The Order of Places: Translocal Practices of the Huizhou Merchants in Late Imperial China

There were over a thousand counties and prefectures in late imperial China; each loomed large in the hearts and minds of the local natives, and had a history of its own. The Order of Places tells a story of how these places were ordered by the long-lived imperial state, and then re-ordered during the sixteenth …

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GeoForum – Special Issue: Diaspora Strategies: Critical Perspectives and New Directions (59)

As more countries acknowledge the potential resources represented by their emigrant populations, the diaspora strategies of migrant sending countries are gaining policy and academic attention internationally. ‘Diaspora strategies’ describe initiatives aimed at mobilising emigrants for the purposes of economic development and/or nation building. This special issue in Geoforum identifies new research directions for the study …

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WPS 233 Epistemological Experiments and Empirical Philosophy in Cross-Cultural Contexts

In recent years we have seen a veritable explosion in philosophical and psychological studies of epistemic intuitions. Many of these analyse whether intuitions vary between ‘Asian’ and ‘Western’ people. In this paper I review research in experimental epistemology and connect it to other studies in cross-cultural epistemology. I suggest that debates in the former have …

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Demonic Warfare: Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel

Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, Mark Meulenbeld argues that a specific type of Daoist exorcism helped shape vernacular novels in the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Focusing on the once famous novel Fengshen yanyi (“Canonization of the Gods”), the author maps out the general …

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Infrastructure Redux: Crisis, Progress in Industrial Pakistan and Beyond

The focus of this book is on industrial infrastructures of production and circulation, from power distribution and roads to dry ports and airports. It looks at how these infrastructures underpin visions of progress and mediate relations between the state and capitalist firms in industrializing districts in Punjab, Pakistan.

WPS 232 Ethical and Regulatory Challenges with Autologous Adult Stem Cells: A Comparative Review of International Regulations

Cell and tissue-based products, such as autologous adult stem cells, are being prescribed by physicians across the world for diseases and illnesses that they have neither been approved for or been demonstrated as safe and effective in formal clinical trials. These doctors often form part of informal transnational networks that exploit differences and similarities in …

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WPS 231 Religious Revival and De-ethnicization in the Ethnic Minority Regions of China

Existing literature on religious revival in China’s ethnic minority areas often seeks to demonstrate that the revitalization of religion among the minorities would enhance ethnic pride and strengthen ethnic identity. In this paper I examine the possibility of a de-ethnicization process resulting from religious revival. I first discuss how the Communist state attempted to make …

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