Geoforum

High homicide rates constitute a major public health problem in the United States. In the South high rates have been historically conspicuous, and have contributed to the elevated level in the U.S. compared to other countries at a comparable stage of development. This research illustrates the historical persistence of homicide in the South and presents a regionalization of U.S. states based on their quinquennial homicide profiles since 1935. Several social indicators are plotted against trends in lethal violence for the homicide regions. The analysis suggests a pattern of rates declining away from a core region in Alabama and Georgia, and some convergence between the high rates of the South and the increasing rates of other regions. Southern homicide rates remain high in spite of suggestions that cultural differences between the South and other regions have eroded to insignificance.

"The study of the urban and rural growth in the State of Bahia [Brazil] during the period of 1940-80 is the purpose of this research. This study was done through an integrated analysis of the annual geometric growth rates, and the application of several growth models. The analysis showed that the urbanization and 'de-ruralization' processes were intense and that this trend will be stronger in the near future." (SUMMARY IN ENG) excerpt

"The general characteristics and the growth 1961-1971 of class 1 cities (those with more than 100,000 population in 1971) in India are examined. An unexpected correlation shows that the larger cities are more specialized, and growing faster. A factor analysis reduces the original variables to apparently significant factors, but these fail to classify the individual cities convincingly. An alternative simple classification of cities in terms of growth rates and degree of specialization shows strong regional components, dividing India into an emerging system of dynamic interdependent cities, and areas of stagnation and lack of specialization."

"Using preliminary figures from the 1981 Census, this paper details recent population shifts at a variety of areal scales in England and Wales. It compares trends in the 1971-1981 period with those in the previous decade and assesses the relative contributions of net migration and natural change. Within its broad descriptive objectives, the paper considers whether England and Wales has kept abreast of patterns of counter-urbanization that have been claimed for other industrialized nations." The authors propose some definitions for various terms, including decentralization, deconcentration, and counter-urbanization. "The conclusion is drawn that even if the postulated international continuum of changes ranging from urbanization through to counter-urbanization is valid, the limited geographical size of England and Wales will preclude this country from reaching the final stages of such a model. Finally, some policy implications which stem from the recent population redistributions are introduced and some themes for future research are considered."

The relevance of the concept of the population turnaround to the analysis of population trends in the Canadian Prairie Provinces between 1971 and 1986 is considered. "Throughout the whole period the trend to greater spatial concentration of the population has continued despite the possibility of greater dispersal. The terms population turnaround or counter-urbanization were found to be too general to summarize the varied changes in the 1970s.... In the 1980s more localized spatial trends are identified, with most places experiencing marginal growth and decline, thereby providing very different characteristics to the previous decade."

"Some of [Australia's] most rapid population growth rates have been recorded on the North Coast of New South Wales. The paper sets this migration flow in an international context and looks in detail at the profile, decision-making, and experience of 150 households who moved to the North Coast in the 1986-1991 intercensal period. Results corroborate earlier findings that many coastal migrants are motivated by non-economic considerations. ¿Pull' factors are much more important than ¿push' factors, with the influence of the physical environment, climate and relaxed lifestyle dominant."

The relationship between the international migration of skilled labor and government policies affecting migration both directly and indirectly in Sub-Saharan Africa is explored. "At an intercontinental scale the deleterious effects of the global division of labour have not merely been passively accepted; within the continent new patterns of skilled-labour migration have been created by increasingly differentiated economic performance and political relationships. A case study of Kenya, a country of small current net immigration of skilled workers, is used to specify some of the processes that establish the relationships between immigration and emigration policies, and how these have been mediated by conditions for skilled workers."

