Front and Back Covers,Volume 35, Number 5. October 2019

Front and back cover caption, volume 35 issue 5 Front cover This installation was part of the ‘Hurray Menstruation’ protest organized by gender activists during the Sabarimala pilgrimage of 2018–19. This protest was supported by the Kerala government as part of its ‘Renaissance’ campaign against the BJP’ s (Bharatiya Janata Party) provocative assertion of traditional Hindu values. The installation is a condensed symbol in Victor Turner's sense, with many layers of meaning. The major elements are a vulva, alongside an image of the Constitution of India, centrally mediated by a woman blowing a trumpet - an expression of freedom from repressive and oppressive moral values espoused by the dominant middle class. The installation draws attention to oppressive rules in Hindu religiosity and ritual practice that target women as polluting due to biological processes particular to them. By contrast, the installation attributes positive values to these ‘polluting’ processes instead. Back cover THE PARABLE OF THE FOOTBRIDGE A footbridge in the wetlands. Where will it lead? ‘The between’ is a powerful theme in ritual and mythical traditions the world over. However, different traditions will express ‘the between’ in different ways. As described by Paul Stoller in this issue, Sufi traditions hold the bridge as a major symbol for barzakh, a space that links two distinct domains - a place that is between things, a space that separates the known from the unknown, the comprehensible from the incomprehensible, a nebulous space that compels the imagination. The footbridge is the epitome of ‘the between’, of being neither here nor there, of being liminal. On the footbridge, you may not know your front from your back or your past from your present. In this neither space, uncertainty seeps into your being. Where will your steps take you? If you make it to the other side, will things be different? Will you be the same person? The existential crisis of ‘the between’ that one finds on the footbridge can bring disruption, turbulence and stress. Amid this risky and unstable state of ‘negative capability’, the mind is sometimes cleared of clutter as one enters a space of imagination, creativity, innovation and invention. Are contemporary anthropologists ready to risk disruption and invention so we can follow the sinuous path to the anthropological future? If we move forward, what will we find on the other side of the footbridge?     

3. THE EXPRESSION OF HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE

The theory and philosophy of history (just like philosophy in general) has established a dogmatic dilemma regarding the issue of language and experience: either you have an immediate experience separated from language, or you have language without any experiential basis. In other words, either you have an immediate experience that is and must remain mute and ineffable, or you have language and linguistic conceptualization that precedes experience, provides the condition of possibility of it, and thus, in a certain sense, produces it. Either you join forces with the few and opt for such mute experiences, or you go with the flow of narrative philosophy of history and the impossibility of immediacy. Either way, you end up postulating a mutual hostility between the nonlinguistic and language, and, more important, you remain unable to account for new insights and change. Contrary to this and in relation to history, I am going to talk about something nonlinguistic—historical experience—and about how such historical experience could productively interact with language in giving birth to novel historical representations. I am going to suggest that, under a theory of expression, a more friendly relationship can be established between experience and language: a relationship in which they are not hostile to but rather desperately need each other. To explain the occurrence of new insights and historiographical change, I will talk about a process of expression as sense‐formation and meaning‐constitution in history, and condense the theory into a struck‐through “of ,” as the expression of historical experience.     

Informal institutional change in De Achterhoek region: from citizen initiatives to participatory governance

As in other European countries, the formal planning task of Dutch governments is subjected to devolution and austerity measures. Not only did these developments lead to outsourcing planning tasks to lower-level governments, also citizens are increasingly ‘invited’ to take responsibility for providing public facilities and services. In De Achterhoek, a Dutch region, these shifts are amplified due to population change and traditional active citizenship, and led to institutional change. Since a decade local governments stimulate citizen initiatives, under the umbrella of participatory governance. This process of institutional change did not alter formal institutions, but was the result of an informal and dialectic process between local governments and citizen organizations. In this paper, we will demonstrate the process of change and how it affected planning practices in De Achterhoek, building on theories of informal institutional change and its driving forces. The empirical part of this paper draws on the results of three focus group meetings, in which a diverse set of local stakeholders discussed the effects of change they observed and how it shaped planning practices. In the final section, we reflect on the degree of institutionalization, by examining the robustness and resilience of the observed change.     

