A quiet revolution? Beneath the surface of Ireland's alternative food initiatives

Getting food to our plates has become a highly complex, industrialised and globalised process. However, transformations in how our food is supplied are not without resistance. Initiatives are emerging that take a step back to simpler, alternative methods of food supply, bringing the producer and consumer closer together. Alternative food initiatives which are commonly found in Ireland include allotments, community gardens, farmers' markets, farm shops and on-farm food enterprises. Understanding alternative food activities as a social movement can illuminate a fresh perspective on their nature and potential. While briefly considering the broad dynamics of alternative food activity in Ireland, this exploratory paper looks at the question of the nature of resistance and whether a collective vision may exist across initiatives, illustrated by two examples, a community garden and consumer food co-op. Finally some conclusions as to how alternative food initiatives may play a transformative role within the contemporary food system are discussed.     

Religion And The Social Integration Of Migrants In Dublin,Ireland

This paper explores the intersection of religion and migration, and investigates how religious beliefs, practices, and identities can be both beneficial and/or a deterrence to the process of social integration. A qualitative case study was conducted at a multicultural, nondenominational Christian church in Dublin, Ireland, composed of both Irish‐born citizens and migrants from around the world. Within the church, Irish‐born and foreign‐born congregants frequently interact, suggesting religion is a bridge that is encouraging social integration. Alternatively, noncongregant Irish‐born members in the larger community where the church is located are skeptical of the church and maintain that it is a type of religious cult. From this perspective, religion can be perceived as a barrier that hinders a migrant's ability to integrate into society. Consequently, this paper analyzes the dichotomous function of religion and religious identity within the social integration process in Dublin, Ireland.     

A pragmatic assessment of government support for organic agriculture in Ireland

Drawing on a pragmatic approach, this paper provides an analysis of government support for organic farming in Ireland. Varying levels of encouragement and programmes are provided to farmers in their conversion from conventional to organic production, and in their maintenance of organic production. As support policies vary across regions and are linked to European Union legislation, it is challenging to document the many types of support in place. This paper investigates relevant technical, financial, and policy support available to organic farmers in Ireland. As an exploratory study, it develops an assessment of Ireland within eight key categories of organic agricultural support: policy, leadership, technical support, financial support, research, education and information, marketing and promotion, and future outlook. Information and data from the Irish Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAFF), the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority (Teagasc), and other government and semi-governmental agencies were utilized to assess the level of support in each category. This assessment provides key findings which will allow policymakers, organizations and citizens to better understand the current situation and set a path for the future development of organic farming in Ireland.     

The potato in Ireland's evolving agrarian landscape and agri-food system

The scale, structure and impacts of food systems in Ireland have changed dramatically over the last several hundred years, predominantly since the mechanisation and intensification of farming began in the late nineteenth century. The transformation of the potato production system, which for the preceding century had dominated the Irish diet, was particularly dramatic. The time from the introduction of the potato c. 1600 to its catastrophic decline in the mid-1800s, represented a period of Irish agriculture distinctly at odds with what came before and after, involving as it did complete dependence on a single crop system. Despite devastating crop losses suffered in the nineteenth century and particularly associated with the Great Famine, the potato remained agriculturally significant in Ireland. From the late 1800s onwards the system underwent a transition towards the highly mechanised, specialised, intensive and market-oriented agri-industrial food systems of today. This new high input-high output system was accompanied by an expansion in environmental impacts extending from local to global scales. This article addresses that transition in the role and impacts of the potato in Ireland, from its introduction to the present day.     

Australian Immigration Policy in Practice: a case study of skill recognition and qualification transferability amongst Irish 457 visa holders

ABSTRACT

Immigration quotas in Australia are guided primarily by economic policy—the needs of the nation are quite rightly the principal concern of policymakers. Using data from a mixed-methods study, this article engages in a dialogue between labour geography and population and migration studies through an examination of the lived experiences of migrating workers and their families. The paper examines a number of cases where policy and practice have detrimentally affected the migration experience of Irish migrants who came to Australia under the Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visa. The case study focuses on interviews with secondary 457 visa applicants, namely the wives of former 457 workers. These interviews highlight the problems faced by newcomers to Australia who arrive under this visa. The experiences relayed by these women demonstrate how ill-considered policy relating to qualification transferability makes entering the workplace and, therefore, transition to life in Australia more difficult than it needs to be. While the cases that underpin this paper ended in migration failure (the families involved returned to Ireland), the core issues of qualification transferability and skill comparison were replicated in the wider study dataset (of 1022 survey responses and 80 qualitative interviews). While acknowledging that citizens generally have more freedom and more civil rights than non-citizens, the findings of this study indicate that further review of Australia’s 457 visa is needed, particularly with respect to the limitations placed on the agency of migrant workers. Greater awareness amongst prospective migrants as to the purpose and limits of the 457 visa is also necessary, in order to avoid misinterpretation and the extreme personal repercussions outlined in this paper.     

