Papers by Darren E Purcell
Southeastern Geography, 2019
Delta’s Sky magazine claims to be an influential outlet for entities trying to promote places to ... more Delta’s Sky magazine claims to be an influential outlet for entities trying to promote places to investors and tourists. Claiming nearly 6 million readers monthly, the magazine’s profiles of cities, states and regions have the potential to reach the niche audiences that shape the spatial practices of firms and influence individual decision on tourism expenditures. This paper explores how Sky promotes places in the text of these profiles through the dual use of digital humanities tools and close reading-based interpretation to address the following questions. First, we ask how is the South represented in the Sky profiles? Second, what themes are present in the profile texts, given that all places seek to address both unique elements while addressing common themes of importance to business? We find that place promotion practitioners use very similar themes that have been identified in the literature since the 1980s, primarily accessibility. Efforts to attract the creative class are also present in the Sky profiles. The South poses unique challenges to place marketers, and our findings show a convergence in how profiles tackle the concept of southern culture and identity as it is leveraged in many of the profiles.
Objective. The role of popular culture, particularly humor, is of increasing importance in critic... more Objective. The role of popular culture, particularly humor, is of increasing importance in critical geopolitics and international relations scholarship. This article examines how humor is used to frame the events described as the Arab Spring and US government response. Methods. Sifting through the jokes for references to places, events and significant actors, the selected jokes were interpreted through critical discourse analysis to identify the themes invoked by the comedians. Results. The Arab Spring countries most mentioned were Libya, Egypt and Syria. The majority of the jokes about these can best be understood through the lens of incongruity theory and the exploitation of extant caricatures of leaders. Additionally, the jokes reflected concerns over US actions in the region and simultaneously, US leadership’s seeming inability to craft a coherent plan to address the events. Conclusions. We establish the link to humor and geopolitical imagination noting that the themes of American policy, American leadership, regional corruption and caricatures of leaders comprised many of the jokes, reflecting a particular worldview of the region as intractable.
The Ashgate Research Companion to Media Geography (P. Adams, J. Craine, and J. Dittmer, eds.), Sep 2014
Hiro is approaching the Street. It is the Broadway, the Champs Elysees of the Metaverse. It is th... more Hiro is approaching the Street. It is the Broadway, the Champs Elysees of the Metaverse. It is the brilliantly lit boulevard that can be seen, miniaturized and backward, reflected in the lenses of his goggles. It does not really exist. But right now, millions of people are walking up and down it.
Journal of Geography, 1999
Abstract Although the Internet has been widely celebrated for its potential to contribute to geog... more Abstract Although the Internet has been widely celebrated for its potential to contribute to geographic learning, few have experimented with it as a vehicle for long-distance interactive collaboration. This article reports on an international effort whereby teams of students in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States worked solely via the World Wide Web on a joint project critically analyzing electronic representations of the Third World. It summarizes the project's design, problems, and principle results. It concludes that although Web- ...
Political Geography, 2003
The terms realms, shatterbelts, and gateways conjure up images of places of finance, trade, and w... more The terms realms, shatterbelts, and gateways conjure up images of places of finance, trade, and war, dominated by hegemonic powers. This is the vision offered by Dr. Cohen's paper, one that is intended to shape the decisions of geopolitical actors at the formal and popular geopolitical levels. The title of my response reflects what I see as unknown territory, the creation of maps and text incorporating the consequences of US political and economic policy, other views of these efforts, and how we might improve it. Unfortunately, Dr. Cohen's paper does little to explore this realm while updating his own schema for guiding US foreign policy.
Progress in Human Geography, 2002
While there exists a sizable literature on the intersections of gender and nationalism, most of t... more While there exists a sizable literature on the intersections of gender and nationalism, most of this work has focused on extant nation-states. Nascent nation-states also seek to forge explicit linkages between nationality and gender. In the case study presented here, Kurdistan, we focus on the use of gendered imagery to both support and attack the idea of an independent Kurdistan and its ethnic leaders. The images and text analyzed are taken from an archive of Kurdistan-related Facebook sites that were archived during the summer of 2010. We provide a critical reading of the data to show the forms of gendered images deployed in this discursive struggle. Additionally, we demonstrate the necessity of examining social-networking sites such as Facebook to understand the gendered processes of a nation building in a world where visual symbols and electronic media are becoming ever more dominant in societies.