宁夏回族社区不同地域类型空间结构变化的规律性研究——以宁夏回族自治区泾源县为例

本文以宁夏回族自治区泾源县为调查样本,通过实地调研,科学划分出宁夏回族社区的四种基本地域类型:川地型、坡地型、半川半坡型和河谷型。总结了各类社区的外部形态、内部格局等空间结构特征及其变化的规律性。分析了回族聚居区人文环境对回族社区空间结构的影响。指出了宁南山区回族社区空间结构未来发展演化趋向是:扩张川地型社区,向大村落、城镇化推进;搬迁改造坡地型、半川半坡型社区,向科学合理的空间结构演绎;抑制河谷型社区发展,向高宽阶地集聚。     

Is Fish Health Food or Poison? Farmed Fish and the Material Production of Un/Healthy Nature*

Abstract: This paper contributes to scholarship on health and environment by focusing on connections between human health and political economy of seafood. The contemporary rise of aquaculture is an effort on the part of the seafood industry to escape the contradictions of capital that create crisis in capture fisheries. Yet intensive aquaculture may also create human health problems that contribute to new crises. Aquaculture practices not only increase production of healthful fish, but also lead to fish burdened with chemical pollutants about which there are a variety of health concerns. These health concerns pose problems for producers who may not be able to sell contaminated seafood. By examining the intertwined biochemical and social processes that produce multiple natures (fish bodies, human bodies and the aquatic environment), the paper shows that concerns about health are not only an outcome of political economic processes, but are also an explanatory factor in these processes.     

The “Environment Making State” and Climate Change: The French “Cat Nat” Reinsurance Scheme Under Strain

In 2012, SCOR, one of the world's largest reinsurers, sued the French state, challenging a public–private natural disaster insurance scheme, called the “cat nat” regime. It campaigned in favour of a “real” natural disaster insurance market. The purpose of this paper is to grasp the logic of this litigation. It reveals growing tensions regarding the insurance of natural disasters, against the backdrop of climate change. To make sense of this, we will build on Christian Parenti's theory of the “environment making state”. This approach aims at understanding the interaction between capitalism, states, and nature. The question we will pose is: what happens to “environment making” institutions in times of crisis? Crisis leads to the “politicisation” of “environment making”: decisions concerning the management of natural hazards are increasingly taken by the executive branch. This “politicisation” may represent an important evolution in the relationship between capitalism, states, and nature in the future.     

陕西城市规模效益分析

本文首先通过对国内外目前城市规模效益研究状况进行总结,然后,运用灰色关联分析方法对陕西省十三个城市规模效益分别从经济、社会、环境三方面进行实证研究,最后,结合陕西省目前城市规模等级结构特点,提出了城市规模效益达到最佳的策略。     

‘They never pass me the ball’: exposing ableism through the leisure experiences of disabled children,young people and their families

In this paper, we explore the participation of disabled children, young people and their families in leisure activities. Drawing on the accounts of disabled children, young people, and their parents and careers, we reflect on the leisure spaces that they access and record some of their experiences within them. Using the concept of ‘ableism’ [Campbell, F. K. 2009. Contours of Ableism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan] we interrogate the data gathered as part of a two-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council Does Every Child Matter, post-Blair? The interconnections of disabled childhoods' (RES-062-23-1138). By doing so we identify some of the inherent and embedded discriminations in favour of those children and young people who are perceived to be ‘able’ that simultaneously work to exclude the young ‘kinds of people’ [Hacking, I. 2007. “Kinds of People: Moving Targets.” Proceedings of the British Academy 151: 285–318] categorised as ‘disabled’ and their families from leisure facilities and opportunities. We suggest that currently, disabled families and children occupy a mix of ‘mainstream’, ‘segregated’ and ‘separate’ leisure spaces. We discuss the impact of occupying these spaces and ask what the experiences of accessing leisure by disabled children, young people and their families reveal about the processes and practices of ableism.     

