Hyperinflation as a catalyst of transformations: Path dependence through accelerated dynamics in post-First World War Austria

Hyperinflations are a modern phenomenon often associated with periods of transition. By accelerating the dynamics that govern the financial, political and private spheres of life, hyperinflations necessitate a quickened decision-making process in which alternative choices are eliminated. Using the example of Austria following the First World War, this article shows that hyperinflations are likely to have a path-determining effect on multiple levels. While periods of transitions offer the rare opportunity for countries to break with historical path dependence, hyperinflations carry the risk of creating new path dependence prematurely. By speeding up dynamics during transformative processes, hyperinflations eliminate possible alternatives that might otherwise have been chosen. Hyperinflations are thus best understood as neither the cause nor the consequence of transitions, but as their accelerating catalyst.     

Pilgrimage and tourism: Cathedral visiting in contemporary England

Abstract

This paper examines the role of cathedral visiting in contemporary England. It highlights the importance of cathedrals to the tourism economy and also considers the issue of the commercialisation of heritage within cathedrals and the difficulties posed for cathedral authorities in contrasting perceptions of visitors as tourists and pilgrims. The issue of pilgrimage is examined through the results of a survey of the experiences and attitudes of eight hundred visitors to four English cathedrals. It is suggested that the tension between tourism and pilgrimage is not as great as might be expected and that experience of visiting a cathedral can engender a sense of pilgrimage in the tourist     

Disturbing geography: obsessive‐compulsive disorder as spatial practice

This paper explores the spatial practices of obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD). It begins by introducing the key elements of the disorder: obsessions and compulsions. It then concentrates on obsessions and compulsions relating to fears of bodily contamination. Such fears necessitate the formation of psycho‐social boundaries in ways that are similar to agoraphobia and other mental‐health problems. Avoiding bodily contamination also involves complex spatial orderings to prevent the illicit movement of contaminants. The vital importance, yet fragile nature, of these spatial formations means that negotiating social space and interactions can be immensely fearful, and the OCD sufferer may retreat to the relative safety of home. However, the domestic is a space of ambivalent safety. Everyday objects become saturated with fear, transforming the experience of ‘home’. Boundaries and spatial orderings are transgressed in the movement of people and objects. Thus, the OCD sufferer is driven to (re)order space constantly, and in doing so often uses everyday materials in inventive ways. We critique the depiction of OCD as irrational and excessive, and set the creative practices of OCD in relation to the ‘slippage’ of Michel de Certeau's distinction between spatial strategies of domination and the art of tactical living.     

Aboriginal Participation in Environment Planning

The efforts to involve Aboriginal people in the development of a management plan for a newly created World Heritage Area (WHA) in northern Queensland are examined. Although the management agency expended considerable effort to encourage the participation of local Aboriginal people the program was flawed and served to marginalise some Aboriginal groups from the management of their traditional lands. The management agency failed to understand the nature of contemporary and traditional Aboriginal social organisation. Insensitivity to the diverse nature of Aboriginal social organisation, and ignorance of the complexity of Aboriginal representation, rendered the interests of some groups with traditional interests invisible to the management agency. Because the management agency uncritically accepted the claims to a mandate for regional representation by one Aboriginal lobby group, this group was able to assume a dominant position in liaising with the management agency.