International and Area Studies Commons^™

Review Of Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics From The Ira To Wounded Knee By Akim D. Reinhardt, James V. Fenelon

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This well-documented book covers twentieth- century Pine Ridge politics by linking two events at Wounded Knee: the United States massacre of 1890 under cover of "war" on the Ghost Dance, and a 1973 American Indian Movement/ Traditionalist reoccupation and subsequent siege.

In explaining the dysfunctionality of the political economy on Pine Ridge, Reinhardt looks at the long-term effects of colonialism and its bureaucratic replacement in the Office of Indian Affairs (later renamed the Bureau of Indian Affairs), along with complicated divisions inculcated by government policies, often collectively known as internal colonialism. With astonishing detailed accuracy, he looks at the main …

Review Of Radical Hope: Ethics In The Face Of Cultural Devastation. By Jonathan Lear, Rodney Frey

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Jonathan Lear's Racial Hope is a most remarkable, engaging, and thought-provoking interpretation of one man's account of the collapse of his culture, as well as the hope he offers for a future for his people. Based on the life story of Plenty Coups (as recorded by Frank Linderman during the late 1920s), Lear considers two equally profound images offered by this Crow elder, one eng rained in the statement, "after this nothing happened," referring to what happened after being placed on a reservation, and the other in the medicine dreams of Plenty Coups in which the destruction of the Indian …

Review Of The Calgary Project: Urban Form/Urban Life. By Beverly A. Sandalack And Andrei Nicolai., Pierre Gauthier

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Calgary Project is an ambitious narrative. In eight chapters and two appendixes, the authors set about tracing the historical and spatial evolution of Calgary, aiming at drawing conclusions that could inform its planning in the future. The city's development is portrayed through five periods, unfolding from the establishment of a small North West Mounted Police Fort in 1875 to our times. Each period is featured in a chapter that opens with a discussion of the ideas, plans, and planning practices of the time, followed by a discussion of the "spatial structure" of the urbanized areas, and concludes with an …

Review Of Encyclopedia Of The Great Plains Indians Edited By David J. Wishart, James Sherow

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

While there is little new in this volume, scholars and students of the Great Plains, the American West, and, of course, of Indian peoples will find this a useful reference tool. Editor David J. Wishart, a noted author on subjects of the Great Plains, culled the entries on Indian peoples from the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (2004), which he also edited.

The time span of this work reaches back to around 10,000 BP and takes readers up to the present. Wishart included a precise, succinct introduction by Philip Deloria and Christopher K. Riggs, excerpted from the Encyclopedia of the …

Why The Homesteading Data Are So Poor (And What Can Be Done About It), Richard Edwards

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Data available to scholars on homesteading are of very poor quality-inconsistent, unreliable, inaccessible, incomplete-and surprisingly, they haven't been getting any better. Even basic questions such as how much homesteaded land was "proved up," how much land was commuted, or how many actual farms were created by homesteading cannot be answered with any assurance. Moreover, the answers given today mostly depend on quantitative studies completed forty or more years ago.

Why should this be? After all, we have witnessed in recent decades a staggering increase in the capacity and convenience of data handling by using computers. The publication of the Historical …

Review Of Lewis And Clark Through Indian Eyes: Nine Indian Writers On The Legacy Of The Expedition Edited By Alvin M. Josephy Jr. With Marc Jaffe And Lewis And Clark And The Indian Country: The Native American Perspective Edited By Frederick E. Hoxie And Jay T. Nelson, Robert J. Miller

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

LEWIS AND CLARK: GONE; AMERICAN INDIANS: STILL HERE

The Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expedition is a well-known part of the history and lore of the United States. Its recent twohundred- year anniversary from 2003 to 2006 added greatly to popular interest in the expedition and to academic writing on Lewis and Clark.

