bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Postsocialism, Social Value, and Identity Politics among Albanians in Macedonia
Authors: Neofotistos Vasiliki P.
Published: February 2017

In this article, Vasiliki P. Neofotistos analyzes the reappropriation of the term Šiptar, a derogatory Macedonian term for Albanians, by male members of the Albanian community in the Republic of Macedonia. Neofotistos shows how the reappropriation of the ethnic slur reflects constellations of social value, that is to say, larger systems of meaning and action concerning who and what is valued in life, that have emerged with Macedonian independence. Albanian men tap into familiar divisions found in the larger Macedonian society and create meaningful forms of collectivity as they deal with rapid social, economic, and political change in the context of Macedonia's postsocialist transformation of social practices and ideals. This case study of Macedonia sheds light on the dynamics of social relations within socially marginalized groups.
Political Volatility and Governance in East Central Europe
Authors: Forestiere Carolyn
Published: February 2017

In this article, Carolyn Forestiere investigates political volatility as a way to explain varying levels of governance across the new democracies of east central Europe. Specifically, legislative and executive volatility are examined. The results suggest that differences in legislative volatility help explain variations in governance, especially during the beginning of a new democracy. Once party systems begin to consolidate, however, differences in executive volatility begin to matter more. A case study of Poland confirms some of Forestiere's conclusions. While the legislative party system has shown some signs of stabilization, executive volatility remains a salient political problem, which over time has led to a steady decline in the quality of governance.
Fair Encounters: Bulgaria and the “West” at International Exhibitions from Plovdiv to St. Louis
Authors: Neuburger Mary
Published: February 2017

By the late nineteenth century, world's fairs had captured the imagination of Bulgarian political and intellectual elites. Bulgarians were not only enthusiastic pilgrims to the major world's fairs in the west, but by 1892 they had staged their own international trade exhibition in Plovdiv. Here, as elsewhere, the fair phenomenon was an arena for broadcasting messages of national prowess and progress, as well as a context for the performance and contestation of national identity. But for Bulgarians the fair phenomenon at home and abroad was also part of a highly contested process of negotiating its unique place between east and west, politically, economically, and culturally. The tensions and dilemmas that characterized the Plovdiv fair experience were also palpable in Bulgarian participation in fairs abroad, such as the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and the St. Louis Fair of 1904, where both the nation and the west were yet again reimagined.
The Spectacle of the Besieged City: Repurposing Cultural Memory in Leningrad, 1941–1944
Authors: Barskova Polina
Published: February 2017

Focusing on less studied areas of the twentieth-century war experience, this article investigates the notions of “urban beauty” and “urban spec-Slavic Review69, no. 2 (Summer 2010) tacle” as experienced by the residents of besieged Leningrad. Polina Barskova suggests that, via an estrangement effect, the siege gaze replaces the unrepresentable traumatic experience of presentnesswith an aestheticized cultural past containing such useable notions of cultural memory asruin, stage set, monument,andframe.This replacement can be described as a siege urbanscape sublime, a sublime lying not in the distinction between the horrific and the beautiful but rather in the observer's tendency to substitute the horrific with the beautiful. This particular species of sublime aims at psychological anesthesia and is thoroughly oxymoronic: the intense clashing of opposites—to the point that oxymoronic sensibility leads to rhetorical confluence—alerts us to the connection between the aesthetic discourse of besieged Leningrad and the perennial Petersburg text, thus opening new opportunities for the study of the functioning of cultural memory in Soviet society.
Postsocialisms Unbound: Connections, Critiques, Comparisons
Authors: Rogers Douglas
Published: February 2017

This is the introduction to a cluster ofSlavic Reviewarticles that argue for retaining and expanding the analytic rubric of postsocialism beyond the era of “transition” and beyond the conventional borders of the former Soviet bloc. With primary attention to recent developments in anthropology, Douglas Rogers outlines and evaluates three strategies for unbinding postsocialisms: exploring connections and circulations that lead outward from the formerly socialist world; embarking on new kinds of critical projects that call categories of western social science into question; and developing new varieties and vectors of comparison, especially among socialist and postsocialist contexts around the world. Each of these strategies builds upon and extends the work of the first two decades of research on eastern European and former Soviet postsocialisms. Each also points to significant areas of recent scholarship that new research on postsocialisms is primed to join.
Rural Reform and the Gender Gap in Post-Soviet Russia
Authors: Wegren Stephen K. , Patsiorkovsky Valery V. , O'Brien David J.
Published: February 2017

Using survey data from 900 rural households, this article assesses the degree to which Soviet-era workplace inequality between rural males and females has been remediated by the introduction of democratic and market reforms. The overall effects of reform institutions are mixed. Concerning male-female workplace inequality, three continuities were found with the Soviet period. First, rural males have larger total incomes than do rural females. Second, equal pay for equal work does not exist: females holding similar positions to males earned less in all categories of employment. In addition, males continue to dominate numerically the ranks of farm managers and leaders. Third, managers and leaders of both sexes are the most entrepreneurial, measured by income from private business. Male managers, however, have over three times the income from private business as do female managers. Concerning intragender inequality, it was found that females with advanced education and specialized knowledge or skills have significantly higher incomes than women with lower skill sets.
The Putin Vote: Presidential Electorates in a Hybrid Regime
Authors: Colton Timothy J. , Hale Henry E.
Published: February 2017

