Contenu du sommaire

At a time when the market economy has never been stronger, occupying new geographical zones and new spheres of activity, the idea of culture is undeniably an inescapable dimension in economy and territories. Present in the way products are manufactured, exchanged, consumed, as in the products themselves, its diversity and creative force are surprising even while culture appears menaced by the dynamics of globalization. The paradox is only superficial; it originates in idea that culture and economy constitute distinct even contradictory spheres in society. I will demonstrate that this postulate, inherited from diverse theories, can be disputed. The cultural dimension of industry, witch conveys an association between ways of producing and the identity of the makers is not a new concept. It was expressed in geography in the early 20th century through the study of techniques. The role of techniques in economic and spatial organization remains central even today and influences our representations. The cultural industries offer new perspectives to geography hallmarked as they are by unprecedented phenomenon of diffusion.© 2007 Lavoisier, Paris. Tous droits réservés.

Considering the forthcoming petroleum depletion, how a metropolitan economy, which development path relies on an industry that heavily depends on the oil market, can be confident in its future? This paper aims at dealing with a problem that is at the same time concrete (the perspectives of the aeronautics industrial cluster), theoretical (the impact of external factors in destabilizing regional economies) and epistemological (how can research in economic geography guide action to promote regional development?). Mixing empirical and theoretical evidences, we first discuss the development path of the aeronautics industry in Toulouse. In order to clearly understand the energy challenge facing the aeronautics cluster of Toulouse, we then discuss the stakes raised by the petroleum depletion. Finally, the different development strategies for the metropolitan economy are analyzed and categorized.© 2007 Lavoisier, Paris. Tous droits réservés.

Spain is arguably the European country where the water crisis has become most acute in recent years. The political and ecological importance of water is not, however, only a recent development in Spain. Throughout this century, water politics, economics, culture, and engineering have infused and embodied the myriad tensions and conflicts that drove and still drive Spanish society. And although the significance of water on the Iberian peninsula has attracted considerable scholarly and other attention, the central role of water politics, water culture, and water engineering in shaping Spanish society on the one hand, and the contemporary water geography and ecology of Spain as the product of centuries of socio-ecological interaction on the other, have remained largely unexplored. The hybrid character of the water landscape, or “waterscape”, comes to the fore in Spain in a clear and unambiguous manner. The socionatural production of Spanish society, I maintain, can be illustrated by excavating the central role of water politics and engineering in Spain's modernization process.In the first part of the paper, I develop a theoretical and methodological perspective that is explicitly critical of traditional approaches in water-resources studies, which tend to separate various aspects of the hydrological cycle into discrete and independent objects of study. My perspective, broadly situated within the political ecology tradition, draws critically from recent work by ecological historians, cultural critics, sociologists of science, critical social theorists, and political-economists. My main objective is to bring together what has been severed for too long by insisting that nature and society are deeply intertwined.In the second part of the paper, I excavate the origins of Spain's early-twentieth-century modernization process (1890-1930) as expressed in debates and actions around the hydrological condition. The conceptual framework presented in the first part helps structure a narrative that weaves water through the network of socionatural relations in ways that permit the recasting of modernity as a deeply geographical, although by no means coherent, homogeneous, total, or uncontested project. In sum, I seek to document how the socio-natural is historically produced to generate a particular, but inherently dynamic, geographical configuration.© 2007 Lavoisier, Paris. Tous droits réservés.

The world-wide globalization brings the transfer of economic activities from Northern to Southern countries; this movement notably corresponds to a social and environmental dumping; the ship dismantlement provides a good example. However the working conditions and the environmental damage involve social reactions; the public opinion, alerted by ecologists and NGOs with the takeover of mass medias, is more and more sensitive to ethical respect. This leads to the locking of plans and the reinforcement of regulations; and the protests are stronger for military ships. For the future, could a “new deal” result from increasing pressures of the society against market forces ?© 2007 Lavoisier, Paris. Tous droits réservés.

After having published several sociological works on the reception and the practice of contemporary games (role playing games, video games), the author reconsiders here the durability of an educational process, being sometimes reduced to a will of ideological inculcation, through the games activities. From this point of view, he underlines the interest of the historical method and the need to study these products contents. Evoking a certain number of skew contiguous to the social perception of the phenomenon, he also insists on the need to develop research in this field, by underlining the contribution of cultural mediation institutions (such museums) to this thought. The set must make it possible to answer the current questionings of the actors stemming of the educational process.© 2007 Lavoisier, Paris. Tous droits réservés.