Sociocultural Affiliation Research Articles

Analysis of Forms on Pediments of Domestic Buildings in Osogbo, South-Western Nigeria

Pediments of domestic building are spaces for ornamentation inspired by the modern Yoruba culture of sealing up domestic buildings with gated fences. The erected fences often conceal ornamented buildings, thus preventing the showcasing of the beautiful embellishments on lower walls, in line with the institutionalized ostentation in Yoruba culture. The embellishment of pediments in Yorubaland, has not been treated with deserved importance despite the uniqueness of the forms, which leaves a gap in literature on this topic. This discourse examines and analyses the images on the pediments of domestic buildings, with the view to documenting the artistic embellishments and revealing the social-cultural significances of the presented forms. The study carried out in Osogbo metropolis, South-western Nigeria, utilized the ethnographic approach, with data derived mostly from primary sources. The paper submits that images on pediments send out information about the philosophies, religious and the socio-cultural affiliations of the owners of these sealed-up buildings to passers-by. It is also observed that although ornamented pediments beautify buildings, they are more of status symbols and are better appreciated from afar, thus enhancing the urban fabric in general.

Stereotypes-images and symbols-signs of a bee in the projection of the conceptual plane of linguistic consciousness

This article has several purposes: 1. analyse and identify stereotypical images of the entomological concept of bee in the Russian national linguistic consciousness; 2. reveal the symbolic content of linguistic consciousness by extracting semantic and symbolic signs attached to the stereotypical images of the entomological concept of bee; 3. establish the dynamic invariance (stability) and temporal relevance of the identified stereotypical images in the Russian linguistic picture of the world; 4. confirm the archetypal nature of bee images as universal “products” of the collective unconsciousness and indicators of being structure. According to the study results, stereotypical images of the concept of bee and its symbolic signs were revealed: the stereotype image «hard worker»: ‘hard work’, ‘painstaking’, ‘indefatigability’, ‘distinctness’, ‘purposefulness’, ‘endurance’, ‘perseverance’, ‘fruitfulness’, ‘diligence’, ‘organization’, ‘persistence’, ‘perseverance’, ‘concentration’; The stereotype image «social being»: ‘communism / collectivism’, ‘socialism’, ‘justice’, ‘equality’, ‘teamwork’ / ‘camaraderie’, ‘unity’, ‘autocracy / power’, ‘hierarchy’, ‘self-sacrifice’, ‘fearlessness / bravery’; the stereotype image «deity / divine creation»: ‘pleasing in goodness’, ‘divine love’, ‘divine message’, ‘divine gift’, ‘Last Judgment’, ‘suffering of Christ’, ‘purity (of the soul)’, ‘chastity’, ‘faithfulness’, ‘righteousness’, ‘punishment (of sinners)’, ‘God’, ‘immortality’, ‘power’, ‘divine blessing’, ‘abundance’, ‘prosperity’, ‘intuition’; stereotype image «female person / goddess»: ‘mother’, ‘care (warmth)’, ‘woman’, ‘meekness’, ‘virtue’, ‘diligence’, ‘chastity’, ‘motherhood’, ‘matriarchy’, ‘primacy’, ‘offspring / fertility’; the stereotype image «wise creature»: ‘eloquence’, ‘prudence’, ‘wisdom’, ‘morality’, ‘mathematical thinking / mind’, ‘expediency’, ‘(life) experience / knowledge’, ‘temptation’ / ‘self-control’. Symbolic signs reflect the idea of understanding God as the supreme being and mainly appeal to the anthropomorphic moral sphere. The time span of the illustrative material (from Ancient Russia to Modern times) testifies to the archetypality, temporal relevance and dynamic invariance of the highlighted stereotypical images of concept of bee in the linguistic consciousness of native Russian speakers and in the Russian language picture of the world. This demonstrates both ethnic and socio-cultural affiliation and kinship in the innate and instinctive perception of the being structure between human race representatives and the animal world.

