Book reviews

CHINA

SOW‐THENG LEONG. Migration and Ethnicity in Chinese History: Hakkas, Pengmin, and their Neighbors. Tim Wright, ed., G. William Skinner, Maps and introduction. Illustrations, maps, tables, index, character list. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. xxiii, 236 pp. A$69.95, hardcover.

BONNIE S. McDOUGALL and KAM LOUIE. The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century. London: Hurst, 1997; Gosford: Bushbooks, 1998. Acknowledgments, introduction, further reading, glossary, index, vi, 504 pp. A$39.95, paper.

XIAOBO LU and ELIZABETH J. PERRY (eds). Danwei: the Changing Chinese Workplace in Historical and Comparative Perspective . Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. 270 pp. US$72.95, hardcover; US$34.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

SYDNEY GIFFARD. Japan Among the Powers, 1890–1990. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994, 1997. xxii, 218 pp. Abbreviations, introduction, author's note, glossary, index. US$35.00, hardcover; US$15.00, paper.

KATHERINE H. S. MOON. Sex Among Allies: military Prostitution in U.S.‐Korea Relations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xiii, 240 pp. Preface, acknowledgments, abbreviations, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. US$47.50, hardcover; US$16.50, paper.

SOUTH ASIA

JAMAL J. ELLAS (trans and intro). Death Before Dying. The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. 145 pp. Acknowledgments, introduction, bibliography, index of first lines. US$45.00, hardcover; US$14.95, paper.

AJIT K. NEOGY. Decolonization of French India: liberation Movement and Indo‐French Relations 1947–1954. Pondicherry: French Institute of Pondicherry, 1997. xxviii, 299 pp. Foreword, preface, endnotes, appendixes, bibliography, index, resume. US$37.00, paper.

SURESHCHANDRA SHUKLA and REHKLA KAUL (eds). Education, Development and Underdevelopment. New Delhi: Sage, 1998. US$39.95, hardcover.

EMMA TARLO. Clothing Matters: dress and Identity in India London: Hurst & Company, 1996. xxi, 360 pp. Illustrations. £40.00, hardcover; £19.95, paper.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

KEVIN Y. L. TAN and LAM PENG ER (eds). Managing Political Change in Singapore. London: Routledge, 1997. xii, 228 pp. £45.00, hardcover.

SHARIFAH ZALEHA SYED HASSAN and SVEN CEDERROTH. Managing Marital Disputes in Malaysia: Islamic Mediators and Conflict Resolution in the Syariah Courts. £40.00, hardcover; £15.99, paper.

KEVIN HEWISON (ed). Political Change in Thailand: democracy and Participation. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. xv, 301 pp. US$29.99, paper.

ANN KUMAR. Java and Modern Europe: ambiguous Encounters. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1997. viii, 472 pp. US$52.00, hardcover.

MARTIN STUART‐FOX. A History of Laos. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1997. A$80.00, hardcover; A$24.95, paper.

MARTIN STUART‐FOX. The Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang: rise and Decline. Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 1998. A$22.50, paper.     

Reviews

NEGOTIATION FROM STRENGTH: A STUDY IN THE POLITICS OF POWER. Coral Bell. London, Chatto & Windus, 1962. Pp. 224. Stg. 21/‐.

ARMS INSPECTION. Lawrence S. Finkelstein. N.Y., Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (International Conciliation No. 540), 1962. Pp. 89. 50 cents.

THE SPREAD OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Leonard Beaton and John Maddox. For the Institute for Strategic Studies (Studies in International Security, No. 5). London, Chatto & Windus, 1962. Pp. xi + 216. Stg. 18/‐.

THE REVOLUTION IN WORLD POLITICS. Morton A. Kaplan (Ed.). New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1962. Pp. xxii + 477. U.S. $7.96.

POLITICAL CHANGE IN UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES: NATIONALISM AND COMMUNISM. Edited with an original essay by John H. Kautsky. New York, London, John Wiley and Sons, 1962. Pp. xv + 347. U.S. $3.95.

THE POLITICS OF THE NEW STATES: A SELECT ANNOTATED. BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE COMMON‐ WEALTH. Francis Carnell. For the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. xvi + 171. Australian price 23/6d.

INDEPENDENCE AND AFTER: REVOLUTION IN UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES. Richard Harris. Under the auspices of the Institute of Race Relations. London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. 69.

WHITE MAN. Gustav Jahoda. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. xii + 144. Australian price 34/9d.

PROSPERO'S MAGIC. Philip Mason, London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. viii + 151. Australian price 29/9d.

BRITAIN AND THE CONGO IN THE 19TH CENTURY. Roger Anstey. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1962. Pp. xiii + 252. Australian price 66/3d.

