A WORLD CONNECTING? FROM THE UNITY OF HISTORY TO GLOBAL HISTORY

Global history looms large in current historiography, yet its heuristic design and political functions remain ill‐reflected. My article seeks to uncover the historical origins of the assumption that the “world” has one common history and that it is feasible and desirable to write it. I analyze the epistemic infrastructure underlying this assumption and argue that global history as practiced today is predicated on a specific mode of world‐making that provides its basic template: Global history both grew out of and intellectually sustains the conception of an increasingly connected world. The type of connectedness thereby implied and reinscribed was established by what I call the “world‐historical process,” a cognitive framework that co‐emerged with the early modern and modern European conquest of the world through expansion, discovery, commerce, and culture. The article investigates how this process‐template emerged out of the crisis of universal history that could no longer integrate and reconcile the multiple pasts of the world. The format of the world‐historical process was central to Enlightenment historians' assertion of the secular and scientific prestige of their craft, as much as to its ability to discern global epochs, in particular the modern and the premodern. My article traces the fortunes of this template through historicism up to present‐day global history. Current global history remains structured around the growing connectedness of previously distinct parts of the planet whose pasts are transformed into relevant world history by the very process that makes them increasingly interrelated. Global history may be too much a product of the process of globalization it studies to develop epistemologically and politically tenable alternatives to “connectivity.”     

THE WORLD’S HIGHEST HYDROPOWER STATION GOES INTO PRODUCTION

<正>To those people living on the snowy plateau,this year's winter is no longer cold since a huge hydropower station went into production,providing power toward the electricity supply of Tibet.On November 23rd,2014,the Zangmu Hydropower Station,going through eight years'construction and being invested with a total 9.6 billion Yuan,was formally put into production.This     

FROM ‘ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S GREATEST ASSETS’ TO ALIENATION AND ANGER: VOICES OF THE LOWER WHARFEDALE FARMING COMMUNITY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Abstract

The British farming community is rapidly diminishing due to its ageing workforce, the rise of second-home ownership, and the costs involved in running a farming business in the twenty-first century. The private nature of this community, often coupled with a deeply held mistrust of non-farmers has made it difficult to ascertain farmers’ own feelings on their current situation, and how things have reached such a position. This article explores how some of the major twentieth-century events for agriculture have affected a single Yorkshire farming community by tracing the deteriorating relationship between farmers and the government, through changing legislation and reactions to crises, from a point where farmers were held to be vital to Britain’s survival through to one where the agricultural community finds it plausible that their own government would actively try to destroy their livelihoods.     

LAST CALL BEFORE THE UNDERTAKER: A COMMUNITY’S PERCEPTION OF THE LOCAL WORKHOUSE AND OLD PEOPLE’S CARE BEFORE AND AFTER THE INCEPTION OF THE WELFARE STATE

Abstract

Workhouses were no doubt the first old people’s homes. Sick old people without social or financial resources had no alternative other than admission to one of these state institutions . These institutions instilled fear in local communities and admission represented a failure in society. Due to medical advances and improved social conditions, people lived for longer and during the 20th century the majority of the inmates were old people. After the inception of the welfare state institutional care for older people was mainly in buildings inherited from the poor law. Consequently, even after I948, for many old people admission to an institution still carried a stigma. By using oral histories of relatives and professionals who cared for old people during this time, alongside documentary sources, this article examines how the process of transition from poor law to welfare state affected families in Oxford. This first-hand perspective, missing from most studies on the history of ageing, explores how caring for old people at a time of great social change was influenced by the local workhouse.     

THE TIBETAN ANTELOPE——TRAVEILER ACROSS THEROOF OF THE WORLD

<正>We stand on a ridge at 5200m in the Changtang or‘Northern Plain' of the Tibet Autonomous Region.The grey-brown and barren hills around us are alive with thousands of Tibetan antelope or chiru,known also as tsi.     

‘… [NO] SPOT IN THE WHOLE WORLD OFFERS THE ADVANTAGES TO THE CAPITALIST WHICH THESE COLONIES DO…’: SETTING UP A DRAPER’S SHOP IN VAN DIEMEN’S LAND DURING THE 1830s

Abstract

In 1835, John Muston wrote to his brother-in-law, the Birmingham draper Joseph James, from Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land. Muston sought to convince James of the profits he might make by diversifying into trade with the other side of the world. Using this family trading network as a case study, this article will discuss the colonial drapery and clothing trades during the 1830s. Common difficulties for shopkeepers of the period will be highlighted, for instance, the necessity of quickly adapting to the reality of the commercial environment they operated within, rather than the envisaged ideal market. Pragmatic solutions for all consumer preferences needed to be ascertained and swiftly acted upon leading to variety of ways to retail to people across the social spectrum. The enterprise and opportunities for international trade created by England’s provincial retailers, particularly as part of family networks, is therefore uncovered.     

