Jeff Popke | East Carolina University (original) (raw)

Papers by Jeff Popke

Research paper thumbnail of Modernity

Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of A social justice framing of climate change discourse and policy: Adaptation, resilience and vulnerability in a Jamaican agricultural landscape

Geoforum, 2014

ABSTRACT It is now widely recognized that climate change is likely to have detrimental impacts ac... more ABSTRACT It is now widely recognized that climate change is likely to have detrimental impacts across the Caribbean region, with the burden likely to fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable segments of society. It is therefore an appropriate time to ask whether the frameworks that lie behind climate change discourse and policy are consistent with the demands of social and environmental justice. In this paper, we use climate justice as a lens for evaluating three prominent frameworks for addressing climate change, those of adaptation, resilience, and vulnerability. Each of these discursive frameworks, we argue, can contribute to our understanding of climate change, but they do not all incorporate justice concerns to the same degree. In order to illustrate this, we examine the justice implications of using each of the three frameworks to assess a case study of agricultural transformation in Southwestern Jamaica. Farmers in this region have adapted to changing climate conditions in a variety of ways, including the use of new agricultural technology. The ability of many farmers to take advantage of such innovations, however, is constrained by the underlying landscape of vulnerability within the region. After interpreting this example from the perspectives of adaptation, resilience and vulnerability, we conclude that all three paradigms are capable of calling attention to climate justice issues, but only in the vulnerability perspective are such issues intrinsic. We believe, therefore, that a greater attention to vulnerability within Caribbean climate policy holds the potential to advance the goals of climate justice within the region.

Research paper thumbnail of Sensitivity of Crop Water Need to 2071–95 Projected Temperature and Precipitation Changes in Jamaica

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: non-representational encounters, collective responsibility and economic difference

Progress in Human Geography, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Re-Envisioning the City: Lefebvre, HOPE VI, and the Neoliberalization of Urban Space

Urban Geography, 2010

This study draws upon the urban theory of Henri Lefebvre to examine HOPE VI, a public housing dem... more This study draws upon the urban theory of Henri Lefebvre to examine HOPE VI, a public housing demolition and redevelopment program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Hailed as a new approach to urban policy, the HOPE VI program embodies many of the key tenets of neoliberal urbanization, including an emphasis on entrepreneurial forms of urban regeneration and a focus on individual responsibility. To provide a lens for understanding this neoliberalization of space, we first detail Lefebvre's theorization of abstract space and transparency, highlighting in particular its nondialectical and depoliticized character. We then turn to examine the HOPE VI model and its implementation in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lefebvre's analysis, we argue, provides a useful entry point for interpreting the re-envisioning of urban space that underlies HOPE VI-style redevelopment, and therefore can potentially inform contemporary struggles against neoliberal urban policy. [

Research paper thumbnail of Latino Migration and Neoliberalism in the U.S. South: Notes Toward a Rural Cosmopolitanism

Southeastern Geographer, 2011

... Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 25(3–4):265–281. Amin, A. 2006. The good city. Urban ... more ... Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 25(3–4):265–281. Amin, A. 2006. The good city. Urban Studies 43(5/6):1009–1023. Arend, M. 2010. One piece at a time. ... Antipode 39(5):920–942. ———. 2008. Nashville's new 'sonido': Latino migration and the changing politics of race. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Cultivating new and more ethical calculative agencies

Social & Cultural Geography, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: non-representational encounters, collective responsibility and economic difference

Progress in Human Geography, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: spaces of cosmopolitan responsibility

Progress in Human Geography, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: everyday mediations through care and consumption

Progress in Human Geography, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of The face of the other: Zapatismo, responsibility and the ethics of deconstruction

Social & Cultural Geography, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: spaces of cosmopolitan responsibility

Progress in Human Geography, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Neoliberalization, Transnational Migration, and the Varied Landscape of Economic Subjectivity in the Totonacapan Region of Veracruz

