This Commentaire bears out a prediction of Anand et al.'s (to appear) syntactic identity condition on sluicing. Identity is calculated over argument domains as small as small clauses. With extraction of a small clause subject, sluicing is possible where only a small clause predicate has an antecedent.

During the first millennium ad, Europe saw much socio-environmental change, which is reflected in the archaeological and palaeoecological evidence. Using published and new isotope data from across western Europe, the author examines changing resource use from c. ad 350 to 1200. The geographical limits of millet and substantial marine consumption are identified and comparisons between childhood and adult diets made across regions. Cross-cultural interaction at a broad scale is emphasized and patterns within early medieval England form the subject of an in-depth case study. While doubt is cast onto the uptake of marine resource consumption in England following the Fish Event Horizon, changes in agricultural practices, the impact of Christianization, and the role of freshwater fish in diets are explored. The author's hierarchical meta-analytical approach enables identification of human–environment interactions, with significant implications for changing foodways in Europe during the first millennium ad.

This research note addresses the ongoing debate over the existence of a “Canadian” International Relations (IR) by interrogating the university setting, the professoriate and important institutions of IR in the Canadian context. We not only contribute an update to the data but also enrol a larger number of Canadian universities and a wider sample of journals and conferences. Our analysis is structured around three existing groupings of institutions: the three most “Americanized” departments (the BMT)—University of British Columbia, McGill University and University of Toronto; the four most “critical” departments (the Four Nodes)—McMaster University, University of Ottawa, University of Victoria and York University; and the four largest French-language institutions (the FLIs)—Université de Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal, Université Laval and Université de Sherbrooke. The characteristic openness often taken to define IR in Canada is more often found at the Four Nodes, the FLIs or unclassified schools than at the BMT schools, which are not only more Americanized in training but also isolated from other Canadian institutions.

This article offers a new perspective on a diverse corpus of high-status Western Slavic objects from the domain of the Piast dynasty in Poland, dated between the tenth and eleventh centuries ad. It is proposed that the lavish zoomorphic decorations, often depicting snakes, found on jewellery, weapons, and equestrian equipment reflected Western Slavic pre-Christian religious ideas and served as material markers of elite identity. The results of this study lead to a more nuanced understanding of Western Slavic worldviews and their material expressions, paving the way for new investigations into cultural interactions both within and beyond the Slavic homelands.

Le témoignage d’hommes et de femmes de tous âges exprimant leur souffrance à vivre au quotidien sous l’apparence physique et l’état civil conférés par leur sexe biologique a toujours été rapporté, sous toutes les latitudes, mais l’inscription de ce vécu identitaire intime au sein de la nosographie des troubles mentaux, se soldant dans certains cas par une modification anatomique irréversible (ou « réassignation hormono-chirurgicale du genre »), ne s’est effectuée qu’à l’aube du XXe siècle inaugurant des décennies de débat sur la genèse et la réponse médicale à apporter à cette condition singulière. Au gré de l’influence des courants théoriques dominants (aliénisme, psychanalyse, psycho-neuroendocrinologie, neurosciences…), les hypothèses « explicatives » se sont succédées étayant ou remettant en question le bien fondé d’individualiser les dysphories de genre comme condition pathologique. Sans surprise, aucune de ces hypothèses n’a pu embrasser la complexité d’une condition dont les implications sociologiques, éthiques et juridiques dépassent largement le champ médical. Alors, comment travailler au quotidien auprès des patients dysphoriques de genre en 2014 ? Quelles offres de soins psychothérapiques leur proposer et avec quels objectifs ? Quelles pistes de recherche scientifique développer à l’aune des connaissances cliniques actuelles ?

