Colonization through Municipalization: The Politics of Sanitation and Municipal Governance in the ‘Mofussils’ of Colonial Bengal, c. 1870–1940s

How does the state govern a territory which has rapidly grown to become one of the most densely populated regions of the province? How does the state account for the governance of a place which has only recently transitioned from a rural or a semi-rural tract to a town? Most importantly, how does the state govern a region where the main source of power resides with the proprietors of private enterprises? These were some of the questions the colonial state had to deal with when it was faced with the prospect of administering some of the most rapidly ‘urbanizing’ or expanding regions of Bengal. This included the industrial belt—the riparian municipalities of the districts of 24 Parganas and Hooghly—and the mining and railway junctions of Ranigunj and Asansol, which developed from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. How did their administration differ, if at all, from other mofussil municipalities which also had a semi-rural character? This article will examine these questions and try to understand how, through the process of municipalization, the colonial state was trying to control newer territories. It shall also analyse how local communities reacted to these attempts. This paper will argue that any attempt at improvement in these mofussil municipalities was hindered by alack of understanding, on the part of the provincial government, of the local socio-economic conditions and the ineffectiveness of the local self-government in these towns.

Frontiers of Soviet Resettlements: Cultural Borders and Cross-Cultural Interaction between Russians and Chuvashes in the South Part of Kama Region in the 1920-1930s

The article is devoted to the analysis of ethno-social resettlement campaigns of the USSR of the second half of the 1920s. The implementation of these practices in the Volga Region led to major migrations and the formation of ethnic enclaves on the territory of Urals and Siberia. Basing on various sources and field materials, the article describes the situation in the Southern Prikamye after several thousand of the Chuvash people migrated to the places inhabited by Russian Old Believers. The sources allow to reconstruct complex processes of ethno-cultural interaction that formed new specific complexes of spiritual and material culture of the Chuvash people of Prikamye. The authors noted that the resettlement in the 1920s took place in the conditions of the destruction of the traditional life characteristics in the whole country, a change in ideological attitudes, a significant transformation of ethnocultural complexes. Under the conditions of migration, these factors contributed to a more intensive course of assimilation processes. At the same time, a significant number of Chuvash migrants encamped in one area at a distance from large settlements, as well as preservation of the rural character of the outposts contributed to the functioning of institutions for keeping the traditional way of legacy transmission.

Colonization Through Municipalization: The Politics of Sanitation and Municipal Governance in the ‘Mofussils’ of Colonial Bengal, c. 1870–1940s

How does a state govern a territory which has seen a sudden spurt in population and become the most densely populated regions of the province? How does the state account for the governance of a place which very recently has seen the transition from a rural or a semi-rural tract to a town? And most importantly, how does the state govern a place where the main source of power resides with the proprietors of private enterprises? These were some of the questions which the colonial state had to deal with when it was faced with the prospect of administering some of the most rapidly ‘urbanizing’ or expanding regions of Bengal, that is, the industrial belt or the riparian municipalities of the districts of 24 Parganas and Hooghly and the mining and railway junctions of Ranigunj and Asansol from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. How was their administration going to be any different from the other mofussil municipalities, which also had a semi-rural character? This article will look at these questions and try to understand how through the process of municipalization the colonial state was trying to control the newer territories and how the locals reacted to these attempts. This article will investigate and hence argue that any attempt at improvement in these mofussil municipalities was being throttled due to the lack of understanding, on the part of the provincial government, of the local socio-economic conditions and the ineffectiveness of the local self-government in these towns.

ROMANIAN SMALL TOWNS SEARCHING FOR THEIR IDENTITY

Romanian small towns - urban settlements of less than 20000 inhabitants, having a polarizing function with respect to the socio-economic activities in the deeply rural areas - are considered an interface between rural and urban communities. Determining the identity of small towns is rather difficult, because complex and varied political, social and economic changes occurred in the previous century. Thus, three distinct phases have been established: before 1950 the towns had a rather strong rural character; in 1950-1989 their identity was completely changed under the communist regime; after that, they somehow re gained their initial identity (the one before 1950), or promoted it at higher levels. There is a discrepancy between the present stage and that before 1989: the previous identity was conventional and constrained whereas today it develops in a natural process conditioned only by the town itself and by the choice of its inhabitants.

Spatial Patterns of Second Home Development as Part of Rural Landscapes. A Case Study of Apuseni Nature Park

During the last decades, against the backdrop of radical social and economic restructuring, the rural environment has changed fundamentally, arising new social and economic dynamics and cultural realities. The second homes development has significantly contributed to this process and created major challenges for the need to protect the rural character. Therefore, with the purpose of integrated and sustainable spatial planning, a detailed acquaintance of second homes’ spatial differentiation as part of contemporary rural landscapes, is a core prerequisite. This study aims to determine the second homes spatial patterns in relation to the main characteristics of the local environment, and to create a practical cornerstone for stakeholders concerned with integrated planning of second home tourism. In order to achieve these goals, this research used five major datasets related to land cover, elevation, climate, management system for protected areas and other social aspects (e.g. tourism, native settlements). Twenty-three variables were defined using GIS and subsequently assigned to grid cells with a size of 1.5 km2. To reduce the dimensionality of spatial datasets, Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was performed, resulting seven components that explained 77.2% of the variation. The PCA score was the subject of k-means cluster analysis that revealed nineteen landscape types. Finally, the spatial location of second homes is overlaid with the identified rural landscapes. This approach shows plenty of hidden nuances of second home tourism and facilitates its integration in both spatial, socio-cultural, and administrative dimensions.

