In the last 6 months, few will have failed to miss the extensive coverage of the Ebola outbreak, confirmed first in Guinea in March, then spread to neighbouring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia. Whilst other diseases, such as malaria, have been regularly killing individuals at a rate far higher than Ebola, none have so successfully focused media coverage and public discussion. The renewal of Band Aid by Bob Geldof in response to Ebola, with a new edited version of the original 1984 track, is a stunt that is symptomatic of the demand for public commitment to the Ebola crisis. However, rather than offering an innovative method of offering support to West Africa, Band Aid 30 simply highlights the ignorant, dated and selfish nature of aid giving in western popular culture.
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(This article was originally posted on the Royal Holloway Geopolitics & Security blog)
British colonial history tells many remarkable tales, none more so than the story of the Great Hedge of India. This relatively unknown story, was rediscovered recently by author, Roy Moxham. He tells of a botanical and architectural structure, an impenetrable 8ft high hedge, 1500 miles long, that stretched across Central India. How is it that a wall, comparable to The Great Wall of China, has completely vanished from the story of the British Raj? And what relevance does it have to bordering today? The vicious speed at which events have unfolded in Burkina Faso over the last few weeks is a certain reason to be concerned. President Compaoré had been in power for 27 years, yet it took just two days of popular protest for him to be removed. Such a dramatic removal of a seemingly entrenched political figure draws to attention the continual political uncertainty of states in West Africa. Moreover, this has significant implications for the secretive US counter-terrorism strategy in the region.
It is often declared that all the territories of the world have been discovered and conquered. However, recent developments in the South China Sea might begin to suggest otherwise. Evidence is appearing that China is constructing a number of island territories that are acting as key actors in a fierce geopolitical struggle.
The latest Ebola threat presents a challenge for geographers in trying to understand how it is to be mapped. Media reporting on the topic has been dominated by infographics and maps that show the global map according to traditional geographic mapping, for example the BBC and healthmap.org. These geographical representations of the spread of Ebola are problematic for understanding the spread and risk of the disease. In an international world it seems ineffective to use the traditional state map when dealing with a threat that has little regard for such spatialities. The transport and communication networks that connect us involve a spatio-temporal complexity that makes the spread of diseases and their perceived risk a hugely complex one. In order to fully understand the geography of Ebola, a mapping needs to occur that counters these traditional geographic representations.
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August 2015
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