Women and Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas in West Africa: Case of Benin

This research identified factors that can influence the forms of women's entrepreneurship in rural areas in Benin. The Harmonized Survey on Living Conditions of Households database carried out in 2018 was used for the study. Data in several countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo) and financed by the World Bank. The annual survey to monitor the living conditions of households is part of the perspective of a better knowledge of poverty in WAEMU member countries, in order to understand its manifestations. This Data were submitted to a multinomial logistic regression model and, rural women in agricultural entrepreneurship were categorized into three groups based on sources of funding: entrepreneurship with access to credit (1.70%), entrepreneurship in association (17.88%), and entrepreneurship with equity (80.42%). The regression model identified factors such as socio-cultural affiliation, religion, geographical location, age, marital status, and the mother's branch of activity as social factors that determine the choice of forms of entrepreneurship. In addition to these factors, the study identified some constraints on women's agricultural entrepreneurship such as lack of employment, lack of access to land, level of education, access to water and grazing sites, floods/droughts, poor management, and poor sales of agricultural products as exogenous factors. Improvement of these factors could promote women's agricultural entrepreneurship in rural areas.

ВОЗРАСТНЫЕ И КУЛЬТУРНЫЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЙ О ВОЗРАСТНЫХ ГРАНИЦАХ МОЛОДОСТИ

Aim . The purpose of the study is to identify the ideas of people of different ages and cultural affiliation about the age limits of youth. Methodology . The study was conducted by means of a diagnostic battery, the author’s questionnaire included, as well as questions about the lower and upper limits of youth. Results . The analysis demonstrates that in the views of the study participants the total duration of youth is a relatively stable value, and its lower and upper limits are “tied” to a certain age. A significant relationship between ideas about the boundaries of youth and ideas about individual psychological characteristics of youth is observed in all selected age and socio-cultural subgroups. Research implications . The study shows for the first time that in minds of people of different ages and socio-cultural affiliation, ideas about the chronological boundaries of youth are significantly interrelated with ideas about psychological characteristics that either contribute to or hinder the transition from youth to adulthood. The obtained results can be used in psychological counseling within the framework of solving problems of self-determination and self-development.

Resurrection, Remediation, and Religious Fundamentalism in Contemporary Indian Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films

Resurrection, Remediation, and Religious Fundamentalism in Contemporary Indian Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films Anu Thapa (bio) In recent decades, as Indian society’s digital modernization has continued apace and Indian cinema has completed its transition to digital, Hindu fundamentalist nationalism has been resurrected in the mainstream socio-political arena. This fundamentalist political ideology, also known as “Hindutva 2.0,” has found a happy and dangerous convergence in the narrative and aesthetics of contemporary Indian sci-fi/fantasy films. This essay traces the contours of this convergence by juxtaposing the ideological resurrection of Hindutva alongside the popular Krrish and Baahubali franchise films in contemporary India. These franchise films, I argue, harness the entanglements between religion and cinema technology to produce a speculative and spectacular Hindu cosmology that resonates with Hindu fundamentalist ideology. The expansive visuals and excessive spectacle of these films encompass the theological and technological all within themselves, serving the technophilic avatar of Hindutva 2.0. Remediated by digital technology and abetted by the photorealist effects of digital cinema, this fundamentalist ideology has become inextricable from the aesthetics of contemporary sci-fi/fantasy films. As contemporary cinema gets embroiled in the process of sensing and sense-making of this iteration of religious fundamentalism, that has suffused India’s socio-political arena, Walter Benjamin’s warnings about the “aestheticizing of politics” has become ever more relevant.1 [End Page 289] Religion and Hindi popular cinema That there exists a connection between religion and Hindi popular cinema is not a novel proposition. Even a cursory survey of Indian cinema scholarship will show that religious ideology, religiosity, and notions of faith are crucial to the composition and the consumption of Hindi popular cinema. Indeed, the catch-all term “religion” has been variously deployed to make claims about the aesthetic distinctions of this cinema. Scholars like Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Geeta Kapur, among others, have underscored the religious symbolisms of early Indian mythological films to typify the aesthetics of Indian popular cinema as vernacular.2 Similarly, film critic, Andre Bazin, argued that the success of Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955) can be attributed to its aesthetic, which is markedly different from the “religious, social, and melodramatic music hall” of Indian popular cinema.3 Hindi popular cinema revels in inexplicable miracles and divine interventions rendered through over technological manipulations. The oft-referenced sequence in Manmohan Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony (1975), depicting the miraculous restoration of vision represented through superimposition, exemplifies the fact that elements of deus ex machina have prevailed in this cinema. Over the years, Hindi popular cinema’s relationship with religion has changed alongside the socio-cultural and political impetus of the Indian nation. Its predilection for Hinduism and Hindu culture has remained a constant throughout, even as this cinema has incorporated Islamicate culture and Urdu language into its folds. In the early 1900s, Hindu mythologicals and devotionals provided the stories and the spectacles for the first films made in the Indian subcontinent. Hindu mythologicals, thus, became the formative genre of Indian cinema. Even during the Nehruvian era, arguably the most secular phase in the history of post-independence India, mainstream Hindi films retained their alignment with Hinduism. Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957) is perhaps the most widely and bestknown example from this period. During the 1970s Emergency Era, amidst communal strife and sectarian violence, films like Amar Akbar Anthony engaged with notions of religious harmony albeit under the auspices of a Hindu nation. Following economic liberalization in the 1990s, overt engagement with religion seemed to disappeared from Hindi popular cinema. Instead, films like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra, 1995) [End Page 290] relied on Hindu overtures to establish the NRI protagonist’s sociocultural affiliation with the Indian nation-state. Post-2000, Hindu fundamentalist ideology and popular cinema have collided in spectacular and, often, violent fashion, both on and off-screen. Emboldened by the political ascendency of Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), right-wing Hindu extremist groups moved into the center, appointing themselves the cultural and moral overseers. Against the exacting standards of Hindu fundamentalist ideals, popular cinema and its role in imaging and imagining the Indian nation has come into stark focus. On the one hand...