Nous aborderons les enjeux de la prise en charge psychothérapeutique des personnes transgenres au sein d’une consultation hospitalière spécialisée dans la dysphorie de genre. Dans ce contexte, les demandes d’accompagnement psychologique émanent d’une population très diversifiée selon leur âge, le degré d’avancement de leur transition, l’existence antérieure de prises en charge psychothérapeutiques. Les demandes elles-mêmes apparaissent variées et peuvent émerger à tout moment du processus de transition : lors de la formulation d’un désir de réassignation de sexe totale ou partielle (sans chirurgie des organes génitaux), après son achèvement, voire au décours d’un renoncement à ce projet. Si les enjeux diffèrent car propres à chaque étape, nous nous pencherons, à l’aide de vignettes cliniques, sur les problématiques qui émergent de manière récurrente, ayant trait tant aux difficultés liées aux répercussions d’une réassignation de sexe qu’aux éléments liés au vécu et à l’histoire personnelle du sujet. Une trame commune de la psychothérapie auprès des personnes dysphoriques de genre souligne que ce qui est au premier plan n’est pas la volonté d’éclairer leur vécu de non-conformité avec le sexe d’origine – du moins dans un premier temps–, mais d’être accueillis dans leur subjectivité. La disponibilité du thérapeute à accueillir le projet de la personne à l’intérieur d’un cadre ajusté permettra d’établir des points d’ancrage, parmi lesquels la nécessité d’aborder des préoccupations autour de l’expression de l’identité sexuée, d’affronter des difficultés familiales ou sociales, d’apaiser le vécu d’entrave souvent exprimé ou de revisiter des questionnements identitaires ou existentiels de manière plus profonde. Sous l’angle spécifique de la psychothérapie, la dysphorie de genre et le projet de transition fonctionnent à maints égards comme un kaléidoscope, permettant de se saisir différemment des problématiques identitaires ou familiales et de mettre en lumière des aspects-clés du développement psychosexuel et social, noyau commun de toute démarche psychothérapique à long-terme.

La trajectoire identitaire, au cœur de cette reprise du développement que constitue toute psychothérapie, comporte des difficultés particulières chez les descendants de migrants. La relaxation, dans son travail des points d’ancrage, de l’exploration originale du schéma corporel, permet ce retour au soi, démultiplié dans le temps et dans l’espace, en particulier lors d’un état de conscience modifiée. Le travail du corps, soutient, ou fonde, la formulation d’un sens propre à soi, quant aux origines du sujet. En relaxation staticodynamique, le travail corporel commence par la main dominante, puis l’avant-bras puis le bras, l’épaule, ainsi pour chaque membre et le tronc, exploration en détail sinon en profondeur, dans la dissociation de chaque segment les uns par rapport aux autres. Ce travail segmentaire est induit soit en statique, soit en dynamique de chute libre ou de chute ralentie. Ce ralentissement affine la perception et approfondit la détente mentale, il accentue également la conscience de la dissociation, dans son évidence comme dans son impossible réalisation parfaite. Aux confins des limites physiques de soi, des parts de soi reliées en tout, se trouve alors suggéré symboliquement, un autre possible dans ce qui, présent à l’esprit à ce moment même, restait aussi limité, insu ou refoulé. Cette géographie corporelle conduit métaphoriquement à une géographie plus matérielle. Pour les migrants, se trouvent ainsi convoquées l’histoire familiale et la culture du pays d’origine en un autre lieu, au propre et au figuré. Dans le même temps, se remobilisent les enjeux identitaires et les perceptions corporelles nouvellement mais sûrement appropriées. La mobilisation symbolique du « corps territoire » offre ainsi un espace d’intégration et d’enracinement en soi, relié aux périples de l’histoire familiale, au fil des séances et des verrouillages levés.

Le concept de rétablissement a été introduit comme principe organisateur des soins aux patients souffrant de troubles mentaux sévères. L’enjeu du rétablissement est de promouvoir l’acceptation de ce qui ne peut pas être changé, puis de construire un nouveau projet de vie positif. Se rétablir implique la plupart du temps pour le patient de redéfinir son identité et de trouver un nouveau sens à sa vie. D’innombrables publications ont porté sur l’organisation des soins selon ce concept. Cependant les aspects portant sur le vécu des patients n’ont pas encore été étudiés à leur juste mesure. Lors de cette session, nous aborderons trois thèmes relatifs à cette expérience du sujet : les perturbations de son identité, le rôle de la spiritualité et le sens de la vie. Notre réflexion s’appuiera sur les travaux scientifiques récents des trois intervenants. L’identité est lourdement mise à l’épreuve lors de l’irruption d’un trouble psychiatrique sévère en raison du traumatisme occasionné par l’émergence des symptômes, des conséquences sociales qui enferment le sujet dans un rôle de malade ou de personne handicapée, mais aussi parfois des troubles cognitifs qui grèvent la capacité des patients de donner un sens à cette expérience déstructurant l’identité. Face aux souffrances subies dans l’expérience d’un trouble psychiatrique, la spiritualité peut représenter une aide souvent négligée par les cliniciens. Ce thème sera abordé notamment par rapport aux troubles psychotiques chroniques mais aussi par rapport aux conduites suicidaires. Enfin, s’il apparaît nécessaire pour chacun de trouver un sens à sa vie, les conséquences sociales et interpersonnelles d’un trouble mental vont de manière inéluctable nécessiter une redéfinition de ce sens. Cela notamment par rapport aux valeurs de l’individu qui impactent sur ce paramètre. Les applications cliniques pratiques de ces recherches seront développées en insistant sur les liens réciproques entre ces domaines essentiels du rétablissement.

