APPALACHIAN POLICY, THE CORPORATE STATE, AND AMERICAN VALUES: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE

This paper explores the historical interplay of Appalachia and America over the past hundred years. The focus is on questions of culture and ideology, policy and values as these have been constituted in the development of our “corporate state” and its penetration and integration of the region. A careful examination of Henry Shapiro's Appalachia on our Mind brings to the surface many of the assumptions and values generally underlying the social and public policies binding the nation and the region. Ideological aspects in the genesis of the region as a social problem receive considerable attention. It becomes apparent that understanding Appalachia hinges on critical, historical perspectives on modern America: the liberal tradition, the technological world-view, and the politicized economy of the corporate state. The notion that “time stood still” in Appalachia (the static image) has developed in ways that deflect or obscure comprehension of the region's particular form of modernization.     

‘WAC-y’ Reflections: Perspectives from the 2007 Stanford General Code of Ethics Meeting

Long-time WAC member Jill Reid sat in on days two and three of the meetings at Stanford. For her, the greatest value of the meeting came in the exposure to many different perspectives and the opportunity to reflect on the way archaeology is done in her own work situation. Jill cautions the committee not to replace familiar or widely used terms with others that may create confusion or require explanation. Based on her experiences in Australia, she discusses a situation where deference to cultural heritage laws creates ethical dilemmas and promotes injustice and hopes that whatever process is outlined will be able to take such complexities into account.     

Forty Thousand Arms for a Single Emperor: From Chemical Data to the Labor Organization Behind the Bronze Arrows of the Terracotta Army

This paper explores the integration of chemical data with metric studies and spatial analyses of archaeological artifacts to investigate questions of specialization, standardization, and production organization behind large-scale technological enterprises. The main analytical focus is placed on the 40,000 bronze arrowheads recovered with the Terracotta Army in the First Emperor’s Mausoleum, Xi’an, China. Based on the identification by portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry of chemical clusters that correspond to individual metal batches, and combined with a study of their context in the tomb complex, we argue that the manufacture of arrows was organized via a cellular production model with various multi-skilled units rather than as a single production line. This system favored more adaptable and efficient logistical organization that facilitated dynamic cross-craft interaction while maintaining remarkable degrees of standardization. We discuss the use of “the batch” as an analytical category and how our method might be applied to other studies of craft organization in complex societies and imperial systems.     

Our Dear Cousins the Americans: Sara Jeannette Duncan in Washington

As a young woman, Canadian author Sara Jeannette Duncan (1861–1922) spent nearly a year writing for the Washington Post on literary and cultural matters, and published many of her assessments of American society in The Week, Goldwin Smith's journal of Canadian affairs. Her articles repay close scrutiny not only for their inherent interest as witty observations of America by an engaged Canadian observer, but also for the manner in which they reveal Duncan's national preoccupations and biases. Approaching the Republic with neither antipathy nor deference, Duncan turned her newspaper sketches into an occasion for wide-ranging cultural comment on the nature of the republican experiment – especially concerning America's claims to freedom and human flourishing. She found the results encouraging, if not without salutary warnings, for Canadian efforts in the same direction.