Cross‐border rubber cultivation between China and Laos: Regionalization by Akha and Tai rubber farmers

This paper is a multi‐sited ethnography of cross‐border rubber cultivation between China and Laos. Smallholder minority rubber farmers from Xishuangbanna (China) have forged successful informal share‐cropping arrangements to grow rubber trees on the land of relatives and friends in neighbouring Laos. By becoming rich and entrepreneurial rural citizens, Akha and Tai farmers have also, in their own eyes, raised their own ‘quality’ (suzhi) and see themselves as ‘modern’. By examining various meanings of ‘modern’ in China, and contrasting the rubber farmers' experience with Jacob Eyferth's notion of rural ‘deskilling’, this paper shows how through learning to plant, cultivate and tap rubber, these farmers have taken on the discipline and technical knowledge of ‘modern’ workers and become ‘skilled’. By rising in ‘quality’, minority farmers on China's periphery challenge the entrenched binaries of urban/rural, modern/backward, prosperous/poor and Han/minority nationality. Xishuangbanna minority farmers acknowledge that they are also ‘backward’ in the Chinese social hierarchy, but their extension of rubber cultivation to kin and others in Laos has confirmed their modernity as dispensers of development, technical know‐how and ‘superior’ Chinese culture to Lao farmers who are ‘backward and poor’. In contrast to large state rubber farms that have failed to establish rubber plantations in northern Laos, minority farmers have created regionalization.     

Cross‐border Urban Governance in Hong Kong: The Role of State in a Globalizing City‐Region*

The rapid development in the Hong Kong‐Pearl River Delta (PRD) city‐region has taken place alongside complicated cross‐border governance. The framework of time‐space envelopes (TSEs) is adopted for a study of cross‐border governance in Hong Kong, especially in the role of the state, that is, the Hong Kong government, in cross‐border urban governance. This article argues that tension‐ free regional integration has never existed due to a complex governance network. The shift from “cross‐border protectionism” to “cross‐border free trade zone” in Hong Kong's cross‐border urban governance since 2001 is a result of the rearticulation of the state cutting through the geoeconomic and geopolitical TSEs.     

HYPHENATED GEOGRAPHIES: THE DEINDUSTRIALIZATION OF NATURE‐SOCIETY GEOGRAPHY*

As visions of ecological crisis mark the daily headlines, industrial spaces of intensive energy and material consumption become a more intense object of political and social concern. In this article, I attempt to situate geography's relative neglect of the ecological underpinnings of industrial capitalism within the context of the history of geographical thought. I argue that the ways in which geographers read the hyphen in the phrase “nature‐society” reveals epistemological limits to their object of study. I then offer three dramatically different readings of the hyphen and discuss how they have affected the lineages and trajectories of geographical research—Barrows's human ecology, Sauer's cultural landscape, and critical theories of social nature. I conclude by suggesting that geography needs to let go of its empirical and conceptual fixation on “nature”.     

The Housing Market and Population Vulnerabilities: Perceptions in a Fordist and a Post‐Fordist Context

Drawing on qualitative interviews and participatory urban‐appraisal tools, this paper analyzes household perceptions on the five elements of Lawrence and Su‐Yeul's market‐led pluralism (M‐LP) framework (2008). It uses post‐Fordist Columbus, Ohio, and Fordist Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as testing grounds for these household perspectives. M‐LP suggests that at the center of contemporary housing market lie five elements: developers/builders who unveil new urban spaces with culturally open communities; lending agencies that offer affordable mortgages to all; real estate brokers/agents who have moved past discriminatory practices; consumers whose preferences emphasize class‐type elements; and communities that impose development agendas. While many felt that the housing market of the mid‐2000s was racially blind, race still played a crucial role in driving home‐buying decisions, especially in Milwaukee. Columbus respondents aligned more closely with M‐LP, putting greater emphasis on class, but they also used phrases and words to blur race and class distinction. Both metropolises, though, illustrated complex intertwining between class and culture.     

