The Role of Geographers in Work on a Land Cadaster and on an Agricultural Evaluation of Lands

Geographers have been in the forefront of the campaign to institute a full-fledged land cadastre and economic land-evaluation program in the Soviet Union. Although a State Register of Landholdings was adopted in 1955, it is concerned mainly with the distribution of lands among land-holdings and the composition of agricultural lands (crop land, hay meadows, pastures, etc.) within landholdings. A full fledged cadastral and evaluation program would seek to evaluate land in terms of quality and productivity. In view of the interdisciplinary character of the work, geographers are viewed as most suitable participants.     

The Nation as a Problem: Historians and the "National Question"

How is it that the nation became an object of scholarly research? As this article intends to show, not until what we call the “genealogical view” (which assumes the “natural” and “objective” character of the nation) eroded away could the nation be subjected to critical scrutiny by historians. The starting point and the premise for studies in the field was the revelation of the blind spot in the genealogical view, that is, the discovery of the “modern” and “constructed” character of nations. Historians’ views would thus be intimately tied to the “antigenealogical” perspectives of them. However, this antigenealogical view would eventually reveal its own blind spots. This paper traces the different stages of reflection on the nation, and how the antigenealogical approach would finally be rendered problematic, exposing, in turn, its own internal fissures.     

The Training Of Geographers (on the curriculum of a college department of physical geography)

A Leningrad University physical geographer proposes reforms in the curriculum of his department in an effort to focus required courses more clearly on the needs of physical-geography students. He suggests the elimination of teacher-oriented courses since Soviet universities are designed to train research geographers. Although the required courses on Marxism are viewed as essential to the Soviet educational process, separate courses on atheism and on labor legislation strike the author as superfluous. The 300 class-hours thus saved might then be allotted to special-purpose courses with a direct bearing on physical-geography training. Revisions in several courses are suggested, with greater emphasis on seminar work to train students in independent research.     

The Medieval Colonization of Central Europe as a Problem of World History and Historiography

The author of this article asks two main questions. First, whatwas the nature of the so-called medieval colonization in theeastern half of central Europe? Secondly, which factors decidedthat in the second half of the nineteenth and in the twentiethcentury, during the era of a rising modern nationalism and imperialism,colonization became the—not always conscious—toolof manipulation in the fight for so-called ‘historic rights’in certain territories and the battle for the ‘forgingof nations’. In particular, in German historiography themyth of medieval colonization was born, which had very littlein common with medieval reality. Even German peasants were supposedto have marched East, not in order to seek out better livingconditions, as one Flemish song went, but to subject for Germany‘empty space’ in the barbaric East. At the sametime, the author presents the thesis that several ideas aboutthe topic of medieval colonization developed under the influenceof the colonization of North America, especially in California—contemporaryto many of these German scholars. This found its expressionin the terminology used, in numerous comparisons, and even inthe fundamental suggestion that German law legitimized the Germanclaim for almost the whole of central and eastern Europe. Thebasic conviction among German historians and politicians wasthat these territories should belong to the Empire under thesame conditions as India ‘belonged’ to the English,and Algeria to the French.     

Maritime History in Mozambique and East Africa: The Urgent Need for the Proper Study and Preservation of Endangered Underwater Cultural Heritage

The East African coast is a rich domain for underwater cultural heritage, whose archaeological remains are only beginning to reveal the extent of indigenous nautical technology, regional and international social contacts, and far-reaching maritime trade routes sailed for millennia. The diversity of remains found under water range from cultures up and down the East African coastline to further afield: from China, points surrounding the Indian Ocean, to the Persian Gulf, Middle East and Europe. In Mozambique, important steps to investigate and preserve this heritage have been taken over the last 20?years by several groups of local scholars in collaboration with international research institutions. However, this heritage, especially that which lies along the northern Mozambique coast, has also been subjected to extensive and serious disturbance by commercially-oriented salvage programs. These salvage activities have not only had a very negative impact on the state of the cultural resources themselves, but have also prevented the access of legitimate scholars to these resources??particularly grave is the intervention at Mozambique Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Among the meritorious efforts to mitigate this situation, in Mozambique and world-wide, the 2001 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage is an outstanding initiative and needs to be ratified by Mozambique and other East African states.     

环境对古代都城选择的影响——以汉、唐时期西安地区为例

古代都城的选址与政治经济等诸多要素相关,其中与环境的关系尤为密切,西安作为历代兴盛王朝的都城,在中国都城史上占据着重要地位,本文以汉、唐两代西安地区自然环境和气候变迁为切入点,讨论都城选址与环境之间的关系。     

The Role of Geographers in the Study,Mapping, Economic Appraisal,Utilization, Conservation and Renewal of the Natural Resources of the USSR

The paper discusses, mainly from a programmatic point of view, the need for research into the relationships between climate and vegetation. Four lines of research are proposed: (1) the correlation between the distribution of vegetation and climate indices; (2) relationships between the distribution of vegetation and seasonal types of climate; (3) seasonal and annual changes in plant communities related to corresponding changes in the surface layer of the atmosphere and the soil and subsoil; (4) the exchange of matter and energy within an ecological system.     

