Atikamekw and Euro-Canadian Territorialities around the Saint-Maurice River (1850–1930)

This essay focuses on the processes of territorialization, deterritorialization and reterritorialization through which Euro-Canadian society extended its control along the valley of the St. Maurice River between 1850 and 1930. That territory had been settled by the Atikamekw people where they had established their hunting and fishing grounds for centuries. However, the Atikamekw people were confronted by environmental and technological transformations around the St. Maurice River with the implementation of sociotechnical systems during that time period, as two successive phases of industrialization based on specific water use brought along a proliferation of urban centers and the arrival of the large-scale industry. This was particularly the case when the proliferation of hydroelectric dams along the St. Maurice River and its tributaries followed the construction of fluvial infrastructure to facilitate the floating of wood pulp harvested in the upper basin of the river. Not only did the technical activities surrounding the construction of hydroelectric facilities materially transform the St. Maurice River watershed, they also allowed a symbolic appropriation of the land by the production of maps and surveys that ‘erased’ the presence of the Atikamekw. Physical and symbolic boundaries resulting from these new forms of organization and configuration of the territory restricted the spatial practices and representations of the Atikamekw. Logging confined these people within isolated enclaves (the so-called “Indian reserves”), while dams bypassed their networks of exchange and communication. The aim of this essay is to understand the conflicts between the territorialities of the Atikamekw and that of the Euro-Canadians by focusing on the place of water uses within the geographical imaginations and the land use patterns of these populations.

Out of Place in Outer Space?

Increasing human activity in orbital space has resulted in copious material externalities known as “orbital debris.” These objects threaten the orbital operations of hegemonic stakeholders including states, corporations, and scientists, for whom debris present a significant problem. We argue that the geographical imaginations of powerful stakeholders shape conceptions of orbital debris and limit engagement with these objects. By engaging with interdisciplinary literature that considers orbital debris and geographical imaginations of outer space, we encourage a more capacious approach to orbital debris that goes beyond hegemonic narratives focused on functionality. We explore the connections between debris and injustice, arguing that these objects must also be considered in relation to terrestrial power and ecology. We then contemplate the possibilities that counter-hegemonic framings present when considering speculative futures of orbital space. In these ways, we explore how and why debris are variously engaged with as pollutants, risks, opportunities, or otherwise.

French Orientalism Representations of Ottoman in Caricatures in Le Petit Journal

This study attempts to answer a number of questions inspired by popular geopolitics literature on how the French newspaper, Le Petit Journal, depicted the Ottoman Empire (including the Sultan Abdulhamid II and the Turkish parliament) and reflected their views to their readers in their publications. And how the Ottoman 'other' was constructed by the journal in relation to France's political position during the Balkan Wars. The examination of the newspaper from 1908 to 1913 suggests that the journal's understanding of the Ottoman subject rests parallel to that of France, especially during the years of the Balkan Wars in Europe. This study also expresses that war-time knowledge production via quotidian channels inform the geographical imaginations of the masses in particular ways. In the end, the authors re-emphasize that knowledge production on the orient involves a whole set of image constructions as introduced in orientalism studies.

Encountering Colonial Worlds Through Missionary Maps in the Late-Nineteenth-Century Grand Duchy of Finland

This chapter examines how the Finnish Missionary Society utilized mass-produced maps and related reading materials to fuel geographical imaginations that concerned non-European populations and lands to gain support for the missionary cause between 1859 and the mid-1890s. The chapter shows how the maps and texts entangled the Finnish audiences with the processes of colonization in complex ways: they reproduced discussions concerning human difference, generated geographies of cannibalism, and entwined Finnish missionary work with discourse of colonial philanthropy. Once the FMS started its own mission in Owambo, the maps were utilized to bridge the geographical distance and make the colonial space of “Ovamboland” their own.

Towards a Confucian geopolitics

In this article, we argue that Confucian philosophies are vital to understanding contemporary Chinese geopolitics. Existing Western geopolitical frameworks, we contend, are insufficient for grasping the complex theories and historical legacies that underpin China’s foreign policy. This issue becomes particularly salient as scholars and the public alike try to manage complex and changing geopolitical ideas underpinning the Belt and Road Initiative, recently heralded by the Chinese state and epitomising China’s ambition for expanded global engagements. This article provides a much-needed critical assessment and review of Confucian ideas and their uptake in Chinese state theory, geographical imaginations, and geopolitical scripts. While Confucianism typically focuses on ideals of harmony, hierarchy, and normative social order, geopolitics analyses geographical influences on politics – in particular, violence and conflict. However, it is precisely within this contradictory dialectic that new possibilities for analysing the geopolitics of a rising global power can emerge.

„Wyobrażenia geopolityczne” jako przedmiot badań współczesnej geografii politycznej

The theories of Henri Lefebvre on the Production of Space have influenced our understanding of the ontology of space. The processes of constructing and “appropriating” space are important elements of man’s political activity. Space is not neutral: its alleged objectivity is treated in a voluntary manner, depending on political demand. The importance given to geographical space and the supposed “laws” governing history are instruments of political indoctrination or propaganda justification of the pursued policy pursued. Space is political and ideological. Borders, political maps and states are the products of human political activity; they are “socially produced”. In contemporary political geography, the theme of “the production of space” is very popular. The main goal of the article is to analyse the currently important research category – “geographical imaginations”. This category is mainly used to understand our perception of space and the roots of political conflicts.