RECALIBRATING SOCIETY: THE POPULATION GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA IN 1881

The nominal census of British Columbia for 1881 provides the basis for this analysis of the population distribution and social structure of the province. The provincial distributions of whites, Chinese, and native peoples are mapped and discussed, as are the population geographies of three regions: the Lower Skeena/Nass, the Southwestern Plateau, and the lands around the Strait of Georgia. The essay concludes with a discussion of the social categories employed in the census and of the particular relations of society and space in late-19th-century British Columbia.
Le recensement nominal de la Colombie Britannique en 1881 est à la base de cette analyse de la distribution de la population et de la structure sociale de la province. Les distributions provinciales des blancs, des chinois, et des indigènes sont cartographiées er analysées de même que la géographie de la population de trois régions: le bas Skeena / Nass, le plâteau du sud-ouest, et les côtes du détroit de Georgie. L'essai se termine par une discussion des catégories sociales utilisées dans le recensement et des rapports société-espace en Colombie Britannique vers la fin du dix-neuviéme siékle.     

CONCAVE-BANK BENCHES IN THE FLOODPLAINS OF MUSKWA AND FORT NELSON RIVERS, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Although concave-bank benches rarely occur in freely meandering rivers, they may constitute a significant proportion of the floodplain formed by the downvalley migration of the tight channel bends of confined meanders. This study reports the results of a field survey of the floodplains of Fort Nelson and Muskwa rivers, two of many northeastern British Columbian rivers whose meandering is confined between the resistant valley sides of former glacial meltwater channels. The formation and character of contemporary concave-bank benches and the morphology and sediments of the corresponding floodplain features are described. The concave-bank benches form lateral ribbons of deposition along the valley walls and constitute about one-third of the entire floodplain.     

THE FUTURE'S PAST: POLITICS OF TIME AND TERRITORY AMONG DAKELH FIRST NATIONS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

ABSTRACT. This article examines contemporary political movements among Dakelh First Nations in British Columbia that have challenged Western modernity's fixation with a future achieved through industrial progress. Aboriginal people have been especially assertive in politicizing the connections between time and place through the display and performance of memory in forms as diverse as life history narratives, the cultural landscape, media and grass-roots development projects. Such constructions suggest that future developments in traditional lands must come through an engagement with the past - its meanings, practices, and significance in the particular places of cultural and economic production. I explore how Dakelh territories serve as sites for imagining and enacting alternative political and development agendas. I argue that these territories have increasingly become spaces forged in the margins of modernity's binary oppositions of self-other, nature-culture and future-past. This finding is not meant to marginalize indigenous territories conceptually or politically, but rather to recognize their centrality to contemporary provincial politics where margins - both geographic and discursive - have become central locations for pursuing sovereignty over land and nation.     

PERESTROYKA AND THE ECONOMIC REGION IN STATE MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING

The concept of region-based planning and management bodies, which flourished for a time during Khrushchev's sovnarkhozy reforms, is resurrected, this time under the guise of promoting decentralization and enhancing territorial versus sectoral planning under perestroyka. More precisely, the authors argue for devolution of meaningful planning and management functions to a network of smaller and more numerous economic regions, with “regional economic councils” serving as bodies for planning and coordinating the activities of smaller spatial units within these regions. A scheme describing how such a network might function within the current Soviet bureaucratic structure and economic environment is presented (translated by Jay K. Mitchell, PlanEcon, Inc., Washington, DC 20005).     

FLEXIBLE SPECIALIZATION, UNCERTAINTY, AND THE FIRM: ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES IN THE WOOD REMANUFACTURING INDUSTRY OF THE VANCOUVER METROPOLITAN AREA, BRITISH COLUMBIA

In this paper, we articulate the relationships between strategies of flexible specialization, uncertainty, and the firm in order to emphasize the internal differentiation of flexibly specialized regions. Conceptually, the paper argues that this variability is an implication of uncertainty which has been neglected in the literature. In particular, in response to uncertainty, firms develop different types of flexibility with respect to production, technology, and employment in sometimes novel ways that do not correspond to ideal types. Empirically, the argument is demonstrated through a detailed examination of several case study firms operating in the wood remanufacturing industry of the Vancouver metropolitan area, British Columbia.
Ceffe étude montre comment s'amculent les relations entre les stratégies de spécialisation flexible, les incertitudes du marché et la firme afin de souligner les différenciations à l'intérieur des régions à spécialisation flexible. De façon conceptuelle, on discutera ici du fait que la variabilité découle de l'incertitude du marché, point sur lequel on n'a pas beaucoup écrit. Notamment, pour répondre à l'incertitude, les firmes développent des types différents de flexibilityé portant sur la production, la technologie et la main-d'oeuvre par des moyens quelquefois innovateurs qui ne correspondent pas à des critères idéals. La démonstration est faite, de façon empirique, par un examen détaillé de plusieurs cas de compagnies de I'industrie manufacturière du bois d'oeuvre de la région du Vancouver métropolitain, en Colombie-Britan-nique.
Mots-clés: Spécialisation flexible, incertitudes du marché, industrie manufacturière du bois, stratégic de I'entreprise, Vancouver.     

