Family education support to rural migrant children in China: evidence from Shenzhen

Rural migrant children have become a fast-growing population in China as a consequence of the large-scale population flow from rural to urban areas. Besides the dual-structure hukou system, which restrains rural migrants from upward mobility, family capital also plays an important role in providing family educational support to rural migrant children. Using the data from P District and N District of Shenzhen in 2013, this paper explores the present status of three dimensions of family capital and five aspects of family educational support to Chinese rural migrant children, as well as the correlation between family capital and family educational support from perspectives of migration status (hukou), life course (children’s age), and school type. Constrained by inadequate family capital in multiple dimensions manifested by less education, lower income, and limited social networks, etc., parents of rural migrant children provide less family educational support in nearly every aspect compared with parents of urban local children. Among rural migrant children, those in private migrant schools receive the least support from their parents.     

Migration and left-behind parents and children of migrants in Cambodia: a look at household composition and the economic situation

ABSTRACT

This paper examines composition of households formed after the outmigration of a household member in rural Cambodian and correlates household types with indicators of economic condition. The paper focuses on households containing left-behind parents and the children of migrants. Excess mortality in the 1970s due to war suggests the association between migration and economic condition may be gendered. This could be exacerbated when migration leads to a skip-generation household containing a left-behind parent and a child of migrant without an own parent of the child present. Data come from the Cambodian Rural-Urban Migration Project (CRUMP), a project designed to study migration in rural Cambodia. Most households formed after a migration contain a left-behind parent of migrant. While about 22 per cent of these households contain a left-behind child of migrant, the per cent is over 60 per cent when the migrant is themselves a parent. The economic situation tends to be worst for left behind solo mothers (mothers of migrants who do not live with a spouse) and best for left-behind coupled parents of migrants. There is evidence that the combination of left-behind solo mothers living with children of migrants in a skip-generation situation is the most disadvantaged.     

Children of migrants in China in the twenty-first century: trends,living arrangements,age-gender structure,and geography

ABSTRACT

Children – including those of migrants – are China’s future. Children of migrants now make up close to 40% of all children in China. This paper analyzes the recent trends from 2000 to 2016 and the major aspects of the children of migrants by distilling data from multiple large national surveys and assessing the very small rural left-behind children (LBC) population figures published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2016. The paper also develops a method to estimate the LBC population generated by migrants in each provincial destination between 2010 and 2015, linking up different but related populations (adult migrants, migrant children, and LBC) in the origins and destinations. This broader “origin-destination” framework allows us to pinpoint clearly a major driver of LBC and hence to identify provinces needing the most attention in national and provincial efforts to alleviate the problem of LBC.

Abbreviations: MC: Migrant Children; LBC: Left-Behind Children; MPR: Migration Participation Rate: LBCG: Left-Behind Children Generated     

Pre-flight experiences and migration stories: the accounts of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children

Much work about transnational migration and mobility overlooks the active role of children in such processes and experiences. This paper counters the omission from the literature by exploring the pre-flight experiences and migration stories of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Scotland. In doing so, we demonstrate that unaccompanied minors experience a range of traumatic situations in their countries of origin including, the death or persecution of family members, war, forced recruitment and personal persecution. In their experiences of transnational migration processes, the majority are brought by an agent, with accounts of smuggling and trafficking being minimal.     

Implementing the Regulation on Places of Worship in Indonesia: New Problems,Local Politics and Court Action

This article examines the local implementation of the national Joint Regulation 2006 on places of worship in Indonesia. It focuses on the case study of the Protestant Christian Batak Congregation, which became one of the first churches to successfully challenge the authority of a local leader to cancel its permit to build a church. I begin by exploring the history of the regulation of permits for places of worship in Indonesia and the various proposals for law reform that have been put forward since 1998. I then outline the provisions of the new Joint Regulation and highlight the ongoing problems for religious minorities at the local level because of the failure of local authorities to implement the national regulation. I will demonstrate how religious minorities are challenging the decisions of local authorities by complaining to independent watchdogs, taking court action and using the political process. In conclusion, I argue that the Protestant Christian Batak Congregation court case is part of a broader trend for local authorities to use conflict over places of worship as an opportunity for political gain in the highly competitive political atmosphere since the downfall of Suharto in 1998.     

