Mutual Conversion? The Methodist Church and the Yolgnu, with particular reference to Yirrkala

A history of the Methodist Overseas Mission in Arnhem Land has yet to be written. The resources for such a task are immensely rich, including archival sources and the writings of the missionaries themselves. While not possessing its own historian, as the Anglican missions do in the person of Reverend Keith Cole, 1 the Methodist Church produced a number of educated and passionate superintendents who wrote detailed accounts of their times and experiences

Seeing Aboriginal art in the gallery

One of the great embarrassments confronting the art world in the postcolonial context is the recent history of the exclusion of much of the world’s ‘artistic’ production from the hallowed walls of the fine art galleries of the West (Sally Price’s ‘civilised places’). One might ask: how was it that it was excluded for so long and who is to blame for keeping all this art out? However, rather than attributing blame, it is much more interesting to analyse the historical process of its inclusion

Protein–Protein Interaction Network and Subcellular Localization of the Arabidopsis Thaliana ESCRT Machinery

The endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) consists of several multi-protein subcomplexes which assemble sequentially at the endosomal surface and function in multivesicular body (MVB) biogenesis. While ESCRT has been relatively well characterized in yeasts and mammals, comparably little is known about ESCRT in plants. Here we explored the yeast two-hybrid protein interaction network and subcellular localization of the Arabidopsis thaliana ESCRT machinery. We show that the Arabidopsis ESCRT interactome possesses a number of protein–protein interactions that are either conserved in yeasts and mammals or distinct to plants. We show also that most of the Arabidopsis ESCRT proteins examined at least partially localize to MVBs in plant cells when ectopically expressed on their own or co-expressed with other interacting ESCRT proteins, and some also induce abnormal MVB phenotypes, consistent with their proposed functional role(s) as part of the ESCRT machinery in Arabidopsis. Overall, our results help define the plant ESCRT machinery by highlighting both conserved and unique features when compared to ESCRT in other evolutionarily diverse organisms, providing a foundation for further exploration of ESCRT in plants

The art of indigeneity: Aesthetics and competition in Mexican economies of culture

On the basis of ethnographic research with woodcarvers in Oaxaca, Mexico, this paper investigates the role that aesthetic practices play in economic competition in cultural markets. I explain how one family has become the most successful artisans in their village by aesthetically referencing the indigenous art that is highly sought after by the North American ethnic art market. By reformulating Bourdieu's analysis of artistic fields, I argue that aesthetic competition should be theorised at the level of genres, which allow insight into how individual aesthetic innovations may transform the fields in which art is produced and circulated. I show that by referencing indigeneity, this successful family not only accesses a new market but also renders their work more authoritative than the carvings of their neighbours, which aesthetically reference Mexican ‘artesanías’ (craftwork). In so doing, they not only earn more money but also change the ways that Oaxacan woodcarvings are valued in general