From Preamble to Post‐project Frustrations: The Shaping of a Slum Upgrading Project in Recife,Brazil

Abstract: This article presents an ethnography of the evolution of Prometrópole, a slum upgrading project in the Brazilian city of Recife. The project aims to improve the urban infrastructure, eradicate slums and resettle the population. We focus on the project's first area of intervention, Jacarezinho. We analyze how, from lead‐up through implementation, the project gained shape and gradually became real. Participatory procedures were very important in shaping the project that for a long time did not materialize. We argue that the project manifested itself as a vehicle of modernity that evoked a dream of progress. The population, which never asked for the project, was attracted to this dream, but remained critical. We contend that, although the project partly delivered on its promises, for many slum dwellers it failed to entail a better life. We portray the project's genealogy, the compromise between different aims, and an echelon of post‐project frustrations.     

Prehistoric Fijian diet and subsistence: integration of faunal, ethnographic, and stable isotopic evidence from the Lau Island Group

We explore subsistence practices and dietary change on islands in the central Lau Group of Fiji with zooarchaeological methods and stable isotopic analysis of human and animal skeletal material interpreted through an ethnoarchaeological lens. Our dataset combines detailed identifications of fauna, especially fishes, with stable isotopic (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) values of human and animal bone collagen and apatite carbonate spanning approximately three thousand years of human occupation on three study islands. Additionally, over fifty inshore and offshore contemporary fishing expeditions were observed on all study islands over a six-year period. We integrate these separate lines of evidence to form robust interpretations of Lauan subsistence patterns over a broad temporal scale. We add to the existing literature on stable isotopic analysis of archaeological bone from Remote Oceania and compare all of these groups through time. Our results indicate that Lauans differentially relied on nearshore reef resources rather than pelagic fishes, and terrestrial endemic species may have served as a portion of the diet during the early prehistoric period. Root crops (e.g., taro, yam) provided the majority of calories to the diet; however, sea grapes likely contributed to the early diet. Our isotopic results differ from previous studies of Fijian diet and that of Remote Oceania at a time of probable marine ecosystem shifts (AD 1300) illustrating diet breadth and variability in subsistence strategies potentially due to climatically influenced resource depletion.     

Using Multibeam Echo‐Sounder Data to Identify Shipwreck Sites: archaeological assessment of the Joint Irish Bathymetric Survey data

This paper describes Phase 1 of the project ‘Archaeological Applications of the Joint Irish Bathymetric Survey (JIBS) Data’, analysing bathymetric and backscatter data derived from multibeam surveys off the north coast of Ireland. In particular, the usability of the data for shipwreck detection, identification and site characterization is explored. In Phase 1, the data was screened for anomalous sea‐bed features, which were subsequently described, catalogued and categorized according to their archaeological potential and cross‐referenced against existing records. A planned second phase of this project will examine each anomaly in greater detail together with the local and regional hydrodynamic conditions. © 2010 The Authors     

Place‐based policies,firm productivity,and displacement effects: Evidence from Shenzhen,China

Developing and transitional countries devote considerable funds to selected areas to stimulate local growth and firm productivity. We examine the impact of place‐based interventions due to the opening of science parks in Shenzhen, China, on firm productivity and factor use. Our identification strategy, exploiting spatial and temporal differencing in firm‐level data, addresses the issues that (a) the selection of science park locations is not random and (b) high‐productivity firms sort themselves into science parks. Firm productivity is approximately 15–25% higher due to the science park policy. The policy also increases local wages and leads to distortions due to job displacement.     

Constitutional Design of the Executive: Vice Presidencies in Comparative Perspective

Given the history of the institution in the U.S., it is perhaps not surprising that few democracies have adopted a vice presidency. But, why do any countries have vice presidencies? What, if any, functions do they fulfill? In this paper we examine constitutional provisions for vice presidencies in 29 presidential democracies throughout the world. Specifically, we examine the extent to which the office of the vice presidency fulfills three possible institutional purposes: succession, legislative, or executive functions. Almost all vice presidencies included in our analysis fulfill the role of successor in the event of a presidential vacancy. Of those that have additional duties, most are assigned executive functions, while a few are assigned legislative functions. On the whole, the paper provides empirical evidence that vice presidencies seem to be marginal institutions.     

Creole Performance in Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands

Mary Seacole's autobiography has been read as a feminist performance as well as a paradigmatic Victorian travel narrative. While these assessments address important aspects of the memoir, neither affords the author's Jamaicanness significant space in its analysis. This essay addresses the silences left when Wonderful Adventures is removed from its Jamaican context, then offers a reading of it from this perspective. Grounded in histories that document nineteenth‐century Jamaican social categories, the article analyses Seacole's book using Caribbean literary perspectives that explore raced, ‘coloured’ and geographically‐located identities. The result is an interpretation of the memoir that offers insight into Jamaica's Creole population, its status and colour politics, and identity concerns. All have been expertly shaped by Seacole's rhetorical manoeuvres.     

Moving from research ON,to research WITH and FOR Indigenous communities: A critical reflection on community‐based participatory research

Research projects conducted on Indigenous communities have largely been developed within a dominant Western research paradigm that values the researcher as knowledge holder and the community members as passive subjects. The consequences of such research have been marginalizing for Indigenous people globally, leading to calls for the decolonization of research through the development of Indigenous research paradigms. Based on a reflexive analysis of a five‐year partnership focused on developing capacity for tourism development in Lake Helen First Nation (Red Rock Indian Band), we offer a way of understanding the connection between Indigenous research paradigms and the western construct of community‐based participatory research as a philosophical and methodological approach to geography. Our analysis shows that researchers should continue to move away from methods that perpetuate the traditional ways of working ON Indigenous communities to methods that allow us to work WITH and FOR them, based on an ethic that respects and values the community as a full partner in the co‐creation of the research question and process, and shares in the acquisition, analysis, and dissemination of knowledge. Our reflection also shows that when research is conducted on a community, the main beneficiary is the researcher, when conducted with, both parties receive benefit, while research for the community may result in benefits mainly for the community. We further contend that any research conducted within a community, regardless of its purpose and methodology, should follow the general principles of Indigenous paradigms, and respect the community by engaging in active communication with them, seeking their permission not only to conduct and publish the research but also with respect to giving results of the research back in ways that adhere to community protocols and practices.