The trouble with nature: Ambivalence in the lives of urban Australian environmentalists

The number and range of contests over the social production of nature is growing. Much environmentalist discourse, however, continues to appeal for unequivocal scientific support on clearly demarcated issues of pure, a-social nature. This paper explores the question of how participants in environmental movements view this demarcation in the context of their own lives. After introducing scholarly critique of dualistic ideas of nature and the ambivalence characteristic of environmentalist conceptions of nature, the paper draws upon a qualitative study with environmentalists in the Australian cities of Melbourne, Perth and Hobart. Inquiring into the interplay of discourse of nature and everyday worlds, interviews revealed a complex interdependence of dualistic and non-dualistic understandings of nature. This ecology of ideas was especially evident in spatial imaginaries of nature. Scientific terminology, social disaffection and pessimism were associated with abstract and mutually exclusive conceptions of society and nature. Reflections on personal experience, however, indicated more flexible and hopeful negotiations in everyday liminal spaces offering ‘the best of both worlds’. It is concluded that environmentalist resistance to dismantling of conceptual boundaries between society and nature may often stem not from failure to appreciate socionatural complexity, but from a strongly felt sense that the self can only truly be found in nature.     

State forestry and spatial scale in the development discourses of post-colonial Tanzania: 1961–1971

At independence, Tanzanian foresters believed that state-led forestry could provide a lasting contribution to the development aspirations of the newly independent country. Yet they were gradually marginalized within Julius Nyerere's project of socio-economic transformation. By exploring the spatial dimensions of competing land use discourses of the time, I hope to offer an interpretation as to how and why forestry's marginalization happened. I argue that at least some of this marginalization was the result of differences inherent in the scale of focus between forestry and the larger, contemporaneous socio-economic and political discourses dominant in the period. At independence, Nyerere positioned development efforts more squarely within the national political institutions of the state and for the nation, writ whole. With its professional and discursive ties to an international forestry order and its spatial biases, Tanzanian foresters were poorly placed to respond or adapt to changes in the political discourse and in the economic conditions of resource extraction. In short, they were unable to adjust to changes in the scale of development praxis in Tanzania. I conclude by suggesting two points. First, that the history of land use and natural resource management choices in post-colonial Tanzania can be better understood through a historical-geographical, or spatialized, theoretical framework. Second, that current historical-geographical theory could be fine tuned through reflection on its utility in describing and explaining land use politics in post-colonial developing contexts.     

London and Frankfurt in Europe's evolving financial centre network

The launch of the Euro and the location of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt initially was seen as a threat to London's pre-eminent position in European financial geographies. This paper explains why in fact this was not the case. To do this, the paper is divided in two. Firstly, it reviews the literatures that help to explain financial geographies. It is argued that we need to move away from investigating attribute properties such as financial turnover and instead examine the role of networks and interdependencies in producing financial geographies. Secondly, it identifies London's dominance and Frankfurt's growth as a complementary centre through quantitative analysis and then explains how European networks and interdependencies produce this, based on insights from interviews with investment bankers and insurance institution workers in the two cities.     

Notions of justice held by stakeholders of the Newfoundland fishery

Justice is an important and contested issue in the governance of fish stocks threatened by overexploitation. This study identifies the notions of justice held by stakeholders of the fishery in Newfoundland, Canada, using qualitative interviews, and interprets these notions in light of established justice theories. The interviews are analysed using inductive and deductive coding. A central result is that inshore fishers are seen as the main claim holders, with a claim to participate and be listened to, and the opportunity to make a living from the fishery. Moreover, rules play an important role in the justice notions of the interview partners, and their justice notions are clearly plural. The stakeholder notions of justice in the Newfoundland fishery resonate with the emphasis on recognition, participation and distribution as important aspects of justice within the environmental justice approach [59-61] (Schlosberg 2004, 2007, 2013).     

Risks of shifting baselines highlighted by anecdotal accounts of New Zealand's snapper (Pagrus auratus) fishery

Anecdotal data sources may constitute an important component of the information available about an exploited species, as record keeping may not have occurred until after exploitation began. Here, we aimed to fill any gaps in the exploitative history of the sparid snapper (Pagrus auratus), using social and historical research methods. Social research consisted of interviews with recreational fishers, focusing on the most and largest snapper they had caught. In addition, the diary‐logs of two recreational fishers were analysed. Historical research consisted of investigation of old books, photos, archives and unpublished sources unconventional to fishery science. Interviews with fishers demonstrated no or weak trends in snapper abundance or size, and were likely impeded by a lack of ability to detect change in a fish stock that may still be considered abundant. The fishers’ perception of change, however, largely reflected recent experiences (last c. 10 years), when biomass is understood to have increased, and mostly did not consider experiences before the 1980s. Alternatively, diary‐logs of fisher catch rates produced a pattern that matched formal stock assessments of snapper biomass, suggesting declines in abundance up until the 1990s and an increase in biomass after that time. Historical research, although more qualitative, had the ability to investigate periods where formal records were not kept and described a fishery vastly different from the current one. Snapper were easily caught, in great abundance and in unusual locations. Localised depletion of snapper was first noticed in the early 20th century, despite spectacular catches of snapper occurring after that time. Snapper behaviour was also likely different, with visual sightings of snapper by onlookers a common occurrence. Although predictions from stock assessment models are consistent with that of the anecdotes listed here (i.e., high biomass in the past), these anecdotes are valuable as they explain lost biomass in a perspective meaningful to all. This perspective may be valuable for managers trying to consider the non‐financial value of a shared fishery but, if unrecognised, represents a shifting baseline.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this issue: Donahue, John M. and Johnston, Barbara Rose (eds.), Water, Culture, and Power: Local Struggles in a Global Context Kim, Joochul and Choe, Sang-Chuel, Seoul: The Making of a Metropolis Merrett, Stephen, Introduction to the Economics of Water Resources: An International Perspective Perry, Richard J., From Time Immemorial: Indigenous Peoples and State Systems Wilson, Edward O., Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge     

Book reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
Eric C. F. Bird, Coastal geomorphology: an introduction
Rex Walford, Geography in British schools 1850–2000
Carolyn Cartier, Globalizing South China
G. P. Chapman, The geopolitics of South Asia: from early empires to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
N. Blomley, D. Delaney and R. Ford (eds.), The legal geographies reader     

(Un)consensual conversations: betweenness, 'material access', laughter and reflexivity in research

This article addresses the conversational (re)production of research relations, focusing on gender and sexuality in relation to responses, laughter and consensus in interviews. It discusses links to access as an on-going issue, and to wider issues connected to the production of knowledge.     

多维邻近性对区域创新合作网络形成的影响——基于江浙沪医学科研机构的实证

本文以Web of Science数据库的合著论文信息为基础构建江浙沪区域医学科研机构合作网络,采用计量分析与半结构化访谈相结合的方式从宏观和微观层面考察多维邻近性（地理邻近性、制度邻近性、社会邻近性、认知邻近性和文化邻近性）对该区域医学领域创新合作网络形成的影响,并进一步讨论了地理邻近性和非地理邻近性之间的交互效应（替代效应或互补效应）。综合定量与定性分析结果,研究发现：① 地理邻近性、制度邻近性、社会邻近性和认知邻近性对该区域医学创新合作网络的形成有促进作用,而文化邻近性的作用不显著;② 地理邻近性与制度邻近性之间存在替代效应;③ 地理邻近性与社会邻近性、认知邻近性之间均存在互补效应;④ 地理邻近性与文化邻近性之间不存在显著的交互效应。