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Prologue: kim kurukuru taratara

Tony Crook

in Anthropological Knowledge, Secrecy and Bolivip, Papua New Guinea: Exchanging Skin

The presented experimental ethnography of an exchange between two knowledge-making practices is the story of a man who tried to see properly. The existence of the ‘Min problem’ may not be widely ... More

The presented experimental ethnography of an exchange between two knowledge-making practices is the story of a man who tried to see properly. The existence of the ‘Min problem’ may not be widely recognized, but there are thoroughgoing consequences for anthropological knowledge in coming to terms with such a spectacular failure of analysis. Barth's rubric of ‘secrecy’ amongst the Baktaman has enjoyed an extended paradigmatic reign in the Min area, and remains unchallenged. This book specifically provides a solution to the ‘Min problem’. The analysis reveals a novel vantage point on the Min more widely, and uses this to afford a novel vantage point on Anthropology – and sets up an exchange between them. It also discusses the ethnographic field of connections, tensions, and causes constituting Bolivip by first setting the scene through a series of events in late 1994 and, second, by rehearsing an ethnographic moment that is adopted as a model for the methodological exchange. An overview of the chapters included in this book is given.Less

Cosmology in the Making: Barth, the Baktaman, and Secrecy

Tony Crook

in Anthropological Knowledge, Secrecy and Bolivip, Papua New Guinea: Exchanging Skin

This chapter explores Barth's work among the Baktaman, and examines how the Min got into Anthropology and how Anthropology got into the Min. It opens with an image that affords a glimpse of ... More

This chapter explores Barth's work among the Baktaman, and examines how the Min got into Anthropology and how Anthropology got into the Min. It opens with an image that affords a glimpse of influences on Barth's perception of the Baktaman. The chapter also presents an in-depth example of two-way combinations between social relationships, analytical relationships, and ethnography, such that they ultimately appear inseparably a combination of the others and yet appear at moments as if they are stand-alone ‘separates’. Barth's record provides a rare opportunity to track the impressions left behind by thinking carried away from experiences at the ends of other journeys, the impressions left behind by earlier conceptual work, and to witness their development in subsequent passages. After the effects on Barth's epistemology are outlined, the discussion backtracks to focus on the Baktaman monograph. The chapter also examines the consequences of Barth having in mind a structuralist opposition of isolated symbolic elements. It then addresses Barth's discussion of creative mechanisms during storage within the minds of individual ritual specialists. Barth's methodological landscape is made concrete such that the movement of ideas can be witnessed in the passage of senior men through the forest to attend an initiation.Less

El-Minʼyeh, Benʼee Hhasʼan, and Antinoë.

Jason Thompson

in Description of Egypt: Notes and Views in Egypt and Nubia

El-Min'yeh, or Min'yet IbnKhasee'b, though a small town, is the capital of the middle provinces of Egypt, or of that part which constituted the ancient Heptanomis. It contains several soo'cks (or ... More

El-Min'yeh, or Min'yet IbnKhasee'b, though a small town, is the capital of the middle provinces of Egypt, or of that part which constituted the ancient Heptanomis. It contains several soo'cks (or streets of shops), covered over-head with matting; and its market is pretty well stocked. To a distance of about three miles above the small town just mentioned, are some ancient quarries and sculptures, representing the processes of agriculture, domestic scenes, etc. Numerous other grottoes can be seen a few miles further south, on the same side of the river. A little above these are the very interesting grottoes of Ben' ee Hhas'an; so called from two deserted and ruined villages just beyond them. A little further away, in a grove of palm-trees, is the village of Esh-sheykh ‘Aba'deh, on a part of the site of the ancient city of Antinoe, which was founded by Adrian, in honour of his favourite Antinous.Less

“In Due Course”: Diasporic Nationalism, the United Korean Committee in America, and U.S. Sovereignty

Richard S. Kim

in The Quest for Statehood: Korean Immigrant Nationalism and U.S. Sovereignty, 1905-1945

Soon after the U.S. entry into World War II, Korean nationalist organizations once again took to lobbying intensively for the official recognition of the exiled Korean Provisional Government in ... More

Soon after the U.S. entry into World War II, Korean nationalist organizations once again took to lobbying intensively for the official recognition of the exiled Korean Provisional Government in China, which is detailed in this chapter. Seeing themselves as part of a common international struggle against Japan, Korean nationalist leaders expected the Allied powers, particularly the United States, to play a more active role in the liberation of their homeland. For many Koreans, recognition from the U.S. state rather than immediate independence became a focal point of nationalist activities. By the mid-1940s, this reliance on U.S. sovereignty as the guarantor of Korean national interests became firmly ensconced in the strategic visions of many nationalist leaders, including the activities of the United Korean Committee in America (UKC). This reliance on U.S. state power reflected an ethnic orientation among Korean immigrants that defined and understood their political interests and goals in relation to U.S. state structures and society rather than a national Korean state. Their quest for statehood ended as they became ethnic subjects of the U.S. liberal state.Less

