重构世界历史的挑战

弗兰克的《白银资本》中译本问世后，引起中国学界较热烈的反响，出现了尖锐对立的意见。这既在预料之中，又在预料之外。     

周期理论与长时段——也谈《白银资本》

由安德烈·贡德·弗兰克 (AndreG Frank)所著的《白银资本》引起了国内学者的高度关注 ,不少学者曾围绕该书展开过集中探讨和争鸣。眼下围绕《白银资本》的争论似乎已经告一段落 ,本文打算就《白银资本》一书所论及的几个具体问题 ,再谈一点自己的看法和感想。周期理论和长时段在《白银资本》一书中 ,弗兰克反复强调他使用的是进行横向整合的整体主义研究方法 ,即从全球视野的角度出发 ,把个别地区的历史发展放置到全球历史的大背景中进行考察 ,从全球层面把发生在世界各地的事件和进程联系起来。实际上 ,除了这种空间上的横向综合之外 ,…     

再看《白银资本——重视经济全球化中的东方》

贡德·弗兰克的《白银资本——重视经济全球化中的东方》一书批判"欧洲中心论",强调了亚洲(尤其是东亚的中国)在世界近代早期历史上的重要地位。本文对《白银资本》进行重新思考,对书中存在的一些问题浅显地表达个人的不同意见。     

对现代性的否定与自我否定－－读贡德·费兰克的《白银资本》

《白银资本》是一部对现代性的彻底的反叛之作 ,它力图以泛化的世界体系来对抗欧洲中心论 ,否定现代性 ,但这一激进的理论设想并未能实现 ,而是在世界体系的框架、中国中心论 ,以及世界体系中心的转移等三个基本问题上 ,都暴露出理论的贫乏 ,最终走向了理论的自我否定     

真实与虚幻：全球视野中的近代早期世界经济图景

安德列·贡德·弗兰克(ＡｎｄｒｅＧｕｎｄｅｒＦｒａｎｋ)撰写的《白银资本———重视经济全球化中的东方》一书①,尽管在很大程度上仍是借助“现代世界体系”的视角提出、分析和解答问题,但他为自己设立的目标却是革命性的:这就是从根本上否定构成了19世纪和20世纪社会理论的基础和核心的那些问题,并建构更符合实际证据的新社会理论。从这部著作出版后所引起的强烈反响和争论来看,弗兰克至少部分地实现了自己的目标。当然,他提出的极具挑战性的新思路能否站得住脚,能否像他自己期望的那样取代传统观念成为学术理论界的“规范认识”,还有待…     

为什么还要重读《白银资本:重视经济全球化中的东方》

细心的读者可能会发现一个有趣的现象:《白银资本:重视经济全球化中的东方》①(以下简称《白银资本》)(Andre Gunder Frank,Reorient:Global Economy in the Asian Age,the University of California Press,1998)于2000年在我国出版发行后,除了本书的译者刘北成外,很少有世界史领域学者参与讨论。     

农业的全球化：大米贸易的警示

近年来 ,全球化问题是国际和国内社会科学许多领域讨论得最热烈的话题之一。占统治地位的观点认为 :全球化和世界体系是从近代开始的 ,这一体系以西欧资本主义为中心 ,向边缘地区、次边缘地区发散 ;或者 ,资本主义世界体系把世界划分为主宰国家和附属国家 ,等等。总之 ,这种观点认为 ,世界体系的中心是欧洲和北美。贡德·弗兰克的《白银资本》对这一占统治地位的观点提出挑战 ,认为整体的世界体系不是从资本主义开始的 ,它在很早以前就存在了 ;它不是存在五百年 ,而是五千年。他通过研究 1 6 40年的世界史 ,特别是围绕白银资本在一些国家所产生的作用 ,认为那个时候 ,世界体系的中心不是在西方 ,而是在东方。无独有偶 ,现任美国农业历史学会主席彼得·考克莱尼斯也对这一传统观点提出了挑战 ,但是 ,他论点的提出是建立在更有充分论据的基础上。他赞同《共产党宣言》中马克思和恩格斯关于资本主义对全球一体化产生了积极作用的观点 ,但是 ,他进一步认为 ,全球化是一个非常复杂的问题。他通过对世界一体化大米市场形成历史的考察 ,提出 :全球化问题不是一个新问题 ,它已有很长的历史 ;今天工业和服务业的全球化似乎是重复和再现很久以前农业全球化的现象 ;而且 ,全球化进程中国家对国家的影响不是单方向的     

