Anglo-Saxon charms in the context of a Christian, world view

The following article explores aspects of a Christian world view found in late Anglo-Saxon England, seeking to put such phenomena as magic, miracles and charms in their proper Christian perspective. Previous criticism has had a tendency to accentuate the pagan aspects of the charms and to confuse a modern definition of magic with that of the early medieval Christian view. The view of nature found in Ælfric's sermons, for example, reveals a particular attitude towards magic, miracles and natural remedies such as charms. Magic and miracles are at opposite extremes, while charms are part of an intermediate category of practices not specifically condemned as develish magic, nor fitting into the Christian interpretation of miracles as signs from God.The second part of the article turns to an examination of the charms themselves to demonstrate how they do fit into a Christian view. Charms having to do with elves, as found in the Leechbook, contain large amounts of Christian material. There is an especially strong correlation between these charms and the use of the mass to counteract the influence and effects of elves. Thus the charms, far from being examples of the remnants of paganism, are evidence of the integration of popular material into a Christian view of the world.     

Tales of the Unexpected: Exploring Car Boot Sales as Marginal Spaces of Contemporary Consumption

Marginal and/or resistant consumption practices have been neglected in current geographical debates on consumption and retailing. This has resulted in partial and skewed theorizations of exchange within contemporary consumption. Consumption spaces such as car boot sales represent sites in which the conventions of the marketplace are suspended or abandoned, and replaced by forms of sourcing, commodity circulation, transaction codes, pricing mechanisms and value quite different from those which typify more conventional retail malls and department stores. Drawing on the anthropological literature on traditional and peasant markets, we argue that exchange within the car boot sale is socially, culturally and geographically embedded and we emphasize the intrinsic importance of fun and sociality to such activities. Marginal spaces such as the car boot sale offer both some important clues into the potential for rethinking marketplace dynamics, notably with respect to our understandings of value, and some intriguing possibilities for consumer politics.     

Crimes against cultural heritage in Timbuktu

On 3 March 2016, Ahmad al‐Faqi al‐Mahdi sat in a courtroom at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and became the first person to be prosecuted for the destruction of cultural sites as a war crime. In this article, the author argues that it is no coincidence that the first case the ICC has brought to justice involves a UNESCO World Heritage site. She charts the history of the relationship between Mali and UNESCO and the history of Islam in Mali. Through taking a historical perspective, current events can be seen as part of an ongoing ‘conversation’ about the future of the country. The ICC trial also has wider ramifications for the anthropological study of material culture and cultural heritage as it resists a plural understanding of people’s entanglement with sites and objects and demands instead a return to certainty.     

The Supply of Glass at Portus Ilicitanus (Alicante,Spain): A Meta‐Analysis of HIMT Glasses

Portus Ilicitanus (Picola, Alicante) was the main sea harbour of the Roman Colonia Iulia Ilici Augusta and as such played a crucial role in the supply of fundamental commodities to the Iberian Peninsula. Excavations yielded large quantities of glass in fourth‐ and early fifth‐century contexts. Elemental analysis of 60 samples by laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) confirmed that the glasses were imported from the Eastern Mediterranean. A majority of the glasses correspond to the HIMTa primary production group, which originates from Egypt. The statistical evaluation of published data of 589 HIMT glasses further revealed differential distribution patterns of the HIMTa and HIMTb subtypes between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, suggesting chronological trends that are linked to wider geopolitical changes. This demonstrates the need for systematic large‐scale approaches to identify supply patterns and possible factors underlying geographical differences and/or chronological developments.     

Regional income inequality in France 1860–1954: Methods and findings

This paper explores regional (département or NUTS3) income inequality in France between 1860 and 1954. To this end we first document the existing evidence, evaluate the estimation methods and findings, assess the suitability of each approach and address potential concerns. We then present our own subnational estimates of per-capita income, derived following Geary and Stark. Overall, we find that indirect estimation (or top-down) methods provide somewhat differing results, thereby calling into question the validity of some of these approaches. Our estimates, meanwhile, appear to fit reasonably well with direct estimations (or bottom-up) of value-added and income and provide evidence in support of a decline in regional inequality over the period of study.     

Publications briefly noted

ONG JIN HUI, TONG CHEE KIONG and TAN ERN SER (eds). Understanding Singapore Society . Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1997. xxiv, 608 pp. US$29.00, paper.

MARIA MIES. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: women in the International Division of Labour . New Edition. Melbourne: Spinifex, 1999. xix, 272 pp. A$29.95, paper.

V. R. SAVAGE, L. KONG and W. NEVILLE. The Naga Awakens: growth and Change in Southeast Asia . Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1998. US$39.00, hardcover; US$29.00, paper.

ALAN LAWRANCE. China under Communism . London: Routledge, 1998. xii, 158 pp. US$15.99; £9.99, paper.

FREDERICK C. TEIWES with WARREN SUN. China's Road to Disaster: Mao, Central Politicians, and Provincial Leaders in the Unfolding of the Great Leap Forward , 1955–1959. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999. xvii, 319 pp. US$27.50, paper.

ANDREW WALDER (ed). Zouping in Transition: the Process of Reform in Rural North China . Harvard Contemporary China Series, 11. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. US$45.00; £29.95, hardcover; US$19.95; £13.50, paper.

J. A. G. ROBERTS. A Concise History of China . Basingstoke: Macmillan; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. US$45.00, hardcover; US$16.95, paper.

NIELS MULDER. Filipino Images: culture of the Public World . Quezon City: New Day, 2000. 232 pp. P300 (US$45.00), paper.