Xue Shaohui and the Min Writing-Women Culture

Nanxiu Qian

in Politics, Poetics, and Gender in Late Qing China: Xue Shaohui (1866-1911) and the Era of Reform

This chapter explores the Min writing-women culture from Xue’s perspective, based on Xue’s reading of the literature and art of Min women, along with some major critical works on their poetic ... More

This chapter explores the Min writing-women culture from Xue’s perspective, based on Xue’s reading of the literature and art of Min women, along with some major critical works on their poetic accomplishments. According to Xue, Min writing-women had been producing a culture of their own since the mid seventeenth century. This culture boasted the Guanglu Poetic School as its institutional manifestation and the xianyuan ideal as its intellectual foundation. Over time, the Min writing-women tradition had been disseminated horizontally through marital and communal ties and vertically through the mechanism of mothers’ teaching. This culture made major contributions to the formation of Min poetics, and Min women poets surpassed their male counterpart in poetic accomplishments. This culture demonstrated its tenacity in the midst of the late Qing turmoil and prepared Min writing women for their future participation in the late Qing reforms.Less

Texts: Transcripts for the Data of Hui Min

David Deterding

in Singapore English

This chapter presents the full transcript of the interview with Hui Min.

From Benʼee Sooweyʼf to El-Minʼyeh.

Jason Thompson

in Description of Egypt: Notes and Views in Egypt and Nubia

This chapter describes the author's journey from Ben'ee Soowey'f to El-Min'yeh. It gives a detailed account of the environs of Ben'ee Soowey'f. It also talks about the ruins of an ancient town, now ... More

This chapter describes the author's journey from Ben'ee Soowey'f to El-Min'yeh. It gives a detailed account of the environs of Ben'ee Soowey'f. It also talks about the ruins of an ancient town, now called Medee'net Gahl, on the western bank, close to the river Nile. “Medee'net Gahl” may be interpreted as “the city of Ignorance”: so this ruined town was called by the inhabitants of the nearest village: the name of “Modo,” which Hamilton says was given to it by the people of the neighbourhood. This chapter also describes the high cliffs of Geb'el et-Teyr upon the summit of which is a Coptic convent, called Deyr el-' Ad'ra (or the Convent of the Virgin), and Deyr el-Bek'arah (or the Convent of the Pulley).Less

Introduction

in From Ah Q to Lei Feng: Freud and Revolutionary Spirit in 20th Century China

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) theorized an unconscious in which repressed sexual desire continually influences nearly every aspect of life. This combination of the unconscious and repressed sexual desire ... More

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) theorized an unconscious in which repressed sexual desire continually influences nearly every aspect of life. This combination of the unconscious and repressed sexual desire became a dominant perspective in Western cultural life, but also found its way in studies of modern Chinese literature. This book traces the history of Freudian sexual theory and deconstructs it in order to demonstrate the naturalized discursive environment underlying researchers' preoccupation with sexuality and concepts such as repression or sublimation. It shows how Freudian sexual and mental theory assumed a critical place within the cultural field (and within psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy) over the century. It also looks at the introduction of modern psychology and Freudian theory in China, along with the development of theories of the mind in revolutionary culture. The book also offers an interpretation each for the work of three Chinese writers and two filmmakers who all express a strong thematic interest in sexual desire and behavior: Mang Ke, Wang Xiaobo, Jiang Wen, Anchee Min, and He Jianjun.Less

Extracting Revolutionary Spirit: Jiang Wen's In the Heat of the Sun and Anchee Min's Red Azalea

in From Ah Q to Lei Feng: Freud and Revolutionary Spirit in 20th Century China

This chapter examines the work of filmmaker Jiang Wen, In the Heat of the Sun (1994), and expatriate writer Anchee Min, Red Azalea (1994). Both Jiang Wen and Anchee Min link sexual desire with the ... More

This chapter examines the work of filmmaker Jiang Wen, In the Heat of the Sun (1994), and expatriate writer Anchee Min, Red Azalea (1994). Both Jiang Wen and Anchee Min link sexual desire with the spirit of the revolution and apply a mystical approach that signals an underlying concept of transcendence. In the Heat of the Sun offers a novel interpretation of China's Cultural Revolution and rewrites the dominant narrative of trauma, violence, and dislocation. Red Azalea tackles an overarching mysticism that unites and expresses both revolutionary spirit and sexual desire while creating an imaginary spiritual Maoism out of and as resistance to political Maoism. It also describes the Cultural Revolution experience as profoundly, if secretly, sensual and erotic. Anchee Min associates sexual liberation with political progressiveness and argues that the defunct Chinese revolutionary state has lost its spirit, thus becoming hypocritical and essentially false.Less

