The Magic of Narrative in the Emplotment of State‐Subject Relations: Who's Telling Whose Story in the Native Title Process in Australia?

Since 1992 Australian Aboriginal communities have been engaged in a complex and fraught legal process for the recognition of their traditional rights to country (‘native title’). In this article I argue that it is theoretically and critically illuminating to investigate the broader ‘meaning effects’ of the native title determination process on the subjective experience of the state in Australia. The article demonstrates this through examining the narrative effects of certain discursive moments through which identities get objectified. Through examining such moments in the discourse and practice of native title from the perspective of a participant‐observer, I seek to advance our theoretical understanding of how the narrative properties of speech (or other performative behaviours) in specific contexts structure the subjective experience of the state.     

Mundane mobilities,banal travels

Participatory approaches have become a critical and somewhat normalised methodology in geography for working in a positive and constructive way with Indigenous communities. Nevertheless, recent literature has seldom examined the sustainability of participatory projects or looked critically at their ongoing impacts. Since the early 2000s, Nibutani, an Ainu community in Hokkaido, Japan, has developed several participatory projects led by a non-Indigenous professional. The projects have involved community members working to revitalise and promote local Ainu culture. Over the last decade, some positive outcomes from the projects have been observed; for example, the younger generation has had opportunities to engage intensively in learning local Indigenous knowledge and skills. The projects have also helped some participants to develop a stronger sense of ethnic identity and gain empowerment. Still, the power transfer from the talented non-Indigenous leader to community members has been limited and Nibutani has yet to realise a sustainable project structure. Also, community members have multiple perspectives in regard to the direction of participatory projects and their impact. I discuss these issues in Nibutani's participatory projects based on my observations and interviews and suggest that Indigenous geographies need to undertake follow-up evaluations of participatory projects.     

Expanding women's rural medical work in early modern Brittany: the Daughters of the Holy Spirit

During the eighteenth century, orders of nursing sisters took on an expanded role in the rural areas of Brittany. This article explores the impact of religious change on the medical activities of these women. While limits were placed on the medical practice of unlicensed individuals, areas of new opportunity for nuns as charitable practitioners were created by devout nobles throughout the eighteenth century. These nuns provided comprehensive care for the sick poor on their patrons' estates, acting not only as nurses, but also in lieu of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries. This article argues that the medical knowledge and expertise of these sisters from the nursing orders were highly valued by the elites of early modern Brittany.     

Fighting for recognition: feminist geography in East-Central Europe

In East-Central Europe (ECE), the evolution of feminist geographies began after the end of state socialism. Aiming to identify individual and shared characteristics, this study outlines the development of gender/feminist geography in East-Central European countries. Providing a brief historical overview, the first part of the article substantiates the arguments that i) the evolution of feminist geography in ECE is linked to the post-socialist transition; although the fall of state socialism has removed the political, social and ideological obstacles that prevented its gaining ground, this approach is still considered to be relatively new; and ii) today, development is hindered mainly by conservative mainstream geography, which seems slower in transforming itself than in some related disciplines which have ‘embraced’ gender studies. The topics, methods and theories of feminist geography that have developed in ECE is significantly influenced by the resistance that advocates of feminist geography have to contend with from representatives of mainstream post-socialist geographies. The second part of the article presents the major characteristics of gender/feminist geography in Europe's post-socialist region, while providing an outline of the various methods used in an attempt to earn positive recognition for gender studies. The concluding section maps some lessons to be learnt on the relationship between the production of feminist geographical knowledge and post-socialism.     

Foucauldian discourse: Power and truth in Urban and regional policy making

This paper explores the implications of Michael Foucault's work on discourse, knowledge and power for our understanding of the policy process, and for planning theory. A recurrent weakness in planning theory is its failure to address issues of power. In particular, the recent turn to argument in planning theory, grounded in Habermasian Communicative Rationality, is marked by power‐blindness. The importance of a focus on power is discussed, focusing on the sociopolitical contexts of planning, theory in planning and the inter‐disciplinary nature of planning. The paper concludes that the turn to argument risks rendering the policy process vulnerable to the influence of power. Foucault's work suggests an alternative planning paradigm which unmasks and challenges power and brings the possibility of empowerment.     

