NORDIA GEOGRAPHICAL PUBLICATIONS (NGP) is a non-profit, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Geographical Society of Northern Finland and the Geography Research Unit at the University of Oulu.
The Geographical Society of Northern Finland and the Geography Research Unit
Integrating multi-source geospatial data to monitor peatland red-listed plant species, greenhouse gas dynamics, and the water table
Peatlands are important ecosystems that support biodiversity, regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) and flooding, and help to purify water. In Finland, however, more than 50 % of peatlands have been drained to support forestry, agriculture, and peat extraction. These activities have reduced peatland biodiversity, increased GHG emissions, and altered peatland hydrology, resulting in widespread peatland ecosystem degradation. Consequently, large-scale restoration efforts have been initiated to mitigate these impacts and restore peatland functioning. As restoration progresses, regular monitoring of peatland biodiversity, GHG fluxes, and the water table (WT) is needed to track peatland conditions over time. One approach to monitoring peatlands is field-based observation. However, this method is constrained by high costs, limited accessibility, and restricted spatial coverage. To address these limitations, this research explores the use of geospatial environmental and remote sensing (RS) data, combined with statistical modelling, as an alternative means to support peatland monitoring. First, environmental data were used to analyse whether different restoration and climate change scenarios affect the national-scale distribution of potential habitats for red-listed peatland plant species in Finland. Second, environmental data and RS data (Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery) were compared and combined to detect national-scale patterns of potential peatland GHG sinks and sources and to evaluate which data sources provided better predictive performance. Third, environmental data were used to improve RS-based peatland WT models in three study areas ranging from 18 to 175 ha. Environmental data were able to predict the potential habitats of peatland red-listed plant species at the national scale. Drainage and climate variables were the most important predictors. Model projections indicated that climate warming will reduce potential suitable habitats for many red-listed species, especially in the northern and middle boreal zones. However, restoration increased the amount of potential suitable habitat, reduced habitat loss, and moderated future northward shifts in species distributions. The benefits of restoration were strongest under mild climate scenarios and gradually weakened towards the end of the twenty-first century under severe warming. Although the models performed well, future studies concerning the interaction between restoration and climate change should include ecological constraints such as dispersal and species interactions to improve the realism of long-term predictions. In detecting potential GHG sinks and sources, models combining both environmental and RS data performed best, while RS-only models had the lowest accuracy. Maps generated from environmental data alone and those from the combined dataset showed similar patterns, whereas RS-only maps displayed some differences in spatial extent. These results suggest that RS data alone are not sufficient for reliable national-scale GHG predictions and that integrating environmental and RS data is necessary to obtain accurate and realistic estimates of potential peatland GHG sink–source distributions. At the local scale, combining RS and environmental data improved peatland WT models, both spatially and across seasons. In patterned northern boreal aapa mires, the topographic wetness index and topographic position index were important for explaining spatial WT variation. In a southern boreal drained peatland forest site, canopy height played a larger role in WT dynamics, especially across different management treatments. Uncrewed aerial vehicle data offered very high-resolution information that captured microtopography and vegetation patterns, while Sentinel-2 data allowed repeated seasonal monitoring. These results demonstrate that multi-source RS, combined with environmental variables, can support efficient peatland WT monitoring. Overall, this thesis shows that environmental and RS data can be used to monitor peatland red-listed species, GHG, and WT dynamics. The usefulness of environmental and RS data depends on the object being studied, the spatial scale, and site conditions, but together they provide a reliable way to observe peatland condition beyond what field measurements alone can capture. As more field data become available, and RS techniques continue to develop, these approaches will become increasingly valuable for supporting peatland conservation, restoration planning, and long-term monitoring.
