The Dictionary of Human Geography

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abduction
A form of reasoning that takes accepted knowledge and infers the ?best avail able? explanations for what is observed. Whereas deduction formally infers the consequences of a cause and effect relationship (if a, then b), and induction infers a conclusion from a num ber of observations (of the same patterns, for example), abductive reasoning infers relation ships from observations rather than asserting them. It thus presents a ?provisional? account for what has been observed (for why a is related to b), either inviting further empirical investi gation that might sustain the ?explanation? or encouraging deductive work that might put the putative causal chain on a former footing. Rj (NEW PARAGRAPH)
abjection
A psychoanalytic concept that de scribes a psychic process through which the pure, proper and bounded body and identity emerge by expelling what is deemed impure, horrific or disgusting. The abject refers to bod ily by products such as urine, saliva, sperm, blood, vomit, faeces, hair, nails or skin, but also to impure psychic attachments, such as same sex desire (Butler, 1997) and to entire zones of uninhabitable social life. What and who is classified as abject is socially and cul turally contingent; it is that which ?upsets or befuddles order? (Grosz, 1994, p. 192). The abject thus signals sites of potential threat to the psychic and social order. Abjection is a process that can never be completed, and this is one factor that creates the intensity of psy chic investment in the process. The concept is of interest because it attests to the materiality of subjectivity (the constant interplay be tween the body and subjectivity); the persist ent work required to maintain the fragile boundary between inside and outside, object and subject; and the intimate ways in which cultural norms inhabit the body. Geographers have been drawn in particular to the role that abjection plays in group based fears manifest, for instance, in racism, sexism, homophobia (see homophobia and heterosexism), able ism and some forms of nationalism (Young, 1990a), particularly in the maintenance of borders and purification of space, and in the production of the space of the exception (see exception, space of). As one example, Jo Long (2006) interprets the efforts of the Israeli state to defend its borders from the ?leakage? of Palestinian checkpoint births and female ?suicide bombers? through the concept of abjection; Judith Butler (2004) conceives the US operated Guantanamo Bay detention camp as a domain of abjected beings. Gp. Suggested reading Sibley (1995). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
aboriginality
A term derived from the Latin ab origine, meaning the original founders, or ?from the beginning?. In the nineteenth century, ?Aborigines? denoted the existing inhabitants of what Europeans called the ?New World?. Today, the terms ?aboriginal peoples? and ?aboriginality? are in official use in Australia and in Canada, and in Canada it is also common to refer to ?First Nations?. Elsewhere, it is more usual to refer to indigenous peoples, and hence indigeneity. According to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, the interpret ation of such expressions should reflect the historical and current situations of these colon ized peoples (see coLoniaLism), as well as their manner of self identification and search for greater degrees of self determination. However, as a construct of European modernity, ?abori ginality? was freighted with connotations of ?savagery? and lack of cuLture (Anderson, 2000a) (see also primitivism), and its con tinued use also obscures the subjectivities of the heterogeneous groups to which it is applied. Indigenous peoples often had no single name to describe themselves before there was a colonizing Other to make this necessary. The Maori (meaning ?ordinary?, or ?the people?) of New Zealand did not describe themselves as such until they were aware of Pakeha (?not Maori? or Europeans). They knew and named themselves as members of kin based groups, as is still the case. Likewise, amongst the Kwara?ae of Malaita (one of the Solomon Islands) self definition is understood in relation to pLace, genealogy, right of access to land and the right to speak (Gegeo, 2001). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Since the 1980s, globalization and the architecture of neo LiberaLism have presented both problems and opportunities. Marginaliza tion and loss of control of resources continue (Stewart Harawira, 2005), but there is also (NEW PARAGRAPH) potential for insertion into transnational infor mational and economic networks. This can facilitate steps towards indigenous profession alization and self determination. Participation in activities such as tourism, oil extraction and cattle ranching by the Cofan and Secoya peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon has opened spaces for questioning fixed notions of indigenous identities (as ?natural? conserva tionists of remote territories, for example). These are often articulated in different ways and contested within communities, particu larly along generational lines (Valdivia, 2005). