Book•
Barbed Wire: An Ecology of Modernity
01 Jan 2004-
TL;DR: Barbed wire has been used to control cattle during the colonization of the American West and to control people in Nazi concentration camps and the Russian Gulag as discussed by the authors, and it has been shown to be effective in controlling humans, animals, and the environment.
Abstract: In this original and controversial book, historian and philosopher Reviel Netz explores the development of a controlling and pain-inducing technology - barbed wire. Surveying its development from 1874 to 1954, Netz describes its use to control cattle during the colonization of the American West and to control people in Nazi concentration camps and the Russian Gulag. Physical control over space was no longer symbolic after 1874. This is a history told from the perspective of its victims. With vivid examples of the interconnectedness of humans, animals, and the environment, this dramatic account of barbed wire presents modern history through the lens of motion being prevented. Drawing together the history of humans and animals, Netz delivers a compelling new perspective on the issues of colonialism, capitalism, warfare, globalization, violence, and suffering. Theoretically sophisticated but written with a broad readership in mind, Barbed Wire calls for nothing less than a reconsideration of modernity.
Citations
More filters
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: A specimen of Greek mathematics can be found in this paper, where the main Greek mathematicians cited in the book are cited as the main sources of inspiration for the present paper, as well as the historical setting.
Abstract: Introduction: a specimen of Greek mathematics 1. The lettered diagram 2. The pragmatics of letters 3. The mathematical lexicon 4. Formulae 5. The shaping of necessity 6. The shaping of generality 7. The historical setting Appendix: the main Greek mathematicians cited in the book.
242 citations
TL;DR: The archaeology of the contemporary past is becoming an important subfield within the discipline and one attractive not only to archaeologists but also to social scientists and artists as discussed by the authors, who need to develop a new kind of archaeological rhetoric, pay closer attention to the materiality of the world in which we live and embrace political commitment without sacrificing objectivity.
Abstract: The archaeology of the contemporary past is becoming an important subfield within the discipline and one attractive not only to archaeologists but to social scientists and artists. The period that started with World War I, here identified as “supermodernity,” has been characterized by increasing devastation of both humans and things and the proliferation of archaeological sites, such as battlefields, industrial ruins, mass graves, and concentration camps. The mission of a critical archaeology of this period is not only telling alternative stories but also unveiling what the supermodern power machine does not want to be shown. For this we need to develop a new kind of archaeological rhetoric, pay closer attention to the materiality of the world in which we live, and embrace political commitment without sacrificing objectivity.
221 citations
Cites background from "Barbed Wire: An Ecology of Modernit..."
...…a symmetrical way to the collectives of humans and things that are involved in the historical processes that we study (Latour 1993, 1996; Law 2002; Netz 2004; Olsen 2003, 2006; Witmore 2007) and, secondly, taking into account the materiality of the world we live in—an issue that is achieving more…...
[...]
TL;DR: This article examined the impact on agricultural development of the introduction of barbed wire fencing to the American Plains in the late nineteenth century and found that counties with the least woodland experienced substantial relative increases in settlement, land improvement, land values, and the productivity and production share of crops most in need of protection.
Abstract: This paper examines the impact on agricultural development of the introduction of barbed wire fencing to the American Plains in the late nineteenth century. Without a fence, farmers risked uncompensated damage by others' livestock. From 1880 to 1900, the introduction and near-universal adoption of barbed wire greatly reduced the cost of fences, relative to the predominant wooden fences, especially in counties with the least woodland. Over that period, counties with the least woodland experienced substantial relative increases in settlement, land improvement, land values, and the productivity and production share of crops most in need of protection. This increase in agricultural development appears partly to reflect farmers' increased ability to protect their land from encroachment. States' inability to protect this full bundle of property rights on the frontier, beyond providing formal land titles, might have otherwise restricted agricultural development.
214 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of the state of the arts in London and the date 2006 unless otherwise stated, where the place of publication is London, UK and the year 2006 unless specified.
Abstract: (The place of publication is London and the date 2006 unless otherwise stated.)
176 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a geographical reflection on "the camp" as a modern institution and as a spatial bio-political technology, including concentration, detention, transit, identification, refugee, military and training camps.
142 citations
References
More filters
Book•
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: Worster's classic chronicle of the devastating years between 1929 and 1939 tells the story of the Dust Bowl in ecological as well as human terms as discussed by the authors, and shares his more recent thoughts on the subject of the land and how humans interact with it.
Abstract: In the mid 1930s, North America's Great Plains faced one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in world history. Donald Worster's classic chronicle of the devastating years between 1929 and 1939 tells the story of the Dust Bowl in ecological as well as human terms. Now, twenty-five years after his book helped to define the new field of environmental history, Worster shares his more recent thoughts on the subject of the land and how humans interact with it. In a new afterword, he links the Dust Bowl to current political, economic and ecological issues-including the American livestock industry's exploitation of the Great Plains, and the on-going problem of desertification, which has now become a global phenomenon. He reflects on the state of the plains today and the threat of a new dustbowl. He outlines some solutions that have been proposed, such as "the Buffalo Commons," where deer, antelope, bison and elk would once more roam freely, and suggests that we may yet witness a Great Plains where native flora and fauna flourish while applied ecologists show farmers how to raise food on land modeled after the natural prairies that once existed.
414 citations
Book•
[...]
01 Jan 1931
TL;DR: Webb as discussed by the authors argued that the 98th meridian constituted an institutional fault-comparable to a geological fault at which "practically every institution that was carried across it was either broken and remade or else greatly altered."
Abstract: This classic description of the interaction between the vast central plains of America and the people who lived there has, since its first publication in 1931, been one of the most influential, widely known, and controversial works in western history. Arguing that "the Great Plains environment...constitutes a geographic unity whose influences have been so powerful as to put a characteristic mark upon everything that survives within its borders," Webb singles out the revolver, barbed wire, and the windmill as evidence of the new phase of civilization required for settlement of that arid, treeless region. Webb draws on history, anthropology, geography, demographics, climatology, and economics to substantiate his thesis that the 98th meridian constituted an institutional fault-comparable to a geological fault-at which "practically every institution that was carried across it was either broken and remade or else greatly altered."
359 citations
347 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1976
TL;DR: Weglyn's "Years of Infamy" as mentioned in this paper is an excellent and moving book about the concentration camps for Japanese, but it focuses instead on the other side of the picture.
Abstract: "A truly excellent and moving book . . . The story of the concentration camps for Japanese has often been told, but usually with an emphasis on the silver lining. . . . Michi Weglyn concentrates instead on the other side of the picture. Years of Infamy is hard hitting but fair and balanced. It is a terrible story of administrative callousness and bungling, untold damage to the human soul, confusion, and terror."-Edwin O. Reischauer, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
131 citations