ARTICLES
Horses, Silver, and Cowries: Yunnan in Global Perspective
Bin Yang
pp. 281–322
Abstract: Through examination of the horse trade, silver exports, and cowry monetary system of Yunnan, currently a province in southwestern China, this paper seeks to place Yunnan in global perspective. Furthermore, by considering Yunnan’s cross-regional trade networks as routes parallel to the overland Silk Roads and the maritime Silk Roads, the paper adds new dimensions to the understanding of Eurasian communications. Finally, consideration of world-system perspectives will shed some light on contemporary world-system debates.
Appropriating a Continent: Geographical Categories, Scientific Metaphors, and the Construction of Nationalism in British North America and Mexico
James D. Drake
pp. 323–357
Abstract: On the eve of the American Revolution, Anglo-Americans had developed a conception of themselves as a continental society. This self-conception seems illogical by modern standards. After all, these colonists occupied only a narrow strip of land along the coast, a much smaller portion of America than New Spain. Nevertheless, the assumption of continental status helped unite Anglo-Americans in their struggle with Britain. They dealt with British tyranny by developing Continental Associations, a Continental Congress, and a Continental Army. This essay argues that the continental metaphor had its roots in an array of scientific theories and trends with origins on both sides of the Atlantic. It also argues that Anglo-Americans engaged these theories and trends as they did because of their unique social context and historical development. In a final section comparing the science of Thomas Jefferson with that of the protonationalist Mexican Francisco Clavigero, this essay shows how the historical memory of the two affected both scientific and political discourse. The result was that continents took on much greater importance in mainland British North America than in Mexico. In Anglo-America, scientific beliefs drew sustenance from history and fueled a sense of destiny.
“Hull-House” in Downtown Tokyo: The Transplantation of a Settlement House from the United States into Japan and the North American Missionary Women, 1919–1945
Manako Ogawa
pp. 359–387
Abstract: The Kobokan settlement house was created in 1919 in downtown Tokyo by the North American missionary members of the Japanese Women’s Christian Temperance Union in order to cope with the negative by-products of rapid modernization in Japan. This essay reveals how the missionary women transplanted a settlement house from the United States into Japan by transforming its ideologies and practices so they would be acceptable not only to working-class Japanese but also to authorities who functioned as the backbone of Japanese imperialism. This essay also examines how the missionary women enabled the settlement house to survive during the tumultuous years of the Pacific War.
BOOK REVIEWS
Marshall T. Poe. The Russian Moment in World History
Reviewed by Daniel Brower
pp. 389–391
Leonard Blussé. Bitter Bonds: A Colonial Divorce Drama of the Seventeenth Century
Reviewed by Anne Walthall
pp. 391–393
Alan Charles Kors, ed. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
Reviewed by Matthew Lauzon
pp. 393–397
Thomas Bender, ed. Rethinking American History in a Global Age
Reviewed by Adam McKeown
pp. 398–400
Alice Teichova and Herbert Matis, eds. Nation, State and the Economy in History
Reviewed by Frank B. Tipton
pp. 400–402
Prasenjit Duara. Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern
Reviewed by Mariko Tamanoi
pp. 402–405
Brian W. Blouet. Geopolitics and Globalization in the Twentieth Century
Reviewed by Michael Lang
pp. 405–407
