Suchergebnisse

Lam Yan-wing. ; Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves [101]-[106]). ; Abstracts in English and Chinese. ; Abstract in English PP --- p.i-ii ; Abstract in Chinese pp --- p.iv-v ; Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction pp --- p.1-10 ; Chapter Chapter Two --- Early Life of Yanaihara Tadao and Influences on his Ideological Development pp --- p.11-26 ; Chapter Chapter Three --- Ideas of Yanaihara Tadao in Prewar and Postwar Period pp --- p.27-77 ; Chapter - --- Christianity and Socialist Ideas: Which was the Right Way to achieve the Utopian Society? ; Chapter - --- "Colonial Policies, Racial Equality and Foreign Relations" ; Chapter - --- War and Pacifism ; Chapter - --- Christianity and Japanese Tradition ; Chapter Chapter Four --- Yanaihara Tadao's Ideology and the Contemporary Situation pp --- p.78-94 ; Chapter Chapter Five --- Conclusion pp --- p.95-100 ; Bibliography

乌托邦社团和梦想更加美好的世界:关于生命禅园(中国),Christiania(丹麦),Damanhur(意大利)的民族志研究 ; 本博士论文探讨乌托邦社团的文化及其所在社会的背景。乌托邦社团的成员们选择了各自的乌托邦团体,作为其创造一个更美好世界的战略位置,并参与了种种变革世界的活动。本文从民族志观点的细节陈述三个社团:1.中国的生命禅园,以自由情爱和共产主义为天堂捷径,最终被当地机关取缔。2.丹麦的Christiania,一个多彩多姿的政治社团,提倡完全民主,为人人都有居住在城市中心的权力和自由而战,同时也是一个庞大的大麻市场,给来自各地的游客们提供了一个体验非主流文化的实验场所。3.Damanhur,一个意大利的灵修社团,那里每个成员都是拯救人类命运的战士。深入的调查显示这些乌托邦团体就像一面面扭曲的镜子,反映出的是该社会尚未解决的价值争议,而并非创建者的虚无幻想。乌托邦社团的出现往往与其所处的社会变革及其特定的历史背景有紧密关系。这份研究还将各邪教惊人的讲故事才能,成员们追捧怪诞信仰的现象与其抗争各社会政治经济领域中的主流文化的关系联系在一起。 ; This PhD thesis is an exploration into the cultures of utopian communities and the societies in which they are embedded. Members of utopian communities are engaged in transformation projects and have chosen their utopian community as a strategic place from where to make a better world. Three communities are presented in ethnographic detail: 1. Life Chanyuan in China, which has attempted to promote free-love and communism as a short-cut to heaven but was finally closed down by the state, 2. Christiania in Denmark, a colorful political community standing for consensus democracy, the fight for freedom and urban space for all, a massive market for hashish, and a counter-cultural entertainment experience for visitors, and 3. Damanhur, an Italian esoteric community, whose members see themselves as warriors on a mission to rescue humankind. Further analysis shows that all these utopian communities act as distorted mirrors of their societies by addressing their societies' unresolved value contests. They are not just fictional fantasies of their founders. Intentional communities with utopian aspirations are presented as a regular social phenomenon related to social innovation and change and are shown to engage in historically specific conversation with their societies. This research also connects the amazing capability of story-telling of cultish groups, as well as their members adopting beliefs which at times appear extremely bizarre, with counter-cultural opposition to the dominating paradigms in politics and the economy in different ...

Les intervencions destinades a les persones sense llar han de promoure la qualitat de vida. La planificació centrada en la persona aporta instruments específics per a mesurar-la. L'Escala GENCAT de Qualitat de Vida s'ha utilitzat per analitzar diferències en funció de les característiques i la cronicitat de la situació d'estar sense llar. Els resultats palesen baixos nivells en la majoria de les dimensions, especialment entre les dones, les persones de més edat i d'origen comunitari. ; Interventions oriented towards homeless people should seek to enhance their quality of life, and person-centred planning provides specific tools with which to measure that quality. The GENCAT Quality of Life Scale has been used to analyze differences in terms of the characteristics and chronicity of the homeless person's situation. Application of the scale shows low levels in most areas, especially for women, for older people and for people from other countries of the European Union. ; Las intervenciones destinadas a las personas sin hogar deben promover la calidad de vida. La planificación centrada en la persona aporta instrumentos específicos para medirla. La Escala GENCAT de Calidad de Vida se ha utilizado para analizar diferencias en función de las características y la cronicidad de la situación de sin hogar. Los resultados manifiestan bajos niveles en la mayoría de las dimensiones, especialmente entre las mujeres, las personas de más edad y de origen comunitario