Finding the Ties that Bind: Aboriginal Forms of Societal Affiliation in the Cauca River Area of Colombia in the 16th Century

This essay presents a reconstruction of principles of sociocultural affiliation among sixteenth century native societies of the Cauca River area of Colombia, South America. In a comparative appraisal of documentary and archaeological evidence, I contend that systems of inter- and intra–societal affiliations tended to be of a more inclusive, flexible, and group–oriented nature. This principle is exemplified by the presence of relatively formal homogeneity in portable industries found alongside the Cauca River area. In addition, evidence for funerary rituals strongly indicates a greater emphasis on collective over individualized representations of the dead.

The Characteristics of Hierarchy of Self-Image Components Depending on Social And Cultural Affiliation

In accordance with the methodology of the constructivist approach, the personal identity manifested as a unique self-image is regarded as a dynamic hierarchical system. Under that approach, based on M. Kuhn and T. McPartland’s test, we have developed and put into practice a special questionnaire, which allows ranking16 categories in terms of their importance. These categories reflect social role components of self-image in the main spheres of life, thus presenting an individual or a group identity structure as an orderly hierarchy. Based on a sample of 1251 students of various sex, age, nationality, confession, residence and field of study, we haveproved that affiliation to a certain social or cultural group influences the hierarchy of self-image components. The study has shown that of the highest impact on the significance of self-image components is gender and professional affiliation, and, albeit less substantial, belonging to a particular ethnoreligious group and being theresident of a certain region. Sociocultural affiliation in all instances was an important differentiating characteristic, which determined the disparities in significance of the respective basis of the identity in the hierarchy. At the same time, sociocultural affiliation in most cases had an effect on the importance of less than a half of the other self-image components, thus determining the general structure of the identity. In conclusion, gender, educational and professional, ethnic, confessional or regional sociocultural group is a significant social determinant of personal development in the formation of the self-image hierarchy, which underlies the characteristics and structure of one’s identity.
 
 Keywords: identity, self-image, sociocultural environment, youth, students.

<b>Euphemism: The commonplace of advertising culture

Politeness is a concern and necessity in advertising because of sensitization goals to be achieved in the midst of cultural, legal and competitive challenges. Thus, this study examined the utilization of euphemistic devices that facilitate mild persuasion in advertisements. Ten advertisements served as the data of investigation. The theoretical explication rested on Barthesian denotative and connotative annotations and Halliday’s transitivity concepts. The study revealed concealments in forms of the socio-cultural affiliation and association (solo), domination (power, the Hero), distinction (made of more), and superiority (Indomitables). Also, personification and personalization (bigger boy; your world), self-worth (greatness), borrowing (Naija), and transfer of professional meaning (credit card) functioned as replacements for seemingly inappropriate lexicons. Advertisers hide behind the metaphor (a taste of black), discrimination (choose greatness), and comparison (more, bigger) to expedite recipients’ response. Therefore, as euphemisms are everyone’s linguistic behavior, the study suggested that their analyses and applications need to follow a similar course. That might assist language users to curb communication crises.

