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Human Mobility (human + mobility)
Selected AbstractsHuman settlement and baobab distribution in south-western MaliJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 11 2007Chris S. Duvall Abstract Aim, Human settlement establishment and reproduction of the baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) appear spatially and temporally dependent because baobabs are abundant in many settlement sites in Africa. This paper tests the spatiotemporal relationship between baobab and settlement distribution. Location, South-western Mali. Methods, In an area of 183 km2, 1240 baobabs were located and mapped, their diameters measured, and habitat characteristics recorded for each individual. All occupied (n = 9) and abandoned (n = 84) settlements were located and mapped, and occupation dates were determined through interviews. Chi-squared analysis indicated baobab habitat preferences, and bivariate point-pattern analysis tested baobab,settlement spatiotemporal independence. Results, Baobabs and human settlements are positively spatially associated at most distances and for all baobab size-class,settlement age-class pairs. However, positive spatial association is significant only at distances < 500 m, and young settlements and large baobabs are not significantly associated. Positive association between small and large baobabs is marginally significant at <300 m, but observed significance is less than that for baobab,settlement positive association. Baobab abundance is not evenly distributed across the range of habitats it occupies; recruitment is strongest in settlements and fields, and on cliffs, while mortality is highest on cliffs. Ethnographic observations suggest that human settlement practices and fruit use are the main human factors contributing to baobab,settlement positive spatial association. Main conclusions, There are three main conclusions: (1) Human settlement and baobab recruitment are spatially dependant because settlement leads directly and indirectly to the development of baobab groves at settlement sites. (2) The lower than expected abundance of mature individuals in natural habitats, and the habitat preferences of the observed population, suggest that baobabs were introduced to south-western Mali, probably centuries ago. (3) Human mobility over decadal time-scales is necessary to maintain baobab population structure in landscapes dominated by shifting land use, where baobabs are not purposefully planted. Baobab population processes in such landscapes occur at the scale of human settlement. [source] The tourist with a hidden agenda?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 2 2006Shifting roles in the field of tourism research Abstract This article focuses on the way tourism researchers have to shift between different roles when in the field. The complex reality of the tourism arena with its multidisciplinary character requires a certain flexibility when it comes to the approach and perspective used by the researcher when interacting with the actors in the field. This role switching and flexibility has certain consequences when it comes to the position of the researcher. Furthermore, contemporary developments in the world (such as globalisation, technological developments and increased human mobility) have altered the practice of ethnographic research. The article explores and reflects upon some of the (methodological) issues that tourism researcher are confronted with when conducting ethnographic research, by discussing a number of empirical examples from different researchers in the field. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd. [source] Think Locally, Act Globally: Toward a Transnational Comparative Politics,INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Terrence Lyons Political dynamics and outcomes around the globe have been transformed by globalization, new patterns of human mobility, and the development of innovative transnational social networks. These new political processes are rooted in communities and networks that are not restricted by geographic location. Although politics has been delinked from territory in this way with regard to processes and actors, this does not mean that transnational politics focuses exclusively on universal issues or global approaches to social justice. Rather much of the new transnational politics is intensely focused on specific locations, identities, and issues (for example, "globalized" neighborhood associations, ethnicities, patrimonialism). Transnational politics also includes new conceptions and practices of citizenship and accountability (for example, legislative seats reserved for expatriate labor migrants) as the body politic becomes increasing mobile, political affinities delinked from geographic proximity, and critical constituencies reside outside of the territory of the state. This article outlines a new approach to investigating the actors and processes at the heart of contemporary transnational politics, with a particular focus on the ways in which diasporas are strategically constructed and mobilized to advance political goals through the use of salient symbols, identity frames, and social networks. [source] Les horizons géographiques, entre continu et discontinu1THE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 2 2005Olivier Lazzarotti Cet article analyse la métaphore de l'éducation et du politique, couramment désignée comme allégorie de la caverne de Platon. Il développe la notion géographique d'horizon de nouveauté et d'altérité comme , dialectique , du continu et du discontinu autant que comme articulation entre mobilité et immobilité humaines. En retour, il pose la question de l'horizontalité, toujours montrée mais jamais dite, comme critique d'une métaphore écrasée par la verticalité qui institue le lien politique non dans le rapport à l'autre mais comme transcendance et fonde l'éducation humaine sur l'écrasement de l'émotion. Au-delà de ces lectures, le texte de Platon permet d'articuler philosophie et géographie dans un , logos , commun et constitue, ainsi, non seulement l'un des fondements d'une approche anthropologique de la géographie mais, avec elle, l'un de ceux du monde occidental et de sa pensée. This article analyses the metaphor of education and politics, commonly referred to as the allegory of Plato's cave. It develops the geographic concept of the horizon of novelty and otherness as a ,dialectic' of continuity and discontinuity, as well as an articulation between human mobility and immobility. In return, it poses the question of horizontality, always shown but never stated, as a critique of a metaphor crushed by the verticality that institutes the political connection, not in relation to the other but as a transcendence, and bases human education on the crushing of emotion. Beyond these readings, Plato's text allows the articulation of philosophy and geography in a common ,logos' and thus constitutes not only one of the foundations of an anthropological approach to geography but also one of the bases of the Western world and Western thought. [source] | ||||||||||