亡灵忆往:唐宋传奇的一种历史观照方式(上)

亡灵忆往是唐宋传奇作家采取的一种独特的观照历史的叙事模式。真实历史人物和虚构人物以鬼神的面貌出现,充当着历史当事人和讲述人的角色。通过生人和亡灵的对话,用零距离叙事切入历史,对历史作出评价和批判,探寻治乱之道,并展开历史抒情,表达伤时怀古的兴亡盛衰之感、身世家国之感。作家的历史目光主要投向乱世,投向妇女,尤其是后妃宫人等,表达了对她们的和王朝命运紧密相连的个人悲剧命运的深切关怀。     

中沙关系回顾与展望

中国和沙特政治制度不同,但两国发展积极友好的关系没有障碍。目前,沙特是中国在西亚和非洲最大的贸易伙伴,两国经贸合作前景广阔。同时,中沙双方均奉行独立自主的外交政策,拥有良好的政治关系,未来在区域组织和联合国等国际舞台上将有更广泛的合作领域。     

Polygyny, Partnership Concurrency, and HIV Transmission in Sub-Saharan Africa

We study the relationship between polygyny and HIV infection using nationally representative survey data with linked serostatus information from 20 African countries. Our results indicate that junior wives in polygynous unions are more likely to be HIV positive than spouses of monogamous men, but also that HIV prevalence is lower in populations with more polygyny. With these results in mind, we investigate four explanations for the contrasting individual- and ecological-level associations. These relate to (1) the adverse selection of HIV-positive women into polygynous unions, (2) the sexual network structure characteristic of polygyny, (3) the relatively low coital frequency in conjugal dyads of polygynous marriages (coital dilution), and (4) the restricted access to sexual partners for younger men in populations where polygynous men presumably monopolize the women in their community (monopolizing polygynists). We find evidence for some of these mechanisms, and together they support the proposition that polygynous marriage systems impede the spread of HIV. We relate these results to the debate about partnership concurrency as a primary behavioral driver for the fast propagation of HIV in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.     

中沙关系回顾与展望

中国和沙特政治制度不同,但两国发展积极友好的关系没有障碍.目前,沙特是中国在西亚和非洲最大的贸易伙伴,两国经贸合作前景广阔.同时,中沙双方均奉行独立自主的外交政策,拥有良好的政治关系,未来在区域组织和联合国等国际舞台上将有更广泛的合作领域.     

Motivations and Family Functioning of Foster Families in Italy

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper was to investigate foster family care to better understand this unique care-giving context. The research objective was to understand motivation, family functioning, and individual attachment styles in foster families. Participants were 33 foster parents who completed a questionnaire that included the motivations for choosing foster care, the relationship with the birth family and with social service workers, a measure of family functioning and adult attachment. The motivations for becoming a foster family were very different between families with a birth child and families without a birth child. The results showed that for the foster mother, the relationship with the birth family constituted a very critical element of the fostering experience. The same trend emerged in the relationship with the minor. The results showed that foster families were cohesive and expressive. With respect to attachment style, foster parents had lower scores than a normative sample on the discomfort with closeness, the tendency to consider relationships as secondary and the need for approval subscales. These results have implications for the practices of social work for foster family support and developing a shared commitment to the needs of the foster family in terms of both resources and weaknesses.     

Parental Competence in Italy: A Comparison Between Italian and Immigrant Parents

The migration experience could influence parental competence perception in immigrant parents. Within this framework the current work focuses on immigrant parenthood and whether a family’s migratory path could lead parents to feel less competent in their parental roles. The aim of the present study is to analyze perceptions of parental competence and family routines among immigrant and Italian parents during the middle childhood stages. The results showed that immigrant parents perceive themselves as more competent than Italians. Immigrants also attribute more importance to the dimension of relational and regulatory routines in daily family life than do Italian parents. Professionals can use these findings to better understand how best to enhance practices and strategies appropriate to the complexity of these intercultural contexts.     

Spatial disintegration and arable land security in Egypt: A study of small- and moderate-sized urban areas

While commonly associated with regional ‘mega-cities’, rapid urbanization in the less-developed world has also begun to define growth in small- and moderate-sized settlements on the periphery of major metropolitan areas. The dispersal of population growth to these smaller areas holds significant implications for environmental, economic, and social health, and threatens local food security, increases congestions, and induces difficulty in service provision. This study examines the effects of spatial disintegration and rapid urbanization in the stock of arable land in Egypt. To assess this issue, the study will meet three objectives. First, we evaluate the relationship between population growth and urban land cover expansion in small- and moderate-sized settlements in Egypt. Second, we consider the role of selected geographic determinants in influencing the growth of these areas through the use of a regression model. The selection of an appropriate model type is a sub-objective and will be discussed further. Third, these drivers of growth will be assessed through their effects on the country’s stock of arable land. These objectives will be met through the development and application of the regression models, in order to examine the relationship between urban land expansion and several independent variables. An increase in population is found to have a positive and statistically significant effect on corresponding urban land cover area. Surprisingly, the variables commonly associated with urbanization in Egypt - proximity to major roads, the capital of Cairo, and the Nile River - though exhibiting a positive relationship with urban growth, are not statistically significant in the selected case studies. This research underlines the necessity for a combined approach to policy formation - with input from policy fields as varied as agriculture, urban planning, and land reclamation - to slow outward growth and maintain arable land stocks.     

Two Approaches to Measuring Women's Work in Developing Countries: A Comparison of Survey Data from Egypt

Keyword and activities list approaches to measuring women's work are compared. The two approaches were applied to the same population of women in Egypt in two consecutive surveys. The widely used keyword approach underestimates women's work rates, disproportionately excluding poor and poorly educated women, particularly those working in nonformal jobs. The activities list approach captures these missed economic activities and also the multiple jobs women hold simultaneously. Survey measurement of women's work must be improved to fully account for women's contributions to economic life and to better understand the relationship of work to such other important variables and processes as reproductive change, child welfare, and economic development.     

Matrimonial Transactions and the Enactment of Class and Gender Difference Among Egyptian Youth

The literature from the Middle East and North Africa holds that many youth get stuck in a phase of “wait adulthood” while they struggle to afford the housing, furniture, appliances, celebrations, and jewelry considered necessary to establish a new marital union. In semi-structured interviews with 66 urban Egyptian men and women who were engaged to be married, I found that many marriages were postponed when young couples were unable to make the matrimonial transactions required by custom. However, I argue that normative barriers are no less important than material barriers to marriage in this context. Matrimonial transactions could not be reduced or forgone because they communicated important meanings related to class and gender. The celebrations and home visits that accompanied a new union involved conspicuous consumption, and actors strove to reproduce the material behaviors that predominated in their social class in order to secure a favorable position in the hierarchy of new couples. Matrimonial transactions were sharply gendered, and adherence to matrimonial norms and the ritualized situations that came with them signaled actors’ dedication to ideals of masculinity and femininity and the unequal roles they would occupy within marriage, at the same time that matrimonial exchanges built in safeguards for women within marriage. Young couples were keenly aware that failure to live up to the material standards of their social circles would be met with loss of face and negative judgements about their personal qualities, making such outlays appear to be compulsory rather than optional. At the same time, conforming to matrimonial customs resulted in greater symbolic capital, or social prestige.