Diligence Versus Quality

This chapter delves into the ideals of character, which shows how diligence and quality form competing ideals in a hegemonic negotiation between rural and urban interests. It examines how the rural character ideal of diligence is gendered and ethnicized, reinforcing the dominance of an urban, male, Han elite. It also talks about the concept of diligence in China as a characteristically rural virtue, saying that people in the countryside that are accustomed to sweat and toil are better at “eating bitterness.” The chapter investigates the devotion to diligence that pervades Chinese society, prompting the anthropologist Stevan Harrell to suggest that the importance of the family to Chinese economic life is the reason why they work so hard. It talks about Chinese businesses that are family firms, where diligence and the associated values of thriftiness and entrepreneurship forms the moral foundation of economic success.

Economic Complexity and Inequality: Does Regional Productive Structure Affect Income Inequality in Brazilian States?

Recent research on the effects of the productive structure of an economy has turned to examining whether economic complexity is associated with lower income inequality. In contrast to the commonly adopted approach that estimates the impact of economic complexity in a cross-country setting, we use panel data for Brazilian states to identify the relationship between economic complexity and income inequality at the sub-national level. Our findings show that the relationship between economic complexity and income inequality has an inverted U-shape, indicating that growing levels of complexity first worsen and then improve the income distribution in Brazilian states. Our findings also show that this relationship is particularly prominent in those states that have relatively high levels of urbanization and overall development. Furthermore, we identify separate effects on income inequality from the degree to which regional productive structures are characterised by diversity in terms of industries and occupations. These effects are particularly pronounced in less developed states with a more rural character. In combination, these findings confirm the important role that the productive structure plays in processes that drive improvements in income distributions and suggest that more research on this impact is warranted at the regional level.

Prehistoric Settlement at Virje–Volarski Breg/Sušine

Several years of excavations at the site of Virje–Volarski Breg/Sušine uncovered the remains of a settlement from the Late Bronze and Late Iron Ages. The finds of a bronze pin and potsherds from the Late Bronze Age enabled the dating of the settlement to the early and late phases of the Urnfield culture, with the settlement at Volarski Breg being older than the one at Sušine. The excavations revealed parts of La Tène settlement infrastructure, which indicated that it was a prominent lowland settlement from the Middle and Late La Tène. They included the exceptional discovery of a pit with the remains of a loom. Both for the organization of the La Tène culture settlement and for its pottery finds, there are parallels in the known settlements from the middle Drava valley and the neighbouring areas of north-eastern Slovenia and south-western Hungary. These settlements are considered to have a rural character and to be the result of the life needs of small agricultural communities integrated in the landscape. The explored parts of the infrastructure of these settlements show that they were organized around single households. The intensive habitation of the middle Drava valley in the Late Bronze and Late Iron Ages is not at all surprising, since the area was crossed by an important communication route between the south-eastern Alpine region and the Danube region.

The Urban-Rural Telecommunications Divide Endures: A Historical Perspective from Landline Telephony

The popular press and academic literature show that the urban-rural divide persists with regard to recent telecommunications technologies, such as broadband and wireless service. As was the case for landline telephony, this lack of deployment in rural areas is rooted in cost differentials and lack of agglomeration economies. This paper provides historical insights on this divide, using 1990 data on voice communications in a region located in the northeastern United States, and investigates (1) whether there are differences in telecommunications usage between urban and rural firms, (2) whether advanced telecommunications technologies provide an economic advantage to rural firms, and (3) what are the factors encouraging and inhibiting the provision of these technologies in rural areas. Exchange-level data on telephone usage by eleven economic sectors are first linked, through regression analysis, to data characterizing the exchange employment, rural character, availability of advanced technology, and geography. Rural activities turn out to use telecommunications less than urban ones in the absence of advanced technologies, but the latter tend to significantly increase usage. Next, a logit model is estimated to link the deployment of one advanced technology—digital switching—to market and geographical variables. The results tend to support the idea that an advanced telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas may be important to attract activities that make heavy use of telecommunications, but also that its provision is inhibited by the traditional rural barriers of distance and low population density.

ROMANIAN SMALL TOWNS SEARCHING FOR THEIR IDENTITY

Romanian small towns - urban settlements of less than 20000 inhabitants, having a polarizing function with respect to the socio-economic activities in the deeply rural areas - are considered an interface between rural and urban communities. Determining the identity of small towns is rather difficult, because complex and varied political, social and economic changes occurred in the previous century. Thus, three distinct phases have been established: before 1950 the towns had a rather strong rural character; in 1950-1989 their identity was completely changed under the communist regime; after that, they somehow re gained their initial identity (the one before 1950), or promoted it at higher levels. There is a discrepancy between the present stage and that before 1989: the previous identity was conventional and constrained whereas today it develops in a natural process conditioned only by the town itself and by the choice of its inhabitants.