Local gender contract and adaptive capacity in smallholder irrigation farming: a case study from the Kenyan drylands

This article presents the local gender contract of a smallholder irrigation farming community in Sibou, Kenya. Women's role in subsistence farming in Africa has mostly been analyzed through the lens of gender division of labor. In addition to this, we used the concept of ‘local gender contract’ to analyze cultural and material preconditions shaping gender-specific tasks in agricultural production, and consequently, men's and women's different strategies for adapting to climate variability. We show that the introduction of cash crops, as a trigger for negotiating women's and men's roles in the agricultural production, results in a process of gender contract renegotiation, and that families engaged in cash cropping are in the process of shifting from a ‘local resource contract’ to a ‘household income contract.’ Based on our analysis, we argue that a transformation of the local gender contract will have a direct impact on the community's adaptive capacity climate variability. It is, therefore, important to take the negotiation of local gender contracts into account in assessments of farming communities' adaptive capacity.     

Archaeological geophysical survey of a Prehistoric Bronze Age site in Cyprus (Alambra <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mouttes</Emphasis>)—applications and limitations

The University of Queensland Alambra Archaeological Mission (UQAAM) conducted a program of geophysical survey and archaeological excavation over four seasons from 2012 to 2016. This program has allowed this study to compile a large array of geophysical data, which has been tested against actual excavation results. By integrating the two forms of archaeological investigation, the UQAAM has been able to identify geophysical ‘signatures’ diagnostic and indicative of internal architectural features relating to the Cypriot Prehistoric Bronze Age (c2400–1750BC). This is the first time internal features have been identified using these techniques on a Middle Bronze Age site in Cyprus. The program has also identified two, and possibly four, areas of domestic settlement. This has yielded results that are of considerable value to cultural heritage managers of the site, which is experiencing development pressures. While identifying several constraints with the geophysical survey for the Prehistoric Bronze Age in Cyprus, the program has demonstrated the efficacy of a combined geophysical survey and excavation approach to sites of the Early-Middle Bronze Age period.     

Book reviews

Geoffrey Sherington. Australia's Immigrants 1788–1988. Second edition. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1990. x + 199 pp. $17.95 (paper).

Colin Golvan. The Distant Exodus. Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1990. 115 pp. $19.95 (paper).

R.A. Herr, H.R. Hall and M.G. Haward (eds.). Antarctica's Future: Continuity or Change? Canberra: Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1990. 338 pp. $29.95.

Klaus J. Pertz (ed.). Policies for Rational Use of Energy. Singapore, McGraw‐Hill/GTZ, 1989. xi + 189 pp. $US19.95.

James E. Dooley. Risk Analysis for Health and Environmental Management. Halifax and Jakarta: Environmental Management Development in Indonesia, 1990. xix + 188 pp. $Can15.00.

Paul A. Smith Jr. On Political War. Washington DC: National Defense University Press, 1989. xix + 279 pp. No price given.

Boris Kagarlitsky (translated by Rick Simon). The Dialectic of Change. London and New York: Verso, 1990. xi + 393 pp. $29.95 (paper).

R.J. May and William J. O'Malley (eds.). Observing Change in Asia. Bathurst: Crawford House Press, 1989. x + 265 pp. $24.95.

Kevin Hewison. Bankers and Bureaucrats: Capital and the Role of the State in Thailand. New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies, Monograph Series 34, 1989. 320 pp. $US30.00 (cloth), $US17.00 (paper).

Robert C. Rice (ed.). Indonesian Economic Development: Approaches, Technology, Small‐Scale Textiles, Urban Infrastructure and NGOs. Clayton: Monash University Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, 1990. iv + 106 pp. $12.00.

Paul Monk. Truth and Power: Robert S. Hardie and the Land Reform Debates in the Philippines 1950–1987. Clayton: Monash University, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, 1990. 168 + 41pp. $16.00.

Gregg R. Jones. Red Revolution: Inside the Philippine Guerrilla Movement. Boulder, Co.: Westview Press, 1989. xxii + 360 pp. $US26.95 (cloth).

Jose Maria Sison. The Philippine Revolution. The Leader's View. New York: Crane Russak, 1989. xxix + 241 pp.

Tan Liok Ee. The Rlietoric of Bangsa and Minzu: Community and Nation in Tension, the Malay Peninsula, 1900–1955. Clayton: Monash University, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, 1988.