Sediment dispersal and redistributive processes in axial and transverse deep‐time source‐to‐sink systems of marine rift basins: Dampier Sub‐basin,Northwest Shelf,Australia

Morphological scaling relationships between source‐to‐sink segments have been widely explored in modern settings, however, deep‐time systems remain difficult to assess due to limited preservation of drainage basins and difficulty in quantifying complex processes that impact sediment dispersals. Integration of core, well‐logs and 3‐D seismic data across the Dampier Sub‐basin, Northwest Shelf of Australia, enables a complete deep‐time source‐to‐sink study from the footwall (Rankin Platform) catchment to the hanging wall (Kendrew Trough) depositional systems in a Jurassic late syn‐rift succession. Hydrological analysis identifies 24 drainage basins on the J50.0 (Tithonian) erosional surface, which are delimited into six drainage domains confined by NNE‐SSW trending grabens and their horsts, with drainage domain areas ranging between 29 and 156 km². Drainage outlets of these drainage domains are well preserved along the Rankin Fault System scarp, with cross‐sectional areas ranging from 0.08 to 0.31 km². Corresponding to the six drainage domains, sedimentological and geomorphological analysis identifies six transverse submarine fan complexes developing in the Kendrew Trough, ranging in areas from 43 to 193 km². Seismic geomorphological analysis reveals over 90‐km‐long, slightly sinuous axial turbidity channels, developing in the lower topography of the Kendrew Trough which erodes toe parts of transverse submarine fan complexes. Positive scaling relationships exist between drainage outlet spacing and drainage basin length, and drainage outlet cross‐sectional area and drainage basin area, which indicates the geometry of drainage outlets can provide important constraints on source area dimensions in deep‐time source‐to‐sink studies. The broadly negative bias of fan area to drainage basin area ratios indicates net sediment losses in submarine fan complexes caused by axial turbidity current erosion. Source‐to‐sink sediment balance studies must be done with full evaluating of adjacent source‐to‐sink systems to delineate fans and their associated up‐dip drainages, to achieve an accurate tectonic and sedimentologic picture of deep‐time basins.     

Evolution of a mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate deep‐marine system on an unstable margin: The Cretaceous of the Eastern Greater Caucasus,Azerbaijan

Mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate deep‐marine systems (mixed systems) are less documented in the geological record than pure siliciclastic systems. The similarities and differences between these systems are, therefore, poorly understood. A well‐exposed Late Cretaceous mixed system on the northern side of the Eastern Greater Caucasus, Azerbaijan, provides an opportunity to study the interaction between contemporaneous siliciclastic and carbonate deep‐marine deposition. Facies analysis reveals a Cenomanian–early Turonian siliciclastic submarine channel complex that abruptly transitions into a Mid Turonian–Maastrichtian mixed lobe‐dominated succession. The channels are entrenched in lows on the palaeo‐seafloor but are absent 10 km towards the west where an Early Cretaceous submarine landslide complex acted as a topographic barrier to deposition. By the Campanian, this topography was largely healed allowing extensive deposition of the mixed lobe‐dominated succession. Evidence for irregular bathymetry is recorded by opposing palaeoflow indicators and frequent submarine landslides. The overall sequence is interpreted to represent the abrupt transition from Cenomanian–early Turonian siliciclastic progradation to c. Mid Turonian retrogradation, followed by a gradual return to progradation in the Santonian–Maastrichtian. The siliciclastic systems periodically punctuate a more widely extensive calcareous system from the Mid Turonian onwards, resulting in a mixed deep‐marine system. Mixed lobes differ from their siliciclastic counterparts in that they contain both siliciclastic and calcareous depositional elements making determining distal and proximal environments challenging using conventional terminology and complicate palaeogeographic interpretations. Modulation and remobilisation also occur between the two contemporaneous systems making stacking patterns difficult to decipher. The results provide insight into the behaviour of multiple contemporaneous deep‐marine fans, an aspect that is challenging to decipher in non‐mixed systems. The study area is comparable in terms of facies, architectures and the presence of widespread instability to offshore The Gambia, NW Africa, and could form a suitable analogue for mixed deep‐marine systems observed elsewhere.     

