Constructing and practicing feminist pedagogy in Taiwan using a field study of the Twenty-Five Ladies Tomb

Drawing on theories of space, gender, and participatory learning, central concepts in feminist pedagogy, the author designed a university-level general-education course that took the Twenty-Five Ladies Tomb in southern Taiwan as the focus of a field study and class discussion. This local gendered site, which commemorates a 1973 ferry accident that killed 25 unmarried young women working in Kaohsiung, raises issues about patriarchy in Taiwan, gender inequities in traditional Han customs, and women's labor. The course relied on guided class discussions and focus-group discussions, culminating in a visit to the site. Face to face with the researched, the author not only built an inclusive and supportive relationship with students in the classroom, but also put her researcher's reflexivity into teaching practice. Research results indicate that the freedom of the class discussion format succeeded in breaking down the logic of binary opposition that accompanies the traditional gender duality of male/female. Avoiding a top-down teaching style also minimized students' resistance to perspectives emphasizing gender equality.     

A Review of “The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government,” and “Adam Smith as Theologian”

Abstract

Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre has asserted in several writings that present-day democratic governing institutions fail to incorporate beliefs about the common good and deliberation. However, objections can be raised against MacIntyre's characterization based on research from a new field in political science, Deliberative Democracy. Empirical research in that field shows that the common good and deliberation still do have a place in the United States Congress. It also shows that what James Madison argued at the founding of the country still holds, that representative deliberative bodies aid in transforming arguments for private goods into arguments for the common good; they refine and enlarge the public views.     

Party organisational change in Italy (1991–2006)

This article analyses, adopting the well-known approach of Katz and Mair, the issue of organizational change within Italian political parties since 1990. In addition to an account of trends in membership, local units, finances, staff, and of changes in party statutes, the article aims at testing the widespread view in the literature that organizational resources–hence power–are becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of party and/or parliamentary leaders, and correspondingly that the territorial presence of parties is declining. The analysis of the change over time of Katz and Mair's party organisational ‘faces’ leads to the confirmation, to a large extent, of the overall hypothesis of a decline of the party at ground level, and a concentration of party resources in the central office, and above all in the party in public office.     

Assessing Ceramic Compositional Data: A Comparison of Total Reflection X‐ray Fluorescence and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis On Late Iron Age Spanish Celtiberian Ceramics

A solid‐phase, non‐chemical processing protocol was recently developed as a means of chemically characterizing archaeological ceramics by total reflection X‐ray fluorescence (TXRF). Following this methodology, TXRF can provide semi‐quantitative determinations for 18 elements with comparable levels of precision and accuracy for the majority of them in comparison with a clay reference material analysed by instrumental neutron activation (INAA). In order critically to assess the analytical capabilities of TXRF, a large sample set of Late Iron Age Spanish Celtiberian ceramics and modern clays was analysed both by TXRF and INAA. Semi‐quantitative chemical data provided by TXRF and quantitative data provided by INAA were subjected to commonly used multivariate statistical methods as a way of evaluating the ability of the new technique to discriminate among different compositional groups. The comparison of the two data sets shows no significant discrepancies, thereby allowing support for the same archaeological interpretation. These results suggest that TXRF has potential applicability for compositional characterization of archaeological ceramics, providing data that are useful for provenance studies.     

The Neolithic of the eastern Baltic

This survey of the Baltic Neolithic, from Vistula to the Gulf of Finland, highlights the results of research during the last 30 years. The primary Baltic Neolithic is represented by two indigenous cultures, Narva and Nemunas. Their hunting, fishing, and gathering subsistence strategies gradually expanded to include domesticated plants and animals. The Comb-and-Pit Ornamented Pottery, Globular Amphora, Corded Ware, Bay Coast, and Boat-Axe cultures are also described. Within the Baltic Neolithic, I emphasize the origin, technology, economy, settlement, ritual, ethnic origins, and relationships among the various Neolithic populations. There is then a discussion of the origin of the Baltic linguistic group (Latvian, Lithuanian, and Old Prussian); this is associated with the appearance of the Late Neolithic Corded Ware culture, whose people integrated with local populations, leading to the development of the Bay Coast culture. Late Neolithic developments are associated with the Finno-Ugrian linguistic group in the northern Baltic.     

