Military supply, everyday demand, and reindeer:zooarchaeology of Nazi German Second World War military presence in Finnish Lapland, Northernmost Europe

Abstract During the Second World War, in 1941–1944, Nazi German troops held the frontal responsibility of the Arctic front in Finnish Lapland. In this paper, we present the first zooarchaeological study of the wartime faunal remains from German military camps in Lapland. This illustrates the supply situation of both the German soldiers and their multinational prisoners. The official military supply was substantially supplemented with local food sources, namely, with the local semi-domesticated reindeer that dominates the bone assemblage. Bones of cattle, ovicaprines, and pig occur in lower numbers and appear to represent the German long-distance supply chain stretching from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean. The remains of reindeer and wild species remind of the close interactions with locals and of the prisoners’ hunting activities to supplement their meager diet. Even if the reindeer bones dominate both the soldiers’ and prisoners’ faunal assemblages, there are notable differences in the body parts, with bones from meatier portions always found in the soldiers’ food waste. Besides highlighting a tension between the military supply and everyday demands, the faunal remains can draw attention to wider anthropological questions that reach beyond the information available in historical documents, such as adaptations into an alien northern environment. This emphasizes the importance of zooarchaeological analyses of recent past faunal materials from superficially familiar contexts

“Imagining others more complexly”: Celebrity and the ideology of fame among YouTube’s ‘Nerdfighteria’

YouTube has witnessed the growth of a celebrity culture of its own. This article explores the celebritification of online video-bloggers in relation to their own discursive community. Focusing on the VlogBrothers (John and Hank Green) and their community ‘Nerdfighters’, this article demonstrates how their philosophy of “Imagining Others More Complexly” (IOMC) is used to debate ‘celebrity’ and its legitimacy. Their vision of celebrity is egalitarian and democratic, rooted in Western culture’s ‘expressive turn’ (Taylor, 1989). It views each person as a unique individual and others as equal, legitimate subjects. Situating this discursive formation within the culture of web 2.0’s neo-liberal developments, the article seeks to explore the contradictory origins and uses to which IOMC is directed. While utilised to promote a vision of vloggers beyond the gaze and mystification of ‘celebrity’, it is also drawn upon by celebrities to manage and control perception and preserve good public opinion amongst the community. The article concludes with a discussion of how this philosophy may conceive of ‘celebrity’ as a model of expressive individualism beyond its commercial uses. ‘IOMC’ may be considered a state of ‘selfhood’ which allows each person equal space to consummate a unique vision of themselves