Showing papers in "Progress in Human Geography in 2008"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the work of a nascent research community of economic geographers and other scholars who are making the choice to bring marginalized, hidden and alternative economic activities to light in order to make them more real and more credible as objects of policy and activism.
Abstract: How might academic practices contribute to the exciting proliferation of economic experiments occurring worldwide in the current moment? In this paper we describe the work of a nascent research community of economic geographers and other scholars who are making the choice to bring marginalized, hidden and alternative economic activities to light in order to make them more real and more credible as objects of policy and activism. The diverse economies research program is, we argue, a performative ontological project that builds upon and draws forth a different kind of academic practice and subjectivity. Using contemporary examples, we illustrate the thinking practices of ontological reframing, re-reading for difference and cultivating creativity and we sketch out some of the productive lines of inquiry that emerge from an experimental, performative and ethical orientation to the world. The paper is accompanied by an electronic bibliography of diverse economies research with over 200 entries.
1,204 citations
TL;DR: The notion of ''meaningful contact'' was introduced by as mentioned in this paper to explore the paradoxical gap that emerges in geographies of encounter between values and practices, and the need for geographers to pay more attention to sociospatial inequalities and the insecurities they breed, and to unpacking the complex and intersecting ways in which power operates.
Abstract: In this Progress in Human Geography annual lecture I reflect on geographical contributions to academic and policy debates about how we might forge civic culture out of difference. In doing so I begin by tracing a set of disparate geographical writings — about the micro-publics of everyday life, cosmopolitanism hospitality, and new urban citizenship — that have sought to understand the role of shared space in providing the opportunity for encounter between `strangers'. This literature is considered in the light of an older tradition of work about `the contact hypothesis' from psychology. Then, employing original empirical material, I critically reflect on the notion of `meaningful contact' to explore the paradoxical gap that emerges in geographies of encounter between values and practices. In the conclusion I argue for the need for geographers to pay more attention to sociospatial inequalities and the insecurities they breed, and to unpacking the complex and intersecting ways in which power operates.
1,013 citations
TL;DR: In the past two decades human geographers have intensely theorized scale, and extended claims that it is a foundational element of geographic theory as mentioned in this paper. Yet attendant with this move has been a growing...
Abstract: In the past two decades human geographers have intensely theorized scale, and extended claims that it is a foundational element of geographic theory. Yet attendant with this move has been a growing...
409 citations
TL;DR: Scholarship on queer geographies has called attention to the active production of space as heterosexualized and has levelled powerful critiques at the implicit heterosexual bias of much geographica as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Scholarship on queer geographies has called attention to the active production of space as heterosexualized and has levelled powerful critiques at the implicit heterosexual bias of much geographica...
328 citations
272 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors raise questions about the theorization of intersectionality: the complex inequalities that result from connections between gender, class, ethnicity and other dimensions of identity in the making of subjects.
Abstract: This paper raises questions — rather than providing answers — about the theorization of intersectionality: the complex inequalities that result from connections between gender, class, ethnicity and other dimensions of identity in the making of subjects. I draw on Ong's work on cultural citizenship and notions of subjectification from Foucault and Butler to think through feminist theorizations of intersectionality and the philosophical status of different approaches to complexity and difference. I also address methodological issues. While this is not primarily an empirical paper, I use the example of the labour market position of recent migrants into the UK as an examplar of intersectionality at work.
258 citations
222 citations
TL;DR: This article presented a spatialized genealogy of the free-market ideational program and argued that 'only ideas can overcome ideas', as Ludwig von Mises once remarked, and explored this contention in relation to the long and winding ascendancy of neoliberalism.
Abstract: `Only ideas can overcome ideas', Ludwig von Mises once remarked. Exploring this contention in relation to the long and winding ascendancy of neoliberalism, the paper presents a spatialized genealogy of the free-market ideational programme. From its multiple beginnings, in a series of situated, sympathetic critiques of nineteenth-century laissez-faire, neoliberalism has always been an open-ended, plural and adaptable project. The prehistories of neoliberalism are messy and nonlinear; there was no straight-line evolution from ideas to implementation, from blueprint to ballot box, or philosophy to practice. Rather like the various state projects of neoliberalization that have followed in its wake, the ideational project of neoliberalism was clearly a constructed one. There was nothing spontaneous about neoliberalism; it was speculatively planned, it was opportunistically built and it has been repeatedly reconstructed.
221 citations
TL;DR: Cloke et al. as discussed by the authors presented a series of four organized sessions at the 2006 AAG meeting, Chicago, for organized sessions on ‘Amenity migration, exurbia, and emerging rural landscapes.
