Commission Newsletter December

2024 – 2

Farewell Greetings –  Editorial – Activities 2024 –– Conferences – Publications – Future activities –  Steering Committee

Farewell greetings from the outgoing secretary

Dear members,

Last summer I decided to relinquish the office of Secretary of the Commission while I am still mentally able to fulfil it. I announced this decision during the business meeting in Dublin and wondered how long it would take to find a successor. To my great surprise, a young geographer, Kim Kessler, expressed an interest and I was pleased to have found someone willing to take on the role. Kim is Swiss, but lives and works in New Zealand. He is a PhD student at the University of Otago, and his supervisor is Etienne Nel. I think this was a very fortunate choice and Kim will ensure that everything runs smoothly.

My career with the Commission began in 1992 when we were established by Washington DC Congress. I was a member and was appointed by the Chair, the late Roser Majoral, for two consecutive terms as Vice Chair. In 2000, when she stepped down, I took over the chairmanship, but handed it over to Etienne in 2004. Since then, I have been working as secretary, a job that I really enjoy. After almost 25 years, I am therefore returning to the status of ordinary member, but for the time being I am retaining the position of one of the editors of our Springer series.

I have very much enjoyed these more than 25 years of service to the Commission and am grateful for the many friendships I have been able to make during this time. Unfortunately, my beloved wife Veronika and permanent companion has passed away just before New Year; she died on our 60th wedding anniversary and three days before her 85th birthday. Veronika supported me during all these years and was a guarantee that I could make my job – she was like a ‘backup secretary’ and merits to be remembered.

Thank you for having faithfully supported me in my task.

Kind regards, Walter Leimgruber

1. Editorial

Dear members,

Following Prof Leimgruber's farewell greetings, I would like to convey my sincere thanks to him for all his work and his contribution to the life of the Commission over such a long period of time. As already mentioned, Walter was involved in the Commission from the very beginning and was at the centre of all its activities for more than two decades. He was and still is a true soul of the Commission. Although he has stepped down as Secretary, Prof Leimgruber is still an active member of the Commission, actively participates in conferences and is one of the editors of the Commission’s Springer book series.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say goodbye to Veronika Leimgruber, who recently left us. She will be remembered for her kindness and will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

-------------------------------------

At the IGU General Assembly, which took place at the 2024 Congress in Dublin, our Commission was re-elected for another 4-year term. The need for the continuation of the Commission's research has been clearly identified through the definition of the main research clusters (see the report in the last Newsletter 2023-2).

On this occasion, the members of the new Steering Committee were also confirmed (see below at the end of the Newsletter). Chair Borna Fuerst Bjeliš was confirmed for a further term of office, as was the newly elected Vice-Chairman Krystian Heffner. As already mentioned in the farewell message from former secretary Walter Leimgruber, the Commission now has a new secretary, Kim Kessler. Due to the special position of the Springer editors and other merits, we have appointed Walter Leimgruber, Etienne Nel and Stanko Pelc as honorary members of the Steering Committee, as well as Pushkar Pradhan for his editorial work and Daichi Kohmoto for maintaining social media for the Commission.

There was a great deal of interest in the Commission's topics at the congress in Dublin. We had numerous sessions and a total of 28 presentations (see Krystian Heffner's report below). The Commission also had a business meeting again after a long time – all pre-Covid and an opportunity to talk about the future work of the Commission and to discuss and bring in new ideas and contributions in person.

Take a look below at other Commission activities that have taken place over the last 6 months.

And of course, follow our website and FB to stay up to date.

Yours sincerely,

Borna Fuerst Bjeliš

2.Activities in 2024

2.1. Conferences and meetings

2.1.1.

The Commission met on the occasion of the IGU Congress in Dublin, Dublin City University, August 2024.

The debates took place in three groups of sessions: on Sunday (25 August 2024), Wednesday (28 August 2024) and Thursday (29 August 2024).

In the first group, a total of 2 sessions were chaired by Ines Raimundo (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia). In the second group, 4 sessions were chaired by Lola Sanchez Aguilera (University of Barcelona, Spain) and in the third group, a total of 3 sessions were chaired by Krystian Heffner (University of Economics in Katowice, Poland). Between the second and third sessions on Thursday, a business meeting of the members of the Marginalisation Commission attending the congress took place. During the business meeting, Walter Leimgruber presented and discussed the activities of the Commission in the run-up to the congress. He also presented the proposed initiatives and activities of the Commission and its members for the coming period.

The first group of sessions comprised 5 papers on New geographies of food production and consumption: opportunities for alternative food systems in the context of the climate crisis, all of which were presented. The papers focussed on the challenges of sustainable food production in the Global South (Mozambique and India).

The second group of sessions, dealing with Marginal landscapes and landscapes of marginal and left-behind places, presented almost all the planned presentations (13 presentations were given in total) with only two absences (Beatriz Acero-Arguelles from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain and Hryhoriy Denysyk from Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine). The presentations were thematically very different, but it can be assumed that they focused on the social, economic and cultural values of landscapes in marginalised areas and places and their development potential.

The third group of sessions consisted of presentations with a total of 10 papers that dealt with Marginalised rural areas facing global challenges. The presentations focussed on the social and cultural challenges associated with the functioning of marginal rural areas, the problems posed by migratory movements (especially immigration) and the social responses to the effects of climate change. They also pointed out the important link between the marginalisation of rural areas and the bipolar changes in the structure of rural areas and the emergence of internal peripheries as zones of marginalisation.

A total of 28 presentations were given, all of which were commented on and some of which provoked lively discussion among the many participants in each session.

There may be many conclusions from the presentations, but there is no doubt that the topic of marginalisation as one of the effects of globalisation in territorial contexts is of growing interest to the scientific community in many countries, has an interdisciplinary character and is an important topic for scientific research as well as for economic, political and social action.

2.1.2

 The Commission was one of the main co-organizers of the International symposium „The Future of Tourism in the Alpine-Adriatic Region“. In memory of Zlatko Pepeonik, 1934-2004  held in Hermagor, Carinthia, Austria from 22-24 October 2024 with co-operation with the Commission on Tourism, Leisure and Global Change. The symposium brought together around 40 participants from the Alpe-Adria region, Europe and beyond (India), who very successfully discussed the future of tourism in the face of today's challenges from various perspectives. A series of presentations analysed the particular challenges in marginalised areas – from transport isolation as a serious obstacle to development to human capital in the face of depopulation and ageing. Climate change was one of the most prominent topics, which will certainly have a negative impact on marginalised areas, but may also provide new incentives for communities to prove more resilient to change. A number of our members actively participated at the conference.

2.2 Networking between members:

This takes place on an individual level. The Steering Committee encourages you to communicate directly with us about the work of your other existing networks so we can diffuse information about them among members. A short mail to the secretary will suffice.

2.3 Networking between commissions:

2.3.1. Collaboration with: IGU Commission on Tourism, Leisure and Global Change in organizing the  International Symposium „The Future of Tourism in the Alpine-Adriatic Region“. In memory of Zlatko Pepeonik, 1934-2004  held in Hermagor, Carinthia, Austria from 22-24 October 2024.

2.3.2. Collaboration with IGU commissions: African Studies; Biogeography and Biodiversity; Cold and High Altitude Regions; Dynamics of Economic Spaces; Geography of Governance; Karst Commission; Land Degradation and Desertification; land use and land Cover Change; Local and regional Development; mediterranean basin; Modelling Geographical Systems;Urban Commission in organizing the IGU Egypt 2025 Thematic Conference.

3. Publications

3.1. Newsletters and News Flashes

We publish two Newsletters a year, one in June/July and the second at the beginning of January of the following year. Since 2017, they have included an editorial written by the Chairman. All Newsletters are sent to all members and published on the Commission's website (https://www.igu-marginality.info/publications/commission-circulars). 

In addition, a series of short News Flashes were sent to our members in 2024. They serve to maintain contact and inform members about special events or new publications.

3.2. Books and invited chapters

3.2.1. Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization (Springer book series)

Our book series ‘Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization’ is indexed in SCOPUS.

Eight volumes have been published so far. The series will be continued. Two new volumes are in preparation.

The complete list of volumes published so far can be found at https://www.springer.com/series/15046.

3.2.2. Book on peripheries in preparation

The Commission has received an invitation to contribute to the book Research Companion to the Periphery and Peripheral Regions: Concepts, Diagnosis, Dilemmas that has been accepted by Edward Elgar Publishing House (Editor J. Banski). Four members of the Commission have prepared a chapter on Marginality: Centres, Peripheries, Margins and Left Behind Places. The book is in the process of publication.

3.3. Your own publications

Have you stopped writing articles and publishing them? We are sure you still do, but we hardly hear from you. We’d like to include as much information about our members’ activity to stimulate discussion. Please inform the secretary any time about your publications on marginality and globalization so they can be signalled in the next Newsletter. Members are keen on being updated on your scientific activity. Thank you to all who have so far followed my appeal.

4.Planned further activities

4.1. Planned and organised meetings that will take place in 2025.

4.1.1. Commission, as one of the co-organizers of the IGU Egypt 2025 Thematic conference will have a session: "Perspectives on globalization and marginality in emerging economies", with following topics:

·   Inequality as a consequence of globalization

·   Health issues and vulnerability in marginal regions

·   Educational challenges of marginal societies

·   Informal settlements and lack of infrastructure in a globalized society

·   Perceptions of nature in rural and urban marginal societies

·   Discrimination of women and its cultural background

·   Marginalization in border areas

Conveners: Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber, Prof. Dr. Borna Fuerst Bjeliš, Kim Kessler, and  Dr. Mohana Basu.

4.1.2.  Commission supported the IGU Thematic Conference 2025 "Diverse Geographies of Peace, Environmental Impacts, Territorial Conflicts, and War in the Contemporary World", Santa Marta, Colombia 2025.

4.1.3 EUGEO in Vienna, Austria 8-11. September 2025.
The accepted session proposed by our Commission is 191: Micro-marginality and
fragmentation in urban areas (Prof. Dr. D. Sanchez Aguilera). See the description at: https://www.eugeo2025.eu/eugeo-2025-sessions/

4.1.4. We have received an invitation to co-organise the international conference in Senj/Croatia, which will take place on 18 and 19 September following the EUGEO in Vienna, and is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of birth of Prof. Veljko Rogić, one of the doyens of Croatian and Central and Southeast European geography. The theme of the conference would be wide open to include all new research directions in geography, including issues of marginality. The working title is: Geography in its Complexity. More information in due course.

2027 

Two conferences were proposed by our members:

·   The Commission annual conference in Nepal. Proposed by Prof. Shobha Shrestha. The topic of the conference: water, climate change, disasters and marginality; Climate and marginal lands.  

·   The Commission annual conference in Brazil. Proposed by Prof. Sara Medeiros. 

·       Note: As you may recall, one of our resolutions from the last business meeting of SC is that all our meetings and gatherings in the future will be hybrid so that as many members as possible from around the world can attend, regardless of where the conference is physically held.

Steering Committee 2024-2028

Chair of the Commission

Prof Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/en/borna.fuerst-bjelis

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr

Vice-Chair of the Commission

Prof Krystian Heffner

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS
Faculty of Spatial Economy and Regions in Transition,

Department of Spatial Environmental Economics

Poland

E-mail: krystian.heffner@ue.katowice.pl  

Commission Secretary

Kim Andreas Kessler

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO
Division of Humanities, School of Geography
PO Box 56
Dunedin, 9054
New Zealand

Web: www.kim-kessler.com

E-Mail: info@kim-kessler.com

Steering Committee Members

Prof Jamalunlaili Abdullah
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying
Malaysia
jamal858@uitm.edu.my 

Dr Dolores Sánchez Aguilera 

UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA
Department of Geography
Spain

dsanchez_aguilera@ub.edu

Dr Mohana Basu 

KISHORE BHARATI BHAGINI NIVEDITA COLLEGE

Department of Geography

India

mohana15basu@gmail.com

Dr Didams Gideon

GOMBE STATE UNIVERSITY

Department of Geography

Nigeria

gdamsviva@gsu.edu.ng

Prof Kimberly Neil Irvine
THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
Faculty of Architecture and Planning
Thailand
kim.irvine@ap.tu.ac.th

Dr Sara Medeiros

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE

Institute of Public Policies

Brazil

sara.medeiros@ufrn.br

Prof Shoba Shrestha

TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY
Central Department of Geography

Nepal

shobha.shrestha@cdg.tu.edu.np

Prof Havatzelet Yahel 

BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV
The Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel & Zionism

Israel

yahelh@bgu.ac.il

Prof Sarah J. Halvorson

UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation Department of Society & Conservation
sarah.halvorson@umontana.edu

Commission Newsletter June

2024 – 1

Editorial – Activities 2024 – Conferences – Publications – Future activities – Steering Committee

1. Editorial

Dear members,

Another four-year term of office of the Commission lies behind us. And it was perhaps one of the most difficult times for everyone. Many of our planned activities have had to be changed and adapted, and many of them have been postponed. With the start of the 2020-24 term, we have just entered the world of the pandemic, which has almost completely changed the way we work. Unimaginable online and virtual gatherings, meetings and even large conferences have almost become the norm. In some ways, the pandemic world became even more connected than ever before. We can call an online meeting in a minute and meet with colleagues from all over the world. The world has changed profoundly. Despite the many restrictions that the pandemic has brought, there are so many new opportunities and ways to work, collaborate and function. It just goes to show how resilient we are.

At the end of the 2020-24 term, we can only say that it has been a very challenging but also very fruitful time for the Commission. We have held conferences and meetings, regularly participated in congresses – in whatever form they were held, whether virtual, in vivo or hybrid; we have published 4 books in our Springer book series (https://www.springer.com/series/15046), as well as numerous papers from all our members (see the report in the last newsletter 2023-2 on the Commission's website).

We hope that the renewal and continuation of the Commission's work will be confirmed by the IGU General Assembly at the 2024 Congress in Dublin. The need for the continuation of the Commission's research has been clearly identified through the definition of the main research clusters (see the report in the last Newsletter 2023-2).

There are still three months to go until the IGU Congress in Dublin. There has been a great deal of interest in the topics/meetings of the Commission. According to the provisional data and programme, the Commission is holding 9 sessions. We hope that all of you who have registered will be there and that we will have the opportunity to meet in person (finally like before the pandemic). We have also asked for the opportunity to hold a business meeting at the congress. We invite and expect many of you to be there, especially the current “old” and upcoming “new” members of the Steering Committee and anyone interested in the future work of the Commission to discuss and bring new ideas and contributions.

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the invitation to register on igu_news@unil.ch, the channel for the dissemination of IGU news, which is open to all.

Subscribe: https://sympa.unil.ch/sympa/subscribe/igu_news

And of course, follow our website and FB to stay informed.

Yours sincerely,

Borna Fuerst Bjeliš

Remarks by the secretary

I have been off duty (so to speak) for several weeks due to long stays in hospitals for various operations. It was never too serious, but when I had multiple fractures on my right arm, I was almost completely cut off from my computer. Hence Borna took the responsibility for informing you, and I am very grateful she did - thank you very much.

2. Activities in 2024

2.1 Conferences and scientific meetings in 2024

·  The 35th IGC will be held in Dublin (Ireland) from August 24-30, 2024. We had launched a call for papers, and many papers have been announced. The provisional programme is available on https://igc2024dublin.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IGC-2024-Session-Listing-Short-Provisional-Programme-13.03.24a.pdf (go to page 7)

We are looking forward to welcoming you to this event, which will also be the opportunity to renew the Commission and its Steering committee .

·  The future of tourism in the Alpine-Adriatic region is an international symposium held in memory of Prof. Zlatko Pepeonik (1934-2004). It will be held in Hermagor, Carinthia [Kärnten], Austria from 22nd-24th October 2024. Commission will be participating as one of the organizers: https://www.sogde.org/en/events/the-future-of-tourism-in-the-alpine-adriatic-region/

2.2 Networking between members:

This takes place on an individual level. The Steering Committee encourages you to communicate directly with us about the work of your other existing networks so we can diffuse information about them among members. A short mail to the secretary will suffice.

2.3 Networking between commissions:

We plan to continue discussions and cooperate with commissions that have similar goals to ours, depending on the opportunities which arise.
We have started a collaboration with Commission C20.01 African Studies, with whom we have many common research themes and concerns (http://www.unizulu.ac.za/). We have so far agreed to jointly organise the already planned conference in Windhoek (Namibia) in 2025, in collaboration between our two commissions.
The newly established Commission on Research Methods in Geography offers another opportunity for networking in the future (https://igumethods.org/).

3. Publications

3.1 Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization (Springer book series)

Our book series ‘Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization’ is indexed in SCOPUS.

See the complete list of so far published volumes at https://www.springer.com/series/15046.

3.2. IGU centennial publication

We have contributed the chapter Marginality issues in a time of world reorganization to the IGU Centennial publication:

Banski, Jerzy and Meadows, Michael (editors), Research Directions, Challenges and Achievements of Modern Geography, published by Springer, 2024

3.3. Book on peripheries in preparation

The Commission has received an invitation to contribute to the book Research Companion to the Periphery and Peripheral Regions: Concepts, Diagnosis, Dilemmas that has been accepted by Edward Elgar Publishing House (Editor J. Banski). Our members are preparing a chapter on: Centers, peripheries and margins in a dynamic and diverse world. The book is expected tob e published in spring 2025.

3.4. Your own publications

Have you stopped writing articles and publishing them? We are sure you still do, but we hardly hear from you. We’d like to include as much information about our members’ activity to stimulate discussion. Please inform the secretary any time from about your publications on marginality and globalization as well as other related issues so they can be signalled in the next Newsletter. Members are keen on being updated on your scientific activity. Thank you to all who have so far followed my appeal.

4. Planned further activities

2025

·  In 2019, we received an offer from our former Steering Committee member Prof Kenneth Matengu in Windhoek, Namibia. He confirmed that he will organise our 2025 conference in Namibia. The conference will hopefully be organised in collaboration with the African Studies Commission (confirmed so far by the Chair of the Commission) with whom we have started a collaboration.

2027 

·  The Commission annual conference in Nepal. Proposed by Prof. Shobha Shrestha. The topic of the conference: water, climate change, disasters and marginality; Climate and marginal lands. 

·  The Commission annual conference in Brazil. Proposed by Prof. Sara Medeiros. 

Another offer had reached the Commission from Dhaka (Bangladesh) in 2019. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has upset all plans. The Steering Committee will discuss how we can honour our colleague's initiative. 

Our annual conference  that has been scheduled to be held in Malaysia in summer 2023 by our colleagues Profs. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa (University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur) and Jamalunlaili Abdullah (Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam) unfortunately had to be postponed to a later date due to unforeseen circumstances.

·  Note: As you may recall, one of our resolutions from the last business meeting of SC is that all our meetings and gatherings in the future will be hybrid so that as many members as possible from around the world can attend, regardless of where the conference is physically held.

5. Steering committee for 2020-2024

Chair:

Prof. Borna Fuerst Bjeliš

University of Zagreb

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Trg Marka Marulića 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/en/borna.fuerst-bjelis

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr

Members:

Ass. Prof. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa

Deputy Dean (Undergraduate), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto

Nara University of Education,

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528

Japan

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Olli Lehtonen

Department of Geographical and Historical Studies

University of Eastern Finland

Joensuu

Finland

olli.lehtonen@uef.fi

Prof. Shoba Shrestha,

Central Department of Geography,

Tribhuvan University,

Kathmandu

Nepal

shobha.shrestha@cdg.tu.edu.np

Prof. Márcio Valença

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, IIP · Departamento de Políticas Públicas

Natal

Brazil

marciovalenca10@gmail.com

Prof. Alain François Loukou,

Université Alassane Ouattara

Bouaké

Côte d’Ivoire

Alain_loukou@hotmail.com

Prof. Catherine Robinson

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber

Université de Fribourg, Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie

4, chemin du Musée, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

Your address update:

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch). You can also signal potential new members, colleagues who are interested in out topic. – Thank you!

I wish you all the best and stay healthy

Borna Fuerst Bjeliš, Commission chair

Website address: https://www.igu-marginality.info/geographical-marginality

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeographicalMarginality

Commission Newsletter December

2023 – 2

Editorial – Activities 2023 –– Publications – Conferences - Planned activities 2024 – Steering Committee

1. Editorial

Every year-end calls for a certain amount of reflection. At the end of 2023, we face the same major, still ongoing upheavals that are deepening inequalities in the world and exacerbating the marginality of marginalised communities and places. The COVID-19 pandemic was declared over by the WHO on 5 May 2023. However, the multi-year ubiquity of COVID-19 has left profound impacts and changes in the world that are not yet fully known. What is certain is that the pandemic has exacerbated existing geographical, social and economic marginalisation, especially for the world's most vulnerable places, societies and economies. The world today is facing multiple crises and disruptions at all levels, and the most vulnerable and marginalised societies and communities are always at the centre of these processes. The world is changing, and the research priorities of our Commission follow these changes, as the recently published chapter Marginality issues in a time of World Reorganization by S. Déry, W. Leimgruber, B. Fuerst-Bjeliš and E. Nel shows.

As the Commissions and Task Forces were invited to contribute to the book volume Research Directions, Challenges and Achievements of Modern Geography  on the occasion of the IGU's centenary (editors J. Banski and M. Meadows), the authors from our Commission (mentioned above) have prepared a chapter in which they  point out that research on issues of marginality in the last forty years has largely focussed on economic and social issues and, to a lesser extent, on environmental issues. In the 2020s, however, it has become obvious that the current economic system inherited from the industrial revolution is no longer sufficient: environmental and climate problems are increasing, lasting longer and hitting us harder, as are global economic challenges such as threats to the global food chain, global debt and growing inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic is a symptom of the deeper “diseases” afflicting our world. At the intersection of the relationship between humans and nature, we need to rethink the organisation of our world, building on growing concerns and awareness to ensure our survival. Drawing mainly on the Commission’s previous and current research, the authors examined marginality, marginalisation and de-marginalisation and their various manifestations, as well as the evolution of the field in recent decades. Going forward, the main aim was to better understand the persistence and evolution of marginality in the context of global and local change, environmental justice and sustainable development (Déry et al. 2003).

We apologise for the delay in publishing this Newsletter. Time was running out towards the end of the year and a number of topics could only be covered before or even after Christmas. We will endeavour to keep you regularly updated as usual via our NewsFlash news service, our website and FB posts.

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

2. Activities in 2023

2.1 Conferences and scientific meetings in 2023

2.1.1. The Commission met on the occasion of the 2023 Regional Studies Association Annual Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia on June 15. The Commission organized a special session, together with a research group from the Newcastle University on: Responding to the Marginalization of “left behind places' ' in Era of Local, Regional and Global Uncertainty. The session organizer was Stanko Pelc, and the session was chaired by both Stanko Pelc and Etienne Nel, members of the Commission.

Topics that  were addressed included how COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated global social and economic inequality levels, induced economic recession and exacerbated political uncertainties which altogether have destabilised the predictability and perceived improvements in human welfare which characterised the last three decades. These processes have forced many communities, places and regions into more pronounced situations of marginalisation – economically, socially, politically and geographically as well as environmentally. A reality now widely associated with the term ‘left behind places’. Presentations explored evidence of growing marginalisation and its causes as well as debate solutions – drawing on emerging evidence of regional and local response and national and international support where it exists. Six papers presented at the session explored issues such as the nature and causes of marginalisation, the role of place-based leadership, social capital and the realities of the causes and implications of ‘left behind places’. Left behind places were conceptualised as emerging from developmental disruptions and are particularly prevalent in border and cross border regions and more generally, presentations focused on global, regional or local issues or on multi-scalar issues:

●      Andy Pike, Newcastle University: Whither ‘Equity Planning’ in the UK?

