The Political Aesthetics of Middle Class Housing in (not so) Neoliberal Mozambique

This article explores the social and material repercussions of middle class aspirations in a system that is still infused by socialist aesthetics in Maputo, Mozambique. We argue the activation of “middle classness” reproduces ingrained inequalities and boundaries. This is demonstrated through two ethnographic case studies of urban housing, long central to imaginaries of prosperity. First, fearing downward mobility, members of the upper middle class seek to embody a liberal ideology of “autonomy”, while simultaneously being dependent on state structures. Second, members of the lower middle class attempt to create enclaves to experiment with forms of privatisation normally only accessible to a privileged elite. Through this examination of the ways in which a spectrum of privileged urbanites attempts to secure their position in the face of a precarious future, the article outlines middle classness under contemporary capitalist conditions and how this is shaped by the legacies of the past.     

LATE NEOLITHIC STENILDGÅRD GRAVE: RE-EXCAVATED,RE-ANALYSED AND RE-INTERPRETED

Occasionally, it becomes possible to re-excavate and re-analyse prehistoric monuments. Within the geographical area managed by Vesthimmerlands Museum, this happened in the case of the Late Neolithic Stenildgård grave on the western periphery of the town of Aars, Northern Danmark. The grave was excavated for the first time at the early 1930s and re-excavated in 2015 in connection with the construction of a ring road around the southern parts of Aars. In 2015, a series of state-of-the-art scientific analyses were conducted in relation to this grave. Following a detailed presentation of the original publication and later interpretations, this article presents the results of the new excavation and scientific analyses. The new results include identification of the human bones, the development of the stratigraphy, strontium isotope analysis, pollen analysis, macro-fossil analysis, and the analysis of pitch. Since the 1930s, the Stenildgård grave has been considered a burial, which, to a great extent, deviated from usual practice showing one of the earliest examples of cremation in prehistoric Denmark. Furthermore, the recent investigation revealed that the grave was equipped with a surrounding wooden structure and possibly influenced by West European Bell Beaker Cultures. Also, the grave seems to form part of an extensive Late Neolithic burial and settlement system, where complex rituals were carried out.     

Late third‐millennium elite burials in Bahrain

Studies of old aerial photographs of the Bahrain burial mound fields have revealed that a small number of both Early Type (c. 2200–2050 BC) and Late Type (c. 2050–1750 BC) mounds are encircled by an outer ring wall, apparently marking out the mound as belonging to an elite. Four of these mounds have been excavated, and the results are presented. The geological differences between the Early Type and the Late Type mound landscapes are discussed.     

Microsimulation for Local Impact Analysis: an Application to Plant Shutdown*

Abstract. Microsimulation was introduced nearly 50 years ago but has recently experienced a revival in the social sciences. Its use in regional science, however, has been limited, although it offers some advantages over common regional analytic methods. This paper describes a microsimulation model that can be used to analyze the impact of a regional economic event. The model incorporates spatial, social, and economic factors and allows outcomes to be aggregated at different geographical scales, for different cohorts, and for variables not ordinarily considered in impact analysis. The model is used to simulate the effects of a plant shutdown on workers.     

Subsidiary impact on host-country economies--the case of foreign-owned subsidiaries attracting investment into sweden

This paper examines the impact of foreign-owned subsidiarieson their surrounding host-country economies, focusing particularlyon investment attraction. To explain such subsidiary impact,we develop a LISREL-model including four interlinked constructs:(a) the dynamism of the host-country business environment withinwhich the subsidiary unit is active; (b) the control strategiesof corporate headquarters; (c) quality of subsidiary competencies;and (d) the formalized mandate provided by headquarters forcertain subsidiaries to become centers. Based on the model,six hypotheses are formulated, and tested in a LISREL-analysison a set of data containing information on foreign-owned subsidiariesin Sweden. The results show that the dynamics of the host-countrybusiness environment positively impact on the foreign-ownedsubsidiary competence development and play a fundamental rolein deciding whether such units will impact on the investmentattraction in the host economy.     

Cultural policy and evaluation of quality

Based on Danish experiences the article discusses the increasing role that the discourse of “quality” is playing in cultural policy. Throughout the 1990s, from the general cultural debate, this discourse has spread to more instrumental considerations and practices in the field of cultural policy. The article presents this process in a historical perspective and characterises the present tendency towards a technocratisation of the discourse of quality under the auspices of New Public Management and the general trend in modern state policy towards instrumentalising all societal resources in the global economic competition. Opposing this line of development, it is argued that “quality” could serve as a progressive, non‐instrumentalist discourse if it is defined in relation to a modernised understanding of the “rational core” of the cultural policy tradition of the Nordic countries. In this perspective, the article suggests a contextualisation of the concept of quality and possible ways of implementing the discourse in practical cultural policy.     

Recent Norwegian archaeological publications

The part of the Helg?y Project presented here deals with the Norwegian and Sami populations in Helg?y from their supposed immigration to the Region about 13/1400 AD to approximately 1700. Some findings and the methods developed by the project to establish them will be presented, the question of how to distinguish Sami from Norwegian settlements in historical and pre‐historical times being central in the study of North Norway.     

Settlement studies and the archaeological survey of North Norway — A discussion based on the survey of North Troms

By the end of the 1984 field season a systematic archaeological survey of the county of Troms was completed. At the same time a revision of the survey was started. The survey of Troms is part of a nation‐wide archaeological survey, connected with the production of an Economic Map of Norway. Though the validity of the methods and the results of this survey have been questioned, few attempts have been made at evaluating the archaeological data base produced by the survey. The current total revision of the survey makes this task even more urgent. The aim of this paper is to contribute towards such an evaluation, by utilizing the survey data from six North Troms municipalities in an attempt at constructing a history of settlement for this area.     

To See and to be Seen ראה in Genesis 16 and Genesis 22

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to demonstrate: 1) that the root ??? plays a crucial role in Genesis16 and 22, where Hagar and Abraham see and acknowledge Yahweh, and Yahweh sees and shows solicitude; 2) that there is a close connection between Yahweh as ‘he who sees and he who is seen’, i.e. between his solicitude and his appearance, as expressed in the names for God and places in Gen 16,13-14 and Gen 22,14; 3) that there is a link between Yahweh’s appearance, his holy places, and his double promise; 4) that Genesis16 and 22 are variants of the same narrative with the same theological point, namely: Yahweh’s solicitude; and 5) that the theological criticism of God in Genesis 22 as an authoritarian being whose will may lead to violence being committed in his name, ignores the central message of Genesis 22, namely, God’s solicitude in rejecting human sacrifice.