Japan in Early Modern Scholarly Journals, 1665–1750

This article aims at exploring Japan and its cultural and symbolic representation in the Republic of Letters from the end of the seventeenth century until the mid-eighteenth century. In order to do this, the article focuses on early modern scholarly journals, as they were the most comprehensive and up-to-date instruments of communication for the international community of scholars during that time. By analysing the journals’ content we will see which topics were more commonly connected to Japan and understand the role Japan played in the development of the increasingly comprehensive and methodical knowledge of the early modern savants. This article provides a picture of the heuristic and rhetorical role of Japan in the shaping of new, expanded representations of the world. On the one hand, connections between the cultural representations of Japan and other extra-European lands are highlighted; on the other hand, Japan's peculiar and unique features within the cultural and scientific discourses of the Republic of Letters are examined. Finally, how the representations of Japan relate to the divisions and identities within the Republic of Letters itself is considered.     

Above and Beyond: Zomia and the Ethnographic Challenge of/for Regional History

James Scott’s notion of Zomia proposes a new look at historical and social dynamics in a vast area of the Asian hinterlands, in terms of deliberate state‐avoidance that came to an end through the nation state’s superior techniques of control. Zomia is a concept metaphor that defines the social reality it purportedly only describes. My examination points to a pervasive problem with the historicization of highland regions in Europe as much as in Asia. Juxtaposing Scott’s case with two other definitions of Zomia, I call attention to the way concept metaphors define social landscapes and historical dynamics. Drawing on the work of several Europeanists, I suggest a model of rural–urban relations that does not privilege either a community or the state as the principle of society and history, which may overcome the separate disciplinary biases of anthropology, history and political science.     

From flow to quarry: magnetic properties of obsidian and changing the scale of archaeological sourcing

Previous studies have endeavored to use petrophysical traits of obsidian, particularly its magnetic properties, as an alternative to conventional geochemical sourcing, one of the greatest successes in archaeological science. Magnetic approaches, however, have not seen widespread application due to their mixed successes. In a time when geochemical analyses can be conducted non-destructively, in the field, and in a minute or two, magnetic measurements of obsidian must offer novel archaeological insights to be worthwhile, not merely act as a less successful version of geochemistry. To this end, we report the findings of our large-scale study of obsidian magnetism, which includes 734 geological obsidian specimens and 97 artifacts measured for six simple magnetic parameters. Based on our results, we propose, rather than using magnetic properties to source artifacts to a particular obsidian flow (inter-flow sourcing), these properties are best used to differentiate quarrying sites within an individual flow (intra-flow sourcing). Our results also demonstrate that certain magnetic properties are highly affected by ancient knappers' material selection criteria. Furthermore, depending on the spatial scales of variation, which likely vary from flow to flow, we envision several potential applications of this approach, including integration into minimum analytical nodule analysis (MANA). Magnetic data appear to shift the scale of obsidian sourcing from flows to quarries and, in turn, enable new insights into raw-material procurement strategies, group mobility, lithic technology, and the organization of space and production.     

Monograptus deubeli and praedeubeli (Wenlock,Silurian) in the Asian part of the former Soviet Union

Koren', T. N., & Suyarkova, A. A., 1994:03:28. Monograptus deubeli and praedeubeli (Wenlock, Silurian) in the Asian part of the former Soviet Union. Alcheringa 18, 000–000. ISSN 0311-5518.

During the last decade the sequence and composition of the later Homerian (Wenlock) graptolite fauna has become comparatively well known in many regions of the world. A complete and detailed graptolite biozonation has been elaborated in Europe, and partly confirmed in Australia and Arctic Canada. Valuable new data have been obtained from several widely scattered areas within the Asian part of the former U. S. S. R. M. praedeubeli Jaeger (rare) and M. deubeli (common) have been found in the Homerian sequences in the Novosibirsk Islands and Novaya Zemlya, as well as in the southern Urals and the Turkestan-Alai Mountains of central Asia. In sections studied here, especially in the Alai Range, both species have well defined stratigraphic ranges in a variety of pelagic and hemipelagic facies. Their well established taxonomy based on sicular shape and thecal structure allows their recognition in material of different preservation. They belong to a single phylogenetic line and can be used as important biostratigraphic markers for interregional correlation, especially considering the distinct differences in the composition of associated monograptids. Thus, members of the Pristiograptus idoneus—Lobographu? claudiae lineage parallelling the development of M. praedeubeli and M. deubeli in the Homerian of central Asia, Australia, Arctic Canada and Arctic Russia are unknown from European and northern African sections.     