●      Danny MacKinnon, CURDS, Newcastle University: Spatial Policy Approaches since the 2008 Financial Crisis

●      Stanko Pelc, University of Primorska: Rethinking Geographical Marginality

●      Gabriel Renault, Université Grenoble Alpes: Dealing with the Missing Geography of the Foundational Economy. Local Jobs Distribution and Evolution in France and Great Britain in the Late 2000s

●      Etienne Nel, University of Otago & University of Johannesburg: Countering Marginalisation in ‘Left Behind Places’ in Rural New Zealand: The Opportunities and Challenges Presented by International Migration

●      Sanne Velthuis, University of Newcastle: Who Moves from and to ‘Left Behind’ Regions in the UK, France and Germany?

Papers broadly explored the causes of how and why places become left-behind and marginalised and the appropriate theoretical lenses which we can employ to understand these processes and what being marginalised means. They also reflected on evidence of locally led or externally supported actions which have been initiated in response to being ‘left behind’. Several of the papers adopted a historical lense to explain how processes of being ‘left behind’ have become self-reinforcing, particularly as a result of market forces. The role of migration in this context was also explored.

One of the conclusions was the need to develop more the topic of marginal landscapes and left behind places, therefore two sessions covering these themes were proposed and accepted at the next IGU congress in Dublin 2024.

2.1.2. The Commission also organized a thematic session at EUGEO 2023 in Barcelona, Spain (4.-7. Sept 2023) on the topic of Landscape change in marginal regions. Due to health reasons neither convenors (Walter Leimgruber and Stanko Pelc) nor Chair/Secretary of the Commission were able to be present at the conference. Two papers were delivered by Italian researchers in a miscellaneous session.

2.1.3.The narrow body of the Steering Committee (Chair and the Secretary) as well as SC in full capacity together with Springer book series editors  held quite a number of meetings during the whole 2023. There were altogether 14 meetings in 2023, most of them (13) online via ZOOM platform and one meeting in vivo on the occasion of the conference sessions held in Ljubljana, Slovenia in June 2023. Also, the inquiry via online questionnaire was conducted among members to define the state of the art of the research for the Commission, potential new relevant topics and activities for the next period of 4 years. Some of the meetings were held with the aim of discussing the project of the authored book proposal for Springer series “Perspectives of Geographical Marginality” which would embrace new topics and trends in research following new demands of the World in change and contemporary World crisis, while other were held with the main focus on the future of the Commission, since the 4-year mandate is expiring with the next IGU Congress in Dublin. At the same time, the participating members discussed issues regarding the participation and organization of sessions at the above-mentioned conferences in Ljubljana and Barcelona.

The results and the outcome of the discussion of these meetings of the Steering Committee and book series editors in in 2023 defined four main cluster of research planned to be carried out in the next term 2024-2028:

1.Gender issues/ marginalized women

2.Urban marginalization – fragmentation, inequalities

-Small towns

3.Villages: education, agriculture and land abandonment

4.Water, climate change, disasters and marginality

-Climate and marginal land

Of these topics, two are considered as continuation of the work of the Commission (2,3) and two as new (1,4).

Of the other proposed and planned activities of the Commission, new initiatives are mainly online activities such as: webinars, online seminars and streaming/sharing regular lectures on the topics of interest. The particular attention should be given to the development of the mobility programs for young scholars mainly.

2.2 Networking among members

This takes place on an individual level. The Steering Committee encourages you to communicate existing networks so we can diffuse information about them among members. A short mail to the secretary will do.

2.3 Networking between commission:

We have started a collaboration with the Commission C20.01 African Studies, with whom we have many common research themes and concerns (http://www.unizulu.ac.za/). We have so far agreed to jointly organise the already planned conference in Windhoek (Namibia) in 2025, in collaboration between our two commissions (Corroborated by Prof. Kenneth Matengu).

We are planning to establish cooperation with the Commission on Tourism, Leisure and Global Change in supporting and co-organizing a conference to be held in October 2024 in Austria (Hermagor): “ The future of tourism in the Alpine-Adriatic region. International symposium in memory of Zlatko Pepeonik, 1934-2004.

We plan to continue discussions and cooperate with commissions that have similar goals to ours, depending on the opportunities which arise.

2.4. Publications

2.4.1. Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization (Springer book series)

Our book series ‘Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization’ is now indexed in SCOPUS.

 See the complete list of so far published volumes at https://www.springer.com/series/15046.

Editors of the series, together with the Chair and Secretary of the Commission are preparing an authored book, (as already mentioned above) as there is a clear need for a new approach and review of the overall research on marginality and globalization issues in the new World order facing new problems and threats to enhance marginalization.

2.4.2. Other publication – invited chapters

As Commissions and Task Forces have been invited to contribute to a volume to mark the IGU centenary (editors Jerzy Banski and Michael Meadows), authors from our Commission have prepared a contribution on marginality and globalization issues. The book has been recently published (15 Nov 2023), containing a chapter written by the authors from the Commision:

Déry, Steve; Leimgruber, Walter; Fuerst-Bjeliš, Borna; Nel, Etienne  (2023):
Marginality Issues in a Time of World Reorganization. In: Jerzy Banski and Michael Meadows. Research Directions, Challenges and Achievements of Modern Geography. Singapore: Springer, pp. 157 - 173. Doi: 10.1007/978-981-99-6604-2_9

2.4.3. Your own publications

Have you stopped writing articles and publishing them? We are sure you still do, but we hardly hear from you. We’d like to include as much information about our members’ activity to stimulate discussion. Please inform the secretary any time from about your publications on marginality and globalization as well as other related issues so they can be signalled in the next Newsletter. Members are keen on being updated on your scientific activity. Thank you to all who have so far followed my appeal.

3. Planned future activities 2024 and further

3.1. Conferences

3.1.1. Participation at the 2024 IGU Congress in Dublin

Two sessions are accepted:

Reference number: 115
Title: Marginal rural spaces facing global challenges
Chairperson: Prof. Dr. Hab. Krystian Heffner
Author(s): Emeritus Professor Walter Leimgruber, Prof. Dr. Hab. Krystian Heffner, Assist. Professor Mohana Basu

Reference number: 116
Title: Marginal landscapes and landscapes of marginal and left-behind places
Chairperson: Prof. Lola Sánchez Aguilera
Author(s): Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš, Prof. Lola Sánchez Aguilera, Assist. Prof. Mohana Basu

3.1.2. Planned Commission conferences

2024.

1. Co-organization of the conference to be held in October 2024 in Austria (Hermagor): The future of tourism in the Alpine-Adriatic region.  International symposium in memory of Zlatko Pepeonik, 1934-2004 (coordinated by Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš)

The conference will hopefully be organised in collaboration with the Commission on Tourism, Leisure and Global Change. Topics of interest to cover at the conference: The role of tourism in marginalized areas, especially following the diverse effects and implication of pandemic on tourism trajectories.

2. The Commission annual conference in Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia. Conference was to be held in 2023, but postponed for unforeseen reasons for 2024 (Prof.  Firuza Bigham Mustafa and Prof. Jamalunlaili Abdullah).

2025. 

1. The Commission annual conference in Windhoek, Namibia. Confirmed by Prof. Kenneth Matengu. The conference will hopefully be organised in collaboration with the African Studies Commission (confirmed so far by the Chair of the Commission) with whom we have started a collaboration. 

2027. 

1. The Commission annual conference in Nepal. Proposed by Prof. Shobha Shrestha. The topic of the conference: water, climate change, disasters and marginality; Climate and marginal lands. 

2. The Commission annual conference in Brazil. Proposed by Prof. Sara Medeiros. 

3.1.3. Further conferences

A further offer had reached us in 2019 from Dhaka (Bangladesh). Unfortunately, Covid-19 has upset all plans. The steering committee will discuss how we can honour our colleague’s initiative.

 5. Steering committee for 2020-2024

Chair:

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

University of Zagreb

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/en/borna.fuerst-bjelis

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr

Members:

Ass. Prof. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa

Deputy Dean (Undergraduate), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto

Nara University of Education,

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528

Japan

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Olli Lehtonen

Department of Geographical and Historical Studies

University of Eastern Finland

Joensuu

Finland

olli.lehtonen@uef.fi

Prof. Shobha Shrestha,

Central Department of Geography,

Tribhuvan University,

Kathmandu

Nepal

shobha.shrestha@cdg.tu.edu.np

Prof. Márcio Valença

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte,

IIP · Departamento de Políticas Públicas

Natal

Brazil

marciovalenca10@gmail.com

Prof. Alain François Loukou,

Université Alassane Ouattara

Bouaké

Côte d’Ivoire

Alain_loukou@hotmail.com

Prof. Catherine Robinson

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Commission Secretary:

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber

Université de Fribourg, Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie

4, chemin du Musée, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

Your address update:

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch). You can also signal potential new members, colleagues who are interested in out topic. – Thank you!

I wish you all the best and stay healthy

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš,

Commission chair

Commission Newsletter June

2023 – 1

Editorial – Activities 2023 –– Publications – Conferences – Obituary - Steering Committee

1. Editorial

After three years of the pandemic that has profoundly changed our lives and left immense impacts on our world which are not yet fully known, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO, declared the end of COVID -19 as a public health emergency on 5 May 2023. The decision was not taken lightly. Over the past year, the emergency committee led by WHO had carefully examined the data to find the right time to lower the alert.

For more than 12 months, the pandemic has been "on a downward trend", he said, with immunity increasing thanks to highly effective vaccines developed in record time to fight the disease and infections. Death rates have declined and pressure on once-overstretched health systems has eased. "This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before COVID -19," Tedros added.

According to UN WHO, by 3 May 2023, there were 765 million confirmed cases, 6.9 million reported deaths, more than 13 billion doses of vaccine administered and more than 5 billion people fully vaccinated. However, this data masks huge regional disparities and deep inequalities and it has exacerbated or crated new forms of marginalisation, as our research, published in the seventh volume of the Springer book series Perspectives on geographical shows. This book, entitled ‘COVID-19 and marginalisation of people and places’, looks at the COVID -19 pandemic and observed impacts. The research findings from a number of case studies explored how COVID -19 often increased social and economic marginalisation in different places and societies around the world. The pandemic has exacerbated existing geographic, social and economic marginalisation, particularly for the most vulnerable places, societies and economies around the world.

There is still much potential to study how societies and communities have responded to crises like the pandemic and how resilient and adaptive they have been in finding new ways to eliminate marginalisation. The world today faces multiple crises and disruptions at all levels due to pandemics, wars, climate change and global warming, and is increasingly threatened by rising temperatures, droughts, wildfires and extreme events, as well as disruptions to food production and famine in marginal rural societies. All of this creates a solid foundation for future massive climate and economic migrations on top of politically driven migrations. At the centre of these processes are always the most vulnerable and marginalised societies and communities, and these should be considered in two ways: as marginalised, without livelihoods or threatened by wars, they have to leave their homes, and when they come to the new worlds and cultures, they usually remain marginalised in their new societies as well.

In our changing world, there are many (new) issues that are relevant to our Commission's research. Perhaps now is a good time to reflect on the future work of the Commission. As the pandemic also affected the regular (in vivo) meetings of the Steering Committee, the next meeting will be held online, preferably at the beginning of autumn 2023, to discuss the main issues of the future and renewal of the Commission at the next IGU Assembly meeting in 2024.

This June, from 14 to 17, the Commission was represented at the Regional Studies Association's 2023 Annual Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with a special session: Responses to the Marginalisation of 'Places Left Behind' in an Era of Local, Regional and Global Uncertainty (session organiser: Stanko Pelc, see below). In September, the Commission will participate in EUGEO2023 in Barcelona with the session theme: Landscape and Change in Marginal Regions (convenors: Walter Leimgruber and Stanko Pelc).
During the conference in Ljubljana, a short meeting between the editorial board of the Springer book series and the Commission Chair took place to discuss publications in the near future that are in line with the Commission's research themes.

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

2. Activities in 2023

2.1 Conferences and scientific meetings in 2023

·      The Regional Science Association organised its annual conference in Ljubljana (Slovenia) from June 14 to 17 on the topic Transforming regions: policies and planning for people and places.

The Commission had a special session at the conference:  Responding to the Marginalisation of ‘left behind places’ in an era of Local, Regional and Global Uncertainty:

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated global social and economic inequality levels, induced economic recession and exacerbated political uncertainties which altogether have destabilised the predictability and perceived improvements in human welfare which characterised the last three decades. These processes have forced many communities, places and regions into more pronounced situations of marginalisation – economically, socially, politically and geographically as well as environmentally. A reality now widely associated with the term ‘left behind places’. In this session we explored evidence of growing marginalisation and its causes as well as debated solutions – drawing on emerging evidence of regional and local response and national and international support where it exists. Papers explored issues such as the nature and causes of marginalisation, the role of place-based leadership, social capital and the realities of the causes and implications of ‘left behind places’.

Six papers were presented which broadly explored the causes of how and why places become left-behind and marginalised and the appropriate theoretical lenses which we can employ to understand these  processes and what being marginalised means. The papers also reflected on evidence of locally led or externally supported actions which have been initiated in response to being ‘left behind’. Several of the papers adopted a historical lense to explain how processes of being ‘left behind’ have become self-reinforcing, particularly as a result of market forces. The role of migration in this context was also explored.

·  A meeting between the Editorial board of the Springer book series (present Etienne Nel and Stanko Pelc) and the Commission Chair took place on 16 June in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to discuss publications in the near future that are in line with the Commission's research themes.

2.2 Networking between members:

This takes place on an individual level. The Steering Committee encourages you to communicate directly with us about the work of your other existing networks so we can diffuse information about them among members. A short mail to the secretary will suffice.

2.3 Networking between commissions:

We plan to continue discussions and cooperate with commissions that have similar goals to ours, depending on the opportunities which arise.
We have started a collaboration with Commission C20.01 African Studies, with whom we have many common research themes and concerns (http://www.unizulu.ac.za/). We have so far agreed to jointly organise the already planned conference in Windhoek (Namibia) in 2025, in collaboration between our two commissions.
The newly established Commission on Research Methods in Geography offers another opportunity for networking in the future (https://igumethods.org/).

3. Publications

3.1 Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization (Springer book series)

Our book series ‘Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization’ is indexed in SCOPUS.

See the complete list of so far published volumes at https://www.springer.com/series/15046.

3.2. IGU centennial publication

Commissions and Task Forces have been invited to contribute to a volume to mark the IGU centenary; designated editors are Jerzy Banski and Michael Meadows. Our commission has prepared a contribution on marginality and globalization issues. The volume is in preparation.

3.3. Your own publications

Have you stopped writing articles and publishing them? We are sure you still do, but we hardly hear from you. We’d like to include as much information about our members’ activity to stimulate discussion. Please inform the secretary any time from about your publications on marginality and globalization as well as other related issues so they can be signalled in the next Newsletter. Members are keen on being updated on your scientific activity. Thank you to all who have so far followed my appeal.

4. Conferences

4.1 Planned Commission conferences

2023

·  The umbrella association of the European Geographical Societies, EUGEO, will hold its biannual conference in Barcelona from September 4 to 7.

Our Commission registered for a special session: Landscape and change in marginal regions (Convenors: Prof. Walter Leimgruber, University of Fribourg/CH (Switzerland), Dr. Stanko Pelc, University of Primorska, Koper (Slovenia):

Description: Landscape has been a central theme in geography for centuries, albeit with varying interpretations of the word, but it always has a spatial connotation. Although at first glance it looks as if it is an objective term, it has in fact a very subjective component: landscape is perceived by humans and assigned (aesthetic) qualities that will eventually also enter politics. This emerges, for example, in the discussions about wind parks, photovoltaic parks or dams. The sheer necessity of such structures for modern energy supply and the energy transition has to be weighed against the concept of ‘beautiful landscape.’ As with all geographical spaces, inequalities exist - socially, economically, politically and environmentally - creating landscapes characterised by either privilege or marginalisation. Our interest in this session is in the latter - namely how people and places in landscapes ‘marginal’ to the mainstream cope and respond in an era of change.

The transformation of landscape is therefore an interesting and insightful topic to understand human values and actions. Marginal regions are often left behind in development processes and considered of little interest for investment to improve their situation. However, demarginalization requires the will to go beyond lip service and entails also certain (financial) risks.

This session wants to shed light on the potential of landscape changes in marginal regions.

Session topics:

¨       Renewable energy and landscape

¨       Landscape diversity

¨       Perception of marginal regions

¨       The role of grassroot movements

¨       Policy issues on inequality and marginal regions

·  A virtual meeting of the Steering Committee is planned for autumn to discuss future plans for the Commission's tasks and activities.

·  Our annual conference has been scheduled to be held in Malaysia in summer 2023 by our colleagues Profs. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa (University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur) and Jamalunlaili Abdullah (Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam), but unfortunately had to be postponed to a later date due to unforeseen circumstances.

2024

·  The 35th IGU Conference will be held in Dublin, Ireland, from 24 to 30 August. We are in the process of discussing the Commission's participation in this conference.

·      An annual regional conference of the Commission (theme, location, local organiser) in 2024 is also to be discussed with our Irish colleagues or colleagues from other regions.

Note: As you may recall, one of our resolutions from the last business meeting of SC is that all our meetings and gatherings in the future will be hybrid so that as many members as possible from around the world can attend, regardless of where the conference is physically held.

2025

·  In 2019, we received an offer from our former Steering Committee member Prof Kenneth Matengu in Windhoek, Namibia. He confirmed that he will organise our 2025 conference in Namibia. The conference will hopefully be organised in collaboration with the African Studies Commission (confirmed so far by the Chair of the Commission) with whom we have started a collaboration.

4.2. Further conferences

Another offer had reached us from Dhaka (Bangladesh) in 2019. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has upset all plans. The Steering Committee will discuss how we can honour our colleague's initiative.

5. Obituary

Alison McCleery

Our long-standing member, Alison McCleery, Professor at Napier University Edinburgh, has died unexpectedly at the age of 69. As her husband wrote in a public obituary in The Guardian (online version 22 March 2023), she lost the last battle against breast cancer. Apart from having been a corresponding member of our Commission for many years, she also served on the Steering Committee during the two periods 2008 – 2016. As a professor of economic and cultural geography she added valuable input to our research during these many years, participating in various conferences.

Alison was fluent in French and German, an important addition to English for scientific communication and exchange. Thus opened the way for her to work for the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and INSEAD in Paris. As a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, she served as editor of the Scottish Geographical Journal and was visiting professor at the Institut National d’Études Démographiques, Paris.

(Adapted by WL from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/22/alison-mccleery-obituary; accessed 22 June 2023)

6. Steering committee for 2020-2024

Chair:

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

University of Zagreb

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/en/borna.fuerst-bjelis

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr

Members:

Ass. Prof. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa

Deputy Dean (Undergraduate), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto

Nara University of Education,

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528

Japan

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Olli Lehtonen

Department of Geographical and Historical Studies

University of Eastern Finland

Joensuu

Finland

olli.lehtonen@uef.fi

Prof. Shoba Shrestha,

Central Department of Geography,

Tribhuvan University,

Kathmandu

Nepal

shova216@gmail.com

Prof. Márcio Valença

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, IIP · Departamento de Políticas Públicas

Natal

Brazil

marciovalenca10@gmail.com

Prof. Alain François Loukou,

Université Alassane Ouattara

Bouaké

Côte d’Ivoire

Alain_loukou@hotmail.com

Prof. Catherine Robinson

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber

Université de Fribourg, Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie

4, chemin du Musée, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

Your address update:

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch). You can also signal potential new members, colleagues who are interested in out topic. – Thank you!

I wish you all the best and stay healthy

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš, Commission chair

1. Editorial

Winter 2020/21 has presented the world with a second and even a third wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, and the pandemic is far from over. At the same time, however, vaccination campaigns started, raising hopes that life may gradually return to ‘normal’ (i.e. as before the pandemic). These campaigns, however, were a source of increased marginalization. The rich countries could muster sufficient funds to acquire the necessary jabs, whereas the poorer part of the world was left behind – the ‘new limes’ continues to exist.

• Some of our members have published papers on the pandemic (see following sections) although we are still far from being able to assess its true impact. Short-term effects (including the sometimes-panic reactions of governments) are, however visible. We plan to produce a first substantial publication on the topic in the months to come (see below).

• Apart from already published works, we believe that there are a lot of questions and approaches opened and raised by our members researchers in the meantime and we are looking forward to the coming two major events: the Istanbul Commission Session during the (virtual) IGC and the pre-congress virtual Romania conference organized by Cluj Napoca University (SUBMISSIONS ARE STILL OPEN until JUNE 25, 2021). As announced before, the Commission is considering a special COVID-19 volume within our Springer series “Perspectives on geographical marginality”. We are hoping that these conferences will bring more valuable contributions to the book project.

• We have just received the information from IGU about the latest Commission: Commission on Research Methods in Geography. Visit its web site: https://igumethods.org/. It brings to us also new opportunities for commission networking in the future: Research methods are at the base of everything.

• Recently, we have revived our Commission’s website and are still working on it (mainly thanks to our member and webmaster Stanko Pelc): http://www.igu-marginality.info/. Please save the address and let us have your suggestions, news and information worth sharing and publishing on the website.

2. Activities for 2020-2024

A) One of the Commission’s special efforts is and will be to enlarge the participation of Geographers from the Developing World. This has been possible to a limited extent only when the IGU provided the commissions with adequate funding. But the situation has changed and we dispose of a small amount to provide one or two contributions.

This is, however, not sufficient to assist colleagues of poorer countries (like Lao PDR, Cambodia, or sub-Saharan countries) to organise any scientific meeting, but there are other funding opportunities that should be addressed. Our last meeting (2019) in Nepal has helped to enlarge the participation from South Asian countries.

B) Conferences and scientific meetings We plan to hold six or seven scientific activities during the next four-year plan.

• 2021: Romania (Commission conference) and Istanbul (IGU congress)

• 2022: Reims (Commission conference) and Paris (IGU regional congress)

• 2023: Malaysia (Commission conference)

• 2024: Ireland (IGU Congress and Commission conference)

Note: we had also received invitations from Namibia and Bangladesh for commission conferences, but the current pandemic has turned all our plans upside down. The new steering committee will take decisions on this matter.

C) Networking between members:

This takes place on an individual level. The Steering Committee encourages you to communicate existing networks so we can diffuse information about them among members. A short mail to the secretary will do.

D) Networking between commission:

We plan to continue the discussions and work with commissions whose objectives are similar to our own, depending of the opportunities. The newly launched Commission on Research Methods in Geography provides an additional chance for networking in the future (https://igumethods.org/).

3. Publications

3.1 Perspectives on geographical marginalization

The series editors are currently actively preparing the seventh volume in our Springer series, based on the papers of the Kathmandu conference in December 2019. Details should be available in our next newsletter.

3.2 Projects

For the following two projects we launch a call for contributions:

1. Springer has invited us to produce a volume related to COVID-19 issues, most likely the eighth volume in the series. We have a number of potential authors and there would be room for more chapters. It is planned to include the papers registered for the Istanbul IGC next August as well as other related papers on the topic from the Romania conference. Anybody interested in contributing as well should send an e-mail to the secretary. Details will be provided later, probably after the IGC.

2. There has also been a request from the IGU to contribute to a volume to mark the union’s centenary. The project is not completely confirmed, but our commission should contribute as well as the others. We have no details as yet, but volunteers should contact the secretary.

