Elena Dell'agnese

L'idea che un cataclisma climatico possa alterare in maniera profonda gli equilibri del pianeta è presente nella fantascienza sin dalla fine dell'Ottocento. Le narrazioni incentrate sulle conseguenze potenzialmente catastrofiche di un cambiamento climatico, tuttavia,nei primi due decenni del Duemila si sono letteralmente moltiplicate, tanto che si parla di Climate Fiction. Al di là del monito ambientalista inserito in queste narrazioni, un ulteriore livello di analisi può essere individuato nell'esame del discorso da esse veicolato, in relazione ai rapporti di potere tra esseri umani e tra esseri umani e ambiente. In questo articolo, dopo una breve introduzione all'approccio teorico individuato come utile a tal fine (l'Ecocritical Geopolitics), verrà articolata un'agenda di ricerca, con l'identificazione dei campi di indagine da aprire per esplorare la Climate Fiction, in riferimento ai suoi riferimenti spaziali, ai suoi principali protagonisti e al suo d...

Tourism is an important (although not the only) factor of cultural transformation affecting populations living outside the mainstream of Western cultures; in some circumstances, it may also be a significant stimulus for the construction of an ethnic identity. Tourism can counterbalance the process of forced acculturation imposed by a dominant population on their geopolitically indigenous neighbours because the interest of foreign visitors in cultural traits that would otherwise be destined to succumb not only protects them from obliteration as part of the general process of modernization, but also allows them to be revalued and thus equipped with a specific sense of identity. This is what is happening in the case of the Dani of Indonesian New Guinea.

Dell'Agnese, E., & Vitale, T. (2007). Rom e sinti, una galassia di minoranze senza territorio. In A. Rosina, & G. Amiotti (a cura di), Identità ed integrazione. Passato e presente delle minoranze nell'Europa mediterranea (pp. 123-145). Milano : Franco Angeli.

Food-related practices are among the more pervasive of human life, from either the individual, social, cultural, political and economic points of view. Their relation to globalization is complex. On one hand, they are still largely place-based, according to the variety of local names, they have and the diversity of the ways of identifying, producing, transforming and consuming food, including between not so distant places. The diffusion of references to the regional or national origin as the main attribute of the food people eat or restaurants serve also testifies of the close relationship between food and places. On the other hand, though, food and globalization seem nowadays to be ‘inseparable’ and what is more, long-term flows of food products and of culinary ideas have been crossing the oceans for centuries and the desire for tropical food products, such as tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, was one of the triggers of colonization and for the subsequent transformation of colonized l...

Due to their geophysical structure, the Maldives face various natural hazards, such as coastal erosion, rising water levels, tsunamis and other climate-related disasters. In 2004, the country was affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami, with almost 12,000 displaced persons and a further 8,500 relocated inhabitants. In the context of the country’s efforts to achieve sustainable development and face climate change, disaster risk reduction and resilience capacity are key issues. The Government is working hard to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risks Reduction 2015-2030, linked to Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. The paper considers the cases of two islands in Dhaalu Atoll – Meedhoo and Rin’budhoo – both affected by the tsunami, where social and economic resilience produced two different models of development. The tsunami hit Meedhoo hard. The island economy depends on fishing and the main threats are its small size and soil erosion. Thus, in 2006 a large ...

Tourism development in the Maldives, since the 1980s, has been characterized by a specific form of spatial segregation, imposed by planning at the government level. Foreign tourists were allowed to stay exclusively on islands otherwise uninhabited, in special accommodation facilities (resorts). According to the “One Island, One Resort” principle, there was only one resort on each island, covering its entire area. Like other tourist enclaves (Minca 2009), the Maldivian resort islands may fall within the definition of heterotopia offered by Foucault (1984). However, unlike traditional tourism enclaves, which are mostly controlled by foreign interests and capital, the Maldivian resort islands are the result of a specific orientation of local planning and strict spatial control of tourism practices, and so may be defined as “planned heterotopias.” Despite the subsequent reduction in spatial control of tourism practices, and some isolated attempt of networking the resorts with the atolls...

