A Mississippian conflagration at East St. Louis and its political-historical implications

Abstract

A walled portion of the extensive Precolumbian civic-ceremonial precinct of East St. Louis, near present day St. Louis, Missouri, enclosed a cluster of as many as 100 small buildings or huts. The huts were associated with a walled ritual-residential zone or elite compound dating to the late Stirling phase (a.d. 1150–1200) and, importantly, were burned in a single conflagration. The burning of East St. Louis may have resulted from a ritual commemoration, an act of aggression, or an accidental fire; circumstantial evidence primarily supports the first scenario. With strongly diminished mound and architectural construction at the site in subsequent decades, and with the coeval disappearance of key ritual-residential buildings from the regional landscape after the burning, the ancient East St. Louis fire was part of a larger pattern of historical events that mark a downward turning point in the social and political history of Greater Cahokia.     

“A Riddle,Wrapped in a Mystery,inside an Enigma”: Teaching Post-Socialist Transformation to UK Students in Moscow

In the 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, teaching post-socialist transition to undergraduate students has become increasingly challenging. This paper relates the development, planning and operation of a fieldwork module in Moscow, for Year Three geography undergraduates. It argues that ‘on-street’ teaching and imaginative use of visual sources can partially overcome the linguistic drawbacks of fieldwork in this context. It supports the utility of fieldwork for teaching post-socialist transformation, but stresses the need for local knowledge and contacts, linguistic ability on the part of module staff, and careful planning, to overcome anticipated and unexpected challenges.     

Estonian family farms in transition: a study of intangible assets and gender issues in generational succession

This paper, based on interviews, highlights intangible assets in the intergenerational transfer of farms in two Estonian municipalities from a long-term and gender perspective. The study stretches from the interwar period in the twentieth century up to the present. It has been shown that emotional bonds to the land are generally strong in Estonia. This paper aims to highlight how such bonds and feelings may influence decisions on generational succession. The results of the study indicate that family farming and land transfer have had a significant and persistent role in Estonian society, even during the Soviet period under its collectivised system of agriculture. Transfers of intangible assets were important during Soviet rule, for example, the transfer of knowledge about the pre-Soviet property and the value and importance of the farmhouse. Today, family farming is gradually declining in importance, but older traditions of farm and farmhouse transfer can still be found, such as early decisions on who is to be the successor. This is evident among active farmers but also among former farmers with strong emotional bonds to the land. Traditional gender roles tend towards men’s knowledge still generally being more highly valued in the decision about who is to be the successor to the family land.     

Does a Change in Presidency of the US Really Matter in an Age of Economic Globalization?

Abstract

This article exposes the cracks in the US economy, in politics and in its image in the world. The US has, particularly in the Bush era, strayed away from the values enshrined in the lives and witness of its founders. It has refused to recognize and use creatively its potential in playing a constructive leadership role in the world. In fact many of its actions have contributed to the erosion of global commitments. The focus is on the impact the crisis the US economy has on the world. In such a context, it asks the question as to whether a change in Presidency of the US really matters? The article challenges the churches to address the structural consequences of globalization and to critique neo-liberal corporate capitalism and engage in the search for alternatives. The churches have acted with compassion and charity to eradicate poverty and to serve the people. What is required now is for the churches to put aside their reluctance to speak out boldly, whether they be from the North or the South, and engage in radical actions for transformation.     

Getting the China Story Right: Insights from National Economic Censuses

Two Hong Kong-based geographers critically interrogate competing interpretations of the nature and dynamics of China's ongoing economic transformation. Based on the data gathered from China's first and second national economic censuses, they examine the pattern and process of ownership transformation in the Chinese economy, focusing on employment, capital assets, and output as well as productivity and industrial innovation. Emphasis is placed on the following critical issues: (1) after three decades of opening, China's national economy continues to be dominated by domestic enterprises (with foreign and overseas Chinese-invested enterprises limited to only a few industrial sectors and highly specific locales); (2) the bulk of capital assets and key large-scale industrial sectors remain in state ownership; and (3) spontaneous, bottom-up privatization of the labor market has occurred without a corresponding privatization of the capital market. In examining these and other issues, the authors argue that the evolving, complex "China story" can be better understood only after abandoning reliance on preconceived theoretical models derived primarily from Western experience. They support their case by first challenging the conventional neoliberal view of privatization as an independent force or predetermined condition, arguing instead that it is conditioned by prevailing social and political influences. Likewise, they posit that rapid expansion of private and individual businesses at the grassroots level has owed more to relaxed state control than to active state involvement envisioned by the thesis of state corporatism. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E22, E23, E24, O11, P20. 8 figures, 6 tables, 87 references.     

