C. Kavin Rowe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300180121
- eISBN:
- 9780300182101
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300180121.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
One True Life explores the promise and problems inherent in engaging rival claims to what is true. Juxtaposing the Roman Stoics Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius with the Christian saints Paul, ...
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One True Life explores the promise and problems inherent in engaging rival claims to what is true. Juxtaposing the Roman Stoics Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius with the Christian saints Paul, Luke, and Justin Martyr, and incorporating the contemporary views of Jeffrey Stout, Alasdair McIntyre, Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, Pierre Hadot, and others, the author suggests that in a world of religious pluralism there is negligible gain in sampling from separate belief systems. The book reconceives the relationship between ancient philosophy and emergent Christianity as a rivalry between strong traditions of life and argues for the exclusive commitment to a community of belief and a particular form of philosophical life as the path to existential truth.Less
One True Life explores the promise and problems inherent in engaging rival claims to what is true. Juxtaposing the Roman Stoics Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius with the Christian saints Paul, Luke, and Justin Martyr, and incorporating the contemporary views of Jeffrey Stout, Alasdair McIntyre, Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, Pierre Hadot, and others, the author suggests that in a world of religious pluralism there is negligible gain in sampling from separate belief systems. The book reconceives the relationship between ancient philosophy and emergent Christianity as a rivalry between strong traditions of life and argues for the exclusive commitment to a community of belief and a particular form of philosophical life as the path to existential truth.
Lawrence R. Klein
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195057720
- eISBN:
- 9780199854967
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195057720.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Econometrics
Econometrics, as a total subject, is older than macroeconometric model building and deserves a separate historical inquiry. Early investigations of demand–supply functions, income distributions, ...
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Econometrics, as a total subject, is older than macroeconometric model building and deserves a separate historical inquiry. Early investigations of demand–supply functions, income distributions, family budgets, cost, and production functions have been the subject of historical study. The joint founding of the Econometric Society and the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics represented the beginnings of major steps forward from the 1930s. In addition to some of the papers presented at the Cowles Foundation anniversary party, there have been some separate studies by scholars from the group. More than ten years ago, a seminar was organized to compare models to appreciate their differences and to look for commonalities. In a first phase, the Model Comparison Seminar looked at distributions of multipliers across macroeconomic models, and the outcome of common applications of control theory. This chapter reviews briefly the focal points of interest during the historical period of macroeconometric model development.Less
Econometrics, as a total subject, is older than macroeconometric model building and deserves a separate historical inquiry. Early investigations of demand–supply functions, income distributions, family budgets, cost, and production functions have been the subject of historical study. The joint founding of the Econometric Society and the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics represented the beginnings of major steps forward from the 1930s. In addition to some of the papers presented at the Cowles Foundation anniversary party, there have been some separate studies by scholars from the group. More than ten years ago, a seminar was organized to compare models to appreciate their differences and to look for commonalities. In a first phase, the Model Comparison Seminar looked at distributions of multipliers across macroeconomic models, and the outcome of common applications of control theory. This chapter reviews briefly the focal points of interest during the historical period of macroeconometric model development.
Stephen K. McNees
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195057720
- eISBN:
- 9780199854967
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195057720.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Econometrics
Economic forecasts differ because forecasters use different macroeconomic models. However, even if everyone used the same model, all forecasts would not be identical. Most forecasts reflect a complex ...
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Economic forecasts differ because forecasters use different macroeconomic models. However, even if everyone used the same model, all forecasts would not be identical. Most forecasts reflect a complex interaction among three elements. Unfortunately, little is known about the relative importance of these elements. This chapter addresses three kinds of question. The initial stage of the Model Comparison Seminar's project, starting in early 1986, has been the collection of relevant data, a laborious and time-consuming part of the project. The following results are a preliminary report on an ongoing effort. The conclusions, based on the limited experience so far, must be regarded as highly tentative. Any success that has been achieved should be largely credited to the modelers who participated in this exercise. This chapter compares model solutions based on different sets of conditioning information. In general, a model can be thought of as a conditional statement about the relationship between inputs (Xs) and outputs (Ys), or Y = f(X).Less
Economic forecasts differ because forecasters use different macroeconomic models. However, even if everyone used the same model, all forecasts would not be identical. Most forecasts reflect a complex interaction among three elements. Unfortunately, little is known about the relative importance of these elements. This chapter addresses three kinds of question. The initial stage of the Model Comparison Seminar's project, starting in early 1986, has been the collection of relevant data, a laborious and time-consuming part of the project. The following results are a preliminary report on an ongoing effort. The conclusions, based on the limited experience so far, must be regarded as highly tentative. Any success that has been achieved should be largely credited to the modelers who participated in this exercise. This chapter compares model solutions based on different sets of conditioning information. In general, a model can be thought of as a conditional statement about the relationship between inputs (Xs) and outputs (Ys), or Y = f(X).