What leads people to vote for incumbent presidents in hybrid regimes—political systems that allow at least some real opposition to compete in elections but that greatiy advantage the authorities? Here, the case of Russia is analyzed through survey research conducted as part of the Russian Election Studies (RES) series. The RES has queried nationally representative samples of Russia's population both before and shortly after every post-Soviet presidential election there to date, those in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. Since Vladimir Putin himself ran as head of the United Russia slate in the 2007 parliamentary election, voting in that election is also considered. The analysis reveals that Putin has consistently won votes based on personal appeal, opposition to socialism, and a guardedly pro-western foreign policy orientation, among other things. Economic considerations are also very important, though they operate in a way that is more complex than sometimes assumed. President Dmitrii Medvedev generally benefited from these same factors in his election to the presidency.
Managing Opposition in a Hybrid Regime: Just Russia and Parastatal Opposition
Authors: March Luke
Published: February 2017

In this article Luke March explores the Russian authorities’ efforts to “manage democracy” through the creation of “parties of power.” It focuses on the quasi-leftist party Just Russia, one of four parties currentiy represented in the Russian Duma and the only one that represents a “parastatal” opposition (opposition owned and controlled by the state). The history of Just Russia tells us much about the dynamics of what Andrew Wilson has described as Russia's “virtual politics“: the regime must continually organize manageable quasi-opposition parties in order to bolster its democratic credentials and channel real social discontent, yet whenever it does so effectively, it quickly creates a potential political threat that must be neutralized. Just Russia has parallels in other authoritarian party systems, such as Mexico under the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) or Nigeria under Abacha and Babangida; the main difference in contemporary Russia lies in the remarkable skill with which Russian state actors conjure up and promote ersatz parties. Nevertheless, even in Russia, virtual politics may become real politics in the longer term.
Competing Languages of Czech Nation-Building: Jan Kollár and the Melodiousness of Czech
Authors: Cooper David L.
Published: February 2017

In the modern era, the institution of literature is being reconceived across Europe as a national institution. But the new paradigm of national literatures requires a remaking of literary discourse, including the transformation of critical terminology, and this results in literary discourse becoming politicized. By analyzing the history of the term libozvučnost (melodiousness) in the Czech national literary revival, David L. Cooper demonstrates how this seemingly innocent literary term became a political lightening rod for friends pursuing the same national program. This strongly suggests that, in the formative era of national literatures, using literary issues to discuss politics is not simply a matter of instrumentalizing literary criticism for covert political activity but that discussing literary values is directly political. The example of libozvučnost also reveals how the “borrowed“ discourses of Romanticism and nationalism were fundamentally remade to respond to the modern Czech situation.
Laughter, Music, and Memory at the Moment of Danger: Tsvetaeva'sMother and Musicin Light of Modernist Memory Practices
Authors: Greenleaf Monika
Published: February 2017

In this article, Monika Greenleaf shows how Marina Tsvetaeva protested the erasure of her generation's intimate and embodied styles of memory by postrevolutionary historical narrative. While Soviet writers began to disappear into the Lubianka, labor camps, translation programs, children's literature, and silence in the 1930s, exiled writers found themselves in European capitals contesting the keys to legitimate memory before the emigration's fracturedmilieux de mémoire.In a piece written for oral performance in Paris, Tsvetaeva uses Bergson's famous techniques of bodily and musical memory-retrieval and comic revelation of temporal rhythms and archetypes to frame her childhood memoir as an exemplary mimetic rite for her generation. Bergson's synergistic theory of “matter and memory“ promised total recall, whereas Walter Benjamin's meditation on the different nature of memories that “flash up at the moment of danger” offers new insight into the fiercely selective comic scenes her mnemonic technique “produces.” Greenleaf's examination poses the question: What is the nature of the past that involuntarily repeats itself through our bodies and the very configuration of our imaginations: living Being or copying machine? Is the poet's act of memory socially useful or dangerous and “mad“? Mimesis according to Aristotle or Plato?
NurtureIsNature: Lev Gumilev and the Ecology of Ethnicity
Authors: Bassin Mark
Published: February 2017

In this article, Mark Bassin explores Lev Gumilev's theory of ethnicity. Developing his ideas in the context of post-Stalinist debates about the relationship of society to the natural world, Gumilev maintained that theetnoswas a wholly natural, quasi-biological entity. Although this naturalism involved an important genetic dimension, Gumilev denied that ethnicity was determined by race and emphasized instead its ecological quality as an organic part of biogeocenoses or natural-landscape ecosystems. Although he remained marginalized in his day by the Soviet ethnographic establishment, his essentialist perspective is powerfully appealing for post-Soviet audiences, who find his “ecology of ethnicity” singularly useful for the purposes of ethnopolitical discourse.
ViatortoAscriptitius:Rural Economy, Lordship, and the Origins of Serfdom in Medieval Poland
Authors: Gorecki Piotr
Published: February 2017