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2013

Over the past two decades, many of Mexico's rural communities have been faced with significant ch... more Over the past two decades, many of Mexico's rural communities have been faced with significant challenges arising from two interrelated processes: the neoliberal restructuring of rural policy and citizenship, and the dramatic increase in transnational migration. The ways in which local communities experience and respond to such changes, however, are variable. We examine the intersection of neoliberal socioeconomic change and transnational migration in the Totonacapan region of Veracruz, highlighting their uneven regional impacts in the largely Mestizo coastal region and the more indigenous sierra. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we show how neoliberal change is filtered through local historical trajectories and cultural understandings that influence the development of migration in the region. We suggest how different conceptions of social responsibility influence the outcomes of migration, with some communities experiencing severe dislocation and others managing the process for the benefit of the common. In both cases, we argue, the new economic subjectivities arising from intensified migration can be seen as a symptom, and thus potentially a source of ethical critique, of neoliberalism's many failures.

Research paper thumbnail of “Because You Got to Have Heat”: The Networked Assemblage of Energy Poverty in Eastern North Carolina

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2011

Current discussions of energy policy seldom acknowledge the problem of energy poverty, a situatio... more Current discussions of energy policy seldom acknowledge the problem of energy poverty, a situation in which a household cannot afford to adequately heat or cool the home. In this article, we examine the concept of energy poverty and describe some of its contours in a rural part of North Carolina. Energy poverty, we suggest, is best viewed as a geographical assemblage of networked materialities and socio-economic relations. To illustrate this approach , we focus on the geographical patterns of three key determinants of energy poverty in Eastern North Carolina: the socio-economic characteristics of rural households, the networked infrastructures of energy provision, and the material conditions of the home. Throughout, we highlight the lived effects of energy poverty, drawing on transcripts from interviews conducted with recipients of weatherization assistance in the region. The challenges of the energy poor, we suggest, deserve greater attention in public policy, and as part of a broader understanding of welfare and care.

Research paper thumbnail of Climate Change, Drought, and Jamaican Agriculture: Local Knowledge and the Climate Record

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of The “Politics of the Mirror”: On Geography and Afro-Pessimism

African Geographical Review, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of Modernity

Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of A social justice framing of climate change discourse and policy: Adaptation, resilience and vulnerability in a Jamaican agricultural landscape

Geoforum, 2014

ABSTRACT It is now widely recognized that climate change is likely to have detrimental impacts ac... more ABSTRACT It is now widely recognized that climate change is likely to have detrimental impacts across the Caribbean region, with the burden likely to fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable segments of society. It is therefore an appropriate time to ask whether the frameworks that lie behind climate change discourse and policy are consistent with the demands of social and environmental justice. In this paper, we use climate justice as a lens for evaluating three prominent frameworks for addressing climate change, those of adaptation, resilience, and vulnerability. Each of these discursive frameworks, we argue, can contribute to our understanding of climate change, but they do not all incorporate justice concerns to the same degree. In order to illustrate this, we examine the justice implications of using each of the three frameworks to assess a case study of agricultural transformation in Southwestern Jamaica. Farmers in this region have adapted to changing climate conditions in a variety of ways, including the use of new agricultural technology. The ability of many farmers to take advantage of such innovations, however, is constrained by the underlying landscape of vulnerability within the region. After interpreting this example from the perspectives of adaptation, resilience and vulnerability, we conclude that all three paradigms are capable of calling attention to climate justice issues, but only in the vulnerability perspective are such issues intrinsic. We believe, therefore, that a greater attention to vulnerability within Caribbean climate policy holds the potential to advance the goals of climate justice within the region.

