Kurdish nationalists and non‐nationalist Kurdists: rethinking minority nationalism and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, 1908–1909

ABSTRACT. Recent scholarship has begun to nuance the idea of Ottoman decline, but few works have attempted to see nationalism outside of the dominant decline paradigm. By addressing the emergence of Kurdish nationalism in the late Ottoman period, this paper questions the idea that imperial disintegration and nationalism were inherently intertwined; and challenges not only the mutually causal relationship that has been emphasised in literature to date, but also the shape that the ‘nationalist movement’ took. Using archival sources, the Kurdish‐Ottoman press, travel literature and secondary sources in various languages, the present paper will illustrate how the so‐called Kurdish nationalist movement' was actually several different movements, each with a differing vision of the political entity its participants hoped to create or protect through their activities. The idea of Kurdish nationalism, or Kurdism, may have been present in the minds of these activists, but the notion of what it meant was by no means uniform. Different groups imbued the concept with their own meanings and agendas. This study demonstrates that most ‘nationalists’ among the Kurds continued to envision themselves as members of the multi‐national Ottoman state, the temptingly powerful rise of nationalism in their day notwithstanding. The suggestion has important implications for students and scholars of nationalist movements among other non‐dominant groups, not only in the Ottoman Empire but in contemporaneous empires such as the Habsburg, and in later states like Iraq, Rwanda and Sudan. The present study further questions the received wisdom that multi‐ethnic entities are a recipe for disaster. It proposes that a joint effort to rethink what we know about minority nationalism may involve not only a reconceptualisation of the very terms we use, but perhaps an accompanying shift in approach too.     

MEASURING SUMMER SEA ICE SEVERITY IN EASTERN HUDSON BAY 1751–1870

The log-books of the Hudson's Bay Company supply ships are the sources from which are derived annual indices of summer sea ice severity in eastern Hudson Bay in the period 1751–1870. The indices are based on two properties of the daily ice conditions described in the log-books: lateness of occurrence and severity of ice. The annual ice index is obtained by comparing the ice conditions in each year from 1751 to 1870 with those in 1969. This year experienced the most severe late summer ice in this region during the period of present-day ice observations .
Les livres de bord des bateaux d'approvisionnement de la Compagnie de la Bale d'Hudson constituent les sources desquelles sont derives les indices annuels de sévérité de la glace marine estivale, dans la partie est de la Baie d'Hudson, pour la période 1751–1870. Ces indices de la glace sont établis à partir de deux propriétés des conditions quotidiennes de la glace, telles qu'elles sont décrites dans les livres de bord. Ces propriétés sont la tardiveté d'apparition et la sévérité de la glace. On obtient l'indice annuel de la glace en comparant les conditions de la glace pour chaque année de la période 1751–1870 avec les conditions de la glace en 1969. Cette année se charactérise par la glace d'été tardive la plus sévére dans cette région au cour de la période contemporaine d'observations de la glace .     

Assessing Disciplinary Integration in New Anthropological Studies of Music

Four recent books offer an opportunity to review new and continuing approaches to the study of music, not as an artistic product, but as an essential practice in human society and as a capacity that defines humankind. Two books examine musical capacity and music making from the framework of biological anthropology, drawing on new research in neurophysiology to connect biological and archaeological anthropology. The other two locate the study largely within cultural anthropology, drawing on ethnomusicology. Taken as a set the volumes invite disciplinary integration in anthropological studies of music.     

ON THE SEISMIC VULNERABILITY OF EXISTING UNREINFORCED MASONRY BUILDINGS

A large part of the building population in Switzerland is made of unreinforced masonry. For the assessment of the seismic risk the evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of existing unreinforced masonry buildings is therefore crucial. In this paper a method to evaluate existing buildings, which was developed for the earthquake scenario project for Switzerland, is briefly introduced and discussed in more detail for unreinforced masonry buildings. The method is based on a non-linear static approach where the seismic demand on the building is compared with the capacity of the building. In-plane and out-of-plane behaviour are considered. Comparisons with test results from model buildings show that the proposed method suitably forecasts the capacity of a building. Finally, a numerical example of the application of the method to a building in the city of Basel is given.     

OPTICAL DATING OF ANTHROPOGENIC SEDIMENTS AT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF HERRENBRUNNENBUCKEL,BRETTEN-BAUERBACH (GERMANY)*

Optical dating was applied to natural and anthropogenic silts at an Iron Age settlement in southern Germany. The natural sediments were dated accurately and allowed study of the human impact on the landscape. The studied anthropogenic sediments were infills of cellars and ditches. Again, deposits derived from soil erosion proved to be datable using infrared-optically stimulated luminescence. However, optical dating of fine grained sediments was at its limits when sediments consisted of a mixture of bleached and unbleached grains. This is shown on sediments of known age originating from cellar infills. Improvements were obtained when using the 560 nm emission and a partial bleach approach. Experimental evidence shows that the D_E versus shine-time plot discloses insufficient bleaching only in cases in which all grains are insufficiently bleached to the same degree.     

K/AR DATING AS A MEANS OF SOURCING LEVANTINE EPIPALAEOLITHIC BASALT IMPLEMENTS

Through K/Ar dating of basalt implements from two Mount Carmel late Epipalaeolithic sites and samples of locally occurring basalts, it was possible to demonstrate clearly that the prehistoric inhabitants of these sites did not utilize the locally available Upper Cretaceous (88–77 My) basalts. The dates of the basalt implements are of Tertiary-Quaternary age (3.7-<0.250 My) which suggests the exploitation of basalt exposures at least 60 km east of the sites. This is the first direct evidence for long-distance exchange/trade of an essential raw material in the Levant as early as 13000 BP.     

《印度宗教文化与回鹘民间文学》序

我所兼职教授、齐陈骏先生高足杨富学博士新撰《印度宗教化与回鹘民间学》一书,作为中国博士后科研基金与教育部人社会科学重点研究基地兰州大学敦煌学研究所资助项目,不久将由民族出版社刊行。西域民族民间学研究专家郎樱研究员应邀作序,对该项目的价值与意义进行了高屋建瓴的论述,颇有参考价值。今征得作同意,于此发表,以飨读。     

NATUFIAN TRADE/EXCHANGE IN BASALT IMPLEMENTS: EVIDENCE FROM NORTHERN ISRAEL*

Three Natufian base camps in Israel—el-Wad, Hayonim and Eynan—have nearby basalt sources, but K/Ar ages indicate that their inhabitants obtained implements, made of Miocene-Pliocene and Quaternary basalts, further afield. The nearest locations, in which raw material sources representing the whole range of dated basalts occur within a relatively restricted area, are to be found east of the Jordan Valley, suggesting movement of the material some 100 km to el-Wad, 60 km to Hayonim and 20 km to Eynan. The exact nature of these longdistance contacts and the underlying social and economic systems and mechanisms are yet to be determined.