Human Geography

Communautés, fragmentation territoriale et gouvernement au Proche-Orient arabe (Irak, Syrie, Jordanie et Liban)

by Fabrice Balanche

Publiée dans la revue Etudes Interculturelles, Chaire UNESCO de l'Université Catholique de Lyon, mai 2012.

Dans le contexte conflictuel du Proche-Orient, marqué par le conflit israélo-arabe et la concurrence des grandes... more Dans le contexte conflictuel du Proche-Orient, marqué par le conflit israélo-arabe et la concurrence des grandes puissances pour les richesses en hydrocarbures du Golfe, la division communautaire est un facteur supplémentaire de conflit. Cela nous renvoie au fait que la communauté est une construction sociale et/ou politique et non pas une donnée fondamentale immuable forcément facteur de violence. Cependant, dans le contexte géopolitique du Proche-Orient contemporain, les fractures sociales recoupent des fractures communautaires, et lorsqu’une communauté s’identifie à un territoire, cela peut provoquer une partition du pays à la faveur d’un conflit. Le processus de mondialisation, qui provoque un affaiblissement des « Etats-nations », fait rejouer les lignes de failles communautaires, d’autant plus que les Etats du Proche-Orient ne sont que des Etats-territoire. Dans ce contexte, la remise en cause de l’autoritarisme, avec le « printemps arabe » de 2011, ouvre une période d’instabilité qui peut se révéler dangereuse pour les minorités dans toute la région. De l’invasion américaine de l’Irak en 2003 à la révolte syrienne de 2011, en passant par la révolution du Cèdre au Liban en 2005, huit années ce sont écoulées durant lesquelles de nettes tendances à la fragmentation interne se sont dessinées.

The spatial organization of Ottoman Selanik (Thessaloniki), according to Evliya Celebi

by Dimitris P. Drakoulis

33rd Congress of the Hellenic Association of Historical Sciences, 25-27 May 2012, Thessaloniki, Greece

The transgressive geographies of everyday life

by Psychogeography from 'Transgressions'

by Alastair Bonnett , 'Transgressions: A Journal of Urban Exploration', 1996, number 2/3

'Psychogeography from 'Transgressions'' brings you classic pieces from the early days of the psychogeography revival

Child weighing by the unschooled: a report of a controlled study of growth monitoring over 12 months of Maasai children using direct recording scales

by Michael Elmore-Meegan

Regional unemployment and industrial restructuring in Poland

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored with Andrew Newell.
Eastern European Economics, 2006, 44(3): 5-28.
(also available as IZA DP, n. 194, November 2000, University of Sussex DP, n. 63, May 2000, e CELPE DP, n. 51, February 2000)

This paper studies regional unemployment inequality in Poland. We find that regions experiencing greater change in... more This paper studies regional unemployment inequality in Poland. We find that regions experiencing greater change in industrial structure have higher unemployment rates. We also find that high-unemployment regions have higher inflow rates to unemployment rather than longer spells of unemployment. These findings suggest that regional unemployment varies importantly with job destruction in Poland. Econometric analysis of the determinants of employment to unemployment flows reinforces this impression. We use our estimates to assess the extent to which regional unemployment variation is due to economic restructuring. We show that this cannot be done unambiguously, and offer reasons why many previous attempts to separate out the effects of restructuring on unemployment have been unsuccessful.

Reanimating anarchist geographies: a new burst of colour

by Simon Springer

Springer S, Ince A, Pickerill J, Brown G, and Barker A. Forthcoming. Reanimating anarchist geographies: a new burst of colour. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography.