Macro-regional differentiation of the world: Authors’ concept and its application

Abstract This article is a continuation of the same authors’ study entitled ‘Concepts And Delimitation Of The World’s Macro-Regions’ prepared for the 1/2018 of this journal (Anděl et al. 2018). The main aim of the first part was an evaluation of the concepts and factors which have been used as a basis for the delimitation of the different macro-regions of the world. In this second part, the authors propose their own macro-regionalisation of the world – this is a combination of four concepts, with relatively different contents: those of De Blij and Muller (1997), Cole (1996), Huntington (1996) and Hampl (2009). This macro-regionalisation arises from sociocultural affiliation, economic interrelationships and territorial continuity. Along with the concept of the macro-regional differentiation of the world itself, we focus on evaluating the importance of the shaping of macro-regions, as well as assessing the positive and negative features of individual concepts and their influence on the macro-regional differentiation of the world.

IDENTITY AS A DYNAMIC HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT OF FORMATION

In accordance with the methodology of the constructivist approach, the personal identity manifested as a unique self-image is regarded as a dynamic hierarchical system. Under the approach based on M. Kuhn and T. McPartland’s test, we have developed and put into practice a special questionnaire, which allows ranking 16 categories in terms of their importance. These categories reflect social role components of identity in the main spheres of life, thus presenting an individual or a group identity structure as an orderly hierarchy. Based on a sample of 1251 students of various sex, age, nationality, confession, residence and field of study, we have proved that affiliation to a certain social or cultural group influences the hierarchy of identity components. The study has shown that gender and professional affiliation are of highest impact on the significance of identity components, as well as, albeit less substantial, belonging to a particular ethnoreligious group and being the resident of a certain region. Sociocultural affiliation in all instances was an important differentiating characteristic, which determined the disparities in significance of the respective basis of the identity in the hierarchy. At the same time, sociocultural affiliation in most cases had an effect on the importance of less than a half of the other identity components, thus determining the general structure of the identity. In conclusion, gender, educational and professional, ethnic, confessional or regional sociocultural group is a significant social determinant of personal development in the formation of the self-image hierarchy, which underlies the characteristics and structure of one’s identity.

Training in Nigerian art schools: a critique of gender distribution

<p>Training is indispensable in all facets of life in order to further knowledge and skills irrespective of gender difference, yet this disparity has become a phenomenon in artistic practice in Nigeria. The study aimed at examining art training in relation to gender distribution into various areas of specialization in art schools in Nigeria. There has been a gender imbalance in various areas of specialization which has left certain areas for male and female. Data for this study were collected in art School in Southwestern Nigeria between 2011/2012 to 2014/2015 academic sessions using archival materials to know the gender affinities. The university selected as sample size within the geographical scope of the study is Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso. The selection was based on the orientation of their training and admission criteria which differs tremendously. Descriptive analysis was adopted to know the gender affiliation in the practice. Finding reveals that the total enrollments of students are more of females (55.8%) than male (45.2%) are admitted to study art. The result has also shown that more female (93.3%) specializes in textile while more male (84%) students are in sculpture. This perhaps could be attributed to the nature and the demands of each area of specialization. Textile design attracts more female artist because of; the socio-cultural affiliation of the discipline, interest in fashion; the readily available market for textile wares across all social class and the less demand on draughtsmanship skills as compared to other forms of arts.</p>

From how consumers categorize natural food to their buying methods: a comparative study between France and Israel

Based on a qualitative investigation comparing the ways in which French and Israeli “ordinary” consumers view naturalness in food, this paper questions the choices they make in terms of food supply and their relations to the food production processes and the retail channels. The results of the study highlight that these representations, with the categorizations in which they are embodied, are strongly influenced by the context of life and the socio-cultural affiliations of these consumers. The comparison between the two countries allows to underline that the logics of categorization of the natural, and the related practices, are characterized by significant differences due to food cultures and relations of trust or mistrust regarding the food chains and industries. More broadly, the article demonstrates that investigating the conceptions that consumers have of naturalness is a relevant analyzer of their dietary decisions and their perceptions of food production and distribution systems.

