The relationships between human beings and whales vary historically and regionally. The Inupiaq people of Northwest Alaska have historically formed a social relationship with Bowhead whales, which they hunt for subsistence. As far as the author's research in Barrow, Alaska is concerned, whaling still occupies a core part of the lives of the majority of Inupiaq and is related to their other activities even though their way of life has diversified and changed. With a case study from Barrow, Alaska, this paper illustrates that Inupiaq whaling activity is not merely a means of obtaining food but a socially and culturally organized economic activity related to various aspects of their lives. Furthermore, by employing a political economic perspective and the concept of actor networks, this paper describes how the continuation of whaling is under threat from several interrelated internal and external factors. The author then argues that this whaling problem is one of cultural security for the Inupiaq people and points out that a cultural anthropologist can contribute to understanding and solving it as an intermediary between the Inupiaq and the various other actors (stakeholders). Finally, he proposes a further research topic based on this study.

Key Words:Indigenous People, Whaling, Alaska, Cultural Security, Political Economy

The aim of this paper is to discuss the meaning of “homeland” for Papua New Guinean Chinese. In order to understand this meaning, the author investigates their experience of migration and their relationship with the place they think of as their homeland.
Papua New Guinea has had a Chinese community since the colonial period. The island of New Guinea was colonized by Germany, Britain and the Netherlands in the 19th century. Germany introduced Chinese as colonial laborers. After World War I, Australia took over German New Guinea and the Chinese came under the Australian colonial rule. The Australian government allowed the Chinese residents to acquire Australian citizenship in the late 1950s. After that most of the Chinese obtained Australian nationality and went to Australia for their higher education.
After the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975, the Chinese started re-migrating to Australia. Those Chinese who already had Australian citizenship preferred to migrate to Australia, rather than to naturalize as Papua New Guinea citizens. Nowadays the community of Papua New Guinean Chinese in Australia is bigger than the one in Papua New Guinea.
The Papua New Guinean Chinese have migrated from China, and then re-migrated to Australia over several generations. As a result of this serial migration process, the Papua New Guinean Chinese have lived in three countries; namely China, Papua New Guinea and Australia. As a result of this experience of migration and settlement in the three countries, the Papua New Guinean Chinese attach different meanings to them. For the first generation Mainland China is their homeland, while the local born generation does not attach such importance to it. The younger generation who were born in Papua New Guinea do not have close contact with their relatives in mainland China. The significance of China, especially that of an emigrant's village differs among the generations. Those younger generations who live in Australia tend to regard Papua New Guinea as their homeland.

Key Words:Papua New Guinea, Chinese, migration, homeland, transnational social space

Not all areas of the Mongol plateau are rich in water and grass, vital for nomads. Steep mountainous regions and arid terrain stretching for miles are dotted with small parcels of land where nomads can survive. The territory of the successive generations of nomadic states which established themselves on the Mongol plateau may appear vast at first glance, but it should really be considered as a collection of these small parcels. Not only nomadism, but also farming and cottage industries were carried on in these restricted living spaces. Probably the nomadic states were formed by organic bonding among small areas as individual parcels became self-reliant or could provide what another parcel lacked. If this is the case, then by analyzing aspects such as the natural environment, productive strength and historical transformation within each individual parcel, we should be able to throw light on the background to the rise and fall of the nomadic states.
From this perspective, the authors investigated the Khünkhüree district in Mongolia's Övörkhangai Prefecture. In an oasis in the Gobi region, there are remains from the 13th-14th centuries which are also mentioned in written records. This area is well-suited to an interdisciplinary approach by archaeology, historical study and geography.
As a result, we discovered that the area was called Konggulie during the period of the Mongol empire and was a farming area, utilizing abundant underground water, which supplied provisions to Kharakhorum in the center
of the Mongol plateau. The area lay at the crossroads between the route which cut through the Gobi desert from north to south and the route which ran east-west across the Mongol plateau past the northern foothills of the Altai mountain range. We show that as well as being a strategic point for traffic, the fact that it was a stage for military attack and defense makes it an important area for future research into the history of the rise and fall of the Mongol empire.

Key Words:Mongolia, Mongol empire, Khünkhüree, Konggulie, Kharakhorum

Some of the suffixes and clitics of Amdo Tibetan have a number of allomorphs which are conditioned phonologically (in most cases, their initial consonants alter). Stems which these suffixes or clitics follow also alternate from time to time. Alternations are to some extent regular, but appear complicated because there are various alternation patterns. This paper gives an overview of morphophonological alternation patterns, by separating the alternation rules of suffixes and clitics (section 3) and the alternation rules of stems (section 4). These morphophonological alternations are also seen in Written Tibetan (sum cu pa), but the rules are rather different between Amdo Tibetan and Written Tibetan. Furthermore, stem alternations are not seen in Written Tibetan. This paper aims at giving a systematic description of the alternation rules in Amdo Tibetan, but it could be a preface to working out the developmental process of Tibetan from a morphophonological perspective, by comparison with Written Tibetan and the other Tibetan languages.

Key Words:Tibeto-Burman, Tibetan, Amdo Tibetan, Morphophonological alternation, suffixes, clitics

Shenrab Mibo is regarded as the most sacred person by the attendants of Bon religion that carry on the tradition of the ancient spirituality in Tibet. For devout Bonist, he is the compassionate and universal guide on the path to liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Both of his biography and paintings that depict his life history are not only the object of worship but also a model of perfection inspiring the faithful, even today.
We have collected fifty-one religious paintings (Thangkas) of the Bon religion through the research of the Bon brGya Monastery in Qinghai, China. The aim of this paper is the attempt to explain six pictures of those paintings
that illustrate Shenrab's life history on the basis of descriptions in gZer Mig, one of the principal scriptures in Bon tradition. The present study should be significant for Iconographical Study of religious paintings in Bon tradition, and provide a solid basis for studies in the biographies of Shenrab Mibo because it is the first time these paintings are introduced.

Key Words:Tibet, Bon Religion, gShen-rab-mi-bo, gZer-mig, Thangka