Whither Japan? Changing Japan,changing Asia,changing the World

Jean‐Marie Bouissou. Japan: the Burden of Success, trans. Jonathan Derrick. London: Hurst and Company, in association with the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Paris, 2002. xx, 374 pp. US$19.95, paper.

Aurelia George Mulgan. Japan's Failed Revolution: Koizumi and the Politics of Economic Reform. Canberra: Asia Pacific Press at the Australian National University, 2002. ix, 260 pp. A$42.00 (incl. GST); US$36.00, paper.

Mitsuaki Okabe. Cross Shareholdings in Japan: a New Unified Perspective of the Economic System. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2002. xiii, 104 pp. £45.00/US$70.00, hardcover.

Peter Drysdale and Dong Dong Zhang (eds). Japan and China: rivalry or Cooperation in Asia? Canberra: Asia Pacific Press at the Australian National University, 2000. xi, 182 pp. A$ 25.00, paper.

Greg Austin and Stuart Harris. Japan and Greater China: political Economy and Military Power in the Asian Century. London: Hurst and Company, 2001. xv, 368 pp. £45.00, hardcover; £16.95, paper.     

Whither medical anthropology?

Alan Harwood. Rx: Spiritist as Needed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1977. xi + 251 pp. $22.50.     

Was there an early Polynesian ‘sky father’?∗

Abstract

There is a recurring Polynesian cosmogonic tradition whereby the primordial world was transformed into the modem world by a series of events often consisting first of vague cosmic beings (whose names and nature are not generally cognate) giving rise to a Primordial Pair who then gave rise to first order anthropomorphic gods. The Primordial Pair in Tonga were ‘Seaweed’ and ‘Sediment/Slime’ while in Nuclear Polynesian we find the female named Papa‐adj. and evidence for the male being named Papa‐adj. in Proto Nuclear Polynesian and Proto Central Eastern Polynesian as well. These are thought of as physical strata or rock in Samoa while in Central Eastern Polynesia there was commonly the notion that Papa (the female) was the earth itself and that her mate was the sky or the space between the sky and the earth. It was, however, only amongst New Zealand Maori that the male was specifically given the name ‘Sky’ although an alternative name for the male in the Marquesas is ‘Sky Parent’ but seems a (lexical) development independent of the N.Z. Maori.     

Travel Blending: Whither Regulation?

Travel blending, as a form of travel demand management, has in recent times been celebrated by transport planners as a means of shaping travel behaviour without regulation. Accordingly, travel blending is said to overcome the problems of the state bureaucracy imposing its will upon the individual’s travel choices. In this paper we introduce a Foucauldian analysis to the field of transport in order to examine the assertions made by proponents of travel blending that they are not exercising power in the course of shaping travel behaviour. In particular, we use recent elaborations of Foucault’s work on governmentality to explore the ways in which the sites, subjects and objects of travel are discursively constituted within travel blending thereby enabling new ways of intervening upon the travelling subject. We suggest that a governmentality approach not only provides a fertile means of investigating transport but also reveals travel blending as a regulatory practice serving to structure the individual’s field of action.     

Whither Geography? A Response to Finlayson's Concerns

Prompted by Brian Finlayson's editorial, titled ‘Whither (or Wither?) Geography’, I am reminded that a review of the discipline's status and directions would be timely, using the 2002 Australia‐wide reviews in this journal as benchmarks. I welcome the thoughtful proposal for a disciplinary report to the Academy of Science recently prepared by Alaric Maude on behalf of the National Committee for Geography. I take the view that the three central issues are: firstly, flux in the discipline's ‘external relations’ in an era of interdisciplinarity, cross‐disciplinary mergers, instrumentalism, and budgetary constraints; secondly, flux in ‘internal relations’ involving subdisciplines and subcultures: and thirdly, flux in ‘vertical relations’ involving the links between secondary and tertiary Geography. It is instructive to note that the earliest disciplinary reviews, up to the 1980s, were solely directed towards bibliographic celebrations of research directions whereas recent reviews, of necessity, have been focussed on pressing issues concerning ‘Whither Geography?’. Alaric's proposal will also be issue focussed, with its emphasis on relevance and on contributions of national significance.     

Strategizing for Autonomy: Whither Durability and Progressiveness?

What should autonomous formations work towards? How might they strategize to get there? This paper considers these what and how aspects in tandem—a necessary pursuit if clearer pathways to emancipation are to be realized. First, it conceptualizes the relationship between objectives of durability and progressiveness. I introduce “the durability trap”, a situation whereby autonomous formations achieve durability at the expense of their progressiveness, as well as the principles to overcome this. Second, it evaluates how autonomous formations might act collectively and vis‐à‐vis the state to achieve, or not, both durability and progressiveness. I compare the strategies two autonomous formations adopt in response to the development of Media Spree, a redevelopment project in Berlin. I show how symbiotic strategy results in the durability trap and how an interstitial approach works to overcome this. I end by conceiving strategies of interstitiality, symbiosis and rupture as sequential steps to wider transformation.