Modeling Spatially and Temporally Complex Land‐Cover Change: The Case of Western Honduras*

This article presents an econometric analysis of land‐cover change in western Honduras. Ground‐truthed satellite image analysis indicates that between 1987 and 1996 net reforestation occurred in the 1,015‐km² study region. While some reforestation can be attributed to a 1987 ban on logging, the area of reforestation greatly exceeds that of previously clear‐cut areas. Further, new area was also deforested between 1987 and 1996. Thus, the observed land‐cover changes represent a complex mosaic of changing land‐use patterns across time and space. The analysis contributes to the literature on land‐cover change modeling in that: (1) it compares two econometric approaches to capture complex and often bidirectional changes in land cover from 1987 to 1996 as a function of agricultural suitability and transportation costs, and (2) it addresses techniques to identify and correct for spatial autocorrelation in a categorical regression framework.     

Conceptualising State‐Controlled Resort Islands for an Environment‐Friendly Development of Tourism: The Maldivian Experience

The Maldives host a sophisticated and competitive international tourist industry which has replaced fishing as the dominant economic activity. With their rich tropical reef ecosystems and the abundant biodiversity of their marine environment, a total of 86 uninhabited islands had been converted into Resort Islands by the end of 2000. Resort Islands are equipped with comprehensive facilities for accommodation, food, recreation and leisure. They are also strictly reserved for foreign tourists and guarantee complete privacy. This gives the benefit of averting conflicts of acculturation with local islanders. In the arena of impacts on the physical environment, however, the consumptive leisure lifestyle of the tourists has been harmful to the Resort Islands as seen in sewage, garbage and waste pollution, as well as reef destruction and beach erosion. While the government of the Maldives takes great effort to harmonise tourism and the environment, the growth of mass tourism in the last 20 years has engendered grave environmental impacts. For future sustainable development of the Resort Islands, the tourists' environmental awareness must be increased to promote greater responsibility for the protection of the fragile coral and reef ecosystems of the Maldives.     

Post‐orogenic thermal history and exhumation of the northern Appalachian Basin: Low‐temperature thermochronologic constraints

Apatite fission‐track (AFT) thermochronology and (U‐Th)/He (AHe) dating, combined with paleothermometers and independent geologic constraints, are used to model the thermal history of Devonian Catskill delta wedge strata. The timing and rates of cooling determines the likely post‐orogenic exhumation history of the northern Appalachian Foreland Basin (NAB) in New York and Pennsylvania. AFT ages generally young from west to east, decreasing from ~185 to 120 Ma. AHe single‐grain ages range from ~188 to 116 Ma. Models show that this part of the Appalachian foreland basin experienced a non‐uniform, multi‐stage cooling history. Cooling rates vary over time, ~1–2 °C/Myr in the Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, ~0.15–0.25 °C/Myr from the Early Cretaceous to Late Cenozoic, and ~1–2 °C/Myr beginning in the Miocene. Our results from the Mesozoic are broadly consistent with earlier studies, but with the integration of multiple thermochronometers and multi‐kinetic annealing algorithms in newer inverse thermal modeling programs, we constrain a Late Cenozoic increase in cooling which had been previously enigmatic in eastern U.S. low‐temperature thermochronology datasets. Multi‐stage cooling and exhumation of the NAB is driven by post‐orogenic basin inversion and catchment drainage reorganization, in response to changes in base level due to rifting, plus isostatic and dynamic topographic processes modified by flexure over the long (~200 Myr) post‐orogenic period. This study compliments other regional exhumation data‐sets, while constraining the timing of post‐orogenic cooling and exhumation in the NAB and contributing important insights on the post‐orogenic development and inversion of foreland basins along passive margins.     

