Space, culture and economy—a question of practice

This article addresses the current debate within geography and other circles studying urban and regional development of the relationship between culture and economy. It revolves around two arguments. First, that the relationship should be seen not only as a question of epochal change, of de-differentiation and culturalisation of the economy; it should be considered as an analytical rather than a historical question. Second, it is argued that a theoretical articulation may be gainfully employed starting from the level of social ontology-particularly an ontology of practice. These arguments are developed starting from a critical discussion of two dominant bodies of thought about the relationship, following which, a demonstration of the inseparability of practice and meaning is used to conduct a theoretical re-articulation of culture and economy. Finally, the spatiality of the culture economy relation is considered, displacing the emphasis from connectivity in bounded regions towards joint involvement in the production of space on different scales.     

Book reviews

Economies of Signs & Space. Scott Lash and John Urry, London, Sage Publications, 1994, IV + 360 pp, £45.00 hb, ISBN 0 8039 8471 5; £13.95 pb, ISBN 0 8039 8472 3

Housing Policy in Action: The New Financial Regime for Council Housing. Peter Malpass, Matthew Warburton, Glen Bramley and Gavin Smart, SAUS Study 8, School for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol, 1993, pp. XV+ 115, £9.75, ISBN 1 873575 47 5

Glasgow: The Forming of a City. Peter Reed (Ed.), Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, V+ 233 pp., £25.00, ISBN 0 7486 0246 1

Urban Land and Property Markets in Germany, European Land and Property Markets 2. H. Dietrich, E. Dransfeld and W. Voss, London, UCL Press, 288 pp, £40.00, ISBN 1 85728 049 0

The Politics of Local Economic Policy: Problems and Possibilities of Local Initiative. Aram Eisenschitz and Jamie Gough, London, Macmillan 1993, XIV + 309 pp, £14.99 pb, ISBN 0 33352 175 7

Planning at the Crossroads. James Simmie, London: UCL Press, 1993, 208 pp, £35.00, ISBN 1 85728 024 5, hb; 1 85728 025 3, pb; £12.95

The Political Culture of Planning: American Land Use Planning in a Comparative Perspective. J. Barry Cullingworth, New York and London, Routledge, 1993, XVII – 350 pp, £45.00, ISBN 0 415 08812 7, hb     

A short history of dapsone, or an alternative model of drug development

From 1936 until 1996, the drug dapsone treated a diverse array of diseases, including tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, and AIDS-related pneumonia. This article explores how dapsone transformed from a cure for one disease into a treatment for a totally different malady. This process of reinvention in the clinic represents an alternative model of drug development that the historical literature, focused on success in the laboratory, has largely ignored. The core of the paper discusses the reinvention of dapsone as an antimalarial in the Vietnam War through trials led by Robert J. T. Joy, a physician and military officer. As a case study, it offers a fresh perspective on the clinic-as-laboratory approach that other scholars have addressed in a civilian context. Viewing the randomized clinical trial (RCT) through a military prism will demonstrate how a combat environment combined with the regimentation of the armed forces affected the standard methodology of the RCT.     

The Search for the 1871 Whaling Fleet of the Western Arctic: writing the final chapter

During 2015, the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries led a systematic seabed mapping survey along the Arctic coast of Alaska in search of whaling ships abandoned in 1871. The purpose of the expedition was to determine if wreckage from these abandoned ships was still present in the survey area, and, if so, to assess and document its location, status and condition. The project mapped approximately 50 km² of seabed using sidescan sonar and magnetometry and identified six sites that contained wreckage from at least two whaling ships. Magnetometry data also suggested that additional wreckage may be buried in the seabed.     

The problem of power: Partial electrification in Northern Uganda

This article considers the relation between infrastructural development and precarious work in the context of the electrification of a village in Northern Uganda. The case of a welder illustrates how partial electrification creates precarious conditions for work and how flexibility and creativity are used to mitigate its effects. In looking beyond precarity at the strategies employed by small-scale business owners in Northern Uganda, this article aims to shed light on how people relate to infrastructural realities and play an active role in shaping the affordances and impact of infrastructures in the Global South.