Interventions on Europe's political futures

Europe is facing challenging times. The so-called ‘migration crisis’ has seen the hardening and militarisation of Europe’s borders. Nationalist politicians are framing European states as being under siege from Islamist terrorists and economic migrants, which has led to a rise in xenophobia and casual racism on the streets of European cities. Meanwhile the Euro-zone has seen a series of employment crises and economic bailouts. Alongside such political and economic turmoil, the European Union is facing unprecedented pressures, not least from the ‘Brexit’ result of the UK's referendum on EU membership in June 2016. In reflecting on these manifold challenges to the idea and space of Europe these interventions focus on three themes that have long animated political geography scholarship: borders, power and crises. Cross-cutting the interventions are two calls to action: to rethink our analytical approaches to Europe, and to reframe our role as critical scholars.     

New patterns in the locational choice of immigrants in Spain

During recent years, Spain has experienced an important revolution in its migration flows. With the 2008–2013 Spanish financial crisis, the model of economic growth that attracted a large number of foreign people disappeared, and the entry of immigrants for reasons other than economic issues gained relevance. Linked with this phenomenon are the new patterns of locational choice across provinces and the variation in the nature of immigrants. In this paper, we examine the differential patterns and drivers of immigration across Spanish regions before and after the financial crisis. Special attention is paid to the question of how the characteristics of individual migrants influence their locational preferences. To answer this question, we use the Dirichlet multinomial regression model. The results obtained show a sharp change in the locational patterns of Spanish immigrants after the economic recession, confirming that traditional economic incentives are less relevant, while non-economic factors linked with a better lifestyle gain importance. They also reveal that, regardless of the economic conditions, network effects are strong. Finally, and what is probably more important for us, our estimates support the hypothesis that the locational preferences rely on the interaction between the immigrants’ characteristics and the underlying locational features.     

Hunter–gatherer migrations,mobility and social relations: A case study from the Early Bronze Age Baikal region,Siberia

A large data set of geochemical data (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, ¹⁴C, δ¹³C, and δ¹⁵N) was obtained for a middle Holocene Early Bronze Age Khuzhir-Nuge XIV cemetery (∼4650–3950 cal. BP) in the Baikal region of Siberia. This material is analyzed at the individual level and in the context of demographic data and spatial arrangements within the cemetery revealing a number of new insights about hunter–gatherer adaptive strategies in the region. During the Early Bronze Age, the Little Sea area of the Baikal region witnessed entire hunter–gatherer families migrating there from other parts of the Cis-Baikal, such as the Angara and upper Lena valleys. While all larger spatial units discernible at Khuzhir-Nuge XIV, such as the East, Centre, and West Sectors, scattered graves, and rows of graves, included individuals of local and non-local birth, it is evident that the area of origin was an important cultural variable well marked in the various smaller spatial arrangements such as the rows, sub-sectors, and groups of graves. The two different diets identified among the analyzed group of people (Game-Fish-Seal and Game-Fish) show interesting spatial distribution patterns. While both diets are present in the East and Centre Sectors, the West Sector is composed only of individuals characterized by the GFS diet. All locals subsisted on the GFS diet, while the non-locals featured a mix of individuals with either GFS or GF diet. It appears that status was not linked to the area of origin, for individuals of both local (GFS) and non-local diet (GF) were buried within the “rich” East Sector, however, in spatially separate arrangements suggesting further that the area of origin was an important social distinction among these high status individuals. The similarity in diet catchment patterns and diets for individuals interred in the same graves and row, and the differences between some rows, suggest existence of distinct foraging ranges used by separate social units, such as families.     

From “Spitsbergen” to “Svalbard”. Norwegianization in Norway and in the “Norwegian Sea”, 1820–1925

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to enhance our understanding of the Norwegian acquisition of Spitsbergen/Svalbard by using the concept of Norwegianization as a tool for analyzing the political and diplomatic background for the Spitsbergen treaty of 1920, and comparing the Norwegianization polar politics with the Norwegianization concept used to analyze the internal colonization in the Sami districts of northern Norway during the same period. The paper concludes that the politics of Norwegianization on the main islands in the North Ocean – renamed the Norwegian Sea by Norwegian oceanographers in the 1870s – was an offensive policy of expansionism, motivated by historical and geographical considerations and alleged rights to re-establish the Medieval Norse empire.     

