The historical roots of multicultural unity along the Upper Guinea Coast and in Guinea-Bissau

Lusofonia or lusophony is often defined as an identity shared by people in areas that were once colonised by Portugal, which in Africa include Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. Lusofonia assumes that in these places people share something – a language, certainly, but also a history and culture rooted in the Iberian Peninsula. In some ways it is a re-articulation of Gilberto Freyre’s lusotropicalismo, the idea that Portuguese were more adaptable than other Europeans to tropical climates and cultures and created more multicultural colonial communities. Those who espouse lusofonia often have a political agenda – the strengthening of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. In this article, we argue that, like lusotropicalismo, lusofonia is a dream; it is not rooted in a historical reality. It is luso-centric in that it ignores the power and persistence of local cultures and gives undue weight to Portuguese influence. With regard to Africa, lusofonia’s agenda is elite driven and assumes the inevitability of modernity and globalisation. And we demonstrate that it was through Upper Guinean institutions and languages, and not colonial ones, that community and fellowship were most commonly fostered in the past, as they are fostered today. Those seeking the roots of lusofonia cannot, then, look to this period of Portuguese–African engagement in Upper Guinea. There Portuguese embraced “black ways.” They operated in a peculiar multicultural space in which people possessed fluid and flexible identities. Portugal did not create that space. Lusofonia has not been the foundation for cultural unity. Rather, unity has been found in localised institutions and in Crioulo. In Guinea-Bissau, lusofonia is not an indigenous movement. If it is anything, it is the stuff of elites and foreigners and is not rooted in any historical reality.     

近代直隶天主教传教士对自然灾害的赈济

近代以来,直隶地区灾荒频仍.面对自然灾害,传教士采取多种方式救助灾民,取得了一定成效.传教士在本着博爱、慈善愿望开展赈济事业的同时,也带有改变教会殖民形象和吸引灾民入教的实用功利动机.正因为一些传教士过分注重赈济事业的传教目的,采取了一些急功近利的传教政策,故而弱化了教会赈济事业的慈善色彩.     

厦门方言词汇一百多年来的变化——对三本教会厦门话语料的考察

比较19世纪传教士编写的厦门方言语料和现代厦门方言可以看出,一百多年来,厦门方言常用基本词变化不大;一般词汇则约有半数发生了变化:或成为历史词汇,或精简合并,或义项改变。厦门方言词汇的各种变化,体现了词汇系统的内部竞争及其规律,也是厦门的社会生活各方面演变的结果。     

Support,social networks and the family in Portugal: two decades of research

This article presents two major surveys, carried out in Portugal, on the inclusion of families and individuals in social networks of support and affinity. The first, dating from 1999, sought comprehensively to reconstruct families' social networks by mapping effective support relations. The second survey, fielded in 2009–10, followed a family configuration perspective which sought to reconstruct individuals' networks of close relationships, and the issue of informal support only arose as providing further insight into the characteristics of personal networks. Both surveys will be analysed from a comparative perspective which, while stressing their different but connected conceptual orientations, compares each one's methodological strategies and operationalization procedures. Finally, the main results of each survey are outlined, leading to a brief discussion of the ways in which the two surveys complement each other.     

明末清初来粤的传教士与西学东渐

明末清初基督教第三次入华时 ,随着社会的进步 ,耶稣会士们采取的是“文化传教”策略 ,在将西方先进文化大量介绍来中国的同时 ,极力融合中西文化 ,以收事半功倍之效     

近代西方来华传教士的儒学观

西方传教士认识到要成功地推进基督教的传播,必须理解、尊重与适应中国文化,对基督教作出适应儒学、适应中国文化的必要的变通与调适,故提出了“孔子加耶稣”的传教策略,并从调和、会通基儒关系的角度对儒学进行诠释。传教士的儒学观作为一种来自异域文化的比较审视,对于我们体认儒学与中国文化的历史价值具有借鉴意义。     

晚期维新派科技兴农思想论要

晚期维新派的科技兴农思想主要有：创设农业机构,兴办农会,以主持农业改良;办农业教育、出版农学书刊,以传播农学知识;应用科学技术和新式农具、从事农业生产,以提高农业生产效率;采用新式机器、加工农产品,以改进土货质量;引进、推广良种,以提高农产品的数量和质量。上述思想对近代中国农业的发展产生了积极的影响：催生了上海农学会的诞生和《农学报》的刊行;推动了中国农业教育的勃兴和农学知识的传播;使一批外来物种得以在中国引进;促使中国农具开始向机械化、半机械化方向发展;推动了中国农业由经验农学向实验农学的转型。     

试论明清之际中西文化交流的分期、特点和历史作用

明清之际 ,以传教士为桥梁和纽带的中西文化交流分三个时期 :从 15 82— 16 4 4年为初步发展阶段 ,16 4 4— 172 2年为发展和繁荣阶段 ,172 3— 1795年为日趋衰落阶段。此次中西文化交流是在平等的条件下进行的一种双向交流 ,不仅对中国社会的发展产生了十分深刻的影响 ,而且也促进了欧洲人全面认识中国     

美国传教士的中国研究的特点及其影响

美国的中国研究始于新传教士的来华活动,他们的研究对美国认识中国起了重要的“桥梁”作用。文章通过对美国这些新传教士中国研究的主要成就和中国观的简单梳理,就其特点与影响作一探讨。     

西方传教士与明末历法改革

明末来华的西方传教士抓住了明代历法失修亟须改革的契机,积极输入西方天文、历算学和参与《崇祯历书》的编译工作,使明清之际的西学东渐渐趋高潮,同时也促使了天主教在华传教事业在历经“南京教难”之后重新振兴。