Monuments and nationalism in modern Mexico

A key feature in the cultural repertoire of Mexican nationalism has been the excavation and reconstruction of the archaeological sites and monuments of the pre‐Hispanic past. They afford tangible witness to the foundations of Mexican history and the putative existence of the Mexican people in the civilisations of Mesoamerica. Although in the colonial period creole patriots identified the Aztec empire as their classical past, it was not until the Mexican Revolution that archaeological sites and monuments were integrated into the nationalism that accompanied and characterised that movement. The chief author of this cultural turn was Manuel Gamio, a professional archaeologist and liberal nationalist, whose extensive writings thus demand attention. But although he emphasised the grandeur of the pre‐Hispanic civilisation, he advocated the complete incorporation of the contemporary Indian peasantry into the Mexican nation.     

吴长庆与袁世凯关系述论

吴长庆是淮军名将、儒将,是1882年中国军队成功平定朝鲜壬午兵变、稳定朝鲜社会秩序的军事统帅.吴长庆与袁世凯叔祖袁甲三、嗣父袁保庆及袁世凯本人有着三代世交关系.青年袁世凯投军吴长庆部,受到吴长庆的特别关照和精心培养,脱颖而出,迅速成长为一名优秀青年将领.吴长庆与袁世凯关系密切,袁世凯对吴长庆的恩情铭记在心.     

明代天师道斋醮述略

斋醮是道教祭祀仪式。斋醮在明代是国家祭祀大典之一。有明一代诸帝命天师斋醮次数众多,规模及费用巨大。诸帝命天师斋醮目的大致可归纳为保国安民、延寿度亡、消灾祛祸及祈福谢恩。     

Stating the Difference: State,Discourse and Class Reproduction in Uttar Pradesh,India

Much development literature concerned with state–society relations operates with a simplistic state–people dichotomy. In contrast, this article focuses on the intersection between state and society and argues that this plays an important part in class reproduction in ‘civil society’. This issue is explored with reference to the role of the local state in class reproduction in the Indian countryside. The focus is on the means by which rural social groups negotiate access to the local state and discourses surrounding the state. The balance of colonization, co‐option and opposition that characterizes the relationship between dominant rural classes and local state officials/institutions is examined against the impact of the rise of a populist low class party. It is argued that the intersection between ‘class’ and ‘state’ is closer than even critical studies of state–society relations have posited. Moreover, the state can, within certain limits, be brought to serve interests other than those of the dominant classes.     

Mexican anthropologists in Postrevolutionary Mexico

Cynthia Hewitt de Alcántara. Boundaries and Paradigms: The Anthropological Study of Rural Life in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Leiden Development Studies No. 4; 1982. 355 pp. (price not given) to be republished by Routledge and Kegan Paul).     

Reflections on the Transformation in Mexico

This article offers panoramic portrait of Mexican politics since the election victory of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena movement in July 2018. Along its path to overwhelming success, Morena presented a vision of a historic transformation of a thoroughly corrupted Mexican state. Morena’s opponents viewed its emergence with anxiety, as a radical, populist, leftist force. But the new regime has been extremely cautious, affirming existing geopolitical and security commitments and pursuing conservative macroeconomic policies. Working within these constraints, the López Obrador government has largely focused on a moral transformation of the state. The context of Morena’s victory was the ongoing collapse in the Mexican state’s monopoly of force and its historic complicity with criminal and paramilitary violence. The government’s post-election approach has included a public reckoning with state crimes, from 1968 to Ayotzinapa. But its primary strategy has been one of ostentatious political asceticism. Rhetorically, this encompasses ideas of ‘political love’ and ‘republican austerity’; in practical terms, it includes campaigns of public frugality and the performative vulnerability of the president himself. In closing, we analyse the proposed National Guard, arguably the centrepiece of Morena’s putative state transformation, a policy condemned by some as renewed militarisation in the name of utopian republicanism.     

潜入洞穴里探秘龙潭

最近有一部好莱坞惊险大片《夺命深渊》,描述了一批洞潜探险家来到巴布亚新几内亚原始森林里探索洞穴,当他们进入一个地下洞穴潜水探险不久,就遇着大暴雨,沙石雨水滚滚落下封死了洞口,他们只得摸索着另一条水路希望能逃出生天,最终仅一人逃过这场劫难.故事情节跌宕起伏,扣人心弦,让人们领略了洞潜的惊心动魄. 有人说,水下世界是这个星球上最神秘,最令人兴奋,最引人入胜的地方之一.近年来自携式水下呼吸器潜水(SCUBA diving)取得了长足的发展,使得潜水活动从冒险家的特权变成普通人都能参与的运动.