食物景观对地方社会记忆的表征和塑造 ——以《舌尖上的中国》为例

以纪录片《舌尖上的中国》为数据来源,借助情感挖掘、语义网络分析以及扎根理论等方法探究食物景观对社会记忆的表征内容和塑造过程.研究结果表明:1)从情感分析结果来看,个体对食物景观的情感倾向总体呈现积极趋势,不同年龄、复杂的社会经历以及多元的社会角色是影响个体情感变化的重要因素,人们的情感认同形成了社会主流意识形态,并框定...     

Examining access to GP services in rural Ireland using microsimulation analysis

This paper analyses the effect accessibility has on General Practitioner (GP) utilisation rates at the sub-national level for Ireland. Specifically, the aim of this paper is to estimate whether there is an urban–rural differential in GP utilisation rates. We do this by simulating micro-level healthcare data. Using this synthetic data, simple logit models are employed to estimate the likelihood that individuals in different jurisdictions will attend a GP surgery. These individual logit estimates are then inputted into a spatial interaction model to highlight areas with low GP accessibility given their health status. The policy implications of these results are discussed in relation to both the healthcare literature and current Irish healthcare policy.     

Returning home: migrant connections and visions for local development in rural Nepal

Migration to domestic and international destinations has become an emblematic feature of Nepal’s societal changes. Part of this development is education migration from rural to urban areas within the borders of Nepal, an often overlooked but increasingly important aspect of contemporary migration flows. By focusing on these educational migrants, this paper explores how they connect to their rural homes. Guided by a critical reading of the migration-development scholarship, the paper examines how migrants and their relatives make sense of educational migrants’ remitting and returning practices, and by comparing three groups of educational migrants, the migrants’ reasons for staying connected and sending remittances are scrutinized. The paper finds that although educational migrants do not generate extensive economic remittances for local development in Nepal, they stay connected to their rural homes and partake in important social remittance practices that represent a vision for impacting local development.     

Community, difference and identity: the case of the Irish in Sheffield

There is a growing body of research in racial and ethnic studies on the processes of identity construction within minority ethnic populations. This article seeks to build on this work by analysing emerging collective identity formations in an ‘invisible’ minority ethnic group. Based upon focus groups and in-depth interviews with Irish people in Sheffield, the article aims to advance three key arguments. First, the concept of community is central to an Irish collective identity, but is negotiated in a multiplicity of ways. Second, Irish collective identity has been shaped not only by demographic differences but by shared experiences of non-recognition and stereotyping. Third, there is a simultaneous assertion of an Irish identity running parallel with a perception that the ‘traditional’ Irish community may have to re-invent itself in response to changing demographics at the local level. The paper concludes by considering the implications of these arguments for an understanding of Irish ethnicity in multicultural Britain.     

The adoption of a local food concept in post-communist context: Farm shops in Czechia

The article examines an alternative food network evolution in the post-communist context in Czechia in general and farm shop developments in particular. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with farm shopkeepers operating in Czechia. The results revealed that the development of the farm shop network was significantly shaped by the communist past of the country. While consumers’ demand for quality food contributed to the initiation of developments in local food movements such as farm shops in Czechia, the inconvenient structure of the farming sector, comprising a limited number of small-scale farmers, hindered the development. Although the farm shops usually operate as middlemen by reselling goods produced by a range of farmers, farm shopkeepers expressed significant awareness of the sustainability principles of the local food concept and dissociated themselves from unethical practices of large retailers. Nevertheless, the author finds that the local concept is used in a flexible manner to meet customers’ demands. Despite obstacles faced by farmers when developing their own farm shops, there is significant potential in ‘Czech-type’ farm shops operating solely as retailers. However, the author concludes that the threat of the diversion from the sustainability principles of the local food concept should not be neglected.     

Measuring Space–Time Access to Food Retailers: A Case of Temporal Access Disparity in Franklin County,Ohio

Typical measures of food access use spatial-only methods to identify nearby food outlets and the quantity, quality, and variety of food available. This measure of spatial access falls short in explaining the effect that the operating hours of food retailers have on food access. Our study aims to complement the spatial dimension of access measures by bringing time in as a new constraint on food access. To this end, we developed three measures of spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal access and correlated these measures with socioeconomic status (SES) in a case in Columbus, Ohio. Findings from our analysis of food access disparity suggest that low-SES neighborhoods in Columbus are not at a disadvantage of spatial access, but their limited temporal access is a more pressing concern. Implications drawn from the study would assist community advocates, local governments, and other stakeholders in deriving a better understanding of the local foodscape that are not only mediated by space but also time.     

