Critical heritage studies and the legacies of the late-twentieth century heritage canon

ABSTRACT

In recent years an interest in ‘critical heritage studies’ (CHS) has grown significantly – its differentiation from ‘heritage studies’ rests on its emphasis of cultural heritage as a political, cultural, and social phenomenon. But how original or radical are the concepts and aims of CHS, and why has it apparently become useful or meaningful to talk about critical heritage studies as opposed to simply ‘heritage studies’? Focusing on the canon of the 1980s and 1990s heritage scholarship – and in particular the work of the ‘father of heritage studies’, David Lowenthal – this article offers a historiographical analysis of traditional understandings and approaches to heritage, and the various explanations behind the post-WWII rise of heritage in western culture. By placing this analysing within the wider frames of post-war historical studies and the growth of scholarly interest in memory, the article seeks to highlight the limitations and bias of the much of the traditional heritage canon, and in turn frame the rationale for the critical turn in heritage studies.     

A queer theory of software studies: software theories,queer studies

This introduction to the themed section ‘Queering Code/Space’ poses the question: what is the spatial relationship between technology and sexuality? We outline two overarching issues concerning technology and sexuality that lie outside of yet intersect with discussions in geographical scholarship. We then detail the characteristics of two largely distinct schools of thought – software studies and queer theory – to examine the tensions of and correspondence between these separate intellectual systems. We assess what might be productively found at the intersections of software studies and queer theory in terms of their respective epistemological approaches toward the topics of technology and sexuality. We briefly outline the effects the combination of software studies and queer theory have had on geography and what more they might have to offer. We conclude by providing an overview of the articles in the themed section.     

Clarifying the critical in critical heritage studies

This paper considers the term critical in the unfolding formulation of critical heritage studies. It argues for a shift in emphasis from the subject of our effort to the object of attention, in other words focusing primarily on the critical issues that face the world today, the larger issues that bear upon and extend outwards from heritage. To that end, the paper presents two key directions. It suggests much is to be gained from tackling the uneasy relationship that currently exists between social science and humanities-based approaches to heritage and the professional conservation sector oriented by a scientistic materialism. Second, there is a need for heritage studies to account for its relationship to today’s regional and global transformations by developing post-western understandings of culture, history and heritage and the socio-political forces that actualise them.     

The poet becomes poem: The missing object and Petrarch's ends in the Canzoniere

This article considers the role of the object of desire in Petrarch's Canzoniere. Deconstructive and post-deconstructive readings tend to emphasize the fragmentation and instability of the subject position—specifically, the figure of the poet who is metamorphosing or falling apart. Other readings of the Canzoniere, especially by feminist and psychoanalytic critics, have reappraised the place and function of the beloved. One implication of these conflicting readings is to repolarize the object/subject distinction. Developing a line of inquiry that acknowledges both threads, this article looks at the several endings—the last poem in the cycle, the “Poem to the Virgin,” Petrarch's ending as a subject, and the form of the envoi—to explore a new view of the object's function within the process of subject formation.     

The Caliphate,and the Changing Strategy of the Public Statements of al-Qaeda's Leaders

Abstract

According to the American President George Bush's administration, the establishment of a global Caliphate is a key al-Qaeda goal. This article focuses primarily on the statements of Ayman az-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden, with their public words traced throughout the last three decades, from Egypt to Afghanistan, to Sudan, back to Afghanistan and through the various conflicts that have happened since they have been on the run post 9/11. By highlighting the changing strategy of their discourse according to the events around them and internationally, it is shown that far from being a critical part of al-Qaeda ideology as some would have the public believe, the Caliphate plays a minor role in their objectives and rhetoric, used primarily as a motivational and instrumental tool in uniting the ummah in its efforts to expel foreign forces from what it considers to be occupied lands.     