Form,function, fiction – translations of technology and design in product development

This article is a case study of the design and development of a Norwegian crockery series for institutional households – the 1962 Figgjo 3500 Hotel China. It investigates how this product represented a decisive break with the conventions of postwar Norwegian design and manufacture. The onset of international free trade meant export or die for the manufacturing industry. The elitist aestheticism so prevalent in the so‐called Scandinavian Design movement was abandoned in favour of an ideology remarkably akin to what was at the German Ulm School of Design called scientific operationalism. The paper also analyses how the manufacturer sought to portray this product: first, it was inscribed as science incarnated, and the material morality reigned supreme. But as society's faith in science took some serious blows in the course of the 1960s and modernist design idioms were partly forsaken in the 1970s, the engineered tableware became the fashioned tableware as trends tamed technology. These translations of technology, design, identity and consumption tell the story of how an artefact is constantly in a state of transformation – on both sides of the factory gate.     

A FRESH LOOK AT A LITTLE-KNOWN SOUTHEASTERN COPPER PLATE

Abstract

Chauga (38OC47) is a mound site now under Lake Hartwell at the head of the Savannah River in Oconee County, South Carolina. Excavations in 1958–1959 by the University of Georgia recovered a Mississippian copper plate. Upon comparison to others of its kind, it is clear that this lesser-known plate encompasses some interesting design features, most notably the presence of the only known depiction of a chunkey stone on copper. We have recently created a more accurate representation of its design. The plate appears to portray many similarities to depictions of Birdman dancers: kilted dancers and dancing elders within the “Stack” style. Birdman themes are common in Mississippian iconography. Given the importance that copper plates have for interpreting Mississippian art and belief systems, this updated examination provides useful new information for researchers studying Mississippian iconography.     

全球化浸入中国城市的时空演化过程及影响因素分析——以8家大型跨国零售企业为例

本质为地理过程的全球化与跨国公司相伴而来,其浸入区域、城市具有时空差异性。本文以八家大型跨国零售企业为例,研究全球化浸入中国城市的时空演化过程及影响因素。研究发现:第一,全球化浸入表现出明显的空间推移规律,即稳定的"沿海-内陆"深度格局,以及"东广西疏"转向"南袤北稀"广度格局;第二,全球化浸入中国城市遵循规模等级推移规律,包括人口规模、经济发展水平以及行政等级;第三,人口规模、对外交流水平对全球化的浸入影响显著性稳定,开放政策、城市区位因素弱化,居民收入水平影响增强。     

北京市城乡转型与乡村地域功能的时序特征及其关联性

本研究通过综合指标评价法和灰色关联法,揭示改革开放以来北京城乡转型和乡村地域功能的时序特征及其关联性,以期为改善北京城乡关系、有效提升乡村地域功能提供参考。研究结果表明:①1978-2012年,北京市城乡转型依次经历了缓慢转型(1978-1995)、快速转型(1996-2006)、转型放缓(2007-2012)三个阶段。②生态、历史、市场和政策等因素显著影响着乡村地域功能的提升。35年间,乡村地域功能总体稳步发展,并与城乡转型表现出不同的阶段性特征。③在国家政策、经济发展、基础设施建设以及乡村地域功能反馈等综合作用下,城乡转型与乡村地域功能发展存在一定的相关性,二者依次经历了低水平耦合、倒"U"型耦合和高水平耦合三个阶段。     

旅游企业知识创新管理的认知与实践——以珠江三角洲地区为例

知识创新已成为旅游企业参与更高层次竞争的重要战略行为,但研究者发现旅游企业的创新知识转化率极低。本文通过对珠江三角洲地区近80家旅游企业知识创新管理活动现状的调查发现,对知识创新的需求日益增长与知识管理技术手段相对滞后是旅游企业内部的一对突出矛盾,而对隐性知识的高度依赖和标准化管理模式的盛行是造成旅游企业创新知识低转化率困境的根本原因。