Thinking Past Henri Lefebvre: Introducing “The Theory of Ground Rent and Rural Sociology”

This introduction to the translation of Henri Lefebvre's 1956 essay “The theory of ground rent and rural Sociology” moves through three stages. First, it suggests that Anglophone appropriations of Lefebvre have tended to focus too much on his urban writings, at the expense of understanding his early work on rural sociology, and failing to recognise how his urban focus emerged as a result of his interest in rural–urban transformation. Second, it provides a summary of his wider work on rural questions, including his unfinished work on a major treatise of rural sociology; and outlines the key themes of the present essay in relation to these other projects. Third, it connects Lefebvre's issues to wider debates in political economy and geography about aspects of the rural, land and ground rent, not least including the work of Antonio Gramsci and José Carlos Mariátegui.     

民国《贵州通志·艺文志》“《尔雅集韵》”条辩证

民国《贵州通志·艺文志》著录黄彭年撰《尔雅集韵》一书。而追索《艺文志》著录的史源,并取其他史料相印证,推寻其致误的原因,证明黄彭年曾批校《尔雅》《集韵》二书,但并未撰《尔雅集韵》一书。此外,又据各家书目题跋,梳理了黄彭年批校《集韵》的经过及其批校本流传情况。     

从“归纳”到“解释”:汉唐考古研究的趋势

政治史取向和类型学方法在保证汉唐考古取得很大成绩的同时,也制约了汉唐考古的研究范围、理论建设,并影响到汉唐考古研究者的知识结构和思维方式。新出土资料的减少迫使汉唐考古改变"能源型"发展模式,其他人文学科的发展则为汉唐考古向"技术型"转变带来机遇。汉唐考古研究者的主要工作从归纳总结考古资料,转变为以历史文献为基础,借鉴其他人文学科的方法论,对汉唐考古材料的内涵和意义进行解释,是汉唐考古研究的发展趋势。     

Schmidt hammer rebound hardness tests for the characterization of ancient fired clay bricks

This article presents results of non-destructive Schmidt hammer tests performed on ancient fired clay bricks sampled from historical masonry. These tests were carried out in order to evaluate, and compare, the different degrees of degradation, depending on the bricks’ specific exposures and locations within a wall. The results indicate that this technique is sensitive enough to distinguish sample locations and measure weathering differences, even for different surfaces of a particular sample. For each case study, referenced surfaces were tested for bricks from a facade or interior wall. Each surface was tested with a Schmidt hammer type LB at ten different points of measurement, and these measurements were repeated ten times. For each impact at a particular point, a mean rebound value was calculated to provide an index of the degree of brick-surface microweathering.     

Dynamical Assessment of the Work Conditions of Reinforcement Tie-Rods in Historical Masonry Structures

Tie-rods are essential structural elements, which have been employed for centuries in masonry historical buildings, either during the construction or in successive strengthening interventions, with the aim of containing dangerous horizontal actions. The actual work conditions of these tie-rods, which are strongly influenced by their load history, are difficult to be quantified theoretically, and an effective method for their measure is of great importance in order to ensure the efficiency of these elements during the time and the stability of the entire building. Common measurements are often carried out adopting models based upon significant simplifications, like, for example, hinges at the extremities. These assumptions, rarely represent the real work conditions for anchorages. In this work, a non-destructive testing method is presented, based upon sophisticated dynamical models that can take into consideration many of the circumstances neglected by the simplified models. Four case studies are extensively described, trying to embrace the most common situations in term of peculiar features of the building, structural configuration, and load history. The discussion of the results yields the safety margin of the rod with respect to the material failure and provides important indications about the overall stability of the whole building.     

Frontiers of Urban Control: Lawlessness on the City Edge and Forms of Clientalist Statecraft in Zimbabwe

This article develops the concept of “urban frontier” to explore conflicts over state regularisation of city edge informal settlements in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare. It conceptualises the presence of “lawless” urban frontiers and “illegal” territorial authorities in capital cities as expressions of a permissive form of central statecraft. In so doing, the article takes forward debates over the politics shaping the margins of Africa’s rapidly expanding cities, redressing scholars’ tendency to neglect central party‐state strategic calculations and party politics in their analyses of unregulated settlements. Dominant interpretations generally hinge on state absence or weakness and emphasise localised influences. The case of Harare’s highly politicised city‐edge informal settlements reveals the inadequacy of apolitical approaches particularly clearly, as all were controlled by the ruling ZANUPF party. The conflicts provoked by regularisation provide a lens on disputes within the ruling party, which we interpret as disputes over different forms of clientalist statecraft. Analyses of urban frontiers can thus help move away from generic one‐size‐fits‐all explanations of informality and patronage politics in Africa’s expanding cities.     

Disability Consciousness on the Frontlines of Urban Struggle

Drug wars, austerity and gentrification are interwoven social relations in many North American urban centres and are typically met with organising of varying degrees of militancy. Loïc Wacquant characterises many of these sites as highly stigmatised, associated with violence and pathology. In Toronto's downtown east end (DEE), one such stigmatised urban space, disabled activists are far from unfortunate casualties. They tend to refer to the DEE as an “urban battleground”, where disabled people politicise and challenge the DEE's pathology and stigma by linking into emerging radical disability politics across the global North and by developing localised revolutionary disability consciousness. Drawing on oral stories, zines and blogs of disabled activists and workers in Toronto's DEE, this article uses Rachel Gorman's dialectic of disability/disablement to analyse the emergence of revolutionary disability consciousness and the centrality of disabled people on the frontlines of anti‐gentrification and harm reduction organising in Toronto's DEE.     

先秦中国和古代希腊文明起源的地理环境之比较

文明起源的地理环境可以分为整体地理环境和中心地理环境。前者指文明整体能力所及的极限地理范围,后者指文明主体的主要活动区域。从这两个角度分别进行比较,将有助于解释希腊和中国文明侧重于陆地或是海洋发展的原因。     

论章士钊的调和史观

20世纪一二十年代,章士钊提出了调和史观。该历史观认为,“调和”是差异协同与对立统一,是宇宙运动的基本规律。正是社会各因素“调和”的作用,社会历史运动呈现承续性、渐变性、循环性的特点。从调和史观出发,章士钊主张人在社会政治生活中要做到宽容与妥协。