Postcards from the Raj

ABSTRACT

Patterson's article explores aspects of British identity as they relate to depictions of Britons and Indians on postcards during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He argues that these were not innocuous ‘comic’ pieces, as they were intended to be seen at the time, but rather were integrally linked to the justification of the Raj, since they emphasize the civilizing mission of empire and the ‘backwards’ nature of India. Nearly all aspects of imperial life, whether running the bungalow, dispensing justice or even travelling by train, required the British to maintain an imperial façade of control and an aura of invincibility. Part of this process required the British to depict Indians as incapable of self-rule, and the postcards depict the British as natural overlords of India, born ‘booted and spurred’ to rule, while Indians are portrayed ‘saddled and bridled’. Indians then, due to their ‘Oriental nature’, are portrayed as too lazy, too effeminate or too dishonest to run their own country effectively. Another theme that can be explicated through the postcards is that of masculinity. By constantly posing as a more masculine and worthy race, the British laid down an entire grid of civilization in which they could be the only legitimate rulers. This aspect of the White Man's Burden further bolstered and perpetuated the masculine authority of the Raj, and the postcards became a key component linking empire and metropole for the re-export of imperial ideology to Britain.     

中国小说中相对性时空观念的建立

与先秦时期的萨满式宇宙观念不同,东汉以后中国早期小说所表现的神仙世界,其空间特征往往是一"小中寓大"的球形宇宙,在时间上则有流逝较为缓慢的时间尺度,并通过与世俗世界时空形式的对比构成奇幻的文学效果.尽管在中国的先秦时期有相对性时空观念的萌芽,但真正系统的表述出现在汉译佛经以及南传佛教巴利语文献中,所以,这种观念是在印度文化的刺激下产生的.这其中,相对性时间观由于与中国传统思维方式契合而得到了广泛的接受,"梦幻人生"这一故事类型便是相对性时间观念的另一种表现形式;而"小中寓大"的空间观念则因为与直观感知矛盾,在本土化过程中更多地采取了变异的方式.     

Comparing Brokers in India: Informal Networks and Access to Public Services in Bihar and Gujarat

ABSTRACT

Faced with unresponsive and intimidating state institutions, citizens often need to rely on brokers to obtain state benefits. This article compares the ways in which brokers help people gain access to public services in two Indian states. Using ethnographic fieldwork in both states, we compare Bihar and Gujarat to argue that the evolution of the informal networks through which citizens gain access to public services constitutes an important dimension of democratisation processes. In both Gujarat and Bihar such brokerage networks have fragmented considerably over the last 40 years, while also becoming less marked by social hierarchies. This change has taken place despite a differing role and strength of political parties in the two states. The fragmentation and levelling of brokerage networks have enabled citizens to put more pressure on state institutions and power holders. This process of “informal democratisation” suggests that the comparative study of brokerage networks constitutes a promising and largely unexplored avenue to interpret the challenges facing governance and local democracy in India.     

Liberalisation in India: Does it Resolve or Aggravate Employment Problems?

ABSTRACT

This article discusses whether liberalisation has moderated or aggravated India’s employment problems. Since the Modi government’s election in 2014 and the introduction of the flagship “Make in India” policy, various government officials and academics have argued that India’s employment situation has improved and is showing promising signs of growth and development. However, in this article, it is argued that India’s liberalisation policies have generated numerous problems: employment has delinked from GDP growth due to the increasing financialisation of accumulation; job growth is equal to or below labour force growth; and informalisation is increasing. A structural shift is occurring in India and is causing rural–urban migration due to increased agricultural input costs, reverse tenancy and the mechanisation of agriculture without the creation of new employment. This has led to a redistribution of existing employment in the urban informal sector.     

