William Howard Taft and the Importance of Unanimity

This Term, the Historical Society has put on a wonderful series about the man who is widely—and rightly—regarded as this Court's greatest Chief Justice. Through his recognition of the right of judicial review, John Marshall secured for this Court a role in shaping the nation's most important principles: racial equality, individual liberty, the meaning of democracy, and so many others.     

Publications briefly noted

SHARON KINSELLA. Adult Manga: culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000. xii, 228 pp. £12.99, paper.

STEPHEN ESKILDSEN. Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1998. vii, 229 pp. US$19.85, paper.

H. A. J. KLOOSTER. Bibliography of the Indonesian Revolution, Publications from 1942 to 1994. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1997. Bibliographical Series no. 21. 666 pp.

J. E. HOARE (ed). Britain and Japan: biographical Portraits, Volume III. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library, 1999. xviii, 397 pp. £45.00, hardcover.

AYAKO HOTTA‐LISTER. The Japan‐British Exhibition of 1910: gateway to the Island Empire of the East. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library, 1999. xvi, 256 pp. £45.00, hardcover.

JACQUES GERNET. Buddhism in Chinese Society: an Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries (trans. by Franciscus Verellen). New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. xvii, 441 pp. US$21.00, paper.

GREGORY M. PFLUGFELDER. Cartographies of Desire: male‐male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600–1950. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. xi, 399 pp. US$45.00, hardcover.

GAIL HERSHATTER. Dangerous Pleasures: prostitution and Modernity in Twentieth Century Shanghai. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. xii, 591 pp. 26 b/w illustrations, 6 tables. US$18.95, paper.

TSERING SHAKYA. The Dragon in the Land of Snows: a History of Modern Tibet since 1947. No location given: Columbia University Press, 1999. xxix, 574 pp. US$29.95, paper.

J. E. HOARE. Embassies in the East: the Story of the British and their Embassies in China, Japan and Korea from 1859 to the Present. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1999. xvi, 238 pp. £40.00, hardcover.

PADMASIRI DE SILVA. Environmental Philosophy and Ethics in Buddhism. London: Macmillan Press, 1998. xv, 195 pp. A$69.95, hardcover.

ROB GOODFELLOW. The Green Iguana, and Other Short Stories (cartoons by Weldon Neville). Wollongong: Kang Djoko, 1999. 96 pp. A$20.00, paper.

GAO MINGLU (ed). Inside Out: new Chinese Art. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. 223 pp. US$29.95, paper.

EVELYN S. RAWSKI. The Last Emperors: a Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. xii, 481 pp. 10 b/w illustrations, 3 line figures, 3 maps, 18 tables. US$45.00, hardcover.

RANA MITTER. The Manchurian Myth: nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. xi, 295pp. US$45.00, hardcover.

KATSUICHI HONDA. The Nanjing Massacre: a Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame (ed. Frank Gibney, trans. Karen Sandness). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999. 400 pp. Photographs, map, index. US$68.95, hardcover; US$25.95, paper.

E. BRUCE BROOKS and A. TAEKO BROOKS (eds). The Original Analects: sayings of Confucius and His Successors. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. x, 342 pp. US$34.00, hardcover.

ALEX MCKAY (ed). Pilgrimage in Tibet. Richmond, UK: Curzon Press, 1998. xi, 228 pp. £35.00, hardcover.

LISA RAPHALS. Sharing the Light: representations of Women and Virtue in Early China. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. 348 pp. US$21.95, paper.

LING HUPING. Surviving on the Gold Mountain: a History of Chinese American Women and Their Lives. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. 252 pp. US$19.95, paper.

DENNIS HIROTA (ed). Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism: creating a Shin Buddhist Theology in a Religiously Plural World. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000. ix, 257 pp. US$21.95, paper.

WENDY LARSON. Women and Writing in Modern China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. 267 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. US$51.00, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

BURTON WATSON (trans). The Zen Teachings of Master Lin‐Chi: a Translation of the Lin‐chi Lu. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. xxxii, 140 pp. US$18.00, paper.     

THE ROLE OF DEFENSE CUTS IN THE CALIFORNIA RECESSION COMPUTABLE GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM MODELS AND INTERSTATE FACTOR MOBILITY*

ABSTRACT. This study develops a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of California to examine the impact of recent defense cuts on the state's economy. The study demonstrates use of a CGE model to examine the sensitivity of regional economy models to assumptions about factor migration. Model variants include input-output and closed economy models as limiting cases. The results show that the California economy is sensitive to defense cuts. The multiplier relating the impact of defense cuts to state product ranges from one to almost five, depending on the degree of interstate factor mobility.     

‘Circulating commodities’: reflections on the movement and meaning of shells and stories in North Australia and Eastern Indonesia1

As Victor Turner (1974) so eloquently argues, symbols have the capacity to move people, in both emotional and physical terms. In this article, I explore the power of certain kinds of symbols, namely shells (trochus shell, Tectus niloticus) and stories, to do just this. Stories, I argue, construct pathways for the movement of people and objects. Shells too also evoke (e)motion through their ability to signify specific spheres of exchange and the relationships, identities and values which circulate within these domains. Importantly, stories and shells not only suggest movement but are themselves entities which are moved between differently valued social and political contexts. As things which are defined in terms of their high exchangeability quotient, shells and stories, at certain times in their biographies, correspond to Appadurai's (1986) notion of a commodity. Through an exploration of the commodity status and circulation of both shells and stories within the broad ethnographic context of Maluku Tenggara, Indonesia, I aim to challenge some of the commonly held beliefs and stories which are transmitted via the Australian media and along other lines of communication about the so-called ‘problem’ of illegal Indonesian fishermen in north Australian waters.     

(Education for) Sustainable Development in Geography Education: review and outlook from a perspective of Germany

Nearly 15 years after the Rio Conference and 10 years after the Lucerne Declaration on Geographical Education for Sustainable Development we are interested to what extent the goals of this declaration have been implemented? What role does Geography play in Education for Sustainable Development in higher education? We analyzed the modules of 107 degree programs with Geography as a degree major or as a teacher training subject at 55 German universities, technical colleges and universities of education. We conducted a quantitative text analysis in which we searched the key words “Sustainability”, “Sustainable Development”, “Education for Sustainable Development” and “Nature-Society Studies” in the Module Regulations. Our data indicate great heterogeneity between the degree programs. The key words were predominantly found in majors in “Human Geography”, “Geography” and teacher training programs for “academic high schools”. Aspects of the results considered in the paper include: (a) differences in the orientation of degree programs, (b) varying degree of implementation in the modules, (c) different conceptual understanding of the principles of sustainability, (d) the extent to which concepts of Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development are mixed, (e) heterogeneity between mandatory courses and electives.     

REVIEW

Society and Exchange in Nias. By Andrew Beatty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1992. Pp. xii + 322. Price $A95.00     

Mobility or migration: a case study from the Neolithic settlement of Nieder-Mörlen (Hessen,Germany)

A combination of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of collagen and radiogenic strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel was used to investigate diet and mobility at the early Neolithic settlement of Nieder-Mörlen in Germany. The carbon and nitrogen ratios suggest a mixed terrestrial based diet that is consistent with data previously published for early Neolithic sites in Europe. The strontium isotope data indicate a high degree of human mobility with only one individual having an isotope ratio consistent with locally derived strontium. Unusually, a group of non-local juveniles with isotope ratios typical of upland regions is also present at the settlement but there are no adult burials with such values. Whilst transhumance is considered as an explanation, it would not explain why these non-local juveniles lived foreshortened lives and other possible mechanisms are therefore discussed.