Historicization of the culture concept

Recent criticisms for culture concept targeted a vision of culture as a hermetically sealed synchronic entity tied to a spatial unit. The article urges the historicization of the concept of culture itself, rather than discarding it altogether. Culture constitutes historical processes of the interpenetration between two mutually constituent forces: the global and the local. Culture through time requires a re‐examination of such concepts as “hybridity,”; “cosmopolitanism,”; and “historical discontinuity of the present from the past.”; Three cases of Japanese historical experiences are presented as examples of possible ways to historicize anthropology.     

Fat Christians and fit elites: negotiating class and status in Evangelical Christian weight-loss culture

As American culture has become increasingly concerned about fatness, the fat body and weight loss have become salient symbols for other social tensions. This article uses the case of evangelical Christian weight-loss culture to argue that class is one of those tensions. Drawing on ethnographic work in a Christian weight-loss program as well as on recent theories of class, I argue that certain recurring concerns in Christians’ weight-loss discourse, notably concerns about fat Christian leaders and appearing healthy, reflect tensions about class-based aspirations and class-based denigrations evangelicals face in negotiating their position in American society.     

Seoul,Korea: its concept of culture and nature in heritage planning

This paper explores the concept of heritage as part of sustainable development planning. Heritage is taken to include both the cultural and natural spheres to incorporate people, activities, landscapes, monuments, landmarks, artefacts, and nature. Heritage planning then involves the sustainable development of the cultural and natural environment to prepare for its stewardship, research, and communication for the benefit of society. This perspective leads to broader questions on approaches to heritage planning where the cultural environment is considered specifically within sustainable development planning just as the natural environment is studied separately in specialised disciplines. The paper proposes that in developing resource‐management plans the effects of cultural resources on natural resources, and vice versa, must be integrated and addressed. Seoul, Korea, an historic metropolitan city that has gone through radical political and economic changes, is examined as a case study. It identifies how the city is integrating sustainability of the contextual association of the cultural and natural environment with promotion of economic growth.     

Changing public accountability mechanisms in the governance of Dutch urban regeneration*

Contemporary urban planning dynamics are based on negotiation and contractual relations, creating fragmented planning processes. On the one hand, they trigger technocratic forms of governance, which require the ‘legal instrumentalisation’ of planning in a piecemeal approach ensuring legal certainty. On the other hand, these processes require flexibility to enable easy, fast and efficient forms of implementation due to the increasing involvement of private sector actors in urban development. This article unravels the influence of these conflicting dynamics on the fundamentals of urban planning practices by focusing on changing public accountability mechanisms created through contractual relationships between public and private sector agencies. Dutch urban regeneration has demonstrated changing governance principles and dynamics in the last three decades. Representing instrumental and institutional measures, we connect accountability mechanisms to these changes and argue that they ‘co-exist’ in multiple forms across different contexts. This article embeds this evolution in wider theoretical discussions on the changing relationships between public and private sector actors in urban governance relative to the changing role of the state, and it addresses questions on who can be held accountable, and to what extent, when public sector actors are increasingly retreating from regulatory practices while private sector actors play increasingly prominent roles.     

挖掘南昌文化内涵提升城市文化品位

“一座城市的文化,是这座城市的灵魂.“发达城市建设的经验表明,一座城市不能单纯发展经济,它还需要“城市之魂“--文化.作为一座城市的“气“和“神“,文化的发展决定和影响着城市发展的眼光、胸襟和持续发展的后劲.……     

The nation as the cradle of nationalism and patriotism

This paper argues against dismissing as ‘populist nationalism’ every positive view of one's nation and ignoring patriotism as its antithesis. The European nation exists in two senses: as a large ‘social group’, a community of real people, and as an abstract community of cultural values promoted by intellectual elites grounded in a humanities‐based education. The widespread prejudice that condemns every positive expression of one's relationship to the nation has proved counterproductive because it has prompted ever stronger spontaneous reactions in the form of primitive nationalistic egoism. This has weakened the commitment people feel towards their nation and the humanistic potential that the nation possesses as a cultural community of values. Consequently, anti‐national European intellectual elites bear some responsibility – along with those preaching neoliberal individualism – for the success of populist demagogues and the decline in patriotic values. Given the state of education today, a revival of humanist culture for national elites seems impossible, making the continued rise of primitive nationalism appear unstoppable.     