In loving memory of Angle Arvidson (1961-1982)

Over a decade ago, Georges Duby wrote his account of the development of the European economy between the seventh and twelfth centuries. The essential change he described was the transition from a society ruled by an elite of warriors, accumulating wealth through conquest, booty, and hoarding, to a society ruled by an elite of landholders, accumulating wealth through economic investment in land and places of production and exchange — workshops, markets, and fairs. The social groupings became increasingly complex. The simple societal divisions — between warriors and peasants, and between the free and the slaves — were replaced by complex and fluid structures of lordship and service. The resulting social arrangements and their language varied in different parts of Europe. Poland completed the transition from an economy based on force and warfare to one based on intensive agriculture and craft specialization in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. This essay describes the structure of rural services and tributes resulting from this transition in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. The first part describes village settlements and division of labor; the second part examines the concept of lordship and in particular the origins of involuntary services rendered by the peasants to the lords — “serfdom” — in Poland during the first decades of the thirteenth century.
Central Plaza Burials in Saladoid Puerto Rico: An Alternative Perspective
Authors: Keegan William F.
Published: February 2017

Some Caribbean archaeologists have assumed that the individuals buried beneath the central plazas of Saladoid sites in Puerto Rico lived in those villages during their lives. They interpret these central place burials as providing immediate access to the ancestors during ceremonies performed in this public space. The central plaza is viewed as the axis mundi, and through ancestor veneration the dead were called upon to intercede with the gods on behalf of the living. However, cross-cultural studies indicate that burial practices often are determined by descent, and those clan members whose postmarital residence was in communities other than their clan villages often were returned to their clan village for burial. It is argued here that central place burials do not reflect ancestor veneration, but rather social solidarity among widely scattered villages.
ECKIXIL: Understanding the Classic to Postclassic Survival and Transformation of a Peten Maya Village
Authors: Schwarz Kevin R.
Published: February 2017

This study uses architectural and activity area analyses to examine the Classic-Postclassic transition and the resulting Postclassic-Early Historic (A. D. 1000–1697) Maya society in the Petén Lakes region of Guatemala. The research combines a detailed temporal comparison of architectural styles and an analysis of changing architecture as the restructuring of everyday social action. The methods have significance beyond Maya studies in addressing questions of cultural continuity or in-migration. Archaeological data from recent excavations, including new radiocarbon dates, document the intensive settlement of the Quexil Islands in the Terminal Classic period (A. D. 800–1000) and its occupation thereafter. Architectural evidence from the Quexil Islands and other Petén Lakes sites indicates a mosaic pattern of change, reflecting to varying extents Classic-Postclassic continuity and external contacts, with differences among sites rather than the complete replacement of populations. Evidence of the later incorporation of this small village, known ethnohistorically as “Eckixil,” in the Late Postclassic-Early Historic Itza polity, demonstrates a strong linkage with the political core, illustrating the political complexity of this hinterland region.
Survival and Revival of Terminal Classic Traditions at Postclassic Mayapán
Authors: Milbrath Susan , Lope Carlos Peraza
Published: February 2017

Recent INAH excavations and reanalysis of data from the Carnegie Institution archaeological project document the survival and revival of Classic and Terminal Classic traditions at Postclassic Mayapán, the last Maya capital in Mexico. The survival of some Terminal Classic ceramic types and architectural forms at Mayapán around A.D. 1100–1200 reflects a pattern of continuity. A revival of earlier traditions is notable in the erection of stelae marking the katun endings and in Postclassic architecture that incorporates iconographie elements from Terminal Classic Puuc sites and the city of Chichén Itzá. The rulers and priests of Mayapán displayed their connection with the Terminal Classic Maya heritage to assert political power. The Puuc revival at Mayapán is linked with the Xiu priests, whereas the revival of the Itzá heritage of Chichén Itzá is affiliated with the Cocom rulers. Between A.D. 1250 and 1400, revival-style architecture at Mayapán was inspired by local traditions in the area of Yucatán. After A.D. 1400, trade contact with the East Coast inspired new art forms linked with the international style associated with Mixteca-Puebla art.
Corporate Power Strategies in the Late Formative to Early Classic Tequila Valleys of Central Jalisco
Authors: Beekman Christopher S.
Published: February 2017

Corporate political strategies (Blanton et al. 1996) that privilege power-sharing over exclusionary tactics are recognized to be important yet understudied forms of political behavior in early complex polities. I present the case of the Tequila valleys of western Mexico to illustrate several points about this corporate system: that the component descent groups can be recognized through their different approaches to architectural construction and burial patterns; that they form groups of counterpoised lineages that shared power; that the relationships between these groups become more fixed and hierarchical across different scales of architecture; and that there are distinct strata within the burial patterns that separate power-sharing groups from the rest of the community. It may be easier to identify and trace aspects of political organization here than in complex and layered urban settings that have been the focus of similar research.
The Economy of Supply: Modeling Obsidian Procurement and Craft Provisioning at a Central Mexican Urban Center
Authors: Hirth Kenneth G.
Published: February 2017

