Property advertising and the representational production of suburbia: “Functional suburbs” and “lifestyle suburbs” in Auckland

This paper joins literature on suburban advertising with Lefebvre's concept of representational space to analyse property advertisements as part of the representational production of suburban space. Based on comparative analysis of advertising material for suburban residential developments on Auckland's “North Shore” in two time‐periods—1950s and 2010s—the paper examines changes and continuities in thematic content. While property advertisements in the mid‐1900s emphasised the “functional suburb,” paying attention to attributes such as quality of utilities and proximity to the central city, more recently advertisements have more strongly emphasised the “lifestyle suburb,” with a focus on middle‐class community and natural amenity.     

American Migration,Settlement, and “Belonging” in Francophone Canada

More Americans now reside in Canada than at any time since the Vietnam War. Of particular note is the surprisingly large population of immigrants from the United States who now reside in Montreal—Francophone Canada's largest and most diverse city. This article documents and analyzes the migration experiences, spatial patterns, and “sense of belonging” of Americans in Montreal during the post–Vietnam era framed within the larger political and linguistic context of the city's “Two Solitudes.” Findings are based on information compiled from archival materials, census records, structured and unstructured interviews, survey questionnaires, participant observation, and fieldwork. My overarching goal is to embed the experiences and patterns of this English‐speaking group of immigrants in predominately French‐speaking Montreal during the past five decades—one of the most dramatic and divisive periods of time in Montreal and in Quebec as a whole.     

Coloring the Field: Gender, “Race,” and the Politics of Fieldwork

My experiences combining research and activism within the Japanese-Canadian community reflect a growing concern among feminist and anti-racist scholars with the politics of work among people marginalized by racism and sexism. This concern arises within a context where “other voices” are being heard, but the legitimacy of one individual or group to represent another is being challenged. Such challenges require that essentialism and naturalism be addressed politically and theoretically, a difficult irony given the need to utilize essentialist categories to address the oppressive conditions under which they emerged. To do so, a critical theory of political construction is required.     

“WOMEN IN GEOGRAPHY” REVISITED: PRESENT STATUS,NEW OPTIONS

The representation of women on geography faculties did not increase appreciably between 1971 and 1977, but women in other academic disciplines have fared somewhat better. The latter have improved their status primarily as a result of actions taken by professional associations representing their fields. When a professional association ignores its female constituency or refuses to commit itself to improving their circumstances, federal agencies now offer alternative channels for obtaining redress.     

Specializations in “Jobs in Geography”: 1990–1992*

One way to probe into the direction in which American academic geography is heading is to look at the actual demand for specializations and teaching duties as expressed by the recent jobs offered by colleges and universities. The results of this inquiry for the 1990–1992 period indicate that the most frequently requested courses were GIS, regional geography, and environmental geography. The greatest number of positions were advertised as general physical geographer or human geographer and were in departments without graduate programs. The findings suggest that preparations for the profession of “geography professor” should include the ability both to conduct focused research and to teach a diverse set of courses.     

National and Regional Trends in “Jobs in Geography”: 1980–1993

The number of “Jobs in Geography” advertised in the AAG Newsletter for U.S. faculty positions is analyzed for the 14 academic years from 1979–80 through 1992–93. Results reveal more job opportunities in the latter half of the study period, especially for tenured/tenure track positions as opposed to temporary jobs. The share of available positions open to ranks above the Assistant Professor level is smaller in the early 1990s compared to the 1980s. A distinct decline in faculty openings occurs for 1992–1993. Considerable regional variations in the job market situation are revealed.     

SEAFARERS' “MARITIME CULTURE” AND THE “I‐KIRIBATI WAY OF LIFE”: THE FORMATION OF FLEXIBLE IDENTITIES?

