WORKING WITH 'WILD ROSE I': LEAN PRODUCTION IN A GREENFIELD MILL

The Alberta Newsprint Company mill in Whitecourt, Alberta, with its state-of-the-art paper machine dubbed Wild Rose I' is one of the most efficient newsprint mills in North America. This paper documents the systematic drive by the Alberta Newsprint Company to achieve lean production by the use of flexible work practices in a greenfield mill, which began production in 1990. The analysis begins by examining the way in which the workforce for the new mill was recruited as the first step to creating a flexible workplace. Information from questionnaires completed by 96 employees, who represent approximately half the total labour force, and semi-structured interviews with managers and employees, is used to describe the extent to which the anc mill has achieved various forms of labour flexibility. The nature and extent of these new work arrangements are compared among departments within the mill. Finally, we explore the recent restructuring of wages in the mill. These events illustrate some of the unanticipated consequences arising from the implementation of lean production in a remote geographical setting.     

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED: REFLECTIONS ON A CAREER IN GEOGRAPHY

'The Road Not Taken'
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveller, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -I took the road less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.     

Land reform in South Africa and the colonial present

This paper develops Derek Gregory's concept of the ‘colonial present’ by demonstrating how the colonial present in rural South Africa in general and around land reform in particular has conditioned land reform outcomes. My development of the concept departs from Gregory's in two key respects. I argue first that, by viewing it in relation to the geopolitics of capitalism, it can be applied to places beyond the immediate influence of US military power; and, second, that social forces which might begin to undermine the colonial present should be examined. My empirical materials draw upon primary research on the emergence of government-sponsored partnerships between restitution beneficiaries and agribusinesses in northern Limpopo. I use the materials to argue that partnerships have emerged given white farmers’ near-monopoly on skills and the persistent power of traditional leaders, two features of South Africa's colonial past whose importance today is suggestive of a colonial present.     

Bumped from the shuttle fleet: Why didn't Enterprise fly in space?

Although it has hardly been noted in historical or popular literature, NASA's surprising decision not to prepare the first space shuttle Enterprise for spaceflight deserves attention as a significant event in early shuttle history. The decision came at a stressful juncture when the space shuttle program was transitioning from research and development to production and operations; it was an early signal of a looming crisis in the program and also an indication of early shuttle-era space policy. This essay examines the changing status of Enterprise in the little-noticed period 1976 through 1978. Three main factors influenced the fate of Enterprise : (1) the evolution of shuttle engineering and design, (2) funding and schedule pressures on the shuttle program, and (3) shuttle fleet size policy. Decisions in these areas came together in late 1977, with the result that, soon after its debut, Enterprise lost its place in the shuttle fleet and never flew in space.     

The “Mounth” passes over the Grampians

EUROPE

Our Rivers. By J. W. Kempster. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xi+300. 20 plates. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1948. 25s.

The Outer Hebrides in Relation to Highland Depopulation. By William Adams Hance. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xv+148. 9 maps. Bibliography. [Ph.D. Thesis, Columbia University.] Lithoprinted. New York : William A. Hance, 1949.

St. Columba and Hinba and Na h'Eileacha Naomha. The Whirlpool of Corrievreckan. By the Hon. Arthur Murray, C.M.G., D.S.O. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 28. g illustrations. Chart and sketch map. Privately printed, 1949.

A Hundred Tears in the Highlands. By Osgood Hanbury Mackenzie of Inverewe. Edited with an additional chapter by M. T. Sawyer of Inverewe. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 221. 9 illustrations. Map. London : Geoffrey Bles Ltd. New and revised edition, 1949. 12s 6d.

The Buried Barony. By Alasdair Alpin MacGregor. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xv+163. Frontispiece. 54 illustrations. London : Robert Hale Ltd., 1949. 12s 6d.

Cairnhill. By Hamilton More Nisbett and the late Stair Carnegie Agnew. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp.215. 18 illustrations. Edinburgh: The Moray Press, 1949. 16s.

Bedfordshire. By Laurence Meynell. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xv+366. 49 illustrations. Sketch map. [The County Books.] London : Robert Hale Ltd., 1950. 15s.

