2,994 research outputs found

    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Cultures of Citizenship in the Twenty-First Century: Literary and Cultural Perspectives on a Legal Concept

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    In the early twenty-first century, the concept of citizenship is more contested than ever. As refugees set out to cross the Mediterranean, European nation-states refer to "cultural integrity" and "immigrant inassimilability," revealing citizenship to be much more than a legal concept. The contributors to this volume take an interdisciplinary approach to considering how cultures of citizenship are being envisioned and interrogated in literary and cultural (con)texts. Through this framework, they attend to the tension between the citizen and its spectral others - a tension determined by how a country defines difference at a given moment

    We, the City

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    Given their unchecked neoliberal restructuring, Berlin and Istanbul have been exposed to various forms of political polarisation and social injustice over the last decade. As a result, the struggle for affordable housing, access to public space, fair working conditions, ecological justice and the right to different ways of life has intensified. Various forms of resistance "from below" have challenged the relationship between local governments and social movements, questioning where and how the city's political problems arise. In a mixture of dialogues, essays and critical reflections, this book explores the ways in which residents of Berlin and Istanbul experience, express and resist the physical, political and normative reorganisation of their cities. It poses the question: Who is the We in We, the City

    Urbanised forested landscape: Urbanisation, timber extraction and forest care on the Vișeu Valley, northern Romania

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    By looking at urbanisation processes from the vantage point of the forest, and the ways in which it both constitutes our living space while having been separated from the bounded space of the urban in modern history, the thesis asks: How can we (re)imagine urbanisation beyond the limits of the urban? How can a feminine line of thinking engage with the forest beyond the capitalist-colonial paradigm and its extractive project? and How can we “think with care” (Puig de la Bellacasa 2017) towards the forest as an inhabitant of our common world, instead of perpetuating the image of the forest as a space outside the delimited boundaries of the city? Through a case study research, introducing the Vișeu Valley in northern Romania as both a site engaged in the circulation of the global timber flow, a part of what Brenner and Schmid (2014) name “planetary urbanisation”, where the extractive logging operations beginning in the late XVIIIth century have constructed it as an extractive landscape, and a more than human landscape inhabited by a multitude of beings (animal, plant, and human) the thesis argues towards the importance of forest care and indigenous knowledge in landscape management understood as a trans-generational transmission of knowledge, that is interdependent with the persistence of the landscape as such. Having a trans-scalar approach, the thesis investigates the ways in which the extractive projects of the capitalist-colonial paradigm have and still are shaping forested landscapes across the globe in order to situate the case as part of a planetary forest landscape and the contemporary debates it is engaged in. By engaging with emerging paradigms within the fields of plant communication, forestry, legal scholarship and landscape urbanism that present trees and forests as intelligent beings, and look at urbanisation as a way of inhabiting the landscape in both indigenous and modern cultures, the thesis argues towards viewing forested landscapes as more than human living spaces. Thinking urbanisation through the case of the Vișeu Valley’s urbanised forested landscape, the thesis aligns with alternate ways of viewing urbanisation as co-habitation with more than human beings, particularly those emerging from interdisciplinary research in the Amazon river basin (Tavares 2017, Heckenberger 2012) and, in light of emerging discourses on the rights of nature, proposes an expanded concept of planetary citizenship, to include non-human personhood

    Frontier Territories: Countering the Green Revolution Legacy in the Brazilian Cerrado

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    Brazil is recognised as a world leader in the production of agri-food commodities in large, highly mechanised farms, but also as a centre of resistance movements advocating for land rights and food sovereignty. Brazil’s portrayal as a success story of agricultural modernisation is invariably linked to the expansion of the production frontier and, specifically, the conversion of the Cerrado region into industrial farmland. A vast savannah zone in the centre of the country, the transformation of the Cerrado region has been driven by intensive soybean and livestock production for export. However, the Cerrado ‘miracle’ has come at a high cost. Besides the environmental impacts of land clearance and the removal of native vegetation, the expansion of the frontier has exacerbated poverty and injustice, deepening the historical inequality of land distribution and wealth. This issue of the IDS Bulletin highlights the legacy of tensions in the Cerrado, arguing that this legacy cannot be ignored in debates on global agri-food systems to which the region is increasingly central. Authored mainly by early career scholars from Brazilian and British universities, the papers here offer new research and empirical material on the battles that have engulfed people and nature in the Cerrado. Three themes emerge: the logic of extraction in an agricultural frontier; the grabbing of natural resources in the name of sustainability; and conflicts and resistance movements. This IDS Bulletin concludes with an agenda for research and action to reclaim the Cerrado, alongside other agricultural frontier territories across the world, as part of the global effort towards sustainable transformation of agri-food systems to secure justice for nature and people alike.Newton Fund Researcher Links Workshops grant, ID 2019-RLWK11-10177UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial StrategyFundação de Apoio a Pesquisa do Distrito Federal (FAPDF), BrazilBritish CouncilUK Economic and Social Research Council, ID ES/R00658X/

