Diedrich Westermann and the Ambiguities of Colonial Science in the Inter-War Era

Diedrich Westermann (1875–1956) was a key figure in the establishment of African studies in Germany and Britain. He was a pioneer German linguist and member of the founding generation of German Africanists (Afrikanistik) who played a significant role in the field. As professor at Berlin University, the co-director of the International Institute of African Languages and Culture (IIALC) in London from 1926 and an adviser to Lord Hailey’s research team for the monumental ‘An African Survey’ (1938), he was central to the promotion of policy research in the African colonial context during the inter-war era. His own work focused on the phonetics and orthography of the Sudanic languages and the methodologies he pioneered were widely adopted in West Africa. As editor of the journals Koloniale Rundschau (Berlin) and Africa (London), with links to Rockefeller research funding, he was able, with Malinowski and J. H. Oldham, to wield considerable influence over the shape of anthropological and linguistic research for more than 20 years. His links to the Colonial Office and the International Missionary Council (IMC) in London and the Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) and the Colonial Department of the Third Reich, meant that he was uniquely placed as an adviser to both governments. This would seem to raise important questions about the similarities and differences in the climates of scientific work in these diverse contexts which has to date not attracted much attention. Westermann’s career provides a portrait of the complex academic inter-war era that Africanists scholars needed to navigate in a world charged with political conflict and the seeds of development debates that were to come to fruition with UNESCO initiatives in the post-war years.     

Reading back from Experimental Painting

ABSTRACT

My book, Experimental Painting (1970), was the product of a decade of coming to terms with the history of modern art and with contemporary manifestations of the avantgarde. While at Cambridge from 1960 to 1967, I published art criticism, initially in locally published magazines, and then went on to review art exhibitions both nationally and internationally. This led to being co-editor of Form, which produced further opportunities. The term ‘experimental’ that I adopted in 1970 was intended to suggest the paradigm of scientific discovery which suited some, if not all, of the artists I studied. This article considers concepts directly imported from contemporary scientific enquiry that seemed relevant to me at the time, notably those from experimental psychology, psychoanalysis and structural linguistics. I relate them to the character of intellectual life at Cambridge in a period which saw much debate about the relationship between Sciences and Humanities as ‘Two Cultures’.     

Production risk,inter-annual food storage by households and population-level consequences in seasonal prehistoric agrarian societies

Abstract

Using complementary behavioural and population ecological models, we explore the role of production risk, normal surplus and inter-annual food storage in the adaptations of societies dependent on seasonal agriculture. We find that (a) household-level, risk-sensitive adaption to unpredictable environmental variation in annual agricultural yields is a sufficient explanation for the origins of normal agrarian surplus and, consequently, of household-level incentives for inter-annual food storage; and, (b) at the population level, density-dependent Malthusian processes tightly constrain the circumstances under which this same mechanism can be effective in smoothing inter-annual fluctuations in household food availability. Greater environmental variation and higher levels of fixed set-asides such as seed requirements or transfer obligations to political authorities lead to more severe, periodic famines; however, outside of famine events, these same factors improve average population welfare by suppressing population density to levels at which Malthusian constraints have lessened impact. The combination of behavioural and population ecological modelling methods has broad and complementary potential for illustrating the dynamic properties of complex, coupled human–natural systems.     

Moving Words: Christian Language and the Modern World

Within the anthropology of Christianity, much attention has been paid to the convergence of Christianity with modern understandings of language. In this essay, I review scholarship that traces the historical connections between modern and Christian views of language, particularly in British colonial attacks on Hindu language practices, and I examine two recent ethnographies that offer different vantage points on the variety of ways in which contemporary Christians use language in a self-consciously modern way.     

Fake It Until You Make It: Searching for Mimesis in Buka Village Politics

Contemporary Melanesian communities face difficulties both because of the withdrawal of government services and the continued influence of clientelism within the politics of the distributive state. A notable reaction to both these problems is the organisation of a broad class of groups that may be termed ‘parastatal’: informal organisations, often evanescent, which form around the state and its absence. These may often appear as ‘mimetic’ of recognisable state forms. Characteristically, the analysis of such ‘mimesis’ in Melanesia is framed by doubt that the emulation of state forms extends to the alleged rationality or ‘interiority’ of the state. Here, a case in which villagers in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville undertook to prosecute themselves for non‐payment of school fees is discussed in order to expose the substantial difficulties with understanding parastatal organisation in terms of ‘copying’. The case suggests integration of the villagers into the actually existing state system is much deeper than is often assumed.     

