Representing environments in flux: case studies from East Africa

The dominant view in the ecology and anthropology of the 1950s saw populations harmoniously interacting in self-regulating systems; climax forests and stable societies were the ruling hypotheses. Now, however, ecology and social sciences are investigating nature and culture in flux. The flux paradigms of nature and culture describe a human–ecological relationship that is non-equilibrial, historically contingent and constantly negotiated at both material and ideological levels by unequal actors. In this paper, we examine the effect of changing ecological and cultural paradigms on interpretations of environmental change in three areas of East Africa: the North Pare Mountains, Tanzania, the Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania and the Tsavo National Park, Kenya. We explore how discursive and materialist approaches can complement one another, by expanding the domains of ecological inquiry and demanding that analysts cross-check their data for unquestioned assumptions regarding stability, variability and spatial and temporal scales. Rather than testing a ruling hypothesis, we suggest that ecologists and social scientists work with multiple hypotheses, with the aim of understanding the interplay between ecological, environmental and social influences.     

(Hetero)sexing Space: Gay Men and “Straight” Space in Adelaide,South Australia

This paper examines gay men's perceptions and experiences of everyday places in Adelaide, South Australia. It illustrates the nature of social space as a heterosexual artifact. The paper also outlines ways in which gay men may contribute to the heterosexualization of space. Many gay men monitor the public and private roles they play for fear of the consequences of “discovery,” and through self-policing and restricted behaviors they may contribute to the spatial supremacy of heterosexuality. Acts of nondisclosure and the adoption of straight sexual facades constrain gay men's social and spatial lives.     

我国北方农牧交错带的环境演变

中国北方农牧交错带在１０～８．５ｋａＢ．Ｐ．经历了三次阶段性增暖后进入全新世暖期。８．５～８．０ｋａＢ．Ｐ．和４～３．５ｋａＢ．Ｐ．暖期的开始与结束事件中降水变化落后于温度变化３００～５００ａ；暖期盛期时的年均温较现代高２～３℃，降水多１００ｍｍ左右；暖期中存在多次短期寒冷事件，年均温最冷时较现代低３℃以上。３．５ｋａＢ．Ｐ．以来冷干趋势之上叠加着大致由３００ａ稳定与５００ａ波动构成的约８００ａ的周期性变化。全新世暖期原始农业文化的阶段性发展与暖期内环境波动相对应；暖期结束时发生了由农业向牧业文化转换的事件；暖期以后的冷干期为农牧交错文化时期，农业经济随冷干程度的变化而兴衰     

太湖生态环境演化及其原因分析

太湖地处长江下游三角洲,水域面积为2338km²,平均水深1.9m,最大水深不足2.6m,为一典型的大型浅水湖泊。太湖流域地势平坦,河网密布,河湖水力关系复杂。其主要补给径流来自西南部的天目山区及西部的宜溧河流域。每年夏天,大部分入湖洪水通过位于东太湖的太浦河及东北部的望虞河分别排入黄浦江与长江,由于出入湖河道的特殊位置,使得太湖南部的换水周期较短而北部较长。近几十年来,太湖由于污染而逐步呈现富营养化特征,污染物主要来自北部的无锡市和常州市,通过河道排入太湖北部的五里湖与梅梁湾,因此上述两地的水质较南部差。在东太湖,水产养殖对水环境的影响很大,亦呈现出富营养化特征,并殃及该地区的供水,加之该地区为太湖主要的泄洪通道,因此泥沙淤积严重,而且水生植物生长旺盛,呈现出明显的沼泽化趋势;在太湖四周地区,由于湖泊围垦和水利工程建设,其污染净化能力将降低,从而加速水环境恶化的趋势。太湖所面临这些问题,有待于强化湖泊科学管理来解决。     

