Multimetal smithing : An urban craft in rural settings?

Multimetal smithing should be defined as the use of more than one metal and/or different metalworking techniques within thesame crafts-milieu. This complex metalworking has long been linked to centrality, central places and urbanity in Scandinavia.It has been extensively argued that fine casting and smithing, as well as manufacture utilizing precious metals was exclusivelyundertaken within early urban settings or the “central places” pre-dating these. Furthermore, the presence of complex metalcraftsmanship has been used as a driving indicator of the political, social and economic superiority of certain sites, therebyenhancing their identity as “centralities”.Recent research has come to challenge the universality of this link between urbanity, centrality and complex metalworkingas sites in rural settings with evidence of multimetal smithing are being identified. This shows that the relationship between thecraft and centrality (urbanity) must be nuanced and that perhaps multimetal craftsmanship should be reconsidered as an urbanindicator.The thesis project “From Crucible and onto Anvil” started in 2015 and focuses on sites housing remains of multimetalcraftsmanship dating primarily from 500-1000 AD. Within the project a comprehensive survey of sites will be used to evaluate thepresence of multimetal craftsmanship in the landscape. Sites in selected target areas will also be subject to intra-site analysisfocusing on workshop organisation, production output, metalworking techniques and chronological variances.A key aim in the project is to elucidate the conceptual aspects of complex metalworking. The term multimetality is used toanalytically frame all the societal and economic aspects of multimetal craftsmanship. Through this inclusive perspective both thecraftsmanship and the metalworkers behind it are positioned within the overall socioeconomic framework. The metalworkers,their skills and competences as well as the products of their labour are viewed as dynamic actors in the landscape and on thearenas of political economy of the Late Iron Age.The survey has already revealed interesting aspects concerning multimetal smithing and urbanity. Although the multimetalsites do cluster against areas of early urban development there are also other patterns emerging. Multimetal craftsmanship – both as practice and concept – was well represented in both rural peripheral settings and urban crafts-milieus. This means that therole of multimetality as part of an “urban conceptual package” is crucial to investigate. Such an approach will have the dual endsof properly understanding the craft and its societal implications, but also further the knowledge of the phenomenon of urbanityas a whole. Was multimetal smithing part of an “urban package” that spread into the rural landscape? Did the multimetality differbetween urban and rural crafts-milieus? How does early urbanity relate to the chronology of multimetal craftsmanship?This paper aims to counter these questions using examples from the survey of multimetal sites conducted within the thesisproject. A comparison between selected sites will be presented. The purpose of this is to evaluate the role of multimetality withinthe “urban package” and discuss the role of complex metalworking in the establishment of urban arenas of interaction in LateIron Age Scandinavia

Cosmos and Republic: Arendtian Explorations of the Loss and Recovery of Politics

In 20 essays inspired by Hannah Arendt's analysis of crisis-ridden modernity, Wolfgang R. Heuer addresses aspects of depoliticization and the loss of politics, and thus of freedom. The wide-ranging essays are grouped in five sections: When Politics Vanishes, The Call of Responsibility, Images and Emotions, Federations, and From Plurality to Cosmos. They lead to the insight that the crises of our time require a common change of perspective towards ecological and political sustainability, the unity of "Cosmos and Republic"

The Cultural Landscape & Heritage Paradox; Protection and Development of the Dutch Archeological-Historical Landscape and its European Dimension

To what extent can we know past and mainly invisible landscapes, and how we can use this still hidden knowledge for actual sustainable management of landscape’s cultural and historical values. It has also been acknowledged that heritage management is increasingly about ‘the management of future change rather than simply protection’. This presents us with a paradox: to preserve our historic environment, we have to collaborate with those who wish to transform it and, in order to apply our expert knowledge, we have to make it suitable for policy and society. The answer presented by the Protection and Development of the Dutch Archaeological-Historical Landscape programme (pdl/bbo) is an integrative landscape approach which applies inter- and transdisciplinarity, establishing links between archaeological-historical heritage and planning, and between research and policy. This is supported by two unifying concepts: ‘biography of landscape’ and ‘action research’. This approach focuses upon the interaction between knowledge, policy and an imagination centered on the public. The European perspective makes us aware of the resourcefulness of the diversity of landscapes, of social and institutional structures, of various sorts of problems, approaches and ways forward. In addition, two related issues stand out: the management of knowledge creation for landscape research and management, and the prospects for the near future. Underlying them is the imperative that we learn from the past ‘through landscape’

The Memory of Meanings : The Images of Jewish-Catholic Relations in Interwar Lublin in Oral Histories