    New Computational Methods for Automated Large-Scale Archaeological Site Detection

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    Aquesta tesi doctoral presenta una sèrie d'enfocaments, fluxos de treball i models innovadors en el camp de l'arqueologia computacional per a la detecció automatitzada a gran escala de jaciments arqueològics. S'introdueixen nous conceptes, enfocaments i estratègies, com ara lidar multitemporal, aprenentatge automàtic híbrid, refinament, curriculum learning i blob analysis; així com diferents mètodes d'augment de dades aplicats per primera vegada en el camp de l'arqueologia. S'utilitzen múltiples fonts, com ara imatges de satèl·lits multiespectrals, fotografies RGB de plataformes VANT, mapes històrics i diverses combinacions de sensors, dades i fonts. Els mètodes creats durant el desenvolupament d'aquest doctorat s'han avaluat en projectes en curs: Urbanització a Hispània i la Gàl·lia Mediterrània en el primer mil·lenni aC, detecció de monticles funeraris utilitzant algorismes d'aprenentatge automàtic al nord-oest de la Península Ibèrica, prospecció arqueològica intel·ligent basada en drons (DIASur), i cartografiat del patrimoni arqueològic al sud d'Àsia (MAHSA), per a la qual s'han dissenyat fluxos de treball adaptats als reptes específics del projecte. Aquests nous mètodes han aconseguit proporcionar solucions als problemes comuns d'estudis arqueològics presents en estudis similars, com la baixa precisió en detecció i les poques dades d'entrenament. Els mètodes validats i presentats com a part de la tesi doctoral s'han publicat en accés obert amb el codi disponible perquè puguin implementar-se en altres estudis arqueològics.Esta tesis doctoral presenta una serie de enfoques, flujos de trabajo y modelos innovadores en el campo de la arqueología computacional para la detección automatizada a gran escala de yacimientos arqueológicos. Se introducen nuevos conceptos, enfoques y estrategias, como lidar multitemporal, aprendizaje automático híbrido, refinamiento, curriculum learning y blob analysis; así como diferentes métodos de aumento de datos aplicados por primera vez en el campo de la arqueología. Se utilizan múltiples fuentes, como lidar, imágenes satelitales multiespectrales, fotografías RGB de plataformas VANT, mapas históricos y varias combinaciones de sensores, datos y fuentes. Los métodos creados durante el desarrollo de este doctorado han sido evaluados en proyectos en curso: Urbanización en Iberia y la Galia Mediterránea en el Primer Milenio a. C., Detección de túmulos mediante algoritmos de aprendizaje automático en el Noroeste de la Península Ibérica, Prospección Arqueológica Inteligente basada en Drones (DIASur), y cartografiado del Patrimonio del Sur de Asia (MAHSA), para los que se han diseñado flujos de trabajo adaptados a los retos específicos del proyecto. Estos nuevos métodos han logrado proporcionar soluciones a problemas comunes de la prospección arqueológica presentes en estudios similares, como la baja precisión en detección y los pocos datos de entrenamiento. Los métodos validados y presentados como parte de la tesis doctoral se han publicado en acceso abierto con su código disponible para que puedan implementarse en otros estudios arqueológicos.This doctoral thesis presents a series of innovative approaches, workflows and models in the field of computational archaeology for the automated large-scale detection of archaeological sites. New concepts, approaches and strategies are introduced such as multitemporal lidar, hybrid machine learning, refinement, curriculum learning and blob analysis; as well as different data augmentation methods applied for the first time in the field of archaeology. Multiple sources are used, such as lidar, multispectral satellite imagery, RGB photographs from UAV platform, historical maps, and several combinations of sensors, data, and sources. The methods created during the development of this PhD have been evaluated in ongoing projects: Urbanization in Iberia and Mediterranean Gaul in the First Millennium BC, Detection of burial mounds using machine learning algorithms in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, Drone-based Intelligent Archaeological Survey (DIASur), and Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia (MAHSA), for which workflows adapted to the project’ s specific challenges have been designed. These new methods have managed to provide solutions to common archaeological survey problems, presented in similar large-scale site detection studies, such as the low precision in previous detection studies and how to handle problems with few training data. The validated approaches for site detection presented as part of the PhD have been published as open access papers with freely available code so can be implemented in other archaeological studies

    Locating the Missing: A critical examination of the taphonomic alterations and the archaeological and forensic techniques that can be used to identify them during the search for mass graves