通勤时间的幸福绩效——基于中国家庭追踪调查的实证研究

幸福不仅是个人的心愿,也是城市管理者的执政目标之一,因此,对于城市中普遍存在的通勤时间过长所带来的心理影响研究十分必要。本文采用中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据,考察了通勤时间对于个人主观幸福感的影响。实证结果显示,通勤时间对于个人幸福感存在显著的负向影响,随着个人通勤时间的增加,个人幸福感也随之降低。通勤时间与生活满意度也同样呈现显著的负相关,这也证明了结论的稳健性。通过进一步考察通勤时间负面影响的异质性发现,通勤时间对幸福感的影响在不同社会群体间存在差异,对于个人收入高、教育程度高、家庭收入高的居民而言,通勤时间所造成的负面心理影响更大。因此,政府应重视通勤对居民幸福感的影响,并致力于提高交通效率。     

旅游业发展趋势与面临压力:2012-2050

国内大学的旅游研究已有30余载,1980年代没有因特网和信息技术影响,那时可否推测2012年的旅游业动态呢?2012—2050年旅游发展态势又将如何?本文首先确定经济、人口、年龄分布、气候等旅游发展动力。然后根据Yeoman教授提出的"旅游前景"设想,以资源多少和政治合作对抗两个动力维度构成矩阵,引用其"生态天堂"单元提出启示。最后预测新技术推动未来旅游更快、更大规模地发展,但会受制于多种压力,环境保护需求凸显。新旅游将基于新技术操纵人们感受的模式,并在新兴的大型城市间进行。旅游学者则要在更广阔的社会技术场景和城市规划中来研究旅游。     

Masculinity,Autobiography and History

Men's history—masculine history, if you will—begins when we redefine our usual notion of historical significance and when we shift our usual frame of reference. Once we have made these two conceptual adjustments, we uncover some secrets hidden in the familiar landscape of the past. More often—and ultimately more important—as we shift our angle of vision, we recognise new meanings in the evidence that lay in front of our eyes all along.¹ A man would never set out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male. But if I wish to define myself I must first of all say: ‘I am a woman’; a man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex, it goes without saying that he is a man.²     

Diagnostic criteria for developmental dislocation of the hip in human skeletal remains

Dislocation is the most severe form of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). It significantly impairs hip function in the young, and may lead to debilitating early‐onset osteoarthritis in adults. To our knowledge no thorough study of a large skeletal population has ever been undertaken to determine the wide range of diagnostic criteria for this condition in pathological specimens. To identify these criteria we have analysed the cases of developmental dislocation from a large series of 6000 individuals (6580 hips) from the medieval cemetery at Spitalfields in London, UK. We describe the changes at the true acetabulum, and have created a four‐stage classification of the false acetabulum. The skeletal response to the altered biomechanics and limb shortening that occurs in developmental dislocation is described in the pelvis, lower limb and spine. This includes asymmetric growth in childhood, and asymmetric degenerative change in adulthood. We conclude with a discussion of the clinical literature on developmental dislocation of the hip that will aid palaeopathologists to estimate the symptoms that an excavated individual may have experienced during their lifetime. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biodiversity and Nature Conservation: Some Common Arguments and Alternative Views

Abstract

The impact of human activities on the environment is perhaps now reaching its greatest level of awareness in human history. There is concern regarding health effects of pollutants generated by industry, climate change related to burning of fossil fuels and effects of anthropogenic activities in terms of promoting the extinction of biological species. Proposals are being put forward at local, national and international levels to preserve biodiversity. It is commonly believed that human activities, if not controlled, will lead to dramatic decreases in the earth's biodiversity. In this report, temporal perspectives of biodiversity (e.g. from palaeontology) are emphasized both as reasons for conservation and as possible errors of reasoning in conservation debates. Questions and novel implications related to an integral view of humans as a part of nature are also presented in the context of related environmental issues.     

The Surface Alteration Features of Flint Artefacts as a Record of Environmental Processes

This paper introduces a method to study the degree of change that affected a prehistoric context as the result of environmental processes. It is based on the direct examination of a representative sample of stone tool by-products, and on the identification of all surface alteration features. We summarize the theoretical bases for the formation of some wear features and the main results of a number of experiments involving interaction between chert flakes and sediments. Experimental results include: (1) the wear rate of flakes is not constant; (2) the wear rate increases as the size of the grains that compose the matrix increases; (3) fine grained chert resists wear better then coarse grained chert; and (4) the presence of moisture will trigger some chemical reactions that promote wear and the formation of films on chert surfaces. We apply these findings to the cave site of Grotta di Pozzo, Italy, and conclude that, strictly within the area sampled, there is low degree of disturbance and low intensity of chemical processes that may, however, confound the reconstruction of human activities in this part of the cave.     

