Giorgio Agamben and the spatialities of the camp: an introduction

The Italian political philosopher Giorgio Agamben's conclusion that the camp has replaced the city as the biopolitical paradigm of the West is as difficult to digest as it is easy to see how it responds to contemporary political tendencies in the world today. In this introduction to this theme issue on Giorgio Agamben and the spatialities of the camp, a detailed exposition, emulating the structure of Agamben's seminal book Homo Sacer, is conducted, tracing the genealogies of Agamben's ideas and commenting on his swiftly enhanced importance in the social sciences and humanities. The introduction concludes by outlining some possible research fields in human geogrphy where much insight could be gained if Agamben's work is given more detailed consideration.     

Giorgio Agamben and the new biopolitical nomos

In this paper I reflect on the progressive normalization of a series of geographies of exception within Western democracies and, in particular, the relation of these to the new biopolitical power that is progressively affirming itself in our everyday lives — and that appears to be imposing itself as the new, secret, ontology of the political. I do so by engaging with the work of Giorgio Agamben and, specifically, interrogating the spatial architecture that underpins his theory of sovereign power. Starting from Agamben's spatial conceptualizations, I explore his attempt to trace the contours and the secret coordinates of the contemporary biopolitical nomos, a nomos rooted firmly in the crisis and progressive demolition of that which Carl Schmitt described as the ius publicum Europaeum. I note, moreover, how the definitive dissolution of the geographical nomos that had dominated the two centuries preceding the First World War, and the lack of a new, alternative, geographical nomos in the century which followed, can also be grasped by critically rereading some key episodes in the history of European geography; in particular, the contested legacy of the work of Friedrich Ratzel's grand geographical project and the Geopolitik experiment. What I suggest is that to understand the deep nature of the geographies of exception that arm the global war on terror, it is vital that we think in terms of a theory of space in order to try to unveil the Arcanum, the secret enigma of the empty centre around which turn the wheels of a new, macabre, geo‐biopolitical machine.     

Today's State of Exception: Abu-Jamal,Agamben, JanMofiamed,and the Democratic State of Emergency

Abstract

This essay engages the political philosophy of Giorgio Agamben and the literary criticism of Abdul R. JanMohammed in critically exploring the contours of the present arrangement of democratic politics in the United States. Giorgio Agamben's exception theory of sovereignty and bare life are deployed in order to grasp the political meaning of surprisingly unprecedented and exceptional recent court rulings in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on Pennsylvania's death row since 1982. Abu-Jamal's experience of exceptional rulings also requires a critical elaboration of the racialized nature of American democracy. Thus, Agamben's theory finds a critical complement with the work of literary theorist Abdul R. JanMohammed, particularly JanMohammed's formulations of "social death" and the "dialectics of death" for "death-bound-subjects." The theories of Agamben and JanMohammed make clear the nature of Abu-Jamal's political struggle and the state of democratic politics that so often transforms the exception into the rule, specifically in the case of the marginal and dispossessed. The significance of Abu-Jamal's case thus becomes one of understanding the production and reproduction of the state of exception and the (im)possibilities of political transformation and liberation from the arrested state of democracy in the modern world.     

关于太平天国史研究的几个问题

太平天国史的研究,有几个问题需要重新认识。洪秀全早期的宗教宣传和活动并非“纯粹的宗教宣传”,而是具有政治意义和策略价值;农民领袖平均、公有思想作为一种鼓舞农民斗志的理想无可厚非,洪秀全等所实施的现行政策与公有制理想是有距离的,他们已注意到切合实际问题,所采取的实际政策是灵活的;由平均、公有思想转到仿行资本主义思想是一种进步,这种转变不是“脱离实际”的,而是有客观因素,具有现实性;拜上帝信仰与太平天国相始终,它使太平天国兴,又使太平天国亡;太平天国起义具有革命性质,是一场具有资产阶级民主革命的某些特点或色彩的农民革命,并起了重要的历史作用。     

