Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Publication Adolescent Sexuality and Family Planning Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior: Taiwan(1986) Cernada, George P.; Chang, Ming-Cheng; Lin, Hui-Sheng; Sun, Te-HsiungThe Government has carried out an active family planning education and contraceptive service program which has helped cut Taiwan's natural increase rate in half in twenty years (from 1963’s 3.0%. to less than 1.6% in 1983). Nevertheless, the population has increased from 1953's 12 million to nearly 19 million in 1983. To continue this fertility decline, the program is considering focusing more efforts on the adolescent group (15-19) whose births comprised 6-8% of all during the past few years. In addition to demographic policy, there has recently been more awareness of social problems occurring as a result of an increase in unwanted premarital pregnancy for those married at age less than 20 (derived from findings of the 1980 Island-wide fertility KAP survey). Modernization, it appears, is bringing not only universal education but certain social and demographic problems. Unfortunately, until recently, we did not know a great deal about adolescent activities, i.e., our scientific body of knowledge on adolescent sexuality-related behavior was quite limited. Although there were a number of university-centered or sponsored studies of small samples or limited geographic areas (which attracted a fair amount of newspaper coverage), there had been no island-wide probability sample from which one might draw conclusions about the whole adolescent body. Too often, impressions of adolescent sexual activity are overstated based on anecdotes, sometimes apocryphal, about factory workers who represent only a small segment of the adolescent population. To remedy this and provide a clearer understanding of the existing social situation, the Taiwan Provincial Institute of Family Planning, with National Science Council support, and the cooperation of the University of Massachusetts Division of Public Health, the first Island-wide sample survey of youth’s viewpoint and behavior to male and female socializing took place. This survey focused particularly on unmarried females ages 15-19, but also included married women as well. These findings, made available in mid-1984, indicate the need to review the present Governmental Policy to strengthen the educational input on reproduction, pregnancy, family planning and contraception in the public and private schools. In addition, curriculum input, teacher and school administrator training, and educational materials related to the social relationships of male and female adolescents, particularly responsibility regarding sexuality, need to be developed. These findings also show that Government and private agencies need to make stronger efforts to reach adolescents, both in and out of school, with specific public information about contraception, particularly its availability and usage.Publication Adolescent Sexuality: Implications for National Policy on Secondary School Education in an East Asian Setting(1985) Cernada, George P.; Chang, Ming-Cheng; Lin, Hui-Sheng; Sun, Te-HsiungPublication River Road Through Laos: Reflections of the Mekong(1983) Hafner, James A.; Halpern, Joel M.; Kerewsky-Halpern, BarbaraPublication Don't Forget, It's a Small Island: A Case Study of Population Policy and Research Utilization(1982) Cernada, Geroge P.This case study describes, from a participant's viewpoint, the chronological unfolding of Taiwan's first island-wide population education approach in the classroom. Cultural, bureaucratic and political obstacles to change and their complex interaction are discussed. A commentary and suggestions for discussion are included.Publication Ryokan: Poems From a Man Who Preferred Solitude(1982) Moore, JeanPublication Helen Mears, Asia, and American Asianists(1981) Minear, Richard H.Publication Salt, Seasons and Sampans: Riverine Trade and Trqansport in Central Thailand(1980) Hafner, James A.Introduction Since Sir John Bowring first recorded these impressions of the central plain of Thailand in the middle of the last, century, time has unalterably changed the context of his account, though not entirely its accuracy. The ‘feracious jungle’ which covered much of the lower central plain in Bowring's time began to disappear under the plow of the Thai peasant farmer in the latter decades of the last century. By 1900 the landscape had been almost entirely converted to an intensive system of irrigated wet-padi production for export. The establishrnent and growth of this commercial agricultural economy has resulted in this region becoming the most productive, developed, and densely settled area of the country. The rapidly growing Bangkok Metropolitan Area, scarcely a shadow of itself in Bowring’s time, dominates this commercial agricultural and industrializing landscape. However, the pivotal role of the ‘Meinam’ or Chaophraya river and other natural and manmade waterways in this region has been diminished only recently. Over this complex network flows padi, rice, maize, consumer staples, exotic fruits and vegetables, and an almost unending variety of goods and produce destined for Bangkok and other locations within the region. Since early in the 19th century this inland waterway network has occupied a central position in the economic, communications, and social interaction of the country. Boats of all shapes' sizes, and functions have plied these waterways to carry agricultural produce to Bangkok for export, to distribute food staples to the population, and to serve as the major communications and transport medium