Rock art regionalism and identity: case studies from Trans-Pecos Texas and Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

This work addresses two key issues in current rock art research, the first theoretical, the second exemplary. Researchers often write of rock art regions without according the concept sufficient theoretical consideration. I argue that rock art regions are more usefully defined by the presence and absence of ethnographically informed motifs than by aesthetics. I support my argument by reference to two understudied rock art regions: the Texas Trans-Pecos, USA, and Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The parallels between the two regions are enlightening: both are cultural ‘crossroads’ with complex histories of migrations, group interactions, and colonial settlements. Both provide archaeological evidence of hunter-gatherer, herder, and farming peoples. Moreover, both regions are adjacent to other, better-known rock art corpuses that have been explicated using ethnographic analogy and other anthropological approaches. Using these heuristic tools, I explain some of the motivations and meanings behind the production and consumption of rock art in the Trans-Pecos and Mpumalanga. I argue that the most effective method for understanding the significance of the motifs – many of which are also found in the neighbouring regions – is to focus on ritualism, embodiment, and shamanistic belief in supernatural potency and a tiered cosmos. In Mpumalanga, I concentrate on images in 49 hunter-gatherer San (Bushman) rock art sites in and around Kruger National Park. In Texas, I investigate interactions between indigenous hunter-gatherer groups and colonizers from Europe, from Mesoamerica, and from the Plains to the north; I focus on 44 rock art sites as manifestations of indigenous ideologies. Because rock art sites are implicated in cultural identity formation, I argue that lack of theoretically informed presentation perpetuates misleading stereotypes of rock art and the indigenous people who made it. I conclude by demonstrating that presentation of rock art can and does change people’s attitudes towards the past

Embodiment, transformation and ideology in the rock art of Trans-Pecos Texas

Present in the Trans-Pecos rock art of west Texas are many motifs intelligible within hunter-gatherer ontological frameworks. These motifs-including human figures missing heads and limbs, figures with disproportionately large eyes, polymelia and pilo-erection-Are concerned with somatic transformations and distortions experienced in altered states of consciousness. Ethnographic analogies also demonstrate that other Trans-Pecos features-smearing, rubbing and chipping of pigment and incorporation of natural inequalities of the rock surfaces into images-Are evidence of kinetic experiences or embodied processes, including the important interaction with the 'veil' that separates one tier of the cosmos from others. By exploring the related concepts of embodiment, somatic transformation and process within non-Western ontologies, I offer a unified but multi-component explanation for the meanings and motivations behind several Trans-Pecos rock-Art motifs. I also address the consumption of rock art in west Texas-how it was viewed and used by the original artists and subsequent viewers to shape, maintain and challenge ideologies and identities

Assessing whether environmental impact is a criterion of consumers when selecting an airline

The aim of this study is to gain insight as to whether environmental impact is a criterion of consumers when actually selecting an airline. Findings indicate that cost and convenience, followed by destinations on offer and departure airports, are the key criteria for consumers in airline ticket purchasing decisions. Airlines may continue environmental activity and disclosure for long-term strategic reasons although individual ticket purchase decisions do not appear to be based primarily on environmental considerations. The research fills a gap in the U.K. empirical literature by exploring whether consumers of airlines operating out of the U.K. consider environmental impacts when making actual ticket purchase decisions

Transition metal decorated soft nanomaterials through modular self-assembly of an asymmetric hybrid polyoxometalate

An asymmetrically functionalised Wells–Dawson organic–inorganic hybrid polyoxometalate has been post-functionalised by Pt2+ coordination, and demonstrates self-assembly into surface-decorated micellar nanostructures. This multifunctional hybrid material is found to be a redox-active soft nanomaterial and demonstrates a new molecular design strategy with potential for applications in photo- or electro-catalysis

Redox‐active hybrid polyoxometalate‐stabilised gold nanoparticles

We report the design and preparation of multifunctional hybrid nanomaterials through the stabilization of gold nanoparticles with thiol‐functionalised hybrid organic–inorganic polyoxometalates (POMs). The covalent attachment of the hybrid POM forms new nanocomposites that are stable at temperatures and pH values which destroy analogous electrostatically functionalised nanocomposites. Photoelectrochemical analysis revealed the unique photochemical and redox properties of these systems

Supramolecular assemblies of organo-functionalised hybrid polyoxometalates: from functional building blocks to hierarchical nanomaterials

This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the supramolecular organisation and hierarchical self-assembly of organo-functionalised hybrid polyoxometalates (hereafter referred to as hybrid POMs), and their emerging role as multi-functional building blocks in the construction of new nanomaterials. Polyoxometalates have long been studied as a fascinating outgrowth of traditional metal-oxide chemistry, where the unusual position they occupy between individual metal oxoanions and solid-state bulk oxides imbues them with a range of attractive properties (e.g. solubility, high structural modularity and tuneable properties/reactivity). Specifically, the capacity for POMs to be covalently coupled to an effectively limitless range of organic moieties has opened exciting new avenues in their rational design, while the combination of distinct organic and inorganic components facilitates the formation of complex molecular architectures and the emergence of new, unique functionalities. Here, we present a detailed discussion of the design opportunities afforded by hybrid POMs, where fine control over their size, topology and their covalent and non-covalent interactions with a range of other species and/or substrates makes them ideal building blocks in the assembly of a broad range of supramolecular hybrid nanomaterials. We review both direct self-assembly approaches (encompassing both solution and solid-state approaches) and the non-covalent interactions of hybrid POMs with a range of suitable substrates (including cavitands, carbon nanotubes and biological systems), while giving key consideration to the underlying driving forces in each case. Ultimately, this review aims to demonstrate the enormous potential that the rational assembly of hybrid POM clusters shows for the development of next-generation nanomaterials with applications in areas as diverse as catalysis, energy-storage and molecular biology, while providing our perspective on where the next major developments in the field may emerge

Prenatal HIV testing: the compartmentalization of women\u27s sexual risk exposure and the return of the maternal fetal conflict

The purpose of the researchers in this study was to investigate how women who were being tested for HIV during their pregnancies were evaluating, conceptualizing, and negotiating their risk of infection. The study included two focus groups and 20 in-depth interviews with 30 patients, ages 17-38 years, from diverse ethnic/racial, social, and economic backgrounds. Qualitative analyses of the interview transcripts revealed support for the idea that pregnant women have a responsibility to minimize risks to their fetus, with all interviewees describing actions to minimize those risks while pregnant. Two sub-themes emerged that were related to the presence of differences in how interviewees conceptualized risk depending on the type of risk being discussed. In the case of diet and lifestyle influences, interviewees framed their health and the health of the fetus as connected. In contrast, when the issue of HIV risk and testing was raised, the interviewees described the risk of HIV to themselves and their fetuses as separate concerns and, with few exceptions, reported no effort to reduce the risk of becoming infected while pregnant (beyond consenting to HIV screening while receiving prenatal care). Findings suggest the importance of developing HIV prevention messages that counter the compartmentalization of risk during pregnancy