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Shadreck Chirikure, On Evidence, Ideas and Fantasy: The Origins of Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa, Thoughts on É. Zangato & A. F. C. Holl’s “On the Iron Front”. Journal of African Archaeology 8 (2010), 25–28.
Shadreck Chirikure, The Archaeology of African Metalworking. In: Peter Mitchell & Paul Lane (Hrsg.), The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. (Oxford 2013), 131–143.
Metalworking encompasses both the reductive smelting of ores to produce metal and its refining and forging to create usable objects. The advent of this process is one of the most significant technological progressions in human history. The origin of metallurgy debate still rages without any solution or middle ground in sight. More importantly, numerous insightful studies have focused on the sociological and physico-chemical aspects of past metalworking activities, with modern research tending increasingly to consider these together while integrating fieldwork-based studies and laboratory investigations within the same continuum of research. Ethnographies still have an important role in interpretation, alongside the techniques of the physical sciences and their ability to provide information on what was happening inside furnaces and forges. With more data, researchers will be better placed to resolve highly contentious issues surrounding the origins and innovations in the African metallurgical record.
Keywords: African metallurgical record | metallurgical activities | ethnography | furnaces
Paul Craddock, New Paradigms for Old Iron, Thoughts on É. Zangato & A. F. C. Holl’s “On the Iron Front”. Journal of African Archaeology 8 (2010), 29–36.
J. Denbow, A. Manima Moubouha & N. Sanviti, Archaeological excavations along the Loango coast, Congo. NSI: Liaison Bulletin of the Bantu area archaeologists 3 (1988), 37–42.
James Denbow, Congo to Kalahari, Data and hypotheses about the political economy of the western stream of the Early Iron Age. African Archaeological Review 8 (1990), 139–176.
This paper provides a preliminary account of archaeological research on sites of early pottery-using people in the coastal region of the Congo Republic. The results obtained are compared with observations from Botswana and used to amplify archaeological and linguistic data relevant to the transtbrmations in social and productive forces that occurred across the western part of sub-equatorial Afi’ica during the period when food production, metallurgy and long-distance trade were established. Particular attention is paid to evidence for developing economic and social relations between indigenous foragers and immigrant food producers.
Manfred K. H. Eggert, Too Old? Remarks on New Evidence of Ironworking in North-Central Africa. Journal of African Archaeology 8 (2010), 37–38.
It has long been known that neither Meroë nor Assyrian-dominated Egypt nor the Phoenician and Greek colonies of North Africa can be claimed as the origin and way station respectively of sub-Saharan iron production. Considering the impressive number of radiocarbon dates for first millennium BCE iron in sub-Saharan Africa there is simply no sufficiently old empirical evidence of iron from either Meroë or Assyrian Egypt or the Phoenician and Greek colonies. Accordingly, Zangato and Holl rightly reject any diffusion theory of iron production and ironworking on empirical grounds.
Naturally, the early dating of the Djohong sites raises some reservation. However, this seems unwarranted in the light of the tight clustering of the dates. Furthermore, given the strong association of iron and radiocarbon dates as presented by the authors we can by no means recede to a vague, unsubstantiated ‘too old’ attitude. As always, however, additional evidence of all sorts and places is being very welcome indeed.
H. de Foresta, D. Schwartz, R. Dechamps & R. Lanfranchi, Un premier site de métallurgie de l’Age du Fer Ancien (2110 bp) dans le Mayombe congolais et ses implications sur la dynamique. NSI: Liaison Bulletin of the Bantu area archaeologists 7 (1990), 10–12.
H. M. Friede & R. H. Steel, Notes on Iron Age copper-smelting technology in the Transvaal. Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 75 (1975), 221–231.
Earlier reports on Iron Age copper metallurgy and copper-smelting techniques in the Transvaal are surveyed, and a description and tentative classification of the copper furnaces are given. The analyses of furnace slags and sherds of glazed crucibles from archaeological sites of the Transvaal and the neighbouring Orange Free State provide evidence of copper smelting there in Iron Age times. .
An investigation conducted by the Department of Archaeology of the University ofthe Witwatersrand provided information on the details of furnace construction and smelting processes, on the composition of the materials used and produced, and on the making and handling of tools and accessories, such as bellows and tongs, needed by Iron Age smelters.