Copyright (c) 2026 Priscillia Christiani https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Structured unsustainability: institutional limits and temporal politics in sustainable tourism governance
Environmental sustainability has become a widely institutionalised goal across governance levels and policy domains, yet tourism continues to pose challenges for substantive transformation. As a sector characterised by high mobility, carbon intensity, and dispersed responsibility, tourism highlights the limits of sustainability frameworks under conditions of continued growth. This dissertation examines how tourism governance manages tensions between sustainability commitments and tourism development through spatial, institutional, and temporal practices. Its central question asks how tourism governance institutions use legitimacy-seeking strategies to manage contradictions between sustainability commitments and growth imperatives. Three subsidiary questions address how institutional constraints limit substantive environmen- tal outcomes in protected area tourism, how sustainability policies are translated into practices that accommodate growth objectives, and how temporal policy frameworks sustain legitimacy while deferring structural change. Empirically, the research focuses on Finnish protected area governance and sustainable tourism policymaking, drawing on an analytical framework grounded in New Institutional theory, temporal theory, and in environmental policy. The first two articles analyse how platformisation, corporatisation, and governance re-entrenchment have positioned tourism as an organisational necessity rather than a supplementary activity within protected areas. The third article examines temporal-scalar tensions within protected area governance. The fourth traces sustainability discourse across governance scales, from European Union frameworks through national and regional strategies to desti- nation-level implementation. Taken together, the articles show how institutional and temporal mechanisms work across different governance settings to stabilise growth-ori- ented trajectories while limiting substantive transformation. In Articles III and IV, temporal framings emerge as mechanisms for legitimising sustainability policy: environ- mental solutions are projected into the future while growth-oriented practices persist in the present. The future thus emerges as both an analytical lens and a political resource. The dissertation aims to make three theoretical contributions to tourism geography. First, it suggests that institutional limits can be understood as structural features of governance architectures that accommodate, rather than resolve, underlying contradic- tions. Second, it develops temporality as a legitimacy-preserving mechanism enabling the ongoing deferral of transformative change. Third, it conceptualises these dynamics as structured unsustainability, a condition in which symbolic compliance, procedural alignment, and temporal displacement sustain institutional continuity beneath the language of transition. In doing so, the study explains why sustainability governance in tourism systematically yields limited transformation through structural design rather than oversight.
Copyright (c) 2026 Aapo Lundén https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Researching regenerative tourism: Call for participatory, inclusive and reflective fieldwork
This essay explores how qualitative fieldwork in regenerative tourism research can be approached to foster more impactful and ethical scholarship. Arguing that regenerative tourism research must itself be transformative and align with regenerative thinking, the essay identifies three key principles for fieldwork: participatory, relational, and reflective. Participatory fieldwork fosters co-creation and empowers local communities, while relational approaches decentre the human and acknowledge the agency of more-than-human actors. Reflective practice, in turn, highlights the importance of researcher positionality, emotional labour, and the political nature of the field. As the provided examples demonstrate, these principles are already evident in emerging empirical studies that examine tourism through the lens of regenerative tourism.
Copyright (c) 2022 Roosa Ridanpää https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The joy of geography: Fieldwork in research, teaching, and collaboration
In the field, geographers engage directly with natural and human environments. In this discussion article, I argue that the discipline of geography fundamentally relies on fieldwork in research, teaching, and collaboration. I defend the value of field data in an era of abundant digital data, as modern geography needs both. I discuss why and how fieldwork is essential for producing, learning, and sharing scientific knowledge, illustrating this with recent examples from physical geography. In many ways, fieldwork forms the foundation of geographic knowledge because 1) field observations and explorations reveal what questions to investigate, not just what to measure 2) fieldwork bridges abstract concepts and reality, and 3) sharing field data enables collecting spatially extensive, temporally extensive, and scientifically comprehensive knowledge that would not otherwise exist. While these points may appear self-evident to many, this article serves as a reminder for those moments when the value of fieldwork is questioned, and the required time, money, and effort appear excessive for collecting field data.
Copyright (c) 2022 Julia Kemppinen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Vegetation and climate impacts on active layer thickness in palsas: insights from 13 years of field course data
Global climate warming has resulted in the circumpolar degradation of palsa mires. While climate is a key driver of palsa distribution and stability, local factors such as vegetation also influence permafrost dynamics. However, studies on the effects of vegetation on active layer thickness (ALT) in palsas remain limited. To address the logistical constraints of long-term annual monitoring, we drew on 13 years of field course data on ALT and vegetation height from a palsa mire in northwestern Finland. Specifically, we explored: (i) the occurrence of a temporal thickening trend in ALT, (ii) the influence of vegetation height on ALT, and (iii) the correlation between ALT and climate variables. Results revealed a complex relationship between ALT, climate, and vegetation height, which was measured at two distinct vegetation types: moss, lichen, and dwarf shrub-dominated low vegetation and shrub-dominated tall vegetation. No statistically significant long-term trends in ALT were detected, but a slight deepening was observed under both low (0.28 cm a-¹) and tall (0.49 cm a-¹) vegetation. Significant correlations (p < 0.05) between ALT and climate variables were found only at tall vegetation patches, specifically with snow depth. While not statistically significant, ALT showed positive correlations with several snow-related variables and summer air temperatures, and negative relationships with snow cover onset, autumn precipitation, and winter wind speed. ALT was statistically significantly thicker under low vegetation compared to tall vegetation. During thaw season, shrubs may reduce the thickening of the active layer by providing shade and increasing evapotranspiration, compared to low vegetation patches. These findings highlight the complex interplay between climate, vegetation, and ALT in palsas, emphasizing the need for long-term monitoring to better understand permafrost degradation patterns and changes in palsa mires. Recurring annual field courses provide an approach with educational benefits for collecting scientifically valid ALT observations.
