Commission Newsletters

Commission Newsletter 2023 - 2



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.

 

 

2025. 

2027. 

 

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 2023 - 1



 


 

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

Commission Newsletter 2022 - 2

Commission Newsletter 2022 - 1

Commission Newsletter 2021 - 1

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.

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.

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:

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

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

Fully freely downloadable - Available in Hebrew, Arab, English and French The Truman Institute's Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, written by Shaul Arieli, is a tool that presents the territory disputed by the two parties and the history of the geography of this conflict through the maps and partition plans that for more than a century have been envisaged to resolve it. It shows that it is still possible, if each party agrees to give up part of its claims on this disputed territory and to recognize the legitimacy of the other, to reach a compromise to create two states on the Land of Israel/Palestine.The work presented is the result of the author's triple expertise. Shaul Arieli, who is a former commander in the Israeli army, a historian and one of the negotiators of the Geneva Accords, crosses with this Atlas, a century of conflict by inscribing it in time and space, appealing to History, Geography but also to a pedagogical neutrality.Citing the Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), the Balfour Declaration (1917), the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the San Remo Conference (1920), the Peel Commission (1937) or the United Nations Partition Plan (1947), he reminds us that the various projections of the division of the region and the drawing of borders have a prehistory. Referring to and detailing the more recent attempts, the Oslo Accords, the Camp David Summit, the Taba Summit, the Geneva Initiative and even the Trump Plan, he demonstrates that all the solutions advocated can only be based on the recognition of a dual legitimacy and he proposes a border line.A major element of the demonstration, the succession of maps shows over the years, in a chronological and irrefutable way, an inexorable progression of the Israeli colonization, making compromise and partition more and more difficult but not impossible, he proves it.

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

Commission Newsletter 2020 – 2

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.

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

 Commission Newsletter 2020 – 1

 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.

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!

Commission Newsletter 2019 – 2

 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).

Commission Newsletter 2019 – 1

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 ),