for the region. Not until the immediate postwar period did an expanding highway network, urbanization, and dramatic shifts in government investments in land transport network. Here we may turn to the flows of commodities in space and time, patterns of directional movement in commodity shipment and distribution, the changing composition of trade and commodity shipment on the waterways, and the links which may tie these patterns to settlements, productive activities, and other locational or areal phenomena. By seeking to compare and identify patterns, distributions, and connectivities in both space and time we can gain a fuller understanding of the dynamics of this system. Four broad areas of pattern, distribution, and process are of immediate interest to us here. First, we explore some of the characteristics of the inland waterway network related to its early development, its use for trade and commodity flows, and constraints these characteristics impose on these activities. Secondly, we turn to the composition of local trade. Here our concern is with low-bulk, short-haul movements of consumer staples rather than the shipment of high bulk, long-haul movements of agricultural commodities, construction aggregates, and timber. Specific attention will be focused on six commodity categories typical of the loca1 trade process; wood-forest products, consumer staples, fruit, vegetables, fertilizers, and miscellaneous cargoes. Our exclusion of the high bulk agricultural commodities (padi, rice, maize), construction aggregates (sand, stone, cement), and certain classes of forest products is based on the assumption that these commodities are seldom associated with the process of local trade. A third area of interest concerns the types of participants in the local trade system. That is, who is involved in local trade activities, what do their activities indicate about the structure of trade and its links to the local economy, and how do their activities fluctuate seasonally and spatially. Finally, we seek to incorporate the various patterns and processes of local trade into a general model of riverine trade dynamics. The background for this study lies in an extended period of research in Thailand begun in 1966 by a team composed of personnel from the Department of Geography, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Thai colleagues from the Applied Scientific Research Corporation of Thailand located in Bangkok. The task defined in this project was to complete a comprehensive survey of transport systems in Thailand. This included studies of the water, rail, and road transport industries which were completed in late 1969. The data base for this study comes from three primary sources: (1) a series of four census-surveys of trade and vessel movement on the inland waterways completed during 1966-1968 (2) over 500 interviews with owner-operators of vessels operating on the inland waterways; and (3) lock-passage records collected during the same period at all navigation-irrigation locks within the central plain. This aggregate data base was intended to provide the essential information upon which an analysis of the structure, organization, and operations of inland water transportation could be made. It is evident from the foregoing comments that the data to be considered here is not current, and may in some respects be seen as a historical rather than contemporary record. To our knowledge this information represents the only compreshensive survey of inland water transport and trade to have been completed in Thailand.l While over ten years have passed since these materials were collected, there are few substantive reasons which would lead us to question the contemporary accuracy of the broader patterns outlined here. There has most certainly been some continued erosion of the economic contributions of local trade, loss of commodities to the more competitive road transport system, and even changes in the volumes of commodity flows. However, we persist in our belief that the broad structural outlines of local trade, the activities of local traders, and the general patterns of commodity flows seasonally and spatially remain as representative today as they were almost fifteen years ago. We of courser assume full responsibility for any errors or misinterpretations which may exist in this study. (1)The only other study completed on inland water transport in Thailand is a survey done by the Harbour Department in 1964. Its primary concern was with measuring commodity flows to and from Bangkok by vessel type and commodity. Much of this data is directly or indirectly incorporated in the study presented here. (see, Thailand, Harbour Department, Survey of Inland Waterway Transportation, Central Rivers Basin, 1964. Bangkok: The National Economic Development Board and The National Statistical Office (1966?)Publication Basic Beliefs About A New Human Life and Ethical Judgment: Family Planning Field Workers in Taiwan(1979) Cernada, Geroge P.INTRODUCTION Taiwan's place among the population hierarchy remains dwarfed by the shadow of China's nearly billion people. Yet Taiwan's population exceeds 17 minion and as such cis larger than that of most African, (e.g., Ghana, Kenya, Uganda), most Latin American (e.g., Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemela, Venezuala), and many Asian countries. Indeed, its exceptional family planning efforts, begun in 1964 on an island-wide basis, have been instrumental in lowering its natural increase rate from 30 per 1,000 in 1963 to 19 by 1973. This drop from 3% to less than 2% in a decade has been a remarkable achievement. The island, however, remains faced with