Rights, symbolic violence and the micro-politics of the rural: the case of the Parish Paths Partnership scheme

In this paper microlevel politics and conflict associated with social and economic change in the countryside and linked changes in rural governance are explored with a focus upon research carried out on a recent rural policy initiative aimed at local 'empowerment'. This acts as a touchstone for a wider theoretical discussion. The paper is theorised within a conceptual framework derived and extended from the work of Pierre Bourdieu and others in order to explore case studies of the English Countryside Commission's Parish Paths Partnership scheme. The micropolitics involved with this scheme are examined and used to highlight more general issues raised by increased 'parish empowerment' in the 'postrural'.

The zero, the centre and the empty utopia: from Rossellini to Walter Salles

This article examines utopian gestures and inaugural desires in two films which became symbolic of the Brazilian Film Revival in the late 1990s: Central Station (1998) and Midnight (1999). Both evolve around the idea of an overcrowded or empty centre in a country trapped between past and future, in which the motif of the zero stands for both the announcement and the negation of utopia. The analysis draws parallels between them and new wave films which also elaborate on the idea of the zero, with examples picked from Italian neo-realism, the Brazilian Cinema Novo and the New German Cinema. In Central Station, the ‘point zero’, or the core of the homeland, is retrieved in the archaic backlands, where political issues are resolved in the private sphere and the social drama turns into family melodrama. Midnight, in its turn, recycles Glauber Rocha’s utopian prophecies in the new millennium’s hour zero, when the earthly paradise represented by the sea is re-encountered by the middle-class character, but not by the poor migrant. In both cases, public injustice is compensated by the heroes’ personal achievements, but those do not refer to the real nation, its history or society. Their utopian breadth, based on nostalgia, citation and genre techniques, is of a virtual kind, attune to cinema only.

(Re)enchanting geography? The nature of being critical and the character of critique in human geography

Enchantment is a term frequently used by human geographers to express delight, wonder or that which cannot be simply explained. However, it is a concept that has yet to be subject to sustained critique, specifically how it can be used to progress geographic thought and praxis. This paper makes sense of, and space for, the unintelligibility of enchantment in order to encourage a less repressed, more cheerful way of engaging with the geographies of the world. We track back through our disciplinary heritage to explore how geographers have employed enchantment as a force through which the world inspires affective attachment. We review the terrain of the debate surrounding recent geographical engagements with enchantment, focusing on the nature of being critical and the character of critique in human geography, offering a new ‘enchanted’ stance to our geographical endeavours. We argue that the moment of enchantment has not passed with the current challenging climate; if anything, it is more pressing.

Late-Holocene changes in character and behaviour of land-terminating glaciers on James Ross Island, Antarctica

Virtually no information is available on the response of land-terminating Antarctic Peninsula glaciers to climate change on a centennial timescale. This paper analyses the topography, geomorphology and sedimentology of prominent moraines on James Ross Island, Antarctica, to determine geometric changes and to interpret glacier behaviour. The moraines are very likely due to a late-Holocene phase of advance and featured (1) shearing and thrusting within the snout, (2) shearing and deformation of basal sediment, (3) more supraglacial debris than at present and (4) short distances of sediment transport. Retreat of ∼100 m and thinning of 15–20 m has produced a loss of 0.1 km3 of ice. The pattern of surface lowering is asymmetric. These geometrical changes are suggested most simply to be due to a net negative mass balance caused by a drier climate. Comparisons of the moraines with the current glaciological surface structure of the glaciers permits speculation of a transition from a polythermal to a cold-based thermal regime. Small land-terminating glaciers in the northern Antarctic Peninsula region could be cooling despite a warming climate.

Bridge-localized HOMO-binding character of divinylanthracene-bridged dinuclear ruthenium carbonyl complexes: spectroscopic, spectroelectrochemical, and computational studies

The electronic properties of four divinylanthracene-bridged diruthenium carbonyl complexes [{RuCl(CO)(PMe3)3}2(μ[BOND]CH[DOUBLE BOND]CHArCH[DOUBLE BOND]CH)] (Ar=9,10-anthracene (1), 1,5-anthracene (2), 2,6-anthracene (3), 1,8-anthracene (4)) obtained by molecular spectroscopic methods (IR, UV/Vis/near-IR, and EPR spectroscopy) and DFT calculations are reported. IR spectroelectrochemical studies have revealed that these complexes are first oxidized at the noninnocent bridging ligand, which is in line with the very small ν(C[TRIPLE BOND]O) wavenumber shift that accompanies this process and also supported by DFT calculations. Because of poor conjugation in complex 1, except oxidized 1+, the electronic absorption spectra of complexes 2+, 3+, and 4+ all display the characteristic near-IR band envelopes that have been deconvoluted into three Gaussian sub-bands. Two of the sub-bands belong mainly to metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) transitions according to results from time-dependent DFT calculations. EPR spectroscopy of chemically generated 1+–4+ proves largely ligand-centered spin density, again in accordance with IR spectra and DFT calculations results.

Self-construals, Symbolic and Hedonic Preferences, and Actual Purchase Behavior

The study explores the influence of the independent and interdependent self-construals on actual purchase behavior and the mediating role of consumer preferences for symbolic and hedonic meanings. Data were collected through a survey of about 1,000 respondents. Results indicate that independent consumers draw on the self/hedonic- and status-symbolic resources of clothing in the construction and expression of their identities. Regarding the interdependent consumers, they show no interest in clothing affiliation and status symbolism. The degree of preference for status-symbolic meaning mediates all effects of the independent and interdependent self-construals on actual purchase behavior; self-expressive/hedonic preferences mediate two of the three effects of the independent self on actual purchase behavior when accounting for suppression effects, whereas the expected mediation of preference for affiliation meaning is not supported.

The multidimensional character of accounting numbers

This paper takes as its motivation debates surrounding the multiplicity of functions of accounting information. We are in particular interested in the existential function of accounting numbers and argue that numerical signs having discursive possibilities may acquire new meanings through reframing. Drawing on Goffman’s (1974) frame analysis and Vollmer’s (2007) work on three-dimensional character of numerical signs, we explore the ways in which numbers can go through instantaneous transformations and tell a new kind of story. In our analysis, we look at the main historical developments and current controversies surrounding accounting practice with a specific focus on scandals involving numerical signs as moments where our understandings and the discursive function of previously inoffensive signs shifts through a collective involvement. We map the purpose and usefulness of Vollmer’s three-dimensional framework in the analysis of selected financial accounting practices and scandals as examples of instances where numbers are reframed to suddenly perform a different existential function in context of their calculative and symptomatic dimensions.

Symbolic consumption of tourism destination brands

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is recognised as a means of interpersonal communication and a powerful marketing tool. However, previous studies have focussed on related motivations, and limited attention has been given to understanding the antecedents of eWOM communication behaviour in the travel industry. This study proposes a full and partial mediation model, which brings together for the first time three key antecedents: adoption of electronic communication technology, consumer dis/satisfaction with travel consumption experience, and subjective norm. The model aims to understand the impact of these antecedents on travellers' attitude towards eWOM communication and intention to use eWOM communication media. The data were collected from international travellers (n = 524), and structural equation modelling is used to test the conceptual framework. The findings of the study suggest that overall attitude towards eWOM communication partially mediates the impact of the traveller's adoption of electronic communication technology and subjective norm, and fully mediates the impact of consumer dis/satisfaction with travel consumption experience on travellers' intention to use eWOM communication media.