Extraction and the Ocean “Frontier”: Dispossession,Exclusion, and Resistance in Namibia

The perceived neglect of the ocean to state and industry actors has seen frontier rhetoric emerge as it is rendered visible under the Blue Economy agenda. By framing the marine scape as underutilised, capitalist expansion is being legitimised. Drawing on the case of Namibia, I argue that the afterlives of colonialism and apartheid are being repurposed to present the ocean as a Blue Economy opportunity. The physical disconnection of citizens from the marine scape, and the dominance of fishing and mining industries, has been used by state and development actors to present it as empty of socio-cultural relations. However, to declare Namibia’s coasts and ocean as forgotten unless articulated through capital is to conceal that they have been labelled “no-go” zones. I argue that, by considering exclusions and looking beyond proximity in discussions of equity and representation, the marine scape is articulated by civil society, to elucidate forms of resistance.     

经济全球化背景下的中国政治发展战略

经济全球化已经成为当代世界的发展潮流,它不仅改变着整个世界经济和文化的格局,而且也深刻地影响着每一个国家的政治发展进程。在这一背蓄下,确定符合当代中国实际和发展阶段的政治发展战略,就是要在价值取向上发展社会主义民主政治,在发展模式上遵循渐进式发展。     

论民国时期民族经济融合中的政府力量--对广西边疆稳定基本构成要素的新认识

民国时期,桂系集团所实施的治桂方略中,“控制”和“发展”的成分共存。由于其立足点为开发经济、促进民族融合,因此为后来社会矛盾的缓解和边疆地区的稳定奠定了较好的基础。政府力量之所以能够发挥积极的作用,既取决于其职能的转变,也取决于相关社会因素的推动。     

Modern observations: new ornithology and the science of ourselves, 1920–1940

The emergence and organisation of amateur networks of observation in Britain in the period between 1920 and 1940 are addressed in this paper. It examines the geographical, organisational and epistemological associations between networks of ornithological observation (traced through the British Trust for Ornithology), which emerged from the 1920s, and amateur ethnography (traced through Mass-Observation) which emerged in the late 1930s. I approach these ‘observational cultures’ as spaces which brought together new concepts of the local, of everyday nature and society, as well as the possibilities of changing the everyday. The paper suggests that popular observation during the period partly constituted a reframing of ways of knowing Britain differentiated through the everyday production of natural and social knowledge and the construction of the active citizen and new communities of practice.     

Labour Relations and the Transfer of Knowledge in Industrial Clusters: Why do Skilled Workers Share Knowledge with Colleagues in Other Firms?

Industrial clusters are held to offer competitive advantages to firms that accrue from the transfer of tacit knowledge between skilled workers co-located in spatially bound regions. This paper argues that informal knowledge transfers between skilled employees working in spatially bounded industrial clusters might have an association with the labour relationship between employers and employees. In the literature on industrial clusters general knowledge is readily traded through codified texts and collegial networks but high value, tacit knowledge transfers occur less frequently but are critical to the success of firms located in clusters. Tacit knowledge transfers are held to occur when workers move to other firms because of firm death or poaching but less frequently through contacts between colleagues from other firms. Industrial clusters are said to offer labour market advantages for skilled workers in the form of ample job opportunities and rising wages, which engender firm loyalty and discourage the transfer of tacit knowledge of competitive value to other firms. However, the limited empirical evidence available on actual working conditions for skilled workers in regional industrial clusters indicates that this argument is contestable. Some evidence suggests that there are limited wage premiums accruing to the industrial districts, a limited role for geographic proximity, and weak localised returns on seniority and education. We argue that in such circumstances high value knowledge between workers in different firms might be traded as an act of epistemic solidarity or sociability that disregards the interests of employer organisations. Such actions might vary by region and country in relation to the prevailing system of labour relations. Australian labour relations are offered as a case in point.     

Boundary spanning in social and cultural geography

This article situates interactions between German- and English-language social and cultural geographies since the mid-twentieth century within their wider intellectual, political and socio-economic contexts. Based on case study examples, we outline main challenges of international knowledge transfer due to nationally and linguistically structured publication cultures, differing academic paradigms and varying promotion criteria. We argue that such transfer requires formal and informal platforms for academic debate, the commitment of boundary spanners and supportive peer groups. In German-language social and cultural geography, these three aspects induced a shift from a prevalent applied research tradition in the context of the modern welfare state towards a deeper engagement with Anglophone debates about critical and post-structuralist approaches that have helped to critique the rise of neoliberal governance since the 1990s. Anglophone and especially British social and cultural geography, firmly grounded in critical and post-structuralist thought since the 1980s, are increasingly pressurized through the neoliberal corporatization of the university to develop more applied features such as research impact and students’ employability.     

试论区域文化对区域经济发展的影响

本文探讨文化和经济的关系,重点论述了区域文化对区域经济发展的滞缓或促进作用,并以宁夏的区情进行了例证。     

抗战时期中国沿海工厂的内迁及对内地经济的影响

抗战初期,我国沿海沿江地区民族工业大举内迁,起于1937年八一三抗战,到1940年夏基本结束,在后方形成八个新工业区。沿海沿江地区的民族工业大举内迁,建设后方工业基地,写下了抗战史上悲壮而光辉的一页。     

Knowledge Transfer at the Research–Policy Interface: The Geography Postgraduates' Experiences of Collaborative Studentships

The need for effective knowledge transfer has been well documented; however, few narratives reflect on postgraduates as brokers of knowledge when participating in collaborative studentships. This paper reports on the authors' experiences of undertaking Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Scottish Government (SG) collaborative PhD studentships in geography, a new studentship which trains doctoral students to be employable in both academe and government. Particular focus is given to the experiences related to an annual month-long SG placement, which increases opportunities for knowledge transfer by engendering a deeper awareness of the needs of all partners. It concludes by considering what the experiences offer to the PhD process, authors' future prospects, and the issue of knowledge transfer more broadly.     

From interdisciplinary to inter‐epistemological approaches: Confronting the challenges of integrated climate change research

Spurred by the literature on climate change and its calls for undertaking holistic research that more fully integrates the work of biophysical and social scientists, this article responds to the question: To what extent has climate change research in Canada embraced and been guided by the theories and tenets associated with interdisciplinarity and to what extent have integrated approaches been sensitive to cross‐cultural perspectives? It provides an overview of some of the epistemological issues raised in the interdisciplinarity literature that particularly impact research development and design. Furthermore, since much of the climate change literature that claims to be integrated or interdisciplinary draws from Indigenous Knowledge (IK), additional insights are provided from this perspective. The article develops a framework that can be used to undertake and/or evaluate research in a way that acknowledges “upstream” epistemological issues. The framework is then used to evaluate a comprehensive database (n = 282) of Canadian climate change articles. It is argued that an interdisciplinary approach adds a critical voice to the literature on integrated climate change research and is valuable because of its focus on epistemology and methodology. The article advocates the creation of a space for inter‐epistemological acknowledgement in which the academy develops an ethos of self‐reflection, while simultaneously respecting and integrating parallel knowledge frameworks, such as IK.