scholarly journals The legacy of cultural landscapes in the Brazilian Amazon: implications for biodiversity

2007 ◽  
Vol 362 (1478) ◽  
pp. 197-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Heckenberger ◽  
J Christian Russell ◽  
Joshua R Toney ◽  
Morgan J Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Biological Communities ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Scale Transformations

For centuries Amazonia has held the Western scientific and popular imagination as a primordial forest, only minimally impacted by small, simple and dispersed groups that inhabit the region. Studies in historical ecology refute this view. Rather than pristine tropical forest, some areas are better viewed as constructed or ‘domesticated’ landscapes, dramatically altered by indigenous groups in the past. This paper reviews recent archaeological research in several areas along the Amazon River with evidence of large pre-European ( ca 400–500 calendar years before the present) occupations and large-scale transformations of forest and wetland environments. Research from the southern margins of closed tropical forest, in the headwaters of the Xingu River, are highlighted as an example of constructed nature in the Amazon. In all cases, human influences dramatically altered the distribution, frequency and configurations of biological communities and ecological settings. Findings of historical change and cultural variability, including diverse small to medium-sized complex societies, have clear implications for questions of conservation and sustainability and, specifically, what constitutes ‘hotspots’ of bio-historical diversity in the Amazon region.

Chicago's Pragmatic Planners

2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-317
Author(s):  
Sudhir Venkatesh
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Research Committee ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Community Area ◽  
The City ◽  
Grid Layout

Chicago is amythic city. Its representation in the popular imagination is varied and has included, at various times, the attributes of a blue-collar town, a city in a garden, and a gangster's paradise. Myths of Chicago “grow abundantly between fact and emotion,” and they selectively and simultaneously evoke and defer attributes of the city. For one perduring myth, social scientists may be held largely responsible: namely, that Chicago is “one of the most planned cities of themodern era,” with a street grid, layout of buildings and waterways, and organization of its residential and commercial architecture that reveal a “geometric certainty” (Suttles 1990). The lasting scholarly fascination with Chicago's geography derives in part from the central role that social scientists played in constructing the planned city. In the 1920s,University of Chicago sociologist Ernest Burgess worked with his colleagues in other social science disciplines to divide the city into communities and neighborhoods. This was a long and deliberate process based on large-scale “social surveys” of several thousand city inhabitants.Their work as members of the Local Community Research Committee (LCRC) produced the celebrated Chicago “community area”—that is, 75 mutually exclusive geographic areas of human settlement, each of which is portrayed as being socially and culturally distinctive.

scholarly journals Information and methodological support of activities in the field of continuing library education

Bibliosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
E. B. Artemyeva ◽  
I. G. Lakizo
Keyword(s):  
Education System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Supplementary Education ◽  
Library Education ◽  
Specialized Institutions ◽  
Russian Education ◽  
Scale Transformations ◽  
Different Levels

Both the library education system and Russian education system as a whole undergo a period of large-scale transformations: changing concepts and technologies; revising educational standards of higher and secondary vocational education; developing the system of additional vocational training; forming the electronic educational environment in the practice of teaching students and listeners of the supplementary education system; searching ways for educational institutions and libraries joint development. It is advisable to create information and methodological support of activities in the field of continuous library education in such conditions. The database «Library Education Institutions» generated by SPSTL SB RAS is regarded to be a base of the unified information-educational space in the field of continuous library education, which information should be used to support the educational process of specialized institutions of all levels of education training and forms in the country. It represents the system of library education in the form of a hierarchy of different levels of education, a network of specialized educational institutions in the regions, different types of educational institutions, standard and individual educational curricula, etc. The database main objectives are the following: cumulating information; searching educational institutions, programs; providing statistical information on issues related to education in Russia. A user can create a model of continuous library education in a specific region and organize the work of educational institutions and libraries to improve the librarian professionalism applying the information provided by the database «Library Education Institutions» according to a complex query.

scholarly journals Foucault’s Empire of the Free

2017 ◽  
pp. 94-112
Author(s):  
Richard Alston
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Care Of The Self ◽  
Critical Position ◽  
Imperial Power ◽  
Historical Specificity ◽  
The Will ◽  
Self Knowledge

