‘Signs of the still recent war’: Medbh McGuckian and conflict

In a review of Medbh McGuckian's poetry, Christopher Benfey maintained that ‘[t]o scan her poems for allusions to sectarian violence would be as fruitless and naïve as to sift Emily Dickinson's poems for references to the Civil War’. McGuckian's work is not often read for its commentary on or critique of violence in Northern Ireland. Indeed, in an interview with John Brown, the poet revealed that ‘I never thought of myself as a “Troubles” poet; it was not part of my oeuvre and I couldn't do it simply as an exercise, so I didn't take it on’. This article tests the validity of her self-assessment by examining poems which borrow from sources focused on conflict, particularly the two world wars. The intertexts allow the poet to explore moments of crisis (due to violence, imprisonment and enforced deprivation) without having to deal explicitly with the more immediate conflict in Northern Ireland.     

Mapping the thematic landscape of Dabiq magazine

This article presents a thematic network analysis of Dabiq—a prominent English-language e-magazine produced by the Islamic State. Through formal qualitative analysis, the article examines the e-magazine’s first 13 issues in order to better understand its structure, evolution and intended audiences. In terms of structure, thematic network analysis provides a comprehensive and holistic understanding of Dabiq’s themes, identifying a range of concerns that are broader and more complex than is often supposed by academic and professional commentators. In terms of evolution, this analysis reveals a thematic landscape that has demonstrated considerable dynamism over four distinct phases throughout the magazine’s publication. In terms of understanding audiences, it is argued that Dabiq has been particularly engaged with the manipulation of group-level identities in an apparent attempt to garner support from global audiences. Themes related to allegiance, the group’s strengths and victories, and territorial expansion all feature consistently and prominently. They seek to create an in-group identity centred on victory, and to frame the Islamic State’s expansion and successes as a group achievement on behalf of Islam itself. Additionally, Dabiq provides the Islamic State with an opportunity to justify its actions and its religious authenticity to a broader Muslim audience, and thus provide the Islamic State with legitimacy beyond its borders. Recognising these thematic dynamics will be important for those engaged in counter-messaging and the development of counternarratives.     

The Dimensions of Politics and Voter Behaviour in Preferential Systems: The Case of Australia

This project examines the dimensions of politics and voter preferences in Australia. Evidence from an empirical spatial analysis provides that Australian parties and voters are organised along a unidimensional socioeconomic continuum. Numerous individual-level factors, including party identification, ideology and a host of demographic and opinion variables, predict voters' positions along the continuum. Moreover, voter locations are shown to relate strongly to vote choice, demonstrating the importance of socioeconomic positions to voter behaviour in Australia. Finally, because this approach allows for a full examination of voter preference orderings, it is important to the study of voting behaviour and representation under preferential electoral institutions in Australia and elsewhere.     

Convergence and Divergence in the Australian Space Economy

Australia's space economy has changed rapidly since the 1970s through processes of globalisation, economic restructuring and demographic change. Trends in population distribution and patterns of employment and investment in economic activity highlight both spatial diffusion and concentration. Migration to ‘sun belt’ regions and suburban growth in the mega metro regions is creating population-led demand for production and services, thus creating investment growth and new employment in some consumer-oriented economic activities. However many internationally linked and national market serving economic functions are increasingly concentrated in the two largest cities at strategically located old and new nodes of agglomeration. No longer can population growth be equated directly with increased economic activity, and there are significant spatial mismatches between the outcomes of demographic and economic processes across the nation's cities and regions.     

‘At intervals I was nearly stunned by the noise he made’: Listening to African American religious sound in the era of Slavery

Sharply differing perceptions, between blacks and whites, as to the role of sound in religious performance challenge us to recover what we can of the aural universe of African American slaves. To whites during the era of slavery, the sounds emitted by African American preachers and their congregations often seemed wildly inappropriate. In particular, the sermons of black preachers sounded like a mere jumble of thoughts, so much intellectual trash. Blacks, however, heard different things in these sermons, communal, interactive sounds, meanings conveyed through the shifting tones and culturally compelling rhythms of the preacher's voice. Rather than proceeding in linear, logical fashion, black sermons grouped loosely and often surprisingly juxtaposed ideas and images around a theme or series of themes, and in this respect were consonant with other forms of black cultural expression.     

‘Eyes on where children play’: a retrospective study of active free play

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influenced childhood active free play. Participants were 13 young adults who resided in one western Canadian city. They took part in semi-structured and walk-along interviews during which they were asked about their memories and experiences of play. Analysis showed that, whereas parental restrictions and safety concerns were limiting factors, a sense of community and safety in numbers facilitated their involvement in active free play. However, the young adults thought these factors had since become eroded from modern society. We concluded a reduced sense of perceived safety exists because there are fewer eyes on where children play.     

The Archaeology of Resilience: A Case Study from Peel Town,Western Australia, 1829–30

International Journal of Historical Archaeology - This paper describes the archaeology of one family’s tolerance to the stressors associated with the settlement of a new place. Artifacts...     

A PXRF-based chemostratigraphy and provenience system for the Cooper’s Ferry site, Idaho

Correlating archaeological finds with their associated stratigraphic context is elementary to modern excavation methods. Although micro-contextual approaches can provide invaluable perspectives, ascribing primary depositional status and associative context has traditionally been a qualitative exercise. To improve the empirical nature of this process as part of new excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry site in western Idaho, we established a chemostratigraphic framework that enables us to quantitatively relate the elemental geochemistry of sediments associated with artifacts and other samples back to a master lithostratigraphic sequence. We subjected a total of 151 PXRF readings from six lithostratigraphic units to multiple discriminant function analysis, which led to the identification of characteristic elements. To test the site’s chemostratigraphic framework, we collected PXRF readings from an infilled rodent burrow, which visually appeared to contain mixed sediments from multiple lithostratigraphic units. Statistical analysis could not relate the rodent burrow’s sedimentary geochemistry well to any of the known lithostratigraphic units, thus marking it as potentially disturbed. This methodological approach allows us to make quantitative correlations between stratigraphic units across the site and most importantly, enables us to independently evaluate whether objects from any part of the site are in direct association with “anomalous” or “regular” sediments.