Assembling dams in Ghana: A genealogical inquiry into the fluidity of hydropolitics

The paper offers a geographical interpretation of the evolving technical, political, and economic intricacy of large dams. It incorporates existing hydropolitical scholarship and the notion of the Chinese Water Machine to reframe dams as assemblages built by specific political, financial and technical processes in particular socioenvironmental regions. The paper examines the continuity of hydropolitical relationships through a genealogical inquiry into the formulation and materialisation of Ghana's three dams: the Akosombo and Kpong dams built during the Cold War, backed by Western lenders and engineering companies; and the Bui dam commissioned in the 2010s, with support from China. Based on fieldwork in Ghana and China, as well as documentary evidence, the paper argues that the thinking, planning and building of dams interconnect the host regime and external techno-financial actors with their floating political-economic interests, but in a durable way. Sometimes, even if little concrete is actually poured, the symbolic power of dams endures, transforms, and at certain times and places expands, through events and discourses of national and international interest groups pursuing their own purposes, albeit with the replacement of influential individuals and powerful institutions, and regardless of the involvement of Western, Chinese and/or other actors. Ruptures exist but do not necessarily break the continuity of dam assemblages. The emergence of an opposition assemblage that battles against dams is a more recent complexity.     

A relational approach to walking: Methodology,metalanguage, and power relations

To better understand walking practices and the power relations informing them, Mattias Kärrholm and colleagues argue for a relational methodology and metalanguage. In the process, they propose a threefold approach: (a) identify different walking assemblages; (b) investigate how diverse types of walking assemblage relate in series; and (c) study how certain objects can gather or bind series together and act as boundary objects. In this article, we explore the worth of that approach, drawing on research interviews held over 2015–16 with residents from Wollongong, Australia, during a period when their municipal government was implementing a walkable city strategy. Here, we analyse participants' conversations with us for what they reveal about walking types, walking assemblages, interseriality, objects of passage, and boundary objects—five terms used by Kärrholm et al. to interrogate urban walking. Our work suggests that participants are adept at gauging the constant transformations that characterise their walks. This narrative evaluative capacity is, perhaps paradoxically, both compelling and mundane and suggests that participants make sense of a range of meanings from complex social and spatial dynamics and do so in ways that highlight privilege and disadvantage in the city. These findings have wider relevance for those interested in walking and mobilities studies and methodologies.     

The future role of GIS education in creating critical spatial thinkers

Teaching of critical spatial thinking in higher education empowers graduates to effectively engage with spatial data. Geographic information systems (GIS) and science are taught to undergraduates across many disciplines; we evaluate how this contributes to critical spatial thinking. The discipline of GIS covers the whole process of spatial decision-making, but GIS modules often ignore the context setting of spatial problems, and just cover the technical aspects of how to use GIS software. We outline how some existing GIS practicals could be improved to focus on the development of critical spatial thinking skills, competences and abilities that are valuable to graduates.     

HISTORY AS PHILOSOPHY

Historians have taken a beating in recent times from an array of critics troubled by our persistent unwillingness to properly theorize our work. This essay contends that their criticisms have generally failed to make headway among mainstream historians owing to a little noticed cognitive byproduct of our work that I call history as philosophy. In so doing I offer a novel defense of professional history as it has been understood and practiced in the Anglophone world over the last half‐century or so while suggesting, in conclusion, that historians could not do other than they do without serious psychic and societal loss.     

按照“三个代表”，要求开展国史研究

国史研究是党领导的社会科学事业 ,应当坚持以马克思主义唯物史观为指导。“三个代表”重要思想本身 ,就是根据历史唯物主义的基本原理 ,结合党的历史和党所面临的新形势、新任务而提出的 ,是历史唯物主义在新的历史条件下的运用和发展。要按照“三个代表”的要求解决好国史研究的重点问题 ,坚定地站在中国人民的根本利益的立场上来研究国史、撰写国史 ,真实地反映中国人民建设有中国特色社会主义的伟大实践。要按照“三个代表”的要求解决好国史研究中是非判断的标准问题 ,国史的主流是成就是经验 ,国史研究的重点也只能是建国以后的成就和经验。国史研究要更好地发挥资政育人的作用 ,这是国史研究的正确方向 ,也是国史学科建设的关键所在。     

论荀悦的历史认识论

荀悦在前人的基础上 ,对历史认识的目的、方法、思维方式、检验标准等提出了许多有价值的见解。他阐明以史为鉴的必要性 ,将历史认识与取鉴资治有机结合起来 ;强调认识历史要透过现象看本质 ,通过区分类例 ,由此及彼 ,知微察著 ,去伪存真 ,获得对历史的理性认识 ;指出应以发展变易的观点审视历史 ,不能墨守成规 ,应当因时立制 ,分析事物时应看到其内部相互对立而又相互联系的不同方面 ;要求以儒家思想作为考察历史的理论原则 ,将主观认识与客观事实相参验 ,以真实作为检验历史认识的标准。荀悦的历史认识论值得认真加以总结     

试论许衡的历史思想

许衡从理学的基本命题出发,对社会历史的盛衰原因进行思考,他认识到历史变化的必然性以及盛衰治乱的对立统一关系。许衡将是否实行王道德治作为判断历史盛衰的标准,主张无论君臣都要“以公为心,以爱为心”,并阐明了一系列正君心、求民心的思想。许衡具有鲜明的通变史观,他结合当时的社会实际,总结历史经验,为元朝统治者论证了“行汉法”的必要性和具体内容。许衡论史而求理的思考,对于提高元代历史观的哲学思辨能力十分有益。他的历史思想对于元代多民族统一国家的建设具有积极的促进作用,也有利于蒙汉等多民族文化的不断融合与共同提高。     

论傅抱石绘画思想中的日本因素

一直以来,日本因素对傅抱石的影响在其研究中众说纷纭、各有见解。本文试图从傅抱石留日经历的史实入手,结合近代中日美术交流等历史情境和社会背景,从三个方面（日本画坛影响下的傅抱石绘画思想之流变、日本画风影响下的傅抱石与岭南画派之比较、日本艺术理论对傅抱石绘画思想之内在影响）探讨傅抱石留学日本的经历对其绘画观念乃至风格造成的实际影响和深层原因,并作出合理的历史阐释,挖掘傅抱石绘画思想中对日本绘画复杂而微妙的文化心态。     

语文阅读教学中学生想象力的培养

语文阅读是教学过程中很重要的一个环节,阅读过程对于培养学生的想象力具有独特的优势,文章试从激活文字、领悟内涵、凸显个性化解读等方面,对培养学生的想象力进行一些探讨。     

新教材背景下初中数学教学的实施

数学教学的核心是学生的再创造,让学生经历知识的再创造过程,培养了学生的创造性思维。学生从教师的教转向主动地学,在教师的指导下去建构数学知识,为学生能够顺利地用数学知识解决实际问题奠定了良好的知识基础。