Memorial landscapes: analytic questions and metaphors

Over the past two decades, geographers have probed the intersection of collective memory and urban space. Their sustained interest in the subject reflects an understanding of the social condition of commemoration and the important role that space plays in the process and politics of collective memory. Along with other critical social scientists, geographers envision these public symbols as part of larger cultural landscapes that reflect and legitimate the normative social order. A review of the extant literature indicates that geographers scrutinize memorial landscapes through three conceptual lenses that may be understood via the metaphors of ‘text,’ ‘arena,’ and ‘performance.’ These metaphors are in turn mobilized through a series of analytic questions that serve to identify the interests served and denied by landscape ‘texts,’ the ‘arenas’ in which they are produced, and the ways in which they are enacted via ‘performance.’ This article’s synopsis of the subfield’s predominant metaphors and its attendant questions contributes to the ongoing cultural geographic project of articulating and implementing methods for interpreting landscapes as open-ended symbolic systems.

Gendered access to customary land in East Timor

Land tenure rights reflect the deeper structures of society, particularly gender distinctions in relation to land. Considering the structural differences between patrilineal and matrilineal customary tenure systems in East Timor are understudied, this paper explores men and women’s experiences in accessing land under such arrangements. The comparative analysis of two patrilineal with one matrilineal land tenure systems in Ainaro and Manufahi districts suggests a significant degree of flexibility within both systems with respect to the norms of gendered inheritance. Therefore, the binary constructs of ‘patrilineal’ and ‘matrilineal’ societies are limiting. Both men and women in these communities may acquire land rights under different circumstances, mainly through negotiations with their parents or hamlet chief. Daughters in the patrilineal communities could inherit family land upon their parents’ death and sons in the matrilineal community could gain land by cultivating and maintaining unclaimed customary land. Empirical evidence show that inheritance principally determines usufruct rights to land, but marriage exchange practices complicates a deeper understanding of traditional East Timorese land rights.

Alternative technologies for rural areas–what about the ‘alternative’ dimension of Wi-Fi?

Summary  The question of alternative technologies for high-speed Internet access lies at the heart of rural development problems. In this paper, we focus on one of those technologies, the system combining satellite technologies and Wi-Fi. Based on an empirical study carried out in three rural areas, we analyze the dynamics of the use and appropriation of that technology by the companies and organizations participating in the experiment. Considered both from a technical and social standpoint, the technology ‘in use’ appears here in its structuring dimensions.

The bio-politics of bodies politic: nature and intertextuality in classic US geopolitical discourse

This paper is a discourse analysis of classic US geopolitical texts which appropriate metaphors of the body to describe the state and its defense. While critical political geographers have demonstrated the role of naturalist epistemologies in classic geopolitics, I contribute to critical geopolitics literature by further examining the discursive economy of naturalism within which US geopolitical discourse is embedded. More specifically, I employ the concept of intertextuality, as theorized by Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes in the 1960s, as a key analytical tool. In doing so, I argue that invocations of the ‘body politic’ in 20th century geopolitical texts are a version of bio-politics informed by a proliferating bio-medical discourse over a similar time period. I furthermore argue that such metaphors serve to naturalize territorialized national identities and create a spatial abstraction of a nationalized self in opposition to foreign ‘others,’ a discursive strategy used frequently to justify militaristic state policies. This paper, then, also adds to literature on militarism and the environment by further analyzing the discursive construction of the state in relation to an essentialized, abstracted nature.

Church–state relations in Spain: Variations on a National-Catholic theme?

Contrary to the absence of a uniform Spanish identity (a phenomenon that is often referred to as Spain being a ‘nation of nations’), Spain’s confessional map is remarkably homogeneous. From the beginning of its existence as a political conglomeration, Spain has been a mono-confessional Catholic territory. Even at present, Catholicism is an intrinsic feature of Spanish society and – though officially a secular state – of state policy. A closer look at Spain’s religious situation and its corresponding pattern of church–state relations reveals, however, some recent cracks in the century’s old bond between Spain and Catholicism. Particularly secularization and religious pluralism challenge Spain’s mono-confessional Catholic nature, a development that fits well into Spain’s post-Francoist focus on Europe and European (secular) values. This paper discusses Spanish church–state relations from the beginning of its political existence until present times. Special attention will be paid to more recent societal developments and their impact on religious Spain and church–state relations.

