Author: Human Geographies - Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography

By Posted on Posted in Volume 9, Issue 1, 2015 Tagged with , , , ,

This paper presents an overview of the emergence of mobile ethnography and its potential benefits to the discipline of geography. The rise of mobile ethnography has been linked with the so-called “new mobilities paradigm”, which has become especially important in geographical thinking over the past ten years. Erstwhile focused on more static concepts, such as space, place or landscape, geography is today rife with theories and analyses of movement, mobility and flow. In spite of that, mobile ethnography can soon claim a preeminent status within the discipline. In this paper, I document the rise of this methodology, focusing myself on three main aspects. The first is to attempt a definition of mobile ethnography itself. The second is to enlist some recent examples of its usages. The third is to provide several strategies and techniques arising from my own work. This paper might, thus, be useful to senior undergraduate and postgraduate students focused on qualitative research methods in geography.

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The paper studies the changes concerning the ethnic structure of post-socialist Hungary. Based on the data of the 2011 census, the number of the non-Hungarian population has significantly increased between 2001 and 2011 and so has had the number of those who refused to answer. Behind this phenomenon several reasons can be identified, like the methodical changes in the data collection of the census, migration and subjective factors. Regarding the methodology, double identification in three ethnic categories was allowed in the last census, which resulted in the growing number of respondents who claimed both Hungarian and minority identity. Meanwhile, migration (including cross-border residential mobility) from Romania, Ukraine, Serbia and Slovakia has changed the ethnic landscape. Beyond the above factors, subjective factors have also contributed in the changes. The present paper argues that the self-identification of some minority groups is related to the symbolic ethnicity and the double and hybrid identities, thus the results of the census cannot be interpreted merely by the assimilationist approach.

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Electoral behavior is one of the central issues in the context of geography of elections which is currently considered to be an established subdiscipline of geography. Unlike traditional literature in this study we look at electoral behavior through a different perspective. Our attention is drawn to find out what is position of marginal rural areas in terms of electoral behavior. This research is carried out through a case study of Eastern Slovakia, which in the existing territorial structure and spatial polarization of Slovakia, represents an area with significant occurence of marginal communes. Thus, we aim to focus on selected aspects of marginality that might be perphaps transformed into a pattern of specific electoral behavior and analyze what is happening with the electoral preferences and participation if the area is considered to be marginal. Moreover, we attempt to answer the question whether and to what extent certain relations between the above mentioned aspects can be identified.

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Suburbanization as a key process transforming the hinterland of cities has been researched by human geographers for a long time. The study of suburbanization involves the application of a wide spectrum of methods or analytic tools falling within the groups of quantitative, qualitative and combined approaches. One of the possibilities to study this process is mental mapping that we primarily use as an instrument for examining the character of suburban environment, its perception by local inhabitants, their experience of and relation to the place of living
The aim of this study is to look at the environment of the suburban municipalities in the hinterland of Olomouc by means of mental mapping. We use concrete examples of sketches to describe and interpret the outputs of perception of the researched suburban municipalities and their components by local inhabitants. Despite schematization, incompleteness or distortion, the results of the study prove that character of their mental maps mostly depends on how much time the inhabitants spend in their municipalities, whether they participate in the collective life or use a map of the municipality and what their relation to place of living is.

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This paper presents a Geographic Information System based Multicriteria Decision Making approach for evaluating accessibility to public parks in Calgary, Alberta. The approach involves the weighted linear combination with the entropy weighting method for obtaining the criterion (attribute) weights. The paper demonstrates a core-periphery pattern of accessibility to public parks in Calgary. Furthermore, the pattern has shown tendency to be more polarized between the year of 2006 and 2011. The results of this research can help the park planning authorities in identifying the needs for improving the accessibility to public parks, monitoring the changes of accessibility patterns over time, and locating new public parks. The results can also help the general public to better understand the spatial relationship between their neighbourhoods and public parks in the city.

