Secularization Theories and the Study of Chinese Religions

The author proposes a dialogue between recent literature on the history of Chinese popular religion and recent sociological debates about secularization theory, asking whether a better understanding of concepts, theories and evidence from one field may be productive in interpreting those of the other. The author suggests on the one hand that certain elements of secularization theory can be useful tools in understanding the modern history of religions in China and on the other that thinking about what secularization has meant in China is crucial to a comparative global history of religion and modernity. He also argues that attention to secularization both as a historical process and as a political ideology may help us to better understand the religious policies of the People’s Republic of China today.East Asian Languages and Civilization

Natural disasters and governmental aid : is there a charity hazard?

In the aftermath of natural disasters, governments frequently provide financial aid for affected households. This policy can have adverse effects if individuals anticipate it and forgo private precaution measures. While theoretical literature unequivocally suggests this so called “charity hazard”, empirical studies yield ambiguous results. Drawing on rich survey data from German homeowners, we analyze charity hazard for different flood precaution strategies, namely insurance uptake and non-financial protection measures, and different flood risk areas. Our results indicate a substantial charity hazard in the insurance market for individuals residing in flood-prone areas. In contrast, we find a positive correlation between governmental aid and non-financial protection measures. Moreover, our results suggest that insurance and non-financial protection measures are rather complements than substitutes. Finally, we provide suggestive evidence that status-quo bias might play an important role for insurance uptake

Jinmen Zai Qianxian: 1949 Vilai Diyu Zhengzhi, Liang’an Guanxi He Difang Shehui [Jinmen on the Front Line: Geopolitics, Cross-Strait Relations and Local Society since 1949]

East Asian Languages and Civilization

Gunjika, Kioku, Jinmen Shakai - 1949-1992. [Militarization, Memory and Jinmen (Quemoy) Society, 1949-1992.]

East Asian Languages and Civilization

Zhanhuo Xia De Jiyi Zhengzhi: Jinmen, 1949-2008 [The Politics of Memory in a Geopolitical Flashpoint: Jinmen (Quemoy)]

In 1949, the small island of Kinmen (Quemoy) in the Taiwan Strait became the front line in the military standoff between Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China on Taiwan and Mao Zedong’s People’s Republic, a flashpoint of global geopolitical confrontation, and a powerful symbol of anti-Communist resolve for the Republic of China (ROC) and its allies As a result, Kinmen became one of the most highly militarized societies in history, a place where daily life was inexorably connected to international geopolitics. Though the soldiers are largely gone from Kinmen today, militarization and geopoliticization have left enduring legacies. This paper explores the politics of local memory in contemporary society. It argues that the experience of militarization and demilitarization is remembered through four distinct discourses: an official discourse of commemoration, and three social discourses: of heroic agency, of victimization, and of nostalgia. Each of these discourses is deployed in a variety of contemporary political struggles, within Kinmen, between Kinmen and Taiwan, and between Kinmen and the mainland. These ways of remembering are thus as much about Kinmen’s present and future as about its past. The paper argues that local actors make use of collective memory in entrepreneurial ways, but their ability to do so is constrained by the inertia of collective memory. Furthermore, popular memory is not always subversive of official memory. Because what constitutes official memory is shaped by the current political reality, so too is what constitutes subversive memory.East Asian Languages and Civilization

Kokka, Chih? Shakai To Gend? Seisaku: Senchi Jinmen No Josei No Yakuwari Oyobi Im? Ji No Saigen [Nation-State, Memory and Gender Policy: The Reproduction of Female Roles and Representations in Militarized Jinmen]

East Asian Languages and Civilization

Reviews

The following publications have been reviewed by the mentioned authors;The Art of the Engineer by Ken Baynes and Francis Pugh, reviewed by Michael SayerVictorian Crafts Revived by Anne Hulbert, reviewed by Andor GommeA Potter's Mexico by Irwin and Emily Whittaker, reviewed by Michael PaffardPainting Without a Brush by Roy Sparkes, reviewed by Edward PhelpsMaking Wooden Toys by Roger Polley, reviewed by Bob NeillMetalwork Theory by R. A. Mold, reviewed by Leslie Deem

Inactivation of Aurora kinases and Cyclin-dependent kinases 4/6 allows cancers to adopt an endoreplication and form polyploid/polyaneuploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs/PACCs) that resist antimitotic drugs

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