Detecting Paris: The character of the city in Eugène Sue's Les Mystères de Paris (1842-1843)

Paris has been described as the central character of Eugène Sue's best-seller, Les Mystères de Paris. However, the opening image of la Cité, which evoked the slums as a dark continent for the intrepid bourgeois explorer to discover, has perpetuated the idea that Sue's Paris is limited to a stylised gothic underworld. This article investigates both these perceptions by examining the nature and contrasts of the capital as Sue presents it, and by suggesting some of the ways in which the city facilitates melodrama, intrigue and social comment. It argues that, despite focusing on isolated parts of the capital rather than the city as a whole, Sue's representation of Paris offers wider insights into the workings of the modern city which are often overlooked.     

Selective woodland exploitation for charcoal production. A detailed analysis of charcoal kiln remains (ca. 1300–1900 AD) from Zoersel (northern Belgium)

A detailed study of charcoal burning activities has been made for the Zoersel forest (Northern Belgium) based on an inventory of charcoal kiln remains, the analyses of wood charcoal and other charred botanical macroremains and radiocarbon dating of 10 of these kilns. Age determination of the youngest kilns was refined by dendrochronological analysis of trees growing on top of these kiln sites. The results show that, although many kilns were found, charcoal was produced in Zoersel only at certain moments during late and post-medieval times suggesting that charcoal burning was not a part of the regular management practice of these forests. The wood used for the production of charcoal mainly consists of taxa of alluvial (alder) forests while the kilns are situated on sites that currently are rather dry, with an oak dominated vegetation. For the older kilns, this contrast could be explained by an important change in local soil conditions. The younger kilns may be related to the conversion of alder woodland to grassland in the lower parts of the domain, with the kilns being constructed in the nearby dryer woodland areas.     

Gender Equality and Decent Work in Australia

In 1998 the International Labour Organization (ILO) advanced the notion of ‘decent work’ as a way to enhance opportunities for women and men to obtain productive work in conditions of freedom, equality, security and human dignity. This concept is now both salient and contested in national and international policy debates. In a 2008–09 campaign, the ILO asserted that ‘gender equality [is] at the heart of decent work’. This article examines appeals to decent work in Australian parliamentary discourse and proposes how best to make use of the concept. It argues that gender equality is fundamental to decent work.

1998年世界劳工组织提出了“体面工作”的概念以促进男女在自由、平等、安全和尊严的条件下从事有益的工作。这个概念在国家和国际的政策辩论中都占有显要的位置。国际劳工组织在2008、2009年的活动中,强调性别平等位居体面工作的核心。本文考察了澳大利亚议会的相关言论,并对使用好这个概念有所建议。作者认为性别平等是体面工作的基础。     

Scientific strategists in the period of mamlakhtiyut: Interaction between the academic community and political power centers

In the first decades of the State of Israel an elitist group of scientists and scholars from academic institutions organized itself into a powerful status group. Its members participated in the establishment and development of programs and processes that had a significant impact on Israeli society. The power of this group (which we term “scientific strategists”) derived from personal and institutional cooperation between its members and leading political figures who had a strong influence on its agenda. This interaction was based on mutual trust and loyalty and contributed to establishing the infrastructure for the main political tradition at that time – mamlakhtiyut (the centrality of state interests). The article examines the activities of the scientific strategists, their ability to participate in government institutions without forfeiting their academic bases, and the ways in which political leaders promoted their symbolic status, financially supported their scientific activity, and endowed them with rewards and public recognition.     

Resettlement,Opium and Labour Dependence: Akha–Tai Relations in Northern Laos

Forestry is a major source of revenue for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The Government’s view is that shifting cultivation in the highlands is the primary cause of deforestation and erosion; this has led it to establish a policy of eliminating shifting cultivation by the resettlement of highland people in or near the lowlands. Here, it is assumed, the highlanders will be able to lead a more sedentary existence, cultivate wet rice, and benefit from various forms of development assistance. In the district of Muang Sing in northern Laos this policy has been partly responsible for the movement of large numbers of Akha people downhill to settle on the lower slopes of the highlands, at the periphery of the lowlands. This movement has been further encouraged by the low productivity of the Akha swidden economy. This article argues that Akha expectations of a more secure livelihood have not been fulfilled due to the ravages of disease, high rates of opium addiction, and the lack of government assistance. Instead, the Akha of the lower slopes have become an impoverished labour force, exploited for the benefit of the politically and economically dominant Tai lowlanders.