Representations of utopian urbanism and the feminist geopolitics of “new city” development

Increasingly over the past few years the building of new cities “from scratch” has become a key strategy to promote development across much of the Global South. While several projects are currently under construction, many others exist primarily as proposals awaiting adequate investment or government action. This paper builds on previous literature that considers representations of such projects – promotional materials, digitally-produced video simulations, and master plans – as key components in the production of imagined urban futures. Through an exploration of the proposed Zone for Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE) in Honduras, this article demonstrates a feminist geopolitical approach focused on how such representations of utopian urbanism circulate through the local communities slated for new city development. I examine how representations of future urban spaces and future urban governance regimes become appropriated by local residents in organizing opposition or otherwise making sense of the proposed project’s potential impact on their lives.     

Chinese Narratives on “One Belt,One Road” (一带一路) in Geopolitical and Imperial Contexts

This article reviews Chinese-language writings on the ideas of a Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road that have proliferated in the last few years, now under the aegis of and visualized as One Belt, One Road (一带一路). We examine how these narratives articulate with geopolitical and strategic ones in China before exploring the history of the idea of Silk Road(s). An excavation of their origins in nineteenth-century German imperial geography leads us to reflect on the past and present relations between states, empires, and geopolitics and to begin to chart the range of responses to One Belt, One Road.     

Geographical reflections on Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008)

Abstract: During the past year, the media, public and officialdom have focused on Sir Edmund Hillary, his achievements, and what they mean to New Zealand. In this commentary, we reflect on how they relate to human geography. Although we acknowledge the obvious tensions that exist between adventuring and the contemporary concerns of the discipline, we also illustrate how Hillary's life and actions resonate with many of the discipline's current hopes, aims and challenges. Specifically, we discuss thematic overlaps in the fields of geopolitics and national identities, colonial histories and resistances, as well as the emerging public geography. We posit that ‘Hillary's geography’ is closer to human geography than is realized or at least acknowledged by geographers.     

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.     

Cold war geopolitics: Embassy locations

Abstract

The geopolitics of the Cold War is illustrated by the diplomatic ties between countries, particularly the two superpowers and their respective allies. Specifically, the location of embassies abroad and those hosted by countries are examined to determine what they reflect about larger geopolitical issues. This article grew out of class projects used in introductory human geography courses to teach place name, library, writing, analytical, computer, and cartographic skills. The global patterns of embassy locations for all countries are first examined and then the particular patterns of the United States, the Soviet Union, and NATO and Warsaw Pact countries. A comparison between the location of U.S. and Soviet embassies shows that the Cold War was geographically visible only for “minor” states. The Warsaw Pact countries were ideologically more unified in the location of their embassies than the NATO countries. With the collapse of Cold War geopolitics, embassy locations are already changing, signaling major transformations to a New World Order. Geographers will need to monitor these newly emerging patterns and teach their students how to examine them.     

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.

Geopolitical Legacies and Central European Export Linkages: A Historical and Gravity Model Analysis of Hungary

This paper analyzes Hungary's export linkages of the interwar and Cold War periods using gravity model and historical analyses. Hungary is a useful example of former Soviet satellites because it combines relative political stability (since 1956) and experimentation with the New Economic Mechanism (NEM) during the 1970s and 1980s. Historical analysis reveals seven events since World War I that changed Hungary's trade patterns. Gravity model analysis for 1955, 1965, 1975, and 1985 shows the dramatic cleavage of the “Iron Curtain,” the effect of the NEM, and particularly strong and weak linkages for Hungarian trade that may result from historical legacies, complementarity, or specific political contacts.     

Revisiting the 'pivot': the influence of Halford Mackinder on analysis of Uzbekistan's international relations

Since the end of the Soviet Union, many foreign policy intellectuals have peculiarly identified the Republic of Uzbekistan as the locus of Mackinder's 1904 'pivot' designation. A century on from his original 'Geographical pivot of history' lecture, this paper examines the work of a Russian, an Uzbek, and an American who use Mackinder to understand contemporary Uzbekistani geopolitical orientations, in particular with reference to the USA. Drawing on critical work on the history of geopolitics, it highlights that whilst these texts claim objectivity, they betray political and subjective foreign policy choices. It suggests that whilst the revival of interest in Mackinder testifies to the continued attraction of his ideas, this has, with rare exceptions, been based upon a superficial reading of both his work and the body of secondary literature, and that this raises both disciplinary and ethical concerns.     