High‐precision Schmidt‐hammer exposure‐age dating of flood berms,Vetlestølsdalen,alpine southern Norway: first application and some methodological issues

Schmidt‐hammer exposure‐age dating (SHD) was applied to three flood berms in upper Vetlestølsdalen, southern Norway, using a local, high‐precision calibration curve that takes account of the colluvial origin of fluvial boulders in the youngest berm, which was deposited during the August 1979 flood. Precision of SHD dating for this berm was estimated as ±210 years, whereas predicted ages of the two older berms were 3195 ± 435 and 3405 ± 340 years, and subsections of the oldest berm yielded age ranges of ～900 years. The results demonstrate the feasibility of high‐precision SHD in the context of boulder landforms deposited by high‐magnitude floods, the requirement of a large sample of R values in the face of high natural variability, the necessity of an appropriate calibration curve to ensure accuracy, the usefulness of floods of known age for testing and improving calibration curves, and the potential effects of boulders of colluvial origin on R values (especially the susceptibility of young surfaces to roughness variations). The dated berms indicate a return period of ～1000–1500 years for floods of the magnitude of the 1979 flood event in the upper catchment. Thus, the long‐term persistence of flood boulder berms in the landscape has potential for reconstructing Holocene flood history and palaeohydrology from the geomorphic legacy of the most extreme Holocene floods.     

Home‐working in Rural Bali: The Organization of Production and Labor Relations*

This article aims to explore the role of home‐based production networks within the industrialization process of rural areas in developing countries and its impact on the labor involved. Based on the structures of the Balinese clothing industry, the article explores the organization of production, provision of production and working capital, and composition and origin of labor. This article shows that home‐based batik and embroidery clothing production in Bali is one of very few sources of income beyond agricultural work for immobile, rural labor. However, these production networks within the Balinese clothing industry are defined by weak labor relations vis‐à‐vis the clothing firm's exceptionally strong position.     

Along‐strike variability in shelf‐margin morphology and accretion pattern: An example from the northern margin of the South China Sea

Interplays among diachronous tectonism, uneven sediment supply, and local marine hydraulic processes make the northern margin of the South China Sea (SCS) an ideal location to investigate the complexity of along‐strike variability in shelf margins. This study examines shelf‐margin morphology, stratigraphy, and sedimentation from the northern SCS using multichannel seismic reflection profiles complemented with the data from commercial and ocean drilling sites. Analysis of seismic reflection profiles reveals three categories of shelf‐margin cross‐sectional profiles, the concave‐up, linear, and sigmoidal, according to which five margin sectors were recognized. Results show that these margin segments differ in relief, shelf‐edge trajectory, submarine canyon development, and long‐term accretion pattern. The westernmost margin sector, or the Yinggehai (YGH)‐western Qiongdongnan (QDN) margin, has appeared to be supply dominated since its commencement at ca. 10.5 Ma, which is characterized by well‐developed prograding clinoforms, low‐angle shelf‐edge trajectories, and an absence of canyons. Presence of concave‐up profiles is also suggestive of high sediment influx. In contrast, the eastern QDN margin was primarily regulated by local subsidence and faulting, leading to a stationary shelf‐edge migrating pattern and linear upper‐slope morphology. Densely distributed slope‐confined gullies indicate the margin’s disequilibrium and erosive nature. Further east, the Pearl River Mouth (PRM) margin formed much earlier (ca. 30 Ma) and experienced a more complicated accretion history, including three phases which were dominated by sequential marginal faulting (before ca. 30 Ma), basement structure (ca. 30–23 Ma), and sediment supply (ca. 23 Ma to the present). The overall sigmoidal morphology and truncated stratigraphy of this margin probably resulted from the sculpting of local marine processes, especially ocean currents and internal waves. The exception of the central PRM margin where concave‐up profiles develop is mainly related to canyon erosion. Overall, this study highlights the vital role of local forcing factors in controlling along‐margin variations and determining the final fates of different margin segments. A comparison between the northern SCS and other well‐established examples reveals that concave‐upward shelf‐margin shapes, which are usually associated with high sediment supply, little influence from hydraulic regimes, or sometimes, high degree of canyon development, may be an indicator of good reservoir potential beyond the shelf edge.     

