Building borders in a borderless land: English colonialism and the Alam Minangkabau of Sumatra, 1680�1730

This article adopts the concept of securitisation to understand the failure of the English East India Company�s attempt to build a territorial empire on the island of Sumatra in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Securitisation formed a key component of European colonialism, involving the creation of fortified and militarised borders both to exclude groups from entering newly defined territorial spaces, but also as a way to control goods, labour and resources within those spaces. Ultimately, this form of imperialism failed on the west coast of Sumatra, where a highly mobile society participated in a shared political culture that made any formal boundary or border between Malay states too difficult to enforce. Trading networks, religious affiliations, transregional kinship ties, and migratory circuits all worked to undermine the Company�s attempt to establish its authority over delineated territory and the people and goods within it.

Objects of transgenerational memory: challenging hegemonic historical narratives of war in Lebanon

This article examines how objects embedded in the domestic life of the generation of the Lebanese civil war and the subsequent generations evoke stories that disrupt the state�s hegemonic production of history. The article explores stories surrounding two objects that survived the war, and took on residues of memory later heard and retold by the subsequent generation. These objects illuminate ways in which the legacy of intergenerational memory is produced and transmitted�and how these alternative spaces and stories emerge in present struggles, including the October 2019 revolution. In the first section, the article examines how material objects operate as intergenerational symbols of the experiences of war and as media for the process of narrativisation. In the second section, the argument explores the role of the material as a witness to what resists language and as a locus to memory�s temporality. In the third section, the article looks into the affective dimension of the material object as it provokes an opening to narration and challenges linear understandings of history. This search through material and domestic objects seeks stories that resist closure, and is essential to understanding today�s struggle against the Lebanese political class.

Dams, moats, and cities: climate and societies in late-Holocene China

Whilst the late-Holocene climate was becoming drier with an increasing number of climatic anomalies, with notably more frequent fluctuations in summer rainfall on an annual or decadal scale, many walled sites or cities emerged and became regional centres that witnessed population agglomeration and technological flowering. To feed their growing populations and their increasing demands on land, water, food, and other resources, these �cities� were drawn closer physically to riverine environments and wetlands. By diversifying and intensifying their subsistence strategies, and constructing infrastructure on a colossal scale, these late-Holocene walled towns or cities also fundamentally transformed their local landscapes. Examining key sites from the Huai river and the Yangtze Delta, this paper will compare the dynamic interactions between society, landscape, and the environment under different socio-economic conditions across different regions of late-Holocene China and investigate how these factors influenced and led to the emergence of complex societies or early states.

The impact of nature-based interventions on public health: a review using pathways, mechanisms and behaviour change techniques from environmental social science and health behaviour change

The aim of this narrative review is to explore whether nature-based interventions improved individual public health outcomes and health behaviours, using a conceptual framework that included pathways and pathway domains, mechanisms, and behaviour change techniques derived from environmental social science theory and health behaviour change models. A two-stage scoping methodology was used to identified studies published between 2000 and 2021. Peer reviewed, English-language reports of nature-based interventions with adults (N = 9) were included if the study met the definition of a health�behaviour change intervention and reported at least one measured physical/mental health outcome. Interventions focused on the restoring or building capacities pathway domains as part of the nature contact/experience pathway; varied health behaviour change mechanisms and techniques were present but environmental social-science-derived mechanisms to influence health outcomes were used less. Practical recommendations for future interventions include explicit statement of the targeted level of causation, as well as utilisation of both environmental social science and health behaviour change theories and varied public health outcomes to allow simultaneously testing of theoretical predictions.