3.3 Members have signalled a number of publications on the COVID-19 pandemic 

• Matei, E., Ilovan, O.-R., Sandu, C.B., Dumitrache, L., Istrate, M., Jucu, I.S., Gavrilidis, A.A. (2021). Early Covid-19 Pandemic Impacts on Society and Environment in Romania.  Perception Among Population with Higher Education.  Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 20(2), 319-330, WOS:000620355500016 

• Firuza Begham Mustafa. 2021. The impact of COVID-19 on agriculture in Malaysia: Insights from mixed methods. In. Weng. M. L., Kaur, S. & Cheong, H. F. (Eds.) COVID-19, Business, and Economy in Malaysia: Retrospective and Prospective Perspectives. Routledge (In press) 

Please inform the secretary about your publications on marginality and globalization issues so they can be signalled in the next Newsletter. Members are keen on being updated on your scientific activity. Thank you to all who have so far followed my appeal.

3.4 Related publication

An interesting publication has been signalled by the IGU, concerning the conflict between Palestinians and Israel. I attach the description given in the mail of May 19, 2021

Atlas of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

4. Conferences

Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is on the upsurge again. Physical meetings are subject to a return of our society to some sort of normalcy and will hopefully take place in 2022.

4.1 Commission conferences 2021

The planned virtual conference has been postponed as the time scheduled was too tight. We do not know if and when it will take place. Further news will be published via a NewsFlash.

Romania 2021

As a consequence of COVID-19 and the general lockdown, travel restrictions, and closed borders, our Commission pre-congress meeting has been transformed into a virtual conference. Our Romanian colleague Raularian Rusu of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) offers to meet us via Zoom on August 9 and 10, 2021. Since there is no travel and accommodation (costs) involved, we hope for a wide participation. The deadline for submissions is extended and still open till 25 June 2021! For details see the conference website https://georeg.conference.ubbcluj.ro

Istanbul IGC

As you know, the 34th IGC in Istanbul has been transformed to the virtual format. It will take place August 16-20, 2021. Details can be seen from the website (https://www.igc2020.org/en). Our Commission will participate with a paper session within the COVID-19 topic and therefore be officially represented. (for a session description see https://www.igc2020.org/en/BRIDGING-IN-A-COVIDIAN-WORLD-(OF-STILL)-INCREASINGINEQUALITIES.html).

4.2 Commission conferences 2022-2024

The IGU will celebrate its centenary in Paris in 2022 with a special congress. The Commission is planning to have a session at the Paris congress, celebrating at the same time its 40-year jubilee. Also, our colleague Céline Burger has offered to organize a pre-congress conference in her university of Reims, followed by a field trip to the Ardennes mountains.

Our colleagues from Malaysia (Proffs. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa and Jamalunlaili Abdullah) proposed to hold a conference in their country in 2023. The 35th IGC will take place in Ireland in 2024, and we shall discuss our annual commission conference (local organizer and location) with our Irish colleagues.

In 2019, we also received an offer from our former Steering Committee member Prof. Kenneth Mantengu in Windhoek (Namibia). He suggested to organize our 2021 conference in Namibia.  A further offer for 2021 came from Bangladesh (Dhaka). Unfortunately, Covid-19 has upset all plans. The new steering committee will discuss these offers and see how we can honour our colleagues’ initiatives.

5. Obituary

Sadly, our member and colleague Raghubir Chand has passed away on March 26, 2021. As professor at Kumaun University in Nainital (Uttarakhand, India), Raghubir organized a successful conference in his university in May 2011 with a very instructive field trip to the Himalayas in the region of Munsiari. He was the chief editor of the first volume in our series and co-editor of volume 2. As a researcher, Raghubir devoted most of his efforts to the study of mountain regions, particularly the Himalayas. Among his work there is a study of the Brokpa people in Bhutan.

6. Steering committee for 2020-2024

The virtual IGU General Assembly, held via Zoom on August 21, 2020, approved the commissions and task forces. We had handed in our proposal with a new chair (see below) in time. The approval means that this new Commission is now operational.

Chair:

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/en/borna.fuerst-bjelis

bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr

Members:

Ass. Prof. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa

Deputy Dean (Undergraduate), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto

Nara University of Education,

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528

Japan

daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Olli Lehtonen

Department of Geographical and Historical Studies

University of Eastern Finland

Joensuu

Finland

olli.lehtonen@uef.fi

Prof. Shoba Shrestha,

Central Department of Geography,

Tribhuvan University,

Kathmandu

Nepal

shova216@gmail.com

Prof. Márcio Valença

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, IIP · Departamento de Políticas Públicas

Natal

Brazil

marciovalenca10@gmail.com

Prof. Alain François Loukou,

Université Alassane Ouattara

Bouaké

Côte d’Ivoire

Alain_loukou@hotmail.com

Prof. Catherine Robinson

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber

Université de Fribourg

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

YOUR ADDRESS UPDATE:

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch). You can also signal potential new members, colleagues who are

interested in our topic. – Thank you!

I wish you all the best and stay healthy

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš, Commission chair

Editorial – Commission renewal – Publications – Conferences – Steering Committee

1. Editorial: Some reflections on the Covidian world in 2020

There is a year behind us, incomparable to any other in the recent past. Almost a year has passed since the world was hit by the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Back then one could not predict its real outreach and dimensions. It came sudden and fast and no one was really prepared to what was going to follow. Step by step a tiny but almighty virus conquered the whole world. At some points during the first spring wave, it seemed that some parts of the world were hit stronger than others, but the pandemic finally reached every corner of the world, it was just a matter of time. Global urban megalopolises with extremely high concentrations of people and with dense global communication networks were the first nodes of its spreading. A similar pattern may be found also in historical pandemics, e.g. with the plague that spread via major global trade routes of the time to major world ports as foci from where the disease spread further inland. At first, some more or less marginalized part of the world may have looked safe and their marginality an advantage. However, since we live in a globalized world where everything is connected to everything in many ways, no one could really be spared. They were swallowed as well, but simply a bit later.

Although, at the end, we may say that in front of the virus we are all the same, all tiny and vulnerable, regardless of social and political power, wealth, education, position, opportunities etc., indeed again, we are not.  Since the 19th century onwards, following the European colonization of the world, the rift between the dominating North (the Centre) and the dominated South (the Margins) has widened and it still persists, even widening. Neoliberal economy and politics create a world of inequalities and injustice. They are based on the dualism of dominators/rulers and marginalized. In order to maintain their power, the former imperatively need the later (Fuerst-Bjeliš & Leimgruber, 2020, p.10). The limes between the powerful against the dominated exists on a global level as well as on regional and local scales (ibid., p. 4). In a global world no one is able to live on its own, to be self-sufficient, being that state, or a region or a local community. Marginalized areas, being weak in every possible term, often have no other solution than to comply with rulers (ibid., p. 5 after Dicken, 2015, p. 35). Many countries impoverished by colonial and neoliberal extractivism and exploitation have extremely weak health infrastructures. And COVID-19 is just one further devastating threat added to already existing ones, such as extreme poverty, lack of food, clean water and inefficient sanitization. On the other side, some research has shown that even within more favorable regions, there exist the unequal distribution of the virus, which seems to hit already vulnerable people more severely, including ethnic minorities, migrants and prison inmates (Armiero, 2020, p. 453 after Dyer, 2020 and Smith and Judd, 2020). More so, the pandemic has massively changed the world and our ways of life. Respecting the measures of social distancing and travel bans meant we had to rely on technology more then ever. Home-working and home-schooling has become our everyday routine. But this also put already marginalized regions into unfavorable and even more marginalized position. The less well-of segments of the population, already marginalized faced great difficulties in their survival efforts (Leimgruber & Fuerst-Bjeliš, 2020, p.201).

On the other side, the need of social distancing and isolation in order to stop the spread of virus, turned many of us to our internal, local and private environments and to outdoor activities, (re)evaluating and (re)experiencing the environmental values of our wellbeing. Slowness movement and travel into the isolated and quiet places of nature gained new importance. Does this perhaps make a new chance for marginal areas? There are many questions to be asked about how pandemic will ultimately change our world and affect marginal areas.

Commission’s new challenges and goals

Apart from the general focus of our Commission  - that is to view globalization and regional/local development as interrelated processes, we are faced with a new challenge: the research on multiple dimensions of the impact of the pandemic on marginalization in a global context.

In this wake, and in new pandemic terms, we envisaged a virtual online workshop with the aim of questioning the implications of pandemic on marginalization and marginalized areas (working title: Quelle marginalité en Covidie? / What about marginality in Covidia?), planned for early 2021.

Also, the Commission will be represented at the special COVID-19 session to be held during the IGC in Istanbul (August 2021). With the general question in mind, the following topics are proposed: 1. Forces responsible for the dynamics and structures of marginality at various scales in the 2020 Covidian context. 2. The role of the various agents in those processes in the Covidian context. 3. Types of marginality in the Covidian context. 4. Responses to economic and societal problems with marginal people. 5. Development of theoretical and methodological tools.

And finally, an edited volume about the Covidian perspectives on marginality is under consideration as a project. We believe that planned workshop and special COVID-19 session at the IGU Istanbul IGC will produce a fruitful discussion and potential contributions to the book.

References:

Armiero, M. (2020). Something I Have Learned from COVID-19. Environment and History 26 (3), 451–454.

Dyer, O. (2020) ‘Covid-19: Black people and other minorities are hardest hit in US’, British Medical Journal 369 10.1136/bmj.m1483 (Published 14 Apr. 2020), available online at https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1483)

Fuerst-Bjeliš B., Leimgruber W. (2020) Marginalization – The Dark Side of Globalization. In: Fuerst-Bjeliš B., Leimgruber W. (eds) Globalization, Marginalization and Conflict. Perspectives on Geographical Marginality, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53218-5_1

Leimgruber W., Fuerst-Bjeliš B. (2020) Conclusion. In: Fuerst-Bjeliš B., Leimgruber W. (eds) Globalization, Marginalization and Conflict. Perspectives on Geographical Marginality, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53218-5_13

 Smith, J.A., Judd, J., (2020):‘COVID-19: Vulnerability and the power of privilege in a pandemic’, Health Promotion Journal of Australia 31 158–160. doi:10.1002/hpja.333, available online at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hpja.333

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš, Commission Chair

Walter Leimgruber, Commission Secretary

2. Renewal of the Commission

The virtual Annual Assembly of the IGU of August 21, 2020 has renewed our Commission on the basis of the following objectives and accepted as our new chair Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš of Zagreb (Croatia) who succeeds Prof. Steve Déry of Québec (Canada) and will ensure our future activities with a partially renewed Steering Committee. Our new number is C20.32.

Present objectives of the commission and proposed objectives for 2020-24,

A.             The name of the Commission

We propose to continue with the name: “IGU Commission on Marginalization, Globalization and Regional and Local Response”

B.             A concise statement of the mission of the Commission

The mission of the Commission is to research marginality and the processes of marginalization from different perspectives and with a geographical basis. The main focus is to better understand multiscalar relations between the globalization process and how marginality evolves at the local and regional levels. Moreover, we seek to improve our understanding of local and regional responses to different forms of marginality and marginalization processes.

Given that, during the last four years, inequalities and marginality have increased instead of receding, the commission intends to continue to follow the objectives that were in its focus already in this period, that is:

1. To further the understanding of marginality and the processes of marginalization in our globalized world, through the study and analysis of the forces responsible for the dynamics and structures of marginality at various scales. They will include, among other variables, issues of ethnicity, technology, gender, social structure and the environment.

2. To analyze marginality as the result of power relations within societies, more precisely of human perceptions and decisions, leading to the understanding of the role of the various agents in those processes, and their response to prevailing conditions.

3. To develop comparative approaches in order to identify various types of marginality and to put them into perspective and assess their role in an increasingly globalized world. Emphasis in particular needs to be placed on the experience of the Global South.

4. To study policy/institutional/community responses to economic and societal problems where we can find marginal people – especially where they form clusters, at various scales in relation to local, regional and societal development; this includes to study human responses to global change, and their implications for marginalization.

5. The development of theoretical and methodological tools of understanding of marginality in itself, as well as for the processes of marginalization and demarginalization.

6. To improve the role of research, education and teaching in decision-making/politics in order to reduce inequalities et and marginality.

The use and development of appropriate theory and methodology is to be involved in each of the above.

Five major achievements for 2016-20 and five major activities to be undertaken during 2020-24.  

A. Achievements for 2016-2020

1) Number of members. Our Commission counts now 352 members (January 2020), an increase of 15% from 306 members in December 2015, including 36 from developing Asia and 13 from Africa.

2) Conferences and scientific meetings: We have held six scientific activities (each can count as an achievement): 2016 (2), 2017 (1), 2018 (1), 2019 (2)

3) Publications: We started to edit a book series, published by Springer: “Perspectives on Geographical Marginality”. Since 2016, we have published four books. Each can also be seen as one achievement in itself.

4) Networking: We have published two Newsletter per year from 2016 to 2019 (total = 8) + several Newsflash bulletins to keep in touch with our members, depending of the needs.

5) Networking between commissions: In 2018 (Quebec), we have successfully organised panels with the Commission on “Regional development” and more talks were done with this commission and also the commission on “Geography of governance” for the 2020 conference (Romania) and congress (Istanbul). For now, these conversations and potential organisations have been postponed to next year (2021).

      B. Activities for 2020-2024

1) One of the Commission’s special efforts is and will be to enlarge the participation of Geographers from the Developing World. This has been possible to a limited extent only when the IGU provided the commissions with adequate funding. Any reduction of these subsidies will make such initiatives impossible in the future. Moreover, in this wake, due to the lack of funding, it is also quite difficult for colleagues of poorer countries (like Lao PDR, Cambodia, or sub-Saharan countries) to organise any scientific meeting. Our last meeting (2019) in Nepal has helped to enlarge the participation from South Asian countries.

2) Conferences and scientific meetings: we plan to hold seven or eight scientific activities during the next four-year plan.

         - 2020: virtual conference, organized by Laval University (Quebec) in December

         - 2021: Romania (Commission conference) and Istanbul (IGU congress)

*Note: we also have commitments from Namibia and Bangladesh for commission conferences to be held between 2021 and 2023. However, the current Covidian pandemic has changed our plans. The next steering committee will take decisions on this matter.

         - 2022: Paris (IGU regional congress)

         - 2023: Malaysia (Commission conference)

         - 2024: Ireland (IGU congress)

3) Publications: Two new books are expected to be published in our Series in 2020 or early 2021. And at least two more are planned for the rest of 2021-2024.

4) Networking between members: We plan to continue to send two Newsletters per year (June and December) as well as several Newsflashes to our members, in order to keep them informed of the various activities organised by the Commission or some of its members.

5) Networking between commission: We plan to continue the discussions and work with commissions which objectives are similar to our own, depending of the opportunities.

3. Publications

The fifth and sixth volumes of our series have been published by Springer in autumn 2020:

Stanko Pelc and Etienne Nel (editors), Responses to geographical marginality and marginalization. From social innovation to regional development, xiii + 183 pp.

Borna Fuerst- Bjeliš and Walter Leimgruber (editors), Globalization, marginalization and conflict – political and social processes, xvii + 202 pp.

Cooperation with Springer continues to be excellent. We are also preparing further books, looking forward to your announcements of single/double author or edited volumes. If you have a project, please contact a member of the series editors:

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš (bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr), Walter Leimgruber (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch), Etienne Nel (etienne.nel@otago.ac.nz), Stanko Pelc (stanko.pelc@guest.arnes.si).

Publications signalled by Commission members

Kenneth Lynch, Etienne Nel, Tony Binns, ‘Transforming Freetown’: Dilemmas of planning and development in a West African City, Cities 101 (2020) 102694

Lehtonen Olli, Kotavaara Ossi, Muilu Toivo, Huovari Janne and Vihinen Hilkka (2020). Kausiväestö moninaistaa kuvaa aluerakenteen kehityksestä Suomessa (English abstract: Seasonal population diversifies the picture of the development of the regional structure in Finland).Terra 132:2, 69-84. DOI 10.30677/terra.85022

Alasalmi Juho, Busk Henna, Holappa Veera, Huovari Janne, Härmälä Valtteri, Kotavaara Ossi, Lehtonen Olli, Muilu Toivo, Rusanen Jarmo and Vihinen Hilkka (2020). Työn ja työvoiman alueellinen liikkuvuus ja monipaikkainen väestö (English summary: Regional mobility of work and workforce and multilocal population). Publication Series of the Government’s Analysis, Assessment and Research 2020:12.http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-287-928-8

Lehtonen Olli, Muilu Toivo and Vihinen Hilkka (2019). Monipaikkaisuus maaseudun terveyspalveluiden mahdollistajana (Multi-locality as an enabler of rural health services, in Finnish). Maaseudun uusi aika 2019:2, 7-29. http://www.mua-lehti.fi/monipaikkaisuus-maaseudun-terveyspalveluiden-mahdollistajana/

Lehtonen Olli, Muilu Toivo and Vihinen Hilkka (2019). Multi-local living – an opportunity for rural health services in Finland? European Countryside 11:4, 257-280. DOI 10.2478/euco-2019-0013

Vihinen Hilkka, Voutilainen Olli, Muilu Toivo, Lehtonen Olli, Niskanen Olli, Strandén Max and Knuuttila Marja (2019). Manner-Suomen maaseudun kehittämisohjelmien aluetalous- ja työllisyysvaikutukset - vaikuttavuusanalyysi kaudelta 2007-2013 (English summary: Impacts of Rural Development Programmes on regional economies and employment - impact analysis for the period 2007–2013). Publications of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 2019:16. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-366-005-2

Kotavaara Niina, Kotavaara Ossi, Rusanen Jarmo and Muilu Toivo (2018). University graduate migration in Finland. Geoforum 96, 97-107. DOI 10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.07.010

Camară, G. (2020) – Responses to Geographical Marginality and Marginalization. From Social Innovation to Regional Development. Papers in Regional Science, 99(6), 1827-1828

Firuza Begham Mustafa. (2019). Akuakultur Udang Harimau (Aquaculture of Tiger prawn). Kuala Lumpur: University Malaya Press.

Firuza Begham Mustafa. (2020). Geografi Pertanian (Agricultural Geography). Kuala Lumpur:  University Malaya Press.

Firuza Begham Mustafa. (2020). Soil Geography (Soil Geography). Kuala Lumpur: University Malaya Press.

Firuza Begham Mustafa, M. Lokman Ali & Subha Bhassu. (2020). Akuakultur Udang Galah (Giant freshwater prawn aquaculture). Tanjung Malim: Penerbit Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris.

Subha Bhassu, M. Lokman Ali &Firuza Begham Mustafa (2020). Nurseri Udang Galah (Giant freshwater prawn nursery). Tanjung Malim: Penerbit Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris.

Firuza Begham Mustafa. 2019. Field work-based project paper assessment. In N.A. Hamzaid & F.A. Ghaffar (Ed.), Eyes on Learning, Hearts on Teaching (pp.146-153). Kuala Lumpur: Academic Enhancement and Leadership Centre (ADeC).

Benjamin Ezekiel Bwadi & Firuza Begham Mustafa. (2019). Site suitability analysis of infrastructure facilities for giant freshwater prawn farming. In Qian Lu, Emerging Technologies and Research for Eco-friendly Aquaculture, London, IntechOpen ISBN 978-1-83881-200-3.

Adamu Sani Jauro, Firuza Begham Mustafa & Umar Abdullahi Abba. 2019. An assessment of soil fertility management practices around Dadin-Kowa Town, Gombe-Nigeria. In Seow Ta Wee & Thennanoon, T.M.S.P.K.(Ed). Environmental Management & Sustainable Development Series 1. (pp.59-66) Batu Pahat: UTHM.

Didams Gideon, Firuza Begham Mustafa & Idakwo Victor (2020). The application of an expert knowledge‐driven approach for assessing gully erosion susceptibility in the subtropical Nigerian savannah. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography. Nov 2020. (ISI-Indexed)

Didams Gideon & Firuza Begham Mustafa. (2019). Investigation on physical factors influencing permanent gully development in Southern Gombe State, Northeast Nigeria. Arabian Journal of Geosciences. ISI indexed. (ISI-Indexed)

Godwin Aliagha, Firuza B Mustafa. J. Mohamad. (2020). Geochemical study of Ecological Risk Potential of Heavy Metal Contamination in Urban Lake Sediment -Malaysia - from the Context of Ecological Disturbance Theoretical Tradition. Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment. https://www.worldresearchesjournal.com/article/geochemical-study-of-ecological-risk-potential-of-heavy-metal-contamination-in-urban-lake-sediment-malaysia-from-the-context-of-ecological-disturbance-theoretical-tradition Vol - 13, Issue – 03. ISSN: 09720626. Volume 13, Issue 03, September, 2020 (SCOPUS-Indexed)

Haris, S.M., Mustafa, F.B. & Raja Ariffin, R.N. (2020). Systematic Literature Review of Climate Change Governance Activities of Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations in Southeast Asia. Environmental Management (Q1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01355-9.(EMVM). 66:816–825 (ISI-Indexed)

Nur Syabeera Begum Nasir Ahmad & Firuza Begham Mustafa. (2019). Analisis perubahan guna tanah Negeri Sembilan melalui aplikasi Sistem Maklumat Geografi (GIS). Geografia - Malaysian Journal of Society and Space. Vol 15, No 1 (Non-ISI/Non-SCOPUS)

Nur Syabeera BegumNasir Ahmad, Firuza Begham Mustafa, Safiah @ Yusmah Muhammad Yusoff & GideonDidams. (2020). A systematic review of soil erosion control practices on the agricultural land in Asia. International Soil and Water Conservation Research, Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2020, Pages 103-115 (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2019). Multivariate design estimations under copulas constructions. Stage-1: Parametrical density constructions for defining flood marginals for the Kelantan River basin, Malaysia. Ocean Systems Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 3 (2019) 287-328. DOI: https:// doi.org/10.12989/ose.2019.9.3.287 (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2020). A nonparametric statistical framework using a kernel density estimator to approximate flood marginal distributions – a case study for the Kelantan River Basin in Malaysia. Water Supply ws2020081. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2020.081 (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2020). Bivariate flood distribution analysis under parametric copula framework: a case study for Kelantan River basin in Malaysia. Acta Geophys. 68, 821–859 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-020-00435-y (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2020). Bivariate Hydrologic Risk Assessment of Flood Episodes using the Notation of Failure Probability. Civil Engineering Journal, Vol. 6, No. 10, October, 2020 (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2020). Bivariate joint distribution analysis of the flood characteristics under semiparametric copula distribution framework for the Kelantan River basin in Malaysia. Journal of Ocean Engineering and Sciences. (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2020). Copula-based multivariate flood probability construction: A review. Arabian journal of Geoscience 13, 132 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-5077-6 (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2020). Multivariate design estimations under copulas constructions. Stage-1: Parametrical density constructions for defining flood marginals for the Kelantan River basin, Malaysia. Ocean Systems Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 3 (2019) 287-328 (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2020). Parametric Vine Copula Construction for Flood Analysis for Kelantan River Basin in Malaysia. Civil Engineering Journal (ISI or Web of science core collection). ISSN/eISSN- 2676-6957 / 2476-3055 (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. (2020). Trivariate distribution modelling of flood characteristics using copula function—A case study for Kelantan River basin in Malaysia. AIMS Geosciences, 2020, 6(1): 92-130. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2020007 (ISI-Indexed)

Shahid Latif & Firuza Mustafa. 2020. A nonparametric copula distribution framework for bivariate joint distribution analysis of flood characteristics for the Kelantan River basin in Malaysia. AIMS Geosciences, 2020, 6(2): 171-198. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2020012 (ISI-Indexed)

Márcio Moraes Valença (2020), Urban crisis and the antivalue in David Harvey, Mercator, Fortaleza, v.19, https://doi.org/10.4215/rm2020.e19031 (also available in Portuguese: crise urbana e o antivalor em David Harvey)

Crespo Guerrero, J. M., y Jiménez Pelcastre, A. (2016). Organización del sector pesquero comercial ribereño en la Reserva de la Biosfera El Vizcaíno (México). Revista Geográfica Venezolana, 57(2), 236-259. Universidad de los Andes (Venezuela). Recuperado de http://www.saber.ula.ve/handle/123456789/42729

Crespo Guerrero, J. M., y Peyroti, G. F. (2016). Las áreas naturales protegidas de la provincia de Córdoba (Argentina): marco legal y ausencia de gestión territorial. Cuadernos Geográficos, 55(1), 33-58. Universidad de Granada (España). Recuperado de http://revistaseug.ugr.es/index.php/cuadgeo/article/view/3191

Crespo Guerrero, J. M., y Rivera, M. G. (2017). Organización y transformaciones de la pesca comercial ribereña en el Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto (Baja California Sur, México). Ager. Revista de Estudios sobre Despoblación y Desarrollo Rural, 23, 59-96. Doi 10.4422/ager.2017.02

Crespo Guerrero, J. M., y Jiménez Pelcastre, A. (2017). Organización e impacto territorial de la actividad pesquera comercial ribereña en la Reserva de la biosfera Ría Celestún (México). Anales de Geografía de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (España), 37(2), 297-324. Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/AGUC.57727

Crespo Guerrero, J. M., y Jiménez Pelcastre, A. (2018). Orígenes y procesos territoriales del cooperativismo pesquero en la Zona Pacífico Norte de Baja California Sur (México), 1850-1976. América Latina en la Historia Económica, 25(1), 196-238. doi http://dx.doi.org/10.18232/alhe.841 

Campos Flores, G. J., y Crespo Guerrero, J. M. (2018). Organización espacial de la pesca comercial ribereña en el Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna Laguna de Términos, México. Investigaciones Geográficas, 96(0), 1-21. doi http://dx.doi.org/10.14350/rig.59558

Crespo Guerrero, J. M., Jiménez Pelcastre, A., y Nava Martínez, J. D. (2019). Tensiones y conflictos territoriales en la pesca ribereña del Estado de Campeche, México (2013-2018). Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, 82, 1-53. Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.21138/bage.2764

Crespo Guerrero, J. M., y Nava Martínez, J. D. (2020). Configuración Territorial de la pesca comercial ribereña en la Reserva de la Biosfera Los Petenes, Estado de Campeche (México). Estudios Geográficos, 81(288) 1-27 doi https://doi.org/10.3989/estgeogr.202055.055

Please send information to the secretary to be included with the next Newsletter. Members are keen on being updated on your scientific activity. Thank you to all who have followed my appeal.

