‘Waiting for Jardiwanpa’: History and Mediation in Warlpiri Fire Ceremonies

Warlpiri fire ceremonies, including Jardiwanpa, have been documented in various ethnographies and films for over 100 years. Focused on the documented history of these rituals in Yuendumu, and through ethnographic observations from recent decades, I analyse the transforming meanings of fire ceremonies in contemporary Warlpiri lives. I demonstrate that there have been post‐settlement shifts in ritual purpose due to sedentarisation and the increased connections that Warlpiri people have made to a broader world. I note in particular that, when monetary payment for performing Jardiwanpa for filmic representation became standard practice in the 1990s, the intricacies of the Dreaming were no longer central, nor were the original purposes of conflict resolution and the opening up of marriage restrictions. Several films have been made of fire ceremonies, resulting in fixed representations of what otherwise are emergent practices. This has impacted the ways in which these rituals can be held today, and Warlpiri people have had to creatively re‐negotiate a space for Jardiwanpa and similar fire ceremonies.     

Unity in the trees: Arbor Day and Republican China, 1915–1927

ABSTRACT

Scholars of modern China have overlooked the role environmental policy played in early Republican efforts to promote both modernization and national unity. Beginning in 1916, the national government in Beijing mandated that each province and county throughout the Chinese nation celebrate “Arbor Day” in order to foster a modern Chinese environmental culture. This change was made in response to global discourses that linked forest cover to a modern nation’s moral and economic health. Arbor Day coincided with the Tomb-Sweeping Festival, a day traditionally reserved for ancestor worship. Due to the vast climatic disparities within China, many governments planted Arbor Day trees under conditions that made it impossible for them to thrive. Nevertheless, officials throughout China continued to celebrate Arbor Day as proof of their loyalty to the government in Beijing. Arbor Day thus served more as an exercise in promoting national unity than in creating a viable reforestation campaign.     

水电煤:近代上海公用事业演进及华洋不同心态

上海开埠后,租界当局和外侨在英法租界创建水电煤等近代公用事业,对此上海人有过惧怕、抵制,但更多的是刺激、羡慕,并最终走向认同。华界七绅向两方先进物质文明学习,努力变被动近代化为主动近代化,在华界自办照明和供水系统等公用事业,也取得了一定的成功。租界当局和外商水电煤公司将上海城市近代化的进程完全置于他们的操纵之下,并利用其政治上的特权,从而达到扩张政治影响、扩展租界势力范围、分享巨大的经济利益的目的,但客观上也促进了上海照明和供水系统的建设,极大提高了上海城市近代化的程度。     

近代上海报贩职业群体研究

一般来说,报贩是伴随着报业的发展而产生的一种自由职业,是依附于报刊这一行业的发展而产生的。报贩职业群体的出现和发展,对于近代上海报刊业的繁荣、发展有着积极的意义。报贩职业内部也有自己的行会和组织,不同等级报贩的生活状况有着天壤之别。他们共同推动了城市市民文化的发展。     

从零售革命到消费革命:以近代上海百货公司为中心

Following the Industrial Revolution in Europe and America, the market was flooded with manufacturing goods. To promote sales, the department store that stressed a “low profit, high volume” model appeared in Shanghai. Sellers lowered prices to encourage purchases, and used rapid and high volume turnover to make up for lower profits. To speed up turnover, department stores invented various devices to increase sales, including intensive media advertising, open and comfortable store spaces, and free and attentive services. The new sales philosophy and tactics not only brought about a breakthrough in the retailing, but also reshaped consumer life and urban culture. The Shanghai department store evinced the social and cultural meaning of consumption in its building and inner design, its application of new technology, and its promotional activities and products display. A consumer lifestyle centering on the department store also remolded the Shanghai society. __________ Translated by Yang Kai-chien from Lishi Yanjiu 历史研究 (Historical Research), 2008, (5): 76–93     

