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This paper will analyze the tourism image the municipal and state tourism offices of Guanajuato, Mexico, a World Heritage site, aim to project through their promotional materials: a small, colonial city, whose streets are shown as empty, cobble-stoned, and set in romantic light. The "city of Cervantes in the Americas" (a title bestowed by UNESCO in 2005 to honor the theatrical tradition of Cervantes plays in Guanajuato) appears to want to set forth an image of tranquility and spaciousness, while the reality is much different: Guanajuato's mainly narrow and windy streets typically bustle, plazas and gardens are full of activity, in short, the town is alive, yet its projected image lacks liveliness. Furthermore, although it is a World Heritage site, Guanajuato has thus far not used that brand to its advantage; instead, Guanajuato has recently had a variety of slogans to promote itself, seemingly at the whim of officials. Through interviews with tourism officials and a selection of collected tourism materials, I show how the city has yet to establish a “coherent” brand, and is going through various phases of place marketing at once.

This paper deals with beach quality assessment. At first, the author presents the state of the art through a conceptual and a methodological approach. Then, she applies the methodological framework she has elaborated to the beaches of the British Virgin Islands. On the basis of the results of the assessment, she discusses the environmental impacts of tourism in small tropical island.

Since the end of the 19th century, in its will to assimilate the Amerindian Mapuche populations to its republican ideology of liberal tradition, the Argentinean state led to their invisibilisation more than their disappearance. Thus, in a context where « the Argentinean national identity » had to present an ethnic, linguistic and religious unity, the idea emerged that in Argentina: « there are no more indigenous people ». However, in the two last decades, the organizations defending the rights of the indigenous populations have proposed new forms of citizenship and have been negotiating alternative modes of social and political organization with the state.« Blanchie » in the title of my paper has a double meaning in French and refers – perhaps in a somewhat impertinent way – not only to the process of assimilation of the indigenous people in the Argentinean Nation (here it would be « whitening ») but also to the negation of the various attempts (not only military but also political, social, cultural, legal, etc) aiming at making disappear the indigenous cultures which are (almost) never regarded as reprehensible actions (here it would be « bleaching »).

The central objective of this paper is analyze the patriotic speech associated to Simon Bolívar –Venezuelan General of early part of XIX Century that was the principal political and military leader of independents process of his country- like as key element in the constitution of nationalist discourse in Venezuela. For a better argumentative construction, we are going to divide the text in three sections. First, «Bolivar and Bolivarian tradition in Venezuela» consider how has been constructed the Venezuelan national identity throughout the image of Bolivar : it’s the historical position of processes, analyzed in long term. Therefore, «Bolivar like as reference of Nation according to Bolivarian Revolution», we are going to consider the production of nationalist discourse in a more restricted and contemporary temporal horizon, that is to say the political processes after 1992, constituted like government since 1999. Finally, trying to answer the question «Can be criticized the Bolivarian Reason?», We are going to articulate the elements that have to be consider to understand how people consider that position like a real natural order of things. In this way, We are trying to analyzed the position occupied by Bolivar in the processes of identitive construction in Venezuela.

The making of the State, the Nation and the Nation-State in Bolivia has been an endless quest since the foundation of the Republic in 1825. However there are two stages of significant importance: the first one, during the 50’s, when the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) allows the transition from modernization to modernity with the universal suffrage, the agrarian reform and several nationalizations without recognizing the radical otherness of the Indian; the second stage, during the 90’s, when the successive governments vote a «pluriethnical» Constitution as well as laws of popular participation. This process comes to a climax with the election of the Indian President Evo Morales in December 2005. Among issues discussed in this paper: How can we define national identity–ies? What is the significance of the «pluri-multi» concept? What do we mean by «ethnical availability»? What is the impact of the «rebellious cycle»? What new patterns of economic development? What alternative models of territorial organization? What relationship between social movements, political parties and the State? How can avoid the threat of bipolarization?

This paper addresses the challenge of transforming Mediterranean islands into sustainable tourism areas, through the direct (or indirect) use of renewable energy projects and technologies. Through demonstration and a discussion of cases studies from studied islands, which takes into account island-specific characteristics and particularities, we assess the compatibility of renewable energy technologies (RETs) with sustainable tourism development. Conclusions emerge from this analysis which highlight prerequisites for RET-tourism compatibility; this has potential transferability to other insular territories. Developing an appreciation of the factors that can lead to sustainable tourism in islands through the use of renewable energy is a priority issue for two main reasons. Firstly, because until now scientific literature has only discussed the question of photovoltaics’ integration into tourism buildings, and secondly, because of the relatively high vulnerability to climate change impacts of islands compared to many mainland areas, according to predictions made by the United Nations and the European Union. Whilst international politics deal with the mass reduction of gaseous emissions into the atmosphere, reducing the adverse effects of climate change in the islands has become a significant component of national priorities.

