Emerging Geographies of Conservation and Indigenous Land in Australia

International examples of interactions between Indigenous peoples and the new conservation paradigm come mainly from developing countries and suggest divisions over priorities. As a Western settler society, Australia is at a critical time in conservation and Indigenous peoples' rights. Innovative approaches to conservation are promoted. The role and influence of non-governmental organisations is increasing. Indigenous peoples' rights to land are recognised and Indigenous involvement in conservation is growing. Yet, despite Australia being considered a leader in these arenas, particularly the latter, there has been little analysis of the relationship between innovative approaches to conservation and Indigenous Australians under the new paradigm. This paper describes how the spatial manifestations of approaches under the new conservation paradigm and Indigenous land in Australia are creating new geographies. We identify geographies of overlap, dichotomy and absence. The paper identifies research needs into these geographies, including: examining the influence of ‘recognition’ in engagements between conservation and Indigenous Australians; investigating the impacts of approaches under the new paradigm such as scaling-up, territorialism and differing governance structures on Indigenous Australians; and questioning the social responsibilities of the non-governmental organisations towards Indigenous Australians.     

Geographic limits to global labor market flexibility: The human resources paradox of the cruise industry

The cruise industry enjoys arguably the most flexible and globalized of all labor markets. Yet, in an apparent paradox, cruise lines face a potential labor shortage, despite the fact that the bulk of their labor is sourced from the Global South where a large labor surplus would seemingly make recruitment a simple process. This paper examines this paradox in greater detail with a focus on the tension that exists between the industry’s demand for a flexible labor force, and the need for workers who maintain the skills required of a cruise ship job. It is argued that the contemporary geography of global labor recruitment is constrained by the particular political, economic and cultural circumstances of individual source countries that make certain cohorts less attractive or available as a workforce. In practice the need for skill and flexibility are not always reconcilable and cruise lines have found that there is a geographic limit to labor market flexibility. The article is based on interviews with various stakeholders involved in either working on cruise ships or in recruiting workers. Special emphasis is placed on Filipino cruise ship workers and labor recruiters as a means to discuss labor recruitment for the entire industry.     

Precipitation anomalies,economic production,and the role of “first-nature” and “second-nature” geographies: A disaggregated analysis in high-income countries

Linkages between hydroclimate variability and economic development are often theorized to be present only in developing economies. Using spatially small-scaled data from multiple decades for European regions, we examine the relationship between precipitation anomalies and economic performance in highly developed economic systems. We conduct a disaggregated empirical analysis to mitigate the bias potentially arising from spatial aggregation because precipitation realizations tend to vary drastically within larger sized economic units. We modify original precipitation indices to capture the dynamic expectation formation of economic agents about climate conditions to measure deviations from these anticipated environmental states. Using panel model regressions in a quasi-experimental research design, we analyse whether deviations from average growth rates of aggregated economic output are potentially non-linearly related to the magnitude of precipitation deviations from the anticipated climate norm within regions, after accounting for any shocks common to all regions. We find that precipitation deviations that exceed critical thresholds (intermediate anomalies) for both unusually dry and unusually wet years reduce regional growth rates. The adverse impacts are more pronounced for overly dry periods. Importantly, the relationship between economic growth and precipitation anomalies is not generalizable across all regions. Natural geographical circumstances such as prevailing climatic conditions (“first-nature” geographies) and human-made socio-economic factors such as sector structure and income level (“second-nature” geographies) moderate the anomaly response. The empirical findings substantiate the necessity to incorporate precipitation variability into the assessment of economic costs of climate change; not only in developing countries or agricultural societies but also in highly developed economic systems. Moreover, the empirical results have important implications for policy makers as uneven effect sizes at the subnational level suggest that policy measures should be targeted in space and coordinated between national and regional levels of government.     

I Do? On geography,marriage and love in Australia

Calls for law reform in Australia reveal marriage as central to the notions of family and citizenship. Attention here is drawn to the recent lack of willingness to debate marriage equality in Australia—from either its advocates or opponents—following a cross-party marriage equality private members bill. Federal Liberal/National Coalition politicians dismiss legislative frameworks that recognise marriage equality in Australia because it is thought to cause the demise of social mores, or is at best unimportant. Advocates for same-sex marriage present promises based on rights, justice and equality, yet fail to reflect on the social implications for those who arrange their sexual lives outside this institutionalised partnership. I argue that the lack of debate is operating to narrow rather than widen understandings about ‘love', drawing attention to geographical understanding of the links between sex, bodies, gender, families and belonging.     

‘When I think home I think family here and there’: Translocal and social ideas of home in narratives of migrant children and young people

This paper offers theoretically informed empirical insights into migrant children’s experiences of mobility and home. Drawing on research into the first-generation children of Polish labour migrants in Scotland, the paper explores the meanings that children attach to home and other specific places. In particular, it focuses on questions of the translocal and social nature of migrant children’s sense of place and construction of home. The spoken narratives, subjective maps and drawings analysed here reflect children’s multiple and intersecting relationships and identifications, with both their country of origin and the host country, in addition to how their notion of home is grounded in social attachments. Emphasising the continuing importance of ‘place’ in migrant children and young people’s everyday experiences, the research concludes that subjective homemaking practices are just as important as objective educational attainment and other traditional social indicators in providing an understanding of the outcomes of migrant settlement. It also suggests that there is an emerging translocal identity among some young Polish migrants, whose changing understanding of home incorporates images and emotions from both their locality of origin and their current place of residence.     

