A space for feminist mentoring: the role of Geographic Perspectives on Women (GPOW) specialty group in higher education

Abstract

Higher education and organizations within academic disciplines are important spaces for mentoring and other forms of networking. These spaces, however, are often situated in environments that limit equitable and inclusive opportunities for early career and underrepresented scholars to effectively engage in mentoring. This paper contributes to critical feminist scholarship that examines how organizations in higher education can offer supportive mentoring spaces for women, early career faculty, and scholars from diverse backgrounds. The analysis focuses on the Geographic Perspectives on Women (GPOW) Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) as a space for faculty, students and other geographers to enhance their professional and personal success. Our analysis draws from the results of an international survey, a focus group discussion, and reflexive participation of feminist geographers aligned with this specialty group. We examine the ways in which this academic organization, and the informal and formal networks it cultivates, attempts to foster an anti-oppressive mentoring community of feminist geographers. We also analyze how these networks are shaped by and embedded in neoliberal institutions in the discipline of geography and higher education as a whole. This discussion offers important insights to growing research and initiatives that support mentoring for women, feminists, and others concerned with building more inclusive and socially just spaces in academia.     

Geographic contributions to institutional curriculum reform in Australia: the challenge of embedding field-based learning

Abstract

In the context of continuing pressures from managerialist and neoliberal drivers of university reform in Australia, Macquarie University’s recent undergraduate curriculum innovation, based on “People,” “Planet,” and “Participation,” has resulted in the embedding and integration of experiential learning in its curriculum and institutional framework. Such an approach challenges academic and administrative staff, students, and partners in industry, the community and public sector settings, to engage and collaborate across significant boundaries. This article outlines the scope and nature of the curriculum reform, then considers the way geographers have both shaped and responded to the opportunities it created. In so doing, it proposes a number of challenges and recommendations for geographers who might seek to extend their longstanding commitment to field-based learning through similar reforms. In this regard, the discipline of geography and its tendency to engage with the “field” can offer much in fostering deeply transformative learning.     

Educational Innovation and the Market for Geographers in Hungary

This paper examines the status of geography in higher education in Hungary. Stress is placed on reforms begun in the 1990s to launch new curricula for training professional geographers. The authors played an important role in developing this new curriculum by introducing new subjects into geography programmes, working out the scope and sequence of courses, obtaining accreditation and carrying out market research for graduates. The project was motivated by a decline in demand for geography and geography teachers in secondary schools accompanied by an increase in demand for geographers trained to work in public administration, government and business. The graduates of the new professional geographer curriculum receive a practice-oriented education designed to cultivate their spatial problem solving and applied geographical skills. In this paper the authors present the steps in the curriculum reform and suggest that it may serve as a model for reform in a number of nearby countries planning to join the EU.     

旅游地理视角下记忆研究的进展与启示

记忆是当前西方人文社会科学的重要研究领域,同时也是一个跨学科的概念。记忆与时间和空间密不可分,随着20世纪90年代以来"旅游潮"和"记忆转向"的兴起,记忆研究日益成为中西方旅游地理研究者的关注领域。本文通过对人文地理学中旅游相关研究中的记忆议题和研究方法的梳理,从记忆、物质景观与地方意义的感知,记忆、仪式与身份认同,以及旅游者的情感体验与地方建构三个方面进行分析,以期展现充满文化、社会、政治乃至经济内涵的记忆地理问题发展脉络及独特意义,为国内旅游地理学开拓新的研究视野。     

Geography,GIS and employability in Turkey

Although higher education in Turkey does not have especially well-advanced systems and resources for addressing graduate employability, two developments are making it particularly important for Turkish geography departments to give increased priority to this agenda. One is the country’s new Higher Education Qualifications Framework and the other is a major increase in geography student numbers, which means that geographers seeking school teaching posts (traditionally seen as the natural career pathway) now hugely outnumber the posts available. Against this background, this paper proceeds to explore the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) to contribute to geographers’ employability in Turkey through a study involving the views and experiences of academic staff, students and employers. The paper reveals a mixed picture of both opportunities and challenges. It ends with a series of employability recommendations for geography and GIS in Turkey, a number of which could also be of wider relevance elsewhere.     

