Understanding the Geography of Pellagra in the United States: The role of social and place-based identities

This article examines the intersection of constructs such as North and South, white and black, rich and poor, male and female in the creation of the diseased Other during the pellagra epidemic in the United States in the early twentieth century. Pellagra was a disease of poverty, caused by poor nutrition and resulting in over 100,000 deaths in the country between 1900 and 1940. Endemic in the American South, its victims were largely low-income, female and black. The author argues that the conception of the South as the regional Other by Northern interests, a reluctance to acknowledge widespread deprivations in the region by Southern leaders, compounded by inadequate scrutiny of the racial and gender dimensions of the disease, delayed the discovery of the cause of pellagra and the implementation of public health measures to prevent and treat the disease. By highlighting the critical roles of geographical location and identity in disease prevalence, this article adds to debates on the links between place-based identity and health. It also amplifies feminist understandings of how racist, sexist and class-based binaries are refracted and reconstituted in the articulation of socio-culturally produced identities and their consequences for health.     

‘The Problem with the Locals’: Partnership and Participation in Ethiopia

This article examines the proliferation of development discourses about participation and partnership, focusing on natural resources management policy in Ethiopia. It argues that relationships between the state and donors and between donors themselves are contested and negotiated. The generation of policy is a value–laden process. However, because these institutions are not monolithic, the agency and positioning of those individuals charged with implementing participatory policy influence both practice and interpretation. This may go some way towards explaining the frequent gaps between policy and practice.     

Historical Archaeology of France in the New World

The author introduces this special issue of the journal that is focused on the historical archaeology of French colonial and post-colonial settlements in the New World. Case studies from widely separated regions reveal both the similarities and differences that existed in French colonial and descendant communities.     

Pattern Analysis Based on Type, Orientation, Size, and Shape

Quantifying the pattern of geographically defined areas has proven useful in analyzing and understanding geographic processes. Pattern analyses most commonly used by geographers measure the spatial distribution of nonspatial variables at each point or in each area. The objective of this research is to develop and assess a pattern analysis for area-class maps that considers more than the nonspatial attributes when describing a spatial pattern. We examine whether similar geographic areas—similar with respect to attribute type and several geometric properties—exhibit particular spatial patterns (e.g., clustered, random, or dispersed). The additional attributes we include are orientation, size, and shape. We refer to the method as TOSS, reflecting the T ype, O rientation, S ize, and S hape of areas. The goal of considering these additional attributes is to capture the geometric aspects of pattern that other approaches to pattern analysis do not. Sets or groups of similar areas are created using cluster analysis, based on a variable standardization score using the Gower coefficient of similarity. The spatial distributions for each set of geographic objects are then calculated using nearest neighbor analysis. To test the effectiveness of the TOSS method, results from pattern analysis and the TOSS method are qualitatively and quantitatively compared. The TOSS method offers a novel approach to pattern analysis.     

Improving Coastal Vulnerability Assessment Methodologies for Integrated Coastal Zone Management: an Approach from South Australia

The global concern about human-induced climatic change and its potential effect on sea-level has dominated the debate on coastal vulnerability, particularly since a common assessment methodology was developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1991. There have been numerous attempts to use or adapt this methodology but the focus has remained on sea-level rise as the single most important issue for coastal vulnerability. This paper presents a revised and more holistic coastal vulnerability assessment methodology which incorporates spatial and temporal scales relevant to the predicted impacts of climatic change and current human-induced hazards. Three studies in contrasting coastal environments of South Australia demonstrate that there are significant regional variations in sea-level response, human-induced hazards and local planning issues and that these may present a greater immediate threat than the possibility of sea-level rise.     

Winners and losers: Industry policy and gender concerns in the clothing industry

This article is broadly concerned with the federal government's industry policy in relation to women machinists in the clothing industry. From analysis of various reports and a series of face‐to‐face interviews with 120 people representing government, business and unions, as well as workers in various sections of the industry, I argue that the government's approach to restructuring this industry has not adequately incorporated an understanding of the issues facing the women who make up the majority of employees. The federal government's current textile, clothing and footwear (TCF) industry plan has failed to sufficiently address women's frequently disadvantaged position. In regard to the clothing industry, I will show that although there have been gradual gains for women, major victories are scarce, particularly for the growing number of outworkers.