The late 19th century saw a burgeoning of geographical writings from influential anarchist thinkers like Peter... more The late 19th century saw a burgeoning of geographical writings from influential anarchist thinkers like Peter Kropotkin and Élisée Reclus. Yet despite the vigorous intellectual debate sparked by the works of these two individuals, following their deaths anarchist ideas within geography faded. It was not until the 1970s that anarchism was once again given serious consideration by academic geographers who, in laying the groundwork for what is today known as ‘radical geography’, attempted to reintroduce anarchism as a legitimate political philosophy. Unfortunately, quiet followed once more, and although numerous contemporary radical geographers employ a sense of theory and practice that shares many affinities with anarchism, direct engagement with anarchist ideas among academic geographers have been limited. As contemporary global challenges push anarchist theory and practice back into widespread currency, geographers need to rise to this occasion and begin (re)mapping the possibilities of what anarchist perspectives might yet contribute to the discipline.

Drinking with Vova: SME in Ukraine between informality and illegality

by Abel Polese

This is going to be a chapter in a collection Jeremy Morris and myself are editing on informal economic practices in post-socialism

This chapter is intended to illustrate practices on the boundary between legality and illegality in order
to shed... more This chapter is intended to illustrate practices on the boundary between legality and illegality in order
to shed a different light on some of those engaging in diverse transactions. Challenging the vision of a "culture of corruption" (Miller et al 2001) and that “no discount” should be applied to corrupt practices (Papava and Khaduri 2001), the starting question of this chapter is: what makes a practice “corrupt” or
illegal? In this respect I suggest the need to contextualise and de-normativise illegal practices, since they depend on both social and legal norms. From a juridical standpoint a law is a law, but the value and applicability of a law is ultimately decided by people in social practice. What if there is a law and
the state is unable to enforce control or punish anyone because a substantial number of citizens do not follow it? There is a growing body of literature challenging the very significance of a written law in a context where other rules may apply. For instance, Wanner has remarked how a new moral order may
be applied to some spheres of Ukrainian life where the state’s protection is felt to be lacking. How illegal or immoral is it to try to bribe a court if the same court is issuing an order on the basis of false evidence produced against you? (Wanner 2005)

The present chapter raises questions about the validity of international reports and policy analysis on Ukraine, and possibly on the rest of the former Soviet world, that see illegal practices only as a social evil to eradicate. This is the position of a number of strands of developmentalist thought which
uncritically reject possible alternatives (Nederveen Pieterse 2006), positing that it is only a matter of time before transitional countries will adopt a functioning neoliberal model. In contrast to this, it has been argued that that monetary transactions do not encompass or explain economic activity – this is evident from the work of the growing school of diverse economies (Community Economies Collective 2001, Gibson Graham 1996, 2008). In addition, economic effectiveness might not mean the end of non-market oriented transactions (Williams 2005), which may also serve to partially challenge the de-personalisation of power relations in the labour market and the separation between the social and economic sphere predicted by Polanyi (1946, see also Hann and Hart 2009). Empirical evidence has showed that ‘success’ may also be measured by satisfaction of spiritual obligations, being active in social life (Pardo 1996) and that even the meaning of money differs depending on the social and
economic norms of a society (Parry and Bloch 1989).

Deforestación, expansión agropecuaria y dinámica demográfica en el Chaco Seco Argentino durante la década de los noventa

by julieta krapovickas

Philosophy: Human-Nonhuman (MS Number: 702)

by Emma Roe

Published in the Philosophy section of the International Encylopeadia of Human Geography. Elsevier 2009

Landscapes of political memories: War legacies and land negotiations in Laos

by Ian Baird

Ian G. Baird and Philippe Le Billon (Published online, May 2012) Political Geography

Wars and their aftermaths frequently transform land use and ownership, reshaping ‘post-conflict’ landscapes through... more Wars and their aftermaths frequently transform land use and ownership, reshaping ‘post-conflict’ landscapes through new boundaries, population movements, land reforms and conditions of access. Within a global context of controversial land concessions and farmland acquisitions, we bring to light the continued salience of historical memories of war in the ways land conflicts are being negotiated in Laos. Considering circumstances at different scalesdfrom bilateral government relations to village-level claimsdwe find that political capital linked to memories of wartime affiliations have crucial spatial and place-based connections, and that they affect the ways investors, government officials and villagers negotiate over land concessions. Ethnographic evidence, spatial analysis and a survey of expatriate development workers engaged with land issues in Laos suggest that such ‘political memories’ are an important but often overlooked factor in shaping an uneven concessions landscape. We discuss implications for foreign development organizations that tend to privilege technical and legal aspects of land
management over such political dimensions.