The West of England. By Ruth Manning‐Sanders. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. viii+152. 117 illustrations. End‐paper sketch maps. [The Face of Britain Series.] London : B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1949. 12s 6d.

Midland England. A Survey of the Country between the Chilterns and the Trent. By W. G. Hoskins. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. viii+120. 108 illustrations. End‐paper sketch maps. [The Face of Britain Series.] London : B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1949. 12s 6d.

Severn Stream. By Brian Waters. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 206. 17 illustrations. London : J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1949. 15s.

Ulster. By Hugh Shearman. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xii+427. 49 illustrations. Sketch map. [The County Books.] London : Robert Hale Ltd., 1919. 15s.

Ireland. Edited by L. Russell Muirhead, M.A. (Cantab.). 6 1/4 × 4. Pp. Ixxii+296+ (atlas) 31. 15 maps and plans. [The Blue Guides.] London : Ernest Benn Ltd. Second edition, 1949. 15s

Dublin: A Study in Environment. By John Harvey. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xii+116. 161 illustrations. End‐paper maps. ["British Cities” Series.] London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1949. 15s.

Iceland Yesterday and To‐day. By Horace Leaf, F.R.G.S. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. viii+205. 18 Photographs. Coloured map. London : George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1949. 15s.

The Viking Lands. By Gordon Young. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp.154. 17 illustrations. Endpaper sketch maps. London : Evans Brothers Ltd., 1949. 9s 6d.

The Norway Tear Book, 1950. Edited by Sverre Mortensen and A. Skøien. 7 1/2 × 5. Pp. 419. Frontispiece. Oslo : Johan Grundt Tanum, 1950.

ASIA

A Handbook for Travellers in India and Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, including the Portuguese and French Possessions and the Indian States. Edited by Sir Gordon Hearn, C.I.E., D.S.O. 7 1/4 × 4 3/4. Pp. cxxiv+792. Maps and plans. London : John Murray. Sixteenth edition, 1949. 42s.

Robert Knox in the Kandyan Kingdom. Selected and edited by E. F. C. Ludowyk. 7 1/2 × 5. Pp. xxviii+175. 4 photographs by the late Lionel Wendt. End‐paper map. London : Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press (Indian Branch), 1948. Rs 6, or 9s.

White Stranger : Six Moons in Celebes. By Harry Wilcox. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 384. 24 illustrations. Sketch map. London : William Collins, Sons and Co. Ltd., 1949. 16s.

MADAGASCAR

Madagascar. By Hubert Deschamps. 7 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp.188. 16 photographs. 3 sketch maps. Paris : Éditions Berger‐Levrault, 1947. 165 fr.

AMERICA

Histoire de la Grande Pêche de Terre‐Neuve. By Robert de Loture. 7 1/2 × 4 3/4. Pp.255. 1 fig. 2 sketch maps. Paris : Librairie Gallimard, 1949. 325 fr.

Grassland Historical Studies : Natural Resources Utilization in a Background of Science and Technology. Vol. 1. Geology and Geography. By James C. Malin. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xii+377. 3 illustrations. 2 maps. [Lithoprinted.] Lawrence, Kansas : James C. Malin, 1950. $2.50.

South America called Them : Explorations of the Great Naturalists Charles‐Marie de la Condamine, Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin, Richard Spruce. By Victor W. von Hagen. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xiv+401. 28 illustrations. London: Robert Hale Ltd., 1949. 21s.

A Naturalist in the Gran Chaco. By Sir John Graham Kerr, F.R.S. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xi+235. 24 plates. 2 sketch maps. Cambridge: University Press, 1950. 21s.

OCEANIA

Island Administration in the South West Pacific: Government and Reconstruction in New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and the British Solomon Islands. By Cyril S. Belshaw. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. viii+158. 4 maps. London and New York : Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1950. 12s 6d.

Fijian Village. By Buell Quain. Introduction by Ruth Benedict. 9×6. Pp. xvii+459. 17 plates. 7 sketch maps. Glossary. Chicago, Illinois : University of Chicago Press, 1947. London: Cambridge University Press. 27s 6d.

Polynesian Trade Wind. By Sverre Holmsen. Translated from the Swedish by Joan Bulman. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 186. 29 illustrations. End‐paper sketch maps. London : James Barrie Publishers Ltd., 1949. 15s.