This article examines the way that obsidian craftsmen at Xochicalco, Mexico obtained the raw material needed to produce prismatic blades at the site between A.D. 650 and 900. The paper models seven different forms of direct, indirect, and institutional procurement that craftsmen could have used to obtain this obsidian. These seven procurement models are evaluated using two types of information collected from four domestic workshops: (1) source analysis (NAA, PIXE) to identify where obsidian came from, and (2) technological analysis to determine the form in which obsidian entered workshops. The results indicate that Xochicalco craftsmen most likely were provisioned through itinerant craftsmen who periodically visited Xochicalco. Pressure cores nearing exhaustion were sold to Xochicalco craftsmen who rejuvenated them to produce additional prismatic blades using a hand-held blade removal technology. The results indicate that: (1) different forms of craft provisioning can be differentiated when multiple forms of data are incorporated into the distributional approach, (2) independent domestic craft specialists were the foundation for Mesoamerican economy and were individually responsible for the procurement of raw materials and the distribution of finished products, and (3) neither state institutions, nor the elite who directed them, were involved in the procurement of obsidian for craft specialists who produced valued tools.
The Pre-Arawak Pottery Horizon in the Antilles: A New Approximation
Authors: Ramos Reniel Rodríguez , Babilonia Elvis , Curet L. Antonio , Ulloa Jorge
Published: February 2017

Pottery in contexts that predate the entrance of Arawak societies to the Antilles (500 B.C.) by at least one millennium demand a reassessment of the introduction of this technology to the islands. We summarize the available evidence of what we term the Pre-Arawak Pottery horizon and address the social implications of the introduction of such technology to the insular Caribbean, based on the role of pots as tools. We show that this early pottery is more widespread than originally thought, extending from Cuba to Hispanola and perhaps to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles as well. We argue that the paucity of early ceramic contexts discovered thus far could have resulted from the consideration of pottery as intrusive in Pre-Arawak contexts and because of its technological and stylistic overlap with wares associated to the Ostionoid series (A.D. 600-1500) of the Greater Antilles. Based on this evidence, we conclude by suggesting that some of the post-Saladoid manifestations that have been identified in the islands could have resulted from a multifocal development of these pre-Arawak cultures rather than simply from the divergent evolution of Saladoid societies as has been argued thus far.
Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan: Divergent Political Trajectories in Adjacent Maya Polities
Authors: Golden Charles , Scherer Andrew K. , Muñoz A. René , Vasquez Rosaura
Published: February 2017

In this article we present a synthetic overview and preliminary analysis of the data collected by members of the Sierra del Lacandón Regional Archaeology Project (SLRAP) during four field seasons of research from 2003 to 2007. We examine the growth, development, and transformation of the Classic Maya polities of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, and Yaxchilan, Mexico, located in the Middle Usumacinta Basin. This analysis uses a conjunctive approach, incorporating analyses of iconography, epigraphy, settlement patterns, ceramics, mortuary patterns, and architectural styles. During the Late Preclassic period (c. 250 B.C.-A.D. 350) settlement was scattered widely across the study region and Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan were only two of a number of other equally powerful Preclassic communities. In the Early Classic period (c. A.D. 350-600) royal dynasties were established at both Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan and the population of the region became concentrated at these two sites. During the Late Classic period (c. A.D. 600-810) the political frontier between Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan was repopulated and transformed into a contested border zone surrounding a political boundary. This territorial expansion culminated in endemic warfare by the eighth century A.D., which may have ultimately led to the demise of these two Maya polities.
The Pampa de Chaparrí: Water, Land, and Politics on the North Coast of Peru
Authors: Hayashida Frances M.
Published: February 2017

Large-scale irrigation agriculture formed the economic backbone of civilizations on the north coast of Peru. Contrary to the notion that large systems required the guiding hand of the state, historical sources suggest that management was largely local and segmentary. At the same time, water and land are a potential source of economic and political power for state administrators who may intervene in the supervision and management of farming. The Pampa de Chaparrí, in the Lambayeque region, is an unusually well-preserved system of canals, fields, and settlements where the dynamics of water, land and politics can be observed. Systematic survey documented a Middle Sicán (A.D. 900-1100), Late Sicán (A.D. 1100-1375), Chimú (A.D. 1375-1460) and Inka (A.D. 1460-1532) occupation. During Middle and Late Sicán, settlement patterns reflect the segmentary organization described in historical accounts. With conquest by the Chimú and Inka Empires, state administrative centers were constructed, existing social groups were reorganized and communities and households were transformed. Thus, though local management is an effective and stable strategy for managing large irrigation systems, the wealth and power that these systems represent make them potential targets for more direct state control, with significant consequences for local inhabitants.
Izapa and the Soconusco Region, Mexico, in the First Millennium A.D.
Authors: Rosenswig Robert M. , Mendelsohn Rebecca R.
Published: February 2017