CBC'S “THE WORLD AT SIX” LOOKS AT THE U.S.–CONTENT ANALYSIS AS AN AID TO UNDERSTANDING THE MEDIA

The bi-national conference on mass media news flow between Canada and the United States, held September 23–25, 1976, in Syracuse, New York, featured many prominent news and government personnel from both sides of the border. While stimulating, the conference was hampered by the lack of scientific and dispassionate factual evidence. This article reports the findings of an exploratory analysis of the CBC radio program “The World At Six” in order to demonstrate how content analysis can add an objective, systematic and quantitative dimension to discussions of U.S.-Canada news flow. Thoughts and papers presented at the Syracuse conference are reviewed. A call is made for longitudinal content analyses of the mass media content of communications media on both sides of the border.     

DONKEY FODDERS OF THE HOUSE OF THE LADY AND DECLINE OF URUKAGINA＇S REGIME FROM HIS FIFTH YEAR

In JAC16, I have discussed the development of the House of the Lady in Girsu from the rule of Enentarzi to Lugalanda according to the ration lists of the House,which include the fodder lists, and concluded that Urukagina was the legal successor of Lugalanda and there might not be the so-called “reforms of Urukagina” in Lagash and Girsu. In this article, I would like to continue to investigate the kinds, number and fodders of the donkeys from the rule of Enentarzi to the end years of Urukagina and tried to find the clues for the decline of Lagash under Uruka~ina.     

THE LOVELY PEOPLE ON THE PLATEAU——AN INTERVIEW ON CHARITY PROGRAMS IN YUSHU

<正>Three years ago,I was supposed to join a charity organization in Yushu,Qinghai,as a teacher.I had to drop that idea due to a few issues I had,but I never stop thinking about them.I feel sorry for not being there as I promised I would,I continually hope that I can do something for them.That is why I started an interview with Xu Guilan,     

BEHIND THE DALAI LAMA‘S HOLY CLOAK(Ⅰ)

Editor‘s Note:Note:Dalai Lama has been changed so popular these years that it seems he becomes a logo to some extent.But who is the Dalai Lama?Most of people are puzzled.Not long before I read a couple of papers and enjoyed them very much.Maybe our readers are willing to share them and interested them.Here are excerpts from them. The one is from Michael Backman,who is an internationally renowned writer,columnist and speaker.He specializes in writing and speaking about Asia:its economies,politics,business...     

The Wetland on the“ROOF OF THE WORLD”

<正>The Tibetan plateau is usually referred to as the"Roof of the World".Naturally,the west part of Tibetan plateau,Ngari with high mountain ranges,is most suited to that name.     

PEOPLE IN THE BARKOR STREET：PALBAR,AN OLD MANIN SHARSASUALLEY

According to local custom in Lhasa, people refer to the area around the Jokhang Temple as ＂Barkor Street＂. ＂Lhasa＂ is ＂the Buddha＇s land＂ in Tibetan. In the hearts of Tibetan people, the Jokhang Temple is one of the most holy places because a statue of the twelve-year-old Sakyamuni is enshrined and worshiped there. Every year, the temple attracts many Tibetan Buddhist monks and disciples come from far away and pay homage to the Buddha. As time passed, the area of Barkor Street around the Jokhang Temple has become the busiest district in Lhasa. Eight alleyways extend out from the Barkor Street. Here the old citizens of Lhasa reside, and this is where Lhasa＇s unique economy, national culture, traditional craftsmanship and local Tibetan customs and practices flourish.     

GOD＇S PEOPLE AND BUDDHISTS OF NAXI IN TIBET

Today is Sunday. Anyi, a Tibetan woman, gets up early and gets dressed. She combs her hair and tries to make herself to look smart. She takes her daughter Nyina, together with some fellow villagers, to walk toward the ehureh situated at the entrance to the village. To most of these villagers in Tsakhalho Village, this is a normal Sunday activity.     

OVER THE WATER AND ACROSS THE DESERT – TRANS-SAHARAN CONTACTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN THE 6TH AND 5TH CENTURY BC

After presenting the picture of Africa in Mediterranean minds of antiquity,this paper seeks by ways of a combined interpretation of the periplus of Hanno and Herodotus’logos on the Nasamones to investigate Carthaginian and Greek knowledge about the trans-Saharan routes und contacts of the 6th and 5th century BC.Further comparison with recent archaeological discoveries from the Iron Age in Senegal,the Niger Bend and Lake Chad illustrate that these sites were the destination of travellers from the North and that universal geographical theses concerning the course of the river Nile provided fundamental patterns of explanation and orientation for ancient explorers.Finally,it is considered why any further explorations both of the Inner African hinterland and the western seaway around the African continent were suspended in Antiquity.