South Africa's new democratic government inherited a system of cross-border migration management rooted in the abusive practices of the past. Under apartheid, employers such as mining companies and White farmers, were exempted from normal immigration legislation. The result was legislation and practices that are in direct conflict with the new government's commitment to transparency, equality, accountability, and fundamental human rights. The practices permitted by this system have continued after 1994. This paper documents the continuities in international migration policy and practice between the old and new South Africa and highlights the dilemmas which the government faces in transforming inherited policy. The paper critically analyzes the regulatory framework of the bilateral labor agreements and the Aliens Control Act. The paper then highlights policy proposals that contravene the discourse of the fortress and assesses, pessimistically, the likelihood of their implementation before the 1999 elections.

In the spirited debate over cross-border migration in southern Africa there is one issue that has been conspicuously absent: the environment. The issue is raised in this article not because it necessarily deserves to be part of the debate--it will be argued, in fact that one needs to tread very carefully when drawing any linkages between migration and the environment--but because it has received an inordinate amount of attention in the academic and popular press in other parts of the world (particularly in the US) and could influence South African immigration policy and debates. In this article the authors look specifically at Thomas Homer-Dixon's influential work on environmental scarcity and migration and critically assess its relevance in the southern African context. A brief review of the history of migration and immigration policy in the region is followed by a theoretical and empirical critique of Homer Dixon's writings. It is acknowledged in the article that environmental degradation can (and does) contribute to forced migration and violent conflict in southern Africa, but it is also argued that Homer-Dixon misses some fundamental points about the political economy of (post) apartheid southern Africa and in doing so presents a very problematic interpretation of the causes and effects of migration in the region. The potential for these theories to lend themselves to a reactionary, closed-border approach to immigration in South Africa is also discussed and forms part of the impetus for the writing of this paper.

Syringe exchange programs (SEPs) aim to reduce the harm associated with injection drug use (IDU). Although they have been accepted as critical components of HIV prevention in many parts of the world, they are often unwelcome and difficult to set up and maintain, even in communities hardest hit by IDU-related HIV transmission. This research examines socio-cultural and political processes that shape community and institutional resistance toward establishing and maintaining SEPs. These processes are configured and reinforced through the socio-spatial stigmatizing of IDUs, and legal and public policy against SEPs. Overarching themes the paper considers are: (1) institutional and/or political opposition based on (a) political and law enforcement issues associated with state drug paraphernalia laws and local syringe laws; (b) harassment of drug users and resistance to services for drug users by local politicians and police; and (c) state and local government (in)action or opposition; and (2) the stigmatization of drug users and location of SEPs in local neighborhoods and business districts. Rather than be explained by "not in my back yard" localism, this pattern seems best conceptualized as an "inequitable exclusion alliance" (IEA) that institutionalizes national and local stigmatizing of drug users and other vulnerable populations.

The health field concept is examined as a framework within which to analyse spatial patterns of mortality. Disease mapping and its problems are investigated with particular reference to ischaemic heart disease in the U.K.

Recent increases in female labour migration in and from Asia have triggered a surge of interest in how the absence of the mother and wife for extended periods of time affects the left-behind family, particularly children, in labour-sending countries. While migration studies in the region have shown that the extended family, especially female relatives, is often called on for support in childcare during the mother's absence it is not yet clear how childcare arrangements are made. Drawing on in-depth interviews with non-parent carers of left-behind children in Indonesia and Vietnam, the paper aims to unveil complexities and nuances around care in the context of transnational labour migration. In so doing it draws attention to the enduring influence of social norms on the organisation of family life when women are increasingly drawn into the global labour market. By contrasting a predominantly patrilineal East Asian family structure in Vietnam with what is often understood as a bilateral South-East Asian family structure in Indonesia, the paper seeks to provide interesting comparative insights into the adaptive strategies that the transnational family pursues in order to cope with the reproductive vacuum left behind by the migrant mother.

PIP Past and present population trends in Australia since the beginning of European settlement in 1788 are reviewed. Separate consideration is given to urbanization, immigration, internal migration, mortality, and demographic aging.

