Moving on by Staying the Same

The contributors to this forum each reflect on a particular aspect of the future of academic publishing. James Mussell outlines how the form of the online academic journal, and in particular ongoing use of pdf, remains resistant to the potential that the digital environment can offer. Lucinda Matthews-Jones continues the conversation by explaining how journal blogs, such as JVC Online, act as digital spaces that facilitate more creative engagement with multimedia and which allow authors to foster and to interact with new and often broader networks of readers. Finally, Helen Rogers surveys the current landscape of academic publishing and urges us, as scholars, to move beyond the traditional schema and embrace the potential that Web 2.0 can offer. As more and more of our scholarly lives are lived online, the investment of the scholarly journal in print culture becomes apparent. These essays recognize the value of longevity, of scholarship’s commitment to both the past and the future, but they also suggest that scholarly publication needs to attend more closely to the times in which it is published.     

Academic Journals in the Digital Age: An Editor’s Perspective

The contributors to this forum each reflect on a particular aspect of the future of academic publishing. James Mussell outlines how the form of the online academic journal, and in particular ongoing use of pdf, remains resistant to the potential that the digital environment can offer. Lucinda Matthews-Jones continues the conversation by explaining how journal blogs, such as JVC Online, act as digital spaces that facilitate more creative engagement with multimedia and which allow authors to foster and to interact with new and often broader networks of readers. Finally, Helen Rogers surveys the current landscape of academic publishing and urges us, as scholars, to move beyond the traditional schema and embrace the potential that Web 2.0 can offer. As more and more of our scholarly lives are lived online, the investment of the scholarly journal in print culture becomes apparent. These essays recognize the value of longevity, of scholarship’s commitment to both the past and the future, but they also suggest that scholarly publication needs to attend more closely to the times in which it is published.     

Exploring the Backstage of Victorian Respectability

This paper shares Andersson’s interest in exploring the ‘backstage’ of Victorian civility and respectability. The adroit media manipulation of high-status leading reformers and their associations and societies, with their often overlapping membership, has accorded them an inflated importance as a representation of the Victorian Age, and can distort our understanding. The argument here begins by problematizing the ways some historians have made use of contemporary statistics and terms such as ‘respectability’ or ‘vice’. For the Victorians these carried multiple meanings and cultural resonances, partially dependent on identities of class, gender, generation, Tory or Liberal political orientation, attitude to faith, and ethnicity. This meant that the complex nuances of understanding attached to activities sometimes labelled as unrespectable ‘vices’ such as drinking, sexual transgression and gambling could make them acceptable in a variety of cultural contexts despite the opposition of vociferous anti-‘vice’ groups. The paper concludes with a brief exploration of the potentiality of visual and digital resources for delving deeper into such issues.     

The importance of materials R&D to the UK and the role of its National Physical Laboratory

Abstract

The importance of materials R&D to a modern economy, which arises because of the global competition between manufacturers and the essential maturity of all manufacturing industries, is illustrated with direct examples from the semiconductor industry. One result of this R&D is that the consumption of materials per capita decreases as the wealth per capita increases. The development of the materials work at the UK National Physical Laboratory since its foundation is then briefly reviewed, together with its development to meet modern demands. The resulting sophistication in the R&D demanded is illustrated and the link to computer assisted modelling, together with the necessity for extreme precision of input data, is emphasised. The type of materials work most intimately connected with maintenance of standards and metrology is then demonstrated.     

Material Culture and the Politics of Personality in Early Victorian England

This article uses the insights of material culture studies to explore the role of objects in the development of a politics of personality in the first half of the nineteenth century. Political objects were part of a broader material culture of fame and recognition in this period, encompassing a wide range of public figures such as royalty, military heroes and authors. These artefacts acquired agency, playing an important role in the construction of their subjects as recognizable public figures: an asset for popular politicians whose primary constituencies lay beyond the ranks of the enfranchised. By representing key moments in the public narrative of a politician's career, objects and other representations helped to cement the connection between individuals and the causes with which they were chiefly associated. Some objects, including jugs, teapots and other practical items, may have been used in the public performance of rituals of loyalty to a particular figure. Others, including the famous Staffordshire figurines, were designed for display in the home, becoming vehicles for the domestic re-enactment of public narratives and the performance or construction of personal loyalties and identities. The article concludes by considering the way in which objects associated with famous political figures, including autograph letters, signed prints or even more intimate objects such as locks of hair, could be used to forge real or imagined relationships between politicians and individual members of their wider public.     