Time out and Worlds Apart: Tradition and Modernity Meet in the Time‐Space of the Gravesweeping Festivals of Hong Kong

This paper focuses on Hong Kong's Gravesweeping Festivals, Qingming and Chongyang. The practices carried out in urban cemeteries at these Festivals are over two thousand years old, and represent “time out” from modern “clock time”. They are examined in the context of Giddens' (1985) reworking of Hägerstrand's time‐space geography, and of Douglas' (1966) discussion of pollution. It is suggested that the cemeteries are regarded as dangerous places because they represent liminal spaces. Giddens' dimension of span enables a distinction to be made between, on the one hand, the long‐established cultural significance of the grave, and, on the other, the recentness of the urban cemetery. The dimension of form(redefined from Giddens' original concept), applied to some details of cemetery landscapes, reveals the “worlds apart” of the non‐material worlds of the spirits and of fengshui. By considering the Festivals in the light of Giddens' dimension, character, it emerges that the Gravesweeping Festivals are, as they have been for centuries, firmly embedded in Hong Kong's social system, where routines of ancestor veneration continue to renew and strengthen the family bonds that are at the heart of Confucian values. Furthermore, their continued observation may well represent practices that are of deep ontological significance to the predominantly immigrant community of Hong Kong.     

The Impact of U.S. Government Antiterrorism Policies on Canada‐U.S. Cross‐Border Commerce: An Exploratory Study from Western New York and Southern Ontario

This article examines the extant and potential impact of U.S. antiterrorism policies on Canada‐U.S. cross‐border commerce. Particular attention is focused on the cross‐border trade that takes place between southern Ontario (Canada) and western New York (United States). Evidence from a survey of Canadian and U.S. exporters suggests that U.S. antiterrorism measures have inflated the business costs of exporters on both sides of the border. These measures have also created shipment delays that ultimately imply lost revenues for producers, as well as higher prices for consumers. Security‐related initiatives motivated by a genuine concern for the well‐being of U.S. citizens may nevertheless act as nontariff barriers to bilateral trade. We argue that a potential long‐run consequence of these additional costs is trade diversion. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the empirical findings for the geography of Canada‐U.S. bilateral trade.     

The experimental governing of mobility and trade on the China‐Laos frontier: The Tai Lue case

This paper discusses the governing of subjects and objects' mobility in the context of trans‐border rice and corn trade on the China‐Laos frontier. It traces the attempts by a group of ethnic Tai Lue traders from China to assert themselves as ‘flexible subjects’ and economically triumphant actors on the Upper Mekong market in the era of economic regionalization. It illustrates how, between 2005 and mid‐2006, the traders' economic success relied on a variety of ‘border strategies’. ‘Border strategies’ include a gender‐balanced organization of trade, the instrumental deployment of trans‐border ethnicity, the appropriation of a Han style of business, the opportunistic reliance on the Chinese administration's ‘regime of graduated mobility’, and the enactment of a ‘war‐machine’ against Lao state agents. Yet, in late 2006, a new wave of state authoritarianism, enmeshed in corporate accumulation processes, inhibited the traders' success. The paper suggests that, unlike what some defenders of globalization and transnational theories maintain, in the age of economic regionalization, the alleged flexibility and increased mobility of subjects and objects across the borders of the Greater Mekong Subregion remain conditional on an unpredictable mechanism of loosening and tightening. This is part of a long‐applied governing pattern of ‘experimentation under hierarchy’ on the Sino‐Lao frontier.     

Post‐seafloor spreading magmatism and associated magmatic hydrothermal systems in the Xisha uplift region,northwestern South China Sea

