Why Aren’t Jewish Women Circumcised?

From Hellenistic to modern times, in the eyes of Jews and non-Jews alike, circumcision is a sign that marks the boundary between Jews and non-Jews. Jews are circumcised, gentiles are not. What, then, of Jewish women? Why are they not marked with a bodily sign attesting to their place within the covenant? Cohen argues that the Jews of antiquity seem not to have been bothered by this question probably because the fundamental Otherness of women was clear to them. Jewish women were Jewish by birth, but their Jewishness was assumed to be inferior to that of Jewish men. Jews and Christians, however, who opposed circumcision, used the non-circumcision of women as one of their supporting arguments.     

Why Protest?

This study examines both behavioral and attitudinal dimensions of public opposition to the siting of a recycling center using inperson surveys and observed measures of behavior. This is a perfect NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) case, as the underlying activity is widely supported while the facility to do it is opposed locally. One finding is that attitudes may differ significantly from behavior. Levels of behavioral opposition are not only lower than attitudinal opposition, but they decline more quickly with distance. A second finding is that behavioral opposition is motivated not only by perceived costs from a facility, but also by perceptions of the fairness of the siting process.     

Why celebrate demons?

Kapferer, Bruce. A Celebration of Demons: Exorcism and the Aesthetics of Healing in Sri Lanka. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983. xvii + 293 pp. including illustrations, bibliography and indices. $32.50 cloth. $18.50 paper.     

Why Do We Ask “What If?” Reflections on the Function of Alternate History

The new prominence of alternate history in Western popular culture has increasingly prompted scholars to historicize it as a broader phenomenon. What has largely escaped notice until now, however, has been the question of the underlying function of alternate history as a genre of speculative narrative representation. In this essay, I argue that writers and scholars have long produced "allohistorical narratives" out of fundamentally presentist motives. Allohistorical tales have assumed different typological forms depending upon how their authors have viewed the present. Nightmare scenarios, for example, have depicted the alternate past as worse than the real historical record in order to vindicate the present, while fantasy scenarios have portrayed the alternate past as superior to the real historical record in order to express dissatisfaction with the present. The presentist character of alternate histories allows them to shed light upon the evolving place of various historical events in the collective memory of a given society. In this essay, I examine American alternate histories of three popular themes—the Nazis winning World War II, the South winning the Civil War, and the American Revolution failing to occur—in order to show how present–day concerns have influenced how these events have been remembered. In the process, I hope to demonstrate that alternate histories lend themselves quite well to being studied as documents of memory. By examining accounts of what never happened, we can better understand the memory of what did.     

Why Do Suburban Offices Cluster?

The clustering of suburban office space in “office parks,” as well as the larger activity nodes of polycentric cities, has been widespread in recent years. The reasons for this clustering are not well understood, as the footloose nature of firms suggests a variety of patterns might evolve. This paper explores three traditional explanations: economies of scale in the supply of space, demands for access, and face-to-face contact needs of firms. Finding that those explanations do not completely explain the clustering pattern, an alternative explanation is considered, the demand for image or prestige.     

Why did we bomb Belgrade?

We are told that Kosovo marks a new era of humanitarian intervention, when promoting and protecting values will be reason enough for coercive military action. However, a review of the evidence, as outlined in this article, suggests that it was Western interests, rather than values, that led to the largely unintended bombing campaign. One can identify two objectives underlying NATO policy—one substantive and the other relating to image. It was the latter that determined the timing of NATO's response to the Kosovo crisis, which had such damaging consequences, many yet to be fully realized. Kosovo shared several characteristics with the Suez crisis that turned out to have been a watershed in the post-Second World War world; so, too, may Kosovo turn out to have been a watershed in the post-Cold War world.     

Bad,Mad, Sad or Rational Actor? Why the ‘Securitization’ Paradigm Makes for Poor Policy Analysis of North Korea

This article argues that the dominant paradigm for understanding and explaining north Korean domestic and international politics is in crisis. This 'securitization' paradigm is divided into its %lsquo;bad' and 'mad' elements and is derived from the crudest of Cold War politics and theories. It no longer provides a useful frame of reference for international policy-makers having to 'do business' with north Korea. The intervention of the humanitarian community in north Korea since 1995 has not only shown the obsolescence of this paradigm but also has provided the foundation for two alternative approaches—the 'sad' and the 'rational actor' conceptual framework. The article concludes by arguing for the utility of a historicized and contextualized rational actor model in offering a realistic underpinning for international policies which seriously wish to promote peace, stability and freedom from hunger on the Korean peninsula. South Korea's 'sunshine policy' is cited as one example of such an approach.     

Bad,Mad, Sad or Rational Actor? Why the ‘Securitization’ Paradigm makes for Poor Policy Analysis of North Korea

This article argues that the dominant paradigm for understanding and explaining north Korean domestic and international politics is in crisis. The dominant securitization paradigm is divided into its 'bad' and 'mad' elements and is derived from the crudest of Cold War politics and theories. The paradigm no longer provides a useful frame of reference for international policy-makers having to 'do business' with north Korea. The intervention of the humanitarian community in north Korea since 1995 has both shown the obsolescence of the securitization paradigm and provided the foundation for two alternative approaches—the 'sad' and the 'rational actor' conceptual framework. The article concludes by arguing for the utility of a historicized and contextualized rational actor model which, it is argued, offers a realistic underpinning for international policies that seriously wish to promote peace, stability and freedom from hunger on the Korean peninsula. South Korea's 'sunshine' policy is cited as one example of such an approach.     

<<史记>><<汉书>>校读札记

《史记》和《汉书？是我国历史上两部重要的史书,但在漫长的流传过程中,两书均出现了一些讹误。本文通过对它们相关部分的比勘,校读出了两书中存在的一些错误,分析了致误的原因,有助于更好的利用这两部书进行古籍研究和整理工作。     

<<春秋>>说例

古人解《春秋》,多以孔子作《春秋》的前提,目的是深入领会圣人垂教后世的褒贬大义,由此归纳出种种所谓义例。但《春秋》是否确曾经孔子改作,无从证实;前提既不可靠,由此得出的义例则更是想当然而已。其实,只须抛开成见,仔细阅读《春秋》,就可看出它就是鲁国历代官史官原始记录的汇编,但其中确实存在着能够贯通全经的记事原则和用字规范,是真正的《春秋》体例。本文仅从七个方面归纳了《春秋》的记事原则和用字规范,并对     

<<韩非子>>校勘商榷

自清末至今,《韩非子》一书了出现了多种校注本,均是以影宋乾道本为底本,用其他版本对其进行校勘,纠正了不少讹误,但也存在着误校的现象。误校的原因有二;一是不知字词古义,二是不明通假。本文对部分误校的字词提出了商榷,做了较为详细的考证。     

<<学林>>点校商榷

王观国《学林》对经史诸书的笺释注疏排比异同,考证得失,颇多胜解,有较高学术价值。笔者经析其文意,查对经史原文,发现中华书局本之点校谬谬误百出。本文对其中尤明显之错误提出数条,并加辨正。     

杜道坚<<老子>>注略论

本文以不同时期有不同的“老子”这一老学发展的共同规律为背景,较为系统地阐述了宋元之际著名的道教学者杜道坚的老学著作《道德玄经原旨》与《玄经原旨发挥》中的主要思想,认为其中的核心内容“皇道帝德”说反映了宋元时期以儒家的政治道德学说解释《老子》已达到了一个新的高度,由此也可以具体真切地看出该时期老孔同归,儒道交融这种思想发展的历史总趋势。