Small is not Necessarily Beautiful: An Evaluation of Policy Support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Australia

One of the key strategies of the current Commonwealth government in Australia is to promote a dynamic entrepreneurial culture by improving the business environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper evaluates the contribution of SMEs to innovation and employment in Australia and reviews the international evidence on the value of SMEs. It concludes that a very small percentage of SMEs are responsible for most of the employment generation and innovation in the small-firm sector. The policy implication is that general deregulatory measures designed to support SMEs as a generic class are likely to create an environment within which low-quality, low-wage employment is generated in SMEs with little future. Instead, the sectoral composition of industrial activity and the social structures and relationships within which firms are embedded require greater policy attention.     

从"自然语境"到"实际语境"——反思民俗学的田野作业追求

在所谓“自然状态”下进行田野考察曾经是并且至今依然是许多民族志工作者的理想之一。正如美国民俗学家理查德·鲍曼(Richard Bauman)所指出的:“在追求某一民俗形式的所谓自然语境方面,民俗学家们显示了顽强不懈的动力”。为了追求所谓“自然语境”(natural context),以便了解在不被民俗学家打扰的“自然状态”下民俗存在和表演的状貌,一些人会使用各种方法,努力使研究者“隐蔽”起来,以便使观察和访谈不影响或者尽可能少影响被研究对象的“正常”表演。     

从“民俗”到“语境中的民俗”——中国民俗学研究的范式转换

20世纪90年代中后期以来,中国民俗学学者开始从单纯的民俗事象研究,转向在语境中研究民俗,强调田野调查,强调在田野中观察民俗生活、民俗表演的情境、民俗表演的人际互动、民俗表演与社会生活、社会关系、文化传统之间的复杂关联等等,呈现出民族志式的整体研究取向,时空、人、社会、表演、变迁、日常生活等系列关键词,表明在语境中研究民俗的学者具有共同的问题、方法以及学术取向,初步具备学术范式的意义。     

The Social Regulation of Markets: Why Microcredit Fails to Promote Jobs in Rural South India

There is growing evidence that microcredit does little to support self‐employment. Two main explanations are typically emphasized: from a microeconomic perspective, the poor have been argued to lack the skills, resources and motivation to start their own businesses; from a macroeconomic perspective, local markets are often saturated. This article uses first‐hand data from rural South India to explore a third explanation which focuses on the social regulation of markets. Drawing on a household survey, the authors show that self‐employment and microcredit are uncorrelated, and that women and lower castes have a significantly lower chance of starting up a business. The businesses they do start tend to be smaller, less profitable and based in very specific sectors. Qualitative insights into the workings of local economies show that caste and gender‐based social regulations influence local markets determining who can produce or sell what, to whom, and at what price. The authors observe that real markets are affected by power relations and structured through social institutions rather than being the sum of interactions between free and competitive individuals. These findings show the importance of integrating self‐employment programmes into broader policies for transforming the social regulation of markets and for eradicating discrimination against women and lower castes.     

《毛诗正义》“诗缘政”的历史语境及其理论内涵

孔颖达在《毛诗正义》中提出“诗缘政”的诗学命题,有着鲜明的时代烙印,在中国诗学史上有着重要的地位和理论价值,启蒙有唐一代的诗学和诗歌创作。但长期以来却被研究者们所忽略。通过考察其形成的历史文化语境和孔颖达时代的诗学现状来探究其理论内涵,彰显其理论价值和意义。     

For the Good of The Nation: ‘Strategic Egalitarianism’ in the Singapore Context

In this article, I introduce the concept of ‘strategic egalitarianism’ in relation to women's co‐optation into nationalist projects in Singapore. By strategic egalitarianism, I mean the granting of equality to women that is contingent upon meeting particular pragmatic nationalist objectives. For example, the granting of equal educational and employment opportunities by the government in the 1960s was necessitated by Singapore's economic survival as a newly emerging nation. By the 1980s, another pragmatic national concern dealing with rapid decline in population growth emerged, requiring that women prioritise the role of motherhood. A complicating factor in the procreationist discourse is the government's eugenic policy that favours the ‘right’ kind of women, in particular, to bear the ‘right’ kind of babies for the continued vitality of the nation. In the course of this article, I examine the problem with strategic egalitarianism, which shifts its ground depending on the nationalist goals of the day, and the implications this has for Singapore women.     

川西,邂逅自然之美

<正>2018年11月,我与著名摄影家、中国摄影家协会会员、成都市摄影协会副主席向文军及其夫人,一起踏上了川西寻鸟旅程。向文军开着他的大众高尔夫轿车,我们沿着318国道一路向西。对于这位曾在西藏、新疆服役多年,多次和川藏线、青藏线打交道,擅长山路驾行的向文军来说,行走318国道,可谓轻车熟路,小菜一碟。川西之旅,就在这样的顺风顺水中,悄然开始了。     

环境史中的欧洲特殊道路问题

欧洲为什么率先进行工业革命是一个永恒的问题,从东西方环境史比较的角度可能会对此得出独特的解释。当然,这种比较必须建立在坚实的实地研究的基础上。本文要分析的十个问题是：谨慎对待精神观点,环境史的制度分析,耕地与牧场的平衡与失衡,西欧的婚姻模式,延续、持续性和自给自足,森林和权力,欧洲多中心主义的优势,魏特夫“亚细亚生产方式”的绿色复兴,欧洲殖民主义的环境影响,环境史上是否存在一个“欧洲奇迹”。从这十方面的比较中会对“环境史中的欧洲特殊道路问题”有更清楚的把握,进而揭示出一个辩证的历史逻辑,即“长期的成功恰恰加剧了危机”。这或许就是东方前现代的繁荣昭示给现在西方文明的前景。     

"The Big and the Small of it" Perspectives in Latin American-U.S.Relations

Linda B. Hall. OIL, banks, and Politics: The United States and Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1917–1924
Thomas F. O'brien. The Revolutionary Mission: American Enterprise in Latin America, 1900–1945     

文明对话的语境:全球化与多样性

本文论述了全球化与多样性、多样性与人类共同体的关系,提出全球化既可能导致无个性的普世主义,也可能导致一种真诚的全球共同体意识;对身份的追寻既可能导致有害的分裂,也可能引导出一条全球沟通的可靠之路,而文明问的对话则是培育和发展一种全球和平文化的最佳期望。作为人类不同宗教和文化共同的伟大精神传统和共有的价值观,人道、公正、文明、智慧和信任将对文明间的对话和全球和平文化的培育发挥至关重要的作用。     

Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage in South Africa: The Development of Relevant Management Strategies in the Historical Maritime Context of the Southern Tip of Africa

South Africans have a long association with water. It has provided a source of food, a medium for trade and a catalyst for migration and development. The country??s geographical position as a crossroads of maritime trade between Europe and the East means that its history is inextricably linked to the history of the rest of the world. The result is a multi-faceted representation of sites, objects and mythologies related to water and maritime heritage that reflect not only local historical and social development, but global cultural change as well. Given the importance of South Africa??s underwater cultural heritage (UCH), managers have grappled with management principles, ethics and theoretical models in an effort to produce and enforce heritage legislation that is relevant and effective. This paper outlines South Africa??s maritime context from 1.5 million years ago until the present, summarises legislative and mitigation developments over the past half century and provides details of current trends in maritime archaeology and UCH management at the southern tip of Africa. Training programmes and public awareness are keys to this strategy to bring UCH and maritime archaeology into the mainstream and counter treasure hunting and looting of this rich, friable resource.