太平天国妇女自由问题之民俗释论--兼论妇女自由不能作为太平天国妇女解放之论据

尽管太平天国的妇女政策仍然是封建妇女政策,妇女的地位也没有得到提高,但由于文化、习俗及战争环境等因素的影响,广大妇女在生产劳动、恋爱婚姻、社会交往、人际关系、女性美以及宗教活动等方面呈现出难能可贵的自由精神。太平天国妇女的自由风尚,主要源于广西客家和壮族妇女的习俗以及宗教等因素,并不是由于太平天国采取了解放妇女的主观措施。     

一幅不可多得的衰世群丑图——《粤氛纪事》有关太平天国时期清方将帅的记载

夏燮以当事人身份所著《粤氛纪事》具有极高的可信度,却一直未受到重视.该书以记载太平天国与清朝统治阶级之间的军事斗争为主要内容,比较全面地分析了封建统治阶级的腐败无能,生动具体地再现了清军将帅贪生怕死的丑态,实事求是地指出了清军在战略上的失误,毫不留情地揭露了清军将帅之间的矛盾,而这些都是在官方档案中很难见到的.因而该书的史料价值在许多方面远远超出了清方档案之上.     

商王朝东征与商夷关系

商王朝东征始自中商仲丁时期,此后直至商末,商王朝持续对东方夷族用兵。商王朝东征对商代的历史和商夷关系产生了重大影响,一是推动夷族商化,二是商夷之间长期对峙,并导致夷族内部的分化。中商时期商王朝东征是为了转移内部矛盾并掠夺资源,晚商时期几次大规模的东征是征伐不服于商王朝的以人方为代表的东夷族。     

魏晋子书书名作者杂考数则

本文根据历代典籍的有关记载,参考前贤的辑佚、考证成果,就周昭与《周子》、陆景与《典语》、姚信与《昕天论》、殷兴与《通语》的作者及成书情况进行了初步的梳理与辨析,希望对学界研读魏晋子书有所裨益。     

北赵出土铜器铭文中之晋侯及其他晋侯名新考

北赵出土铜器铭文,从考古和训诂两方面考证,对晋侯名与史载各代晋侯的 对应关系提供了难得的资料。     

建国五十年来我国西夏文献整理研究简述

本对近50年来我国西夏献整理研究,取得的成就进行了概述。内容涉及俄藏黑水城献、国内存世出土的西夏物献、汉西夏献的整理研究及综述研究等几方面。     

沈阳市何时开始建城考

关于沈阳何时开始建城的问题,史学家一般都认为始于辽东郡候城县的建立。但对于候城的建置年代,则有不同的看法,有的认为是在汉代,有的认为是在战国时。木文以历史文献记载和新近考古发现为依据,结合前人的研究成果,进一步证明候城建置不始于西汉王朝,而始于战国时的燕园。     

近十年来美英两国学术界冷战史研究述评

冷战主宰了20世纪后半期的国际政治。在后冷战时期,许多国家的学者利用新获得的档案资料来仔细考察和重新评估冷战史。自从冷战国际史项目于1991年在伍德罗.威尔逊国际学者中心建立以来,冷战国际史这一概念,已经被广为接受。根据相关英文文献,对过去十年美英两国冷战史研究新发展、新动向以及冷战史研究现状,做一总结归纳。主要涉及以下几个方面:美国的主要冷战研究中心、研究冷战的资料来源和新的研究方法、学者们关注的热点问题及最新研究成果的介绍、英国冷战研究概况等。     

西周春秋吴都迁徙考

西周至春秋时期 ,吴都共有四次迁徙。周康王时 ,虞侯被封在江苏邳县加口 ,称“俎侯” ,春秋时为“”地。从康王时到西周晚期 ,吴国一直以俎为其国都。春秋初期 ,吴取邗国而建都于邗 ,即今扬州一带。邗为吴都一直到吴王诸樊时代。第三次和第四次迁都在吴王诸樊之后。诸樊与阖闾之都为秦时“吴县” ,即今无锡市西南 45里的闾江乡一带。吴王阖闾时所筑并所迁之都在今苏州市 ,其地本名即“姑苏”、“苏”。至夫差亡国之时苏州一直为吴都。     