Street petrol station shops as an alternative to missing local food suppliers – Contribution to the German discourse on ‘Daseinsvorsorge’: A German view

Services of general interest fulfill people's daily needs and are important for their well-being. In Germany, interacting socioeconomic and demographic processes currently lead to a spatial concentration of such services. Rural areas are particularly affected, resulting in a deterioration of living conditions. Nevertheless, although in the media and in policy these processes are intensely discussed against the background of the German political and scientific discourse on ‘Daseinsvorsorge’, little is known about their dimensions. However, such knowledge is important for both policy and scientific policy advice, as ‘Daseinsvorsorge’ is a key concept in German spatial planning discourse, rooted in the normative political goal of guaranteeing comparable living conditions throughout Germany. This goal includes the aim of ensuring a sufficient offering of services indispensable for life throughout the country. One subject area where a spatial concentration can be observed is retail food sales. As a consequence, especially in rural areas, the network of food shopping locations becomes more wide meshed. Against this background, the German petrol-sector claims that in rural regions, petrol station shops (PSS) might replace a missing local food retailer. Based on the data from an accessibility analysis of petrol stations, supermarkets and discounters, together with considerations on the assortment of PSS, the article analyses the potential of such shops to fulfill this function in rural Germany through the lens of ‘Daseinsvorsorge’. The analysis reveals the following: (1) PSS still mainly serve impulse shopping needs, offering only a very limited assortment of staple foods; (2) in the majority of regions with no supermarket or discounter accessible by foot, PSS are also not accessible by foot; and (3) by car, the picture is very similar. Considering these points, it can be concluded that in Germany, PSS cannot at this time fully replace a missing local retail trade, especially in rural areas.     

地方因素对流动人口城市融入的影响研究

利用东部和中部地区9个城市的流动人口问卷调查,采用多水平回归模型,分析了城市差异对流动人口城市融入的影响机制。研究发现：流动人口城市融入过程存在南北差异,并呈相同地域较接近的特征。城市区位、经济发展水平、以房租为代表的物价水平、以方言为主的地域文化、流动人口占比,社会保障的落实程度等地方因素,对流动人口城市融入产生显著影响,但城市人口规模影响不显著。地方因素对流动人口城市融入的影响效应是复杂的、多向的,即使同一因素既有积极的方面,也存在消极的方面。推动流动人口的城市融入,必须正视城市差异,因地制宜地提出包容性的社会政策。方言重的城市,尤其是这些城市的公共场所和公共办事窗口要推动普通话的普及,鼓励使用普通话;降低城市社会保障的准入门槛;房租高的城市,保障房建设要以公租房建设为主,把流动人口纳入公租房保障范围;要本着先易后难,同步推进的原则,优先推进省域内流动人口市民化,城镇化转移支付应向流动人口比例高的城市倾斜。     

Forever transnational: The ambivalence of return and cross‐border activities of the Shan across the Thailand‐Myanmar border

Over the past two decades, northern Thailand has experienced a massive influx of Shan ethnic nationals from Myanmar migrating to escape economic hardship and political conflicts at home. Myanmar's recent reforms raise the question of whether these migrants will return. The paper brings together the context of current changes in Myanmar with migrants' prospects of return and the impact of large‐scale migration on homeland politics. On the one hand, the paper explores the possibility that Shan migrants could remain forever transnational, for many of them will most likely never return. On the other hand, it considers the perspective of Shan elites in Myanmar on the fact a large portion of young Shan now spend their adult lives living and working in Thailand. While out‐migration of young Shan threatens the social fabric of Shan community in Myanmar, Shan ethnonationalists strive across the Myanmar border to regain loyalty among the Shan migrant population in Thailand. By examining the two aspects, this paper attempts to shed light on the impact of transnational migration on both migrants and their home country.     

Socio-spatial segregation in China and migrants’ everyday life experiences: the case of Wenzhou

Although internal migration is one of the most frequently discussed aspects of China’s twenty-first century urbanization, much of the research in this area emphasizes megacities. This paper, however, focuses on Wenzhou, a Chinese city that served as a national model for the introduction of small-scale private enterprise in the 1990s. Through a survey of migrants living in the subdistrict of Shuangyu, a settlement dominated by manufacturing workers, this article argues that socio-spatial segregation research should pay more holistic attention to migrants’ use of urban space, beyond simply place of residence. Focusing on how migrants use space in several aspects of their everyday lives, this article contends that Shuangyu is socially and spatially segregated from other parts of the city. Rather than neatly incorporated into the rest of the city, migrant settlement in Wenzhou is both marginalized and independent. We thus theorize Shuangyu’s place in Wenzhou’s new socio-spatial structure as a “city within the city.”     