国际生态旅游研究的知识图谱分析——基于SSCI数据库2005年以来文献的科学计量研究

本文对2005年以来国际生态旅游研究文献进行科学计量分析,展示国际生态旅游研究的知识图谱。对高频词汇、源刊、引文和作者进行频率分析,对关键词进行共现和聚类分析,探讨国际生态旅游研究前沿和热点,并对国内生态旅游研究进行比较分析,为生态旅游实践提供借鉴。     

The Characteristics of the Theory of History in Ancient China

Historical studies in ancient China have left us many bountiful legacies. One of them is the theory of (objective) history, whose major characteristics can be loosely divided into the following categories: (1) a wide variety of literary forms, including theoretical remarks affixed to historical narratives and even special chapters and books on historical criticism; (2) continuity of research at many levels of historiographic theory; (3) reasoning through facts (i.e., basing theory on facts and offering arguments by following historical evidence); and (4) a wealth of masterpieces. Translated from Academic Research, No. 1, 2004     

Hidden in plain sight: mixed methods and the marble orchards of the Vlach Rom (Gypsies) in Toledo,Ohio

While American Romanies live a remarkably secretive cultural existence, their grave locations and memorial stones offer accessible evidence about their history and active, on-going communities. This article elaborates a less-intrusive ethnographic method that uses Romani cemetery data to explore and map the distributions and social networks of American Romani communities. This case study identifies Vlach Rom memorial sites located in Toledo, Ohio's Calvary Catholic Cemetery. Data were gathered on the memorials and spatially cataloged using a global positioning system (GPS). Additionally, genealogical data on the families were collected whenever available in order to construct and map family networks. Conjectures explaining the spatial distribution were tested by empirically investigating geographic information system (GIS) maps of different gravesite attributes. Land availability was the most likely factor determining the distribution. Evidence of Toledo Rom history and cultural practices were also gathered and reviewed from a qualitative analysis of the memorial stones. These discoveries have the potential to advance Romany studies—by applying modern analytic tools, GPS and GIS hardware and software to reveal otherwise “hidden” knowledge.     

The role of abrasives in the formation of lithic use-wear

This paper briefly examines the question of the influence of abrasive particles on the development of use-wear on stone tools. It is argued that grit inclusions may have been a common element of prehistoric tool using conditions, hence the need for archaeological experiments which consider this variable. A series of experiments are described where end-scrapers were used on bone and hide surfaces both with and without a grit inclusion. The resulting wear patterns are discussed and illustrated. It is concluded that the addition of grit to the worked surface causes a dramatic and demonstrable change in use-wear development.     

Drawing the line with Google Earth: the place of digital mapping outside of geography

The Te Kawa a Māui Atlas project explores how mapping activities support undergraduate student engagement and learning in Māori studies. This article describes two specific assignments, which used online mapping allowing students to engage with the work of their peers. By analysing student evaluations of these activities, we identify four aspects that benefit student engagement: mapping diversifies the learning experience; mapping promotes acquisition of a different skill set; online mapping allowed more open sharing of work and; mapping promotes place-based learning. Some students were ambivalent about the assignments, so mapping should only be used to support other learning objectives.     

On Reading Patrol Reports – 1: South of the Blucher Range

ABSTRACT

Reports of patrols through remote areas of Papua and New Guinea led by officers of the Australian administration have much to contribute to understandings of the work entailed in rendering both land and people legible to the colonial state. But these must be read with care. Using the text and maps produced by one patrol, led by John McGregor in 1968, we demonstrate how topographic maps, produced well after particular patrols were undertaken, may be used to both refine interpretations provided in such reports and reveal factors that shaped the knowledge patrol officers produced.     

近代海外华人研究的跨国主义取向探索——评徐元音的《梦金山、梦家乡》

跨国主义是近年来西方学术界兴起的新理论,它注重移民的机动性和跨界性,强调移民的生活取决于跨国社会场景。在跨国主义理论的影响下,《梦金山、梦家乡》一书突破传统海外华人研究的民族国家模式,展现了一个具有内聚性的跨国台山人社会,它既显示了跨国主义理论对海外华人研究的潜在贡献,又表明了所存在的问题。本文指出,跨国主义理论要更好地运用于海外华人研究,就要进行再场景化和历史化。     

王赓武教授与海外华人研究：方法论的初步观察

作为海外华人研究领域的重要奠基人和开拓者,王赓武教授的治学方法对其研究以及该学科的发展有着不可忽略的影响。本文以此为出发点,结合王教授的成长经历与学术训练,探讨他由治中国古代史入手,转而侧重研究中国—南洋关系史以及东南亚华人史的时代背景及其学术含义。本文认为,坚实的中、西学术训练为他的学术生涯的成长奠定了基础,并成为他转入海外华人这一新兴领域的桥梁;而战后东南亚激剧的时代变迁则促进王教授的双重学术视野的形成与发展。这一双重性表现在两个方面:中国与东南亚的交互相映作为研究的切入点;自我与社会的双重关怀以及参与者和观察者的双重身份作为学术研究的参照系。     

