Special Days of Worship and National Religion in the Australian Colonies, 1790–c. 1914

Throughout the period between 1790 and 1914 the governments of the Australian colonies asked their populations to suspend work and amusements and join in collective acts of prayer. Australia’s special days of prayer have much historical significance and deserve more scholarly attention. They had an enduring popularity, and they were rare moments when a multi-faith and multi-ethnic community joined together to worship for a common cause. This article builds on recent work on state prayers in Britain by considering what the colonial tradition of special worship can tell us about community attachments in nineteenth-century Australia. ‘Fast days’ and ‘days of thanksgiving’ had both an imperial and a regional character. A small number of the Australian days were for imperial events (notably wars and royal occasions) that were observed on an empire-wide scale. The great majority, such as the numerous days of fasting and humiliation that were called during periods of drought, were for regional happenings and were appointed by colonial authorities. The article argues that the different types of prayer day map on to the various ways that contemporaries envisaged ‘Greater Britain’ and the ‘British world’. Prayer days for royal events helped the empire’s inhabitants to regard themselves as imperial Britons. Meanwhile, days appointed locally by colonial governments point to the strength of regional attachments. Colonists developed a sense that providence treated them differently from British communities elsewhere, and this sense of ‘national providence’ could underpin a sense of colonial difference—even a colonial nationalism. Days of prayer suggested that Greater Britain was a composite of separate communities and nationalities, but the regional feelings they encouraged could still sit comfortably with attachments to an imperial community defined by commonalities of race, religion and interest.     

“磁州窑类型”几种瓷器的年代与产地

本文以剔花、绞胎、黑釉跳刀刻花、红绿彩和孔雀蓝釉等“磁州窑类型”几种瓷器为对象,在以往研究的基础上,通过有关遗物和考古资料——特别是一些重要新发现,对这几个品种的年代与产地作进一步“细化”,从而提出一些新见解。     

Thailand’s Traditional Trinity and the Rule of Law: Can They Coexist?

Abstract

Thailand has seen considerable progress in the rule of law since the seminal 1997 constitution. Yet persistent political instability suggests that as yet the country does not think of the rule of law as binding. What is likely to happen in Thailand with the rule of law, and with governance generally? The argument advanced here is that rule of law principles must contend with the realisation that the traditional Thai trinity – nation, religion and king – has become an inviolable state ideology. Political actors, often aligned with the monarchy, have been using each element of the trinity to undermine both rule of law principles and democratic institutions. Now that long-serving monarch King Bhumibol (Rama IX) has been succeeded by his son King Varijalongkorn, it seems an appropriate time to examine current battles about the meaning of the rule of law and broader struggles for control between elites and popular groups based on competing visions for the state – a problem not only in Thailand but in the region as a whole.     

The Yenikapı 12 Shipwreck,a 9th‐Century Merchantman from the Theodosian Harbour in Istanbul,Turkey: construction and reconstruction

Shipwreck Yenikap? 12 was discovered in Yenikap?, Istanbul, Turkey in 2007 during rescue excavations carried out by Istanbul Archaeological Museums. The majority of the bottom of the shipwreck, found within the sediment‐filled Theodosian Harbour, is intact and part of the cargo was found in situ. According to the results of reconstruction studies, YK12 was a small merchantman working coastal waters, approximately 9.24m in length and 2.64m in breadth. The shipwreck is dated to the 9th century AD and was built with a mixed construction using the shell‐based method for the lower hull.     

Mixed world heritage in Scandinavian countries

UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention has become a global policy for natural and cultural conservation and in particular the intricate relation between the two. This article presents two cases, Laponia and the Lofoten Islands, put forward as mixed World Heritage Sites by the governments of Sweden and Norway. The overall national goals of the nominations have been to ensure sustainable human use of natural resources and the conservation of biodiversity. However, in both countries the nomination and implementation of mixed sites have produced a series of challenges at the municipality management level. Comparing the processes of promoting Laponia and Lofoten as World Heritage Sites, the article discusses the challenges of local involvement and democratic participation in national decision-making by asking what comprises local involvement and co-management at mixed World Heritage Sites. Why does the implementation of management at mixed World Heritage Sites create conflict between local stakeholders and the national governments of Norway and Sweden?     

