Identifying foreigners versus locals in a burial population from Nasca, Peru: an investigation using strontium isotope analysis

During the several thousand years of human occupation in the Nasca drainage on the south coast of Peru, population movement into and out of the region impacted the formation and organization of society, as well as contributed to major cultural transformations. This study identifies foreign versus local individuals through the investigation of burial practices and strontium isotope analysis of human remains from the sites of La Tiza and Pajonal Alto dating from the Early Intermediate Period through the Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1–1476). Of the ten samples analyzed, two individuals dating to the Middle Horizon were identified as foreigners. One of these individuals was buried in a new elite tomb type providing additional evidence that the Wari state incorporated Nasca into its realm. Two headless individuals, one dating to Middle Nasca with clear evidence of decapitation, and another dating to the Late Intermediate Period who was likely decapitated, were both locals. This suggests the practice of decapitation took place among local groups, and that the practice of decapitation and the use of heads as ritual items or trophies may have continued later in time than previously thought.     

Locational disadvantage and the spatial distribution of government expenditure on urban infrastructure and services in metropolitan Sydney (1988–2015)

Provision of public services by state governments rather than municipalities is considered an important urban governance factor preventing deeper levels of socio‐spatial inequality in Australian cities. The paper examines the spatial patterns of investment by the New South Wales state government in a wide range of services and infrastructure in metropolitan Sydney over 28 budget years from 1988/89 to 2015/16. We examined the relationship between volume and type of investment in infrastructure and services, and considered a local area's socioeconomic characteristics, distance from the central business district, and designation as a strategic site in metropolitan plans. Despite an overall redistributive approach favouring relatively disadvantaged areas, the most disadvantaged suburbs in metropolitan Sydney had significantly lower levels of investment. When funding was directed to the most disadvantaged suburbs, it was often in the form of new social housing development, reinforcing both the concentration of poverty and disadvantage in resource access. The findings suggest that this is a case of under‐investment by the state government in areas already populated by disadvantaged communities rather than a market‐driven process whereby disadvantaged households move into poorly resourced neighbourhoods.     

Art and archive: memory-work on a Montana homestead

Practices of inventory and collection, intended to organise artefacts in systems of conservation and display, may be unable to cope with deposits of ambiguous or degraded matter. The article chronicles the inventory of residual material culture at a homestead in Montana, and the development of a curatorial practice sensitive to the peculiar qualities and resonances of waste things. Critical and creative resources, drawn from contemporary artists who incorporate such matter in their work, catalyse methodological experimentation with the ordering of objects and their histories. Explorations of artful inventory lead to reflections on the relation between place, memory, and the geographical specificity of curatorial practice.     

The Personal is Political: Developing new subjectivities through participatory action research

Participatory action research (PAR) is gaining critical attention from scholars across the social sciences, and in the field of geography more specifically, as it promises a viable alternative for researchers concerned with social justice. If most of the benefits of PAR are identified in terms of its potential as a vehicle for social change and action, PAR's role in personal change is less understood. This paper considers the development of new subjectivities in a PAR process from a post-structural perspective. My objective is to reframe and connect the social justice orientation of PAR to a feminist post-structural project which emphasizes the fluidity and multiplicity of subject positions as the basis for personal (and social) transformation. Analysis draws upon collaborative research conducted with six young women in New York City and their project Makes Me Mad: Stereotypes of young urban womyn of color. Discussion addresses the role of critical reflection, dialogue, emotion, and narrative in the participatory research process. Building upon critical educator/theorist Paolo Freire's contributions to PAR, I address issues of power, scale, and the politics of location in order to contribute to understandings of spatial praxis.     

Introduction: young people,gender and intersectionality

There are close connections between feminist geographies and young people's geographies with their shared interests in challenging inequality, questioning power relations and in conducting ethically sensitive and nuanced research. The introduction to this themed section synthesises some of the key developments in youth geographies and the contributions that feminist geographers have made to this field. Following this, we explore how the articles in this themed section are valuable additions to the evolving body of work on youth, gender and intersectionality.     

The construction of gender-sensitive peacebuilding in Australia: ‘Advance Australia Fair’

Australia was the first United Nations member state to commit to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund when it was established in 2006, and it has made annual contributions since then. Australia has also made significant contributions towards enhancing gender equality in peace and security governance, most recently during its 2013–14 term of office on the United Nations Security Council, recognising that gender matters in and to all aspects of peacebuilding activity. This article offers a discourse-theoretical policy analysis of a range of Australian Agency for International Development guidelines and strategies addressing gender and peacebuilding issues, and reads these against the international framework to explore the discursive construction of gender-sensitive peacebuilding in Australia. The authors argue that the representations of peacebuilding in the documents they analyse shape how Australia engages in peacebuilding-related activities and inform how Australia is positioned internationally as a peacebuilding actor.     

From infrastructure to digital networks: accessibility and connectivity in transport geography research at Aberdeen

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the contribution made to transport geography research at the University of Aberdeen over the last century. In section one, the earliest work in transport geography emphasised the physical connectivity provided by transport through infrastructure networks. Section 2 discusses the contribution made at Aberdeen to debates around accessibility and connectivity. This work had a strong rural dimension and evidenced a growing recognition of the importance of technology in transport. It provided the springboard for research on digital connectivity with important contributions to the wider domain of transport studies in the fields of flexible transport, rural connectivity, transport and energy and social media and big data as reported in Section 3. Section 4 brings the story of transport research at Aberdeen up to the present. It frames research under the banner of intelligent mobility (IM), which links technology and mobility to the wider societal objective of enabling the smarter, greener and more efficient movement of people and goods. Contributions are reported to the fields of shared mobility, smart rural mobility, transport security and privacy and accessibility. Finally, a return to the theme of infrastructure networks and connectivity is highlighted in work on global production networks in aviation.     

Ideological Primary Competition and Congressional Behavior

Abstract

Primary challenges on an incumbent’s more extreme flank have become increasingly common in congressional elections. We explore the consequences on the legislative behavior of successful incumbents following these types of challenges. We propose that the effect of extreme ideological primary challenges is conditioned on whether the member belongs to the majority or the minority party. We test our expectations on primary elections from 2000 to 2012 and corresponding changes in voting behavior in the next Congress. We find that incumbents in the majority party who have defeated an extreme ideological primary challenge are less likely to support their party, especially on key votes. We expect this reaction is because they fear appearing too moderate and thereby encouraging another extreme ideological primary challenge. We find that incumbents in the minority party who face an extreme ideological challenge do not change their general voting behavior, but are more likely to vote with their party on key votes.