bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Climate variability in the mid to late Holocene Arnhem Land Region, North Australia: Archaeological archives of environmental and cultural change
Authors: BOURKE PATRICIA , BROCKWELLM SALLY , FAULKNER PATRICK , MEEHAN BETTY
Published: January 2013

A number of archaeologists have suggested that significant climatic change with environmental and social consequences occurred between 1000 and 400 years ago in the Indo‐Pacific region. We investigate this premise by examining the archaeological record of changes in hunter‐gatherer economies in three geographically distinct coastal regions of tropical northern Australia. These case studies support the argument that Aboriginal mollusc exploitation reflects the altered local ecological habitats that accompanied broader coastal environmental change over the last few thousand years. Overlap between the phases and timing of climatic and behavioural changes within each region suggests that, given regional variation in the nature and of these changes, there was an associated human response to late Holocene climatic variability.

These case studies establish that archaeological and environmental evidence mutually support the argument for climate change influencing cultural change in northern Australia. We suggest that, while a direct physical link between environmental change and the interpretations of significant cultural change in the archaeological record have yet to be demonstrated unambiguously in this region, the analysis of mollusc exploitation has the potential to provide the direct link that is currently missing between changes in climate, environment and human responses over the last millennium.
Assessing the role of climate change and human predation on marine resources at the Fatu‐ma‐Futi site, Tutuila Island, American Samoa: an agent based model
Authors: MORRISON ALEX E. , ADDISON DAVID J.
Published: January 2013

In the tropical Pacific, climate change has been implicated as a causal variable in the development of a variety of social processes, including resource scarcity, cultural diversification, changes in spatial organization, and conflict. Hypotheses concerning the effects of climatic variability on cultural change can be better evaluated once links between environmental processes and subsistence patterns are established. Here we present data on approximately 1500 years of shellfish exploitation at the Fatu‐ma‐Futi site, Tutuila Island, American Samoa. We generate an Agent Based Model to test hypotheses regarding resource exploitation and the effects of climate change on near‐shore marine fauna. To date, little archaeological data regarding prehistoric marine resource use in Samoa is available, demonstrating the need for more field research. Integrating models generated from foraging theory and agent based computer simulations provides a new technique for modeling social and ecological processes in complex environments.
Distribution and variation in sago extraction equipment: convergent and secondary technologies in island southeast Asia
Authors: ELLEN ROY
Published: January 2013

It is argued, following François Sigaut, that the way elements of technology are invented, borrowed and re‐combined challenges the notion of ‘technical lineage’, with its implication of ‘successive orderly accretions’. The contention is examined in relation to pith removal equipment used in palm starch extraction in island southeast Asia and Melanesia, which is considered additionally instructive because it yields some potential archaeological traces. The key archaeotypes—pounding and rasping tools—reflect convergent and secondary technologies that most likely were adapted to sago processing from other cultural domains. Pounders are found mainly in the eastern part of the geographic range, and rasps in the west. There is much variability in the distribution of types, even within a small area. Inferences are drawn relating to recent changes (for example, from stone to metal working edges, and from pounders to rasps), and concerning what we can learn from the distribution of different kinds of tool, including the likelihood of versions of the same tool co‐existing in the same place, or being independently invented at opposite ends of the archipelago.
A small salvage excavation in Windjana Gorge, Kimberley, Western Australia
Authors: O'CONNOR SUE , APLIN KEN , COLLINS SOPHIE
Published: January 2013

Windjana Gorge Water Tank Shelter (DIA 12588) is a narrow limestone rockshelter located in Windjana Gorge National Park, Western Australia. Although the site is badly disturbed, test excavation revealed some 45cm of in situ deposit down to massive roof‐fall. Radiocarbon estimates demonstrate that the shelter was used from at least 7000 calBP into the European contact period. The sediments contain well‐preserved faunal remains and stone artefacts. The faunal remains give an insight into Aboriginal economy in an arid region with adjacent fresh water sources.
Anything more than a picnic? Re‐considering arguments for ceremonial Macrozamia use in mid‐Holocene Australia
Authors: ASMUSSEN BRIT
Published: January 2013

Influential arguments have been advanced in Australian archaeology concerning the origins and development of social and economic change in the mid‐late Holocene (Lourandos 1997). One example used to support this claim is the perceived existence of ceremonial feasting events held in the semi‐arid and rugged sandstone gorge systems of central Queensland, attended by large groups of people for extended periods, and underwritten by large quantities of kernels from the cycad Macrozamia moorei (Beaton 1977, 1982; see also Lourandos 1997). However the re‐examination of the macrobotanical evidence from archaeological sites in this region using taphonomic analysis, replicative processing experiments, recalculations of seed density and estimations of the minimum numbers of seeds, does not support this model. This re‐examination questions the role of Macrozamia seeds in the context of socio‐economic change and suggests new interpretations of Macrozamia resource use.
Pre‐Austronesian dispersal of banana cultivars West from New Guinea: linguistic relics from Eastern Indonesia
Authors: DENHAM TIM , DONOHUE MARK
Published: January 2013

