The voices of female pilgrims in medieval wills. The Jacobean devotion in Apulia (Italy)

The main topic of this study is to contribute to the study of female sacred mobility in the Middle Ages by proposing a new approach for the analysis of historical sources (wills and bequests), combining quantitative and qualitative methodology. We have set three aims: (1) Reinforcing the female presence within historical documents through their empirical analysis; (2) Reflecting upon female participation in the public sphere; (3) Investigating women’s agency in religious terms. Concerning the geographical context of the research, the historical sources have been retrieved from the Historical Archives of the Italian Region of Apulia (Italy); where we have studied the above mentioned topics in relation to the devotion to St. James (Spain). The first part of the article introduces female mobility to the city of Santiago de Compostela; then, it moves to the forms of devotion to the Apostle St. James the Greater and female pilgrims in Apulia. The present empirical study has the differential to propose a transversal interpretation of the selected historical texts according to the following criteria: (1) Devotion to the Apostle St. James the Greater (2) Female devotion. As well as reinforcing the use of these historical documents to investigate female social behaviour, the research contributes to the study of the female role within the geography of pilgrimage in the following terms: sacred mobility; territorial history and experiential and devotional value.     

Inventories and the Analysis of Wealth and Consumption Patterns In St. Mary's County,Maryland, 1658–1777

Abstract. This article is the first systematic attempt to measure the existence and degree of dowry inflation in South Asia. The popular press and scholarly literature have assumed dowry inflation in South Asia for some time, and there are now a number of theoretical papers that have attempted to explain the rise of dowries in South Asia. Despite these advances, there has been no systematic study of dowry inflation. Using large-sample retrospective survey data from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal, researchers assess the empirical evidence for dowry inflation. They find no evidence that real dowry amounts have systematically increased over time in South Asia.     

'Internal Frontiers' as a Hindrance to Development

This paper analyses the socio-economic implications of the imposition of 'zone under surveillance' status upon an area along the northern borders of Greece, throughout most of the twentieth century. This zone was enclosed to the north by a border separating Greece from other countries and to the south by a frontier separating the Greeks in the zone from the rest of their country. This state of affairs has created many problems within the surveillance zone (such as a feeling among the population that their area is under threat, less developed than and only partially assimilated to the rest of Greece). The paper focuses on the function of the surveillance zone as an 'internal frontier', and not on its earlier function as a defence mechanism, and on one particular part of the zone, in the prefecture of Xanthi, which is inhabited by Pomaks.     

The delocalization of production in labour intensive industries: instances of triangular manufacturing between Germany,Greece and FYROM

The clothing industry, by virtue of its labour intensity and low barriers to entry and exit, is at the forefront of the processes of integration in a global network of production and distribution. During the 1970s and 1980s ‘intermediate’ regimes (such as Greece) benefited from the diffusion in clothing production from advanced industrialized countries (such as Germany); however, this trend was reversed during the 1990s. This is because of the intensification of competition from both developed countries (for high quality products) and less developed countries (for price competitive items), as well as the new threat posed by competitors from post‐socialist economies that are trying to find a role in the ‘Newer’ International Division of Labour. Within this context, this article sets out to analyse to what extent collaborative forms of diffuse manufacture, and particularly triangular manufacturing, may be used in the context of south‐eastern Europe. This article argues that ‘triangular manufacturing’ between the industrialized core of the European Union (EU) (and especially Germany), Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) was the outcome of spontaneous entrepreneurial decision‐making. In the main, it was parent enterprises in Germany and to some extent Greek intermediaries who were the main beneficiaries of the emerging triangular relationships. Enterprises and workers in FYROM remained vulnerable and dependent. However, there were also a handful of instances of ‘good practice’, where relationships were beneficial to all the participating parties. We argue that these examples provide lessons for policy intervention both nationally and locally (in both Greece and FYROM).     

The Quality of Aid: Measuring Trends in Donor Performance

Donor performance can be quantified in four ways: (1) by the amount of aid given; (2) the terms and conditions under which it is given; (3) the extent to which it is tied; and (4) by its allocation to recipients. The way in which each of these criteria can be used to measure donor performance is discussed. The evolution of international guidelines by the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD for each performance criteria and actual donor performance in these areas are also addressed. Finally, these four aspects are brought together into a single performance indicator by means of ‘aid diamonds’.