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Domicide: The Global Destruction of Home by J. Douglas Porteous and Sandra E. Smith, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal and Kingston, 2001, × + 283pp. paper (ISBN 0-7735-2258-1)
This is an important and timely book. The synthesis of evidence from many different contexts makes a convincing case-the destruction of home is a global humanitarian calamity. There are important implications for the ideas, ethics and practices of social science. The problem is exposed as a 'geographical' crisis, signalled in chapter subtitles involving landscape, place and regional contexts. More disturbing, perhaps, is the extent to which geographers appear to have participated in developments leading to 'domicide', while largely ignoring, if not defending it.
Domicide is defined as '...the deliberate destruction of home by human agency in the pursuit of specified goals, which causes suffering to the victims...' (p. 12). It is a consciously adopted neologism in an otherwise jargon-free and accessible text. Two main categories are recognised: 'extreme domicide' brought about by overt violence, mainly war and other armed actions and 'everyday domicide'. The latter is associated with development projects, large public facilities such as highways and airports, urban renewal and is often justified as being for 'the public good'.
A likely criticism is that the concept encompasses too much, losing force in a multiplicity of unrelated processes-national parks planning and the bombing of cities? Water resource projects and scorched earth? Strip mining and gentrification? However, this reaction would miss the challenge of the authors' approach. First, they focus on what domicide means for its victims. The view is from below, specifically at the 'receiving end' of state, elite and corporate power. The generality of the problem lies in what it destroys, the places and concerns that matter most to households. The diverse contexts are linked by...