New transnational geographies of Islamism, capitalism and subjectivity: the veiling-fashion industry in Turkey

The rise of the transnational veiling-fashion industry in Turkey has taken place within the context of neoliberal economic restructuring, the subjection of the veil to new regulations, and the resurgence of Islamic identities worldwide. Even after almost two decades since its first catwalk appearance, the idea of 'veiling-fashion' continues to be controversial, drawing criticism from secular and devout Muslim segments of society alike. Analysing veiling-fashion as it plays out across economic, political and cultural fields is to enter into a new understanding of the role of Islam in the global arena today. Veiling-fashion crystallises a series of issues about Islamic identity, the transnational linkages of both producers and consumers, and the shifting boundaries between Islamic ethics and the imperatives of neoliberal capitalism. In this paper, our overarching argument is that controversies and practices surrounding veiling-fashion show how Islamic actors are adapting and transforming neoliberal capitalism at the same time as they navigate a complex geopolitical terrain in which Islam – and the iconic Muslim, headscarf-wearing woman – has been cast as a threatening 'Other'. Thus the rise of veiling-fashion as a transnational phenomenon positions women and women's bodies at the centre of political debates and struggles surrounding what it means to be 'modern' and Muslim today. Based on interviews with producers, consumers and salesclerks, and our analysis of newspaper articles, catalogues and web sites, this article traces out how the transnational production, sale and consumption of veiling-fashion works to order spaces of geopolitics, geo-economics and subject formation .     

2012 Urban Geography Plenary Lecture Topological City

The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea of the topological city, both by sharing some observations about the use of topology in critical human geography today and also by demonstrating how different modes of topological analyses of the city may work. This paper suggests that while topology is not new to the social sciences in general or geography in particular, an uptick in interest in topology in the past decade is likely due to its role in the work of Deleuze and Agamben. Topology, I suggest, can help geographers think in creative ways about spatial ontology, thereby offering some insights into the relationship between the subject and the city. I build this argument by discussing the topological workings of three cinematic cities: The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Midnight in Paris (2011), and Inception (2010). [Key words: topology, film, Lacan, subject, spatial theory.]     

Exhibiting the New Mussolinian City: Memories of empire in the World Exhibition of Rome (EUR)

The aim of this paper is to show how fascist imperialist discourses were articulated in a new urban space, just on the outskirts of Rome, and how they affected its design, use and representation. This new city, which should have been the spatial expression of the regime's political, cultural and economical achievements, since its beginning was conceived almost as a mirror image of classical Rome. As her fascist alter-ego, it was imagined as the modern realisation of the ancient dream of reconnecting Rome to the Mediterranean, of bringing Rome to the sea and the sea to Rome, as Mussolini used to say. This was a city that had to represent a strong political desire and ended up as an image of mere representation, a city that was founded to contain a world exhibition and became in itself merely an exhibit. Here I am interested not only in the story the EUR (Esposizione Universale di Roma) buildings tell, but also in what they do, according to a performative view of cultural production. In other words, they are not simply new monuments to be added to Fascism's already powerful iconography, but an integral part of those processes of incorporation and rule at work in the construction of Italy's national/imperial identity.     

Isochronous fluvial systems in Miocene deposits of Northern Pakistan

A Palacomagnetic isochron dated at about 8.1 Myr BP and detailed lithostratigraph of a 40 m interval exposed along strike for 40 km establish the depositional patterns of two contemporaneous, interfingering fluvial systems in the upper part of the Meddle Siwalik sequence. The two systems, referred to as the buff and blue-grey, differ in unit shape, lithofacies, bedding sequence, palaeocurrent direction and sand composition. Interfingering occurs along the south-west-north-east strike of the outcrops, with the palaeodrainage directions of the two systems generally perpendicular to this line. The axis of the blue-grey system, which deposited widespread sheet sands and silts, lay toward the south west end of the study area. The more complex axis of the buff system, which deposited shoe-string sand bodies and lage volumes of silt and clay, lay toward the north-east. The source area for both systems was the rising Himalyan belt to the north and noth-east of the study area. At maximum extent the blue-grey system occupied a channel belt at least 25 km wide. Channel belt widths and depths for the buff system are 1–3 km and 3–7 m, respectively. Current directions averge 94° for blue-grey sands and 136° for buff sands. Blur-grey sands contain 20% more rock fragments and are otherwise less mature than buff sands. The buff system shows a verticla pattern of avulsion, palaeosol formation and floodplain aggradation which we attribute to autocyclic processes of parallel rivers. The blue-grey system shows phases of erosion accompaniced laterally by plaeosol formation, folowed by valley fill and overfowing of interfluve surfaces. Theis pattern may be caused by allocyclic presses affecting the source area. We interpret the blue-grey system as a major drainage from the interior Himalayas (perhaps the ancestral Indus) and the buff system as a complex of smaller drinages along the mountain front which were probably ributaries to the bluegrey syste. Vertebrate fossils including hominoid primates from the area are almost exclusively associated with lithofacies of the buff system, and this probably refects both taphonomic and palaeoecological differences between the two systems.     

