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.     

Packaging of Identity and Identifiable Packages: A study of women–commodity negotiation through product packaging

In the age of post-Fordist flexible production, a consumer realizes her/his identity in part through the act of consumption. The visual aspect of commodity–consumer negotiation acquires importance, as commodities must be visually differentiated to attract the gaze of a particular consuming group. The act of visual differentiation is achieved through symbolic packaging, which creates a cognitive link between commodity and consumer. I draw from Baudrillard, who states that in postmodern consumption the sign value of products becomes more important than their actual usefulness (use value). Baudrillard, however, overlooks the importance of gender, race and space in this visual mediation. Through an empirical study of the packaging of women's skin and hair products in two different stores catering to two different income groups in Worcester, Massachusetts, I indicate how gendered identities that are created are complex, porous and materially rooted in space. The geographic situatedness of the exercise checks overgeneralizations allowing it to be studied as an object–subject mediation in a particular spatial context.     

考古与甲骨学的宝贵收获——读《殷墟花园庄东地甲骨》

《殷墟花园庄东地甲骨》是一部优秀的考古发掘报告,又是一本令人耳目一新的甲骨学著作,本文从报告体例、科学性和技术水平、资料的价值、著者的研究等方面对该书进行了评价。指出该书是一部具有很高科学价值和实用价值的著作。     

近代以来国家恐怖主义的特点及构成要素

国家恐怖主义是由政府实施的恐怖主义,法西斯主义则是国家恐怖主义发展到登峰造极的产物.国家恐怖主义具有制度化、公开性和社会化的特点,并具有独裁政治,庞大的镇压机器,镇压性的特务机关,非人道的人身迫害,非战争状态下对大量人口的集体收监、屠杀或迫使其流亡,针对社会知名人士的暴力行为等构成要素.     

《凤合集序》——研究高启的新见文献

本文所辑《凤台集序》是明初谢徽为著名诗人高启《凤台集》所作序文,此文不见于今存诸种高启诗文集,也向无研究者加以注意。它保存在明人朱存理《珊瑚木难》中,是现存唯一一篇评论高启金陵时期诗歌作品的文字。本文认为此序真实可信,并通过对其内容的解析,揭示了此序对于高启诗学思想与创作研究的独特价值。     

Accessing global value chains? The role of business state relations in the private clothing industry in Vietnam

This article deals with the access to global markets via inclusionin global value chains for private clothing producers in Vietnam.It argues that ‘chain entry barriers’ are not onlyconstructed by global buyers as it is often suggested, but alsoby political–economic processes in Vietnam. The marketorientations of four segments of private enterprise owners isexamined and shown to correspond to their ethnicity, originand location in northern or southern Vietnam. It is argued thatthis is mostly because these factors influence access to thestate system, where export-related resources are found.     

Hybrid finite element–finite volume discretization of complex geologic structures and a new simulation workflow demonstrated on fractured rocks

The generation of computational meshes of complex geological objects is a challenge: their shape needs to be retained, resolution has to adapt to local detail, and variations of material properties in the objects have to be represented. Also mesh refinement and adaptation must be sufficient to resolve variations in the computed variable(s). Here, we present an unstructured hybrid finite element, node‐centred finite‐volume discretization suitable for solving fluid flow, reactive transport, and mechanical partial differential equations on a complex geometry with inhomogeneous material domains. We show that resulting meshes accurately capture free‐form material interfaces as defined by non‐uniform rational B‐spline curves and surfaces. The mesh discretization error is analysed for the elliptic pressure equation and an error metric is introduced to guide mesh refinement. Finite elements and finite volumes are represented in parametric space and integrations are conducted numerically. Subsequently, integral properties are mapped to physical space using Jacobian transformations. This method even retains its validity when the mesh is deformed. The resulting generic formulation is demonstrated for a transport calculation performed on a complex discrete fracture model.     

明清西北筑城碑记的形成、特征及历史地理学价值

据不完全统计,明清西北筑城碑记大约存有269篇,其中原碑尚存于世者32方,是研究明清西北城池史宝贵的一手资料。甘、宁、青三省现存明代碑记最有特色,有大量卫所营堡的筑城碑保留。州县碑记大多有若干时段连续的拓城记,连缀起来就是城池形态扩展的整体叙事。明清西北筑城碑记所反映的城镇类型也多种多样,州县城镇最多,卫所营堡占有一定比例,其他如驿城、巡检司城、厅城、寨城、关城都有一部分存留,非常难得。这些碑记作为第一手资料,详述了筑城过程、工程耗时、销银数量、捐资人户,对于考证原委、制度复原、社会阶层以及城镇职能与形态扩张都有极重要的史料价值。     

Neolithic case of metastasizing carcinoma: Multiple approaches to differential diagnosis

The remains of the fragmented skeleton of a mature male individual from a Neolithic mass burial (ca. 5000 years BP) are presented. The lesions consist of osteoblastic proliferation and replacement of previously normal haematopoietic tissue. The most affected area seems to have been the iliac blade. So-called ‘seeding’ of tumour tissue has been found in different loci in the femoral neck, sacrum, L4 and scapula. Differential diagnosis points to metastatic carcinoma, most likely from the prostrate gland. In order to support the observations, radiological and histological analyses have been performed. Trace element analyses of tumour and control samples have shown the limited contribution of these data to ascertain the aetiology of secondary neoplasias in buried material.