Copyright (c) 2022 Oona Leppiniemi, Jan Hjort https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The concept of geodiversity is gaining recognition in many scientific fields, as well as in practical applications such as conservation and tourism. Although the importance of geodiversity is now widely accepted, its precise definition, scope and broader applicability continue to be debated and discussed. In this paper, we explore the variety of viewpoints that relate to geodiversity and scrutinize the importance of geodiversity for different audiences. These viewpoints include definitions, assessment, research fields, terminology and its applications. To help explore and convey the different viewpoints and values commonly attributed to geodiversity, we invoke the Rokua UNESCO Global Geopark in Finland as a specific case study. Finally, we present potential future directions for geodiversity research, including key knowledge gaps, and highlight the vulnerability of geodiversity to increasing human pressures that threaten its integrity and long-term sustainability.
Copyright (c) 2025 Helena Tukiainen, Maija Toivanen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Geospatial analysis of permafrost thaw-induced slope processes and their hazard potential across the Arctic
In recent decades, the Arctic has warmed at a rate that significantly exceeds the global mean, a phenomenon commonly referred to as Arctic amplification. Studies consistently show that Arctic temperatures are increasing at a rate roughly two to four times the global average, highlighting the exceptional sensitivity of northern environments to ongoing climatic change. Permafrost thaw is increasingly destabilizing high-latitude and high- altitude landscapes, giving rise to a range of slope failures with growing implications for ecosystems, infrastructure, and human activity. This dissertation examines thaw-driven mass-wasting processes across multiple spatial scales, focusing on retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) and active-layer detachment failures (ALDs) as dominant expressions of permafrost degradation under a warming climate. Integrating circumpolar susceptibility modeling, regional comparative analysis, applied infrastructure exposure assessment, and a tourism focused case study, the thesis develops a multiscale framework for understanding where thaw-related slope instability is likely to occur, how controlling factors vary among permafrost landscapes, and why these processes matter for society. At the circumpolar scale, statistical susceptibility modeling identifies consistent hemispheric patterns in RTS occurrence associated with climatic conditions and terrain settings commonly linked to ice-rich permafrost. Comparative regional analyses demonstrate that RTSs occupy distinct environmental envelopes throughout cold regions, highlighting pronounced environmental heterogeneity between regions. Regional-scale modeling of ALDs across Alaska and northwestern Canada reveals strong associations with slope morphology, cold-climate conditions, and fine-grained soils and shows extensive overlap between susceptible terrain and critical infrastructure networks. A local-scale synthesis in Yukon protected areas further illustrates that thaw-driven geomorphic hazards intersect with tourism, heritage, and governance, extending permafrost risk beyond infrastructure and settlements to transient human presence. Collectively, the results show that thaw-related slope failures are governed by consistent classes of environmental controls, such as climate and topography, whose expression and consequences are fundamentally scale-dependent. By linking physical susceptibility with environmental heterogeneity and patterns of human use, this dissertation advances an integrated perspective on permafrost thaw as a coupled socioenvironmental phenomenon. The findings provide a scientific basis for anticipated impacts of accelerating permafrost degradation and support the development of multiscale adaptation strategies in rapidly changing cryospheric environments.
Copyright (c) 2026 Eirini Makopoulou https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Politics of memory: Historical battlefields and sense of place
The historical landscapes of war and conflict — such as battlefields, remains of military constructions, memorials and graveyards — are fundamental parts of the national iconography of modern states. They stand there not just for their own sake but to — regardless of its pitfalls and mythological aspects — evince a nationalistic narrative of unified history and culture from past time up to the present day. The meanings and historical narratives related to places and landscapes are part of continuous processes of reproduction and representation. Historical places and landscapes and their meanings have never arisen for nothing. On the contrary, they are a part of wider social discourses and the reading and interpretation practices associated with these. These discourses act as frameworks that include particular combinations of narratives, concepts, myths, ideologies and signifying practices, each relevant to a particular realm of social action. They can enable and constrain meanings by constituting the limits within which ideas and practices are considered to be natural. In this article certain factors or interpretation practices related to the historical landscapes of war are identified and discussed. These factors may be identified as processes of 1) marking 2) naming 3) seeing and 4) controlling.
