(Re)creating places and spaces in two countries: Brazilian transnational migration processes

Brazilian immigration to the United States is a relatively recent phenomenon that gained momentum in the 1980s in unprecedented numbers. Today an estimated 1.2 million Brazilians live in the United States. Brazilians (re)create transnational places and spaces through social, cultural, and economic practices, within the immigrant receiving communities of Marietta, Georgia, and Framingham, Massachusetts, in the United States. They also incorporate and add new elements to their livelihoods in the respective sending communities of Piracanjuba, in the state of Goiás, and Governador Valadares, in the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. How are these Portuguese-speaking Brazilian immigrants shaping and (re)creating new places and spaces? In what ways and spheres do transnational exchanges affect two places of destination in the United States and two places of origin in Brazil after migration occurs? Using multiple methods, which include in-depth interviews and participant observation, this paper addresses these questions by evaluating the changes incurred by migration. I use a framework perspective that is largely from outside the Latino/Hispanic context. Migration processes are just as much about those who leave Brazil for the United States as it is about those who return to Brazil (i.e. returnees) and what happens to those respective receiving and sending communities in both countries.     

Posted: the campaign sign landscape,race, and political participation in Mississippi

Cultural landscapes offer potential insights into cultural processes. As a cultural/political landscape element, the domestic campaign sign is linked to a variety of socio-cultural and political processes. Examination of the geographical distribution of 2004 presidential election campaign signs posted throughout the town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, illustrates that race is a factor in understanding who chooses to post signs. Historically, limitations on political participation in the South would have included use of landscape for communication, imposing a sort of metacommunicative landscape hegemony. Further, patterns of sign postings and voter turnout indicate that both activities are forms of political participation that are embraced differently by different social groups.     

利玛窦与中西文化交流

利玛窦拉开了中西文化双向交流的序幕,他与之后来华的西方传教士汤若望、南怀仁等,在中国传播西方文化的同时,也积极把中国文化传播到西方,由此西方的思想、文化、科技,诸如语言学、地理学、数学、天文学、美术等传入中国,而以儒学为代表的中华文化也流入欧洲。这一段中西文化在平等地位上交流的历史,倘从世界史范围内加以考察,将因其辉煌而深远的影响,让我们寻回文化的自信和增强我们的文化自觉。     

居延遗址T129烽燧出土纺织品分析

居延遗址与汉代丝绸之路兴盛密切相关,是历代丝绸之路开拓与畅通的重要历史见证。在人迹罕至的居延遗址T129烽燧附近的地面发现了纺织品残片,伴随发现的有汉代木简和五铢钱。为了了解织物成分和编织工艺,进行了相关的科学分析。使用红外光谱分析确定了纺织材料为丝,通过视频显微镜和扫描电镜观察,确定纺织品采用平纹织法,未经染色,根据织做工艺可定名为汉代常见的绡。该纺织品可作为汉代戍边士卒衣装的标本之一,对于研究汉代西北地区的丝绸之路物质交流和文化传播具有一定的意义。     

Die Lektorate für schwedische Sprache in Deutschland im Kontext der auswärtigen Kulturpolitik 1917–1930

The Lectureships for Swedish in Germany in the Context of Cultural Diplomacy 1917–1930. During the Weimar Republic a significant number of lectureships for Swedish was established at German universities. This paper attempts to explain this development through an analysis of the political and academic context of these establishments. Focussing on the actors involved the lectureships are linked to the emerging interest of the German state for public diplomacy emerging after World War I and the following reactions of German academia. The paper also treats the importance of the main Swedish actor, namely the association for the preservance of Swedishness abroad for the establishments of the lectureships. At the end the different actors working for Swedish lectureships in Germany are placed in a broader European context and questions concerning the relationship between universities and cultural diplomacy are raised and answered.     

Cultural Assumptions against Sustainability: An International Survey

Despite the great progress in increasing public awareness of and attention to the issue of sustainability, the measures taken so far fall dramatically short of halting deleterious cycles. This apparent deficiency can be ascribed to two main factors: insufficient efforts to finding viable and visible alternatives and the failure to thoroughly re-examine dominant cultural paradigms. The widespread resistance to adopting more sustainable habits, in spite of the patent environmental crisis, suggests that there are persisting epistemological substrates so compelling as to be called ‘secular dogmas’. Higher education should undertake to promote both empirical research and applications, and systemic cultural critique. Geographers are among the most apt coordinators for such a complex interdisciplinary task. This paper shows the results of an international survey on some spatial, taxonomic and teleological macro-coordinates that underpin people's perception and representation of reality and thus influence the above-mentioned ‘secular dogmas’, which, if not properly addressed, may inexorably hinder the adoption of sustainable development models.     

故宫博物院近期对外及港澳台地区的文化交流

故宫博物院作为国内藏品最多、最有影响力的综合类博物馆,一直保持十分活跃的对外交流态势。2008年以来,故宫博物院积极与国(境)外博物馆建立战略合作关系,打造长期交流机制。如举办和参加各类形式的涉外展览,扩大了对外交流空间;开展并深化项目交流与合作,拓宽了国际视野和交流平台;充分利用各种平台开展多层次学术交流,开展有针对性的出访活动;建立了与国(境)外博物馆的沟通联系;完成多项国宾接待任务;接收海外和港澳实习生等。此外,全面推进两岸故宫的交流与合作。将来,故宫博物院将一如既往地积极开展此类文化交流,让世界了解、欣赏和接受优秀的中国传统文化。     

清代新疆的内地坛庙:人口流动、政府政策与文化认同

清朝统一新疆后,积极鼓励内地人移居新疆,以达减轻内地人口压力、开发新疆及实边之目的。随着内地人移居新疆,内地文化亦逐渐传入并扎根新疆,尤其是北疆。而内地的各种坛庙则是其中一个重要的方面,很快便充斥于新疆尤其是北疆各地,并形成了一种浓厚的内地文化氛围。这种氛围对于进一步吸引内地人向新疆流动,加强内地人对新疆的认知和认同,以及巩固清朝对新疆的统治等,起到了非常重要的作用。本文利用满、汉档案以及其他清代相关文献,对内地坛庙在新疆的发展及其影响等进行了分析。     

志丹苑元代水闸遗址木质文物保护前期工作

志丹苑元代水闸遗址是目前我国保存最好、规模最大、结构严谨、做工考究的古代水工建筑遗址.遗址内有大量的木桩、闸门、闸板等木质文物需要保护.本研究介绍水闸遗址木质文物保护的前期准备工作:对遗址中水质、土壤和各类木质文物材质、保存现状、有害菌种等情况进行了科学分析,在发掘过程中及时对遗址现场进行杀菌,对闸板和门槛进行回填保护处理,试验了针对木桩的现场脱水方案.     

日本早期诗僧的文化解读

奈良平安时期的日本诗僧包括“披着袈裟”的出家僧侣和“不披袈裟”的居士或准居士诗人。日本诗僧群体的产生不仅与唐代盛行的诗僧文化密切相关,还受到佛经中诗偈的潜在熏陶。佛教被提升到日本国家宗教的高度后,日本诗僧亦表现出亦佛亦俗、亦僧亦士的双重性人格。