Three models (the KaondejVenda furnace, the Rooiberg crucible furnace, and the Uitkomst furnace) were constructed and operated as a demonstration of Iron Age copper smelting as it was practised in the Transvaal.
H. M. Friede & R. H. Steel, Tin mining and smelting in the Transvaal during the Iron Age. Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 76 (1976), 461–470.
This paper reviews the historical, archaeological, and metallurgical evidence on Iron Age tin mining and tin smelting in Southern Africa.
The results of the analysis of twenty samples of tin ore, tin slag, and tin ingots found associated with Iron Age materials in the Transvaal (mostly in the Rooiberg area) are reported and discussed. The types of ingots preserved in local collections are described.
A small experimental tin-smelting furnace was constructed and worked according to traditional African Iron Age technology. Qualitative and quantitative results of this experiment are reported.
Scott MacEachern, Thoughts on É. Zangato & A. F. C. Holl’s “On the Iron Front”. Journal of African Archaeology 8 (2010), 39–41.
Bertram Mapunda, The Appearance and Development of Metallurgy South of the Sahara. In: Peter Mitchell & Paul Lane (Hrsg.), The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. (Oxford 2013), 615–626.
Africanist archaeometallurgists have conveniently divided Africa into two sub-regions when discussing the continent’s metallurgical history: north of the Sahara Desert, including the Mediterranean littoral, the Lower Nile Valley, and the Red Sea coast; and south of the Sahara (sub-Saharan Africa), including West, East, Central, and southern Africa. This division reflects the fact that the metallurgical history of the two sub-regions differs. This article begins with a theoretical review of the origins of metallurgy as a background on which the sub-Saharan case is anchored. Its main body is further split in two: the appearance of metallurgy in the region and its subsequent development. The discussion suggests that studying the origins of other technologies, such as basketry, textiles, and pottery may also help shed light on those of metallurgy itself.
Keywords: Africanist archaeometallurgists | metallurgical origins | sub-Saharan Africa | pottery | metallurgy
Pierre de Maret, Sanga: New Excavations, More Data, and Some Related Problems. Journal of African History 18 (1977), 321–337.
Pierre de Maret, L’Evolution Monetaire du Shaba Central Entre le 7e et le 18e Siecle. African Economic History 10 (1981), 117–149.
Pierre de Maret, Recent Archaeological Research and Dates From Central Africa. Journal of African History 26 (1985), 129–148.
Pierre de Maret, Recent Farming Communities and States in the Congo Basin and its Environs. In: Peter Mitchell & Paul Lane (Hrsg.), The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. (Oxford 2013), 875–886.
Over 500 different ethno-linguistic groups live today in the Congo Basin and its periphery. Almost all are farmers, and, except in the northeast, all speak Bantu languages. The very centre of the Congo Basin is one of the few areas in this vast region to have received systematic archaeological research. There, in the middle of the rainforest, systematic survey of the Congo River and its tributaries has identified more than 190 localities with six pottery traditions recognised over a 2,500-year sequence. This article examines the Atlantic coast and lower Congo River, the Upemba Depression, and Zambia and Malawi.
Keywords: Zambia | Malawi | Upemba Depression | Congo River | Bantu languages
John K. Thornton, The Kingdom of Kongo, ca. 1390–1678, The Development of an African Social Formation. Cahiers d’études africaines 22 (1982), 325–342.
Thus Kongo’s history the history of particular mode of production that dominated its social formation from 1390 to 1678 provides an interesting illustration of one way of seeing African evolution in a historical materialist framework. If it helps to illustrate the utility of the method it also points to future work both theoretical and factual needed for refining the approach.
John Thornton, The Origins and Early History of the Kingdom of Kongo, c. 1350–1550. International Journal of African Historical Studies 34 (2001), 89–120.
Having reviewed what oral tradition has to say about the origins of the Kingdom of Kongo, it is now possible to make a qualified statement the probable course of events, free from the essential source criticism ceding sections. While some of this must still remain speculation can refer back to the specific arguments to decide whether or not speculation as reasonable), it also takes into consideration what is certain in the study of early Kongo tradition.
Étienne Zangato & Augustin F. C. Holl, On the Iron Front, New Evidence from North-Central Africa. Journal of African Archaeology 8 (2010), 7–23.
