Dogs and British Colonialism: The Contested Ban on Eating Dogs in Colonial Hong Kong

British colonialism brought new standards of treatment towards animals to the Far East. This article examines the ways in which the western concept of dogs and animal welfare introduced by the British colonists was received, and contested, in Hong Kong, and the colonial politics that shaped the way the controversial legislation against eating dog meat was created and passed in 1950. It argues that the original concept of animal welfare did not consider eating dogs a form of animal cruelty, as long as dogs were killed in a humane way for their meat. The dog-loving native elites, who saw dogs as pets which thus should not be eaten, manipulated the outbreak of rabies epidemic in 1949 to their advantage by petitioning the government that dog-eating was conducive to the spread of rabies. The resulting 1950 ordinance against dog-eating rationalised the taboo against eating dogs in the name of public health and extended the ‘benevolence’ of British colonialism to dogs. Yet it also brought a challenge to colonial administration due to the difficulty of its implementation.     

殖民主义的终结及其影响

第二次世界大战结束之后,英、法等殖民帝国相继瓦解。“在现代殖民帝国的发展过程中,没有任何事情比它消失的速度更引人注目了。１９３９年,现代殖民帝国似乎发展到了它的顶峰阶段。但在１９８１年时,它实际上已经土崩瓦解”①。到世纪之末,绵延数百年的殖民主义已最后终结。在新世纪铿锵而来之际,对这一发生在２０世纪的重要历史事件所进行的整体研究,将会有助我们更进一步地认识和把握历史发展的客观规律。一民族主义的兴起与发展,无疑是促进现代殖民主义最后终结的重要原因之一。在构成现代殖民帝国主体的非移民殖民地中,除少数…     

近代香港医疗、疾病与卫生史研究

在现有的香港史研究中,有关近代香港医疗、疾病与卫生史的研究是一个相对新颖的领域,但在这一领域已经有人对其学术史做出了回顾。本文将根据现有的研究成果,通过分类加以整理、分析和评价。     

多元互动的近代历史图景——第四届“两岸三地历史学研究生论文发表会”述评

2003年10月15日至17日,武昌桂子山上桂蕊缤纷,幽香四溢,第四届“两岸三地历史学研究生论发表会”在华中师范大学成功举行。此次会议由华中师范大学中国近代史研究所、台湾政治大学历史学系和香港珠海书院亚洲研究中心联合主办。与会     

“冷战”的起源与终结——世界历史的视角

20世纪的世界体系经历了从"解构"到"局部重构"、再到"全面重构"的历史过程。冷战处于世界体系的"局部重构"阶段。这种特殊的国际关系形态既反映了世界体系结构的内在矛盾,也反映了世界体系与国际体系的张力与互动。冷战史表达的结构性矛盾不仅是一般意义上的国家利益竞争和国际关系中的霸权之争,更具实质性的是两种对抗性社会制度及其指导性意识形态的斗争。冷战后的历史运动表明,冷战终结并非人类社会在发展道路选择上的最后结果。后冷战时代世界体系结构性矛盾的升级和深化使国际社会面临诸多现实的挑战和风险。由于世界体系层面全球治理机制的滞后,缺乏公共产品支撑的国际体系面临失范的风险,后冷战时代的世界正呈现出难以把握的"不确定性"。     

Hong Kong and Macao under Chinese Sovereignty: A Framing Discourse

A senior American specialist on China and noted geographer presents a framing commentary and analysis of three preceding papers (Yeung et al., 2008; Shen, 2008; and Tang, 2008) comprising a symposium on Hong Kong and Macao under Chinese sovereignty after Great Britain and Portugal ceased to govern these cities in the late 1990s. The paper commences with an historical overview, noting the years of colonial rule, discussing relations with Mainland China before and after its economic reforms were set in motion, and evaluating the post-handover period in light of the material and arguments in the preceding papers. Included in the paper is also a section on environmental degradation in Hong Kong. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: N950, O18, Q30, R11. 3 figures, 17 references.     

Vallejo and the End of History

This article studies the intersections of racial, gender, and national subjectivities in Marta Rojas's novel, Santa Lujuria o Papeles de blanco (1998). I examine the entanglement of fiction and historical memory as well as the (re)appropriation and (re)construction of the slave experience as a vindication of anti-imperialist discourses. By focusing on the depictions of conflicts of race and class set in the colonial period, I also analyze the racialized discourse of blanqueamiento (racial and cultural whitening) and the myth of the eroticized mulatta. Furthermore, I maintain that this novel contributes to the intellectual articulation of new forms of racialization in the Cuban context, while confronting the traditional rhetoric of White supremacy.     

Tocqueville and the End of History

Abstract

We argue for the relevance of a contemporary return to Shakespeare because his work prompts thinking about the “Body Politic,” perhaps the most vivid and enduring image in speech describing political community ever proposed. Shakespeare's meditation on this image invites us to reflect on the conditions under which a body politic can be made whole; that the constitution of any formal commonwealth requires a self-conscious articulation of the body politic and that this articulation could not happen without the parts themselves being aware of their partial character within the whole political order. The need for the consent of those parts in the political order to which they would belong thus becomes suddenly more evident. Shakespeare's plays show that this need for consent always emerges within discrete political communities. As such, the constituent parts of those communities must grant consent, exercise and enjoy their rights, and participate in the whole within the limitations circumscribed by their political boundaries and borders. His dramatic works thus help us reconsider contemporary attacks on the nation-state and illuminate the body politic as an essential means for bringing into being the preconditions and framework required for healthy political life, including liberal democracy, to flourish.