The uses and abuses of ‘secular religion’: Jules Monnerot's path from communism to fascism

From starting his intellectual career as a surrealist, communist and co-founder of the Collège de Sociologie in 1937, Jules Monnerot (1911–95) ended it as a candidate for the Front National in 1989.In this article I offer an explanation for the unexpected trajectory of this thinker whose work is little known in the English-speaking world. Without overlooking the idea that the infamous College encouraged such tendencies, I argue that the notion of ‘secular religion’, as Monnerot developed it in his Sociology of Communism (1949), goes some way to explain his gradual radicalization from Cold Warrior to fascist, a path that otherwise seems unlikely for a French intellectual after World War II. In order to emphasize the unusualness of Monnerot's case, I contrast it with that of his erstwhile collaborator, Georges Bataille. I show that accusations of fascism often levelled against Bataille should be more accurately directed at Monnerot, indeed that the fascism inherent within the College of Sociology was brought out not by Bataille but by Monnerot. Monnerot's case is unsettling first because his definition of ‘secular religion’ contributed to his pro-fascist stance; and second, because it forces us tore think what is meant by ‘philosophy after Auschwitz.’ This term usually brings to mind scholars such as T.W. Adorno, Emil Fackenheimor Emmanuel Levinas. Monnerot provides a rare example of a thinker whose fascism only developed after the Holocaust, a shocking response that demands the attention of all those interested in the relationship between religion and politics.     

The Changing Fortunes of a Policy Entrepreneur: The Case of Ross Garnaut

Few people inside or outside government have had a greater impact on public policy in Australia than Ross Garnaut. His report in 1990 provided a blueprint for Australia's economic ‘engagement’ with Asia, whether or not one agreed with its underlying logic and analysis. The reception of his report on climate change in 2011 could hardly have been more different. Why is it that some ideas enjoy wide support from influential actors and are enthusiastically taken up by policymakers, while others struggle to gain traction, even when backed by government? This paper provides some possible answers to this puzzle by identifying factors that facilitate or obstruct the influence and impact of ‘policy entrepreneurs’.

在澳大利亚政府内外,对公共政策影响最大的人士莫过于郜若素了。他发表于1990年的报告,你同意其逻辑分析也好,不同意也罢,反正它都为亚澳经济关系提供了蓝图。他于2011年发表的环境报却得到迥然不同的反应。何以一些观点能够得到重要社会主体的广泛支持以及政策制定者的积极采纳,而另一些观点哪怕是有政府做后盾,也难得推广呢？本文通过寻找有利或有碍“政策专业户”发挥影响的因素,对这个问题作了回答。     

Permian non-marine bivalves of the Falkland Islands and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Simões, M.G., Quaglio, F., Warren, L., Anelli, L.E., Stone, P., Riccomini, C., Grohmann, C.H. & Chamani, M.A.C. December 2012. Permian non-marine bivalves of the Falkland Islands and their palaeoenvironmental significance. Alcheringa 36, 543–554. ISSN 0311-5518.

We describe the occurrence of non-marine bivalves in exposures of the Middle Permian (Capitanian) Brenton Loch Formation on the southern shore of Choiseul Sound, East Falklands. The bivalves are associated with ichnofossils and were collected from a bed in the upper part of the formation, within a 25 cm thick interval of dark siltstones and mudstones with planar lamination, overlain by massive sandstones. The shells are articulated, with the valves either splayed open or closed. At the top of the succession, mudstone beds nearly 1.5 m above the bivalve-bearing layers yielded well-preserved Glossopteris sp. cf. G. communis leaf fossils. The closed articulated condition of some shells indicates preservation under high sedimentation rates with low residence time of bioclasts at the sediment/water interface. However, the presence of specimens with splayed shells is usually correlated to the slow decay of the shell ligament in oxygen-deficient bottom waters. The presence of complete carbonized leaves of Glossopteris associated with the bivalve-bearing levels also suggests a possibly dysoxic-anoxic bottom environment. Overall, our data suggest that the bivalves were preserved by abrupt burial, possibly by distal sediment flows into a Brenton Loch lake, and may represent autochthonous to parautochthonous fossil accumulations. The shells resemble those of anthracosiids and are herein assigned to Palaeanodonta sp. aff. P. dubia, a species also found in the Permian succession of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. Our results confirm that (a) the true distributions in space and time of all Permian non-marine (freshwater) bivalves are not yet well known, and (b) there is no evidence for marine conditions in the upper part of the Brenton Loch Formation.     