Against the backdrop of a comprehensive archaeobotanical review, we present linguistic evidence that allows us to develop a model of the dispersal of bananas westwards from New Guinea. This westward dispersal is a window on pre‐Austronesian contact between New Guinea and regions to the west. The linguistically‐derived model is compatible with archaeobotanical and botanical data. Our interpretation accords with evidence for maritime interactions from the early Holocene in western New Guinea and eastern Indonesia.
Murray‐Darling basin freshwater shells: riverine reservoir effect
Authors: GILLESPIE RICHARD , FINK DAVID , PETCHEY FIONA , JACOBSEN GERALDINE
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT We report carbon isotope measurements on pre‐bomb museum samples of freshwater mussel shells collected alive from riverine locations in New South Wales, Australia. The calculated reservoir ages, ranging from −60 to +112 years, are much smaller than those for Australian marine shells and not considered significant for the radiocarbon dating of Late Pleistocene freshwater shells from the Murray‐Darling Basin.
Worked Shell from Leta Leta Cave, Palawan, Philippines
Authors: SZABÓ KATHERINE , RAMIREZ HAZEL
Published: January 2013

The Leta Leta Cave burial site is a distinctive and enigmatic site of the Philippine Neolithic, excavated by Robert Fox. Containing a number of burials, its unusual earthenware pottery — including the ‘yawning‐mouth vessel’, small footed goblets and a cut‐out pedestalled bowl — have seen it recognised in the Philippines as an official site of national significance. In addition to the human remains and earthenware, Fox recovered a sizeable assemblage of shell artefacts which, as with other material remains recovered from Leta Leta, were only cursorily reported in print before his death. Recent analysis of the Leta Leta worked shell has revealed the deposition of unfinished as well as finished shell artefacts in mortuary contexts. As well as giving rare insights into manufacturing protocols in an island where the Neolithic and Metal Age records are characterised virtually solely by mortuary deposits, the deposition of unfinished artefacts opens new avenues for the discussion of Neolithic mortuary practices in Palawan. Results of a study of the worked shell assemblage, in addition to recent radiocarbon determinations for the site, are presented here.
A tale of two blades: macro‐blade manufacture and discard in Paraburdoo, Western Australia
Authors: HOOK FIONA
Published: January 2013

The manufacture and distribution of macro‐blades in the Paraburdoo area of south central Pilbara is described and its relation to theories regarding their intended use discussed. The Pilbara evidence is compared to that from elsewhere in northern Australia.
Coastal shell middens of the Abydos coastal plain, Western Australia
Authors: CLUNE GENEVIEVE , HARRISON RODNEY
Published: January 2013

Middens and mounds dominated by Anadara granosa began to be formed on the Abydos Coastal Plain sometime between 4400 and 5300 calibrated years before present, and while mounds appear to have ceased forming some 1800–1600 years ago, middens continued to form until the early twentieth century or later. In some cases, the earliest of these middens and shell mounds formed on top of older middens from which Anadara granosa is totally absent, and in which Terebralia spp. (while occurring in relatively low concentrations) is the dominant shell species. Anadara granosa dominated middens (sensu lato) occur in a variety of forms across the landscape, including large shell mounds, earth mounds (or mounded shell middens), lenses of shell eroding out of well‐developed dunes, and undifferentiated surface shell scatters. The large number of middens which occur throughout the region from the mid Holocene, and the volume of shell represented by these sites, point to the occurrence of significant economic and social changes from the mid to late Holocene. The Abydos Coastal Plain experienced increasing aridity, and, as a result, increased resource stress during the mid‐Holocene. We suggest that the large, single species Anadara granosa middens were occupied during regular periods when large groups of Aboriginal people undertook ceremonial activities after the wet season, when resources were abundant. Changes apparent in the archaeological record, including the occurrence of large numbers of Anadara granosa dominated middens and shell mounds, increased establishment of archaeological sites and increased complexity and distance of exchange systems, came about as a result of social, economic and logistical restructuring. This in turn was the result of the effects of resource stress on local Aboriginal people over the course of the mid to late Holocene.
Indigenous perceptions of contact at Inthanoona, Northwest Western Australia
Authors: PATERSON ALISTAIR , WILSON ANDREW
Published: January 2013