“巴蜀文化”研究发韧

"巴蜀文化"作为一个科学命题,是在抗日战争期间正式提出来的。抗战全面爆发后,随着大批高等院校和科学研究机构的内迁,国内许多知名教授和专家学者进入四川,在极为艰难的条件下,坚持科研。其中一些大学者,鉴于四川上古史的复杂性,开始潜心研究有关史料和当时极为有限的考古资料,于是提出"巴蜀文化"的命题,引起国内学术界的热烈讨论和争辩,巴蜀文化研究竟一时蔚然成风,终至成为一个科学命题而为国内外学术界所承认。     

Fragments of the Modern City: Material Culture and the Rhythms of Everyday Life in Victorian London

This essay analyses the influence of Charles Baudelaire's and Théophile Gautier's fetishist poetics on the early works of Algernon Charles Swinburne. If the crucial role played by the Victorian poet as a cultural ‘passeur’ between France and England has often been highlighted in recent criticism, his aesthetic delight in certain forms of sexual deviance such as podophilia has rarely been explored in relation to the verse of his French mentors. Swinburne, Gautier, and Baudelaire may have indeed shared this erotic fascination with feet: this is a fascination that was partly grounded in these poets' common interest in antique literary models, in particular in Sappho's poetry. Rather than extolling the Hellenic ‘sweetness and light’ which some of his contemporaries set so high, Swinburne indulged in dangerously eroticised Dionysian aesthetics which were perceived as both ‘too Hellenic’ and ‘too French’. I argue that the fetishism of the poetic foot may be read as one of the keys to the Victorian poet's subversive shift away from the serenity often associated with Victorian neoclassicism in favour of a Dionysian energy that anticipates Friedrich Nietzsche's works.     

A quantitative assessment of intraspecific morphological variation in Gahagan bifaces from the southern Caddo area and central Texas

ABSTRACT

This investigation aggregates intact or reconstructed Gahagan bifaces from the southern Caddo area and central Texas to test the hypothesis that Gahagan biface morphology differs between the regions. The Gahagan bifaces (n=102) were scanned, then analyzed using a novel landmarking protocol and the tools of geometric morphometrics. Results provide a preview of the significant differences in Gahagan biface morphology expressed between the southern Caddo area and central Texas regions. The size discrepancy represents an inversion of current theoretical constructs that posit a decrease in tool size thought to articulate with an increase in distance from the raw material source. It is posited that the contrasting morphologies represent two discrete communities of practice; one (emergent Caddo horticulturalists) where Gahagan bifaces were enlisted primarily for burial and ritualistic activities, and the other (central Texas hunter-gatherers) where Gahagan bifaces were utilized over a longer time span in more practical and utilitarian contexts.     

Online petitioning and politics: the development of Change.org in Australia

Online petitions are an important feature of contemporary political engagement in advanced democracies. In this paper we report on a unique data set – covering a five year period and over 17,000 petitions – documenting the development of the Change.org platform in Australia. Australia presents an interesting case as, until very recently, there was no national government hosted online petition site. Our analysis results in three findings that advance scholarship on online petitions. First, we find the majority of petitions are in fact targeted at government, and that their issue area is of a political nature. Second, we find that most signers of petitions sign a single petition – they are not serial participants. Finally, we show that ‘super users’ of the online petition system engage broadly as well as often. Together these findings demonstrate that online petition creation and signing – even on commercial platforms – is a distinct and important part of citizen engagement in politics.     

