地理的视角:中国历史地理研究与教学的前沿

2011年2月19日到20日,在美国中南部的阿肯色州州会小石城举行了"中国历史的地理视角国际学术研讨会",藉以推广地理学在传统汉学界的影响。本次会议由阿肯色州大学小石城分校(University of Arkansas,Little Rock)组织,得到了中国大陆、中国台湾、英国、德国、白俄罗斯与美国等各地学者的高度重视。19日全天开会,总共提交12篇论文,论点创新,时地跨越很广,从古代到当代,从华西北到华东南,收获相当丰富。主要演讲者是伊利诺斯州大学芝加哥分校(University of Illinois,Chicago)的何特勒(Laura Hostetler)和哈佛大学(Harvard University)的包弼德(Peter Bol)。20日上午包弼德举行颇有启示的讲座,即关于"中国历史地理信息系统"的研究与教学实用。     

For the Community: Scottish Historical Archaeology and the Politics of Land Reform

In Scotland, land reform is, historically and still today, a defining political issue and a subject of debate. Central to this debate are different ideological understandings of the rural past. In this paper, I discuss the nature of the Scottish land question and explore several of the main—sometimes complementary, sometimes conflicting—ideologies concerning land, as put forward or supported by different constituencies: politicians; landowners; crofters; Scots more generally; and members of the Scottish diaspora. I consider the histories to which these ideologies relate and seek to locate the historical archaeology of rural Scotland in its political and social contexts.     

Settlement Form and Evolution in the Central Highlands of Scotland,ca. 1100–1900

Since 1996, archaeologists from Glasgow University have been involved in a research project on the north shores of Loch Tay in the Central Highlands of Scotland. This work—known as the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project—was specifically focused on medieval and later settlement remains. For the purposes of this paper, the results of the archaeological work are contrasted with work from similar sites elsewhere in Scotland. The sweeping changes in tenurial, social and cultural spheres, known as the Improvements, of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are considered in relation to the preceding six hundred years.     

Dog Wars and Human Rights: Perceptions of Political Despotism at the End of the Ancien Regime

During the political crisis in the Salzburg archiepiscopacyat the end of the eighteenth century there was an increase inthe number of violent clashes between huntsmen and poachersin the forest areas. The huntsmen exacerbated the anger of therural communities by shooting dead any farm dogs they foundrunning free. The farmers, for their part, ignored the decreewhich had been in force since the sixteenth century that theyshould either chain their dogs up or restrict their freedomwith a Knüppel, a large piece of wood attached to the neckto hinder their chasing after game. These attacks by the huntsmenwere felt by the peasants to be an arbitrary abuse of politicalpower, and a threat to their farms. They were angered both thatthis limited the ability of the dogs to do their duty in guardingthe farms, and also by the way the dogs' natural guarding instinctswere being undermined. They thought of men and their animalsas different creatures, but they were forced to acknowledgethat the restriction of the dogs' freedom was also an attempton their own liberty. The Dog Wars crystallized a conflict aroundtraditional feudal symbols of subjugation. They show how theimages that the ruling and the ruled had of each other beganto crumble and give way to mutual mistrust. The Salzburg farmershad no need of revolutionary agitators to see that the archiepiscopalstate was moribund. They had their own yardsticks, first andforemost poaching, with which to measure the effective limitsset to their freedom by the state. They were not party to thecontemporary intellectual debates on human rights, but the violenceto their dogs was a clear sign to them of the revolutionaryspirit of the times. The notion of human rights did not enjoylinear growth, but itself progressed by way of conflict. Andthis notion should not be limited to the human condition only—itmust be extrapolated beyond the ideological fixations of thenineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the context of the historyof dogs—man's longest-standing companion, after all—‘human’rights take on a different hue, relativized and yet somehowmore clearly defined.     

The Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project: Simultaneous Multi-element Analysis of Former Settlement and Arable Soils by X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRFS) was used in the analysis of A horizon soil samples collected from a former farming settlement and its associated area of infield (i.e. arable) located in the Central Highlands of Scotland. To date, XRFS has not been extensively used in geoarchaeological research, but in our study the simultaneous multi-element capabilities of this instrumental technique allowed the total concentrations of 25 major, minor, and trace elements to be fully quantified with acceptable levels of accuracy and precision. Included within this group of chemical elements are a number (e.g. Ba, Ca, P, Pb, Sr and Zn) that have proved to be of value to archaeological interpretation in earlier investigations undertaken in Scotland. In our preliminary work documented here, significant differences were found between the A horizon soils of former settlement and infield areas for 18 chemical elements. Subjecting the XRFS data—and three other measured variables: soil organic carbon (SOC), pH and A horizon depth—to discriminant analysis indicates that soils of former settlement and arable farming can be effectively classified according to their pH, SOC content and Ca, Cu, Mg, Rb, and Zn concentrations. The inference is that areas of former infield and settlement elsewhere at this study location in the Central Highlands may be able to be identified according to their soil chemical composition and use of discriminant function, even though the surface remains of pre-eighteenth century settlement sites are not readily evident today because they were constructed of perishable materials.     

Wintering at Little Island Rock: A Fur Trade Site on Grand Island

Abstract

Research conducted by Hiawatha National Forest personnel in 2000–2002 investigated the well-preserved archaeological remains of a circa 1820s fur trader’s wintering post located on Grand Island, near the south shore of Lake Superior. The most likely occupant of this post was Henry A. Levake, a trader from Sault Sainte Marie (St. Mary’s Falls) who was accompanied by his Native American wife. Both archaeological and historical information show that the Little Island Rock Post is an example of a specialized cold-climate adaptation developed in the boreal forests of North America and in the northern portion of the temperate forests to the south. Key elements of this adaptation include: location near a late fall or winter fishery, use of large amounts of clay for chimney construction, and the presence of ample storage facilities, especially pits. Features associated with this adaptation at the Little Island Rock Post also reflect the multiethnic occupational subculture of the fur trade. This site fills a large gap in the known distribution of wintering post archaeological sites across North America.     

Ethnoarchaeology: A Non Historical Science of Reference Necessary for Interpreting the Past

Ethnoarchaeology appears nowadays as a poorly formulated field. However, it could become a real science of reference for interpreting the past if it was focused upon well-founded cross-cultural correlates, linking material culture with static and dynamic phenomena. For this purpose, such correlates have to be studied in terms of explanatory mechanisms. Cross-cultural correlates correspond to those regularities where explanatory mechanisms invoke universals. These universals can be studied by reference to the theories found in the different disciplines they relate to and which are situated outside of the domain of archaeology. In the domain of technology, cross-cultural correlates cover a wide range of static and dynamic phenomena. They allow the archaeologist to interpret archaeological facts—for which there is not necessarily analogue—in terms of local historical scenario as well as cultural evolution. In this respect, it is shown that ethnoarchaeology, when following appropriate methodologies and focussing on the universals that underlie the diversity of archaeological facts, does provide the reference data needed to climb up in the pyramid of inferences that make up our interpretative constructs.     

The First Millennium <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">bc</Emphasis> in the Highlands of Northern Ethiopia and South–Central Eritrea: A Reassessment of Cultural and Political Development

An overview is offered of the development of research—both archaeological and epigraphic—on the inhabitants of the northern Horn during the first millennium bc. Initially, reconstructions of this period placed considerable emphasis on links with southern Arabia and tended to group those into a single cultural category that was designated ‘Pre-Aksumite’. It is now argued that long-distance contacts were much less pervasive, being largely restricted to the élite, and that other aspects of life—including much material culture and subsistence economy—displayed strong local continuity from earlier times. Similarly, it is argued that interpretation of the epigraphic evidence as indicating a single ‘Pre-Aksumite’ state called D'MT is unjustified.     

A Teapot, a House, or Both? The Material Possessions of Irish Women��s California Assemblages

Using a woman-centered approach, artifact assemblages and background documents are analyzed to discern gender behavior and ethnic variations in women’s work—cooking, dining, housecleaning—in more frivolous areas—flowers, pets, girls’ toys—and personal adornment. Issues of gender bias are discussed. The data show that negative evidence (absence vs. presence) is, at times, misleading and must be carefully considered. Detailed study of the artifacts connected with Irish women suggests their gender values that organized their lives differed from those of Anglo-American women who had a voice in small expressive purchases while men made final decisions on major household purchases. Irish women owned small items too. However, a crucial distinction was an element not covered by the archaeology: a house of their own and owner-occupied, a fact solely visible in documents.     

