The Role of Telematics in Integrating Ireland into Europe's Information Society

This article is an evaluation of Ireland's participation in the Telematics Applications Programme (TAP), which was part of the European Commission's Fourth Framework Programme for the period 1994-1998. TAP was primarily concerned with public sector bodies and their ability to adapt to the Information Society. The article explores Irish participation in the programme and examines the contribution of this participation to the clustering of telematics experimentation within Ireland and to the increasing integration with other European regions arising from project networks. The role of the TAP programme in furthering Europe's information society in Ireland is assessed.     

Situating banal nationalism,the culture wars,and civil religion: governing localized geographies of national identity in Indiana

Various material forms of national identity have become ubiquitous features of the post-9/11 American cultural landscape. This research specifically examines the ‘In God We Trust’ (IGWT) license plate in the state of Indiana as a material expression and territorialized form of national identity. While conceptually anchored in banal nationalism research, exploring the spatial patterns of adoption or non-adoption of IGWT license plates by Indiana residents is only possible through situating this research through the mediating lens of the culture wars and civil religion. Although the IGWT license plate project legislatively materialized through the localized spatial networks of non-state actors in the context of a new and conservative state–citizen relationship firmly anchored in the culture wars, adoption behavior is also mediated through the much broader influence of civil religion. We conduct a quantitative analysis to determine license plate spatial distribution by county, but more importantly to explore the sociodemographic dimensions of IGWT license plate adoption and non-adoption. While our results generally mirror the sociodemographic findings of social issue-based electoral geography, the imbrication of banal nationalism, the culture wars, and civil religion as materially expressed by the IGWT license plate yields an ideologically different and broader dynamic when compared to culture wars defined by national identity.     

Linking Agricultural Biodiversity and Food Security: the Valuable Role of Agrobiodiversity for Sustainable Agriculture

In developed countries particularly, biodiversity is sometimes seen as a phenomenon that should be conserved for its own sake. However, it has become expensive to maintain, especially in those countries that have the greatest biodiversity. There is thus a need to look at how conservationists and other parties involved can work with business constructively. Tourism is arguably the main industry where there are at least some clear mutual benefits. Despite the convergence of interests, however, different groups within this arena express reservations. This article outlines the areas in which much still needs to be done to ensure that conservationists understand the priorities of the tourism industry and tourists themselves, and emphasizes the need for increased commercial development within the field of biodiversity, not least through education and communication.     

Breaking the body of Christ: the sacraments of initiation in a habitat of white supremacy

Since the racially segregated space of the United States operates as a habitat of white supremacy, the vice of white supremacy pervades the church's corporate body and thereby permeates all of its practices, including those of baptism and the Eucharist. Rather than turning to the church's sacraments as an antidote to the vices of a presumed external culture, this paper chronicles the way in which these very practices have been corrupted by it. The church cannot reform itself from within. In order to enable these sacraments to build the body of Christ, the church must work to dismantle regnant patterns of white supremacist racial segregation in the world.     

Slavery in Africa: Interpretation and illustration

Lovejoy, Paul E. Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. xvi + 349 pp. including maps, bibliography, and index. $39.50 cloth; $12.95 paper.

Bonner, Philip. Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires: The Evolution and Dissolution of the Nineteenth Century Swazi State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. x + 315 pp. including maps, bibliography, appendix, and index. $49.50 cloth.

Ross, Robert. Cape of Torments: Slavery and Resistance in South Africa. Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983. xi+160 pp. including glossary, bibliography, maps, and index. $19.50 cloth.