冷战后缅甸对华政策刍议

1990年以来,出于维护和巩固政权的考虑,缅甸军政府亟须中国的支持和援助,特殊友华政策构成其对外政策的重心。随着上世纪90年代中期印度推行“东向政策”、缅甸加入东盟,军政府开始获得来自印度和东盟的支持,外部依赖多元化,特殊友华程度相对降低,但中国仍是军政府的主要外部支持力量。缅国内政局变化是中缅关系未来走向的决定性因素,印度对缅政策等外部因素、中缅经贸合作程度(利益捆绑程度)等是影响未来中缅关系的重要因素。在缅甸政局稳定的情况下,中缅关系仍将维持友好。但即使缅甸政局变化,中缅关系出现波折,也不可能恶化到敌对,常态将是普通甚或良好。这是由缅甸所处的地缘环境决定的。     

斯皮瓦克"属下"研究及其女性主义文学批评——基于性别和种族的双重视角

斯皮瓦克在其著名的"三位女性的文本以及对帝国主义的批判"论文中,从后殖民女性主义的立场重读文学经典,对三部西方女性小说文本进行后殖民批评和分析,并将"属下不能发言"的政治伦理运用到对文学文本的批判阅读之中。斯皮瓦克以性别和种族的双重视角,对西方白人女性文学文本进行后殖民解读和充满洞见的批评,对后殖民批评有着独特的贡献和重大意义,不仅拓展了女性主义文学批评空间,并且丰富和发展了后殖民批评理论。斯皮瓦克所倡导和践行的文学、文化批评的政治伦理观以及对帝国主义的批判,使她成为一位颇具影响和独树一帜的后殖民女性主义批评家。     

印度“东进”战略及其对我国家安全的影响

新世纪以来,印度加速推进“东进”战略,企图在巩固其在南亚和印度洋的支配地位的同时,将势力范围扩展到南中国海和太平洋区域。印度“东进”战略包含着针对中国的一面,对中国国家安全造成深远影响,不仅直接威胁到我通过北印度洋和马六甲海峡的石油运输线安全,挤压我海洋战略安全空间,增加我国东南亚方向的安全环境中的变数,而且,在全面的中印战略关系中置我于被动地位。     

Donors in transition and the future of development cooperation: What do the data from Brazil,India, China,and South Africa reveal?

How are Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors evolving their financial flows and aid modalities in response to the growing influence and economic power of Southern BRICS? After presenting the shifting landscape of international development cooperation, we explore five hypotheses about the changing nature of DAC aid allocation patterns and modalities in BRICS countries. In our conclusion, we reflect on the evolution of DAC engagement in Brazil, China, India, and South Africa (BASIC countries) and what it might mean for all official donors. Our assessment is that the changing geopolitical environment for development cooperation is once again privileging economic diplomacy concerns within DAC donors, propelling specific kinds of decisions about the choice of instruments, sectors, and modalities in BASIC countries. It would appear that the administrative practice of foreign aid is increasingly derived from changes within the institutional environment for international development.     

The Plants of Empire: Botanic Gardens,Colonial Power and Botanical Knowledge

In this article, the multifaceted relationship between colonial power and scientific knowledge is analysed. The specific focus is on untangling the contested and symbiotic connections between colonialism and the emergence and consolidation of aspects of botanical science. Colonial imperatives and the social consequences of colonial rule in India constituted the context for the idea and project of botanical gardens that facilitated the global transfer of a variety of plants to India. It was in the process of dealing with the problems of the transfer of plants across very diverse ecological and social contexts that natural history was eventually transformed into formal botanical science both in India and in Europe. Particular forms of scientific knowledge and institutions were indispensable for the consolidation of empire even as they facilitated new imperial concerns and projects that constituted the structural context for the development of new forms of scientific knowledge, practices, institutions and power. Without reducing science to nothing more than an appendage of colonial power and imperatives, the significance of empire in the rise of botany as a formal science is analysed in this article.     

论印度的早期佛教建筑及雕刻艺术

本文通过对早期印度的佛教建筑及雕刻艺术的论说来探讨了它们与佛教之间的关系。首先,它们受小乘佛教的影响,佛陀的正面形象在早期的佛教艺术中没有出现;其次,佛教艺术是有一整套完备的表现形式来明确揭示佛教教义的艺术,它是由建筑、雕刻、绘画来综合表现的,印度早期的石柱,庙宇和印度塔的布局、造型以及其中的雕塑、雕刻都基本上是服务于所要揭示的佛教精神性。