Often asked during the bicentennial commemorations was the question of the expedition's actual importance. In fact, there has always been debate about the significance of Lewis and Clark in American history and to the ultimate expansion of the United States across the continent. In earlier times, the …

Notes And News- Summer 2008

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

DISSERTATION AWARD IN WOMEN'S HISTORY

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Body Beautiful: Jonathan Spence’S Final Reith Lecture, Xu Guoqi

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Jonathan Spence gave his fourth and last Reith lecture on “The Body Beautiful.” This is a perfect fit for China’s Olympic year and a wonderful conclusion talk after his first lecture on mind (“Confucian Ways”), then on Chinese interactions with the former superpower (the second lecture “English Lessons”), and the current one (the third lecture “American Dreams”). From mind to body, from China as an ancient civilization through its turbulent relations with Western powers to a nation which is determined to compete with the world in hard power either economically or physically, the topic was extremely well thought. The lecture …

Our Women In China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Since late 2006, James Fallows has been providing regular coverage on China forThe Atlantic Monthly. His first piece for the magazine was subtitled “Our Man in Shanghai…” and the retro phrase caught our eye not only for its imperial overtones (the frequency with which it is used to describe newspaper reporters is unnerving, since the phrase calls up Graham Greene’s title, Our Man in Havana, a book about nothing so much as bad intelligence), but also for its gender implications. After all, “our man in China” is just as often a woman (as has been the case in the past; …

An Assessment Of Local People’S Opinions Of Community Conservation Initiatives In Relation To Livelihood Strategies In Kenya, Jill Mechtenberg

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract This paper analyzed the changing livelihood strategies in Kenya, and their cultural impacts via a literature review. I then combined this understanding with the data I collected while in Kenya to examine the opinions local people have of community conservation initiatives, based on their changing livelihood strategies. I expected to find that the following factors would have an affect on the opinions local community members have of community conservation initiatives: livelihood strategy, gender, ethnicity, whether or not they believe the distribution of benefits coming from wildlife conservation is equitable, what issues they would like to see improved within community …

Boss Hu And The Press, Nicolai Volland

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In early May, we published the first installment of our feature, “China Around the World.” We asked scholars, journalists, and graduate students working outside China and the US to reflect on Chinese media and coverage of China. This reflection on the implications of Hu Jintao’s recent visit to the People’s Dailynewsroom is from Nicolai Volland, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore.

One June 20, Hu Jintao paid a high profile visit to the People’s Daily. His foray to the editorial offices of the CCP mouthpiece was first announced in the form …

China Around The World: Brazil, Yong Chen

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat occasionally reposts material that contributors have prepared and published in other venues. Below, Yong Chen has provided the transcript of an interview with a Brazilian paper.

The recent earthquake in Sichuan Province that devastated Wenchuan and the surrounding areas has generated much sympathy from people all over the world. They are also concerned about the broader impact on China, especially its economy and the upcoming Olympic games. Recently, I was recently interviewed by Correio Braziliense, the most important and influential in Brasilia. The interview questions exemplify such concerns and the global attention to China’s future development.

Q: Your …

Wei Cheng: From An Elite Novel To A Popular Metaphor, Xi Shi

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat is a global operation (with posts being written thus far everywhere from Beijing to Boston, Colorado to Cambodia) but it is edited at the University of California, Irvine, and more than a few CB pieces have grown out of casual conversations held on this campus. This post, for example, began when one of us mentioned to Xia Shi, who moved here from Beijing last year to do graduate work in history, that an interesting essay on the novel Fortress Besieged had appeared in the June 12 issue of the New York Review of Books (alas, only a teaser …

Finding Trust Online: Tigergate To The Sichuan Earthquakes, Guobing Yang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On December 15, 2007, China Digital Times posted a story about last year’s “Tigergate incident.” Titled “The Truth is More Endangered than Tigers in China,” the story begins:

The “South China Tiger” [华南虎］saga continues. Now known as “Tigergate” among Chinese netizens, this event will no doubt be one of the top media/internet stories of 2007. On December 2nd, NetEase (one of China’s leading news portals) published all 40 digital photos that farmer Zhou Zhenglong alleged he took of the tiger and also published six independent experts’ evaluations of the authenticity of these photos. These six independent third party evaluations include …

Jonathan Spence’S Yale Lectures: A Memoir, Susan Jakes

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I first heard Jonathan Spence give a lecture thirty minutes or so after the first time I heard his name. It was the beginning of my fourth semester at Yale in 1995 during the chaotic week known on campus as “shopping period,” when students are allowed to attend any classes they choose. My roommate had announced that she was going to “shop Spence” and invited me to join her. Fortunately, she wasn’t too aghast to bring me along after I’d replied, “Sure, I’ll come with you, but what’s Spence?”