We present new regional settlement pattern data from the eastern Soconusco region, Chiapas, Mexico, including a detailed reconstruction of the first millennium A.D. occupation of the site of Izapa. Results from an initial campaign of light detection and ranging (lidar) data acquisition and analysis of systematically collected surface remains document the full extent of the Classic-period occupation of Izapa. These lidar and pedestrian survey data also illustrate how people were distributed across the landscape from 100 B.C. to A.D. 1000 (Hato to Remanso phases). Survey results indicate significant population increase during the Terminal Formative (A.D. 100–300) and initial Early Classic (A.D. 300–400) periods, followed by a virtual abandonment of both piedmont and low-hills survey zones from A.D. 400 to A.D. 700. The population increased in both survey zones during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (A.D. 700–1000) coinciding with the presence of a large regional center in the low-hills zone and 46 secondary centers recorded within the 400-km2 area covered by the lidar survey. These secondary centers consist of numerous small mounds around circular or square plazas. Together, the results of the lidar study and systematic pedestrian survey offer the first glimpse of population dynamics and political organization in the area around Izapa during the first millennium A.D.
Tyrannical Vices: Resistance to Monopoly, Ideology, and the Market at the Dawn of Modernity
Authors: Rosolino Riccardo
Published: February 2017

In early modern Catholic Europe, certain theologians imagined and legitimized the possibility that one monopoly could be fought by an equal and opposite monopoly. Market dynamics were thus described in terms of the theory of resistance derived from political thought. During the Old Regime, it was necessary to defend the market and its actors from monopoly, which was associated with hoarding and meant to create scarcity and higher prices. A monopolist could be either a single merchant or a group of them, and there was no distinction between buyers and sellers who behaved in such a way. Monopolistic behavior was usually referred to as a “conspiracy,” which carried obvious political connotations. It was both a crime and a sin in addition to being considered an act of violence and one of the primary means of violating the principle of commutative justice. Nevertheless, many thought that it was morally acceptable to neutralize a monopolistic action with a similar one. This idea was not restricted to the field of theology and was also taken up by jurists. Thus, the market was no longer simply a place of rules and a forum where goods were valued, but also a space where it was possible to defend oneself against those who manipulated it by applying the very same criminal tactics.
The Work Statuses of Slaves and Freedmen in the Great Ports of the Roman World (First Century BCE–Second Century CE)
Authors: Tran Nicolas
Published: February 2017

This article investigates the working identities of slaves and freedmen involved in the economies of Roman ports between the first century BCE and the second century CE. Textual evidence (from manuscripts to more diverse epigraphic productions) reveals the great diversity that predominated within these social categories. This heterogeneity was related to the level of technical difficulty involved in the tasks that were performed and thus to workers’ professional skills, as was the case in other urban economies. Nevertheless, factors specific to port economies, particularly with regard to long-distance trade, were also important. The opposition between unskilled workers and trusted agents represents only a part of this broad spectrum. The complexity that can be observed lies in the lack of correspondence—or even the dissonance—between the legal, social, and work statuses of individuals.
The History and Historiography of Guild Hierarchies in the Middle Ages
Authors: Anheim Étienne
Published: February 2017

Philippe Bernardi’s Maître, valet et apprenti au Moyen Âge. Essai sur une production bien ordonnée, examines the traditional triptych of master craftsman, journeyman, and apprentice, considered to be characteristic of medieval production. By focusing on “work statuses,” Bernardi moves away from an overly narrow legal approach to social status, in which production tends to go largely unanalyzed or else is considered only in curtailed form—as in the model of the three orders where, applying solely to “those who work,” forms of production play only a minor role in social ordering. The originality of his approach lies in the way he constructs his object of study: work hierarchies. These are systematically addressed both in historical terms, on the basis of medieval archives (using the example of Provence in from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century), and in historiographical terms, by examining the models according to which these archives have been interpreted since the nineteenth century. Applying tools drawn from the history of science to medieval history, Bernardi thus uncovers the mechanisms that have shaped our knowledge of medieval society since the nineteenth century, showing that the master-journeyman-apprentice triptych is a representation originating in normative sources that has become a historiographical model, but which does not account for medieval production as it appears in sources relating to practice. Moving beyond this normative view, Bernardi shows that work statuses were mostly relational and functioned as a series of binary oppositions—a reality concealed behind a historiographical discourse woven not only through intellectual experience and critical thinking, but also by beliefs, values, and forms of activism.
Moralities of Consumption in Poland across the Short Twentieth Century
Authors: Mazurek Małgorzata
Published: February 2017

Participating in the broader history of consumer mobilization for egalitarian regimes of consumption, this article unpacks the shifting meanings of egalitarian moralities of consumption in the specific case of Poland across the twentieth century. It reveals how important the role of social justice would become in attempts to impose state-centered social welfare over profit-oriented self-welfare between the interwar period and the demise of Communism. During this time, the meaning of profiteering changed significantly. While food conflicts during the interwar period and World War II were organized predominantly along ethnic lines, by the beginning of the postwar era, the notion of the profit-oriented middleman relied on the category of class as well as ethnicity to support a vision of Poland as a Communist, ethnically homogenized nation-state. In the 1950s and the 1960s, anti-profiteering rhetoric became increasingly gendered, as the food conflicts moved from an ideological crusade against private trade to everyday confrontations between the consumers and female shop assistants. When the Soviet Bloc ran into deep crisis in the 1970s and 1980s, self-welfare and family-centered resourcefulness resurfaced as legitimate norms of distributive justice, which contributed to dismantling the Socialist welfare state altogether.
Working-Class Consumer Credit During the Belle Époque: Invention, Innovation, or Reconfiguration?
Authors: Albert Anaïs
Published: February 2017