This paper presents French historical sources and references about Tobago collected in the Libraries and Archives of Martinique and the record of two archaeological missions sent from Martinique to Tobago in the 1990’s. French contributions to the history of Tobago, published or not, gives light on the French speaking protestant Walloons who settled in the island during the 17th century. In addition the author shows the links between Dutch and French Huguenot families in the West Indies in spite of the French State.

This paper studies the stages of the development of the port of Marin (Martinique). In the space of a score of years, the port became one of the principal places of reception of the sailing ships in the islands of the Caribbean Sea. The new tourist and recreation uses are at the origin of a reorganization of the local economy. The rise of navigation gives a new identity to the place which resembles moreover more one tourist station open on the international one. The development of the port of Marin fits from now on in logics regional and international of the world of the sailing.

Integration demands a redefinition of the identity of those that migrate as well as of those who stay. In this paper we argue that in the case of Mexican migrants to the United States religious practices play an important role in redefining their identity. Two main aspects are analyzed: the importance of religious practice in the socialization process of newcomers as well as the use of old traditional rites, such as celebrating Patron Saints, in the redefinition of ties with the home community.

During the second half of the XX° century military regimes took over the political structures of many Latin American countries sending into exile thousands of persons. Mexico was one of the many countries that received them. This paper analyses from a general perspective some of the characteristics of the Latin American exile, their integration as well as their participation in the host society and how they have contributed to a better understanding of the specific problems related to migration and exile during the period under consideration.

This paper analyses the political conflicts in three Central American countries: Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala as well as the migratory process that was created as a result of the politically forced displacement of populations and how it affects two countries, Mexico and the United States. Through the years the structural form of this migration has been modified inducing a change in the immigration laws and the aid given to refugees. Undocumented migrants, a majority of the displaced population, are more likely to be deported from the countries where they hope to find refuge.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between photography, memory, and state violence. To this end, two photographs will be analyzed in which we see the relatives of the detained-disappeared of the Pinochet dictatorship demanding justice, the appearance and reparation of their loved ones in the public space. I argue that these images not only contribute to the legibility of this painful history, but they also help understand the way in which Pinochet's dictatorship was configured as necropolitics, that is, as a form of government that decides who may live and who must die.

According to the notion of « secondary characters » this paper aims to investigate the relations introduced by the narrator of the novel Formas de voltar para casa, (Ways to go back home), Alejandro Zambra, specially in contexts of family and school lives. Situated in the Post-dictatorship period, the characters who share the text’s narrative, also share the fact that they were children and teenagers during the military dictatorhip in Chili. Those « dictatorship sons » have to integrate the world , thus telling their experiences as secondary actors or leading characters as they appear in their memories and in the national memory, till they make sense. It’s the way this process is shown in the fiction that represents the book’s main interest, shown by thoroughly reading and analysing the roles played by each character.

Small-scale gold mining has become the main income for many traditional groups around the world in the past decades. Apart from the negative impacts on several aspects of tribal life, this sector also lead to challenges for tribal leadership in the governance of their society. This paper argues that it is crucial for the Surinamese state and tribal groups to focus on the challenges to govern the small-scale gold mining sector.

Abstract: This paper presents a succinct reconstruction of the segmental phonology of Proto-Maweti-Guarani, the hypothetical protolanguage from which modern Mawe, Aweti and the Tupi-Guarani branches of the Tupi linguistic family have evolved. Based on about 300 cognate sets from the authors' field data (for Mawe and Aweti) and from Mello's reconstruction (2000) for Proto-Tupi-Guarani (with additional information from other works; and with a few changes concerning certain doubtful features, such as the status of stem-final lenis consonants *r and *ß, and the distinction of *c and *č ), the consonants and vowels of Proto-Maweti-Guarani were reconstructed with the help of the traditional historical-comparative method. The development of the reconstructed segments is then traced from the protolanguage to each of the modern branches. A comparison with other claims made about Proto-Maweti-Guarani is given in the conclusion.

This paper deals with mechanisms of grammatical change in Ache, focusing on inflection. Ache contains restricted functional morphology when compared to most Tupí-Guaraní languages. Although erosion of inflection is attested in linear historical developments within this genetic context; the degree of inflectional erosion observed in Ache is exceptional. Ache lacks all TG prefixes, consequently, processes linked to person-number agreement, such as person hierarchy effects, are unattested. Ache enclitics for tense-aspect-mood marking (TAM) appear to be more similar to other TG languages. However, given closer examination, also for TAM considerable restructuring is revealed. Besides describing erosion and retention patterns of inflection, it is exemplified how Ache copes with the overall functional restructuring by generating innovative syntactic patterns and novel lexical items. Inspired by subclasses of inflection given in Roberts and Bresnan (2008), it becomes evident that inherent inflection (i.e. TAM) is far more stable in Ache than so-called contextual inflection (i.e. person, case); a characteristic result of contact induced grammar change. Thus, this study of inflectional restructuring contributes strong evidence for the long-standing hypothesis that Ache is a TG contact language (Dietrich, 1990; Rodrigues, 2000; Rößler, 2008).