Deficiencies and challenges in the study of ancient tuberculosis DNA

We explore the standards of research and reporting needed to justify the destructive analysis of archaeological human bone for biomolecular studies of ancient tuberculosis (TB). Acceptable standards in osteological interpretation have been met in some biomolecular papers, but there are also cases where insufficient care has been taken in distinguishing between pathognomonic lesions and those that are ‘consistent with’ a diagnosis of TB. Some biomolecular studies have failed to recognize that archaeological bones might be contaminated with environmental mycobacteria whose DNA could give rise to false positives in polymerase chain reactions directed at members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The difficulties of applying spoligotyping to ancient DNA have also been underestimated and conclusions drawn from such analyses are often weakly supported. Assumptions that mycobacterial DNA preserves better than human DNA, and that contamination with modern DNA is less of a problem, has led in some cases to a laxity in research standards with insufficient attention paid to the need to authenticate ancient DNA results. We illustrate our concerns by reference to a recent paper reporting biomolecular detection of ancient TB DNA in skeletons from the eastern Mediterranean Neolithic settlement of Atlit-Yam. We are unconvinced that the skeletal evidence presented in this paper gives sufficient indication of TB to warrant destructive analysis, and we are concerned that during the biomolecular part of the project inadequate attention was paid to the possibility that results might be due to laboratory cross-contamination or to amplification of environmental mycobacterial DNA present in the bones.     

“All smoke and mirrors”: The World Archaeological Congress, 1987–2004

Este artículo traza la génesis y el desarrollo del World Archaeological Congress (WAC) desde el exitoso congreso realizado en Southampton (WAC-1) de 1986 hasta el 2004. Relata desde la prohibición a la participación de Sudáfrica y Namibia en el WAC-1, que provocó que el WAC perdiera su papel como el undécimo congreso de la Unión Internacional de las Ciencias Prehistóricas y Protohistoricas (IUSPP) afiliada a la UNESCO. Destaca que hubo diferencias fundamentales en cuanto al papel y las responsabilidades de los arqueólogos, entre los organizadores de WAC-1 y el IUSPP antes de que la mencionada prohibición causara la ruptura. El artículo enfatiza que el WAC nunca será capaz de lograr su completo potencial hasta que logre encontrar financiación para mantener una Secretaría a tiempo completa. Finalmente cuestiona si hay un papel continuado para el WAC en el siglo XXI, y finaliza sugiriendo tres cuestiones interrelacionadas que indican que el WAC es más necesario que nunca.

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Résumé Cet article souligne la genèse et le développement du Congrès Mondial de l'Archéologie de la première rencontre fructueuse de Southampton (CMA-1) en 1986 jusqu'à 2004. Ceci est en lien avec l'exclusion de la participation de l'Afrique du Sud et de la Namibie au CMA-1 qui causa pour le CMA la perte de son r?le en tant que onzième congrès de l'Union International des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques (UISPP) affiliée à l'UNESCO. Il est noté qu'il y avait déjà des différences fondamentales dans la compréhension des r?les et responsabilités des archéologues entre les organisateurs du CMA-1 et de l'UISPP avant même que la question de l'exclusion provoque la scission. Cet article insiste sur le fait que le CMA ne sera jamais capable de réaliser son plein potentiel tant que ne sera pas trouvé le financement pour supporter un secrétariat permanent. Il est finalement question de savoir si le CMA a toujours un r?le à jouer en ce début de 21ième siècle et de conclure en abordant trois questions inter-reliées qui suggèrent que le CMA est effectivement plus nécessaire que jamais.

     

Civil Liberties in Wartime

I have a simple thesis: In time of war—or, more precisely, in time of national crisis—we respond too harshly in our restriction of civil liberties, and then later regret our behavior. To explore this thesis, I will briefly review our experience in 1798, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War and the Vietnam War. I will then offer some observations.     

Social Identity and Ethnic Interaction in the Western Pueblos of the American Southwest

With the increasing realization of the frequency of migration in prestratified societies, our understanding of ethnic interaction needs to become more sophisticated. This paper discusses ethnic interaction in prestratified societies on a theoretical level by examining currently used models based on Barth's concepts of interaction (Barth, F., Ethnic Groups and Boundaries, Little, Brown, Boston, 1969, pp. 9–39) and Bourdieu's concept of habitus (Bourdieu, P., Outline of a Theory of Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1977). These current models are flawed, and an alternative model relying on reflexive decisions by agents who are constrained by their place within the existing social structure is presented. This model is then used to examine ethnic identity in Western Pueblo societies in three areas of central Arizona: Point of Pines, Grasshopper, and Silver Creek. All three areas were locations of prehistoric migration and subsequent interaction between migrants and indigenous peoples. However, the nature of the interaction differed considerably, with ethnicity being emphasized in some places, de-emphasized in others, and ignored all together in still others.