I don’t remember precisely how she answered, but whatever she said …

Ping Pong Diplomacy Revisited, Xu Guoqi

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

2008 is China’s Olympic year, which means that the world is watching that country through the lens of both sports and politics. However, this is not the first time China has attracted global attention because of sports. The 1971-1972 Ping Pong diplomacy that Mao Zedong played with the Americans had more serious consequences than this year’s Beijing Olympic Games, since the result of the Ping Pong friendship games fundamentally changed the international political scene and reshaped the world order.

Thirty-eight years later, however, when the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Librarycelebrated the historical moment earlier this month by hosting an event …

Jonathan Spence’S Third Reith Lecture: Dreams, Paradoxes, And The Uses Of History, Charles W. Hayford

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In the third lecture of the Chinese Vistas series, “American Dreams,” Jonathan Spence talked about American dreams of China and, more tantalizing, Chinese dreams of America. He sees a series of “paradoxes” from the American Revolution to the present which set Chinese and American dreams at odds.

In the question period, another paradox emerged, one between different uses of history. The lecture was broadcast from the Asia Society on Park Avenue in New York, where the initial questions came from Richard Holbrooke, President of the Asia Society and heavyweight diplomat, and Henry Kissinger, an even heavier weight (Spence had written …

The Return Of The Two Nationalisms

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

One fascinating aspect of the KMT’s regaining political dominance in Taiwan is the reappearance of two forms of nationalism that have been central to that party’s political ideology, namely Greater China (大中華) and anti-Japanese resistance (抗日). Both have enjoyed a certain degree of legitimacy in the context of modern Chinese history, yet each carries its own risks as well.

The theme of Greater China found clear expression in President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九’s inaugural address, which emphasized the idea that the residents of both China and Taiwan were part of a greater ”Chinese nation” (中華民族). It also seemed significant that Ma …

Jesus In China—Evan Osnos On An Upcoming Frontline Documentary

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The Public Broadcasting Corporation’s Frontline series has a long tradition of airing documentaries on China. Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon’s prize-winning look at 1989, “The Gate of Heavenly Peace,” was shown as part of the series, for example, as was a later Tiananmen documentary, “The Tank Man.” And thanks to the online extras, from guides to further reading to lesson plans for teachers, the PBS Frontline site has become a valuable resource for those who offer classes or simply want to learn about the PRC. Still, it is rare (probably unprecedented) for two China shows to run back-to-back on Frontline. …

What We Do When We’Re Not Blogging (For China Beat)…

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

There’s a virtual version of the game tag, in which bloggers who get a cyber-tap on the shoulder have to reveal five things people don’t know about them on their blog, and then can call on five people to do the same. We enjoy it when bloggers we enjoy reading, such as Rebecca MacKinnon, get tagged and we get to learn things like, in her case, which Disney cartoon she was “obsessed” with as a child. Despite the title of this post, though, you won’t get those sorts of personal revelations here. So, I’m afraid you’ll end up frustrated if …

The Career Of Major George Broadfoot In Afghanistan And The Punjab (1888), William Broadfoot

Digitized Afghanistan Materials in English from the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection

The career of Major George Broadfoot in Afghanistan and the Punjab compiled from his papers and those of Lords Ellsworth and Hardinge, by Major W. Broadfoot with portrait and maps.

Mass (On)Line

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Hu Jintao participated in an online discussion today (his first) with Chinese netizens where he answered questions about his online habits (he emphasized that he uses the internet to see what Chinese people think about the Communist Party—the mass line for a new generation). When NPR broadcast a report on Hu’s online summit this morning, they noted that Hu met with Chinese “netizens,” and then proceeded to define the term. Regardless of whether “netizen” is a new term to you, or you are a netizen, here are a few additional readings and source pages about the Chinese internet.

