Alternative Food Economies and Transformative Politics in Times of Crisis: Insights from the Basque Country and Greece

Why and how do alternative economies emerge, how do they develop and what is their contribution, if any, to transformative politics? Alternative economies proliferate in the countries worse hit by economic crisis and austerity, such as Spain or Greece. Yet the existing literature is stuck in a counter‐productive division between celebration and critique. We move beyond this division applying philosopher Daniel Bensaïd's understanding of politics to two alternative food economies, one in the Basque Country and one in Greece. We illuminate the activist strategies and specific conjunctures within which the two alternatives emerged and explain how they develop in the face of political‐economic barriers. Alternative economies, we conclude, can be transformational when they are inserted in activist strategies directed to extend conflict, social struggles and challenge the capital–state nexus.     

Unterwegs zu einer gelungenen Popularisierung sinologischen Wissens: Die Dame mit der Phönixkrone: Tang-zeitliche Grabfunde der Adeligen Li Chui (711–736)

In a popular scientific way this collection of essays is intended to present to a wider audience the findings of the excavation and preservation of the hitherto untouched tomb of Li Chui 李倕 (711–736), a 3rd degree cousin of Tang Emperor Li Longji 李隆基 as they had been documented in an interdisciplinary scientific publication before. Most remarkable among the objects excavated were her rich jewellery headgear and appliqués on her dress for their good condition and completeness. Whereas the majority of the essays go into the details of an archaeological and historical analysis supplemented by comparative aspects, there are some irrelevant and tiring essays that run off the topic of the book, besides other shortcomings. In conclusion the reviewer discusses the criteria that should be applied to any kind of popular scientific publication.     

Iron Age people of Norway

‘Iron Age People in Norway’ is an interdisciplinary research project. The source material consists of archaeological finds of graves containing human skeletal remains. Archaeological and physical anthropological methods and data will be combined in analyses of the people, their living conditions, aspects of social organization and questions about ethnic groups, using a specially developed computer registration system and database structure. The in‐depth analyses concentrate on the five northernmost counties in Norway, while the catalogue covers the whole country.     

The Challenge of Modernity. Essays on Grazia Deledda

Sam Rohdie (1995) The Passion of Pier Paolo Pasolini (Bloomington and Indianapolis: British Film Institute and Indiana University Press), pp. i‐x, 1‐230, $15.95, ISBN 0‐85170‐518‐9 paperback; Patrick Rumble ( 1996) Allegories of Contamination: Pier Paolo Pasolini's ‘Trilogy of Life’ (Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press), pp. i‐ix, l‐207,$50,hardback, $ 17.95, paperback; Maurizio Viano (1993) A Certain Realism. Making Use of Pasolini's Film Theory and Practice (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press), pp. i‐xix, 1‐368, $40, hardback, $ 19.95, paperback.

Daniela Luigia Caglioti (1996) Associazionismo e sociabilità d'élite a Napoli nel XIX secolo (Naples: Liguori Editore), pp. 1‐169, 24,000 lire, ISBN 88‐207‐2637‐8 paperback.

Simone Neri Serneri (1995) Classe, partito, nazione. Alle origini della democrazia italiana, 1919‐1948 (Manduria: Piero Lacaita Editore), pp. 1‐298,25,000 lire, paperback.

Roberto Romani (1994) L'economia politica del Risorgimento italiano (Turin: Bollati Boringhieri), pp. 1‐248, ISBN 88‐339‐0856‐9 paperback.

Alberto M. Banti (1996) Storia della borghesia italiano: l'età liberait (Rome: Donzelli), pp. i‐xvii, 1‐395, 50,000 lire, ISBN 88‐7989‐170‐7 hardback.

Alexander J. De Grand ( 1995) Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The ‘Fascist’ Style of Rule (London and New York; Routledge), pp. 1‐102, $ 10.95, ISBN 0‐415‐10598‐6 paperback; Richard Bessel (ed.) (1996) Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Comparisons and Contrasts (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press), pp. 1‐242, $54.95, ISBN 0‐521‐47129‐X hardback, $ 18.95, ISBN 0‐521‐47711‐5 paperback.