4. Conferences

Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic is on the upsurge again. Physical meetings are subject to a return of our society to some sort of normalcy and will hopefully take place in 2021.

Commission conferences 2021

The planned virtual conference has been postponed to 2021 as the time scheduled was too tight. Further news will be published via a NewsFlash.

As a consequence of Covid-19 and the general lockdown, travel restrictions, and closed borders, also our Commission’s pre-congress meeting has been postponed. Our Romanian colleague Raularian Rusu of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) will receive us during week 32, August 8/9 – 13, 2021. The programme will include paper sessions, local tours, a one-day field trip and a business meeting. The timing is such that participants will be able to reach Istanbul on time. There are direct flights from Cluj-Napoca to Istanbul. https://georeg.conference.ubbcluj.ro

As you know, the 34th IGC in Istanbul has been postponed from 2020 to 2021 as well. It will take place during week 33 (August 16 – 20). Our Commission will participate with a paper session within the Covid-19 topic and therefore be officially represented (contrary to the information in the last newsletter). Abstracts can be handed in until January 11, 2021. https://www.igc2020.org/en (for a session description see https://www.igc2020.org/en/BRIDGING-IN-A-COVIDIAN-WORLD-(OF-STILL)-INCREASING-INEQUALITIES.html).

Commission conferences 2022-2024

The Coronavirus has, of course, upset all our planning (not only yours!) and we are now working on the conferences during the next three years.

The IGU will celebrate its centenary in Paris in 2022 with a Regional conference, and we shall ask our French colleagues for proposals. Our colleagues from Malaysia (Firuza and Jamal) proposed to hold a conference in their country in 2023. The 35th IGC will take place in Ireland in 2024, and we shall discuss our annual conference with our Irish colleagues.

We received an offer from our Steering Committee member Kenneth Mantengu in Windhoek (Namibia). He suggested to organize our 2021 conference in Namibia. A further offer for 2021 came from Bangladesh (Dhaka). The new steering committee will discuss these offers and see how we can honour our colleagues’ initiatives.

Further Conferences

The 2021 EUGEO conference will be held in Prague from June 28 to July 1. Thanks to Covid-19, we missed the deadline to register for a session, but you can nevertheless participate (to date – 18 December – no list of sessions has yet been published on the congress website). Abstract submission deadline is January 31, 2021. https://www.eugeo2021.eu

5 Awards

Our former Commission chair, Prof. Etienne Nel (University of Otago, Dunedin), was recently bestowed the 2020 Distinguished New Zealand Geographer Award and Medal for his sustained contribution to Geography and development. Prior to his engagement in New Zealand, he devoted his work to issues of local economic development in various parts of Africa, where he was based at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. Apart from contributions to theory he studied policies and strategies with the aim to help the demarginalization of communities. His more recent investigations deal with the problems facing small and often isolated and marginalized towns in New Zealand.

We congratulate our friend and colleague Etienne on this distinction and hope he can continue to provide us with further insights into our core field of study.

6. Steering committee for 2020-2024

The virtual IGU General Assembly, held via Zoom on August 21, 2020, approved the commissions and task forces. We had handed in our proposal with a new chair (see below) in time. The approval means that this new Commission can be operational, although the IGU website still mentions Steve Déry as chair.

Chair:

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/en/borna.fuerst-bjelis

Phone: +385 1 4895 428

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr

Members:

Ass. Prof. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa

Deputy Dean (Undergraduate), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Phone: 603-79675536/79675502

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820

Fax: 972-2-643-4820

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto

Nara University of Education,

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528

Japan

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Olli Lehtonen

Department of Geographical and Historical Studies

University of Eastern Finland

Joensuu

Finland

olli.lehtonen@uef.fi

Prof. Shoba Shrestha,

Central Department of Geography,

Tribhuvan University,

Kathmandu

Nepal

Mobile: 9841294569

shova216@gmail.com

Prof. Márcio Valença

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, IIP · Departamento de Políticas Públicas

Natal

Brazil

marciovalenca10@gmail.com

Prof. Alain François Loukou,

Université Alassane Ouattara

Bouaké

Côte d’Ivoire

Alain_loukou@hotmail.com

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber

Université de Fribourg

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

Your address update:

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch).

Thank you!

I wish you a Happy New Year and stay healthy.

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš, Commission chair

 Editorial – Renewal proposal – Publications – Conferences – Steering Committee

As the editorial of this issue of our Newsletter, we wish to present our reflections on the present and future of the Commission. This text was written by Steve Déry and Walter Leimgruber, using reflections shared by members of the steering committee. Some parts were already included in the December 2019 issue. Here we share the long version.

1. Editorial: Marginality studies in a world of crisis

« Despite enormous progress the world still faces endemic issues of conflict, poverty and inequality, with unsustainable lifestyles, consumption and production patterns » (ISC, Action Plan). This statement from the ISC Action Plan drafted and voted in 2019 says it all. Even with a broader and increasing awareness of their impacts, gathering a large consensus in the various populations of the world, inequalities are not disappearing: they have increased to an extent never attained before in the history of humankind. And, even if the world has been put on a “pause” mode in the first half of 2020, they are still increasing, by the day. Inequalities measured in terms of revenues, inequalities of chances, inequalities in education, they bear testimony to an increase in marginality in most of the various population classes, save the richest. In our Covidian world – we can say that because all decisions made are related somehow to this pandemic situation -, power relations have been changed drastically: some have gained a lot of power; some who already have less, have lost even more. Given, that less decision power in a given system means an increasing marginality, the consequences for our environments are of various types at all levels, including drastic changes to our climates. This assessment brings us to an obvious conclusion: studies about marginality are necessary, and more importantly, for such studies to contribute to actions that reduce inequalities.

Our Commission started its work in 1982 by examining human activities in extreme natural environments: mountain regions and high latitude or boreal areas. The focus was extended in 1992 to marginal regions, thus allowing us to move from a regional to a thematic orientation. Our thematic foci have not changed, the world being still characterized by inequalities (even growing), power struggles and the efforts of the capitalist economy and its leaders to dominate the world. Even the ecological crisis, that has developed since World War II has only recently been recognized as being crucial for the future of mankind. In particular, the school strikes for climate (since 2018) have shown that the young generation, that so far has not been taken seriously (marginalized as are concerned political decisions), has become aware not only of their own societal situation but also of the threat humanity poses to the extra-human environment (also called ‘nature’). And the subsequent climate protest movement has seen an increasing solidarity between generations.

This is a radical shift in the perception of both environment and society and the processes occurring in both. While social inequalities have been with us through human history, recent events are producing deeper rifts than ever. In a way one feels thrown back to the 19th century when the working class had to fight for decent pay, working hours and conditions, while the entrepreneurs cashed in.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demonstrate somehow an awareness by the international community to fight the marginalization of a large part of humanity: those underfed, those lacking access to clean water, those lacking access to minimum health care, the poor, the uneducated, but also the natural environment. However, the former were not attained, and the latter are likely to remain ‘paper tigers’ as well. The financial crisis of the early 21st century was an important event that demonstrated the failure of the neoliberal dogma and required a new way of thinking. The human society finds itself torn between ups and downs; since the mid-1970s we are experiencing the Gloomy Decades.

What does that mean for our Commission? We certainly can stick to most of its past focal concerns as the challenges have remained largely the same on all levels. However, its members should develop a sharper focus on specific themes for future conferences, as it has been done during the last mandate of the Commission, in trying to define a main theme for each of the next annual meetings. In this regard, our participation to the 2017 La Paz conference “Geographies for Peace” was relatively successful. It should be emphasized during the call for papers for all our Commission gatherings. “At a time of increased geopolitical complexity, should the science system address global inequalities, encouraging benefit sharing, global exchange and cooperation at all levels?” (ISC Action Plan, 2019). Our Commission can reply “yes”. We have done this now for several years. And our members are still committed, more than ever, to this task.

“But how does equitable cooperation and real social transformation come about and how, if at all, can it be initiated, fostered and steered? What are the possible levers, and who are the potential agents of change?” (ISC Action Plan, 2019). We would like to answer by saying: “us”. We cannot change the whole world by ourselves, but we can contribute to it and we can add up our contributions to create virtuous circles where we live, where we teach, with our research contributions. We have to make sure our results are useful for decision-makers and contribute to a real change. So, this is how we see the next four years of our Commission.

Global dynamics, local consequences and responses

The difficulties experienced by the global political system to tackle climate change, Brexit, the numerous manifestations around the world (gilets jaunes in France, Haiti, Hong Kong, etc.), as well as the economic war started by the current US administration, demonstrate that the neoliberal system has never been capable of solving any problem we are confronted with, especially the biggest: the reduction of inequalities between the so-called developed world and the Global South, taken globally. More likely, it has been demonstrated again and again, that this system is part of the problem. Some demonstrations even show that it is the problem! Similarly, national and local differences are still a critical issue in the dynamic world of which we are a part – the ‘global village’ is more a myth than a reality and has yet to materialize, even with an ever increasing social-media world. The unrest and revolutions that have rocked the Arab world since early 2011 demonstrate that even long-standing political systems are not stable, because the peoples do not support them. The notion of kleptocracy, which has appeared in this context, is ample proof of the division between rulers and the ruled.

It is within this fluid environment of change, isolation, integration, marginalisation and development that this commission believes academic attention should be focussed, using its two tools of predilection: teaching and researching. Our focus is to view globalization and regional / local development as interrelated processes, which might overlap with the defined niches of other commissions. Therefore, we see our centres of attention as being:

-   the critical evaluation of the consequences of globalization on people and places, particularly on areas and people outside the mainstream, and the localised responses catalysed by globalization,

-   the relations between environmental stress (ecological footprint, climate change, etc.) and people’s actions in a globalized world-system,

-   direct and indirect links between marginality and globality relating to people and places, especially in terms of accessibility, wherever places are located, and

-   how, in an increasingly interlinked world, regional and local (marginal) cultures can survive and serve as models for the survival of humanity.

-   Within this context, three fields are of particular relevance: the drifting apart of society, environmental justice, and resource conservation and exploitation. They all contain an important ethical component.

Work done over the past years has revealed that the concept of marginality must be viewed from various perspectives as it is a complex and dynamic phenomenon embedded in power relations. While marginalization tends to increase with the current socioeconomic and political processes of globalization and deregulation, it is never a unidirectional process, as a look back into history since the Industrial Revolution demonstrates. It is also a relative concept that depends on the prevailing socioeconomic and political systems and on the scale of observation (a village may be marginal within a large region which itself is not marginal at all, or conversely). Perceptions of the physical characteristics of an area also are subject to change due to peoples’ evaluation over time, i.e., a physically perceived marginal region can become economically developed if its potential is recognised, and they can become depressed again when human preferences and/or other socioeconomic circumstances change (e.g. resource depletion, natural catastrophe).

The research, teaching and publications of the IGU Commission on “Marginalization, globalization, and regional and local response” emphasize the need for further in-depth consideration of continuing and new issues of the spatial aspects of marginalized peoples, the environments they inhabit, the impact of globalization and the regional and local responses which these considerations help to catalyse. These issues are complex, which stresses that further attention is required in order to delineate the nature of these societal problems and the potential nature of new policy and solutions that need to be considered. Especially, as researchers we must question ourselves about our own role in contributing not only to the understanding of the issues described, but also to solving the problems, and it is where teaching is also crucial.

We wish you all a wonderful time wherever you are! Keep healthy!

Steve Déry, Commission Chair

Walter Leimgruber, Commission Secretary

2. Proposal to the IGU for the renewal of the Commission

i. Proposed committee for 2021-24

Chair: Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš, Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Secretary: Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber, Université de Fribourg, Suisse

Members:

Dr. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa, Department of Geography, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Prof. Ruth Kark, Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto, Geography, Nara University of Education, Japan

Dr. Olli Lehtonen, Dpt of Geographical and Historical Studies, U. of Eastern Fin., Finland

Prof. Bishwo Shrestha, Nepal

Prof. Março Valença, Brazil

Alain François Loukou, Côte d’Ivoire

One or two more members will be named by the end of the IGU Congress (Istanbul, 2021). Members of the steering committee need to be approved by a general assembly, that will be held normally in Istanbul in August 2021.

ii. Present objectives of the commission and proposed objectives for 2020-24,

A.             The name of the Commission

We propose to continue with the name: “IGU Commission on Marginalization, Globalization and Regional and Local Response”

B.             A concise statement of the mission of the Commission

The mission of the Commission is to research marginality and the processes of marginalization from different perspectives and with a geographical basis. The main focus is to better understand multiscalar relations between the globalization process and how marginality evolves at the local and regional levels. Moreover, we seek to improve our understanding of local and regional responses to different forms of marginality and marginalization processes.

Given that, during the last four years, inequalities and marginality have increased instead of receding, the commission intends to continue to follow the objectives that were in its focus already in this period, that is:

1.     To further the understanding of marginality and the processes of marginalization in our globalized world, through the study and analysis of the forces responsible for the dynamics and structures of marginality at various scales. They will include, among other variables, issues of ethnicity, technology, gender, social structure and the environment.

2.     To analyze marginality as the result of power relations within societies, more precisely of human perceptions and decisions, leading to the understanding of the role of the various agents in those processes, and their response to prevailing conditions.

3. To develop comparative approaches in order to identify various types of marginality and to put them into perspective and assess their role in an increasingly globalized world. Emphasis in particular needs to be placed on the experience of the Global South.

4. To study policy/institutional/community responses to economic and societal problems where we can find marginal people – especially where they form clusters, at various scales in relation to local, regional and societal development; this includes to study human responses to global change, and their implications for marginalization.

5. The development of theoretical and methodological tools of understanding of marginality in itself, as well as for the processes of marginalization and demarginalization.

6. To improve the role of research, education and teaching in decision-making/politics in order to reduce inequalities et and marginality.

The use and development of appropriate theory and methodology is to be involved in each of the above.

iii. Five major list of achievements for 2016-20 and five major activities to be undertaken during 2020-24.  

A. Achievements for 2016-2020

1) Number of members. Our Commission counts now 352 members (January 2020), an increase of 15% from 306 members in December 2015, including 36 from developing Asia and 13 from Africa.

2) Conferences and scientific meetings: We have held six scientific activities (each can count as an achievement): 2016 (2), 2017 (1), 2018 (1), 2019 (2)

3) Publications: We started to edit a book series, published by Springer: “Perspectives on Geographical Marginality”. Since 2016, we have published four books. Each can also be seen as one achievement in itself.

4) Networking: We have published two Newsletter per year from 2016 to 2019 (total = 8) + several Newsflash bulletins to keep in touch with our members, depending of the needs.

5) Networking between commissions: In 2018 (Quebec), we have successfully organised panels with the Commission on “Regional development” and more talks were done with this commission and also the commission on “Geography of governance” for the 2020 conference (Romania) and congress (Istanbul). For now, these conversations and potential organisations have been postponed to next year (2021).

      B. Activities for 2020-2024

1) One of the Commission’s special efforts is and will be to enlarge the participation of Geographers from the Developing World. This has been possible to a limited extent only when the IGU provided the commissions with adequate funding. Any reduction of these subsidies will make such initiatives impossible in the future. Moreover, in this wake, due to the lack of funding, it is also quite difficult for colleagues of poorer countries (like Lao PDR, Cambodia, or sub-Saharan countries) to organise any scientific meeting. Our last meeting (2019) in Nepal has helped to enlarge the participation from South Asian countries.

2) Conferences and scientific meetings: we plan to hold seven or eight scientific activities during the next four-year plan.

         - 2020: virtual conference, organized by Laval University (Quebec) in December

         - 2021: Romania (Commission conference) and Istanbul (IGU congress)

*Note: we also have commitments from Namibia and Bangladesh for commission conferences to be held between 2021 and 2023. The current Covidian pandemic has changed our plans. The next steering committee will make decisions on this matter.

         - 2022: Paris (IGU regional congress)

         - 2023: Malaysia (Commission conference)

         - 2024: Ireland (IGU congress)

3) Publications: Two new books are expected to be published in our Series in 2020 or early 2021. And at least two more are planned for the rest of 2021-2024.

4) Networking between members: We plan to continue to send two Newsletters per year (June and December) as well as several Newsflashes to our members, in order to keep them informed of the various activities organised by the Commission or some of its members.

5) Networking between commission: We plan to continue the discussions and work with commissions which objectives are similar to our own, depending of the opportunities.

3. Publications

The fifth and sixth volumes of our series are in the production process and should be published in autumn. Cooperation with Springer continues to be excellent. We are also preparing further books, looking forward to your announcements of single/double author or edited volumes. If you have a project, please contact a member of the series editors:

Borna Fuerst-Bjelis (bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr), Walter Leimgruber (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch), Etienne Nel (etienne.nel@otago.ac.nz), Stanko Pelc (stanko.pelc@guest.arnes.si).

Publications signalled by members

No material received. Please send information to the secretary to be included with the December Newsletter. Members are keen on being updated on your scientific activity. Thank you.

4. Conferences

As we are now writing in July 2020, still under the impact of the current Coronavirus, the following information concerning physical meetings is subject to a return of our society to some sort of normalcy.

Commission conference in 2020

Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, both our pre-congress conference in Romania and the IGC in Istanbul have been cancelled and postponed to next year. As a small compensation, we are going to organize a virtual conference in December. This is a spontaneous idea and we have no details as yet, but you will receive information via NewsFlash as soon as possible.

Commission conferences 2021

As a consequence of Covid-19 and the general lockdown, travel restrictions, and closed borders, also our Commission’s pre-congress meeting has been postponed. Our Romanian colleague Raularian Rusu of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) will receive us during week 32, August 8/9 – 13, 2021. The programme will include paper sessions, local tours, a one-day field trip and a business meeting. The timing is such that participants will be able to reach Istanbul on time. There are direct flights from Cluj-Napoca to Istanbul.

As you know, the 34th IGC in Istanbul has been postponed from 2020 to 2021 as well. It will take place during week 33 (August 16 – 20). Our Commission will participate with a paper session within the Covid-19 topic and therefore be officially represented (contrary to the information in the last newsletter).

Commission conferences 2022-2024

The Coronavirus has, of course, upset all our planning (not only yours!) and we are now working on the conferences during the next three years.

The IGU will celebrate its centenary in Paris in 2022 with a Regional conference, and we shall ask our French colleagues for proposals. Finally, the 35th IGC will take place in Ireland in 2024, and we shall discuss our annual conference with our Irish colleagues.

Our colleagues from Malaysia (Firuza and Jamal) proposed to hold a conference in their country in 2023.

The 35th IGC will take place in Ireland in 2024, and we shall discuss our annual conference with our Irish colleagues.

We received an offer from our Steering Committee member Kenneth Mantengu in Windhoek (Namibia). He suggested to organize our 2021 conference in Namibia. A further offer for 2021 came from Bangladesh (Dhaka). The next steering committee will discuss these offers and see how we can honour our colleagues’ initiatives.

5. Steering committee for 2016-2020

Chair of the commission

Prof. Steve Déry,

Université Laval

Département de géographie

2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QUÉBEC

Canada, G1V 0A6

Phone: 1-418-656-2131 poste 5107

E-mail: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca

Steering committee members

Dr. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa, Senior Lecturer

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Phone: 79675536

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/en/borna.fuerst-bjelis

Phone: +385 1 4895 428

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.unizg.hr

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820

Fax: 972-2-643-4820

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto, Associate Professor of Geography

Nara University of Education,

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528

Japan

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Matengu, Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Development

University of Namibia,

340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave Pionierspark, Windhoek,

Namibia

Phone: +264 61 206 3944

Fax: +264 61 242644

E-mail: kmatengu@unam.na

Dr. Toivo Muilu

Natural Resources Institute Finland (professor)

Department of Geography (adjunct professor)

Po Box 413

FI-90014 University of Oulu

Finland

Phone: +358 29 532 6722

E-mail: toivo.muilu@luke.fi

Dr. Catherine Robinson, adjunct associate professor

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Phone: +61 7 3365 1111

E-mail: Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Prof. Claudio Urra Coletti

Instituto de Geografía

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

Mendoza – Argentina

Phone:

E-mail: urra73@gmail.com

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber

Université de Fribourg

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse

Phone: ++41 26 300 90 10

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

Your address update:

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch).

Thank you!

 Introduction – Publications – Conferences – Steering Committee

Education: a top priority to trigger demarginalization processes

“But how does equitable cooperation and real social transformation come about and how, if at all, can it be initiated, fostered and steered? What are the possible levers, and who are the potential agents of change?”

(ISC Action Plan, 2019).