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Despite official recognition of indigenous peoples in national legislation and constitutional law, the practical implementation of policy remains a problem in many parts of the world. According to the United Nations Working Group in 2003, this applies in areas ranging from rights to land and natural resources to the alleviation of poverty. Institutionalized discrim ination is pervasive, not least through superim posed definitions of identity (e.g. for census purposes or for state entitlements). State educa tion systems have often been structured to facili tate integration or assimilation, denying cultural and ethnic diversity. Universities maybe compli cit. Research on, rather than with, indigenous people is seen as reproducing colonial relations, advancing the career of the researcher rather than indigenous interests. (cf. Smith, 1999b). ep (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Smith (1999); Valdivia (2005). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Methodologically, abstraction involves the conceptual isolation of (a partial aspect of) an object. During the quantitative rEvoLution, abstraction was seen as the starting point for the construction of spatial models, but few methodological principles were provided (Chorley, 1964). Some critics of spatiaL sciEncE were drawn instead to the construction of what the sociologist Max Weber called iDEaL typES: ?one sided? idealiza tions of the world seen from particular points of view. There was nothing especially ?scientific? about them, which is presumably why they appealed to the critics, and Weber claimed that this kind of selective structuring is some thing that we all do all the time. Since it is possible to construct quite different ideal types of the same phenomenon, depending on one?s point of view, the critical moment comes when the ideal type is compared with ?empirical reality? but here too few methodological principles were proposed to conduct or inter pret any such comparisons. (NEW PARAGRAPH) REALISM rejected both of these approaches as arbitrary and substituted what its proponents saw as a rigorous scientific methodology. Accordingto Sayer (1992 [1984]), abstractions should identify essential characteristics of ob jects and shouldbe concerned with ?substantial? relations of connection rather than merely ?for mal? relations of similarity (which Chorley (1964) had called ?analogues?; cf. MEtaphor). Realism turns on identifying those intErnaL rELations that necessarily enter into the consti tution of specific structures. Hence Sayer dis tinguished a rational abstraction that is, ?one that isolates a significant element of the world that has some unity and autonomous force? from a chaotic conception that is, one whose definition is more or less arbitrary. It is no less important to recognize different levels ofabstrac tion, a strategy of considerable importance in theoretical formations such as historical Ma tEriaLiSM that claim to move between the gen eral and the (historically or geographically) specific (Cox and Mair, 1989). But these pre scriptions turn out to be far from straightfor ward in a huMan gEographY where ?context? cannot be cleanly severed from objects of analysis, and recent debates over scaLE have revealed the importance of revisiting issues of EpistEMoLogy and ontoLogy that are focal to the process of abstraction (Castree, 2005b). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Abstraction is more than a formal method: it is a profoundly human and thoroughly indispensable practice, as Weber recognized, so that what matters are the consequences of particular modes of abstraction. Seen thus, it spirals far beyond the spheres of SciEncE and other forms of intellectual enquiry. Many critics have drawn attention to the role of abstraction in the heightened rationalization of everyday life under capitaLiSM what Habermas (1987b [1981]) called ?the colon ization of the LifEworLD? and the attendant production of an abstract space, ?one sided? and ?incomplete?, that Lefebvre (1991b [1974]) identified as the dominant spatial thematic of MoDErnity (see production of spacE). Dg (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Castree (2005b); Sayer (1982). (NEW PARAGRAPH) The standard definition is the ease with which people can reach desired activ ity sites, such as those offering employment, shopping, medical care or recreation. Because many geographers and planners believe that ac cess to essential goods and services is an import ant indicator of quaLity of LifE, measures of access are used to compare the accessibility levels of different groups of individuals and households, or of different places or locations. Most measures of accessibility entail counting the number of opportunities or activity sites available within certain travel times or dis tances of a specified origin (Handy and Niemeier, 1997). (NEW PARAGRAPH) As is evident from the measure above, accessibility is affected by land use patterns, mobility and mobility substitutes in the form of telecommunications. If many oppor tunities are located close to someone's home or workplace, that person can enjoy a relatively high level of