Java's forgotten pearls: the history and disappearance of pearl fishing in the Segara Anakan lagoon, South Java, Indonesia

Pearls have been a valued resource in most cultures that had access to them. A number of historically important pearling grounds were situated in the waters around today's Indonesia. One of these areas, now largely forgotten, was the Segara Anakan lagoon in South Java. In the seventeenth century, Dutch colonists exploited the lagoon's pearls. Afterwards, the lagoon's oysters were locally exploited as a food item until the late 1970s. While the pearl fishery attracted considerable attention in the colonial literature, its disappearance, by contrast, went largely undocumented. Nowadays, the oysters no longer are found in the lagoon as a result of extensive sedimentation processes. Their former existence is only preserved in the memory of local people. This article examines the history and fate of the pearls of Segara Anakan, providing an example of a formerly valued species whose existence simply became forgotten outside the area.     

Internal migration in the countries of Asia: levels,ages and spatial impacts

ABSTRACT

Internal migration, the movement of people between localities and regions within a country, has resulted in a significant redistribution of national populations. Past cross-national studies have been impeded by a lack of data and comparable metrics upon which to base comparisons. This paper examines internal migration in 30 Asian countries utilising a global dataset and a novel suite of measures devised in the IMAGE project. Three aspects of internal migration are explored: overall intensity, age patterns, and spatial impacts. Comparisons reveal that internal migration intensities, while on average lower than in other regions, are highly variable across countries. Migration peaks at earlier ages and is concentrated into a narrower age band than in other parts of the world. Analysis of spatial impacts highlights the contribution of migration to urbanisation, but a comparison of current trends against lifetime migration data also reveals the impact of historical events and government policies on national migration systems. Wide variation in key dimensions of migration among Asian countries reflects a diversity in national circumstances. The way forward lies in further in-depth country studies building on the common analytic framework articulated in this study.     

‘Nature makes people happy,that’s what it sort of means:’ children’s definitions and perceptions of nature in rural Northwestern Ontario

ABSTRACT

Nature exposure positively impacts children’s physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive health and development. We know less about how children perceive their connection with nature and what nature means to them. This study uses focus groups to understand how rural Canadian children define, experience, and perceive benefits of nature. Using thematic analysis, we identified three primary themes. First, while children associate nature with specific activities, natural elements, and locations, they also conceptualize nature as ‘a whole community.’ Second, children experienced nature through doing, highlighting how activities connected them with nature while recognizing constraints on those engagements. Finally, children demonstrated agency in accessing nature to improve their emotional states. These findings indicate that from children’s views, nature is more than just space with natural elements. Children are also knowledgeable about the health benefits of nature, and capitalize on this knowledge. These findings can inform interventions to increase children’s interactions with outdoor environments.     

Strontium isotope evidence of migration and diet in relation to ritual tooth ablation: a case study from the Inariyama Jomon site,Japan

Ritual tooth ablation was extensively practiced among Jomon (Japanese Neolithic) societies in their final phase (ca. 3000-2300 BP). This tradition includes two different tooth ablation patterns, type 4I and type 2C, referring to extraction of the mandibular incisors and canines, respectively. However, the reason for this difference is unclear. Previous carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of human remains from the Inariyama shell mound revealed that type 4I individuals were more dependent on terrestrial resources and type 2C individuals on marine resources. To test this hypothesis, we performed strontium (Sr) isotope (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) analyses on the same skeletal remains and on modern plants around the site. Because Sr isotope ratios of plants differ according to the local geology and seawater has a consistent Sr isotope ratio, the Sr isotope ratios of tooth enamel can reveal both migration and diet. Comparing Sr isotope ratios in plants and seawater with those of tooth enamel, we identified four possible immigrants. Type 4I locals had significantly higher Sr isotope ratios than type 2C locals. The ratios of the type 4I and type 2C locals were close to those of terrestrial plants and seawater, respectively, suggesting that type 4I locals had incorporated much Sr from terrestrial resources and type 2C locals from marine resources. These results support the hypothesis that ritual tooth ablation reflects dietary differences throughout an individual’s life, and they suggest possible occupational differentiation among the Jomon people.     