As members of the IGU Commission who are researching marginality issues, we would like to answer the last question in the ISC Action Plan question by saying: “us”. We cannot change the whole world on our own, but we can contribute to it and our contributions can be added up to create virtuous circles where we live as citizens, where we teach, with our research contributions, with our social involvement. All over the world, scientists are increasingly gathering in different ways to assert the relevance of their work to inform current socioeconomic debates. But we have to make sure our results are useful for decision-makers and contribute to a real change. We have to be aware that the knowledge we are producing is targeted for appropriation: it is a tool of empowerment, that can increase the power of anyone, including of those who already monopolize most of it (cf Lacoste, 1976 and 2012; Raffestin, 1980 and 2019).

The difficulties experienced by the global political system to tackle climate change, Brexit, the numerous protests around the world (gilets jaunes in France, Haiti, Hong Kong, etc.), as well as the economic war started by the current US administration, demonstrate that the neoliberal system has never been capable of solving any problem we are confronted with, especially the biggest of them: the reduction of global inequalities between the so-called developed world and the global South. More likely, it has been demonstrated again and again, that this system is part of the problem. Some demonstrations even show that it is the problem!

It is within this fluid environment of change, isolation, integration, marginalisation and development that this commission believes academic attention should be focussed, using its two tools of predilection: teaching and researching. These two tools must always be used keeping in mind that they can (must?) be used for action: our own actions; those of our students who may become decision makers in our world at various levels; actions of people that we have researched. Wherever our endeavours bring us, we bear a huge responsibility regarding the use of the knowledge we produce and transmit.

In this editorial, I want to stress and insist on the role of education in general and teaching in particular. Most of us are teachers, sometimes more often than researchers, and it is probably with this role that we can have the greatest impact in decision-making/politics in order to reduce inequalities and marginality.

I wish you all a wonderful time wherever you are!

Steve Déry, Commission Chair

References

LACOSTE, Yves (2012) La géographie, ça sert, d'abord, à faire la guerre. Paris, La Découverte (1st edition = 1976; Paris, Maspéro).

RAFFESTIN, Claude (2019) Pour une géographie du pouvoir. Lyon, ENS (2nd edition). (1st edition = 1980; Paris, LITEC).

Publications

The fifth and sixth volumes of our series are in preparation, we hope to publish them next year. This is due to the authors’ speedy work and the excellent collaboration with Springer. We are waiting for the announcements of single/double author or edited volumes. If you have a project, please contact a member of the series editors:

Borna Fuerst-Bjelis (bornafb@geog.pmf.hr), Walter Leimgruber (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch), Etienne Nel (etienne.nel@otago.ac.nz), Stanko Pelc (stanko.pelc@guest.arnes.si).

Publications signalled by members

Books:

Chand R. (Volume Editor, 2017): Hindi Vishwakosh Vol.1 Prithvi Evam Bhugol. New Delhi, India: 3 Kendriya Hindi Sansthan & Sasta Sahitya Mandal Prakashan (in Hindi)

Bhat P.K. & Chand R. (2018), Landscape Ecology and Land use in the Higher Himalaya: A Case Study of Gori Ganga basin. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing

Tripura C.S & Chand R. (2019), Socio-Cultural Dynamics and Livelihood Strategies of Tripura Tribe, Scholars’ Press

Research papers

Chand R. (2017), Social Ecology of Immigrant Population and Changing Urban Landscape of Thimphu, Bhutan, Journal of Urban and Regional Studies on Contemporary India, The Center for Contemporary India Studies, Hiroshima University, 4(1), 1–12

Tripura C.S. & Chand R. (2018), Jhum Cultivation and Changing Livelihood  Strategay of Tripura Tribe, Longthrai Valley, Tripura, in: Sati V.P. and Lalmalasawmzauva (eds.), Natural Resource Management for Sustainable Development, Today and Tommorow’s printer and publishers, New Delhi, pp 216-236

Pant. B.R. & Chand R. (2018), Tribal and Non Tribal Urban Population in the Indian Himalayan region: some spects, in: Sharma. K.D. and K. Surjeet Singh (eds.), Massive Urbanization: Town Planning, Pedagogy and Research, Institute for Spatial Planning and Environmental Research, Panchkula, Haryana, pp.161-182

Pant B.R., Chand R. & Taragi R.C.S ( 2018), Urbanizationion the Indian Himalayan Region (1901-2011), in: Rawat ,M.S.S. et.al. (eds.), Environmental, Resources and Development of the Indian Himalaya, Transmedia Publications, Srinagar, pp.79-110

Pant B.R. & Chand R. ( 2019,: Demographic Characteristics of Urban centres and Urbanization in Uttarakhand, in: K.C. Purohit et al.(eds.), The Himalaya: At the Cross road of Environment and Development, Winsar Publishing, Dehradun.,pp 101-135

Chand B., Kuniya J. C. & Chand, R. (2019), Ambient Air Quality and Its Sources Surrounding to Hydropower Projects in the Satluj Basin, Northwestern Himalaya, India, MAPAN, Journal of Metrology Society of India, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12647-019-00320-0

Conferences

Commission conference in Nepal, 2019

The report on the conference has been sent out with the first NewsFlash on January 21. In a nutshell, it was an excellent opportunity to meet up with our Nepali colleagues who were eager to participate and organized an excellent and adventurous field trip.

We also held a business meeting where, among other items, it was decided to ask the IGU that we can continue our work. To this effect, we received several supporting messages, particularly from Mendoza in Argentine. Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš will be proposed as new chair of the Commission for the next period.

Commission conferences in 2020

The 34th IGC will take place next year in Istanbul (August 17 – 21). Our Commission will try to participate within this larger event, but we shall also organize our own smaller meeting. It will be organized by our Romanian colleague Raularian Rusu of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) during the week of August 9/10 – 14. The programme will include paper sessions, local tours, a one-day field trip and a business meeting. The timing is such that participants will be able to reach Istanbul on time. There are direct flights from Cluj-Napoca to Istanbul.

Our Commission will not be officially represented in Istanbul as for some reason the session proposal did not reach the organizing committee in time. The general topic of the IGU Congress is “Geography: bridging the continents”. The steering committee invites members who are going to participate to send their abstracts (extended deadline: 28 January) to a session that convenes best to their topic. We are sorry for this inconvenience.

Commission conferences 2021-2024

We have to plan ahead for the next period of office, and we already received an offer from our Steering Committee member Kenneth Mantengu in Windhoek (Namibia). He suggested to organize our 2021 conference in Namibia. A further offer came for 2021 came from Bangladesh (Dhaka), whereas our  colleagues from Malaysia proposed to hold a conference in their country in 2023. The IGU will celebrate its centenary in Paris in 2022 with a Regional conference, and we shall ask our French colleagues for proposals. Finally, the 35th IGC will take place in Ireland in 2024, and we shall discuss our annual conference with our Irish colleagues.

Other conferences of interest

2020 Annual Conference of the Regional Science Association (RSA), Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 17-20: “Transformations: Relational Spaces, beyond Urban and Rural” (details under https://www.regionalstudies.org/events/2020rsaannualconf/)

Steering committee for 2016-2020

Chair of the commission

Prof. Steve Déry,

Université Laval

Département de géographie

2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QUÉBEC

Canada, G1V 0A6

Phone: 1-418-656-2131 poste 5107

E-mail: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca

Steering committee members

Dr. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa, Senior Lecturer

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Phone: 79675536

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/borna.fuerst-bjelis

Phone: +385 1 4895 428

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.hr

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820

Fax: 972-2-643-4820

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto, Associate Professor of Geography

Nara University of Education,

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528

Japan

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Matengu, Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Development

University of Namibia,

340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave Pionierspark, Windhoek,

Namibia

Phone: +264 61 206 3944

Fax: +264 61 242644

E-mail: kmatengu@unam.na

Dr. Toivo Muilu

Natural Resources Institute Finland (professor)

Department of Geography (adjunct professor)

Po Box 413

FI-90014 University of Oulu

Finland

Phone: +358 29 532 6722

E-mail: toivo.muilu@luke.fi

Dr. Catherine Robinson, adjunct associate professor

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Phone: +61 7 3365 1111

E-mail: Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Prof. Claudio Urra Coletti

Instituto de Geografía

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

Mendoza – Argentina

Phone:

E-mail: urra73@gmail.com

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber

Université de Fribourg

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse

Phone: ++41 26 300 90 10

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

Your address update:

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch).

Introduction – Publications – Conferences – Steering Committee

Introduction: The word of the Commission chair

Dear all,

This summer edition of our Newsletter is to remind you of the work that lies ahead of us, both as researchers on marginality topics and as members of the IGU Commission on Marginalization, Globalization, and Regional and Local Responses. In 2020, the next International Geographical Congress in Istanbul will decide on the renewal of all Commissions and Task Forces. This is an important date for us as it will be decisive for our future collaboration.

As for the first, I invite you to reflect on what has been done and achieved during the past decade or so. Some of you have used the word “marginality” as a keyword in their research. How have your ideas and your work evolved in this field? What is different or new in the way you have been using this concept? Did you try new methods to assess it? Die you target new people? I invite you to reflect on these and other questions, either in short communications to the next Newsletter (December 2019) or in papers and communications during the next conferences of our Commission.

As for the second point, as members of the Commission, it is our duty now to reflect on our achievements during the past three years and decide upon our future. Is the work of our Commission still relevant? If so, why? We shall very soon (in August) have to answer these questions when deciding about the renewal of the Commission. What are our strengths, where are our weaknesses (the potential for improvement)? The number and diversity of our members is certainly a very positive point (more than 300 from 56 countries). Besides: Which will be our activities during the next four years (2020-2024)? I invite you to share your thoughts with the Steering Committee. Please send your comments, ideas, questions and proposals to Walter (our Secretary) and me; every single proposal will be welcome. We also appreciate your eventual commitment to participate in the next Steering Committee (2020-2024) if the Commission is to continue its activities.

Myself, I will step down as Commission Chair (according to IGU rules, my time is up), but I will continue to be an active member and contribute to the issues that are key to our work.

I am looking forward to receiving your input in the very near future!

Kind regards,

Steve Déry, Commission Chair

Publications

The fourth volume of our series “Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization” has been published this year. Rural Areas Between Regional Needs and Global Challenges. Transformation in Rural Space has been edited by Walter Leimgruber and Chang-yi David Chang and is devoted to rural issues. The next two new volumes are already in preparation.

Collaboration with Springer is excellent. They would also welcome single author or further edited volumes. If you have a project, please contact a member of the series editors:

Borna Fuerst-Bjelis (bornafb@geog.pmf.hr), Walter Leimgruber (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch), Etienne Nel (etienne.nel@otago.ac.nz), Stanko Pelc (stanko.pelc@guest.arnes.si).

Publications signalled by members

No information received.

A reminder: You are certainly not idle and, apart from your normal work you continue to publish papers, books and book chapters. We would like to know more and be able to inform all members of the Commission about your literary activities; please send a short mail with the details of your publications to the secretary as a source of information of our other members, your colleagues.

Also: if you would like to share particular ideas on our topic, we invite you to prepare short texts to be included in the newsletter. We can try to upgrade it to a sort of discussion forum on marginality and globalization issues.

Conferences

EUGEO conference 2019

The Association of Geographical societies in Europe (EUGEO) held its bi-annual conference together with the annual conference of Irish Geographers in the University of Galway, Ireland from May 15-19, 2019. Our Commission had seized upon the occasion and proposed a regional thematic session on ‘Marginality in Europe’. The three convenors (Stanko Pelc, Fátima Velez and Walter Leimgruber) managed to set up two paper sessions with the following eight papers:

Ø  Stanko Pelc (University of Primorska), Marginality in Europe - Where, Why and When?

Ø  Robert Szmytkie; Agnieszka Latocha; Dominik Sikorski; Przemysław Tomczak; Katarzyna Kajdanek & Paulina Miodońska; (University of Wrocław, Poland), Revival of the marginal region. Economic development in rural areas of the Kłodzko region (Sudetes, Poland)

Ø  Krystian Heffner & Agnieszka Latocha (University of Economics in Katowice, Poland), Spatial, economic and social marginalization of rural areas in the Polish-Czech transborder region

Ø  Oana-Ramona Ilovan; Kinga Xénia Havadi-Nagy; Silviu Medeșan & Emanuel-Cristian Adorean (Babes- Bolyai University - Cluj-Napoca & Colectiv A, Cluj-Napoca, Romania ), Urban Planning, Local Development and Marginalization in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Ø  Fátima Velez de Castro (University of Coimbra, Portugal), Spaces of art and counter-art in the walls. Understanding the marginality of graffiti in a World Heritage area.

Ø  Walter Leimgruber (University of Fribourg, Switzerland), A second nature: Regional Nature Parks to bridge the mental gap between humans and nature

Ø  Éva Máté (University of Pécs, Hungary), Adapt or fail? Local reactions on perforation processes in rural Hungary

Ø  Perrine Devleeshouwer; Marie Gisclard & François Charrier (LRDE – INRA, France), Animal Health management in a marginal context: the pork and deli meat sector in Corsica

The papers were well received by an audience that varied between 10 and 25 persons. Given the tight schedule, discussion time was unfortunately very limited.

The Galway meeting was an attempt to organize a regional meeting. Being part of a larger conference, we enhanced our visibility and even managed to recruit new members. Such opportunities should be seized not only in Europe but elsewhere. Marginality issues occur everywhere and have to be dealt with on all continents. We strongly recommend members to organize similar conferences in conjunction with larger events.

Commission conference in Nepal, 2019

The information regarding the 2019 Commission conference in Nepal has been sent to all members in May, albeit with some technical problems for which I apologize. Our member and colleague Professor Pushkar Pradhan of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu is the chief organizer, assisted by his colleague Professor Pushpa Sharma.

The programme comprises paper sessions and local excursions (December 8 – 10), followed by a field trip to the Pokhara region west of Kathmandu (December 11 – 14). The conference theme is “Natural disasters, marginalized regions and labour migration.” To register, please follow the guidelines below (from Pushkar’s circular):

Interested participants should submit their early-registration forms and title and abstract of paper (≈200 words) on or before September 30, 2019 (especially for those who need earlier participation confirmation). The deadline for final registration with title and abstract is October 31, 2019.

All registered participants should send their full paper on or before Friday, November 8 2019. The application form for registration can be sent by electronic mail or airmail. It is also available at the following website:

https://sites.google.com/view/igugeographic almarginality/geographical-marginality

Commission conferences in 2020

The 34th IGC will take place next year in Istanbul (August 17 – 21). Our Commission will try to participate within this larger event, but we shall also organize our own smaller meeting. It will be organized by our Romanian colleague Raularian Rusu of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) during the week of August 9/10 – 14. The programme will include paper sessions, local tours, a one-day field trip and a business meeting. The timing is such that participants will be able to reach Istanbul on time. There are direct flights from Cluj-Napoca to Istanbul.

Our participation in Istanbul is currently being discussed by the steering committee. The general topic of the IGU Congress is “Geography: bridging the continents”. For our specific meeting, in this wake, we are reflecting on the topic: “Seeing beyond the color of the wave”, an invitation to look beyond the surface of current social movements, like in Hong Kong, the French “gilets jaunes” and the various other “waves” that have occurred all over the world. A longer abstract will be sent soon as a NewsFlash.

Steering committee for 2016-2020

Chair of the commission

Prof. Steve Déry,

Université Laval

Département de géographie

2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QUÉBEC

Canada, G1V 0A6

Phone: 1-418-656-2131 poste 5107

E-mail: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca

Steering committee members

Dr. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa, Senior Lecturer

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Phone: 79675536

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/borna.fuerst-bjelis

Phone: +385 1 4895 428

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.hr

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820

Fax: 972-2-643-4820

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto, Associate Professor of Geography

Nara University of Education,

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528

Japan

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Matengu, Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Development

University of Namibia,

340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave Pionierspark, Windhoek,

Namibia

Phone: +264 61 206 3944

Fax: +264 61 242644

E-mail: kmatengu@unam.na

Dr. Toivo Muilu

Natural Resources Institute Finland (professor)

Department of Geography (adjunct professor)

Po Box 413

FI-90014 University of Oulu

Finland

Phone: +358 29 532 6722

E-mail: toivo.muilu@luke.fi

Dr. Catherine Robinson, adjunct associate professor

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Phone: +61 7 3365 1111

E-mail: Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Prof. Claudio Urra Coletti

Instituto de Geografía

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

Mendoza – Argentina

Phone:

E-mail: urra73@gmail.com

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber

Université de Fribourg

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse

Phone: ++41 26 300 90 10

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

Your address update:

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch).

Welcome  – Publications – Conferences – Steering Committee – Address update

WELCOME

Marginalité proche, marginalité éloignée

par Steve Déry

Département de géographie, Université Laval

Loin. C’est un qualificatif qui est souvent utilisé pour parler de la marginalité et des personnes marginales. Pourtant, à tous les jours, l’actualité nous rappelle que cette marginalité est encore plus souvent très près de nous, même dans les pays dits industrialisés et riches, même parmi les segments de la population privilégiés. Par exemple, le Japon est à certains égards un pays symbole d’accomplissement et de succès économique et social à partir des années 1970 et 1980 : ses systèmes de santé et d’éducation sont parmi les plus performants au monde et les résultats, comme par exemple pour l’espérance de vie, qui atteint en moyenne 85,5 ans en 2018 (89 ans pour les femmes) (CIA Worldfactbook Japan), fort probants. Malgré ces développements généraux sur les plans socioéconomiques, qui témoignent de moyennes nationales, la situation des femmes y reste préoccupante à plusieurs égards – sauf pour l’espérance de vie bien sûr -, surtout depuis qu’il a été porté à l’attention du public la discrimination systématique – et même systémique! – à leur endroit à la Tokyo Medecine University « où les résultats des examens ont été manipulés pour favoriser les étudiants masculins » et exclure les femmes (traduction libre) (McCurry, 2018, The Guardian).

Sur un registre différent, à l’Université Laval, à Québec cette fois, un concours pour éventuellement engager de nouveaux professeurs en 2019 était… strictement réservé aux « personnes s’identifiant comme appartenant aux quatre groupes désignés (…), soit les femmes, les autochtones, les personnes en situation de handicap, et celles appartenant aux minorités visibles »[1]. L’objectif avoué est d’améliorer le ratio de ces quatre groupes parmi l’ensemble des professeurs. Il s’agit bien sûr d’une excellente mesure qu’il faut applaudir. En même temps, une mise en perspective dans le temps suscite des questions sur les raisons d’un tel besoin, alors que des mesures de discrimination positive (à compétences égales, des femmes, des personnes en situations de handicap ou des personnes de couleur sont choisies) sont déjà en place depuis de très nombreuses années. Comment est-il encore possible, en 2019, que les femmes, les Noirs ou les autochtones du Québec, ou même ailleurs au Canada, aux États-Unis, en Europe ou au Japon, n’aient pas accès à ces emplois de la même manière que leurs collègues masculins, au point que nous soyions obligés d’ouvrir un concours strictement réservé? Au minimum, cette situation nous dit que ces groupes au Québec – et très certainement ailleurs au Canada, car on y retrouve les mêmes règles de discrimination positive– continuent de vivre des situations de marginalité plus ou moins profonde, car même certaines parmi les privilégiés – celles avec un doctorat – ne sont pas traitées avec équité lorsque vient le temps de reconnaitre leurs connaissances, leurs habiletés et leurs expériences.

D’un point de vue conceptuel et plus théorique, en quoi ces deux exemples sont-ils intéressants pour nous aider à mieux situer la marginalité? Ils nous convient surtout, peut-être, à être davantage prudents dans l’utilisation du vocabulaire. Les exemples ci-dessus nous rappellent que la marginalité s’inscrit d’abord dans les relations de pouvoir, relations qui varient selon le système de référence. Une femme noire peut bien avoir obtenu un doctorat, ce qui en fait une personne privilégiée dans l’ensemble de la société, mais si dans le monde scientifique son pouvoir reste faible du fait qu’elle est une femme de couleur, elle vit alors de la marginalité. Dans le premier exemple, la discrimination envers les femmes japonaises constitue une décision volontaire prise par des personnes en autorité, basée sur des préjugés sexistes. Ils contribuent à réduire l’éventail des possibles pour les femmes, à réduire leur capacité d’éducation, et donc, au final, rend beaucoup plus difficile pour elles le gain de pouvoir dans les différents systèmes auxquelles elles participent : bref, elles vivent un processus de marginalisation. Dans le deuxième exemple, on se rend compte que, malgré plusieurs années de discrimination positive, le niveau de marginalité de certains groupes reste toujours élevé car leur poids parmi les diplômés ne se reflète pas parmi ceux qui obtiennent des postes et la discrimination positive reste nécessaire en 2019 pour continuer à réduire leur niveau de marginalité.

Bref, marginalisation et discrimination représentent des concepts non-équivalents et, parfois, comme ici, complémentaires à la compréhension d’une situation. La discrimination témoigne de pouvoir inégaux dans la société. Si certains peuvent se permettre de « discriminer » les autres, ceux qu’ils choisissent de discriminer, c’est qu’ils ont le pouvoir de le faire. Cela témoigne déjà de relations inégales et d’un niveau de marginalité relativement élevé pour certains groupes. Mais aussi, la discrimination peut contribuer à diminuer encore plus les options de ces groupes, par exemple pour accéder à l’éducation, au savoir en général, à l’acquisition d’habiletés, d’information, ce qui peut ainsi réduire d’autant plus leur pouvoir dans le ou les systèmes auxquels ils participent. Réduire la capacité de ce groupe à prendre des décisions constitue un processus de marginalisation.

Peut-être, après ces réflexions, le message que je souhaite passer pour la nouvelle année à peine commencée, est le suivant : lorsque vous étudierez la marginalité des zones éloignées, pensez aussi à porter attention à la marginalité qui peut se tenir tout juste à côté de vous.

Steve Déry, Québec et Ottawa, 7 janvier 2019

Intimate and remote marginalities

Steve Déry, Department of geography, Laval University

Remote. It is often an adjective used to talk about marginality and marginal people. Although, everyday news is a reminder to us that marginality is still often very close at hand, if not intimate, even in industrialised and rich countries; even within privileged segments of the population. For example, Japan is to some extent a symbol of economic and social accomplishment and success since the 1970s and 1980s: the health care and education systems are among the best performing in the world, and results, such as for life expectancy – 85.5 years at birth on average for 2018 (89 years for women; CIA World factbook Japan), – are convincing. Though, these general trends are bearing testimony to national averages; and the situation of women remains preoccupying to many extents – save for life expectancy -, especially since a systematic – and even systemic! – discrimination towards women has been brought to public attention: the “Tokyo Medical University had manipulated exam scores to favour male candidates” and exclude women (McCurry, 2018, The Guardian).

On a different level, at Laval University in Quebec City, a call to create a pool of candidates has been opened to eventually hire new professors in 2019, a call first opened … only to members of the four designated groups: women, autochthonous, handicapped or visible minority people[2]. The aim is admittedly to improve the ratio of these four groups among professors. It is of course a great measure that must be applauded. But at the same time, putting some perspective to the issue raises questions regarding the reasons for such a dire need. Positive discrimination (when people of equal qualifications are available, a woman or a person from a visible minority, or a handicapped person will be chosen to better represent their weight in the PhD population) has been in place for a long time in this institution as well as in most of universities in Canada. How is it possible then that, in 2019, the need is so dire that a call for such positions needs to be strictly restrained to these groups, especially women? At the very least, it tells us that women in Quebec – and most probably elsewhere in Canada - are still experiencing great deals of marginality, for even some of the privileged ones – with PhD degrees – are still not treated equally when it comes to the recognition of knowledge, skills and experiences.