Diagenetic evolution of lower Jurassic platform carbonates flanking the Tazoult salt wall (Central High Atlas,Morocco)

Platform carbonates diagenesis in salt basins could be complex due to potential alterations of fluids related and non-related to diapirism. This paper presents the diagenetic history of the Hettangian to Pliensbachian platform carbonates from the Tazoult salt wall area (central High Atlas, Morocco). Low structural relief and outcrop conditions allowed to define the entire diagenetic evolution occurred in the High Atlas diapiric basins since early stages of the diapiric activity up to their tectonic inversion. Precipitation of dolomite and calcite from both warmed marine-derived and meteoric fluids characterised diagenetic stages during Pliensbachian, when the carbonate platforms were exposed and karstified. Burial diagenesis occurred from Toarcian to Middle Jurassic, due to changes of salt-induced dynamic related to increase in siliciclastic input, fast diapir rise and rapid burial of Pliensbachian platforms. During this stage, the diapir acted as a physical barrier for fluid circulation between the core and the flanking sediments. In the carbonates and breccias flanking the structures, dolomite and calcite precipitated from basinal brines, whereas carbonate slivers located in the core of the structure, were affected by the circulation of Mn-rich fluids. The final diagenetic event is characterised by the income of meteoric fluids into the system during uplift caused by Alpine orogeny. These results highlight the relevant influence of diapirism on the diagenetic modifications in salt-related basins in terms of diagenetic events and involved fluids.     

Supradetachment to rift basin transition recorded in continental to marine deposition; Paleogene Bandar Jissah Basin,NE Oman

A transition from supradetachment to rift basin signature is recorded in the ~1,500 m thick succession of continental to shallow marine conglomerates, mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic shallow marine sediments and carbonate ramp deposits preserved in the Bandar Jissah Basin, located southeast of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. During deposition, isostatically‐driven uplift rotated the underlying Banurama Detachment and basin fill ~45° before both were cut by the steep Wadi Kabir Fault as the basin progressed to a rift‐style bathymetry that controlled sedimentary facies belts and growth packages. The upper Paleocene to lower Eocene Jafnayn Formation was deposited in a supradetachment basin controlled by the Banurama Detachment. Alluvial fan conglomerates sourced from the Semail Ophiolite and the Saih Hatat window overlie the ophiolitic substrate and display sedimentary transport directions parallel to tectonic transport in the Banurama Detachment. The continental strata grade into braidplain, mouth bar, shoreface and carbonate ramp deposits. Subsequent detachment‐related folding of the basin during deposition of the Eocene Rusayl and lower Seeb formations marks the early transition towards a rift‐style basin setting. The folding, which caused drainage diversion and is affiliated with sedimentary growth packages, coincided with uplift‐isostasy as the Banurama Detachment was abandoned and the steeper Marina, Yiti Beach and Wadi Kabir faults were activated. The upper Seeb Formation records the late transition to rift‐style basin phase, with fault‐controlled sedimentary growth packages and facies distributions. A predominance of carbonates over siliciclastic sediments resulted from increasing near‐fault accommodation, complemented by reduced sedimentary input from upland catchments. Hence, facies distributions in the Bandar Jissah Basin reflect the progression from detachment to rift‐style tectonics, adding to the understanding of post‐orogenic extensional basin systems.     

Simulation and detection of tsunami signatures in ocean surface currents measured by HF radar

High-frequency (HF) surface wave radars provide the unique capability to continuously monitor the coastal environment far beyond the range of conventional microwave radars. Bragg-resonant backscattering by ocean waves with half the electromagnetic radar wavelength allows ocean surface currents to be measured at distances up to 200 km. When a tsunami propagates from the deep ocean to shallow water, a specific ocean current signature is generated throughout the water column. Due to the long range of an HF radar, it is possible to detect this current signature at the shelf edge. When the shelf edge is about 100 km in front of the coastline, the radar can detect the tsunami about 45 min before it hits the coast, leaving enough time to issue an early warning. As up to now no HF radar measurements of an approaching tsunami exist, a simulation study has been done to fix parameters like the required spatial resolution or the maximum coherent integration time allowed. The simulation involves several steps, starting with the Hamburg Shelf Ocean Model (HAMSOM) which is used to estimate the tsunami-induced current velocity at 1 km spatial resolution and 1 s time step. This ocean current signal is then superimposed to modelled and measured HF radar backscatter signals using a new modulation technique. After applying conventional HF radar signal processing techniques, the surface current maps contain the rapidly changing tsunami-induced current features, which can be compared to the HAMSOM data. The specific radial tsunami current signatures can clearly be observed in these maps, if appropriate spatial and temporal resolution is used. Based on the entropy of the ocean current maps, a tsunami detection algorithm is described which can be used to issue an automated tsunami warning message.     

The Temperature–Humidity Covariance in the Marine Surface Layer: A One-dimensional Analytical Model

An analytical model that predicts how much of the temperature–humidity covariance within the marine atmospheric surface layer (ASL) originates just above the ASL and just near the surface is proposed and tested using observations from the Risø Air Sea Experiment (RASEX). The model is based on a simplified budget for the two-scalar covariance that retains three basic terms: production, dissipation, and vertical transport. Standard second-order closure formulations are employed for the triple moments and the dissipation terms, and the canonical mixing length for the closure model is assumed linear with height (z) from the surface. Despite the poor performance of the gradient–diffusion closure in reproducing the measured triple moment, the overall covariance model was shown to be sufficiently robust to these assumptions. One of the main findings from the analytical treatment is the origin of the asymmetry in how the top and bottom boundary conditions affect the two-scalar covariance in the ASL. The analytical model reveals that ‘bottom-up’ boundary-condition variations scale with \(z^{-\sqrt{a}}\) , while ‘top-down’ variations scale with \(z^{\sqrt{a}}\) , where a is a constant that can be derived from similarity and closure constants. The genesis of this asymmetry stems from the flux-transport term but is modulated by the dissipation, and persists even in the absence of any inhomogeneity in the local production function. It is shown that the local production function acts to adjust the relative proportions of these two boundary conditions with weights that vary with the Obukhov length. The findings here do not provide ‘finality’ to the discussions on the covariance between humidity and temperature or the role of entrainment in modulating the turbulence within the ASL. Rather, they are intended to guide new hypotheses about interpretations of existing field data and identify needs for future field and numerical experiments.     

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents