Simultaneous identities: ethnicity and nationalism in mother tongue education in Nepal*

The scholarly works on ethnicity and nationalism have been highly dominated by binary frameworks. In addition, the normative preference for civic consciousness and the concerns of national disintegration often separate the notions of ethnicity and nationalism. This article suggests that the notions of ethnicity and nationalism cannot be understood exclusively as a choice between maintaining the integrity of the nation and completely rejecting it. Drawing on fieldwork in mother tongue schools in Nepal, the article draws attention to the ways in which school actors discursively positioned ethnic identity as imperative to national identity, the one that bolsters the notion of Nepali nationhood. By paying close attention to the everyday context within which discourses of nationalism are situated, this article argues for an analytical necessity to approach ethnicity and nationalism in relation to each other to appreciate the process of symbolic negotiations in public spaces.     

成都博物馆藏东汉陶仙山插座初探

成都及周边地区东汉晚期墓葬中出土有一种明显为仙山造型的陶质插座,倾向于为摇钱树的树座。其整体的三山、平台、洞穴造型及其上较为丰富的人物、羽人、伏羲、女娲、西王母形象应是当时观念中以昆仑、西王母为中心的神仙信仰的表现。将其制作为专门的丧葬用品,一方面反映了当时丧葬文化中的神仙信仰成分和超越死亡的升仙愿望,另一方面也再次印证了西南地区流行的摇钱树的主要内涵应与升仙有关。     

Effects of mothers’ deaths on children’s schooling in Matlab subdistrict,Bangladesh

This quantitative analysis examines evidence for the impacts of mothers’ death on the schooling of their left-behind children (ages 6–17 years) in the Matlab Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) area of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. The analysis compared the completed levels of primary and junior secondary schooling in 2005 (respectively Class 1 among ages 6–17, Class 5 among ages 12–17 and Class 7 among ages 15–17) of children whose mothers had died during 1982–2005 (from maternal and/or nonmaternal causes, and any cause) with the completed schooling of children of surviving mothers in 2005. The results, after controlling for selected socioeconomic variables, indicate that children whose mothers had died had lower completion of schooling levels, and that those children from poorer households fared worst.     

汉画中的西王母神话与西王母崇拜

汉代西王母崇拜充分表现在汉砖、石、镜及摇钱神树上的西王母艺术图像中,其发展经过了“长寿之偶像”、“神的救赎”、“神的创世”3个阶段。汉代人所以崇信西王母,一是基于现实生活的需要,即祈福成仙;二是基于精神的需要,即试图冲破制度的束缚以寻求情欲的满足和自身价值的实现。     

试析马来西亚华人母语的转移现象

根据在马来西亚进行的实地调查所得到的数据和实例，以马来西亚五大方言群体为基础，逐一分析福建、广东、客家、潮州和海南方言群体中，相同家庭里祖子孙三代的母语种类和数量变化。研究证实，马来西亚华人的母语从方言逐渐转向英语和华语，开始摆脱原有籍贯的方言痕迹。     

语语珠玉 如闻如视——郑珍《母教录》品析

清代诗人郑珍的《母教录》是在其母永诀之时摹其母生前之音容笑貌记之。其文立意殊俗,虽自然平实,却生动真切,娓娓道来,如闻其声,如见其人;至情至理,语语珠玉,真实感人。细细品来,一位勤俭仁厚,聪慧贤德,爱子至深,教子有方的贤母形象鲜明地伫立于读者心目,生动地体现出母贤子孝的深刻道理。     

汉代画像石“献食进浆”图像探讨

"献食进浆"图像由"正中端坐者""执串珠状物者"和"进浆者"组成。通过对这一画像组合的分类探讨,可以推知"正中端坐者"为西王母/东王公,"执串珠状物者""进浆者"为西王母的侍从,"串珠状物"为烤肉串,"浆"为酒;A类画像组合描述的应是西王母仙境的生活状态,而B类则是西王母"允人升仙"的场景。     

蒋太后与嘉靖前期政治

武宗死后无子,世宗以＂兄终弟及＂祖训继皇帝位,世宗生母蒋太后也因此在嘉靖政治史上有了重要的地位,不仅在大礼议过程中起了重要作用,而且由于圣母身份和世宗孝心的双重作用,使得蒋太后对嘉靖十八年以前的政局产生了不小的影响。     

The Overseeing Mother: Revisiting the Frontal-Pose Lady in the Wu Family Shrines in Second-Century China

Located in present-day Jiaxiang in Shandong province, the Wu family shrines built during the second century in the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220) were among the best-known works in Chinese art history. Although for centuries scholars have exhaustively studied the pictorial programs, the frontal-pose female image situated on the second floor of the central pavilion carved at the rear wall of the shrines has remained a question. Beginning with the woman's eyes, this article demonstrates that the image is more than a generic portrait (“hard motif”), but rather represents “feminine overseeing from above” (“soft motif”). This synthetic motif combines three different earlier motifs – the frontal-pose hostess enjoying entertainment, the elevated spectator, and the Queen Mother of the West. By creatively fusing the three motifs into one unity, the Jiaxiang artists lent to the frontal-pose lady a unique power: she not only dominated the center of the composition, but also, like a divine being, commanded a unified view of the surroundings on the lofty building, hence echoing the political reality of the empress mother's “overseeing the court” in the second century during Eastern Han dynasty.     

“车马出行——胡人”画像试探——兼谈汉代丧葬艺术中胡人形象的意义

汉代丧葬艺术中出现了许多胡人的形象,要进行更加深入的研究,需要将其放入所出现的场景中去考察。汉画像中的胡人经常出现在车马出行的场景中,可分为两类:一为胡人导引,一为胡汉交战。此类画像中车马出行的目的地是西方的西王母仙境。时人认为西王母在西域之西,居住于西域的西胡,一方面可以作为去往西方仙境的引导者,一方面又可以是阻碍者。所以他们一方面希望升仙路上能得到胡人的导引,一方面又希望打败阻碍的胡人,到达西王母仙境。汉代丧葬艺术中出现的许多胡人形象或许与此种对西方仙境的信仰有关。