From a conceptual and theoretical point of view, how can these two interesting examples help us to better situate marginality? First, they certainly invite us to more caution in the use of the vocabulary. Marginality is embedded in power relations, relations that are varying across various reference systems. A Black woman might hold a PhD degree, making her a privileged person within the whole society, but if within the scientific world her power remains low because she is a woman of colour, then she is experiencing marginality. In the first example, the discrimination towards Japanese women constitutes a decision made by people with authority based on sexist prejudices. They contribute to reduce the range of possible options for women, reduce their capacity to be educated, and thus, finally, make it more difficult for them to gain power in the various systems within which they participate. In brief, they experience marginalisation. In the second example, we are witnessing that, even after several years of positive discrimination, some groups are still experiencing high level of marginality because their weight among graduates is not reflected among those who are obtaining jobs. Positive discrimination remains necessary in 2019 to continue to reduce their level of marginality.

In brief, marginality and discrimination represent non-equivalent and complementary concepts to understand these situations. Discrimination bears testimony to unequal powers within society. If some can afford to discriminate against others, it means that they have some power to do it. Relations are unequal and some groups have a high level of marginality. But also, discrimination can contribute to diminish even more the various options available to these groups, for example, to access to education, knowledge in general, to acquire skills or information; and this reduces their power within the systems in which they participate even more. Reducing the capacities of these groups to make decisions constitute a process of marginalisation.

Following these thoughts, my message to all of you for the new year is that, during this next year I suggest that, while you are studying marginality in remote areas, you also pay attention to marginality that could be standing just beside you.

Steve Déry, Quebec City and Ottawa, 8 January 2019

PUBLICATIONS

The fourth volume in our series Perspectives on geographical marginality has been published by Springer just after New Year’s Day. Rural areas between regional needs and global challenges (ISBN 978-3-030-04392-6; for the eBook ISBN 978-3-030-04393-3) provides the readers with a glimpse of the multifunctionality that is increasingly characterizing the rural world.

CONFERENCE REPORT

Our commission met during the 2018 Regional Conference of the IGU in Quebec City, Canada, that took place from August 6 – 11. The papers were organized in five sessions, partly in collaboration with the Commission on Regional Development. At first, the Commission on Tourism was supposed to join, the way the organization of the program was made did let us much room for that kind of collaboration. However, even the cooperation of the first two commissions was not recognized as such in the program. It has to be noted that the organizing committee of the Congress made a mistake with the identification of the Commission: our Commission bears the number C16.29 but was wrongly identified as 31 during the congress in all the published documentation, which led to some irritation.

Five paper sessions were held on Tuesday, August 7 (sessions 1-4) and Thursday, August 9 (session 5) with the 19 following papers:

Session 1: Tools of demarginalization in the local and regional development: what role for landscape and tourism?

Konrad Czapiewski (Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Poland): Territorial Inequalities and Local Development – some narrative stories from Poland 

Krystian Heffner (University of Economics in Katowice) & Agniesza Latocha (Institute of Geography and Regional Development, Wroclaw): Desolated villages as example of spatial, economic and social marginalization in the Polish-Czech borderland

Walter Leimgruber (Université de Fribourg/CH): Nature Parks: valorising regional potential. The example of the Gruyère Pays-d'Enhaut regional nature park (Fribourg/Vaud, Switzerland)

Jamal Abdullah (Universaiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam): Voting patterns in marginal rural areas in the 2018 general election in Malaysia 

Session 2: Tools of demarginalization in the local and regional development: what role for landscape and tourism in Europe?

Jerzy Banski (Polish Academy of Sciences): Structure and valorization of local resources in Eastern Poland

Toivo Muilu (Natural Resources Institute Finland – Luke) : Policies of sparsely populated rural areas in Finland

Kristjan Nemac (Science and Research Centre Koper): Do we need to change the system? Think global and create a local alternative 

Hugo Capella Miternique (Universitat Illes Baleares): Ibiza’s diversity: from merge to de-gendered leisure

Session 3: Migrations, adaptations, identities and frontiers

Tomas Havlicek (Charles University Prague): Relict (phantom) borders as present social-cultural divide in Czechia: an example of geography of religion 

Borna Fuerst-Bjelis (Uiversity of Zagreb): Appreciating differences and coexistence of identities: evidence from the multicultural historical borderlands of Croatia

Thomas Larsen (Kansas State University): Moving Forward with Migration and Geography Awareness

Week 

Session 4: Between the local and global: multiscalar economic inequalities and development Atsushi Taira (Kagawa University): Small and medium-sized "global-niche" firms in Japan: a key for rejuvenation of Japan's local economy?

Yehua Dennis Wei (University of Utah): Beyond Convergence: Spatial Polarization, Place Mobility and the Core-Peripheral Structure in China 

Matthew Fahrenbruch (University of Kansas): Challenges to Demarginalization. The case of fisheries governance and the development of the export jellyfish fishery on the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua 

Mahvish Anjum (Aligarh Muslim University): Custodians of Chikankari Industry in Lucknow City, India:

An Occupational Analysis 

Session 5: Nouveaux modèles d’action en développement territorial

Bernard Pecqueur (Université Grenoble Alpes) : Innovation sociale et revitalisation des territoires ruraux : le « tiers lieu » de Vizille (France) 

Pierre-Antoine Landel (Université Grenoble Alpes) : Interroger la capacité transformative de l’innovation sociale : l’hypothèse de l’opérateur territorial de la transition

Mélanie Doyon (UQAM) : Modèle agricole alternatif et développement des territoires ruraux; le cas de La Clé des Champs de Saint-Camille 

Juan-Luis Klein (UQAM) : L’innovation sociale, le « Buen Vivir » et les nouveaux modèles d’action en développement territorial 

Business meeting

The Commission held a business meeting open to all members, old and new, on Wednesday, August 8. The following topics were discussed:

a.     The next conference is to take place in Nepal in November/December 2019. Details will be furnished by the organizer, Prof. Pushkar Pradhan.

b.     There is a proposal for 2020 to hold a pre-congress conference in Cluj Napoca, Romania, preceding the Istanbul IGC.

c.     The collaboration with Springer who edit the series Perspectives on Geographical

Marginality is continuing well. The new contact person, Mrs. Evelien Bakker, showed great enthusiasm and willingness to help with contacts. Apart from the fourth volume in the series that is almost ready, there a number of projects and members are encouraged to become more active. It is possible to suggest single author books as well. Please contact the series editors: Steve Déry (Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca), Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš (bornafb@geog.pmf.hr), Walter Leimgruber (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch), Etienne Nel (nelet43p@geography.otago.ac.nz), Stanko Pelc (stanko.pelc@guest.arnes.si). 

d.     The Newsletter should become not only an outlet for information but also a medium for discussion. Members will be encouraged to hand in short texts to be included with the aim to stimulate reflections and debates on marginality issues. Or reply to those which are already proposed.

FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES

Our Commission invites members to participate in two conferences in 2019, a regional one in Ireland and our official one in Nepal. You are welcome to participate in both.

1. Galway, Ireland, 15-18 May, 2019

The 7th EUGEO Congress on the Geography of Europe will be held in conjunction with the

51st Conference of Irish Geographers. For details see https://www.eugeo2019.eu  The dates are Wednesday May 15 – Saturday 18, 2019. The venue is the National University of Ireland, Galway

Our Commission is convening a session on the topic Marginality within the European context seen through geographical lenses. Registration opened on December 3, 2018 and will end on February 1, 2019. Convenors are Steve Déry (Université Laval, Québec), Stanko Pelc (University of Primorska/SI, chief convenor, stanko.pelc@pef.upr.si); Fatima Velez de Castro, (Universidade de Combria, CEGOT/PT;) Walter Leimgruber, (University of Fribourg/CH).

All members are invited to participate although this conference has more of a regional focus. However, we thought it useful to be present also on this European level, maybe encouraging members to organize regional conference sessions on other continents as well, in the context of similar events.

2. Nepal, December December 8 – 15 2019 (tentative)

Our member Pushkar Pradhan has offered to organized our 2019 annual conference in his country.

The tentative date, just before the Christmas break, is justified by the weather. Winter is the best season to visit Nepal as it is the dry season. 

The tentative title is Natural Disasters, Marginalized Regions and Labour Migration. The conference will include paper sessions and a 5-day field trip to Sirubari village and surroundings, southwest of Pokhara. Situated around 1,500 – 1,600 m asl, the village offers accommodation in a homestay and is home to a unique ethnic group. Further information will be mailed in the not too distant future.

OTHER CONFERENCES

2019 RSA Australasia Conference, Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand

Urban and Rural Wellbeing, First Nations Economies and Global Value Chains for Regional Sustainability

February 11 – 13, 2019

https://www.regionalstudies.org/events/urban-and-rural-wellbeing-first-nations-economies-andglobal-value-chains-for-regional-sustainability/

2019 RSA Annual Conference, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Pushing Regions beyond their Borders

June 05 – 07, 2019

https://www.regionalstudies.org/events/pushing-regions-beyond-their-borders/

2019 RSA Central and Eastern Europe Conference, Lublin, Poland

Metropolises and Peripheries of CEE Countries: New Challenges for EU, National and Regional Policies

September 11 – 13, 2019

https://www.regionalstudies.org/events/CEE2019/

STEERING COMMITTEE FOR 2016-2020

Chair of the commission 

Prof. Steve Déry, 

Université Laval 

Département de géographie

2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QUÉBEC 

Canada, G1V 0A6 

Phone: 1-418-656-2131 poste 5107

E-mail: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca

Steering committee members

Dr. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa, Senior Lecturer 

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Phone: 79675536

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB 

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/borna.fuerst-bjelis

Phone: +385 1 4895 428

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.hr

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820

Fax: 972-2-643-4820

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto, Associate Professor of Geography

Nara University of Education, 

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528  Japan

Phone:

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Matengu, Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Development

University of Namibia, 

340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave Pionierspark, Windhoek,

Namibia

Phone: +264 61 206 3944

Fax: +264 61 242644

E-mail: kmatengu@unam.na

Dr. Toivo Muilu

Natural Resources Institute Finland (professor)

Department of Geography (adjunct professor)

Po Box 413

FI-90014 University of Oulu

Finland

Phone: +358 29 532 6722

E-mail: toivo.muilu@luke.fi

Dr. Catherine Robinson, adjunct associate professor

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Phone: +61 7 3365 1111

E-mail: Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Prof. Claudio Urra Coletti

Instituto de Geografía

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo Mendoza – Argentina Phone:

E-mail: urra73@gmail.com

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber 

Université de Fribourg 

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie 

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse 

Phone: ++41 26 300 90 10 

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

YOUR ADDRESS UPDATE: 

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone number, skype address, and e-mail address to the Commission chair

(Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca) and/or the secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch).

[1] Constitution d’une banque de personnes candidates pour des concours internes de Chaires de recherche du Canada CRSNG et CRSH (niveau 2), Faculté de foresterie, de géographie, et de géomatique, Université Laval (affiche rendue publique en décembre 2018).

[2] Constitution d’une banque de personnes candidates pour des concours internes de Chaires de recherche du Canada CRSNG et CRSH (niveau 2), Faculté de foresterie, de géographie, et de géomatique, Université Laval (affiche rendue publique en décembre 2018).

L’échange écologique inégal : vers une marginalité plus profonde? / The unequal ecological exchange: towards deeper marginality?  – Publications – Conferences – Steering Committee

L’ÉCHANGE ÉCOLOGIQUE INÉGAL : VERS UNE MARGINALITÉ PLUS PROFONDE ?

Bonjour à tous,

En ce début d’été (dans l’hémisphère nord), j’introduis ce bulletin à partir de l’une de mes lectures récentes. Il s’agit d’un article de Christophe Bonneuil, paru dans la revue Association Écorev’, dans le numéro 44, premier du volume de 2017. Bonneuil réfléchit à la notion « d’échange écologique inégal ». Pour lui, l’essor économique des États centraux du système-monde, quelles que soient les époques, n’a été rendu possible que par un endettement écologique à l’endroit du reste du monde. Cet endettement construit un échange écologique inégal (Bonneuil, 2017, p.55). Comment cette notion se distingue-t-elle ou s’apparente-t-elle à l’échange inégal?

« Tandis que la notion marxiste d’échange inégal s’intéressait à une dégradation des termes de l’échange entre périphérie et centre mesurée en quantité de travail, celle d’« échange écologique inégal » explore l’asymétrie qui se joue lorsque des territoires périphériques ou dominés du système économique mondial exportent des produits à forte valeur d’usage écologique contre des produits qui ont une moindre valeur d’usage écologique voire sont générateurs de nuisances. Cette valeur écologique peut se mesurer en hectares nécessaires à la production de différents biens et services, au moyen de l’indicateur d’« empreinte écologique » » (Bonneuil, 2017, p.55). (je souligne)

D’un point de vue de géographe qui s’intéresse aux questions de marginalité, les réflexions de Bonneuil nous stimulent sur au moins quatre points.

Premièrement, la construction de ces échanges écologiques inégaux est systémique et doit être considérée d’une manière multiscalaire. Les espaces, et les matières premières qu’on y trouve, sont utilisés pour devenir des ressources, mais les acteurs sont variés et présents dans plusieurs systèmes, emboités ou non, à plusieurs niveaux géographiques, ce qui rend complexe leur analyse et la capacité à retracer les acteurs primordiaux. Et donc les coupables, lorsqu’il y en a. C’est pour cela que, par exemple, Bonneuil parle de « crime climatique » (Bonneuil, 2017).

Pour compliquer le tout, deuxièmement, on peut dire qu’au départ, il y a une méconnaissance profonde de ces valeurs d’usage écologique dont parle Bonneuil. Certes, nos connaissances globales des écosystèmes, des systèmes sociaux et des liens entre les deux ont progressé d’une manière fulgurante au cours des dernières décennies. Pourtant, le fardeau de la preuve, par rapport à l’innocuité d’une ponction ou d’une exploitation pour les écosystèmes et les systèmes sociaux locaux, repose toujours sur la collectivité qui subit les ponctions, au mieux avec l’aide de l’État s’il n’a pas été complètement démantelé. Si le fardeau de la preuve reposait sur les épaules de celui qui souhaite exploiter une matière première pour en produire une ressource, la dynamique des échanges ne serait pas la même et il y aurait une reconnaissance plus forte de cet endettement.

Troisièmement, par cette ponction dans les ressources de base des systèmes géographiques locaux, par exemple en Asie, en Afrique ou en Amérique latine, les pays européens ou nord-américains contribuent à réduire la capacité d’adaptation des populations locales aux changements climatiques qui se déroulent actuellement, en particulier les impacts environnementaux en général et écologiques en particulier.

Enfin, quatrièmement, la réduction de la capacité d’adaptation contribue par ricochet à réduire le pouvoir des populations concernées dans les systèmes auxquels ils participent, augmentant ainsi de facto leur marginalité.

Pour toutes ces raisons, il serait approprié que les chercheurs qui travaillent sur la marginalité intègrent à leurs cadres théoriques et conceptuels cette notion d’échange écologique inégal.

Steve Déry

Ottawa, 28 juin 2018

THE UNEQUAL ECOLOGICAL EXCHANGE: TOWARDS DEEPER MARGINALITY?

Hello to everyone,

In this beginning of summer (in the northern hemisphere), I introduce this Newsletter using one of my recent readings. It is an article written by Christophe Bonneuil, published in 2017, issue 44, of Association Ecorev’. Bonneuil give some thoughts to the notion “unequal ecological exchange”. For him, the growth of central States in the World-System, whatever the period, was made possible through an ecological borrowing (ecological indebtedness) towards the rest of the world. This debt process builds on an unequal ecological exchange (Bonneuil, 2017, p.55). How can this notion be distinguished from or related to the “unequal exchange”?

“The Marxist notion of unequal exchange took an interest to the degradation of the terms of exchange [the Prebisch–Singer hypothesis in the AngloSaxon literature] between peripheries and centers measured in terms of a quantity of labour. The “unequal ecological exchange” notion explores the asymmetrical relation at play when peripheral or dominated territories in the World-system are exporting products with a strong ecological use value while importing products with a lower ecological use value, or generating nuisances. This ecological value can be measured in hectares necessary to produce various goods and services, with the “ecological footprint” indicator” (personal translation, emphasis SD, Bonneuil, 2017, p.55)

For geographers interested in marginality issues, Bonneuil’s analysis is stimulating on at least four points.

Firstly, building these unequal ecological exchanges is systemic and must considered with a multiscalar approach. Spaces, and raw material found in them, are used and become resources, but actors are manifold and present in multiple systems, embedded or not, at various geographical levels. This makes the analysis quite complex, as well as the tracking of primordial actors - the guilty people if there are. This is the reason why Bonneuil, for example, talks about “climate crimes” (Bonneuil, 2017).

Secondly, we can say that, in the beginning, there is a deep lack of knowledge regarding these ecological use values described by Bonneuil. Of course, our general knowledge of ecosystems, social systems and the links between them has enormously progressed during the last few decades. However, the burden of proof, regarding the safety for eco- or social systems of any puncture or exploitation, still rests on the collectivity that is subjected to these punctures; at best, the State could help a bit, if it has not been completely dismantled. With the burden of proof on the shoulders of those who want to exploit any raw material to create resources, the exchange dynamic would be completely different and there would be a better recognition of these ecological debts.

Thirdly, this puncture within basic resources in local geographical systems in Asia, Africa or Latin America, European or North-American countries contribute to reducing the adaptation capacity of local populations in the face of current and future climate change, especially environmental impacts in general, and ecological ones in particular.

And finally, fourthly, reducing the adaptation capacity contributes indirectly to reducing both the power of populations involved in these “exchanges”, within the systems in which they participate, thus de facto augmenting their marginality.

For all these reasons, it would be very appropriate that researchers working on marginality issues add this notion of “unequal ecological exchange” to their theoretical and conceptual frameworks.

Steve Déry

Ottawa, 29 June 2018

Publications

The manuscript of the fourth volume of our series “Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization” has been completed and is on its way to review and production. We hope that it will be published this year. It is devoted to rural issues. Further volumes are under considereation.

Publication signalled by members

Déry Steve (2017) Des Cent-Îles aux Cent-Géographies : pérégrinations sud-est asiatiques du géographe Rodolphe De Koninck. Cahiers de géographie du Québec, 173(61) : 235-252.

Rönkkö Emilia, Luusua Anna, Aarrevaara Eeva, Herneoja Aulikki and Muilu Toivo (2017). New resource-wise planning strategies for smart urban-rural development in Finland. Systems 5:1, 12 p.

Open access: www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/5/1/10

Korhonen Kirsi, Kotavaara Ossi, Muilu Toivo and Rusanen Jarmo (2017). Accessibility of local food production to regional markets : case of berry production in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. European Countryside 9:4, 709-728. Open access: www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/euco.2017.9.issue-4/euco-2017-0040/euco-2017-0040.pdf  

Andrew Koleros, Dee Jupp, Sean Kirwan, Meeta S. Pradhan, Pushkar K. Pradhan, David Seddon, and Ansu Tumbahangfe (2015), Methodological considerations in evaluating long-term systems of change: A case study from eastern Nepal. American Journal of Evaluation, 1-17. DOI: 10:1177/1098214015615231 aje.sagepub.com

Eva Wieners, Pushkar Pradhan, Martin Neuburger and Udo Schickhoff (2015), Implementation of Backcasting in a Development Project in Nepal. The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability: Annual Review, Volume 11: 35-46.

Pushkar K. Pradhan and Puspa Sharma (2016). Nepal: Urban Environment Analysis. Environmental Geography of South Asia: Contributions Towards a Future Earth Initiative. Editors: R. B. Singh, Pawel Prokop, SPRINGER Japan (e-book): 305-334. www.springer.com

Pushkar K Pradhan and Puspa Sharma (2017), Land Use Change and Its Driving Forces in the Koshi Hills, Eastern Nepal. Ainong Li, Wei Deng and Wei Zhao (Editors), Land Cover Change and Its Eco-environmental Responses in Nepal. Springer Geography. pp: 67-108. DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2890-8

Puspa Sharma and Pushkar K Pradhan (2017), The Petty Street Vendors and Their Livelihoods of the Kathmandu Valley Cities, Nepal. Ainong Li, Wei Deng and Wei Zhao (Editors), Land Cover Change and Its Eco-environmental Responses in Nepal. Springer Geography. pp: 359-382. DOI 10.1007/978981-10-2890-8

Bandana Pradhan, Puspa Sharma and Pushkar K. Pradhan (2018). Urban Growth and Environment and Health Hazards in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Advancing Urban Health and Wellbeing. ICSU- Springer Book Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India (in press).

Conferences

IGU Regional Conference Québec, 2018

The 2018 IGU Regional Conference will be held in Québec City from August 6 – 10. The venue is the Convention Centre just outside Québec old town.

Our Commission will be present with five sessions, four of them on Tuesday, August 7, the fifth on Thursday, August 9. We shall also hold our business meeting at a time yet to be confirmed – the provisional programme does not mention it yet. For the scientific part we shall cooperate with the Commissions of Local and Regional Development and Tourism and Leisure and Global Change.

We hope to meet many of you during this event.

Commission conference in Nepal, 2019

The 2019 Commission conference will take place in Nepal, organized by our member Professor Pushkar Pradhan of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. In April 2015, the country was struck by an earthquake, followed a major aftershock in May. Thousands of people died and certain regions were entirely devastated. The Nepalese still struggle with the consequences of this major catastrophe. 

The exact time and place will be fixed by our business meeting in Québec. The date proposed will be in November or early December (related to the weather conditions), the venue could be either Kathmandu or Pokhara. The main conference will focus on natural disasters, unequal ecological exchange, marginalized regions and labour migration and include one or two field trips.

Other conferences of interest

The Regional Science Association organizes various conference that can also be of interest to our members. Below you find a selection for the second half of 2018 and early 2019.

