The early city in West Africa: towards an understanding

The dominating paradigm of urbanism in West Africa is steadily shifting from the city-centric to the dynamic consideration of the city's function within a wider settlement hierarchy. The authors appraise these theoretical positions and discuss the methodologies appropriate to each. Following the thematic framework developed in the theory and method sections, we then consider what research at the major early town sites has to date revealed about the chronology, course, and circumstances of urbanism in West Africa. Data available from the several sites considered is highly uneven. Analysis, even when quality data are available, has in some cases been hindered by a limiting theoretical approach. Although urban investigations in West Africa are only in their infancy, it is clear that cities are but one of several institutions indicating the early, indigenous emergence of hierarchically-ordered societies. With the recent demonstration that at least some West African towns represent indigenous processes of urbanization, the comparative study of factors contributing to urban growth and alternative urban paths becomes imperative.

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Résumé Le paradigme dominant de l'urbanisme en Afrique de l'ouest change progressivement de l'aspect cité-centrique à la considération dynamique de la ville au sein d'une hiérarchie d'établissement plus vaste. Les auteurs évaluent ces positions théoriques et discutent des méthodologies appropriées à chacune. Suivant le cadre thématique élaboré dans les sections sur la théorie et la méthode, ils considèrent ensuite ce que la recherche dans les sites urbains primitifs principaux a révélé jusqu'à présent quant à la chronologie, le développement et les circonstances de l'urbanisme dans l'Afrique de l'ouest. Les données provenant des nombreux sites considérés sont très inégales. Même lorsque des données de qualité furent disponibles, l'analyse fut dans certains cas entravée par les limites imposées par l'approche théorique. Bien que les investigations urbaines en Afrique de l'ouest n'en sont qu'à leurs débuts, il est évident que les villes ne sont que l'une des nombreuses institutions signalant l'apparition indigène précoce de sociétés à ordre hiérarchique. Sachant maintenant qu'au moins certaines villes de l'Afrique de l'ouest représentent des processus indigènes d'urbanisation, il est maintenant impératif que soit effectuée l'étude comparative des facteurs contribuant à la croissance urbaine et aux diverses voies conduisant à l'urbanisation.

     

Neostoicism and the early modern state

Jacob Talmon and Michael Oakeshott represent two opposite tendencies in the anti-totalitarian world view. Both thinkers share many central features of this broad intellectual trend, such as the equation between the Soviet and Nazi regimes, Anglophilia and the rejection of the utopian quest. Yet this basic agreement should not distract us from significant differences in attitude and temperament. Talmon, like most other critics of totalitarianism, was strongly affected by the atmosphere of a profound intellectual and political crisis in Europe, and he regarded the danger of totalitarianism to be an inherent aspect of modernity itself. His liberalism was that of ‘fear’. By contrast, for Oakeshott, who believed in the strength of liberal, and specifically British, civilisation, totalitarianism was merely a child of resentment, a parasitic force with no positive message of its own. He thus displayed a greater measure of confidence in the fortunes of liberal modernity.     

Functional change as an indicator of transformation near the old city centre of Istanbul

Over time, the residential areas close to city centres have experienced change in their function and social structure. In Istanbul a functional and social change is also observed, especially in the residential buildings near the historical city centre. This study investigated this process of transformation through a research project conducted in the southern part of the Istanbul Historical Peninsula (old city centre) and documents the recent functional changes in this district. It also considers the role of tourism in the process of inner city transformation. On the basis of the data collected during the study, proposals are forwarded for the future development of the area.     

The image of the city in modern literature

This article considers the meanings attached to refugeehood, repatriation and liberal citizenship in the twentieth century. Refugees are those who have been unjustly expelled from their political community. Their physical displacement is above all symbolic of a deeper political separation from the state and the citizenry. ‘Solving’ refugees’ exile is therefore not a question of halting refugees’ flight and reversing their movement, but requires political action restoring citizenship.

All three ‘durable solutions’ developed by the international community in the twentieth century – repatriation, resettlement and local integration – are intended to restore a refugee's access to citizenship, and through citizenship the protection and expression of their fundamental human rights. Yet repatriation poses particular challenges for liberal political thought. The logic of repatriation reinforces the organization of political space into bounded nation–state territories. However, it is the exclusionary consequences of national controls over political membership – and through this of access to citizenship rights – that prompt mass refugee flows. Can a framework for repatriation be developed which balances national state order and liberal citizenship rights?

This article argues that using the social contract model to consider the different obligations and pacts between citizens, societies and states can provide a theoretical framework through which the liberal idea of citizenship and national controls on membership can be reconciled.

Historical evidence suggests that the connections in practice between ideas of citizenship and repatriation have been far more complex. In particular, debate between Western liberal and Soviet authoritarian/collectivist understandings of the relationship between citizen and state played a key role in shaping the refugee protection regime that emerged after World War II and remains in place today. Repatriation – or more accurately liberal resistance to non-voluntary refugee repatriation – became an important tool of Cold War politics and retains an important value for states interested in projecting and reaffirming the primacy of liberal citizenship values. Yet the contradictions in post-Cold War operational use of repatriation to ‘solve’ displacement, and a growing reliance on ‘state-building’ exercises to validate refugees’ returns demonstrates that tension remains between national state interests and the universal distribution of liberal rights, as is particularly evident when considering Western donor states’ contemporary policies on refugees and asylum. For both intellectual and humanitarian reasons there is therefore an urgent need for the political theory underpinning refugee protection to be closely examined, in order that citizenship can be placed at the centre of refugees’ ‘solutions’.     