Rethinking Primitive Accumulation: Theoretical Tensions and Rural Southeast Asian Complexities

Abstract: This paper poses theoretical and empirical questions to the resurgent litera‐ture on primitive accumulation in critical political economy. The first section outlines the different understandings of capitalism, and of its relationship to primitive accumulation, in the literature, and argues that they complicate efforts to identify instances of primitive accumulation. The second section examines the history of frontier agricultural expansion in Southeast Asia to critique the literature's assumptions about who carries out, and who resists, primitive accumulation. The third section draws on work on Southeast Asian political economy to show that the literature pays insufficient attention to the institutions that govern capitalist social relations. The paper argues that these questions of agency, governance, and the nature of capitalism need to be answered in order to make effective use of the concept of primitive accumulation and to distinguish it from cognate concepts like enclosure and commodification.     

南洋华侨火者亚三新考

论文全面梳理了亚三的活动轨迹,结合16世纪东南亚的历史背景,闽、粤等地的民俗以及葡萄牙使团的构成等方面的因素,对亚三的真实姓名、身份以及死因进行了考证,认为亚三本是南洋华侨,作为葡萄牙使团的翻译入华,因其为阉人（火者）身份受到明武宗宠信。武宗晏驾后,亚三身涉＂江彬谋逆案＂,因逆罪被处以极刑。     

Directional analysis of surface artefact distributions: a case study from the Murghab Delta, Turkmenistan

This paper investigates directional influences in the distribution of Bronze Age surface pottery in the northern Murghab Delta, Turkmenistan. Drawing upon a continuous dataset of pottery sherd counts obtained by intensive field survey, it examines the degree to which we can make sense of the archaeological processes at work in a heavily obstructed and dynamic landscape. In so doing, it makes use of two analytical methods that have rarely been used in archaeology: a) geostatistical analysis using variograms to investigate directional spatial autocorrelation in recorded sherd counts; and b) angular wavelet analysis in evaluating directional influences in the sherd distributions for particular chronological periods. While some kinds of directional influence can be identified visually, a quantitative approach is particularly useful in deconstructing such patterns. In this particular dataset, distinct but related directional processes can be identified and measured: a) the impact of the complex system of watercourses in the delta on both settlement and post-depositional processes; and b) recovery bias in the observations made during survey.     

Performing identity within a multicultural framework

The role of music in community festivals is often to assist in constructing a particular identity of place, and music functions in such instances as a means to provide a sense of belonging for participants. However, multicultural festivals complicate any simple relationship between place and identity, because such festivals demonstrate the heterogeneous state of both identity and place. Anxieties that arise around issues of cultural authenticity within such festivals point to concerns of hybrid identities that may challenge and threaten the maintenance of clearly demarcated identities in the face of transnational relations. Drawing on ethnographic material and theoretical conceptualizations of the self, this paper explores the dynamic and fluid constructions of identity at two Australian community music festivals, and raises questions on the sorts of practices that seek to regulate the ways in which these identities are constituted and performed.     

Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: Australia’s New Policy on Treaty-Based Investor-State Arbitration and its Impact in Asia

Abstract

Treaties allowing investors to initiate arbitration claims directly against host states for illegally interfering with cross-border investments are becoming increasingly common in Asia, but Australia announced in 2011 that it will no longer include such protections in future treaties. The backdrop to this decision includes keen interest from Asia in foreign direct investment (FDI) into Australia’s resources sector, meaning that potential investors may not be significantly deterred by a lack of arbitration provisions in future treaties. This article argues, however, that Australia’s policy shift risks undermining the entire investor-state arbitration (ISA) system, with the earliest impact being felt by major pending treaty negotiations by Australia with Japan, China and Korea (respectively); and that the shift may significantly reduce FDI flows or have other adverse effects. The article criticises the cost-benefit analysis of ISA protections in one pivotal study conducted in 2010 by an Australian Government think-tank, arguing that this assessment is insufficiently nuanced. Instead, the article presents a justification for more tailored and moderate changes to ISA provisions in future treaties. Its tentative interest-group analysis suggests, however, that there may be surprisingly few public or private constituencies that would prefer such moderate reforms, and that most may well prefer the more extreme position recently adopted by Australia, despite the damage that will be done to the ISA system as a whole. The article also argues that Australia’s policy shift and think-tank analysis may make Asian countries more cautious about ISA, especially those (like the Philippines and Vietnam) which have traditionally been more cautious about this dispute resolution system.