Novel Approaches to Sustainable and Inclusive Development

2018 RSA Europe's Socio-Spatial Dynamics Summer College, Cagliari, Sardinia

4th September, 2018 - 7th September, 2018

CRENoS (Centre for North South Economic Research), University of Università di Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy

http://www.regionalstudies.org/conferences/conference/2018-rsa-socio-spatial-dynamicssummer-college

Urban and Regional Resilience: Strategies for Success

RSA Russia Conference 2018

22nd October, 2018 - 23rd October, 2018

Park Inn by Radisson Pribaltiyskaya Hotel, St Petersburg, Korablestroiteley str.,14 http://www.regionalstudies.org/conferences/conference/urban-and-regional-resilience-strategies-for-success 

New Horizons for Cities and Regions in a Changing World

RSA Winter Conference 2018, London, UK

15th November, 2018 - 16th November, 2018 Holiday Inn Bloomsbury, London, UK

http://www.regionalstudies.org/conferences/conference/rsa-winter-2018

Urban and Rural Wellbeing, First Nations Economies and Global Value Chains for Regional Sustainability

RSA Australasia Conference 2019, Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand

11th February, 2019 - 13th February, 2019

Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand http://www.regionalstudies.org/conferences/conference/rsa-australasia-conference-2019

Pushing Regions beyond their Borders

RSA Annual Conference 2019, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

5th June, 2019 - 7th June, 2019

University de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain http://www.regionalstudies.org/conferences/conference/rsa-annual-2019

The Geopress Journal proposes the following conference:

Sustainability and energy issues, 2nd Geoprogress Global Forum, September 7, 2018,

Bruxelles

http://www.geoprogress.eu/geoprogress-global-forum-2018/

Steering committee for 2016-2020

Chair of the commission 

Prof. Steve Déry, 

Université Laval 

Département de géographie

2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QUÉBEC 

Canada, G1V 0A6 

Phone: 1-418-656-2131 poste 5107

E-mail: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca

Steering committee members

Dr. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa, Senior Lecturer 

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Phone: 79675536

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB 

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/borna.fuerst-bjelis

Phone: +385 1 4895 428

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.hr

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820

Fax: 972-2-643-4820

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto, Associate Professor of Geography

Nara University of Education, 

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528  Japan

Phone:

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Matengu, Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Development

University of Namibia, 

340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave Pionierspark, Windhoek,

Namibia

Phone: +264 61 206 3944

Fax: +264 61 242644

E-mail: kmatengu@unam.na

Dr. Toivo Muilu

Natural Resources Institute Finland (professor)

Department of Geography (adjunct professor)

Po Box 413

FI-90014 University of Oulu

Finland

Phone: +358 29 532 6722

E-mail: toivo.muilu@luke.fi

Dr. Catherine Robinson, adjunct associate professor

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Phone: +61 7 3365 1111

E-mail: Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Prof. Claudio Urra Coletti

Instituto de Geografía

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo Mendoza – Argentina Phone:

E-mail: urra73@gmail.com

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber 

Université de Fribourg 

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie 

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse 

Phone: ++41 26 300 90 10 

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

YOUR ADDRESS UPDATE: 

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch).

Contents

1. Welcome from the Chair: Le monde selon Trump: vers une marginalisation plus grande à tous les niveaux / The World According to Trump: Towards Greater Marginalisation for Everyone 

2. Silver Jubilee

3. Conferences

4. Publications

5. Steering Committee

1. Welcome FROM THE CHAIR

LE MONDE SELON TRUMP :

VERS UNE MARGINALISATION PLUS GRANDE À TOUS LES NIVEAUX

Steve Déry, 8 janvier 2018

La paix de… 73 ans!

Entre 1815 et 1914, une longue période de paix relative a contribué à l’expansion de l’économie de marché presque partout sur la planète. Karl Polanyi a appelé cette période de relatif équilibre entre les grandes puissances, plus ou moins toutes dépendantes d’une finance internationale conquérante, « La paix de cent ans » (Polanyi, 1944). Cette période voit aussi la « découverte » de la pauvreté par les pouvoirs politiques, et toute une panoplie de résistances à cette nouvelle idéologie économique qui marchandise la terre, le travail et la monnaie. Naissent ainsi les syndicats et tout un arc-en-ciel de mouvements de contestation entre anarchisme, communisme, socialisme et autres « ismes » (Polanyi, 1944).

Depuis la fin de la Deuxième guerre mondiale en 1945, le monde est retombé dans une période toute aussi relative de paix mondiale. Certes, comme au 19e siècle, des pays, des régions sont dramatiquement embrasées par les feux de la guerre, mais en comparaison avec les deux grandes conflagrations de 1914-1918 et de 1937-1945, la guerre froide a contribué à ce nouvel équilibre mondial des puissances.

Pourtant, cet « équilibre » demeure fragile. Premièrement, depuis les années 1970, les coups de butoir du néolibéralisme, conquérant et pour l’instant victorieux comme l’économie de marché du 19e siècle, suscitent des réactions de plus en plus épidermiques, de moins en moins rationnelles, d’autant plus qu’elles sont relayées par des outils de communication (Internet, médias sociaux) infiniment plus puissants qu’à l’époque. Surfant sur cette grogne suscitée par la dégradation généralisée des conditions de vie et de l’environnement, deuxièmement, des mouvements populistes, autoritaires, ou religieux, ou souvent les trois à la fois comme aux États-Unis ou en Pologne, contribuent à polariser les débats politiques. Ces mouvements déferlent en vagues de plus en plus hautes et larges à l’échelle internationale, en particulier depuis les attentats du 11 septembre 2001. La très récente décision de l’administration Trump de transférer l’Ambassade des États-Unis en Israël à Jérusalem vient d’augmenter d’un cran les tensions politiques déjà fortes à l’échelle internationale. Un manichéisme intempestif s’empare des relations internationales, déstabilisant une ONU déjà ébranlée.

C’est ici que le bât blesse. Dans tous les manichéismes, les positions mitoyennes et marginales ne peuvent que subir les diktats des puissants. Il n’y avait de place pour un Tiers-monde différent, un mouvement des non-alignés, tel celui imaginé à Bandung en 1955 (Lumumba-Kasongo, 2015). Pas de place aujourd’hui non plus raviver cet esprit, ou pour une pensée originale, faite de tolérance et de compromis. Même un pays riche comme le Canada n’a pas pu voter avec son histoire et sa conscience, coincé – par une « morale de responsabilité » (Weber, 1918) - à voter « blanc » sur la question de Jérusalem, pour ne pas trop ulcérer son encombrant voisin. Et ceux qui ne votent pas du « bon bord », comme les Allemands qui ont refusé d’envoyer des soldats en Irak en 2003, se retrouvent en première ligne des récriminations du président actuel (Rimbert, 2018, p.12).

Le plus triste et grave de cette histoire, à part que nous pourrions nous retrouver avec une Troisième Guerre mondiale sur les bras, c’est que cette polarisation résultant en marginalisation dans l’arène politique internationale trouvera des échos aux échelons régionaux et locaux. La polarisation identitaire, déjà visible en Europe centrale dans les pays du groupe de Visegrád où un « capitalisme autoritaire à base populaire » (Rimbert, 2018, p.12) est triomphant, ne peut conduire qu’à marginaliser encore davantage des groupes qui peinent déjà à faire entendre leur voix dans des conditions « normales » de fonctionnement démocratique.

Qu’on ne s’y méprenne pas! Derrière ces mouvements en apparence sociopolitiques ou religieux, ce sont bien les soubresauts du néolibéralisme qui, en détruisant les économies (cf Klein, 2008) et la nature, deux conséquences du développement capitaliste qu’avait prévues par Karl Marx, provoquant les changements climatiques (Klein, 2015) et des couts croissant pour la société – 306 milliards de dollars ÉU aux États-Unis en 2017 pour les catastrophes météo, un record! (Radio-Canada, 2018) - et contribuant à une croissance effrénée des inégalités, nourrissent les hostilités auxquelles on assiste. En 1914, l’assassinat de l’archiduc Ferdinand d’Autriche avait fait basculer le monde dans la terreur guerrière. Notre 21e siècle est-il aussi fragile pour sombrer dans cette folie d’une nouvelle conflagration mondiale à partir d’un simple évènement local?

Références citées

KLEIN, Naomi (2008) La stratégie du choc. La montée d'un capitalisme du désastre. Paris, Leméac et Actes Sud.

KLEIN, Naomi (2015) Tout peut changer. Capitalisme et changement climatique. Montréal: Lux Éditeur.

LUMUMBA-KASONGO, Tukumbi (2015) Rethinking the Bandung conference in an Era of ‘unipolar liberal globalization’ and movements toward a ‘multipolar politics’, Bandung : Journal of the Global South, 2(9). Consulté en ligne, 8 janvier 2018 [DOI 10.1186/s40728-014-0012-4]

MOULINE, Nabil (2018) Petits arrangements avec le wahabisme. Le monde diplomatique, 65(766, janvier) :3

POLANYI, Karl (2009) [1944] La grande transformation. Paris, Gallimard.

RADIO-Canada (2018) Les catastrophes météo ont coûté un montant record aux États-Unis en 2017. Consulté en ligne, 8 janvier 2018: http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1076886/catastrophes-meteo-cout-record-etats-unis-2017

RIMBERT, Pierre (2018) De Varsovie à Washington, un Mai 68 à l’envers. Le monde diplomatique, 65(766, janvier) :1 et 12-13.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO TRUMP :

TOWARDS GREATER MARGINALISATION FOR EVERYONE

Steve Déry, 8th January 2018

A peace of 73 years!

Between 1815 and 1914, a lasting period of relative peace contributed to the expansion of market economy almost everywhere on the globe. Karl Polanyi called this period “The 100 years’ peace” (Polanyi, 1944). This period saw also the “discovery” of poverty by political powers, while this new economic ideology contributed to the commodification of land, labour and money, which in turn triggered various resistances. This is the birth of unions, and a whole rainbow of movements, between anarchism, communism and socialism (Polanyi, 1944).

Since the end of World War II in 1945, the world has fallen back into a similarly relative period of world peace. Although, like in the 19th century, some countries or regions are dramatically engulfed by the fires of war; in comparison to the two great conflagrations of 1914-1918 and 1937-1945, the Cold War contributed to a new world equilibrium of powers.

Yet, this “equilibrium” remains fragile. Firstly, since the 1970s, neoliberalism is waging war all over the planet, conquering and, like its 19th century counterpart, remaining for the most part victorious, triggers reactions more and more epidermic and less rationale by the day; even more since they are now relayed by powerful tools of communication (Internet, social medias). Surfing on this discontent created by a generalised degradation of livelihoods and environment, secondly, popular, authoritarian and religious movements, often the three at the same time like in the US or in Poland, contribute to polarizing political debates. These movements are flooding with higher and bigger waves the international arena, especially since the 9/11 attack, and even since the election of D. Trump in the US. The very recent decision by his administration to transfer the US Embassy in Israel from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem contributed to augment political tensions already high at the international level. An ill-timed Manichaeism is taking over international relations, destabilizing the UN, already weakened.

That is where the shoe pinches. Within all Manichaeisms, halfway or marginal positions can only suffer diktats from the most powerful countries. There was no room for a (different) Third World, a non-aligned movement, such as the one imagined in Bandung in 1955 (see for example, Lumumba-Kasongo, 2015). No place today either to revive this spirit, or for an original position, made from tolerance and compromise. Even a rich country like Canada was not able to vote with its history and its consciousness, cornered by an “ethic of responsibility” (Weber, 1918, cited by Mouline, 2018, p.3), abstaining to vote on the question of Jerusalem, to avoid exacerbating tensions with its humongous neighbour. And those who vote for the “wrong” side, like Germans who refused to send soldiers in Irak in 2003, are on the first line of recriminations of the current US president (Rimbert, 2018, p.12).

The saddest and more grave part of this history, save that we might be pushed towards a Third World War, is that this polarization and marginalization within the international political arena will certainly result in more marginalization in the sub-regional and local levels. The recourse to identity in politics is already polarizing debates in central Europe, for example within the Visegrád group, where an “authoritarian populist capitalism” (free translation from Rimbert, 2018, p.12) is triumphing. It will certainly contribute, like in other countries, to marginalize groups that were already painfully trying to be heard within “normal” democratic conditions.

But, we must not be fooled! Behind these movements with a socio-political or religious varnish, it is clearly neoliberalism convulsions that are nurturing hostilities seen all over the world. Neoliberalism destroys economies (Klein, 2007) as well as nature, two consequences already foreseen by Karl Marx, provoking climate changes (Klein, 2014) with increasing costs for societies – 306 billions US dollars only for the United States in 2017 in costs for meteorological catastrophes, a record! (Radio-Canada, 2018) -, as well as contributing to growing inequalities. In 1914, the assassination of the archduke Ferdinand of Austria made the world collapsed into the terror of war. Is our 21st century so fragile as to sink again into this folly of a world conflagration from a single local event?

References

KLEIN, Naomi (2007) The Shock Doctrine. The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Random House of Canada.

KLEIN, Naomi (2014) This Changes Everything. Capitalism vs. The Climate. Simon and Schuster.

MOULINE, Nabil (2018) Petits arrangements avec le wahabisme. Le monde diplomatique, 65(766, janvier) :3

POLANYI, Karl (1944) The Great Transformation. Boston, Beacon Press.

RADIO-Canada (2018) Les catastrophes météo ont coûté un montant record aux États-Unis en 2017. Consulté en ligne, 8 janvier 2018: http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1076886/catastrophes-meteo-cout-record-etats-unis-2017

RIMBERT, Pierre (2018) De Varsovie à Washington, un Mai 68 à l’envers. Le monde diplomatique, 65(766, janvier) :1 et 12-13.

2. Silver Jubilee

(WL) Our Commission was created as a Study Group in 1992 at the IGU Congress in Washington DC. We have existed (under different names) for 25 years – it is time to look back on a quarter of a century of activities.

Although our Commission emerged from the Washington IGC, its history covers more than 35 years. In 1980, Professor Uuno Varjo of Oulu University (Finland) obtained the go-ahead from the IGU Commission on Rural Development to create, as a specialized offspring, the Subcommission on Rural Development in Highlands and High-latitude zones. It started its work in 1982 with a first Symposium in Lapland (Finland). The group continued under the denomination of highlands and high-latitude zones and became a Study Group in 1984 (Paris IGC) that continued until 1992. Professor Varjo died in 1987, but he had created a vigorous group that was able to continue its activities until today, albeit under a different name and with a new focus.

In order to broaden its scope, the steering committee of 1988-1992 decided to abandon the regional focus in favour of the wider term of marginal regions. The 1992 IGC in Washington thus created the Study Group on Development Issues in Marginal Regions. In 1996, the name changed to Commission on the Dynamics of Marginal and Critical Regions, four years later to Commission on Evolving Issues of Geographical Marginality in the Early 21st Century World. Since 2004 we are the Commission on Marginalization, Globalization and Local and Regional Responses. It is possible to continue under the same name since the IGU no longer demands a change of name for Commission renewal. 

While we are not a hyperactive group, we are dedicated to our work and try to organize at least one conference per year, either in conjunction with a major IGU event (congress or regional conference) or independent of our umbrella organization. These events have taken us around the globe with meetings in a total of 31 countries. 

An important part of our work was the publication of the results of our research. In the beginning, this was ensured individually by the conference organizers in local series. At times, individual books were published. On two occasions, we could put together two E-books that contained a large amount of papers and were made available on CD-Roms with an ISBN (by courtesy of Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa). In the late 1990s we managed to publish a number of books in a ‘marginality’ series with Ashgate, but the publishers backed out after a few volumes (judges as being not commercially viable). Since 2016 we have a new contract with Springer, which has so far been very promising.

3. Conferences

IGU Regional conference, Québec City, Canada, August 6-10, 2018

The IGU Regional Conference focuses on Appreciating difference, a motto that well suits our discipline in general and our Commission topic in particular. As announced in NewsFlash 2017/3 of October 2018 and the attached document, we shall emphasize the three following themes:

• Regions and regionalism in the era of globalization;

• North-South dialogues in the 21st century;

• Borders, Nation States and Postnationalism – reconsidering human migrations at multiple scales of analysis;

The event will take placed in a new form and comprise three parts: 1) a writing workshop for a collective book, 2) field trips, and 3) a conference on ‘Marginalization – the dark side of globalization’. It will be partly as joint sessions with C16.14 (Tourism, leisure and global change) and C16.28 (Local and regional development).

More details will be communicated shortly in a first circular.

Other conferences brought to our attention

Regional Studies Association Annual Conference 2018

A World of Flows - Labour Mobility, Capital and Knowledge in an Age of Global Reversal and Regional Revival, June 3-6, 2018, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland

An appeal to the members of the Commission:

Participation in our activities has not been overwhelming these past years. Certainly, the timing and the location of the conferences are not always ideal (to say nothing of the finances), but coming together is always an excellent opportunity to discuss our issues, the future of our work, to network and develop projects, and to socialize. The Steering Committee therefore launches an appeal to our corresponding members to seriously consider participation. All of you have something to say about the topic of our Commission. Please come forward to share your experience and reflections. This will ensure that we can carry on with our work and keep the Commission going.

Publications

In 2017, we published the third volume in our series Perspectives on Geographical Marginality. Edited by Stanko Pelc and Milan Koderman, it is dedicated to Nature, Tourism and Ethnicity as Drivers of (De)Marginalization. It includes papers from the Commission’s 2015 and 2016 conferences in Ağrı (Turkey) and Ljubljana, Koper and Maribor (Slovenia). Further volumes are in preparation.

The contract with Springer now offers good publication possibilities, not only for our conference papers but also for further projects, whether single-author or edited volumes. Anyone with a publication proposal should contact the Commission chair or one of the three series editors. Your ideas will be carefully examined.

Commission chair: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca - Series editors: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch; etienne.nel@otago.ac.nz; stanko.pelc@guest.arnes.si. 

1. Steering committee for 2016-2020

1. Chair of the commission 

Professor Steve Déry, 

Université Laval, Département de géographie

2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QUÉBEC 

Canada, G1V 0A6 

Phone: 1-418-656-2131 poste/ext. 5107

E-mail: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca

2. Steering committee members

Dr. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa

Senior Lecturer 

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Phone: 79675536

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

University of Zagreb 

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb

Croatia

www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/borna.fuerst-bjelis

Phone: +385 1 4895 428

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.hr

Prof. Ruth Kark

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,

Israel

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820

Fax: 972-2-643-4820

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto

Associate Professor of Geography

Nara University of Education

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528 

Japan

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Matengu

Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Development

University of Namibia

340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave Pionierspark Windhoek

Namibia

Phone: +264 61 206 3944

Fax: +264 61 242644

E-mail: kmatengu@unam.na

Dr. Catherine Robinson

Adjunct associate professor

University of Queensland

Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072,

Australia

Phone: +61 7 3365 1111

E-mail: Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Prof. Claudio Urra Coletti

Instituto de Geografía

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

Mendoza – Argentina

Phone:

E-mail: urra73@gmail.com

Dr. Toivo Muilu

Natural Resources Institute Finland (professor)

Department of Geography (adjunct professor)

Po Box 413

FI-90014 University of Oulu

Finland

Phone: +358 29 532 6722

E-mail: toivo.muilu@luke.fi

Commission Secretary

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber 

Université de Fribourg 

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie 

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse 

Phone: ++41 26 300 90 10 

Fax: ++41 26 300 96 47 

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

YOUR ADDRESS UPDATE: 

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone and fax number and e-mail address to me (Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca) and to our secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch).

Contents 

⮚ 1. Welcome from the chair: Information and marginality 

⮚ 2. La Paz conference Geographies for peace 

⮚ 3. Future conferences 

⮚ 4. Publications update 

⮚ 5. Job offer 

⮚ 6. Geographers 

⮚ 7. Steering committee 

1. Welcome from the chair 

Information and marginality 

Marginality is a question of power relations. The first six months of 2017 have shown both huge deg radations in power relations across the world, and at the same time, courageous attempts to counter it. Real journalists are not welcomed anymore near politicians who took power through fallacious  means, while opponents to power are simply discarded through “legal” means, like Navalny in Russia in June. Even in Canada, the situation has worsened for the journalists1. In the US, the New York  Times has had to launch an advertising campaign to promote “true information” and to fight against  denying efforts by Donald Trump since he was candidate to the presidency until now: « The truth is  hard » is the name of the campaign2. Even the French presidential election has been plagued with  false news aimed at destabilizing the vote towards extreme right3. To help its readership, the news paper Le monde has created an app called “Decodex“, a tool to help raise the awareness concerning  the quality of the information when someone accesses a website. 

Why talking about all this in a Newsletter dedicated to studies on marginality? Because knowledge is  a key to reducing marginality. And because our world is at war: disinformation is everywhere, pro moted by those in power, to keep things as they are; but also war on the other side to promote in formed knowledge, war to keep afloat all these information providers (The Guardian, New York  Times, Le Devoir, Le Monde, etc...). Why is it important for us researchers? On the one hand, because  we are information creators. In trying to understand our world, and disseminating our understanding  around, we have a responsibility in the kind of information that circulates, and where. Also, it is im portant because, on the other hand, lack of information, or false information, as has now been so  common during elections or other kinds of popular consultations (USA, France, Brexit, etc...) contrib ute to reduce the power of the citizens, thus creating or augmenting marginality. Because lack of  rational information contributed to the election of people like Trump (USA) or May (UK), persons whose main goal is to keep power in the hand of a few privileged people. Some would prefer to say  that we are all good consumers, but not well advised citizens. And in this marginalization process, it is always the same people who end up being trapped... women, minorities, especially indigenous people, etc. 

In our first six months of activities in 2017, the conference Geographies for Peace in La Paz in April illustrated what geographers and others can do as a first step: try to improve our understanding of  how marginality is created, reproduced and, unfortunately, increased in many situations. We con tended there that reducing marginality is one way to have more peace in our world. The second step  is action. What to do with the knowledge we have on marginality and marginalization? That’s what  some researchers around Lisa Hiwasaki have tried to do at ICRAF-Vietnam when they wrote Guide lines... to improve the way research-action is done with ethnic minorities (see below). I am sure les sons can be learned and that these guidelines can be adapted in multiple situations where we can  actively reduce marginality. 

Steve Déry 

Hà Nội, Việt Nam, 27th June 2017 

2. La Paz conference Geographies for Peace 

Instead of a Regional Conference, the IGU organized a thematic conference entitles Geographies for  Peace, to be held in La Paz, Bolivia from April 23 to 25, 2017. The location was appropriately chosen,  not only because of the name of the city but also because it immediately preceded the 2017 EGAL,  

1 http://ici.radio-canada.ca/audio-video/media-7713923/la-liberte-de-presse-en-recul-dans-le-monde. 2 http://thehill.com/media/320787-new-york-times-launches-major-ad-campaign-the-truth. 3 http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2017/05/04/emmanuel-macron-premiere-victime-des-intox pendant-la-campagne-presidentielle_5122337_4355770.html.

the 16th Conference of the Latin American Geographers (XVI Encuentro de Geógrafos de América  Latin¡a, 26.-29 April 2017). This allowed a number of Latin American members of our Commission to  attend two important meetings consecutively.  

Our Commission had proposed a paper session under the heading “Globalization as a source of mar ginalization; marginality as a source of tensions and conflicts” with three panels (following the initial  interest expressed by potential participants). The title eventually chosen by the organizers was “Mo bility, marginalization, conflicts”. Various speakers who had planned to travel to La Paz could not  

attend for various reasons. The following nine papers were delivered during two panel sessions: 

Session 1: 

• Walter Leimgruber, University of Fribourg, Civil society vs. globalization and marginalization • Stanko Pelc, University of Primorska, Armed conflicts as a generator of marginalization • Rocío Rosales Ortega, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México. La cons 

trucción del mercado orgánico: Certificaciones y Sistemas Participativos de Garantía en México • Margarita Schmidt, Claudio Urra Coletti, Rosa Schilan, Gladys Molina, Instituto de Geografía – Univer sidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Multi-marginality of a rural area and co-discovery of opportunities  through action-research 

• Claudio Urra Coletti, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Mendoza, Puente de integración social con un  área marginal a través de una práctica educativa 

Session 2 : 

• Chryssanthi Petropoulou, Universidad del Egeo, De la solidaridad humana a la restricción, la punición  et la segregación socio-espacial. Los nuevos llegados (migrantes / refugiados) y la bienvenida en Gre cia como proceso glocal. El ejemplo de Mytilen 

• Herman Geyer Jr., Stellenbosch University, The politics of new regionalism, service protests, gerry mandering and sub-national migration in the bordering of municipalities in South Africa • Mary Gely, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, Los gobiernos locales: un posible posicionamiento clave de  interfaz entre lo local y lo internacional 

• Tomas Havlicek, Charles University, Prague, Marginalization, marginal groups and religion: Orthodox  Ukrainians in Czechia 

• Peter Wood, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Marginality, religiosity, and the  role of places of worship in Brazilian urban violence 

The following paper was presented as a poster:  

• María Eugenia Cepparo, Amanda Mamaní, CONICET – UNCuyo, Los trashumantes de Malargüe entre  la marginalidad y la marginación. Sur de Mendoza, Argentina 

The entire conference was bilingual (English and Spanish) with simultaneous translation in most ses sions. This formula worked quite well, although the translators had a difficult task and some infor mation may also have been lost during this process.  