This paper examines interpretations of the drought problem in Brazil's northeast sertão during the First Republic. It compares analysis of drought as primarily a natural or climatic phenomenon - embraced by civil engineers working for the Inspetoria [Federal] de Obras Contra as Secas (IFOCS) - with analyses emphasizing social and political conditions that made drought a crisis for the sertanejo poor. The latter are evident in the report of doctors Belisário Penna and Artur Neiva describing their expedition through the sertão sponsored by IFOCS in 1912. This comparison allows for consideration of the intersection between natural (geographic, climatic) and social (political, cultural) factors that produced the region's periodic crisis. The analysis is informed by the work of social scientists who highlight the multi-dimensional causes underlying natural disasters in politically marginal communities. Technocrats' faith in the context-independent utility of their expertise lay at the heart of IFOCS's ultimate failure to rescue sertanejos from famine, migration and poverty. Because the drought agency's technical personnel never had the political will or muscle to confront the social organization underlying the sertão's recurrent calamity, their ability to alleviate the human suffering that droughts precipitated was severely limited.

In this paper I review my experience as Charles Wagley's Ph.D. student and later as a faculty colleague at the University of Indiana. In addition to his deep humanism and personal warmth, Wagley also had an uncanny ability to foresee important emerging issues in social sciences, especially within Latin American and Brazilian Studies. With his flexible, personable style he found ways to direct students and colleagues towards the issues he considered important, and which later became truly major issues for these fields. For example, he helped to create the interdisciplinary field of Latin American Studies while in New York, focused on Latin American race relations while at Columbia University, and created the Amazonian Studies program at University of Florida with its focus on impacts of development and infrastructure projects. He helped create scholarship programs for such studies through the Title VI mechanism. Through all of his scholarly contributions, Wagley led by inspiring with a rare social consciousness and a deep concern for the human costs of social and economic change

This paper describes the Jodï horticultural system, including belief, knowledge and practice aspects. The horticultural practices of the Jodï were previously characterized as 'incipient cultivation' but such practices were poorly described and documented. The antiquity of cultivation among this group is suggested by the prominence and significance of horticultural products and techniques in myth and ritual. Our field observations uncovered a fairly sophisticated system of plant management in swiddens, house gardens, trail gardens and natural forest gaps. An inventory of 67 cultivated plant species was documented, of which 36 are utilized for food, 20 for magical or medicinal purposes, and 11 for technology. The Jodï prolong the productive phase of their gardens for five years or more through successive planting-harvesting-replanting operations. Jodï swiddens display an elaborate polycultivated appearance and they possess at least five principal crops: plantain/banana, maize, yams, sweet potato, and sweet manioc. Another distinctive feature is the extensive use of natural gaps in the forest canopy as cultivation zones. The results of this study suggest that while Jodï horticultural practice is well integrated with a nomadic, foraging-dependent lifestyle, nevertheless this system does not deserve to be labeled as 'incipient' and instead is more integral than was recognized previously.

This paper shows that the verbal morphosyntax of Siriono, which is synchronically highly divergent from that of other Tupi-Guaranian (TG) languages, can be derived from the reconstructed proto-TG (PTG) system. Arguments will be presented to show that the S A=A series of person markers (e.g. PTG 1sg *a-) has merged with the So=O series (e.g. PTG 1sg *če-) in the 1st and 2nd plural persons in Siriono. In spite of this partial merger of two series of person markers, morphological elements that appeared in PTG between the personal prefix and the stem of transitive verbs have been retained in Siriono with an identical distribution. The partial merger of the S A=A series with the So=O series is explained by a combination of phonological and syntactic motivations. Additional evidence is drawn from Siriono's closely related sister language Yuki. Apart from this, the prefix k- that occurs on third-person forms of 'comitative-causative' verbs in Siriono has retained a trace of the PTG third-person prefix *o- in spite of the emergence of an innovated third-person prefix e-. These facts are taken as evidence of a PTG origin of the Siriono system