Post-Bam earthquake: recovery and reconstruction

This paper gives a brief explanation of the earthquake in Bam. It also reports on the rescue and relief operations, including the construction of emergency shelters and temporary housing, and on the country’s plan for the reconstruction of the city, which includes debris removal, the rebuilding of rural and urban residential and commercial units, the reconstruction of state and public buildings and public facilities such as schools, rural and urban water aqueducts and grids, the construction of a sewage system, power network and telecommunication system, the provision of water to orchards and farmlands, the renovation of industries and the revival of the cultural heritage, particularly the historical Bam citadel, among others. We also report briefly on the effect of the Bam earthquake on the Iran Earthquake Risk Reduction Strategy and actions.

Holland as other place and other time: alterity in projected tourist images of the Netherlands

Geographers show keen interest in projected images employed in tourism as these images both reflect the ideas of the image producers and influence tourists’ perceptions and (spatial) behaviour. This article focuses on intentional and unintentional projected images of the Netherlands. The former is especially selective: it relies on stereotypes and presents Holland. The unintentional projected image created in four travel guides is less stereotyped. While the focus is still on Holland, other areas of the country are presented as well. Both intentional and unintentional projected images rely on ’othering’ and ’alterity’ to make the Netherlands a unique destination and to offer the tourists a trip that is far from everyday life. However travel guides use ’alterity’ in different ways and at different levels of scale to create a regional geography of the Netherlands as well.

Towards domestic fair trade? Farm labor, food localism, and the ‘family scale’ farm

Over the past several decades, consumers in the global North have increasingly looked to fair or alternative trading systems as a means to promote ecologically and socially sustainable agricultural production. While fair trade has historically been limited to international commodity networks, US-based agro-food activists have recently turned their attentions towards building a domestic movement, to bring fair trade principles and standards ‘home.’ Through an exploration of this growing movement, we consider the potential for third party certification and labeling to incorporate social justice into US-based agricultural production, with a particular focus on the implications for farm workers. We view current efforts to bring the principles of fair trade to the domestic arena as a reflection of several interrelated developments: a growing need on the part of small and mid-sized farmers to garner price premiums due to the erosion of the organic price premium; a recognition of the failure of organic certification to advance a holistic vision of sustainability; and the strategic embrace of voluntary regulatory mechanisms as an alternative to public regulation and collective bargaining. Initial research suggests that this has led to particular framings of the domestic fair trade concept, which may undermine the movement’s ability to address the social relations of agro-food production. Specifically, prioritization of the ‘family-scale’ farm and an undercurrent of food localism may obscure farm workers’ role in valorizing the US agricultural landscape.

Patterns of population change in Ghana (1984–2000): urbanization and frontier development

The study addresses population dynamics in Ghana on the urban and regional levels between 1984 and 2000. At the urban level, the development trends are analyzed for urban localities (population above 5,000) on the basis of geo-coded census data. Potential driving forces for rapid population growth related to size, location, accessibility and facility counts are examined using bivariate and multivariate analysis. An index of weighted accessibility relative to other urban localities provides significant explanation at the national level, as does initial locality size. At the regional level, population development is analyzed to provide insight into the rural–urban relations. The level of urbanization is steadily increasing but varies considerably between regions. Areas of high population growth are found in some rural areas that have a remote location relative to the large urban centers. This seems to indicate the existence of ‘frontier’ regions, i.e. areas that experience a high degree of in-migration by people aiming to undertake specific farming activities. A high proportion of the population growth in these areas appears to take place in relatively small towns. The paper concludes with a more in-depth discussion of the development characteristics of Ghana’s Western Region. This region has experienced one of the highest regional population growth rates, mainly due to its status as a ‘frontier’ for cocoa production.

Clogging microstructures in the vadose zone—laboratory and field studies

Long-term water infiltration into porous media, like clastic deposits, causes colmatage (clogging), which is expressed by the decrease of permeability. It is caused by progressive filling of pore spaces with fine particles carried in suspension (mechanical colmatage) and minerals precipitated from water (chemical colmatage or biochemical colmatage, when the process is affected by bacterial activity). Although this material is introduced into the sediment after deposition, it does not destroy the primary framework of it but it only coats grains and fills voids. This process results in some characteristic microstructures that are called ‘clogging microstructures’. The research included: (1) experiments on sands exposed to mechanical colmatage in laboratory conditions, which aimed to describe clogging microstructures and to examine the effects of grain size distribution on the rate and degree of clogging; (2) field and laboratory studies of deposits in which colmatage occurred in natural conditions in the infiltrating water intake ‘Dębina’ in Poznań, Poland. The main goal of the research was to identify post-depositional changes that took place in fluvial deposits affected by forced river water infiltration in the Warta River valley. Examples are presented of clogging microstructures formed in deposits affected by colmatage in the laboratory and in natural conditions.