Inthanoona, a pastoral head station in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which functioned from the 1860s to the 1890s includes an assemblage of more than 250 rock engravings of which 20% are identifiable contact period motifs. These include images of clothed men and women, guns, horses, sheep, wheeled vehicles, houses and ships. Spatial analysis of the structures, artefacts and engravings on the site supports the conclusion that the contact motifs demonstrate continuity in Indigenous modes of representation and innovation in subjects. They provide direct evidence of Aboriginal participation in, and perceptions of, the pastoral and pearl shell industries of the Pilbara.
Rethinking Polynesians origins: A West‐Polynesia Triple‐I Model
Authors: ADDISON DAVID J , MATISOO‐SMITH ELIZABETH
Published: January 2013

The last twenty years has seen an apparent consensus that the immediate origins of Polynesian language, culture and biology lie solely with the Lapita peoples and cultures that settled Samoa and Tonga by 2700 years ago. We suggest that there is increasing evidence that does not sit well with this generally accepted view of Polynesian origins and thus we put forward an alternative model for consideration. Building on Green's suggestion of over 20 years ago, we propose that some of the ideas in his Triple‐I model (Green 1991a) might also be usefully applied to conceptualizing the processes involved in Polynesian origins. Specifically, we suggest that in addition to Lapita origins, there were significant later elements introduced to Polynesia that were fundamental to the development of Polynesian culture and biology prior to the settlement of East Polynesia. Current data suggest that some of these elements are shared with Micronesia and may be ultimately derived from post‐Lapita population movements, perhaps from Island Southeast Asia through the low islands of the Carolines, Kiribati and Tuvalu to West Polynesia.
A reanalysis of the Tikopia obsidians
Authors: SPRIGGS MATTHEW , BIRD ROGER , AMBROSE WAL
Published: January 2013

In 1982 an initial sourcing of 13 obsidians and volcanic glasses from Tikopia in the Solomon Islands suggested that four specimens came from Bismarcks sources, with Talasea in West New Britain being the most likely, and the rest came from the Banks Islands. Reanalysis now attributes ten pieces to Banks Islands sources and three to sources in the Admiralty Islands.
Marquesan monumental architecture: Blurred boundaries in the distinction between religious and residential sites
Authors: ROLETT BARRY V.
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT Structurally similar but functionally different religious and residential monumental architecture sites pose a central problem in archaeologically‐based investigations of Marquesan chiefdoms. This paper examines the problem by identifying and discussing cultural and environmental traits useful for distinguishing among Marquesan religious and residential sites. The problem is further explored through a case study from Vaitahu Valley on Tahuata in the southern Marquesas. The case study site, Mataie'e, embodies certain distinguishing characteristics of religious sites within a unique layout that defies attempts at simple classification. A single radiocarbon date from limited excavations dates construction of the site to either shortly before the arrival of Captain Cook in 1775 or more likely to the early to mid‐nineteenth century historic era.
How is visibility important for defence? A GIS analysis of sites in the western Fijian Islands
Authors: SMITH CECILIA , COCHRANE ETHAN E.
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT The analysis of defensive or fortified archaeological sites in the Pacific has a long history, with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approaches applied with increasing frequency. Much of the recent GIS‐based research has emphasized views to and from defensive sites and site location relative to resources such as agricultural land. We add to this growing body of research with analyses of defensive sites in the western islands of Fiji. Our work is the first quantitative GIS analysis of visibility in the Pacific and examines views to and from sites and the content of those views with statistical comparisons to random background samples. Our results indicate that views of high fertility land were an important consideration in the placement of some defensive sites, but that views of other defensive sites were not important. Additionally, some sites are deliberately placed in areas to obscure their visibility.
Last millennium climate change in the occupation and abandonment of Palau's Rock Islands
Authors: CLARK GEOFFREY , REEPMEYER CHRISTIAN
Published: January 2013

The role of AD 1300 climate change in widespread societal change in Palau and the Pacific Basin has recently been debated by Fitzpatrick (2010, 2011) and Nunn and Hunter‐Anderson (2011). The central proposition examined here is the link between a sea‐level driven food crisis and the outbreak of conflict, which is hypothesized in the AD 1300 event model to have led people to shift from unprotected coastal parts of large islands (e.g. volcanic Babeldaob) to more readily defensible offshore islands (e.g. limestone ‘Rock Islands’) during the transition between the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). Revision of radiocarbon dates from village sites in the Rock Islands suggests instead that permanent settlements were established on small offshore islands during the MWP with village abandonment during the LIA. Palaeoclimate records from equatorial islands show that during the LIA Palau had less rainfall from the southward movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The abandonment of multiple limestone islands by a population estimated at 4000–6000 people may have been influenced by decreased precipitation and more tentatively from a decline in near‐shore marine foods as a result of sea‐level fall.
Morphological and chemical analysis of archaeological fish otoliths from the Lower Murray River, South Australia
Authors: DISSPAIN MORGAN C.F. , WILSON CHRISTOPHER J. , GILLANDERS BRONWYN M.
Published: January 2013