In his landmark work Language in the Americas, Greenberg (1987) proposed that Macro-Carib was one of the major low-level stocks of South America, which together with Macro-Panoan and Macro-Ge-Bororo were claimed to comprise the putative Ge-Pano-Carib Phylum. His Macro-Carib includes the isolates Andoke and Kukura, and the Witotoan, Peba-Yaguan, and Cariban families. Greenberg's primary evidence came from person-marking paradigms in individual languages, plus scattered words from individual languages collected into 79 Macro-Carib 'etymologies' and another 64 Amerind 'etymologies'. The goal of this paper is to re-evaluate Greenberg's Macro-Carib claim in the light of the much more extensive and reliable language data that has become available largely since 1987. Based on full person-marking paradigms for Proto-Cariban, Yagua, Bora and Andoke, we conclude that Greenberg's morphological claims are unfounded. For our lexical comparison, we created lexical lists for Proto-Cariban, Proto-Witotoan, Yagua and Andoke, for both Greenberg's 143 putative etymologies and for the Swadesh 100 list. From both lists, a total of 23 potential cognates were found, but no consonantal correspondences were repeated even once. We conclude that our greatly expanded and improved database does not provide sufficient evidence to convince the skeptic that the Macro-Carib hypothesis is viable

Abstract: In this paper we present the first results of the application of computational methods, inspired by the ideas in McMahon & McMahon (2005), to a dataset collected from languages of every branch of the Tupian family (including all living non-Tupí-Guaraní languages) in order to produce a classification of the family based on lexical distance. We used both a Swadesh list (with historically stabler terms) and a list of animal and plant names for results comparison. In addition, we also selected more (HiHi) and less (LoLo) stable terms from the Swadesh list to form sublists for indepedent treatment. We compared the resulting NeighborNet networks and neighbor-joining cladograms and drew conclusions about their significance for the current understanding of the classification of Tupian languages. One important result is the lack of support for the currently discussed idea of an Eastern-Western division within Tupí.

Abstract: Assessing the internal coherence and constituency of language families often centers either around comparing certain form-meaning correspondences, or around identifying the presence or absence of linguistic features across the members of the family. The former approach is generally restricted to the lexicon. The latter approach focuses mostly on structural characteristics of language. In this paper we present an alternative approach to comparing grammatical systems between languages within a language family, which aims at bringing these two approaches and their results closer to each other. We look at subordination strategies in a sample of Tupian languages, taking constructions as the basic unit of comparison, treating them as form-meaning correspondences. The Tupian family offers an especially intriguing case for studying subordination strategies in the South American context, given its enormous geographical spread and the variety of contact situations involving its member languages. Major patterns of subordination strategies can be discerned across the family, e.g. strategies involving nominalization, verbal incorporation and other subtypes of verbal serialization, but there is also a great degree of variability between the different languages. By mapping the structural diversity onto the known genealogy and geographic distribution, we hope to shed more light on the history of the Tupian family and on the diffusability of subordination strategies.

Abstract The literary journal “El Museo Mexicano” (1843-1845) marked a watershed in Mexican nationalism, and sought to shape aspirations of an elite segment of nineteenth-century Mexican society eager to claim a post-colonial identity by exploring the cultural and historical strands that were combined in the young Republic. The editors solicited contributions from Mexican authors on a wide range of subjects, from descriptions of contemporary provincial life to accounts of recent discoveries of pre-Hispanic monuments and artifacts. The aim was to provide a more complete and up-to-date image of Mexico, rich in anecdotal detail and lavishly illustrated. In this paper I will explore how this new literary platform argued for the validity of archaeological investigation in the American context, and ultimately shaped how Mexicans perceived their past. Though my focus is primarily on the articles in “El Museo Mexicano” I will also analyze some of the visual tropes and traditions, from the picturesque to the grotesque that inspired illustration in other Mexican journals of the same genre.

Karajá, a Macro-Jê language spoken in Central Brazil, presents a typologically uncommon device to signal relativization: stress shift. Despite its productivity, such mechanism is not mentioned in any of the previous descriptive or theoretical works dealing with Karajá grammar. In describing relativization (and subordination in general) in Karajá, this paper presents an overview of the language's grammar, including the semantic properties of postpositions (which play an essencial role in the creation of adverbial clauses, including converbs), lexical nominalization, and inflectional morphology.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of women in the so called caminhada (march) to a land reform project in the State of Pará, Brazil. When a woman decides to join the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) (Landless Workers' Movement) she may enter into conflict with her social environment. In the light of the changes happening due to her militancy, I want to elucidate the reasons for her involvement, examine female contributions during the settlement process and the changes this process may cause in their lives. The analysis is based upon a fieldwork conducted in a land reform hamlet near the city of Castanhal in northeastern Pará. Three case studies of female militancy are examined. Some of the outcomes of this analysis are that the role of women in this process is prominent because they are its most important support; they are assuming pioneer functions, organizing domestic and public tasks in the settlement and play the role of articulators between the different households. Due to their militancy poor urban and rural women are able to step out of their invisibility, often suffered in Brazilian society, and make an important contribution to the construction of a new life.