Robert J. Shiller
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195057720
- eISBN:
- 9780199854967
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195057720.003.0012
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Econometrics
The Model Comparison Seminar has produced some striking findings. The differences in the properties of the major macroeconometric models are much bigger than one might have expected given their ...
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The Model Comparison Seminar has produced some striking findings. The differences in the properties of the major macroeconometric models are much bigger than one might have expected given their emphasized theoretical foundations, or given the similarity of the published economic forecasts. F. Gerard Adams and Lawrence Klein conclude that there is “considerable, one might even say astonishing,” variation in the behavior of models “largely intended for the same purposes.” Roger Brinner and Alert Hirsch refer to these sharp differences as “disturbing, particularly insofar as models share a common theoretical basis.” Stephen McNees shows that the models themselves agree much less on forecasts than do the forecasters: the forecasts of the exogenous policy variables and the ad hoc adjustments serve to make the different models' forecasts much more similar than they would be if the models alone accounted for the differences in forecasts.Less
The Model Comparison Seminar has produced some striking findings. The differences in the properties of the major macroeconometric models are much bigger than one might have expected given their emphasized theoretical foundations, or given the similarity of the published economic forecasts. F. Gerard Adams and Lawrence Klein conclude that there is “considerable, one might even say astonishing,” variation in the behavior of models “largely intended for the same purposes.” Roger Brinner and Alert Hirsch refer to these sharp differences as “disturbing, particularly insofar as models share a common theoretical basis.” Stephen McNees shows that the models themselves agree much less on forecasts than do the forecasters: the forecasts of the exogenous policy variables and the ad hoc adjustments serve to make the different models' forecasts much more similar than they would be if the models alone accounted for the differences in forecasts.
Aarthi Vadde
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231180245
- eISBN:
- 9780231542562
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231180245.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
In Chimeras of Form, Aarthi Vadde vividly illustrates how modernist and contemporary writers reimagine the nation and internationalism in a period defined by globalization. She explains how ...
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In Chimeras of Form, Aarthi Vadde vividly illustrates how modernist and contemporary writers reimagine the nation and internationalism in a period defined by globalization. She explains how Rabindranath Tagore, James Joyce, Claude McKay, George Lamming, Michael Ondaatje, and Zadie Smith use modernist literary forms to develop ideas of international belonging sensitive to the afterlife of empire. In doing so, she shows how this wide-ranging group of authors challenged traditional expectations of aesthetic form, shaping how their readers understand the cohesion and interrelation of political communities. Drawing on her close readings of individual texts and on literary, postcolonial, and cosmopolitical theory, Vadde examines how modernist formal experiments take part in debates about transnational interdependence and social obligation. She reads Joyce's use of asymmetrical narratives as a way to ask questions about international camaraderie, and demonstrates how the "plotless" works of Claude McKay upturn ideas of citizenship and diasporic alienation. Her analysis of the contemporary writers Zadie Smith and Shailja Patel shows how present-day issues relating to migration, displacement, and economic inequality link modernist and postcolonial traditions of literature. Vadde brings these traditions together to reveal the dual nature of internationalism as an aspiration, possibly a chimeric one, and an actual political discourse vital to understanding our present moment.Less
In Chimeras of Form, Aarthi Vadde vividly illustrates how modernist and contemporary writers reimagine the nation and internationalism in a period defined by globalization. She explains how Rabindranath Tagore, James Joyce, Claude McKay, George Lamming, Michael Ondaatje, and Zadie Smith use modernist literary forms to develop ideas of international belonging sensitive to the afterlife of empire. In doing so, she shows how this wide-ranging group of authors challenged traditional expectations of aesthetic form, shaping how their readers understand the cohesion and interrelation of political communities. Drawing on her close readings of individual texts and on literary, postcolonial, and cosmopolitical theory, Vadde examines how modernist formal experiments take part in debates about transnational interdependence and social obligation. She reads Joyce's use of asymmetrical narratives as a way to ask questions about international camaraderie, and demonstrates how the "plotless" works of Claude McKay upturn ideas of citizenship and diasporic alienation. Her analysis of the contemporary writers Zadie Smith and Shailja Patel shows how present-day issues relating to migration, displacement, and economic inequality link modernist and postcolonial traditions of literature. Vadde brings these traditions together to reveal the dual nature of internationalism as an aspiration, possibly a chimeric one, and an actual political discourse vital to understanding our present moment.
Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558032
- eISBN:
- 9780191721335
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558032.003.0015
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics, Development, Growth, and Environmental
In 2005, China participated for the first time in the International Comparison Program (ICP), which collects primary data across countries on the prices for an internationally comparable list of ...
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In 2005, China participated for the first time in the International Comparison Program (ICP), which collects primary data across countries on the prices for an internationally comparable list of goods and services. This chapter examines the implications of the new Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rate for China's poverty rate and how it has changed over time. It provides estimates with and without adjustment for a likely sampling bias in the ICP data. Using an international poverty line of US$ 1.25 at 2005 PPP, the results show a substantially higher poverty rate for China than past estimates, with about 15% of the population living in consumption poverty, implying about 130 million more poor by this standard. The income poverty rate in 2005 is 10%, implying about 65 million more people living in poverty. However, the new ICP data suggest an even larger reduction in the number of poor since 1981.Less
In 2005, China participated for the first time in the International Comparison Program (ICP), which collects primary data across countries on the prices for an internationally comparable list of goods and services. This chapter examines the implications of the new Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rate for China's poverty rate and how it has changed over time. It provides estimates with and without adjustment for a likely sampling bias in the ICP data. Using an international poverty line of US$ 1.25 at 2005 PPP, the results show a substantially higher poverty rate for China than past estimates, with about 15% of the population living in consumption poverty, implying about 130 million more poor by this standard. The income poverty rate in 2005 is 10%, implying about 65 million more people living in poverty. However, the new ICP data suggest an even larger reduction in the number of poor since 1981.
Catherine Eagleton
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719096525
- eISBN:
- 9781526104335
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096525.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Imperialism and Colonialism
Designs on currency are often seen as markers of political change, with the change in images at independence seen as a visual representation of the new nation. However, most studies have explored ...
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Designs on currency are often seen as markers of political change, with the change in images at independence seen as a visual representation of the new nation. However, most studies have explored these issues in only one country, and focussed on the relationship between the new nation and its former colonial power. Here a comparative approach is taken, examining the design of coins for newly-independent Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania to uncover the regional, as well as the domestic, international and transnational, dimensions of this change. Examining the process of designing and producing coins for these African countries, and the individuals and organisations (including the Bank of England and the Royal Mint) involved, shows that coin design and production changed only gradually during the period of decolonisation. It also demonstrates that the various political and commercial interests of the individuals and organisations involved affected the choices made about what images appeared on coins after independence. The chapter concludes by briefly considering the legacy of these debates in contemporary decisions about the designs for African currencies.Less
Designs on currency are often seen as markers of political change, with the change in images at independence seen as a visual representation of the new nation. However, most studies have explored these issues in only one country, and focussed on the relationship between the new nation and its former colonial power. Here a comparative approach is taken, examining the design of coins for newly-independent Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania to uncover the regional, as well as the domestic, international and transnational, dimensions of this change. Examining the process of designing and producing coins for these African countries, and the individuals and organisations (including the Bank of England and the Royal Mint) involved, shows that coin design and production changed only gradually during the period of decolonisation. It also demonstrates that the various political and commercial interests of the individuals and organisations involved affected the choices made about what images appeared on coins after independence. The chapter concludes by briefly considering the legacy of these debates in contemporary decisions about the designs for African currencies.
Ruth Craggs and Claire Wintle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719096525
- eISBN:
- 9781526104335
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096525.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, Imperialism and Colonialism
This chapter sets out the key arguments of Cultures of Decolonisation. It begins by exploring the existing historiography of decolonisation, before explaining the value of the interdisciplinary and ...