Vested Interests and the Diffusion of Education Reform across the States

How do interest groups shape the diffusion of policies they oppose across the states? This study explores this question using the case of teachers' unions and education reform policies. Using a novel dataset on charter, voucher, and performance pay policies spanning 1992–2013, I find evidence that strength of the teachers' unions decreases the likelihood of performance pay and that additional strength is less impactful with more Democratic control of the legislature. Teachers' unions are weakly related to a lack of charter laws and do not impact voucher laws. The latter two policies are more strongly associated with policymaker learning and education reform advocacy groups, respectively. These findings suggest that vested interests most strongly impact the policies that most fundamentally threaten their organizational strength and that this effect is conditioned on the party in power; increases in interest group strength are not necessary when policymakers are already sympathetic.     

Expressing Ideology Without a Voice, or Obfuscation and the Enlightenment

The consumer culture produced by the Industrial Revolution obfuscates diversity in the archaeological record. Mass-manufactured goods might be read as mass-manufactured culture. It is important for historical archaeologists to attempt to decode the complexities of consumption. Using a feminist approach, I examine one archaeologically visible way in which muted groups simultaneously embrace and resist the tenets of a dominant ideology. I compare ceramic assemblages from four nineteenth/twentieth-century sites in Annapolis, Maryland, two mid-nineteenth-century assemblages from New York City, and some additional selected examples from North America.     

Tamale-making traditions among three ethnic groups in west central Louisiana

The state of Louisiana is widely recognized for the Creole and Cajun cuisines of south Louisiana. Yet several Indo-Spanish foodways have been preserved in northwest Louisiana since the colonial era. In this paper, we explore the tamale-making traditions of three distinct culture groups who reside in the region and how traditions are a source of ethnic identity. Tamales are primarily associated with residents of Indo-Spanish heritage in Sabine Parish, but they are also part of the foodway traditions of the French Creoles and Cane River Creoles of Natchitoches Parish. It is asserted that the tamale-making traditions in these communities resulted from a process of creolization that took place during the eighteenth century with the start of European colonization. We assess the role of tamale-making among contemporary cultural groups to demonstrate how this tradition has survived in the region.     

Play Nice or Pick a Fight? Cooperation as an Interest Group Strategy at Implementation

The open, multilevel nature of U.S. policymaking enables interest group activity throughout the policy process. At policy implementation, groups attempt to secure benefits or ameliorate legislated effects by devising cooperative or conflictual strategies to influence outcomes, especially when agency officials have discretion to design rules and negotiate agreements. Investigating group “street‐level” activity with respect to the Endangered Species Act, this research finds that policy context and resources shape the degree of information and access available to groups, which influences the strategies groups adopt. Groups with access and specialized information will attempt to change or influence policy outcomes cooperatively. Groups with limited technical information are more likely to fight implementation.     

Funding Faction or Buying Silence? Grants,Contracts, and Interest Group Lobbying Behavior

During the past decade, numerous congressional bills and amendments have attempted to curtail lobbying by nonprofit organizations that receive federal grants. These policy efforts grow out of an assumption that federal funds are encouraging advocacy at levels that are excessive and encourage additional government spending. Using survey data on more than 700 organizations based in Washington, DC, this article tests this assumption. The data show that for the most part, organizations receiving federal grants and contracts lobby no more frequently than similar organizations that do not receive such benefits. The exception is contacting federal agencies, which charitable organizations receiving federal funds do slightly more often than similar organizations without such funds. A multivariate analysis assesses federal funding together with other variables theorized to affect lobbying—federal tax status, resource levels, and the nature of the lobbying issue—confirming that while these other variables affect lobbying levels, federal funding does not.