Fiction ‘néo-réactionnaire’ avec Richard Millet

Omnipresent in the political and media landscapes, the neo-reactionary discourse has become a major discursive trend in contemporary France. Recent scholarship has started to theorise its mechanisms of production and circulation, with a particular focus on the visibility and posture of the celebrities who embody it. The importance of this discourse’s literary component has been pointed out, but also restricted to discussions pertaining to the role played by these public figures’ writings published for a mass audience such as essays and newspaper articles. The objective of this article is to highlight the need to take into consideration literary representations that echo but also complete the theoretical arguments developed in more popular outlets. Through the analysis of Richard Millet’s Province (2016), the potential of fiction, and more precisely the realist novel, will be explored in order to suggest that a thorough understanding of the neo-reactionarydiscourse can only be achieved through the study of the multiple platforms that disseminate and shape it.     

Palaeolithic chert exploitation in the limestone stretch of the Egyptian Nile Valley

Different raw material procurement strategies are attested in the limestone stretch of the Egyptian Nile Valley. Chert cobbles from Nile terraces or from their derived deposits were generally used. Four main procurement strategies have been recognized. During the Middle Palaeolithic intensive surface collecting was the most common strategy. However, open quarrying techniques involving features such as ditches are also attested. True subterranean mining with vertical shafts and underground galleries was known by the Early Upper Palaeolithic at 35,000 years BP. Extracted nodules were processed at the procurement sites. The study of the reduction strategies has proved valuable in gaining a better understanding of the Palaeolithic sequence of the Egyptian Nile Valley.

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Résumé Différentes stratégies d'obtention de matière première ont été reconnues dans la zone calcaire de la vallée du Nil égyptien. En majorité, ce sont des galets de chert qui ont été utilisés. Les stratégies d'obtention se classent en quatre types. Au Paléolithique Moyen la méthode la plus fréquente était la collection intensive en surface. Mais il y eut aussi une technique d'exploitation en profondeur, à l'aide de tranchées à ciel ouvert. Une véritable extraction minière avec des puits verticaux et des galleries souterraines fut pratiquée dès le début du Paléolithique Supérieur, vers 35.000 BP. Les galets extraits étaient réduits sur les sites d'exploitation mêmes. L'étude des processus de réduction nous a permis de mieux comprendre la séquence paléolithique de la vallée du Nil égyptien.

     

International accompaniment,reflexivity and the intelligibility of power in post-conflict Guatemala

ABSTRACT

‘International accompaniers’ use their physical presence as a form of peaceful intervention to deter political violence against local human rights defenders. Threatened members of Guatemala’s civil society have relied on accompaniment as part of their security strategy since the early 1980s. Approximately one thousand volunteers from a dozen countries have accompanied in Guatemala. International accompaniment has been a key component of the effort to prosecute former military general and president Efraín Ríos Montt and other perpetrators of mass human rights violations in Guatemala. Victim witnesses and their legal counsel have included accompaniment as part of their protection strategy since 2000. Important questions have nonetheless been raised with respect to accompaniment’s effectiveness as a tool for witness protection and the possibility that it reinforces power inequalities. This article builds on Gada Mahrouse’s critique of accompaniment and draws on Michel Foucault’s understanding of reflexivity and power. The authors use insights from two case studies to support the argument that accompaniment’s usefulness as a tool for witness protection depends on its ability to accommodate the witnesses’ position within webs of interconnected power dynamics and the multiple ways in which they conceive of security. It also depends on how intelligible these different power dynamics are to accompaniers. This argument is used to highlight how accompaniment in Guatemala is relevant for other situations where the prosecution of human rights atrocities is long term and depends on witness testimony.     

Preservation assessment of Miocene–Pliocene tooth enamel from Tugen Hills (Kenyan Rift Valley) through FTIR,chemical and stable-isotope analyses

We investigated fossil tooth enamel of mammals and crocodiles from two Mio-Pliocene East-African formations (Lukeino and Mabaget Fms) using infrared spectroscopy and chemical and stable-isotope analyses. Infrared spectra indicate that the fossil enamel contains biological apatite (bioapatite), without significant secondary carbonate contaminations. Several empirical infrared indexes were used to analyze the crystal–chemical characteristics of enamel. Fossil enamel has less organic matter, water and structural carbonate of apatite than modern enamel with which it was compared. Fossil apatite has a better crystallinity than bioapatite. The calcium/phosphorus mass ratio and the fluorine content of fossil apatite show intermediate values between bioapatite and geological fluorapatite. The samples also display significant crystal-chemical variations, depending on the vertebrate group (mammals vs. reptiles) and the taphonomic context (Lukeino Fm vs. Mabaget Fm). In spite of these changes, no relationship was observed between the chemical contents (carbonate and fluorine) and the stable-isotope ratios of carbonate (δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O) in fossil enamel. Preservation of the palaeoenvironmental signals is strongly supported by the fact that the stable-isotope composition of the three investigated fossil mammalian taxa (deinotheres, equids and hippos) is consistent with their ecological features. For instance, typical C₃- and C₄-plant isotope compositions are reflected in the deinotheres and equids, respectively, and amphibious hippos display lower δ¹⁸O values than terrestrial herbivores, as expected.     

L'Européen (1929-1940): A Cultural Review at the Heart of the Debate on European Identity

The notion of a United States of Europe, linked fairly closely as it was to the activities of the League of Nations, met with remarkable success in the early 1930s. This was due to several factors: the wave of pacifist opinion, which strove to render any new conflict impossible, to the search for a lasting solution to Franco-German antagonism, and to a growing perception of Europe's decline on the international economic and political stage. L'Européen, a review published in Paris between 1929 and 1940, participated fully in this intellectual movement, nourished also by an emerging consciousness of a European identity, by situating the European debate on a cultural level. Financed and led by Étienne Fougère, a Lyonnais parliamentarian and industrialist who was at the very crossroads of influences, milieux and networks, this periodical expressly targeted the international élites and actively campaigned for the economic organisation of Europe, for the defence of commercial interests by means of throwing open markets, and for the defence of a European model of society that was quite distinct from the American and Soviet blueprints.     

Un « Artiste Connaisseur» ? L’Expertise du Restaurateur Dans L’Institution Muséale à la Fin du XVIIIe Siècle

The conservator's expertise is defined in Paris in the museum at the end of the 18(th) century. On the one hand, this article analyses the competences claimed by the conservator in order to give proof of his expertise and to create a professional identity distinct from other implicated actors. On the other hand, this text shows how this expertise is constructed through the collaboration between the curator and the conservator, and underlines the negotiation and porosity of their respective fields of competence.     

Community-based development, non-governmental organizations and social capital in post-apartheid South Africa

Community-based development strategies are gaining in credibility and acceptance in development circles internationally and notably in post-apartheid South Africa. In parallel, the concept of social capital and the role of supportive nongovernmental organizations are receiving attention as key catalytic elements in encouraging and assisting community-based initiatives. In this paper, a well-documented initiative, the Hertzog Agricultural Co-operative in Eastern Cape province, is re-examined after the passage of several years to assess the impact of social capital and the involvement of a particular non-governmental organization in ensuring the sustainability and economic survival of the project. While both elements have proved critical to the project's life-cycle, particularly in recent years, concerns over possible dependency and project sustainability exist.