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This chapter sets out the key arguments of Cultures of Decolonisation. It begins by exploring the existing historiography of decolonisation, before explaining the value of the interdisciplinary and transnational approach taken in the volume. It then delineates the authors’ approach to reframing the role of culture in decolonisation, highlighting three main arguments and strands of investigation. First, a claim is made for the agency of culture in a process more often understood through a political-economic lens; second, the value of focusing on the role of cultural institutions in decolonisation is emphasised; and third, the chapter contends that it is crucial to recognise the transnational and comparative character of cultures of decolonisation (and of decolonisation itself).Less
This chapter sets out the key arguments of Cultures of Decolonisation. It begins by exploring the existing historiography of decolonisation, before explaining the value of the interdisciplinary and transnational approach taken in the volume. It then delineates the authors’ approach to reframing the role of culture in decolonisation, highlighting three main arguments and strands of investigation. First, a claim is made for the agency of culture in a process more often understood through a political-economic lens; second, the value of focusing on the role of cultural institutions in decolonisation is emphasised; and third, the chapter contends that it is crucial to recognise the transnational and comparative character of cultures of decolonisation (and of decolonisation itself).
Douglas Cairns and Ruth Scodel
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748680108
- eISBN:
- 9780748697007
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748680108.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
Narratologies, both ‘classical’ structuralist narratology and the ‘new narratologies’ of the past twenty years, have mostly been built around the novel. At the same time, the history of narrative ...
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Narratologies, both ‘classical’ structuralist narratology and the ‘new narratologies’ of the past twenty years, have mostly been built around the novel. At the same time, the history of narrative methods has become a recognized area of scholarly discussion. While this work is not confined to the history of the novel, the novel tends to be most prominent. Meanwhile, structuralist narratology has been adapted and applied to ancient literary texts. These studies tend to go directly from an individual text to universals, showing that a Greek author uses a technique found in modern literatures, or that the author's combination of techniques is unusual. They do not show how the methods of storytelling develop over time from one author or genre to another, or how Greek narrative is like and unlike other narrative traditions. This volume represents the beginnings of such a project. Several papers look particularly at ways in which early Greek narrative, particularly Homer, differs from earlier and contemporary Near Eastern narratives. Another group looks at typical features of Greek narrative (exemplarity, occasion, favoured structures). Another considers particular genres (historiography, lyric, tragedy). Others examine particular narrative devices through time or consider how Latin authors read and adapt Greek narrative. The volume as a whole shows how much remains to be explored once we study narrative historically; how much comparison can enhance our understanding of Greek; and how much the study of Greek narrative can contribute to narratology more broadly.Less
Narratologies, both ‘classical’ structuralist narratology and the ‘new narratologies’ of the past twenty years, have mostly been built around the novel. At the same time, the history of narrative methods has become a recognized area of scholarly discussion. While this work is not confined to the history of the novel, the novel tends to be most prominent. Meanwhile, structuralist narratology has been adapted and applied to ancient literary texts. These studies tend to go directly from an individual text to universals, showing that a Greek author uses a technique found in modern literatures, or that the author's combination of techniques is unusual. They do not show how the methods of storytelling develop over time from one author or genre to another, or how Greek narrative is like and unlike other narrative traditions. This volume represents the beginnings of such a project. Several papers look particularly at ways in which early Greek narrative, particularly Homer, differs from earlier and contemporary Near Eastern narratives. Another group looks at typical features of Greek narrative (exemplarity, occasion, favoured structures). Another considers particular genres (historiography, lyric, tragedy). Others examine particular narrative devices through time or consider how Latin authors read and adapt Greek narrative. The volume as a whole shows how much remains to be explored once we study narrative historically; how much comparison can enhance our understanding of Greek; and how much the study of Greek narrative can contribute to narratology more broadly.
Gavin Shatkin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501709906
- eISBN:
- 9781501709715
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501709906.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter develops a comparative framework for analyzing state land strategies across cities. This framework focuses on two fundamental variables that differentiate societies—the relative autonomy ...
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This chapter develops a comparative framework for analyzing state land strategies across cities. This framework focuses on two fundamental variables that differentiate societies—the relative autonomy of land managers from non-state sources of social influence, and the extent of state control of urban land markets, specifically through state ownership of land. The chapter develops a basic typology of land management regimes: a political economy of the land grab (represented in the case studies by Indonesia); a political economy of state capitalist urban planning (represented by China); and a political economy of ‘occupancy urbanism’ (represented by India).Less
This chapter develops a comparative framework for analyzing state land strategies across cities. This framework focuses on two fundamental variables that differentiate societies—the relative autonomy of land managers from non-state sources of social influence, and the extent of state control of urban land markets, specifically through state ownership of land. The chapter develops a basic typology of land management regimes: a political economy of the land grab (represented in the case studies by Indonesia); a political economy of state capitalist urban planning (represented by China); and a political economy of ‘occupancy urbanism’ (represented by India).