English"Elvis has (not yet) left the building": 'The King' between global tourism and 'reterritorialization' of the Whitehaven district in Memphis, Tennessee - More than forty years after his death, Elvis Presley remains an "enduring American icon", thanks to the role of his impersonators, of the fan clubs active all over the world and, above all, of Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), which manages the musician's rights and the administration of Graceland, his villa in Memphis. Despite the hundreds of thousands of visitors who go there on pilgrimage every year, Graceland has long been isolated from its territorial surroundings, the district of Whitehaven, which over time has suffered a progressive decline. Only recently has EPE started an impressive project that, through the construction of a large hotel, a shopping mall and even manufacturing activities, all of them inspired by the Elvis' image, should start the regeneration of the neighborhood. In this way, Elvis, besides his role as a cultural icon, has also become an ingredient for the re-territorialization of an urban space. italianoA oltre quaranta anni dal decesso, Elvis Presley rimane una "icona americana intramontabile", grazie al ruolo degli impersonators, dei fan club attivi in tutto il mondo e, soprattutto, della Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), che gestisce i diritti musicali del cantante e l'amministrazione di Graceland, la sua villa di Memphis. Nonostante le centinaia di migliaia di visitatori che ogni anno vi si recano in pellegrinaggio, Graceland e rimasta a lungo isolata dal suo intorno territoriale, il quartiere di Whitehaven, che nel tempo ha subito un progressivo degrado. Solo recentemente la EPE ha dato vita a un imponente progetto che, tramite la realizzazione di un grande albergo, di un centro commerciale e persino di attivita manifatturiere, tutte legate alla figura di Elvis, dovrebbe avviare la rigenerazione del quartiere. In questo modo, Elvis, oltre a rimanere una icona culturale, si e trasformato anche in uno strumento per la riterritorializzazione di uno spazio urbano.

Ricezione dell'opera, scuole, riproduzione del personale scientifico: riflettendo su tre libri che hanno cambiato il modo di pensare la Geografia Coordina Franco Farinelli 10:30 – Saluti di apertura 11:00 – Claudio Cerreti e Claudio Minca presentano l'incontro 11:30 – Clara Copeta e Giulia de Spuches dialogano su Realtà sociali e paesaggio simbolico, di Denis Cosgrove (1984) 12:30 – Pausa e buffet 14:00 – Claudio Minca e Mario Neve dialogano su Le metafore della Terra, di Giuseppe Dematteis (1985) 15:00 – Claudio Cerreti ed Elena dell'Agnese dialogano su Per una geografia del potere, di Claude Raffestin (1981) 16:00 – Dibattito generale aperto al pubblico

Writing about catastrophes is not easy. But it can also be very significant, at different levels and with different implications. If, in mathematical terms, a catastrophe is a sudden shift, in sociological terms, the expression may be used to imply a rupture of the system of "normal relations," caused by a unexpected event--in this case, a disaster. A catastrophe involves the destruction of everyday ordinariness, that is to say, of the "usual" space-time envelope, exposing the reaction of the private and of the public life to a sudden change. Indeed, as Claude Raffestin wrote (1987, 4), "from the point of view of human ecology, disasters are very interesting, if the use of such an expression, a little excessive, is legitimate, in three different moments." First of all, the moment of the disaster itself is interesting, since it may emphasize behaviours that are not frequently observed, if you have the cold blood of doing so. But the aftermath, when the rescue and recovery procedures are activated, is interesting as well, since this is the moment when it becomes possible to scrutinize how a given society reacts in a moment of crisis; from this perspective, it may help in highlighting the system of political and socio-economic relations of that society, and the private behaviour of its citizens. Later, the moment of reconstruction is relevant, since it is the time when it becomes possible to seize the codes, and the more general discourse behind them, employed in order to restyle a (new) sociopolitical and socioeconomic equilibrium. From a social perspective (Fritz 1961), a disaster may be analysed, at least, on two different levels. As a singular occurrence, it must be investigated in order to understand how the system works, in terms of bureaucracy and organization, in order to understand if "failures to respond adequately to the initial event multiply their effects" (turning it into a real catastrophe, as remarked by John Agnew, in the foreword). In fact, analyzing the succession of events makes it possible to see if the catastrophic condition is, at least partially, the consequence of an "organizational myopia," that is of given "barriers that impede organizations from identifying an effective response to the problems that they have to confront" (Catino 2013). On this level, an analytic exam of the problems incurred during former occasions may prove to be useful to prevent similar situations from being repeated in the future. If considered at the mesoscale level, the analysis of a catastrophe can offer even more precious information. From this perspective, "the investigation of these phenomena can extend sociological theories of human behaviour and social organization" (Merton 1969, xi), since the rupture of the former situation exposes the power relations existing between different components of the local community, and also between the local community, the national society, and the international scenario. Indeed, as underlined by Quarantelli (2006), "catastrophes as happened in Katrina force to the surface racial, class and ethnic differences that are papered over during routine times". So, breaking the ordinariness of the everyday life can help in understanding not only how the society works in organizational terms, but also how it is structured on the inside. "In this way, hurricanes and other calamities offer 'strategic research sites' for sociological inquiry" (Elliot and Pais 2006, p.296; Quarantelli 1998). Moreover, analysing how the local media describe the event, and the general reaction of people, can help in understanding how certain myths about disasters are created and disseminated (Wenger and Friedman 1986). But disasters are interesting from an international point of view as well. Indeed, when the machine of international aid is triggered, analysing the public discourse with the tools of critical geopolitics can help in understanding the relations that connect the community struck by the event with other communities and societies. …

