Eco-dependency in Latin America

This article develops an argument around the perpetuation of socioeconomic development models based on non-renewable natural resource exploitation, weak management and regulation of renewables and the deterioration in environmental quality across different natural resources. It concludes that the structural constraints pointed out during the 1940–80 period by the dependentistas (advocates of the various theorizations of dependency) and to a lesser extent the cepalista structuralists (policy analysts at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) were alive and well in Latin America in the period 1980–2000. A theoretical case is made for the political economy reading of dependency into the realm of natural resources and environmental issues. It is argued that Latin American history and the region's more contemporary insertion into the global political economy has been determined by its use of natural resources and ongoing degradation of diverse environments. The conclusions emphasize the importance of responding to this historical condition, recognizing the concerns of the structuralists of the 1940s and 1950s and the threats highlighted by the dependentistas in the 1970s, but through the lens of contemporary changes.     

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.     

Examining regulatory reform for bus operations in Latin America

Governments in Latin American cities are pursuing regulatory reforms to address the negative externalities of informal public transportation service providers. This is achieved by regulatory actions that work to consolidate many small operators competing “in the market” into fewer larger companies competing “for the market.” This reform addresses problems in the previous phase of the regulatory cycle, but requires a larger role for public authorities. The cities of Bogotá, Santiago and Mexico City took different approaches and have achieved different levels of formalization. Under these cities’ new regulatory regimes, bus companies have consolidated and public authorities now rely on renegotiation of contracts instead of open rebidding. However, industry formalization increases costs, requiring public subsidy or higher fares, and puts financial pressure on the public sector. These results imply a continued instability in the regulatory cycle; without increased public sector capacity, it is possible that large, entrenched operators and increasing costs will create a new market opening for informal service.     

Moralising geographies: stigma, smoking islands and responsible subjects

As the long-term negative health effects of continued smoking have become more obvious, smoking cessation has become a key focus of government attention across the developed world. Smoking cessation programmes have had mixed outcomes, with rates of smoking in certain socio-economically disadvantaged and ethnic minority groups remaining high. The increasing stigmatisation of those who continue to smoke, coupled with the spatial segregation of poor and minority populations, may compound to produce 'smoking islands' that may serve to reinforce rather than discourage continued smoking. This paper examines practices of compliance and resistance by disadvantaged smokers and ex-smokers to strategies of biopower.     

Awkward geographies: Spatializing academic responsibility, encountering Sri Lanka

This paper responds to recent postcolonial geographical scholarship that sets forth transformative agendas in order to create more cosmopolitan theoretical projects within the discipline. For many geographers the challenges they face are located within not only their own disciplinary parameters, but also those of other specific research communities within which their work situates them. By bringing geography and area studies into productive conversation, this paper explores the tensions between negotiating one's academic voice, position and responsibility within geography as well as within a specific area studies community. More specifically, as a UK-based geographer I reflect on some of my own fairly unremarkable, yet extremely awkward, encounters during the course of scholarly praxis in Sri Lanka in order to raise questions over the spatialities of responsibility and political engagement in such academic praxis. I seek to theorize the chasms that open in such awkward encounters between notionally situated 'local' and 'foreign' scholars respectively and, in particular, develop ways of engaging and reorienting those chasms in ways that might enable the production of theoretically rich, yet richly contextualized postcolonial knowledges committed to the site of one's scholarly praxis – not just to the advancement of a more cosmopolitan theoretical project within geography.     

全球化视角下的宗教地理学研究变革与转向

本文回顾并分析了近10年的宗教地理研究成果,主要梳理了以下3个方面的问题:①宗教活动选址、感官地理、人口构成与宗教地理分析尺度等方面的主要研究成绩和相对不足;②后世俗主义宗教地理研究的崛起;③在当前的4大全球性变化(城市化和社会不公、环境恶化、人口老龄化、人口快速流动)中,宗教应发挥的作用。     

拉丁美洲国际移民现状研究

作为昔日重要的国际移民迁入地,拉丁美洲曾接纳了来自世界各地的大量移民。自20世纪60年代起该州转而成为国际移民迁出地,且迁移数量日益增多,并由此引发一系列广为国际社会关注的问题。本文对拉丁美洲国际移民方向发生逆转的原因进行了分析,阐述了目前该州国际移民的主要流向及其数量,对其已经和可能产生的后果做了评价并在此基础上提出了相应的对策思考。