Political geography and climate change: Introduction to a virtual special issue of Political Geography on climate change and political geography,November 2015–February 2016

Climate change is a major issue in global politics, one that has profound implications for the future of the planet, and one that political geographers have been addressing in recent years. This special virtual issue of Political Geography highlights the contributions made in the journal to addressing both the empirical questions of how climate change might cause conflict and human insecurity and the larger questions of how climate is represented in political discourse and policy discussions.     

Humanists and Travellers,Gorgons and Gorillas: Hanno the Navigator's Periplus and Early Modern Geography (1530–1630)

This article is concerned with early modern interpretations of Hanno the Navigator's Periplus, an ancient travel account of a Carthaginian voyage down the coasts of Africa. The early modern period saw a rise in interest in geographical knowledge, and the ways in which different authors used Hanno's voyage reflects their understanding of the role of geography in conceptualising the world. In these discussions, writers had to negotiate between the confusing portrayals of the voyage in the received classical tradition and new reports brought by voyages of exploration. Here, I will discuss how these syntheses between humanist methods and contemporary travellers' accounts were shaped by the economic and political concerns tied to the first wave of European overseas expansion. Amid this climate, ancient geographical knowledge found pragmatic applications in contemporary issues of navigation, commerce and claims of territorial possession, as well as shaping European perceptions of ‘self’ and ‘the other’. This paper thus seeks to situate humanist practices and classical knowledge within the wider context of overseas voyages and early modern political and economic developments.     

On Cathars,Albigenses, and good men of Languedoc: [Journal of Medieval History, 2001, 27(2) 181–195]

This essay proposes a re-evaluation of how Cathars, Albigenses, and the heresy of the good men are studied. It argues that some commonplace notions about the Cathars, virtually unaltered for over a hundred years, are far from settled — especially when inquisition records from Languedoc are taken into account. This historiography rests upon an intellectualist and idealist bias, that, in the end, unwittingly restricts the historical imagination. This essay, by looking at some implications of this methodological tendency, suggests how the history of the Cathars, Albigenses, and the good men might be rethought.     

Correlations among O2(0–1) atmospheric band,OH(8–3) band and [OI] 5577 Å line and among P1 (2), P1 (3) and P1 (4) lines of OH(8–3) band

Using a photometer equipped with a cooled photomultiplier RCA-C31034A and an optics consisting of three aspheric lenses, the O₂(0–1) Atmospheric band at 8645 Å and the OH(8-3) band at 7274 Å are observed simultaneously from the ground level along with [OI] 5577 Å line, to investigate the instantaneous intensity changes. The P and R branches of O₂(0–1) Atmospheric band and the P₁(4), P₂(4), [P₁(3) + P₂(3)] and [P₁(2) + P₂(2)] lines of the OH(8-3) band are spectrally clearly resolved. It is found that the O₂(0–1) Atmospheric band and the OH(8-3) band covary fairly well in intensity; it seems that the correlation coefficient during the night lies around 0.500. Interrsity correlations between the OH(8-3) band and [OI] 5577 Å line are also investigated. It is found that the correlation coefficient during a night lies around −0.200 and thus the correlation between the OH(8-3) band and [OI] 5577 A line is weaker than that between the O₂(0–1) Atmospheric band and the OH(8-3) band. Correlations among P₁(4), [P₁(3) + P₂(3)] and [P₁(2) + P₂(2)] lines of the OH(8–3) band are studied, to find that their correlations are complete within an error of experiment; the correlation coefficient during a night ranges from 0.980 to 0.997. A midnight maximum of intensity of the OH(8-3) band is hardly found. During night the OH intensity always fairly fluctuates.     

Comments on Charlotte Damm (2005): Archaeology,Ethnohistory and Oral Traditions: Approaches to the Indigenous Past. Norwegian Archaeological Review 38, 73–87.

Grave finds from the late Iron Age in the district of Sogn form the point of departure in this essay. Burial customs are regarded as conditioned by the society of the living in the sense that elements in the memorials built (or not) and rites performed at the burial are assumed to symbolize social relations—roles and ranks.

It is attempted to find out how these ranks are divided between men and women and why, and tentatively, what implications this division has for our general interpretation of the society in question.