MYTHOLOGIES OF THE GRID IN THE EMPIRE CITY, 1811–2011*

In this article, I examine the performative dimensions of historical narration as a form of modern mythmaking by reconsidering conventional narratives on the “origins” of Manhattan's grid street plan of 1811. The historical mythology of the grid espoused in canonical readings of the Plan of 1811 relies extensively on a rearticulation of the official explanation that the grid's designers provided in a foundational text known as the “Commissioners’ Remarks”. I argue that such accounts result in an extraordinarily narrow and formulaic interpretation of the utilitarian motives and intentions behind the city's grid plan, one that reinforces a form of “morphological essentialism”. To support this argument, I shift the focus of attention beyond the “Commissioners’ Remarks” in order to complicate readings of the intentionality that gave rise to the 1811 street plan. I conclude by suggesting that the mythic search for the “origins” of the grid in the realm of founding intentions can most effectively be challenged by drawing attention to the proliferation of countermyths of gridded space.     

BAVARIAN LEAVENWORTH AND THE SYMBOLIC ECONOMY OF A THEME TOWN

ABSTRACT. Theme towns are an often‐overlooked but significant form of tourism in rural areas. Many a small town across the United States, faced with a declining resource‐based economy, has turned to “theming” as an economic‐development strategy. In hopes of creating an alluring landscape, the built environment is radically transformed, and a variety of invented traditions are instituted. This article explores one such place‐Leavenworth, Washington‐that “went Bavarian” in the 1960s and is widely viewed as a success story. We examine four interrelated concepts that produce the symbolic economy of Leavenworth: emulation of other theme towns, authenticity, visual difference, and place marketing. After discussing each, we turn to the questions of how residents are affected by tourism and what it is like to live in Leavenworth.     

GEO/GRAPHIC DESIGN: THE LIMINAL SPACE OF THE PAGE

For many geographers, the printed page is no longer a productive tool to engage contemporary definitions of place or debates surrounding the nonrepresentational. There is a discernible shift within the discipline toward creative research methods, including using media such as film or sound, with a perception that they are less “fixed” in nature. In this article, however, I suggest that, by developing “geo/graphic” work that draws on theories and practices from both cultural geography and graphic design, the page can be recast as a liminal space, a threshold between readers and their understanding and imagination. I propose that a book has the potential to offer a multisensory, interactive space of exploration for readers and that the construction of such geo/graphic work also offers researchers an additional creative method with which to understand place.     

KIDS AND SPACE IN THE PUERTO RICAN HIGHLANDS

ABSTRACT. The spatial world of the child comprises two great realms, “in’ and “out,’ more or less corresponding to the great behavioral domains of “got to’ and “doing nothing.’ Within the “got‐to’ domain–and thus “in’–are home, school, and other loci of secure, stable authority. Included in “doing nothing’–and so “out’–are street and yard, field and stream, pool hall and movie theater, the spaces of games, things to do, and really doing nothing. This study looks at the shifting relationships of these realms across the life cycle of kids in the highlands of Puerto Rico in 1969–1970.     

HUMBOLDT AND THE HABITABILITY OF CANADA'S GREAT NORTHWEST*

ABSTRACT. Alexander von Humboldt's influence in British North America during the nineteenth century was filtered mainly through British imperial applications of “Humboldtian” sciences, including geomagnetism and biogeography. The best‐known examples include Edward Sabine and John Henry Lefroy, Royal Artillery officers who, during the 1830s and 1840s, transformed British North American outposts and territories, including Rupert's Land, into Humboldtian sites and regions in Great Britain's imperial “magnetic crusade.” Important groundwork had already been laid by John Richardson, who applied data accrued during John Franklin's overland Arctic expeditions during the 1820s to systematize Humboldtian inquiries into the habitability of Canada's Great Northwest. Despite both the relative decline of Humboldtian sciences by midcentury and Humboldt's own reservations about the political ramifications of his science, his “cosmic” outlook circulated in Canada to refine territorial expansionists' scientistic arguments justifying annexation of Rupert's Land after the monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company expired in 1869.     

RECONSTRUCTED PRODUCTION LANDSCAPES IN THE POSTMODERN CITY: APPLIED DESIGN AND CREATIVE SERVICES IN THE METROPOLITAN CORE

Applied design and creative services are central to the formation of metropolitan landscapes and urban culture (both in historical and contemporary contexts), as well as to the production of the full range of industrial and consumer goods. More specifically, applied design firms are essential to the development of advanced industrial systems, and facilitate the operation of flexible production regimes by (1) enabling production differentiation in segmented markets, (2) improving productivity, (3) promoting production synergies, (4) enhancing short-run customized production, and (5) contributing to the condensing of longer-run style cycles. A case study of design and creative services firms in Vancouver discloses that such firms exhibit important commonalities with other producer services industries (e.g., intermediate market orientation, clustering propensity, divisions of labor). At the same time, firms engaged in the production of design may be differentiated from “mainstream” business or corporate service firms in terms of (1) location and milieu, with a clear affinity for the CBD fringe and inner city, rather than the CBD proper; (2) function, with an emphasis on creativity as both raison d'etre and operating characteristic; and (3) services-goods interface (design services are not “arms length” from goods production, like most business services, but are directly concerned with the style, configuration, and identity of end products). Finally, the clustering of design and creative service firms exemplifies the “internal specialization of the production spaces of the large metropolis” (Scott, 1988), although empirical evidence from the Vancouver case asserts the significance of sociocultural, as well as economic, features of agglomeration. [Key words: design, production, inner city, clustering, agglomeration.]     