EMPLOYMENT CHANGE DURING RECESSION: THE EXPERIENCE OF FOREST PRODUCT MANUFACTURING PLANTS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1981–1985

This paper, on the basis of primary data obtained at the level of the individual plant, examines the nature and extent of employment change in the forest product manufacturing industries of British Columbia between 1981 and 1985 -that is, during and following extremely severe recessionary conditions. Conceptually, the discussion emphasizes the employment implications of enterprise strategies in recessions; empirically, selected characteristics of employment change are related to plant-level rationalizations, investment and technological changes, and market performance and plans. The overall size of the workforce employed by forest product firms in 1981 was significantly lower in 1985. Females were more vunerable to loss of employment than males. In occupational terms, however, male-dominated administrative workers experienced the greatest proportionate losses. The production, marketing and regional context of job loss varied. Trends in general towards value-added activities and geographically more diverse markets occurred largely within the coastal region. Ce rapport examine, sur la base des premiéres données obtenues au niveau d'uneusine, la nature et I'extension des modifications de I'emploi dans les industries de transformation deproduits forestiers en Colombie-Britan-nique entre 1981 et 1985, c'est-à-dire pendant et juste après une période de récession extrêmement sévère. La discussion fait ressortir essentiellement les implications sur le marché de I'emploi des stratégies des entreprises en période de récession. De manière empirique, les caractéristiques de modifications de I'emploi sont liées directement aux raisons attachées au niveau de I'usine proprement dite, aux changements apparus dans les investissements et la technologie, de même qu'aux performances et aux plans à terme du marché. Dans son ensemble, la taille de la main d'oeuvre employée par les entreprises traitant les produits forestiers en 1981 a considérablement diminue en 1985. Les femrnes ont été plus touchées que les hommes. Cependant, en termes de catégorie d'emplois, les employés administratifs, en rnajorité masculins, ont sub; la plus grande proportion de perte d'emploi. De plus, le marché et le contexte régional de perte d'emploi se sont modifiés. D'une manière générale on a noté des tendances vers des activités plus valorisantes et des marchés géographiquement plus diversifiés au sein de la région côtière.     

我国人文地理学研究的若干基本意识问题

自1980年代复兴以后的近三十年来,我国人文地理学研究和教学取得了可喜的成绩,但参照国际人文地理学的发展以及我国其他领域改革的深入和推进,存在的问题也日益明显,突出表现在五种意识的不足或缺乏。这使我们在服务国家经济建设方面作出令人注目的成绩的同时,未能对世界人文地理学发展作出我们应有的贡献。亟待反思,找到问题之所在以及通向世界学术殿堂的"桥梁",以便"重新出发"。在恪守学术规范的基础上,增强学术史和与同行对话的意识、以问题和理论为导向,立足本土,加强人文地理研究的理论化,作出原创性的发现,是我国人文地理学者面临的一项艰巨任务。     

改革开放以来我国人文地理学译看出版的特征、问题与建议

国外人文地理学著作和教材在我国的翻译出版主要是1990年代以来的事,商务印书馆作为出版大户在改革开放之初就出版了大规模的世界区域地理译著,其后所译著作多为受到好评的欧美论著或教材,但与原版书出版的时滞较长。相关译作缺乏规划、质量参差不齐、对教科书重视不够、学科分布不均衡等成为主要问题。加强有关译作的规划、提升翻译作品在学术评价中的地位、加强翻译队伍建设、重视教材的翻译和引进、加强薄弱学科著作和教材的引进和翻译等是今后发展的主要建议。     

改革开放以来我国人文地理学译著出版的特征、问题与建议

国外人文地理学著作和教材在我国的翻译出版主要是1990年代以来的事,商务印书馆作为出版大户在改革开放之初就出版了大规模的世界区域地理译著,其后所译著作多为受到好评的欧美论著或教材,但与原版书出版的时滞较长。相关译作缺乏规划、质量参差不齐、对教科书重视不够、学科分布不均衡等成为主要问题。加强有关译作的规划、提升翻译作品在学术评价中的地位、加强翻译队伍建设、重视教材的翻译和引进、加强薄弱学科著作和教材的引进和翻译等是今后发展的主要建议。