‘Caught’ between foreign cultural and development policies: perspectives of German Studies and German as a foreign language in Africa

The promotion of the German language abroad and of German Studies plays a central role in German Foreign Cultural Policy. With regard to Sub-Saharan Africa, otherwise a peripheral region for foreign policy, German as foreign language is firmly established as second language after English. Learners especially in Francophone West and Central Africa have increased over the past decade. Numerous funding programmes and actions are supported by German nongovernmental organizations at college/university levels. But bilateral cooperation between German and African academic institutions are challenged both by negative perceptions of the ‘Global South’ among Western colleagues and by an infrastructure adverse to research and to career development in most African countries. Additionally, North/South relations are traditionally seen in terms of (under-)development by German institutions, effecting cooperation. The paper develops a differentiated picture of African Studies in Africa, and outlines benefits that can be attained through collaboration ‘at eye-level’.     

Cultural revitalisation after catastrophe: the Qiang culture in A’er

The culture of the Qiang ethnic minority in Western China has been threatened by assimilation with the majority culture, and many Qiang no longer take part in traditional ceremonies or use their cultural skills and knowledge. The devastating 2008 earthquake in Sichuan killed a 10th of the Qiang population and destroyed monuments, houses and villages. The Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Centre (CHP), a citizen volunteer non-governmental organisation, launched a project to help a Qiang village named A’er preserve its intangible and tangible cultural heritage. This paper describes the damage that was done and the needs of the Qiang people in the remote village of A’er, which is generally considered one of the last major repositories of traditional Qiang culture. The A’er people, despite their desperate situation, were determined to save their cultural heritage. The CHP team, working with them, provided necessary instruments and methods for recording. The Qiang people of A’er village themselves decided what they would record and produced an introduction to the A’er Qiang culture named ‘The A’er Archive’ and an elementary conversation booklet over which A’er villagers explicitly maintained copyright.     

A regionalisation or long-distance trade? Transformations and shifts in the role of Tana in the Black Sea trade in the first half of the fifteenth century

Abstract

The Italian trading stations in Tana were important in the long-distance trade system of the Italian maritime republics Venice and Genoa. The deeds of two Venetian notaries who worked there during the 1430s, Nicolo de Varsis and Benedetto de Smeritis, are an important source for tracing the transformation of the issues and directions of Italian trade in the Black Sea region, a trade which was recovering from the crisis of the fourteenth century. Notwithstanding the Venetian-Genoese struggle and previous crisis events, this recovery made the economic conditions favourable. Although some scholars see a regionalisation of trade in fifteenth century, the source evidence challenges this interpretation. Westerners began to import Italian, Flemish and English textiles to the Eastern markets, and the local goods (fish, caviar) were widely exported to Europe – even to the markets of Flanders. Finally, the slave trade was intensive. My main argument here is that though there were considerable transformations in the Italian trade, there was no real regionalisation of trade, which retained its long-distance character.     

濒危世界遗产威胁因素分析与中国世界遗产保护对策

研究导致世界遗产"濒危"的威胁因素能够为我国世界遗产管理与保护提供重要借鉴。对全球濒危世界遗产威胁因素定量统计发现:武装冲突、管理不力、工程建设是世界文化遗产与世界自然遗产共同面临的三大威胁;世界文化遗产的主要濒危因素还包括城市发展压力、不合适的维修/重建等;世界自然遗产濒危因素则还包括非法偷猎、捕捞,以及林业采伐、农业种植、放牧等农林生产活动等。中国世界遗产面临的首要威胁因素是旅游发展压力,管理问题、城市发展压力、水利工程建设等也较为突出。提出中国世界遗产保护建议:明确遗产旅游价值取向,加强高峰期游客管理,控制旅游设施建设规模;提升管理水平与管理能力,探索世界遗产管理的新体系、新思路;妥善处理好城市发展对世界文化遗产的保护压力,积极预防极端自然灾害的破坏;严格控制世界自然遗产地内的道路建设、水利工程建设等。     

故宫博物院80年

故宫博物院是中国近现代社会变革、文化转型的产物,见证了历史的沧桑,有过曲折的历程。它作为中华民族历史和传统的重要象征,正为人们所深刻认识和空前重视,同时以其宏富的收藏、多样的展示、丰硕的科研成果为世所瞩目,从整体上反映着中国博物馆事业的发展水平。故宫是世界文化遗产,对故宫价值的认识以及多年来在故宫保护上的努力,是中国世界文化遗产保护意识与保护水平不断提高的体现,也是世界文化遗产保护理论与实践的宝贵财富。故宫博物院正在重点抓紧基础建设、搞好开放展览、扩大对外合作与交流、打造“数字故宫”、推进故宫学研究等工作,努力实现保护好民族瑰宝并创建世界一流博物馆的目标。     

发展中的江苏省世界文化遗产保护事业

苏州古典园林和南京明孝陵被列入世界文化遗产名录,这两处世界文化遗产的保护,由以传统方式的文物保存上升到对世界文化遗产的科学管理和保护。     

文物计算机辅助修复方法探讨

为提高文物的修复效率和修复质量,改变传统以人工技艺为主的修复方法,探讨利用计算机辅助文物修复方法。通过图像处理研究计算机辅助文物修复的设计方法,研究包括文物破损边界特征的数据提取,实现文物修复模型的生成、修复方案结构设计优化。以吴虎鼎为应用案例进行了试验。研究结果表明,计算机辅助修复可以缩短文物修复周期、提高文物修复质量。     

后过程主义考古学的形成——读伊恩·哈德《解读过去》

考古学的进步是以丧失其纯洁性为代价的。     

Intensive El Niño and the Iron Age of South-eastern Africa

Burnt daga structures in Iron Age villages serve as proxies for severe drought on the plateau of southern Africa. The distribution of burnt daga remains in two other rainfall areas, KwaZulu-Natal and the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone over Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, establishes a sequence of simultaneous burnings that parallels the severe droughts recorded for the interior plateau. These widespread correspondences suggest a common cause. Another correspondence with natural proxy data from South America indicates that intensive El Niño events most likely caused the droughts.     

Applications of satellite remote sensing for research and heritage management in Indian prehistory

Multidisciplinary spatial studies are relatively limited in Indian archaeology, despite their potential for research and heritage management. This paper discusses applications of satellite remote sensing, field studies and GIS, in the context of Palaeolithic archaeology. The study region covers an area of around 8000 km², in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India, and is characterized by a rich and diverse Palaeolithic record. Satellite images of varied spatial resolutions were interpreted to address both regional and site-specific research questions. Thematic maps were generated from satellite data and refined with intensive field investigations. These were used for demarcating sources of raw material, and in investigating variability in the distribution of sites through time in relation to a range of geological and geomorphological features. Satellite data and field studies also aided in mapping impacts on sites resulting from modern landuse patterns. The paper also discusses the development and testing of a model to detect potential areas where new sites may be rapidly located.