This essay argues that the engagement with Greece and Rome after The Will to Knowledge allowed Foucault to bring clarity to his conception of limited freedom in complex societies. The Classical fulfilled this function paradoxically by being jarringly different from and integral to the discourses of modern sexuality. Foucault’s engagement with the Classical in The Use of Pleasure and The Care of the Self continued his established method of uncovering the development of a discourse, or set of discourses, over time. He thereby demonstrated the historical specificity of understandings of sexuality and the self. It follows that if the ancient self was a historical construct, then the modern self must also be such. But Foucault’s Classical engagement leads him to an innovative position in which the disciplinary dynamics of ancient self-knowledge offer a practical philosophy. Foucault’s Greek philosophy could have effects through two related mechanisms: the care of the self through askesis (discipline) and the speaking of truth to power through parresia (free speech). Through the rigors of askesis, the self can be rendered an object of analysis and hence a critical position external to the self can be achieved. Externality allows the philosopher to exercise parresia since the constraints of society have been surpassed and consequently offers a prospect of agency and a measure of freedom. The second part of the essay questions the extent of that freedom by reading Foucault against Tacitus, particularly the Agricola and the mutinies episode in the Annales. These episodes show the limitations of parresia and how parresia is bound into the workings of imperial power (and not a position external to that power). In the Tacitean model, externality is a viable political stance (achieved by Agricola), but is problematic ethically. The essay concludes by contrasting Foucauldian and Tacitean models of historical change. 

Historical Research and Directions of French Royal Expansion in 16th — 17th Centuries

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7 (105)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Pavel Uvarov
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Wars Of Religion ◽  
Unexpected Death ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
The Future ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Scale Transformations

In the seventeenth century, the search for the “forgotten” rights of the king were an important aid in organizing French expansion, mainly in the eastern and northeastern directions. At the sovereign courts of Lorraine, Alsace and Franche-Comté “chambers of annexations” (chambres d’annexion) were created in 1680 to organize search for archival documents supporting royal claims to neighboring lands. The idea of creating special institutions engaged in the search for documents revealing the precedents of relations with other countries and forgotten rights, that French king had supposedly enjoyed in those parts, was expressed back during the reign of Henry II. In 1556, Raoul Spifame, a lawyer at the Paris Parliament, published a book consisting of fictitious royal decrees, of which many would be implemented in the future. Among other things he ordered, on behalf of the king, the creation of thirty chambers, each specializing in the search for documents in the “treasury of charters” relating to a particular province. He had determined the composition of these chambers, the procedure for work and the form of reporting, — all this in order to arm the king with knowledge of his forgotten rights and the content of antique treaties and agreements. The nomenclature of “provincial chambers” is especially interesting, from the Chambers of Scotland and England to the Chamber of Tunisia and Africa, as well as the Chamber of Portugal and the New Lands. Much more attention was attracted by those lands to which a century later the French expansion would be directed: Franche-Comté, Artois and Flanders, Lorraine, the Duchy of Cleves. But more than half of chambers specialized in the Italian lands. This is not surprising, since in the 1550s France was entering the climax of the Italian Wars. Under Henry II (1547—1559) one of the four secretaries of state, Jean du Thier, was the person responsible for the southwestern direction of French policy. There is reason to believe that Spifame was associated with du Thier or with other members of the king’s “reform headquarters”. The large-scale transformations already at work were interrupted by the unexpected death of Henry II and the subsequent Wars of Religion. But continuity was inherent in the “spirit of the laws” of the Ancien Régime, so Spifame was able to predict future developments, including the creation of “chambers of annexation”.

Conclusion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Delgado ◽  
Tomás Mendizábal ◽  
Frederick H. Hanselmann ◽  
Dominique Rissolo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Maritime Cultural Landscapes

The conclusion synthesizes the themes of the preceding chapters—the theory of maritime cultural landscapes, for example—while drawing conclusions about the persistence and survival of indigenous groups like the Guna Yala and forecasting the effects of climate change on the isthmus.

scholarly journals Primates Can Be a Rallying Symbol to Promote Tropical Forest Restoration

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 669-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin A. Chapman ◽  
Julio Cesar Bicca-Marques ◽  
Amy E. Dunham ◽  
Pengfei Fan ◽  
Peter J. Fashing ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Forest Restoration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Restoration Ecology ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Flagship Species ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Tropical Country