A Genoese merchant and banker in the Kingdom of Naples: Ottavio Serra and his business network in the Spanish polycentric system,c.1590–1620

Abstract

The dense Genoese commercial networks – which were present in all territories under Spanish rule, fairs, commercial emporia and battlefields – were an essential factor for the survival of the crown. This raises some doubts about the dominating influence posed, according to traditional accounts, by the court in Madrid; the court was, indeed, a point of reference for the Genoese merchant families but by no means the only one. In fact, the Genoese always took care to be present in important harbours and markets, such as Naples, where they often had correspondents to look after the family’s multiple interests.

This article revolves around the crucial role played by Ottavio Serra (1570–1639), son of Giovambattista Serra, ‘signore’ of Carovigno and an active merchant and moneychanger in the viceroyalty of Naples during the first two decades of the seventeeth century. The importance of Ottavio was not limited to his participation in the economic life of Naples. The analysis of Ottavio’s activity as financial agent for his relatives and partners in Madrid, Genoa and Piacenza, among other locations, as well as the examination of his links with a great variety of economic centres in the Mezzogiorno, presents early-modern Naples as a highly ‘internationalised’ centre in the context of the polycentric Hispanic imperial system.     

Mixed-use ‘regeneration’ of employment land in the post-industrial city: challenges and realities in London

This article explores the relationships between land-use planning, property and economic development, with a focus on the changing attitudes towards employment land in post-industrial cities. Drawing on case study data from two London local authorities, it finds that planning authorities are moving away from protecting employment land to actively promoting the mixed-use redevelopment of employment sites, even when there are thriving businesses on these sites and a shortage of supply of employment premises and land, relative to demand. We examine the drivers for changing policy including the national and regional policy contexts, housing targets, the influence of austerity measures, rise of Neighbourhood Planning and changing conceptions of regeneration and the role of housing therein. The article highlights the complex task faced by local planners and the tensions involved in simultaneously finding sites for housing, fostering economic development and promoting mixed-use redevelopment in planning policy and decisions. We find that changes in policy are fuelling speculation for housing development on sites occupied by viable businesses, supporting rather than responding to deindustrialization. This is leading to a gap between aspirations for delivering mixed-use environments on hitherto employment sites and realities on the ground.     

‘So long,and thanks for all the fish?’* Examining the built and cultural heritage of the Jaffa port redevelopment

‘Heritage’ is a term that is ambiguous in the best of circumstances; however, it becomes even more so in urban environments where conflicts of identity and culture are pivotal, as in Israel’s mixed Israeli-Palestinian cities. In this paper, I examine the recent redevelopment of the Jaffa port, Israel. Jaffa’s ancient port has had a significant role in facilitating industry, commerce and social ties in the area, and it has recently been remodelled by the city as a cultural and entertainment hub. Through interviews with key stakeholders and observations, I examine the role of heritage in the redevelopment using two broad categories: heritage of the built environment and cultural heritage, including the practice of fishing. I argue that while efforts have been made to conserve the waterfront’s heritage, the redevelopment has resulted in an artificial space that does not speak to the local culture of Jaffa as it is interpreted by the port community, including the fishermen. The Jaffa case study suggests that more attention should be paid to the delicate role of urban planners in facilitating change in a politically and culturally contested environment.     

Exploring subject positions and multiple temporalities through an Iranian migrant mother's family photograph albums

In this article, I draw on a research study of one Iranian migrant mother's generation of selves through her material configuration of her personal photograph albums and through our verbal reading of her photographs. The research engages in a visual-material feminist ethnographic approach, and is informed by the work of Gillian Rose and the understanding that family photographs are a means by which women negotiate subject positions. In this article, I discuss an unexpected finding of my research, the significance of multiple temporalities in a migrant mother's production of selves. The photo album practices of the participant mother of this study, ‘Parvin’, depart from the common social convention of mothers arranging their photograph albums to chart family growth following the model of milestones occurring over linear developmental time. Parvin does not limit herself to linear developmental time, but rather she mixes up photographs in her post-migration family albums to generate multiple temporalities woven together by an enveloping ‘mixed’ time. Drawing on both Julia Kristeva and Homi Bhaba's theories of temporality and the subject, I suggest that Parvin produces subject positions for self and family through a continual interweaving of a multitude of pasts into the present and through a subsuming of milestones within cyclical family time. Further, I suggest that through her generation of multiple temporalities, Parvin produces the subject position of ‘accommodating mother’. Finally, I highlight the potential afforded by considering the temporal and the spatial together in studies of migrant identity.