Urban Geopolitics 8 Years on. Hybrid Sovereignties, the Everyday, and

by Sara Fregonese

Geography Compass, Volume 6, Issue 5, pages 290–303, May 2012

Urban events like 9-11 and the Arab Spring have deeply marked the first two decades of a century in which the majority... more Urban events like 9-11 and the Arab Spring have deeply marked the first two decades of a century in which the majority of the world population will live in cities. This essay reviews present and potential future debates about the relation between cities and geopolitics, particularly the work of urban geopolitics. I trace three debates centred on three relationships: that between city and sovereignty; between official and everyday urban practices; between violent and peaceful geographies. I point towards three avenues of potential engagement of geographers with the theme of geopolitics and the city. The first avenue leads to appreciating the complex relationships between the state and the non-state that are nowadays increasingly relevant and visible. The second concerns geographies of the everyday, the unofficial, and the unplanned. The third concerns the possibility for an urban geopolitics of peace and its inclusion, rather than focussing exclusively on war and its avoidance.

Mapping indigenous Siberia: Spatial changes and ethnic realities, 1900–2010

by Ivan Sablin

co-authored with Maria Savelyeva, published in Settler Colonial Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, pp. 77–110.

This article discusses spatial changes in the ethnic territories of Native Siberians from the late nineteenth century... more This article discusses spatial changes in the ethnic territories of Native Siberians from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed to model and observe these changes. The GIS also features resource-oriented economic activities, major waterways and railroads. Analysis of the model, textual sources and statistical data made it possible to determine what factors constituted Siberia’s ethnographical pattern of the early twentieth century and led to its changes in the ensuing decades and what impact on the indigenous peoples these changes had. Four special maps showing Siberia in the 1900s–10s, 1930s–40s, 1970s–80s and 2000s–10s were produced from the GIS and are included in the article. The current legal status of the indigenous peoples’ territories was also examined. This article presents an interdisciplinary macroscale case study.

Boundary definition as a basic design principle of traditional fishery management system in Pacific Islands

by Kenneth Ruddle

(1996) Geographische Zeitschrift 84(2):94-102

Toward a Newsworthy Cultural Geography

by Derek Alderman

Alderman, Derek H. 2004. “Toward a Newsworthy Cultural Geography.” Journal of Cultural Geography 22(1): 139-142. Invited contribution to “Dialogues” section of journal.

Violence sits in places? Cultural practice, neoliberal rationalism, and virulent imaginative geographies

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2011. Violence sits in places? Cultural practice, neoliberal rationalism, and virulent imaginative geographies. Political Geography. 30 (2), 90-98.

Through imaginative geographies that erase the interconnectedness of the places where violence occurs, the notion that... more Through imaginative geographies that erase the interconnectedness of the places where violence occurs, the notion that violence is 'irrational' marks particular cultures as ‘other’. Neoliberalism exploits such imaginative geographies in constructing itself as the sole providence of nonviolence and the lone bearer of reason. Proceeding as a ‘civilizing’ project, neoliberalism positions the market as salvationary to putatively ‘irrational’ and ‘violent’ peoples. This theology of neoliberalism produces a discourse that binds violence in place. But while violence sits in places in terms of the way in which we perceive its manifestation as a localized and embodied experience, this very idea is challenged when place is reconsidered as a relational assemblage. What this re-theorization does is open up the supposed fixity, separation, and immutability of place to instead recognize it as always co-constituted by, mediated through, and integrated within the wider experiences of space. Such a radical rethinking of place fundamentally transforms the way we understand violence. No longer confined to its material expression as an isolated and localized event, violence can more appropriately be understood as an unfolding process, derived from the broader geographical phenomena and temporal patterns of the social world.

