THE END OF AMERICA: THE BEGINNING OF CANADA - A RESPONSE

In his recent article entitled 'The end of America: The beginning of Canada,' Patrick McCreevy (1988) asserts that the Falls at Niagara act as a visible border or 'wall,' which separates two vastly different places. Since the American Revolution, however, Canadians and Americans residing along the Niagara frontier have made every effort to reach across the river which separates them. By means of either improved transportation and communication facilities, by marriage, or the free trade agreements of 1854 and 1989, local Niagarans have overcome the physical barrier of the river. In fact, in the summer of 1989, Canadians and Americans paid tribute to two centuries of 'openness' and peace along the Niagara Frontier with a four-day 'friendship festival' held in July.     

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.     

The "politics of the queue": the politicization of people living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania

Starting from a body of literature on movements around "biological citizenship," this article analyses the political significance of HIV-positive people's collective action in Tanzania. We explore reasons for the limited impact of Tanzanian AIDS activism on the wider political scene, concluding that the formation of a "movement" is still in its infancy and faces many constraints, though some breakthroughs have been made. Participation in PLHA groups in Tanzania encourages politicizing struggles over representation, democratic forms and gender that can lead to a process of political socialization in which members learn to recognize and confront abuses of power. It is in such low-level, less visible social transformations that the greatest potential of participation in collective action around HIV/AIDS in Tanzania lies.     

Piaget in Africa: Some thoughts concerning operational thinking among the Iteso

Barnabus Otaala. The Development of Operational Thinking in Primary School Children: An Examination of Some Aspects of Piaget's Theory among the Iteso Children of Uganda. New York: Teachers College Press, 1973. ix + 118 pp. Tables, appendixes, and references. $3.95 (paper).