Ideas, Ideals and Ideologies in Intercultural Discourse and Their Impact on the Image of the Other

This paper is concerned with ideas in terms of intellectual constructs being the core units of ideals and ideologies, the (un-)conscious ways they are made up and all of them performing two competing tasks. In the course of acculturation they shape our cultural identity and cause sociocultural affiliation. But when it comes to perceiving other cultures it is exactly this specific texture of our cultural disposition that turns into an insurmountable cognitive handicap. Despite all and knowingly that in mostly any intercultural discourse ideals and ideologies are interwoven with tactical ulterior motifs, it is essential to initiate a process of emotionally and mentally disassociating ourselves from them in order to catch better sight of their specific texture by taking up a quasidistant position. In case we fail in perpetuating that intellectual game we still might acquire practical skills for decision-making and responsibility in an intercultural setting, but we will miss out on both gaining substantial cognisance of the respective other and last but not least raising awareness for our very own self-conception. That is exactly what the potential of intercultural communication is about. Our own intellectual precondition partly becomes perceptible only by checking it against the immediate experience of otherness on the long-run.

Knowing ‘how to go on’: structuration theory as an analytical prism in studies of intercultural engagement

ABSTRACTAccelerated rates of global migration over the past 20 years have seen dramatic increases in demographic, cultural and social diversity in the world's most developed countries. Scholars of migration are faced with the challenge of understanding a society that consists of countless socio-cultural frontiers, along which the contrasting and often conflicting practices and values of diverse populations collide. These circumstances require the development of a theoretical framework that elucidates the practices through which these cultural collisions and conflicts are actualised and addressed, illuminating the day to day challenges of living with difference. This article proposes structuration theory as an insightful analytical prism that can afford new in-depth perspectives into intercultural engagements. By exploring the confluence between structural factors and the actions of individual agents, structuration theory illuminates the choices made by members of migrant groups regarding socio-cultural affiliations, as well as highlighting the strategic processes and behaviours through which these choices are actualised. A discussion of empirical research with Muslim youth in the west of Ireland illustrates the analytical clarity that structuration theory can offer to debates on integration and interculturalism.

Examining social and cultural differentiation in early Bronze Age China using stable isotope analysis and mortuary patterning of human remains at Xin’anzhuang, Yinxu

The site known as Yinxu (present-day Anyang, Henan, China) is believed to be the last capital of China’s first historical dynasty, Shang (ca. 1600–1046 BC). We use stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human bone collagen to reconstruct the dietary practices of 59 humans from the site Xin’anzhuang (XAZ), a residential neighborhood in Yinxu. By comparing the reconstructed diets with other archaeological and mortuary evidence, the study reveals that the XAZ inhabitants had a varied diet and that their dietary patterns correlate with certain mortuary practices (e.g., burial orientation, burial goods, etc.). This complex internal social stratification suggests that XAZ consisted of an agglomeration of people of different socio-cultural affiliations, confirming the hypothesis that Yinxu was a vibrant and diverse cultural center in early Bronze Age China.

Iron production in second millennium AD pastoralist contexts on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya

Iron has played an important role within East African pastoralist societies for many hundreds of years, yet the means by which iron was produced or obtained by these communities has not been thoroughly documented. The bulk of our understanding is presently based on a limited number of ethnographic and artefact studies, which have tended to focus on the functional and symbolic nature of iron objects themselves. We argue that the research presented here provides the first opportunity to add to this narrow knowledge base by reconstructing the iron production technologies of pastoralist communities in Laikipia, Kenya, using an archaeometallurgical approach. Seven furnaces and one iron-production refuse area were excavated at two discrete workshop sites in Laikipia, central Kenya, that date to the second half of the second millennium AD. The recovered archaeometallurgical materials were analysed using optical microscopy, SEM-EDS and ED-XRF. These techniques revealed that the smelting technologies in question were complex and sophisticated and that they utilised titania-rich black sands and lime-rich charcoal. Whereas the technical approach and raw materials were found to be similar at both sites studied, there was striking stylistic variation in furnace design for no apparent functional reason, which might suggest nuanced differences in the socio-cultural affiliations of the smelters who worked at these sites. This paper explores some of the possible reasons for these differences. In particular, by integrating archaeological data with existing ethnographic and ethnohistoric research from the region, we discuss the technological choices of the smelters and what this might tell us about their identities, as well as considering how future research should best be targeted in order to develop a greater understanding of the organisation of production within pastoralist central Kenya.

