The greatest single advance in the interpretation of the structure of Asia was the publication in 1901 of the third volume of The Face of the Earth by Edward Suess of Viennna; and the time has now come when his explanations should be reconsidered in the light of the new evidence. The British Association meeting in Glasgow in September, 1928 afforded a suitable opportunity. An international discussion was held then, and the papers contributed to it have been collected in this volume. Most of the chapters discuss previously published evidence; but that plan was unsuitable for the Persian Arc, for so much new information had been collected by the geologists of the Anglo-Persian Oil Co., that until it were made public any discussion of that area would have been futile.
At this time of narrow specialization in science, it seems almost impossible to fully grasp the personality of John Walter Gregory and his impact on the evolution of geological concepts. He belonged to the generation of unusual men who by their endeavors in different technical fields made the British Emprire into a domain where the sun never set. Gregory was a brilliant thinker endowed with the rare combination of an incredible memory for facts and a capacity for synthesis, and, as his explorations extended across all continents, he thus became an authority on the world as a whole. Nonetheless, he remained modest, sincere, and simple and always friendly toward his peers and his students. There are few scientific fields to which he did not contribute. In our present world of computer language he would be characterized by the key-words of geology, georgraphy, engineering, and sociology, a combination of disciplines which today appear unthinkable. In his time he was a scholar, a teacher, an adventurer, and a man of letters as well.
At this time of narrow specialization in science, it seems almost impossible to fully grasp the personality of the author and his impact on the evolution of geological concepts. He belonged to the generation of unusual men who by their endeavors in different technical fields made the British Emprire into a domain where the sun never set. The author was a brilliant thinker endowed with the rare combination of an incredible memory for facts and a capacity for synthesis, and, as his explorations extended across all continents, he thus became an authority on the world as a whole. Nonetheless, he remained modest, sincere, and simple and always friendly toward his peers and his students. There are few scientific fields to which he did not contribute. In our present world of computer language he would be characterized by the key-words of geology, georgraphy, engineering, and sociology, a combination of disciplines which today appear unthinkable. In his time he was a scholar, a teacher, an adventurer, and a man of letters as well.
Between 1850 and 1966, tens of thousands of Buddhist sacred sites in China were destroyed, victims of targeted destruction, accidental damage, or simply neglect. During the same period, however, many of these sites were reconstructed, a process that involved both rebuilding material structures and reviving religious communities. The conventionally accepted narrative of Chinese Buddhism during the modern era is that it underwent a revival initiated by innovative monastics and laypersons, leaders who reinvented Buddhist traditions to meet the challenges of modernity. Gregory Adam Scott shows, however, that over time it became increasingly difficult for reconstruction leaders to resist the interests of state actors, who sought to refashion monastery sites as cultural monuments rather than as living religious communities. These sites were then intended to serve as symbols of Chinese history and cultural heritage, while their function as a frame for religious life was increasingly pushed aside. As a result, the power to determine whether and how a monastery would be reconstructed, and the types of activities that would be reinstated or newly introduced, began to shift from religious leaders and communities to state agencies that had a radically different set of motivations and values. Building the Buddhist Revival explores the history of Chinese Buddhist monastery reconstruction from the end of the Imperial period through the first seventeen years of the People's Republic. Over this century of history, the nature and significance of reconstructing Buddhist monasteries changes drastically, mirroring broader changes in Chinese society. Yet this book argues that change has always been in the nature of religious communities such as Buddhist monasteries, and that reconstruction, rather than a return to the past, represents innovative and adaptive change. In this way, it helps us understand the broader significance of the Buddhist "revival" in China during this era, as a creative reconstruction of religion upon longstanding foundations.
The essays in this collection challenge conventional ideas about consumption and consumerism: they consider if the inundation of Western consumer goods have created identity confusions among the affluent in Asia, and if the expansion of consumer culture really does threaten the stability of politically anti-liberal states in Asia. This is the first book to analyse in detial consumerism in the region, and will be valuable reading for students and researchers in Asian studies, economics, politics and cultural studies.
This book focuses on Central Asia's place in world affairs and how international politics of state-building has affected the Asian region, thus filling the gaps in ongoing discussions on the rise of Asia in global governance. It also attempts to generalize and contextualize the "Central Asian experience" and re-evaluate its comparative relevance, by explaining the complex dynamics of Central Asian politics through a detailed analysis of the effects of major international actors -- both international organizations as well as current and rising great powers.--Publisher's description.
This new book by two distinguished Italian economists is a highly original contribution to our understanding of the origins and aftermath of the financial crisis. The authors show that the recent financial crisis cannot be understood simply as a malfunctioning in the subprime mortgage market: rather, it is rooted in a much more fundamental transformation, taking place over an extended time period, in the very nature of finance. The ‘end’ or purpose of finance is to be found in the social institutions by which the making and acceptance of promises of payment are made possible - that is, the creation and cancellation of debt contracts within a specified time frame. Amato and Fantacci argue that developments in the modern financial system by which debts are securitized has endangered this fundamental credit/debt structure. The illusion has been created that debts are universally liquid in the sense that they need not be redeemed but can be continually sold on in increasingly extensive global markets. What appears to have reduced the riskiness of default for individual agents has in fact increased the fragility of the system as a whole. The authors trace the origins of this profound transformation backwards in time, not just to the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and 90s but to the birth of capitalist finance in the mercantile networks of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This long historical perspective and deep analysis of the nature of finance enables the authors to tackle the challenges we face today in a fresh way - not simply by tinkering with existing mechanisms, but rather by asking the more profound question of how institutions might be devised in which finance could fulfil its essential functions.
Polymaths of Islam analyzes the social and intellectual power of religious leaders who created a shared culture that integrated Central Asia, Iran, and India from the mid-eighteenth century through the early twentieth. James Pickett demonstrates that Islamic scholars were simultaneously mystics and administrators, judges and occultists, physicians and poets. This integrated understanding of the world of Islamic scholarship unlocks a different way of thinking about transregional exchange networks. Pickett reveals a Persian-language cultural sphere that transcended state boundaries and integrated a spectacularly vibrant Eurasia that is invisible from published sources alone. Through a high cultural complex that he terms the "Persian cosmopolis" or "Persianate sphere," Pickett argues that an intersection of diverse disciplines shaped geographical trajectories across and between political states. In Polymaths of Islam he paints a comprehensive, colorful, and often contradictory portrait of mosque and state in the age of empire.
