Environing technologies: a theory of making environment

ABSTRACT

The central proposal of this article is that environing technologies shape and structure the way in which nature becomes environment, and as such used, perceived and understood. The argument builds on the understanding that environment is the result of human intervention. Technology is here understood broadly as a terraforming practise, materially and conceptually. We suggest that the compound environing technologies enable us to see environmental change on multiple scales and in new registers. That technologies alter the physical world is not new; our contribution focuses on the conceptual, epistemological, economic and emotional appreciation of systems and aggregates of technologies that is part and parcel of material change. The environing technologies that enable such articulation and comprehension hold potential in the future transformation that our societies need to undergo to overcome the crisis of environment and climate.     

The Catholic and the Communist Women's Press in Post-War Italy—An Analysis of Cronache and Noi Donne

This article aims to provide a systematic, comparative analysis of two of the main women's mass publications in order to trace continuities and changes in the development of women's role in the public sphere in Italy. The analysis begins with an elaboration of the social and political context, which is crucial for the understanding of media texts in general. It shows how the existence of only limited political spaces in post-war Italian society due to the polarisation of Catholicism and communism delayed both an open political discourse on women's conditions and the gradual development of an autonomous and lay feminist movement. Noi Donne of Union Donne Italiene (UDI) was closely aligned with and financed by the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and lacked any substantial autonomy until the early 1970s, while Cronache of the Catholic women's organisation Centro Italiano Femminile (CIF) was a faithful instrument for the propagation of those Catholic concepts of femininity that were redefined and reinforced by the Vatican in the Catholic publication Civiltà Cattolica.     

Introduction: global perspectives on gender–water geographies

This introduction summarizes the work featured in the themed section of Gender, Place and Culture titled ‘Global geographies of gender and water’. It brings into dialogue scholars investigating a variety of gender–water relationships at different scales, including: poisoned waterscapes; fishing practices; and the implications of neoliberal water policies. The authors featured purposefully engage with the multi-faceted ways in which experiences, discourses and policies of water are gendered, and how gender is created through processes of access, use and control of water resources. In bringing these articles together, we have consciously aimed to support inclusive, feminist collaborative work and to prioritize diversity.     

Ethnodevelopment: Social Movements, Creating Experts and Professionalising Indigenous Knowledge in Ecuador

Indigenous social movements have become important development actors in recent years. As the targets of "socially inclusive" neoliberal policies and protagonists in global anti‐capitalist movements, the position of these social movements in mainstream development is often ambivalent. This ambivalence reflects contradictions between economic neoliberalism and goals of social development as well as different understandings and practices in development‐with‐identity. We explore the relationship between the institutionalisation of ethnodevelopment and the creation of indigenous experts through indigenous social movements' engagement in popular training that emphasises indigenous knowledge. Drawing on Michael Watt's notion of governable spaces of indigeneity, we examine how institutionalisation is occurring in a range of ways that establish new alliances and cut across scales. Analysing the politics occurring at the development policy interface, we focus on the processes of representation, negotiation and embodiment involved in indigenous professionalisation, as activism shapes "scaled up" policy making.     

Reviews

ARMS CONTROL AND THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE. Karl W. Deutsch. John Wiley & Sons, 1967. Pp. 167. $5.95.

THE STRATEGY OF CIVILIAN DEFENCE. NON‐VIOLENT RESISTANCE TO AGGRESSION. Adam Roberts (ed.). Faber and Faber, 1967. Pp. 320. £Stg. 2.2.0.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: A GENERAL THEORY. J. W. Burton. Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1967. Pp. 288. £Stg. 0.12.6.

GOVERNMENT AND REVOLUTION IN VIETNAM. Denis J. Duncanson. Oxford University Press for R.I.I.A., 1968. Pp. 442. $9.50.

BIG VICTORY: GREAT TASK. Vo Nguyen Giap. Introduction by David Schoenbnm. Pall Mall, 1968. Pp. xvii + 120. $6.15.

PAPERS ON MODERN JAPAN 1968. D. C. S. Sissons (ed.). Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, 1968. Pp. 137. $2.10.

THE JAPANESE SOCIALIST PARTY AND NEUTRALISM. A STUDY OF A POLITICAL PARTY AND ITS FOREIGN POLICY. J. A. A. Stockwin. Melbourne University Press, 1968. Pp. xv + 197. $6.50.

JAPAN'S RADIO WAR ON AUSTRALIA 1941–45. L. D. Meo. Melbourne University Press, 1968. Pp. 300. $6.75.

AUSTRALIA SINCE FEDERATION. Fred Alexander. Nelson, 1967. Pp. 323; 46 illustrations and 4 maps. $4.95.

RUSSIA 1917. THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION. George Katkov. London, Longmans, 1967. Pp. 489. $6.30.     

Multicultural group work on field excursions to promote student teachers’ intercultural competence

As a response to the intercultural challenges of Geography Education, this study seeks to determine factors fostering intercultural competence of student teachers. Based on a one-week multicultural field excursion of eight German and eight Turkish students in Kayseri (Turkey) on Education for Sustainable Development, we used qualitative interviews to evaluate changes in the 16 student teachers’ intercultural competence. Findings strongly indicate that multicultural fieldwork fosters intercultural learning on a personal level.     

Differentiated regional entrepreneurial discovery processes. A conceptual discussion and empirical illustration from three emergent clusters

ABSTRACT

The paper aims to contribute to better understanding of entrepreneurial discovery processes and regional industrial growth by examining (1) how different regional contexts affect entrepreneurial discoveries, and (2) how entrepreneurial discoveries support specific types of industrial path development in different regions. The paper includes empirical studies of the formation and growth of three ‘official’ regional clusters supported by Innovation Norway’s programme for immature clusters. The paper argues that entrepreneurial discoveries should be institutionalized (by system level entrepreneurs) to achieve considerable regional industrial effects. In our cases institutionalization occurs through the creation of cluster organizations and development of the knowledge infrastructure.     

Toilet Instruments: Symbols of Dissent?

A set of mid‐first‐century AD toilet instruments from Silchester includes tweezers in the form of a sheathed sword and a lanceolate nail‐cleaner with iron core. Other tweezers from the same site confirm the set was made by an innovative local smith. Linking the set to the general sword‐ and spear‐shaped forms and indigenous use of nail‐cleaners, the question is raised of how far these small personal items reflected British disaffection immediately after the conquest, and particularly with the disarmament of the Atrebates and other tribes.