美国史学界有关奴隶制起源的争论

美国的历史学在有关美国奴隶制的起源问题上的争论断断续续地已经进行了一个多世纪。争论的主要问题包括英属北美殖民地黑人奴隶制确立的时间、黑人奴隶制确立的原因以及奴隶制与种族主义的关系。鉴于这个问题涉及问题的广泛性,澄清美国奴隶制的起源,对于理解美国殖民地初期的种族关系乃至当代美国的种族问题具有重要的学术价值和现实意义。本的主要目的在于,对争论各方的主要观点进行梳理和比较,将百年来美国学围绕这一问题的争论概况介绍给国内的学界,以期促进中国学对这一问题更为深入的研究。     

论美国联邦体制下的州际合作

为满足经济社会发展一体化趋势的需要,消除联邦集权的必要和借口,维护自己在联邦体系中的地位,美国各州自19世纪末期开始了州际合作的努力.除了更加充分地利用联邦宪法赋予的签署州际协定的权利外,各州又相继发展出了统一州法和组建行政协作组织等州际合作的新模式.通过不断加强州际合作,各州逐渐构建起一个"没有华盛顿的联邦体系",缓解了自身的相对独立性与经济、社会一体化发展趋势之间的矛盾,止住了联邦权力扩张的势头,推动着美国联邦体制在20世纪70年代以后朝着"以州为中心"的方向发展.     

An American Controversy about the Localization of Cutaneous Sensory Regions and their Relation to Motor Regions

Three American neurologists (C. K. Mills, C. L. Dana, and M. A. Starr) explored the anatomical limits of the motor and tactile systems in the brain from 1884 to 1895. Their papers and critiques of one another show contemporary knowledge, limits of their thinking, and difficulties deciding between alternatives. The issue for them was whether there were separate sensory and motor regions or whether there was a combined sensory-motor region. They based their localization arguments on clinical and laboratory findings and on the conclusions of H. Munk and D. Ferrier. There is a discussion about why differences were unresolved.     

The A-Bomb Controversy at the National Air and Space Museum

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1947, Linenthal earned his bachelor's degree in religious studies at Western Michigan University, his master's degree in divinity at the Pacific School of Religion, and his Ph.D. in religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is Professor of Religion and American Culture at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. His books include: Symbolic Defense: The Cultural Significance of the Strategic Defense Initiative (1989); Sacred Ground: Americans and their Battlefields (2nd edition, 1993); Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America's Holocaust Museum (1995); American Sacred Space (co-editor, 1995). He is writing a history of the A-Bomb controversy that will appear in a book to be published in 1996. Linenthal has often lectured about controversial historic sites for National Park Service staff. At the USS Arizona Memorial, Linenthal delivered a commemorative address on 7 December 1994, on the 53rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Linenthal and his wife, with their two sons, reside in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Linenthal was the only historian to testify before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration about the National Air and Space Museum's ill-fated exhibit, “The Last Act: The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II.” What follows is Linenthal's Senate statement and comments he has written for The Historian.     

孟德斯鸠对“礼仪之争”的解读

礼仪之争传入欧洲后,引起法国知识菁英的广泛关注。孟德斯鸠至迟自1713年起就关注礼仪之争,但他并不介入其中,而是冷眼旁观。他阅读了当时有关中国的绝大多数主要著作,还曾与来自中国的黄嘉略和自中国返回欧洲的傅圣泽进行长谈,从阅读和谈话中汲取了大量的信息,作出了对礼仪之争的解读。他认为,礼仪之争是一场无谓的争论,基督教在中国受挫是必然的结果,他独具特色的中国观在此基础上形成。他对中国持冷峻的态度,褒贬兼具,既肯定中国的某些优点,更严厉斥责中国的种种弊端,并断然将中国定性为专制主义。     

The Geography of Crime and Punishment in the Russian Federation

A UK-based team of two geographers and a criminologist presents the results of its ongoing investigation of the geography of Russia's prison system, which in 2011 is in the early stages of transition from housing inmates in communal barracks (regardless of the severity of their crimes) to one more similar to that in the United States, in which facilities are differentiated to accommodate the entire spectrum of inmates from those housed in maximum security prisons (cellblocks) to minimum security institutions ("colony settlements"). The authors seek to determine whether a Soviet-era spatial bias in the location of facilities persists in presentday Russia by comparing the location of prisons across regions with the distribution of the country's population as well as the per capita incidence of recorded crimes and serious crimes.     

The futures of ethnic groups in the Russian Federation

The changes, sometimes dramatic, in the size and structure of the ethnic groups of the Russian Federation (RF) raise questions about their possible futures. The paper presents simulations of how ethnic groups of the RF could develop in the future and discusses the demographic aspects of the predicted changes. The simulations cover a 25-year period, from 1 January 2011 to 1 January 2036 and were prepared for the 22 most numerous ethnic groups using a multistate cohort-component population dynamics model. To prepare the assumptions for the simulations, ethnicity-specific data (no longer collected) on fertility, mortality, and international migration were used. The results indicate that in the coming 20 years Russia will face numerous challenges related to the changes in the size, age structure, and ethnic composition of its population. The population of the RF will age and, except in the “Modernization” scenario, will shrink. Non-Slavic and Muslim populations will increase their share in the total population at the expense of Slavic and Orthodox ethnic groups and will age more slowly.