Abstract: for organized sessions on ‘Amenity migration, exurbia, and emerging rural landscapes.’ Series of four organized sessions at the 2006 annual AAG meeting, Chicago. Halfacree, K. 1993: Locality and social representation: space, discourse and alternative defi nitions of the rural. Journal of Rural Studies 9, 23–37. — 2006a: From dropping out to leading on? British counter-cultural back-to-the-land in a changing rurality. Progress in Human Geography 30, 309–36. — 2006b: Rural space: constructing a three-fold architecture. In Cloke, P., Marsden, T. and Mooney, P., editors, Handbook of rural studies, London: Sage,
202 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that human geographers have tended to underplay the analytic value of social capital, by equating it with geographic theorizations and conceptualizations, and they re-open debates of geographic theorization and conceptualization of the social capital.
Abstract: This paper reopens debates of geographic theorizations and conceptualizations of social capital. I argue that human geographers have tended to underplay the analytic value of social capital, by equ...
189 citations
TL;DR: This article reviewed recent developments at the intersection between culture and animal geographies debates in order to consider the ways in which issues of anthropomorphism and beastliness have been discussed in the literature.
Abstract: This paper reviews recent developments at the intersection between culture—nature and animal geographies debates in order to consider the ways in which issues of anthropomorphism and beastliness ha...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that issues of space and place are critical in understanding the operation of global justice networks and their potential to contribute to an alternative global politics, and they focus not solely on the transnational character of networks but also upon how the global is enacted through the localized practices of movements within them, in considering the potential for GJNs to form sustainable political alternatives to neoliberalism.
Abstract: The recent emergence of global justice networks (GJNs) to counter neoliberal globalization has been an important political and geographical phenomenon. Much has been writ- ten about the emergence of a new global civil society, centred upon a new 'network' ontology. In engaging with these debates in this paper, our purpose is to develop a more critical spatial per- spective. We argue that issues of space and place are critical in understanding the operation of GJNs and their potential to contribute to an alternative global politics. Spatially, the global linkages of GJNs can be seen as creating cultural and spatial confi gurations that connect places with each other in opposition to neoliberalism. However, the individual movements that comprise networks, while not necessarily place-restricted, remain heavily territorialized in their struggles. Additionally, networks evolve unevenly over space. Some groups and actors within them are able to develop extensive translocal connections and associations whereas others remain relatively more localized. Potential confl icts arise from such complex geographies, which only become evident through analysing the operation and evolution of different networks. This leads us to focus not solely on the transnational character of networks but also upon how the global is enacted through the localized practices of movements within them, in considering the potential for GJNs to form more sustainable political alternatives to neoliberalism.
TL;DR: Geographical contributions to the study of alcohol, drinking and drunkenness have been explored in this article, where the authors argue that where alcohol studies have engaged with geographical issues research has been dominated by a case study approach that has undertheorized the relationship between practices and processes relating to alcohol and the people and places being studied.
Abstract: This paper explores geographical contributions to the study of alcohol, drinking and drunkenness. We argue that where alcohol studies have engaged with geographical issues research has been dominated by a case study approach that has undertheorized the relationship between practices and processes relating to alcohol, drinking and drunkenness and the people and places being studied. We then go on to show the ways in which human geographers are approaching alcohol, drinking and drunkenness via complex interpenetrations of political, economic, social, cultural and spatial issues and unpacking connections, similarities, differences and mobilities between supranational, national, regional and local spatial scales. We argue that such an approach represents a conceptually and empirically important contribution to alcohol studies research. The paper concludes, however, that if geographers are to have a central role in shaping future research agendas then they must engage with theoretical issues in a more detailed and sustained manner, particularly in relation to epistemological and ontological impasses that have to date characterized the study of alcohol, drinking and drunkenness.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the conceptual lexicon of embeddedness conflates economic action and outcomes, insufficiently captures power and agency and produces a limited understanding of the spatialized development of economic activity.
Abstract: Embeddedness remains a central concept in much economic geographical thought for understanding how social factors influence economic activity. Recent commentators have argued for a reconceptualization that entails a relational and processual redefinition of the concept. This paper argues, however, that there remain deep-rooted epistemological problems with embeddedness that are not overcome by this emerging reconceptualization. It argues that the conceptual lexicon of embeddedness conflates economic action and outcomes, insufficiently captures power and agency and produces a limited understanding of the spatialized development of economic activity. It further argues that the language of embeddedness conceals dimensions to transnational business activity that require increasing theoretical attention in order to explain economic success or failure in the context of contemporary globalization. In contrast to those seeking to reconceptualize embeddedness, the paper thus argues for a relational and associational approach centred on tracing the practices that produce economic outcomes in the contemporary global space economy. This alternative approach draws on recent contributions to actor-network theory as well as relational and topological theorizations of the nature of power and knowledge in relation to economic activity. The arguments are grounded with reference to a series of examples drawn from research into the nature of contemporary transnational firms.
TL;DR: The authors examine the potential of ethnographic research on postsocialist change to form part of such a re-envisaged, critical area studies, and demonstrate to what extent such research not only offers a better understanding of the social and cultural practices through which postsocialistic transformations are lived and negotiated, but also produces new conceptual insights on the basis of engaging with empirical complexity.