本研究以一个曾经在文革中施暴的红卫兵──李乾的生命传记为个案,以布迪厄的社会实践理论为理论框架,探讨主体参与文革与记忆、反思文革的实践,以及对文革意义的理解,进而理解一系列红卫兵实践(尤其是暴力实践)的逻辑。不同于已有文革研究的精英史和社会史路径,本研究试图发展一种传记取向的文革研究路径,分析个体生命经验与其所处社会情境,红卫兵的惯习与其所处的场域的复杂关系,由此更深刻地理解文革以及无产阶级专政的政治文化。 ; 首先,本研究聚焦这些红卫兵文革初期对文革的认知、情感机制与行动策略,指出其实践如何受制于无产阶级专政场域与惯习的作用,如何再生产无产阶级专政的政治文化,即再生产无产阶级专政的象征秩序、权力技术、话语方式与组织机制,如何再生产文革"武斗"的直接暴力与"文斗"的话语暴力。并且,本研究试图说明早期"造反者"的"造反"动力来自其与老红卫兵在革命资格竞争中的"相对剥夺感";这种"造反"并不是为了反抗主流的象征秩序,而是努力争取自身在这套象征秩序中的优势位置和资本。 ; 其次,本研究探讨主体生命经验中关键性的暴力事件──"一二.五"事件的实际发生过程,分析"一二.五"事件中这些红卫兵对暴力的认知与情感,以及暴力如何被合法化及赋权,其中的专政对象──"流氓"是如何被建构与想象的,由此揭示特定的政治文化脉络中主体的贱斥动力以及这一暴力实践的逻辑。红卫兵暴力惯习的形塑,不仅受制于文革的革命场域的作用,更受制于建国以来历时性的无产阶级专政场域的作用;同时,这一惯习的运作又在维持和再生产无产阶级专政的政治文化。 ; 此外,本研究探讨主体在"一二.五"事件后,如何在一系列社会互动的过程中,逐步实现了意识的转化和主体性变迁,如何从符号中介的生命经验中引入新的认知与情感机制重新理解"一二.五"事件、文革以及无产阶级专政的政治文化。这种批判性的反思实践与主体所处行动场域中的社会位置以及所能接收的多元的、异质性的符号资源密切相关,可以形塑主体惯习的转化,生产新的社会实践以及相应社会关系的改变。 ; 最后,本研究试图将当下民间文革记忆与反思实践置于文革与后文革、毛时代与后毛时代的连续性与转型的关系之中,指出为民间记忆与反思实践赋权的政治文化意义。这一反记忆实践不仅打捞普通人被遗忘的、被边缘化的文革记忆,也介入对历史与现实的批判,积极争取个体对历史的话语权,与对现实政治、文化的参与权。 ; Taking the life biography of a former Red Guard Li Qian who committed violence during the Cultural Revolution (CR) as a case, this research employs Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social practice to explore the Red Guards' participatory, mnemonic and reflective practices during the CR, as well as their understanding of the CR, with the aim of further understanding the logics of the Red Guards' practices (especially their violent practices). Different from the traditional approaches of political history and social history, this study attempts to develop a biography approach to study the CR. It analyzes the complex relations between individuals' life experiences and their social contexts, between the Red Guards' habitus and the specific field, to understand the political culture of the CR and the Proletarian Dictatorship. ; First, this study focuses on the Red Guards' cognitive and emotional mechanism and action strategy during the early days of the CR. It investigates how their practices are subject to the conditioning of the field and ...

Preliminary Material /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1961 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1962 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1963 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1964 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1965 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1966 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1967 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1968 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1969 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1970 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1971 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1972 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1973 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1974 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1975 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1976 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1977 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1978 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1979 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1980 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1981 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan -- 1982 /Zhang Letian , Xi Fuqun and Yunxiang Yan.