We analysed otoliths from excavations along the Lower Murray River (n=24), dating from the mid‐ to late‐Holocene period. We identified the species, and estimated the size and age of fish. The potential habitat that fish used throughout their life was estimated from chemical information in the otoliths. The majority of the fish (identified as Maccullochella peelii n=22 and Macquaria ambigua n=2) were caught in freshwater environments during the warm season, and had grown to an age and size indicative of sexual maturity. These observations accord with Ngarrindjeri oral tradition concerning sustainable management strategies. Data indicate that M. peelii grew to a significantly larger size than present fish; historical data suggests this size reduction may be the result of European fishing practices, introduced species and habitat degradation. The study demonstrates the unique nature of otoliths and their potential for investigating Indigenous subsistence strategies.
Sovasova and the Problem of Sameness: Converging Interpretive Frameworks for Making Sense of HIV and AIDS in the Trobriand Islands
Authors: Lepani Katherine
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT This article considers how different models of sexuality and disease converge and interact to co‐produce understandings of HIV and AIDS, and the implications of inter‐cultural communication for effective HIV prevention in diverse settings. In the Trobriands Islands of Papua New Guinea, the phenomenon of sovasova, or chronic illness that manifests when members of the same matrilineal clan have sexual relations, is a persuasive and problematic form of cultural knowledge that directly influences comprehensions of HIV and AIDS. As a social proscription, sovasova underscores cultural ideations about the importance of social exchange and the corporeal mixing of difference in sexual relationships. Trobrianders recognize clear signs and symptoms that herald the onset of sovasova, which are similar to descriptions of AIDS‐related illness—weight loss, nausea, and malaise. Affected people use various herbal and magical treatments to effectively manage sovasova, and people can avoid the sickness altogether by simply not having sex with a fellow clan member. The cultural resources available for treatment allow people to regard transgression as a safe possibility, albeit socially undesirable. The broad comparisons that Trobrianders draw between sovasova and AIDS create tensions as people contemplate HIV prevention based on the cultural model of sexual disorder and the valued capacity and efficacy of sexuality in maintaining relations of difference.
On Making Fathers in Lesu: The Historical Anthropology of a New Ireland Society
Authors: Aijmer Göran
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT This article examines the initiation of boys in Lesu, New Ireland, in 1929‐30. It is argued that these rituals not only transformed the initiands but also their fathers and thereby created counterpoint notions of social continuity in an openly ‘matrilineal’ society. Discursive and iconic symbolism identified and made manifest an alternative male cultural modality, not generally accessible to women. The neophytes' socially ascribed fathers, not necessarily their actual genitors, were in the world of female presuppositions ritually very marginal to their discursively defined children, but circumcision established a new sort of iconic fatherhood. Male social continuity involved the construction of flows in two directions, the future being dependent on the establishment of a past.
Aquatic Identities, Fluid Economies: Water Affinities and Authenticating Narratives of Belonging in East Timorese Myth and Ritual
Authors: Jennaway Megan
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT Customary land tenure claims provide a useful analogy for customary access and usage rights to critical water resources. In an increasingly water‐constrained future, such rights are at risk of political and economic contestation and local communities may find themselves abruptly divested of critical water resources just when they need them most. The new nation of East Timor is not abundantly endowed with water and inland sources are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of reduced rainfall and groundwater contamination. Recently McWilliam (2003) has suggested that in future disputes over Timorese sea tenures, the recognition of customary access or exclusive property rights to specific water resources will depend upon clearly articulated evidence of longstanding cultural associations and interactions with the aquatic landscape. The ethnographic literature provides substantiating accounts of the centrality of water in the local cosmologies of various East Timorese ethnic groups. This paper extends McWilliam's marine argument to inland water resources by reviewing the salient ethnographic evidence for Bunaq, Mumbai and Eastern Tetum populations to show that water is a key organising metaphor in the expression of Timorese kingroup affiliation, social identity and power relations. Local ritual practices further affirm customary rights of access and water use. There is an urgent need for such customary rights to water to be recognized in the current redistribution and demarcation of internal boundaries in East Timor, as well as in future struggles against vested economic and political interests.
The Origin of Kinship in Oceania: Lewis Henry Morgan and Lorimer Fison
Authors: Gardner Helen
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT This article investigates the importance of Oceania in the early study of kinship. It examines the tensions between evidence and analysis from the Pacific Islands in the development of Lewis Henry Morgan's theory of evolving kinship forms. While other sources from the Pacific islands are investigated it is focused particularly on the correspondence between Morgan and Lorimer Fison, Methodist missionary and key figure in the spread of kinship schedules and anthropological theories throughout Oceania in the 1870s. The empirical data gathered by Fison, challenged Morgan's schema and questioned the orthodox evolutionist hierarchy in Asia and the Pacific. Also investigated is the British response to this unruly evidence.
Still Under the Act? Subjectivity and the State in Aboriginal North Queensland
Authors: Smith Benjamin Richard
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT Both the colonial encapsulation and post‐colonial recognition of North Queensland's Aboriginal population have been achieved through legislative demarcation. This paper explores the way such demarcation has extended the influence of the state within local Aboriginal life‐worlds, focusing on the State of Queensland's Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 and the Commonwealth's Native Title Act 1993. Drawing on ethnographic and historical material from Central Cape York Peninsula, and recent anthropological theorization of the state, I argue that anthropologists need to seriously consider Aboriginal claims about what Michel‐Rolph Trouillot calls ‘state effects’. But careful examination of these claims suggests that the state no longer simply imposes its projects on fundamentally distinct Aboriginal life‐worlds. Not only is the state now deeply engaged within these life‐worlds, it is also deeply interwoven into post‐colonial Aboriginal subjectivities.
‘Tomorrow comes when tomorrow comes’: Managing Aboriginal Health within an Ontology of Life‐as‐Contingent
Authors: Heil Daniela , Macdonald Gaynor
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT The authors have worked in Australian Aboriginal communities within the Wiradjuri area of central‐western New South Wales. Examining what appear to be distinctive Aboriginal approaches to time, we argue that these stem not from a different notion of time as such but, rather, from the relationship between the social and the self which places a distinctive value on the use and management of time. One way to access the dynamic between time and self is to realise that life is understood as fluid and contingent rather than predictable. This continually subverts the idea that time is measurable and controllable; that life is lived within domesticated sedentary space; and that planning ahead and self‐discipline are virtues. Yet these are notions central to practices associated with contemporary health care. A majority of health care providers, whether Aboriginal or not, are trained in the Australian mainstream health system and may consequently underestimate the implications of different ways in which a person acts on the temporal/spatial dimensions of her life, and how this influences ways in which she manages time in relation to her health and well‐being. Temporal concepts, such as ‘planning’, ‘discipline’, ‘future’, ‘boredom’, or ‘patience’, as well as that of the ‘long‐term’ with regard to managing illness or money, interact with the ways in which Aboriginal people experience themselves as ill or in need of health care, influencing how they act on medical advice. We argue that the key to understanding the use of time lies not in the concept of time per se but in what is involved in developing a responsive social self when the time/space dimensions of the day to day are informed by a fluid and thus contingent ontology of that day to day.
A Political History of Nagriamel on Santo, Vanuatu
Authors: Tabani Marc
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT This article relates the political history of the Nagriamel movement on Santo, Vanuatu, and tries to account for its traditionalist excesses by reference to biographical aspects of its charismatic leader Jimmy Stevens. Stevens was the main architect in the unification of the ‘dak bus pipol’ (communities living in the island's remote interior) under a form of custom (kastom) he himself partially devised. This review of the life of this unusual character, who started as a ‘boy’ serving his colonial masters and became an ‘island king’, a self‐proclaimed ‘Prince’ of ‘Santo Custom’, and of the way he exploited the nativist assertions of his indigenous supporters, will also provide an opportunity to take a fresh look at the troubled period surrounding Independence in the Republic of Vanuatu.
On Self and Licensed Solitude: ‘That very private fella, me.’
Authors: Sansom Basil
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT This essay is written to show that a liminal, in‐between space of withdrawal and dilly‐dally disassociation can harbour a special station of the self. Further, I propose that incumbency of this station is, from time to time, essential. Life lived always and only in group‐dependant association would be insupportable. My case is made with reference to Aborigines of northern Australia who say that they ‘run’ together in mobs. Nonetheless, I see this essay as a culturally specific contribution to a general category for investigation — the sociology of licensed solitude. As it happens, my illustrative case has licensed solitude functioning sometimes and additionally as retreat or hermitage — that station of withdrawal into which a person enters when turning away from fellow‐humans to seek inspiration from a Power. I compare the licensed solitude of the Aboriginal Countrymen with that of the academic who requires solitude as a station for that free interplay of primary and secondary imagination which sometimes may produce the anthropological sublime.
Marxist/Feminist Models in the New Guinea Highlands
Authors: Shapiro Warren
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT The widespread existence of men's houses in Highland New Guinea raises the question as to the existence of the nuclear family in this area. We know that in some cases (e.g. the ‘Sambiah’) a married couple co‐reside, despite the fear of the woman's alleged pollution. In others there may be symbolic isolation of the nuclear family, e.g. by subclassification in kin terminology. The matter is especially important in current kinship studies, wherein Marxist and ‘radical’ feminist models of sociality, which tend to see the nuclear family as a sort of Western aberration, abound.
Australian Anthropologists and Political Action 1925–19601
Authors: Sutton Peter
Published: January 2013