Path-dependent development together with entrepreneurial capacities and clustering of activities gave Milan a new role as one of the main global centres in media, design and fashion industries. The good fortunes of the city on the economic side have not yet been ...

Mugnano, S., Mingione, TR, Zajczyk, F., Dell'Agnese, E., D'Ovidio, M., & Sedini, S. (2010). Policies and strategies in the Metropolitan Region of Milan. How to enhance the city's competitiveness. Amsterdam : AISSR. ... There are no files associated with this item.

Abstract The Maldives resort islands are a type of tourist enclave subject to a dual form of borderization. The islands have an external border that coincides with each island’s coastline and with the limits of the private property of the resort; this border regulates the movement of tourists and locals. The islands also have an internal border that separates the outer edge of the island from the inner edge. The outer edge, which is supposed to represent the perfect landscape of the ‘tropical island,’ houses all of the tourist facilities, while the interior contains the structures dedicated to the metabolic activities of the resort. The frontline staff members and the tourists share the ‘dreamscape’ of the outer edge, whereas the maintenance workers live in the secluded space inside the island, where they are typically hidden from the sight of tourists by high walls, and their movement is usually restricted from staff designated areas to their location of work. For maintenance workers, these spaces, necessarily limited due to the small size of the coral islands, risk becoming ‘islands within islands.’ Recently, the Maldivian government has begun to promote projects and initiatives in support of territorial integration between the resorts and communities of neighboring islands. Thus, the outer limits of the resort islands are, today, more porous. Their internal borders, in contrast, remain very difficult to cross.

Political geographers have significantly contributed to understandings of the spatialities of Europeanization. We review some of this work, while also highlighting research themes where further political-geographic research would be insightful. We note the importance of work that captures both the diverse expressions and meanings attributed to Europe, European integration and ‘European power’ in different places within and beyond the EU, and the variegated manifestations of ‘Europeanizing’ processes across these different spaces. We also suggest that political-geographic research can add crucial input to reconceptualizing European integration as well as Europeanization as it now unfolds in a time of ‘crisis’.

Nel 1946, John K. Wright, allora presidente della Association of American Geographers, dedicava il discorso di apertura dei lavori del quarantatreesimo meeting annuale dell'associazione al “ruolo dell'immaginazione nella geografia”. Con quel discorso, che ...

... Dalle "guerre per il territorio" ai conflitti per il "luogo". Autores: Elena Dell'Agnese; Localización: Storia urbana, ISSN 0391-2248, Vol. 30, Nº. 117, 2007 , págs. 37-54. Fundación Dialnet. Acceso de usuarios registrados. Acceso de usuarios registrados Usuario. Contraseña. Entrar ...

May landscape description be considered an eco-critical metaphor? This paper proposes a text analysis of two post-apocalyptic narratives, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, as novel and movie, and the zombie drama The Walking Dead, as graphic novel and television series. Neither narrative provides an explanation for its apocalypse, or a direct warning as regards human environmental misbehaviour. But both the barren landscape described in the former work, and the renaturalizing one presented in the latter second may convey an environmental meaning, albeit in a different way. To evaluate the way in which contemporary audiences negotiate this, further research would be necessary.