近期美国升高西太平洋紧张局势的战略意图及其影响

随着美国全球战略重心加速东移,特别是在近期美国从伊拉克撤军与从阿富汗准备抽身而退之时,美国在亚太地区频频举行军事演习,尤其是美借天安舰之机,趁势强化美韩与美日同盟,并高调介入南海争端,与东南亚伙伴强化军事互动,积极谋求南海争端的国际化。美国正沿太平洋,从东北亚至东南亚一线,事实上形成了针对中国的战略围堵。美国近期升高西太平洋紧张局势的一系列举动并不是偶然的,而是冷战后美国全球战略重心从大西洋向太平洋转移的重要组成部分。奥巴马加速重返亚太的战略调整将对中国实施远海战略与拓展战略纵深以及推行和谐周边的外交战略产生冲击。     

岛屿制度与南海海域划界

岛屿对于确定国家海权具有重大意义。海洋法公约对岛屿、岩礁及其他岛礁确定了规则,而对岛屿在海域划界中的作用却缺乏明确的规定。现存国际实践在确定岛屿在海域划界中的作用时考虑的因素很多。南海海域广袤,但岛屿小,其在海域划界中的作用值得深入研究。     

Skeletal height reconstruction from measurements of the skull in indigenous South Africans

Stature reconstruction is important as it provides a forensic anthropological estimate of the height of a person in the living state; playing a vital role in the identification of individuals from their skeletal remains. Regression formulae for stature estimation have been generated for indigenous South Africans based on measurements of long bones of upper and lower extremities and the calcaneus. Since these bones are not always available for forensic analysis, it became necessary to use other bones such as the skull for stature estimation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the usefulness of certain measurements of the skull of indigenous South Africans in the estimation of adult stature. Ninety-nine complete skeletons obtained from the Raymond A. Dart Collection, School of Anatomical Sciences of the University of the Witwatersrand, were used. Total skeletal height (TSH) was calculated for each skeleton using the Fully's (anatomical) method. Furthermore, six variables were measured on each skull. TSH was regressed onto these cranial measurements in order to obtain regression formulae. The correlation coefficients obtained ranged between 0.40 and 0.54. The range of the standard errors of estimate from the current study (4.37 and 6.24) is high in comparison to that obtained for stature estimation based on intact long bones and the calcaneus. Therefore, the equations presented in this study should be used with caution in forensic cases when only the skull is available for human identification.     

Gender Differences in the Educational Expectations of Urban,Low-Income African American Youth: The Role of Parents and the School

This study examined how youths’ gender is related to the educational expectations of urban, low-income African American youth, their parents, and their teachers. As predicted, African American boys (ages 9–16) reported lower expectations for future educational attainment than did their female counterparts. Parents and teachers also reported lower expectations for African American boys (ages 6–16) than for girls. These findings held even when controlling for academic achievement. Contrary to predictions, the magnitude of the difference in expectations for males vs. females did not increase as a function of youths’ age. In keeping with our hypotheses, parental expectations fully mediated the relation between youths’ gender and youths’ expectations. Finally, certain school-based factors (i.e., positive teacher expectations and positive youth perceptions of the school environment) appeared to protect youths’ expectations from the deleterious impact of low parental expectations.

走出南海诸岛主权争端的法理迷途

南海主权争端之所以越来越复杂,甚至是迷雾重重,是因为有些国家制造了解决主权争端的法理迷途。文章认为,走出南海主权争夺的法理迷途需要明确:联合国《海洋法公约》不解决主权争端;"实际占有,有效控制"原则充满战争危机;旧金山《对日和约》涉西沙群岛和南沙群岛条款是违法条款。     

试论“南洋姐”的生存实态及历史定位

19世纪70年代至20世纪20年代,日本的“南洋姐”席卷世界上大部分的卖春市场,对她们人生命运的悲剧性解读,构成“南洋姐”研究的主流视角。但事实上,“南洋姐”奔赴海外,多多少少是一种主体性、主动性的选择。将“南洋姐”视为“被剥夺主体性的女性”,是很难准确捕捉到历史的全部真实的。“南洋姐”以娇弱之躯,在创造自己的历史的同时,为近代日本的海外扩张开辟了道路,也为日本日后的“南进”运动奠定了第一座坚实的基石。     

Identity and culture in theorising African perspectives of communication: The case of an African cinematic model

Abstract

Since communication refers to the sharing of information by any effective means, there is no doubt it entails the ability to make meaning of realities. In this sense, communication is cultural as much as it is human. Since that is the case, its theories cannot be fabricated in the abstract, but must be anchored in people's everyday lifestyles and cultures. Hence, like every other discipline, Africanising communication science is as much a possibility as theorising its perspectives from African contexts and experiences. Focusing on the negative challenges confronting the continent might make scholars see only the difficulties that problematise the application of theories to Africa's reality, which only betrays the Anglo-American stereotypical views of the continent. The argument is made here that the starting point of any theory of communication has to lie with the identity and culture of those involved in the communication process. Specifically by using selected films from Africa, this author considers the exploration of African identity and culture (from a bottom-up paradigm) as the primary starting point to tease out relevant theories of communication for and from an African cultural context.     

Visions of Tsafendas: Literary Biography and the Limits of “Research”

Abstract

Research seminar, research cluster, research output. The word is almost a fetish within the contemporary academy—but what does “research” actually mean in a discipline like literature? And what happens when a research project overspills its bounds, or pushes up against disciplinary limits and protocols? In this piece, I explore such questions via the figure of Demetrios Tsafendas, the "mad Greek" who assassinated apartheid Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd in 1966, supposedly acting on instructions from a tapeworm inside him. It is one of the strangest facts in South African history; it is also, of course, a kind of fiction, and one that has been refracted into a range of literary and artistic works. Reading across both official and “creative” archives, I address a range of methodological problems that I encountered in attempting an academic treatment of Tsafendas and his (as the presiding apartheid judge put it) “useless life”.     

Dancing with Difference: Hugh Tracey on and in (African) Music

Hugh Tracey (1903–1977) founded the International Library of African Music (ILAM) and is well known for his recordings of traditional African music. This paper examines Tracey’s written representations of African music and of the musical interactions involved in the formation of his archive, finding contradictory repressive and collaborative elements in his work and an ambiguous stance toward musical difference. In doing so, it reveals Tracey’s implication in racialized colonial and apartheid power structures and challenges the celebratory view of him as a champion of indigenous culture.