The advent of copper and iron metallurgy is one of the most fascinating debate taking place in sub-Saharan Africa archaeology today. Challenging data, that may be accurate or not , are usually ignored or dismissed without serious consideration. Sustained long-term research is nonetheless changing our views on the development of iron metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents new evidence from North-Central Africa , in the Djohong area in the Cameroons, and Ndio area in the Central African Republic, both situated in the northeastern part of the Adamawa Plateau. Iron production activities are documented to have taken place as early as 3000-2500 BC. It is the case in habitation sites like Balimbé, Bétumé, and Bouboun, smelting sites like Gbabiri, and forge sites like Oboui and Gbatoro. The last two sites provide high resolution data on the spatial patterning of blacksmiths’ workshops dating from 2500 to 2000 BC.
Keywords: Iron metallurgy | early forges | North Central Africa | Adamawa | Oboui | Gbatoro | Gbabiri
Axel Beyer et al., The Rydberg constant and proton size from atomic hydrogen. science 358 (2017), 79–85.
Axel Beyer, Lothar Maisenbacher, Arthur Matveev, Randolf Pohl, Ksenia Khabarova, Alexey Grinin, Tobias Lamour, Dylan C. Yost, Theodor W. Hänsch, Nikolai Kolachevsky & Thomas Udem
At the core of the “proton radius puzzle” is a four–standard deviation discrepancy between the proton root-mean-square charge radii (rp) determined from the regular hydrogen (H) and the muonic hydrogen (µp) atoms. Using a cryogenic beam of H atoms, we measured the 2S-4P transition frequency in H, yielding the values of the Rydberg constant Rw=10973731.568076(96) per meter and rp = 0.8335(95) femtometer. Our rp value is 3.3 combined standard deviations smaller than the previous H world data, but in good agreement with the µp value. We motivate an asymmetric fit function, which eliminates line shifts from quantum interference of neighboring atomic resonances.
Luana Colloca, Nocebo effects can make you feel pain. science 358 (2017), 44.
Negative expectancies derived from features of commercial drugs elicit nocebo effects.
Warren Cornwall, Against the Grain. science 358 (2017), 24–27.
Forest scientist Jerry Franklin became known for helping protect old-growth trees from logging. Now, he’s arguing for letting the chainsaws loose in some forests.
Scars on the landscape left by the eruption remain after 37 years. [...] And, by 2010, the researchers found that the abundance and diversity of birds was much higher in areas that had been left to recover on their own, forming brushy early seral habitat, than in the adjacent landscapes quickly replanted with conifers.
But he has made compromises. The loggers left just 15 % of the existing trees behind, fewer than Franklin wanted. And the BLM insisted on replanting Douglas fir on the hillside, rather than leaving it untouched, out of concern the trees would grow back too slowly to meet future logging goals.
Reinhard Schunck, Status und Schönheit, Wird sozio-ökonomischer Status in Partnerschaften gegen physische Attraktivität getauscht? Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 69 (2017), 283–305.
Dieser Beitrag geht der Frage nach, ob sich bei Partnerschaften in Deutschland Belege für einen Austausch von sozio-ökonomischem Status gegen physische Attraktivität finden lassen. Ausgehend von theoretischen Überlegungen werden drei teilweise konkurrierende Hypothesen aufgestellt: Erstens, in Partnerschaften wird sozio-ökonomischer Status gegen physische Attraktivität getauscht und zwar sowohl von Männern als auch von Frauen. Zweitens, in Partnerschaften zeigen sich geschlechtsspezifische Austauschmuster. Es wird vor allem männlicher sozio-ökonomischer Status gegen weibliche Attraktivität getauscht. Drittens, es findet kein Austausch von sozio-ökonomischem Status und physischer Attraktivität statt. Stattdessen führt Statushomogamie zu einer (Schein-)Korrelation zwischen dem Status des einen Partners und der physischen Attraktivität des anderen Partners, weil statushohe Personen physisch attraktiver sind. Diese Hypothesen werden mit repräsentativen Daten des ALLBUS (2008, 2010, 2012, N = 6732) und einer direkten Messung physischer Attraktivität geprüft. Die multivariaten Analysen (lineare Regressionsmodelle mit Interviewer-Fixed-Effects) sprechen dafür, dass in statusheterogamen Partnerschaften ein Austausch von Attraktivität gegen Status stattfindet. Je mehr Status der Partner im Vergleich zur befragten Person hat, desto attraktiver ist diese. Wird Bildung als Dimension des sozio-ökonomischen Status betrachtet, zeigen sich geschlechtsspezifische Muster. Bei weiblichen Befragten ist der Zusammenhang zwischen ihrer Attraktivität und der Bildung ihres Partners stärker als bei männlichen Befragten. Wird der International Socio-Economic Index (ISEI) als Dimension des sozio-ökonomischen Status betrachtet, weisen die Ergebnisse für Männer und Frauen gleichermaßen auf einen Austausch von Status gegen Attraktivität hin.
Keywords: Partnerschaft | Partnermarkt | Physische Attraktivität | Austauschtheorie | ALLBUS | Fixed Effects | Schönheit
A. Tinnermann, S. Geuter, C. Sprenger, J. Finsterbusch & C. Büchel, Interactions between brain and spinal cord mediate value effects in nocebo hyperalgesia. science 358 (2017), 105–108.
s358-0105-Supplement.pdf
Value information about a drug, such as the price tag, can strongly affect its therapeutic effect. We discovered that value information influences adverse treatment outcomes in humans even in the absence of an active substance. Labeling an inert treatment as expensive medication led to stronger nocebo hyperalgesia than labeling it as cheap medication. This effect was mediated by neural interactions between cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord. In particular, activity in the prefrontal cortex mediated the effect of value on nocebo hyperalgesia. Value furthermore modulated coupling between prefrontal areas, brainstem, and spinal cord, which might represent a flexible mechanism through which higher-cognitive representations, such as value, can modulate early pain processing.
Wim Vassen, The proton radius revisited. science 358 (2017), 39–40.
Hydrogen spectroscopy brings a surprise in the search for a solution to a long-standing puzzle.
Moreover, one would need to understand why other measurements in hydrogen are so far off or, possibly, exhibit a systematic shift in the same direction. There is presently no explanation for that. Also, the proton size deduced from electronproton scattering disagrees.
Philipp Mitteroecker, Sonja Windhager & Mihaela Pavlicev, Cliff-edge model predicts intergenerational predisposition to dystocia and Caesarean delivery. PNAS 114 (2017), 11669–11672.
Recently, we presented the cliff-edge model to explain the evolutionary persistence of relatively high incidences of fetopelvic disproportion (FPD) in human childbirth. According to this model, the regular application of Caesarean sections since the mid-20th century has triggered an evolutionary increase of fetal size relative to the dimensions of the maternal birth canal, which, in turn, has inflated incidences of FPD. While this prediction is difficult to test in epidemiological data on Caesarean sections, the model also implies that women born by Caesarean because of FPD are more likely to develop FPD in their own childbirth compared with women born vaginally. Multigenerational epidemiological studies indeed evidence such an intergenerational predisposition to surgical delivery. When confined to anatomical indications, these studies report risks for Caesarean up to twice as high for women born by Caesarean compared with women born vaginally. These findings provide independent support for our model, which we show here predicts that the risk of FPD for mothers born by Caesarean because of FPD is 2.8 times the risk for mothers born vaginally. The congruence between these data and our prediction lends support to the cliff-edge model of obstetric selection and its underlying assumptions, despite the genetic and anatomical idealizations involved.
Keywords: Caesarean section | human evolution | obstetrical dilemma | obstructed labor | quantitative genetics
Significance: The cliff-edge model explains the evolutionary persistence of relatively high incidences of fetopelvic disproportion (FPD), the mismatch of fetal and maternal dimensions during human childbirth. It also predicts that FPD rates have increased evolutionarily since the regular use of Caesarean sections. Here we show that the model also explains why women born by Caesarean because of FPD are about twice as likely to develop FPD in their own childbirth compared with women born vaginally. This theoretical prediction of a complex epidemiological pattern lends support to the cliff-edge model and its underlying assumptions.
Israel Finkelstein & Benjamin Sass, Epigraphic Evidence from Jerusalem and Its Environs at the Dawn of Biblical History, Facts First. In: Yuval Gadot, Yehiel Zelinger, Katia Cytryn-Silverman & Joseph (Joe) Uziel (Hrsg.), New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Region. Collected Papers 11 (Jerusalem 2017), 21–26.