Jonathan Hearn
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780719087998
- eISBN:
- 9781526128492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719087998.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter is based on reflections on doing ethnographic research. It argues the centrality of comparisons of the ethnographer’s personal experiences with that of the setting in which they are ...
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This chapter is based on reflections on doing ethnographic research. It argues the centrality of comparisons of the ethnographer’s personal experiences with that of the setting in which they are researching. First it examines more closely a theme raised in earlier chapters, about how HBOS staff sometimes questioned the idea of Scottish/English differences by mobilising other axes of difference based on region, class, gender, and so on. It then looks especially at some of the similarities in institutional change going on in the university sector compared with the HBOS case, and uses this as a basis to speculate about more general trends of change in large organisations and society as a whole, in both commercial and non-commercial sectors.Less
This chapter is based on reflections on doing ethnographic research. It argues the centrality of comparisons of the ethnographer’s personal experiences with that of the setting in which they are researching. First it examines more closely a theme raised in earlier chapters, about how HBOS staff sometimes questioned the idea of Scottish/English differences by mobilising other axes of difference based on region, class, gender, and so on. It then looks especially at some of the similarities in institutional change going on in the university sector compared with the HBOS case, and uses this as a basis to speculate about more general trends of change in large organisations and society as a whole, in both commercial and non-commercial sectors.
C. Kavin Rowe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300180121
- eISBN:
- 9780300182101
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300180121.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The Introduction argues for a new way of taking seriously the truth claims of ancient traditions of life and explains why the chosen three Stoics and three Christians best exemplify these claims. It ...
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The Introduction argues for a new way of taking seriously the truth claims of ancient traditions of life and explains why the chosen three Stoics and three Christians best exemplify these claims. It goes on to show why more existentially engaged philosophical reflection is needed when it comes to the problem of “comparison” in modern religious studies.Less
The Introduction argues for a new way of taking seriously the truth claims of ancient traditions of life and explains why the chosen three Stoics and three Christians best exemplify these claims. It goes on to show why more existentially engaged philosophical reflection is needed when it comes to the problem of “comparison” in modern religious studies.
C. Kavin Rowe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300180121
- eISBN:
- 9780300182101
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300180121.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter begins the discussion in Part 3 of the promise and perils of comparison between different strong traditions of life. Using the work of thinkers and scholars such as Alasdair MacIntyre, ...
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This chapter begins the discussion in Part 3 of the promise and perils of comparison between different strong traditions of life. Using the work of thinkers and scholars such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Abraham Malherbe, and Troels Engberg-Pedersen, the chapter argues that the dominant modern way of comparing traditions is irreparably flawed. It then advocates for a new way of thinking through similarity/difference when it comes to incompatible and incommensurable truth claims.Less
This chapter begins the discussion in Part 3 of the promise and perils of comparison between different strong traditions of life. Using the work of thinkers and scholars such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Abraham Malherbe, and Troels Engberg-Pedersen, the chapter argues that the dominant modern way of comparing traditions is irreparably flawed. It then advocates for a new way of thinking through similarity/difference when it comes to incompatible and incommensurable truth claims.
Aarthi Vadde
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231180245
- eISBN:
- 9780231542562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231180245.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
The first chapter turns to Tagore, whose auto-translations stand as examples of degraded art both because translations fail to meet the criteria of aesthetic originality and because the critical ...
