The Tibetans and Hada Scarves

ＴｈｅＴｉｂｅｔａｎｓａｎｄＨａｄａＳｃａｒｖｅｓＧＡＩＳＡＮＧＱＵＰＩＴｉｂｅｔｉｓａｌａｎｄｏｆｒｉｔｕａｌｓ，ｍａｎｙｏｆｗｈｉｃｈａｒｅｒｅｌａｔｅｄｔｏｐｒｅｓｅｎｔｉｎｇｈａｄａｓｃｒｖｅｓ．Ｈａｄａ，ａｔｒａｎｓｌｉｔｅｒａｔｅｄＴｉｂ...     

The Tale of Tea and Salt

ＴｈｅＴａｌｅｏｆＴｅａａｎｄＳａｌｔ￥／／Ｉｎａｎｃｉｅｎｔｔｉｍｅｓ,ｔｈｅＸａａｎｄＮｕｔｒｉｂｅｓｍａｄｅｔｈｅｉｒｈｏｍｅｓｏｎｔｈｅｏｐｐｏｓｉｔｅｂａｎｋｓｏｆａｒｉｖｅｒ,ｌｉｎｋｅｄｏｈｌｙｂｙａｓｕｓｐｅｎｓｉｏｎｂｒｉｄｇｅ．Ｔ...     

The Lives and Afterlives of Vis and Rāmin

This article is a review of the afterlife, or Nachleben, of the romance Vis and Rāmin, one of the first representatives of its genre in New Persian literature. In addition to providing readers with an extensive bibliography of sources and research concerning the poem, it also analyzes these materials to put forward two basic arguments: one, that moral or religious antipathy to the poem’s contents may not have played as great a role in its fortunes as did aesthetic taste; and two, that V&R proved to be a more widely circulated and durable work than is commonly supposed, but on the level of fragments, not the entire text. In light of these arguments, it is proposed that studies structured around the comparison of fragments—themes, ideas, ethics, and motifs, rather than whole texts—may offer more purchase in constructing models of analysis that situate V&R, and Persian literature more broadly, within a literary oikumene in which it connects and interacts with neighboring traditions.     

The man who never was? The Italian transition and 2008 election

Abstract

The implications for the co-called Italian transition of the 2008 election initially seemed significant – but have since become increasingly uncertain as Berlusconi's conflict of interests has risen higher up the political agenda. This underscores the pertinence of asking about the sense in which the notion of ‘transition’ is actually applicable to the Italian case at all – bearing in mind that it describes a process now supposedly underway for some 17 years; and bearing in mind that its end point can seemingly not be identified (though by definition ‘transition’ implies movement between two points). Discovering if the term applies to the Italian case and if so whether 2008 has brought its conclusion nearer requires exploring if the political protagonists that have emerged from the election as the most significant players – the Popolo della Libertà and the Partito Democratico – have sufficient commonality of view, sufficient desire and sufficient power to complete a process of constitutional overhaul. The evidence suggests that while they have the view and the desire, there are significant limitations on their power. The election might potentially have been a watershed in the so-called Italian transition in the broader sense of system performance, aside from formal constitutional change. Here too, however, the evidence points away from the idea that 2008 represents a real sea change – though the chances seem good that it will come to be perceived as such.     

The Managerial Equation and Innovation Platforms: The Case of Linköping and Berzelius Science Park

This paper explores the political and economic origins of a science park in Linköping, Sweden. It shows how different “innovation platforms” emerged to develop the medical industrial sector. An innovation platform is a foundation for growth corresponding to a given set of organizations or networks that incubate and sustain innovative teams tied to a given sector. Large firms and incubator-linked science parks represent different kinds of innovative platforms. The paper centres on the concept of the “managerial equation”, arguing that growth projects like science parks build on coalitions and networks linking innovative resources, acquired knowledge tied to a given sector and power linked to decision-making power and financial resources. Changes within these elements of the equation explain the rise and fall of innovative platforms. Failures in learning in one platform lead to the rise of another. An absence of power (such as supporting resources) can also account for platform changes. Regional development decisions do not simply reflect path dependent specializations as regions use related capacities to break into “new” sectors. Commitments to Triple Helix formations linking universities, corporations and the government reflect changes within each branch of the Helix and political decision-making creating a diversity of development pathways.     