the perplexing reality that in spite of intensive educational and service inputs, the crude birth rate has been stalled at 23 per 1,000 since 1973 (rising to 25.9 in 1976 and down again to 23.8 in 1977). The present three-year Family Planning Promotion Plan, which is part of the ongoing National Six-Year Economic Development Plan, calls for a lowering of the population increase rate to 1.7% by 1981. Such an achievement seems a difficult task with the rapidly increasing numbers of younger women who are entering marriagable ages. In addition to its efforts to shift emphasis to promoting later marriage, earlier use of contraception, and birth spacing among younger women, the government also has begun to consider relaxing present legal restrictions relating to induced abortion, including review of the present Cr"imina1 Law Code, and establishment of an Eugenic Protection Law. The existing bibliography on the closely-evaluated Taiwan family planning program is extensive (Chinese Center for International Training in Family Planning, 1974) but relatively little study has been done on induced abortion to pave the way for change, presumably because of its officia1 illegality in spite of widespread availability. This survey assesses the ethical orientations about induced abortion of the several hundred field workers who provide family planning education and services to the people of Taiwan. These workers represent the major link between the public health administration and the people the government serves and their attitude toward abortion seems critical to future population planning. The study also reviews their knowledge about abortion availability, practice, and referrals. In addition it explores the relationship of their basic beliefs about the value assessments of human life to their ethical judgments about induced abortion. These beliefs and value assessments are studied to provide some better understanding of how they may affect the value judgments a worker may make about an ethical mode of behavior regarding a woman having an abortion under a particular circumstance. The actual survey was preceeded by more than a year of exploratory interviews, research review, consultation with experts, and pretesting of research instruments. It took place in late 1973 and covered 399 workers at 19 county and city health bureaus around the island. Only 14 of the 413 family planning workers did not attend the interview sessions scheduled at their county/city health bureaus: an impressive response rate (97%) considering that the interviewing was done during the typhoon season. Those unable, to attend (due to weather conditions or sickness) were not found to differ significantly from those attending. The 399 respondents represented virtually all geographic areas: from remote rural ones (including salt flats and mountainous areas) to semi -rural and suburban towns as well as highly-urbanized districts in large cities such as Kaohsiung, Taichung, Tainan and Keelung. The research questionnaire which took the workers from two and a half to three hours to complete is described below: Part 1: Ethical judgments about the IUD and the pill, sterilization, and induced abortion (74 items taking l-l-~ hours to complete). Part 2: Basic beliefs about human life and value assessments of human life (11 questions taking 20-30 minutes). Part 3: Judgments about fertility-related areas (32 items on spacing, two-child norm, sex preference, etc.). Part 4: Vital data (24 questions), religion (14 questions), and experience with abortion (11 questions) (Part 3 and 4 administered together taking 30-40 minutes). The ethical judgment scales were patterned after ones developed for use with U.S. public health professionals (Knutson, 1972) but their major thrust was toward the cognitive framework of the Taiwan field workers and the Taiwan social and cultural setting. The questions on beliefs and value assessments about human life relied heavily on a previous inventory developed by Knutson and tested in the U.S., India, Thailand, and Taiwan in an exploratory English form in the late 1960's (1972, 1973) which was modified slightly to fit the Taiwan cultural melieu. The analysis involves two approaches. The first is use of the responses to the ethical judgment items to describe the nature and extent of the circumstances under which the field workers indicate that induced abortion should or should not be done and to provide scores to indicate comparative favorab"ility to induced abortion. This involves a descriptive review including the use of Guttman-type scales to provide a cumulative ordered sequence of these ethical judgment positions in terms of their acceptability. The second includes: (a) reviewing individual basic beliefs and ideal value assessments about human life in terms of each1s associational and directional relationship to the abortion judgment scores of the workers (based on a 25-item Likert-like scale) and whether they ever referred for abortion; (b) determining the percent of variance in the scale scores accounted for by individual basic beliefs and selected demographic variables. The analysis is followed by a discussion of practical implications of the findings for population planning in Taiwan and suggestions for further research. The author thanks the Population Council and the staff of the Taiwan Provincial Health Department's Institute of Family Planning for their support of this study. In addition, he expresses his appreciation to the many field workers who cooperated in the survey. He also acknowledges the help of Ching-ching Chen (Cernada) in fielding the survey and Professors Andie Knutson, William Griffiths, Thomas