The Connected Caribbean

The modern-day Caribbean is a stunningly diverse but also intricately interconnected geo-cultural region, resulting partly from the islands’ shared colonial histories and an increasingly globalizing economy. Perhaps more importantly, before the encounter between the New and Old World took place, the indigenous societies and cultures of the pre-colonial Caribbean were already united in diversity. This work seeks to study the patterns of this pre-colonial homogeneity and diversity and uncover some of their underlying processes and dynamics. In contrast to earlier studies of its kind, this study adopts an archaeological network approach, in part derived from the network sciences. In archaeology, network approaches can be used to explore the complex relations between objects, sites or other archaeological features, and as such represents a powerful new tool for studying material culture systems. Archaeological research in general aims to uncover the social relations and human interactions underlying these material culture systems. Therefore, the interdependencies between social networks and material culture systems are another major focus of this study. This approach and theoretical framework is tested in four case studies dealing with lithic distribution networks, site assemblages as ego-networks, indigenous political networks, and the analysis of artefact styles in 2-mode networks. These were selected for their pertinence to key research themes in Caribbean archaeology, in particular the current debates about the nature of ties and interactions between culturally different communities in the region, and the structure and dynamics of pre-colonial socio-political organisation. The outcomes of these case studies show that archaeological network approaches can provide surprising new insights into longstanding questions about the patterns of pre-colonial connectivity in the region

The Gift of the « Face of the Living »: Shell faces as social valuables in the Caribbean Late Ceramic Age

The Gift of the « Face of the Living »: Shell faces as social valuables in the Caribbean Late Ceramic Age. The peoples of the Caribbean Late Ceramic Age (AD 600/800-1492) were in contact through intensive and extensive exchange networks. This article takes a close look at the social mechanism behind one of these networks, which consists of face-depicting shell discs or cones. This is done from a gift-theoretical framework that focuses on aspects of alienability/inalienability of these shell faces in a specifically Caribbean setting. These artefacts are characterized from the indigenous concept of guaízas – « faces of the living » – as understood from ethnohistoric sources. After treating their iconography and giving an overview of their archaeological and socio-cultural contexts the discussion will focus on alienable and inalienable qualities of these artefacts. Finally, « shell faces as guaízas » will be used in an argument in which they figure as social valuables that are used to control extra-communal Others.Le don du « visage des vivants »: visages de coquillage comme objets à valeur sociale au Céramique tardif des Caraïbes. Les peuples de l’âge Céramique tardif des Caraïbes (AD 600/800-1492) étaient en contact entre eux grâce à des réseaux d’échange intensifs et étendus. Cet article examine les mécanismes sociaux d’un de ces réseaux qui consiste en l’échange de disques ou cônes de coquillage, représentant des visages. Après une présentation de l’iconographie et des contextes archéologique et socioculturel, cette étude qui s’appuie sur la théorie du don se concentrera notamment sur les aspects d’aliénabilité/inaliénabilité de ces visages en coquillage. D’après des sources ethnohistoriques, ces objets peuvent être caractérisés selon le concept indigène de guaíza, « visage des vivants ». Ces objets à valeur sociale seront discutés et l’on démontrera comment ils permettent d’exercer un contrôle sur Autrui, conçu comme toute personne extérieure à une communauté.El regalo de las « caras de la vida »: caras de concha como bienes sociales del período Cerámico Tardío en el Caribe. La gente del período Cerámico Tardío en el Caribe (AD 600/800-1492) se mantenía en contacto a través de redes intensivas y extensas de intercambio. Este artículo examina detenidamente el mecanismo social que se encontraba en el trasfondo de una de estas redes, relativa a unas representaciones faciales en discos o conos de concha. Nuestro trabajo parte de una base teórica sustentada en el concepto del don y se concentra en los aspectos de alienabilidad/inalienabilidad de estas caritas de concha al interior de un contexto específicamente caribeño. Estos artefactos pueden ser caracterizados a partir del concepto indígena de guaízas, las « caras de la vida », que se deriva de las fuentes etnohistóricas. Después de analizar la iconografía y de dar una descripción de los contextos arqueológicos y socioculturales, la discusión se centrará en las cualidades alienables e inalienables de estos artefactos. Finalmente, utilizaremos las caritas de concha como guaízas en una argumentación que las considera como bienes sociales usados para ejercer control sobre los Otros ajenos a la comunidad