Gray, Geoffrey 2007. A Cautious Silence: the politics of Australian anthropology. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. Pp: ix + 293. AUD $39.95 paper.
Carrying the Cross, Caring for Kin: The Everyday Life of Charismatic Christianity in Remote Aboriginal Australia
Authors: Schwarz Carolyn
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT In this paper, I address the important yet under‐examined role of charismatic Protestant Christianity in the reconfiguring of personhood and social relations in the remote Yolngu settlement of Galiwin'ku. I focus in particular on the ways in which this form of Christianity, locally articulated, brings together indigenous concepts of personhood with those introduced by the market, the state, and evangelism to produce what I refer to as Christian individuality and Christian relatedness. These dialectical tendencies in postcolonial settlement life call attention to the ways Yolngu converts use their Christian practices both to continue kin‐based moralities in the present and to engage (if selectively) modern individualism. This paper addresses post‐colonial conditions where demands of state institutions and modern governance interact with changing ideas of personhood and sociality. It contributes to the growing anthropological literature on Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity.
Handling Sorcery in a State System of Law: Magic, Violence and Kastom in Vanuatu.
Authors: Rio Knut
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the consequences of a local sorcery accusation that came to the attention of Vanuatu state police, courts and media. The paper discusses what happens to sorcery practices when these become absorbed into a modern, bureaucratic context. The argument revolves around the national imaginary formed by state power and the mass media in people's contemporary lives. In formulating new forms of opposition to sorcery, they also create a new imaginary space of national belonging.
Interpreting Ritual as Performance and Theory Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania 2010 Distinguished Lecture
Authors: Kaeppler Adrienne L.
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT The paper looks at specific rituals and their relationships with dance in Hawaii, Tonga, Bulgaria, and India. These four short case studies explore the relationship between dance and ritual, in particular how dance is presented as representing the ritual past. I bring ‘structured movement,’ as one of ritual's distinguishing marks, to center stage to explore how ritual movement and dance are related.
Marriage, Love Magic, and Adultery: Warlpiri Relationships as Seen by Three Generations of Anthropologists
Authors: Musharbash Yasmine
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT A nuclear family, that is the social unit comprising a husband, wife(s) and their children, is one of the significant core elements around which the great majority of societies are built. An individual's most immediate social and emotional relationships, those between children and parents, between husband and wife, and between siblings are encapsulated within it. How these relationships are realised in actual practice is partly dependent upon the form marriage takes. In this paper, I analyse Warlpiri marriage as practice and institution by drawing on and comparing material by Mervyn Meggitt (from his work at Lajamanu in the 1950s), Diane Bell (based on her work at Alekarenge in the 1970s) and my own data from my fieldwork at Yuendumu (from the mid 1990s and onward). My aim is to explore the following questions: What constitutes a marriage in Warlpiri eyes today? Are there continuities with the past? What has changed since the 1950s? And, what do these continuities and changes mean in regard to the way Warlpiri people live their lives today?
Number‐One Enemy: Police, Violence and the Location of Adversaries in a Papua New Guinean Prison.
Authors: Reed Adam
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT In this essay, I aim to explore how prisoners at Bomana in PNG, in the period I was there between 1994–1995, figured the violence of police. This includes an examination of what they understand to be state power and what they take to be their response to it, including the possibility of critique. Do inmates at Bomana recognize a scale shift between state and citizen, between law and violence? If so, when? How do they relate the actions of the Constabulary to their own violent behaviour and to the forceful or violent behaviour of others? These questions will be approached through the notion of enmity. In particular, by a discussion of what inmates mean when they label the police their ‘number‐one enemy’.
‘Operation Restore Public Hope’: Youth and the Magic of Modernity in Vanuatu
Authors: Mitchell Jean
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT This paper explores the measures known as ‘Operation Restore Public Hope,’ which were authorized during the State of Emergency in January 1998 in Port Vila, Vanuatu, after rioting and looting erupted over the alleged government mismanagement of the mandatory workers' savings fund. The excessive police violence associated with these ‘clean‐up measures’, I argue, undermined the state's claim ‘to restore public hope’ and illuminated the changing relationship between kastomary leaders and the state as well as their competing strategies to define and maintain social order. The extraordinary events of the State of Emergency point to the confluence of sorcery practices and police violence; underline the contested nature of everyday life, and draw attention to the disciplining of young bodies in new urban spaces. Exploring the deployment of a sorcery technique to counter police violence highlights the landscapes of modern power in Vanuatu where magical and state practices coexist with regimes of violence.
Re‐mythologizing the State: Public Security, ‘the Jesus Strategy’ and the Fiji Police
Authors: Trnka Susanna
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT My primary concern is with tracing how the police force has been transformed from a secular institution into an overtly religious one. Drawing from scholarly work on charismatic leadership and its routinization in institutional forms, much of it inspired by Max Weber's early work on these themes, my overarching aim is to grapple with the significance of Commissioner Teleni's reforms not only for the Fiji police force but more broadly for the shape of the Fijian state. While recognizing the acute importance of international relations in establishing and supporting Fiji's various political regimes, my focus here is firmly on the domain of the nation‐state as I wish to assess how politicians, military leaders, and now the Commissioner of Police attempt to constitute mass public support through their use of Christian rhetoric.
The Tectonics of Power: the Hawaiian Iconoclasm and its Aftermath
Authors: Sissons Jeffrey
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT An anthropology of architecture has much to gain by exploring, in a range of cultural contexts, the tectonic dimension of power identified, but left largely undeveloped, by Foucault. When walls actively plunge into fields of social relations they include and exclude, divide and join, muffle, silence, conceal, contain, confine and visually impress, sometimes in radically new ways. These ideas are pursued in relation to a dramatic series of events here termed ‘the Hawaiian iconoclasm’. A tectonic shift from temples and men's eating‐houses to royal residences and family eating‐houses is shown to have been integral to a transformation of chiefly power in 19th century Hawaii.
Environmentalism, Culture, Ethnography
Authors: Peace Adrian , Connor Linda H. , Trigger David
Published: January 2013

