Ephemeral Coast

His collection of essays by one of medieval studies' most brilliant historians argues that the analysis and critique of biopower, as conventionally defined by Michel Foucault and then widely assumed in much contemporary theory of sovereignty, is a sovereign mode of temporalization caught up in the very time-machine it ostensibly seeks to expose and dismantle. For Michel Foucault, biopower (epitomized in his maxim "to make live and to let die") is the defining sign of the modern, and he famously argued that the task of political philosophy was to cut off the head of the classical (premodern) sovereign, the one "who made die and let live." Entrapped by his supersessionary thinking on the question, Foucault argued that the maxim of "to make live and let die" of modern sovereignty superseded a premodern sovereignty characterized by the contrasting power "to make die and let live." The essays collected in Biddick's book (some reprinted and some published here for the first time) argue that Foucault spoke too soon about the supposed "then" of the classical sovereign and the modern "now, " and this became painfully apparent in his analysis of Nazism in his later lectures, Society Must be Defended. There Foucault groped to articulate an anguishing paradox: How could it be that the Nazis, as the ultimate biopolitical sovereign machine, would insist on an archaic (premodern) mode of sovereignty in their death camps? Here is how he posed the question in that lecture: "How can the power of death, the function of death, be exercised in a political system centered upon biopower?" Foucault left this questionhanging.

"Ephemeral Coast - Visualizing Coastal Climate Change" considers the ways that art can offer a means through which to discover, analyze, re-imagine and re-frame emotive discourses about the ecological and cultural transformations of the coastline. This edited anthology takes ephemerality as its central conceptual and methodological framework and presents a series of essays that create interconnections between environmental and social considerations of the coast, a succession of embodied creative practices, and shifting regional geographic identities. The book presents a series of specific case studies of artistic practices and strategies that seek to capture the rewriting of cartographic maps that are being reshaped by rising seas, coastal flooding and catastrophic weather. The essays in this edited volume engender creative strategies for understanding new and uncertain coastal ecologies and the loss, expulsion or destruction of their associated cultures, habitats, species and ecosystems. The anthology also looks at the historical, mnemonic and contemporary transitional conditions of ‘conflicted’ coastal spaces in which empire, modernity and globalization press on coastal erosion and incursions, proliferate it with trivial plastics, pollution and disposable attitudes, and bring vulnerable communities into uncertain futures."

This Special Publication provides a range of methods and approaches for characterizing and modelling mass-wasting phenomena responsible for land degradation and erosion in rocky coastal areas. Rocky coasts occur in a variety of geological settings with a wide range of morphologies depending on rock type, tectonics and climate. In all these settings, slope instability represents the most important geological process that significantly influences the human use of coastal resources over a range of magnitudes and periods of recurrence.

Archeology; Aboriginal australians; Antiquities; Queensland; Australia.

Ephemeral Coast - Visualizing Coastal Climate Change considers the ways that art can offer a means through which to discover, analyze, re-imagine and re-frame emotive discourses about the ecological and cultural transformations of the coastline. This edited anthology takes ephemerality as its central conceptual and methodological framework and presents a series of essays that create interconnections between environmental and social considerations of the coast, a succession of embodied creative practices, and shifting regional geographic identities. The book presents a series of specific case studies of artistic practices and strategies that seek to capture the rewriting of cartographic maps that are being reshaped by rising seas, coastal flooding and catastrophic weather. The essays in this edited volume engender creative strategies for understanding new and uncertain coastal ecologies and the loss, expulsion or destruction of their associated cultures, habitats, species and ecosystems. The anthology also looks at the historical, mnemonic and contemporary transitional conditions of 'conflicted' coastal spaces in which empire, modernity and globalization press on coastal erosion and incursions, proliferate it with trivial plastics, pollution and disposable attitudes, and bring vulnerable communities into uncertain futures.

This original volume draws on the author's own research experiences in Ireland, Britain, France, Canada, and the United States to present a guide of coastal environments for applications of shoreline and environmental management. Topics include: long-term development of coasts, water supply and waste disposal, energy resources and coastal water management, coastal water management for recreation, coastal management of storm hazards, and managing world sea-level rise.

Deserts are unique ecosystems with their own biotic and abiotic components, and are often rich in renewable natural resources, the appropriate management of which can contribute significantly to the sustainable management of desert regions for the welfare of the people. Yet while there are many books on the flora of the countries fringing the important desert countries of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, there or few books reporting on their ecophysiology and vegetation ecology. This book presents the vegetation types of the African and Asian countries of the Mediterranean and Red Sea coastal regions, and discusses the ecological threats and economic applications of these critical resources. In particular, it examines the relationships between climate and vegetation, and discusses these within the context of desertification, agro-industrial applications, ecotourism and sustainable development. The book will provide a valuable reference for researchers and graduate students involved in plant ecology, biogeography, economic botany and environmental management in the Afro-Asian Mediterranean and Red Sea coastal regions, as well as other desert regions around the world.