Roser Majoral i Moliné (editor) - Perceptions of marginality : theoretical issues and regional perceptions of marginality in geographical space

Theoretical issues and regional perceptions of marginality in geographical space

Edited by
Heikki Jussila
University of Oulu, Finland
Walter Leimgruber
Universit de Fribourg, Switzerland
Roser Majoral
Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

First published 1998 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright H. Jussila, W. Leimgruber, R. Majoral and Individual Contributors 1998

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A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 98070147

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-33108-2 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-33113-6 (pbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-429-44745-7 (ebk)

ANDREOLI, Maria Department of Business Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

CAWLEY, Mary, E. Department of Geography, University College Galway, Galway, Ireland

CULLEN, Bradley, T. Department of Geography, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

DELGADO CRAVIDO, Fernanda Department of Geography, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

FURLANI DE CIVIT, Maria Estela Department of Geography, University National of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

GROSSMAN, David Department of Geography, University of Bar Lan, Israel

GUTIERREZ DE MANCHON, Maria Josefina Department of Geography, University National of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

JUSSILA, Heikki Thule Institute, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

LEIMGRUBER, Walter Institute of Geography, University of Fribourg, Perolles, Fribourg, Switzerland

LONSDALE, Richard, E. Department of Geography, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

MAJORAL, Roser Department of Geography, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

MEHRETU, Assefa Department of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

PERSSON, Lars Olof Royal Technical University, Stockholm, Sweden

PRETES, Michael Department of Geography, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

RASMUSSEN, Rasmus Ole Department of Geography, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

ROMANOWSKI, Jacek, I. Department of Geography, University of Manitoba, Canada

RUGENDYKE, Barbara, A. Department of Geography, University of New England, Armindale, Australia

SCHMIDT, Margarita, H. Department of Geography, University National of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

SCOTT, Peter Department of Geography, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

SOMMERS, Lawrence, M. Department of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

TELLARINI, Vittorio Faculty of Agriculture, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

TYKKYLINEN, Markku Academy of Finland, University of Joensuu, Joensuu, Finland

Heikki Jussila , Walter Leimgruber and Roser Majoral

This volume is a joint effort of geographers from various parts of the world. It is the result of a more than one year's intensive work in the field of geography of marginal issues.

For us as editors, it has been a pleasure to work with this group of researchers, who have contributed to the volume. The papers presented at the International Geographical Congress in the Hague form the basis of this book. However, these papers have been re-written and shortened, and some were specially 'commissioned' for this book. The introductory chapter looks at the 'history' behind the book, while the concluding chapter looks at the future and draws new paths for the IGU Commission behind this collaborative work.

The other chapters in this book discuss the role of marginality in three different sections. The first section 'the Theory' looks at the different possible ways that marginality has been understood and researched,and how it has evolved in time and space. The second, 'the Regional Views' section illustrates how marginality has been understood in different parts of the world and what is considered as being marginal. This section also shows that marginality is not a static phenomenon, but it is likely to change over time and space. The third section of the book, 'the Cases', contains some case studies from different parts of the world that illustrated the multi-faceted nature of marginality in the current world of ours.

The editors would also like to extend their thanks to Ashgate publishing who have helped us prepare this book, without their help this work would not have been possible.

This volume is also a start for a series of volumes that the IGU Commission on Development in Marginal and Critical Regions is aiming to produce during the next years. The editors would like to thank Ashgate Publishing for making this a reality.

Heikki Jussila, Walter Leimgruber and Roser Majoral
November 1997

Roser Majoral , Walter Leimgruber and Heikki Jussila

The organizers of the 28th International Geographical Congress in the Hague, 1996, required the Commissions and Study Groups to hold their meetings during the Congress in order to offer participants insight into their activities. As a consequence, the Study Group on Development Issues in Marginal Regions, on the occasion of its Mendoza meeting in 1995, decided upon a number of paper sessions to be held on that occasion. They were to be devoted to both theoretical and regional aspects of marginality. In addition, a joint session with the Study Group on the Dynamics of Rural Systems was to be arranged. On the one hand, these sessions were to be seen as a sort of summary of the work the group has achieved so far, on the other hand as a starting point of the new Commission on Marginal and Critical Regions.

This introduction may be the place to sketch briefly the history of this group of scholars who have been working together for 15 years. During the IGC in Japan, 1980, the IGU Commission on Rural Development set up a 'Sub-Commission on Rural Development in Highlands and High-latitude Zones' which met for the first time in Lapland in 1982. In a statement to the IGU Executive Committee in 1983, the initiator of the group, Prof. Uuno Varjo, Head of the Department of Geography at the University of Oulu (Northern Finland), refers to the Symposium on 'Rural Development in Highlands and High-Latitude Zones', held in Northern Finland in 1977 by the IGU Commission on Rural Development. He quotes the chairman of that Commission, Prof. G. Enyedi, who stated that although 'development problems of rural areas in subpolar and high mountain zones are not crucial on a world scale', they are still 'of vital importance for a great number of countries, from Canada to Switzerland, from Norway to Afghanistan; and these rural areas cover an extensive part of the Earth's surface.' Later on, Varjo mentions that 'highlands and high-latitude zones also serve as marginal areas to industrialized countries' - the notion of marginal regions, which have many economic and social problems in common, has been used well before the group adopted it as part of its name in 1992.