Restructuring, gender and employment in flux: a geography of regional change in Cornwall, Ontario

For the past two decades, uneven development in general, and the changing structure of the labour market in particular, have figured prominently in geographic literature explaining the possible trajectories of restructuring events in industrial countries. This paper explores the regional nature of various socio-economic processes shaping gendered employment patterns in Cornwall, eastern Ontario. Focussing on the dimensions of workforce 'feminisation' we argue for a critical reexamination of gender-neutral regional geographies in understanding how gendered divisions of labour and local identity formation and concepts of 'class' are in flux.     

Global competitiveness and special events in cultural tourism: the example of the Barnes Exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

This study investigates the role of cultural tourism in enhancing urban global competitiveness. The recent growth in urban cultural products is linked to improved quality of life, economic prosperity and development. An example of an urban cultural tourism product of international significance is used as a case study for this research to investigate such potential linkages. From September 1994 to January 1995 the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto hosted a major art exhibit of French impressionist paintings ‘From Cezanne to Matisse, Great French Paintings,’ known as the ‘Barnes Exhibition.’ This special cultural event affected the attraction mix of Toronto's urban tourism product and acted as a ‘magnet’ drawing out of town visitors to Toronto with the main purpose of visiting this unique event. This paper explores the spatial impact of the Barnes Exhibit in a segmentation analysis of ‘out‐of‐town’ Barnes Exhibit visitors. Visitors are segmented by major trip purpose and visitor origin. The pull of the Exhibit is examined using two simple gravity models to describe the distance decay effect. Out‐of‐town visitors from Ontario are compared with visitors from the United States according to the main purpose of their trip, their demographics and spending patterns. Out‐of‐town visitors from Ontario tend to be older than US visitors, spend less than US visitors and are more likely to have the Barnes Exhibit as the main purpose of their trip to Toronto. This study illustrates the value‐added nature of special events to the urban cultural product both for recreational and tourist travel. It shows the complexity and overlapping of urban fields of a Toronto attraction for different types of visitors to the same event. Cette étude examine le rôle du tourisme culturel dans l'amélioration la compétitivité mondiale urbaine. La récente expansion des produits culturels urbains est liee a l'amélioration de la qualité de vie, à la prospérité et au développement économique. Un exemple de produit culturel urbain d'importance Internationale constitue l'étude de cas de cette recherche qui essaie d'établir de potentiels rapports entre ces facteurs. De septembre 1994 à Janvier 1995, la Galerie d'Art de l'Ontario a accueilli une importante exposition de pein‐tures impressionnistes françaises intitutée: de Cézanne à Matisse, chefs‐d'oeuvre de la peinture française, mais plus connue sous le nom de l'Exposition Barnes. Cet événement culturel a joué un rôle dans le pôle attractifdu tourisme urbain de la ville de Toronto, L'exposition a attiré, tel un aimant, de nombreux visiteurs, venus de l'extérieur de Toronto, uniquement pour visiter cette exposition. Cet article explore l'impact spatial de l'Exposition Barnes grâce à une analyse de segmentation des visiteurs de l'exposition venus de l'exteriéur. Les visiteurs ont été segmentés en fonction de leur motif principal pour la visite et en fonction de leur origine. L'attrait de l'exposition a été analysé avec deux simples modèles de gravitation qui décrivent l'effet des distances sur la fréquence des visites. Les visiteurs extérieurs venus de l'Ontario sont comparés aux visiteurs venus des États‐Unis en fonction de leur motivation de voyage, de leur profit socio‐démographique et de leurs habitudes de dépenses. Les visiteurs ontariens ont tendance àêtre plus âgés que les visiteurs américains et l'Exposition Barnes était le but principal de leur voyage a Toronto. L'étude montre bien la nature de la valeur ajoutée des événements spéciaux sur le produit culturel urbain du point de vue du voyage récréatifet de celui du voyage touristique. Elle montre la complexité et le chevauchement des domaines urbains d'un pôle attractif torontois pour différents types de visiteurs d'un même événement.     

A Delightful Odor to the Breath: Toothpaste in Nineteenth-Century Toronto

The Bishop’s Block site in downtown Toronto contained the foundations of four townhouses constructed between the 1830s and 1860s, which were occupied as private residences into the early twentieth century. From this site came a ceramic container of “Atkinson’s Celebrated Parisian Toothpaste,” a commercially prepared product developed in the late 1850s to appeal to people worried about having a bright smile, sweet breath, and impeccable hygiene. Cleanliness and social acceptability became ever more intertwined during the Victorian era, while epidemics remained a grim reality. In this context we see toothpaste transform from a product used by a narrow segment of the population at the beginning of the nineteenth century into a more widely adopted badge of cleanliness at the close of the nineteenth century.     