Regional differences in visitors’ experiences: the impacts of natural environment to health and wellbeing in national parks
There’s been a lot of studies concerning the relationship between natural environments and health and wellbeing. Many of them have focused on finding out what benefits can be acquired from nature and some have also made comparisons on different natural and unnatural environments and their effects on health. However, there really hasn’t been any large focus on the health benefits of various wilderness areas. This article is based on a master’s thesis. The aim of the thesis was to examine whether there would be any differences in the health and wellbeing benefits visitors experienced in one of four nature reserves (study sites) in Finland. The quantitative data was collected using an Internet survey. Altogether, there were 910 responses that were unevenly distributed across the four nature reserves. The data was analysed with principal component analysis and linear regression analysis. Results suggest there might be some differences how different wilderness areas affect people’s health and wellbeing. However, the study was unable to find any reliable evidence on what variables were the cause of these differences. Nevertheless, there was evident data to support the thesis that contact with nature has positive effects on people’s health and wellbeing. More research has to be made in order to be able to understand more about the impact of different environmental characteristics of wilderness areas on health and wellbeing.
Healthy urban planning – new approaches for strategic land use planning in the North
This article outlines a theoretical framework and a strategic support scheme for healthy urban planning, which integrates the socio-spatial aspects of environment with the patterns of human-environment interaction. A multidisciplinary discussion of prior research and the rationale for the theoretical and methodological framework is shortly presented. The paper aims at reframing community-scale planning focus towards the multiple dimensions of human-environment interaction patterns that may positively affect human health and well-being in (sub)arctic climatic conditions. Pointing that relatively little has been said so far of the topic in the scale on small and medium sized rural communities, further discussions and research is needed how to benefit the practice of land use planning and community public health promotion in the north. In order to refrain the premises of healthy urban planning, an empirical case study was carried out in 2015 in Sodankylä, a small municipality with ca. 9000 inhabitants located in Northern Finland. Based mainly on qualitative data sets, the case study included contextual site analysis of the perceived qualities of the case area. This was followed by profiling and scenario drafting phase, where alternative futures for Sodankylä were framed, and their expected impacts on the environmental quality and well-being of the residents were evaluated together with the locals. As an outcome, a strategic land use plan for healthier future in 2040 was presented for Sodankylä. Based on the outcome and findings of this pilot case study, it can be concluded that understanding the interactions between individuals and their environment is critical for community planning which is beneficial to the long-term development of living environment quality and human health in the north.
Defining ‘rurality’ for rural wellbeing tourism - Halfacree’s conceptual triad of the production of rural space in practical-level tourism development in Northern Europe
The developers in Northern Europe are increasingly looking into tourism as a potential livelihood and contributor to employment and local economies, especially in rural (and peripheral) areas. One potential form of tourism to be further developed in these areas is wellbeing tourism that has started to gain increasing attention in rural areas. In addition, the development of the common rural wellbeing tourism market has started to increase in Northern Europe, and especially around the Baltic Sea. However, the nonexistence of shared understanding of the central concepts, ‘rural’ and ‘wellbeing tourism’ hinders international, collaborative development activities among the various tourism stakeholders operating in the area. Therefore, it is essential to construct a common conception in order to progress in the development of the common rural wellbeing tourism market. In this article we describe one construction process of a commonly accepted, over-arching definition for ‘rural tourism’ or ‘rurality’ in a transnational and multi-stakeholder development project. Our aim is to examine the applicability of the well-known triad understanding of the ‘rural’, originally introduced by Halfacree, in this context. The triad has been utilised in different tourism-related contexts, but its practicality and potential for use in tourism development has been studied less. The definition process we describe in this article shows that the triad cannot be directly utilised for practical-level tourism development purposes. The results indicate that a more critical approach or even deconstruction of Halfacree’s triad could give more fresh and new angles to the development of rural tourism products.
