The Earliest States in China: A Long-term Trajectory Approach

The origins, development, and makeup of early state societies in China have long been a favorite topic of research, though there has recently been an upsurge of attention among archaeologists in China and abroad. Research has been dominated by the identification of the Erlitou site from the early second millennium BC as the center of the earliest state in China, sometimes identified with the Xia Dynasty. Recently, several scholars have employed neo-evolutionary criteria for the identification of Erlitou society as China’s earliest state in an attempt to provide objective criteria for the traditional historiographical narrative. Overarching social and ecological models of cultural change have been severely criticized by anthropological archaeologists, and many archaeologists studying the development of ancient societies prefer to focus on individual case studies or specific institutions rather than on the state. In contrast to recent archaeological scholarship that has called for its total abandonment, we find the “state” a useful concept for understanding local trajectories as well as cross-cultural comparisons. In this article we suggest a way of incorporating the warnings against simplistic overarching models while maintaining the notion of rapid sociopolitical change associated with state formation. Based on an analysis of the long-term trajectory, we identify, in north China, two phases of rapid transformations: the first, starting around 2500 BC, when several unstable regional states evolved and declined, and the second, around 1600 BC, when an intraregional state, usually identified with the historical Shang, rapidly evolved.     

Against the Limits of our History

While women have made great strides professionally we also continue to contend with the invisible boundaries that exist in time and space to restrict our movements. And since as subjects women are located within particular discursive and material practices of power, resistance and subjectivity, color can exacerbate the sense of confinement. In the absence of well-charted paths to professional mobility, I suggest that geographers of color turn to experiences beyond our disciplinary boundaries. This paper looks at how women negotiated dangerous spaces during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) using precisely those rules and cultural codes that marked women's spaces and activities as inferior or unworthy of the attentions of power. I offer this example to open up a discussion on how quotidian activities can be used to transcend limitations placed on our professional mobility. I do so by drawing contextual parallels, albeit with strict limitations, to exploring tactics for creating supportive spaces and communicating information. This is not an attempt to equate our modest hurdles with the violence and misery of wartime experiences, but rather a preliminary exploration of how we can build activism into our daily practices. Innovating and compromising, the latter, hardly an alien experience anyway, can contribute incrementally to opening new spaces in our professional lives.

Contra los limites de nuestra historia

Mientras las mujeres han progresado a grandes pasos profesionalmente, continuamos a pelear con los limites invisibles que existan en el tiempo y el espacio y que restringir nuestras movimientos. Las mujeres, como sujetos, están ubicado dentro de discursivos particulares y prácticas materiales de poder, resistencia y subjetividad. Como consecuencia el color (la raza) puede exagerar el sentido de confinamiento. En la falta de una ruta bien trazado para la movilidad profesional, sugiero que geógrafas de color recurren a las experiencias fuera de las fronteras de nuestras disciplina. Este artículo examina como las mujeres negociaron espacios peligrosos durante la Emergencia Malayan (1948–1960), utilizando las reglas y códigos culturales que definieron los espacios y actividades de mujeres como inferior o no digno de las atenciones de poder. Ofrezco este ejemplo para empezar una discusión de cómo las actividades cotidianas pueden estar utilizadas para transcender las limitaciones de nuestras movilidad profesional. Exploro las tácticas para construir espacios sustentador y para comunicar información, dibujando paralelos contextual, aunque con limites estrictos. No es mi intento que comparar nuestras barreras modestas y la violencia y miseria de experiencias de guerra, sino que una exploración preeliminaría de cómo podemos hacer activismo dentro de nuestras prácticas cotidianas.     

美国新社会史述评

美国新社会史学是 2 0世纪 60年代出现于美国的新史学潮流 ,它改变了美国学术主流的路线 ,是在美国 60年代的社会动荡的背景下产生并发展起来的 ;美国 60年代思想潮流和思维方式的变化是美国新社会史学产生的思想渊源 ;新的历史观的确立标志着美国新社会史学的最终形成 ;新社会史在它的发展过程中遇到了许多无法解决的问题 ,出现了许多弊病 ,80年代美国史学界针对这一切提出了改进方案 ,重新确立了自己独到的史学理论。     

Against the Grain: Long-Term Patterns in Agricultural Production in Prehistoric Cyprus

Journal of World Prehistory - Our understanding of the timing and dynamics of the spread of human populations to the island of Cyprus has changed significantly in the last few decades. Ongoing...     

A History of Chinese Immigration in the United States and Canada

The 2005 Québec novel by Nicolas Dickner (English publication, 2008) presents intertextual effects that become a reflection on writing. The novel is a voyage of self-discovery while offering connections to Melville, Joseph Conrad, the German “bildungsroman,” nineteenth century classic novels, twentieth century French existentialist essays, Anglo-Saxon seafaring sagas, Central and South American imaginative tales, “cric-crac” stories of Québécois “raconteurs,” subversive Canadian novels, adventure stories, detective narratives, comic books and computer-generated discourse. This complex mise en abyme of writing through interlacing genres stands as a metaphor for diversity and rootlessness in North American society.