La Donna é Mobile: Constructing the irrational woman

This article explores the ways in which disorders that have historically been attributed to women, and that pathologise the feminine as irrational, form an intertwined genealogy; that is, they affect and contribute to the histories of one another. In linking the 'hystories' of hysteria and agoraphobia, it is argued that the image of the hysterical woman as unstable and deviant is traced within the experiences of interview subjects diagnosed with panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA). Because of this, it is argued that panic disorder with agoraphobia can be understood as a fear of the hysterical image, that is, the hysterical woman. The fear of the hysterical woman is a fear of being perceived by others as excessively feminine, out of control, and slipping into madness; therefore it is also a fear that one's experiences will not be taken seriously and that one is 'acting up'. This fear is described by the women interviewed as a fear of alienation and abandonment; of losing control in front of others; of becoming a spectacle and being gazed at; and of being perceived as hyperfeminine, for which they are disciplined and punished. The fear of the hysterical woman is also a fear that implies that madness or deviance is rendered visible on and through the body. Thus, PDA can be situated within a 'logic of visibility' that has bifurcated men and women's bodies, spheres and spaces from one another.     

Making Space: Women's urban and rural activism and the Australian state

Recent discussions of political actions have emphasised the ways that strategic use of spaces, places and various spatial scales helps to constitute activist practice. Advancing their interests involves activists in spatial practices that seek simultaneously to achieve cohesion and identity for their group, and to negotiate the shifting 'opportunity structures' of their context. In this article, the authors use examples of Australian women's activism in urban and rural contexts to show (1) the spatial processes with which activist groups have negotiated their strategic identities, and (2) how activist groups have constructed their politics spatially with reference to the opportunities presented by the Australian state of the early to mid-1990s. The urban activism discussed is that of parents (primarily women) contesting the quality of children's services in an outer suburban Melbourne municipality; the rural activism is that of the national Women in Agriculture movement, seeking increased recognition of the roles of women in agricultural occupations and sectors. The article elaborates on how the groups have mobilised to develop their constituencies within the contexts of the Australian state of the time, using different spaces and sites, finding appropriate languages and bureaucratic targets, and making a space for their concerns politically, symbolically and materially.     

The study of a region: An exercise in taste,temperament, and training?

Brenda E. F. Beck. Peasant Society in Koñku: A Study of Right and Left Subcastes in South India. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1972. xix + 354 pp. Diagrams, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliography, and index. $16.50.     

Human impact around settlement sites: a phytolith and mineralogical study for assessing site boundaries,phytolith preservation,and implications for spatial reconstructions using plant remains

Defining the extent of human activity around settlement sites is of particular significance in archaeology as it may define peripheral activity areas and thus the site's boundary. In Near Eastern archaeology, site boundaries are usually defined by the presence of architectural and other macroscopic archaeological remains. Here we use the phytolith concentrations and morphotype assemblages, as well as changes in the mineralogical composition of the sediments in and around the small Iron Age site of Izbet Sartah in central Israel to determine the site boundaries. The site has a shallow stratigraphy and highly bioturbated sediments. Coincidental changes in the clay/quartz ratio and phytolith concentrations define the boundary between high and low impact anthropogenic activities. This boundary is generally some 20 m away from the architectural remains. In addition, we note that the phytoliths in the site's core show clear evidence of having been affected by chemical dissolution (i.e., diagenesis), while those in the vicinity of the site's boundary have undergone severe diagenesis. These observations indicate that phytolith diagenesis will affect site boundaries determination, as well as phytolith-based reconstructions of activity areas. We propose that phytolith preservation depends on the initial amount of available silica, the depth of burial with respect to the active root area of modern vegetation, and the presence of fresh phytoliths in the soil.