Abstract This paper argues that early Terena (‘Guaná’) had a contrast between fricative and affricate consonants that has been lost in modern Terena. Evidence for this claim comes from the examination of late 19th century and early 20th century documents on the language. The existence of the relevant phonemic contrast is revealed not only by an analysis of the transcriptions employed in these early sources but, more importantly, by a demonstration that fricatives and affricates were treated differently in the history of the language. It is proposed that, after the early Terena voiceless fricatives were debuccalized, merging with early Terena h, the affricates started to include fricative realizations in their allophonic range. This scenario is consistent with descriptions of modern Terena that stress the ‘archaic’ character of affricate realizations of /ʃ/.

Abstract The present paper discusses evidence supporting the claim that the common Xinguan Arawak noun for ‘hand’, *wɨʂɨku, is a shared lexical innovation of this subgroup and that, in addition, a formation for ‘finger’ derived from a nominal compound with the roots for ‘hand’ and ‘head’, *kapɨ-tɨwɨ, sets Waurá, Mehinaku and Kustenaú apart from other languages of the family, including Yawalapiti. The reconstructed Proto-Arawak etymon for ‘hand’, *kʰapɨ, is preserved in the Xinguan Arawak languages only in the form of obscure cognates, instantiating interesting developments in lexical semantics as well as a relatively uncommon sound change in Yawalapiti. The discussion incorporates and addresses the historical linguistic significance of the earliest documentation of the Xinguan Arawak languages, the material gathered by Karl von den Steinen in 1887-1888. The analyses and data discussed highlight serious shortcomings in some of the reconstructed forms and diachronic developments advanced by Payne (1991), such as the postulation of a shift *a > ɨ in Waurá and the reconstruction of syllable-final *h for the Proto-Arawak language, one of the most controversial aspects of his comparative study.

Abstract This paper applies the comparative method to unravel the historical development of the segmental phonology of Paunaka, an Arawakan language of Bolivia. Although the Paunaka vowel system features a single back rounded vowel, it is rather simple to show that it derives from a system with two back rounded qualities *u and *o, but that the former segment shifted to a high central unrounded vowel ɨ. The language has lost *r unconditionally, implying that Paunaka items with r are probable loanwords. Paunaka underewent a spirantization of *ts, thus merging this affricate with the fricative *s. Although Paunaka shares a coronalization of *k > s with Proto-Mojeño, most of the phonological developments that affected Paunaka are either recurrent in the Arawakan language family or only superficially similar to developments in related languages, and thus provide little weight as evidence for subgrouping. An Appendix is also included, with 105 etymologies matching Paunaka lexical and grammatical morphemes with their cognates in Proto-Mojeño, the two extant Mojeño dialects (Ignaciano and Trinitario) and Terena.

Despite scientific warnings about environmental issues, few advances have been identified to date oriented toward a sustainable transition. In this scenario, this paper aims to reflect on the relevance of addressing the political dimension and ontological conflicts in the study of transitions toward sustainability. Considering political ontologies allows for greater openness and understanding of diverse perspectives, recognizing that there are different realities and ways of seeing the world and that there is no single solution to all environmental problems. In doing so, it opens the possibility of moving towards multiple ontologies and promoting a sustainable transition that is more inclusive, fair, and adapted to our world's diversity of realities and perspectives. In order to contribute to these debates, this article proposes a critical reflection on the importance of considering political ontologies in addressing complex socio-environmental problems to move towards pluralistic governance. To this end, we examine political ontologies and the growing academic interest in incorporating the ontological dimension in environmental studies and the relevant contributions made by Latin America. Finally, we reflect on the relevance of valuing dissent in sustainable transitions and incorporating environmental pluralism in change processes.

This essay analyzes five texts — a short story and four essays — that contribute to the political debates happening during the U.S invasion in the Dominican Republic, and which were published in Spanish newspapers (La Vanguardia and Hojas Selectas) as well as the Dominican paper (La Conquista) between 1918 y 1921. This essay reads these articles through an affective lens to analyze how does Abigail Mejía employ her writing to generate affects and how she manages the affects produced by the American invasion.

