Portrayals of Non-North Koreans in North Korean Textbooks and the Formation of National Identity

This article examines the portrayal of non-North Koreans in North Korean textbooks to assess the influences on the formation of North Korean identity, and how such identity formation is important in Kim Jeong-il's retention of power. This study not only looks closely at textual representations; it also examines how political and ideological changes in North Korea had a critical influence on these texts. The study encompasses both lexico-grammatical analysis and the analysis of textual and visual images, based on an examination of six North Korean language textbooks published from 1954 to 2000. It demonstrates that North Korean identity is defined through the portrayal of non-North Koreans, particularly enemy others. The portrayal of non-North Koreans facilitates the formation of a solid North Korean identity – an identity that entails serving their political leaders, remaining vigilant against threats to their country, and liberating South Koreans from poverty and oppression by America and its puppet states.     

The use of multiple discriminant analysis in classifying prehistoric phytolith assemblages recovered from cooking residues

In the investigation of the dispersal of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) from south-central Mexico to the northern and southern limits of agriculture in the Western Hemisphere archaeologists and paleoethnobotanists are increasingly turning to the microbotanical record. Recent analysis of phytolith assemblages from charred cooking residues on pottery sherds in central New York recovered using 209 rondel phytolith variables has identified maize as early as 2270 ± 35 B.P. In this article we use discriminant analysis to re-classify these rondel phytolith assemblages resulting in only seven variables. The results are consistent with those achieved earlier using many more variables and a less formal statistical approach in terms of classification and in similarity of the original and reduced data matrix as seen by the Mantel test and cluster analyses.     

The Capture and Curation of the Cannibal ‘Vendovi’: Reality and Representation of a Pacific Frontier

ABSTRACT

The United States Exploring Expedition into the Pacific launched in 1838 was marked, like the continental expansion westward, by violent encounters with Native peoples. By examining the record of the expedition's kidnapping of the Fijian Ro Veidovi, the fate of his body after death, and the ways his story came to be invoked in the official narrative of the expedition, the popular press, the ‘National Gallery’ and, more recently, the Fijian press, this paper demonstrates how violent contacts on the Pacific frontier were remembered, effaced, and reconceived. The changing story of Ro Veidovi permanently bridged distant locales in an emerging ‘Pacific World’, setting in motion transcultural negotiations that continue to this day.     

The Chinese Pacifics: A Brief Historical Review

ABSTRACT

This survey reviews the growing role and presence of China in the Island Pacific. As the late Professor Ron Crocombe remarked, in the Pacific a major transition is under way from a range of European to Asian influences. Many Western observers have viewed this rise of Asian, and specifically Chinese, influence with alarm, but Crocombe saw it as offering Pacific Islanders new opportunities. This paper first analyses the diversity that can be masked by terms such as ‘China’ and ‘the Pacific’. Then it surveys recent literature on China in the Pacific and scholarship concerned with longer Chinese histories in the region that most recent commentators ignore and which question a number of their assertions. Finally, it suggests possible future directions for historical research on this topic.     

An Analysis of Provincial,Urban and Ethnic Loyalties in Fiji's 2014 Election

ABSTRACT

For the eight years prior to the September 2014 election in Fiji, no data were available that could enable observers to gauge the extent of support for the Bainimarama government. During that period, a range of conflicting claims emerged about shifting political loyalties within Fiji, largely based on anecdotal evidence. This paper makes use of the micro-level September 2014 election results to enquire about rural/urban, ethnic, class and provincial bases of support for the major parties. It finds that backing for the main opposition party was concentrated in areas with small populations, high levels of out-migration and relatively low voter turnout. Conversely support for the incumbent government was strongest on the more densely populated main island of Viti Levu, particularly in the fastest growing western part of that island.     

‘Sharing the white man's burden’ Nazi colonial revisionism and Australia's New‐Guinea mandate

ABSTRACT

The September 2014 general elections in Fiji resulted in a decisive victory for Prime Minister Bainimarama and his FijiFirst Party. It indicated a desire for stability on the part of the electorate as well as the popularity of measures such as ‘free’ education and the removal of affirmative action programmes for Indigenous Fijians. The Social Democratic Liberal Party garnered a significant portion of the Indigenous vote through appeals to ethnic identity, but will need to broaden its base in future to have any chance of forming a government. The high voter enrolment and participation reflects a hope for more accountability as well as transparency, in contrast to the arbitrariness of the previous eight years. New oversight institutions and a more expansive bill of rights in the constitution offer some ground for cautious optimism in the face of cynicism about the gap between the government's rhetoric and its actions.     

The Shuidonggou site complex: new excavations and implications for the earliest Late Paleolithic in North China

The initial Late Paleolithic, said to appear between 40 and 30 kya in eastern Asia, is defined by the appearance of many innovations. These archaeological indicators include the appearance of more refined stone tool making techniques (e.g., include the appearance of blade and microblade technology), complex hearth construction, use of pigments and personal ornamentation, as well as worked faunal implements such as bone and antler tools. We report here new findings from a multidisciplinary research project conducted at the Shuidonggou (Choei-tong-keou) site complex in northern China, a series of localities that date from the initial Late Paleolithic to the Neolithic.     

美国对中国援建坦赞铁路的阻挠

20世纪60年代中期,为摆脱传统殖民主义和南部非洲种族主义的束缚,坦桑尼亚和赞比亚两国提出了修建铁路的计划,并得到中国政府的支持和大力援助。当时,中美处于冷战对抗最为尖锐的时期,美国担心中国借援建铁路获得政治利益,担心中国借机向非洲输出革命,更担心共产主义在非洲扩大影响。为此,美国政府先后使用"拖延"和以大北公路"替代"坦赞铁路的策略,企图阻止中国援建坦赞铁路,以实现将中国阻隔于南部非洲之外的目的。     

晚明华北宗族与族谱的再造——以山东青州《重修邢氏宗谱》为例

山东青州邢氏原是务农的家族,在邢玠科举成功为官之后,转型为官宦之家,成为地方望族。从万历时的邢玠开始,到崇祯时的邢彤庭,邢氏从事宗族建设,制定并实践各种宗族制度,宗族乡约化、组织化。邢氏受到宋代程颐、程灏的宗会思想很大影响,通过"宗会"复兴"宗法"。这是宋以后宗族组织化的一种重要模式,以往的宗族研究重视不够。邢氏也编修了族谱,有家庙或者家堂,将御赐的祭田作为族田,还设置了宗学、义仓,族长实际上就是宗正。邢玠受到苏洵苏氏谱法以及睦族主张的影响较大,邢氏族谱着眼于睦族,收录大量宗族制度的文献,内容非常丰富,面貌大为改观,成为重要的民间文献。晚明不仅再造宗族,也再造了族谱,完成了中国近世宗族与族谱的基本形式。     

All Things Depending: Renewing Interdependence in Oceania

ABSTRACT Despite the enormous efforts made to civilize the Hawaiian, the Maori, the Samoan, and Fijian, Islanders have not forgotten all of their stories and in fact many Pacific peoples are in a position to recover much of the knowledge that sustained communities for thousands of years. There is hope in what we have done to reclaim our heritages—finding our voices in our languages, stories, and songs, our perspectives in our arts and literatures, our muscle and will in our own political advocacy and pursuit of our rights in courts and international arenas. There is need, however, for a new vision that reunites human beings with all of their relations in the world, a vision necessary to sustain a very difficult struggle.