Placing man in the New West: Masculinities of The Last Picture Show

The Last Picture Show does not fall within the genre of the Western, yet the cinematic narrative mourns the loss of the iconic Westerner — a man — and the passing of his home places that constitute the Old West. This paper is concerned with the ways in which this man and his places are transformed along with the embryonic but inexorable emergence of the New West — and its attendant demand for recognition of hitherto unheard voices (e.g., women, Latinos) — that accompanied significant social, cultural and political shifts that were beginning to emerge within the country as a whole in the represented early 1950s. His represented sites of contestation are found within the frame of the small west Texas town of Anarene, created by Larry McMurtry's novel of the same name as the film, both of which reflect contexts of the era in which they were constructed — the mid 1960s to early 1970s. We suggest that the film shows a great sensitivity to the ways in which particular masculinities are constituted in specific places, to the tensions that arise from the changing nature and definitions of masculinity as they are linked to these places, and with his sense of nostalgia and loss that accompanies his inevitable decline. But there is no clear and empowered place for women in these new places, only a recontextualized form of a patriarchal order which is not relational and which still maintains essentialist assumptions of gender. The Old West has taken new shape, much to the chagrin of man, but it is hardly a New West, with its emerging and representative voices. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

文化与旅游互动机理探析--以腾冲县旅游发展为例

文化是旅游业发展的灵魂所在，是激发旅游者旅游动机的主要因素之一，文化差异越大，能为旅游业所利用的文化资源也就越多；旅游业的发展又能为文化的发展创造条件，文化与旅游业的发展在多个层面上存在着互动关系。从影响旅游业的文化层面出发，分析了文化与旅游业的相互关系，认为文化与旅游能够实现互动发展，通过腾冲的实证研究，对文化与旅游的互动关系作了进一步说明。     

国内旅游文化开发研究综述

旅游文化是一种重要的旅游资源。是旅游地可持续发展的源泉。在旅游地开发过程中，文化事项如何转化为旅游产品，即旅游文化开发是一个极具实际应用价值的研究课题。目前，国内对于旅游文化开发的研究还没有能够形成一个完整的理论研究体系，并且缺少成熟的研究方法，具体到实践中可操作性还比较弱。在查阅了国内近20年中的众多相关研究文献的基础上，试图从应用理论、开发实践、方法探索3个方面对国内的旅游文化开发研究做一个系统的总结。     

When the Light of the Home is Abroad: Unskilled Female Migration and the Filipino Family

The migration of women engaged in transnational domestic work reveals how the uneven impacts of globalisation have intruded into the micro‐world of families and households. In this age of globalisation and migration, family membership has become multisited or transnational, with members dispersed in space. The migration of workers and the separation this entails has raised challenges to notions and ideals of “being family”. Unlike other workers on the move, the migration of domestic workers has some distinctive characteristics. It can be framed in terms of women moving between families and households; workers whose departure from their family of origin and insertion into their family of employment reconstitute the structure and content of family relationships in both material and imagined ways. Drawing on in‐depth interviews conducted in the Philippines and Singapore, we explore how migrant women and their family members define and negotiate family ideals, gender identities and family relationships, given the family's transnational configuration. Our findings provide some support to the notion that individual members in transnational families resort to “relativising” in fashioning responses to their situation.     

RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN EL HATILLO, NICARAGUA: GENDER, NEOLIBERALISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK

El Hatillo is a rural community in the Sébaco valley in Nicaragua, which suffers from an eroding resource base, high levels of poverty and malnutrition, and a high susceptibility to hazards. Structural adjustment policies have been devastating for small and subsistence farmers and have increased the level of economic, social and environmental marginalisation in rural Nicaragua. This paper explores initiatives to promote sustainable development in Nicaragua in the context of structural adjustment and environmental degradation. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in El Hatillo, it outlines the ways in which women in this community are attempting to address the multiple challenges of rural poverty and environmental risk and considers the potential of these strategies for gender equality.     

Developing Contradictions: Women's Participation as a Site of Struggle Within an Indian NGO*

Women are being hired in increasing numbers by development projects to facilitate women's participation components. Once employed, however, women often find themselves marginalized within their organizations. In this paper, I find that the women's participation component of an Indian drinking water project has enabled the exclusion of women fieldworkers employed by the project. Drawing on the work of Bakhtin, I show participatory approaches as multiple, partial, and contentious. Moves to thwart women fieldworkers and women's participation give rise to struggles over development geography. Analysis of project records, interviews with staff, and observation of staff activities provide evidence for results.