1,720,958 research outputs found
The relationship between the living and the dead - Contemporary interaction and deposition at mortuary sites as Intangible Cultural Heritage? How this illustrates collective memories and identities in North Wales
No full textThe way in which the living interact with the past in the contemporary is ever-changing. New mortuary practices and forms of commemoration are formed by different groups and cultures, expressing the way in which they perceive death and so life. This interaction can be studied through the contemporary depositions and archaeological evidence left at sites, however, this has seen little coverage heritage and mortuary studies. Given the recent acknowledgement of intangible cultural heritage as an existing element of society within British heritage management these practices that exemplify interaction with ancestral, national or collective memories and identities could be protected or promoted by governing bodies.
This thesis therefore aims to highlight such contemporary practices by giving close study to the three mortuary sites that experience this in North Wales, and the forms of intangible heritage that become evident from this. Bryn Celli Ddu passage tomb in Anglesey; Gelert's Grave fictitious dog grave in Snowdonia; and St Winefride's Well site of pilgrimage in Holywell all illustrate these practices, illustrating differing cultural group's formation of memory and identity in the process. By utilising the work on heritage established by Smith on authorised heritage discourses and outstanding universal value, and Houlbrook and Wallis' research on contemporary depositions this thesis expands on the already established, yet young, discourses, providing new information on a particular context within the United Kingdom. This thesis successfully highlights this, illustrates their importance as contemporary expressions and forms of heritage, and briefly sees the function of these within British governance
Ancient objects with modern meanings: museums, volunteers, and the Anglo-Saxon `Staffordshire Hoard' as a marker of 21st-century regional identity (pre-print version)
No full textAncient objects with modern meanings: museums, volunteers, and the Anglo-Saxon `Staffordshire Hoard' as a marker of 21st-century regional identityThe Staffordshire Hoard is the largest Anglo-Saxon gold hoard ever found. On display from soon after its discovery in 2009 during fundraising to secure it for the region, the Hoard has become a source of local pride in Staffordshire, receiving over a million
visitors. This article explores the Hoard as a marker of identity, both in the past and in the present and evaluates how the ‘treasure process’, museums and museum volunteers are shaping public identification with the Anglo-Saxon past of the Mercian kingdom. Drawing on focus group data, we argue that aspects of the naming and display of the Hoard have encouraged its inclusion in existing narratives of belonging and ‘authenticity’ in Staffordshire. Such archaeological discoveries have the potential to provide points of continuity between the post-industrial present and the distant past, and stimulate a reconsideration of the present status of the region in contemporary cultural and political discourse.Ye
Floreat Salopia: A Celebration of Shropshire’s History and Archaeology
No full textThis paper analyses the intractable and fragmented history of Shropshire from c.500–1050. The written sources for this period are extremely poor in Shropshire’s case but are now being enriched by excavations and, more widely, by PAS finds and sculpture. The concept of ‘persistent places’ in the landscape is used to pursue key sites through specific episodes in Anglo-Saxon Shropshire’s history that can be established by reference to the wider historical events within the emerging kingdoms of England. Through this mechanism, a more detailed picture emerges of how Mercian Shropshire gradually came together so that by the eleventh century, the new shire had been created as a stable entity with rich cultural relationships in the face of external threats from its surrounding polities: Welsh, English and Viking.Unfunde
St Guthlac and the ‘Britons’: a Mercian context
No full textArticle analysing evidence for relations between Anglo-Saxon Mercia and the British peoples of the seventh-century west midlands during the lifetime of Guthlac, saint of Crowland and during the construction of his biography and cult in the early eighth century
Treaties, Frontiers and Borderlands: the making and unmaking of Mercian border traditions in English, Aethelflaedan and Viking Mercia
Full text linkThis article explores the complexity and nuance of borderlands and border relations focusing on Mercia. Identifying a host of border maintenance strategies negotiating control over people, places and resources, mitigation of risk and maximisation of opportunity, but also strategic escalation and de-escalation of tensions, the study re-evaluates how Mercian border traditions supported expanded hegemony between the seventh and ninth centuries. The significant departures of the approach presented here are (i) rethinking the traditional focus on military, religious and ethnic identities to integrate these among other activities and experiences defining early medieval frontiers and borderlands and (ii) considering the reimagining not only Mercia’s frontiers and borderlands during its emergence and heyday as a kingdom but also reflecting on how Mercian territory itself became a borderland under the rule of Aethelred and Aethelflaed during the Viking Age, and as such how it was formative in the creation of the Danelaw and of England. The Alfred/Guthrum Treaty and Ordinance of the Dunsaete are here contextualised against other strategies and scales of negotiation and activity framing Mercian/Anglo-Welsh and Anglo-Danish borderlands. Different ‘Mercian borderlands’ are compared in this study and analysed as complex zones of interaction, responsive to geographical factors, but also criss-crossed by multi-stranded pathways of daily life. Mercian borderlands were understood and maintained militarily, physically, spiritually, and ideologically. The article considers how these zones were shaped by convenience but also need and were reinforced or permeable at locality, community and kingdom level
Contested loyalties : regional and national identities in the midland kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, c. 700-c. 900
No full textThe Mercian supremacy has a relatively fixed place in the thought of contemporary Anglo-
Saxon historians, who have focused primarily on documentary evidence for the rivalry of
Mercian kings and Kentish archbishops. Less attention has been devoted to the shape of
the Mercian realm; a kingdom with a midland focus extending its reach permanently over
neighbouring kingdoms from the late seventh century onwards. Regional communities
absorbed within the new Mercian sphere played an active role in its construction,
influencing both Mercian development and their own futures, whilst the succession of each
new king offered opportunities for renegotiation of the terms of hegemony.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, this thesis uses an essentially chronological structure
to question varied political aims and pressures, defensive needs, and cultural, economic and
religious interests across the midland kingdoms, then to assess these as motivating factors
in the relationships of resistance and accommodation which formed the Mercian hegemony.
In chapter one it considers the diverse backgrounds of the independent midland kingdoms
during early Mercian expansion. In chapter two the specific case study of the takeover of
London is tackled, with its consequences for the East Saxons. The absorption of local
rights and delegation of Mercian influence and protection under Aethelbald is analysed in
chapter three as a key factor in regional power-relations amongst the Lindisse, Maagonsaete
and Hwicce. As Mercian hegemony expanded under Aethelbald and Offa, chapter four
considers strategies of accommodation and resistance within the kingdom of East Anglia.
In chapters five and six, the formation of a supra-regional Mercian community under Offa
and Coenwulf is considered, with the internal impact of key Mercian developments, such as
common defensive burdens and economic currency, the establishment and dissolution of
the Lichfield archbishopric, conquest and rebellion in East Anglia and Kent and external
relations with the Welsh, West Saxons and Franks. Local attempts made to stabilise and
augment the authority of their own lineages are discussed and how regional lineages
responded to the loss of royal power explored. The final chapter asks if forces of Mercian
regional interest and dynastic politics elicited multiple crises in the 820s, causing the
Mercian disintegration and allowing West Saxon invasion in 829 and the re-emergence of
disparate destinies for the midland kingdoms. This thesis argues that choices at a regional
level for unity or independence conditioned not only Mercian hegemony, but also responses
in each region to subsequent West Saxon and Scandinavian overlordship
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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