1. A …

The Lord Of The Wolves?, Haiyan Lee

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Since hitting the bookstores in China in 2004, Wolf Totem has been a most unlikely bestseller and a phenomenon to be reckoned with. From the start, it has been riddled with paradoxes: it was written by a political science professor who had to remain anonymous because of his run-ins with authority in 1989; it went on to win ten domestic literary prizes with the endorsements of party officials, scholars, and business tycoons alike; the audio version was serialized on Radio Beijing; its sales figure is dwarfed only by that of Mao’s Little Red Book in the history of modern publishing …

A Visual Top Five

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

For those seeking a little visual stimulation to perk up the mid-June doldrums:

1. A new online magazine called 1000 Words is currently featuring a set of images from Chinese artist Li Wei (follow the main link and then select Li Wei). The photographs feature Li as an irrepressible Superman with poor aim—head often buried (in the ground, through a car windshield, under ice), he appears to have hurtled forward without pause and Michael Grieves, who wrote the accompanying essay, draws analogies between Li’s captured falls and pell-mell Chinese development.

2. The Council on Foreign Relations has posted a slideshow …

The Gate Of Heavenly Pacification, P. K. Cassel

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Two weeks ago, the nineteenth anniversary of the suppression of the student movement of 1989 passed. Although the anniversary passed more quietly than usual, Tian’anmen 天安門 keeps its special place in our minds and few places in China can compete with the stature of the gate and the square that bears its name.

For five hundred years, the gate was an important site for official functions during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and following the fall of the empire, the gate has grown in prominence. When the republic was inaugurated in 1912, the first president Yuan Shikai used the gate …

Preserving The Premier’S Calligraphy At Beichuan Middle School, Richard Kraus

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The Beichuan Middle School lost a thousand students in May’s devastating Sichuan earthquake. When Premier Wen Jiabao visited the school’s temporary quarters, he wrote four characters on a blackboard to inspire the students: “distress rejuvenates a nation” (多难兴邦). After his departure, teachers and students could not bear to erase his chalk inscription, which was covered in plastic until the Sichuan Cultural Relics Bureau could devise a method for permanently preservingWen’s handwriting.

Although Premier Wen’s chalk on a blackboard may seem difficult to preserve, China has a deeply established tradition of copying calligraphy. Many of the great works of past masters …

The Races Of Afghanistan: Being A Brief Account Of The Principal Nations Inhabiting That Country (1880), Henry Walter Bellew

Digitized Afghanistan Materials in English from the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection

Major races of AFghanistan including the Pashtuns, Tajiks and Hazaras.

Diary Of A March Through Sinde And Afghanistan, With The Troops Under The Command Of General Sir William Nott And Sermons Delivered On Various Occasions During The Campaign Of 1842 (1843), Ira N. Allen

Digitized Afghanistan Materials in English from the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection

No abstract provided.

Coming Distractions: Youth And Wealth In China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Both Frontline’s new documentary “Young and Restless in China” (set to air on Tuesday, June 17) and Duncan Hewitt’s soon-to-be-released book, China: Getting Rich First: A Modern Social History, take as their premise the unprecedented growth and possibility in China during the past two decades. The components of this story are youth, economic opportunity, and migration. While both Frontline’s documentary and Hewitt’s book provide new details and new vignettes to illustrate the changes of the last few decades, China watchers will find the basic storylines familiar.

“Young and Restless in China” (details are available at the website, which after 9 …

Reith Lectures: English Lessons, Graham Earnshaw

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Jonathan Spence is of course one of the great authorities on Chinese history, but the value of history is in its relevance to the present, so at a time of such huge volatility in the affairs of China, there is great curiosity as to how he views current trends. We have the means to find out in his current series of Reith Lectures being given one per week in England and broadcast through the BBC’s websites, currently non-blocked in China.

The first lecture was about the role of Confucius and Confucian thought in Chinese history, and in the q&a section, …