Such is the ubiquity of environmentalism as a significant community experience throughout the world that most anthropologists will nowadays find themselves attending to the concerns their respondents have for the environments which surround and sustain them. In this article, we take stock of some of the issues addressed, and the achievements realized, by environmental anthropology to date. First, we emphasize that there is already a literature which stands as testament to the variety of environmental issues ‐ water, whales and the weather, for instance ‐ on which anthropologists have original insights to offer. Second, we argue that an important anthropological focus is on how ordinary people think and talk about their environments, especially when faced with external forces that have to be responded to in innovative and creative ways in order to be effective. It is not the view from above or below, but the view fromwithinenvironments that matters most in local settings, which anthropologists have been concerned to unravel. Third, we emphasize that the Asia Pacific region constitutes an exceptionally rich field for anthropological research. Studies already carried out in places as diverse as Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Indonesia, Chile and the Torres Strait make categorically clear that local and regional environmental concerns and conflicts are influenced by history, religion, Indigeneity, ethnicity, gender and other considerations that deserve critical anthropological enquiry. It is a crucial message that is endorsed and amplified by our fellow contributors in this special issue.
Ecophilanthropy, Neoliberal Conservation, and the Transformation of Chilean Patagonia's Chacabuco Valley
Authors: Jones Charmaine
Published: January 2013