Neoliberalism as discourse: between Foucauldian political economy and Marxian poststructuralism

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Neoliberalism as discourse: between Foucauldian political economy and Marxian poststructuralism. Critical Discourse Studies.

Contemporary theorizations of neoliberalism are framed by a false dichotomy between, on the one hand, studies... more Contemporary theorizations of neoliberalism are framed by a false dichotomy between, on the one hand, studies influenced by Foucault in emphasizing neoliberalism as a form of governmentality, and on the other hand, inquiries influenced by Marx in foregrounding neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology. This article seeks to shine some light on this division in an effort to open up new debates and recast existing ones in such a way that might lead to more flexible understandings of neoliberalism as a discourse. A discourse approach moves theorizations forward by recognizing neoliberalism is neither a ‘top down’ nor ‘bottom up’ phenomena, but rather a circuitous process of socio-spatial transformation.

Neoliberalism and geography: expansions, variegations, formations

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2010. Neoliberalism and geography: expansions, variegations, formations. Geography Compass. 4 (8), 1025-1038.

The pervasiveness of neoliberalism within the field of human geography is remarkable, especially when we consider its... more The pervasiveness of neoliberalism within the field of human geography is remarkable, especially when we consider its virtual absence from the literature less than a decade ago. While the growing attention afforded to neoliberalism among geographers is new, the phenomenon of neoliberalism is not. This paper traces the intellectual history of neoliberalism and its expansions across various institutional frameworks and geographical settings. I review the primary contributions geographers have made to the literature, and specifically their recognition for neoliberalism’s variegations within existing political economic matrixes and institutional frameworks. Contra the prevailing view of neoliberalism as a pure and static end-state, geographical inquiry illuminates neoliberalism as a dynamic and unfolding process. The concept of ‘neoliberalization’ is thus seen as more appropriate to geographical theorizations insofar as it recognizes neoliberalism’s hybridized and mutated forms as it travels around our world. I also consider some of the most salient ways that neoliberalism has been theorized among human geographers. In particular, I highlight understandings of neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology, as a policy-based approach to state reform, and as a particular logic of governmentality, arguing that while there are significant differences between these various formations, it may also be important to work beyond methodological, epistemological, and ontological divides in the larger interest of social justice.

Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the exemplary in coalescing moments

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2012. Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the exemplary in coalescing moments. Area 44 (2), 136-143.

This paper sets out to develop two related ideas. First, it seeks to identify how both violence and neoliberalism can... more This paper sets out to develop two related ideas. First, it seeks to identify how both violence and neoliberalism can be considered as moments. From this shared conceptualisation of process and fluidity, I argue that it becomes easier to recognise how these two phenomena actually converge. Building upon this conceived coalescence of neoliberalism and violence, the second aim is to recognise how the hegemony of neoliberalism positions it as an abuser, which facilitates the abandonment of those ‘Others’ who fall outside of neoliberal normativity. I argue that the widespread banishment of ‘Others’ under neoliberalism produces a ‘state of exception’, wherein because of its inherently dialectic nature, exceptional violence is transformed into exemplary violence. This metamorphosis occurs as aversion for alterity intensifies under neoliberalism and its associated violence against ‘Others’ comes to form the rule.

The Role of Blacks in Establishing Cattle Ranching in Louisiana in the Eighteenth Century (2012)

by Andrew Sluyter

Published in Agricultural History

On this topic, also see The role of black Barbudans in the establishment of open-range cattle herding in the colonial... more On this topic, also see The role of black Barbudans in the establishment of open-range cattle herding in the colonial Caribbean and South Carolina (2009)

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PORTER and DEMERITT (2012) Flood risk management mapping and planning - the institutional politics of decision-support in England

by James Porter