Epistemic Modernity and the Emergence of Homosexuality in China

Centred on two Republican‐era Chinese sexologists, Zhang Jingsheng (1888–1970) and Pan Guangdan (1899–1967), this article explores the intellectual context in which the western category of ‘homosexuality’ was introduced to Chinese culture, thereby highlighting its production of a key epistemological rearrangement in the social significance of same‐sex desire in modern China. The article proposes and develops the analytic rubric of ‘epistemic modernity’ to illuminate the pertinent discursive apparatus of cultural translation and negotiation, on the basis of which explicit claims of (sexual) knowledge‐making were imbricated with implicit claims about cultural indicators of traditionality, authenticity and modernity.     

Environmental injustice in America and its politics of scale

Environmental burdens, such as proximity to hazardous sites, tend to be inequitably borne by poor Americans in general, and by Americans of color in particular. So argues a loose coalition of grassroots organizations and public-interest groups known as the Environmental Justice (EJ) movement. Prompted by that movement, the national government and some state legislatures have established policies to address future inequity. Those policies assume that the scope of environmental injustice spans the country, with many hazardous facilities dotting the landscape in communities of color and/or of the poor. However, various industries and also some social scientists call into question the argument that inequities occur on a national, or even state-wide, scale. Their counter-arguments typically espouse a market-based explanation that localizes the problem: any inequitable risks result from the impersonal forces of the marketplace functioning within individual communities. The politics of EJ pivot around defining the scales of inequity and its resolution. This paper examines the debates over environmental justice in terms of the tension between the scale(s) of the problem itself and the scale(s) at which the problem is to be resolved (or at least ameliorated) via government policy. The paper also sketches several theoretical and political implications of the debates. Theoretically speaking, market-based explanations tend to privilege the local scale, thereby ignoring vital factors that help us to understand environmental inequity as a phenomenon operating at a multitude of scales from the local to the national and international scales. Politically speaking, if the inequities were particular to discrete locales, then extensive governmental involvement would be unnecessary.     

Imperial Dreams Prefigured: America and its Middle Eastern Urge

Book reviewed:
McAlister, Melani. Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East.     

宗藩体制解体与东北亚乱局

东北亚问题成为国际焦点问题之一,这是近代以来国际局势再演再变的结果.清政府面对近代化压力不得不放弃"王道政治",直面自己的内部问题,力图建立近代国家.对于先前各藩邦受到列强或近邻的侵害,清政府无力亦无心继续予以救助,于是先前行之有效的宗藩体制解体,并导致至今扰攘不宁的东北亚乱局.     

大地湾地画和史前社会的男性同性爱型岩画

文章通过人类学、民俗学、考古学的多重视角对甘肃秦安大地湾遗址仰韶文化晚期地画进行了剖析;撩开大地湾地画的面纱,其与世界各地史前时代广泛存在的男性同性爱型岩画颇多相似之处。     

近代美国农业科技的引进及其影响评述

近代以来,伴随着农业的资本主义化,美国农业出现了两次技术革命。中国的近代农业始于19世纪90年代,中国近代农业科技的引进工作,在初期主要通过翻译刻印西方农书、延聘外国教员和派遣留学生等途径来引进和吸取外国的先进农学知识,同时也引进了不少近代农业科技的物质和技术成果,如农机具、育种技术和病虫害防治技术等。近代中国从美国引进的作物优良品种、先进农业技术以及全新的农业科研教育模式,可谓一枝独秀、影响深远。     

America and Japan in the World Arena

Book reviewed in this article:
Walter LaFeber, The Clash: A History of U.S.-Japan Relations     

The Almshouse in Dutch and English Colonial North America and its Precedent in the Old World: Historical and Archaeological Evidence

To establish historical and archaeological contexts for the case studies presented in this volume, this paper presents a review of the literature on the history and archaeology of almshouses. Because both English and Dutch colonial almshouses were based on European precedents, this paper examines historical research and archaeological work conducted in The Netherlands and England, as well as their North American colonies.     

拉丁美洲与加勒比地区的国际移民——兼论中国移民的生存发展空间

通过对拉美历史上四次国际移民历史和趋向的发展变化、非法移民及其原因、移民侨汇对国民经济的重大影响、移民跨国中小企业的形成与发展等方面的分析,探讨了拉丁美洲与加勒比地区国际移民的历史、现状以及中国移民在这一地区的生存与发展空间。     

旅美华侨与华盛顿会议

依据《申报》、《晨报》、《民国日报》、《大公报》等报刊在华盛顿会议前后的相关报道,对旅美华侨的活动进行梳理考察,认为旅美华侨对华盛顿会议极为关注,如会前要求南方政府派代表与会,会中及时通告国外信息,联络在美国民代表、留学生批驳不利舆论,监督政府代表,反对直接交涉与借款赎路,一定程度上博得了国际舆论的同情与支持。旅美华侨的活动对华盛顿会议产生了积极的影响。     

近代旅美华侨华人与中美文化的双向交流

鸦片战争强制性地拉开了中西文化交流的序幕。1848年以后,随着北美至中国航线的开通,一部分居住在珠江三角洲的广东人在多种原因的驱使下,远渡重洋来到北美。在美国西部形成了一个又一个的华侨华人社区,使中国的古老文明渐次播散到美国西部各州。随着北美华侨华人的不断扩展,不同类型的华侨华人在不同的领域里(商业、建筑、科技教育、宗教伦理、风俗习惯等许多文化领域里)对中华传统文化进行了被动和主动传播。被动的传播形成了美国多元文化的文化飞地,主动的传播使中国传统文化在美国文化的大熔炉里形成了一种鲜明的、交叉式的边缘文化。文化的传播是一个双向互动的过程。随着大批旅美华侨华人陆续返回故乡,他们也把西方文明带回侨乡。它们与本土文化发生碰撞、冲突、融合,从而在珠江三角洲一带的侨乡形成了新鲜的、西方式的边缘文化。     

Multiculturalism in Europe and America

Abstract. Although there is a popular discourse about multiculturalism in Europe and North America which suggests that there is a single set of problems, the political problems which multiculturalism addresses are different in these two contexts. As outlined here the problem in Western Europe is that in liberal democracies and social democratic welfare states two questions have to be addressed. One is that of equality, the other the recognition of cultural diversity. As is shown here a number of important European social scientists have feared that the acceptance of cultural diversity will actually undermine important and valued political structures without improving the condition of minorities. In the United States a different set of problems has arisen. While the Civil Rights movement appeared to be helping Blacks to achieve equality in the sixties, by the late eighties there was a sense of disillusion about this process and the emergence of ideologies based upon separatism which appeared to point to the ‘disuniting’ of America. Some of these ideologies were what was being discussed under the heading of multiculturalism. A further contrast has to be made with Canada which is often thought of as an arch-exponent of multiculturalism, but in which all problems of ethnic equality are tied up with the specific problems generated by Quebecois nationalism.