以往的明末清初耶佛相遇研究,更为注重天主教和佛教间的冲突和对比。本文更倾向于身处耶佛相遇处境内的士人的宗教内对话。来世问题不仅是耶佛宗教间论辩的焦点,也是士大夫的宗教内对话转化信仰的主旨。 ; 这是因为晚明时期传统儒学影响,更加关注生死问题的讨论。晚明儒释交融,逃禅悦禅狂禅成为一时风尚。而天主教的传入给关心生死议题的士大夫提供了另一种资源。相对于流于空虚玄妙的禅学而言,很多人认为天主教是一种"实心"、"实行""实学"的思想体系。 ; 明清之际,佛学的发展趋势是禅净合流,唯心净土与弥陀净土慢慢融合。禅净双修在士大夫中很受欢迎。因此,士大夫对天主教生死关的理解不仅与禅学相关,也与净土相关。 ; 明朝政策使瑜伽僧和禅讲僧鼎立,使经忏法事弥漫于士人的日常生活中,这也与净土信仰相关联。对这些经忏科仪的批判,也成了天主教徒理解来世的一个面向。 ; 来世问题,中国天主教徒认为这是儒学的疏略之处,构成了"补儒易佛"的重要内容。 ; Most of the existing studies of the Buddhist‐Christian encounter during the Ming and Qing dynasties emphasize the conflict and contrast between Chinese Buddhism and Catholicism. The present study tends to focus on the intra religious dialogue of the participants. It will indicate that the problem of next‐life or life after death was not only one of the foci of dialogue, but also one of the key aspects of the transformation of faith caused by intra‐religious dialogue of the Chinese intellectuals at that time. ; During the late Ming period, under the influence of traditional Confucianism, the matters of life and death became a focus of debate. At that time, the escapist Ch'an Buddhism became an ethos, and interactions took place between Buddhism and Confucianism. When Catholicism was introduced into China, it offered a spiritual alternative to the Chinese intellectuals who cared about matters of life and death. In contrast to the relatively more speculative and mysterious Ch'an, many Chinese found Catholicism a more genuine, concrete and practical system of thought. ; With regard to the Buddhism during the Ming and Qing dynasties, an important trend of development was the combination between Ch'an and Pure Land Buddhism, particularly the gradual integration between the Amitabha Pure Land and the Heart‐Only Pure Land. Dual cultivation of Ch'an and Pure Land was very popular among the Chinese intellectuals. For this reason, the Chinese intellectuals' understanding of the Catholic view of life and death related not only to Ch'an, but also to Pure Land Buddhism. ; The governmental policy of Ming dynasty made the ...

[EN] Joaquim Mateu Sanpere was born in Barcelona on January 9, 1921 within a wealthy family of the Catalan bourgeoisie of the early twentieth century. His parents were Cristòfol Mateu Ferrer and Teresa Sanpere Cantelis, and the family had an illustrious ancestor, the historian, critic and politician Salvador Sanpere i Miquel, the father of Teresa Sanpere who had died in 1915. Joaquim was the second of the couple ́s four children: Eduard had preceded him, while Josep and Elena were born after him. ; [ES] Joaquím Mateu Sanpere nació en Barcelona el 9 de enero de 1921 en el seno de una familia acomodada de la burguesía catalana de principios del siglo XX. Sus padres eran Cristòfol Mateu Ferrer y Teresa San - pere Cantelis, y la familia contaba con un antepasado ilustre, el historiador, crítico y político Salvador Sanpere i Miquel, que fue el padre de Teresa Sanpere y murió en 1915. Joaquín fue el segundo de los cuatro hijos que tuvo la pareja. Eduard le había precedido, mientras que Josep y Elena nacieron después de él. ; [CA] Joaquim Mateu Sanpere va néixer a Barcelona el 14 de gener de 1921 en el si d'una família benestant de la burgesia catalana del principi del segle XX. Els seus pares eren Cristòfol Mateu Ferrer i Teresa Sanpere Cantelis, i la família tenia un avantpassat il·lustre, l'historiador, crític i polític Salvador Sanpere i Miquel, que va ser el pare de Teresa Sanpere i va morir el 1915. Joaquim va ser el segon dels quatre fills que va tenir la parella. Eduard l'havia precedit, mentre que Josep i Elena van néixer després d'ell. ; [FR] Joaquim Mateu Sanpere naquit le 9 janvier 1921 au sein d'une famille de la bourgeoisie catalane du début du XX e siècle. Ses parents étaient Cristòfol Mateu Ferrer et Teresa Sanpere Cantelis. La famille avait un ancêtre illustre en la personne de l'historien, critique et homme politique Salvador Sanpere i Mi - quel, qui était le père de Teresa Sanpere et mourut en 1915. Des quatre enfants du couple, Joaquim fut le deuxième, l'aîné étant Eduard et les plus jeunes, Josep et Elena. ; Peer reviewed

