People of Stone: Stelae, Personhood, and Society in Prehistoric Europe

Stelae (also known variously as statue-stelae and statue-menhirs) are a pan-European phenomenon in fourth and third millennia b.c. Europe and are clearly associated with the social transformations characterizing Europe in this period. While the varying traditions of stelae, from the Ukraine to Iberia, differ considerably, they also share a set of general aesthetic choices towards representing the human body, reducing the body to a rigidly schematic, highly stylized with a widely shared geometry and with emphasis upon its surface as a canvas for social marking, particularly of gender. This paper reviews the aesthetic choices involved in stelae and relates them to the changing social contexts of later prehistoric Europe.     

Drawing,toponymy, and linguistic pilgrimage

This article scrutinises an ongoing concern with how the naming of landscape is informed by micro personal and macro cultural narratives. The author takes the position of a toponymist and linguistic pilgrim. The perspectives identify ways of understanding the meanings of place ascribed through language and placenames, the role of intention in language documentation, and relationships between the affect of place and belonging. Drawing is melded with processes of placenaming, specifically a single fishing ground placename recorded during linguistic fieldwork in February 2008 with an elderly man on Norfolk Island, South Pacific. The argument uses drawing as a method to reveal how elicited stories can reveal the meanings of placenames and the histories of observations that inform them. The view taken questions whether the discipline of toponymy could incorporate a more involved and evolved aesthetic dimension. New ways to contextualise observations about placenaming and documentation within relevant interdisciplinary contexts such as drawing research and cartography are offered.     

由“玉飞凤”看古代先民的审美意识

本文依据无锡鸿山越国贵族墓出土的"玉飞凤",简述凤作为中华民族的图腾之一,由远古发展到春秋战国时代的基本历程。并以凤图腾的发展演变过程为例,探讨古代先民审美意识的主要内涵和形成、发展进程。     

论阳明心学与散文载道传统的进境

明中叶后,华而无实的文风渐滋日盛,以故时人每有文佞之议。在这样的情形下,同样以复兴儒道为职志的阳明心学承担起救弊之责,而阳明心学“心即理”主张下的“正心”所倡言的“师古人之心”的具体内涵也本质上暗合了散文载道传统。因此,若推本溯源的话,“师古人之心”比师古人之文无疑在学道的取资上更加勘进一步。而其对“文以载道”的影响自然不再像前代那样单纯地附道于文,实际上更要求道熔铸于心而自然流露。这样,具道于心而自然发抒之文,不论诉诸于何种内容,以何种形式表现,则文章必然充溢着道的气息而“莫非道之用也”。     

Sense Matters: aesthetic values of the Great Barrier Reef

This paper investigates the use of aesthetic value as a criterion by which the significance of heritage places is assessed. It is argued that current heritage management practice has not engaged with the extensive discourse relating to aesthetics, and therefore confines aesthetics to a particular class and culture, and an inert view of only one of our sensory experiences. Historical records relating to the Great Barrier Reef are used to show how aesthetic appreciation of the area has changed over time.The data suggest that the failure to recognise an aesthetic that is primarily non-visual can lead to changes in landscape and loss of associated value. It also suggests that aesthetic values change rapidly and are influenced by social and technological factors.