During the Belle Époque, widespread access to credit for the working classes led to the establishment of an economy of mass consumption. This phenomenon, however, represented more than a simple shift in scale, completely transforming the social order of the credit system, from economic identification to the authorization process. This article examines various aspects of the credit relationship through two documented cases: the credit organization created by the Parisian department store Dufayel for the working classes and reforms introduced by the January 12, 1895 law regarding workers’ garnishment. The transformation of the credit system resulted in the joint emergence of new forms of mediation and distantiation in addition to new arenas in which debt figured—whether in commerce, court or the workplace.
Gender Regimes in Western Societies from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Lett Didier
Published: February 2017

The concept of gender has become such an important subject in international historiography over the last two decades that it might appear odd to devote an entire dossier of the Annales to the topic. However, the relative success of this field of research may also conceal ambiguities in both the intellectual project underlying the term as well as its reception in the social sciences. For certain authors, undertaking a history of gender has meant writing a history of women. Though this form of history now enjoys proper recognition, it is still depreciated in two ways: on the one hand, it is qualified as a militant—and therefore unscholarly—history; and, on the other, it is criticized according to some vague argument claiming that no matter how it is labeled—“gender” or “women”—the inquiry is already dated. Without a doubt, the now canonical expression “history of women and gender” has generated real confusion among those scholars who are not particularly engaged with the field.1
Therapie entzündeter Haut: Es muss nicht immer Kortison sein
Authors: Möhrenschlager Matthias , Ring Johannes
Published: February 2017

Zusammenfassung. In dieser Arbeit wird auf Kortikoid-Alternativen wie Calcineurin-Inhibitoren, sulfonierte Schieferöle, Ultraviolettlicht und Klimatherapie näher eingegangen. Topische Calcineurin-Inhibitoren lassen sich als Immunsuppressiva verstehen, die eine T-Lymphozytenaktivierung inhibieren und eine Freisetzung proinflammatorischer Zytokine über den Calcineurinweg verhindern. Die Entzündungshemmung sulfonierter Schieferöle soll auf einer Hemmung der 5-Lipoxygenase sowie der 5-Hydroxyeicosatetraensäure und des Leukotriens B4 beruhen. Die Rationale für den Einsatz einer UV-Lichtbehandlung liegt in deren antiinflammatorischer Wirkung u.a. auf Antigen-präsentierende Langerhanszellen, infiltrierende T-Zellen und proinflammatorische Zytokine. Eine Klimatherapie im Hochgebirge oberhalb von 1500 Höhenmeter vermag unter anderem eine Freiheit von Hausstaubmilben-Allergenen zu gewährleisten. Andere potente Allergene (z.B. Birken- und Gräserpollen, Schimmelpilzsporen) sind deutlich in der Konzentration als auch in der Zeitdauer ihres Auftretens reduziert.
Zu früh? Zu spät? Ein Überblick über die Pubertät und häufige Pubertätsstörungen
Authors: Hess Melanie , Zumsteg Urs
Published: February 2017

Zusammenfassung. Zur Beurteilung einer relevanten Pubertätsstörung ist es essenziell, die Physiologie der Pubertät zu kennen. Bei Mädchen ist die prämature Thelarche ein häufiger Konsultationsgrund. Meist benötigt diese keine weitere Therapie, muss aber gegen eine Pubertas praecox abgegrenzt werden. Diese braucht in jedem Fall weitere Diagnostik und möglicherweise auch eine pubertätshemmende Therapie. Bei Knaben ist hingegen die Pubertätsgynäkomastie und die Pubertas tarda ein häufigerer Vorstellungsgrund. Beides geht oft mit einem erheblichen Leidensdruck einher. Die physiologische Pubertätsgynäkomastie ist in den meisten Fällen nach 6–18 Monaten spontan rückläufig und bedarf nur selten einer weiteren Abklärung oder Therapie. Die Pubertas tarda tritt häufig im Rahmen einer konstitutionellen Entwicklungsverzögerung auf, differenzialdiagnostisch muss aber ein permanenter Hypogonadismus ausgeschlossen werden.
Die Behandlung der tumorassoziierten Fatigue bei	Brustkrebs
Authors: Seiler Annina , Büel-Drabe Natalie , Jenewein Josef
Published: February 2017