En aquest article ubiquem la mobilització per una renda bàsica en el context de la ruptura del pacte social de postguerra, amb especial atenció a les particulars circumstàncies que defineixen aquest cicle de mobilitzacions al Regne d'Espanya. Mostrarem, en primer lloc, per què en repetides ocasions s'ha presentat la renda bàsica com a part d'un procés constituent que permeti conformar noves relacions polítiques, econòmiques i socials que afavoreixin el desplegament d'una democràcia plena en tots els àmbits de la vida social. En segon lloc, analitzarem la naturalesa dels actors que han optat per aquesta mena d'estratègies "constituents", i assenyalarem les freqüents confluències d'aquestes formes de mobilització amb el que anomenarem "estratègies de contenció i resistència". Conclourem amb un breu exercici de prospectiva social i política en què presentarem l'emergència de l'anomenat "precariat" a escala global com a factor explicatiu de la reproducció, present i futura, de formes de lluita per la renda bàsica com les analitzades. ; In this paper we locate the mobilizations for a basic income in the context of the breakdown of the post-World War II social consensus, with particular reference to the particular circumstances defining this cycle of mobilizations inSpain. We set out to show, first, why basic incomehas repeatedly presented itself as part of a constituentprocess that makes it possible to configure new political, economic and social relations that favour the deployment of full democracy in everysphere of social life. Second, we will analyse thenature of those actors who have opted for this kind of 'constituent' strategy, we will mark the frequent confluences of those forms of mobilization with what we will call 'strategies of containment and resistance'. Third, we will conclude with a brief exercise of social and political projection in which we present the global emergence of the so-called 'precariat' as a factor which explains the present and future reproduction of the forms of struggle for basic income such as those studied. ; En este artículo ubicamos la movilización por una renta básica en el contexto de la ruptura del pacto social de posguerra, con especial atención a las particulares circunstancias que definen dicho ciclo de movilizaciones en el Reino de España. Mostraremos, en primer lugar, por qué en repetidas ocasiones se ha presentado la renta básica como parte de un proceso constituyente que permita conformar nuevas relaciones políticas, económicas y sociales que favorezcan el despliegue de una democracia plena en todos los ámbitos de la vida social. En segundo lugar, analizaremos la naturaleza de los actores que han optado por este tipo de estrategias "constituyentes", y señalaremos las frecuentes confluencias de tales formas de movilización con lo que llamaremos "estrategias de contención y resistencia". Concluiremos con un breve ejercicio de prospectiva social y política en el que presentaremos la emergencia del llamado "precariado" a escala global como factor explicativo de la reproducción, presente y futura, de formas de lucha por la renta básica como las analizadas.

