Anne Ferguson

This annual series, published in co-operation with the Women in International Development Program at Michigan State University, uses a multidisciplinary approach to explore women's experiences across a wide range of geographical areas, economic sectors, and societal institutions. The articles presented in each volume synthesize a growing body of literature on key issues, suggest priorities for research, and propose changes in development policy and programming. Each volume is divided into three major sections. In the first, contributors distill and interpret research in review articles; in the second - a trend report - they provide original analysis of existing data sets; and in the final section, they analyze a specific research concern from varying perspectives.

This annual series, published in cooperation with the Women and International Development Program at Michigan State University, uses a multi-disciplinary approach to explore women's experiences across a wide range of geographical areas, economic sectors, and social institutions. The articles presented in each volume synthesize a growing body of literature on key issues, suggest priorities for research, and propose changes in development policy and programming. Each volume is divided into three major sections. In the first, contributors distill and interpret research in review articles; in the second–a trend report–they provide original analyses of existing data sets; and in the final section, they analyze a specific research concern from varying perspectives.

This annual series, published in co-operation with the Women in International Development Program at Michigan State University, uses a multidisciplinary approach to explore women's experiences across a wide range of geographical areas, economic sectors, and societal institutions. The articles presented in each volume synthesize a growing body of literature on key issues, suggest priorities for research, and propose changes in development policy and programming. Each volume is divided into three major sections. In the first, contributors distill and interpret research in review articles; in the second - a trend report - they provide original analysis of existing data sets; and in the final section, they analyze a specific research concern from varying perspectives.

This annual series, published in cooperation with the Women and International Development Program at Michigan State University, uses a multi-disciplinary approach to explore women's experiences across a wide range of geographical areas, economic sectors, and social institutions. The articles presented in each volume synthesize a growing body of literature on key issues, suggest priorities for research, and propose changes in development policy and programming. Each volume is divided into three major sections. In the first, contributors distill and interpret research in review articles; in the second–a trend report–they provide original analyses of existing data sets; and in the final section, they analyze a specific research concern from varying perspectives.

While on a business trip to Toronto, 54-year-old Lauren Matthews vanishes without a trace. Quick-tempered Emily, her teenage daughter, is convinced that it's all her fault. But her husband Jake has his own reasons for believing she left of her own volition. Two years later, during a family wedding in the Dominican Republic, Emily finds her mother. But this is not Lauren. This is Sarah Langley, a carbon copy of Lauren. Emily and her family are convinced that this is Lauren, but Sarah and her elusive husband have proof that she is not. Jake can't shake the feeling that something is not right and that Sarah is somehow linked to his wife's disappearance. After seeing a picture of Lauren, Sarah is shaken and even a little scared. Who the hell is Lauren Matthews? That's a question that haunts Sarah. But worse, what happened to her? Could her parents have done the unthinkable? Could she be in danger too? Should she team up with Lauren's family to uncover the truth, or can she really trust them? The Search for Ladybug is a book about how far one would go for love and how much further despair can take you.

While on a business trip to Toronto, 54-year-old Lauren Matthews vanishes without a trace. Quick-tempered Emily, her teenage daughter, is convinced that it's all her fault. But her husband Jake has his own reasons for believing she left of her own volition. Two years later, during a family wedding in the Dominican Republic, Emily finds her mother. But this is not Lauren. This is Sarah Langley, a carbon copy of Lauren. Emily and her family are convinced that this is Lauren, but Sarah and her elusive husband have proof that she is not. Jake can't shake the feeling that something is not right and that Sarah is somehow linked to his wife's disappearance. After seeing a picture of Lauren, Sarah is shaken and even a little scared. Who the hell is Lauren Matthews? That's a question that haunts Sarah. But worse, what happened to her? Could her parents have done the unthinkable? Could she be in danger too? Should she team up with Lauren's family to uncover the truth, or can she really trust them? The Search for Ladybug is a book about how far one would go for love and how much further despair can take you.

Environmental issues have become increasingly prominent in local struggles, national debates, and international policies. In response, scholars are paying more attention to conventional politics and to more broadly defined relations of power and difference in the interactions between human groups and their biophysical environments. Such issues are at the heart of the relatively new interdisciplinary field of political ecology, forged at the intersection of political economy and cultural ecology. This volume provides a toolkit of vital concepts and a set of research models and analytic frameworks for researchers at all levels. The two opening chapters trace rich traditions of thought and practice that inform current approaches to political ecology. They point to the entangled relationship between humans, politics, economies, and environments at the dawn of the twenty-first century and address challenges that scholars face in navigating the blurring boundaries among relevant fields of enquiry. The twelve case studies that follow demonstrate ways that culture and politics serve to mediate human-environmental relationships in specific ecological and geographical contexts. Taken together, they describe uses of and conflicts over resources including land, water, soil, trees, biodiversity, money, knowledge, and information; they exemplify wide-ranging ecological settings including deserts, coasts, rainforests, high mountains, and modern cities; and they explore sites located around the world, from Canada to Tonga and cyberspace.