Submarine magmatism and associated hydrothermal fluid flows has significant feedback influence on the petroleum geology of sedimentary basins. This study uses new seismic profiles and multibeam bathymetric data to examine the morphology and internal architecture of post‐seafloor spreading magmatic structures, especially volcanoes of the Xisha uplift, in extensive detail. We discover for the first time hydrothermal systems derived from magmatism in the northwestern South China Sea. Numerous solitary volcanoes and volcanic groups occur in the Xisha uplift and produce distinct seismic reflections together with plutons. Sills and other localized amplitude anomalies were fed by extrusions/intrusions and associated fluid flow through fractures and sedimentary layers that may act as conduits for magma and fluid flows transport. Hydrothermal structures such as pipes and pockmarks mainly occur in the proximity of volcanoes or accompany volcanic groups. Pipes, pockmarks and localized amplitude anomalies mainly constitute the magmatic hydrothermal systems, which are probably driven by post‐seafloor spreading volcanoes/plutons. The hydrothermal fluid flows released by magma degassing or/and related boiling of pore fluids/metamorphic dehydration reactions in sediments produced local overpressures, which drove upward flow of fluid or horizontal flow into the sediments or even seafloor. Results show that post‐seafloor spreading magmatic activity is more intense during a 5.5 Ma event than one in 2.6 Ma, whereas the hydrothermal activities are more active during 2.6 Ma than in 5.5 Ma. Our analysis indicates that post‐seafloor spreading magmatism may have a significant effect on hydrocarbon maturation and gas hydrate formation in the Xisha uplift and adjacent petroliferous basins. Consequently the study presented here improves our understanding of hydrocarbon exploration in the northwestern South China Sea.     

Organization‐Led Migration,Individual Choice,and Refugee Resettlement in The U.S.: Seeking Regularities

The role of organizations in migration has received less attention than warranted; individual choice has typically been emphasized. As an in‐depth illustration, we consider refugee resettlement in the United States, post–World War II, wherein intermediary organizations play(ed) a major role. Central to this system are voluntary agencies (VOLAGs) and community organizations, but secondary migration also is critical. Attention is given to all refugees between 2000 and 2010, and in greater detail to Somalis. The latter provides deeper understanding through state refugee coordinators and case studies of Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Lewiston, Maine. Aside from process, it is evident that the geography of the foreign‐born settlement has been altered. While refugee resettlement and subsequent migration is the example, we broaden that to argue that migration studies have neglected the derived nature of movement via intermediary organizations; directed migrations and/or similar interventions have played a significant, if not dominant, role in population redistribution; and organization‐led migration should be considered in terms of general aspects, not simply as discrete case studies.     

Socio‐economic and ecological challenges of small‐scale fishing and strategies for its sustainable management: A case study of the Old Brahmaputra River,Bangladesh

Socio‐economic and ecological challenges faced by the small‐scale fishers dependent on the Old Brahmaputra River, Bangladesh are assessed using a combination of questionnaire survey, co‐monitoring of fish catch, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Results reveal that the fishers are involved in professional, seasonal or subsistence fishing. Fish catches from the river have declined significantly because of overfishing, destructive use of fishing gear, water pollution, siltation, rapid urbanization and human encroachment, thereby threatening the health of the river ecosystem as well as the future of small‐scale fishing. We evaluate various social, economic and ecological challenges faced by the fisher communities. We propose a conceptual framework that recognizes linkages among social, economic and ecological aspects in devising a sustainable river fisheries management system. We recommend effective legal enforcement of policies and regulations, strong institutional collaboration and active fisher community participation in management to ensure sustainable use of the resource base.     

Development without Intervention: A Successful Self‐Reliance Initiative of Rural Development and Urban Growth in The Sudan

We investigate the complex relationship between small‐scale farming, urban‐rural remittances and rural development. We highlight a successful, innovative self‐reliance approach in which traditional farmers changed their mode of production, improved their income, and enhanced rural development, including urbanization, in Shubbola village of western Sudan. The major initial driver was investment from remittances by family members who had migrated to urban centers, thus overcoming the problem of access to credit/capital. Consequently, the increased use of tractor technology helped farmers overcome agricultural labor shortages, and increase their farm size and productivity. Increased income from remittances and farming broadened economic and social improvements, including lifestyle and the built environment. In the process, Shubbola has grown into a viable and vibrant town, providing its residents with diverse socioeconomic services and modern infrastructure. This case illustrates the potential of development from within with minimal direct input from the government, nongovernmental organizations, and international donors.