From Mission to Maynggu Ganai: The Wellington Valley Convict Station and Mission Site

The Wellington Valley Convict Station and Mission site, now known as Maynggu Ganai Historic Site (meaning “people’s land” in local Wiradjuri language), contains the archaeological remains of the convict agricultural station that was established in 1823. The site, subsequently taken over by the Anglican Church Missionary Society as a mission to the Wiradjuri, operated from 1832 to 1844. Drawing upon archaeological survey, the extraordinary historical archive associated with this site, and an analysis of community consultative research, this article explores the role of this site in colonial cultural exchange, as well as the contemporary cultural meanings of this history and its physical remains for the community today.     

The Roots of the Presbyterian Church of Kenya: The Merger of the Gospel Missionary Society and the Church of Scotland Mission Revisited

The Presbyterian Church of Kenya is the product of the merger of the missionary work of the American Gospel Missionary Society (GMS) and the Scottish Church of Scotland Mission (CSM) in 1946. The two missions had been working independently of each other in central Kenya since 1898. However, there is hardly any scholarly work that has analysed the merger. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to examine why the GMS‐CSM merger became necessary from a GMS perspective. The paper argues that the merger became inevitable and unavoidable because the GMS was unable to solve the problems that plagued it — some of its own making and others beyond its control. The paper concludes by showing that the CSM emerged as the beneficiary of the merger because it eventually assimilated the GMS work.     

Wrestling with the Revolution: The Iron Sheik and the American Cultural Response to the 1979 Iranian Revolution

This paper maps how American popular culture came to terms with the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran through a study of Hussein Khosrow Vaziri. Vaziri, better known by his moniker, “The Iron Sheik,” was active in professional wrestling in the 1980s and remains to this day one of the most well-known Iranians in American cultural memory. Through an analysis of his character and how he has been represented in the popular media, I argue that he was chiefly utilized as a figure through whom Americans could cope with the devastating blow that the Revolution caused to American power. I argue that this reaction continues to this day, albeit focusing not on Iran but on the current political tensions involving the attacks of September 11, 2001.     

美国经济考察团来华与中美经济关系

1935年春,当中日关系不断紧张、中国国内经济势日趋恶化时,中美之间进行过一次重要的经济交往——美国经济考察团六来华。当时中美经济关系有以下几个特征：第一,受世界经济危机影响,中美贸易出现萎缩趋势;第二,美国自公布《白银购买法》(Silver Pur—chase Act)以来,连续多次通过有关白银法案,抬高银价,大肆收购白银,导致中国白银大量外流,中国金融市场出现恐慌。     

一个美国学者眼中的当代中国军事现代化--《中国的军事现代化:进程、问题与前景》一书介绍

《中国的军事现代化:进程、问题与前景》(David Shambaugh,Modernizing China's Military:Progress, Problems,and Prospects.Berkeley:University of California Press,2003,以下简称《军事》)一书的作者沈大伟,是美国密歇根大学政治学博士,现为美国乔治-华盛顿大学艾略特国际事务学院的中国政策项目主任,兼任美国布鲁金斯学会对外政策高级研究员。他既是西方国际关系学界中知名的中国政策学者,又是美国国防部、新闻署、微软公司和德意志银行等十多家重要机构的咨询顾问。从20世纪70年代后期起,沈大伟一直研究1949年之后的中国政治, 出版过《美丽的帝国主义:中国认知美国,1972- 1990》等3部专著,主编了《大中国:下一个超级大国?》等10多部著作。     

Contemporary Iranian Art: The Emergence of New Artistic Discourses1

This article deals with the emerging discourses and concerns that have dominated the Iranian art community mainly since 1997. It discusses the existing, or rather conflicting, views of the current situation of the visual arts in Iran as expressed in recent artistic events, productions, and exhibitions as well as in critical reviews.² It does not fully discuss the variety of artistic genres in Iran, but examines the dominant ideas from the main opposing factions of cultural and artistic thought. It also aims at identifying the structural changes in Iranian art as well as the prevailing artistic policy of recent years.     

从信仰到信：美国民俗学的民间宗教研究

从记录整理零碎片段的迷信观念,到把握民间信仰的文化整体,再到关注民众日常生活中的活态宗教实践,美国民俗学的民间宗教研究在过去60年中发生了根本性变化。作为民俗研究的一个重要领域,这和民俗学学科研究范式从文本到表演,到实践的整体转型密切相关,和代表性的表演理论既本质关联又有所差异。通过分析不同时期代表性学者对民间宗教信仰的界定与研究,可以勾勒出该领域基本理论视角和方法论变迁的学术史轨迹。