Informal caregivers often experience high stress levels with little support, especially in rural settings. With a mixed-methods approach, this research explored experiences of rural informal caregivers, including how social identification as a caregiver, social interactions, and formal and informal coping support related to perceived stress. Major focus group themes (n = 8) included lacking available services, balancing challenges, unmet practical needs, and strong community identity. Survey data (n = 22) revealed that perceived coping support (e.g., having someone to turn to), social interactions, and caregiver identity (e.g., perceiving the role as important to one’s self-concept) were associated with lower life upset stress, but only caregiver identity was associated with managing the personal distress and negative feelings associated with caregiving stress. Results suggest that, although available rural services may fall short, other options might alleviate caregiver stress, including facilitating access to coping support, encouraging social interactions, and enhancing caregiver social identity.

This paper is devoted to a fundamental aspect of Diderot’s materialist philosophy: the fact that psychological identity does not exactly correspond with the material individuals we are because the memories on which psychological identity relies are always partial. This is complicated by the fact that even the material individual is denied reality since, as is stated in the Rêve de d’Alembert, the only individual is the «whole». By relating these two approaches, I try to show how one can develop a theory of the individual that takes into account the gap between individuation as a physical process and the constitution of a psychological individual.

Using the example of pottery imported into the Channel ports of southern England, an approach to examining the role of pottery in the emergence and mediation of coastal communities is proposed here. Building on recent scholarship, it is argued that it is no longer tenable to see pottery as a carrier of identity, or as part of a ‘cultural package’, with meaning emerging with identity as people interact with pottery within and without port environments. The study proposes that imported pottery found meaning in different ways, depending on the context of acquisition and use. Hence it mediated different forms of community and identity. The article ends with a consideration of the wider implications of this approach for ongoing studies of material culture, trade, and urban identities in medieval Europe.

This article is concerned with the role of media representations of language use in the promotion of language ideologies and in identity construction. It focuses on media representations of Chiac, a traditionally low-status variety of Acadian French. We consider performances of this variety in the adventures of an animated superhero, Acadieman, presented in a cable TV show running on Rogers TV from 2005 to 2009. We first contextualize Acadieman in terms of the linguistic and cultural contexts in which Chiac is spoken. We then consider how particular social meanings are created through contrasts between Chiac-speaking characters and speakers of other varieties. While the juxtaposition of varieties is at one level quite humorous, on another level it draws on complex indexicalities and valorizes the local variety and, by extension, its speakers. Finally, we argue that the Acadieman phenomenon provides a discursive space within which present-day Acadian identities can be negotiated.

Montrealers are often categorized into three distinct groups: Anglophones, Francophones, and Allophones. However, within these groups there are individuals whose trajectories are complex, as reflected, for example, in their linguistic practices. Our interest lies in the relationship between these complex practices and the ethnolin-guistic attributions of the speakers. We concentrate on two groups of Francophones: those from Spanish-speaking families who have been in Quebec for one or two generations and those from Francophone families who have frequent English-speaking contacts. After summarizing the results of a perception test, in which Francophones from Quebec were asked to identify the ethnolinguistic affiliation of speakers of various origins based on short clips of their French, we analyze the usage of sociopho-netic variables reflecting the influence of French, Spanish, or English. The analysis indicates that phonetic variation stems from speakers’ sociosymbolic orientation, as well as certain other sociodemographic factors linked to identity construction as it relates to ethnicity.

