阅读文学的理由——读藤井省三《村上春树心底的中国》

藤井省三《村上春树心底的中国》构建了从鲁迅到村上春树再到王家卫的影响链条,详尽分析概括了村上春树作品在中国的一些规律性阅读现象。如此宽阔的视野与实精神证,对认识当代人阅读文学的缘由、心态和意义极具启发性。文学所关注的乃是人之心灵,所呼唤的是人的自省,正如村上春树的作品虽然常常被消费社会所利用,但其精神实质却依然是生活在消费社会中的人们强大的反思力量。     

改革开放以后北京城镇居民食品消费生活的变化

改革开放以后的20年,北京城镇居民的食品消费生活经历了从勉强温饱到温饱再到小康状态的转变。在前一阶段,居民主要是追求吃的数量的扩充,主要特点是实现了从以“主食”消费为主向以“副食”消费为主的转化;在后一阶段,居民开始追求吃的质量的提高,营养、新鲜、方便、快捷的食品受到普遍欢迎。北京城镇居民食品消费生活的这种变化在某种程度上是中国居民生活水平普遍提高的反映,而中国绝大多数人的生活能够不断地得到改善,这一看似简单的现象正是中国渐进的社会主义改革不断取得成功的社会基础。     

Consumption,Environmental Sustainability and Human Geography in Australia: a Missing Research Agenda?

‘Consumption’ is a central concept in the global environmental sustainability agenda. However, one important argument from Agenda 21 — that all social actors must now practise ‘sustainable consumption’— has been publicly and politically marginalised in high‐income countries such as Australia. Geographers potentially have a role in bringing consumption back onto the agenda by constructing a critical geography of consumption. Such research can help understand how the contextual use of natural resources is perceived and practised, and how consumption helps to shape contemporary social relations. This body of knowledge is vital for building sustainable development into everyday lives. Yet a focus on urban consumption perceptions and practices appears somewhat lacking in Australian geography. Ways forward can be drawn from international geography, such as in the United Kingdom where a substantial body of work has drawn a complex picture of contemporary consumption and environmental understanding. It has also challenged prevailing ‘ecological modernisation’ policy approaches, which ignore consumption's cultural facets. In sum, considering consumption in Australia can offer insights into cultural practices expressed through consumption; can challenge and add to European geographical literatures, and can also contribute to sustainability debates by offering alternatives to currently ineffective policy discourses.     

Protecting the Environment the Natural Way: Ethical Consumption and Commodity Fetishism

Abstract: One of the ways that conservation and capitalism intersect is in ethical consumption, the shaping of purchasing decisions by an evaluation of the moral attributes of objects on offer. It is increasingly important as a way that people think that they can affect the world around them, including protecting the natural environment. This paper describes commodity fetishism in ethical consumption, and the degree to which this fetishism makes it difficult for ethical consumers to be effective both in their evaluation of objects on offer and in influencing the world around them. It looks at three forms of fetishism in ethical consumption: fetishism of objects, fetishism of the purchase and consumption of objects, fetishism of nature.     

西部典型区农村居民旅游消费特征及影响因素研究——以甘肃省农村居民为例

文章以甘肃省农村居民为个案,基于甘肃省526位农村居民的微观调查数据,对西部典型地区农村居民旅游消费特征及其影响因素进行了定量考察。研究表明:甘肃省农村居民旅游消费观念落后,消费意愿不够强烈,出游频数较低,年均旅游消费支出相当有限,偏好与亲友结伴出游,出游时间主要集中于农闲时间,出游目的主要以探亲访友和观光游览为主,出游选择的交通工具主要为汽车和火车,亲友介绍是其获取旅游信息的主要渠道。与东、中部较发达地区农村居民旅游消费有所不同,可自由支配收入及旅游产品价格依然是影响甘肃省农村居民旅游消费的主导因素。     

Rainwater Tank Households: Water Savers or Water Users?

This paper provides the first published post‐installation analysis of retrofitted rainwater tanks and their effects on mains water consumption. The study aimed to determine the average mains water reductions achieved in households with recently installed rainwater tanks and compare this figure with wider community consumption. The social and cultural impacts of rainwater tank ownership were also explored to understand how rainwater is used and perceived. The results show that during the period of analysis, the drought years of 2005–2007, 7125 or 8% of Illawarra households installed a tank. Comparison of mains water consumption for two years before and after installation shows that rainwater tank households reduced their mains water consumption about the same amount (10.26%) as the wider community (10.8%). The social and cultural components reveal three main groups of households. The largest group, water users, had a desire for water autonomy and independence to continue previously enjoyed water practices that had been restricted. Among a light green group, tanks were part of a package of overtly pro‐environmental behaviours that did not necessarily change consumption patterns. A frugal group, many of whom had been raised in rural areas, were the main water savers. Perception of tank water quality was shown to be an influential determinant of how rainwater was used, particularly for connections internal to the house. This study shows that rainwater tanks have the potential to achieve significant water savings, but if water‐intensive behaviours are not modified, and rainwater tanks are not plumbed indoors, the potential of this alternative water source will not be met. Currently, rainwater tanks facilitate water users as much as water savers.     

Contemporary Social Change as the Context for Geographical Enquiry: Towards a Reinvigoration of the Concept of Place

The nature of contemporary social change is explored by posing questions about the implications of neoliberalism, the character of leisure, the perils of materialism, and the shift from consumption to consumerism. Momentum is a powerful force in human affairs. Investigating its nature illustrates how the concept of equilibrium has been given undue emphasis in models of human behaviour. Momentum encourages ‘more of the same’ and is implicated in the way people fail to use leisure fully or effectively and in the way they subscribe to an emphasis on materialism and consumption as a path to happiness. Geography needs to engage with popular social scientific writing if it is to have a place in public intellectual debate. In many ways contemporary social change promises a reinvigoration of the concept of place and therefore challenges to both the substance and nature of geographical inquiry.     

Stable isotopes and human diet in central western Argentina

Central western Argentina is the southern boundary of prehispanic maize in the archaeological record. This paper explores the stable isotope information from human bone (δ¹³C, from collagen and δ¹³C from apatite) and tooth (δ¹³C from enamel) samples in order to characterize the temporal and spatial trends of these isotopes and to understand them in terms of human diet. We analyzed 104 human individuals from the last 6000 years. Using the Kellner and Schoeninger (2007) model the results shows a high variation in human diet with few human individuals with a notably high significance of C₄ plants (probably maize) as an energy source and these samples have a chronology around ca. 1000 years BP. On the other hand a high variation in an individual’s dietary life history is shown by differences between δ¹³C collagen, apatite and enamel.     

“以文征利”与“倚商事文”——晚明士人文化活动的趋利化及对文化消费风尚的影响

明代中后期,随着商品经济的发展,文化生产和消费活动显著扩大。具有文化消费者和生产者双重身份的士大夫阶层,认识到文化作为谋生资本的作用,自觉地推动整个社会文化生产和消费,并引导整个文化消费风尚。商人与普通民众亦步亦趋,雅文化与俗文化交互作用,士大夫的传统义利观正在发生变化,市井之民在社会生活中崭露头角,这种变化是将要萌生新生力量的前兆,经济、文化、政治正在积蓄前所未有的变动,中国进入了第一个较具普遍意义的文化消费时代。