批判地缘政治视角下的国家品牌实践——以海南自由贸易港为例

当前世界地缘政治经济格局发生深刻变化,全球化发展正面临重大挑战。在此背景下,建设海南自由贸易港既是中国深化改革开放的需要,也是在全球治理语境下中国积极重塑地缘政治经济格局的重要举措。以海南自贸港为对象,采用话语分析和网络民族志方法,探讨基于国家品牌的地缘政治实践,审视政府、媒体和国内外普通受众如何参与海南自贸港地理意义的（再）生产,并讨论了其背后的地缘政治运作机制。研究发现,国家品牌建设涉及国家、媒体和普通受众之间的互动,政府利用媒体工具构建宏大叙事,塑造国内外受众对海南自贸港的地理想象,进而支持和强化中国作为全球治理的建设者身份。然而,不同社会文化背景的受众群体形成了差异化的情感体验,普通受众对海南自贸港的认同等积极感知支持了国家身份叙事,质疑和感到威胁等情感则对自上而下和由内而外的话语营建提出挑战。不同行动者的建构和表征作用使国家品牌意义不断被想象、表达和重塑,导致基于国家品牌的地缘政治运作复杂化。     

Going To The Well

Book Reviewed in this article:

REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY. Black Africa Develops. WILLIAM A. HANCE.

GEOGRAPHICAL PHILOSOPHY AND METHODOLOGY. Theoretical Problems of Geography. V. A. ANUCHIN. Roland J. Fuchs and George J. Dernko (eds.).

Fractals: Form, Chance, and Dimension. BENOIT B. MANDELBROT.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. Geographical Variation in Coastal Development. J. L. DAVIES.

Geomorphology and Time. JOHN B. THORNES and DENNIS BRUNSDEN.

ENVIRONMENT AND MAN. Environmental Choice, Human Behavior, and Residential Satisfaction. WILLIAM MICHELSON.

Managing Canada's Renewable Resources. RALPH R. KRUECER and BRUCE MITCHELL (eds.).

Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt: A Study in Cultural Ecology. KARL W. BUTZER

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. Human Geography: A Welfare Approach. DAVID M. SMITH.

Land Tenure and the Rural Exodus in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru. R. PAUL SHAW.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY. Jerusalem: Bridging the Four Walls; A Geographical Perspective. SAUL B. COHEN.

Cargoes of the East: The Ports, Trade and Culture of the Arabian Seas and Western Indian Ocean. ESMOND BRADLEY MARTIN and CHRYSSEE PERRY MARTIN.

Everything In Its Place, Social Order and Land Use in America. CONSTANCE PERIN.

Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism. VALENE L. SMITH (ed.).

The Social Impact of the Telephone. ITHIEL de SOLA POOL (ed.).

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. Images of the Ohio Valley. JOHN A. JACKLE.

The John Henry County Map of Virginia, 1770. LOUIS B. WRIGHT.

URBAN GEOGRAPHY AND SETTLEMENT. Central Place Theory: A Reinterpretation. KEITH S. O. BEAVON.

City Systems in Advanced Economies; Past Growth, Present Processes and Future Development Options. ALLAN PRED.

Networks and Places: Social Relations in the Urban Setting. CLAUDE S. FISCHER, et al.

How Cities Work: An Introduction. BARRIE NEEDHAM.

Human Aspects of Urban Form: Towards a Man-Environment Approach to Urban Form and Design. AMOS RAPOPORT.

Colonial Urban Development: Culture, Social Power and Environment. ANTHONY D. KING.

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY. Agriculture in the Republic of Ireland. DESMONO A. GILLMOR.

Inferential Statistics For Geographers. G. B. NORCLIFFE.

REGIONAL AND URBAN PLANNING. Zoning and Property Rights: An Analysis of the American System of Land Use Regulation. ROBERT H. NELSON.

Public Participation in Planning. W. R. D. SEWELL and J. T. COPPOCK (eds.).