KARDOI TOWNSHIP IN GYANGZE:On the Way to Better Life

Marchisthehightimeforspringploughing.PeopLeinKardoiTownship,GyangzeCountywerebusywithconstructionofitrigationworks,ploughingorplantingtreeswhenthisreporterAnved.Makingmoreincomelastyearhaswhettedtheirappetiteforabetterlife.LocatedinsouthernTibet,GyangzeCo…     

岩石雕琢永恒

埃塞狡比亚拉斯塔山脉上“一座新的耶路撤冷城”埋藏着所罗门王和示巴女王的传奇故事,而那“用一整块岩石建造的教堂”是上帝、经书和信仰雕琢的永恒。     

CLASSIFYING PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES: THE CASE OF MANINKA FARMERS IN SOUTHWESTERN MALI

This article argues that understanding how people classify physical geographic features is necessary for identifying fundamental, cross‐cultural geographic concepts that are required for successful communication of geographic knowledge. Academic geographers have not given sufficient attention to systems of local geographic knowledge, even though promising theoretical frameworks exist, particularly in the field of ethnoecology. However, the research approach that has characterized ethnoecology is insufficient to develop ethnogeography as a field of inquiry, because ethnoecologists have overemphasized limited aspects of local knowledge systems, such as soils, which has often led researchers to incompletely sample local knowledge systems. Using ethnographic methods, this article analyses the content and structure of physical geographic knowledge in the Maninka language as spoken in southwestern Mali, and compares Maninka knowledge to that of other cultural groups. The results suggest that broad physical geographic concepts may be shared pan‐environmentally, but that most physical geographic knowledge is contained in culturally specific classifications embedded within a broad cross‐cultural framework. Academic geographers should expect only broad correspondence between their categories of physical geographic variation and those of people who classify biophysical features according to local knowledge systems. Finally, this article also shows that ethnoecological research will be advanced if geographic theories of place are given more prominence in ethnoecological studies.     

THE TRANSFORMATION OF RELIGIOUS LIFE IN RURAL TIBETAN HOUSEHOLDS

<正>Since Tibet Autonomous Region was founded in 1965,the Tibetan people have been in charge of their own affairs under the system of regional ethnic autonomy and religious freedom,with normal religious activities being respected and guaranteed.Taking Namseling Village in Chanang County,Lhoka Prefecture,and Lepu Village in Lhatse County,Shigatse,two common villages in Tibet,as examples,     

POCKETS FULL OF MISTAKES: THE PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES OF RELIGIOUS CHANGE IN A TORAJA VILLAGE

This paper analyses the personal consequences of religious change in a Toraja village, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It describes how Toraja villagers traditionally define and respond to wrongdoing and then examines their ambivalent reactions to alternatives suggested by Christianity. The paper argues that studies which attempt to evaluate the relative costs and benefits of religious change should specify the subjectively perceived ‘fit’ between old and new religious conceptions and should examine the manner in which individuals use cultural symbols and institutions to order and make sense of their everyday experience.     

WINNING THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF FARMERS: INSTITUTIONALIZED INNOVATION DIFFUSION IN SRI LANKA

Classical diffusion research, both in geography and sociology, received considerable criticism in the 1970s and 1980s, but after that the diffusion debate has faded away. At the same time, one of the earliest contributors to diffusion research, Gabriel Tarde, is now attracting the attention of both geographers and sociologists. Drawing on earlier experiences with agricultural extension and the Green Revolution, this Tarde‐inspired article aims to revitalize the diffusion debate through an ethnographic case study of extension practices in Hambantota District, Sri Lanka. The study is based on field material collected between 2009 and 2011, which includes semi‐structured interviews with representatives from various spread agencies – government agricultural instructors, NGOs, social enterprises, and the inorganic industry – as well as with farmers and other key informants. Following the recent work of Nigel Thrift, it is argued that such an approach to the study of innovation diffusion can be a way of uncovering “the political economy of propensity”. The article suggests that a return to Tarde should not lead researchers back into naïve diffusionism, or towards a position that blames traditionalist farmers for non‐diffusion. Non‐human actors can also exhibit resistance and sociality: innovations travel through a landscape which is both human and non‐human, and the spread of organic farming practices is configured by both bonds of trust among farmers and bonds of chemicals in the soil. Furthermore, it contends that future research may interrogate the ways in which the very medium of diffusion is being reconfigured, following actors' institutionalization of innovation diffusion methods.     

THE NEW LIFE OF TIBETAN FARMERS

From 2006 to 2010,Tibet Autonomous Region launched thecomfortable housing project, a program for completely regulating and upgrading the living standards of local residents. The project allowed 274.8 thousand households (about 1.4 million farmers and herdsmen)who had previously lived in substandard residences to transfer to safe and comfortable new houses while the whole region in Tibet is enjoying web and telephone access.All townships and villages,and 80 percent of constructed villages,can now access r...     

“场域-行动分析”视角：贵州西村农民的旅游抗争

随着地方社会不断卷入到旅游开发浪潮中，围绕旅游而发生的抗争日渐增多，这里称之为“旅游抗争”。旅游抗争主要发生于20世纪90年代以后，对中国地方社会的稳定和政治生态产生了重大影响。本文提出“场域-行动分析”这一新分析视角，破解“结构-制度分析”和“过程-事件分析”两种分析模式内蕴的“行动-结构”、“个人-社会”和“主观-客观”二元困境，将“结构-制度分析”化约为“场域”，具体分为社会场域和文化场域，将“过程-事件分析”化约为“行动”，具体分为行动的策略和一般演化路径。在该理论视角的关注下，本文对贵州西村旅游抗争的缘起、策略、演化路径及后果进行了完整叙事，为抗争研究提供了新视角，同时重构了二重性分析范式。