New Xenaland: Lesbian place making,the Xenaverse,and Aotearoa New Zealand

This article explores the relationship between unmappable lesbian space, the Xenaverse, which is a complex discursive space generated out of the syndicated television show Xena: Warrior Princess, and the national space of Aotearoa New Zealand. The article argues that the Xenaverse is an imaginary space which is also a lesbian space and that it is partially pulled into material national space by its links to Aotearoa New Zealand. It is therefore an excellent example of the complex and recursive process of lesbian place making. The role of distance as a significant factor for dominant national discourses, the Xenaverse, and lesbian possibility is discussed to partially account for the materialisation of the Xenaverse in Aotearoa New Zealand. The article suggests that unmappable lesbian spaces such as the Xenaverse can be examined using three analytic filters: ephemeral space; queered lesbian space; and neo-colonial processes.     

‘A matter of commonsense’: the Coventry poliomyelitis epidemic 1957 and the British public

In 1956, the British Ministry of Health instituted a vaccination programme against poliomyelitis, but run into myriad supply and administrative issues. When Coventry experienced an epidemic in 1957, it came to symbolise these problems. Throughout, it was claimed that the government lacked ‘common sense’. This article explores how and why ‘common sense’ was used as a rhetorical weapon in the debates over policy at the local and national level. While those claiming ‘common sense’ were often at odds with medical and administrative authorities, the arguments were often informed by deeply held beliefs about vaccination and disease.     

TWENTIETH-CENTURY RETAIL CHANCE IN THE HALIFAX CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

The Halifax downtown area has experienced considerably change in the amount, type, and location of retailing in this century, exemplifying many processes and patterns typical of North American cbds. Owing to increased competition from suburban business districts, retail activity has remained fairly constant in absolute terms but has declined relative to the rest of the urban area. In response, the mix of downtown retailing has been reoriented to emphasize the district's comparative advantages, cbd retailers have differentiated their goods and services from those of suburban competitors but have also attempted to provide settings and amenities - notably, indoor malls and off-street parking - which mimic those found at suburban shopping centres. Such changes are investigated in this case study by means of two broad questions: (1) how and why has the cbd's overall mix of retail types changed through time, and (2) how and why have changes occurred in the location of retailing and retail types within the cbd?     

Single-Family House Values in Metropolitan Halifax, 1981

The overall pattern of home values in metropolitan Halifax has been strongly influenced by the early (mid-nineteenth-century) establishment of a prestige sector in the South End. This sector failed to develop outward due to the barrier of the Northwest Arm, which, paradoxically, was not bridged, since to have done so would have marred the original attraction of the sector. While nearly all ‘exclusive’ housing remains in pockets on or near the Arm, new prestige housing areas have been developed in the suburbs, wherever fine settings and the absence of wartime shacks allow. In particular, the presence of extensive ‘low-value’ tracts south of Armdale has forced most new high-value developments in Halifax to the north mainland. Finally, while public housing has tended only to reinforce the low-value pattern established by 1950, publicly funded land developments, particularly Forest Hills, have created large peripheral areas of below-median value.     

Rocks are heavy: transport costs and Paleoarchaic quarry behavior in the Great Basin

Central place foraging models are used to investigate assemblage variability at two Paleoarchaic (terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene) dacite quarries in the central and eastern Great Basin. Our analyses focus specifically on biface reduction and how varying degrees of reduction relate to the costs of transporting the resulting products upon departing the quarry. Our results suggest that when the distance to be traveled to a residential base is great, reduction will proceed further at the quarry than if the residential base is fairly close. Further, a residential site assemblage will consist of bifaces at later stages of reduction than its associated quarry.     

Rural population change in Nova Scotia, 1991–2001: bivariate and multivariate analysis of key drivers

Depopulation is a major demographic and economic issue in Nova Scotia, as it is in many of Canada's hinterland areas. Indian Reserves excepted, two-thirds of rural census subdivisions declined in population between 1991 and 2001, and this decline has serious economic and social consequences. By contrast, a small minority of seemingly 'rural' areas is experiencing excessive population growth through exurbanisation. This article combines map and graph analysis with simple regression and multivariate techniques to analyse the key drivers of recent population change. It is shown that such change is strongly and predictably related to unemployment rate, income and population density and moderately related to resource-industry employment, proximity to a major urban centre and commuting. These six variables are interrelated, however, and their separate contributions are explored through principal component analysis and multiple regression. Two variables—resource-industry employment and urban proximity—are identified as key root causes, indicative of separate factors. Findings are related to the Drudy–Gilg model of rural decline, and their policy implications are briefly discussed.