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The Sex-ratio in India is continuously declining in spite of gradually increasing literacy
among women. For long, it was thought that illiteracy and female subjugation is the reason
why women are unable to stand for their rights. As such, large scale attempts and programs
had been taken to increase the literacy of women. But in spite of the spread of female
education and increasing women autonomy in Urban India, the female foeticide has
continued to increase. Most of the results in the recent reports suggest that child sex ratio is
inversely linked to female literacy and female economic activity rate, especially in urban
India. Thus, this study is an attempt to prove that simply increasing the female literacy and
autonomy without bringing about the change in mind-set will not be completely successful in
combating the problem of female foeticide. It explores the level of autonomy being enjoyed
by the Women of Patna, their attitude towards female foeticide and also the factors which
arouse the son-preference in them.

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In the past, population movement and location of service centres were inuenced by the accessibility and land value factors, whereas the impact of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has not emerged as reported in many studies. This research aims to analyse the decentralization of location of economic services due to the use of ICT from theoretical and empirical view. The study would examine the evolution of the theories of urban spatial structure, ranging from the theory of urban system, spatial distribution of land value in urban area, and decentralization of urban service centres as consequences of the use of ICT. Empirical study is gained from case study data collected through in-depth interview. The research shows that the use of ICT gives a signicant impact on the location decentralization of many ICT-based ofces. Location decentralization of economic services and residential areas away from the urban centre has moved toward the urban sprawl area. However, selection for residential and business location has considered the availability of access to ICT.

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By Posted on Posted in Volume 8, Issue 2, 2014 Tagged with , , , , , ,

Understanding the geographical distribution and correlates of special segments of the population has the potential for offering insight into human behavior. Our study examines the Emergency and Transitional Shelter Population (ETSP)—which includes what are commonly referred to as “homeless” people. We use 2010 data from two sources: United States (US) Census Bureau county-level ETSP estimates; and North America Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2). We investigate the ecological correlates of ETSP concentration by using a geographically-aware multilevel linear model. The specific aim is to investigate if an how atmospheric temperature is related with ETSP concentration by county—after accounting for population density and percent non-Hispanic-White. We use ArcGIS® 10.1 to create a spatial weight matrix of the ten most proximal counties and use SAS® 9.3 to create an algorithm that estimates County Cluster Dyadic Averages (CCDAs). By nesting the 31,090 CCDAs over the 3,109 counties in the continental US, we find a positive and statistically significant relationship between ETSP density and atmospheric temperature. Ecological studies should continue to explore the spatial heterogeneity of the ETSP.

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By Posted on Posted in Volume 8, Issue 2, 2014 Tagged with , , ,

Is Burgundy more than a region in France, or could it refer to a style of wine making? Food and wine are not only derived from a place. They make a place. Other industries are enabled through food and wine, particularly tourism. ‘Region’ has a distinctive role in framing the brand and profile of a wine bottle. ‘Region’ mitigates risk for a consumer. Region is a proxy for quality. This article investigates the impact of the legal protection and control of regionality on formerly colonized nations, with particular consequences on wine industries. By exploring Houghton’s White Burgundy and its transformation into White Classic, the impact of protecting regionality on formerly colonized nations is revealed.

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By Posted on Posted in Volume 8, Issue 2, 2014 Tagged with , , , , ,

Almost a billion people globally lack access to potable water. In the early 1990’s, attempts to improve potable water access in the global south included a massive push for water services privatization, often involving the transfer of public water services to private companies. Critics of water privatization claim it rarely improves access to water, and in most cases, unfairly affect poor people. Proponents on the other hand argue that it is necessary for efficient management and capital investment in the water sector. Although development NGOs play an important role in developing country water provision, hardly any studies have sought to understand their perceptions about the potential role of water privatization towards improving access to potable water in developing countries. We interviewed the key staff among 28 international and national NGO staff about water privatization, its opportunities and constraints. Their perceptions were mixed. While most criticized water privatization as increasing water costs to the poor, some noted that privatization is necessary for improving water access through increased capital investment. We present the findings and discuss larger implications for water policies and reforms in developing countries.

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