The origins of lithic projectile point technology: evidence from Africa,the Levant,and Europe

Projectile weaponry is a human cultural universal, but its origins and antiquity remain poorly understood. Stone- and bone-tipped projectile weapons have long been treated as emergent features of the "Upper Paleolithic" behavioral revolution. Recently it has been proposed that projectile technology was in widespread use among Homo sapiens populations in Africa during Middle Stone Age (MSA) times. One obstacle to researching the origins of projectile point technology is that the criteria archaeologists employ for recognizing plausible and implausible stone projectile points are largely subjective (overall tool shape, microwear traces). Tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) is a ballistically significant dimension that works well at discriminating North American stone projectile points (spearthrower dart tips and arrowheads) from spear points. This paper compares the TCSA values of ethnographic North American stone projectile points to hypothetical Middle and Upper Paleolithic stone projectile points from Africa, the Levant, and Europe. The results of this comparison do not support the hypothesis of widespread use of stone-tipped projectiles in Africa, the Levant, or Europe prior to 40 Ka. In the New World and in Australia, where we have the richest ethnographic record of stone projectile point use, these implements are largely employed in big-game hunting and in warfare. One or both of these factors may have played a role in the widespread adoption of stone projectile point technology after 40 Ka.     

Lithic Artefacts as a Source of Cultural,Social and Economic Information: the evidence from Aksum,Ethiopia

Extended research covering an area of approximately 300 sq km centered on the ancient metropolis of Aksum has revealed a coherent sequence of development in stone tool production and use spanning most of the last millennium BC and the first millennium AD. It has provided new evidence of the presence of multiple independent lithic traditions in the Pre-Aksumite period, and of Aksumite social and economic organization. This paper summarizes the results of the detailed study of a large corpus of excavated and surface-collected lithics, emphasizing their functional characteristics.

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Résumé  De vastes recherches couvrant sur une superficie d’environ 300 kilomètres carrés et concentrées sur l’ancienne métropole d’Aksoum ont mis à jour une série cohérente de développements dans la production et l’utilisation d’outils de pierre au cours du dernier millénaire avant J.C. et du premier millénaire après J.C. Ces recherches ont fourni de nouvelles informations sur la présence de multiples traditions lithiques indépendantes durant la période pré-aksoumite, et sur l’organisation sociale et économique des Aksoumites. Cet article présente les résultats d’une étude détailée portant sur un large répertoire de vestiges lithiques recueillis au cours de fouilles et collectes de surface, et met en exergue leurs caractéristiques fonctionnelles.

     

Prehistoric Fijian diet and subsistence: integration of faunal, ethnographic, and stable isotopic evidence from the Lau Island Group

We explore subsistence practices and dietary change on islands in the central Lau Group of Fiji with zooarchaeological methods and stable isotopic analysis of human and animal skeletal material interpreted through an ethnoarchaeological lens. Our dataset combines detailed identifications of fauna, especially fishes, with stable isotopic (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) values of human and animal bone collagen and apatite carbonate spanning approximately three thousand years of human occupation on three study islands. Additionally, over fifty inshore and offshore contemporary fishing expeditions were observed on all study islands over a six-year period. We integrate these separate lines of evidence to form robust interpretations of Lauan subsistence patterns over a broad temporal scale. We add to the existing literature on stable isotopic analysis of archaeological bone from Remote Oceania and compare all of these groups through time. Our results indicate that Lauans differentially relied on nearshore reef resources rather than pelagic fishes, and terrestrial endemic species may have served as a portion of the diet during the early prehistoric period. Root crops (e.g., taro, yam) provided the majority of calories to the diet; however, sea grapes likely contributed to the early diet. Our isotopic results differ from previous studies of Fijian diet and that of Remote Oceania at a time of probable marine ecosystem shifts (AD 1300) illustrating diet breadth and variability in subsistence strategies potentially due to climatically influenced resource depletion.     

The radiocarbon reservoir effect: new evidence from the cemeteries of the middle and lower Dnieper basin,Ukraine

This paper presents preliminary results of new radiocarbon dating of human, faunal and fish skeletal remains from a number of the cemeteries from the Middle and Lower Dnieper Basin, Ukraine. The results appear to demonstrate the presence of a radiocarbon reservoir effect during the Neolithic–Eneolithic periods, the first time that this has been identified in this region. The data indicate that the radiocarbon reservoir effect is currently only evident during these periods, and not in the earlier Epipalaeolithic–Mesolithic periods, prompting the suggestion that the radiocarbon reservoir effect is associated with elevated fish consumption from the Neolithic period onwards.     

