赫尔辛基无雪不冬天

总是习惯性地躲避寒冷,大冬天往炽热的海岛或是南半球跑,而这一次,却是迎着冰雪的芬兰之旅,去寻找冬天里冻出来的美景. 到达芬兰首都赫尔辛基的第一天,确实被冻傻了,来自北极的寒流让原本冬天气温在-10℃左右的赫尔辛基到达了少见的-28℃,手机拿在手里不出十几分钟便自动关了机.但遇到的每一个芬兰人却都说我们是幸运的,因为这个冬天直到圣诞节都还没有下雪,而恰恰在我们来之前的几天,厚厚的雪从天而降,那是赫尔辛基冬天应该有的样子.冬天的北欧白天很短暂,早上9点半太阳才懒懒地爬出来.舍弃酒店,选择了中央车站附近的一间公寓,想像个本地人一样,找寻这座城市的性格.     

Internationalization in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: Images,Discourses and Metaphors

This paper investigates promotional images in the Metropolitan Area of Helsinki, focusing on the projection, outside national boundaries, of specific “ideas” concerning the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. After introducing the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, presenting its geographical features, urban dynamics, actual problems and actors involved in image-building, the focus of this research will be a comparison between the images proposed in promotional materials and policy documents by the various territorial units, looking at their differences, overlaps, synergies and clashes. In fact, as will be discussed, even if the images proposed by the cities consist of the same thematic fields (technology, nature, culture, etc.), they contain slightly different implicit messages, targets, representations of the cities, values, strategic orientations and approaches.     

Gao and Igbo-Ukwu: Beads, interregional trade, and beyond

Recent excavations in the city of Gao in eastern Mali have uncovered a sizable assemblage of imported and locally produced beads which are similar in many ways to the beads excavated at the site of Igbo-Ukwu in Nigeria. The similarities between the two assemblages suggest that they are indicative of interregional trade along the River Niger. As the likely source of many of the beads is Fustat in Egypt, Gao may well have been the middleman between Igbo-Ukwu and the former site. This route, it is argued, is more satisfactory than a direct east-west trade across the Sudannic zone, which has been argued for previously as a channel of international trade for Igbo-Ukwu.     

Authoritarianism,revolution and democracy: Egypt and beyond

The pro-democracy Arab popular uprisings have been spontaneous, but perhaps not all that unpredictable. They have come against the backdrop of a growing gulf between the rulers and the ruled, political repression, social and economic inequalities, demographic changes, unemployment and foreign policy debacles. Although the uprisings began in Tunisia, it is the case of Egypt that illustrates the situation more compellingly and the impact that it has had on the rest of the Arab world. It is not clear at this stage what will be the ultimate outcome. But what can be said with certainty is that the Arab peoples have set out on a long journey in pursuit of genuine self-determination. The journey will be arduous and unsettling for the Arabs and outsiders, but this has to be treated as part of a transition from a dictatorial past to a politically pluralist future.     

Technology and crisis; Marx,Schumpeter and beyond

Observing that the notion of economic crisis per se has, from its origins, been closely tied to the idea of technological progress, this article examines the roots and development of this liaison in Marx, Schumpeter and the recent contribution of Freeman, et al. (1982). A concept (the Third Sector) is proposed for the relation between the structural evolution of economic organization and technological progress; this concept is developed through a critique of Marx and Schumpeter in the light of contemporary economic circumstances, and as complementary to the more technology‐generic “new technology systems” approach of Freeman, et al. In conclusion it is found, on a cursory examination, that the organizational changes implied by the Third Sector are corroborated by the evolution of technology‐based multinational corporations, while echoing Marx and Schumpeter in their possible consequences for economic crisis in the 1980's.     

Children's and parents' perspectives on risks and safety in three Belgrade neighbourhoods

The article examines children's and parents' perspectives on risks and safety in the neighbourhood in the context of Serbian society undergoing turbulent transformation. The evidence for the analysis comes from a small-scale survey with parents and 13–14-year-old schoolchildren and eight group interviews with the children in three Belgrade urban settings. The data show that the main difference between children's and parents' perspective is situated along the axis general risks in broader society vs. particular knowledge of risks and coping strategies embedded in the neighbourhoods. Such difference is related to different social positions of adults and children but is also significantly marked by specific social context. Bearing in mind recent brutalisation of Serbian society, risk anxiety in general is lower than might be expected. Due to weak institutions parents still rely considerably on social safety nets within the neighbourhoods. Their practices are generally more instructive than restrictive, thus implicitly supporting the practices through which children exercise significant agency in using places. Different spatial characteristics of the studied neighbourhoods emerged as an important contextual variable in both children's and parents' perspective on risks. The under-urbanised suburban locations are perceived as more risky, contrary to experience in the West.     

Markets,regions, and the world system: Explorations beyond the local community

Mines, Mattison. The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade, and Territory in South India. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. xiii + 178 pp. including 2 maps, references, glossary, and index. $34.50 cloth.

Plattner, Stuart, ed. Markets and Marketing (Monographs in Economic Anthropology, No. 4). Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1985. xx + 418 pp. including chapter references, 3 maps, and tables and figures throughout. $16.75 paper.

Smith, Joan, Immanual Wallerstein, and Hans‐Dieter Evers, eds. Households and the World Economy: Explorations in the World‐Economy. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1984. 296 pp. including chapter references, tables, and index. $25.00 cloth.     

A look beyond

Edward T. Hall. Beyond Culture. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976. 256 pp. Bibliography and index. $7.95.     

The security of Africans beyond borders: migration,remittances and London's transnational entrepreneurs

This article provides an overview of selected aspects of how the economic security of growing numbers of Africans is linked to international migration. It first examines the emergence since 2005 of a new international policy discourse emphasizing the positive economic benefits of migration through remittance flows, the transfer of ideas and inward investment by migrants. The article outlines European policy responses to the recent upsurge in illegal Africa migration across the Mediterranean and examines the reaction of African governments and the Africa Union to increased migration and the enhanced dependence of African economies on remittance flows. The final section highlights the way in which the accelerated settlement of Africans in the UK prefigures longer term changes in the UK's relationship with Africa.