梁启超与近代中国社会文化国际学术研讨会综述

在首届“梁启超与近代中国社会文化”国际学术研讨会上,学者们发表了各自有关梁启超的最新研究成果,涉及梁启超的国民和性别观、思想和文化观、哲学和科学观、政法、经济和社会观、民族和宗教观、史学和文学观、新闻、舆论和教育观以及梁启超和同时代重要人物、事件的关系等诸多领域。选题广泛而细微,视角独特而开阔,或对传统看法进行了再审视,或提出了一些新观点,多采用了新的研究方法,发现和运用了新的史料,充分体现了学术创新精神。     

“中英友好奖学金计划”与新时期留学教育的发展

改革开放初期,爱国华人包玉刚向中英两国政府提出了中英友好奖学金计划,该计划得到了中英两国领导人的认可,并一同实施该计划。中英友好奖学金计划历经十年,为中国培养了大批的优秀人才,推动了中国高等教育事业及社会经济的发展;创造了一个全新的留学教育模式,为以后留英教育提供了经验,加强了与华人华侨的联系,发展了中英关系。三边互动的中英友好奖学金计划教育交流模式,有利于香港政权的平稳交接以及回归后的稳步发展,也有力地推动了中英两国关系全面发展。这种三边互动是改革开放初期中国政府勇于探索、积极创新的产物,它不仅表明了中国政府能够采用多种形式发展留英教育事业,同时也证明了中国政府能够团结一切可以团结的力量进行社会主义现代化建设。     

“学术期刊·博物馆·文化遗产”论坛暨《东南文化》创刊25周年纪念学术研讨会纪要

南京博物院于2010年6月13～14日举办了‘学术期刊·博物馆·文化遗产’论坛暨《东南文化》创刊25周年纪念学术研讨会,来自文博学术期刊界的近四十位专家代表围绕三个主题进行了发言和讨论:1、新形势下加强刊物自身建设,2、学术期刊对博物馆建设和文化遗产学事业的引领作用,3、网络时代学术期刊的发展。与会代表提出了很多富有建设性的观点和意见,并交流了各自的办刊经验。此次会议的召开将有助于学术期刊更好地为博物馆建设、文化遗产事业及相关学科体系建设发挥平台和引领作用。     

高一涵研究的现状及今后的努力方向

高一涵研究近年来已取得重要成果,发表的论文对高一涵的启蒙思想、五四时期的政治思想、自由主义理念、人权思想、与五四运动的关系、与李大钊的关系等作了有价值的探讨.今后一个时期,高一涵研究应着重在高一涵政治思想研究、生平和活动研究、在五四时期的历史地位的研究、政治学思想研究、与五四时期历史人物关系的研究、与五四时期期刊关系的研究等六个具体领域下工夫.深化高一涵研究,使高一涵研究成为一个比较成熟的研究领域,必须注重学术研究资料的积累和搜集、研究观念的提升、研究视野的扩大、研究方法的更新、研究队伍的建设等,这是高一涵研究今后的努力方向.     

以田野考古为主探索夏文化已经取得硕果——纪念徐旭生先生赴豫西考古调查"夏墟"49周年

本文回顾了几十年来探索夏文化、早商文化的历程及突破,并对学术研究中存在的一些问题进行了讨论,指出学术研究要遵守实事求是的原则.     

A case for Sherlock Holmes: forensic investigation of a gunshot wound to the head dating from Victorian London

This is an investigation of a fatal gunshot wound that occurred over a century ago, in Victorian England. Records dating from 1900 show that it was regarded as suicide by officials of the time. Forensic, palaeopathological, and historical techniques are applied in order to determine whether the manner of death was suicide, murder, or accident. Comparison of the projectile trajectory with modern forensic series suggests that this case is statistically more likely to have been a murder than a suicide. This raises the possibility that a killer successfully staged events to appear as if a suicide had taken place. A summary is given of the important points to consider when interpreting gunshot trauma to the head in skeletal remains. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A continuing agenda for gender: the role of the IGU Commission on gender and geography

In examining the development of the International Geographical Union’s (IGU) Commission on Gender and Geography over the last three decades, we first highlight the advances made to establish visibility for gender studies within the IGU and create structures for more inclusive feminist geographies across national, disciplinary and other borders. Given that many of the early and most widely-known advances were largely within Anglophone contexts, we then discuss the ongoing challenges and possibilities for advancement faced by feminist geographers who teach, research, and write on gender in other locations. While some of these challenges (such as a continued lack of recognition for gender studies, paternalistic hierarchies, and specific government regimes) are country-specific, others are related to broader issues of neoliberalism and corporatization, and inequities in academic publishing. Clearly, continued efforts are needed to strengthen the agenda for gender to promote more inclusive histories, practices and processes of gender/feminist geography in research, teaching and application in the international arena.