Volume 22, Number 2, 2023
Backdam in Wowetta, Guyana. People clearing the forest vegetation to prepare the land for farming. May 2020. Image Credit: BY-CC SA-ND Grace Albert. 2020.
Table of contents (6 articles)
Interviews
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Reflections on Universities, Politics, and the Capitalist State: An Interdisciplinary and Intergenerational Discussion with Clyde W. Barrow
Clyde W. Barrow, Heather Steffen and Isaac Kamola
pp. 878–893
AbstractEN:
Since its publication in 1990, Clyde W. Barrow’s book, Universities and the Capitalist State: Corporate Liberalism and the Reconstruction of American Higher Education, 1894-1928, has been a touchstone text for generations of scholars studying higher education. This conversation between Barrow, Heather Steffen, and Isaac Kamola examines the book’s legacy in order to explore how the interdisciplinary study of higher education has changed over the past three decades. In doing so, they examine the space and place of academic knowledge and academic labor, offering an interdisciplinary discussion of critical praxis within the university.
Review Essays
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Towards Settler Responsibility in Conservation
Sharon Stein, Cash Ahenakew, Shyrlene Oliveira da Silva Huni Kui, Evan Bowness, Wilson Mendes and Steve Evans
pp. 894–920
AbstractEN:
This conceptual paper reviews recent efforts to confront colonialism in conservation, with an emphasis on the challenges and complexities that have emerged among settler organizations engaged in this work. We consider recent academic and grey literature in the field in order to map different approaches to conservation, including the emerging interface of Indigenous and western approaches. We also map different approaches to Indigenous engagement undertaken by settler conservation organizations, including representation, recognition, redistribution, and reparation. We suggest that regardless of their approach, in order to create the conditions for truly reciprocal collaborations with Indigenous Nations, settler conservation organizations would need to accept their responsibilities to interrupt and redress western conservation’s colonial foundations, support Indigenous sovereignty, rights, and resurgence (including by supporting Indigenous approaches to conservation), and commit to the difficult, long-haul work of reorienting their approach to relationships away from patterns of paternalism and extraction toward trust, respect, reciprocity, consent, and accountability.
Research
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“It’s Not Only Our Task”: Administrative Barriers of Enabling Urban Gardening in Tampere, Finland
Krista Willman
pp. 921–946
AbstractEN:
An ongoing academic debate shows that urban community gardening (CG) has diverse governance models with differing roles of city administration and citizens. This article uses an empirical case study conducted in the city of Tampere, Finland, to explore what I call the “operational space” of urban CG seen from the viewpoint of city officials. Two rounds of interviews were conducted with eight city officials, and a discourse analysis was applied for the data. As an analytic term developed in this article, the operational space emerges by administrative policies and practices that enable or constrain urban gardening under two general trends of urban governance: institutional ambiguity and neoliberal urban development. In this case, the operational space was rather rigid and narrow. The five main discourses on benefit, control of space, scarcity, unclarity, and newness referred to a clear aim to enable urban gardening. However, the discourses were restricted to strategic, limited, and instrumental levels, as the political-strategic aims of enabling urban gardening contradicted the administrative practices. The results show that cautiousness and unclarity in the administrative-political culture tend to lead to institutional ambiguity. In conclusion, operational space analysis is helpful to uncover the problems and possibilities between CG and city administration.
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Indigenous Economies for Post-Covid Development: Lessons from the North Rupununi, Guyana
Jayalaxshmi Mistry, Deirdre Jafferally, Grace Albert, Rebecca Xavier, Bernie Robertson, Ena George, Sean Mendonca and Andrea Berardi
pp. 947–970
AbstractEN:
Despite being disproportionately susceptible to infectious diseases like COVID-19, many Indigenous peoples still hold traditional knowledge that is responding and adapting to new circumstances and crises such as the pandemic. In this paper, we present the findings from a participatory video project in eight Makushi and Wapishan Indigenous communities in the North Rupununi, Guyana, that explored the difficulties and disruptions that came about through COVID-19, but also the opportunities for change and transformation. Over four months, Indigenous researchers gathered the views and perspectives of their communities through a participatory video process. Our findings show that there was limited information provided to communities and their leaders (especially at the start of the pandemic), and support, in the form of supplies and relief, was ad-hoc and inconsistent. As people lost income from paid work, they turned to traditional farming, fishing and hunting to sustain their lives and to support others who did not have the conditions to support themselves. While many Indigenous community members retreated to their isolated farms as a protective measure, community leaders took responsibility to protect their lands and territory by installing gates on access roads and establishing patrols to enforce rules. The recognition that their traditional knowledge was not only culturally important but necessary for survival during the pandemic, gave it a newfound relevance and legitimacy, particularly for young people. Supporting Indigenous economies such as farming are not only critical for maintaining nature and traditional cultures today, but also for being resilient to future social and ecological crises.