This paper aims to examine how seafarers from the Pacific Republic of Kiribati cope with the experience of working with crews of different nationalities, and, further, how the exposure to different cultures during their journeys through international waters influences both their own identity as well as their perceptions of I‐Kiribati culture. Based on examples from open and semi‐structured interviews with seafarers working on German merchant ships and Japanese fishing vessels, the paper questions the application of concepts of “hybridity” in the case of these I‐Kiribati men in favour of the idea of “cultural flexibility”. It further considers to what degree seafarers strongly rooted in the clearly confined cultural values of Kiribati have adapted the values received through their training and employment by German or Japanese and Korean companies and officers. The paper adds to the framework of transnationalism by advancing the notion of emporion, in which the circular and transversal journeys of seafarers are viewed as a connecting space between land‐based areas; a space which provides a basis for an extended knowledge and understanding of different cultural outlooks as well as relations between nations.     

Commentaries on “Evaluating the Geographic in GIS”

In this article, four geographers who are also GIS practitioners critique “Evaluating the Geographic in GIS.” Sparked by the arguments in that article, they pose fundamental questions about how geography can best contribute to GIS practices.     

“THIS TERRITORY WAS NOT EMPTY”: PACIFIC POSSIBILITIES

ABSTRACT. Narratives concerning Pacific Ocean territories are often historically derived from European and American mainland visions of great, empty oceans dotted with deserted and uninhabited islands. However, research by indigenous and outlander scholars, along with struggles for political and cultural autonomy in the Pacific, has brought attention to vital island communities and 6has raised questions about a Pacific‐island way of understanding the world. This understanding is traced through scholarly and artistic engagements with history, island‐community studies, and navigational philosophies and is framed by a growing theoretical literature on epistemologies of place from the disciplines of geography and oceanography.     

“TROPICALISM” IN FRENCH GEOGRAPHY: REALITY,ILLUSION OR IDEAL?

In important respects, the disciplinary field of “tropical geography” is a uniquely French field of study, and Pierre Gourou is conventionally seen as its founder and doyen. Yet Gourou did not see himself as the creator of a new paradigm or research school, and geographers were generally more influenced by his writings than by his teaching or any personal connection. With particular reference to French geographical research in and on tropical Africa during the second half of the twentieth century, it is suggested that the development of tropical geography as a subfield ‐ and tropicalism as a research orientation ‐ can be put down to a variety of factors and circumstances. Geographical research on Africa was pivotal, as was the rise to prominence in French research institutes of some of Gourou's disciples. But African academics also played a part, as did criticism of tropical geography for its marginalisation of issues of development and geopolitics. The paper examines this postwar intellectual history and attempts to draw from it a positive and forward looking legacy ‐ a reinvigorated and interdisciplinary “tropicalism”, the main axis of which would be the analysis of the specific characteristics of tropical ecology, and its use and transformation by the societies that live from it. Such a project may help us to confront the contemporary world ecological crisis, and forge critical research projects on globalisation (altermondialisme) that can discern and deal with the complex local‐global, and rural‐urban, articulations of this phenomenon.     

“GALICIA'S HURRICANE”: ACTOR NETWORKS AND ICONIC CONSTRUCTIONS*

Monumental constructions are created for a purpose, often as a symbolic representation of a particular vision of a people or a place. Spain's Cidade da Cultura, a museum conceptualized by Galicia's former president with the hubristic goal of creating a world icon, is one such example. Like many iconic constructions, the Cidade da Cultura project was highly contentious and sparked a regionwide political debate, vastly overran its projected cost, and years later remains controversial and incomplete. An actor‐network theory analysis of why the project failed reveals the different roles played by individual components in the vast network of actors, including the monument itself, which came to exercise influence over the outcome of the project. Because the former president could not fully control this expanding network of actors, events soon spun out of control in what became popularly known as “Galicia's Hurricane.”     

The Asian Economic “Flu”: A Geography of Crisis

This paper examines the recent economic turmoil in East Asia which has been linked to the convulsive nature of global capital movements. East Asia, once the site of rapid capital accumulation, lost its economic momentum beginning in July 1997 with a series of currency devaluations, culminating in a net outflow of private capital within a year. International capital's ability to disembed the region, however, has been highly uneven over space. That China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan are far more territorially resilient while others like Indonesia, Thailand, and South Korea initiated major political changes suggests that the geography of crisis is far more complex than is currently presented.     

