Memory Work,Geography and Environmental Studies: Some Suggestions for Teaching and Research

In geography and environmental studies, the subjective and objective are often pitted one against the other, and we are often required to divorce the personal and anecdotal from our formal production of knowledge. I question the sense of this practice. First, I examine a method of self-exploration, known as memory work. I then describe how this method can be used in teaching and research to help us explore how we make and give meaning to place. Beyond these concerns, I also discuss some of the links between memory work and the conception of subjectivity and place in geography and environmental studies. Finally, I comment on how both memory and the language in which we couch our experiences are central concerns for geographers and environmental scholars wishing to effect social change.     

普通高等院校旅游教育实践教学之中外比较

关于旅游教育实践教学改革与发展的议题,多年来一直是产学研三方关注的热点,但目前关于教育实践教学的研究仍处于起步阶段。借鉴国外的先进经验,结合我国的自身特色,进一步研究旅游实践教学的改革势在必行。本文从实践教学所涵盖的见习、随堂实习、专业考察、专业实习、研究性实习、社会实践几方面入手,分析我国目前旅游教育实践教学现状以及存在的问题,引入国外旅游教育实践教学的成功范例,进而试图寻找出既汲取国外先进经验,又是基于我国国情、各院校具体情况的旅游实践教学发展出路。     

Student–staff partnerships in learning and teaching: an overview of current practice and discourse

ABSTRACT

Student–staff partnerships in learning and teaching are not a new idea but have seen a growing interest and momentum in recent years. In this article, I provide an overview of the background and context of increased student–staff partnerships, a definition of partnership and some of the benefits. I highlight several examples of practice from different countries, universities and disciplines, and involving different numbers of students, which help to illustrate some of the variety of what is possible in student–staff partnerships in learning and teaching but also some of the challenges. I will focus on key ideas currently being debated in student–staff partnership work in the form of theoretical framing; contested definitions; mixed motivations and concerns about partnership being co-opted by neoliberalism; the imperative of inclusion; and the role of student–staff relationships. I conclude by considering what ways geographers might contribute to future research and practice, by offering some practical strategies for establishing and maintaining good quality partnerships in learning and teaching and with suggestions for enhancing the community and culture within which we operate.     

Implementing a Problem-Based Learning Approach for Teaching Research Methods in Geography

This paper first describes problem-based learning; second describes how a research methods course in geography is taught using a problem-based learning approach; and finally relates student and staff experiences of this approach. The course is run through regular group meetings, two residential field trips and optional skills-based workshops. Course evaluations improved markedly following the introduction of this approach and students appreciated the benefits of the problem-based learning approach, particularly through working in groups on authentic problems that were relevant to future workplace scenarios. They were also able to further develop a range of transferable skills, particularly in teamwork. However, they may not have increased other transferable skills (such as in oral communication) as much as desired due to the tendency for groups to draw on individual strengths to complete collaborative group tasks. Other concerns were group size, the high workload and coping with group dynamics. Tutors found the teaching to be enjoyable, relaxing and very rewarding but there were some anxieties due to the unpredictable nature of the course as well as frustration at knowing when to intervene. However, despite these difficulties for both students and staff, the authors are sufficiently encouraged by the response to continue teaching using a problem-based learning approach.     

China,the international criminal court,and global governance

ABSTRACT

This article explores the Chinese policies towards the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the context of global governance. Despite China’s fast-growing foreign policy competence, the level of confidence held by China in engaging with global governance systems has not yet fully transmitted to the legal institutions governing human rights issues, and the ICC is such an example. This article examines specific policy concerns of China regarding the ICC in light of China’s engagement with global governance, and some of the traditional concerns that have had an impact on that engagement. It discusses the extent to which these concerns should still be regarded as policy barriers preventing China’s full accession to the ICC in years to come.     

民国时期留美西洋史学者与美国的西洋史学术传统——以博士论文为中心的考察

民国时期留美西洋史学者是中国的留美生中一个非常特殊的群体,国内史学界对他们的留学生涯,特别是博士论文关注较少。这批学者在博士论文的选题上颇具特色,具有强烈的现实关怀、关注国内重大的史学争论、主要侧重欧洲国家的历史。几篇博士论文运用了大量的一手史料,在研究视角上也很有新意,所以得到了导师和美国史学界的认可。几位学者在回国后形成了自己独特的治学风格,并通过授课和学术组织工作,为中国的世界史学科奠定了坚实的基础。     

Playing a game with changing rules: geography,politics and redistricting in the 1990s

The 1990s round of redistricting in the United States has produced an historic level of controversy and litigation. What are the origins of this controversy and confusion? Are there means by which the next round of redistricting might avoid some of these problems? The purpose of this paper is to examine these questions. Examples are employed from the redistricting experience of Alabama, a state not known for resolving political disputes in a timely and diplomatic fashion. Among those issues considered are racial equity, equal population, and compactness concerns. It is concluded that more explicit redistricting guidelines in tandem with a system of region-based cumulative voting would significantly reduce the controversy in the next round of redistricting.     