Kinetics in Spatially Extended Systems

Karsten Kruse and Johan Elf

in System Modeling in Cellular Biology: From Concepts to Nuts and Bolts

This chapter presents theoretical approaches for describing the dynamics of biological systems. The first part discusses continuum descriptions in terms of partial differential equations. Such a ... More

This chapter presents theoretical approaches for describing the dynamics of biological systems. The first part discusses continuum descriptions in terms of partial differential equations. Such a description is appropriate if one is interested in the dynamics on scales that are large compared to molecular length scales as, for example, interaction distances of single molecules. The second part provides stochastic description in terms of the reaction-diffusion master equation. It is a generalization of techniques presented in Chapter 8 to account for inhomogeneous particle distributions. It shows that in the limit of many reactants within the diffusion range, the reaction-diffusion master equation is well approximated by a continuum description. The different approaches are illustrated by application to the Min-system of the bacterium Escherichia coli as well as other subcellular systems.Less

Lvov, 1908–1909

Anita Shapira

in Yosef Haim Brenner: A Life

Brenner stayed in Lvov for about a year, doing typesetting and editorial work. He wrote quite a lot and published pieces in Hebrew and Yiddish. His play Erev uvoker (Evening and morning) and his ... More

Brenner stayed in Lvov for about a year, doing typesetting and editorial work. He wrote quite a lot and published pieces in Hebrew and Yiddish. His play Erev uvoker (Evening and morning) and his novel Shana ahat (One year) were published in Hashiloah, the prestigious Hebrew journal edited by Bialik. He wrote one of his best novels, Min hameitzar (Out of the depths). He also started publishing Revivim, a series of anthologies. He enjoyed very friendly relations with the writer Gershon Schoffman and had a number of friends and associates who bestowed on him the warmth and companionship he yearned for. The idyll was disrupted by a vicious article published by Bialik, in which he ridiculed Hameorer and Brenner's ambition to become the cultural leader of the young modernist writers. Brenner was deeply hurt.Less

Epilogue

Kathleen López

in Chinese Cubans: A Transnational History

This chapter focuses on January 2012, when members of the Chinese Cuban community gathered in Havana to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Asociacion Nacional Min Chih Tang ... More

This chapter focuses on January 2012, when members of the Chinese Cuban community gathered in Havana to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Asociacion Nacional Min Chih Tang (Minzhidang; formerly Chee Kung Tong). As the author entered the recently renovated building, she experienced an extreme sense of disorientation. Was this the same association that over the past decade of research trips to Cuba had become an obligatory stop? Where were the newspaper clippings and mementos haphazardly stuck to the walls, the outdated selection of Chinese magazines, the elderly native Chinese sipping tea on loosely arranged chairs? Today, members and visitors are greeted with a stunning mural of the Great Wall of China spanning the entire length of the meeting room. This image, while representative of China for tourists, holds little meaning for the few remaining Cantonese migrants in Cuba.Less

The Consolidation of Ava

Michael A. Aung-Thwin

in Myanmar in the Fifteenth Century: A Tale of Two Kingdoms

The two founding fathers of Ava, Thadominbya and Minkyiswa Sawkai were succeeded by four equally strong kings who continued their predecessors’ work and consolidated what the former had begun. In ... More

The two founding fathers of Ava, Thadominbya and Minkyiswa Sawkai were succeeded by four equally strong kings who continued their predecessors’ work and consolidated what the former had begun. In doing so, Mingaung the First and three of his most important successors (Hsinphyushin Thihathu, Mo Nyin Min, and Hsinphyushin Minye Kyawswa Gyi) set the stage for Ava’s efflorescence that reached fruition during the second half of the fabulous fifteenth-century. Fortunately for the Burmese speakers and their culture (and ultimately the modern Union of Myanmar), able leaders emerged at the right time to continue the “classical” tradition, which was carried for several more centuries.Less

L.A.–Paris–New York: The Parameters of Literary Production at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

Rei Magosaki

in Tricksters and Cosmopolitans: Cross-Cultural Collaborations in Asian American Literary Production

This chapter addresses new political contours of cross-cultural collaboration set against the changing publishing industry under globalization. The chapter discusses new critiques of globalization in ... More

