Center of Diversity: Sámi in Early Modern Stockholm in the Light of European Colonial Expansion. A Historical Archaeological Approach

This paper deals with the presence of Sámi in central and southern Sweden in the seventeenth century. The Nordic countries have generally been believed to be ethnically homogeneous, with the** colonial subjects not being present in the center of these empires. If the multicultural aspects of early modern Nordic countries are at all discussed, Sámi and other ethnic groups are understood as peoples living on the outskirts of the empires. This notion has cemented an idea that cities such as Copenhagen or Stockholm were inhabited solely by peoples from southern Scandinavia and the continent. Drawing on the experience of the role and presence of indigenous people from the Americas and the Arctic in cities such as London in the seventeenth century, this paper examines the multi-ethnic aspects of early modern Stockholm, capital of Sweden, as an imperial center.     

Organized Materiality

In the late medieval period the religious guilds along with trade guilds grew in importance, as did the role of material culture related to the guilds. This history has seen little examination from a Fenno-Scandinavian and particularly a Swedish vantage point. In order to analyse the role of material culture in the formation of this way of organizing people, the article investigates the existence of late medieval guildhalls, especially rural ones, and discusses remains of other material culture that can be connected to the guilds. The halls, drinking vessels and other material things were activated in the growth of a new more substantial way of organizing society outside the boundaries of feudal society and family control. It is argued that material culture had a significant role in the recurrent activities of the guilds of the Middle Ages and in the shaping of new ways of organizing people.     

Koan amphorae from Halasarna – investigations in a Hellenistic amphora production centre

Ceramic amphorae have been the most popular transport and storage containers for a large variety of liquid and solid products. The amphorae of the present study were used as transport containers for wine from the island of Kos (East Aegean). Therefore, they had to fulfil certain requirements in terms of mechanical strength and toughness but also in terms of standardization of vessel size and shape. An assemblage of amphora fragments from the excavation of ancient Halasarna, an amphora production centre, will be presented. The ceramics were studied by means of their chemical and mineralogical composition and fabric. Furthermore, their material properties were measured and their mechanical performance was simulated in computer models.     

From sustainable development to carbon control: eco-state restructuring and the politics of urban and regional development

The management of carbon emissions holds some prospect for challenging sustainable development as the organising principle of socio-environmental regulation. This paper explores the rise of a distinctive low-carbon polity as an ideological state project, and examines its potential ramifications for the regulation of economy–environment relations at the urban and regional scale. Carbon control would seem to introduce a new set of values into state regulation and this might open up possibilities for challenging mainstream modes of urban and regional development in a manner not possible under sustainable development. But low-carbon restructuring also portends intensified uneven development, new forms of state control and a socially uneven reworking of state–society relations. In order to explore these issues we start by setting out a framework for conceptualising environmental regulation based around the idea of eco-state restructuring. This idea is introduced to capture the conflicts, power struggles and strategic selectivities involved as governments seek to reconcile environmental protection with multiple other pressures and demands. Overall the paper seeks to make a distinctive contribution to theoretical work on state environmental regulation and the emerging spatial dimensions of climate policy.     

The Changing Accessibility of Educational Opportunities in Southern Sri Lanka

To handle the double challenge of economic competitiveness and poverty alleviation, there are increasing calls for dual education strategies designed to handle both these issues simultaneously. Based on field research in rural Sri Lanka, this article aims to contribute to the understanding of how educational opportunities of different groups in different areas are shifting in the context of a changing world of work and new skill requirements in the global economy. An ongoing stratification of educational opportunities is identified, based on the growth of private tuition and English‐medium education, as well as a rationalization of the education system. The article shows that future attempts to reform the education system in Sri Lanka must be better rooted in the preferences and aspirations of poor groups in rural areas, and that educational opportunities must be seen as relative, relational and contextual.     

Archaeology in the World of Display: A Material Study of the Use of History in the Stockholm Exhibition of 1897

History was an important notion in constructing an industrial capitalist society in the nineteenth century. This article deals with the manifest use of history at the Stockholm Exhibition of 1897. At this exhibition, history was ubiquitous and was most fully expressed in the model of medieval and Renaissance Stockholm called “Old Stockholm.” The history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century exhibitions in general has been thoroughly studied in the field of humanities. However, the specific use of history and space has not attracted much interest. This analysis of the model of Old Stockholm is of the first archaeological study of remains of the great exhibitions ever to have been done. Even though the “Old Stockholm” pavilion was exceedingly popular in the summer of 1897, only very scarce documentation has survived. An archaeological excavation of parts of the temporary historical models, such as the “Hospital of the Holy Spirit,” showed convincing evidence of the hegemonic position which the use of history enjoyed at the exhibition and in the nineteenth century.     

The world in a nutshell: a historical archaeology of early modern entanglement in Scandinavia and India studied through the life course of the Danish nobleman Ove Gjedde, 1594–1660

SUMMARY: In 1620, the Danish colony of Tranquebar, on the Coromandel Coast in India, was founded by an expedition jointly mounted by the Danish Crown and the Danish East India Company, under the command of the Danish nobleman Ove Gjedde. Gjedde soon went back to Denmark, but the experiences gained in the colony proved important for his future career as a military man, civil servant and industrialist. The purpose of the article is to study the form of entanglement between people, places and things, provided through early modern globalization. This is done through a biographical analysis of the life, things and actions of, and related to, Ove Gjedde. The article suggests that the actions of Gjedde should be understood and interpreted in a global context showing the role of Scandinavia in early modern globalization. This study focuses on material culture as well as people in order to capture change, development and power relations between people and between people and things. The subjects and objects — human and non-human — are seen in this study as equally important in promoting change and development.