Crawford, and Harold Gustafson, then faculty at the University of California at Berkeley and Ronald Freedman at the University of Michigan who provided valuable direction as thesis advisors.Publication A Far World Comes Near: The Kingdom of Laos and Laotian Americans(1987)Intentionally, this exhibit divides into worlds Before and After. The photographs from Laos were taken before the lndochina War of the 1960's. American military served in Southeast Asia in what most of us now see, in retrospect, as a misconceived imperial venture inserted within a series of lndochinese civil wars. lt brought great tragedy to all concerned' ln documenting everyday life in Laos as it used to be, we provide a frame of reference, a traditional perspective for viewing life in that far away world. ln taking this viewpoint we do not gloss over the tragedies of past wars and continuing conflicts. We acknowledge the common humanity of all participants in these struggles and grieve for those who perished in the fighting. This includes the Americans who represented our own distant land and the numberless peoples of lndochina who died and continue to die in their nations' ongoing struggles for political patrimony. As a counterpoint to Laos before the war, the After photos from New England are of new Americans. They came here after fleeing Laos and enduring the sorrowful experience of refugee camps in Thailand. Then they sustained arduous initial stages of resettlement in the United States. Flight from the war ravished homeland to a peaceful United States repeats the experiences of many ethnic groups who came to America in previous generations and who continue to arrive today. The After photographs depict the parallel process of integration into American life and the simultaneous maintainance of valued traditions on the part of one of New England's newest ethnic groups. For the generation of Laotian peoples now coming of age in America, Laos of the 1950's and even the '1960's was grandparents and parents time, not theirs. The world depicted in the photographs from Laos touches on the life of the King and court at that time, showing an overwhelming presence in the royal capital of Luang Prabang (the palace of the Great Prabang, statue of Buddha). That way of life is now a memory culture for the current inhabitants of Laos, just as it is for the people of Laos who have come to make new homes in America. Our selection of photographs highlights the bright and happy, but in the process reveals glimpses of less than luminous aspects of life in the past and in the present. ln our visual essay we have deliberately excluded the war and the processes of resettlement. We do this not only because these matters have been dealt with elsewhere but because, by showing the Laos of Before, we establish a baseline against which to portray part of the process of becoming American. lt is also our desire to portray, in part, the rich heritage people from Laos have brought with them to America. For many, the long journey to America has involved the tragedies of family separation. For all Laotians there has been the breaking of ties with a way of life and a natural setting very different from New England. ln sharing their present lives visually, Laotian people ln New England indicate on ongoing consciousness of the traumas of the immediate past and a pride in their heritage. For most viewers the pictures from Laos are exotic. This perspective is heightened by the fact that they are thematically removed from what was, even then, an expanding American presence in that part of the world. ln this sense they are also distanced from most of the recent documentaries about lndochina which have focused on the war, the American presence and on the refugee experience. We invite viewers to penetrate beyond the veneer of people as exotic scenery. The pictures depict ordinary secular and ritual life as well as aspects of the yearly cycle of ceremonial activities. The captions are for those who wish explanatrons in this journey of discovery.Publication A Bibliography of Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese Americans(1992)This bibliography is intended as a tentative compilation for the use of students and researchers. The focus is on the migrations of Cambodian, Hmong, Lao and Vietnamese to the United States and their subsequent history in North America, however, selected references dealing with their cultures of origin are also included. Only English language sources are cited and the main emphasis is on formally published materials although some government reports and theses are included. The basis for this bibliography is the computer file compiled by the Southeast Asian Refugee Studies (SARS) Project at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. For the use of this file we are indebted to Dr. Glenn Hendricks and his associate Peggy Wolfe. Only English language sources are included and papers given at conferences are not listed. It should be noted that all Ph.D. dissertations from the U.S. are available from University Microfilms of Ann Arbor, Michigan and summaries can be found in Dissertation Abstracts. Like all bibliographies of ongoing research this is basically a compilation for a point in time.Publication Southeast Asian Refugees in Western Massachusetts: Seen but Not Heard(1989) Hafner, James A.; Muldoon, Jeannine; Brewer, ElizabethThe United States has a long and valued tradition of receiving people from other lands as a result of social and political turmoil. This policy has been reaffirmed frequently in the last quarter century with the arrival of refugees from such geographically diverse locations as