‘The Bashful and the Boastful’

The creation and maintenance of influential leaders and authorities is one of the key themes of archaeological and historical enquiry. However, the social dynamics of authorities and leaders in the Mesolithic remains a largely unexplored area of study. The role and influence of authorities can vary remarkably in different situations, yet they exist in all societies and in almost all social contexts from playgrounds to parliaments. Here we explore the literature on the dynamics of authority creation, maintenance and contestation in egalitarian societies, and discuss the implications for our interpretation and understanding of the formation of authorities and leaders and changing social relationships in the Mesolithic.     

The Vatican and Mussolini’s Italy

This essay reviews a new history by Lucia Ceci of Italo-Vatican relations during the Fascist period, and evaluates its contribution to the vast but often polemical literature on the subject of Church–state relations in modern Italy. Ceci offers a detailed, sophisticated analysis that focuses specifically on leadership and decision-making in the Fascist regime and the Vatican respectively. Her argument that the Vatican’s relations with Fascist Italy were conditioned by a strategic choice to maintain diplomatic relations in exchange for autonomy in the state and civil society, while compelling, makes some contradictory and unconvincing claims. Ultimately, what is needed is a conceptual framework that can account for the complex reality of a relationship characterized by points of mutual interest and complementarity but also fundamental disagreement and open conflict.     

The Marriage of Marx and Darwin?

Recent attempts to develop scientific research strategies for cultural evolution have mostly drawn upon evolutionary biology, but within anthropology there is also an influential tradition of non-biological evolutionary thought whose basic principle is adaptation to the environment. This article is mainly concerned with the "cultural materialist" school of Marvin Harris, but also treats the recent attempt of Jared Diamond to create a more radical model of evolutionary ecology. I argue that the ecological tradition does not represent a real alternative to neo-Darwinism and is in fact a pseudo-Darwinist theory. I also suggest that the bias in favor of materialistic explanation in cultural evolution may not be justified.     

The Construction of Soviet Ethnography and “The Peoples of Siberia”

The multi-generation book project "The Peoples of Siberia" enabled a group of Leningrad-based scholars to reshape their museum into a Soviet ethnographic community. This article analyses the face-to-face performances, the legalistic stenographic documentation, the collective crafting of a single authoritative style, and a unique temporal frame as an important background to understand a hallmark volume in Siberian studies. The authors argue that the published volume indexes nearly thirty years of scholarly debates as much as it indexes the peoples it represents. The article concludes with a critical discussion of how this volume was translated and received by a Euro-American readership influencing the perception of Siberian peoples internationally. It also links the volume to contemporary post-Soviet publication projects which seem to retrace the same path. The article is based on extensive archival work and references collections recently discovered and which are presented for publication here for the first time.     

The poverty of Australian defence and security studies: The ‘secure Australia project’ and its critics

Graeme Cheeseman and StJohn Kettle (eds), The New Australian Militarism: Undermining Our Future Security (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1990).

Gary Smith and StJohn Kettle (eds), Threats Without Enemies: Rethinking Australia's Security (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1992).

Peter Jennings, Searching For Insecurity: Why the ‘Secure Australia Project’ is Wrong About Defence (Current Issues, Institute of Public Affairs, June 1994).     

Colonies and Colonisation in Bulwer Lytton’s The Caxtons,A Strange Story and The Coming Race

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, an eminently popular novelist, published The Caxtons in 1849. Though sub-titled A Family Picture and mainly concerned with domestic life, it included a lengthy disquisition on colonisation and emigration, its value to British society and its role in extending civilisation by spreading ‘God’s law, improvement’. His colonial example was ‘Australia’. A Radical MP in the 1830s, but opposed to the encroachment of ‘democracy’ and supportive of the Corn Laws, in the early 1850s Lytton turned to the Conservative Party. In 1858–59 he served as secretary of state for the colonies. In the light of his experience, his view of Australia and of self-governing colonies was modified, as A Strange Story (1862) shows. But in 1871, in The Coming Race, an elaborate satire on democracy and egalitarianism, he made a distinct addition to the colonial theme of The Caxtons. He did not doubt that ‘improvement’ and colonisation produced evidence of ‘the triumph of civilization’, but a metaphor embedded in the later novel indicated the inevitability of displacement of aboriginal inhabitants by Anglo-Saxon settlers.     