Erysipelothrix spp. past, present and future directions in vaccine research

Erysipelothrix spp. comprise a group of small Gram-positive bacteria that can infect a variety of hosts including mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and insects. Among the eight Erysipelothrix species that have been described to date, only E. rhusiopathiae plays a major role in farmed livestock where it is the causative agent of erysipelas. E. rhusiopathiae also has zoonotic potential and can cause erysipeloid in humans with a clear occupational link to meat and fish industries. While there are 28 known Erysipelothrix serovars, over 80% of identified isolates belong to serovars 1 or 2. Vaccines to protect pigs against E. rhusiopathiae first became available in 1883 as a response to an epizootic of swine erysipelas in southern France. The overall vaccine repertoire was notably enlarged between the 1940s and 1960s following major outbreaks of swine erysipelas in the Midwest USA and have changed little since. Traditionally, E. rhusiopathiae serovar 1a or 2 isolates were inactivated (bacterins) or attenuated and these types of vaccines are still used today on a global basis. E. rhusiopathiae vaccines are most commonly used in pigs, poultry and sheep where the bacterium can cause considerable economic losses. In addition, erysipelas vaccination is also utilized in selected vulnerable susceptible populations, such as marine mammals in aquariums, which are commonly vaccinated at regular intervals. While commercially produced erysipelas vaccines appear to provide good protection against clinical disease, in recent years there has been an increase in perceived vaccine failures in farmed animals, especially in organic outdoor operations. Moreover, clinical erysipelas outbreaks have been reported in animal populations not previously considered at risk. This has raised concerns over a possible lack of vaccine protection across various production species. This review focuses on summarizing the history and the present status of E. rhusiopathiae vaccines, the current knowledge on protection including surface antigens, and also provides an outlook into future directions for vaccine development

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Governance of the circular economy: a comparative examination of the use of standards by China and the United Kingdom

Wastes, like other materials, have become increasingly global in their flows. The circular economy (CE) is a multi-level sustainability transition linked to the global trade in waste. China has long been a key trading partner for the West’s waste materials. However, its rethinking of the quality of traded recyclable materials has triggered a crisis in the global governance of waste flows. We utilise a Sociology of Knowledge approach to undertake comparative work to better understand how different governance arrangements may facilitate or constrain the unfolding of a CE transition. The UK and China were selected as models of liberal and authoritarian environmental governance respectively. A mixed-method approach was pursued using qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from secondary sources. Thematic analysis is organised around: perceptions of the circular economy, meanings of standards, and perspectives on trade and materials

Gaming Genres: Using Crowd-Sourced Tags to Explore Family Resemblances in Steam Games.

Abstract of paper 0946 presented at the Digital Humanities Conference 2019 (DH2019), Utrecht , the Netherlands 9-12 July, 2019

Gaming Genres: Using Crowd-Sourced Tags to Explore Family Resemblances in Steam Games.

Abstract of paper 0946 presented at the Digital Humanities Conference 2019 (DH2019), Utrecht , the Netherlands 9-12 July, 2019

A Framework for Reconstructing Archaeological Networks Using Exponential Random Graph Models

Reconstructing ties between archaeological contexts may contribute to explain and describe a variety of past social phenomena. Several models have been formulated to infer the structure of such archaeological networks. The applicability of these models in diverse archaeological contexts is limited by the restricted set of assumptions that fully determine the mathematical formulation of the models and are often articulated on a dyadic basis. Here, we present a general framework in which we combine exponential random graph models with archaeological substantiations of mechanisms that may be responsible for network formation. This framework may be applied to infer the structure of ancient networks in a large variety of archaeological settings. We use data collected over a set of sites in the Caribbean during the period AD 100–400 to illustrate the steps to obtain a network reconstruction.ISSN:1072-5369ISSN:1573-776

Tying up Columbus: A historical and material culture study of the networks that resulted from the first European voyages into the Caribbean (AD 1492-1504)

<p>On twelve October, 1492 the networks of the Old and New World ─ the former represented by Admiral Christopher Columbus and his crew, the latter by the indigenous people of the Caribbean ─ connected for the first time. In this paper we will combine material culture and historical sources to explore the structure and content of the relations between individuals and groups during this first encounter. These early interactions between Europeans and indigenous people had a formative influence on the development of later cross-cultural contacts and historical accounts of the first voyages have always been an invaluable resource for studying these. However, because sources like the famous Colombus Diario feature a complex set of inter-personal ties between Columbus, political players back in Europe, other crew members, and, last but not least, Caribbean indigenous people, it has been difficult to discern the larger structural patterns behind the events. To come to a deeper understanding of some of the actions of Columbus and other key players we will employ (ego-)network approaches to abstract and analyze the structure of ties that are mentioned in the documents. We will focus in particular on the importance of the exchange of goods for the relations between European and indigenous peoples and suggest that a material culture study of encounter contexts can aid in the further contextualization of these inter-personal networks. This will show how, by sharing, exchanging or otherwise incorporating material culture in their interactions, Europeans and Amerindians alike attempted to create and maintain ties of huge personal and historical interest.</p

Reshaping what counts as care: older people, work and new technologies

In governmental and technical discourses, telecare systems are described as a solution to the ‘problem’ of aging populations. This paper draws on an ongoing ethnography of the implementation of telecare in one county in England and asks how the promotion and implementation of telecare shapes understandings of what care means for frail older people living at home. We suggest that telecare discourses attempt to divide care work into three distinct domains of practice: monitoring, physical care and social–emotional care. Telecare, in this logic, deals only with monitoring and leaves the other elements untouched. This tripartite division of care, we argue, both diminishes the kinds of care (potentially) offered in telecare and fails to account for the complexities of all kinds of care (physical, social-emotional and telecare). Building on work from disability studies and feminist studies, we suggest that what counts as care needs to be rethought if telecare is to make a positive contribution to the lives of older people and those who care for and about them