Eastern Europe, Cuba, Southeast Asia, and Central America. Perhaps, Southeast Asians have experienced greater national and personal tragedy than any other group of refugees arriving in this country in recent memory. It is specifically this population and their resettlement and adjustment to life in Western Massachusetts which is the subject of this report. These issues are discussed in six separate sections. The introduction provides a general background for Southeast Asian refugee resettlement and the goals and methods of the IRNA project; Section II presents a brief outline of refugee resettlement at the national, state and local levels with more specific details on the geographic and demographic aspects of this population in Western Massachusetts. An assessment of refugee adjustment and needs is profiled in Section III followed by evaluations of these general issues from the perspective of service providers and community-level refugee resettlement organizations in Section IV. Policy and Program Implications and concluding remarks are provided in the final section.Publication The Old Man: A Biographical Account of a Lao Villager(1979) Branfman, FredThis paper is a companion piece to The Village of the Deep Pond,Bari Xa Phang Meuk, Laos issued by the Asian Studies Committee in 1978 as Occasional Paper No.3. Both studies grow out of the work of Fred Branfman who resided in a village, nine kilometers from downtown Vientiane, the capital and major city of Laos. He spent approximately a year and a half in the community during 1968-69. Although he was not a trained social scientist, he was a good observer, knew the language, and had worked in U.S. government aid programs as a member of the International Voluntary Service where he was concerned with programs of rural development. His observations are now approximately a decade old and the local scene has changed dramatically following the corning to power of the Pathet Lao and the disintegration of the Royal Lao government in 1975. The value of these studies does not lie in depicting a current situation as such, but rather in conveying the texture of rural life as experienced by one villager during his six decades of life. Although his life span included the French colonial regime, the Japanese occupation, the struggle for independence and the subsequent civil war, there is little reflection of these national level conflicts in this old man's account. Rather, he was concerned with more fundamental problems of raising a family and producing enough food for his household. Although his proximity to the city did influence his life, and particularly that of his children, his recollections still relate primarily to a subsistence oriented rural economy and the context of a face to face village community. The biographical account grows out of a long series of conversations that Branfman had with this villager. While this account is not phrased in the conceptual framework of the professional anthropologist it does form a valuable record based on direct participant observation and is best read in conjunction with The Village of the Deep Pond. It can also stand on its own and be compared to other biographical accounts of peasant life in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. For context with respect to other studies of village life, especially the Vientiane Plain, there is the work of the Japanese anthropologist Tsuneo Ayabe on a neighboring village in the 1950s and the more general work of Howard Kaufman on the Vientiane Plain. This American anthropologist wrote his observations at the time of his employment by the community Development Division of the American aid mission in the late 1950s. Both of these reports were published in the Laos Project Papers (nos. 14 and 12 respectively) edited by J. Halpern. A general perspective, drawing in part on these specific monographs, is presented for Laos as a whole in J. Halpern's Economy and Society of Laos, A Brief Survey (Monograph Series No.5, Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University, 1964). For other Lao biographies from various strata of society, including both villagers and those who were born in rural areas and achieved urban careers, see J. Halpern's "Laos Profiles," (Laos Project Paper No. 18). A number of these biographies are reproduced in the monograph by the same author, Government, Politics and Social Structure in Laos, A Study of Tradition and Innovation (Monograph Series No.4, Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University, 1964) in the Appendix of which the "Memoirs of a Young Lao Official," covers some of the same ground but from a more politically aware point of view. Finally, also from the 1950s, is the work of the French anthropologist, Georges Condominas. His publications encompass a detailed survey of the Vientiane Plain and an analysis of the role of religion in village life. An introduction to his work in English translation is available in Laos: War and Revolution (edited by Nina S. Adams and Alfred W. McCoy, Harper and Row, N.Y., 1970, pp. 9-27), where specific references to his works in French are cited. The world of the old villager depicted in these pages is now historical, his children, even those who remained in the village lead vastly different lives. The new government of Laos has instituted many changes but the attitudes and values which this villager presents to the reader are essential to an understanding of the present. Some aspects of these recollections such as commitment to religious activities, attitudes toward work, perceptions of the status structure, and specifics of the functioning of the kinship system are