Masculinities and Fieldwork: Widening the discussion

Although recent work on masculinities has emphasised the complex ways in which masculinities are produced, performed and interpreted in different contexts, to date these insights have been given little consideration in relation to the process of ethnographic research itself. In this paper, I explore the negotiation of masculinities during fieldwork, with an emphasis on issues confronting male researchers who fail to conform to dominant expectations of ‘manliness’ which have currency in a given setting. I review how male social scientists have written about their fieldwork experiences, and note that many of these accounts in some ways serve to reinscribe the hegemonic masculine positions of their authors. Through a discussion of my own fieldwork with young people in a British voluntary organisation, I address how my masculinity was critiqued and policed, particularly by young men. I conclude by calling for a wider discussion of masculinities and fieldwork. However, I also note my ambivalence about writing the gendered self into research, if this means that those who conform to hegemonic ideals will be validated in reaffirming these identities in print while others are asked to expose the ways in which they fail to do their gender ‘right’.

Aunque obras recientes de masculinidades han enfatizado las maneras complejas en que masculinidades se producen, se representan su papel, y se interpretan en contextos diferentes, hasta la fecha estas perspicacias no han dado mucha consideración con relación al proceso mismo de investigación etnográfica. En este artículo, exploro la negociación de masculinidades durante el trabajo de campo, con un énfasis de temas se enfrentan investigadores masculinos los cuales no se conformen de las expectaciones dominantes de ‘hombría’, lo que tiene valor en escenarios específicos. Reviso como científicos sociales masculinos han escrito sobre sus experiencias en el campo, y noto que muchas de estos relatos en algunos modos sirven para reinscribir las posiciones hegemónicas masculinas de sus autores. A través de una discusión de mi propio trabajo de campo con jóvenes de una organisación voluntaria británica, concluyo que requerimos una discusión mas amplia de masculinidades y trabajo de campo. Sin embargo, también noto mi ambivalencia de escribir su género mismo dentro de su investigación, si se significa que los que se conforman a las ideales hegemónicas estén validado en reafirmando sus identidades publicado, mientras se preguntan otros a revelar las maneras en que se fracasen para hacer su género ‘correcto’.     

Historical Masculinities: Regulation,Fantasy and Empire

Dawson, Graham Soldier Heroes: British Adventure, Empire, and the Imagining of Masculinity Sussman, Herbert Victorian Masculinities: Manhood and Masculine Poetics in Early Victorian Literature and Art Hall, Donald E. (ed.) Muscular Christianity: Embodying the Victorian Age Kestner, John Masculinities in Victorian Painting     

Masculinities,Race and Nationhood – Critical Connections

Books reviewed in this article: Hazel V. Carby, Race Men Gillian Creese, Contracting Masculinity: Gender, Class, and Race in aWhite‐Collar Union, 1944‐1994 Dana D. Nelson, National Manhood: Capitalist Citizenship and theImagined Fraternity of White Men     

Placing GIS in sustainability education

As public awareness about sustainability grows and as higher education advances sustainability more comprehensively, geographers have an opportunity to take a role in sustainability education. This article examines (1) what constitutes sustainability education, (2) how geographic concepts and Geographic Information System (GIS) are relevant to sustainability education, and (3) how geospatial thinking can be incorporated into the sustainability curriculum using GIS. This research proposes five geospatial inquiries that students can make to explore sustainability issues using GIS, which are spatial distribution, spatial interactions, spatial relationships, spatial comparisons, and temporal relationships. Definition, examples, and uses of these five geospatial inquiries supported by GIS are provided.     

A Geography of Consumption and a Geography of Services

Professor Kovalev, a specialist in rural settlement, proposes the development of two new branches of economic geography in the Soviet Union that would be concerned with the study of regional differences in consumption and services. The proposal reflects the increasing concern of the Soviet party and government for raising the living standards of the population. Kovalev discusses a number of methodological problems, such as the availability of data.     

The Geography of Population and the Geography of Services

In discussing a methodology for a geography of services, a new branch of Soviet geographic research, the authors propose geographically meaningful classifications of services, the use of value and labor-input indicators, the problem of a typology of service regions, and other aspects of research in this new discipline. The geography of services is found to be closely related to population geography because of the correlation between the distribution of services and the distribution of population.     

方志与地志是历史与地理之母

方志的概念诞生于周朝,名日方志,实为古史。历史的概念是由最初的“史”官名,到唐代以“史”命书名,再到明代末年将历与史合成书名,形成今之历史学名。地志是地图、地记、图经、地理总志等书的总称,方志的一种。地理与地志同源共体,只是近代才从地志中脱胎而出,分化独立。因此说,方志与地志是历史与地理之母。     

Geography and Ecology

Geography and ecology are viewed as coming closer to each other in their interests, suggesting the prospects of common research in the area of the man-nature relationship. Both disciplines allow for investigation at the planetary, regional and topologic (or local) levels. Landscape ecology is regarded as a useful approach to the study of geosystems and for investigation of natural regimes, which are conceptualized as the driving force in the physical-geographic process. Models of ecosystems represent useful supplements to structural-dynamic models of geosystems. Human ecology cannot be treated as the entire content of geography, as Barrows proposed, but does represent one of the key concepts in geography, particularly in reference to the man-nature relationship. Both geography and ecology can collaborate usefully in resolving some of the broad problems of our time, such as optimization of the natural environment and long-term prediction of resource management. A related paper appeared in Soviet Geography, October 1970.     

Geography and development

Economic development and underdevelopment is one aspect of theuneven spatial distribution of economic activity. This paperreviews existing literature on geography and development, andargues that rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis is neededto increase understanding of the role of geography in developmentand to better design development policy. The analytical issuesare: why does economic activity cluster in centers of activity?How do new centers develop? And what are the consequences ofremoteness from existing centers? Empirical evidence comes bothfrom the international context and from studies of internaleconomic geography and urbanization.