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Geographical Imagination (geographical + imagination)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

BRAZILIAN IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES AND THE GEOGRAPHICAL IMAGINATION,

GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 4 2009
ALAN P. MARCUS
ABSTRACT. In the late 1980s more than 1 million Brazilians left Brazil without returning. Today an estimated 2 million Brazilians live abroad, 1.2 million of them in the United States. In this article I show that Brazilians migrate for a variety of reasons, including the geographical imagination. Why are so many Brazilians leaving for the United States? What are their geographical imaginations, and how are they described in their migration process? Using primary and secondary data and multiple methods, I address these questions by providing insights into Brazilian migrants' place perceptions, experiences, and reasons for migrating, focusing on the geographical imagination. Those migrants who end up returning to Brazil are more likely to cite financial and curiosity reasons for having migrated. A web of transnational religious and social networks sustains those immigrants who remain in the United States. Reasons for migrating are not economic alone; rather, they are based on interrelated and complex factors that range from adventure to curiosity, the cultural influence of the United States, family members, education, and escape. [source]

Geographical Imaginations of ,New Asia-Singapore'

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2004
T.C. Chang
Abstract ,Geographical imaginations' constitute an important aspect in geographic research, enriching our understanding of places and societies as well as the contested meanings people have towards spaces. The marketing and development of tourist destinations offers a fertile ground for the exercise of geographical imagination. This paper explores how tourism marketing distils the essence of a place, and ,imagines' an identity that is attractive to tourists and residents alike. Such spatial identities, however, are seldom hegemonic and are often highly contested. Using the case of the ,New Asia-Singapore' (NAS) campaign launched by the Singapore Tourism Board, we explore the geographical imaginations involved in tourism marketing, and its consequent effects on people and place. Specifically we discuss the role and rationale of tourism planners in formulating the NAS campaign; the actions of tourism entrepreneurs in creating NAS commodities; and the reactions from tourists and local residents towards the NAS images. We argue that the nexus of policy intent, entrepreneurial actions and popular opinions yields invaluable insights into the highly contested processes of tourism development and identity formation. [source]

Beyond the regional lifeworld against the global systemworld: towards a relational ,scalar perspective on spatial,economic development

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2002
Arnoud Lagendijk
Recent writings in economic geography have questioned the way the literature has featured the regional scale in discussing issues of innovation and economic competitiveness, and called for a different conceptualization of scale. This paper takes up the challenge to go beyond what is called the ,regional gaze', by presenting a critical review of the regionalist literature and outlining an alternative approach. The critique of the ,regional gaze' is developed in two steps: first, by discussing the influence of strategic management discourse; and second, by invoking the twin concepts of lifeworld,systemworld. This critical account results in identifying various windows for elaborating an alternative conceptualization of the relationship between economic development and space. A first alternative is found in the dimension of the ,non,local' or ,extra,local', but the significance of these notions is considered to be limited. Drawing on recent work on scaling and the ,politics of scale', a relational,scalar approach is proposed that focuses on the question of how scalar qualities are socially produced and contested. What is called for is a geographical imagination that sees innovation and economic competitiveness as braced on spatialized networks rather than bounded territories scaled at the regional level. An illustration of how such a perspective may be elaborated is found in recent discussions on the concept of ,global production networks'. [source]

BRAZILIAN IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES AND THE GEOGRAPHICAL IMAGINATION,

GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 4 2009
ALAN P. MARCUS
ABSTRACT. In the late 1980s more than 1 million Brazilians left Brazil without returning. Today an estimated 2 million Brazilians live abroad, 1.2 million of them in the United States. In this article I show that Brazilians migrate for a variety of reasons, including the geographical imagination. Why are so many Brazilians leaving for the United States? What are their geographical imaginations, and how are they described in their migration process? Using primary and secondary data and multiple methods, I address these questions by providing insights into Brazilian migrants' place perceptions, experiences, and reasons for migrating, focusing on the geographical imagination. Those migrants who end up returning to Brazil are more likely to cite financial and curiosity reasons for having migrated. A web of transnational religious and social networks sustains those immigrants who remain in the United States. Reasons for migrating are not economic alone; rather, they are based on interrelated and complex factors that range from adventure to curiosity, the cultural influence of the United States, family members, education, and escape. [source]