accessibility with relatively little mobility, and will be more likely to gain access to opportunities via walking or biking rather than via motorized modes (Hanson and Schwab, 1987). As opportunities are located at greater distances from each other and from residential areas, greater mobility is required to attain access. As the cost of overcoming spatial separation increases, all else being equal, accessibility decreases. Electronic com munications such as the telephone and the internet enable access without mobility, al though in most cases, such as that of purchas ing a book from an online vendor, the cost of overcoming distance remains in the form of shipment costs (Scott, 2000b). These relation ships among accessibility, mobility and land use patterns are central to efforts to promote the urban viLLage as an alternative to sprawL. (NEW PARAGRAPH) The advent of GIS technology has enabled the development of accessibility measures that recognize that a person's access changes as that person moves about, for example, over the course of a day (Kwan, 1999). In addition, there is increasing recognition that the ability to take advantage of spatially dispersed em ployment opportunities, medical services and shops involves more than overcoming dis (NEW PARAGRAPH) tance. Gaining access often entails overcoming barriers constructed by language and culture (as in the ability to access medical care), by lack of education or skills (as in access to certain jobs), or by gender ideologies (which prohibit women from entering certain places or place additional space time constraints on women's mobility). In short, lack of access involves more than spatiaL mismatch. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Kwan and Weber (2003); Kwan, Murray, O?Kelly and Tiefelsdorf (2003). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
accumulation
The process by which capital is reproduced on an expanding scale through the reinvestment of surplus value. Accumulation of capital is possible within a variety of social structures, but for Marx accumulation was uniquely imperative within capitalist societies and therefore constituted a definitive condition of the capitalist mode of production (see capitaLism). (NEW PARAGRAPH) In capitalist contexts, accumulation involves reinvesting the surplus value from past rounds of production, reconverting it into capital. Marx discussed different forms of accumula tion that applied to different historical and geographical conditions of production. In early centuries of European capitalism, a cru cial dimension of the accumulation process was enclosure of common lands and conver sion of communal or tied labour into ?free? wage labour, through destruction of independ ent control over means of production. Marx described this process of primitive (or ?pri mary') accumulation as a historical precondi tion for the development of capitalism (Marx, 1967 [1867], pp. 713 41), but it has also been seen in more recent Marxist scholarship as a continuing dimension of the overall process of accumulation that Harvey (2003b, pp. 137 82) calls accumulation by dispossession (cf. Amin, 1974; see also marxian economics). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Within the capitalist mode of production proper, the major form of accumulation is what Marx calls ?expanded reproduction.' To remain in business, any given capitalist must at least preserve the value of the capital origin ally invested, what Marx calls ?simple repro duction.? But, as individual capitalists seek to more effectively extract surplus from labour, they employ new means of production (ma chinery and other technologies), the value of which can only be fully realized through expanding their scale of operation. This spurs competition over markets, and competition in turn comes to act as the enforcer of expanded reproduction. Any capitalist who chooses only to engage in simple reproduction would soon lose market share and go out of business. As Marx put the matter, ?Accumulate, accumu late! That is Moses and the prophets!? (Marx, 1967 [1867], p. 595). (NEW PARAGRAPH) This competition enforced dynamic of ac cumulation shapes the geography of capitalist development. The search for new markets drives investors to intensify production and consumption within given locations, contrib uting to the development of the built environ ment and transforming social relations in ways that facilitate expanded reproduction (Harvey, 1999 [1982]). It also drives investors to seek opportunities in new locations, thus giving rise to a geographical expansion of capitalist rela tions ofproduction and consumption, albeit in a highly uneven fashion when considered at a global scale (Amin, 1974; see uneven develop ment). Both intensive and extensive capitalist accumulation are fraught processes that do not occur automatically, and are shaped by numer ous social struggles (Harvey, 2003b, pp. 183 211). The reproduction of capitalist social rela tions may or may not occur in given contexts, and may depend upon a variety of factors, in cluding the roles played by states. jgl (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Amin (1974); Harvey (1999 [1982], 2003b); Marx (1967 [1867]). (NEW PARAGRAPH)