Commuting,exercise and sport: an ethnography of long-distance bike commuting

The uniqueness of this article is that it deals with long-distance bike commuting in pro-cycling Copenhagen and its environs. Informed by practice theory and sensuous studies of urban and sport practices, I discuss the ‘things and environments’, ‘meanings’ and ‘competences and biological bodies’ that typify long-distance commuter cycling. This article develops cycling literature and the ‘mobilities paradigm’ in the following ways: by outlining a practice approach to cycling; challenging the idea that commuter cycling is only for short distances; undermining the distinction between utility and sport cycling; and lastly by connecting the ‘mobilities paradigm’ with literature on active travel and sport studies.     

Political economy and global repercussions: reflections on past and present in global historical archaeology

SUMMARY: The seven articles of this special issue of Post-Medieval Archaeology provide a background to this paper. Their various interpretations and operationalizations have provided a plethora of perspectives and localities concerning past political economies. This paper aims to further the discussion of political economy and its relevance in historical archaeology. The very many connections between economy, identity, culture, production, mentality and perception are the foundations of this special issue and also of this article. The paper starts by looking back at how Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx used the concept of political economy and what it might mean in an archaeological context today. The examination then follows three brief cases of individuals in the early modern period and how they related to, and interacted with, the political economy of their time and space. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of putting material culture and spatial studies into the discussion in order to trace entanglements and connections of political economies of past societies.     

Governance, institutional capacity and partnerships in local economic development: theoretical issues and empirical evidence from the Humber Sub-region

Recent research on local and regional economic development has focused upon transformations in local governance and institutional capacity. It has been argued that local authorities have ceded power to other actors and institutions involved in economic development and regeneration, and that the success of local and regional economic development is closely related to the strength of 'institutional capacity' within an area. In this paper, we examine these claims with reference to the operation of EU Structural Funds in the Humber Sub-region of the UK. Previous research on local governance and institutional capacity has had a limited empirical focus, drawing conclusions from studies of either economically 'successful' regions or regions undergoing regulatory and institutional transformation and precluding analysis of the nature and conditions of local governance and institutional capacity in less developed regions. Our case study evidence not only suggests that arguments about the declining influence of the local state are overdrawn, but also indicates a need for more nuanced accounts of the role of institutional capacity in regional development.     

The Scramble for East Africa: British Motives Reconsidered, 1884–95

This article re-examines the partition of East Africa. It first outlines the existing historiography, namely the dominant geo-strategic Nile model, and suggests that there are two major areas of weakness upon close analysis: a lack of documentary evidence; the way the sequence of actual events and policy decisions is inconsistent with the main thesis. Second, using a wide range of sources, a new chronology of events will be proposed that divides the annexation process into three separate stages. The article will first expose the importance of the prelude to partition in determining its ultimate geographical scope, in particular Anglo-German relations, local treaties and the commercial expectations for the lakes region. The second and third sections will expose the importance of public opinion in formulating a forward policy in the region. Finally, building on this, it will be argued that the role of Britain's anti-slave-trade policy needs to be fully acknowledged, with regard to Britain's raison d'être for establishing a formal presence on the mainland in 1885 with the occupation of the territories encompassing modern Kenya and Uganda in successive stages from 1885 to 1895.     

Emergent Complexity,Changing Landscapes,and Spheres of Interaction in Southeastern South America During the Middle and Late Holocene

Newly created academic programs at Brazilian universities have provided the impetus for new archaeological projects in southeastern South America during the last two decades. The new data are changing our views on emergent social complexity, natural and human-induced transformation of the landscape, and transcontinental expansions and cultural interactions across the Río de la Plata basin during the Middle and Late Holocene. We concentrate on six major archaeological traditions/regions: the Sambaquis, the Pantanal, the Constructores de Cerritos, the Tupiguarani, the Southern Proto-Jê, and the middle and lower Paraná River. Diverse and autonomous complex developments exhibit distinct built landscapes in a region previously thought of as marginal compared with cultural developments in the Andes or Mesoamerica. The trajectories toward increased sociopolitical complexity flourished in very different and changing environmental conditions. While some groups were pushed to wetland areas during a drier mid-Holocene, others took advantage of the more humid Late Holocene climate to intensively manage Araucaria forests. The start of the second millennium AD was a critical period marked by an increased number of archaeological sites, the construction of ceremonial architecture, and the intensification of landscape transformation; it also was marked by the rapid expansion of influences from outside the La Plata basin. The Amazonian Tupiguarani and Arawak newcomers brought with them significant changes in technologies and social and political structures, as well as novel landscape management practices.     

Institutionalising Future Geographies of Financial Inclusion: National Legitimacy Versus Local Autonomy in the British Credit Union Movement

In Great Britain, financial infrastructure withdrawal and community economic decline have focused attention on the capacity of locally "alternative" financial institutions to combat social and financial exclusion. This paper examines one such institution, the residential or "community" credit union, which provides a low-cost source of credit for members drawn from a common bond area usually based upon place of residence and/or work. Although community credit unions have traditionally been seen as providing individuals and communities with the opportunity to access credit and savings facilities in areas where there has been contraction in bank and building society provision (the financial "mainstream"), ongoing attempts exist to move away from the traditional role of community credit unions. This transition has set up three main challenges for the British credit union movement, discussed in this paper as follows: (1) a struggle over the attempt to redefine the "model" credit union within the national credit union movement; (2) the changing regulatory context for credit union development, including attempts to embrace credit unions within New Labour policies on social exclusion; and (3) a "local" challenge, including the incorporation of credit unions into community economic development initiatives. The paper considers how these challenges feed into wider understandings about the social relations, categorisation and autonomy of locally "alternative" financial institutions. We argue that future research on geographies of financial inclusion focusing on "alternative" institutions and their relationship to the financial mainstream needs to pay close critical attention to potential contradictions and tensions operating at different, yet intersecting spatial scales.