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The first chapter turns to Tagore, whose auto-translations stand as examples of degraded art both because translations fail to meet the criteria of aesthetic originality and because the critical consensus around Tagore’s English works is that they fail to transmit the beauty and flair of their Bengali originals. Rather than discount Tagore’s translations, I centralize them and examine how he turned unglamorous, second-order acts of literary production, such as compilation, translation, and editing, into modernist strategies for preserving linguistic difference and partial unintelligibility as a style of transnational contact across imperial lines of power. Through my close readings of Nationalism (1916) and The Home and the World (1919), I show how Tagore treated his Bengali originals not as hermetically-sealed, finished works of art, but rather as repositories of material. Their translation and rearrangement into English allowed him to mediate between utopian internationalisms that dreamed of perfect communication between nations and autarkic nationalisms that argued for the cultural self-sufficiency of the nation as a marker of its readiness for sovereignty. Against both these more absolutist positions of globalism and nationalism, Tagore’s auto-translations intervene with a model of national autonomy that precludes cultural organicism and a model of internationalism that makes imperfect communication a feature of globalized collectivity with which to grapple rather than an obstacle to overcome.Less
The first chapter turns to Tagore, whose auto-translations stand as examples of degraded art both because translations fail to meet the criteria of aesthetic originality and because the critical consensus around Tagore’s English works is that they fail to transmit the beauty and flair of their Bengali originals. Rather than discount Tagore’s translations, I centralize them and examine how he turned unglamorous, second-order acts of literary production, such as compilation, translation, and editing, into modernist strategies for preserving linguistic difference and partial unintelligibility as a style of transnational contact across imperial lines of power. Through my close readings of Nationalism (1916) and The Home and the World (1919), I show how Tagore treated his Bengali originals not as hermetically-sealed, finished works of art, but rather as repositories of material. Their translation and rearrangement into English allowed him to mediate between utopian internationalisms that dreamed of perfect communication between nations and autarkic nationalisms that argued for the cultural self-sufficiency of the nation as a marker of its readiness for sovereignty. Against both these more absolutist positions of globalism and nationalism, Tagore’s auto-translations intervene with a model of national autonomy that precludes cultural organicism and a model of internationalism that makes imperfect communication a feature of globalized collectivity with which to grapple rather than an obstacle to overcome.
Sean Hsiang-lin Lei
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789888390908
- eISBN:
- 9789888455096
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390908.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
By way of analyzing the health doctrine of Dr. Zhuang Shuqi 莊淑旂 (1920-2015), arguably the most popular author of traditional medicine in contemporary Taiwan, this paper discovers a surprisingly close ...
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By way of analyzing the health doctrine of Dr. Zhuang Shuqi 莊淑旂 (1920-2015), arguably the most popular author of traditional medicine in contemporary Taiwan, this paper discovers a surprisingly close alliance between gender role and traditional medicine, an alliance that she created on the basis of the allegedly traditional practice of viewing food as medicine. Instead of promoting the general idea that food has health benefits, Dr. Zhuang used her own personal tragedies to argue for the provocative idea that inappropriate intake of food is what causes people to fall victim to cancer. As each food functions like a double-edged sword, both the major cause of and a powerful tool for coping with cancer, preparing food in the kitchen, in her eyes, becomes comparable to handling effective and dangerous drugs in the “family pharmacy.” As the result, Dr. Zhuang urged housewives to identify themselves with the role of the “family pharmacist” and to take responsibility for the health of the whole Family.”Less
By way of analyzing the health doctrine of Dr. Zhuang Shuqi 莊淑旂 (1920-2015), arguably the most popular author of traditional medicine in contemporary Taiwan, this paper discovers a surprisingly close alliance between gender role and traditional medicine, an alliance that she created on the basis of the allegedly traditional practice of viewing food as medicine. Instead of promoting the general idea that food has health benefits, Dr. Zhuang used her own personal tragedies to argue for the provocative idea that inappropriate intake of food is what causes people to fall victim to cancer. As each food functions like a double-edged sword, both the major cause of and a powerful tool for coping with cancer, preparing food in the kitchen, in her eyes, becomes comparable to handling effective and dangerous drugs in the “family pharmacy.” As the result, Dr. Zhuang urged housewives to identify themselves with the role of the “family pharmacist” and to take responsibility for the health of the whole Family.”
Angela McCarthy and John M. MacKenzie
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474410045
- eISBN:
- 9781474422512
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474410045.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Scottish Studies
This introduction provides an overview of the remarkably long timescale of Scottish migrations from 1600, suggesting that during that period an estimated 3.6 million people left Scotland. It provides ...