The Qing Dynasty Ministry of Justice Memorials and “The New History”

The Qing Dynasty Grand Secretariat Archives are considered to be among the four great ancient texts discovered in modern Chinese history, and the memorials from the Ministry of Justice have garnered particular attention due to their well-preserved socio-economic content(s). From the 20th century onwards the New History, with its emphasis on drawing upon the social sciences’ discussions of citizens, communities and society, came to replace the more traditional “Imperial Genealogy” style of historiography, affording us a grander view of history. Progressing forward with “the times,” the New History continued to innovate and diversify the field; in terms of Qing dynasty social historical research, it brought about constant exploration and change within the field, first having shifted from socio-economic history to social history, then moving on to life history, the investigation of the “seeds of capitalism,” class relations, lower-class society, marriage and family relations, law and justice, gender studies, daily life (“life, livelihood and environment”), and so on, continually pushing the boundaries of academic research. Yet, underlying all this change was a close relationship between the use of the Ministry of Justice Memorials and the field’s overall development. This article not only introduces several findings made by academicians in using the Ministry of Justice Memorials, but also sets out to further reveal the relationship between the New History and the memorials themselves, probing into the deeper question of broader changes in historiography and their relationship with generational shifts in intellectual thought.     

The Hawke government and education 1983–1985

Education was a major component of the platform and performance of the Whitlam governments. Under Fraser, projects were abandoned and overall growth ceased. The needs principle for aid to non‐government schools was undermined by the emphasis on unrestricted access to alternatives to the State system. Pressure grew for schooling to reflect and service the needs of the market place.

The 1983 election campaign scarcely mentioned education although special interests ensured that traditional commitments were secured. Once in power, the Hawke government tended to ignore these and maintained constraints on education spending.

Naive attempts in 1983 to implement the policy of reducing grants to wealthy private schools resulted, by 1984, in a bruised and shaken Hawke government having to placate the powerful private school/Catholic bishops lobby with a generously funded ‘historic settlement’ of the State Aid debate. The Participation and Equity Program was introduced to increase participation in post‐compulsory education, particularly by disadvantaged groups. Initially the depressed state of tertiary education was not addressed by the Hawke government which continued the neglect characteristic of the Fraser years. Hawke was returned to office in 1984 on a platform which had as little to say about education as it had in 1983.

The rhetoric and practice of the Hawke government has tended to reflect a view of education which is highly economic and instrumental in orientation. A crude nexus is seen to exist between educational spending and productive employment, a view which excludes any concern for the social benefits of education or a longer‐term perspective about the value of intellectual endeavour. Labor's traditional ideals and objectives of widening access to education and hence social and economic power are in danger of being ignored. If economic considerations alone continue to dominate policy, the legacy of the Hawke government may well be a set of educational policies which are destined, on balance, to increase rather than reduce inequalities in our society.     

The Rose – its Beauty and its Science

Abstract

The rose, which first appeared on Earth millions of years ago, was proclaimed by the early Greek poets to be the Queen of the Flowers. Even today it is regarded as the world's favourite flower. The reasons why the rose captivated man, influencing literature, art and many other of his activities, are discussed. Reference is made to its remarkable sweet fragrance, the extraordinary diversity of forms now available, providing varieties suitable for many conditions and requirements, the remarkable palette of flower colours, and the exquisite beauty of the bloom. Scientific work, from the early botanical and taxonomic studies to the sophisticated modern investigations, are referred to, special emphasis being laid on selected topics like flower colour. The valuable attribute of rose fragrance is discussed. The prospect of development of cultivars resistant to frost injury, diseases and pests, and those suitable for tropical areas, is reviewed. It is hoped that the spectacular recent advances in genetics and biotechnology will help the rose to maintain its special position in man's life. In September 1986 the US Congress named the rose as the national flower of the United States as it had no floral emblem before.     

The Lhalu Clan and the Lhalu Wooded park

ＴｈｅＬｈａｌｕＣｌａｎａｎｄｔｈｅＬｈａｌｕＷｏｏｄｅｄｐａｒｋ￥ｂｙＬｈａｌｕＣｅｗａｎｇＤｏｊｅＴｈｅｈｏｕｓｅｔｏｔｈｅｅａｓｔｏｆｔｈｅｐａｖｉｌｉｏｎｂｕｉｌｔｂｙｔｈｅ６ｔｈＤａｌａｉＬａｍａ，ｗａｓｒｅｎｏｖａｔｅｄａｎｄｍａｄｅｈｅ...