何翰庭 = The life and thought of Liu Liang-mo, a Pro-Communist Christian / Ho Hon-ting Johnson. ; 論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 1998. ; 參考文獻: leaves 105-119. ; 中英文摘要. ; He Hanting = The life and thought of Liu Liang-mo, a Pro-Communist Christian / Ho Hon-ting Johnson. ; 論文撮要 --- p.ii ; 鳴謝 --- p.iii ; Chapter 第一章´Ø --- 前言 --- p.1 ; Chapter 一´Ø --- 硏究動機 ; Chapter 二´Ø --- 硏究回顧略述 ; Chapter 三´Ø --- 參考資料與硏究方法 ; Chapter 第二章´Ø --- 劉良模的生平略述 --- p.16 ; Chapter 第三章´Ø --- 劉良模的救國思想 --- p.23 ; Chapter 一´Ø --- 引言 ; Chapter 二´Ø --- 劉良模早期的改良思想 ; Chapter 三´Ø --- 對共產黨的認識和支持 ; Chapter 四´Ø --- 留美九年的經歷 ; Chapter 五´Ø --- 小結 ; Chapter 第四章´Ø --- 劉良模的教會改造思想 --- p.57 ; Chapter 一´Ø --- 引言 ; Chapter 二´Ø --- 中共建國前中國基督徒對政治的態度 ; Chapter 三´Ø --- 劉良模對新中國的認同 ; Chapter 四´Ø --- 劉良模的三自改造思想 ; Chapter 五´Ø --- 劉良模與基督教的改造 ; Chapter 六´Ø --- 劉良模的「基督教思想」 ; Chapter 七´Ø --- 小結 ; Chapter 第五章´Ø --- 總結 --- p.99 ; Chapter 一 ´Ø --- 「紅色基督徒」在新政權中的作用 ; Chapter 二´Ø --- 宗教信仰對劉良模的意義 ; 參考資料 --- p.105 ; 附錄 --- p.120 ; 劉良模的生平照片 ; 民眾歌詠會情況 ; 三十年代基督教青年會舊址現貌 ; 美國賓夕凡尼亞大學圖書館檔案部回覆筆者信函:關於劉良模的檔案

精神分裂症(簡稱精分)是一種常見且嚴重的精神疾病,它對患者及其家人的生活有著毀滅性的影響。在西方國家,研究者已經對精分患者子女的經歷研究了許多年,得出的結論在政府以及社會工作者幫助這些家庭時起到重要的參考作用。然而,在中國這個問題被忽視了,目前針對這個群體的、學術規範的研究還沒有在中國大陸展開。鑒於中西巨大的社會和文化差異,我們不可以照搬西方學者的研究成果。為了填補這方面的知識空缺,我們在上海展開了對精神分裂症患者子女經歷的質化研究。 ; 本文的資料來自八個家庭的成員對於相關經驗的敘述。我們從三個層面來探究這些青少年的特殊經歷,包括他們對家長的經歷、他們從患病與健康家長處感受到的養育模式、以及他們所經歷的擴展家庭和社會的支持。 ; 我們的研究發現包括:1)青少年對家長疾病的適應經歷了三個階段:漠然、焦慮、消極應對。2)患病家長大多對孩子溫暖有餘、管教不足。健康家長對孩子的管教很大程度上取決於家庭經濟情況。當經濟情況惡劣時他們往往忽視孩子的成長需求3)支援系統作用缺失。 ; 基於以上發現,本文提煉出三個主題:在惡劣成長環境中掙扎、消極應對、缺乏支持。我們提倡為這些家庭提供社會服務。 ; Schizophrenia is a serious and common mental illness which has devastating effects on those affected by schizophrenia, as well as family members including their offspring. In western countries, the topic about the experience of offspring living with a parent diagnosed with schizophrenia has been studied for many years. The outcomes are useful references to the government and social workers in helping these families. However, this topic has been neglected in the Chinese context. A well-designed qualitative study has never been carried out in mainland China. The result from western researcher cannot be used in China due to the vast differences in society and culture. To fill in the gap, a qualitative research was carried out in Shanghai to study children's experience of parental schizophrenia. ; This paper is based on the narratives elicited from eight families, including the parents diagnosed with schizophrenia, the adolescent children, and sometimes other family members. We studied the experience of this special group of adolescents, which contains the experience of their parent's mental illness, the parenting from both the parent diagnosed with schizophrenia and the healthy parent, as well as the support from extended family and the society. ; Our findings include: 1) Adolescents' attitude towards parental schizophrenia can be divided into three phases: indifference, anxiety, and finally passive coping. The help they can provide for their parents with schizophrenia is very limited in most cases. 2) The parenting they ...