particular to Lao-Thai culture. Others, such as involvement with the seasonal cycle of crop cultivation, the constant readjustment to changes in life and family-household cycles as children mature and old age comes about, the often unsuccessful struggle to earn a living and the attempt to adapt to village and family politics, are more universal themes. The editors have intentionally preserved Branfman's informal style and his accounts of personal interaction with the Old Man and other villagers. The initial assembling of the material presented in this paper was made possible by a grant received by Joel M. Halpern in 1969 from the Southeast Asia Development Advisory Group of the Asia Society.Publication Cambodia: A Guide to Educational and Instructional Resources(1989)The Southeast Asian refugee population in western Massachusetts has grown significantly in the past decade. By mid 1988 the Massachusetts Office of Refugees and Immigrants estimated this population in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties to be over 2,100 people. The Cambodian population in western Massachusetts was estimated to be 1,147 people as of December 31, 1988, of which as many as 45% were school-age children in grades K-12. Considering their refugee experience it is not surprising that many of these children lack basic educational skills and content knowledge in their own culture. Despite some remedial education provided in various refugee camps in Southeast Asia, these students are often not well prepared to perform effectively in U. S. schools. This additional burden has further complicated the adjustment and learning process for them as they have entered public schools. The educational community has also been confronted with a serious lack of instructional materials, bilingual educators, and background knowledge to assist them in working with these students or in developing curriculum units on Southeast Asia. This Guide to Educational and Instructional Resources on Cambodia has been prepared to meet some of these needs for materials and background information. It is our hope that this document will be of primary benefit to educators working with the Cambodian student population. Though designed primarily for educators in western Massachusetts, it should be of use to all educators and volunteers working with a Cambodian population. A large portion of the materials cited here are concerned with instructional and bilingual education . Many have been developed specifically for use with refugees, especially Cambodian students. We have also included a selected list of background materials on Cambodian history, culture, values , social organization, literature and arts . These references should be of interest to educators, refugee service workers, and community organizations assisting thispopulation with basic life skills, problems of adapting to American society, and striving to become more self-reliant. Adult educators and ESL instructors will also find a selection of materials related to enhancing refugee bilingual learning, methods for improving basic language skills, and strategies for developing more effective study programs for adult students. Finally, this guide should also be of interest to Asian Studies students who are interested in improving their understanding of the richness and diversity of Cambodian culture and society.Publication The Village of the Deep Pond, Ban Xa Phang Meuk, Laos(1978) Branfman, FredFred Branfman has a long and unique perspective on the people and events which have overtaken Laos. His residence in the country has spanned some of the most turbulent and enigmatic years this small land-locked nation in mainland Southeast Asia has probably ever experienced. Since he first lived in Xa Phang Meuk between late 1967 and mid 1969 a long period of political instability and conflict has ended, at least temporarily. In the summer of 1975, just months after the fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos became the last of these three former colonial states of French Indochina to enter a new period of political rule under Communist governments. For at least a quarter-century leading up to this transition, Laos had undergone frequent political and military conflicts involving factions within the country, from within the region, and major world powers. During this period both the lowland and upland Laotian populations had been regularly buffeted by warfare, disruption of traditional life-styles. dislocation from their homes, and by a growing influx of Western values and influences. The confrontation of these forces and traditional Lao culture was probably nowhere more evident nor traumatic than in the Vientiane plain. The Village of the Deep Pond and its people are in many ways representative of traditional Lao society and the effects which change have had on these communities. Ban Xa Phang Meuk also represents the most recent if not the last general community study to have been conducted in Laos prior to the recent political changes in that country. Earlier studies of community life on the Vientiane plain done in the 1950's and early 1960's by Ayabe (1959), Kaufman (1956,1961) and Condominas (1959,1961,1962) bear testimony to the stability of the community even as signs of change were beginning to be observed. Ayabe's(1959) work is particularly useful in that it focused on the village of Pha Khao, a few kilometers from Xa Phang Meuk but some ten years earlier than Branfman's study. The wider survey of villages within the Vientiane plain made by Kaufman also provides another basis for comparison and measurement of the process of change. Of particular note in the