Videogames, visuality and screens: reconstructing the Amazon in physical geographical knowledge

AREA, Issue 4 2009
James N Ash
In this article we attend to an emergent practice of visualising GIS data in physical geography using the graphics engine of a videogame, Crysis. We suggest these modes of image-making aid the possibility of imagining and disseminating complex geographical data differently by re-contextualising seemingly abstract mathematical information within a human horizon of embodied meaning. Furthermore we argue these ways of imagining are closely linked to the technology and phenomenology of screens which make the presentation of these images possible. We close by reflecting on the possibility that these technologies are shifting the grounds of vision and the geographical imagination of users. [source]

Geographical Imaginations of ,New Asia-Singapore'

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2004
T.C. Chang
Abstract ,Geographical imaginations' constitute an important aspect in geographic research, enriching our understanding of places and societies as well as the contested meanings people have towards spaces. The marketing and development of tourist destinations offers a fertile ground for the exercise of geographical imagination. This paper explores how tourism marketing distils the essence of a place, and ,imagines' an identity that is attractive to tourists and residents alike. Such spatial identities, however, are seldom hegemonic and are often highly contested. Using the case of the ,New Asia-Singapore' (NAS) campaign launched by the Singapore Tourism Board, we explore the geographical imaginations involved in tourism marketing, and its consequent effects on people and place. Specifically we discuss the role and rationale of tourism planners in formulating the NAS campaign; the actions of tourism entrepreneurs in creating NAS commodities; and the reactions from tourists and local residents towards the NAS images. We argue that the nexus of policy intent, entrepreneurial actions and popular opinions yields invaluable insights into the highly contested processes of tourism development and identity formation. [source]

BRAZILIAN IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES AND THE GEOGRAPHICAL IMAGINATION,

GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 4 2009
ALAN P. MARCUS
ABSTRACT. In the late 1980s more than 1 million Brazilians left Brazil without returning. Today an estimated 2 million Brazilians live abroad, 1.2 million of them in the United States. In this article I show that Brazilians migrate for a variety of reasons, including the geographical imagination. Why are so many Brazilians leaving for the United States? What are their geographical imaginations, and how are they described in their migration process? Using primary and secondary data and multiple methods, I address these questions by providing insights into Brazilian migrants' place perceptions, experiences, and reasons for migrating, focusing on the geographical imagination. Those migrants who end up returning to Brazil are more likely to cite financial and curiosity reasons for having migrated. A web of transnational religious and social networks sustains those immigrants who remain in the United States. Reasons for migrating are not economic alone; rather, they are based on interrelated and complex factors that range from adventure to curiosity, the cultural influence of the United States, family members, education, and escape. [source]

Searching for the Mecca of finance: Islamic financial services and the world city network

AREA, Issue 1 2010
David Bassens
This paper presents an analysis of the geography of the booming ,Islamic financial services' (IFS) sector, which provides a host of financial services based on Islamic religious grounds. The relevance of such an analysis is discussed against the conceptual backdrop of the world city network literature. It is argued that a focus on the globalisation of the IFS sector may provide an alternative to hegemonic geographical imaginations of world city-formation through its focus on other forms of globalising economic processes and regions that do not commonly feature in this literature. Based on information on the location strategies of 28 leading IFS firms in 64 cities across the world, we analyse different features of this decentred global urban geography. Manama is hereby identified as the Mecca of the IFS sector, while other major Gulf cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi are also primary nodes in this urban network. Other major Middle East North Africa (MENA) cities such as Tehran follow suit, but also more traditional financial centres such as London are well connected. [source]