以上海为例看晚清时期社会生活方式及观念的变迁

晚清时期,上海的商业化、城市化生活环境变化,引起了人们生活方式的变动,出现了如洋货流行、从商之风、尊卑失序、女子走上社会、追求享乐等新社会风尚,导致传统伦理衰坏,同时也孕育产生了近代市场意识、近代工商观念、社会平等观念、功利主义及肯定人欲、自由的近代伦理观念。反映出生活方式的变动是引起近代生活伦理观念变迁的中介和启动力量。     

光绪大婚全纪录：《大婚典礼红档》

在清宫里,最喜庆热闹、最复杂隆重、最奢侈浪费的活动即是皇帝的大婚典礼,但不是每位皇帝都有幸在紫禁城里举办婚礼,只有幼年登极的顺治、康熙、同治、光绪四位皇帝,真正举行了大婚礼迎娶皇后。本文依据中国第一历史档案馆所藏《大婚典礼红档》,简要介绍光绪帝大婚典礼的全过程。     

英国皇家地理学会所藏上海开埠早期英租界地图考释

英国皇家地理学会收藏的一张开埠早期上海英租界的地图没有标注绘制时间。一种观点认为,该地图绘制于1846—1847年,另一种认为绘制于1844—1847年。两种观点均属推测。根据地图上的信息,结合当时英租界的测绘情况,可以推出该地图大致绘制于1846年10月1—19日。该地图为目前所见近代上海英租界最早的一幅城市地图,为早期上海英租界城市发展史提供了有力证据,并弥补了《上海道契》记载的不足,具有十分重要的史料价值。     

近代上海虹庙的转型与城市社会空间构建

上海开埠以后,传统民间信仰赖以存续的社会环境发生改变,虹庙由官、民共同信仰转变为以妓女行业为主要信仰群体的局面,并构建出以虹庙为中心的特殊城市社会空间,进而促使公众对虹庙的意象由护国安民变为“妓女烧香的地方”。研究发现,上海开埠后,行业种类繁盛背景下妓女职业的发展,以及政府祭祀政策转变等因素是虹庙信仰变迁的主要原因。报刊、社会小说等近代传播媒介的宣传,加速了虹庙社会公众意象转变并强化了其空间属性,从而带来虹庙这一传统信仰在近代上海的转型。     

汉画像石所见周礼遗俗

本文结合文献资料,具体考释了汉代画像石中的"孔子见老子"、"胡汉战争"、"投壶"等画像,认为这些画像所反映的献挚礼、献俘礼、投壶礼皆为周代遗俗.     

从朝鲜时代的宫中仪礼看遮日的功能和特性——以19世纪以后宫中宴享为中心

朝鲜时代宫中举行仪礼行事时,经常排设和使用一种名为“遮日”的能够隔断日射和降雨的幕构造设施。作者以19世纪以后宫中宴享为中心分析了遮日的功能与特性,详细探讨了遮日的构成、种类、材料和排设方式等具体特性,并对在宫中仪礼行事的举行地如何使用遮日加以推断性的复原。     

西方人在华博物馆的本土化转向——以震旦博物院和上海博物院为例

以震旦博物院和上海博物院为代表的西方人在华建立的博物馆,除了是西方在华文化殖民的表现外,还是西方在华收集自然史信息的机构,旨在开展自然史标本收藏和研究工作,以服务西方自然史研究和了解中国的需求.到了 20世纪二三十年代,它们开始重视博物馆作为公共文化机构的作用,展览和社会教育成为这些博物馆的重要活动,并以此向中国社会开...     

