SITUATIONAL PLACES: RETHINKING GEOGRAPHIES OF INTERCULTURAL INTERACTION IN SUPER‐DIVERSE URBAN SPACE

Cities in general and public urban spaces in particular have re‐emerged as important places where strangers from different social and cultural backgrounds interact. The growing number of intercultural encounters assumed by contemporary urban studies calls for a theoretical examination of how these encounters are conducted. In this article we therefore critically examine the interplay between cultures, strangers, performances, encounters, and urban built environments. This means bringing together the theoretical ideas of super‐diversity, culture in world society, and situational places. The article argues that intercultural interactions between strangers in cities – and elsewhere – shape the cultural conditions of contemporary world society. First, super‐diversity is discussed as a cultural reality of world society. Drawing on empirical evidence from psychology, intercultural interactions between strangers are then demonstrated to be part of ritualized cultural negotiations. Finally, the notion of situational places is put forward as the conceptual nexus between these cultural encounters and the urban environment. This perspective allows the integration of bodily performances between strangers, spatial and situational context, and the resulting places of encounter.     

The effects of sample size on some derived measures in vertebrate faunal analysis

Analysis of three kinds of measures derived from archaeological and palaeontological faunal collections (measures of relative taxonomic abundance, measures of taxonomic diversity, and a measure proposed to distinguish natural from cultural bone) demonstrates that in many instances such measures may be, or are, a function of sample size. A procedure for detecting this situation is suggested, and the source of the interrelationships discussed.     

Building synergies between WTO and UNESCO: the case for data-driven policy coordination

The different legal worldviews of WTO and UNESCO on trade and culture vividly illustrate the formidable challenges we face nowadays to deliver legal and policy coherence in global governance. Bridging the trade and culture policy divide in this area requires stronger inter-agency dialog and cooperation, starting with joint initiatives for improved policy-oriented statistics.     

Regulating for creativity and cultural diversity: the case of collective management organisations and the music industry

This paper explores the role of intermediary institutions in promoting creativity and cultural diversity in the music industry, and the impact of cultural policy on the performance of those intermediaries. It reviews some of the existing literature on the relationship between economic conditions and innovation in music, and argues that too little attention has been paid to intermediaries. Focusing on collective management organisations (CMOs) as one example of overlooked intermediaries, we illustrate, by way of comparison, the different priorities and incentives that drive CMO practice. These variations, we suggest, are important to appreciating how CMOs operate as intermediaries in different territories. We then turn our attention to recent attempts by the EU to reform CMO practice as part of its Digital Single Market project. The fact that the CMO has been an object of reform is indicative of its importance. However, there is more at stake here: the reforms themselves, in seeking to change the role and behaviour of CMOs will, we suggest, have profound consequences for the market in music in Europe, and for creativity and cultural diversity within that market.     

Understanding ethnic differences in perceptions,attitudes, and behaviours: a study of domestic water use in Sydney

There is growing realisation among environmental and social studies researchers that people's decision‐making about water use conforms to their internal norms and beliefs, which are developed in social and cultural contexts. Little research, however, has addressed the possible impacts that ethnic and cultural diversity may have on domestic water use and management. This paper presents the results of a study conducted in Sydney, with specific reference to questionnaire findings. Among respondents from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, significant differences were observed in terms of perceptions, specific knowledge, attitudes, and self‐reported behaviours in relation to water use and conservation. The disparities identified were not masking socio‐demographic and economic characteristics but were the result of a series of constructs closely tied to ethnicity, including cultural value, environmental experience, language preference, and information access. As a factor explaining variation in the engagement of pro‐conservation behaviour, ethnic status was found to be more useful than some socio‐economic factors. The study highlights the importance of including ethnicity and cultural sensitivity issues in the decision‐making process of environmental management.     

Front doors to freedom,portal to the past: history at the Ellis Island immigration museum,New York

Heritage sites and museums play a significant role in the production and legitimization of historical knowledges and social identities. The potential for these institutions to act in ways that maintain deep‐rooted inequalities in the relative power of social groups has long been noted by academic commentators. A critique of the role of museums in reproducing ‘official’ histories is now well established. In this paper we explore new ways of conceptualizing and empirically exploring the production and politics of museum histories. By tracing the historical development of museums, we explore the power play between individual actors and institutions involved in production of the museum, and the multi‐vocal histories and landscapes which result from the interaction between these actors. We illustrate these arguments through a case study of Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York Harbor.     

Bipolar antagonism and multipolar coexistence: framing difference and shaping fear in two Caribbean cities

This article proposes a new approach to urban geographies of fear, focusing on the connection between fear and cultural understandings and representations of difference. Much of the existing work on the relationship between fear, urban space, and social difference tends to take social difference as more or less given. In this article, we argue that how differences (such as ethnic, political or class differences) are framed has strong implications for geographies of fear. The article suggests that dualistic and nondualistic framings of difference influence levels of fear and that this becomes visible in the use and perceptions of urban space, and in the built environment through the erection of physical barriers. These spatial factors, as they limit mobility and interaction, tend to reproduce the specific framing of difference. Two discursive modes of representing difference are discussed. The first, ‘bipolar antagonism’, is based on a dualist rhetoric of irreconcilable opposites. This is contrasted with ‘multipolar co-existence’, in which social categories are understood as multiple or hybrid, with flexible or fluid boundaries, and as not necessarily antagonistic. This argument is elaborated through a comparative analysis of social–cultural and spatial processes in two Caribbean cities: Kingston, Jamaica, and Paramaribo, Suriname.     

Are the global media and entertainment conglomerates having an impact on cultural diversity? A critical assessment of the argument in the case of the film industry

This paper critically examines the dominant discourse on the global media and its impact on cultural diversity. The term cultural diversity suffers from the lack of good definition and criteria to assess its degree and change over time in specific markets. The paper also argues from an economic perspective that the distinctive economic features of the film business has led to market concentration, which, however, is ‘natural’ and does not trigger the application of competition law to rectify it. A particular problem is the assumed link between the market structure and its performance, which is not definitively supported by theory or empirical research. It is argued that the discussion in the media and entertainment studies literature is sometimes based on flawed reasoning and insufficient evidence. It is suggested that we start with the important discussion on what state of cultural diversity cultural policy should strive to achieve.     

IMAGINED DIVERSITY

The period that takes in the first term of New Labour in Britain also spans the empowerment of a new elected National Assembly for Wales and the designation of Objective One European structural funds to parts of Wales. Analysis of cultural policy documents from those years finds that the endorsement of an eclectic cultural style as a collective identity for a diverse citizenry is compromised by the implication that it is the Welsh language, rather than diversity itself, that signifies diversity. Scrutiny of proposals for, or assertions about, a “branded” cultural identity reveals inconsistencies between the cultural practices of place‐based communities and the opportunistic affiliations that are deployed in the interests of social and economic development in a “new” information economy.     

Mobility and the diversity of Early Neolithic lives: Isotopic evidence from skeletons

Isotopic analyses of tooth enamel from early Neolithic skeletons in southern Germany adds diversity to the picture of the Neolithic transition in central Europe, which has often been described as a wholesale shift in diet and technology. Over the past decade, these isotopic studies have suggested some degree of immigration from nearby indigenous groups, as well as social differences within early Neolithic communities that correlate with immigration patterns. In general, there emerges pattern a pattern of patrilocal kinship that is consistent with independent genetic evidence, and anthropologically consistent with the potential identification of Neolithic ‘nuclear families’; and finally, specialisation of subsistence activities, such as livestock herding and cultivating, probably along hereditary lines.