Successful North Americans, Douglas and Kristine Tompkins, have used their personal wealth and business know‐how to become among the most powerful expatriate land owners in Chile and Argentina. In Chilean Patagonia's Aysén region, Kristine Tompkins' conservation foundation purchased the historical Chacabuco Valley Station, seeking to reverse the impacts of pastoralism and create a national park. Whilst in the United States and Europe the Tompkins' efforts have been applauded, many residents of the Chacabuco Valley area are concerned by the idea of outsiders holding decision making power on land use. The situation in Aysén speaks to a complex of broader anthropological debate regarding the neoliberalisation of conservation and, in particular, the role of ecophilanthropy in promoting capitalism. By examining the ways in which the Chacabuco Valley is undergoing transformation, this paper explores the relationship between ecophilanthropy, capitalism, and conservation. Of particular interest is how images are produced and then transformed into commodities as the strategies of business are incorporated into conservation policy and practice.
Engineering Education: Innovation Through Integration
Authors: Bordogna Joseph , Fromm Eli , Ernst Edward W.
Published: January 2013

The several reports and papers of the past decade suggesting paradigm shifts in engineering education are shown to reveal a common theme, to wit: engineering is an integrative process and thus engineering education, particularly at the baccalaureate level, should be designed toward that end.

Suggesting a change in intellectual culture, the roots of contemporary collegiate education in the United States are traced to their origin and attention is given to discussing the current emphasis on reductionism vis‐à‐vis integration or, said another way, a course‐focused education compared to a more holistic approach in which process and knowledge are woven throughout the curriculum.

A new construct for systemic change in baccalaureate engineering education is suggested in terms of a taxonomy of intellectual components connected holistically with a core focus on developing human potential, as opposed to the present system in which students are passed serially through course filters.
Women Engineers: A Study of Educational Preparation and Professional Success
Authors: Robinson Debra A.G. , Reilly Barbara Ann
Published: January 2013

In an effort to better understand the educational experiences and professional issues facing women in these fields, a survey of women alumnae was conducted. Respondents seemed fairly pleased with the education they received and were heavily influenced by personal aspects of the campus. Relationships with faculty members were described as their most beneficial and detrimental experiences. They particularly liked opportunities to apply their technical knowledge but did not believe there were enough opportunities for application. The need for more female role models and importance of involvement in student organizations were cited by many of the respondents. Self‐confidence and good communication skills were rated as the most important qualities for professional success and advancement. Alumnae have pursued training experiences since graduation, but would like to see more opportunities to enhance communication and personal management skills and apply theoretical knowledge built into the undergraduate experience.