International Human Rights Conventions and Australian Political Debates: Issues Raised by the 'Toonen Case'

In April 1994, the United Nations Human Rights Committee communicated its view to the Australian Government that Tasmanian anti-gay laws were inconsistent with Australia's international human rights obligations. Issues of Australia's human rights protection, treaty accession and Commonwealth-State relations, each of which have traditionally been characterised by major partisan differences, were brought to the fore of political debate. While the HRC decision at first appeared to give the coalition much scope to advance its arguments, subsequent developments highlighted considerable weaknesses in the rhetorical strategies of conservatives, and the difficulty of using the Tasmanian laws as a federalist cause ce le bre. In the long term, ironically, the coalition may well have weakened the efficacy of sovereignty-based arguments in Australian political debate.     

Book reviews

Australian Politics

Peter Beilharz, Transforming Labor: Labour Tradition and the Labor Decade in Australia (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1994) pp.245 $29.95 ISBN 0 521 43821 7.

Christine Fletcher (ed.), Aboriginal Self‐Determination in Australia (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Report Series, 1994) pp.204 $16.95 ISBN 085575.

William Sanders (ed.), Mabo and Native Title: Origins and Institutional Implications (Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University, Research Monograph No.7, 1994) pp.83 $15.00 ISBNO 7315 20084.

Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh, Peter Graham and Jeni Warburton (eds), Service Delivery and Public Sector Marketing (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1991) pp.191 $24.95 ISBN 0 7329 0386 6.

J. Taylor, Regional Change in the Economic Status of Indigenous Australians, 1986–91. Research Monograph No.6 (Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU, 1993) pp.77 $15.00 ISBN 0 7315 1870 5.

J. Taylor, The Relative Economic Status of Indigenous Australians, 1986–91. Research Monograph No.5 (Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU, 1993) pp.85 $15.00 ISBN 0 7315 1841.

Andrew C. Theophanous, Understanding Social Justice (Melbourne: Elkia Books, 1993) pp.373 $n.p. ISBN 1875335 021.

Rodney Tiffen, News and Power (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1989) pp.255 $19.95 ISBN 0 04 372043 9.

K.J. Walker, The Political Economy of Environmental Policy: An Australian Introduction (Kensington, NSW: UNSW Press, 1994) pp.349 $24.95 ISBN 0 86840 070 X.

Comparative and International Politics

A. Doak Barnett, China's Far West: Four Decades of Change (Boulder: Colorado: Westview Press, 1993) pp.688 $US39.95 ISBN 0 8133 1774 6.

Robert E. Bedeski, The Transformation of South Korea. Reform and Reconstruction in the Sixth Republic under Roh Tae Woo 1987–1992 (London and New York: Routledge, 1994) pp.197 $35.95 ISBN 0 415 10604 4.

Samuel H. Beer, To Make a Nation: The Rediscovery of American Federalism (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1993) pp. 392 US$29.95 ISBN 0 674 89317 4.

David Campbell, Politics Without Principle: Sovereignty, Ethics and the Narratives of the Gulf War (London: Lynne Rlenner, 1993) pp.118 $20.50 ISBN 1 55587 381 2.

Jack Donnelly, International Human Rights (Boulder: Westview Press, 1993) pp.198 $US39.95 ISBN 0 8133 8181 9.

Scott Davidson, Human Rights (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1993) pp.178 $49.95 ISBN 0 335 15768 8.

Frank Fischer and John Forester (eds), The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning (London: UCL Press, 1993) pp.318 $39.95 ISBN 1 85728 183 7.

Frank Frost, Vietnam's Foreign Relations: Dynamics of Change. Pacific Strategic Papers No.6 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 1993) pp.90 $14.99 ISBN 981 3016 65 5.

Jim George, Discourses of Global Politics: A Critical (Re)Introduction to International Relations (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner, 1994) pp.266 $US18.95 ISBN 1 55587 446 0.

Misha Glenny, The Fall of Yugoslavia New Edition. (Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin, 1994) pp.258 $14.95 ISBN 0 14 023415 2.

Brian Hocking, Localizing Foreign Policy: Non‐Central Governments and Multilayered Diplomacy (London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's, 1993) pp.249 £40.00 ISBN 0 312 09720 4.

Peter Jackson and Jan Penrose, (eds), Constructions of Race, Place and Nation (London: UCL Press, 1993) pp.216 $37.95 ISBN 1 85728 077 6.

Ann Kent, Between Freedom and Subsistence: China and Human Rights (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1993) pp.293 $25.95 ISBN 0 19 585521 3.

Robert Pinkney, Democracy in the Third World (Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1993) pp.182 $39.95 ISBN 0 335 15704 1.

Larry Diamond (ed.), Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries (Boulder and London: Lynne Rlenner, 1993) pp.485 $US49.95 ISBN 1 55587 303 0.

