The Rat-Catcher's Prank: Interspecies Cunningness and Scavenging in Henry Mayhew's London

Drawing upon Mayhew's interviews with rat-catchers, sewer workers and the dog-men of the rat pit, the article explores the varied relationships these aforementioned groups had with rats across three distinct spaces: the country, sewers and rat-pits. In addition to developing a framework for historicizing the practices of rat-catching, the article illuminates Mayhew's highly ambiguous relationship with two key rationalizing projects: the emerging discourses of sanitary progress and ‘animal welfare’, which had consequences for how he conceptualized the diverse cultures of London's working poor.     

Virtual Poaching and Altered Space: Reading Parkour in French Visual Culture

Parkour has emerged in the last decade as a significant cultural practice, both in France, where it originated, and internationally. The cultural resonance of parkour—a form of street gymnastics combining acrobatic agility with a creative approach to urban space—is emphasised through its presence on numerous internet sites, as well as representations in advertising media, the bande dessinée, and films. While the prevalence of parkour as a practice is widely known, these numerous manifestations within culture have not been widely theorised. This article focuses primarily on parkour's representations in visual culture, especially in cinema, and considers the associations made in two films between parkour and the banlieue. Analysing both the legitimacy and potential problems in making the banlieue a stage for parkour performance and big-screen entertainment enables us to reconsider the notion of the film banlieue, as well as the political possibilities of a ‘parkour film’. Lastly, reflecting on the circumstances of contemporary cinema and the role of the internet, the article considers philosophical aspects of the ‘parkour film’, as well as seeking parallels between parkour's spatial practices and the practices of cinematic and online production and distribution.

La dernière décennie a vu apparaître le parkour en tant que pratique culturelle significative, en France, où il a son origine, mais aussi au niveau international. L'impact culturel du parkour – une gymnastique de rue qui unit l'agilité acrobatique à une attitude créative envers l'espace urbain – est souligné par sa présence sur nombre de sites Web, dans la publicité, la bande dessinée, et dans certains films. Alors que la popularité du parkour comme pratique est reconnue, ces représentations culturelles ont suscité moins d'intérêt théorique. Cet article porte sur les représentations du parkour dans la culture visuelle – principalement dans le cinéma – et examine les rapports établis dans deux films entre le parkour et la banlieue. En se demandant s'il est ou légitime ou problématique de se servir de la banlieue comme scène pour la célébration du parkour ou pour les super-productions cinématiques, on peut réexaminer le concept du ‘film banlieue’, et considérer les possibilités politiques d'un ‘film parkour’. Finalement, en réfléchissant sur la situation contemporaine du cinéma et le rôle de l'Internet, l'article considère les aspects philosophiques du film parkour; en même temps, il cherche à établir des correspondances entre les pratiques spatiales du parkour et les pratiques de production et dissémination cinématiques et numériques.     

The Interplay between History/Memory/Space in Tassadit Imache's: Presque un Frère and Le Dromadaire de Bonaparte

During the last two years media attention has centred on the issue of torture during the Algerian war. An exploration of this debate shows that the deep passions and tensions which have, in the past, bitterly divided the participants in the war and prevented an objective historical investigation or dialogue, are now receding. In France, in spite of a long history of state secrecy surrounding 'sensitive' archives, there has been a quiet but significant liberalisation of access and a new body of research based on this huge and growing body of evidence is dramatically changing our understanding of the war. Although many historians hope to see a growing Franco-Algerian collaboration, the torture debate reveals at the same time how far the current political crisis in Algeria and the authoritarian military regime continue to impede access to archives and a more open research agenda.     

Postneoliberalism and its Malcontents

Abstract: The onset of the global financial crisis in 2008 has been widely interpreted as a fundamental challenge to, if not crisis of, neoliberal governance. Here, we explore some of the near‐term and longer‐run consequences of the economic crisis for processes of neoliberalization, asking whether we have been witnessing the terminal unraveling of neoliberalism as a form of social, political, and economic regulation. In many ways a creature of crisis, could neoliberalism now be falling to a crisis of its own making? Answering this question is impossible, we argue, without an adequate understanding of the nature of neoliberalization and its evolving sociospatial manifestations. These are more than definitional niceties. The prospects and potential of efforts to move genuinely beyond neoliberalism must also be considered in this light.     

Feasts in Motion: Archaeological Views of Parades,Ancestral Pageants,and Socio-Political Process in the Hueda Kingdom, 1650–1727 AD

This paper examines the socio-political processes surrounding spectacular religious parades and more private acts of veneration and supplication within the Hueda Kingdom (c. 1650–1727 AD) in the Republic of Bénin, West Africa. The first goal of this paper is to posit the role that such public and private ceremonies played in framing negotiations of political and moral authority. It argues that ceremonial hosts and assembled audience members worked to channel toward their own interests the social, political, and economic outpouring that resulted from ritually sanctioned performances of wealth. The second goal of the paper is to illustrate material and spatial dimensions of such ceremonial spaces. These themes, drawn from a historically well-known polity, work together to aid in comparative theory building on feasting and the politics of spectacle in the deeper archaeological past.     

The Location of Services in the Urban Hierarchy and the Regions of the United States

We use regression and factor analyses to explain intermetropolitan variation in the proportion of jobs in disaggregated service sectors in American metropolitan areas. Central place theory postulates of centrally located establishments serving a surrounding complementary region partially explain the positive relationship between metropolitan size and the proportion of jobs in an area in services. Regional variation in demand following several decades of substantial shifts in population and economic output is an additional influence. Intermetropolitan clustering of service sectors is also occurring. A factor analysis of employment proportions in twenty-two disaggregate service sectors identified five intersectoral service clusters. The factor analysis accounted for substantially more variance than the regression equations. We interpret this result as evidence of the emergence of service-based spatial industrial complexes. We argue that agglomeration of information-intensive intermediate services is driven by an attraction to labor markets endowed with pools of skilled professionals who can flexibly apply their talents in a variety of sectors. Unusual demographic characteristics of some metropolitan areas probably explain clusters of final demand services.