East Timorese Women Challenge Domestic Violence

Timor-Leste's struggle for independence has won it high international profile. Yet there is little known internationally about the role women played in the resistance movement and how independence has affected them. Has democratisation brought women greater freedom and rights? This article argues that some East Timorese women benefited from the construction of a new democratic state by mobilising and unifying in the political space created post-1999. East Timorese women's NGOs allied with international organisations and NGOs to form a campaign against domestic violence. This article takes a constructivist approach, analysing how international norms of women's rights and gender equality have: (1) emerged, (2) reached a tipping point, (3) cascaded and (4) been internalised in a post-conflict, democratising context.     

Proselytizing Nationalism: Protestant Missionaries and the Arab Awakening Debate

This article examines the historiographical debate concerning the origins of Arab nationalism as postulated by George Antonius in his book, The Arab Awakening: The Story of the Arab National Movement and the theory of historical construction. After establishing the theoretical framework of the study with an overview of Hayden White's views on how history is written, it progresses into a study of the historiography of Arab nationalism. Here, the scholars Sylvia G. Haim, C. Ernest Dawn, Rashid Khalidi, and Fruma Zachs and their writings are chronologically dissected, with each academic analyzed via White's theories of historical construction. Through studying their respective positions, it is shown that these texts are culturally relative according to the era in which they were written. It is argued that no work of scholarship can be fully removed from outside influences. Specifically, politicization of academics and the consequences of such endeavors are shown as inextricable from the created narrative. Because of the need for culturally relative knowledge so that it can be applicable to audiences outside of academia, scholars who write for an express purpose (such as answering a question for the benefit of others) should not be considered inherently biased. This article poses that academics have a moral obligation to disseminate knowledge to their respective societies due to their assumed removed status as academics. By doing so, human error is acknowledged and room is made for improvement within the field of history. Knowledge does not need to be created for its own sake, but rather so that it might be utilized by society at large. It is suggested that to foster a deeper understanding of a scholar's relationship with society, there should be an increase in academics' civic engagement. This additionally requires serious reflection and enquiry into the standards that would consequently need to be implemented to maintain the integrity of the produced scholarship.     

1917年前俄国在华东正教传教士与天主教和新教传教士

1917年前来华的东正教传教士与天主教和新教传教士经历了两个世纪的共存共生过程。东正教传教士对后者的态度和对策反映了俄国政府对于侵华利益的现实追求。19世纪中期以前,俄国传教士刻意淡化教派差异,维持与留京天主教传教士的和睦关系,在获取中国情报、汉学研究、宗教文献翻译以及来华人员构成方面利用后者的影响或经验。俄国尽管通过《中俄天津条约》获得在华传教特权,但慑于中国人民对其侵华行径的愤怒,没有在传教方面积极跟进英、美等国。直到清廷推行联俄政策以及《中俄密约》签订之后,俄国政府才决定推动在华教务。庚子之变后,俄国在华设立主教区,进入全面效仿天主教和新教传教士,积极扩大在华宗教影响的时期。     

传教士与闽南方言辞书

闽南方言区是华夏民族最早接触西方文化的地区,明清以来,西方传教士陆续进入南洋群岛和闽南内地与台湾,为推行西方宗教文化而学汉语、习方言,创造闽南方言罗马字(又称白话字),客观上成为我国语文现代化的先声.然而,滥觞于16世纪南洋群岛的教会闽南方言辞书和后来的各类闽南方言教材、闽南土白圣经译本、<论语>等中华典籍闽南方言译本,记录了几百年前的闽南话,现大部分存于海外,因大洋阻阔、学科隔阂、文献资料的限制,多不为学界所知,其研究颇多疏漏,难以一窥全豹.为此,有必要扩大视野,在近现代中西文化交流史、宗教史、教育史、语言学史等大背景下,重新全面审视这一时期中外汉语及闽南方言研究的成果,以期对此作出较为系统、客观的评价.     

社会分野与思想竞争:传教士与义和团的微妙互动关系

在西方传教士看来,义和团这一“神拳”在思想观念上是基督教的竞争对手;而对那时多数中国士人而言,基督教和神拳大致都属于“子不语”的“怪力乱神”范畴,其社会分野是接近的。朝廷对“神拳”的借重提示着其对中学之上层正统的失望,故走向基层,在中国传统中的异端方面寻求救亡图存的力量,但却因此产生朝廷不可恃的结论。清廷启用怪力乱神的举措实际上促成了异端的上升,本处边缘的“子不语”因素得到更多的关注,士人认知中的２０世纪２０年代出现了各种怪力乱神的“猖獗”。在尊西崇新的大趋势下,当中国文化在整体思想言说中日益边缘化的同时,原来的异端却以一种诡论性的方式不知不觉中变成了正统。     

基督教新教传教士与中国盲文体系的演进

盲文的产生为盲界打开了认识光明世界的门扉,为盲教育开辟了通衢,而近代的盲人特殊教育又与人性尊严、人权神圣和人类平等不可或分地联结在一起,人类的文明形态因特殊教育的出现而迈进了一大步。中国盲文由基督教新教传教士率先引介创制,由康熙盲字到大卫·希尔等诸种盲文法,再到心目克明。20世纪20年代后,中国盲文的改进转由国人接棒,反映出一国语言文字的改进最终有赖于国人自身,他们才是自己母国语言的主体和传承人。     

晚清入华新教传教士译业述评

晚清入华的英美新教传教士在中国士人协助下,开展了规模空前的西学中译工作,其间发生“原语主义”与“译语主义”的论争。而晚清译业的实践证明,译语主义指示了沟通中西化的行之有效的路径。