A Duty to Forget? The 'Hitler Youth Generation' and the Transition from Nazism to Communism in Postwar East Germany, c. 1945-49

In Soviet-occupied East Germany during the mid- to late 1940s,a remarkable but scarcely remarked-upon transition took place.Hundreds of thousands of young Germans who had previously beenmembers of the Nazi youth organizations, the Hitler Youth (HJ)and the League of German Girls (BDM) flocked to join the Communist-ledFree German Youth (FDJ), a unisex ‘united youth organization’founded under Soviet auspices in March 1946. This paper examinesthe experiences of this ‘twice betrayed’ generation,whose members rapidly—though with varying degrees of enthusiasm—switchedallegiance from Nazism to Communism after the Second World Warand ultimately exchanged life in one authoritarian youth organizationfor life in another. Drawing on archival and interview material,it first seeks to outline Communist attitudes towards denazificationamong the young in the postwar period, before going on to examinefrom a grass-roots perspective the experiences, motivations,and attitudes of those who exchanged their HJ or BDM membershipbooks for those of the FDJ. Despite, or perhaps because of,East Germany's strongly-espoused and rigidly dogmatic ‘anti-fascism’,open discussion of the Nazi past was—for a variety ofreasons—taboo during the immediate postwar period, particularlyamong the young. This paper concludes by discussing the reasonsbehind this ‘pact of silence’ between the Communistsand the ‘Hitler Youth generation’—and howit impacted upon subsequent generations of young people ‘borninto socialism’.     

'Dublin is Just a Sunningdale Away'? The SDLP and the Failure of Northern Ireland's Sunningdale Experiment

This article examines the part played by the Social Democraticand Labour Party (SDLP) in both the making and the breakdownof the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement. In particular, the articlelooks at the party's relations with the Irish government inthis period. Specifically, it considers the charge that theSDLP—by obliging the Irish government to support its approach—pushedunionist negotiators too far at Sunningdale, producing a settlementwhich was predetermined towards Irish reunification, and sowhich justified loyalist claims that ‘Dublin is just aSunningdale away’. The article draws on recently releasedarchival material to show how the SDLP was, to a significantdegree, able to dictate Dublin's policy on Northern Irelandin the early 1970s, suggesting that this led to a uniform andhighly ambitious agenda on the part of nationalist participantsat the Sunningdale conference. However, it also argues thatthis agenda was not realized, and that the deal made at Sunningdalewas not as favourable towards the SDLP as has sometimes beensuggested. Nonetheless, the article maintains that the dynamicrhetoric and perceived momentum of Irish nationalism—orchestratedlargely by the SDLP—served to distort that which was actuallyagreed, and in this helped to undermine unionist support forSunningdale.     

Eisenhower and Kennedy: A Comparison of Confrontations at Little Rock and Ole Miss

The purpose of this study is to assess the ways in which President Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy reacted to the civil rights crises in Little Rock in 1957 and at Ole Miss in 1962. A side theme is to assess presidential learning by seeing whet Kennedy learned from the lessons taught by Eisenhower. Each president was reluctant to commit federal troops to enforcing civil rights, was concerned about the problems associated with federalism, and ended up feeling forced to commit troops nonetheless. The message is that despite the presidents' best intentions, troops ultimately had to be committed. Kennedy was unable to avoid the traps that Eisenhower had encountered, and the imposition of the national government on the enforcement of civil rights was firmly established.     

Myopia, knowledge development and cluster evolution

This article aims to show how processes of knowledge developmentand their institutional underpinnings make up the core of evolutionaryeconomic geography. We argue that micro level concepts—notablyinnovation, selection and retention—provide insights thatcan be helpful also when investigating evolutionary processesof knowledge creation at the aggregate levels of cities, regionsor nations. We investigate the linkage between drivers, mechanismsand barriers to knowledge creation and acquisition at the micro-level,and the development over time and across spatial settings ofhigher-order phenomena of localized institutions and other capabilities.We apply this distinction on the analysis of the rise, growth,decline and possible rejuvenation of spatial clusters of similarand complementary economic activity.     