KING LEOPOLD'S CONGO. Ruth Slade. London, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. xii + 219. Australian price 49/9d.

MY LIFE. Alhaji Sir Akmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto. Cambridge University Press, 1962. Pp. x + 239. Stg. 30/‐.

AFRICA SOUTH OF THE SAHARA. G. W. Kingsnorth. Cambridge University Press, 1962. Pp. viii + 155. Stg. 17/6.

EAST AFRICA THROUGH CONTEMPORARY RECORDS. Zoë Marsh. Cambridge University Press, 1961. Pp. xxi + 215. Stg. 25/‐.

THE EAST AFRICAN COAST: SELECT DOCUMENTS FROM THE FIRST TO THE EARLIER NINETEENTH CENTURY. G. S. P. Freeman‐Grenville. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1962. Pp. 303. Australian price 62/3d.

BELGIAN ADMINISTRATION IN THE CONGO, Georges Brauseh, Pp. 92, Stg. 7/6; TRAGEDY IN ALGERIA, Gerard Mansell, Pp. 77, Stg. 6/‐. London, Oxford University Press, 1961.

FRENCH‐SPEAKING WEST AFRICA. Philip Neres. Pp. 101; SENEGAL. Michael Crowder. Pp. 104. Stg. 7/6; ANGOLA: A SYMPOSIUM, Pp. 160. Stg. 9/6, London, Oxford University Press, 1962.

THE NEW SOCIETIES OF TROPICAL AFRICA. Guy Hunter. London, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. xx + 360. Australian price 65/‐.

SOUTH AFRICA: THE DYNAMICS OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. Edward Feit. For the Institute of Race Relations. London, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. 73. Australian price 12/6d.

THE PEOPLES AND POLICIES OF SOUTH AFRICA. Leo Marquard. Third Edition. London, Oxford Paperbacks, Pp. 284. Australian price 14/3d.

RECOGNITION OF COMMUNIST CHINA? Robert P. Newman. New York, Macmillan Co., 1961. Pp. xii + 318. Australian price, paper 21s., cloth 53s. 6d.

HURRICANE PROM CHINA. Denis Warner. New York, Macmillan Co., 1961. Pp. ix + 210. Australian price, 42s. 9d.

COMMUNES AND THE AGRICULTURAL CRISIS IN COMMUNIST CHINA. Philip P. Jones and Thomas T. Poleman. Stanford, Pood Research Institute, Stanford University, 1962.

ANGLO‐DUTCH RIVALRY IN THE MALAY WORLD, 1780–1824. Nicholas Tarling. Cambridge University Press and University of Queensland Press, 1962. Pp. 189. Australian price 37/6d.

SEATO: SIX STUDIES. George Modelski (ed.). For the Australian National University. Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire, 1962. Pp. xxxiv + 302. Australian price 75/‐d.     

‘It’s one of the first times I’ve felt fully engaged’: developing student engagement using blogging as a form of assessment

There is a widespread debate in higher education about how best to support students in becoming more active and engaged learners. Geographers have occupied a central position in these debates having long been concerned with understanding and creating teaching spaces that encourage active and experiential learning. Recent pedagogical innovations have seen a movement away from a reliance on lecturing as the key pedagogical method and a redefinition of the roles of both teacher and learner. In this paper, we look at the role that assessment, specifically assessed blogs, can play in enhancing student engagement. Drawing on interviews with Course Organizers from two case study courses, student focus groups, and course evaluation surveys we show the various ways in which blogs enhance engagement. We draw attention to how blogging enabled students to personalize their learning and make it more meaningful to them, as well as to foster greater engagement with the course materials including making connections across the course as a whole. Further, we show how blogging enabled students to develop transferable skills that would stand them in good stead for the rest of their time at university and in their future professional lives.     

Policing Racial Fantasy in the Far West of New South Wales1

In the 1980s, the Far West of New South Wales appeared as a flashpoint for racial tension and conflicts between Aboriginal people and the police. A number of direct confrontations occurred. At the time, attention to Aboriginal/police relations was under constant media scrutiny as pressure mounted for a Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. Yet, even in national terms, the incidence of racial tension was abnormally high. This paper seeks to explore the social context of some of these events and to analyse the cultural and social questions they give rise to in terms of racial tensions in new ways. The tracing of the sociological categories of race and their inequitable consequences seemed less important than the local performative dynamics of race. The article seeks to explore a world where rumour and gossip, fantasy and violence add significantly to the complexity of social relations and in a manner not adequately encompassed by sociological assumptions of race. Abject. It is something rejected from which one does not part, from which one does not protect oneself as from an object. Imaginary uncanniness and real threat, it beckons to us and ends up engulfing us (Kristeva 1982:4).