Above we have demonstrated that all pillars of Rollston’s article—the persistency of scribal activity from the Late Bronze to the Iron IIA; the dating of a large number of inscriptions to the 10th century BCE; and the insistence on significant scribal activity in the Iron IIA “in Jerusalem and its environs”—do not stand scrutiny with emphasis on temporal and spatial distribution of stratified and/or ceramicallydated inscriptions. Chronologically, very few inscriptions date to the 10th century BCE and not a single inscription can be associated with Jerusalem of that time. Alphabetic writing developed slowly between the 13th century and the early 9th, with a first peak occurring only in the late Iron IIA, the 9th century BCE. Jerusalem produced a single early alphabetic inscription, in Proto-Canaanite script, dating to the 9th century BCE. This and other inscriptions, such as Kefar Veradim, Khirbet Qeiyafa and Megiddo (for the latter Sass and Finkelstein 2016) indicate that the 9th century was a period of transition from Proto-Canaanite to cursive Hebrew and other regional West Semitic alphabets.
Johann Maier, Kriegsrecht und Friedensordnung in jüdischer Tradition. Theologie und Frieden 14 (Stuttgart 2000).
Ellen van Wolde, Separation and Creation in Genesis 1 and Psalm 104, A Continuation of the Discussion of the Verb \cjRL{br’}. Vetus Testamentum 67 (2017), 611–647.
The meaning of the verb br’ is the subject of fierce discussions. Conventionally it has been rendered by biblicists and Hebraists as “to create,” but this traditional interpretation fails to explain adequately numerous linguistic and conceptual aspects of the verb’s usage. Historical solutions of these problems are discussed. The alternative hypothesis defended here is that the verb br’ Qal designates “to separate.” It is considered to be a spatial concept, not a concept that figures in the domain of construction. In the present article I present further analyses of the verb br’ in Gen 1 and explain the significance for the idea of creation it represents, and of the most famous creation psalm, Ps 104, and especially of vv. 26-30 in which the term br’ is used. The similarities and dissimilarities between these two texts demonstrate that each context of usage of br’ must be independently investigated and appreciated.
Keywords: creation | Genesis 1 | Psalm 104
B. Pinçon, La métallurgie du fer sur les plateaux téké (Congo), Quelle influence sur l’évolution des paysages au cours des deux derniers millénaires? In: Raymond Lanfranchi & Dominique Schwartz (Hrsg.), Paysages quaternaires de l’Afrique centrale atlantique. Collection Didactiques (Paris 1990), 479–479.
Malgré toute son importance, l’activité métallurgique sur les Plateaux Teke au cours des deux derniers millénaires ne saurait y expliquer la présence de savanes sous climax forestier. L’action des fondeurs sur la couverture végétale a été globablement négligeable. Dans le contexte actuel, l’approvisionnement en bois de chauffe pourrait être réalisé sans recul significatif de la forêt.
Des prospections archéologiques récentes ont mis en évidence une importante métallurgie du fer sur les Plateaux Teke. La localisation des vestiges ne s’explique pas par la couverture végétale actuelle. Localement, la fonte a pu entamer certains espaces forestiers. Cependant les prélèvements en bois ont été globalement minimes et ne sauraient expliquer la présence des savanes qui constituent l’essentiel des paysages.
Keywords: archéologie | Congo | déforestation | écosystème | fer | forêt | métallurgie | plateaux Teke | savane | Teke.
Bronson W. Griscom et al., Natural climate solutions. PNAS 114 (2017), 11645–11650.
Bronson W. Griscom, Justin Adams, Peter W. Ellis, Richard A. Houghton, Guy Lomax, Daniela A. Miteva, William H. Schlesinger, David Shoch, Juha V. Siikamäki, Pete Smith, Peter Woodbury, Chris Zganjar, Allen Blackman, João Campari, Richard T. Conant, Christopher Delgado, Patricia Elias, Trisha Gopalakrishna, Marisa R. Hamsik, Mario Herrero, Joseph Kiesecker, Emily Landis, Lars Laestadius, Sara M. Leavitt, Susan Minnemeyer, Stephen Polasky, Peter Potapov, Francis E. Putz, Jonathan Sanderman, Marcel Silvius, Eva Wollenberg & Joseph Fargione
Better stewardship of land is needed to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goal of holding warming to below 2 °C; however, confusion persists about the specific set of land stewardship options available and their mitigation potential. To address this, we identify and quantify “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We find that the maximum potential of NCS—when constrained by food security, fiber security, and biodiversity conservation—is 23.8 petagrams of CO2 equivalent (PgCO2e) y1 (95 %CI 20.3–37.4). This is ≥30 %higher than prior estimates, which did not include the full range of options and safeguards considered here. About half of this maximum (11.3 PgCO2e y1) represents cost-effective climate mitigation, assuming the social cost of CO2 pollution is ≥100 USD MgCO2-1 by 2030. Natural climate solutions can provide 37 % of cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed through 2030 for a >66 % chance of holding warming to below 2 °C. One-third of this cost-effective NCSmitigation can be delivered at or below 10 USD MgCO2-1. Most NCS actions—if effectively implemented—also offer water filtration, flood buffering, soil health, biodiversity habitat, and enhanced climate resilience. Work remains to better constrain uncertainty of NCS mitigation estimates. Nevertheless, existing knowledge reported here provides a robust basis for immediate global action to improve ecosystem stewardship as a major solution to climate change.
