Choiseul: The Making of a Diplomat

ROHAN BUTLER. Choiseul, Volume i: Father and Son, 1719–54. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980. Pp. xxxv, 1133. $135.00 (US).     

Recognizing Secular Defilement: Douglas,Durkheim and Housework

Mary Douglas is generally regarded as a faithful disciple of Émile Durkheim. Yet her classic work Purity and Danger ([1966] 2002. London: Routledge) is best understood as premised upon a fundamental disagreement with Durkheim, who she accused of conflating purity with “the sacred” and impurity with “the profane”. Key to this disagreement was the theoretical status of the “busy scrubbings” of everyday housework. This disagreement has had a substantial legacy since, in turning her attention to purity and impurity in their specificity, Douglas bequeathed anthropology and sociology a theory of purity and impurity that has remained an important, perhaps even dominant, paradigm. This paradigm has been identified as an exemplar of synchronic analysis. Yet this paradigm itself is the product of a specific historical and intellectual context, little recognized today. Attending to this context holds open possibilities, which have otherwise tended to be neglected, for theorizing purity and impurity in their specificity.     

日本殖民统治时期的台湾爱国文人连横

连横是一个不屈服于日本殖民统治的热爱祖国的知识分子。他身处日本侵略残暴殖民统治的环境中,坚持民族气节,勇敢地拿起手中的笔,写下了许多歌颂反对日本割占台湾而英勇牺牲的英雄的诗。他用毕生精力捍卫、保护和宣传中华民族传统化,以抵制日本推行的同化政策。他呕心沥血地写下了不朽名《台湾通史》和其他作,为的是要让台湾人民永远记住自己的祖国和民族,以及台湾宝岛被日本割占的历史。他身居台湾,心向祖国,关心祖国的发展和前途。他既痛恨日本侵略,也痛恨专制腐败出卖台湾的清政府。他崇拜孙中山等民族革命,同时痛斥窃国大盗袁世凯。他一生最大的愿望是,抗日战争胜利,光复台湾。     

Tsering Thar: A Bon Scholar

herearemanypeplewhoaredevotedtothestudyofTibetanBuddhism.However,therearejustafewwhoareresearchingtheBon,ananimistreligionfollowedbymanyoftheTibetansinthe7thcentury.TseringThar,anassociatcresearchfellowwiththeChinaNationalCenterforTibetanStudies,isjustone…     

FDR, Lewis Douglas, and the, Raw Deal

"Despite my emotions, I could not refuse the responsibility which has been offered; for in times like these, even more so than in times of war, individuals cease to be significant. Only the common welfare is important," explained Lewis Douglas in 1933 as he accepted President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt's offer of the position of director of the budget.¹ Douglas came to his post with a strong sense of obligation—he was certain the United States was in a "critical condition," and the only solution to the devastating depression lay in balancing the budget.² Roosevelt seemingly agreed with Douglas. Newspapers reported that the young budget director would "make his mark in the Roosevelt administration" and "be at the heart of things." Journalists argued that Roosevelt's appointment was an "indication that Roosevelt means business in his promise to reduce government costs."³