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Issue 9.1 Abstracts

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The "Remains of the Dead": Spatial Politics of Nation-Building in Post-War Singapore

By Tan Boon Hui and Brenda S. A. Yeoh

This paper examines the changing constitution of Chinese landscapes of death in post-war Singapore through a close reading of the process of conflict and negotiation between the nation-state and the Chinese community. Using the spatial politics surrounding Chinese burial grounds as a lens, we clarify state strategies of control over land use and explain how they shifted from colonial to the postcolonial era. We also examine how the strategies of resistance and negotiation on the part of the Chinese community to continue to lay claim to their burial spaces. We then explore state rationale behind, and the community's response to, the shift from burial to cremation. In general, the birth of a new nation-state put in place stronger urban planning mechanisms for disciplining the landscape, and at the same time, narrowing the degrees of freedom within which the Chinese community was able to manoeuvre.

Keywords: Chinese in Singapore, landscapes of death, cemeteries, cremation, nation-state

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The Paleoepidemiology of Schistosomiasis in Ancient Egypt

By Helmut Kloos and Rosalie David

This paper reconstructs the paleoepidemiology of schistosomiasis in Egypt in the context of the parasite, host snail, and human ecology. The fossil snail fauna of the Sahara suggests that after its origin in East Africa, schistosomiasis existed in North Africa in prehistoric times. The oldest human cases were dated to Pharaonic Egypt. The development of irrigation in Egypt provided conditions favorable for schistosomiasis, especially Schistosoma haematobium infection, and infection rates apparently increased until recent years. Recent countrywide epidemiological studies tend to confirm these findings. Implications of the paleoepidemiology of schistosomiasis for its control in modern Egypt are examined in relation to socioeconomic, demographic, and public health developments. Studies using new diagnostic tools that permit the screening of large numbers of mummies and naturally preserved bodies and correlation of their infection status with local environmental conditions may further elucidate the evolution of the schistosomiasis disease complex.

Keywords: Schistosomiasis, paleoepidemiology, Egypt, disease control

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Different Voices, Different Venues: Environmental Racism Claims by Activists, Researchers and Lawyers

By Sherry Cable, Donald W. Hastings and Tamara L. Mix

Environmental Justice Movement activists have mobilized on the basis of grievances involving the disproportionate exposure of working class and minority subgroups to various environmental risks. Academics have frequently offered empirical documentation of such exposure. Public interest lawyers have sought legal remediation for injustice claims. But substantial structural changes to ameliorate disproportionate exposure have not occurred. Why? We argue that activists, researchers, and lawyers speak with different voices in different venues, with the consequence of creating "noise," instead of uniting to speak in one voice. We review the sociological literature to identify the separate voices of activists, researchers, and lawyers, analyzing each one's focus, target audience, and types of evidence offered. Then we discuss the consequent noise and conclude with some suggestions for uniting the voices in a cooperative, coherent argument for amelioration of the unequal distribution of environmental risks.

Keywords: Environmental justice, environmental activism

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Economic and Toxic Chemical Influences on Rates of Gynecological Cancer Mortality in Texas

By John K. Thomas, Bibin Qin and Barbara E. Richardson

The influences of economic factors, agricultural pesticides, and industrial carcinogenic wastes on rates of cervical and ovarian cancer mortality were examined for 254 Texas counties. Regressor variables included: median family income, county proportion of state female employment in agriculture, county proportion of state female employment in the chemical/petrochemical industries, percentage of pesticide-treated acres in county land area, and accumulated pounds per acre of known carcinogenic wastes released by manufacturing industries in a county. Data for most of the variables were averaged for the period 1980 to 1990 to stabilize values for rural, sparsely populated counties. Levels of carcinogenic wastes reported by the Toxics Release Inventory were summed for the years 1988 to 1994. Standardized age and race-adjusted mortality rates were based on the average number deaths due to each of the two gynecological cancers for the period 1986 to 1994 and the 1990 size of population subgroups in Texas. Bivariate correlations were computed and ordinary least squares regression (OLS) was conducted. The OLS model explained 83 and 77 percent of the variation in cervical cancer and ovarian cancer mortality rates. Regression findings indicated that cervical and ovarian cancer mortality rates were positively influenced by both of the employment measures and by median family income. Contrary to the research hypotheses, these rates were negatively influenced by pesticide coverage and the per acre volume of accumulated toxic wastes.

Keywords: Cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, mortality rates, Toxic Release Inventory, Texas

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The Relationship of General Life Values to Attitudes Toward Large Carnivores

By Bjorn P. Kaltenborn and Tore Bjerke

Like a number of western countries, Norway is experiencing severe conflicts over predator control and loss of livestock. Conflict resolution is at least partly dependent upon understanding the underlying values and attitudes of the key actors. This study examines fundamental values and attitudes toward predators among sheep farmers, wildlife biologists, and research biologists in Norway. Attitudes toward the large carnivores are relatively negative among sheep farmers, and more positive among other groups involved in the livestock vs. carnivore conflict, like wildlife managers and biologists. We evaluated the assertion that the contrasting attitudes are related to differences in values between sheep farmer and the other two groups. Generally, the value structure showed large similarities across the three groups; six identical factors appeared in each of the groups. One separate and coherent factor, "Nature" (consisting of the five ecocentric value items), appeared in each group. "Nature" was the most important value dimension among wildlife managers and biologists, while a "Security" dimension was most important for sheep farmers. Negative attitudes toward carnivores were positively associated with items related to "Security" and "Tradition." Positive attitudes toward carnivores were positively correlated with "Openness to change" and "Nature" dimensions.

Keywords: Predator control, life values, attitudes, resource conflicts, livestock loss

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