Exploring subsistence and cultural complexes on the south coast of Papua New Guinea using palaeodietary analyses

We present the results of a palaeodietary study of a skeletal sample (～800–300 BP) from the south coast of Papua New Guinea (Nebira, site ACJ) using multiple stable isotope analysis of bone collagen. The carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope ratios of 28 individuals (n = 12 males, n = 13 females and n = 3 subadults) suggested the diet at Nebira was based on C₃ plants (likely starchy vegetable staples) and included protein resources from the surrounding forested areas and C₃/C₄ savannah grasslands such as wallaby and other wild animals. Domestic species (e.g. Sus scrofa, Canis familiaris and Gallus gallus) may also have been consumed but could not be differentiated from wild species by stable isotope analysis. There were no significant differences in stable isotope values between males and females, but the δ³⁴S values of the juveniles suggest they may have consumed varied protein resources. The sulphur stable isotope ratios indicate there was no discernable marine component in the diet of any of the individuals from Nebira. The stable isotope results are interpreted within a wider context of Papuan south coast trade and exchange systems in an attempt to understand local interaction in the region.     

A Sign of the Times: Scandinavian Town Directories as Sources for Urban Historical Geography

The position of town and trade directories as sources for the reconstruction of former urban geographies of Scandinavia is discussed. Scandinavian directories have a long history which, in the case of major urban centres, can be traced back to the eighteenth century. They contain valuable information with respect to the social, economic, political and demographic organization of modern Scandinavian urban environments through extensive listings of names and addresses. Despite the wealth of information contained therein, directories remain an underused and unresearched data source due mainly to their perceived incompatibility with the themes pursued by research in urban historical geography and the diversity of alternative high quality sources available. Admittedly, the use of directories is not without problems and an assessment of the accuracy, availability and reliability of directory information is presented in this paper. Nevertheless, to dismiss directories represents a serious oversight: the continued history, rapid rate of update and spatial ubiquity of publication across the region after the onset of industrialization make directories a powerful source for comparative urban historical geography research in Scandinavia. Moreover, directories are highly versatile data sources and represent powerful artefacts of modernity insofar as they function as mirrors of cultural change and consumption.     

REGIONAL PLANNING IN THE USSR

The theory and practice of drawing up and implementing regional plans, or “territorial plans,” as they are known in the Soviet Union, has been a matter of considerable debate in the Soviet literature, a debate that has been complicated by differences in terminology. The author discusses various Soviet definitions of “territorial planning” and points out disagreement concerning its nature and scope. The major forms of territorial planning as now practiced in the USSR are reviewed, and two forms in particular—regional economic planning and regional physical planning—are distinguished. It is concluded that territorial planning continues to have a somewhat uncertain status in the USSR, with inadequate official support, although the issue remains a matter of considerable interest to the leadership under the Gorbachev administration.     

Book reviews

Plans, Pragmatism and People: the Legacy of Soviet Planning for Today's Cities. R. Antony French. London, UCL Press, 1995, 233 pp. US$19.95 pb, ISBN 0 82296 106 7

The Politics of Decentralisation: Revitalising Local Democracy. D. Burns, R. Hambleton and P. Hoggett. London, Macmillan, 1994, xvi + 304 pp., £12.50 pb, ISBN 0 333 52164 1

Environmentally Sustainable Business: a Local and Regional Perspective. P. Roberts. London, Paul Chapman, 1995, 271 pp., £16.95, ISBN 1 85396 240 6

International Perspectives in Urban Studies 3. Ronan Paddison, John Money and Bill Lever (Eds). London, Jessica Kingsley, 1995, 284 pp., US$37.50 pb, ISBN 1 85302 311 6

British Planning Policy in Transition: Planning in the Major Years. M. Tewdwr‐Jones (Ed.). London, UCL Press, 1996, 262pp., £14.95 pb, ISBN 1 85728 422 4, £40.00 hb, ISBN 1 85728 421 6     

Playing with the future: social irrealism and the politics of aesthetics

In this article we wish to explore the political possibilities of video games. Numerous scholars now take seriously the place of popular culture in the remaking of our geographies, but video games still lag behind. For us, this tendency reflects a general response to them as imaginary spaces that are separate from everyday life and ‘real’ politics. It is this disconnect between abstraction and lived experience that we complicate by defining play as an event of what Brian Massumi calls lived abstraction. We wish to short-circuit the barriers that prevent the aesthetic resonating with the political and argue that through their enactment, video games can animate fantastical futures that require the player to make, and reflect upon, profound ethical decisions that can be antagonistic to prevailing political imaginations. We refer to this as social irrealism to demonstrate that reality can be understood through the impossible and the imagined.