Vitayatprapaiphan Nongyao. ; Thesis submitted in: June 2004. ; Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-96). ; Abstracts in English and Chinese. ; Abstract --- p.i ; Acknowledgements --- p.1 ; Preface --- p.4 ; Chapter 1. --- Introduction - Knowing the Akha ; Chapter a. --- Background --- p.10 ; Chapter b. --- Problems the Akha People are Facing --- p.16 ; Chapter c. --- Government Policy Towards the Akha and Hill Tribes in Northern Thailand --- p.22 ; Chapter d. --- The Impact of Government Policy on the Akha People --- p.27 ; Chapter e. --- Rituals and the Beliefs of the Akha --- p.30 ; Chapter 2. --- The Traditional Musical Life of the Akha --- p.33 ; Chapter 3. --- The Impact of Christianity on Akha Life and Musical Life --- p.38 ; Chapter 4. --- The Impact of Tourism on Akha Life and Musical Life --- p.56 ; Chapter 5. --- Prospects for the Traditional Musical Life of the Akha --- p.65 ; Chapter 6. --- Conclusion --- p.73 ; Appendix I: Figures --- p.82 ; Appendix II: Musical Examples --- p.89 ; Bibliography --- p.91

V. Kravchenco [i.e. Kravchenko] ; 蘊雯, 陸沉, 安納合譯. ; 原書名不詳. 譯自英譯本: I chose freedom : the personal and political life of a Soviet official. ; 著錄據下册. ; V. Kravchenco [i.e. Kravchenko] ; Yun Wen, Lu Chen, An Na he yi. ; Yuan shu ming bu xiang. Yi zi Ying yi ben: I chose freedom : the personal and political life of a Soviet official. ; Zhu lu ju xia ce.

Introduction: the arc of historical commercial relations between China and Southeast Asia / Wen-Chin Chang and Eric Tagliacozzo -- Chinese on the mining frontier in Southeast Asia / Anthony Reid -- Cotton, copper, and caravans : trade and the transformation of Southwest China / C. Patterson Giersch -- The social life of Chinese labor / Adam McKeown -- Opium as a commodity in the Chinese Nanyang trade / Carl A. Trocki -- The lidai baoan and the Ryukyu maritime tributary trade network with China and Southeast Asia, the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries / Takeshi Hamashita -- Cochinchinese coin casting and circulating in eighteenth-century Southeast Asia / Li Tana -- Import of prosperity : luxurious items imported from China to Siam during the Thonburi and early Rattanakosin periods (1767-1854) / Masuda Erika -- A Sino-Indonesian commodity chain : the trade in tortoiseshell in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries / Heather Sutherland -- From Baoshi to Feicui : Qing-Burmese gem trade, c. 1644-1800 / Sun Laichen -- Junks to java : Chinese shipping to the Nanyang in the second half of the eighteenth century / Leonard Bluss -- Chinese books and printing in the early Spanish Philippines / Lucille Chia -- The end of the "age of commerce"? : Javanese cotton trade industry from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries / Kwee Hui Kian -- The power of culture and its limits : Taiwanese merchants' Asian commodity flows, 1895-1945 / Lin Man-houng -- Rice trade and Chinese rice millers in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries : the case of British Malaya / Wu Xiao An -- Tonle sap processed fish: from Khmer subsistence staple to colonial export commodity / Nola Cooke -- Moses' rod: the Bible as a commodity in Southeast Asia and China / Jean DeBernardi -- Market price, labor input, and relation of production in Sarawak's edible birds' nest trade / Bien Chiang -- A Sino-Southeast Asian circuit : ethnohistories of the marine goods trade / Eric Tagliacozzo -- From a Shiji episode to the forbidden jade trade during the socialist regime in Burma / Wen-Chin Chang -- Conflict timber along the China-Burma border : connecting the global timber consumer with violent extraction sites / Kevin Woods.

Too often we forget that culture is not a social fact but a concept. In this article it will be argued that cultures do not exist, in spite of their apparent pervasiveness within the social sciences and in daily life. A question will be raised as to the ideological role of the idea of culture, that is, what effects does it produce in the social construction of reality? To do that, the concept and its uses will be criticized, noting that the very concept and its use in daily life represents practices of classification and segregation. Finally, it is suggested that the concept of culture should be abandoned and that we should look forward to new ways of conceiving human diversity more suitable to a situated ethical thinking.