Chasing the Halcyon Light – Human-Kingfisher Relations in Eastern Han-Dynasty China (CE 25–220) and Their Material,Sociocultural and Ecological Articulations

ABSTRACT

This article takes a fresh look at human-kingfisher relations in Eastern Han-dynasty China (CE 25–220). It argues that the confined appearance of kingfisher figurines in graves excavated in the southwest of the modern-day People’s Republic of China reflects the structural differences in human-kingfisher interactions between the centre(s) of the Han empire and its peripheries. By re-visiting the archaeology of the figurines and placing them into the wider cultural and ecological context, it is shown that distinct sociocultural transformations such as urbanisation processes and infrastructural projects profoundly changed the exposure and interactional dynamics between humans and kingfishers in the northern parts of the realm. This situation contrasted sharply with human-kingfisher interfaces in the southwest, where relatively ‘untamed’ environments harbouring a great number and diversity of kingfishers provided more favourable conditions for encountering them. I propose that this framework, in turn, fostered conceptualizations of kingfishers in which the birds came to encapsulate an experience fundamentally opposed to the type of human preponderance showcased in the core areas. By discussing a set of local practices and beliefs that might have further promoted this view, I suggest that they served as catalysts for the emergence of the kingfisher figurines at a particular time in a specific place. In this wider context, the article finally considers whether the southward expansion of the Eastern Han, with which the appearance of the figurines coincides, contributed to a re-configuration of north–south dynamics, shaping the general logic of human-kingfisher relations at the time.     

A space for feminist mentoring: the role of Geographic Perspectives on Women (GPOW) specialty group in higher education

Abstract

Higher education and organizations within academic disciplines are important spaces for mentoring and other forms of networking. These spaces, however, are often situated in environments that limit equitable and inclusive opportunities for early career and underrepresented scholars to effectively engage in mentoring. This paper contributes to critical feminist scholarship that examines how organizations in higher education can offer supportive mentoring spaces for women, early career faculty, and scholars from diverse backgrounds. The analysis focuses on the Geographic Perspectives on Women (GPOW) Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) as a space for faculty, students and other geographers to enhance their professional and personal success. Our analysis draws from the results of an international survey, a focus group discussion, and reflexive participation of feminist geographers aligned with this specialty group. We examine the ways in which this academic organization, and the informal and formal networks it cultivates, attempts to foster an anti-oppressive mentoring community of feminist geographers. We also analyze how these networks are shaped by and embedded in neoliberal institutions in the discipline of geography and higher education as a whole. This discussion offers important insights to growing research and initiatives that support mentoring for women, feminists, and others concerned with building more inclusive and socially just spaces in academia.     

商周时期的青铜觚及相关问题研究

青铜觚最早出现于二里岗文化时期,盛行于殷墟文化,西周早期逐渐衰退并消失。铜觚圈足上的十字形镂孔与铸造过程中采用的泥芯撑有关,金属芯撑技术的使用开始于二里岗文化时期,殷墟文化时期金属芯撑的使用逐渐规范化。圈足上的镂空纹饰是商周时期铜器装饰手法的一种,圈足下端的条状缺口可能是铸造过程中用来定位的,但不能排除是装饰或者铜器的拥有者因某种特殊的文化习俗或使用需求而让铸造工匠刻意为之的可能性。     

Australia,US torture and the power of international law

ABSTRACT

Australia cooperated extensively with the George W. Bush administration during the ‘war on terror.’ However, in doing so, Australia failed to condemn, and in some instances, condoned US torture and detention programs. Does Australia’s conduct demonstrate a failure of international law and human rights to constrain Australia’s actions? Although the Howard government was heavily criticised for failing to uphold human rights in the fight against terrorism, international law was not forgotten. This article argues that international law shaped Australia’s cooperation with the US. Australia strategically used international laws to legitimise its cooperation with the US in the face of evidence of US torture. International law was not dismissed to pursue national security interests but used to legitimise Australia’s security policies.     