This paper critiques the structure and functionality of the 21st century nation-state through analysis of emancipatory decisions in the former Dutch Caribbean colonies of Aruba, Curaçao, and Suriname.Suriname, the most culturally Dutch of the Caribbean territories, was the first of the former colonies to secede from the Netherlands. Although Suriname achieved independence in 1975, the economy remained heavily reliant on the policies of the United States. As such, the Surinamese government prioritized the interests of NATO and struggled to reconfigure its preexisting relationship with the suzerain. This dynamic strained Surinamese relation with Latin American nations more actively resisting US imperialism and isolated Suriname politically.Aruba became a constituent country in 1986; however, this shift was not contemporaneously reflected in Curaçao. Curaçao had headed the former Colony of Curaçao and Dependencies, and independence would have weakened its influence on the other islands whose governing structure would have remained unchanged. While Aruba had the opportunity to claim equal status with Curaçao, it instead pursued emancipation. Demographically Mestizo unlike neighboring islands, Aruba was eager to distinguish itself from Curaçao, where advocacy for decolonization arose with support from regional Black Power movements. Aruba and Curaçao had a long history of human exchange with Latin American continent from the pre-Columbian period. The inhabitants, especially those of African descent excluded from citizenship on the basis of race, moved to Spanish colonies where citizenship was granted upon conversion to Roman Catholicism. The people could use religion to obtain citizenship. They had no loyalty to the European empire nor a sense of belonging to any European kingdom. What they wanted was citizenship and human rights.Around the time Suriname declared independence, European governments began to promote neo-liberal policies that advanced smaller or limited government function. The former Dutch empire was itself abandoning its role as sovereign of a nation-state. Aruba, which had witnessed Suriname’s predicament post-independence and where sense of belonging within the nation-state was historically weak, finally elected to retain within the Dutch Kingdom. To become an independent nation would have entailed severing preexisting ties with Europe and rendered the territory more vulnerable, since globalization often facilitates interference from supranational institutions and military alliances such as the EU and NATO. The trajectory of Aruba prompts questions regarding the true definition and function of the 21st century nation-state.Today, even independent nations comply with international regulations and belong to multinational free trade spheres and military alliances. Due to Dutch disinterest, Aruba and Curaçao enjoyed a greater degree of autonomy. Thus, dependent territories such as Aruba that are capable of maintaining intercontinental and supranational affiliations do not immediately necessitate full independence

The seaside tourism that is treated on this paper is one of the first forms of tourism developed in this area which is based on the opening of the town to the Atlantic which offers a magnificent beach. The municipality also benefits from a large density of hydrographic network with the ramification of bolongs bordered by mangrove favorable to excursions. Despite these potentialities, seaside tourism today faces enormous constraints linked to coastal erosion. The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of coastal erosion on tourism. The study was based on various phases of observations in the field and on surveys carried out among 292 heads of concession divided between four localities of the commune (Kafountine 69%, Abene 17%, Diannah 10%, and Diogué 4%). We also made maps on Arc Gis 9.3, after having used the GPS to take points of the different camps in the commune and Excel for the exploitation of digital data. The results show that the municipality offers a quality infrastructure offering that combines comfort and calm and that is essentially grouped on the coastal zone. The tourism sector in general and the seaside sector in particular are now facing enormous problems linked to coastal erosion, which hinders its development. The constraints associated with coastal erosion are materialized by the degradation of camps, the reduction of the beach and the degradation of the coastal vegetation. This phenomenon of coastal erosion is well known in the municipality. According to population surveys, 60% of those surveyed experience and experience coastal erosion on a daily basis. The populations of the islands, Kafountine Batara and Abene Badala are the most affected.

The paper focuses on the extent to which the media’s reporting of violent crime affects tourists’ perception of the destination. The survey showed a correlation between persons that were more exposed to negative media reports before embarking on their vacation and those that held a more negative view of their safety at the destination. Persons exposed to these reports were less affected since they exhibited less restrictive behaviour while at the destination. Visitors who had closer socio-cultural ties to the region were more exposed to negative reports and possessed a more negative view. The findings present implications for media coverage strategies and destination image management.

Governance plays an essential role in the operation and improvement of the performance of companies by properly defining their structuring to adapt to changes in the economic environment. To think that all societies could apply identical rules of governance would be disturbing, even destabilizing for a system which is otherwise generally good at always seeking greater coherence and efficiency. In discussions on governance and performance, the manager occupies a major place in the process leading to the creation of wealth. This paper focuses on studying corporate governance through a sample of 22 companies of fairly varied sizes which covers the entire economy of French Guiana.

This paper proposes to study luxury through a multidisciplinary approach, from philosophy to sociology and from psychology to economy. First of all, it is essential to identify the foundations of luxury, with the work of Veblen (conspicuous consumption), Bourdieu (distinction and habitus) and Lipovetsky (aesthetisation), and to define the contours of luxury. Luxury is part of a historical construction. It is associated with “perfection” (Karpik). Refinement, inner quest, distinction, pleasure of creativity and innovation, luxury is a combination of tangible and intangible composite. On the economic front, luxury is the economics of singularities (Karpik). The price is the main measurable indicator that helps to distinguish the luxury market.