Potential impact of ash eruptions on dairy farms from a study of the effects on a farm in eastern Bay of Plenty,New Zealand; implications for hazard mitigation

This paper investigates the impact ash fall would have on dairy farming, based on a study of ‘Tulachard’, a dairy farming operation at Rerewhakaaitu, North Island, New Zealand. It includes analysis of the potential effects on the dairy shed and milking machine, electrical supply and distribution, water supply and distribution, tractors and other farm vehicles, farm buildings (haysheds, pump sheds, implement sheds, etc.), milk-tanker access to the farm and critical needs of dairy cows and farm to keep milking. One of the most vulnerable areas identified in the study was the cooling of milk at the milking shed, pending dairy tanker pick-up. The cooling system’s condenser is exposed to the atmosphere and falling ash would make it highly vulnerable. Laboratory testing with wet and dry ash was conducted to determine its resilience to ash ingestion. It was found to perform satisfactorily during dry testing, but during wet testing significant clogging/blocking of the condenser’s radiator occurred, dramatically reducing airflow through the condenser. Specific mitigation recommendations have been developed that include cleaning with compressed air and adapting farm management techniques to lessen usage of the condenser during an ash-fall event. Specific recommendations for management of dairy farm operation are given to mitigate the effects of an ash-fall event.

Is self-regulation a myth? Case study on Spanish groundwater user associations and the role of higher-level authorities

Self-regulation of groundwater users offers tremendous potential for effective groundwater management. The attributes of higher-level authorities that are more likely to facilitate the beneficial management of groundwater in economic, social and environmental terms are discussed. For this purpose, eight groundwater user associations in Spain have been compared. Factors that support institutional change were analyzed, namely: salience, common understanding, trust and reciprocity, autonomy, prior organizational experience and local leadership. These factors are complemented by features that strengthen actions by higher-level authorities that oversee self-regulation by water users (clear boundaries, legitimate recognition of appropriators, facilitating roles, trust in cross-scale linkages, clear division of responsibilities, institutional culture and co-management model choices). Self-regulation includes the creation of reflexive organizations that are capable of learning, provided first, the administration itself is modernized to meet the challenges of self-regulation, and second, that ‘regulatory capture’ is avoided by external organizations, ensuring that the regulator and the regulated are not so close in their relationship as to be detrimental to effectiveness.

Geographic media literacy: an introduction

In a media saturated world of globalization, information flow and knowledge economies, an interesting paradox exists: geographic literacy appears to be on the decline while geographic information is on the rise. In this introduction to a collection of essays on geographies of the media, we explore this paradox and use Baudrillard’s (1994) work on Simulacra and Simulation to argue that increased mediated information does not produce more meaning, but rather leads to a catastrophe of meaning and the medium. Drawing from McLuhan’s axiom, “the medium is the message,” we posit that with more mediated information there is less meaningful information and as such we need to address geographic media literacy as a primary mode through which to address geographic literacy.

Temporary labour migration and sustainable post-conflict return in Sierra Leone

Economic and social development indicators suggest that the small West African state of Sierra Leone is among the poorest countries in the world. Sierra Leone’s economy and quality of life deteriorated rapidly during a decade of political instability and civil war in the 1990s, when many people fled their homes and abandoned their livelihoods due to the rebel insurgency. This paper examines the post-war reconstruction scenario in Sierra Leone and presents recent evidence from two rural communities in the Eastern Province that were badly affected by the conflict. The paper considers the links between the farming and diamond mining sectors, which, despite severe dislocation during the conflict period, have proved to be remarkably resilient. It is argued that seasonal labour mobility associated with this dual economy has not only continued to be a key ingredient in sustaining livelihood portfolios, but is actually an essential pre-condition for the creation of an enabling environment for sustainable post-conflict return.

From multi-confessional to mono-confessional state. State–church relations in Poland following World War II

According to Madeley’s (2003) comparative framework of state–church relations in Europe, Poland is part of the historic Northeast-Southeast multi-confessional culture belt. The aim of this paper is to analyse the historic relationships between the Polish state and church in relation to this framework with special attention to the post-Second World War period and to the consequences for the Polish religious landscape. In contrast to the multi-confessionality of the historic Polish polities, after the Second World War Poland became a mono-confessional, Roman-Catholic country. Territorial changes, the resettlement of people and the annihilation of the Jewish population by the Nazis were responsible for this religious homogenisation. Consequently, the relationship between state and church was almost completely confined to the relationship with the Roman-Catholic Church. During the 45 years of communist dominance, that church became the largest public organisation independent of the state authorities and played the most important role in the struggle against the ‘atheisation’ of Polish society as a consequence of the strong support for the church by the majority of people. The post–1989 period is characterised by a liberalisation towards non-Catholic religious communities and – after an initial reluctance – a positive attitude of the Polish Roman-Catholic Church (strongly supported by the Polish Pope John Paul II) towards the Polish membership of the European Union.

