, the North–South binary underlying international development. Yet convergence claims do not adequately capture change in a world where development inequalities are profound. Between‐country inequalities remain vast, while within‐country inequalities are growing in many cases. Particular attention is given here to exploring the implications of such shifting geographies, and what those mean for the spatial nomenclature and reference of development. This article concludes by arguing for the need, now more than ever, to go beyond international development considered as rich North/poor South, and to move towards a more holistic global development — where the global South remains a key, although not exclusive, focus.     

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: QUALITY CONTROL AND FIRING TECHNOLOGY IN THE PRODUCTION OF MEDIEVAL GREYWARE CERAMICS IN CATALONIA,SPAIN

The following study sheds new light on the quality control procedures of ancient potters by comparing cooking vessels exported from the medieval kiln‐site of Cabrera d'Anoia (Barcelona) with ‘wasters' that were discarded at source. The firing temperature of examined sherds indicates that only pots subjected to a maximum temperature of 800–850°C were offered for sale. The potters at Cabrera d'Anoia appear to have been fully aware of the optimal balance between thermal and physical shock resistance of vessels fired within this range and strived to control firing in order to achieve better products than that of competing workshops.     

Age‐related variation in isotopic indicators of diet at medieval Kulubnarti,Sudanese Nubia

This study compares trends in dietary composition in two large cemetery populations from the site of Kulubnarti (AD 550–800) in Sudanese Nubia. Bone collagen and bone apatite carbonate were analysed to characterise stable carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotopes. Previous research on these cemeteries has suggested marked differences in nutritional status and health between the populations. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant relationships between any isotopic indicators related to sex or cemetery of burial, suggesting no isotopically‐measurable differences in diet. However, collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N were significantly related to age, suggesting age‐related differences in protein intake or other factors. Weaning trends are gradual and variable, with the range in δ¹⁵N values exceeding 4‰ among infants/young children (0–3 yrs) and standard deviations exceeding 1‰ in collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N for both infants/young children and subadults (4–17 yrs). This suggests varied weaning strategies among both populations and variable diets prior to adulthood. Also observed was a distinct range of isotopic carbon and nitrogen values among individuals classified as subadults (4–17 yrs), who are depleted in collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N relative to adults. However, both infants/young children and subadults are slightly enriched in δ¹⁸O relative to adults, which suggests the presence of non‐local individuals or age‐related variation in water sources. While most isotopic studies of age‐related dietary trends have focused on reconstructing the weaning process, this study presents findings that indicate tripartite isotopic trends distinguishing infancy, subadulthood and adulthood as separate dietary categories. Broad similarities are evident between the results presented here and those from several earlier studies of smaller populations and to nutritional studies of modern communities. These findings suggest that further research into health disparities at Kulubnarti should focus on non‐dietary causal factors, and more generally, that greater attention should be paid to subadulthood in palaeodiet studies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Book reviews

This paper focuses on cultural reproduction in arts festival settings. It begins by conceptualizing festival settings as places whose characters derive from a combination of both internally derived traits and a diverse series of interactions with other places. Drawing on case study research conducted in an arts festival setting in Galway in the Republic of Ireland, the discussion identifies how elements indigenous to the place connect and engage with external forces. The study found the process of interacting with other places to be complex, involving much negotiation and adaptation as locales became contexts for re-working an array of often conflicting ideals and influences. The paper concludes that while inevitable difficulties are faced as festivals negotiate the potentially standardizing forces of homogenization, it is only through continuous interaction with other places that local contexts realize their full potential.