INNER-CITY REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY IN MONTREAL: INSTITUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DECLINE

Inner-city housing decline is reviewed in terms of neo-classical and Marxist theory. The latter is tested in two empirical studies. First, housing transactions in an inner-city district of Montreal are compared with the city as a whole for 1966-1974. Second, three contrasting sub-markets are compared with respect to mortgage arrangements and property tax for the years 1966 and 1974. It is concluded that Marxist theory provides a valuable interpretation of inner-city decline which is complementary to neo-classical analysis. However, the variables explored give only partial insight into the Marxist perspective.
Les raisons pour la détérioration du marché immobilier des quartiers populaires sont considérées des points de vue néo-classique et marxiste. La théorie marxiste est vérifiée en deux analyses empiriques. d'abordabord il y a un examen des transactions dans le secteur de l'habitation d'abordun quartier populaire de Montréal par rapport aux transactions dans le reste de la ville pendant les années 1966-1974. Deuxièmement, les hypothèques et la taxe foncière sont compareées dans trois sous-marchés en 1966 et en 1974. l'étude conclut que la théorie marxiste ajoute un aperçu complémentaire à l'analyse néoclassique dans l'explication du déclin des quartiers populaires. Toutefois les variables utilisées dans cette étude ne donnent qu'une connaissance partielle de la perspective marxiste.     

Magic darts and messenger molecules: Toward a phytoethnography of indigenous Amazonia

Recent scientific findings on plant intelligence are forcing anthropologists to reconsider indigenous theories of plant vitality. In this article, the authors compare original ethnographic and ethnobotanical research among two different peoples from opposite extremes of lowland South America – the Makushi of Guyana and the Matsigenka of southern Peru – and explore how somatic experiences and the chemosensory properties of plants permeate indigenous understandings of the aetiology of illness and medical efficacy in both the cosmological and microbiological domains. The authors synthesize emerging theory in ecosemiotics, embodiment, plant personhood and plant intelligence with the concept of ‘sensory ecology’ to recast multispecies ethnography as a phytochemical as well as a philosophical endeavour.