This chapter addresses new political contours of cross-cultural collaboration set against the changing publishing industry under globalization. The chapter discusses new critiques of globalization in the novels of Asian American writers Karen Tei Yamashita, Monique Truong, and Min Jin Lee, while introducing readers to their editors Allan Kornblum, Janet Silver, and Amy Einhorn. In doing so, the chapter explains how a small literary publishing house, a large literary publishing house, and a large commercial publishing house each holds a key to understanding the new demands of the culture industry at the turn of the new century.Less

Three Puffs on a Cigarette: General Miura Gorō and the Assassination of Queen Min

Danny Orbach

in Curse on This Country: The Rebellious Army of Imperial Japan

This chapter discusses the murder of Queen Min of Korea by Japanese Lieutenant General Miura Gorō in 1895. On October 8, 1895, a group of Japanese officers, policemen, and civilians broke into the ... More

This chapter discusses the murder of Queen Min of Korea by Japanese Lieutenant General Miura Gorō in 1895. On October 8, 1895, a group of Japanese officers, policemen, and civilians broke into the private apartments of Queen Min, hacked her to death with swords, killed several of her court ladies and burned their bodies on the lawn. The minister of the royal household was also slain, and the crown princess was beaten. This heinous act planned by Miura, the Japanese envoy, without the knowledge of the Japanese government. The chapter examines the assassination of Queen Min within its historical and political context before discussing how it brought together, with dire consequences, two distinct roads of military resistance to state policy. It also considers the trial and subsequent acquittal of Miura in Hiroshima.Less

The Cold War Comes to Chinatown: Chinese Mexicans Caught between Beijing and Taipei, 1955–1971

Fredy González

in Paisanos Chinos: Transpacific Politics among Chinese Immigrants in Mexico

As the Cold War dragged on and the Republic of China failed to effect its reconquest of mainland China, not all Chinese Mexicans continued to support the Republic of China. Some defected to support ... More

As the Cold War dragged on and the Republic of China failed to effect its reconquest of mainland China, not all Chinese Mexicans continued to support the Republic of China. Some defected to support the People’s Republic of China, or openly traveled to mainland China or expressed their reservations about the ROC. For this, they were exposed as subversives and surveilled by the ROC, Mexican, and US governments. This chapter illustrates how transnational causes could have local repercussions, as some Chinese Mexicans began to chafe under their relationship with the ROC.Less

London: A Foggy Day in Whitechapel

in Literary Passports: The Making of Modernist Hebrew Fiction in Europe

This chapter examines the role of London as an enclave of modernist Hebrew literature, focusing on the literary, journalistic, and cultural activities of Yosef Chaim Brenner. Brenner wrote a ... More

This chapter examines the role of London as an enclave of modernist Hebrew literature, focusing on the literary, journalistic, and cultural activities of Yosef Chaim Brenner. Brenner wrote a significant amount of Hebrew fiction with Jewish London as the setting and topic. In his novel, Min ha-meitzar, the city is presented through the prism of the East European Jewish immigrants in Whitechapel.Less

Making More Space: Reforms from 1990 to 2010

Karla W. Simon

in Civil Society in China: The Legal Framework from Ancient Times to the "New Reform Era"

This chapter analyzes the “new” set of regulations, beginning with the 1998 regulations on social organizations and the noncommercial institutions (min ban fei qiye danwei), and then moving to the ... More

This chapter analyzes the “new” set of regulations, beginning with the 1998 regulations on social organizations and the noncommercial institutions (min ban fei qiye danwei), and then moving to the 2004 foundation regulations. One of the critical questions is the extent to which the 1989 events in Tian'anmen Square hardened the attitude of the government against social organizations. Another significant event that caused many officials in the security apparatus to harden their attitude toward civil society was the surrounding of Zhongnanhai (where the high party officials live and work) by Falun Gong practitioners in 1999. This was, however, generally a period of “reform and opening up” for mainstream civil society itself, as open discussion with foreigners about the design of the regulatory framework for civil society organizations (CSOs) in China was encouraged. The chapter also considers the laws adopted during this era of legal change—the Public Welfare Donations Law and the Trust Law, which governs charitable trusts.Less

Founding Fathers: The Kingdom of Min

Benjamin Brose

in Patrons and Patriarchs: Regional Rulers and Chan Monks during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 3 examines the origins of the prevailing religio-political network in Min and argues that some of the defining features of the mature Chan tradition—the compilation of flame records, ... More

Chapter 3 examines the origins of the prevailing religio-political network in Min and argues that some of the defining features of the mature Chan tradition—the compilation of flame records, monasteries whose abbacies were reserved for members of Chan lineages, sustained governmental support, and association with the imperial ancestral cult—are evident in this kingdom. It begins by introducing Yicun and Shibei—their biographies, teachings, lineage affiliations, monasteries, and their relationships with Min’s rulers. It then details the divisions that formed among these monks’ disciples.Less