藏族姓名小议

在藏区,人们对佛教极为虔诚,以至刚刚出生的婴儿也首先要领受佛的恩赐。使婴儿在喃喃的六字真言声中诞生成长。给孩子取名,被认为是一件非常郑重的事情。通常都要举行仪式。藏族的婴儿出生以后,经过一定时间,父母带着孩子,献上哈达和礼品,请喇嘛活佛或有威望的长者行赐名礼。比如:在甘南,婴儿出生的第七天,父亲就要带上一条黄色的哈达等礼物,去寺院找活佛给婴儿取名。活佛在问过其属相、生辰、性别及其父母的相关情况后进行占卜。父亲得知所取之名后要严格保密,不能让别人知道,即便是自家人也不行。直到第二天早晨,父亲在婴儿身旁轻轻连叫三…     

Reviews of books

Historical Archaeology -     

…?… evidence…?…

Questions of Evidence: Proof, Practice, and Persuasion across the Disciplines. Edited by James Chandler, Arnold I. Davidson, and Harry Harootunian (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) 518pp. $45.00 cloth $19.95 paper.

The Creation of Scientific Effects: Heinrich Hertz and Electric Waves. By Jed Z. Buchwald (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) 428pp. $32.95 paper $75.00 cloth.     

States of Insecurity

Under Communism, Albania and North Korea rejected de-Stalinisation, clung to leader cults, and, after the acrimonious break between Moscow and Beijing, championed ‘self-reliance’. Often mentioned in passing, the Albanian–North Korean parallel has seldom been analysed. This article highlights three aspects that shaped the Communist regimes' insecurity: the social dynamics of war and early threats; the challenge presented by de-Stalinisation in 1956; and the momentous Sino–Soviet split in the early 1960s. Like the boisterous language of Marxism-Leninism and the drive to engineer a non-capitalist society, insecurity was also built into the Communist international system. Clinging to Stalinist methods, then, was also a reflection of the self-destructive potential of calls for reforming the Communist system, which threatened to tear the Eastern bloc apart. Tirana and Pyongyang pursued different paths to ‘self-reliance’, yet they could not help speaking a similar language and facing similar problems. North Korea ultimately joined the Non-Aligned Movement but achieved little success in the Third World. The irony is that tiny, isolated Albania, which shunned the Movement, ultimately ended up non-aligned: violently critical of Moscow, Beijing, and Washington, and distrustful of practically everyone else.