The evolution of China's climate change policy: international and domestic political economy and a strategy for working with China

For over a decade China has been the predominant carbon emitter in the global economy. It is thus imperative for us to understand the factors behind its climate change policy in the past decades. In the article, the author surveys the evolution of China�s climate change policy during 1990�2021 and applies theories from international relations and international political economy to explain it. It is found that (neo-)realism/nationalism and liberalism, two main theories in the field, offer only a partial explanation of China�s climate policy. The most effective theory is domestic sources. In particular, leadership power consolidation and a concern with economic growth seem to dictate China�s climate policy. The findings point to the analytical utility of domestic political economy in accounting for the climate stances of nation-states. Policy suggestions for external parties to interact with China on climate change are proposed. There the importance of involving China in global action against climate change, as well as the utility of the economy and trade leverage, soft power standing, and the prevention of extreme weather are discussed.

Climate migration and the UK

This article discusses the relationship between climate change and migration in the context of the UK. After a brief overview of climate migration scholarship, it examines the framing of climate migration as a crisis in UK policy discourse, highlighting the disjuncture between policy and academic scholarship in this respect. Subsequently, it examines the reasons for this schism, exploring both the framing of climate migration within the UK media landscape and the securitisation of the topic within UK government policy. Finally, the article explores how the UK�s political landscape undergirds the political logic of climate finance, emphasising the role of British domestic politics in shaping the boundaries and direction of climate change as it manifests in governance. The article closes by exploring potential new directions in UK climate migration policy.

Human beings in a theatre made for them: the child�s voice in contemporary theatre for young audiences

This article explores the challenges of including the child�s voice in an artform dedicated to children, Theatre for Young Audiences. In 2020, The International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People, ASSITEJ, launched a manifesto to bring the voices of children and artists to every country in the world. However, the experience of children of this theatre made for them is often that their rights are elided with or subordinated to those of adults. A model for addressing this and some examples of practice suggest possibilities for change. This article examines the capacity and capability required to realise such possibilities within a precarious industry. Committing to hearing children makes demands on those making theatre and those making policy alike.

Out of sight � out of regulation? Underground space governance in the UK

Underground space has been used by humans for thousands of years: for example, to extract mineral resources or water. Against the background of increasing populations, urbanisation, and energy demand, underground space has come back into focus, promising to ease pressure above the surface. However, geological underground models deliver only frameworks for possible uses and we do not know much about the context between geological characteristics and human uses, demands, and changes of underground space. Moreover, governing underground space can be complicated as it involves conflicting objectives and regulatory frameworks. One key objective, therefore, must be to conceptualise and implement new approaches to underground governance, taking into account its diverse uses and various stakeholders� claims. This article introduces the current situation of underground space governance and regulation in the UK, discussing different themes, such as property rights, regulation, planning, groundwater, fracking, and the future of underground space use exemplified by the storage of nuclear waste.

Tackling the behavioural antecedents of knowledge production: research culture, behavioural intentionality and proactive agenda setting by scholars in Africa

This article advances the view that the conversation around repositioning Africa�s place in knowledge production requires a critical examination of the actions, behaviours, and institutionalised agendas antecedent to and concomitant to producing credible knowledge. The article explores this issue by bringing together three interrelated themes: the behavioural aspects of knowledge production with respect to organisational and research culture; the research and writing posture of academics in African institutions; and the need for deliberate and intentional agenda setting by scholarly associations in Africa. The �fight� for Africa�s place in producing relevant knowledge must be three pronged. While there are historical dogmas that have internationally conspired to delegitimise indigenous propositions, there are also institutional barriers in-country (such as poor research/educational policy) which hinder the development of strong research prospects. Finally, research behaviour is necessarily a consequence of behavioural intention; such intention is a consequence of attitude towards and subjective norms about research. These must be tackled from a behavioural standpoint. This article therefore suggests means by which scholars and relevant institutions in African countries may reclaim and possess their own knowledge agendas and, as it were, �tell their own story�.

Climate, disaster and risk: introduction

This special issue focuses on the intersections of climate, disasters, and development. The research presented here is designed to facilitate climate-resilient decision-making, and promote sustainable development by maximising the beneficial impacts of responses to climate change and minimising negative impacts across the full spectrum of geographies and sectors that are potentially affected by the changing climate.