This work explores narratives of Jewish-Catholic relations in interwar Lublin, as recalled by its Jewish and Catholic inhabitants by the end of their lives. Thus, it concerns both memory and intergroup relations and seeks to understand the attitudes towards the religious Other. The main body of sources for this qualitative study is a collection of oral histories from the Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre Centre in Lublin, which were analyzed thematically focusing on the memory of everyday interactions between Jews and Catholics. Particular attention is paid to the link between memory and identity. The analysis of the narratives draws extensively from theories regarding intergroup contact (Gordon Allport’s intergroup contact theory later developed by i.a. Linda R. Tropp and Thomas Pettigrew), the relation between personal agency versus social structures (Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic sequence), as well as the theory of communication based on context (Dorota Kuncewicz et al.). The latter, combined with an adaptation of Erwin Panoffsky’s iconology, provides an insight into the meaning of the stories – how the religious Other is perceived, why it could be so, and what consequences it has on intergroup relations decades after the recalled events took place. The findings are grouped into two analytical parts of the dissertation: one dedicated to identity, and another concentrating on relations, which are described on three levels – spatial, interpersonal and interreligious. On the one hand, the study indicates sensitive points in intergroup relations such as the role of social class and gender relations, which can be used to strengthen existing intergroup separation. On the other hand, it points to instances of overcoming separation and segregation through affective ties, especially of friendship, common socio-economic background, education and personal values. It points to (inter)religious literacy fortifying prejudice. The main finding, however, is the fundamental difference in perceiving the same past by the minority and the majority group, which has dire consequences for the relationship between these two groups until today. The study suggests the need for further research on how this memory gap can be addressed to find constructive ways of producing inclusive collective memory in both groups, recognizing the experience of the Other

Central and Eastern European Literary Theory and the West

The twentieth century saw intensive intellectual exchange between Eastern and Central Europe and the West. Yet political and linguistic obstacles meant that many important trends in East and Central European thought and knowledge hardly registered in Western Europe and the US. This book uncovers the hidden westward movements of Eastern European literary theory and its influence on Western scholarship

Central and Eastern European Literary Theory and the West

The twentieth century saw intensive intellectual exchange between Eastern and Central Europe and the West. Yet political and linguistic obstacles meant that many important trends in East and Central European thought and knowledge hardly registered in Western Europe and the US. This book uncovers the hidden westward movements of Eastern European literary theory and its influence on Western scholarship

The development of the concept of authority within the Romanian Orthodox Church during the Twentieth Century

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Adopting the presupposition that religious authority is a relational category, both its nature and forms of expression are explored within the context of the specific goal of the ecclesial community as defined by the Orthodox paradigm of revelation-communion-deification. Accordingly, the role of authority in Orthodoxy is to enable the people of God and the entire creation to grow towards eschatological self-realization, that is, theosis. The key to understanding authority from a relational perspective is the concept of 'space', which provides for both freedom and relatedness between the elements involved. However, since the concept of space is a dynamic category due to its organic link with concrete historical communities, it follows that every community is challenged by both internal and external factors to re-evaluate its approach to the question of authority. Such a process has taken place within the Romanian Orthodox Church during the twentieth century. More precisely, four events have influenced the Romanian Church's view of authority: the translation of Scripture into modern Romanian by Fr. D. Comilescu; the tension between Scripture and Tradition emphasized in the work of Fr. T. Popescu; the emergence of the 'Lord's Army', a renewal movement founded by Fr. I. Trifa; and, finally, the encounter between the Church and dictatorial Nazi and Communist regimes. The thesis falls into four major sections in an investigation of the impact of these events on the Orthodox approach to the question of authority of : (a) Scripture, from the perspective of the space between episteme and praxis ; (b) Tradition, from the perspective of the space between the Apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions; (c) the Church, from the perspective of the space between both the 'Head' and the 'Body', and the 'Spirit' and the 'Institution'; and finally, (d) the Church and the State, from the perspective of the space between history and eschata. The mode in which such a 'space' is conceived in each set of relations leads to the development of either specific or general authority, that is, to either an oppressive or an enabling authority.Funding was obtained from the Laing Scholarship of the Laing fund

National Women's Studies Association Annual Conference: Feminist Transgressions

Digital program for the National Women's Studies Association 35th Annual Conference, held November 13-16, 2014, in San Juan, Puerto Rico

A controversy on moral judgment: Fifteen historian-reviewers in the controversy on Hannah Arendt’s book Eichmann in Jerusalem in the US, West Germany and France, 1963-1967. A historical and a pragma-dialectical perspective

This dissertation consists of two parts. The first part is the result of thorough historical research into the development and content of the discussion of Hannah Arendt’s book ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem’ between 1963 and 1967, in three countries: the US, West Germany and France. This part corrects and enhances the historiography of the controversy on several important points. The second part looks specifically at the participation of fifteen historian-reviewers in the debate. These fifteen texts were analysed with help of the pragma-dialectical argumentation theory and method. The first result of this is a structured presentation of the precise differences of opinion between Arendt and the fifteen reviewers, and of the arguments that keep recurring in their discussion. Secondly, these textual analyses provide insight into the procedural problems that can occur in a heated discussion of the Holocaust, as well as the ways that discussants attempt to overcome these obstacles. These results are starting points for further research into the problematic nature of so-called Holocaust controversies, especially for research into the participation of historians in these notoriously difficult discussions