Being genealogical in digital geographies

In this intervention, I trace the genealogies of the recent heralding of digital geographies as a boundary object for scholarship and scholars foregrounding the digital in geography. Building off of previous efforts to be technopositional in digital geographies, I make an entreaty for further being genealogical by attuning to the insider/outsider positionalities that have informed this particular endeavour of intellectual community‐making in Anglo‐American geography. While genealogy is not an exercise in historical narration, it works against dehistorical narratives of digital technologies and of the disciplinary frameworks within which they are engaged, destabilizes technopositional privileges, and has the potential to engender more inclusive digital geography futures.     

Investigating self-reported food allergy prevalence in Waterloo Region,Canada

While food allergy prevalence has been studied at the national level, we know little of food allergy prevalence or perceptions of prevalence/management at the local level. This paper uses Waterloo Region as a case study to 1) document self-reported individual and household food allergy and sensitivity prevalence at the local level; 2) investigate perceptions of food allergy prevalence; and 3) explore perceived confidence in anaphylaxis management. Survey data were collected from January to March 2019. Respondents (n = 500) self-reported individual and household food allergy and sensitivity, estimated the percentage of Canadians with food allergy, and were queried about their knowledge of food allergy management. Prevalence estimates were weighted to the structure of the 2016 Canadian Census, and univariate and bivariate analysis were conducted. Prevalence of self-reported food allergy was 12.1% (95%CI, 8.8%-15.3%), and prevalence of self-reported food sensitivity was 26.3% (95%CI, 21.9%-30.7%). When asked to estimate the percentage of Canadians with food allergy, the mean perceived percentage was 35.1% (SD = 22.96). Self-reported prevalence of food allergy appears higher in Waterloo Region, and the estimated percentage of Canadians with food allergy is inflated. Understanding prevalence and perceptions at the local level is important for targeted allocation of public health resources to ensure safe spaces for individuals with food allergy.     

On Skin and Bone: Samoan Coconut Oil in Indigenous Practice

ABSTRACT

International promotional material on coconut oil commonly references its centuries of use as a beauty and health aid by Pacific Islanders. However, this gesture towards Indigenous Pacific use of coconut oil is rarely accompanied by substantive information. This paper explores the topical application of coconut oil in three Indigenous Samoan practices: fofō, or massage by taulāsea and other forms of customary healers or medical attendants; samaga, the anointing with coconut oil of the newly inked pe‘a or malu to mark the completion of these customary tattoos; and liutofaga, the ritual ‘washing’ of the bones of a deceased relative with coconut oil prior to reinterment. This paper argues that there are interrelated practical, medicinal, and spiritual dimensions to Samoan uses of coconut oil, and that these are usefully understood through reference to Samoan conceptions of sociospatial relationship, or vā.     

L’émergence de la grappe industrielle de l'intelligence artificielle (IA) à Montréal

The paper analyses the emergence of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) cluster in Montreal and investigates two questions: (1) What are the different theoretical interpretations related to the emergence of industrial cluster? And (2) What are the factors underlying the emergence of the AI cluster in Montreal and to what extent have local and global factors been decisive in this respect? The AI cluster emerges through a process that brings into play the interaction between the local initial conditions and the birth of a new industry. Moreover, it also involves an interaction between the local and the global, which is supported by interactions with foreign actors located in different parts of the world.     

Canada and the United States—Trading Partners and Transfer Pricing Opponents?

Given the significant trading relationships between Canada and the United States, their transnational corporations and their tax authorities share more than a border. However, differences in transfer pricing regulations, tax rates, and regulatory enforcement philosophies have exacerbated many existing risks, and created new risks for executives in these corporations. These risks must be managed proactively, yet attempts at risk management are often incompatible with one tax authority or the other. Assuming that an operational transfer pricing framework is in place, there are several proactive strategies available to mitigate transfer pricing risk and potentially satisfy both tax authorities. An operational framework and proactive strategies, including documentation and advance pricing agreements, are discussed from the Canadian and US perspective, including expert interviews.     

Simon McBurney’s Ambitious Pursuit of the Pure Maths Play

Abstract

When Simon McBurney set out to create a play about the fabled relationship between Cambridge mathematician G. H. Hardy and the self-taught Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, he was immediately confronted by the question of how to engage the mathematics authentically. Undaunted by his own uneasiness with the subject, McBurney incorporated a host of experts into the rehearsal process, calling on mathematical educators, expositors, and Fields medalists to come work with the company. While on the surface maths and drama make an incongruous pair, the result was a vibrant collaboration. The final product — the award-winning play A Disappearing Number — shines an interesting light on the surprising similarity between the creative process in mathematics and the creative process in theatre, especially as manifested by the company at Complicite.     

Interpreting deindustrialised landscapes of Atlantic Canada: memory and industrial heritage in Sackville, New Brunswick

The redevelopment of former industrial sites now constitutes a significant component of the landscape of Atlantic Canada. This paper explores the heritage issues surrounding two industrial sites in Sackville, New Brunswick, and argues that the heritage discourse is constructed through the creation of memory and the processes of commodification and consumption. Using the examples of two foundries, the paper investigates the manner in which the image of industry has been presented and reinterpreted, both through the industrial heydays of the late‐19th and mid‐20th centuries and in the contemporary scene. The commemoration, commodification and consumption of selected aspects of the industrial past are significant means by which Sackville creates its place identity. The resulting landscapes remain problematic, however, with a tendency to be overly romanticised and sanitised or at odds with contemporary images of Sackville's place identity. Le réaménagement d'anciennes friches industrielles constitue aujourd'hui une importante composante du paysage des provinces atlantiques du Canada. Le présent article explore les questions patrimoniales entourant deux sites de ce type à Sackville (Nouveau‐Brunswick) et formule l'hypothèse que le discours à saveur patrimoniale repose sur la création d'une mémoire et des processus de réification et de consommation. À partir de deux fonderies utilisées comme exemple, l'article examine comment l'image de l'industrie a été présentée et réinterprétée, tant à l'époque de gloire de l'industrialisation de la fin du XIXe siècle et du milieu du XXe siècle que sur la scène contemporaine. La commémoration, la réification et la consommation d'aspects choisis du passé industriel constituent d'importants moyens par lesquels Sackville crée son identité. Les paysages qui en résultent demeurent problématiques et ont tendance àêtre exagérément romantiques et aseptisés, voire même contradictoires par rapport aux images contemporaines de l'identité de Sackville.     

RECENT ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CANADIAN PLAINS

This paper examines 20th-century environmental change in the subhumid southwestern Canadian Plains, specifically in relation to the dominant agricultural landscape and to the climate of the past millennium as reconstructed from proxy data. Anthropogenic landscape change in the last century has been dominated by the conversion of grasslands to ranchland and cropland. This has heightened landscape vulnerability to climatic fluctuations, especially drought. Instrumental climate records, extending back to the 1880s, highlight the variability of precipitation in this region. Proxy environmental records, derived from lake cores and tree-ring analysis, extend this picture into the last millennium and show that drought has been a recurring theme of the Prairie climate. Tree-ring records suggest that some droughts in the last millennium may have exceeded in severity any in the instrumental record. The sustainability of Prairie agriculture depends on adaptation to the amplitudes of climatic change and variability evident in these proxy records. Dans cet article nous examinons les changements environnementaux qui sont survenus pendant le 20^ème siècle dans les plaines canadiennes sèches du sud-ouest, spécifiquement par rapport au paysage agricole dominant et au climat du dernier millénaire qui a été déterminéà partir de données de procuration. La transformation des prairies en ranchland et cropland est le changement du paysage le plus important dont l'homme est responsable, pour le dernier siècle. À cause de ce changement, le paysage est plus vulnérable aux fluctuations climatiques - à la sécheresse en particulier. Les enregistrements instrumentaux de climat, qui reculent jusqu'aux années 1880, mettent en évidence la variabilité des précipitations dans cette région. Les enregistrements environnementaux de procuration, dérivés d'échantillons pris dans les lacs et de la dendroanalyse, étendent cette image dans le dernier millénaire et prouvent que le thème de la sécheresse est apparu souvent dans les analyses du climat du prairie. Les enregistrements de boucles d'arbre suggèrent que, dans le dernier millénaire il y avait des sécheresses qui étaient peut-être si sévères que les instruments n'ont pas pu les enregistrer. Si l'agriculture veut survivre comme entreprise dans les prairies, il faudra qu'elle s'adapte aux amplitudes de changement et de variabilité du climat qui ont été constatées dans les données de procuration.