Death of mother and child due to dystocia in 19th century Portugal

While historical documents indicate that complications during pregnancy, labour or soon after birth was a common cause of death in past populations, to date only a few archaeological cases have been reported. Here we present an example, unearthed in a small Portuguese churchyard, of an adult female buried with an infant at her pelvis. The pair appear to have died during labour, as the infant's estimated age at death corresponds to a full term pregnancy, while the distribution of the bones at the adult's pelvic girdle is consistent with birth positioning. The association between the skeletons and their cause of death is analysed, discussed and compared with similar archaeological evidence. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Auf der Suche nach der Politik in der Wissensproduktion: Plädoyer für eine historisch‐politische Epistemologie

In Search of Politics in Knowledge Production. A Plea for a Historical‐Political Epistemology. Knowledge production has an intrinsic political dimension. Starting from this presupposition, it is argued that the systematic integration of and reflection on the political dimension is necessary for an adequate understanding of historical processes of knowledge production in the sciences. The consecutive plea for a historical‐political epistemology proceeds in two steps: First, it is illustrated that in a number of recent historical science study cases, the political dimension is frequently marginal, or even absent. After a short discussion of previous theoretical concepts to describe the impact of politics for the production of scientific knowledge, an approach is sketched which builds on Hans‐Jörg Rheinberger's historical epistemology and Bruno Latour's symmetrical anthropology. It is argued that in addition to Rheinberger's program to describe epistemic systems, the political dimension is intrinsic to three stages of the process of data production: First to an initial phase which consists in the arrangement socio‐technical configurations to produce new evidence. Here, factors such as the culturally shaped perception and evaluation of ?relevant”? problems, as well as the perception of career resources have to be taken into account. Second, the political dimension is relevant in view of the continuous re‐adjustments of the configuration of epistemic systems, e. g. towards newly available financial, technical, or intellectual resources and ?relevant”? challenges from outside the system. Thirdly, the data produced and represented by epistemic systems – “evidence” – are yet in need of interpretation. This process is in itself imbued with continuously shifting mechanisms of selecting and creating hierarchies amongst the pool of available data.     

中国边疆地区汉代以后古人骨的研究

近年来,在新疆、辽宁、吉林、黑龙江、青海和内蒙古等地出土了一些有关古代车师、鲜卑、高句丽、渤海、吐蕃和契丹等族的人骨资料。吉林大学边疆考古研究中心承担的教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地重大项目课题组对这些古人骨资料进行了体质人类学和分子考古学研究,取得了一批重要的学术成果,填补了多项该领域学术研究的空白。     

Short communication: Two additional Egyptian Neolithic burials exhibiting unusual mortuary treatment of teeth

In a prior report we described human remains from the Neolithic cemetery at Gebel Ramlah, Egypt, with evidence of purposeful tooth replacement. Two crania, which were apparently disturbed by later burials, were found to contain several teeth that had been incorrectly reinserted into the jaws. Such treatment was suggested to be unique. Recent work at the site revealed a similarly unusual find. Two adult male skeletons, evidently displaced in antiquity, also had several teeth loosened from their jaws; however, instead of attempting to reinsert them, the Neolithic gravedigger(s) placed the teeth into the right orbit of one cranium and the nasal aperture of the other. Such placement, as well as the general state of these burials, ruled out subsequent looting or taphonomic factors as causative agents. We previously speculated that tooth replacement represented an attention to detail while attempting to re‐inter the remains in as complete a state as possible. This assumption may hold true for the present situation, but there are other plausible interpretations; for example, it might indicate animosity toward the individuals, an attempt at humour, or perhaps something less purposeful (e.g. they provided convenient receptacles). Whichever the case, the cemetery continues to yield heretofore unknown, and valuable, information about mortuary and other data relating to these prehistoric desert peoples. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中世纪法兰西王室徽章研究——百合花象征主义的神学渊源及内涵

在中世纪法国 ,滋养象征主义的土壤极为丰厚。法国王室百合徽章作为象征符号 ,发轫历程较为明晰 ;但在论及其渊源和象征内涵时 ,学术界则存在较大分歧。王室百合与基督教神学有着深刻的渊源关系。但是 ,随着王权的逐步强化 ,王室百合的神学色彩渐趋弱化 ,而其政治色彩则趋于浓重。法兰西王室百合的发展史曲折地反映了王权和神权之间利用与被利用的关系 ,同时也反映了法兰西王权由弱到强的历史行程。