Keywords: climate mitigation | forests | agriculture | wetlands | ecosystems
Significance: Most nations recently agreed to hold global average temperature rise to well below 2 °C. We examine how much climate mitigation nature can contribute to this goal with a comprehensive analysis of “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and/or improved land management actions that increase carbon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We show that NCS can provide over one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed between now and 2030 to stabilize warming to below 2 °C. Alongside aggressive fossil fuel emissions reductions, NCS offer a powerful set of options for nations to deliver on the Paris Climate Agreement while improving soil productivity, cleaning our air and water, and maintaining biodiversity.
Holger Lengfeld, Die „Alternative für Deutschland“: eine Partei für Modernisierungsverlierer? Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 69 (2017), 209–232.
Würden Personen, die zu den Verlierern der durch wirtschaftliche Globalisierung geprägten Modernisierung Deutschlands zählen, in der kommenden Bundestagswahl häufiger die Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) als andere Parteien wählen? Basierend auf Befunden der Arbeitsmarkt-, Ungleichheits- und Wahlforschung sowie der AfD-Programmatik finde ich Argumente für und gegen diese “Modernisierungsverliererthese”. Diese These wird anschließend mit neuen Umfragedaten geprüft, die November 2016 unter 1031 in Deutschland wahlberechtigten Personen erhoben wurden. Dazu verwende ich den Indikator der Wahlabsicht (”Sonntagsfrage”) und führe deskriptive Gruppenvergleiche und Logit-Regressionen mit Ausgabe von AME-Koeffizienten durch. Die für Modernisierungsverlierer typischen niedrigen Statuslagen (geringer Bildungsgrad, berufliche Tätigkeit als Arbeiter und geringes Einkommen) haben keine signifikant höhereWahrscheinlichkeit auf die Absicht, in der kommenden Bundestagswahl für die AfD zu stimmen. Gleiches gilt für Personen, die sich als Verlierer der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung betrachten. Die empirischen Befunde weisen tendenziell auf eine stärkere AfD-Wahlabsicht von Personen mit mittlerer und höherer Statuslage hin. Damit konnte kein Hinweis auf die Gültigkeit der Modernisierungsverliererthese gefunden werden. Ich komme zum Schluss, dass Wahlkampfstrategien anderer Parteien, die auf die materiellen Interessen der Modernisierungsverlierer ausgerichtet sind, wahrscheinlich nicht dazu führen werden, die Zahl der potenziellen Wähler der AfD in der bevorstehenden Bundestagswahl 2017 maßgeblich zu verringern.
Keywords: Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) | Deprivation | Modernisierungsverlierer | Rechtspopulismus | Sozioökonomischer Status | Umfrageforschung
Daniel Seddig, Helmut Hirtenlehner & Jost Reinecke, Beeinflussen Sanktionsrisikoeinschätzungen das delinquente Handeln junger Menschen oder ist es umgekehrt? Befunde einer deutschen Längsschnittuntersuchung. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 69 (2017), 259–282.
