Leimavo Revisited: Agrarian Land-Use Change in the Highlands of Madagascar

Describing and explaining land-use change is of critical concern in Madagascar, where land transformations such as deforestation and resulting environmental degradation currently capture widespread attention. While the eastern rain forest recedes in the face of swidden cultivators, the highlands demonstrate more constructive transformations. In this paper I present a case study of land-use change in Leimavo, a small village near Ambositra studied in the 1960s by Jean-Pierre Raison. Here, the twentieth century has seen a gradual reduction in irrigated rice cultivation and cattle husbandry, and a boom in market-oriented orange, vegetable, and grain production. In the long term, a historical landscape of grassy hills has been transformed into a productive cultural landscape with woodlots, anti-erosion benching, rice terraces, fruit groves, and diverse crops. Critical factors determining the trajectory of land-use change include regional population pressure, state policies, market incentives, climate variations, and access to land and water resources. These critical factors, or explanations, are linked in the discussion by the use of a simple heuristic device—the range of choice—as a theoretical framework.     

GEOGRAPHIC PUBLICATION IN GERMANY

Abstract

Feminist geography and political geography still represent two solitudes within the discipline. While increased traffic between these different parts of the discipline points to a degree of intellectual engagement, there remains a paucity of feminist thought in political geography. This article examines recent scholarship on feminist political geography, with a view to applying its insights to the struggles to protest and end political violence. The concept of feminist geopolitics is employed and recast, both as a bridging concept between feminist and political geography and as an analytical approach that has political valence in the context of the war in Iraq. Feminist geopolitics is revisited in this article, but remains a critical analytic in relation to body counts and other casualties in war zones.     

Back To The Future Of Political Geography: A Rejoinder To O'Tuathail

Abstract

In-field conservation of locally domesticated crop varieties ameliorates agrobiodiversity losses, but the interaction among nationally regulated socioeconomic factors at the local scale tends to discourage this. Analyses of household surveys conducted in Ecuador demonstrate that state and nongovernmental institutions interact to discourage cultivation of locally domesticated varieties of beans (Phaseolus spp.). Land privatization, agricultural extension, and credit programs favor market production of introduced modern bean varieties, and locally domesticated varieties are noted for favorable nutrition, culinary, and agroecological qualities. Resolving disconnections between the market and social values for landrace beans may provide agrobiodiversity conservation opportunities.     

Maps,Numbers, Text,and Context: Mixing Methods in Feminist Political Ecology∗

This research tests the spatial mismatch hypothesis by comparing the employment probabilities of central city versus suburban African American males in nine metropolitan areas. Treatment effects models are used to control for the effects of both individual characteristics and residential self-selection on the probability of employment. A positive effect of suburban residential location on employment is found for the residents of Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, while no effect is found for the residents of Cleveland, Houston. Jackson, Memphis, and Newark. The general conclusion to be drawn is that the spatial mismatch effect is contingent on the particular characteristics of each metropolitan area. Preliminary analysis shows that metropolitan areas with a spatial mismatch effect are large in terms of total population and total land area, and have less efficient transportation systems.     

国外大型事件申办热潮:政治视角的解读

对大型事件影响力共识的缺乏与其申办热情成为悖论,一方面其影响效应尚模糊不清,并引起学界的质疑和争议;另一方面城市的申办和举办热情有增无减,因而隐藏在经济目标之下的非经济动机值得关注。文章从已有文献中厘清国外大型事件的申办动机、申办过程及事件后所表征的政治效应,从政治视角解释当前国外大型事件的申办热潮。主要结论如下:1)超越"事件"本身来看,大型事件作为政府政策工具的角色突显;2)大型事件的时效性使得城市得以完成正常情况下难以在短时间内实施的城市空间改造、城市建设,以及将一些重要的政策尽早提上日程,城市采纳事件战略具有复杂的政治动机;3)大型事件的推动者往往是城市商业和政治精英结成的联盟,一方面他们共同致力于推动举办地的经济发展;另一方面他们也借此谋求政治及商业领域的社会资本;4)大型事件被用来作为合法化工具:是展示国家认同的合法化途径;获得公众支持的合法性;获得上一级政府支持,特别是资金支持的合法性;5)发展中国家,特别是非洲国家的申办更体现出其改善国际不平等关系及成为"非洲门户"的意愿。     

"Here a Ghetto,There a Ghetto": The Value and Peril of Comparative Study

This commentary questions whether ethno-racial identities play no role in recent developments in France's banlieues, as Wacquant argues. Wacquant's point that the French banlieues should not be simple-mindedly equated with American "ghettos" is well taken. However, there is no doubt that ethno-racial identities are growing in political and social salience in France. There should be a way to conceptually take these developments into account, without interpreting them as mere replications of American racial politics. I argue that Wacquant overlooks the roles that partisan politics and public opinion will likely play in either assisting or hindering his proposed public policy changes. Change, whether incremental or revolutionary, will depend on the ideas and actions of party politicians and citizens. I also ask whether recent assertions of banlieue identity might be interpreted as somehow violating French core values.     

The politics of urban greening: an introduction

ABSTRACT

Global enthusiasm for nature in cities is at high point. Australia is no exception, where there is a great deal of policy momentum and research interest in urban greening. The challenges presented by increasing urban heat associated with climate change, greater awareness of the potential social, physical and psychological benefits of exposure to ecologies for people, and recognition of cities as vital habitats for more-than-humans are central tenants of urban greening enthusiasm. Yet, there is a need for a more critical lens on urban greening in Australia. One that interrogates the purported normative, apolitical and instrumental benefits of greening, to position greening within a trajectory of the power relations, settler-colonialism, socio-ecological processes and capital flows that constitute the urban. This editorial introducing the special issue on urban greening politics explores how different conceptions of urban natures – green space, urban forestry and green infrastructure – have been put to work, before outlining the potential of ‘urban greening’ as the terminology for a more politically sensitive and process-orientated framing. The editorial concludes with a summary of the contributions to the special issue.     

A crisis in aerial sovereignty? Considering the implications of recent military violations of national airspace

The implementation of policies of pre-emption and securitisation by a number of states has led to an increase in the number of aerial incursions by one state's air force into another state's territory in recent years, often occurring before and, indeed, instead of ground incursions. This paper argues that it is vital that we conceptualise territory as a three-dimensional volume, rather than simply a flat area, in order to enable an analysis of how these events impact state sovereignty. The central contention of the paper is to extend recent work on territorial integrity and contingent sovereignty into this aerial dimension. A number of brief case studies are provided to illustrate how different incursion practices actively violate territorial integrity or render state sovereignty contingent. The conclusion seeks to answer the question of whether these incidents imply a crisis in aerial sovereignty or whether they confirm the chronic decline of this norm of international law.