In Mexico, 80% of water resources are used for irrigation purposes. But since the end of the 19th century, urban and industrial growth has strongly degraded water resources, quality- and quantity-wise. Communities located near large cities are particularly exposed to water-related vulnerabilities. This paper will use the example of the Atlixco region (Puebla) to show how geopolitical factors and local actors assess such vulnerabilities. Using secondary sources and data collected in the field between 2009 and 2012, it will deal with the country’s water policies and the grassroots actions undertaken in Atlixco and in the rural communities of Magdalena Axocopan and San Juan Tejaluca. Rural vulnerability entails the political and social representations of agricultural practices. The past history of social actors also determines how water-related vulnerabilities are managed. Those cannot be suppressed but local activists can try to question governing practices and established authorities.

In the field of ecological risk assessment, the dominant approach now defended by scientists, political leaders, and grassroots activists is that of reducing environment-related vulnerabilities―as the case presented in this paper will illustrate. In San Jose’s Greater Urban Area, in Costa Rica, two groups (one composed of experts, one composed of the local residents of the Quebrada Seca neighborhood) use the notion of vulnerability to reduce the impact of pollution and flooding on the population and on water resources. But resorting to this notion does not entail homogeneous practices as each group favors a distinct type of risk management, even if, in the end, they both need the protection of the community to operate. These groups therefore act as intermediaries between the stakes on the ground and the area’s local authorities in order to increase legal and political actions.

During the first half of the twentieth century, the United Fruit Company (UFCo.), a multinational corporation founded in 1899 in order to exploit the agricultural wealth of the Caribbean, was responsible for considerable amounts of propaganda, newspaper ads, postcards, books, etc. These were linked to the commercial and tourism activities of the United States in Caribbean countries. The goal of UFCo was to influence the imperial vision of the Central American and Caribbean area from an iconographic point of view. In that world of images, postcards were very important as artifacts in which a visual discourse imposed an ideal of social imagination that was stimulated by the banana company. One of the artists who participated in this process was Gomes Casseres, a photographer who left his name printed on several postcards that have been found and have been subjected to iconological examination. This paper will analyze such cultural artifacts and will show that these images responded to the idea of Caribbean geography that "mamita yunai" constructed and which imposed itself from afar as the "reality" of Costa Rica.

The Revista do Globo, a biweekly magazine, was one of the most influential publications of the Rio Grande do Sul in the first half of the 20th century. Among the many pictures then published, this paper will focus on the political ones, especially in the early years of the magazine. As textual signals lost strength when used to excessively praise some public figures, photographs were used to cast the latter in a positive light. From the beginning, photoreporters were asked to take pictures that would highlight political events and political leaders. The image of Getúlio Vargas offers a typical case. Getúlio Vargas became president in 1930 and stayed in power for the following 15 years. This work will analyse the documentary photographs of Getúlio Vargas which were published in Revista do Globo through the 1930s. The two visual and conceptual axes which will be used are the possibility of public representation and social protagonism.

This paper analyses the role of Argentinian interprofessional organizations (OIP) in the innovation systems of grain value chains. Three organizations are studied: ACSOJA, for the soybean chain, ASAGIR, for the sunflower chain and PROARROZ, for the rice chain. These OIP are interpreted as potential innovation networks and are part of the institutional structure of chains. They combine the logic of capital with territorial logic and initiate between these two logics a structural coherence that determines their specific role in the innovation process. The comparative analysis shows that the territorial and sectorial characteristics of each chain as well as the coordination mode chosen are significant to explain innovation results.

This paper analyzes the configuration of water inequalities in a region where the communities are linked in administrative, political and water terms by the city of Oaxaca de Juárez. Thus, from an urban-centric logic, the city becomes the great organizer of hydrological resources, creating a hydropolitan region where the urban peripheries can act as suppliers of water for domestic consumption and at the same time receiving wastewater. This situation, in addition to producing water inequality in the regions of the Atoyac River, generates socio-environmental conflicts throughout the region.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the city of Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta, has welcomed tens of thousands of newcomers attracted by the high salaries of a booming oil sands industry. In this context, one of the major challenges faced by the municipality and the companies is to retain employees and their families so as to build a sustainable community. In this paper, we will take a closer look at the way this challenge is being met, first by considering how humanistic geographers such as Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph have defined the concepts of space and place so as to elaborate on this idea of “making Fort McMurray home.” Then, relying on field work conducted in October 2014, we will attempt to underline the different approaches the municipality and the oil sands companies have followed to frame the identity of Fort McMurray and promote identification with it. Finally, we will look into the part the non-profit sector plays in fostering a sense of place in this boom town.

This paper investigates the formation of social networks in the Latino communities of Los Angeles and Miami. In order to better understand how Latino immigrants adapt to the host society, this article offers a comparative analysis of the interactions within the different Latino communities and puts forward their role on the formation of social networks among Latino immigrants in these cities. The results show that social networks are highly dependent on the dynamics within the Latino communities as well as the urban context; these networks, their strength, and development differ in Los Angeles and Miami based on factors such as socioeconomic status, levels of segregation and ethnic concordance among the Latino communities.