Getting “Out of Africa”: Sea Crossings,Land Crossings and Culture in the Hominin Migrations

Palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists have advanced a wide range of explanatory narratives for the various movements of Homo erectus/Homo ergaster, and the first modern Homo sapiens, “Out of Africa”—or even back again. The application of Occam's razor—a parsimonious approach to causes—gives a more cautious approach. There is nothing in the available evidence that would require the ability for a human water crossing from Africa before the later Pleistocene, whether across the Strait of Gibraltar, the Sicilian Channel or the southern Red Sea (Bab el-Mandab). A parsimonious narrative is consistent with movements across the Sinai peninsula. The continuous arid zone from northern Africa to western Asia allowed both occupation and transit during wet phases of the Pleistocene; there is no requirement for a “sponge” model of absorption followed by expulsion of human groups. The Nile Valley as a possible transit route from East Africa has a geological chronology that could fit well much current evidence for the timing of human migration. The limited spatial and temporal opportunities for movements “Out of Africa,” or back again, also puts particular difficulties in the way of the gene flow required for the multiregional hypothesis of the development of modern Homo sapiens.     

Not Just a 'Dating Game': Origins of the Holocaust at Auschwitz in the Light of Witness Testimony

Historians now view Auschwitz as marginal to the origins ofthe Holocaust. In a surprising volte-face from a generationago, Historians now accept what can be called a ‘transformationnarrative’. That is, most accounts cast Auschwitz, notas first mover, but as late comer to the destruction of theEuropean Jews. This fits a much larger historiographical movementattributing the Final Solution to a local initiative withina disorganized, even ‘debureaucratized’ German state.Once again, this departs completely from, say, Raul Hilbergor Hannah Arendt, who defined the Holocaust as a crime uniqueto modern, organized society. Thus, in the case of Auschwitz,what some have come to ridicule as the ‘dating game’—thealmost obsessive attempt to identify a precise microchronologyof the final solution—has larger implications. It cutsto the heart of whether we see the Holocaust as a crime of amodern, dynamic industrial state or as a haphazard initiative. This article uses testimony from the three most relevant professionalgroups that built the genocidal factories of Auschwitz to reassessthe current consensus. Contrary to the ‘transformationnarrative’, little evidence supports the argument thatthe SS and its independent contractors were somehow divorcedfrom efforts to mechanize genocide from Minsk to Lublin to Oswiecimin the autumn of 1941. The testimony as a whole—drawnfrom civilian managers, SS architects, and prisoner-engineers—leaveslittle doubt that the new crematoria of Birkenau were intendedfrom the beginning (that is, from October 1941) as gas chambers.The ‘transformation narrative’, ironically enough,finds support in only one account: the internally contradictoryand almost desperate testimony given by one former SS architectat his own trial. To put a fine point on it, the ‘transformationnarrative’ hews most closely to a dubious defence narrativegiven by a perpetrator, in which neither his lawyers nor hisfellow defendants placed much credence.     

Secrets, Lies, and Misremembering: Take II

In the editing of Sticking to the Union: An Oral History ofthe Life and Times of Julia Ruuttila, discrepancies emergedbetween what Ruuttila told author Sandy Polishuk and what others—inparticular her brother—had to say. Polishuk was forcedto figure out which version she believed and to understand whyRuuttilla had told her what she had when it did not appear accurate.It then became Polishuk's responsibility to inform readers whereRuuttila was embellishing, as well as why she did so. Ruuttilawrote fiction and poetry, and on at least one occasion the authorbelieves she used her fiction as the basis for a story she toldabout herself. The author feels it possible to honor her storyand to tell it and, when necessary, let readers know where Ruuttilaembroidered and where she just plain made it up.     

Peasants Revolt? Re-evaluating the 17 June Uprising in East Germany

This study re-evaluates the 17 June Uprising, the first in theCommunist bloc, in light of protest in the countryside. Theexperience of state violence in the years before 1953 compelledmany in the countryside to avoid public expressions of oppositionbut did not eliminate peasant protest. Villagers directed theircomplaints against communist leaders and policies, especiallyagricultural collectivization, and thereby played a significantrole in the events leading up to the uprising as well as therebellion itself. In analysing this opposition, this essay concludesthat rural modes of resistance varied by region but were generallyless overt than strikes and demonstrations employed by workers.Instead, peasants, especially in purely agrarian regions, employedtraditional village forms of opposition, which emphasized reclaimingpublic space by cowing local representatives of power. In theend, this protest lasted throughout the summer—much longerthan those in the cities—and compelled communist leadersto postpone the collectivization of agriculture until 1959–60.