New technologies and the political economy of geomorphology

New technologies enable high‐resolution monitoring techniques and the generation of big data and have been heralded as increasing the depth of our understanding of geomorphic phenomena. These technologies, however, also provide us with a convenient entry point into the increasingly constraining political economy of geomorphology. Building on the work of Stuart Lane and of critical physical geographers, this paper traces and examines the multiple roles that new technologies have played in constraining research questions and directing resources. Using the activity sphere framework outlined by David Harvey, the influence of new technologies can be traced around the spheres and their constraining of existing relations within academia and explanation identified.     

Wandering identities in energy transition discourses: Political leaders’ use of the “we” pronoun in Ontario, 2009–2019

This paper explores the use of universalizing language as a discursive strategy to promote shifts in energy policy. Building on scholarship that seeks to understand the political nature of energy transitions, including resistance to transitions, the role of the state, and implications for justice, we examine three phases of energy transition in Ontario in the period 2009–2019, focusing on the ways that three successive ruling coalitions used the first plural pronoun “we” to promote contrasting energy policy orientations. Our analysis of policy documents and government news releases confirms that all three coalitions used the “we” form as a strategic device to define priorities, prescribe courses of action, and broadcast achievements. However, they also used the ambiguity of the “we” form to obscure alternative perspectives, claim credit for rivals’ accomplishments, and gloss over harmful and differentiated impacts of policy choices. The paper concludes by reflecting on broader questions about power and justice relevant to energy transition scholars.     

也说师■鼎铭的“困(韋東)伯太师武”

师■鼎铭"困伯太师武"一句的"困(韋東)"二字,原文写法非常奇怪。裘锡圭先生释为"東(韋東)",读为"范围",认为是遵循、效法之意。本文同意把后一字释为"(韋東)",但把前一字改释为"困"。"困(韋東)"也是遵循、效法的意思。     

Forest as hazard,forest as victim: Community perspectives and disaster mitigation in the aftermath of Kelowna's 2003 wildfires

Situated within the political ecology of hazard, this article is an extended case study of the devastating 2003 wildfires in and around Kelowna, British Columbia (also known as the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire). This article reveals how compliance (or lack thereof) with fire mitigation strategies recommended by provincial, regional, and municipal agencies is complicated by differing social constructions of what constitutes ecologically sustainable forest management and community safety. Three perspectives emerge regarding the urban forests: “nature as hazard”—a volatile force to be controlled; “nature as instrumentally valuable”—a contribution to the character of one's surroundings and subsequent sense of place; and “nature as intrinsically valuable”—a distinct entity to be preserved and protected for its own sake. The article also examines how experiences of disaster influence community perceptions and result in a greater willingness to engage in fire mitigation strategies due to perceptions of heightened vulnerability. Forestry and fire mitigation agencies need to determine multiple courses of action among the varied and valid range of residents’ nature perspectives. The role of human agency in disaster mitigation must be examined, particularly as the risk of fire at the wildland‐urban interface continues to be exacerbated by encroaching human settlements and climate change.     

废甲编区:清初衡山县里甲赋役改革与基层区划的重塑

清初,迭遭兵燹的湖南地区经历了兴垦、均编粮里、清丈等重建赋役秩序的过程。其中,衡山县于康熙四十三年实施的"废甲编区"更是呈现出清初里甲赋役改革的丰富面相。因应偏沅巡抚赵申乔革除里排、滚单催征的举措,衡山县打破原有里甲规制的束缚,改革中坚持粮不过区、就地编区的原则,孕育了字区的地缘性色彩,重塑十七字四百三十七区的赋役区划体系。以康熙五十三年新一轮的清丈为契机,知县葛亮臣在业已建立的区划结构内清查荒籍,使字区成为地方重要的赋役征派和土地登记单位。在这一区域变迁的历史过程中,字区的行政区划功能逐渐得到强化和延续,以赋役征派为目的建立起来的基层赋役区划向实体化与政区化迈进,与之相应的行政话语也深刻地影响着民间契约文本的表达。     