Teaching “notre littérature”: The Place of la littérature québécoise in the Curriculum in Quebec

Recent calls for a greater emphasis on the teaching of Quebec literature from primary school to cégep once more link the teaching of Quebec literature with the survival of a language and a culture. The current debate echoes those which have taken place over the last 100 years, both under the denominational system of education and since the Révolution tranquille. Different pedagogical and ideological factors have influenced not only whether Francophone Canadian literature has been taught, but also what has been taught and how it has been taught. Anxieties about the status, history and definition of “notre littérature” have recurred throughout the century, as have concerns about the relationship between the literature of Quebec and the literature of metropolitan France. This article will discuss the teaching of literature in Quebec since 1900 to conclude with a consideration of the teaching of Francophone Canadian literature in Quebec today.     

An Autobiographical Memoir

In teaching courses over the years in political thought, one comes to inquire about the nature of political things and how they are to be thought about. Political philosophy is concerned with its limits and what, if anything, lies beyond them, as the whole with politics concerns itself is not the whole of what is. An autobiographical memoir is a belated occasion to judge how one thought of these fundamental things.     

Not nearly enough geography! University provision for England’s pre-service primary teachers

Research into geography provision in primary initial teacher education [ITE] courses in the United Kingdom and worldwide is very limited. England educates pre-service primary teachers of 5–11 year olds to be “generalists” who teach the full range of curriculum subjects, including geography. This article identifies that the provision of teaching time for geography is low and declining in England’s primary ITE courses. It presents a picture which may not seem dissimilar in other parts of the world. With only about half of pre-service primary teachers in England having studied geography after age 14, their subject knowledge appears weak. University-based ITE subject sessions rarely extend beyond introducing them to England’s primary geography requirements and to some approaches to teaching geography. Prospective primary teachers observe and teach limited, if any, geography in primary schools. Developing their geographical understanding and teaching capability is highly challenging for tutors. There are concerns that the current situation may well decline further. Encouragement exists to develop geography provision in primary ITE but the opportunities to achieve this appear increasingly constrained as the pre-service environment moves from university-led to school-led provision. International comparative research is essential to understand better pre-service primary teachers’ learning to teach geography.     

Teaching about political violence: a primer on representation

Geography is not generally viewed as a ‘source’ discipline for political violence studies, but this paper begins with the presumption that geography is well disposed to teach courses on the subject. The key purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that engaging issues of political violence is useful for our pedagogy. In particular, teaching about political violence allows geography to address concerns arising from the ‘crisis of representation’. It does so in two ways. First, it provides another venue for teaching about the ‘the other’ and ‘othered places’ in our curricula. Second, it also allows geography to challenge uncritical tropes about political violence as emerging from some peoples and places and not others. As a case study this paper overviews a course entitled Militia Movements in Comparative Perspective. This course was organized around a theoretical unit and four case study units. The case conflicts were chosen to represent conflicts that crossed ideological (right/left) and geographical (Global North/Global South) divides. The course structure is overviewed and a classroom discussion that highlighted questions about representation is described and analysed. The paper concludes by reviewing current efforts to address violence in the discipline, noting problems with these efforts, and suggesting alternatives to them.     

Love: A Common Word between Evangelicals and Muslims?

Abstract

This paper analyses the responses of Evangelical Christians to "A Common Word between Us and You." While many Evangelical leaders warmly welcomed the initiative and have subsequently been involved in various dialogues and conferences, others were more sceptical and refused to take part. This latter reaction refects a general lack of trust in some parts of the Evangelical movement engendered by concerns over Muslim approaches to law, freedom of religion and conscience, the treatment of apostates under shari'a and restrictions on Christian mission in Muslim countries. The debate between these two groups has been sharp and at times acrimonious, refecting deeper tensions within the Evangelical community. Drawing on recent books, articles, blogs and the author's own observations at an international dialogue conference, this paper highlights the tensions and examines some of the underlying causes.     

