Qualitative life course methodologies: critical reflections from development studies

This article reflects on two experiences of applying qualitative life course research in development studies. The first methodology centred on the elicited narratives of older people in Buenos Aires exploring their lifetime relations with their children and their current well-being. The second employed semi-structured interviews with young adults in Zambia to investigate their trajectories towards economic empowerment. In both methodologies, the roles of linked lives and of wider social, economic and political changes were central. The article contributes to critical reflection on methodological choices and trade-offs, by focusing on dilemmas that arise from a desire to address policy makers and more quantitatively-orientated researchers. It explores three themes: the challenges of making sense of disparate narratives of linked lives; the possibilities for engaging with individual subjectivities; and different strategies for situating individual experiences in dynamic social, economic and political contexts.     

Scarcity and prosperity in postwar childbearing: explorations from a life course perspective

An investigation of the role of Depression scarcity and subsequent prosperity on the postwar baby boom using two longitudinal cohorts from the 1920s defined by birth. The study into account variability in Depression experiences and alternative life pathways (ascent, decline and stability across generations) in attempting to explain linkages between the Depression and postwar fertility. Easterlin's relative income theory is explored and found to be an insufficient model for explaining the observed demographic behavior. It fails to take variability in Depression experience and life pathways into account, whereas fertility records of cohort members showed striking differences according to those variables. By relating 2 sets of variations, 1) Depression experience, and 2) subsequent adult status and accomplishments during a period of affluence and economic growth, circumstances were identified that enhanced different imprints of a Depression childhood, the bearing of more children, and fertility constraint. The interdependence of social change and life course is underscored by this study.     

Faunal exploitation and agricultural transitions in the South American agricultural limit

The southern Mendoza Province of Argentina constitutes the southernmost limit of Andean agriculture in South America. Archaeofaunal assemblages from sites in this region show a pattern of changing taxonomic diversity concomitant with the first appearance of domesticated plants. This pattern is characterised by an increase in prey diversity before the appearance of the first cultigens and a decrease in diversity after their arrival. Furthermore, the animal taxa exploited when domesticated plants entered the diet indicate a focus on big game. The pattern observed in southern Mendoza is in accord with ethnographic and archaeological models generated by faunal research worldwide. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ethics and transparency in the field: lessons from the Arab Gulf

This viewpoint draws from feminist scholarship to critically examine an academic partnership between two universities based in the USA and in the Arab Gulf. In particular, feminist geography is used to inform cross-cultural projects such as this academic exchange among Arabs and Americans by focusing on ethics and transparency in the field. The complexity of cultural and institutional dynamics in this and related projects impacts our work with participants and in places where we conduct research. This analysis is based on collaboration between a public university in the USA and an all-women's university located in Bahrain, an Arab Gulf monarchy that has experienced violence stemming from socio-economic disparities and political tensions between the ruling Sunnis and the majority Shiite population. The project exemplifies a growing trend among Western universities to participate in academic partnerships that will generate financial resources while educating students in regions with limited access to higher education. The contradictions and dilemmas that arise in this academic engagement highlight the importance of ethics and transparency in cross-cultural university partnerships.     

Regional development and technology policies: Some lessons from the German experience

The development of economic, ecological, social, cultural and political conditions has a lasting influence on the development of individual regions and economic areas, and is in turn influenced by them. Background conditions in Germany have changed over the last few years, with reunification and the upheavals in Eastern Europe, the prospective completion of the Singh European Market and the increasingly insistent new challenges in the areas of the environment and transport. This paper gives some examples of the changes taking place in some of these background conditions, and discusses their foreseeable future regional impacts in the FRG. In the last 10 years, Baden‐Württemberg in south‐west Germany has been considered as one of the most successful examples in Europe of regional structural adaptation combined with a dynamic innovation system. The characteristics of the economic development of this region and their causes are dealt with.     

Community engagement for counterterrorism: lessons from the United Kingdom

This article explores the development of community engagement within the UK's strategy to tackle international terrorism linked to and inspired by Al‐Qaeda, commonly known as CONTEST. It focuses mostly on the ‘Prevent’ strand of the strategy which seeks to prevent radicalization towards violence, reduce tacit support for violence, and increase the resilience of communities to tackle radicalization and extremist messages themselves. Community engagement for counterterrorism also relates to certain aspects of the ‘Pursue’ strand of CONTEST, and these are highlighted. The article outlines the case for a community‐based approach to counterterrorism and outlines a number of the key developments in its emergence from 2005 onwards. It analyses the performance of this aspect of the counterterrorism strategy, pointing to a number of shortcomings in relation to the establishment of partnerships, the integration of the approach, capacity shortfalls at the local level, and the wider challenges of a hostile political and media environment. Written as the new UK coalition government announces a review of the ‘Prevent’ strategy, it offers a number of recommendations for the future direction of this area of policy. It calls for an overhaul in working styles, a focus on people rather than projects, and the need to draw a much clearer line between downstream and targeted ‘Prevent’ work and the broader and longer‐term community development work, with the latter encapsulated within the government's Big Society Programme and aimed at all fragile communities, not just Muslims.     

Wildlife trade, sanctions and compliance: lessons from the CITES regime

The international community possesses a powerful tool to control wildlife trade—the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). For over 20 years it has used trade sanctions as the cornerstone of a unique compliance system that has evolved through practice and secondary rules. This article discusses the mechanisms through which sanctions are imposed and assesses their effectiveness. The CITES compliance system has evolved largely in isolation from other environmental treaties, yet there are lessons that could be learned by other trade-related agreements that are in the process of developing their mechanisms to address non-compliance. CITES is particularly dependent on a sanctions-based approach because of the lack of funds to support capacity building. The article demonstrates through the national legislation project how sanctions used to back-up technical assistance can indirectly build capacity to implement the treaty. It concludes by arguing that guidelines on compliance currently under negotiation risk undermining the CITES compliance system and eroding the gains of the last three decades.     

The life course and emotions beyond fieldwork: affect as position and experience

A key debate about emotions in the field of human geography exists between geographies of affect, emphasising the non-cognitive, and emotional geography, emphasising the cognitive. In this paper, I draw on life course theory to present a parallel between the two. By dividing affect into two entities, känsloläge and känsloupplevelse, referring to a ‘feeling position’ and a ‘feeling experience’, I argue that a unique life course position can be analysed through känsloläge, while the feelings that are actually expressed and felt can be analysed through feeling rules in känsloupplevelse. To exemplify this relationship, I draw on affects and emotions from my own fieldwork, illustrating the ways in which känsloläge and känsloupplevelse affect both the research process and the researcher. In the conclusion section, the need for further exploration of the juxtaposition between the feeling position and the feeling experience, where the subject is centred but is not the sole owner of affect, is emphasised.