The making of a void sovereignty: political implications of the military checkpoints in the West Bank

Research on the Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank has emphasized not only that these checkpoints have dire implications for the Palestinians living there, at the personal, familial, and communal levels, and devastating eff ects on the Palestinian economy, but also that they have far-reaching consequences for the ability of the Palestinians to establish an independent political entity. At the same time, analysis of the Israeli forms of domination over the Palestinians has also stressed the role of a Palestinian governing authority in sustaining the Israeli rule, since the former relieves the latter of its responsibility to care for the occupied Palestinian population. This paper aims to address this apparent contradiction claiming that a comprehensive analysis of Israeli forms of domination requires a spatial examination of the operation of sovereignty with an assessment of governmentalizing arrays. This combined analysis suggests that a Palestinian sovereignty, but one which is emptied of its actual ruling power, is construed at the checkpoints as an epiphenomenon of Israeli apparatuses of control. © 2013 Pion and its Licensors.

Mobilising of the German 1848 Protest Song Tradition in the Context of International Twentieth Century Folk Revivals

The rediscovery of democratic traditions of folk song in Germany after the Second World War was not just the counter-reaction of singers and academics to the misuse of German folk song by the Nazis. Such a shift to a more ‘progressive’ interpretation and promotion of folk tradition at that time was not distinct to Germany and had already taken place in other parts of the Western world. After firstly examining the relationship between folk song and national ideologies in the nineteenth century, this article will focus on the democratic ideological basis on which the 1848 revolutionary song tradition was reconstructed after the Third Reich. It will look at how the New Social Movements of West Germany and the folk scene of the GDR functioned in providing channels of transmission for this, and how in this process a collective cultural memory was created whereby lost songs – such as those of the 1848 Revolution – could be awakened from extinction. These processes will be illustrated by textual and musical adaptations of key 1848 songs such as ‘Badisches Wiegenlied’ (Baden Lullaby), ‘Das Blutgericht’ (The Blood Court) and ‘Trotz alledem’ (For all that) within the context of the West German folk movement and its counterpart in the GDR.

'Saig in Machai Fothúaid': On the Application and Extent of ‘the Macha’ in North-west Armagh

The seventh-century Patrician documents in the Book of Armagh, and other early sources such as Bethu Phátraic, contain references to the toponym Macha, which has been identified by the Dictionary of the Irish Language with either the ecclesiastical centre of Ard Macha or the ‘royal seat’ of Emain Macha. This article examines the evidence for the name in the sources and illustrates that Macha applies primarily to the plain in which both Ard Macha and Emain Macha are located. It is to be identified with Mag Macha ‘the plain of Macha’, familiar to us from the Dindshenchus, and further evidence of the organic potential of a given toponym is witnessed in later sources where the plain is referred to as Mag/Machaire na hE(a)mna ‘the plain of Emain’ and Machaire Aird/Arda Macha ‘the plain of Armagh’. The extent of Macha is difficult to establish with certainty, but it seems very likely that it stretched north to the River Blackwater as well as south towards Slíab Fúait.

“Telling Tales About Men: Conceptions of Conscientious Objectors to Military Service in the First World War”

Review

The current distribution and status of the freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera L. 1758 in north-west Ireland

1.Margaritifera margaritifera populations are declining throughout its range, including Ireland, despite legislation designed to protect freshwater pearl mussels and their habitat. A survey of freshwater 2. pearl mussels was carried out on rivers in County Donegal, north-west Ireland, to determine the current distribution, size and density of M. margaritifera populations, as well as to identify potential threats to mussels there. 3. The survey revealed the freshwater pearl mussel to be widespread, particularly in the western half of the county. However, densities of mussels at most sites are low, with just two sites having mussel densities of over 5?m-2. Furthermore, the species appears to be absent from a number of sites from which it had been previously recorded. 4. According to the literature, there is a long history of pearl fishing in Co. Donegal and neighbouring counties. Evidence from heaps of shells found on the river bed and banks at several sites and recent anecdotal reports from local people suggest pearl fishing is being practised on all rivers investigated during the present study. The main conservation requirements for 5. M. margaritifera populations in Donegal are to maintain water quality at its present high standard and, as pearl fishing appears to be a widespread and immediate threat to the remaining mussel populations, to enforce existing legislation designed to protect M. margaritifera.