"Highly skilled professional and managerial labour migration has become an important facet of the contemporary world economy. The operations of transnational corporations have created more opportunities for skilled migrants to work abroad.... There is a growing interest amongst economic geographers to examine this form of migration through an appreciation of global economic restructuring, labour market change and world cities. Consequently, this paper introduces a new conceptual framework...[which] is based on the rationale that world cities, and the patterns of labour market demand that exist within them, are of paramount importance in influencing highly skilled professional and managerial labour migration within the world economy. The author uses an example of highly skilled labour migration within the transnational banking sector [in London] to illustrate this new conceptual framework."

PIP Research geographers combined LANDSAT imagery analysis and vegetation survey (LANDSAT data interpretation, ground truthing, and quantitative transect sampling) to study the spatial dynamics of forest and woodland areas in the Lake Elementeita watershed in the central Rift Valley of Kenya. Between 1973-1984, trees in forests and woodlands disappeared rapidly from a cover of 152-64 sq. km, i.e. 45-19% of total catchment. The most rapid decrease occurred between 1973-1976 which was associated with immigration into the area in the 1960s and 1970s. Indeed the annual population growth rate in the area was 5.7%. Further most of the population concentrated in the upper and middle catchment areas of Ndunduri, Ngorika, and Nyaituga where the soils and climate were best for commercial crop and livestock farming. This high concentration of people in 1 area along with the high population growth rate contributed greatly to deforestation. In fact, it resulted in a 57.9% loss of total forest and woodland areas. These trees used to cover most of the Ndunduri and Ngorika areas. Agroecosystems have replaced the Juniperus procera and Olea africana forest belts which dominated the Ngorika plains in the past. Further, in 1988, field observations revealed that very limited forest and woodland areas have remained undisturbed. Based on these results and the fact that little substantial efforts towards conservation and afforestation, the researchers predicted that most of the watershed would be with forests and woodlands by 2000. They further noted that deforestation could cause lower water levels in Lake Elementeita, especially during droughts, and worsen soil erosion. Therefore the government should initiate environmental controls in this watershed that match local conditions and the true and increasing needs of the rural population.

PIP The introduction to this paper reviews the global economic restructuring that has led to theories of a new international division of labor (NIDL) marked by a global feminization of labor that exploits traditional feminine qualities. The argument is made that the NIDL theory fails to cover international labor migration such as that undertaken by female domestic servants in East and Southeast Asia. After summarizing recent research on international waged domestic labor, it is noted that policies of labor-sending countries have, until recently, reflected concerns with enhancing the flow of remittances home to relieve international debt rather than with the well-being of the workers. The paper goes on to focus on the effect of Singapore's state policies on incoming labor migration. After examining the conditions that created the demand for foreign maids, the paper investigates how state policy facilitated the exploitation of these women and perpetuated the social ideology of housework both as women's work and as non-work. It is shown that the official view that paid or unpaid productive labor belongs to the private domain beyond the purview of the state has detrimental repercussions for foreign domestic helpers. These arguments are bolstered with data from secondary sources and from field work conducted in 1995 involving a survey of 162 matched pairs of foreign domestic helpers and employers and in-depth interviews with 15 workers and 15 employers (13 matched pairs).

"This paper uses the official annual population estimates to examine changes in the scale of urban-rural shift in the distribution of the British population since the 1960s. These reveal that the level of population deconcentration at regional and more local scales stood at its highest at the beginning of the 1970s and that since the mid 1970s the rate of population loss experienced by London and several other large cities has diminished markedly. An analysis of the components of population change reveals that trends in net migration have been primarily responsible, though generally reinforced by trends in natural change rates. It is concluded that...most of [the 1970s] featured the downwave of a longer cycle of decentralisation which had its origins at least as early as the first half of the 1960s."

"This paper examines trends in British emigration using the results of the International Passenger Survey. Settlement emigration has declined in importance while in the early 1980s temporary skilled labour transfers have become dominant. Two parallel mechanisms are proposed to explain the regional patterns of skilled emigration, with particular emphasis being given to the role of international recruitment agencies in controlling which skills are sought in certain regional labour markets."