Zusammenfassung. Die tumorassoziierte Fatigue ist ein häufig auftretendes und ernstzunehmendes Beschwerdebild mit belastenden körperlichen, psychischen und sozialen Auswirkungen, das im Verlauf einer Brustkrebserkrankung zu jedem Zeitpunkt auftreten kann. Das Erscheinungsbild der tumorassoziierten Fatigue ist in der klinischen Symptomatik wie auch in den pathophysiologischen Mechanismen sehr heterogen und komplex. Sowohl die Abklärung von Ursachen als auch die Behandlung erfordert ein differenziertes Vorgehen. Eine frühzeitige Therapie der tumorassoziierten Fatigue ist wichtig, um einer möglichen Chronifizierung entgegenzuwirken. Die Behandlung der Fatigue-Symptomatik erfolgt mittels medikamentöser und nicht-medikamentöser Therapieansätze. Während pharmakologische Interventionen mit Psychostimulanzien in der Behandlung der Fatigue-Symptomatik inkonsistente Resultate zeigen, können die Beschwerden der Fatigue-Symptomatik durch nicht-pharmakologische Interventionen, besonders körperliches Training, kognitiv-behaviorale Therapie, Psychoedukation, komplementärmedizinische Behandlungen (Akupunktur, Yoga, phytotherapeutische Verfahren mit Ginseng) deutlich gemindert werden.
Armc5 deletion causes developmental defects and compromises T-cell immune responses
Authors: Hu Yan , Lao Linjiang , Mao Jianning , Jin Wei , Luo Hongyu , Charpentier Tania , Qi Shijie , Peng Junzheng , Hu Bing , Marcinkiewicz Mieczyslaw Martin , Lamarre Alain , Wu Jiangping
Published: February 2017

Armadillo repeat containing 5 (ARMC5) is a cytosolic protein with no enzymatic activities. Little is known about its function and mechanisms of action, except that gene mutations are associated with risks of primary macronodular adrenal gland hyperplasia. Here we mapArmc5expression byin situhybridization, and generateArmc5knockout mice, which are small in body size.Armc5knockout mice have compromised T-cell proliferation and differentiation into Th1 and Th17 cells, increased T-cell apoptosis, reduced severity of experimental autoimmune encephalitis, and defective immune responses to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection. These mice also develop adrenal gland hyperplasia in old age. Yeast 2-hybrid assays identify 16 ARMC5-binding partners. Together these data indicate that ARMC5 is crucial in fetal development, T-cell function and adrenal gland growth homeostasis, and that the functions of ARMC5 probably depend on interaction with multiple signalling pathways.
Comparative influenza protein interactomes identify the role of plakophilin 2 in virus restriction
Authors: Wang Lingyan , Fu Bishi , Li Wenjun , Patil Girish , Liu Lin , Dorf Martin E. , Li Shitao
Published: February 2017

Cellular protein interaction networks are integral to host defence and immune signalling pathways, which are often hijacked by viruses via protein interactions. However, the comparative virus–host protein interaction networks and how these networks control host immunity and viral infection remain to be elucidated. Here, we mapped protein interactomes between human host and several influenza A viruses (IAV). Comparative analyses of the interactomes identified common and unique interaction patterns regulating innate immunity and viral infection. Functional screening of the ‘core‘ interactome consisting of common interactions identified five novel host factors regulating viral infection. Plakophilin 2 (PKP2), an influenza PB1-interacting protein, restricts IAV replication and competes with PB2 for PB1 binding. The binding competition leads to perturbation of the IAV polymerase complex, thereby limiting polymerase activity and subsequent viral replication. Taken together, comparative analyses of the influenza–host protein interactomes identified PKP2 as a natural inhibitor of IAV polymerase complex.
Theta and beta synchrony coordinate frontal eye fields and anterior cingulate cortex during sensorimotor mapping
Authors: Babapoor-Farrokhran Sahand , Vinck Martin , Womelsdorf Thilo , Everling Stefan
Published: February 2017

The frontal eye fields (FEFs) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are commonly coactivated for cognitive saccade tasks, but whether this joined activation indexes coordinated activity underlying successful guidance of sensorimotor mapping is unknown. Here we test whether ACC and FEF circuits coordinate through phase synchronization of local field potential and neural spiking activity in macaque monkeys performing memory-guided and pro- and anti-saccades. We find that FEF and ACC showed prominent synchronization at a 3–9 Hz theta and a 12–30 Hz beta frequency band during the delay and preparation periods with a strong Granger-causal influence from ACC to FEF. The strength of theta- and beta-band coherence between ACC and FEF but not variations in power predict correct task performance. Taken together, the results support a role of ACC in cognitive control of frontoparietal networks and suggest that narrow-band theta and to some extent beta rhythmic activity indexes the coordination of relevant information during periods of enhanced control demands.
Two factor-based reprogramming of rodent and human fibroblasts into Schwann cells
Authors: Mazzara Pietro Giuseppe , Massimino Luca , Pellegatta Marta , Ronchi Giulia , Ricca Alessandra , Iannielli Angelo , Giannelli Serena Gea , Cursi Marco , Cancellieri Cinzia , Sessa Alessandro , Del Carro Ubaldo , Quattrini Angelo , Geuna Stefano , Gritti Angela , Taveggia Carla , Broccoli Vania
Published: February 2017

