New world complex societies: Recent economic,social, and political studies

Archaeologists working on the complex societies of Latin America have made impressive empirical advances on a number of fronts during the past five years. This article focuses on economic, social, and political issues, using the following topics for organization: intensive agriculture, demography, exchange, households, urbanism, chiefdoms, and state-level polities. For each topic, I review recent archaeological research and summarize pertinent theoretical issues. Unfortunately, the heavy accumulation of new archaeological results is not matched by the conceptual advances that are needed to explore the analytical significance of the data.     

A tale of two scenes: civic capital and retaining musical talent in Toronto and Halifax

Un conte de deux scènes: le capital civique et le maintien des talents musicaux à Toronto et à Halifax Même si depuis plusieurs décennies Toronto trône au sommet de l’industrie canadienne de la musique, des entretiens récents font apparaître le poids de la restructuration de cette industrie sur les décisions des musiciens quant à l’endroit où vivre et travailler. En cette époque de production indépendante de musique contemporaine, certaines régions urbaines de taille réduite comme Halifax en Nouvelle‐Écosse recèlent un potentiel pour attirer des musiciens. La principale question abordée dans cet article est de savoir dans quelle mesure les dynamiques économique et sociale des régions urbaines ont une incidence sur les choix de localisation des musiciens. Ces derniers sont bien conscients des possibilités économiques qu’une ville de la taille de Toronto peut leur offrir, mais les artisans de la scène musicale la dépeignent comme un milieu de travail extrêmement compétitif et ardu. En revanche, du côté d’Halifax, les répondants évoquent la solidarité et le soutien apportés par la collectivité dans l’accueil des nouveaux arrivants, l’appui à l’organisation de spectacles, et la promotion de la créativité. Dans un tel contexte contemporain, les musiciens indépendants déploient de nouvelles stratégies de valorisation de leur métier et les collectivités qui sont dotées d’un capital civique supérieur sont plus en mesure d’attirer et de retenir les personnes talentueuses.     

Municipal land allocations: a key for understanding tenure and social mix patterns in Stockholm

A socially mixed population is a political ambition in Stockholm. By providing a mix of tenure alternatives throughout all neighbourhoods this objective could, at least partially, be fulfilled. Since current tenure proportions display a weak balance in many neighbourhoods it could be assumed that governing politicians – by primarily utilizing Stockholm’s vast landownership and municipal housing developers – attempt to bridge observed gaps. Distribution of new rental and ownership apartments in municipal land allocations should acknowledge the existing tenure composition in a neighbourhood. Methodically this article focuses on all (nearly 50,000) apartments channelled through Stockholm’s land allocation system between 2002 and 2012. After classification of all apartments based on tenure, location, year and developer (private or municipal) the information is merged with yearly housing stock characteristics for 128 neighbourhoods. The outcome is a unique data set allowing for statistical assessment of whether Stockholm’s tenure (and in extension social) mix ambition is reflected in practice. The present article aims to highlight the crucial importance of landownership in Swedish municipalities with an aspiration to achieve or maintain a balanced tenure mix. While the findings indicate Stockholm is complying fairly well with its ambition, the results do reveal some contradicting signs.     

英国汉学家艾约瑟的“唐宋思想变革”说

当代学术发展日益重视学术史的反思。西方汉学之根基常常追溯到十九世纪。近年来,日益受到重视的"唐宋变革思想"说在学术史上的变化己引起广泛的讨论,但学者们比较关注其逐渐完善的过程,而忽略其草创期之发源。实际上,早期传教士的汉学论题中已经提出唐宋时代思想在文化领域的急剧变化,或可视为唐宋变革论之滥觞。根据英国传教士艾约瑟在1886年《华北的秘密教派》一文的提示,十世纪是一个关键的变化期,对以后的历史发展有很大的影响,主要表现为儒生从关注文学和佛学转向关注哲学,其中关注易学更不容小觑。此观点乃后世所谓唐宋时代从文学到道学变化之先鞭。艾约瑟还指出,宋代印刷术之发达,有益于当时人保存更多文化资料以及接触儒释道思想,从而引起思想上的变化。     

Working in landscape archaeology: the social and territorial significance of the agricultural revolution in al‐Andalus

The agrarian transformations which took place in the Iberian Peninsula between the eighth and the tenth century are essential for an understanding of how al‐Andalus came into being. These developments provided the basis of a social formation which developed into a tributary mode of production. This study is part of a research project that draws inspiration from the tenets of landscape archaeology. Studying historic landscapes as part of the material culture of past societies provides valuable information about cultures and the ways they express themselves in space.