媒人现象的社会作用及其演变

媒人是历史发展中的特殊民俗现象,也是一种特定的文化符号。媒人随一夫一妻制的聘娶婚的出现而出现,在防止男女乱性、保障婚姻安全、完善规范礼法等方面起着积极的历史作用。媒人不仅不会退出历史舞台,相反,在新的历史时期,媒人的社会作用将更加彰显。     

Uncrowned kings: rituals and ritual objects in eighteenth–nineteenth century Portuguese royal acclamation ceremonies

ABSTRACT

This article examines the royal acclamation ceremonies of the Portuguese crown in order to grasp the responsiveness of the institution of the monarchy and regime to the challenges of modernity throughout the delicate watershed period of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Portuguese Catholic and absolutist monarchy of the ancien régime had a strict protocol and a set of insignia of power that acted together at the moment of the acclamation and legitimation of each new king. The purpose of this research is to assess the adaptation and reinvention of these insignia and rituals according to the revolutionary demands of social change and secularization brought about by the turbulent period of the beginning of the nineteenth century: the French military invasions (1807–11); the departure of the royal family, court and administration to Brazil (1807); the liberal constitutional revolution (1820); and the civil war pitting liberals against absolutists (1832–34). The new constitutional monarchy that came out of this revolutionary flow faced many challenges of legitimacy, including the test of its capacity to create a modern royal imaginary updated to the cultural mindset of national and secular societies, and capable of bonding rulers with their people. The authors believe that the study of the acclamation ceremonies in the Portuguese constitutional monarchy can give us an accurate perspective on the quality of the symbolic image of the crown, therefore assessing the political efficiency of rituals as one of the structural aspects for institutional legitimization.     

New Ireland Malanggan Art: A Quest for Meaning

ABSTRACT Sustained scholarly interest in the malanggan carvings of New Ireland has achieved consensus regarding the social, political, and economic functions of the ceremonies in which they are used but inconclusive interpretations of the iconography of the art objects themselves continue. This paper finds an interpretation of recurring motifs in a reexamination of early reports, published and unpublished, of former burial customs. The perspective presented here supports but cannot confirm informants' insistence that the carvings are not religious but just pictures. No conclusions are reached regarding pre‐ or post‐Christian beliefs in general, but doubt is cast on their role in malanggan art. Some theoretical implications and further research directions are suggested.     

众生相：民国日常生活史研究

日常生活是人类尤其是普通民众惯常的经历和感受。日常生活史在研究内容上与社会生活史有类似之处,但它主要强调站在日常生活经历与体验的立场上观察历史、叙述历史。民国时期是中国历史上承前启后的一个重要历史阶段,日常生活既是民国历史的影子,也影响了民国历史的走向。与民国日常生活史相关的研究,多发表于上个世纪90年代中期以后,尤其是近五六年之间。这些研究大致涵盖了日常生活史的各个主要方面,一定程度上改变了民国史研究中日常生活史的失语状态。但就总体来看,自觉地以日常生活的视野进行研究者较少,尤其是缺乏个人经历、心灵体验以及对生活表象背后的意义的挖掘。     

民国时期成都平原土地转租问题探讨

Subletting land was widely practiced throughout the Chinese countryside during the early 20^th century. The various modes of land subletting in the Chengdu Plains during the Republican period included sharecropping, contracted tenancy and a large-tract tenancy system. The subletting caused many conflicts among tenants, like the transfer of tax liability, etc. The reasons why there were so many lands being leased out were: (1) The ecological pressure caused by a surplus of people with little available land. (2) The civil customs of subletting land and national laws opposed each other but also complemented each other. (3) Subletting land was a supplement of the tenancy system, and also an economic activity driven by interests. Translated by Tian Changfei from Shilin 史林 (Historical Review), 2006, (3): 85–95     

金子光晴的近代中国图像

终其一生,金子光晴都不隶属于日本主流意识形态的范畴。相对而言,他比较具有世界范畴的眼光,而较少狭隘的民族主义的立场。因为囿于日本本土的沉闷而希求一种解放的感觉,他对多元文化并存的五光十色的上海感到刺激和新鲜;因为并无对亚洲价值或东亚文化传统的强烈认同,他在对江南的历史旧迹表现出某种程度的欣赏时,也并未流露出特别的迷恋和陶醉;因为具有世界主义视野和人道主义精神,当他在京津一带看到日本人飞扬跋扈的征服者的姿态时,内心感到更多的是愤懑和痛楚。透过其所描述的中国图像,可管窥当时日本人中国观的一个侧面。