scholarly journals Chinese Religion in English Guise: The History of an Illusion

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. H. BARRETT
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Chinese Religion ◽  
Opium War ◽  
Valuable Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Religions ◽  
Faulty Analysis ◽  
The Way

The purpose of the following remarks is to trace the way in which, for over a century from the time of the first Opium War to that of the emergence of the study of Chinese religions as a separate specialization in the 1970s, the English-language world sustained a description of religion in China that was at very considerable variance with the facts. The narrative is not designed to be definitive—the choice of materials drawn upon is restricted, and somewhat arbitrary—but I trust that it ranges widely enough to explain just how this faulty analysis not only came into being but also managed to survive for so long. More detailed studies of aspects of the problem are already under way, and will doubtless appear in due course, but an overview at this point may even so be helpful. It may indeed even be helpful in the wake of the appearance of one such extremely detailed and valuable study, Norman Girardot's weighty volume on the towering figure of James Legge (1815–1897). For while it is now possible to read an excellent study of Legge's views in the context of his own times—and no one interested in the topic treated here should ignore Girardot's research—a glance at the even broader context of the overall history of sinology in relation to Chinese religion suggests that Legge's views by and large fall into the more extended pattern outlined here. For rather than explore the outlook of any particular individual, the aim here is to illustrate, and to some preliminary degree explain, the persistence of a particular paradigm in the understanding of Chinese religion.

Tensions and Challenges of Intellectual History in Contemporary Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115
Author(s):  
Roberto Breña
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
English Language ◽  
Conceptual History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

This article provides an overview of some prominent aspects of intellectual history as practiced today in Latin America, especially regarding conceptual history. It delves into the way this methodology arrived to the region not long ago and discusses the way some of its practitioners combine it with the history of political languages, often ignoring the profound differences between both approaches. Therefore, the text stresses some of the most significant contrasts between them. In its last part, the article is critical of the purported “globality” of global intellectual history, an issue that is inextricably linked with the pervasive use of the English language in the field. Throughout, the text poses several of the challenges that lie ahead for intellectual history in Latin America.

Tensions and Challenges of Intellectual History in Contemporary Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115
Author(s):  
Roberto Breña
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
English Language ◽  
Conceptual History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

Abstract This article provides an overview of some prominent aspects of intellectual history as practiced today in Latin America, especially regarding conceptual history. It delves into the way this methodology arrived to the region not long ago and discusses the way some of its practitioners combine it with the history of political languages, often ignoring the profound differences between both approaches. Therefore, the text stresses some of the most significant contrasts between them. In its last part, the article is critical of the purported “globality” of global intellectual history, an issue that is inextricably linked with the pervasive use of the English language in the field. Throughout, the text poses several of the challenges that lie ahead for intellectual history in Latin America.

What the Hell, English?

2021 ◽  
pp. 2-38
Author(s):  
Arika Okrent ◽  
Sean O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Word Order ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
Orderly System ◽  
The Way

This chapter provides an overview of the oddities of the English language. It begins by looking at the poem of Dutch writer Gerard Nolst Trenité and how he spent his career nitpicking defense of his own native language. Nolst Trenité saw that the Dutch language had its own inconsistencies. His complaints about the way his fellow citizens butchered the Dutch language were different from his complaints about English, but they came from the same expectation that language should be a logical, orderly system. The patterns are often overshadowed by what looks like randomness, and there are irregularities everywhere, not just in the spelling system. At every level of language, from spelling to vocabulary to grammar to word order to meaning there are violations of harmony and order. This book is thus a collection of answers to questions about English. It also presents a history of English that explores the tension between logic and habit in language development.

Charles Martin Robertson 1911–2004

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN A. SPARKES
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Greek Art ◽  
The Way

Martin Robertson published the History of Greek Art in 1975, which has continued to hold its place in English language scholarship. It was the culmination of years of patient research that had started when he embraced the teaching of the history of the subject nearly thirty years earlier. Reviewers remarked on the way in which the book was both a personal study of Greek art and also a comprehensive treatment of the whole field. Through its measured structure and the grace and power of its style, it shows the author at the peak of his talent.

scholarly journals Falun Gong: The End of Days. By MARIA HSIA CHANG. [New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 188 pp. $25.00; £16.99. ISBN 0-300-10227-5.]

2005 ◽  
Vol 181 ◽  
pp. 181-183
Author(s):  
David A. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Chinese Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Secret Societies ◽  
Falun Gong ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Religions ◽  
Media Reports