The well-being effects of localized multi-level environmental governance: Case of Kilpisjärvi
Equality among stakeholders and sustainable environmental impacts are important themes for good environmental governance. Good governance is a tricky theme to address as localized environmental decision making is deeply connected to issues and actors at various governance levels, from the local to the global, embedded with power relations. The examined case of Kilpisjärvi also includes issues from various governance levels and involves contested relationships between stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to examine the Kilpisjärvi case in order to identify: 1) How key governance problematics originating from various levels are manifested in local level land use decision making; 2) What kinds of implications these problematics may have on local well-being; and 3) How good governance can be enhanced regarding these identified problematics. The Kilpisjärvi case illuminates the complexities associated with local environmental governance. The key stakeholders in the area are Sámi reindeer herders, tourism entrepreneurs, local inhabitants, land use governance officials, and protected area management officials as well as scientists. The lessons learned relate to: 1) Enhancing the environmental sustainability of herding and understanding different conceptualizations on what “environmental sustainability” actually means; 2) Enhancing the dialogue between land users to increase social capital among stakeholders; 3) Clarifying the position of Sámi as indigenous people, 4) Clarifying local rights and ways to structure stakeholder interaction in order to increase the possibility for action and self-determination at the local level; and 5) Enhancing the transparent link between international guidelines and local practices and highlighting international guidelines, such as Akwé: Kon, to increase a local sense of being respected by external actors. Only by considering tangible environmental impacts and the well-being implications of governance can scholars make concrete proposals on how to enhance the sustainability of localized multi-level governance.
Population diversification in demographics, health, and living environments: the Barents Region in review
This paper provides updates on the geographical patterns in well-being of the population of the Barents region by applying indicators used in demography, public health, and environmental studies. In particular, we analyze recent demographic trends with regard to gender, age, ethnicity, and over time (1990−2015), considering depopulation, aging age structures, mortality and fertility patterns in connection with environmental changes. We investigate environmental effects on population health and living conditions of the Barents people, including the impact of air and water contamination, food insecurity, housing conditions, and new diseases driven by climate change. In addition, we highlight the importance of human capital (highest educational attainment of population) in tackling socio-economic challenges as well as adapting to climate and other sweeping changes occurring in the Barents region. Barents territories show inequalities in post-secondary educational attainment distribution between average nation-wide level and northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, based on the latest data available. The results and discussion suggest a significant variability across regions in the context of the studied parameters, except for life expectancy. The causes and consequences of the diversification of these trends need to be further investigated; as does the spatial distribution of societal well-being in the Barents region, an important geographical alliance in the northernmost part of Europe. The evidence presented in this review may help in the planning of adaptive community programs which respond to stresses in society, health, and the environment in the Barents region.
On topobiography; or, how to write one’s place
In topobiography there is a triad of place, memory and self at work. The self is a narrating self and to narrate is to try to organise experiences into a meaningful whole. In a narrative the meaning of each event is produced by its position in this comprehensible whole. What is of interest in this paper is how the meaningful whole is spatially constituted. In this respect the sensuous human embodiment is seen as always taking its place, or happening somewhere. Thus, the lived sense of time becomes the lived sense of place. In this way, time and place coincide.