This paper assesses the applicability of modern notions of gender identity and individuality, and examines ‘relationality’ as a key dimension structuring social identity during the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Early Iron Age in western Iberia through a focus on funerary practices and stelae- and statue-menhir-making. It is argued that these practices were involved in the recollection of genealogical and mythical pasts. They entailed the creation of the dead and the ancestors as relational entities through the explicit inscription of graphic and spatial relations. Ultimately, these practices were structured by, and structured, shared understandings of the self and the roles of the deceased and the ancestors in social life—understandings in which ‘relationality’ played a seminal role.

The possibility of exploring ethnic identities in past societies constitutes one of the most controversial fields of archaeological research. However, the reassessment of the conceptualization of ethnicity in the human sciences and the increasing transference of these theories to archaeological research is helping to develop new analytical frameworks for the study of this problematic subject. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to attempt a theoretical and methodological approach to the complex relationships between ethnic identity and material remains from the standpoint of Iron Age studies, showing both the possibilities and difficulties of archaeological research on ethnicity. For this period, the incipient availability of written evidence allows the development of new interdisciplinary research strategies. Finally, an introduction to practical work in this field is presented, specifically focusing on two case studies: Ruiz Zapatero and Álvarez-Sanchís' approach to the identity of the Vettones of the central Iberian Peninsula, and the author's own work on the Late Iron Age sanctuaries of the Middle Rhine-Moselle region.

In this article, we examine the existing sociocultural research and theory concerned with the aging body. In particular, we review the body image and embodiment literatures and discuss what is known about how older adults perceive and experience their aging bodies. We analyse how body image is shaped by age, culture, ethnicity, gender, health status, sexual preference, and social class. Additionally, we critically elucidate the embodiment literature as it pertains to illness experiences, sexuality, the everyday management of the aging body, appearance work, and embodied identity. By outlining the key findings, theoretical debates, and substantive discrepancies within the body image and embodiment research and theory, we identify gaps in the literature and forecast future, much-needed avenues of investigation.

This paper examines friendship in later life, drawing upon data obtained from in-depth interviews conducted with a sample of 142 elderly women who were living in a small town in Atlantic Canada. The nature and meaning of friendship in later life is examined from the perspective of the elderly woman. The data indicate that most respondents have a substantial number of friends and differentiate between different types of friends: ‘friends’ and ‘close friends,’ ‘old friends’ and those acquired more recently. Focusing attention on the concepts of self-identity and reciprocity, an attempt is made to explain why older people might more highly value their old friends than those acquired more recently.

Drawing on a qualitative study of families' experience with Alzheimer's disease, this paper examines family members' reaction to identity transformation or loss of self in the afflicted loved one, using a symbolic interactionist perspective. The findings show that family members find this aspect of the disease emotionally stressful. Refusing to let go of what remains of the loved one's former self, they employ a number of strategies in an effort to protect her/his social and self-identity. These strategies include concealing information, medicalizing inappropriate behaviour, fostering independence, managing appearance, and perceiving selectively.

This article examines the role of a range of large settlements in late Iron Age and early Roman southern Britain (c. 100 BC–AD 70) conventionally described as oppida. After reviewing current perspectives on the function and chronology of British oppida, new insights are provided through the statistical analysis of assemblages of brooches and imported ceramics at a broad sample of sites. Analysis of material culture reveals distinct similarities and differences between several groups of sites, often transcending regional traditions and supposed tribal boundaries. This patterning is primarily explained by the emergence of new forms of political organization prior to Roman annexation, particularly the creation of the Southern and Eastern Kingdoms.

The coincidence of retirement and aging, experienced in the later stages of life, can trigger a recurrence of the bipolar tensions of earlier stages described in Erikson’s model of personality development. The model provides a means for retirees to understand the ground from which their present identity has developed and how the psychodynamics of previous life stages can be reactivated by the onset of retirement and aging. Stages of the model are illustrated by experiences within the context of retirement. The utility of Erikson’s model is suggested as a means of enhancing self-awareness, self-understanding, and adjustment to retirement.