Research paper thumbnail of Sensitivity of Crop Water Need to 2071–95 Projected Temperature and Precipitation Changes in Jamaica

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: non-representational encounters, collective responsibility and economic difference

Progress in Human Geography, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Re-Envisioning the City: Lefebvre, HOPE VI, and the Neoliberalization of Urban Space

Urban Geography, 2010

This study draws upon the urban theory of Henri Lefebvre to examine HOPE VI, a public housing dem... more This study draws upon the urban theory of Henri Lefebvre to examine HOPE VI, a public housing demolition and redevelopment program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Hailed as a new approach to urban policy, the HOPE VI program embodies many of the key tenets of neoliberal urbanization, including an emphasis on entrepreneurial forms of urban regeneration and a focus on individual responsibility. To provide a lens for understanding this neoliberalization of space, we first detail Lefebvre's theorization of abstract space and transparency, highlighting in particular its nondialectical and depoliticized character. We then turn to examine the HOPE VI model and its implementation in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lefebvre's analysis, we argue, provides a useful entry point for interpreting the re-envisioning of urban space that underlies HOPE VI-style redevelopment, and therefore can potentially inform contemporary struggles against neoliberal urban policy. [

Research paper thumbnail of Latino Migration and Neoliberalism in the U.S. South: Notes Toward a Rural Cosmopolitanism

Southeastern Geographer, 2011

... Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 25(3–4):265–281. Amin, A. 2006. The good city. Urban ... more ... Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 25(3–4):265–281. Amin, A. 2006. The good city. Urban Studies 43(5/6):1009–1023. Arend, M. 2010. One piece at a time. ... Antipode 39(5):920–942. ———. 2008. Nashville's new 'sonido': Latino migration and the changing politics of race. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Cultivating new and more ethical calculative agencies

Social & Cultural Geography, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: non-representational encounters, collective responsibility and economic difference

Progress in Human Geography, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: spaces of cosmopolitan responsibility

Progress in Human Geography, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: everyday mediations through care and consumption

Progress in Human Geography, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of The face of the other: Zapatismo, responsibility and the ethics of deconstruction

Social & Cultural Geography, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Geography and ethics: spaces of cosmopolitan responsibility

Progress in Human Geography, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Neoliberalization, Transnational Migration, and the Varied Landscape of Economic Subjectivity in the Totonacapan Region of Veracruz

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2013

Over the past two decades, many of Mexico's rural communities have been faced with significant ch... more Over the past two decades, many of Mexico's rural communities have been faced with significant challenges arising from two interrelated processes: the neoliberal restructuring of rural policy and citizenship, and the dramatic increase in transnational migration. The ways in which local communities experience and respond to such changes, however, are variable. We examine the intersection of neoliberal socioeconomic change and transnational migration in the Totonacapan region of Veracruz, highlighting their uneven regional impacts in the largely Mestizo coastal region and the more indigenous sierra. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we show how neoliberal change is filtered through local historical trajectories and cultural understandings that influence the development of migration in the region. We suggest how different conceptions of social responsibility influence the outcomes of migration, with some communities experiencing severe dislocation and others managing the process for the benefit of the common. In both cases, we argue, the new economic subjectivities arising from intensified migration can be seen as a symptom, and thus potentially a source of ethical critique, of neoliberalism's many failures.

Research paper thumbnail of “Because You Got to Have Heat”: The Networked Assemblage of Energy Poverty in Eastern North Carolina

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2011

Current discussions of energy policy seldom acknowledge the problem of energy poverty, a situatio... more Current discussions of energy policy seldom acknowledge the problem of energy poverty, a situation in which a household cannot afford to adequately heat or cool the home. In this article, we examine the concept of energy poverty and describe some of its contours in a rural part of North Carolina. Energy poverty, we suggest, is best viewed as a geographical assemblage of networked materialities and socio-economic relations. To illustrate this approach , we focus on the geographical patterns of three key determinants of energy poverty in Eastern North Carolina: the socio-economic characteristics of rural households, the networked infrastructures of energy provision, and the material conditions of the home. Throughout, we highlight the lived effects of energy poverty, drawing on transcripts from interviews conducted with recipients of weatherization assistance in the region. The challenges of the energy poor, we suggest, deserve greater attention in public policy, and as part of a broader understanding of welfare and care.

Research paper thumbnail of Climate Change, Drought, and Jamaican Agriculture: Local Knowledge and the Climate Record

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of The “Politics of the Mirror”: On Geography and Afro-Pessimism

African Geographical Review, 2001