Kuvista mielikuviksi: Valokuvat Suomi-brändin vetovoimatekijöinä
Mielenkiintoa herättävä, erottuva ja aitoihin vahvuusalueisiin perustuva maabrändi on yhä tärkeämpi menestystekijä valtioiden välisessä globaalissa kilpailutilanteessa. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan Suomen maabrändin edistämistyötä visuaalisen viestinnän näkökulmasta ja analysoidaan sitä, miten valokuvia hyödynnetään Suomesta ja suomalaisuudesta kerrottaessa. Tällöin huomio kiinnittyy toistuvasti esiintyviin kuvaustapoihin, jotka kertovat niistä asioista, ilmiöistä, paikoista ja ihmisistä, joita suomalaisessa maabrändiviestinnässä erityisesti suositaan. Vuosien 2010–2014 väliselle ajanjaksolle sijoittuva tutkimusaineisto kattaa maabrändin eri osa-alueet ja sisältää yhteensä 32 yksittäistä julkaisua ja 2870 valokuvaa. Kriittisen diskurssianalyysin lähtökohdan mukaisesti Suomea esitteleviä viestintämateriaaleja tutkitaan tuotannollisten ideologioiden ohjaamina visuaalisina tuotoksina, jotka kertovat maasta ja sen asukkaista maabrändiä edistävien intressien mukaisesti. Kuvastosta identifioidaan yhdeksän toisistaan poikkeavaa suomalaisuusdiskurssia, jotka sisältävät keskinäisiä ristiriitaisuuksia, mutta jotka toisaalta tasapainottavat kuvaston välittämää kertomusta Suomen erilaisista ulottuvuuksista. Diskurssien välisissä painotuseroissa on kyse siitä, millaista mielikuvaa Suomesta ja sen kansalaisista maabrändin edistämistyössä halutaan korostaa ja millaiset tavoitteet ohjaavat kuvastojen tuotantoa. Visuaalisen semiotiikan osalta analyysi kohdistuu kuvaviestinnän kerrokselliseen rakenteeseen, eli kuvien ilmimerkitysten ja niiden heijastamien kulttuuristen ideoiden ja arvojen väliseen suhteeseen. Tutkimus osoittaa, että kansallista identiteettiä rakentava tarinallisuus luodaan aina ajan ja paikan muodostamassa kontekstissa, vaikkakin kuvien kulttuurinen kierto ja historialliset kuvausperinteet vaikuttavat Suomen visuaaliseen esittämiseen. Perinteistä luontosuhdetta hyödynnetään suomalaiskansallisen identiteetin kulmakivenä, mutta tämän kerrontatavan vastapainoksi kuvastossa korostetaan metropolimaisen Helsingin kansainvälistä vetovoimaa. Brändi-imagon vahvistamiseksi viestintämateriaaleissa kerrotaan kansainvälistä huomiota saavuttaneista menestystekijöistä, jotka nojautuvat suurelta osin pitkän kulttuurihistoriallisen jatkumon varaan. Maabrändiviestinnän moniulotteisuus ilmenee esimerkiksi siinä, kuinka kuvaston aktiviivisuusdiskurssissa korostetaan dynaamisuuteen pohjautuvia vetovoimatekijöitä, kun taas arkidiskurssin sisältö nojautuu enemmänkin pysyvyyttä osoittaviin aihealueisiin. Stereotyyppisissä kuvaamisen tavoissa esille nousee myös suomalaisia symboloivia ideaalikansalaisia, joiden kautta välitetään yleistäviä mielleyhtymiä omaa tietään kulkevista, luovista, rohkeista ja innovatiivisista suomalaisista.
Towards transnational spatial policies in Finland
State spatial transformation is one of the key topics in contemporary human geography and social sciences more broadly. Its centrality as a research foci stems from the changing spatiality of the political economies of the world over the past decades. This paper discusses the changing spatiality of the Finnish state, and elaborates the recent transnationalization of spatial policies in particular.
Regionalisms and the ‘exceptionality’ of security regions
Work on regions and regionalisms highlights the complex processes through which regions emerge or disappear, or are remade often with unpredictable outcomes. This well-established knowledge of regions is however not fully appreciated by proponents of Regional Security Complex Theory, who are pre-occupied with security as a central element in region-formation. In security context the intersection between regions and security is expressed through a pluralistic security community in which the security of the regional group is a focal point for member states and their activities. In this paper I draw on insights from research on regionalism and from the emergence of southern Africa as a region to suggest that there is no need to treat regional security complexes as ‘special regions’ of some sort as Regional Security Complex Theory suggests. Security should be understood as an integral part rather than an exceptional feature of region-formation processes. I further suggest that analyses of regional security complexes are still trapped in the concept of bounded territoriality.
Symbolic violence in border crossing – a bodily geopolitics
This paper asks how to understand the relationship between symbolism and violence. The issue is tentatively accounted for by proposing two analytically distinguishable ways in which violence relates to symbolism: ‘symbolic domination’ and ‘symbolic violence’. The paper discusses the first in relation to border crossing as a common practice among travelers world wide. It then moves on to looking at how symbolic violence may operate as a more covert but nevertheless influential part of the geopolitical world ordering. By way of concluding the paper briefly discusses the ramifications of these forms of symbolic power when the geopolitical exception is becoming the norm.