Keywords: gender, nation, Facebook, social networking sites, Kurdistan
This article investigates Valley of the Wolves— Iraq as a cinematic text produced and widely cons... more This article investigates Valley of the Wolves— Iraq as a cinematic text produced and widely consumed in domestic and international cinema markets. By placing a non-Western movie in the analysis of film studies, the authors claim to situate the film in a three-part analysis that has received less attention from other disciplines. First, the film can be situated as a cinematic challenge to the American media representation of the Iraq War and to the Bush administration’s “war on terror” discourse in so-called unstable regions. In addition, Valley of the Wolves—Iraq attempts to negotiate and contest the meaning and the depiction of the war discourse in Iraq brought to bear by American popular, practical, and formal geopoliticians by reproducing the cinematic space and retelling stories of the war from the “other” vantage point. Second, the film in its own right can be located as a cultural product that attempts to consolidate the geopolitical imaginations of Turkey in the Middle East and the world. Third, this study aims to formalize audience interpretation of such political entertainment using empirical techniques. In this context, the critical question is how and to what extent this film plays a representational role within Turkish society and how it affects audiences’ geopolitical perceptions.
The critical geopolitics literature has engaged popular culture and media in many forms, usually ... more The critical geopolitics literature has engaged popular culture and media in many forms, usually focused on mass media or elite-produced niche media. The issue of humor as a form of popular culture with geopolitical content has been explored only recently by geographers. This paper utilizes disposition theory, with its emphasis on social context, to link humor and geopolitical analyses of humor. The analysis of two Jeff Dunham comedy skits centering on the character Achmed the Dead Terrorist demonstrates the utility of disposition theory as a construct to situate humor in the context of its original production and as a fluid, global phenomenon that is shared through various social networks via the Internet.
Key Words: critical geopolitics, disposition theory, humor, popular culture, popular geopolitics.
Websites are often used by governments to articulate particular views on international affairs, a... more Websites are often used by governments to articulate particular views on international affairs, and even to lobby for a particular position. Using work by Arquilla and Ronfeldt (1999), Castells (2001) and Chadwick (2001) as a theoretical framework for understanding the importance that cyberspace holds for governments and states, the author analyzes the efforts of the Slovenian Ministry of Defense (MoD) to adopt the Internet to communicate with publics it defined as important. Through this website, the MoD literally served as a combatant in the noosphere, while displaying tendencies that Chadwick argues serves particular purposes in maintaining domestic political legitimacy. The analysis is based on a socio-semiotic approach (Hodge & Kress 1988) dependent on a well-developed understanding of the context within which signs and symbols exist. The paper outlines the role of the military in Slovenia, incorporates interview data with public relations staff in and then links these to a descriptive analysis of website content. The paper concludes that it is important for non-hegemonic states to actively contest cyberspace images in the noosphere, if only to serve the domestic public the state needs for legitimacy. Further directions in comparative work are proposed.
Keywords: noosphere; geopolitics; semiotics; ICTs; Slovenia; representations of space
Recent legislative efforts to protect credit unions against unfavorable legislation reflect the g... more Recent legislative efforts to protect credit unions against unfavorable legislation reflect the growing importance of credit unions in the U.S. financial services sector. Efforts to address new technologies, combined with deregulation in financial services, have led changes in the field of membership rules governing how credit unions are chartered and how
they may grow. These regulations have clear geographic implications for defining communities and for offering financial services and education to particular segments of the population. This paper briefly reviews the history of credit unions, then examines the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998 (CUMAA) and the National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) interpretation and implementation. A
case study of two Florida locales is used to analyze the changes in credit union charters and their expansion in the rapidly changing market. The results point to the possibility that credit union expansion as currently legislated may be an effective way to insure access to financial services.
Keywords:credit union, financial services, community, fields of membership, regulation
Drawing upon insights from Deibert's (1997) reconstituted medium theory and critical geopolitics ... more Drawing upon insights from Deibert's (1997) reconstituted medium theory and critical geopolitics literature, this article examines Slovenia'sefforts at crafting an image of itself via the Internet for specific strategic goals such as EU and NATO accession, the promotion of tourism and the attraction of foreign direct investment. Through an examination of both the material and discursive practices undertaken by the Slovenian government, we demonstrate the difficulty inherent in challenging tropes that hegemonic powers disseminate through various media in order to craft the geopolitical world they operate in. Slovenia's websites represent an important form of resistance to hegemonic visions of space, visions that have excluded Slovenia's accession to certain power structures. The government uses the Internet to construct a discourse refuting assertions of unreadiness to accede to these institutions, a form of online lobbying that attempts to redraw the image of Slovenia in the minds of a global public. We conclude this examination not by making grand pronouncements about the efficacy of these efforts, but by demonstrating that these images are part and parcel of the efforts to disassociate Slovenia from the negative connotations of the Balkan moniker.The fact that these efforts incorporate the Internet, when linked to material practices and policies, raises questions about the possibilities of such resistance via new communication technologies.
Keywords: Medium Theory; Critical Geopolitics; Place Promotion; Slovenia; Geopolitical Discourse; Balkan
The development of the Internet has allowed for many claims about the future of democracy and gov... more The development of the Internet has allowed for many claims about the future of democracy and governance. At one extreme, there are those who see the end of the state coming in the globalized world we inhabit. Others will point to computer technology and invoke the images of 1984, George Orwell’s futuristic look at a state employing communications technology for control.