Typographie und Textualität

Abstract Every text has a specific optical surface. The micro and macrotypographical design elements of a text determine its typographic relief. The typographic relief of a text refers to entries in the collective memory of font. This typographical dispositivity, which remains comparatively stable through continued updating, controls the expectations of the recipients and the process of understanding with respect to the type of text, the socio-cultural affiliation of the text producer, the addressed target group or in terms of additionally generated accompanying texts. The analysis of typographic reliefs as a semiotic resource reveals the typography of a text as a support structure for dispositivity and thus for textuality.

Culturally sensitive mental health care: A study of contemporary psychiatric treatment for ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel

The literature describes psychiatric treatment of ultra-orthodox Jews as complex and challenging, in light of this community's unique characteristics and the ideological gap between ultra-orthodox patients and secular professionals. Recent data indicate that patient-centred culturally sensitive care contributes to the treatment outcomes among cultural minorities. To examine the effect of the level of a physician's religiosity and cultural sensitivity, as perceived by ultra-orthodox Jewish psychiatric patients, as well as the treatment venue (i.e. the distance of the treatment facility from the patients' community) on treatment outcomes (working alliance, medical adherence and the patients' social adaptation). The sample included 38 ultra-orthodox Jewish men and women receiving psychiatric treatment at the Lev Hasharon Mental Health Centre. The participants completed questionnaires about the physician's religiousness and cultural sensitivity, working alliance, medical adherence and social adaptation. Working alliance was positively related to the treatment location, meaning that patients were more committed and involved in the treatment when it took place in a facility distanced from their community. Working alliance was also correlated with medical adherence. Regression analysis revealed that the doctor's acquaintance with religion and cultural sensitivity predicted patients' reported social adaptation level. In contrary to common perceptions, ultra-orthodox patients are not necessarily reluctant to be treated by secular physicians. These patients prefer a discreet treatment far from their community's public eye. Their perception of a doctor who acknowledges and respects their religiosity positively affects the way that they perceive their social functioning. Culturally sensitive treatment enables patients to feel respected and acknowledged through their sociocultural affiliation, and not only through their disorder. It seems essential to train physicians about the importance of culturally sensitive treatment with this population.

Physicians' age and sex influence breaking bad news to elderly cancer patients. Beliefs and practices of 50 Italian oncologists: the G.I.O.Ger study

We attempt to shed light on the truth-telling attitudes and practices of oncologists working with a geriatric population in Italy. Physicians caring for cancer patients were asked to complete a specific survey centred on their beliefs, attitudes and practices towards truth telling to elderly cancer patients. Of 50 physicians surveyed, 68% were men. Physicians practising in the south of Italy were significantly older and more likely to be of male gender in comparison with physicians practising from the north and central areas. Eighty-four per cent of physicians consider the family to be an obstacle to a direct communication with the elderly. Forty-four per cent of male physicians who are faced with a family's request of nondisclosure talk with the patient, whereas 37.5% of female physicians talk with the family. For 60% of interviewed physicians, the reason underpinning the caregiver's choice of nondisclosure is to delay the emotional confrontation. We observed that variability of disclosure is related not only to the patient's age but also to the physicians' age and sex and to the geographic area where physicians work. The results also show that both caregivers and physicians are concerned by the emotional aspects related to clinical information. Italian oncologists have to learn and implement 'comprehensive' communication skills and have to promote an integration of the information needs of patient and caregivers, according to their socio-cultural affiliation, within the communication techniques.

‘Productive’ Sites in the Polders? ‘Griffin brooches’ and Other Early Medieval Metalwork from the Belgian Coastal Plain

The present paper demonstrates how metal detectorists’ collections potentially form an important addition to the extant corpus of early medieval non-ferrous metalwork. Several sites in the Belgian coastal plain featuring rich metalwork assemblages dated to this period are presented. The important questions raised by these artefacts regarding the chronology, nature and socio-cultural affiliations of settlement in the early medieval coastal plain are discussed. In addition, a previously unrecognised, distinct type of openwork disc brooch is described, dated and framed within technical, typological and artistic developments of late tenth- to early twelfth-century north-western Europe, in particular the North Sea area.