The general topic was of particular interest for political geographers, but also historical and tourism  geography were well represented. Several sessions (in Spanish) were devoted to the peace process in  Columbia, a topic of great actuality. 

3. Future conferences 

① The next IGU Regional Conference will be held in Québec City from August 6 – 10, 2018 (see the  conference website http://igu2018.ulaval.ca). The Conference theme is Appreciating Difference – Apprécier la Différence and is an invitation to focus on diversity in the widest possible sense.

Our Commission is planning to hold a separate pre-congress conference in Québec province, includ ing a field trip. Details are currently being discussed, more information will be communicated later  this year. 

② The IGU organizes a thematic conference in Moscow, 4 - 6 June 2018 on the topic Practical geog raphy and XXI century challenges to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Institute of Geography of  the Russian Academy of Sciences (see the conference website http://www.igras.ru/100igras/en/). Given time and financial constraints, our commission has so far not expressed the intention to partic ipate. However, if one of our members would be interested in organizing a meeting, she/he should  immediately contact the commission chair and the secretary. 

③ We have received further proposals for future Commission conferences. Professor Pushkar Pra dhan is planning to organize a meeting in Nepal in 2019. The country had been hit by a strong earth quake in 2015 that had affected 39 (of a total of 75) districts (including Kathmandu Valley's three  districts), most of them geographically marginal with limited or no access by modern roads.  A proposal has been made by Professor Raularian Rusu from Cluj-Napoca to organize a conference in  Romania in 2020. This last option could be interesting given the fact that the main IGU congress is to  be held in Istanbul, Turkey. But neither dates nor venue are specified on the website of the Turkish  Geographical Society, and no information can be found on the IGU website (see URL below). 

http://www.tck.org.tr/etkinlik/en/project-competitions/2020-international-geographical-congress igc-2020-in-istanbul 

We welcome information by our members about forthcoming conferences and other scien tific meetings, particularly if they can be attended without particular problems.

4. Publications update 

Series Perspectives on geographical marginalization 

The second volume of our series, Societies, social inequalities and marginalization. Marginal regions  in the 21st century, has been published in April. Edited by Raghubir Chand, Etienne Nel and Stanko  Pelc, it comprises 18 chapters and is based on the 2011 conference in Nainital, India. 

Further publications 

The following publications by Commission members have been brought to our attention: • Gemma Mollevi, Vigne et Vin de la Catalogne. Des études géographiques (2005-2015). Editions  universitaires europeennes 2017 ) 

• Lisa Hiwasaki, Christian Culas, Thai Thi Minh, Sonali Senaratna Sellamuttu, Boru Douthwaite,  Marlene Elias, Nozomi Kawarazuka, Cynthia McDougall and Emmanuel Pannier (2016) Guidelines  to engage with marginalized ethnic minorities in agricultural research for development in the  Greater Mekong. Hanoi, ICRAF-Vietnam, 24 pages. 

(This publication has been prepared by researchers of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) in  Vietnam).

Abstract: 

This document is an  output  of Humidtropics, a CGIAR Research Program  on  Integrated Systems  for  the Humid Tropics. This document is designed  to help researchers who want  to engage with  ethnic groups  to ensure agricultural research  for development (R4D) stops contributing  to  their  further marginalization. It can be used by those wanting to design new projects that engage with  ethnic minorities  from the start or those already implementing projects and wanting to improve  their current practice.  

Based on an analysis of internal and external factors that lead to marginalization of ethnic minori ty groups through agricultural R4D, the Guidelines are organized around three sets of challenges:  (a)  the agricultural R4D system as a whole;  (b)  for research  teams; and  (c)  for agricultural R4D  projects. The document identifies for each challenge strategies that can help prevent further mar ginalization according to different stages in the project cycle.  

The overall approach  that  these Guidelines recommend is  transdisciplinary action research. The  strategies are thus those that can help agricultural R4D researchers to carry out transdisciplinary  action research that engages more effectively with marginalized ethnic minority groups in order  to achieve more inclusive and equitable rural development from agriculture. 

The guidelines can be dowloaded here :  

http://www.worldagroforestry.org/region/sea/publications/detail?pubID=3761 

The following blog entry furnishes some background information: 

HIWASAKI, Lisa (2017) Engaging marginalized groups in the Greater Mekong region through  action research. Agroforestry world, 7 February 2017 [URL:  

http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2017/02/07/keys-to-authentic-engagement between-researchers-and-marginalized-farming-communities-in-the-mekong-region/]  

We are always happy to receive news of publications by our members – please do not hesi tate to share such information with your fellow members of the commission. Thank you.

5. Job offer 

From: Megan Thomas [mailto:mcthomas@ucsc.edu]  

Sent: June 27, 2017 15:02 

Object: UCSC political and legal thought position 

Dear Colleagues,  

Please pardon the mass e-mail. My department (UC Santa Cruz, Politics), is conducting a search next  year for an Assistant Prof working on political and legal thought of non-Western, indigenous, and/or  historically marginalized people. I'd really appreciate it if you would take the time to forward the  job ad to your networks and would be happy to answer questions if and as I can. https://recruit.ucsc.edu/apply/JPF00458 

Thank you very much for helping us to publicize the search. 

Megan 

Megan Thomas 

mcthomas@ucsc.edu 

Associate Professor, Politics, UC Santa Cruz

6. Geographers 

Who are we, the geographers? Are we people who get lost with a map? Are we specialists for the  landscape? I have been a geographer since childhood, and I still love my discipline. It gives me so  much: reasons to travel, to think about the world, the relations between humans and nature. Con ferences are wonderful events for intellectual exchange, accompanying field trips, a speciality in ge ography, an indispensable instrument to sharpen our insight into the world around us (in the widest  sense of the word).

I wrote the following comment after a field trip in 2007, and I recently found it on my computer and  decided to include it in this Newsletter. It very much reflects my observations during many excur sions with this and other groups (including students), and I am sure it is still valid today.  Geographers are an undisciplined band of individuals. They do not fit into the image of orderly travel lers. In particular, they manifest the following characteristics: 

1. They demand photo-stops in the most impossible places (sharp bends, no-stop signs, no-parking  signs, no-overtaking stretches of the road, narrow road stretches, center of town or village, etc.). 2. At planned stops, they swarm out in all directions, taking pictures, buying snacks and drinks,  going to the toilet etc. without listening to the information provided by the tour guide. 3. They will usually arrive late at the bus, thus upsetting the tight time schedule and provoking the  wrath of the organizer of the field trip (and possibly also of related persons). 4. They may become engaged in fruitless discussions about a particular object during the stop, thus  delaying departure further (they could continue to discuss the issues on the bus). 5. By their very nature, they are curious and inquisitive, wanting to know things indigenous people  prefer to be silent about - which may lead to embarrassing situations. 

Despite this, they are usually a jolly group of people. 

I think we are still curious and inquisitive, and it would be a pity if we suddenly became ‘orderly trav ellers’! 

Your commission secretary 

7. Steering committee for 2016-2020 

Chair of the commission  

Prof. Steve Déry,  

Université Laval  

Département de géographie 

2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QUÉBEC  

Canada, G1V 0A6  

Phone: 1-418-656-2131 poste 5107 

E-mail: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca 

Steering committee members 

Dr. Firuza Begham Binti Mustafa, Senior Lecturer  

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 

University of Malaya 

50603 Kuala Lumpur 

Malaysia 

Phone: 79675536 

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my 

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš 

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB  

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography 

Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb 

Croatia 

Web: www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/borna.fuerst-bjelis 

Phone: +385 1 4895 428 

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.hr

Prof. Ruth Kark 

Department of Geography Faculty of Social Sciences 

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, 

Israel 

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820 

Fax: 972-2-643-4820 

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il 

Prof. Daichi Kohmoto, Associate Professor of Geography 

Nara University of Education,  

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528  

Japan 

Phone: 

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com 

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Matengu, Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Development University of Namibia,  

340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave Pionierspark, Windhoek, 

Namibia 

Phone: +264 61 206 3944 

Fax: +264 61 242644 

E-mail: kmatengu@unam.na 

Dr. Toivo Muilu 

Natural Resources Institute Finland (professor) 

Department of Geography (adjunct professor) 

Po Box 413 

FI-90014 University of Oulu 

Finland 

Phone: +358 29 532 6722 

E-mail: toivo.muilu@luke.fi 

Dr. Catherine Robinson, adjunct associate professor 

University of Queensland, Brisbane St Lucia, QLD 4072, 

Australia 

Phone: +61 7 3365 1111 

E-mail: Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au 

Prof. Claudio Urra Coletti 

Instituto de Geografía 

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras 

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo 

Mendoza – Argentina 

Phone: 

E-mail: urra73@gmail.com

Commission Secretary 

Prof. Emeritus Walter Leimgruber  

Université de Fribourg  

Département de Géosciences, Unité de Géographie  

Perolles, CH-1700 Fribourg, Suisse  

Phone: ++41 26 300 90 10  

Fax: ++41 26 300 96 47  

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch 

YOUR ADDRESS UPDATE

Please help us to keep our address list updated by communicating your new address, phone  and fax number, and e-mail address to me (Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca) and to our secretary  (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch)

CONTENTS 

Welcome 

Our activities 2016 

• IGU Congress Beijing 2016 

• Slovenia 2016 C12.29 annual conference 

Plans for 2017 and afterwards 

Publication matters 

Other conferences 

Administration 

• Call for information feedback 

• IGU Web Page 

• Commission Web Page 

A concise statement of the mission of the Commission 2016-2020 

Steering committee 2016-2020 

http://www.igu-marginality.info/ 

WELCOME 

Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

2016 has come to an end, and with it the time of office of our steering committee. It is with great  pleasure  that  we  learnt  that  the  IGU  has  given  us  the  go-ahead  for  another  four  years  as  a  commission.  It  will  be  now  chaired  by  Professor  Steve  Déry  of  Laval  University,  Québec,  supported by a totally new steering committee. 

I wish Steve a good start in his new position. 

We  would  really  appreciate  if  we  would  get  more information  from  our  members therefore  I  would like  to encourage you once more to share with us any news  relevant  for  the purpose of  our commission. 

The  basic information about  our  commission is included in  this  newsletter, which you  can also  find together with much more on our website: http://www.igu-marginality.info/. 

Stanko Pelc 

stanko.pelc@pef.upr.si  

Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

It is a great pleasure  for me  to introduce  this Newsletter. First of all, I would like  to  thank very  much our colleagues Stanko Pelc from the University of Primorska, Slovenia, for his work as Chair  since 2012, and Walter Leimgruber, professor emeritus at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, who has done and is still doing a wonderful job as secretary of our Commission. 

Last year (2016) has seen several positive and negative events but maybe the election of Donald  Trump  as  new  president  of  the  United  States  might  be  one  with  drastic  consequences  on  marginalization processes that we are studying all over the world. In the La Paz conference (see  below)  to  be  held  in  April  2017,  the  members  of  our  Commission  will  examine  more  closely  among other things how peace can contribute to the demarginalization of some populations, in a  virtuous  circle.  Conversely,  the  absence  of  peace  constitutes  an  aggravating  factor  of  marginalization. Certainly, there are reasons to worry now that the weight of the United States in  our  globalized  world  will  contribute  to  intensify some  of  the  marginalization  processes  even  further. Given  the  first  objective  of  our  Commission  – see  below  -, I  fear  that  this  situation  represents a  big  challenge  for  us as it  increases our individual and  collective  responsibilities to  shed new lights on these processes. 

On a more  positive  note, I want  to end  this welcoming address with many thanks to  the eight  new members of our steering committee who have accepted to take up this challenge and with  whom  I  am  looking  forward to  work  during  the  next  four  years: Firuza  Begham  Binti Mustafa,  Borna  Fuerst-Bjeliš,  Ruth  Kark,  Daichi  Kohmoto,  Kenneth  Matengu, Toivo Muilu, Catherine  Robinson, Claudio Urra Coletti. Have a wonderful year 2017 ! 

Steve Déry 

Hanoi, 11 January 2017 

OUR ACTIVITIES 2016 

33rd IGC, Beijing 

Our  Commission  met  during  the  33rd International  Congress  in  Beijing  and  held  three  sessions (officially  two,  but  the  second  had  to  be  separated  into  two  sessions) on  August  23  and  24.  Twelve  papers  were  presented.  The  business  meeting  took  place  during  the  lunch  break  on  August 23, just before the paper sessions. The congress was well organized, but our conference  room was in a marginal (sic!) location, not well advertised, and not easy to find. We also spoke to  Stefan  Einarson,  our  contact  person  at  Springer’s,  and  the  prospects  for  our  publications  look  good.

Commission conference Slovenia 

The second conference took place in Slovenia, organized by Stanko Pelc and Miha Koderman. The conference  topic  was  Regional  Development,  Sustainability  and  Marginalization.  All  together  there  were  20  presentations,  two  of  them  long  distance  and  two  during  the  field  trip.  The  conference  started  in  Ljubljana,  continued  in  Koper  and  ended  in  Maribor.  Small  group  of  participants  from  abroad  therefore  had  a  chance  to  see  Alpine,  Dinaric,  Mediterranean  and  Pannonian  part  of  Slovenia. The  book  of  abstracts  is  available  at:  http://www.hippocampus.si/ISBN/978-961-6984-33-1/mobile/index.html#p=22.  We  intend  to  publish  selected  papers  in  Springer’s  third  volume  of  the  series  Perspectives  on  Geographical  Marginality. 

2017 ACTIVITIES AND PLANS FOR 2018 AND FOLLOWING 

The  IGU  General  Assembly,  upon  proposal  of  the  IGU  Executive,  allows  us  to  continue  as  a  commission with a renewed steering committee. The new Chair is Prof. Steve Déry (Université de  Laval,  Québec,  Canada).  We  can  therefore  plan  activities  for  the  coming  four  years,  which  includes conferences and publications. 

2017 commission conference: Thematic Conference, La Paz, 23-25 April 

Our commission will hold its annual conference during  the IGU Thematic Conference in  La Paz, Bolivia (in collaboration with the University of La Paz, and preceding the XVI EGAL  - Encuentre de Geografos de America Latina – held at the  

same  time  – see  the  attached  first  circular).  We  have 

proposed a session entitled Globalization as a source of 

marginalization; marginality as a source of tensions and  

conflicts. The organizers have retained it as Session D.1. 

Until today we have received fifteen paper abstracts. 

Details about  the  IGU  conference are  available  on  the  

conference website, http://geographiesforpeace.org 

Plans for 2018 and afterwards 

In the  summer  of  2018  a  conference  will  be  held  during  the  IGU  Regional  conference  hosted  by  the  department  of  geography  at  Laval  University  in Quebec  City (https://www.ggr.ulaval.ca/igu-ugi-congres-regional-2018-quebec).  The  main  focus  will  be on the (de)marginalization of peripheries.  

In 2019 and 2020 the themes and venues are being discussed, but we intend to devote  more attention to the processes of (de)marginalization in the countries of Africa and SE  Asia. 

PUBLICATION MATTERS 

Our  cooperation with Springer is bearing  fruit. The  series Perspectives  on Geographical  Marginality (edited by Walter Leimgruber, Etienne Nel and Stanko Pelc) has started with  two volumes containing a number of revised papers from the Nainital conference (2011).  The first of these books has been published in June 2016. Edited by Raghubir Chand and  Walter Leimgruber, it focuses on Globalization and Climate Change in Mountain Regions  of the World. Assets and Challenges in Marginal Regions. (ISBN 978-3-319-32649-8). 

The second volume edited by Raghubir Chand, Etienne Nel and Stanko Pelc has entered the publication process and will be available in 2017. Two more volumes are currently in  preparation, and we are confident that we can carry on with this project.

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C12.29 Newsletter December 2016 

The following publication has been signalled. 

Gerhard  Gustafsson:  A  human  geography  testament,  Karlstad  2016,  ISBN 978-91-7063- 720-9.  It  can  be  obtained  from  the  author  or  downloaded by  using  the  following  link:  http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-46413. 

OTHER CONFERENCES 

The following conferences have been brought to our attention: 

5th UNESCO conference UNITWIN, Culture, tourism and development, Coimbra (Portugal),  18-22 April 2017. Details on http://UNITWIN2017.uc.pt/ 

RSA  Annual  Conference  2017,  The  Great  Regional  Awakening:  New  Directions,  Dublin,  Ireland, 4-7 June 2017 

RSA Central & Eastern European Conference 2017, Regional Polarisation and Unequal  Development in CEE: Challenges for Innovative Space-based Policies, Cluj-Napoca,  Romania, 10-13th September, 2017 

OBITUARY 

In July we learnt that our long-term member Bradley Cullen has passed away on June 4 at  the age of 65. Bradley has for many years been a faithful participant in our conferences.  As  professor  at  the  Department  of  Geography  and  Environmental  Studies  at  the  University  of  New  Mexico  (Albuquerque)  he  organized  a  successful  conference  in  his  university with a  field trip to Santa Fé and the pueblo of Taos on June 21-26, 1999. We  remember  Brad as a creative  contributor  to  our work and a jolly  friend and  colleague,  always wearing a hat, even during paper presentations. 

ADMINISTRATION 

Call for information feedback  

I  would  like  to  continue  our  tradition  of  inviting  the  submission  of  details  of  relevant  conferences,  workshops  and  publications  from  Commission  members  as  well  as conference  reports,  lecture  courses,  seminars  etc. on  the  topic  of  marginality  and  marginal  regions. I  think  this  does  serve as a very  useful  form  of knowledge exchange.  Please furnish details to our secretary. 

IGU Web Page 

Commission members are encouraged to visit the web pages of the IGU (http://www.igu online.org/site)  to  learn  more  about  the  activities  of  the  IGU,  including  details  of  conferences,  procedures  and  publications.  A  further  source  of  information  is  the  homepage of the Home of Geography in Rome (www.homeofgeography.org). 

Commission Web Page 

Please  consult  also  our  own  website  (http://www.igu-marginality.info/)  for  any  information needed. Our Commission chair 2012-2016, Prof. Stanko Pelc, has agreed to  continue to run it. You are therefore also encouraged to furnish any relevant information 

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C12.29 Newsletter December 2016 

to  the  webmaster (stanko.pelc@pef.upr.si) as  well  as  to  our  secretary (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch). 

A CONCISE STATEMENT OF THE MISSION OF THE COMMISSION 2016-2020 

The  mission  of  the  Commission  is  to  research  marginality  and  the  processes  of  marginalization  from  different  perspectives  and  with  a  geographical  basis.  The  main  focus is to better understand multiscalar relations between the globalization process and  how marginality evolves at  the local and  regional levels. Moreover, we seek  to improve  our understanding of local and  regional  responses  to different  forms of marginality and  marginalization processes. 

The commission intends to continue to follow the objectives that were in its focus already  in this period, that is:  

1. To  further  the  understanding  of marginality  and  the  processes  of marginalization in  our globalized world, through the study and analysis of the forces responsible for the  dynamics  and  structures  of  spatial  marginality  at  various  scales.  They  will  include,  among others, issues of technology, gender, social structure and the environment. 

2. To analyze marginality as  the  result of human perceptions and decisions, leading  to  the  understanding  of  the  role  of  the  various  agents  in  those  processes,  and  their  response to prevailing conditions. 

3. To develop comparative approaches in order  to identify various  types of marginality  and  to  put  them  into  perspective  and  assess  their  role  in  an  increasingly  globalized  world. Emphasis in particular needs  to be placed on  the experience of  the South. To  study policy/institutional/community responses to economic and societal problems in  marginal  regions  at  various  scales  in  relation  to  local,  regional  and  societal  development,  and  to  study  human  responses  to  global  change,  including  their  implications for marginalization. 

4. To study policy/institutional/community responses to economic and societal problems  in  marginal  regions  at  various  scales  in  relation  to  local,  regional  and  societal  development,  and  to  study  human  responses  to  global  change,  including  their  implications for marginalization. 

The  use  and  development  of  appropriate  theory  and  methodology  is  to  be  involved  in  each of the above. 

STEERING COMMITTEE 2016-2020 

Chair  

Prof. Steve Déry, Université Laval, Département de géographie, 2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec,  QUÉBEC, Canada, G1V 0A6  

Phone: 1-418-656-2131 poste 5107, E-mail: Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca

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C12.29 Newsletter December 2016 

Steering committee members 

Dr.  Firuza  Begham  Binti  Mustafa,  Senior  Lecturer  

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and  Social Sciences 

University of Malaya 

50603 Kuala Lumpur 

Malaysia 

Phone: 79675536 

E-mail: firuza@um.edu.my

Prof. Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš 

University of Zagreb  

Faculty of Science, Department of Geography Marulićev trg 19/II,10000 Zagreb 

Croatia 

Web:  www.pmf.unizg.hr/geog/borna.fuerst bjelis 

Phone: +385 1 4895 428 

E-mail: bornafb@geog.pmf.hr

Prof. Ruth Kark 

Department  of  Geography  Faculty  of  Social  Sciences 

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, 

Israel 

Telephone Home: 972-2-643-4820 

Fax: 972-2-643-4820 

E-mail: mskark@mscc.huji.ac.il

Prof.  Daichi  Kohmoto,  Associate  Professor  of  Geography 

Nara University of Education,  

Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528  

Japan 

E-mail: daichizu@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Matengu,  

Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and  Development 

University of Namibia,  

340  Mandume  Ndemufayo  Ave  Pionierspark,  Windhoek, 

Namibia 

Phone: +264 61 206 3944 

Fax: +264 61 242644 

E-mail: kmatengu@unam.na

Dr. Toivo Muilu 

Natural  Resources  Institute  Finland  (professor) 

Department of Geography (adjunct professor) Po Box 413 

FI-90014 University of Oulu 

Finland 

Phone: +358 29 532 6722 

E-mail: toivo.muilu@luke.fi

Dr.  Catherine  Robinson,  adjunct  associate  professor 

University  of  Queensland,  Brisbane  St  Lucia,  QLD 4072, 

Australia 

Phone: +61 7 3365 1111 

E-mail: Catherine.Robinson@csiro.au

Prof. Claudio Urra Coletti 

Instituto de Geografía 

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras 

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo 

Mendoza – Argentina 

Phone: 

E-mail: urra73@gmail.com

Commission Secretary 

Prof.  Emeritus  Walter  Leimgruber, Université  de  Fribourg, Département  de  Géosciences,  Unité  de  Géographie, Chemin du Musée 4, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland 

Phone: ++41 26 300 90 10, private ++41 (0)26 402 83 02 

Fax: ++41 26 300 96 47  

E-mail: walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch

6 

YOUR ADDRESS UPDATE:

C12.29 Newsletter December 2016 

Please help us to keep the address list updated by communicating your new address, phone  and fax number and e-mail address to me (Steve.Dery@ggr.ulaval.ca) and to our secretary  (walter.leimgruber@unifr.ch).

APOLOGY 

I apologize that this newsletter was not sent out before Christmas, as planned, but arrives a few  weeks late. This is due to a nasty cold that prevented me  (Walter)  from taking care of most of  my tasks, and to the move of our chair (Steve Déry) to Hanoi (Vietnam) for a research leave that  absorbed him beyond expectations.