Yeats,Samhain, and the aesthetics of cultural nationalism: ‘a supreme moment in the life of a nation’

Together, in the plays and essays published in the 1903 issue of Samhain, William Butler Yeats assembled writings that endorse his vision of cultural nationalism in that they stress the possibilities of an artistic regeneration that that has the power to reconcile perceived exclusive strata within Irish society and also to herald a new age not only for Irish culture but for the Irish nation. Yeats, in his cultural nationalism, ultimately vested faith in an Ascendancy tradition, defined not by birth as much as by a willingness to surrender not just political ambitions but all ambition to that of the artist.     

孟津新发现的仰韶文化大石刨考识

2009年春,孟津县在进行第三次全国文物普查时发现一件珍贵石器。该器平面呈T形,上有横长的双柄,下为锋利的宽刃,当系古人用于推刮木料等的石刨。石刨的年代距今约6000年,它是仰韶文化先民们的重要创造发明并在史前工具史上占有重要地位。     

道教传统、士大夫文化与地方社会——宋明以来闽西四保邹公崇拜研究

Zougong, the most important local deity at Sibao, Tingzhou Prefecture, was worshipped by local villagers at least from the Yuan and the Ming dynasties on. The Zou lineages in the area regarded Zougong as their common ancestor. Existing literature usually identifies Zougong as Zou Yinglong, a zhuangyuan in the Southern Song Dynasty. However, such identification appeared only in the late Ming period when local elites of several Zou lineages consciously tried to unite and consolidate their lineages. Before that, Zougong was a mighty ritual master in a series of magic contest stories popular at Tingzhou, rather than a zhuangyuan. The change of his identity from ritual master to zhuangyuan was a result of convergence of Taoist tradition, gentry culture and local culture, which may be called “cultural hybridization,” rather than a simple process by which local culture gave way to gentry culture. Translated by Zhou Weiwei from Lishi Yanjiu 历史研究 (Historical Research), 2007, (3): 72–87     

Animal Use and the Urban Landscape in Colonial Charleston, South Carolina, USA

The quantity and variety of animals contributing to foodways and landscapes are often overlooked in studies of urban colonial experiences. In colonial Charleston, South Carolina (USA), wild and domestic animals contributed to a unique lowcountry cuisine. Some of these animals lived in the city where their activities shaped, and were shaped by, the urban landscape. Many aspects of the environment were designed to accommodate and restrict these animals. Excavations at two eighteenth-century sites provide more detailed views of the changing role of animals in the lowcountry foodways and landscape from 1720 into the 1800s.     

On the origins of extractive metallurgy: new evidence from Europe

The beginnings of extractive metallurgy in Eurasia are contentious. The first cast copper objects in this region emerge c. 7000 years ago, and their production has been tentatively linked to centres in the Near East. This assumption, however, is not substantiated by evidence for copper smelting in those centres. Here, we present results from recent excavations from Belovode, a Vin?a culture site in Eastern Serbia, which has provided the earliest direct evidence for copper smelting to date. The earliest copper smelting activities there took place c. 7000 years ago, contemporary with the emergence of the first cast copper objects. Through optical, chemical and provenance analyses of copper slag, minerals, ores and artefacts, we demonstrate the presence of an established metallurgical technology during this period, exploiting multiple sources for raw materials. These results extend the known record of copper smelting by more than half a millennium, with substantial implications. Extractive metallurgy occurs at a location far away from the Near East, challenging the traditional model of a single origin of metallurgy and reviving the possibility of multiple, independent inventions.     

闽台槟榔礼俗源流略考

闽台两地一衣带水,历史关系源远流长,其中尤以闽南与台湾关系最为密切：二者之间的血缘、史缘、文缘、俗缘等早为时人所津津乐道。台湾槟榔礼俗的形成就是两地俗缘相连的一个例证。众所周知,台湾同胞有嚼食槟榔的嗜好,平时携之在身,时常咀嚼以为乐事,客人相见亦请食...     

《太平广记》的成书缘起

在中国小说史上,宋初编纂的《太平广记》有着不可替代的地位和价值。然而小说一直被视为末学,何以在宋初《广记》竟能以第一部官修大型类书化小说总集的面目出现?本文即是从政治、文化、小说自身发展三个方面来讨论《太平广记》成书的原因和契机：《广记》的出现是各种因素共同作用的结果,既是宋太宗为维护统一安定的局面而笼络人才的政治手段,也是“文德致治”的文化策略,是中国历朝注重典籍的文化传统的延续,也是小说自身的发展必然结果。     

Transactions,space and Otherness: borders and boundaries in Palestine–Israel

In the context of conflict narratives, boundaries, borders and borderlanders serve as facilitators or inhibitors of peace. In Palestine–Israel, demarcation is enacted through the separation wall, the Green Line and the smart fence along the Gaza Strip. To the established boundaries, informal demarcations are added, running through the land and communities physically, in the case of Firing Zone 918, and ideologically through Othering and transactions in the zones of transition. This article considers Othering and the negotiation of space in the context of (un)official boundaries in the West Bank and deconstructs the intersection of culture, politics and place, as well as the boundary practices enacted by the state, community and the individual. First, the article distinguishes between the types of borders and boundaries in the West Bank, before considering the manner in which Otherness is practiced in the context of movement and the separation wall, as residents negotiate the transition through and around the barrier. From Othering in the transition zone, the study questions how far the experiences of Palestinians and Israelis correlate with the broader border/boundary discourse, the extent to which negative reciprocity is practiced at the checkpoints, and whether subliminal boundaries and (re)naming influences stability in the region.     

‘To Form a Correct Estimate of their Nothingness when Compared with It’: British Exhibitions of Military Technology in the Abyssinian and Ashanti Expeditions

This paper examines the portrayal and reception of novel military technology as constructed spectacle in the popular coverage of the British Abyssinian (1868) and Ashanti (1873–74) expeditions. A series of cases are explored in which commanders attempted to frighten and subdue African allies and enemies through the mere presentation of technology, as are the interpretations and subsequent representations of African reactions which were made by British officers and journalists.