Imagining and re-narrating regional identities
Human imagination, with all its institutional elements, is an integral part of regional identity construction. Considering regions ‘imaginative’ is not about underscoring the essence of fictiveness, but rather about emphasizing the relevance of the man’s power to imagine and narrate history in one’s own terms. This paper discusses the role of literature, especially literary humour, in the process of re-narrativizing regional identities, within the theoretical frameworks of Edward Said and Anssi Paasi. Through the analysis of Mikael Niemi’s breakthrough novel Popularmusik från Vittula, it is illustrated how the narrative identities of regions, in this case the region of Tornedalen in northern Sweden, can be contested, re-formed and complexified. Tornedalen is approached here as an imaginative region, with its own colonial history, while humour represents a unique textual method through which the ‘othered’ regional identity becomes re-negotiated.
U.S. immigration enforcement: then and now, there and here
This article examines shifts in US border and immigration policing over the last few decades, tracing the transformation of policing from an outwards-looking power located at the territorial margins of the state to an inwards-looking power focused on immigrant populations. I review five components of the militarization of US-Mexico border policy, then outline the recent expansion of enforcement to the US interior. Rather than marking a distinct break between policing regimes, I instead show that many of the same practices remain central to US immigration control. Heeding Paasi’s social-process oriented conceptualization of territory, the article closes with a reflection on borders and bordering.
Topological imagination, digital determinism and the mobile border paradigm
Building on previous insights that have decentered the understanding of borders in a simple, linear manner, there have been recent calls for a paradigmatic change in understanding the role borders play in organizing and regulating contemporary social interaction in space. The main argument focuses on the shift of the role of borders from remote limits controlling access to state territories to central ordering devices at the core of societies both in symbolic and material terms. In this view, borders play vital roles in individuals’ lives, reaching deep into the fabric of societies to structure and regulate daily routines as well as long-term strategies. Several developments such as advances in digital technology, globalization-driven mobility imperatives, flow-related security demands, and a topological imagination of space, are converging to shape a new border paradigm that unsettles long established political and economic practices and rises essential questions about power relationships in society in the twenty-first century.
The Mediterranean: international region and deadly border
Anssi Paasi’s research has contributed significantly to how political geographers understand the interrelated concepts of region and border. Paasi argues that regions and borders are both territorial and relational in that they are based on material practices in the landscape but also are created, reproduced, and contested through narratives. This article applies these ideas to the Mediterranean, a region with a long history of connection but with a current discourse and practice of division as the European Union attempts to limit the movement of immigrants through the sea, to argue that the idea of regions and borders are produced through 1) the iterative process of material interactions with the landscape and other humans and 2) symbolic representations of these spaces and relationships.
“Spatial socialization”: Understanding the state effect geographically
This article revisits Anssi Paasi’s concept of “spatial socialization.” The hallmark of Paasi’s geographic approach to identity, the concept offers a way to move beyond statist approaches that either reify the state or dismiss its significance. Spatial socialization sheds light on how the myths of coherence of “states,” “territories,” and otherwise-scaled regions come to be institutionalized through everyday practices and spatial imaginaries. Although Paasi is best known for his theoretical contributions, his long commitment to empirical research in Finland suggests the power of his contributions to think through unlike contexts, which I illustrate through a case study from my own research on the “state effect” in Central Asia.
City-Region Building and geohistorical matters: New new localism and the New new regionalism
In an article published nearly 15 years ago with Gordon MacLeod, we carefully reviewed, situated, extended, and above all celebrated the enormous intellectual contributions of Anssi Paasi to the scholarly project of doing ‘regions in geography’ Situated within, and going beyond, the ‘new regional geography’ movement in human geography and the social sciences more broadly, we looked at Paasi’s thinking on regionalization processes, abstracted in four stages, which collectively allowed us to advance (we claimed) a meaningful understanding of regional change. Rolling forward the research clock, I maintain that Paasi’s framework remains a cutting-edge theoretical framework in and through which to examine region-building processes and practices. This article accordingly looks at the ‘new new localism’ and suggests the need to now think about the dawn of a ‘new new regional geography’.
Revisiting good fences and neighbours in a postmodern world after twenty years: theoretical reflections on the state of contemporary border studies
It is almost twenty years since Paasi and Newman published a framework paper for understanding borders in an era of globalization in Progress in Human Geography, entitled Fences and Neighbours in a Postmodern World. In the interim period, border studies have undergone a major renaissance and expansion, drawing in scholars from across the disciplinary borders. Much of the research has focused on case study material relating to the border crossing experience as borders have become more porous and easier to transverse. Theoretical questions have been limited in their nature, with a focus on the dynamics of the bordering process, as contrasted with the border and its demarcation per se. The globalization narrative which focuses on the process through which borders are opened, and in some cases may be totally removed, is now paralleled by the post 9/11 securitization discourse which focuses on the reclosing and resealing of borders, even though the actual border dynamics may be taking place in different border spaces than the physical border itself. The next generation of border scholars need to posit a new set of challenges and questions which will help bridge the scholarly and practitioner understandings of border dynamics and change.