“Placing” Interviews: Location and Scales of Power in Qualitative Research

For qualitative researchers, selecting appropriate sites in which to conduct interviews may seem to be a relatively simple research design issue. In fact it is a complicated decision with wide‐reaching implications. In this paper, we argue that the interview site itself embodies and constitutes multiple scales of spatial relations and meaning, which construct the power and positionality of participants in relation to the people, places, and interactions discussed in the interview. We illustrate how observation and analysis of interview sites can offer new insights with respect to research questions, help researchers understand and interpret interview material, and highlight particular ethical considerations that researchers need to address.     

“Value”-chains: Identity, tradition, and Ohio's flori(culture) industry

This paper examines the status of the floriculture industry in northwest Ohio, barriers facing firms in this transitioning sector, and strategies to promote industry competitiveness. Specifically, the paper focuses on the business practices of firms and efforts by local policymakers, academics, and business leaders to alter the regional dynamics of the industry vis-à-vis a grassroots “cluster” initiative. Using survey and focus group data, the paper demonstrates that culture, tradition, and shared values are key barriers to change and suggests that local cluster initiatives—like the Maumee Valley Growers—are an effective strategy for overcoming these barriers. From an applied perspective, the paper demonstrates the importance of contextualizing applied geographic research and the potential for geographers to chart, inform, and shape the internal geographies, practices, and trajectories of local actors and industry.     

CREATING NARRATIVES OF PLACE AND IDENTITY IN “LITTLE SWEDEN,U.S.A.”*

ABSTRACT. In Lindsborg, Kansas—“Little Sweden, U.S.A.”—the streets are lined with shops offering “An Adventure in Swedish Tradition,” and residents put on numerous festivals throughout the year highlighting Swedish folk customs. Such ethnic tourist towns have become increasingly widespread in the United States over the past thirty years. Tourists tend to perceive these places as towns where folk culture has been passed down unchanged for generations, while academics tend to dismiss residents' ethnicity as crass commercialism. Neither view is correct. Ethnicity and tradition are not static but constantly invented and reinvented. Modern folk ethnicity, among European Americans in particular, is simply the most recent incarnation of this process, one that attempts to recover ties to a specific, small‐scale landscape and history. This article explores the changing nature of the narratives of ethnicity and place‐based identity that the residents of Lindsborg have used to create a place for themselves in American society.     

“TO CIVILITY AND TO MAN'S USE”: HISTORY,CULTURE, AND NATURE*

ABSTRACT. An attempt is made to give a 10,000-year perspective on the relations of history, culture, and the nonhuman world called nature. A Holocene narrative of processes separates human societies and their cultures: things that individuate and pull apart to the point of fragmentation versus those that are binding. These tendencies toward convergence may coalesce, as with the natural sciences or global electronic technology. Equally, they may involve centrifugal processes, as in the creative arts or in forms of representation accessible only to certain groups or cultures. The environment resonates in a series of segmented channels, considerably complicated by a binary Western culture, often with 1 as acceptable and o as the Other. Is a purposeful path laid down by someone else and followed to its predetermined end in Utopia, or do we cherish something more open and contingent?     

“And a Charming Wife”: Gender,Marriage, and Manhood in the Job Search Process

The academic job search process, and the applications and reference letters that are constitutive elements of that process, are central to the creation and re‐creation of a discipline. Disciplines and departments renew and re‐create themselves — or do not, and merely replicate themselves — through hirings. A job search process can serve to hinder changes in the membership, culture, “look,” and the norms of the discipline, or it can facilitate dramatic and often rapid transformations. Job search materials thus provide an insight into the prevailing norms and conventions of a discipline. A review of a recent set of such materials reveals subtle gendered and racialized differences in the job search process. Such differences are apparent in the composition of referee committees, in the evocation of marital status both by applicants and by referees, and in the surprising persistence of themes of robust manhood. The referee pool, the applicant pool, and the search committee pool in an academic discipline are interlocked constituencies, and the job search process plays a “gatekeeping” role. The extent to which gender or racial differences are inserted into the job process thus has a bearing on the long term social construction of the discipline.