scholarly journals Introduction to the Special Issue: Correlating changes for environmental, technological and societal transformation in prehistoric eastern Asia

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362097025
Author(s):  
Ruiliang Liu ◽  
Guanghui Dong ◽  
Minmin Ma ◽  
A. Mark Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Science ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Agricultural Practice ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Societal Transformation ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Rapid Accumulation

Identifying and explaining changes in the prehistoric material and social world is one of the greatest research interests in archaeology, palaeoclimate and environmental science. In the last two decades or so, a considerable number of studies have made significant contributions to the associated disciplines in eastern Asian archaeology. However, due to the more specialised scientific approaches and the rapid accumulation of new excavation materials, it becomes increasingly difficult for scholars to examine and correlate research outputs from different areas and achieve a holistic picture of the past. Using eastern Asian archaeology as an example, this Special Issue aims to break down the disciplinary boundaries and present the current research debate on how to correlate different climate, environmental and social changes and explain human past. One of the fundamental issues is the lack of adequate chronological resolution to order various archaeological events. To tackle this, a large number of radiocarbon dates, primarily derived from short- lived materials, are provided in the Special Issue. A great variety of changes in local environment, agricultural practice, animal husbandry, technologies, migration, demography and social organisations are revealed in the following papers but there are two profound drivers to all of these changes. One is the broad climate change since the start of the Holocene and the other is the communication between the West and the East.

scholarly journals Critical Qualitative Inquiry in China Studies: Introduction to the Special Issue

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780042110146
Author(s):  
Ping-Chun Hsiung
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global Community ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
China Studies

This Special Issue aims to advance critical qualitative inquiry in China studies and contribute to a vibrant, inclusive global community. It builds upon debates and efforts in the behavioral and social sciences among area specialists in two eras: researchers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the diaspora in the 1980s who sought to sinologize behavioral and social sciences, and sociologists in China in the 2000s who are seeking to indigenize these fields. The Issue takes a two-pronged approach toward advancing critical reflection in knowledge production: (a) it aspires to diminish the current influence of Western and positivistic paradigms on behavioral and social sciences research; (b) it seeks to challenge discursive hegemonic influences to create and sustain space for critical qualitative inquiry. The Issue traverses disciplinary boundaries between history and behavioral and social sciences within China Studies. It opens dialogue with the non-area specialists who are the primary audience of the Qualitative Inquiry.

Education for sustainable development in the senior Earth and Environmental Science syllabus in Queensland, Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa Tomas ◽  
Reece Mills ◽  
Donna Rigano ◽  
Maryam Sandhu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Societal Transformation ◽  
Educational Discourse ◽  
Intended Curriculum ◽  
Learning Content ◽  
Sustainability Learning ◽  
Missed Opportunity

AbstractIn Queensland, Australia, a new senior Earth and Environmental Science (EES) syllabus has been approved for first implementation in 2019. Given the natural alignment between EES and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), this study employs document analysis to investigate the extent to which the intended curriculum reflects the tenets of ESD. An exploratory content analysis examined the frequency of keywords to identify any prominent sustainability themes that might underpin the syllabus, while a curriculum key guided a deeper analysis according to four tenets of ESD: Learning content; Pedagogy and learning environments; Societal transformation; and Learning outcomes. These analyses found that the ESD tenets reflected in the syllabus is limited chiefly to sustainability learning content, while broader notions of ESD, like the promotion of transformative learning, are marginalised or absent. Instead, the syllabus reflects a technical orientation to curriculum, underpinned by a neoliberal agenda. It is argued that the Queensland EES syllabus represents a missed opportunity to engage students with ESD. In a policy climate where achievement and accountability dominate educational discourse, there is an inherent risk that ESD will fall by the wayside, given it is not prioritised in the intended curriculum. Implications for curriculum development are also discussed.

scholarly journals Revisiting the Role of Institutions in Transformative Contexts: Institutional Change and Conflicts

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Zikos
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Institutional Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Environmental Conflicts ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Key Concepts

The study of conflicts over natural resources is neither governed by a coherent set of theories nor limited by strict disciplinary boundaries. Rather, it encompasses a multitude of conceptions grounded within a wide array of disciplines and epistemological assumptions concerning the links between institutional change and conflicts, often concluding in contradictory propositions. This article aims at providing conceptual guidance for the special issue, by reviewing institutional research with a particular focus on institutional change and associated conflicts and drawing some implications from transformative settings. More specifically, the paper explores certain propositions and concepts utilised by institutional economists to explain why conflicts persist despite institutional reforms explicitly or implicitly introduced to resolve them. The author revisits diverse cases from different regions to investigate key concepts related to institutional change and its implications on environmental conflicts associated to transformations, complementing this view from a political science perspective. The paper concludes by offering an overview of factors identified as instrumental in understanding the institutional change and conflict–cooperation continuum.

scholarly journals New Radiocarbon Dates for the Early Neolithic of the Western Mediterranean

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 831-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel van Willigen ◽  
Irka Hajdas ◽  
Georges Bonani
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Regional Group

Understanding of processes that determined the expansion of farming and animal husbandry in south-western Europe is hampered by poor chronologies of the early Neolithic in this region. This paper presents new radiocarbon dates, which are used to construct such a chronological frame for a regional group of the most important culture of the early Neolithic in the western Mediterranean: the Cardial culture.

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