《新青年》与近代国家观念的变革

五四时期声名卓著的《新青年》,满腔热情地把国家振兴的希望寄托于青年,构成国家观念更新的新取向;针对民初君主政体的回光返照和共和国家的有名无实,大力播扬"主权在民"的思想,以唤起多数国民之自觉;在俄国十月革命的影响下,接受和宣传马克思主义的国家学说,实现了国家观念的革命性变革.这一变革自有其历史的因缘,更体现了先进者对国家命运的忧患意识和创造"理想之中华"的矢志追求.     

Red deer antler technology and early modern humans in Southeast Europe: an experimental study

In technological approaches to prehistoric industries, there is currently a renewed interest in the transformation of osseous materials. This approach requires the construction of a technical reference base of manufacturing stigmata, as well as of the procedures and methods used to produce tool blanks.One of the better known processes for the production of blanks in the Upper Palaeolithic is extraction by a double longitudinal groove, observed only in the Gravettian. Aurignacian artefacts indicate that during this period blanks were obtained through a procedure of longitudinal fracturing (splitting) or diffuse percussion fracturing. The manner of implementing these procedures is, however, still poorly known.In order to better characterise this stage in the manufacturing of blanks for antler points, we conducted an experimental study. Based on a thorough analysis of the Spanish archaeological materials, we tested the procedure of fracturing by indirect percussion on deer antler. The results provide new criteria for the identification of blanks and their manufacturing processes. They also emphasize the possibility of predetermining the size of the blank and, consequently, the size of future projectile point.     

The transformation of traditional Chinese guilds in modern times

As traditional business organizations that played an important role in China’s economy, guilds have faced unprecedented challenges in modern times due to the invasion of Western capitalism and the changes of the traditional Chinese economic structure. It was difficult to maintain the old guild rules, such as limitations on opening new workshops, recruiting new apprentices, etc. Thus, some guilds that insisted on maintaining the old rules fell into decline, while other guilds, either willingly or unwillingly, made reforms in their organization and structural function to adjust themselves to the new situations. The latter gradually transformed into the modern trade association. The different fates of traditional guilds proved that guilds had to reform properly and adapt themselves to new economic and social environments in order to survive in modern times. __________ Translated from: Jiangsu Shehui Kexue 江苏社会科学 (Jiangsu Social Sciences), No.2, 2004     

晚清汉学家与近代社会变迁

晚清汉学在地域上的扩充,使汉学家成为影响近代社会变迁不可忽视的力量。尤其是其中的重要学者,他们或任职朝廷,或为大吏幕宾,或掌教各地书院,无论在朝在野都具有很强的号召力,对近代社会风气的转移、新事物的传衍起到程度不同的作用。实际上,汉学家在近代各个领域都有出色表现,不仅没有固执华夷之辨,且领时代潮流之先风,在历次大的社会变革中均有涉足。详究其中原因,首先,这与汉学的治学内容及其治学精神和西学有相通之处不无关系;其次,晚清汉学家重新标举顾炎武的明道救世,提倡经世致用,有利于其投身于社会变迁实践。     

Fairies and the Devil in early modern England

This article considers the fate of fairies in late-Elizabethan and seventeenth-century England. Specifically, it asks whether these “doubtful spirits” were demonised in the period. Drawing on a wide selection of devotional, literary, and demonological texts, the article argues that English Protestants associated fairies with Satan, but this did not necessarily imply that fairies were reclassified as demons. Rather, they were embedded in a complex of beliefs that connected them with falsehood, Catholicism, and the invisible wiles of the Devil. The operation of these beliefs is examined in the context of cases of witchcraft, as well as the representation of fairies in cheap print.     

陈独秀与近代上海社会的变迁

陈独秀与上海社会联系密切。上海是他认识半殖民地半封建社会的窗口。他的革命生涯从上海开始,一生主要时光在上海度过,革命生涯最辉煌的业绩在上海实现。他对上海社会有着比较深刻的研究和十分复杂的感情,总体上说还是一分为二的。近代上海造就了陈独秀的崇高声望,陈独秀也给上海留下丰富的思想文化遗产。今天的上海已经成为中国经济发展、社会进步、文化先进、教育发达的中心城市,其作为全国思想文化中心的地位,无疑是从新文化运动的发起开始确立的。     

Projectors and learned projects in early modern England

Commenting in 1692 on the “Projecting Humour that now reigns” in England, Daniel Defoe nicknamed the period the “Projecting Age.” He dated its start to c. 1680, even as he conceded that “it had indeed something of life in the time of the late Civil War” as well. Defoe was wrong. Decades earlier both Elizabethan and Jacobean commentators had inveighed against the rampant passion for schemes, a perception increasingly documented by scholars. For the most part, however, the appraisal of early modern projects has been confined to the domain of economic and social history. Monopolies, inventions, plans to ameliorate the condition of the poor and infirm, and schemes guaranteeing the enrichment of the nation, have drawn the attention of historians; only sporadic attention has been paid to the numerous scholarly projects that also proliferated during the same period. My intention here is not to be exhaustive, but to offer a snapshot of the large number of proposals that sought to establish new institutions of higher learning, usually through substantial outlays of public capital.