The preponderance of females in society has steadily decreased since the last war. This paper uses Metropolitan Economic Labour Areas to examine the differential effect of these changes and suggests associations with retirement migration and increasing female economic activity rates.

"This paper is addressed to the interplay of careers and internal labour markets (ILMs) in explaining the international migration of professional and technical personnel, particularly within transnational corporations (TNCs). It begins by reviewing the current state of the theoretical art, focusing on five main elements: the international spatial division of labour; the concept of career; the organization of ILMs; the lubrication of the migration system by recruitment, placement and relocation agencies; and reintegration of returning expatriates. There follows a discussion of selected aspects of the volume and characteristics of ILM migrations among the highly-skilled, using government, employer organization's and individual company data."

Aspects of migration between Puerto Rico and the United States are explored. "This examination of the multiple-movement behaviour of a sample of Puerto Rican women seeks to unravel the relations between their circulation patterns, their family and contextual situations and their declared motives for undertaking international mobility. The leading question asked in this study is whether this international mobility behaviour of Puerto Rican women is autonomous or dependent upon the movement or decision-making of others. Structural theory suggests the latter is most likely, but behavioural divergence occurs in return movement."

"This paper addresses itself to one of the problems inherent in any spatial analysis of census data, namely the variable size of the enumeration units. This variation renders some proportions unstable, due to the small numbers involved. Attempts to overcome this, using visual methods, can be unsatisfactory, whilst doing nothing to aid statistical analysis. Chi-square maps are suggested as a satisfactory alternative in both contexts, and data for Reading, Berkshire are displayed to illustrate this. These maps suggest that some inferences, based upon indicators derived from proportions, may be unsound."

PIP The demographic transition in twentieth-century India is analyzed using census data. The authors first examine the extent to which 1921 and 1951 can be identified as the two critical points in the demographic transition process. Particular attention is paid to regional differences in the pace of the transition process. The results confirm the overall validity of the two selected years as critical points in the transition although the timing of the transition was significantly different when examined from a regional perspective. They also indicate that the demographic transition model is appropriate to the Indian experience although the threshold levels at which changes occurred were different.

PIP The patterns of interregional migration within Slovakia from 1970 to 1990 and their consequences for the Slovakian population are analyzed. The author calculates the migration efficiency, or net movement of population relative to total migration, for each administrative district. He concludes that interregional migration has declined both absolutely and as a percentage of total migration, and that a trend toward short-distance migration has become evident. As migration between the north-western and south-eastern part of the country has declined, intraregional rural-urban migration has increased.

PIP Factors fueling urbanization in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica are explored and how the pattern of urban growth reflects gender divisions of labor is considered. Urbanization in Latin America has been due largely to the expansion of economic activities in urban centers, but in Guanacaste, rural employment persists among the poor. Towns in this peripheral province have witnessed no major expansion in urban-based employment opportunities. On the basis of an in-depth survey of urban dwellers in the province's 3 leading towns (Liberia, Canas, and Santa Cruz), an attempt is made to explain Guanacaste's urbanization. The 1st section discusses the migration, urbanization, and economic development in Costa Rica, as well as Guanacaste. The 2nd section provides the findings of the survey of 350 low-income, urban households in Guanacaste, focusing on the households' reported reasons for moving. Section 3 examines household survival strategies in the areas surveyed, paying close attention to gender and age selectivity of short-term out-migration to external labor markets. Section 4 interprets the apparent connection between gender-differentiated labor migration and the dominance of reproductive factors in household decisions to move to urban centers. Section 5 considers the implications of the migration patterns on women, while section 6 discusses the wider implications of the study. The study reveals that in Guanacaste, urbanization is more strongly linked to the reproductive (e.g., housing and welfare) needs of household survival than to productive (employment and income) needs.