Botanical,malacological and archaeological zonation of settlement deposits at Gomolava

A 2 × 2 m column was excavated within the large-scale excavation carried out by a Jugoslav team at tell Gomolava, Hrtkovci, Jugoslavia, occupied from Vinc?a (c. 5000 BC) to post-Roman times. The archaeological zonation of the column's material is briefly outlined to provide the background to the detailed palaeobotanical, palynological and malacological study. The results of this study are used to aid the reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment of the tell. They indicate that the earliest agrobotanical zone, in which most of the cultigens were already present, but which is characterized by a very low count of charred seeds, persists throughout the Vinc?a, Baden and most of the Kostolac layers of the tell. A marked increase in charred seeds, without the appearance of new species, occurs in the next zone (Bronze and Iron Age). In zone 3 (Iron Age and Roman), Triticum dicoccum, Triticum aestivum and Lens culinaris attain significant levels.An interesting correlation between an increase in shade-loving snail species (zone B) and increase in building activity in the same level needs to be verified by further similar studies. This level is approximately that of the end of the Vinc?a occupation, but does not precisely correlate with an archaeological transition, suggesting that new building styles may have ante-dated the full development of the Baden cultural group on the site. During the third malaco zone (zone C) most shade loving snail species decrease abruptly to make place for open country species. The spread of these species could have been caused by the partial or total abandonment of the tell. Aquatic snails, which had first appeared in the lowest habitation layers of the tell become rare towards the subsequent bronze and iron age occupation of the tell, indicating that hardly any riverine clay was used for the construction of houses within these periods. The final malaco zone, representing the disturbed iron, roman and medieval periods indicates that again open grassy slopes must have occurred on or around the tell.     

论简帛的文献学研究价值

一个世纪以来，发现的简帛文献已达约22万枚(件)，总共约700万字。它们具有极强的文献真实性，在目录学、版本学、校勘学、辨伪学、古籍文意解读等方面，都具有十分重大的研究价值。我们应该高度重视并深入开展对简帛文献的研究，以利于古文献学的发展。     

Aphra Behn’s first marriage?

ABSTRACT

This article discusses three new documents that seem to pertain to the early life of the Restoration playwright, Aphra Behn. These documents suggest that Behn was betrothed in 1657 to a gentleman named John Halse; that she corresponded from London in the mid 1660s with William Scot, son of the parliamentarian and regicide Thomas Scot; and that, after her journey to Flanders as a spy, she borrowed money from the Devonshire Butler family to facilitate her return to England. Providing new contexts for Behn’s development as a playwright, these documents not only help to revise our understanding of Behn’s early life, but open opportunities for further research and discoveries.     

明洪武宝钞修复及卷帘镶装帧研究

最小干预原则——指导古籍文献修复工作的重要原则之一,是指将修复面积控制在最小范围内。天坛藏明洪武宝钞的修复秉承这一原则:以加固纸张为首要目的,使用薄三桠皮纸修补,在保留宝钞原貌的基础上,更增强了破损状态的可识别性。根据宝钞双面有字的特点,收藏装具采用纸板挖镶、嵌入的方式对宝钞予以保护。正面覆盖透光度较高的三桠皮纸作为纸帘,可向上掀起便于展示。这种装帧形式被命名为卷帘镶,能同时满足收藏与展览的双重需要。修复与装具制作方法具有用浆水量少、粘接面积小的特点,有利于未来的再处理,其保护理念可为单叶纸质文献的保存提供参考。     

Terror and Territory

Abstract: While geographical aspects of the “war on terror” have received extensive discussion, the specifically territorial aspects have been less well explored. This article engages with the relation between territory and terror through three main angles. First, the relation between terrorist training camps and the absence of sovereign power over territory in particular places is examined through a broadening of Agamben's notion of a “space of exception”. Second, the portrayal of al‐Qaeda and militant Islam more generally as a deterritorialised organisation is interrogated, noting the territorial aspects of its operations. Third, the territorial responses are studied, particularly looking at the way the international legal term of territorial integrity, with its dual meanings of territorial preservation and territorial sovereignty is under increased threat. This is illustrated with a study of Afghanistan and Iraq and particularly through an analysis of the 2006 war in Lebanon.