Showing papers in "Geographical Review in 1972"

Ethnic groups and boundaries : The social organization of culture difference

Abstract: The seven brief essays appearing in this collection were, with a few others, originally written for a symposium held in Bergen in 1967. They bear the marks of a well-prepared and well-managed conference, although they are perhaps not quite so unified in their theoretical character as the editor's Preface might lead one to think. Each essay is worth very close study for what it says about a particular case or group of cases; and one ought to recognize, with admiration and gratitude, the remarkable contribution to world ethnography now being made by Scandinavian scholars. Two essays deal with Norwegian situations; the others are concerned with material from Asia, Africa and Central America. How lucky we are that the authors have been willing to go to the trouble of writing in English. But one may be less certain about the book of which the essays are components. What are the ethnic groups between which there can be boundaries to study? Harald Eidheim writes on a mixed

Microclimate Management by Traditional Farmers

Abstract: INKING the terms "traditional farmer" and "climate" conjures up the image of a fetish-bound native in the far corner of a parched field mumbling incantations to an impotent rain god. A closer look at the field itself, however, may reveal that the superstitious cultivator has already instituted more effective measures to increase available moisture and, in fact, may have mastered a variety of climatemodifying techniques. Studies of environmental management by traditional farmers' have heretofore emphasized control of topography, water, vegetation, and, less emphatically, soil. But there is abundant evidence that small-scale climate modification is also practiced to an extent and a degree of sophistication that warrants attention. In this paper some of the common methods used by traditional farmers deliberately to alter crop climates, either for crop protection or for general improvement of crop environments, are reviewed. The emphasis is on deliberate modification: I shall not discuss exploitation of naturally favorable environments, such as sun-facing slopes, nor unintentional alterations of the climate that result from other environ-

The Spatial System and Planning Strategies in Developing Countries

Abstract: IN DEVELOPING countries interest is growing in the way geographical space can be organized to increase national rates of economic growth and to ensure that the benefits of growth are passed on to the greatest number of people. The close historical association of economic development with spatial change in the economically aavanced countries suggests that in developing nations both aims can be achieved by planning the allocation of investment in space as well as in economic sectors.l The need for spatial planning, in particular, is great in ex-colonial nations whose spatial structures remain oriented to a colonial economic system and therefore are not necessarily geared to rapid economic growth or nation building. Indeed, many of the difficulties of extending linkages among economic activities in a nation and among ethnic groups closely identified by area can be related directly to colonialism, which left countries not only economically backward but with a spatial system not conducive to the mobilization of resources for internal, as distinct from overseas, markets. Moreover, the highly centralized spatial structure and the dual economy associated with colonialism in some countries have contributed to marked

Contiguity-Biased Class-Interval Selection: A Method for Simplifying Patterns on Statistical Maps

Abstract: IMPLICITY is a fundamental goal of cartography. An overly complicated map can impose severe perceptual difficulties on a user interested primarily in general spatial trends. With many types of maps, complexity can be minimized if the cartographer employs relevant principles of graphic design. However, in the case of choropleth maps the selection of class intervals is an additional determinant of a map's effectiveness. The traditional objectives of compact, homogeneous classes, and the de-emphasis of relatively large. variations in the tails of a numerical distribution, often do little to promote visual simplicity. These criteria for class-interval selection can often be satisfied by a spatially fragmented pattern of shaded area symbols. Although polynomial trend surfaces might provide a partial solution to this problem of spatial generalization, the frequent inability of low-order trend surfaces to account for a high percentage of the spatial variation of a quantitative variable may render this approach unacceptable. Furthermore, in some cases where isopleths are substituted for area shadings severe conceptual difficulties can arise when the value for an area is assigned to a mere point within that area. An ideal solution would retain the boundaries of individual enumeration areas and at the same time allow proximity a role in the selection of class intervals. The purpose of this study is to develop a procedure for basing class intervals for choropleth maps not only on the numerical distribution of the mapping units but also on their spatial contiguity.

The shantytowns of Montego Bay Jamaica.

Abstract: A shantytown is a peri-urban collection of dwellings constructed without any official subdivision plan on land not owned by the builders and not zoned for housing purposes. This is an economic and sociological analysis of the shantytowns in Montego Bay Jamaica. Demographic analysis reveals that the proportion of young children is very high. Children under 5 make up 19% of the total population compared with 16% on the national average. Only 11% of the population is 45 or older compared with 14% for the total population. The sex ratio in the shantytowns was more balanced than in urban areas as a whole. Most shantytown dwellers are long-time urbanites not rootless rural migrants. There are positive attitudes toward family planning in Jamaica. Shantytown residents form a potential reservoir of family planning participation. Despite a massive publicity campaign since 1969 the percentage of women in shantytown areas who are participating in family planning programs has not increased much. These women are motivated to control their births if clinic education programs could emphasize economic reasons for doing so.