Women have historically occupied places of resistance against authoritarian regimes, such as the dictatorships experienced in Brazil and Argentina in the 20th century. In such periods, the military personnel responsible for persecuting, torturing and murdering government opposition perpetrated against women forms of violence, which sought not only to destroy political dissent, but also to conform them to socially defined gender roles. In the context of “re-democratization” in post-dictatorial regimens, a transitional justice that is silent regarding the sexual and gender violence perpetrated by regimen agents contributes to a perpetuation of sexist and patriarchal conceptions even within the newly established democratic rule of law. The present paper seeks to compare how the living experiences of Brazilian and Argentinean women during the military dictatorships and their political engagement in the moment of the transition of regimes reflected positive or negatively in the consolidation of women’s rights in new democracies.

Going beyond the extensive literature dealing with Annie Proulx’s deconstruction of myths tied to the West, this paper delves into her palimpsestuous Wyoming short stories that transgress dominant norms and conventions of genres and genders. Focusing on Proulx’s grotesque, feminist revisions of old folktales and fairy tales, this article contends that her art of the short story provides an efficient tool to tinker with the rigid, ideological discourses reinforced by such tales when it comes to gender stereotypes. Recuperating the magic from older forms of short narratives, Proulx’s omnivorous, postmodernist tales thrive on potent fragments and mythèmes that both foreground and rekindle the ignition power of imaginative discourse. Her subversive mythopoeia and playful, self-reflexive writing thus pave the way for liberating flights of fancy that cross the boundaries between established genres and gender.

For the last three decades, Latin America has adopted legal innovations aimed at placing human rights at the center of the relationship between individuals and the State. This paper goes back to established Latin American precedents in order to answer two questions: How can such legal innovations lead to a more equitable management of resources? And to which extent do they contribute to social innovation? The point is to show that the ethnic question has not overshadowed the social question—far from it actually, as it has shed a new light on it. Latin American judges have been dealing with the ethnic question as a part of their reflection on human rights. In so doing, they have made the emergence of economic and social rights a judicial process by giving the control of resources-related policies to the courts. Courts have consequently opened their doors to political debates. However, despite the fact that the rule of law has been made effective, the potential for social innovation suffers from the inability of the legal system to make itself respected as a true check on political power.

Brazil was a major slave-holding country of the Americas, and slavery has left deep marks on Brazilian society. From abolition to the present, the representation of slavery has been elaborated and transformed, following the various historical moments experienced by the country itself. From the 1980s onwards, the context of theoretical and methodological renewal has opened the possibility of various approaches. Today, thanks to the proliferation of specific and regionally localized research, historians no longer consider the existence of a single model of slavery in Brazil, but a variety of practices adapted to the different realities of each region and social segment of the country. One of these approaches focuses on the presence of slaves in sectors and areas not directly related to the large agricultural production destined for exportation. The Sertão corresponds precisely to this kind of region, and the objective of this paper is to present the results of a punctual study on slavery in this backcountry area of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco during the 19th century. In fact, masters and slaves of this poor and remote region adapted the institution of slavery to their reality in a period of economic difficulties, thus giving a specific form to slavery in Sertão.

Several areas of Latin America suffer from water-related shortages and vulnerabilities. This situation has never been properly handled by local public authorities and has seen no real theoretical advances allowing a better understanding of the problem. This paper will focus on the conceptual analysis of socio-ecological systems and water-related shortages and vulnerabilities. It will use two theoretical approaches: that of complex adaptive systems and that of autopoietic social systems (i.e. systems able to maintain themselves in a larger environment, which makes them close to resilient systems). The goal is to suggest a few starting points for the study of this phenomenon, based on contemporary academic sources, in order to show how different theoretical models can be combined. The conclusion will stress the need to look for more complementary and inclusive perspectives to improve our understanding of contemporary environmental problems.

The Mendoza urban area (1 million inhabitants), at the center of the largest oasis in the world, is located on South America’s dry diagonal. In this arid space, water resources are scarce. There is only one source of surface water, the rio Mendoza, which accounts for two thirds of the water supply in the city. But in the Andes, the main water source for the oasis, climate change already has a tangible impact and the quantity of available water is declining. Hence a competition for water: as far as drinking water is concerned, downstream neighbourhoods are the weakest ones. Such areas are affected by low water pressure and they have to rely on tanker trucks and/or water wells. Poor neighbourhoods, like the Las Heras municipality, are the most impacted. Initially focused on the signs of potential socio-economic discriminations in water distribution, this paper shows instead that the real problem is of a technical nature. It also confirms management deficiencies on the part of local authorities.