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Sex and the City: On the Politics of Producing Identities through Space
Maria Victoria Castro and Lina Buchely
pp. 971–991
AbstractEN:
This paper explores the role of safety and sexual harassment risk as the pivotal element for the understandings in gender and city debates both in literature and in public policy in Colombia, which derives from understanding women’s sexuality as either “kind mothers” or “chaste women” who must protect their sexuality in public spaces. Using ethnographic techniques in Barranquilla and Cali (Colombia), we suggest that the protection of sexuality is tangential to women’s concerns when thinking about mobility, public space, and urban dimensions. We argue that putting women’s sexuality at the center of public concerns by using space governance techniques helps reproduce a power scheme in which women lose because they are seen as childlike, vulnerable, and requiring protection. We defend the idea that we need to think spatially, but differently: using a legal geographies approach allows a novel tool to imagine refining policy approaches about vulnerable subjectivities in urban spaces. This paper reveals how space operates as a mechanism to produce identities associated with the mobility experiences of its inhabitants and related with class and gender axes. We argue that the emphasis on sexual harassment as the organizing vector of the interventions related to gender and the city reproduces gendered stereotypes of women and men and reinforces and legitimizes the role of the nation-state as patriarchal protector. Further, the emphasis on safety fails to recognize different ways in which women use their sexuality in cities, their agency, and their strategies for negotiating with governance techniques.
FR:
Cet article explore le rôle du harcèlement sexuel en tant que centre de discussion dans les débats sur le genre et les villes. En utilisant des techniques ethnographiques à Barranquilla et Cali (Colombie), nous suggérons que la protection de la sexualité est tangentielle aux préoccupations des femmes lorsqu'elles pensent à la mobilité, à l'espace public et aux dimensions urbaines. Cet article interroge la centralité du harcèlement sexuel de trois manières : (i) en mettant en évidence qu'il existe, du point de vue des femmes, d'autres préoccupations que le harcèlement sexuel liées à la répartition des ressources ; (ii) posant les usages émancipateurs de la sexualité dans l'espace —y compris l'agencement des femmes et leur instrumentalisation de la sexualité— et (iii) déstabilisant le rôle de la femme traditionnelle promu par l'État à travers les politiques publiques. Nous soutenons ici que mettre la sexualité des femmes au centre des préoccupations publiques en utilisant des techniques de gouvernance de l'espace permet de reproduire un schéma de pouvoir dans lequel les femmes sont perdantes parce qu'elles sont considérées comme enfantines, vulnérables et nécessitant une protection. En ce sens, nous défendons l'idée qu'il faut penser spatialement, mais différemment. L'approche du droit et de la géographie se trouve alors comme un nouvel outil pour affiner les travaux sur les subjectivités vulnérables dans les espaces urbains. Cet article révèle comment l'espace fonctionne comme un mécanisme pour produire des identités associées aux expériences de mobilité de ses habitants et liées aux axes de classe et de genre. Cet article fait progresser la géographie juridique en proposant des moyens de comprendre le droit et son potentiel important pour construire des dimensions spatiales, des imaginations et des identités, ainsi que leurs résultats matériels.
ES:
Este artículo explora el papel del acoso sexual como centro de discusión en los debates sobre género y ciudad. Utilizando técnicas etnográficas en Barranquilla y Cali (Colombia), sugerimos que la protección de la sexualidad es tangencial a las preocupaciones de las mujeres al pensar en la movilidad, el espacio público y las dimensiones urbanas. Este trabajo cuestiona la centralidad del acoso sexual de tres formas: (i) evidenciando que existen, desde el punto de vista de las mujeres, otras preocupaciones además del acoso sexual relacionadas con la distribución de recursos; (ii) planteando los usos emancipadores de la sexualidad en el espacio —incluyendo la agencia de las mujeres y su instrumentalización de la sexualidad— y (iii) desestabilizando el rol de la mujer tradicional promovido por el Estado a través de las políticas públicas. Aquí sostenemos que poner la sexualidad de la mujer en el centro de las preocupaciones públicas mediante el uso de técnicas de gobernanza espacial reproduce un esquema de poder en el que las mujeres pierden porque se las considera infantiles, vulnerables y necesitadas de protección. En ese sentido, defendemos la idea de que necesitamos pensar espacialmente, pero de manera diferente. El enfoque de derecho y geografía se encuentra entonces como una herramienta novedosa para perfeccionar los trabajos sobre subjetividades vulnerables en los espacios urbanos. Este trabajo revela cómo el espacio opera como mecanismo para producir identidades asociadas a las experiencias de movilidad de sus habitantes y relacionadas con ejes de clase y género. Este artículo avanza en la geografía legal al proponer formas de entender el derecho y su importante potencial para construir dimensiones espaciales, imaginaciones e identidades, así como sus resultados materiales.