Pollen evidence for major shifts in forest composition since the mid‐nineteenth‐century in the vicinity of Sudbury,Ontario

Numerous anthropogenic stressors have impacted the region surrounding Sudbury, Ontario, leading to pronounced vegetation and landscape change. Few long‐term records exist to understand the nature or timing of this change. We use pollen analysis from radiometrically dated sediments of Clearwater Lake to compare pre‐ and post‐settlement vegetation. Beginning ～1850 CE, the record shows major shifts in forest composition, coincident with settlement and the beginnings of lumbering. These changes are unprecedented for the past ～5000 years, and consist of increases in diversity and abundance of deciduous tree taxa and herbaceous disturbance indicators. While evidence of mining appears as early as 1900 CE, little effect is seen in the pollen record until ～1930 CE, when sedimentation rates increased and acidification of the lake also began. At this time, further increases in palynological disturbance indicators and minimum sediment organic matter levels indicate the period of maximum vegetation loss. As a result of reduced emissions since the 1970s, water quality began to improve in Clearwater Lake and there are some decreases in the abundances of shade‐intolerant disturbance indicators in the pollen record. However, the fact that the pollen assemblages do not resemble those prior to 1850 suggests lasting vegetation changes.     

A Hierarchy of Geographies: A Skinnerian Model of Indochina’s Overseas Chinese Congrégations and Their Influence on French Colonialism

In Indochina, overseas Chinese were organized by dialect group into associations called congregations, which shared many of the functions of huiguan in China. The spread of overseas Chinese economic and social networks followed a Skinnerian model in which large urban con?régations wielded more political and economic authority than did smaller, rural con?régations. By examining the impacts of French colonialism upon overseas Chinese networks within Indochina and upon overseas connections with their Chinese native places, this paper proposes that the Skinnerian model of local-system hierarchy fits quite comfortably when applied to the world of French colonial Indochina and its overseas Chinese. Furthermore, it argues that French colonialism actually reinforced the Skinnerian hierarchy of politics and markets in ways that endured long after the collapse of Imperial China.     

La Psychologie des Peuples et Ses Applications Durant L’Entre-Deux-Guerres

Résumé  La psychologie des peuples a connu un grand succès dans les années 1930 dans les milieux les plus divers: sur les bancs de l’Université, tant des facultés de lettres que de celles de médecine, comme dans le monde colonial. Elle demeure imprégnée des postulats raciologiques du siècle précédent: hérédité raciale, influence du milieu géographique et du climat dans la formation des caractères nationaux, représentation inégalitaire de la différence et ses usages politiques ont été manifestes dans le domaine de la politique coloniale. Les enseignements de la psychologie ethnique ont, en effet, eu des applications directes dans la politique scolaire à travers la mise en place d’un enseignement rudimentaire et à tendance ségrégationniste qui a réduit considérablement les ambitions de la mission civilisatrice. Carole Reynaud Paligot, née en 1966, est actuellement boursière de la Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah. Ses recherches portent sur l’histoire des pensées raciales et l’histoire des intellectuels aux xix ^e et xx ^e siècles. Elle a notamment publié Parcours politiques des surréalistes 1919–1969 (Paris, CNRS éditions, 1995), La République raciale 1860–1930. Paradigme racial et idéologie républicaine, préfacé par Christophe Charle (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2006) et Races, racisme et antiracisme dans les années 1930 (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2007).     

Diversité des réactions réformées à la révocation

Starting from the analysis of the reactions of the Protestant groups to the Fontainebleau edict, this paper examines the development of two main concepts that are at the origin of political modernity, i.e. the distinction between religious and political domains on the one hand, and the popular sovereignty on the other. These two concepts emerged separately as a result of crossed and apparently paradoxal thoughts, whose coherence is to be sought in the anthropological positions underlying them. Therefore the study of the theological debates in the XVII^th century is a way by which the modern political concepts arose.