“A Mirror and a Lamp”: The Role of Power in the Rural Landscape Trajectory of the Ovens Region of Australia

Power relationships structure discourse and its influence on policy and rural land use planning, but little research has examined how this might be observed in the dynamics of rural landscape transition. In a qualitative case study of the Ovens catchment, Victoria, Australia, discursive power is observed through sites of tension between informant interpretations of past, present, and future landscapes and contemporary local decision making. Three main tensions and an observation emerged that suggest discourse and power can be observed through the transfer and support of social memory narratives. We conclude that the identification of tensions between stakeholder perceptions of the past, present, and future of their landscape; awareness of the influence of those interpretations on current decision making; and attention to social memory narratives can provide invaluable insights for those seeking to understand local relationships of power.     

Unintentional Transgressions and Other Reflections on the Job Search Process

In this article I examine connections between my past experiences on the academic job market and my research interests, particularly in regard to the notion of transgression. I offer my personal “story” of job seeking as a contribution to the dialogue concerning the relationships between personal lives and professional experiences, and as a case study of how considerations of merit can become clouded by personal and social discomfort with difference.     

Fitting refugees into the normative narrative of Australian multiculturalism

Australia publicly espouses its multiculturalism as a key component of its national identity. In this paper, I argue that despite the importance of multiculturalism to Australia’s identity, political decisions and discourse has muddied its remit with respect to humanitarian migrant intake programs and outcomes. Australia’s history of selective migrant intake and restrictive refugee policy continues the Othering of past policies into contemporary settings. Refugee policy has become a political football. During the most recent national election campaign (May 2019), the plight of sick and ill refugees, currently housed offshore in detention centers, was used as a political pawn. Lost amid this political rhetoric were the traumatic narratives of forced migrants resettling in Australia’s cities. Without possibility for a loud voice in public discourse, there is little opportunity for more Australians to understand how refugees experience detention centers, struggle to attain residency visas, and make “home” in multicultural Australia. I draw on research with Sri Lankan refugees in Sydney to give voice to these micro-level, place-based experiences of vulnerable arrivals. These stories, I think, can (re)shape and enrich Australia’s multicultural identity because they challenge us to not only accept difference but recognize the circumstances through which Australia’s diversity seeds its narrative.     

Reaching critical mass? Theory, politics, and the culture of debate in children's geographies

A small but growing number of voices have begun to raise questions about the current direction of children's geographies as a subfield and its status within the wider discipline. This article intervenes in these emerging discussions to examine the status of debate itself within children's geographies. I argue that children's geographies over the past decade has operated primarily in a consensus-based mode, with a number of potential tensions and differences between practitioners masked as a result. I develop the example of notions of children's competent social agency, a core theoretical assumption that is rarely interrogated in much depth. In closing, I pose questions regarding several contemporary political issues concerning children's agency about which geographers have had surprisingly little to say. I suggest that explicitly addressing some of these vexing issues would contribute to a richer state of debate within children's geographies.     

RELATION BETWEEN VEGETATION CHANGES, CLIMATE VARIABLES AND LAND-USE POLICY IN SHAANXI PROVINCE, CHINA

Shaanxi Province in China has been exposed to climate variability and dramatic land‐use policies. The aim here is to examine vegetation changes in this area on a regional scale from 2000 to 2004 in relation to land‐use changes and climate traits. The data in this assessment include remote sensing information from moderate‐resolution imaging spectro‐radiometer normalized difference vegetation index from 2000 to 2004, and climate data (precipitation and temperature) from 1956 to 2000. The results show an increase in vegetation production from 2000 to 2004, particularly in the north, which cannot be explained solely by climate impacts. Since the vegetation in the north is more dependent on climate variation than the other parts of Shaanxi due to more serious water limitation, the results suggest that the large‐scale land‐use policy implemented over the last decade, with a focus on northern Shaanxi, is possibly having an impact on the overall vegetation.     

Zero Tolerance in Latin America: Punitive Paradox in Urban Policy Mobilities

In Latin America, high levels of crime have prompted many politicians to embrace zero tolerance policing in order to quell public fears. While the overall impacts on urban crime are debatable, zero tolerance in the region has morphed into a powerful policy narrative that symbolizes strong leaders who crack down crime and disorder. Its impacts have been far-reaching; to date, it has been implemented in various guises in Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. Yet, the policy transfer of zero tolerance to Latin America has mutated into a much more punitive approach. In this paper, I develop a critical analysis of the punitive inequalities of zero tolerance policing in Latin American cities, and the consequences for marginalized and racialized youth. I also explore the emergence of a new, unexpected consequence of zero tolerance: the South-North migration of undocumented people.     