The Recreation Geography of South Asia

Abstract: rT nHE study of recreation geography in developing countries has heretofore been understood mainly as the study of these countries as fields for the recreation of the inhabitants of developed countries-and understandably so, since tourism is seen as a valuable earner of badly needed foreign exchange. Little study has as yet been directed toward the recreational habits and needs of the developing countries themselves, though vigorous and growing recreation movements can be observed in most of them. The impact of these movements on the landscape, though usually slight as yet, will certainly become more obvious as standards of living rise. This paper describes and attempts to analyze a certain range of these phenomena. Two approaches to such a task are possible; to study individual cases in depth or to study the variations in the phenomena less intensively over as broad an area as possible. Valuable synthesis can be expected to emerge from an eventual combination of the two. Since I have recently enjoyed the opportunity of visiting a broad band of countries in South Asia, I have adopted the extensive approach and aspire to gain in comprehensiveness what I miss in depth, hoping at the same time to encourage and perhaps to stimulate detailed local research.

Migration Fields of French Canadian Immigrants to Southern Maine

Abstract: Tr _1HE concept of migration fields is useful in expressing certain spatial characteristics of migration and has the advantage of being appropriate to a range of scales and to several methods of analysis. One definition states that "a migration field is technically the area from which a destination place draws its migrants."1 Hagerstrand has defined migration field as "the geographical distribution of migrants as seen from the parish or commune under investigation,"2 a statement that is appropriate for his analysis of migration both into and out of specific places. With respect to the processes by which the patterns are developed, he understands the term "as a feed-back process of historical continuity," with active and passive migrants; "each passive migrant should receive the impulse for deciding his destination from a particular person who had already migrated."3 When migration is primarily for the purpose of finding employment, it is not the mere existence of job opportunities but rather the potential migrant's knowledge of specific opportunities, commonly provided by earlier migrants, which is the crucial factor in his choice of destination.4

Cultural Regionalism and the Unitary State Idea in Belgium

Abstract: IKE many other contemporary nation-states, Belgium has suffered a decline in national cohesion as the result of a steady growth in the regional consciousness of its citizens. Although the major culture areas of Belgium-Flanders and Wallonia-were unimportant in its early evolution, the political situation is quite different today; for ethnic awareness between the two communal-linguistic regions has reached a point that threatens the viability of the state.1 Moreover, Brussels-Capital, which comprises the nineteen officially bilingual communes of the capital district, has emerged as a third region, with interests that are not compatible with those of either the Flemish or the Walloons (Fig. i). Nonetheless, Belgium remains a unitary state, even though the unitary system, with its high degree of centralized authority, is increasingly less adequate in meeting demands for a decentralization of political power. The challenge to centralized political control has reached worldwide dimensions in recent years. Yet about go percent of the world's sovereign states have a unitary form of government in which the principle of home rule is difficult to accommodate. Belgium, with its long experience in dealing with distinct cultural regionalism, is a crucible in which the government's ability to adjust to an increased level of disaffection with the unitary state is being severely tested. What happens in Belgium will be carefully observed by other states that are attempting to resolve similar problems. This paper identifies and evaluates the forces that have exacerbated regional differences in Belgium and examines the government's attempts to deal with requests for regional autonomy within the framework of a highly centralized bureaucracy. But the question of federalism cannot be ignored. Although the unitary state has existed in Belgium since its founding in 1830, it is by no means inviolate as a modus operandi. In fact, the point has often been made that a de facto fed-

The Changing Resources of Sedentary Communities in Air, Southern Sahara

Abstract: ASTORAL nomadism in the Sahara appears in the long run to lack a future, since it is unable to produce commodities that can command an assured market, at rising or stable prices, to sustain an increase in living standards. The adoption of a sedentary way of life seems to be a precondition for development. In Air, a region in the northern part of the Republic of Niger, the settlement of nomads has been officially encouraged since 1922, but it is complicated by a long-standing duality between the nomadic, pure-bred Tuareg camel herders and the formerly servile sedentary cultivators of mixed descent. "Sedentarization" emphasizes the economic future of agriculture, which is severely limited by natural conditions. Furthermore, the French conquest, half a century of colonial rule, and the economic changes in the twentieth century have initiated a process of continuing geographical change. It is in the light of these changes that an evaluation of the resources of the sedentary communities of Air must be made, with particular reference to the ecology of agricultural land use.1