History of Psychology in China: Contributions,Challenges, and Future

The history of psychology makes three major contributions:(1) promoting the development of psychology in China;(2) establishing the history of Chinese psychology as an academic discipline;(3) playing an important role in training the next generation of Chinese psychologists.This effort faces numerous challenges,including the reduction in undergraduate teaching hours,declining enrolments at the postgraduate level,limited innovation in research,and a lack of financial support.These challenges stem largely from changes in the Chinese academic assessing system,the greater weight placed on experimental psychology,and a fewer opportunities for researchers.To address these concerns the history of psychology in China should make the history of Chinese psychology its research priority,while also presenting its findings to the public,and developing innovative teaching and research approaches.     

Israel's intellectuals and political independence

Over the past two decades, a new phenomenon has emerged in secular kibbutzim, in which some members have adopted a religious way of life. Some of these “newly religious” (hozrim bi-tshuvah) choose to leave the kibbutz, but others, who are the subject of this article, decide to remain in the kibbutz, which continues to serve as the framework of their life. Based on observation and in-depth interviews with newly religious members of secular kibbutzim, this article discusses the array of dilemmas created by the transformation of their identity and the response to it on the part of kibbutz society. One of the dilemmas concerns the question whether their choice reflects a break with the kibbutz way of life or rather a link and continuity with this ideal. The article contributes to understanding both the changes in modern-day kibbutz society and the identity issues related to these changes.     

Papal pronouncements on legitimate lordship and the formulation of nationhood in early fourteenth-century Scottish writings

Early fourteenth-century Scotland produced some of the period's clearest expressions of nationhood, most famously with the so-called Declaration of Arbroath of 1320. Despite the letter's fame, its conceptual language and that of related Scottish texts has not hitherto been entirely recognised. The present article demonstrates that these writings are closely informed by contemporary legal ideas concerning lawful jurisdiction and just war. Their use of legal ideas can be shown to have been inspired by the concerns and outlook of the papacy, particularly with regard to its temporal lordship in Italy. It is this inspiration that can explain the clarity and force with which the Scottish texts of these decades present the kingdom as specifically Scottish and the nation as a political force, for which they have since become renowned.     

Fascist Colonialism: The Archaeology of Italian Outposts in Western Ethiopia (1936–41)

Despite the relevance of material culture in the politics and culture of Italian Fascism (1922–45), this phenomenon has rarely been approached from an archaeological point of view. In this article, I argue that archaeology can provide new insights into the study of this particular version of totalitarianism. I will show the connections that an archaeological study of fascism has with some concerns of historical archaeology, such as colonialism, power, conflict, and race. For this, three Italian military sites in Ethiopia will be examined.     

On the evolution of the Castel Goffredo hosiery cluster: a life cycle perspective

The ‘life cycle’ approach has become popular in studies on industrial clusters. However, some concerns have been raised over the inherent determinism of this approach and its tendencies to focus exclusively on cluster internal dynamics while neglecting the role of external factors and socio-economic contingencies. This paper addresses these criticisms by investigating the long-term development of Castel Goffredo, a traditional textile cluster in Italy. In our analysis, we identify and characterize the main stages of the life cycle and its antecedents. We single out the main triggering factors behind each of these stages and show that a variety of factors, both external and internal to the cluster, contributed to its development. Our findings confirm that an ‘adaptive’ cycle approach, which focuses also on contingencies and external factors, appear to be appropriate for investigating the long-term evolution of clusters.     

The Socratic Teaching of Constructivism: A Reading of Pangle and Ahrensdorf's Justice Among Nations: On the Moral Basis of Power and Peace

Pangle and Ahrensdorf's Justice Among Nations: On the Moral Basis of Power and Peace has become one of the classic studies of international political thought. The account Pangle and Ahrensdorf provide of the Socratics resembles in places the concerns of constructivists, even though they never discuss the international relations theory of constructivism. With this in mind, I argue that their account enables one to glimpse what a Socratic teaching of constructivism might look like. What comes to the surface is that Socratic constructivism shares with contemporary constructivism a concern with rhetoric and the role of ideas, norms, and rules in international politics while nonetheless expressing reservations over the goals of general enlightenment and emancipation that some contemporary constructivists espouse. Instead, Socratic constructivism urges the practice of generosity in the realm of politics, whether domestic or international. This emphasis rests on the Socratic understanding of human nature and suggests that contemporary constructivists tend to expect too much from the human condition. As such, Socratic constructivism seeks to moderate the desire for enlightenment and emancipation through a respect for what is salutary within the moral, religious, and political identities of particular communities.