Resettlement and Climate Impact: addressing migration intention of resettled people in west China

ABSTRACT

The relationship between climate change and human displacement is an important topic of global concern. China is a special case due to a high level of government control enforcing the ecological migration of millions of people since the mid-1980s. Little research has addressed how resettled people adapt to climate impacts in ecologically vulnerable resettlement areas and what factors influence their intentions to relocate again or adapt locally. Employing a social-ecological system approach, this study builds a conceptual econometric framework which differentiates two steps that drive migration intention at the household level. The study uses this approach to examine the role of both contextual and household factors in motivating the migration intentions of resettled people in the largest environmental resettlement area of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, where household survey data were collected in 2012. This framework enabled an analysis, first, of how local contextual factors and household factors shape the severity of climate impacts on households and, second, how these factors interact with the experience of climate impacts to further influence a household’s migration intention as a response to climate impacts. The results show that some contextual factors (such as limited use of water-saving techniques, little practice of cultivating aridity-resistant crops, and lack of government support), strong local social networks and being in receipt of low rates of financial remittances have significant associations with adverse climate impacts experienced by resettled households, and also with their anticipated further relocation to respond to these impacts.     

The Implications of Psychoanalysis for Qualitative Methodology: The Case of Interviews and Narrative Data Analysis*

In this article I ask to what extent geographers can draw on psychoanalytic theory when examining interview data. I consider Freud's theory of the mind and its unconscious processes to ask how bringing the unconscious to bear on identity studies potentially impacts qualitative research on subjectivity and identification. Existing geographic debate on psychoanalytic theory and methods provides an organizing framework for my argument. Although the article advocates an ontology of the psychoanalytic subject, I suggest that researchers must avoid psychoanalyzing research subjects. This distinction limits the ways in which scholars can “read” personal narratives for unconscious processes.     

Unpacking ‘Success’: Applying Local Perceptions to Interpret Influences of Water Fund Payments for Ecosystem Services in the Ecuadorian Andes

NGOs, government agencies, and green businesses proclaim water fund arrangements in Latin America as successful payments for ecosystem services (PES) systems. Associated success narratives emphasize that PES allows downstream ecosystem service beneficiaries to incentivize upstream land managers to pursue conservation activities. However, recent scholarship questions their on-the-ground influence. This article assesses the success narrative of Quito, Ecuador’s Fondo para la protección del Agua’s (FONAG) as a model water fund PES arrangement. Using a novel perceived directionality framework, the author compares the FONAG claims about its influence to ethnographic evidence from three participating rural communities. The findings suggest that statements of direct, causal influence on local conservation activities overlook local context and ignores nuance within the interactions between program incentives and in community activity. This study urges future assessments of PES arrangements to recognize complexities in political, economic, and social context.     

Russia's Far East: A Region at Risk

Abstract

In this article I ask to what extent geographers can draw on psychoanalytic theory when examining interview data. I consider Freud's theory of the mind and its unconscious processes to ask how bringing the unconscious to bear on identity studies potentially impacts qualitative research on subjectivity and identification. Existing geographic debate on psychoanalytic theory and methods provides an organizing framework for my argument. Although the article advocates an ontology of the psychoanalytic subject, I suggest that researchers must avoid psychoanalyzing research subjects. This distinction limits the ways in which scholars can “read” personal narratives for unconscious processes.

     

The unauthorized city: Late colonial Lusaka and postcolonial geography

This paper uses a case study of Lusaka, Zambia, to interrogate several aspects of the literature on postcolonial geography. I deploy two concepts from African postcolonial studies – the idea of exclusionary democracy and the concept of the domestication of difference – and assess the continuity in their applicability to Lusaka. More specifically, I examine the contention that both the political and the planning dynamics of the last years of colonialism are foundational to state–society relationships in contemporary Lusaka. Distinguishing two spheres for in-depth discussion – urban government and housing policy – I concentrate on the final years of colonialism, moving through to the contemporary setting, to examine if the roots still show for the processes creating exclusionary democracy and domesticating difference. I also examine the ambivalent and incomplete character of those processes. I close with an assessment of the broader meaning inherent in understanding Lusaka in postcolonial terms.     