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE AIZJOMI LANDSCAPE†

This article considers the history of a particular Latvian cultural landscape, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Known as an aizjomi landscape, it consists of small, humanly made tilths on the seashore. These features are both physical elements and repositories of historical and cultural meaning. In one sense, through hard labor humans created the aizjomi landscape, adjusting the morphological and dynamic elements of the landscape and continually maintaining them. These human efforts made agriculture possible in the dunes, and in so doing they fashioned a means for producing a livelihood and, indeed, for sustaining life. The aizjomi landscape became a materialization of the people's day‐to‐day life in the middle and late nineteenth century and can thus be considered a “taskscape,” pulsating simultaneously with the rhythm of nature and historical events. I have analyzed empirical evidence from archival documents, reviewed ecological and historical studies, and conducted field research on specific farming practices that shaped the landscape that, in turn, shaped agricultural activities. Through a retrospective analysis I trace the development and decline of the aizjomi landscape.     

MARCEL DUCHAMP'S ART AND THE GEOGRAPHY OF MODERN PARIS*

ABSTRACT. Modern artist Marcel Duchamp's concept of the readymade remains influential though controversial. I propose a new interpretation of the readymades as a coherent series of works that re‐create the landscape of Paris in the artist's New York City studio. Using techniques that parallel the conceptual and visual transformations of space performed by cartography and by landscape painting, Duchamp created a personal, monumental, and three‐dimensional “map” by replacing Parisian monuments with small‐scale objects. The readymades thus expand on the quest of modern artists for innovative ways to represent landscape and, at the same time, offer geographers new ways of seeing landscape.     

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND THE NARRATION OF NATION*

Captain Britain Weekly (1976–1977) was the first comic book specially created for the British market by New York‐based Marvel Comics. The title character was created as an analogue to Captain America, the legendary American nationalist hero of the so‐named comic book, but with key differences meant to resonate in the British context. I utilize visual and textual discourse analysis to study the narrative and imagery used to introduce this character to British comics fans, and I discuss readers' letters to the editor to evaluate audience response to the character and story lines. Attention is drawn to the hero's origin, which fuses science and magic to construct a paradoxically primordial, yet modern, British identity. Villains in these story lines provide hints about “un‐British” behavior and provide lessons for young readers, with direct moral connections to, and contrasts with, the narratives found in Captain America.     

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.     

TROPICALITY AND TOPICALITY: PIERRE GOUROU AND THE GENEALOGY OF FRENCH COLONIAL SCHOLARSHIP ON RURAL VIETNAM

This article discusses the relevance of the work of Pierre Gourou for Vietnamese and non‐Vietnamese scholarship on colonial and postcolonial rural society in Vietnam. The term “tropicality” is used to situate Gourou's work within the framework of both French and Vietnamese regimes of truth. It is argued that Gourou was aware of the complex human geographies of the tropics and monsoon Asia and the challenges this posed to both Western and “tropical” peoples. Gourou and the issue of tropicality is used to show that Vietnamese scholars did not completely reject French colonial systems of knowledge, and that decolonisation did not herald a complete shift in knowledge about rural Vietnam. Rather, since the 1940s there has been antagonism and accommodation between colonial and postcolonial, French and Vietnamese modes of knowledge production. While Gourou underscored the otherness of the tropics, and there are colonial overtones in his work, he had an immense influence on indigenous ethnography and geography in Vietnam and elsewhere in the formerly colonised world. The article traces this important influence and how it has been both questioned and affirmed since independence in the Vietnamese context. It is suggested that the humanistic approach that Gourou pioneered in his 1936 study of the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam has outlived and been able to overcome the setbacks and drawbacks of both colonial and revolutionary/Vietnamese politico‐intellectual projects.     

CHANNING COPE AND THE MAKING OF A MIRACLE VINE*

ABSTRACT. The history of kudzu illustrates the fluidity with which people can redefine their cultural relationship with exotic species. Although much of American society views the fast‐growing Asian vine as a pest, this has not always been the case. During the first half of the twentieth century, individual entrepreneurs and government officials touted kudzu as a “miracle vine” and carried out massive planting campaigns across the southeastern United States. This study traces the changing place of kudzu within southern society from its introduction in the late 1800s to the present. Specific attention is devoted to the role that the gentleman farmer, author, and radio personality Channing Cope played in popularizing the cultivation of kudzu. Cope's promotional activities are interpreted as environmental claims making. Analysis focuses on the metaphors he used in persuading the public of kudzu's supposed benefits. Conducting such an examination advances our general understanding of the historical geography of exotics in America and the importance of human agency and cultural representation in the spread of non‐native organisms.     

THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST AND REFORM IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S IDEOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

ABSTRACT. In pursuit of its foreign‐policy goals, the administration of President George W. Bush has attempted a dramatic reshaping of the vision of the Middle East in the American mind. References to the “new” or “greater” Middle East now include countries far outside traditional concepts of the region, including those in West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. The administration argues that this region is defined not by cultural (Arab) or religious (Islam) characteristics but by a lack of democracy; hence a grand strategy is needed to execute reform. This article examines current U.S. efforts to achieve reform in the region, the components of the ideological construction of the New Middle East, the perceived role of Iraq, Turkey's potential role as a “model” for the region, and responses from the region to current U.S.‐led reform efforts.     

MUSLIMS,HINDUS, AND SIKHS IN THE NEW RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE OF ENGLAND*

ABSTRACT. This article examines the dramatic changes brought to English townscapes by Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism. These “new” religions have arrived with the large‐scale immigration and subsequent natural growth of the minority ethnic populations of Great Britain since the 1950s. The article traces the growth and distribution of these populations and religions, as well as the development of their places of worship from front‐room prayer rooms to cathedral‐scale buildings. It explores the way in which the British planning process, dedicated to preserving the traditional, has engaged with the exotic.     

Alternative Economies of the Forest: Honey Production and Public Land Management in Northwest Florida

Within public lands across the United States, “natural” environments are given boundaries, subject to regulation, and managed for various uses. However, the effective and judicious management of these socionatural spaces for the greater good of both long-term sustainability and the mutual benefit of disparate stakeholders remains a challenge. One such stakeholder group includes forest-dependent communities, specifically, harvesters and producers of nontimber forest products (NTFPs). Relying on a case study of honey producers in rural northwest Florida, this article demonstrates how competing notions of forest management create tensions between local resource users and resource managers. NTFP research engages in timely discussions of diverse economic practices, resource politics, and issues of contested land use and access within a post-industrial context.     

MAKING SUSTAINABLE CREATIVE/CULTURAL SPACE IN SHANGHAI AND SINGAPORE*

ABSTRACT. Shanghai and Singapore are two economically vibrant Asian cities that have recently adopted creative/cultural economy strategies. In this article I examine new spatial expressions of cultural and economic interests in the two cities: state‐vaunted cultural edifices and organically evolved cultural spaces. I discuss the simultaneous precariousness and sustainability of these spaces, focusing on Shanghai's Grand Theatre and Moganshan Lu and on Singapore's Esplanade—Theatres by the Bay and Wessex Estate. Their cultural sustainability is understood as their ability to support the development of indigenous content and local idioms in artistic work. Their social sustainability is examined in terms of the social inclusion and community bonds they engender; environmental sustainability refers to the articulation with the language of existing urban forms and the preservation of or improvements to the landscape. Although both Shanghai and Singapore demonstrate simultaneous precariousness and sustainability, Singapore's city‐state status places greater pressure on it to ensure sustainability than does Shanghai, within a much larger China in which Beijing serves as the cultural hearth while Shanghai remains essentially a commercial center.     

J. B. JACKSON AND THE PLAY OF THE MIND: INQUIRY AND ASSERTION AS CONTACT SPORTS

ABSTRACT. Adopting the persona of the nonacademic, J. B. Jackson was, nonetheless, a major influence on academic scholarship. Expertly and deftly, he played on his understanding of scholarly convention, pushing the boundaries of “legitimate” generalization and assertion. Careful observation of his style reveals eight strategies for testing, mocking, and challenging habits of mind that can unnecessarily constrict scholarly inquiry. From daring in the drawing of conclusions to the wily use of the pronoun “we,” from a refusal to defer to middle-class values to the baiting of environmentalists, Jackson at once had a good time and called much of academic propriety into question. An examination of his “game plan” gives scholars a chance to examine their own habitual practices.     

POPPER'S PRINCIPLE OF FALSIFIABILITY AND THE IRREFUTABILITY OF THE DAVISIAN CYCLE

Many “sociological”factors can account for the initial acceptance and continued persistence of W. M. Davis's Geographical Cycle. Such factors include Davis's attractive and forceful presentation of the cycle and the role of the cycle as a unifier of the discipline of physical geography, to name two. An analysis of the scientific character of the cycle, in the light of Karl Popper's criteria for demarcating between science and non-science, suggests that persistence of the cycle can also be attributed to a “logical”factor, the irrefutability of the central concept, stage.     

THE GEOPOLITICS OF EUGENICS AND THE EXCLUSION OF PHILIPPINE IMMIGRANTS FROM THE UNITED STATES

ABSTRACT. From 1898 to 1936, Philippine immigrants were routinely excluded from the United States, where incipient practices of eugenic “science” and geopolitics were informing social policy. Concomitant with emergent theories of evolution, a geopolitically informed eugenics forewarned of possible racial competition and societal degeneration. Immigration legislation emerged as an effective social policy to exclude perceived undesirable, and racially distinct, immigrant groups, ostensibly to protect race and state.