Since 1999, falun gong has been one of the most burning and sensitive political and religious issues in China, brought to the attention of the public around the world by demonstrations and media reports. Until Maria Hsia Chang's book, Falun Gong: The End of Days, was released this spring, no balanced book-length account of the facts surrounding falun gong was available. Chang's book provides the general public with an informative summary of the development of falun gong, its basic beliefs, the history of its repression by the Chinese state, and its connection with millenarian and sectarian traditions in Chinese religious history. However, the journalistic style and sources of the book underline the need for a thorough academic study of the phenomenon.Chapter one, “A religious sect defies the state,” outlines the story of falun gong from its foundation in 1992 to its continued repression today following the Zhongnanhai demonstration of 1999. In chapter two, “Chinese religions and millenarian movements,” Chang summarizes the history of Chinese religions, secret societies, and millennial and apocalyptic movements, including the Eight Trigram, Taiping and Boxer rebellions, and argues that the Chinese Communists tapped into China's millenarian tradition in order to gain power. She then stresses that falun gong, contrary to its claims that it is not a religion, draws heavily from Chinese religion, and particularly its millennial and apocalyptic strands. Falun gong teachings are described in chapter three, “Beliefs and practices,” in which falun gong's cosmology, theology and eschatology are outlined with ample reference to the writings of Li Hongzhi. The next chapter, “The state vs. falun gong,” goes through the Chinese state's charges against falun gong. Chapter five, “The persecution of other faiths,” begins with a critique of the “rule of law” purportedly called on by the CCP to deal with falun gong, and argues that the accusations made against falun gong could just as well be made against the CCP itself. It then discusses the vast social dislocations in contemporary China that create a fertile soil for the emergence of apocalyptic movements such as falun gong, and describes how the persecution of falun gong is part of a larger policy to eradicate underground religious groups, several of which are presented. Finally, Chang concludes that, in the face of widespread social dissatisfaction, the fear of millenarian uprisings is the main motivation for the CCP's fierce suppression of falun gong – but its intolerance of “heterodox” faiths only reinforces their politicization into oppositional movements, increasing the likelihood of the CCP “reaping the fate” it so dreads.

scholarly journals EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY: JOURNEY FROM RUSSIA TO PERSIA IN 1746–1747

2020 ◽  
pp. 18-29
Author(s):  
Makhach Abdulaevich MUSAEV
Keyword(s):  
Caspian Sea ◽  
English Language ◽  
Eyewitness Testimony ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
British Trade ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

In 1753, Jonas Hanway's four-volume work "Historical Report" was published in London. The last volumes of “British trade across the Caspian Sea” are devoted to the history of Iran from 1722 to 1749. The first two volumes mostly contain reports of different nature about the history and state of British trade with the East through Russia, narratives of the trips undertaken by Hanway and others. Among the large number of interesting materials there is a description of the travel of the Russian Embassy led by Prince M.M. Golitsin. This description belongs to Dr. John Cook of Scotland. The latter graciously provided the text to Hanway, who published it, "taking the liberty of inserting some descriptions from other authoritative sources" because "the magazine has survived with some defects”. We give a translation from the English language of the text, in which the eye-witness gave a description of the way through the flat territory of Daghestan from Astrakhan to Baku from September 24, 1746 to February 6, 1747.

Highly Irregular

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arika Okrent ◽  
Sean O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Irregular Verbs ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Way

This book presents an illustrated history of English as told through all the things that are weird about it. Maybe you have been speaking English all your life, or maybe you learned it later on. But whether you use it just well enough to get your daily business done, or you are an expert who never omits a comma or misplaces a modifier, you must have noticed that there are some things about this language that are just weird. Why are there so many silent letters? Why do we have irregular verbs? The book answers these questions and many more. Along the way, it tells the story of the many influences—from invading French armies to stubborn Flemish printers—that made the English language the way it is today. Both an entertaining send-up of linguistic oddities and a deeply researched history of English, the book is essential reading for anyone who has paused to wonder about this marvelous mess of a language.

Rorschach Assessment of Complex Trauma in Youth

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-41
Author(s):  
David Ephraim
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Assessment ◽  
Complex Trauma ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

Abstract. A history of complex trauma or exposure to multiple traumatic events of an interpersonal nature, such as abuse, neglect, and/or major attachment disruptions, is unfortunately common in youth referred for psychological assessment. The way these adolescents approach the Rorschach task and thematic contents they provide often reflect how such experiences have deeply affected their personality development. This article proposes a shift in perspective in the interpretation of protocols of adolescents who suffered complex trauma with reference to two aspects: (a) the diagnostic relevance of avoidant or emotionally constricted Rorschach protocols that may otherwise appear of little use, and (b) the importance of danger-related thematic contents reflecting the youth’s sense of threat, harm, and vulnerability. Regarding this last aspect, the article reintroduces the Preoccupation with Danger Index ( DI). Two cases are presented to illustrate the approach.

Life as a Raw Material: Illusions of Control

Somatechnics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oron Catts ◽  
Ionat Zurr
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Cognitive Engineering ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
Short History ◽  
Know How ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

The paper discusses and critiques the concept of the single engineering paradigm. This concepts allude to a future in which the control of matter and life, and life as matter, will be achieved by applying engineering principles; through nanotechnology, synthetic biology and, as some suggest, geo-engineering, cognitive engineering and neuro-engineering. We outline some issues in the short history of the field labelled as Synthetic Biology. Furthermore; we examine the way engineers, scientists, designers and artists are positioned and articulating the use of the tools of Synthetic Biology to expose some of the philosophical, ethical and political forces and considerations of today as well as some future scenarios. We suggest that one way to enable the possibilities of alternative frames of thought is to open up the know-how and the access to these technologies to other disciplines, including artistic.

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