Schwann cells (SCs) generate the myelin wrapping of peripheral nerve axons and are promising candidates for cell therapy. However, to date a renewable source of SCs is lacking. In this study, we show the conversion of skin fibroblasts into induced Schwann cells (iSCs) by driving the expression of two transcription factors, Sox10 and Egr2. iSCs resembled primary SCs in global gene expression profiling and PNS identity. In vitro, iSCs wrapped axons generating compact myelin sheaths with regular nodal structures. Conversely, iSCs from Twitcher mice showed a severe loss in their myelinogenic potential, demonstrating that iSCs can be an attractive system for in vitro modelling of PNS diseases. The same two factors were sufficient to convert human fibroblasts into iSCs as defined by distinctive molecular and functional traits. Generating iSCs through direct conversion of somatic cells offers opportunities for in vitro disease modelling and regenerative therapies.
Small-molecule-biased formyl peptide receptor agonist compound 17b protects against myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury in mice
Authors: Qin Cheng Xue , May Lauren T. , Li Renming , Cao Nga , Rosli Sarah , Deo Minh , Alexander Amy E. , Horlock Duncan , Bourke Jane E. , Yang Yuan H. , Stewart Alastair G. , Kaye David M. , Du Xiao-Jun , Sexton Patrick M. , Christopoulos Arthur , Gao Xiao-Ming , Ritchie Rebecca H.
Published: February 2017

Effective treatment for managing myocardial infarction (MI) remains an urgent, unmet clinical need. Formyl peptide receptors (FPR) regulate inflammation, a major contributing mechanism to cardiac injury following MI. Here we demonstrate that FPR1/FPR2-biased agonism may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of MI. The small-molecule FPR1/FPR2 agonist, Compound 17b (Cmpd17b), exhibits a distinct signalling fingerprint to the conventional FPR1/FPR2 agonist, Compound-43 (Cmpd43). In Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells stably transfected with human FPR1 or FPR2, Compd17b is biased away from potentially detrimental FPR1/2-mediated calcium mobilization, but retains the pro-survival signalling, ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation, relative to Compd43. The pathological importance of the biased agonism of Cmpd17b is demonstrable as superior cardioprotection in both in vitro (cardiomyocytes and cardiofibroblasts) and MI injury in mice in vivo. These findings reveal new insights for development of small molecule FPR agonists with an improved cardioprotective profile for treating MI.
A substrate-bound structure of cyanobacterial biliverdin reductase identifies stacked substrates as critical for activity
Authors: Takao Haruna , Hirabayashi Kei , Nishigaya Yuki , Kouriki Haruna , Nakaniwa Tetsuko , Hagiwara Yoshinori , Harada Jiro , Sato Hideaki , Yamazaki Toshimasa , Sakakibara Yoichi , Suiko Masahito , Asada Yujiro , Takahashi Yasuhiro , Yamamoto Ken , Fukuyama Keiichi , Sugishima Masakazu , Wada Kei
Published: February 2017

Biliverdin reductase catalyses the last step in haem degradation and produces the major lipophilic antioxidant bilirubin via reduction of biliverdin, using NAD(P)H as a cofactor. Despite the importance of biliverdin reductase in maintaining the redox balance, the molecular details of the reaction it catalyses remain unknown. Here we present the crystal structure of biliverdin reductase in complex with biliverdin and NADP+. Unexpectedly, two biliverdin molecules, which we designated the proximal and distal biliverdins, bind with stacked geometry in the active site. The nicotinamide ring of the NADP+ is located close to the reaction site on the proximal biliverdin, supporting that the hydride directly attacks this position of the proximal biliverdin. The results of mutagenesis studies suggest that a conserved Arg185 is essential for the catalysis. The distal biliverdin probably acts as a conduit to deliver the proton from Arg185 to the proximal biliverdin, thus yielding bilirubin.
Ultra-high resolution profiles of macular intra-retinal layer thicknesses and associations with visual field defects in primary open angle glaucoma
Authors: Chen Qi , Huang Shenghai , Ma Qingkai , Lin Huiling , Pan Mengmeng , Liu Xinting , Lu Fan , Shen Meixiao
Published: February 2017

The structural characteristics of the outer retinal layers in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) are still controversial, and these changes, along with those in the inner retinal layers, could have clinical and/or pathophysiological significance. A custom-built ultra-high resolution optical coherence tomography (UHR-OCT) combined with an automated segmentation algorithm can image and measure the eight intra-retinal layers. The purpose of this study is to determine the thickness characteristics of the macular intra-retinal layers, especially the outer layers, in POAG patients. Thirty-four POAG patients (56 eyes) and 33 normal subjects (63 eyes) were enrolled. Thickness profiles of the eight intra-retinal layers along a 6-mm length centred on the fovea at the horizontal and vertical meridians were obtained and the regional thicknesses were compared between two groups. The associations between the thicknesses of each intra-retinal layer and the macular visual field (VF) sensitivity were then analysed. POAG affected not only the inner retinal layers but also the photoreceptor layers and retinal pigment epithelium of the outer retina. However, the VF loss was correlated mainly with the damage of the inner retinal layers. UHR-OCT with automated algorithm is a useful tool in detecting microstructural changes of macula with respect to the progression of glaucoma.