馆藏明代加彩木雕坐像保护前期研究

为更好地了解馆藏明代加彩木雕坐像的价值和病害情况,以期实施科学的保护和修复,利用超景深三维显微光学系统、拉曼光谱、红外光谱、X射线衍射、扫描电镜、X射线荧光能谱等分析方法对馆藏两件明代加彩木雕坐像的材质组成、制作工艺及病害情况等进行了综合分析。分析表明,两件木雕文物材质为樟科樟木属,加彩层为彩绘层,施彩工艺为先于木胎上打白灰层,而后铺一层纺织纤维,再于纤维布上涂颜料层,颜料层表面涂刷一层防护膜。其中,白灰层为石膏,纺织纤维为棉织物,所用颜料多为矿物颜料,蓝色显示物质为群青,黑色为炭黑,金色疑为铜金粉,而红色显色物质为植物染料-茜草。表面防护膜层为醇酸树脂。腐朽木材碎片和加彩层表面均有大量真菌孢子和菌丝,可以认为菌虫的侵染是引起木雕腐朽的主要因素之一。研究结果为更好地认识两件木雕文物,以及对其实施科学、有效的保护奠定了基础。     

Heritage studies and the privileging of theory

Heritage studies is yet to have a debate about its theorisation at the global level. Many of the core ideas that shape the field are rooted in the contexts of Europe and the USA and geographically rolled out in normative ways. This paper argues it is important we embark on pluralising how heritage is studied and theoretically framed, in ways that better address the heterogeneous nature of heritage, for both the West and the non-West. The themes of modernity, cities and international cultural policy provide evidence of why we need to better position the academic study of heritage in relation to the rapid geo-political and geo-cultural shifts now taking place.     

Australian political studies and the production of disciplinary innocence

ABSTRACT

While Australian political studies often appears to have neglected engagements with Indigenous peoples and politics, we argue this is not a simple question of omission. In fact, the discipline is deeply implicated in imperial knowledge production and the authorisation of racialised colonial governance. As non-Indigenous scholars working within Australian political studies, in this paper we reflect on our own discipline in light of several decades of critical scholarship, identifying the production of disciplinary innocence through a theoretical and institutional analysis of Australian political studies knowledge practices. We explore this production via canonical knowledges, institutional processes that contain Indigenous people and knowledge to subjects of policy, and the operation of disciplinary divisions which neutralise scholarship on policy and political institutions.     

试论华侨华人学科的形成与定位

华侨华人研究具有确定的研究对象、专门的术语 ,开始形成有特色的研究方法和学术规范。理论体系虽处于不够成熟的阶段 ,但在学科建设的过程中 ,将日趋完善。华侨华人学是一门正在兴起的交叉学科 ,具有跨学科性和多学科性。它既承袭和借用了大量老学科的理论、概念、方法和学术规范 ,同时逐步创造出不依附其他学科的相对独立的学科体系     

The Spaces of Capital: The Political Form of Capitalism and the Internationalization of the State1

Abstract: In the course of the neoliberal globalization offensive capital has become more international. This development has placed the question of the state on the agenda once again. The central issue here is the extent to which the existing plurality of states should be seen as a historically contingent state of affairs which might not in principle last indefinitely, or as a structural component of the capitalist mode of production. One important aspect of this issue is the question of how the relationship between the “political form” of capitalism and “institutions” is understood. More often than not, even approaches that use Marxist theory have tended to address this question in an unsatisfactory manner.     

The (im)possibilities of dialogue across feminism and childhood scholarship and activism

The relations between those positioned as women and as children, and the political and intellectual consequences of how we conceptualise these connections, has received only scant attention. In this article we describe a symposium and on-going project which aim to bring together community-based and academic scholars to debate the intersections and perceived antagonisms between various forms of feminism and the politics of childhood. We trace how these intersections have been debated in the literature and outline the potential benefits and pitfalls of encouraging further connections between these fields. Drawing on our symposium experience, we also outline the challenges involved in bringing together academic and community-based scholars and activists, and consider the implications for similar future endeavours.     

郑振铎从事古代小说研究的原因分析

郑振铎是研究中国古代小说的著名学者。他从事中国古代小说研究有很多原因,本文着重从四个方面加以论述：梁启超倡导的小说界革命使小说成为主流文学;整理国故运动使小说进入了学术领域;而鲁迅的直接学术指导使他的研究步入正轨;再加上他本人的兴趣和工作的需要。