Public Faith and the Common Good A Radical Messianic Proposal

Abstract

The article inquires into the implications of Christianity not being a religious perspective among others in the contemporary Western debate on religious pluralism. A quick glance at a recent debate in Sweden serves to demonstrate how Christianity, although marginalized in its traditional forms, remains a dominating cultural interpretative scheme that continues to influence the majority’s view on private and public, individual and collective, rational and irrational. Against this background, the author argues, it is imperative that any Christian theologian who engages in the question of religion in the public sphere in the Western world, also must critically confront the question of Christianity’s particular status. Not least in light of contemporary right-wing rhetoric about the West as an exclusively “Christian civilization,” theologians need to reflect on how to avoid articulations of the Christian vision of the common good that manifest themselves at the expense of other religious traditions. The article ends by sketching a possible direction for such reflection.     

Negotiating English identity: Englishness,Britishness and the future of the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT. The current interest in Englishness and English national identity, spurred partly by parliamentary devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has been accompanied by calls for an English parliament and even the promotion of a robust English nationalism. This article argues that this is a mistaken direction for the English. English traditions have been non‐national and even supra‐national. English identities have been especially bound up with Britain and Britishness. An England without Britain is hard to conceive, and would be impolitic to pursue. Survey evidence shows continuing Britishness among the English, with scant support for an English parliament or English independence. The expressions of English nationalism remain relatively muted. ‘England for the English’ is neither a realistic nor a sensible strategy.     

繁昌汤家山西周墓的再认识

繁昌汤家山西周墓是一座高等级的吴国墓葬。通过对长江下游西周至春秋时期吴国墓葬的等级规模和出土青铜器的比较研究,汤家山西周墓与丹徒烟墩山、荞麦山西周墓和北山顶、青龙山春秋墓属同一等级的墓葬,皆为吴王之墓;根据汤家山西周墓主身份和墓地位置推测,《左传》记载的"鸠兹"应为西周晚期的吴国都城。     

Plasticity and the Future of Philosophy and Theology

Abstract

This article develops a theoretical and political critique of the contemporary notion of the deconstruction of Christianity, primarily in the later work of Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy. The deconstruction of Christianity relies upon an understanding of temporality and messianicity derived from Heidegger and Benjamin, and we challenge this privileging of messianism in contemporary philosophy and theology. Messianism is contrasted with plasticity, and plasticity is shown to have resources to overcome the impasses of contemporary thought in a counter-messianic way. To oppose messianism is not to oppose theological thinking, but to open a creative and productive political space for a radical theological and philosophical reflection.     

《全明词》订补六则

《全明词》是一部重要的文献整理著作,但由于工程浩大,该书还存在一些需要订正补充之处。现根据《三旌义门王氏族谱》、《锡山秦氏宗谱》、《于氏族谱》等家谱资料对一些人物的小传进行订正与充实,并根据《皱水轩词筌》、《倚声初集》、《妇人集》等增补了一些词作,同时对一些相关问题加以考证。     

从上博简《诗论》对于《木瓜》篇的评析看《诗经》编纂问题

《诗·木瓜》篇出自民歌 ,其主旨原为馈赠以结好 ,采编者对于其主旨加以变化 ,成为一篇讽刺和揭露佞人之作。汉儒将其作为“美齐桓公”之作 ,宋儒则以为是“男女相赠答之辞” ,当代专家则多将其视为爱情诗。上博简《诗论》表明 ,它的主旨应当是对于工于心计的谗佞小人的揭露。由此我们可以从一个侧面看出士大夫在采诗、编诗过程中变化民歌主旨的情况。《诗经》中所保存的一些民歌往往就是这种变化后的结果 ,而不是它的原创状态。《木瓜》之篇就是这方面的一个典型。