Peter Rimmer and Lisa Allen (eds.). The Underside of Malaysian History. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1990. xiv + 259 pp. $S38.00.

Jane Drakard. A Malay Frontier: Unity and Duality in Sumatran Kingdom. Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University; Studies on Southeast Asia no.7, 1990. 205 pp. $US15.00.

Reading Southeast Asia — Translation Series Vol.1. Translation of Contemporary Japanese Scholarship on Southeast Asia. Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program, 1990. 188 pp. $US12.00.

Kennedy Graham. National Security Concepts of States: New Zealand. New York: Taylor and Francis/United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 1989. xvii + 180 pp. No price given.

Helen Fraser. Your Flag's Blocking Our Sun. Sydney: ABC Books, 1990. 215 pp. $24.95 (cloth).

William Cobbelt and Robin Cohen (ed.). Popular Struggles in South Africa. Tenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 1988. xiv + 234 pp. 25.00 (cloth), 5.95 (paper).

Frances Meli. South Africa Belongs to Us. Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1988. xxi + 258 pp. 19.95 (cloth), 5.95 (paper).

Peter Katjavivi. A History of Resistance in Namibia. London: James Currey/Paris: Unesco Press, 1988. 152 pp. 4.95 (paper).

Georges Fauriol (ed.). Security in the Americas. Washington DC: National Defense University Press, 1989. xv + 369 pp. No price given.     

Aggregation Decomposition and Aggregation Guidelines for a Class of Minimax and Covering Location Models

Facility location problems often involve movement between facilities to be located and customers/demand points, with distances between the two being important. For problems with many customers, demand point aggregation may be needed to obtain a computationally tractable model. Aggregation causes error, which should be kept small. We consider a class of minimax location models for which the aggregation may be viewed as a second‐order location problem, and use error bounds as aggregation error measures. We provide easily computed approximate “square root” formulas to assist in the aggregation process. The formulas establish that the law of diminishing returns applies when doing aggregation. Our approach can also facilitate aggregation decomposition for location problems involving multiple “separate” communities.     

A multi-proxy study of anthropogenic sedimentation and human occupation of Gledswood Shelter 1: exploring an interior sandstone rockshelter in Northern Australia

Rockshelters contain some of the most important archives of human activity in Australia but most research has focused on artifacts and cultural context. This study explores geomorphological and geoarchaeological approaches for understanding a sandstone rockshelter in interior northern Australia: Gledswood Shelter 1. At this site, magnetic susceptibility and micromorphology techniques were integrated with bulk sedimentology, soil chemistry and geochronology to better understand the record of human impact and site formation processes. The micromorphology studies indicate that primary depositional fabrics, such as graded bedding or laminations, are absent, and sediment structural development is low throughout the entire sequence, with most samples exhibiting a high degree of post-depositional mixing. The sediment magnetic susceptibility analysis reveals magnetic changes coinciding with human occupation, a result of anthropogenic burning. Specifically we highlight that combustion features are prevalent in this sandstone shelter and provide critical insights into the human usage of the shelter.     

Polarized Light Microscopy: An Old Technique Casts New Light on Māori Textile Plants

Understanding the composition of an artefact has ramifications for advancing human history and behaviour knowledge, providing cultural information about trade, agricultural practices and adaptation to new environments. However, accurate plant identification from artefacts is problematic, since textile production, age, dirt and/or conservation treatments obscure morphological features, and specimen size and/or ethical considerations hamper modern analytical methods. This study tested the efficacy of polarized light microscopy (PLM) in the identification of New Zealand plant species commonly used in Māori textiles, and demonstrates that morphological and birefringent features observed using PLM have the potential to distinguish between‐ and within‐plant genera.     

Polarized light microscopy casts new light on plants used to make tapa

Information about plant materials of construction in artefacts advances knowledge about human history, agriculture, trade, migration and adaptation to new environments. Typically, materials identification in artefacts made from plants is problematic, since processing, age, dirt and surface treatments can mask identifying features, while ethical considerations relating to sampling limit the use of some analytical techniques. The study tests the usefulness of polarized light microscopy for identifying the New Zealand and Pacific plant species used to make tapa, indicating birefringent and morphological characteristics that can be used to differentiate fibres at the level Moraceae (Pacific; from genera Artocarpus, Broussonetia and Ficus) and Malvaceae (New Zealand; from genera Hoheria and Plangianthus).