美国经济考察团来华与中美经济关系

1935年春,当中日关系不断紧张、中国国内经济势日趋恶化时,中美之间进行过一次重要的经济交往——美国经济考察团六来华。当时中美经济关系有以下几个特征：第一,受世界经济危机影响,中美贸易出现萎缩趋势;第二,美国自公布《白银购买法》(Silver Pur—chase Act)以来,连续多次通过有关白银法案,抬高银价,大肆收购白银,导致中国白银大量外流,中国金融市场出现恐慌。     

明代白银货币称量形态对国家—社会关系的含义

<正>明代中国发生了诸多前所未有的变化,其中非常重要的一种变化是白银成为占主导地位的货币,关于这一转变的历程及其对于赋税、财政体制的变革意义,已经许多学者加以考察论证,并构成了大致的共识。近年来对此问题研究较多且深入的是万明发表的系列论文,包括《明代白银货币化的初步考察》(《中国经济史研究》2003年第2期)、《明代货币白银化与制度变迁》(《暨南史学》,暨南大学出版社2003年版)、《明代白银货币化与明朝兴衰》(《明史研究论丛》第6辑,黄山书社2004年版)、《白     

贡德·弗兰克谈《白银资本》

今年 5月 2 6日 ,《白银资本》一书的作者安卓·贡德·弗兰克 (ＡｎｄｒｅＧｕｎｄｅｒＦｒａｎｋ)在中国社会科学院世界史所就这本书做了报告。他讲了三个问题 :一、进行世界史研究的四个规则1 列奥波德·冯·兰克说过 :实际上 ,只有普遍历史 ,没有别的历史。这是他说的 ,并非他做的。要照兰克说的去做 ,不要照他做的去做。因为他是欧洲中心论 ,他说中国、印度没有历史。布罗代尔也是研究欧洲史 ,但不要照他做的去做。他只研究了欧洲中世纪史。研究历史应该是总体史。不要象我这样只做了一半 ,只研究经济史。世界史象一个三条腿的凳子 ,有…     

Telling small stories: spaces of knowledge and the practice of geography

This article examines how the practice of learning geography, and the arenas in which knowledge-making takes place, can be usefully positioned within changing histories of the discipline. It contends that networks of action – understood through the intersection of social sites, subjects and sources – present a conceptual framework and narrative focus for the re-consideration of specific episodes from geography's past. The interventions made here are informed and illustrated by a 'small story' about the doing of geography. Based on different personal accounts, the story revives a series of events, encounters, dialogues and images dating back to the winter of 1951 at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland. This educational institution in the Cairngorm mountains offered children from urban areas the opportunity to learn field studies and the skills of 'outdoor citizenship'. Initially, the focus falls on Margaret Jack, a 14-year-old field-course participant. Her learning experiences are traced through personal letters, a diary and a field journal dating from that time, and her recent recollections of this event. Margaret's account dovetails with the story of her field studies instructor, Robin Murray. Robin's role is traced through his learning experiences as a geography undergraduate at Aberdeen University, and the recent recollections of Catriona Murray, his wife.     

Das Wissen der Schulden. Recht,Kulturtechnik und Alltagserfahrung im liberalen Kapitalismus

The Knowledge of Debt: Law, Media Technique, and Everyday Experience in Liberal Capitalism. Performing an object such as ‘the economy’ hinges on practices of formatting knowledge. The article proposes to look at such instituting moments in connection with social conflicts over the legitimate rules of exchange. This is exemplified by way of recounting the story of the codification of Swiss bankruptcy law in 1889. In order to homogenize the legal procedures of debt collection and bankruptcy, two subject categories were instituted: ‘merchants’ and ‘non-merchants’. These different categories were thought to account for the diverging temporalities and spaces of credit exchange in everyday economic life. The introduction of the commercial register, a media-technical apparatus, enabled a formal distinction between ‘merchants’ and ‘non-merchants’. However, this boundary was contested and proved to be porose.     

Two radiocarbon dates for freshwater shells from hierakonpolis: Archaeological and geological interpretations

Shells of two species of freshwater bivalve (Unio willcocksi Bullen Newton and Etheria elliptica Lamarck) from the predynastic Gerzean (Nagada II) Decorated Tomb at Hierakonpolis, Egypt have given dates of 5000±90 bp for the tomb, and 12,900±120 bp for an episode of Nile terrace accumulation (correlated here with the Sahaba-Darau aggradation event). The archaeological and geological significance of these results is discussed, together with an outline of problems associated with radiocarbon dating of shell. Comparisons are made with the few other radiocarbon dates available for the Predynastic period in Egypt and possible reasons for the presence of shells in the tomb are considered.     