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This introduction provides an overview of the remarkably long timescale of Scottish migrations from 1600, suggesting that during that period an estimated 3.6 million people left Scotland. It provides a historiographical review of the issues associated with this migration and examines debates about such concepts as ethnicity, diaspora and culture. There are also discussions of reciprocal influences upon Scotland, about investment, and comparative studies, for example with the Irish. Ethnic survival at the periphery is seen as being about the dislocations of dispersal, the maintenance of boundaries, and orientation to home.Less
This introduction provides an overview of the remarkably long timescale of Scottish migrations from 1600, suggesting that during that period an estimated 3.6 million people left Scotland. It provides a historiographical review of the issues associated with this migration and examines debates about such concepts as ethnicity, diaspora and culture. There are also discussions of reciprocal influences upon Scotland, about investment, and comparative studies, for example with the Irish. Ethnic survival at the periphery is seen as being about the dislocations of dispersal, the maintenance of boundaries, and orientation to home.
Richard A. Shweder
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226501543
- eISBN:
- 9780226501710
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226501710.003.0016
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
During much of the 20th century the ranking of cultures, civilizations, and religions from better to worse was out of fashion in American cultural anthropology. Nevertheless, in recent decades global ...
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During much of the 20th century the ranking of cultures, civilizations, and religions from better to worse was out of fashion in American cultural anthropology. Nevertheless, in recent decades global moral mapping has become popular again, even in cultural anthropology. In light of this pendulum swing this essay presents two examples of ways to do normative analysis while avoiding ethnocentrism and the associated hazards of invidious global comparisons. The first example concerns economic inequality in the United States. It raises some doubts about recent liberal egalitarian portraits of the US, especially those which convey a sense of national crisis and social decline based on evidence that economic inequalities have been growing for the past fifty years and are greater today than in the decades prior to 1965. The second example concerns sex selective abortion in India. Critically examined is the depiction of the Indian sub-continent as a patriarchal society where violence against women runs so deep that even the womb of Indian mothers is a dangerous place for a female fetus. The essay illustrates the value of a cultural psychology of morality approach to comparison by complicating our picture of income inequality and by reframing that portrait of sex discrimination.Less
During much of the 20th century the ranking of cultures, civilizations, and religions from better to worse was out of fashion in American cultural anthropology. Nevertheless, in recent decades global moral mapping has become popular again, even in cultural anthropology. In light of this pendulum swing this essay presents two examples of ways to do normative analysis while avoiding ethnocentrism and the associated hazards of invidious global comparisons. The first example concerns economic inequality in the United States. It raises some doubts about recent liberal egalitarian portraits of the US, especially those which convey a sense of national crisis and social decline based on evidence that economic inequalities have been growing for the past fifty years and are greater today than in the decades prior to 1965. The second example concerns sex selective abortion in India. Critically examined is the depiction of the Indian sub-continent as a patriarchal society where violence against women runs so deep that even the womb of Indian mothers is a dangerous place for a female fetus. The essay illustrates the value of a cultural psychology of morality approach to comparison by complicating our picture of income inequality and by reframing that portrait of sex discrimination.
Oliver Chinganya, Abdoulaye Adam, and Marc Kouakou
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781447326632
- eISBN:
- 9781447326663
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447326632.003.0014
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The economic growth and development of a country depend on a solid infrastructure and the robustness of systems that have been put in place. Together, these constitute a nation’s “engine of growth” ...
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The economic growth and development of a country depend on a solid infrastructure and the robustness of systems that have been put in place. Together, these constitute a nation’s “engine of growth” and include housing, water, electricity, transportation, communication, and construction. It is postulated that the cost of doing business in Africa is much higher than in other regions, largely because of the poor quality of its infrastructure and to accessibility constraints. The distribution of price levels of these economic drivers, which contribute to the cost of doing business in Africa. Price level indices (PLIs) have been calculated to provide a comparison of the cost of selected infrastructure components across African countries. The data were collected from the 2005 round of the International Comparison Program (ICP) in Africa, covering 48 out of a total of 52 countries and 22 major aggregates of the national accounts.Less
The economic growth and development of a country depend on a solid infrastructure and the robustness of systems that have been put in place. Together, these constitute a nation’s “engine of growth” and include housing, water, electricity, transportation, communication, and construction. It is postulated that the cost of doing business in Africa is much higher than in other regions, largely because of the poor quality of its infrastructure and to accessibility constraints. The distribution of price levels of these economic drivers, which contribute to the cost of doing business in Africa. Price level indices (PLIs) have been calculated to provide a comparison of the cost of selected infrastructure components across African countries. The data were collected from the 2005 round of the International Comparison Program (ICP) in Africa, covering 48 out of a total of 52 countries and 22 major aggregates of the national accounts.