Movement,memory, landscape: an excursion in non-representational thought

This paper is an excursion in non-representational thought. The primacy of movement charges this creative geography. Movement as sensation, thought, matter and memory crystallizes in ongoing assemblages (effects) we term selves and landscapes. This movement ontology is animated by a stream of thought running through Bergson, Deleuze, and Massumi, and by Ingold’s temporality of landscape. Memory is vital, as past (virtual) and present (actual) coexist, pushing forward in duration, the dynamic continuation of movement and sensation. David Lynch’s film, The Straight Story, offers dramatic illustration of the entanglement of movement, memory, and landscape. Landscape is emergent as relational lines of movement, an ongoing meshwork of practices and movement signatures. Alvin Straight’s paced journey through Iowa on a John Deere lawn mower during autumn harvest is a road to reminiscence and reconciliation, an American sublime. Lynch’s movement-images and soundscapes are sensorial undulations that illumine landscape as movement of incorporation, ‘dwelling’ in the moment to moment, geographies of care. The take-home message is that we are nothing more and nothing less than agents, next selves, ‘passing’ through. The collective trace of our ‘passings’ constitutes the making and remaking of place.

Identifying China’s leading world city: a network approach

This paper reports our research on China’s world cities. Formal network analysis of air passenger linkages for recent years among China’s most populous cities and among many of the world’s largest cities allows us to identify the country’s leading world city from among the leading Mainland candidates, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. We theorize our findings about China’s world cities in relation to both global forces (and China’s increasing entanglement with them) and the policies and actions of the national state. We examine the national and global urban network through a longitudinal, two-level analysis of airline passenger travel for four time points between about 1990 and 2005. We show that Beijing was China’s leading world city at the beginning of the time period, a status it lost nationally in as early as 1995, and then globally 10 years later. On the other hand Shanghai became China’s leading world city, and it acquired this status first nationally in 2000, and then globally in 2005. The changing status of the Chinese capital corresponds to the country’s increasing involvement with the capitalist world economy. Shanghai’s ascendance as the leading world city in China may indicate that global forces have come to play an increasingly important role relative to that of the developmental state.

Krieger’s conceptualization and measurement of discrimination and internalized oppression in studies of adverse health outcomes

Embodiment is a central concept in Krieger’s ecosocial theory, and is said to be of relevance to the understanding of the relationship between social conditions and a variety of adverse health outcomes. The most detailed empirical investigation of this in Krieger’s work is to be found in her studies of the relationship between racial discrimination and high blood pressure. Of especial relevance here is the idea of internalized oppression which is said to explain the observed association between self-reports of no racial discrimination and increased levels of blood pressure among working-class African Americans. Here we critically examine the empirical evidence pertaining to internalized oppression. Specifically, we focus on the measurement of the construct and the quality of the empirical evidence that has been presented in support of the hypothesis that there is an association between internalized oppression and adverse health outcomes. We argue that the validity of the concept has yet to be established and that the available data linking it to poor health outcomes are open to alternative explanations, notably measurement error and misclassification.

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Post-disaster assessment of hazard mitigation for small and medium-magnitude debris flow disasters in Bali,Indonesia and Jimani,Dominican Republic

This article explores whether past exposure to debris flow disasters with a human dimension (e.g. caused in part by deforestation) results in adaptive hazard mitigation and improved environmental and resource management practices in affected areas. When guiding hazard mitigation practice, the ‘adaptive hazard mitigation’ approach views mitigation as a multi-dimensional experiment, with the associated need for post-experiment monitoring, evaluation, learning and adjustment, and attention paid to multiple scales (Bogardi 2004). This article explores how the concept of ‘adaptive hazard mitigation’ has emerged, linking this ‘adaptive management’ used increasingly in resource and environmental management. Two case studies of disasters linked to human-induced environmental change are examined, and the mitigation responses of local communities, NGOs and Government agencies are documented. Data sources include secondary data (journal articles, web-based disaster reports and grey literature) on each disaster, key informant interviews (n = 8) and direct observation over the 2005–2006 period of post-disaster mitigation actions implemented after each disaster. The research indicates that in both case studies, a limited range of hazard mitigation actions was employed, including both structural and non-structural approaches. However, the research also found that causal factors involving human-induced environmental change (e.g. deforestation) were not addressed, and overall, the hazard mitigation strategies adopted lacked monitoring, learning and adjustment. In both case studies, responses to disaster were judged to be examples of ‘trial and error’ adaptation, rather than either ‘passive’ or ‘active’ adaptation.