Bei der Erforschung der Abschreckungswirkung von Strafe sind querschnittlich angelegte Fragebogenuntersuchungen nicht in der Lage, Erfahrungseffekte (Wirkungen früherer Delinquenz auf die Sanktionsrisikowahrnehmung) effizient von Abschreckungseffekten (Wirkungen der Sanktionsrisikowahrnehmung auf spätere Delinquenz) zu trennen. In den wenigen vorhandenen Längsschnittstudien, die eine Separierung der beiden Effektarten ermöglichen, wird regelmäßig das Vorhandensein von Erfahrungseffekten bestätigt. Anhand einer Paneluntersuchung mit 1950 befragten Jugendlichen aus Duisburg wird hier die Frage nach der Existenz von Abschreckungs- und Erfahrungseffekten während des Jugendalters analysiert. Ergebnisse eines Panelmodells mit autoregressiven und kreuzverzögerten Effekten deuten auf die Dominanz von Erfahrungseffekten hin. Die mangelnde Nachweisbarkeit einer systematischen Abschreckungswirkung wahrgenommener Sanktionierungsrisiken (bei zeitversetzten Messungen von Risikoeinschätzung und delinquentem Verhalten) wirft ein kritisches Licht auf die Befunde der querschnittlichen Wirkungsforschung und mahnt zur Vorsicht hinsichtlich der Erwartungen an mögliche Erträge einer Ausweitung gerichtlicher Straftätigkeit.
Keywords: Abschreckung | Risikowahrnehmung | Jugenddelinquenz | Panelstudie
Gerald Wagner, Haft- oder Bewährungsstrafe? – Eine Studie. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2017 , Oct. 8.
Die Ergebnisse sind eher beunruhigend. Es ließen sich nämlich tatsächlich Erfahrungseffekte der Vorjahreskriminalität auf die Sanktionsrisikowahrnehmung der Jugendlichen feststellen, allerdings sicher nicht im gesellschaftlich gewünschten Ausmaß: Vermehrtes strafbares Handeln in den Monaten vor der Erhebung führte vielmehr zu einer geringeren Risikoeinschätzung. Die Fachliteratur nennt so etwas “experimentelles Lernen” – man begeht Straftaten und macht die Erfahrung, nicht erwischt zu werden, oder wenn erwischt, nicht wirklich bestraft zu werden. Dieses Ergebnis, so die Autoren, stelle die Abschreckungsthese auf den Kopf: Nicht eine höhere Sanktionsrisikowahrnehmung führe zu weniger Kriminalität, sondern persönliche Erfahrung mit Kriminalität führe zu einer realistischeren Risikoeinschätzung. Realistisch heißt demnach: niedrig. Kriminalität lehrt, dass Kriminalität eher folgenlos bleibt.
Paul E. Lovejoy, Red Gold of Africa. African Economic History 14 (1985), 222–224.
Red Gold of Africa: Copper in Precolonial History and Culture by Eugenia W. Herbert. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984. Pp. xxiii, 413. $ 32.50 Cloth.
Copper served many of the same functions that gold served elsewhere. It was the basis of money; it was used in art; it was a symbol of status, power and wealth. Because Africa has been a major source of gold (the major source for Europe and the Middle East before 1500), the relative unimportance of gold in African societies until recently has to be explained. Gold was a major export, but not used locally, or so it seems at the present state of our knowledge.
Herbert surveys the major sources of copper in Africa. These can be divided into several zones. In the northern savanna and the Sahara were Akjoujt in western Mauretania, Azelek (before the fifteenth century) in central Niger, Nufrat en-Nahas in western Sudan. In central and southern Africa were many more and richer deposits – Niari-Kwilu, M’Boko Songho and Bende in the lower Zaire River basin; the copper belt deposits (Kipushi, Kansanshi, etc.) of Shaba province and northern Zambia; the deposits of Zimbalwe (Urungue, Umkondo, etc.); the sites of South Africa and Botswana (Tati, Bamangwato, Messina, Phalaborwa); and more scattered locations in southern Angola, Namibia, and Manaqualand. Excellent maps locate these and other places.
Elliott P. Skinner, The Tio Kingdom of the Middle Congo. American Anthropologist 78 (1976), 416–417.
The Tio Kingdom of the Middle Congo 1880-1892. Jan Vansina. London: Oxford University Press (for the International African Institute), 1973. xvii + 586 pp., figures, maps, plates, appendixes, reference material, glossary, index. $ 32.00 (cloth).
This excellent monograph raises many theoretical issues that Vansina had no intention of answering. One that readily comes to mind is the relationship between population density and the presence of state systems. Vansina found that despite very low population density (1.0 to 1.5 per square mile) the Tio had a state system.
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