IT:
Questo articolo esplora il ruolo delle molestie sessuali come centro di discussione nei dibattiti di genere e cittadini. Utilizzando tecniche etnografiche a Barranquilla e Cali (Colombia), suggeriamo che la protezione della sessualità è tangente alle preoccupazioni delle donne quando pensano alla mobilità, allo spazio pubblico e alle dimensioni urbane. Questo articolo mette in discussione la centralità delle molestie sessuali in tre modi: (i) evidenziando che ci sono, dal punto di vista delle donne, preoccupazioni diverse dalle molestie sessuali legate alla distribuzione delle risorse; (ii) porre nello spazio gli usi emancipatori della sessualità —incluso l'agency delle donne e la loro strumentalizzazione della sessualità— e (iii) destabilizzare il ruolo della donna tradizionale promosso dallo Stato attraverso le politiche pubbliche. Qui sosteniamo che mettere la sessualità delle donne al centro delle preoccupazioni pubbliche utilizzando tecniche di governance dello spazio aiuta a riprodurre uno schema di potere in cui le donne perdono perché sono viste come infantili, vulnerabili e bisognose di protezione. In questo senso, difendiamo l'idea che dobbiamo pensare spazialmente, ma in modo diverso. L'approccio giuridico e geografico viene quindi trovato come un nuovo strumento per perfezionare i lavori sulle soggettività vulnerabili negli spazi urbani. Questo articolo rivela come lo spazio opera come meccanismo per produrre identità associate alle esperienze di mobilità dei suoi abitanti e legate agli assi di classe e di genere. Questo documento fa avanzare la geografia giuridica proponendo modi per comprendere la legge e il suo significativo potenziale per costruire dimensioni spaziali, immaginazioni e identità, nonché i loro risultati materiali.
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The Biosecuritization of the Tourist City: Some Reflections from and about Lisbon Nightlife
Jordi Nofre, Manuel Garcia-Ruiz and João Carlos Martins
pp. 992–1014
AbstractEN:
The impact of COVID-19 on tourism has been enormous across the globe. The successful recovery of the tourism industry at the local, national, and global levels is strictly dependent on the efficient contention and mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic at the global level and on the capacity of tour operators, governments, and other actors to generate complete trust among tourists. In this article, we examine the biosecuritization of Lisbon (Portugal) and the efforts carried out by the administration to preserve the city as a COVID-free urban destination. In this sense, we will examine two main strategies that have received little attention from the scholarly community, namely (i) the strengthening of repressive, punitive, and criminalizing policies against suburban working-class youths ('the perilous') within the scope of guaranteeing a COVID-free city for tourists ('the untouchables'), and (ii) the (in)governance of the urban night of Lisbon during the current pandemic. In the last section, we will argue how mobility restrictions, lockdowns, and nighttime curfews have shown us how central culture, arts, entertainment, and leisure are for not only the cultural and social life of many young and adult people in Europe but also for their socio-emotional wellbeing.
ES:
El impacto de la pandemia de Covid-19 en el turismo ha sido enorme en todo el mundo. La recuperación exitosa de la industria del turismo a nivel local, nacional y global depende estrictamente de la contención y mitigación eficientes de la pandemia Covid-19 a nivel global así como de la capacidad de los operadores turísticos, de los gobiernos y de otros actores para generar una confianza sólida entre los turistas. En este artículo, examinamos la biosecuritización de Lisboa (Portugal) y los esfuerzos realizados por la administración para preservar la ciudad como un destino urbano libre de Covid. En este sentido, examinaremos dos estrategias principales que han recibido poca atención por parte de la comunidad académica hasta la fecha, a saber (i) el fortalecimiento de políticas represivas, punitivas y criminalizadoras contra los jóvenes de la clase trabajadora suburbana ('los peligros') para salvaguardar una ciudad libre de Covid para los turistas ('los intocables'), y (ii) la 'no-política' que presenta la (in)gobernanza de la noche urbana de Lisboa durante la actual pandemia. Además, exploraremos las posibles razones que podrían explicar la negativa permanente a reabrir la industria de la vida nocturna de Portugal a pesar de que el país ha reabierto sus fronteras a los viajeros internacionales para salvaguardar el turismo en el segundo verano pandémico.