Some chronological implications of a fossil molluscan assemblage from a neolithic site at Brook,Kent, England

The later post-glacial history of a valley in the chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent, is described, based on molluscan stratigraphy, archaeological evidence and radio-carbon dating. Differences in size and colour banding, respectively, of fossil and living representatives of two species of land snails, Pomatias elegans (Müller) and Cepaea nemoralis (L.), are correlated with climatic change during the post-glacial period. The problems of the use of fossil shells of these species as samples for radiocarbon dating are discussed.     

China's Dynamic Industrial Sector: The Internet Industry

A Singapore-based economic geographer explores and analyzes the spatially uneven evolution of the Internet industry in China, arguing that the country's immense regional disparity in the provision of Internet services is best explained by the interplay of place- and path-dependence. The author demonstrates how the highly uneven regional endowments in relevant industrial and entrepreneurial resources have led to the substantial and persistent regional imbalance within China's emerging "new economy." His initial survey of the country's 100 leading Internet content providers (firms), identified from a listing of ca. 11,700 commercial websites, is selectively augmented to reflect an increase of over 70 million Internet users in 2007, reaching a total of 253 million in June 2008, and thus overtaking the United States as the world's largest Internet market. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L10, L86, O30. 6 figures, 1 table, 53 references.     

The 1911 International Exposition in Rome: architecture, archaeology, and national identity

This paper discusses the 1911 International Exposition in Rome and illustrates how this patriotic celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Italian Sate utilized symbolic landscapes of architecture and archaeology to promote nationalist sentiments of italianità and romanità centered on the young capital of Rome. Through modern art exhibitions at the Valle Giulia, scientific conferences at the Castel Sant’Angelo, archaeological exhibits on the Roman Empire in the Baths of Diocletian, and regional Italian pavilions in the Piazza d’Armi, exposition officials offered a complex representation of Italian national identity that was modern yet ancient, cosmopolitan yet bucolic, European yet regional, and imperial yet developing.     

The Rise and Fall of Alexander the Great – The Need for Medical Analysis: Reply to Commentaries

Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C. from an unknown cause. By elucidating the nature of his death, we can better interpret various aspects of Alexandrian history. Alexander’s death may have ensued from the sequelae of a congenital scoliotic syndrome. It would therefore be of significance to note that one of the greatest leaders in history who conquered much of the then known world may have been suffering from a physical disability.     

The Chemists' Style of Thinking

Der Denkstil der Chemiker. Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Tragfähigkeit des Begriffes “Denkstil”, wie er von Alistair Crombie eingeführt und Ian Hacking aufgegriffen wurde, für das Verständnis dessen, wie das Fach Chemie historisch seine Identität ausgeprägt hat. Obwohl weder Crombie noch Hacking den Begriff “Denkstil” in Bezug auf einzelne Disziplinen verwendet haben, erscheint im Fall der Chemie seine Anwendung besonders vielversprechend, weil er hier hilft, ein zentrales Problem zu thematisieren – nämlich die Frage, wie es Chemikern trotz wechselnder Gegenstandsbereiche und theoretischer Umbrüche gelang, eine eigenständige und stabile Identität auszubilden. Nach einer Einführung in den Begriff “Denkstil”, argumentiert der Aufsatz, dass die Beständigkeit der Chemie als eines Faches wesentlich in ihren Laborpraktiken gründet, die ihrerseits wiederum die spezifische Art der Fragen bestimmten, die Chemiker in ihren Forschungen stellten bzw. die Form der Antworten, nach denen sie suchten. Folgende Merkmale kennzeichnen diesen “chemischen Denkstil” (1) eine spezifische, im Herstellen begründete Form des Wissens, (2) die Befassung mit einzelnen Stoffen und Materialien statt mit Materie im Allgemeinen und (3) eine Beobachtung von Natur besonders im Hinblick auf Transformationsprozesse. The Chemists' Style of Thinking. This paper discusses the relevance of the notion of “styles of scientific thinking” introduced by Alistair Crombie and revisited by Ian Hacking, for understanding how chemistry shaped its identity. Although neither Crombie nor Hacking applied this notion to individual disciplines, it seems appropriate to use it in the case of chemistry because it helps to address a puzzling issue: how did chemists manage to shape an identity of their own, despite shifting territories and theoretical transformations? Following a presentation of the notion of style, I will argue that the stable identity of chemistry is rooted in laboratory practices, which determined the specific questions that chemists put to nature as well as the answers to their questions. The “chemical style of thinking” is characterized by i) a specific way of knowing through making, ii) the concern with individual materials rather than matter in general and iii) a specific commitment to nature.