Abstract: In this paper, we examine the value of ethnographic research for developing a critical area studies approach that promotes cosmopolitan scholarship and contributes to the decentring of universal knowledge claims. We focus on the potential of ethnographic research on postsocialist change to form part of such a re-envisaged, critical area studies. The paper seeks to demonstrate to what extent ethnographic research not only offers a better understanding of the social and cultural practices through which postsocialist transformations are lived and negotiated, but also produces new conceptual insights on the basis of engaging with empirical complexity. Problems of researcher positionality, the politics of representation, methodology and ethics are discussed in relation to recent critiques of anthropological writing and research. We draw on Massey's (2005) concept of space-time and Robinson's (2003) and Gibson-Graham's (2004) proposals for a postcolonial, critical area studies to identify ways of reimagining ethnography as a mode of engagement rather than observation and of producing rather than surveying difference.
TL;DR: Gibson et al. as mentioned in this paper proposed a method to solve the problem of self-deletion in UW-Wangarathnauthai.edu.au.
Abstract: *Email: cgibson@uow.edu.au
TL;DR: The geographies that characterize the new health care are described and, using therapeutics as an example, it is outlined how clinical concepts might provide secure foundations for research and the multiple people, places and relationships that could be investigated.
Abstract: There has been only a partial geographical engagement with the production of conventional health care. Whilst medical geography maps aggregate supply and demand features, the geography of health focuses more on consumption and social and cultural contexts. More specifically, apart from a handful of published studies, both of these fields have overlooked how health care is continually reproduced in places by workers. In response to these shortfalls in the literature, we call for attention to geographies in health care work. In support, we describe the geographies that characterize the new health care and, using therapeutics as an example, outline how clinical concepts might provide secure foundations for research. A final discussion outlines the multiple people, places and relationships that could be investigated. Developing geographies in health care work would provide sensitive insights into the complexity, diversity and daily operation of health care.
TL;DR: The authors examines the relationship between cities and hotels, arguing that this urban space sheds light on many of the traits of twentieth-century urbanism, and suggests that the design of hotel space is expressive of consumption choices, whether in terms of a standardized, hard-wearing functionality or an expression of uniqueness, reflecting contemporary trends in consumer marketing, distinction and branding.
Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between cities and hotels, arguing that this urban space sheds light on many of the traits of twentieth-century urbanism. First, it sketches the relationship of hotels to urban space, either as landmarks within cities, as statements of civic selfconfidence in booming central business districts, or as components of urban renewal strategies. Second, it is suggested that the design of hotel space is expressive of consumption choices, whether in terms of a standardized, hard-wearing functionality or an expression of uniqueness, reflecting contemporary trends in consumer marketing, distinction and branding. Third, these spaces are crucial to the notion of the `circulatory' city. They are representative of a form of dwelling, of a temporary domestic, for various types of traveller, as well as serving as a business space. Fourth, they are reflective of the complex social geographies of city life, and provide a microcosm of the occupational hierarchies of hospitality services.
TL;DR: This article reviewed recent research on the strategies of educated unemployed young men in the global south to stress the importance of class, politics and environmental transformation for an understanding of contemporary youth geographies.
Abstract: Rising unemployment among educated young men is a key feature of neoliberal economic change. This paper reviews recent research on the strategies of educated unemployed young men in the global south to stress the importance of class, politics and environmental transformation for an understanding of contemporary youth geographies. Transnational reflection on the lives of educated unemployed young men provides an example of how human geographers might combine political economic analysis with recent theorizations of subjectivity formation and fluid identities.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors locate the phenomena of adult entertainment at the convergence of geographic debates concerning the evening economy, urban gentrification and the gendered consumption of urban spaces, and conclude that these sites are worthy of investigation not only in and of themselves, but also because their shifting location reveals much about the forms of heterosexuality and homosociality normalized in the contemporary city.
Abstract: Most towns and cities in the UK and USA possess a number of venues offering sexually orientated entertainment in the form of exotic dance, striptease or lap dancing. Traditionally subject to moral and legal censure, the majority of these sex-related businesses have tended to be situated in marginal urban spaces. As such, their increasing visibility in more mainstream spaces of urban nightlife raises important questions about the sexual and gender geographies that characterize the contemporary city. In this paper we accordingly locate the phenomena of adult entertainment at the convergence of geographic debates concerning the evening economy, urban gentrification and the gendered consumption of urban space. We conclude that these sites are worthy of investigation not only in and of themselves, but also because their shifting location reveals much about the forms of heterosexuality and homosociality normalized in the contemporary city.
TL;DR: The authors reviewed work that challenges heteronormativity in tourism studies primarily from, but not restricted to, the discipline of geography, and found that tourism studies has benefited greatly from this work.
Abstract: This article reviews work that challenges heteronormativity in tourism studies primarily from, but not restricted to, the discipline of geography. Indeed, tourism studies has benefited greatly from...
TL;DR: Panelli et al. as mentioned in this paper proposed an approach to solve the problem of "uniformity" in the literature, and proposed a method to solve it: as mentioned in this paper...
Abstract: *Email: r.panelli@ucl.ac.uk