Enzo Collotti and Lutz Klinkhammer (1996) Il fascismo e l'Italia in guerra: Una conversazione fra storia e storiografia (Rome: Edizioni Ediesse), pp. 1‐202,20,000 lire, ISBN 88‐230‐0217‐6.

Michele Sarfatti ( 1994) Mussolini contro gli ebrei: Cronaca dell'elaborazione delle leggi del 1938 (Turin: Silvio Zamorani editore), pp. 1‐199,30,000 lire, ISBN 88‐7158‐033‐8 paperback.

Carl Ipsen (1996) Dictating Demography, the Problem of Population in Fascist Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. i‐xvii, 1‐281, $54.95 ISBN 0‐521‐554527 hardback.

Stephen Gundle ( 1995) I comunisti italiani tra Hollywood e Mosco. La sfida della cultura di massa (1943‐1991) (Florence: Giunti), pp. i‐xii, 1‐572, ISBN 88‐09‐20642‐8 paperback.

Carl Levy (ed.) (1996) Italian Regionalism: History, Identity and Politics (Oxford and Dulles, Va.: Berg), pp. i‐xvi, 1‐197, $39, ISBN 1‐85973‐131‐7 hardback, $ 16.50, ISBN 1‐85973‐156‐2 paperback.

David I. Kertzer (1996) Politics and Symbols. The Italian Communist Party and the Fall of Communism (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press), pp. 1‐224, $25, ISBN 0‐300‐06612‐0 hardback.

Pier Paolo Giglioli, Sandra Cavicchioli and Giolo Fele ( 1997) Rituali di degradazione: Anatomia del processo Cusani (Bologna: II Mulino), pp. 1‐243,28,000 lire, ISBN 88‐15‐05713‐7.

Mario Baldassarri and Franco Modigliani (eds) (1995) The Italian Economy. What Next? (New York: St Martin's Press), pp. 1‐200, $69.95, ISBN 0‐312‐12475‐9 hardback.

Piergiorgio Corbetta and Arturo M. L. Parisi (eds) (1997) Cavalieri e fanti: Proposte e proponenti nelle elezioni del 1994 e del 1996 (Bologna: Il Mulino), pp. 1‐421; Piergiorgio Corbetta and Arturo M. L Parisi (eds) (1997) A domanda risponde: Il cambiamento nel voto degli italiani nelle elezioni del 1994 e del 1996 (Bologna: Il Mulino), pp. 1‐410.     

Comparison of Nonlinear Static Methods for the Seismic Assessment of Plan Irregular Frame Buildings with Non Seismic Details

The use of Nonlinear Static Procedures (NSPs) for the seismic assessment of plan irregular buildings is challenging. The most common pushover-based approaches have led to adequate results in regular buildings, and hence, there is a need to verify the validity of such methods on the assessment of irregular structures. In this article, four commonly used nonlinear static procedures (CSM, N2, MPA, ACSM) are applied on the assessment of two existing five- and eight-story plan-asymmetric buildings in Turkey. The accuracy of the different NSPs is evaluated through comparisons with the results derived from nonlinear dynamic analyses. The results are presented in terms of interstory drifts, normalized top displacements, lateral displacement profiles, chord rotations, base shear, and top displacement ratios. The performance of such procedures in evaluating the damage limitation according to the Eurocode8 is also verified. Special attention is given to the ACSM (Adaptive Capacity Spectrum Method) whose performance in 3D plan irregular buildings has recently been tested. Conclusions about the performance of each NSP are outlined at the end of the article.     

Multi-technique investigation of historical Chinese dyestuffs used in Ningxia carpets

In this article, an extensive work is presented concerning the characterization with both chromatographic (high-performance liquid chromatography) and spectroscopic (surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and visible reflectance spectroscopy) techniques of historical Chinese dyestuffs in several carpets, mostly coming from the Ningxia region in Northern China and dating to the seventeenth–nineteenth centuries. Notably, the color of the background of these fine artifacts has been an object of debate since, while being depicted as bright red in the ancient iconography, nowadays it appears as orange/yellow. Therefore, in addition to the identification of all the colorants used in the carpets, the present study investigated the reasons of this apparent inconsistency, pointing out an explanation based on the joined use of the yellow dye obtained from the pagoda tree and a “fugitive” dye obtained from brazilwood.