Village of the Deep Pond is the effect which 'westernization' and 'modernization' have wrought on community social organization, economy, and values. Whether the wishes of the villagers of Xa Phang Meuk for a more responsive government, a more egalitarian society, and more equitable distribution of wealth will be realized is unclear at this point. And yet, it may well be that the villagers’ desire for progress will result from changes effected in this new chapter in their lives. The material which follows is based on an extensive and selective condensation and editing of a longer manuscript prepared by Fred Branfman. An effort has been made to retain as much of the author's informal style and grasp of the nuances of village attitudes and behavior as possible. The main focus in this brief monograph is on the economic structure and activities of the village and its residents and their links to the nearby administrative and market center of Vientiane. While the Village of the Deep Pond is not a pioneering nor highly empirical study it does provide an important reference point needed to gain some grasp of the processes of change and modernization as they have been expressed in Laos. And, it may in the future serve as a yardstick against which changes produced under the latest government can be measured.Publication Publications on Religions in China, 1981-1989(1991) Cohen, Alvin P.The publication of Laurence G. Thompson's Chinese Religion in Western Languages: A Comprehensive and Classified Bibliography of Publications in English, French, and German through 1980 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1985) was a great milestone in the study of Chinese religions. For the first time, a complete bibliography of English, French and German writings on Chinese religions was assembled into a single research source. The entire field of Chinese religious studies is indebted to Professor Thompson for this extraordinary feat of bibliographic research. At the request of Professor Julian F. Pas, I compiled "Western Language Publications on Chinese Religions, 1981-1987" (in Pas 1989) as a supplement to Chinese Religion in Western Languages. Due to limitations of time and library resources, I could not possibly prepare a research tool anywhere near as comprehensive nor as cogently organized as Professor Thompson's bibliography. The present bibliography corrects some errors and supplies many entries missing in my previous list, and also brings the coverage forward to 1989. The coverage is also expanded to include Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Nestorianism, and Manichaeism in China. Unfortunately the bibliography is still limited to being a list of articles from a small number of common journals, monographs and collections, including many references (which I could not verify) taken from published bibliographies and footnotes. Although the bibliography is very incomplete, I hope it will be of some use while we await Professor Thompson's next installment of Chinese Religion in Western Languages.Publication The Good Empire: Japan's New Order at Home and Abroad(1978) Pelz, Stephen E.PREFATORY NOTE The Area Studies Programs within the International Programs Office of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst initiated in 1976 a series of Occasional papers to provide an outlet for both informal and formal scholarly works of a generci interest to the University community. In 1978 the first numbers in this series devoted to issues and themes related to Asia were introduced under the sponsorship of the Asian Studies Committee at the University. The initial three papers deal with topics in Japan, China and Laos. In future papers topics will be presented which encompass the major regions of Asia; East Asia (China, Japan, Korea); South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka); and Southeast Asia (Burma;-Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). Comments on the individual papers and the entire series are welcome and encouraged. Professor Stephen E. Pe1z is Associate Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has worked in Japanese diplomatic and military archives and has published a book titled Race to Pearl Harbor: The Second London Naval Conference and the Onset of World War II (Harvard, 1974) for which he was named cowinner of the Bernath prize of the Society for the History of American Foreign Relations. In this paper Professor Pe1z reviews the historical 1iterqture on Japanese imperialism in the 1930s and argues that a new consensus has developed: Japan adopted imperialism as a defense against western pressure. He then proceeds to revise this view by exploring the motives of four men who pushed Japan down the road to empire at critica1'moments, and he concludes that Japan's imperial impulse came from within Japan itself. Japanese military leaders believed that it was their duty to use modern weapons and new planning methods to create an empire which would embody and expand traditicna1 oriental values and social arrangements, and he argues that their combined idealism and militarism made them particularly dangerous to world order. Japanese imperialism, then, was a special variant in the history of imperial expansion.Publication Hara Tamiki's Land of My Heart's Desire(1989) Tamiki, Hara; Minear, Richard H.Hara Tamiki's "Land of My Heart's Desire" is one of the most hauntingly beautiful works of modern Japanese literature. It is also one of the most difficult. The problems lie less in the words themselves than in context and meaning. This essay offers a brief biographical sketch of Hara Tamiki, a new translation, and commentary.