财政格局与大学“再国立化”——以抗战前中央大学经费问题为例

1921年国立东南大学在南京建校,经费完全由江苏省截留的"国税"承担。1927年南京国民政府成立后,东南大学改组为国立中央大学。与此同时,南京政府对中央与地方财政收支进行重新划分,直接影响中央大学教育经费的来源。各方围绕该校经费的来源和数额问题展开旷日持久的博弈。直到1932年8月,中央大学经费完全由中央财政承担,学校完成教育经费层面上的"再国立化"。抗战前中央大学经费问题的演变,透视出近代中国大学"国立"的政治经济蕴含,以及国民党治下中央与地方关系的新框架中,政治与学术的复杂关系。     

The Problem of Organizing a Food-Supply Base for the Yeniseysk Industrial District

The author examines the possibilities of developing a local food supply for the growing population of the prospective Yeniseysk industrial district of central Siberia. Local conditions are found to be economical for the production of a suburban-truck type of farming, with emphasis on fresh vegetables, potatoes and whole milk, as well as pork, poultry and eggs. Grain production is found to be uneconomical and the district will have to rely on grain shipped from other areas.     

The Specialized Cities of the Gulf Cooperation Council: A Case Study of a Distinct Type of Policy Innovation and Diffusion

This article examines a new phenomenon in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) referred to as specialized cities (SC). These cities, in addition to being new towns, implement innovations in selected policy areas. This article goes beyond describing the spread of SC to answering a broader question: what motivates a GCC country to adopt such policy innovation? After a quantitative overview of the phenomenon, three cases have been selected to cover three main policy areas: energy, health care, and education, in Abu Dhabi Masdar City, Dubai Healthcare City, and Qatar Education City. A preliminary analysis of each of the cases is followed by a comparative approach that aims at discovering similarities and differences, as well as developing the basis for a preliminary analytical model that explains the driving factors behind these innovations. The country adoption of a policy innovation and its diffusion are mainly the results of geographical proximity and similarity, as these proximate countries tend to have similar economic aspects and common social problems that lead to similar policy action effects. Regional competition and positive reputational mechanisms are also particularly strong determinants for diffusion. The findings suggest that in the GCC region a diffusion of the phenomena is occurring, rather than that of a specific type of SC.     

Liberal Education and the Study of Politics in a Catholic University

Abstract

Rousseau seems to exemplify an understanding of the philosophic life in general and the quest for self-knowledge in particular as a solitary enterprise. An examination of the Confessions, however, reveals that Rousseau holds that the most important discoveries about ourselves are made not in solitude, but with others. It is furthermore the case that, for Rousseau, the philosophic quest to truly know oneself entails the public articulation of one's self-understanding as a part of a comprehensive account of human things, a social activity fraught with political implications. Therefore, the problem of self-knowledge in Rousseau's thought should be understood as a social and political problem (albeit not a problem with a political solution). That this is so even for the famously solitary Rousseau tells us something important both about the thought of that philosopher and about the quest for self-knowledge as such.     

英国殖民城市模式考察

英国在殖民化中确立了具有自身特色的英国殖民城市模式.其主要内容有:提出殖民城市规划建设模式的目标;推出土地授予和分配制度;确保城市规划先于城镇建设;规定城市规划的标准和布局;预留公共用地和绿化带,避免过度商业开发.英国殖民城市模式在其存在的4个世纪里发生演变和扩散大体上经历了5个时期.殖民城市模式在城市化的进程中起到了十分重要的指导性作用.其主要特点为:英国及其殖民地政府在殖民城市模式的形成、制定过程中占据主导地位;殖民城市模式的实施建立在侵略掠夺殖民地人民的基础之上;殖民城市模式的要素构成相对稳定,具有明显的延续性;殖民城市模式的实施具有多样化的特征;殖民城市模式受到殖民地客观条件的制约;殖民城市模式对世界碱市化具有一定的影响力.     

京都大学人文科学研究所共同研究班：以中国近代史为例

日本京都大学人文科学研究所(以下简称“人文研”)的共同研究,可以说取得了一些多少令学界关注的成果。当然,共同研究也只能构筑在个人研究的基础上,这一点毋庸赘言;不过,共同研究超越了个人研究单纯的总和这一点也确凿无疑。在此我想介绍一下自己也深深参与其中的“人文研”中     

史前考古遗址中一种重要的古气候信息载体: 软体动物贝壳

史前考古遗址中出土的软体动物贝壳中的氧碳同位素值是生长时期气候变化的良好指示器,对有比较确切考古学年代的贝壳的分析,有助于建立史前气候变化的序列。     

关于古代气候研究的几点思考——以《黄淮海平原北宋至元中叶的气候冷暖状况》为例

关于古代中国气候方面的研究成果颇丰 ,但方法上仍有不尽人意之处。梅花、柑橘等与人类行为密切相关的生物物种 ,被过分强调 ,而特殊小气候下的个别现象往往被放大为普通规律。相反 ,对雨雪霜等物理现象关注不足。经常有意无意地以冬季温度来代表全年温度 ,而忽略了其他三个季节 ;对史料的理解过于片面 ,在作气候对比时出现标准的游移变换 ,论据与结论之间缺乏严密的逻辑必然性 ,运用理论时亦有随心所欲之处。这些似乎可以归结为“以论带史”所致