Fracture-fill calcite as a record of microbial methanogenesis and fluid migration: a case study from the Devonian Antrim Shale, Michigan Basin

The Devonian Antrim Shale is an organic‐rich, naturally fractured black shale in the Michigan Basin that serves as both a source and reservoir for natural gas. A well‐developed network of major, through‐going vertical fractures controls reservoir‐scale permeability in the Antrim Shale. Many fractures are open, but some are partially sealed by calcite cements that retain isotopic evidence of widespread microbial methanogenesis. Fracture filling calcite displays an unusually broad spectrum of δ¹³C values (+34 to ?41‰ PDB), suggesting that both aerobic and anaerobic bacterial processes were active in the reservoir. Calcites with high δ¹³C values (>+15‰) record cementation of fractures from dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) generated during bacterial methanogenesis. Calcites with low δ¹³C values (13C values between ?10 and ?30‰ can be attributed to variable organic matter oxidation pathways, methane oxidation, and carbonate rock buffering. Identification of ¹³C‐rich calcite provides unambiguous evidence of biogenic methane generation and may be used to identify gas deposits in other sedimentary basins. It is likely that repeated glacial advances and retreats exposed the Antrim Shale at the basin margin, enhanced meteoric recharge into the shallow part of the fractured reservoir, and initiated multiple episodes of bacterial methanogenesis and methanotrophic activity that were recorded in fracture‐fill cements. The δ¹⁸O values in both formation waters and calcite cements increase with depth in the basin (?12 to ?4‰ SMOW, and +21 to +27‰ PDB, respectively). Most fracture‐fill cements from outcrop samples have δ¹³C values between ?41 and ?15‰ PDB. In contrast, most cement in cores have δ¹³C values between +15 and +34‰ PDB. Radiocarbon and ²³⁰Th dating of fracture‐fill calcite indicates that the calcite formed between 33 and 390 ka, well within the Pleistocene Epoch.     

Pig domestication and husbandry practices in the middle Neolithic of the Wei River Valley,northwest China: evidence from linear enamel hypoplasia

Linear enamel hypoplasia is a physical deficiency occurring during the process of enamel formation and it is visible on the crowns of mammal teeth. It can be used to trace physical stresses during life. In this study, linear enamel hypoplasia in samples of pigs from three Neolithic sites in the Wei River valley (China) were recorded and analysed, to investigate the status of pigs at these sites, their living conditions, and furthermore to explore husbandry strategies for pigs during the Neolithic in the valley. The results suggest a domesticated status for pigs in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Also the frequency of LEH occurrence for the pigs corroborates a presumed intensification processes of pig husbandry, and the presence of environmental fluctuations during the period are considered. Some evidence also points to the fact that for pig, spring farrowing was the most common reproductive strategy in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age in this region.     

海外移民与宗教仪式回传——甲午年新加坡修德善堂养心社宋大峰祖师金像百年回銮

论文以甲午年(2014年)闰九月新加坡修德善堂养心社宋大峰祖师金像百年回銮活动为例,分析了当代社会海外移民通过将源自中国的传统文化习俗回传而对中国乡村社会所产生的影响。从宗教层面看,祖师百年回銮实现了信仰体系的循环与完善,为中国传统文化的传播与改善注入了新元素。从移民历史来看,潮人移居海外,同时在海外将潮人信仰理念传播开来。中国实施改革开放后,与移民共同迁移的祖师信仰也可以实现"返乡"——仪式回传。祖师信仰及其仪式的回传,结合中国本土宗教文化的复苏,在一定程度上影响了原乡地方社会的信仰体系。从慈善事业角度看,善堂的慈善事业,救济贫苦,施医赠药,造福人类。在潮汕乡村,随着宗教信仰的苏醒,慈善事业也随之兴起,这对发展中国慈善事业有重要意义,同时慈善事业在中国乡村的发展,也影响了乡村的地方经济。     

Diversity of cultivars and other plant resources used at habitation sites in the Llanos de Mojos, Beni, Bolivia: evidence from macrobotanical remains, starch grains, and phytoliths

