Narrative Fortresses: Crisis Narratives And Conflict In The Conservation Of Mount Gorongosa, Mozambique

A single narrative about the Gorongosa Restoration Project (GRP) in Mozambique circulates widely in the popular media. This story characterises the project as an innovative intervention into an ecological crisis situation. The narrative hails the project\u27s aim to use profits from tourism to address the goals of both human development and conservation of biodiversity, and portrays the park project as widely embraced by long-term residents. This representation helps the project attract broad acclaim, donor funding, and socially conscious visitors, yet it obscures the early emergence of unified opposition to the project\u27s interventions among long-term residents of Gorongosa Mountain. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted on Gorongosa Mountain between 2006 and 2008 to examine the project\u27s early activities there. I examine two crisis narratives that led to entrenched conflict between park-based actors and mountain residents. Focusing on the emergence and solidification of divergent narratives-narrative fortresses-about the extension of the park\u27s activities to Gorongosa Mountain offers insight into the powerful role of crisis narratives in producing and maintaining conflict, leading to outcomes counter to the desires of conservationists. Ultimately, the article points to ways in which narratives of environmental crisis work against aspirations of partnership and collaboration with resident populations in conservation and development schemes

Self-Employment Dynamics and Self-Employment Trends: A Study of Canadian Men and Women, 1982-1995.

Self-employment has risen dramatically in Canada, accounting for a disproportionate share of job growth since the 1980's. Using hitherto-unexploited information on labour force transitions from 13 waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances between 1982 and 1995, we show that the changes in transition patterns underlying these increases were very different for women and men. For women, most of the increase in self-employment is attributable to an increase in their retention rates in self-employment. For men, most is attributable to a decrease in the stability of paid employment, i.e. a rise in transitions from employment to non-employment. This generates an increase in self-employment because non-employed men are much more likely than employed men to enter self-employment. Changes in demographic characteristics account for very little of these altered transition probabilities. Somewhat paradoxically, self-employment thus rose both in secularly improving (women’s) and deteriorating (men’s) labour markets, due to different changes in the underlying transition processes.

Self-Employment Dynamics and Self-Employment Trends: A Study of Canadian Men and Women, 1982-1995

Self-employment has risen dramatically in Canada, accounting for a disproportionate share of job growth since the 1980's. Using hitherto-unexploited information on labour force transitions from 13 waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances between 1982 and 1995, we show that the changes in transition patterns underlying these increases were very different for women and men. For women, most of the increase in self-employment is attributable to an increase in their retention rates in self-employment. For men, most is attributable to a decrease in the stability of paid employment, i.e. a rise in transitions from employment to non-employment. This generates an increase in self-employment because non-employed men are much more likely than employed men to enter self-employment. Changes in demographic characteristics account for very little of these altered transition probabilities. Somewhat paradoxically, self-employment thus rose both in secularly improving (women's) and deteriorating (men's) labour markets, due to different changes in the underlying transition processes.

On the benefit of ∈-efficient solutions in multi objective space mission design

In this work we consider multi-objective space mission design problems. We will show that it makes sense from the practical point of view to consider in addition to the (Pareto) optimal solutions also nearly optimal ones since this increases significantly the number of options for the decision maker, whereas the possible loss of such approximate solutions compared to optimal - and possibly even 'better' - ones is dispensable. For this, we will examine several typical problems in space trajectory design - a bi-impulsive transfer from the Earth to the asteroid Apophis and several low-thrust multi-gravity assist transfers - and demonstrate the possible benefit of the novel approach. Further, we will present an evolutionary multi-objective algorithm which is designed for this purpose

Speaking a L2: Second versus Foreign Language Acquisition

This paper reports on a study carried out on referential communication strategies. It used the theoretical framework of Levelt’s (1989) model of L1 speech production in its application to L2 (DeBot, 1992). The study investigated the underlying processes of utterances of adult speakers who had to solve a referential communication task in L1 and L2. Two groups of participants were formed; the first group acquired the L2 in a second language environment (SLA) and the second group learned the L2 in a foreign language classroom (FLA). Although the distinction between SLA and FLA is significant in any type of L2 acquisition (Ellis, 1994; Rösler, 1995; Edmondson, 1999; Lightbown, 2000), it has not yet been considered in the heoretical framework mentioned. Results show that the process of generating a comprehensible message in referential communication by L2 adult speakers is influenced by the L2 environment

Future(s) of the Union: Some Thoughts after Brexit

Se la Brexit è stato il “momento costituzionale” per definizione per l’Unione europea nella seconda metà dell’ultimo decennio, quali sono le trasformazioni costituzionali che attendono l’Unione, per esempio, nella prossima decade? L’articolo cerca di rispondere a questa domanda, in termini speculativi, esplorando la possibile evoluzione dell’Unione lungo due direttrici principali: la dimensione orizzontale si concentra sull’ampliamento o, viceversa, sul ridimensionamento degli Stati membri dell’Unione; la dimensione verticale, invece, considera l’approfondimento o, al contrario, lo stallo nel suo grado di integrazione. Il futuro dell’integrazione europea, dunque, non è direttamente collegato alla Brexit; tuttavia, la Brexit ha offerto un momento cruciale di riflessione circa un ulteriore livello di integrazione politica – una soluzione su scala sovranazionale che contrasta palesemente con la decisione del Regno Unito di “ricondurre il controllo” delle politiche a livello nazionale.If Brexit was the defining “constitutional moment” for the European Union in the second part of the last decade, what are the constitutional changes awaiting the Union, say, the next ten years? This article looks at this – speculative – question by exploring the Union’s potential future evolution alongside two dimensions: a horizontal dimension focusing on the widening or narrowing of its membership, and a vertical dimension exploring the deepening or flattening of its level of integration. The future of European integration is thereby not directly related to Brexit; yet Brexit has offered a critical moment of reflection about further political integration – a solution that directly contrasts with the United Kingdom’s decision to “take back control” to the national level