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    Mass grave investigations are complex due to the size of the grave, the number of victims, the nature in which they were created, and their often remote or inaccessible locations. Most mass graves are the result of conflict and/or human rights atrocities, despite the implementation of international laws, conflict and the creation of mass graves are still recurrent issues today. In most cases, investigations take place many years after the grave was first created, often, witness statements are the only information available to investigators to suggest the presence of an undiscovered mass grave. However, the passage of time causes the landscape to recover and change reducing the accuracy of witness information. Current methods that are effectively applied to locate single graves are also not necessarily designed to handle large-scale operations; wasting time, resources, and risking potential damage to evidence. This can have major implications for a forensic case, especially if it is to be presented in court. There is a need to find cheaper, more effective and less time-consuming methods that are specifically designed to locate large-scale gravesites, as there are still many mass graves which need to be found. This research project aimed to determine if the taphonomic signatures commonly found at burial sites have a big enough impact on the subsoil and surrounding landscape to be used as a method of locating archaeological and forensic mass graves. Examining archaeological mass graves alongside their forensic counterparts provided empirical knowledge on how the soil and landscape change over time, to determine which signatures offer the best chances of successfully identifying mass grave locations. Firstly, this project examined victim recovery rates from six countries, the results showed that recovery rates in Iraq are 2%, 3% in Argentina, 8% in Spain, 12% in Colombia, 59% in Cyprus, and 70% in the former Yugoslavia. This low rate of recovery suggests current location and recovery protocols are ineffective. Secondly, legislation, standards and guidance, and policies used to ensure that any gathered evidence is admissible in a court of law were reviewed. However, regulations are complex and vary depending on whether the casework is domestic (carried out in the UK) or international (carried out under the international criminal court), therefore the suitability and admissibility, of the recommended approaches will vary on a jurisdictional basis. Finally, this research critically assessed the physical, stratigraphical and chemical alterations caused by the creation of a mass grave, the subsequent decomposition of the bodies interred within, and the techniques which can detect these changes. It showed that the changes a mass grave causes in the vegetation, stratigraphy, soil phosphorus and pH levels potentially have a long-term impact on both the subsoil and surrounding landscape. Highlighting, they could be used as alternative ways to locate both archaeological and forensic mass graves quicker, faster and cheaper than existing approaches

    Living Labor

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    For much of the twentieth century, the iconic figure of the U.S. working class was a white, male industrial worker. But in the contemporary age of capitalist globalization new stories about work and workers are emerging to refashion this image. Living Labor examines these narratives and, in the process, offers an innovative reading of American fiction and film through the lens of precarious work. It argues that since the 1980s, novelists and filmmakers—including Russell Banks, Helena Víramontes, Karen Tei Yamashita, Francisco Goldman, David Riker, Ramin Bahrani, Clint Eastwood, Courtney Hunt, and Ryan Coogler—have chronicled the demise of the industrial proletariat, and the tentative and unfinished emergence of a new, much more diverse and perilously positioned working class. In bringing together stories of work that are also stories of race, ethnicity, gender, and colonialism, Living Labor challenges the often-assumed division between class and identity politics. Through the concept of living labor and its discussion of solidarity, the book reframes traditional notions of class, helping us understand both the challenges working people face and the possibilities for collective consciousness and action in the global present

    Decolonizing energy transitions. The political economy of low-carbon infrastructure, justice, extraction and post-development in the Southeast of Mexico.

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    This thesis examines socioecological and onto-epistemic conflicts over low-carbon infrastructure in Yucatan, Mexico. Focusing on how energy systems and policies reconfigure landscapes and vice versa, it offers an expanded view of the broader social, political, historical, economic and environmental implications of such a transformation at different scales. It argues that the reconfiguration of landscapes is mediated by a capitalist drive towards the exploitation of so-called superabundance of 'renewable energy potential' where othered territorial relationships are made invisible or seen as ‘waste’ as they are tied-in to a particular epistemology of development. This thesis draws on the analysis of Critical Political Ecology on energy transitions, on the decolonial turn and the rise of extractivism in Latin America and on the work of political ecology and ontology, which has open broader questions about how certain notions such as ‘energy’, ‘transitions’ and ‘justice’ are understood. Drawing on these contributions, this thesis argues that geographers and critical scholars must pay closer attention to low-carbon infrastructure and the transition process, not only transcending the limited and simplified fossil fuel vs. renewable energy dichotomy that shapes the hegemonic energy transition, but in their analysis of how energy systems operate around Eurocentric and universal formulations of knowledge, power and being. The thesis seeks to make a contribution to how researchers, activists and policy-makers engage with the notion of energy justice arguing for a pluriversal and relational understanding of energy and of the process of transforming energy systems
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