陈独秀“二次革命论”概念的由来及其表述

陈独秀"二次革命论"的概念,毛泽东等党和国家重要领导人没有使用过,党的一些重要会议和历史文献也没有使用过.1927年1月召开的中央政治局会议在对共产国际第七次扩大会议中国问题决议案的解释中最早提出"二次革命论"概念,以后蔡和森、李立三、华岗等提出并使用过这个概念.但这个概念提出后只在极小的范围和时限内使用,直到建国后,胡乔木在<中国共产党三十年>中将陈独秀的理论概括为"二次革命论",何干之、胡华、李新等学者相继采用这一说法,这一概念才被学术界广泛使用.因此,"二次革命论"概念的提出与共产国际指导中国革命有关,也与当时"左"倾情绪有关;这一概念的使用只含有学术意味,并不带有政治意味.     

现代新儒家文化哲学的核心理念

现代新儒家文化哲学的核心理念是其文化价值观。这种文化价值观认为,人类文化的价值集中体现在精神文化,精神文化区分为形而下文化与形而上文化,形而上文化的核心是哲学思想。现代新儒家标举和阐扬儒家式的人文主义,反对片面地发展人类文化中属于工具理性的科学技术,谋求中国文化现代化过程中科学价值与人文价值的结合。但是,现代新儒家所追求的人文价值归根结蒂乃是道德价值。论者一般将现代新儒学的文化保守主义归结为以下两项:其一是中体西用的思想纲领,其二是泛道德主义的价值取向。本文则认为,中体西用的思想纲领归根结蒂也还是体现了泛道德主义的价值取向。现代新儒家在力图抵制和消除科学主义所导致的现代社会弊病,谋求科学与人文平衡发展的同时,以其泛道德主义的价值取向,表现并凸显了现代新儒学的文化保守主义思想。     

From sedition to patriotism: performance, place, and the reinterpretation of American ethnic identity

Between the two World Wars, many Americans changed their attitudes toward ethnic minorities and their place within American civic culture. States such as Wisconsin, with its dense concentration of diverse immigrant groups, came under especially harsh fire during the Great War, only to be celebrated 20 years later as microcosms of a pluralist democracy. Although much has been written about this profound transformation of American ethnic identity from the perspective of «official culture», or those governing élites in power, less is known about the role of immigrant communities themselves in this change. Examination of the intertwining of ideology with the social manifestations of cultural performance in one Wisconsin community provides a way to interpret the elusive experience of ordinary people. In the case of two interwar Swiss American cultural performances, a view of ethnic culture emerges that sought to refashion a more inclusive definition of what it meant to be American. In the process of redefining their own identity, third generation Swiss strategically used such performance-based memory work. Their efforts not merely reflected, but shaped a discourse of ethnicity between the wars that became decreasingly antagonistic and gradually more open to ethnic and cultural difference.     

Precarious masculinities and gender as pedagogy: aesthetic advice-encounters for the Dutch urban economy

In the context of precarious post-Fordist urban labour markets, Dress for Success in the Netherlands, a non-profit working in the context of the welfare state, provides dress advice to a majority of men. Dress advice consists of moments in which demands for immaterial labour find material translations into items of clothing. Building on ethnographic observations, I argue that dress advice-encounters should be seen as exercises in adaptability to new and ever changing economic circumstances. In these pedagogies, gender is a key instrument. Rather than a straightforward feminization of the economy, what is at stake is a performance of openness towards becoming adaptable to future labour market demands. Asking men to depart their attachments to Fordist working class masculinities and its material translations is an exercise toward becoming pliable enough for post-Fordist precarious labour markets.     

Entrepreneurs,elites and the ruling class: the changing structure of power and wealth in Australian society

In the 1970s and 1980s there was a surge of research concerning power and wealth in Australian society. One line of inquiry was framed in terms of ‘elites’, the other in terms of the ‘ruling class’. This article builds upon both lines of inquiry, exploring the new wave of entrepreneurs and their articulation with the structure of power and wealth. It does so through qualitative interviews with 43 individuals drawn from the Business Review Weekly ‘Rich 200’ list. The article finds that the institutions at the top levels of Australian business and society have become more specialised, diffuse and far-flung than was the case in earlier times. At the very least, it suggests some kind of radical reconfiguration of connections, trust and solidarity between elite groups. It remains a challenge to develop more finely tuned ways of understanding this process in terms of class analysis.     

革命与生意——以辛亥革命时期的上海为例

From 1911 to 1913, in big streets and small lanes, in famous parks and thriving stores, and in tea houses and grand restaurants located in such cities as Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing and Wuchang, numerous business opportunities were born out of the Revolution of 1911. By using the political giants and military leaders around Shanghai, business firms skillfully dealt with the difficulties of the continually changing political situation and managed to keep their businesses afloat, succeeding in their response to the consumption demands of the public. It can be argued that the Revolution of 1911 played a distinct role in the development of businesses in Shanghai during that time. __________ Translated by Zhong Chen from Shilin 史林 (Historical Review), 2008, (3): 137–150