In this paper, I argue that the Internet is usable by the state as well as individuals and groups to serve its purposes. These efforts will be studied from the framework of the creation of space, particularly concepts of representations of space and representational spaces. The Internet facilitates the creation of images of place that are strategically used to influence perceptions of place.
In the case study, I examine Slovenia’s government websites to demonstrate that a state does have a need to control information, to project images that are aimed to induce activities like tourism, investment, diplomacy, and establish an unequivocal state identity. The government sites demonstrate that through the use of symbols, propaganda cartography, carefully worded text, and other iconography, representations of space and representational spaces are created that support the goals of the Slovenian state, which are placed in the context of the country’s position in the system of global capitalism.
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Papers by Darren E Purcell
Keywords: gender, nation, Facebook, social networking sites, Kurdistan
Key Words: critical geopolitics, disposition theory, humor, popular culture, popular geopolitics.
Keywords: noosphere; geopolitics; semiotics; ICTs; Slovenia; representations of space
they may grow. These regulations have clear geographic implications for defining communities and for offering financial services and education to particular segments of the population. This paper briefly reviews the history of credit unions, then examines the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998 (CUMAA) and the National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) interpretation and implementation. A
case study of two Florida locales is used to analyze the changes in credit union charters and their expansion in the rapidly changing market. The results point to the possibility that credit union expansion as currently legislated may be an effective way to insure access to financial services.
Keywords:credit union, financial services, community, fields of membership, regulation
Keywords: Medium Theory; Critical Geopolitics; Place Promotion; Slovenia; Geopolitical Discourse; Balkan
In this paper, I argue that the Internet is usable by the state as well as individuals and groups to serve its purposes. These efforts will be studied from the framework of the creation of space, particularly concepts of representations of space and representational spaces. The Internet facilitates the creation of images of place that are strategically used to influence perceptions of place.
In the case study, I examine Slovenia’s government websites to demonstrate that a state does have a need to control information, to project images that are aimed to induce activities like tourism, investment, diplomacy, and establish an unequivocal state identity. The government sites demonstrate that through the use of symbols, propaganda cartography, carefully worded text, and other iconography, representations of space and representational spaces are created that support the goals of the Slovenian state, which are placed in the context of the country’s position in the system of global capitalism.
Keywords: gender, nation, Facebook, social networking sites, Kurdistan
Key Words: critical geopolitics, disposition theory, humor, popular culture, popular geopolitics.
Keywords: noosphere; geopolitics; semiotics; ICTs; Slovenia; representations of space
they may grow. These regulations have clear geographic implications for defining communities and for offering financial services and education to particular segments of the population. This paper briefly reviews the history of credit unions, then examines the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998 (CUMAA) and the National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) interpretation and implementation. A
case study of two Florida locales is used to analyze the changes in credit union charters and their expansion in the rapidly changing market. The results point to the possibility that credit union expansion as currently legislated may be an effective way to insure access to financial services.
Keywords:credit union, financial services, community, fields of membership, regulation
Keywords: Medium Theory; Critical Geopolitics; Place Promotion; Slovenia; Geopolitical Discourse; Balkan
In this paper, I argue that the Internet is usable by the state as well as individuals and groups to serve its purposes. These efforts will be studied from the framework of the creation of space, particularly concepts of representations of space and representational spaces. The Internet facilitates the creation of images of place that are strategically used to influence perceptions of place.
In the case study, I examine Slovenia’s government websites to demonstrate that a state does have a need to control information, to project images that are aimed to induce activities like tourism, investment, diplomacy, and establish an unequivocal state identity. The government sites demonstrate that through the use of symbols, propaganda cartography, carefully worded text, and other iconography, representations of space and representational spaces are created that support the goals of the Slovenian state, which are placed in the context of the country’s position in the system of global capitalism.
Brooks Heitmeier, Chad Van Whye, Darren Purcell. The University of Oklahoma, Dept. of Geography and Environmental Sustainability. Email: [email protected].
Late-night comedians have mined the nightly news for humor related to domestic and international events since the genre of the late-night talk show developed. How international events are portrayed is a complicated issue, given perceptions of audiences that know less about world events than ever. The paper briefly highlights the dominant theories of humor and how they work, then turns to examine longitudinally how the soon the late-comedians began incorporating events into the monologues. We present maps showing the distribution of event incorporation and finally examine the types of jokes deployed to elicit audience reactions. We find that most of the jokes worked by mining stereotypes of peoples in the countries, or by exploiting known caricatures of the leaders. Often the events of the Arab Spring were juxtaposed against event in American politics.
Keywords: humor, popular geopolitics, disposition theory, incongruity theory, superiority theory.
Keywords:
nationalism, communications geography, Facebook, representation