The findings are discussed in relationship to previous research studies and recommendations are made to improve the technically oriented college environment.
Technology and the Engineering Method for Non‐Engineering Students
Authors: Myers Kevin J.
Published: January 2013

This paper describes the structure, material, and techniques used in a course that introduces non‐engineering students to the tasks and tools of the engineering profession. The primary components of the course include differentiation between engineering and science, heuristic and computational problem solving, experimentation, conservation principles, and a design experience.
Engineering Education—A Century of Opportunity
Authors: Monteith L. K.
Published: January 2013

Since the founding of ASEE one hundred years ago, engineering education has grown dramatically in scope and in enrollment. Yet, the principles which prompted the call for curriculum reform and for the full development of human potential by the founders of ASEE are as relevant to the situation in engineering education today as it was at that first meeting in 1893. While there has been considerable progress, expectations for fundamental change to achieve the goals articulated by our founders have never been greater.
An Industry View of Engineering Education
Authors: Black Kent M.
Published: January 2013

Global competition has imposed severe competitive pressures on the nation's employers and drastically changed their management processes. These developments require equally drastic changes in the process of educating engineers. Schools that improve their graduates' preparation for today's engineering environment—through total quality management, continuous process improvement and other management methods—will continue to rank as vital national resources. Adoption of these methods, however, will require fundamental changes in the curricula, advisory boards and other pillars of traditional academe. Industry is prepared to help.
Interdisciplinary Centers: A Natural and Necessary Force for Creativity and Change in Engineering Research and Education
Authors: Schuler Richard E.
Published: January 2013

Because problem‐solving is the distinguishing feature of engineering education and innovation, interdisciplinary approaches are essential since technologically‐related problems do not align themselves neatly in accordance with traditional academic disciplines or professional societies. The challenge is to sustain the evolution of institutional and academic structures to keep pace with rapid advances in technology and social concerns. The tension is between quality control as administered by traditional institutional structure and emerging societal needs and technological opportunities like the environment. Interdisciplinary centers with budget autonomy, in conjunction with re‐aligned engineering “departments and professional designations”, can be important vehicles for change. The ultimate measure of success of these proposed structures is that change will be institutionalized, and engineering education will constantly evolve to meet society's emerging needs.

Reading through the directories of most major universities (admittedly, no substitute for serious academic research), I am struck by the burgeoning list of acronyms representing administrative units of interdisciplinary centers. As an example, at Cornell there are over 50 interdisciplinary programs and centers. They have become nearly as numerous as the traditional academic departments.
The Holistic Curriculum
Authors: Shaeiwitz Joseph A. , Whiting Wallace B. , Turton Richard , Bailie Richard C.
Published: January 2013

As with any well‐founded engineering program, the goal of the holistic curriculum is to prepare students to embark on a career in which their success is conditional on life‐long learning, critical thinking and decision making, teamwork, leadership, and commitment. Rather than assuming that these qualities will be instilled in our students as they travel through a well‐crafted sequence of challenging engineering courses, the faculty explicitly demands that these objectives be met by collaborating on courses, through coordinated design projects among as many as eight different courses and six different professors, and by continual assessment and improvement. Students are encouraged and required to teach other students concepts that they have mastered. While we are constantly changing, this culture existed in our department before any of the present faculty arrived, and we believe that it can be created in other departments.
Current and Emerging Statistical Trends in Engineering Education
Authors: Heckel Richard W.
Published: January 2013

Data for enrollment, degrees, number of faculty and research funding for US colleges of engineering since 1965 are presented. These data: faculty loads (enrollment and degrees per faculty member), research funding (total and per faculty member) and funding per graduate degree (MS and PhD) are analyzed to define the trends over the past quarter century. BS degrees appear to have ceased their decline and may begin to increase; MS degrees continue to grow modestly; PhD degrees continue to grow rapidly and, based on current enrollment trends, should maintain this pace at least through the next half decade. Faculty loads are anticipated to increase. In spite of significant annual increases in research funding over the past two decades, graduate enrollments have increased to the point that constant dollar annual funding per graduate degree (both MS and PhD) has reached a maximum and may have begun to decrease. An analysis of the undergraduate and graduate degrees awarded by the largest engineering colleges indicates a.) little turnover in the colleges in this group, b.) the major graduate colleges award a significant number of BS degrees and c.) the major undergraduate colleges include most of the major graduate colleges.