The Kon‐Tiki Expedition : By Raft across the South Seas. By Thor Heyerdahl. Translated from the Norwegian Kon‐Tiki Ekspedisjonen (1948) by F. H. Lyon. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 235. Frontispiece. 18 plates. London : George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1950. 12s 6d.

POLAR REGIONS

We Live in the Arctic. By Constance and Harmon Helmericks. 9×6. Pp. xiv+321. 3 diagrams. 30 illustrations. Decorative end‐paper sketch maps. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1949. 20s.

OCEANOGRAPHY

The Sea and its Mysteries. By John S. Colman. 7 1/2 × 5. Pp.285. 17 plates. 36 figs. Map. London : G. Bell and Sons Ltd., 1950. 12s 6d.

Les Richesses de la Mer.: Technologie biologique et océanographique. By Noël Boudarel. 10 × 6 1/2. Pp. 549, 1006 figs. [Encyclopédie Biologique, XXIX.] Paris : Paul Lechevalier, 1948. 1500 fr.

Sea‐Shore Life of Britain. By L. R. Brightwell, F.Z.S., F.R.H.S., M.B.A. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xii+116. 94 illustrations. [The British Nature Library.] London: B. T. Batsford Ltd. [1947], 1948. 12s 6d.

BIOGEOGRAPHY

The Badger. By Ernest Neal, M.Sc. (Lond.). 8 × 5 1/2. Pp.xv+158. 12 figs. 1 colour photograph by the author. 29 black‐and‐white photographs. [New Naturalist Monographs, 1.] London : William Collins, Sons and Co. Ltd., 1948. 12s 6d.

EDUCATIONAL

Modern World Geography—Economic and Social. By Earl C. Case and Daniel R. Bergsmark. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. xii+746. Diagrams, sketch maps, photographs. 6 coloured maps. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott Company. Revised edition, 1949. 21s.

A Regional Economic Geography. By Samuel Newton Dicken, 10 1/2 × 7 1/2. Pp. xii+516. 263 figs. End‐paper maps. Boston, Massachusetts : D. C. Heath and Company, 1949. London : George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd. 25s.

GENERAL

The Voyages of Captain James Cook round the World. Selected from his Journals and edited by Christopher Lloyd. 8×5. Pp. xxiii+384. End‐paper maps. London : The Cresset Press Ltd., 1949. 9s 6d.     

Teaching with Digital Archaeological Data: A Research Archive in the University Classroom

Digital tools and techniques have revolutionized archaeological research and allow analyses unimagined by previous generations of scholars. However, digital archaeological data appear to be an underappreciated resource for teaching. Here, the authors draw on their experiences as university instructors using digital data contained in the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (http://www.daacs.org) to teach in a variety of higher education settings, from method-intensive thematic courses for graduate students to general education science courses for undergraduates. The authors provide concrete examples of how they use digital archaeological data to accomplish a range of pedagogical goals. These include teaching basic artifact identification and simple statistical methods as well as developing skills in critical thinking, inference from data, and problem solving and communication. The paper concludes with a discussion of how archaeologists can use digital data to address ethical and curricular issues, such as preservation, professional training, and public accountability that are crucial to the discipline and relevant to the academy at large.     

Millet and sauce: The uses and functions of querns among the Minyanka (Mali)

The central role of grinding activities in the dietary practices of traditional agricultural populations can be approached from an ethnoarchaeological point of view. The comparison of ethnographic references raises the question whether the function and the socioeconomic context in which grinding slabs are used allow to assess issues related to conclusions drawn from archaeological contexts. Our discussion is based on the analysis of the manufacturing of grinding slabs, their use cycles and their social status in several Minyanka villages (Mali), providing useful references when examining the way in which archaeologists explain and interpret technological, functional and spatial observations. The typological and technical evolution and variability of querns results from a combination of several factors determined by the available raw materials, the skill of shaping techniques, the organisation of manufacturing and the transference of the function of grinding tools. But these factors alone cannot explain the encountered range of variation. Our study thus emphasises the very role of cultural aspects within these temporal and regional developments, and the impossibility of dissociating the use of a quern from its socio-economic context.