Geoffrey Ponton and Peter Gill, Introduction to Politics. Third edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.327 ISBN 0 631 18784 7.

George Schopflin, Polities in Eastern Europe (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.327 $39.95 ISBN 0 631 14724 1.

Andrew Sharp (ed.), Leap Into the Dark: The Changing Role of the State in New Zealand Since 1984 (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1994) pp.255 $NZ34.95 ISBN 1 86940 096 8.

John Stevenson, Third Party Politics Since 1945 (London: Institute of Contemporary British History/Allen and Unwin, 1993) pp.157 $32.95 ISBN 0 631 17127 4.

Phil Cocker, Contemporary British Politics and Government (London: Tudor Business Publishing/Hodder and Stoughton, 1993) pp.404 $38.95 ISBN 1 872807 35 6.

Danny Unger and Paul Blackburn (eds), Japan's Emerging Global Role (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner, 1993) pp.213 $US16.95 ISBN 1 55587 387 1.

Anthony van Fossen, The International Political Economy of Pacific Islands Flags of Convenience (Brisbane: Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Monograph No. 66: Griffith University, 1992) pp.86 $10.00 ISBN 0 86857 474 0.

John Wesley Young, Orwell's Newspeak and Totalitarian Language: Its Nazi and Communist Antecedents (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1991) pp.335 $US36.50 ISBN 0 8139 1324 1.

Political Theory and Methodology

Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power. John B. Thompson (ed.), Gino Raymond and Matthew Adamson (trans.) (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992) pp.302 $39.95 ISBN 0 7456 1034 X.

Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit (eds), A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.679 $165.00 ISBN 0 631 17993 3.

David Held (ed.), Prospects for Democracy: North, South, East, West (Oxford: Polity Press, 1993) pp.412 $45.00 ISBN 0 7456 0989 9.

Anthony H. Birch, The Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy (London: Routledge, 1993) pp.260 $38.95 ISBN 0 415 09108 X.

Kathleen Jones, Compassionate Authority: Democracy and the Representation of Women (New York: Routledge, 1993) pp.272 £12.99 ISBN 0 415 90644 X.

Robert Leach, Political Ideologies: An Australian Introduction. Second Edition (Melbourne: MacMillan, 1993) pp.245 $32.95 ISBN 0 7329 2001 9.

Lynn McDonald, The Early Origins of the Social Sciences (Montréal: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1993) pp.397 ISBN 0 7735 1124 5.

Toby Miller, The Well‐Tempered Self: Citizenship, Culture, and the Postmodern Subject (Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1993) pp.290 $n.p. ISBN 0 8018 4604 8.

Yael Tamir, Liberal Nationalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) pp.194 $US24.95 ISBN 0 69107893 9.     

PUTTING WOMEN IN THEIR PLACE: THE CARNIVAL AT GREENHAM COMMON*

In this paper I examine reactions to the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. I argue that the media, local and government responses to the Greenham women reveal geographical assumptions about “normality.” The peace women, by living away from home, on the edge of a military (and therefore masculine) establishment challenged accepted patriarchal understandings of “women's place” and were thus described as “out of place.” More specifically, the women were referred to in terms of hygiene, inadequate culinary ability, sexuality and hysteria. Each of these implies a gendered form of disorder in which social, cultural and geographical boundaries have been transgressed. These reactions are placed within the context of Bakhtin's formulations of the carnivalesque and grotesque realism. I suggest that the women, through their highly visible opposition to a patriarchal military establishment, represent a threat to neatly bounded official culture which finds its geographical expression in the formal territories of the courtroom and the air base. In conclusion this illustration is placed in the wider context of cultural/political protest. I argue that transgression, while serving to reveal normally assumed hegemonic landscapes, is restrained by already existing boundaries.     

Misogyny,Jest‐Books and Male Youth Culture in Seventeenth‐Century England

Over the past twenty years, patriarchy has become a vitally important analytical concept for historians of women, gender and masculinity. By contrast, misogyny has been under‐explored, despite being an equally prevalent historical phenomenon. This article offers a cultural history of seventeenth‐century masculinity based on an analysis of the humorous jokes and stories found in jest‐books, a genre that appealed in particular to male adolescents and young men in their twenties. It argues that patriarchy and misogyny should be treated as separate analytical concepts and cultural phenomena that appealed to different sorts of men. While patriarchy offered a code of manly behaviour for middling‐sort married males to aspire to, misogynistic humour appealed predominantly to youthful single males, who were as antagonistic towards patriarchs as they were towards women. In articulating such an argument, this article engages with debates about manhood, misogyny and the reception and creation of everyday culture in early modern society.