Projects,people, professions: Trajectories of learning through a mega-event (the London 2012 case)

Planning and organization of large-scale events such as Olympic Games are accomplished by several specialized project organizations, in charge of securing finances, completing the infrastructures, negotiating with multiple stake-holders and the day-to-day management of the actual event. These organizations have to cope with a key challenge. Due to their inherently temporary nature they cannot provide the specialized knowledge and specific “project capabilities” (Davies and Brady) on their own, but have to mobilize them from the past and from outside their boundaries, e.g. from previous events or other mega-projects in the host city. Rather than in permanent organizations, then, the knowledge on preparing and performing mega-events is primarily sedimented and embodied in professionals.Drawing on the planning and organization of the London Olympics 2012 as empirical case, the paper addresses, on the one hand, this particular mobilization process. On the other, it looks at how this process is intertwined with three different trajectories that both affect and are affected by the mega-event: the trajectory of the project that aims to recruit necessary skills; the trajectory of individual persons who perceive working for the Olympics as a rewarding episode in their careers; the trajectory of professional communities that expect learning benefits for the construction and project management industry in the UK.     

Quantitative Revolution 2: The Critical (Re)Turn

Although many have questioned the adequacy of quantitative methods for addressing issues of concern in critical geographies, such as social justice and inequality, many have argued that quantification can potentially make rich contributions to understanding and addressing these issues. In light of the recent attempts to reassert the critical potential and positive role of quantitative geography, we suggest in this introductory article for the Focus Section that the antagonism between critical and quantitative geographies is not beneficial to the discipline. We highlight some promising developments in modern quantitative geography and reflect on the ways in which the critical–quantitative binary can be at least partially eclipsed. We emphasize that knowledge in quantitative methods is essential for deciphering and challenging regressive political agendas, now often supported by numbers and quantitative analysis. Quantitative geography, when integrated with a critical sensibility and used appropriately, can be a powerful tool for fostering progressive social and political change.     

跨地方饮食文化生产的过程研究──基于符号化的原真性视角

全球化是去地方化,抑或在全新体系中定义新的地方性、凸显地方性,学术界对此一直存在争论。伴随全球化进程,地方性饮食追逐人口流动跨地方扩展,这些跨地方饮食在保持文化原真性和适应本地顾客需求方面挣扎。如何保持原真性,保持何种原真性成为跨地方饮食文化生产的焦点。本文通过对地方性与跨地方、原真性与符号化的相关研究进行梳理,基于饮食文化原真性的理论分析,揭示了“原真性的符号化”这一跨地方饮食文化生产的重要过程。与此同时,还阐述了在跨地方饮食文化生产过程中,原真性符号化的必然性及其循环过程,旨在为跨地方饮食文化生产提供理论依据和实践指引,同时也有利于理解地方性文化的跨地方传播、创新与发展。     

“文化转向”视角下移民地理学研究进展与趋势

论文梳理了地理学视角下的移民研究以及在全球化和新型城镇化背景下中国流动人口的研究,探讨在“文化转向”范式下移民地理学的研究进展和趋势。指出：① 地理学对移民的研究包括宏观上的迁移模式和动力机制的研究,中观尺度上移民的社会文化互动与地方协商问题,以及微观尺度上移民的日常生活、认同与情感;其中,“移民—地方”的核心人地关系,特别是移民的空间实践与地方协商成为了移民地理学关注的重点。② 受“文化转向”的影响,移民地理学研究正从宏观尺度的规律总结和普适性理论转移到研究移民日常生活、情感和认同背后的权力和社会关系,以揭示移民多样化的诉求。③ 移民地理学对中国移民的研究主要集中于城乡二元制度框架下对乡—城流动人口的关注,需要拓展全球化背景下多样化的移民群体的考察。研究试图拓展中国移民地理学的研究议题,思考基于发展中国家话语下的移民研究新知。     

The future is now! Extrapolated riskscapes,anticipatory action and the management of potential emergencies

Anticipating the future is a key practice for the management of potential emergencies. Anticipatory action needs the future to become ready-to-hand. Focusing on the logics and practices of anticipatory action the paper discusses the relations between time and space in the context of risk and uncertainty. Spatializations of simulation technologies, preemptive emergency management and anticipatory action aim to disclose and extrapolate the future. In general, infrastructures are technologies which aim to materialize expectations concerning the future. In the case of emergency management infrastructural measures enable and/or constrain practices by inheriting specific logics.The concept of riskscapes (Müller-Mahn and Everts, 2013) poses to be a promising framework to grasp these issues. In our perspective, extrapolated riskscapes treat the future as an already interpreted and symbolically structured world. This involves not only looking at the temporality of riskscapes, but also dealing with geographies of inscribed futurity. Two case studies focusing on emergency management practices of firefighters will be deployed for illustration: the first observes the logics of preemptive emergency management and anticipatory action inscribed into materialities of infrastructures in the context of rail-bound hazmat transports; the second shows how computer simulations for crowded geographies facilitate decision-making and action for policing and crowd management.Instead of treating future in riskscapes as neutral, we highlight the politically situated practices that co-evolve with these technologies and their spatializations. The article discusses the dimension of time within riskscapes to gain a better understanding of the temporalization of space as in simulations and the spatialization of time as in infrastructures of emergency management.