Placing the second generation: A case study of Toronto

We examine the social mobility of the second generation in the Toronto metropolitan area by analyzing whether the adult children of immigrants live in more affluent and desirable neighbourhoods than the first generation. Using 2016 census microdata, we compare the social characteristics of census tracts where immigrants and the second and third-plus (3+) generations concentrate. The index of dissimilarity indicates the degree of residential separation among generations and for five ethno-racial second-generation groups: Chinese, South Asian, Black, Southern European, and Northern and Western European. The empirical findings show that the neighbourhoods where the first generation is over-represented are less affluent than those where the second and 3+ generations concentrate, with the largest improvements in social status occurring between the first and second generations. Although they frequently live in more distant suburban neighbourhoods than the first generation, the second generation still tends to live in inner and outer suburbs more than the exurban 3+ generation. For the second generation, the degree of residential concentration varies across ethno-racial groups with persistent segregation marking the residential locations of racial minorities. The findings highlight the variegated geographies and social mobility of the second generation in Canada's largest metropolitan area.     

A continuing agenda for gender: the role of the IGU Commission on gender and geography

In examining the development of the International Geographical Union’s (IGU) Commission on Gender and Geography over the last three decades, we first highlight the advances made to establish visibility for gender studies within the IGU and create structures for more inclusive feminist geographies across national, disciplinary and other borders. Given that many of the early and most widely-known advances were largely within Anglophone contexts, we then discuss the ongoing challenges and possibilities for advancement faced by feminist geographers who teach, research, and write on gender in other locations. While some of these challenges (such as a continued lack of recognition for gender studies, paternalistic hierarchies, and specific government regimes) are country-specific, others are related to broader issues of neoliberalism and corporatization, and inequities in academic publishing. Clearly, continued efforts are needed to strengthen the agenda for gender to promote more inclusive histories, practices and processes of gender/feminist geography in research, teaching and application in the international arena.     

A changing sense of Somaliness: Somali women in London and Toronto

This article considers how direct and indirect transnational linkages influence Somali refugee women settling in London, England and Toronto, Canada, and lead to shifts in identity in resettlement contexts. Drawing on interviews with Somali refugee women and discussions with resettlement staff, this article shows that under influences of distant and local linkages with other Somalis and through the cultural and social influences of the receiving society, Somali women develop a changing sense of their own Somaliness. The article argues that indicators of belonging, such as dress, religion and language, come to hold new and increased value within the new context, and familiar facets of national, cultural and religious identity shift in significance in response to competing influences and are used as intentional signifiers of identity.     

The rise and ruin of a medieval port town: A reconsideration of the development of Julfar

Julfar was a major port town of the Persian Gulf during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries AD. A possession of the Hormuzi empire, it was a lucrative source of taxes and pearls, and a port of trade for northern Oman, tapping into maritime trading networks connecting the Middle East with Africa, India, Southeast Asia and China. The site is found north of modern Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE. Julfar Al-Nudud was previously considered to be a late suburb of an urban core, Julfar Al-Mataf, and is located on a creek opposite the latter. However, excavations in 2010 indicated that Al-Nudud was part of the original urban core, which had grown up on either side of the creek. Moreover, re-examination of previous work in Al-Mataf, where a large mosque and fortification were excavated (by British and French teams), shows that the two areas followed different trajectories. Significant occupation in Al-Nudud and southern Al-Mataf (revealed by previous Japanese excavations) ended before the start of the sixteenth century, while use of the mosque and fort in central Al-Mataf continued into the seventeenth century, albeit discontinuously. A revised concordance of the phases derived from the work of various archaeological teams is therefore proposed.     

A theatre of machines: Automata circuses and digital bread in the smart city of Toronto

In this paper, the policies, projects, and promises of “smart” initiatives at the City of Toronto are evaluated, as they manifest through a technological convergence between local government services and an increased focus on citizen services through data-driven mediums. Through direct participant observation and formal interviews, a robust understanding of the internal institutional dynamics, the perspectives citizens in the “smart city,” and the operational disconnects in governance, policy, and practice has been gained. Our case study on the City of Toronto provides an account of how and from where these smart motivations for increasing a data-driven engagement with the public have arisen over the past several years. In doing so, we identify key characteristics that both enable and hinder the existing smart city in the forms of access to open data, the use of increased computational methods, and the engagement of public services through digital space as requirements for the future of participatory governance. We argue that instituting appropriate policies and engaging citizens to co-design and participate in the planning processes are essential to ensuring an inclusive, modern, and open smart city.     

Partisanship and the gender gap: support for gender quotas in Australia

The percentage of women elected in the Australian Parliament is comparatively low. This poor track record has generated debate within political parties about the necessity of gender quotas (or targets) to increase women’s representation. Using the 2016 Australian Election Study, this paper proposes to test support for different measures aiming to increasing women’s representation in Australian politics. More specifically, I investigate the role of partisanship in explaining gender differences in support for gender quotas. I find that differences in support for quotas are greater among women, and among men, than between women and men. The paper also demonstrates that the role of political values in explaining differences in support for gender quotas is non-uniform. Indeed, attitudes towards government intervention, minority rights, and gender equality are more crucial in explaining differences in support for legislative quotas among men than among women.