新型城镇化背景下流动特征与农民工回流意愿的关系

使用2016年中国流动人口动态监测调查数据,借助描述性分析和多分类Logistic回归模型分析方法,探讨新型城镇化背景下农民工回流意愿的现状与特点、流动特征与回流意愿的关系。研究发现,农民工的回流意愿很弱,有回流意愿并打算近期回流的农民工比例较低,回流地域以原居地为主、户籍地的乡镇和区县政府所在地为辅。模型结果显示,流动特征显著影响农民工的回流意愿：跨省流动者“打算回流”的概率大于省内流动者;流动时间短和非举家流动者“打算回流”“近期回流”“回原居地”的概率分别大于流动时间长和举家流动者;有留守子女者“打算回流”“近期回流”的概率大于没有留守子女者。最后,建议政府实施以“异地市民化”为主、“回流式市民化”为辅的市民化策略;继续深化制度改革,为农民工流动扫清制度壁垒和提供均等化公共服务;促进中西部和东北部地区的经济社会发展,出台鼓励农民工回乡创业和就业的优惠政策等方式来推进以农民工市民化为重点的新型城镇化发展。     

“Finding their way”: the negotiation of the city by low-skilled service sector migrant workers in Dublin

The city has become the context for a dialectical relationship not only between the global and the local but also between migrants and the host society. Whilst there is considerable work on migrant integration, integration is rarely examined from the perspective of the workplace, or from a geographic perspective, which problematizes the spatiality of migrant workers’ experiences. This article studies migrant workers in low-skilled jobs, with a focus on Temporary Service Sector Providers in catering, cleaning, and security, in order to understand how they negotiate their position in the city and are active agents of this negotiation. The study, based upon a survey of 60 migrants complemented by 20 in-depth interviews, questions how integration should be understood: in particular it suggests that—in some respects—integration may be difficult for all low-wage precarious workers, whether migrants or not. The study also highlights how migrant workers retain agency—the capacity to act, to make decisions, and appropriate certain places—even in challenging circumstances.     

Local food activity in the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain

Recent changes in local food supply systems have attracted substantial research interest, but little consideration has been paid to exactly where they occur. This article combines data from three studies to compare local food system development in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland using a single index of food relocalisation, thereby exploring the usefulness of the Index across different social and political contexts. Four diagnostic indicators suggest that local food systems in the south west of Ireland and Britain are particularly well developed. The Index itself is a useful tool for making international comparisons, being easy to replicate and allowing the integration of different data sets. Perhaps its greatest utility is that it opens up new avenues for further research.     

新型城镇化背景下中国流动人口研究:议题与展望

研究通过4个议题（户籍与人口流动,循环流动、定居意愿及家庭策略,社会网络和移民社区,迁移、流动性和移民的日常生活）,回顾了近年来乡城人口迁移的研究。指出：户籍政策对移民在城市中的生计带来的影响将减弱,移民的住房及在城市的居住模式和居住空间、社会交往、生活方式、移民身份建构及生活空间的重构等将会成为新的关注点。新文化地理学中关于移民“微观化”“生活化”的研究应受到更多的重视。换言之,如何理解移民在个体层面的诉求和移民的日常生活,将会是未来流动性研究的重点。如何立足于国内移民地理研究的基础与发展机遇,批判性地与西方移民研究搭建对话空间和平台,结合当前中国崛起过程中所呈现的前所未有的全球化与城镇化契机,为世界移民研究积累和贡献“中国知识”,将成为未来这一领域学者研究的方向。     

中国城市新移民的定居意愿及其影响机制

基于广州、东莞、沈阳、成都、杭州、郑州市所获问卷数据,采用描述性统计和Logistic回归模型,探讨中国城市新移民的定居意愿及其影响因素。研究表明,城市新移民总体上呈现较强的定居意愿,其中投资型新移民的定居意愿最强,智力型新移民次之,劳力型新移民最弱。影响新移民定居意愿的主要因素包括户籍因素、社会网络、社会认同、生活满意度和地域差异。与本地人交往和社会认同是影响智力型新移民定居意愿的决定性因素;职业、产权、本地社会资本、社会认同和地域差异是影响劳力型新移民定居意愿的主要因素;就投资型新移民而言,影响其定居意愿的主要因素为人力资本、本地社会资本、户籍状况及其所在的城市。地方政府应根据新移民所属的类型,有针对性地制定社会与空间政策,为新移民提供更为多元化的城市融合路径。