Spatial variation of biologically available strontium isotopes (Sr/Sr) in an archipelagic setting: a case study from the Caribbean

This paper presents the results of strontium (Sr) isotope analysis of modern and archaeological animal remains and modern plant samples from the Caribbean region. The goal is to assess if patterns of human mobility can be determined from the archaeological record in an archipelagic setting. The range of variability and spatial distribution of biologically available strontium isotope signatures is reported and data evaluated to determine if sufficient heterogeneity exists to permit the identification of mobility despite the presence of potentially large contributions of marine strontium in island and coastal ecosystems. The (is)landscape is divided into several sub-regions based on the age and lithology of underlying geology and the variability of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios is reported as; mean ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ± 2 standard deviations, number of samples: 1) Volcanic and Intrusive rocks (0.7077 ± 0.0019; n = 162); 2) Cretaceous–Miocene Limestone (0.7085 ± 0.0009; n = 50); 3) Pliocene–Quaternary Limestone (0.7091 ± 0.0004; n = 54); 4) Sedimentary Deposits (0.7094 ± 0.0015; n = 16); 5) Metamorphic Deposits (0.7104 ± 0.0014; n = 6). There are substantial differences between expected ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values based on associated geology and measured ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in flora and fauna samples. These differences emphasize the importance of focusing on bioavailable strontium, as opposed to geological proxies, for estimations of Sr isotope ranges, especially in archipelagic environments. While some overlap exists between the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ranges of certain sub-regions, other sub-regions possessed limited variation and could be distinguished based on strontium isotope data. This spatial patterning of biologically available strontium indicates that strontium isotope analyses can be successfully applied to the archaeological study of human mobility within the Caribbean region.     

Note on draft plan For institute of geography

A number of measures of accessibility are applied to the road and transport networks of the N.W. Highlands and Islands. The concept of ‘accessibility’ is interpreted at the regional scale and in a physical, rather than a behavioural, sense. Although other indices are briefly mentioned, three basic approaches are examined in greater detail: travel timings from a central point, shortest paths through the network between every pair of nodes, and potentials. From all the methods discussed, there is a large degree of consensus on the spatial patterns of accessibility in the region.     

Intrinsic or extrinsic population growth in Iron Age northeast Thailand? The evidence from isotopic analysis

Here we present strontium, carbon and oxygen isotope measurements from the tooth enamel of 34 adults from Noen U-Loke, an Iron Age site (c. 300BC–500AD) in the Upper Mun River Valley (UMRV), northeast Thailand. The Mun Valley is rich in archaeological sites from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, with evidence for changes in social complexity, new technologies and population growth. Whether the population growth in the UMRV was intrinsic, as opposed to extrinsically due to immigration, is an unresolved question. Our results suggest low levels of long-distance immigration, with only three (two females, one male) of the thirty-four individuals as probable immigrants from outside the region. We discuss the implications of this result as a contribution to longer-term investigations of population growth, human mobility and fertility during this prehistoric period of substantial societal changes in mainland Southeast Asia.     

国际移民的最新发展及其特点——兼析国际移民与华侨华人的概念

本文依据联合国、国际移民组织和美国皮尤研究中心发布的数据,分别介绍了国际移民的规模、流向和主要的来源地及目的地,在此基础上对当前国际移民的发展特点作了详细阐述,并对"国际移民"与"华侨华人"概念的区别与联系进行了辨析。认为国际移民与华侨华人的概念既有联系,又有区别。在国际移民的大背景下,国际移民在中国人口中只占很小的比例,中国并非移民输出大国,"中国移民威胁论"等都是没有依据的渲染和猜测。中国重视并积极参与移民领域的国际合作,将与各国及国际组织一起努力,共同促进世界范围内的正常人口流动,实现共同发展与繁荣。     

Deaths,disappearances, borders: Migrant disappearability as a technology of deterrence

This paper analyses migrant disappearances in connection to EU bordering practices and techniques. Drawing on fieldwork in various localities at Greek borderlands, I argue that death or disappearance, due to drowning, hypothermia, exhaustion, violence, deprivation of medical care, and road accidents, to name but a few examples, has become an integral part of border enforcement in the Global North. To engage analytically with such an instantiation of border violence, I propose to utilise the notion of migrant disappearability. This disappearability is a produced condition (as opposed to accidently or randomly appearing) of everyday existence that does not necessarily lead to death or disappearance but, nevertheless, exerts pressure towards certain kind of precarities and threats by limiting the horizon of possibilities racialised migrants from the Global South have ahead of them. Furthermore, the state of being disappearable is a social space one constantly enters, leaves, re-enters and leaves again; rather than being at the forefront at all times, it looms above like a ghost.