‘Regimes of territorial legitimation’ in a fast-changing world: why they matter and how they change
The work of Anssi Paasi and others highlights the importance of viewing territories as institutionalized social constructs. The territorial claims made by states should be seen in this light, as these are fundamentally influenced by regimes of territorial legitimation. These regimes are a product of taken-for-granted ideas about the relationship between people and territory that emerged along with the modern state system, and related understandings of the political-cultural circumstances that gave rise to states as juridically independent entities. There is considerable inertia to the initial regimes of territorial legitimation that take root after a state becomes independent, but they can evolve over time in response to shifts in the internal challenges states face, changing geopolitical circumstances, and the ideological commitments of state leaders. Understanding the nature and changing character of regimes of territorial legitimation can shed light on the forces shaping interstate conflict in the contemporary world.
Regions, borders and identity in a relational and territorial world
Life's work in the city without ground: Cross-border family politics between Shenzhen and Hong Kong
How do we evaluate our life’s work, the reflexive understanding of our role in the reproduction of society, in the city without ground? How is space produced between two metropolises constituted of air-conditioned passageways, concourses and tunnels that aim to disorientate the traveller with capital? To involve the reader in these questions, this sensory ethnography takes the reader on a journey across a series of reconstructed sites, from a study-centre classroom with a view of the border fence to immigration control points separating Hong Kong from Shenzhen and barricades erected by protesters on the occupied streets of Hong Kong Island. At each of these sites, the reader joins the author in interpreting multiple examples of the cross-border family’s strategies for dealing productively with the friction produced by territorial, economic and embodied borders. Over the dissertation’s course, these draw a “counter-topography” (Katz 2001) that highlights the productive and violent frictions created by individual and collective interventions in existing systems of assigning citizenship through genealogical inheritance. The aim of this dissertation is to bring the family back into scholarly studies of borders and global inequality – not as a tool for defining binary gendered systems of inheritance, but as a flexible pragmatic regime in which we learn to become tolerant of difference and work strategically together. It argues that families are a critical factor in the reproduction of borders. Family, state and enterprise regimes learn from and depend on each other. Over our lifetimes, these regimes use inherited logics of gender and sexual reproduction to shape our life’s work. This dissertation argues that members of cross-border families are experts in strategically engaging with inequality. Because of this, they can offer scholars and policymakers strategic advice on how their policies are pragmatically used as tools for individual and family development. The dissertation develops its conclusions by addressing three interrelated questions: How is the Hong Kong–Shenzhen border reproduced in the lives of its practitioners, what does this mean for how borders address global inequality, and what is the role of space in the performance of cross-border family politics? It addresses these questions by observing the tension between the dreams of individuals and the inherited possibilities assigned to them by immigration departments and family wealth through property ownership. Border control, the city, family or the workplace do not constitute a singular experience, but are instead constructed uniquely for each traveller based on internal and external inheritances. Within each experience of border crossing, this dissertation finds a tension of authenticity, resolved through emotional labour – the presentation of an outward expression of feeling contrary to a deeply held personal feeling (Hochschild 1983). The intimate event of family formation – the act of love – is what those who justify inherited borders of gender, nationality and property ownership propose liberates its participants through rewarding emotional labour. However, this simultaneously entails the next generation in the very genealogical structures they propose such events evade (Povinelli 2006). These emotional frictions hold this system of inequality together while producing valuable heat for participants that justify their complicity in the reproduction of borders. Families and other intimate relations, act topologically, twisting, turning and folding through topographical spatial structures to simultaneously support and extract value from them. Feelings matter. It is through our learnt structures of feeling that we consciously and subconsciously respond to and develop new spaces through encounters with difference. This study finds that our current order is critically dependent on the transmutation of emotional “tolerances” for the genealogical “order of things” across generations (Brown 2006). Borders and mobility, this dissertation proposes, are not universally evil; rather, they are co-constructed as integral “genres” of ideas based on historical experience that produce a multiplicity of violence and sovereignty. If we take the time to listen to those who love across distance, they can draw guides for us to make the best use of the friction produced by the discursive, material and economic interdependence of families, states and enterprises.