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.     

REVIEW

The Ra Expeditions. By Thor Heyerdahl. (First Published 1971) Penguin Books, Vic. Revised edition 1972. Pp. 372. Price Aust. $2.10.     

Writing Gender into History and History in Gender: Creating A Nation and Australian Historiography

This paper reflects on the impact of gender in the writing of history by considering the reception of Creating A Nation, the first gendered history of Australia. It argues that while there has emerged an impressive volume of feminist history and with it has come an important acceptance of women's historical experience, the reception of ‘gender’ within the historical profession has paradoxically been ambivalent and ambiguous. This is the case because of an unease about feminist theory and its relevance to history. There also remains a prevailing belief that a gendered neutral historical place exists, to which historians can retreat.     

冰雪一夏皇后镇

北京一奥克兰一皇后镇,在新西兰航空的豪华经济舱上美美睡了一觉,又喝了好几杯当地的黑皮诺葡萄酒之后,飞机稳稳地落在了皇后镇机场。第一眼见皇后镇,感觉和它的名字一样优雅。深邃的瓦卡提普湖微波荡漾,     

Philipp Otto Runge and the Semiotic Language of Nature and Patriotism

Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810) was a leading German Romantic artist whose iconography represents a transition from the Neoclassical iconography of classical mythology and allegory to an abstract semiotic system of signs based on a mystical interpretation of nature. An admirer of Herder's theory of language, Runge's iconography was representative of a trend among Romantic artists to promote nationalism and cultural values through the implementation of formal epistemological systems in the medium of art. Runge's individual iconography reveals a synthesis of rational and mystical systems of knowledge that emphasizes Herder's concept of the German Volk as a unique cultural identity, and presents an analogy between the creation of the cosmos, the organic origins of language, and the conception of the German Volk. Runge's iconography expresses the nationalist sentiments and linguistic theory of Herder that formed the basis of German propaganda movements during the Wars of Liberation, 1807–1815.     

‘Women—Keep Australia Free!’: Women Voters and Activists in the 1951 Referendum Campaign

Abstract

This article considers three aspects of the women's vote and activism during the 1951 referendum campaign. First, it is argued that the appeal to women was conducted in terms of the democratic right to freedom of expression and protest especially as it connected to domestic issues. Second, women's engagement in this campaign has been overlooked, but was influential, diverse and prominent, as evidenced by the involvement of activists such as Millicent Preston Stanley and Margot Mahood. Finally, the campaign directed at the woman voter points to the increasing appeal by the major parties to women as independent voters.