Caribou, Petroleum, and the Limits of Locality in the Canada–US Borderlands

his article discusses Karsten Heuer’s 2006 book Being Caribou in light of debates in ecocriticism and border studies about how to define the local in the context of environmental problems of vast range and uncertain temporality. It explores how Heuer’s book about following the Porcupine Caribou herd’s migration engages in multiple forms of boundary crossing—between countries, between hemispheric locations, and between species—and shows how insights from Indigenous storytelling complicate the book’s appeal to environmentalist readers by asserting a prior, transnational Indigenous presence in the transboundary landscapes of present-day Alaska and the Yukon

Writing the World in 301 Languages: A Political Geography of the Online Encyclopedia Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free-access, free content Internet encyclopedia created in 2001. One key characteristic of the encyclopedia is its linguistic plurality. Wikipedia consists of 301 language versions, called Wikipedias. Differences between them are, however, huge, each with its own content and editing practices (although individual editors can contribute to different language editions). After a short presentation of the history and the organization of Wikipedia, this chapter focuses on its geographies. It first deals with its geographical reach and then moves to geographical imaginations and the representation of places, and it examines how these geopolitical representations can diverge between different linguistic versions of Wikipedia

Wikipedia: Mirror, Microcosm, and Motor of Global Linguistic Diversity

Wikipedia has long presented itself as “the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet.” This chapter examines Wikipedia as a multilingual project from a geographical perspective. It examines how multilingualism is represented, performed, and reproduced by Wikipedians (i.e., users of Wikipedia and more specifically the community of editors, as opposed to the much broad public of readers consulting the encyclopedia). The chapter discusses first the way linguistic diversity is mirrored in the organization of Wikipedia through the coexistence of a plurality of monolingual Wikipedias called after that language (such as English Wikipedia, Portuguese Wikipedia, Japanese Wikipedia, etc.) and the representations of the links between them. It foregrounds the inequalities between Wikipedias and the special position of the English Wikipedia. The chapter then turns to the way Wikipedia is a multilingual environment and to the dynamics that shape the position of languages in the community – including decisions regarding the creation of new Wikipedias in new languages. Finally, it questions the possible effect of Wikipedia on global linguistic diversity in the physical world and how it can influence the evolution of specific languages and their position in the world and more specifically the position of English as the global language of communication

Writing the World in 301 Languages: A Political Geography of the Online Encyclopedia Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free-access, free content Internet encyclopedia created in 2001. One key characteristic of the encyclopedia is its linguistic plurality. Wikipedia consists of 301 language versions, called Wikipedias. Differences between them are, however, huge, each with its own content and editing practices (although individual editors can contribute to different language editions). After a short presentation of the history and the organization of Wikipedia, this chapter focuses on its geographies. It first deals with its geographical reach and then moves to geographical imaginations and the representation of places, and it examines how these geopolitical representations can diverge between different linguistic versions of Wikipedia

Wikipedia: Mirror, Microcosm and Motor of Global Linguistic Diversity

Wikipedia has long presented itself as “the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet.” This chapter examines Wikipedia as a multilingual project from a geographical perspective. It examines how multilingualism is represented, performed, and reproduced by Wikipedians (i.e., users of Wikipedia and more specifically the community of editors, as opposed to the much broad public of readers consulting the encyclopedia). The chapter discusses first the way linguistic diversity is mirrored in the organization of Wikipedia through the coexistence of a plurality of monolingual Wikipedias called after that language (such as English Wikipedia, Portuguese Wikipedia, Japanese Wikipedia, etc.) and the representations of the links between them. It foregrounds the inequalities between Wikipedias and the special position of the English Wikipedia. The chapter then turns to the way Wikipedia is a multilingual environment and to the dynamics that shape the position of languages in the community – including decisions regarding the creation of new Wikipedias in new languages. Finally, it questions the possible effect of Wikipedia on global linguistic diversity in the physical world and how it can influence the evolution of specific languages and their position in the world and more specifically the position of English as the global language of communication

Language Homogeneity and Diversity in Human Collectivities

In all human collectivities, tendencies toward linguistic homogeneity and diversity are at work simultaneously, but balances differ. These tendencies are driven by factors like the imposition of authority or the need for communication on the one hand and the need for distinction, the diversity of experience, or communication barriers, on the other. As societies develop and the possibilities of relations over larger distances widen, people become part of many different collectivities simultaneously, and in all these collectivities, both tendencies with different balances are present. The resulting language use patterns create a multitude of linguistic environments; they are complex and unstable. The following exploration pays particular attention to collectivities inhabiting states as they have played a pivotal role in the current mosaic, but the impact of language use balances of previously formed collectivities and the current dynamics as a result of newly emerging collectivities are far from negligible

Religious and territorial identities in a cosmopolitan and secular city: youth in Amsterdam

Religion is a much contested issue in Dutch politics and more specifically in Amsterdam. We investigate whether and how religion works as an obstacle or a vehicle for integration for youth in the secular and cosmopolitan Amsterdam. First, we describe the role religion played in the process of nation building and the position of Calvinism and other religions in Dutch national identity. Second, we introduce post-war changes in the Dutch religious landscape, discussing both secularization and de-pillarization and the increasing religious diversity brought by immigrants. Third, we present the recent public debates about religious and national identity and the position of Islam as new religion. We discuss a survey of young Amsterdammers from different ethnic backgrounds regarding their attitudes toward religious and territorial identities. The results reveals that organized religion is unlikely to provide an avenue to integration because (a) there remain major differences in religiosity between ethnic groups as Islam is organized along ethno-national and linguistic lines and (b) many religious young adults stress their individual relationship with faith. Religious affiliation does not necessarily mean attending church, mosque or temple regularly. There are also signs where religion might hinder integration, especially Muslim youth. They often feel discriminated against based on their religious beliefs and excluded from both Dutch national identity and a traditional religious landscape of pillarization between Protestants and Catholics. All youngsters strongly identify with Amsterdam and feel they belong to this secular and diverse cosmopolitan city