Gendering Climate Change: Geographical Insights

Although climate change is expected to increase vulnerabilities, marginalization, and sufferings of many in the Global South, impacts will be unevenly felt across social strata. Intersectionalities of social difference, especially along gender and class lines, differentiate the ways in which impacts of climate change are experienced and responded to. Feminist political ecology and feminist geography insights can explain how different groups of people understand, respond to, and cope with variability and uncertainties in nuanced and critical ways, thereby elucidating the gendered implications of climate change. With a regional focus on South Asia, the article underscores the key issues that can be applied geographically elsewhere. Gendered implications of climate change in South Asia are particularly poignant as patriarchal norms, inequities, and inequalities often place women and men in differentiated positions in their abilities to respond to and cope with dramatic changes in socioecological relations but also foreground the complex ways in which social power relations operate in communal responses to adaptation strategies. This is particularly evident in water-related productive and reproductive tasks in agrarian societies that constitute the majority of South Asia. As climate change is expected to exacerbate both ecological degradation (e.g., water shortages) and water-related natural hazards (e.g., floods, cyclones), thereby transforming gender–water geographies, it becomes imperative to undertake careful multiscalar and critical analyses to better inform policymaking. This article elucidates the complex ways that climate change will affect gender and social relations, thereby highlighting the ways that existing policy narratives and adaptation programs might be better informed by geographical insights. To this end, the article encourages feminist and critical geographers to more forcefully and fruitfully engage with global debates on climate change.     

The Transnational Assembling of Marina Bay,Singapore

From Shanghai's Pudong to Dubai's Marina, waterfront developments are increasingly popular urban forms worldwide. Drawing on the literature on urban assemblages, I explore how urban waterfronts are produced out of the transnational assembling of models, knowledge and expertise. My case study here is Marina Bay, Singapore, a landscape that like much of the rest of Singapore is a product of talent and ideas from elsewhere. In this paper, two strategies employed by Singapore's urban authorities to court global expertise for Marina Bay's development are examined – their formation of an international panel of experts in the fields of urban planning, policy and design, and their launching of international competitions to attract top design firms. Like transfer agents that enable policies to travel, I argue that these individuals and firms are situated within wider knowledge circuits that straddle the globe, and are thus well placed to filter and channel ideas from elsewhere to Singapore. Drawing on selected developments within Marina Bay, I trace the routes taken by these ideas, the changes they underwent as they travelled, as well as their relationships with the actors that facilitated their journeys. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate the usefulness of understanding the urban as more‐than‐territorial in both theory and practice.     

Attitudes toward Water Conservation: The Influence of Site-Specific Factors and Beliefs in Climate Change

Areas affected by drought are increasing, and many lakes that provide potable water and recreation opportunities are located in drought-vulnerable areas. Understanding a population's attitudes toward conservation actions can improve communication initiatives, policy development, and education, which are all necessary for effective water resource management. However, little is known about stakeholders’ interactions with drought-influenced resources and the potential factors that form their water conservation attitudes. Using a mixed methods approach, we evaluated lake recreationists’ (n = 229) attitudes toward water conservation at a drought-impacted lake. We identified the relationships between two site-specific factors (place attachment and awareness of drought impacts), beliefs in climate change, concern for drought impacts, and water conservation attitudes. Results indicated concern for local drought impacts fully mediated the relationships between site-specific factors, beliefs in climate change, and attitudes toward water conservation behaviors. Implications for research, outreach, and water resource management are discussed.     

Scientific documentation of crop land changes in the Sahel: A half empty box of knowledge to support policy?

The Sahel has been subject of considerable environmental research and development efforts, specifically since the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s. This article uses a meta-study approach to summarize knowledge of crop land change, the documented driving forces, and the perceived impacts. The analysis of case studies shows that crop land has increased in the majority of cases mainly due to population increase. However, despite population increase, crop land has been stable in some areas, particularly where land availability is a limiting factor or where farmers are able to intensify their farmers from expanding their plots or because households have diversified their activities. The study shows the huge gap in the scientific literature concerning actual measurements of crop land change in the Sahel, which is in contrast to the attention given to crop land changes in theoretical and policy discourses. On the basis of the poor documentation available on crop land change and the contrasting results observed, we point out the need to exercise caution with regard to simple narratives about crop land change.     