The Human Role in Earth Surface Systems: Some Theoretical Considerations

Studies of human influences on the environment may treat human agency as an imposed, exogenous source of change or disturbance, or as an intrinsic part of earth surface systems. Consideration of human influences as exogenous or endogenous to earth surface systems can affect, or even predetermine, the outcome of analyses. This is demonstrated via qualitative stability analyses of generalized mass-and-energy-flux systems. When human impacts are considered as external disturbances such systems are stable, and will regain equilibrium after changes or perturbations. Conversely, when human impacts are included as a system component, with goals of either maximizing or minimizing throughput of mass and energy, the system is inherently unstable.     

Policy Diffusion and Strategies for Promoting Policy Change: Evidence From California Local Gun Control Ordinances

Recent research efforts on policy innovation and diffusion largely have focused upon policymaking at the state government level. In this article we seek to develop an understanding of the ways momentum for policy change can be generated among receptive local governments. We use gun control policymaking within California to illustrate how local government characteristics, the presence of regional associations, and the establishment of interest groups may lead to policy development and diffusion. We also identify linkages between interest groups, focusing events, and the successful use of a new image of gun violence as a public health problem, yielding insights into strategies that may be used successfully to promote policy change.     

论宋代的生物资源保护

针对当时社会、生态环境的较大变化,宋代制定并实施了一系列保护生物资源的措施,其中主要有：设置其管理、保护机构,进行生物资源保护的宣传、教育,制定其保护法令,禁止乱砍滥伐森林,不得非时、违法捕猎鸟兽,不许向朝廷上贡珍禽异兽,鼓励植树造林,营建保护性的林带、园林与苑囿,重视森林防火与防治虫害等,从而在一定程度上减缓了当时的生态环境受到破坏或在局部地区继续恶化的现象,并表现出鲜明的时代特点。     

Are you willing to be made nothing? Is Commonwealth reform possible?

A new round of Commonwealth reform proposals commenced at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting of 2009. An ensuing report, titled A Commonwealth of the people: time for urgent reform, contained a long list of proposals that eventually resulted in 2013 in the adoption of the Commonwealth Charter. Many classic international organizations are in need of reform, but this is, of course, challenging. This new Commonwealth reform process will not lead to satisfying changes and will not make it a more relevant actor in global governance. The year 2015 marks the Commonwealth Secretariat's first half‐century. We take this symbolic marker to push for a forward‐looking exercise, arguing that because the true nature of the Commonwealth is often misunderstood, a better understanding of the organization is essential before embarking on any successful change‐management project. In the article we identify four different kinds of Commonwealth: three of a ‘formal’ nature (the official, bureaucratic and the people's Commonwealth) and a fourth ‘informal’ one (Commonwealth Plus). By describing the potential of these four different kinds of Commonwealth, we can anticipate better the challenges with which the Commonwealth network is faced, both internal (including its mandate, its British imperial past and dominance, the organization's leadership and its membership) and external (other international organizations, other Commonwealths, rivalry with regional organizations and the rise of global policy networks). Consequently, this should lead to a better and more sustainable debate about the Commonwealth's future role in global governance.     

Climate change and security: examining China's challenges in a warming world

The environment is increasingly affected by global climate change. While the causes of climate change are generated across the globe, the impacts of climate change will be highly variable at the local level. An increased scientific understanding of the potential impacts that climate change may have within China has raised new concern among China's leaders. Given that China's domestic realities inform its international policy choices, understanding how climate change may affect its population and natural resources is critical to global climate stabilization efforts. This article examines how the impacts of climate change on China, and China's response, will drive security challenges domestically, as well as in the greater Asian region and around the world. It shows that the impact of climate change on China will be significant and may have sizable adverse economic implications, particularly on vulnerable east coast economic centers. Water scarcity is a problem that already challenges China's leadership and one that will be exacerbated under projected climate impacts. In addition, the country faces the risk of international retaliation should it fail to undertake serious greenhouse gas mitigation actions. Yet China is not without options, and is already well poised to become a leader in the low-carbon technology revolution.     

略论商周时期青铜卣的起源问题——以罐形卣为例

青铜卣是商周青铜礼器中比较重要的盛酒器之一,常出土于规格比较高的墓葬之中。它的分布范围比较广,东北到辽宁,西北至甘肃,西南达广西,都能看到它的踪影;形制变化多样,腹部