With 60% of all primate species now threatened with extinction and many species only persisting in small populations in forest fragments, conservation action is urgently needed. But what type of action? Here we argue that restoration of primate habitat will be an essential component of strategies aimed at conserving primates and preventing the extinctions that may occur before the end of the century and propose that primates can act as flagship species for restoration efforts. To do this we gathered a team of academics from around the world with experience in restoration so that we could provide examples of why primate restoration ecology is needed, outline how primates can act as flagship species for restoration efforts of tropical forest, review what little is known about how primate populations respond to restoration efforts, and make specific recommendations of the next steps needed to make restoration of primate populations successful. We set four priorities: (1) academics must effectively communicate both the value of primates and the need for restoration; (2) more research is needed on how primates contribute to forest restoration; (3) more effort must be put into Masters and PhD level training for tropical country nationals; and finally (4) more emphasis is needed to monitor the responses of regenerating forest and primate populations where restoration efforts are initiated. We are optimistic that populations of many threatened species can recover, and extinctions can be prevented, but only if concerted large-scale efforts are made soon and if these efforts include primate habitat restoration.

Soviet reform and the end of the Cold War: explaining large-scale historical change

1991 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Deudney ◽  
G. John Ikenberry
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Theoretical Issues

IntroductionAfter years of retirement in the academy, macro’historical commentary on contemporary events has returned to fashion. Radical domestic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and new patterns ofEast’West relations-in short, the collapse of communism and the end othe Cold War’mark the end of an era and present an invitation to international theorizing.1 Few would deny that these changes are momentous, but there is little consensus concerning their origins, trajectory, and implications. Explaining these events will necessitate a reweighing of fundamental theoretical issues. Thesize and speed of these changes were largely unexpected,reminding us how primitive our theories really are and encouraging us to broaden our theoretical perspective. To capture these events, theorists must reach across the disciplinary divides of Sovietology, international relations theory political economy, and political sociology.

IX. Report on the eruptions of the soufrière, St. Vincent, 1902, and on a visit to Montagne Pelèe, in Martinique. -Part I.

1903 ◽  
Vol 200 (321-330) ◽  
pp. 353-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tempest Anderson ◽  
John Smith Flett
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Sugar Cane ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Main Axis ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Geological Work ◽  
Steep Slopes

The islands of the Caribbean chain have been occupied by European colonists for several hundred years, yet they cannot even at the present day be said to be thoroughly known or sufficiently explored. Though small, they are for the most part moun­tainous, and present usually a ridge or backbone of high land forming the main axis of each island, with sharp spurs on each side running down to the sea. Cul­tivation is practically confined to the lower grounds, where alone there are goodroads, and the interior is covered with dense tropical forest, the aspect of which varies greatly with the altitude, and through which there are only rough bush paths. The valleys are usually very deep and narrow, and the steep slopes are covered with plantations of arrowroot, limes, cocoa, coffee, banana or plantain, while most of the level alluvial ground in the valley bottoms is given up to the growth of sugar cane. In all the British islands, at any rate, the principal peaks and ridges have been ascended, and the main features of the country are delineated on the Admiralty charts, which are the best, and in fact the only available maps. As regards the coast-lines and the lower grounds generally, they are very accurate; but in theinterior only the more important points, the principal mountain summits and the like, have had their position sufficiently determined. The rest of the country has apparently been sketched in more or less carefully—but many of the details as, for example, the courses of the smaller streams, and the number of their branches, cannot be relied on. The want of a good map on a fairly large scale is a great drawback in geological work, and prevents the structure of the country being laid down with anyapproach to minuteness.

scholarly journals Killing the Priest-King: Addressing Egalitarianism in the Indus Civilization

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam S. Green
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Complex Society ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Indus Civilization ◽  
The Past

Abstract The cities of the Indus civilization were expansive and planned with large-scale architecture and sophisticated Bronze Age technologies. Despite these hallmarks of social complexity, the Indus lacks clear evidence for elaborate tombs, individual-aggrandizing monuments, large temples, and palaces. Its first excavators suggested that the Indus civilization was far more egalitarian than other early complex societies, and after nearly a century of investigation, clear evidence for a ruling class of managerial elites has yet to materialize. The conspicuous lack of political and economic inequality noted by Mohenjo-daro’s initial excavators was basically correct. This is not because the Indus civilization was not a complex society, rather, it is because there are common assumptions about distributions of wealth, hierarchies of power, specialization, and urbanism in the past that are simply incorrect. The Indus civilization reveals that a ruling class is not a prerequisite for social complexity.

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