Heterogeneity in climate change risk perception amongst dairy farmers: A latent class clustering analysis

Livestock production has been criticized for its effect on greenhouse gas emissions and policy makers are now supporting actions to reduce these impact. Voluntary adoption of these actions will be precluded by the farmer perception of the risks from a changing climate. We employ a latent class clustering approach to understand the heterogeneity within a sample of dairy farmers, based on 8 statements related to climate change risk.The majority of farmers are found to be 'confused moderates' who have no strong opinion towards the possible future impacts of climate change. Two further classes emerged, namely 'deniers' and 'risk perceivers'. We find that higher education levels have an influence on increasing risk perception, as does the intention to pass the farm onto another family member. Membership of agri-environmental schemes does not preclude awareness or acceptance of climate change risk, principally due to the lack of emphasis on greenhouse gas emissions within these schemes. In addition, use of social networks seems to be a significant factor in raising the profile of risk perception within farmer decision-making.We conclude that advisors and those engaging with the farming community must accommodate climate messages in their communication strategies. Furthermore, emphasis on the greenhouse gas benefits from adoption of agri-environmental schemes would seem to be an efficient vehicle for raising the risk profile of climate change and influence future uptake of Government and industry supported actions.     

1978年以来中国城市地理研究进展

以国内出版的专著和重要学术期刊发表的学术论文为资料基础,运用文献计量学方法,对1978年改革开放30多年来中国城市地理的研究进展进行了总结。研究发现：中国城市地理研究总体上日益繁荣,研究内容不断拓展和深化,研究方法逐步走向“科学化”和“规范化”,研究的空间尺度总体上“由大向小”转变,研究视角向多样化转变;国家政策和城市热点问题对研究内容具有重要影响,西方理论和流派对研究视角具有重要影响;基础研究与应用研究并重是重要特色,城市化与城市体系是重要的研究主题。建议在未来的研究中培养全球化视野,批判性地引进西方理论,加强理论创新、科学规范、跨学科交叉与新方法引进。     

The Interaction of Religion,Political Ideology,and Concern About Climate Change in the United States

Political ideology and religion are considered important influences on attitudes about climate change, as many people rely on ideological and religious cues to help shape attitudes about this highly complex, uncertain, and politicized issue. While many scholars have studied the impacts of political orientation and religious affiliation independently, few have studied whether and how they interact in shaping concern about climate change. This article uses a large sample study to examine the impact of religious tradition on two indicators of concern about climate change within categories of political ideology. This study shows that religious affiliation moderates the impact of ideology, and that these interaction effects vary across religious traditions. Perhaps most significantly, this study reveals that religious affiliation is most influential on political liberals but has very little impact on conservatives. This holds significant implications for the way we understand the relationship between religion and environmental attitudes.     

Local and global in cyberspace: the geographical narratives of US food companies on the internet

Summary Internet websites provide a new are na in which companies can create images and representations with attendant geographical narratives. A case study of the websites of the 20 largest US-headquartered food, beverage and food service companies reveals an extensive use of geographical narratives that play on the particular spatial dimensions of the internet. The websites of many of these companies attempt to project and situate corporate activities within a stylized representation of the local and the global, thus providing a 'space' for corporate discourse within cyberspace. Insights gained from this case study highlight the importance of geography and geographical metaphors within the discursive lives of companies. The paper concludes that corporate websites portray idealized identities within idealized geographies.     

Degraded forest,degraded land and the development of industrial tree plantations in Laos

The concepts of degraded forest (pa mai xout xom) and degraded land (din seuam xom) have been variously applied in official Lao government policy narratives and law over the last couple of decades. In this article I focus on the concepts of degraded forest and land, and the relationship with industrial tree plantations, using two examples from southern Laos. I argue that the concepts have been significant in both facilitating and obstructing the development of large‐scale industrial tree plantations in different times and spaces, thus significantly influencing access and exclusion, as well as the spatialization of tree plantations. I provide a tentative genealogy regarding the emergence of these concepts in land and forestry policy in Laos, and briefly explain the links between degradation and ‘the land rush’ presently affecting Laos.