Susan Gillman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846318900
- eISBN:
- 9781846319983
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846318900.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
Classics of revisionist historiography published only three years apart, W. E. B. Du Bois's Black Reconstruction (1935) and C. L. R. James's Black Jacobins (1938) court what Benedict Anderson call ...
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Classics of revisionist historiography published only three years apart, W. E. B. Du Bois's Black Reconstruction (1935) and C. L. R. James's Black Jacobins (1938) court what Benedict Anderson call the “spectres of comparison” that overshadow their fields of history. Susan Gillman discusses how both titles signal their aim to produce a corrective historical narrative, named as “black.” Just a few years later, in the 1940s, Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier coined his “New World Mediterranean,” another implicitly comparative formula that was key to his work on Haiti as a historical object, locating the Haitian Revolution in the context of pre-revolutionary Cuba and an Americas legacy of slave revolt. As three models of comparative studies by prominent New World/American intellectuals, how do they manage both to raise and exorcise the spectres of comparison± The chapter focuses on the textual history of Black Jacobins, both a single celebrated work by James, a cluster of different editions, prefaces and appendices, a play and set of lectures, as well as a wider circle, a text-network that takes in Du Bois and Carpentier, among others. The chapter concludes by speculating on the uses of adaptation for comparative studies.Less
Classics of revisionist historiography published only three years apart, W. E. B. Du Bois's Black Reconstruction (1935) and C. L. R. James's Black Jacobins (1938) court what Benedict Anderson call the “spectres of comparison” that overshadow their fields of history. Susan Gillman discusses how both titles signal their aim to produce a corrective historical narrative, named as “black.” Just a few years later, in the 1940s, Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier coined his “New World Mediterranean,” another implicitly comparative formula that was key to his work on Haiti as a historical object, locating the Haitian Revolution in the context of pre-revolutionary Cuba and an Americas legacy of slave revolt. As three models of comparative studies by prominent New World/American intellectuals, how do they manage both to raise and exorcise the spectres of comparison± The chapter focuses on the textual history of Black Jacobins, both a single celebrated work by James, a cluster of different editions, prefaces and appendices, a play and set of lectures, as well as a wider circle, a text-network that takes in Du Bois and Carpentier, among others. The chapter concludes by speculating on the uses of adaptation for comparative studies.
Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469636405
- eISBN:
- 9781469636429
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469636405.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter lays out this book’s approach to the history of the human and social sciences and introduces a set of scholars who compared Mexico to the United States. Their comparisons, the chapter ...
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This chapter lays out this book’s approach to the history of the human and social sciences and introduces a set of scholars who compared Mexico to the United States. Their comparisons, the chapter argues, hid from view the variety of peoples within each country, the transnational connections that bound the two nations, and the parallels between them. This book unearths those connections and suggests that expertise moved from South to North as well as from North to South. Intellectuals deployed a model of liberal modernity that characterized all humans as sharing a set of universal potentials. Liberal universalism spurred epistemologies and forms of social engineering that favoured generalizable knowledge. Yet experts were also inspired by eugenics and evolutionary ideas, and they ranked nation-states according to how closely they approximated universal criteria of progress. They thereby created exceptionalist national narratives, and those narratives grounded their comparisons. By revealing the shared paradigms that connected the United States and Mexico, this book calls into question those exceptionalist narratives and their racial underpinning.Less
This chapter lays out this book’s approach to the history of the human and social sciences and introduces a set of scholars who compared Mexico to the United States. Their comparisons, the chapter argues, hid from view the variety of peoples within each country, the transnational connections that bound the two nations, and the parallels between them. This book unearths those connections and suggests that expertise moved from South to North as well as from North to South. Intellectuals deployed a model of liberal modernity that characterized all humans as sharing a set of universal potentials. Liberal universalism spurred epistemologies and forms of social engineering that favoured generalizable knowledge. Yet experts were also inspired by eugenics and evolutionary ideas, and they ranked nation-states according to how closely they approximated universal criteria of progress. They thereby created exceptionalist national narratives, and those narratives grounded their comparisons. By revealing the shared paradigms that connected the United States and Mexico, this book calls into question those exceptionalist narratives and their racial underpinning.