Although sparsely populated today, the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia, sustained large sedentary societies in the Late Holocene (ca. 500 to 1400 AD). In order to gain insight into the subsistence of these people, we undertook macrobotanical and phytolith analyses of sediment samples, and starch grain and phytolith analyses of artifact residues, from four large habitation sites within this region. Macrobotanical remains show the presence of maize (Zea mays), squash (Cucurbita sp.), peanut (Arachis hypogaea), cotton (Gossypium sp.), and palm fruits (Arecaceae). Microbotanical results confirm the widespread use of maize at all sites, along with manioc (Manihot esculenta), squash, and yam (Dioscorea sp.). These integrated results present the first comprehensive archaeobotanical evidence of the diversity of plants cultivated, processed, and consumed, by the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of the Amazonian lowlands of Bolivia.     

Source of ore fluids at the Kalahari Goldridge deposit, Kraaipan greenstone belt, South Africa: evidence from Sr, C and O isotope signatures in carbonates

The Kalahari Goldridge deposit is located in the Archaean Kraaipan greenstone belt in the north-west province of South Africa. Gold mineralization in this deposit is hosted within banded iron formation which is flanked by a mafic schist in the footwall and clastic metasedimentary units in the hanging wall. Data from carbonate minerals from mineralized veins and bulk rock from the A and D zone ore bodies have helped to define the ultimate origin of the ore-forming fluids and their migration history. Carbon isotope ratios of carbonates from both the A and D zone ore bodies have tight clustering from −7.6 to −5.3‰ that indicates a unique origin for the ore-forming fluids associated with the mineralization at Kalahari Goldridge. The δ¹⁸O values of the carbonates have been influenced by temperature gradients and variable degrees of fluid–rock interaction promoting oxygen isotope exchange between ore fluid and host rocks. Minimum ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio values of 0.70354 in mineralized veins are most consistent with ore-forming fluids being relatively pristine with a mantle origin. Strontium and the corresponding ore-forming fluids were most likely derived from mantle-derived magmatic rocks probably represented by the meta-basaltic rocks that underlie the ferruginous package in the Kraaipan greenstone belt. Strontium isotopic composition of vein carbonates show considerable variation in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios ranging from 0.70354 to 0.73914. This is consistent with an ore fluid composition that has been modified by the addition of radiogenic Sr possibly during passage of fluid through siliciclastic country rock concomitant with the observed hydrothermal alteration.     

New field and geochemical evidence from vitrified forts in South Morar and Moidart,NW Scotland: further insight into melting and the process of vitrification

New field and laboratory work has been carried out on two vitrified forts, Rhubh Aird Ghamhsgail near Arisaig and The Torr near Acharacle. Fieldwork confirms that both are constructed from rubble largely comprising local psammitic Moine Supergroup rocks and that their walls are relatively well preserved with large portions of vitrified material remain, particularly at The Torr, where remnants of up to four courses of stone facing occur. The preserved wall fills comprise mostly psammitic rubble set in a dark brown, vesicular, glassy to aphanitic matrix that in many places preserves evidence of downward flow. Conventionally, vitrification is explained through combustion of timber interlacing within the walls leading to melting that has been modelled in the granite system. However, considering Iron Age smelting technology, this leads to problems in obtaining high temperatures (≥1000 °C) over tens of metres of wall length. Geochemical analysis of the vitrification indicates that modelling the melting within the granite system is incapable of providing a partial melt matching the composition of vitrification. At The Torr, pelite fragments have been found near the base of the wall where partial melt occurs as black bubbles. In these fragments it appears that micas (largely biotite) have formed the melt via the reaction biotite + quartz = sanidine + orthopyroxene + liquid which takes place at temperatures c. 850 °C. Quench crystals in the melt include orthopyroxene, plagioclase, spinels, ilmenite, magnetite, anatase and apatite confirming that it was not a granite melt. These melted fragments are found next to material with biotite that, superficially, appears unmelted, suggesting that some of the heating took place perhaps away from the edifice and unmelted residue was utilised as part of the rubble fill, suggesting that in situ partial melting of the rubble is unlikely. However, in other parts of the edifice heat affected, yet unmelted, fragments are dominant. The new evidence indicates that vitrification occurred at lower temperatures than previously modelled and thus the melts could have been achieved more easily than previously thought.