Development of geography in higher education in China: departments,curricula, and faculty, 1904–1949

By extracting information from various original materials and using geography departments, curricula, and faculty as indicators, this paper contributes to the discussion of the development of geography in higher education in China from 1904 to 1949. Four mutual connections are outlined. First, the development of geography in higher education is inextricably linked to social and political changes. Second, geography in higher education during the period concerned progressed in fits and starts, which affected its distribution. Third, geography departments were split into two categories according to the type of higher educational institution, which created differences in the tasks, curricula, and faculty of these departments. Fourth, faculty were trained in both domestic and foreign universities, and Western universities made an obvious contribution to the growth of qualified academic faculty. Simultaneously, universities where qualified academic faculty were trained were centralized both in domestic and foreign aspects. The special role of geographers returning from overseas study, the particularity of geography in higher education in China, and the connection between Chinese and foreign geography are also discussed in terms of geography departments, curricula, and faculty.     

The emergence and institutionalization of feminist geography in Ghana

Abstract

The emergence and institutionalization of feminist geography in Ghana was in tandem with the global feminist movement in the 1970s and its subsequent international women’s conferences. This paper discusses the pioneering work and research at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, and its effect on the institutionalization and diffusion of feminist geography in Ghana. Through research and external collaborations, the need for gender as an academic discipline was strongly argued for and instituted as an undergraduate course at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana. These external collaborations with other feminist geographers in international geography associations and universities served as a boost as they created opportunities for highlighting the spatial variations in the role and situation of particularly women’s lives in Ghana. Subsequently, there was a diffusion of feminist geography research and its institutionalization as an academic sub-discipline in Geography departments in other Ghanaian universities. These notwithstanding, the departments of Geography in Ghanaian universities are still dominated by male faculty members. Moreover, research work has been mainly in the field of human geography more than the physical aspects calling for the mainstreaming of gender issues in all the systematic branches of the discipline.     

THE GREEN ECONOMY AND POST‐GROWTH REGIMES: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

While mainstream economic geography is doing increasing research on green manufacturing and services, with a few notable exceptions, its predominant conceptual approaches to emerging modes of economic orientation continue to examine economic transitions somewhat unreflexively within the context of traditional growth paradigms. The aim of this article is to explore and critically examine neoliberal discourses on the green economy and smart growth by exploring contributions to debates on green economics proposed by ideas linked to post‐growth economies. Based on studies by scholars such as Tim Jackson and Serge Latouche, the article examines the contours of debates on post‐growth, décroissance (de‐growth) and prosperity without growth. We begin by examining growth debates and existing contributions by economic and other geographers to the exploration of alternatives to conventional growth‐centred economics. We then identify some emergent spatial facets of post‐growth transitions and utilize these to explore potential research topics and opportunities for empirical and conceptual contributions by economic geographers to academic and societal debates on economic transitions and post‐growth paradigms. Particular attention is paid to approaches currently discussed in economic geography, such as socio‐technical transition studies.     

G.G. Chisholm,A.G. Ogilvie and the 1912 America Transcontinental Excursion

Abstract

This paper discusses the 1912 Transcontinental Excursion of the American Geographical Society. Planned and led by W.M. Davis, the 21 000 kilometre excursion highlighted facets of the geography of the USA and demonstrated the growing status of American academic geography to 43 European geographers. Among these were George G. Chisholm and Alan G. Ogilvie, respectively first lecturer and first professor of geography at Edinburgh University. Use is made of their unpublished notes and selected published material to convey the impact of the excursion on both men, demonstrate the friendships and networks that developed, and illustrate something of the methodological debates conducted during this unique, mobile summer school.     

The shifting context of academic geography in Canada

Academic geographers are working in a system in flux. A series of interconnecting and overlapping social, political, and economic processes have resulted in a shifting academic climate for geographers and geography departments. This viewpoint brings forward evidence from multiple areas of study to provide a synthesis of this changing context. Challenges to geography include the role of “facts” and “truth” in society, neoliberal university contexts as workplaces, and generational change, among many others. This paper asks more questions than it answers, with an aim to promote an engaged and informed debate among geographers about our “place” in Canada's shifting academic context.     

国际背景与中国特色的经济地理学

近一、二十年来,以英美地理学家为主导的国际经济地理学界开始注重制度和社会文化因素对经济空间现象的影响。柔性专业化、网络与根植性、集聚与集群,区域管制等概念,频聚出现于国际主导地理刊物和国际会议讨论之中。国内也有一些学者引进这些相关理论并结合中国实例作了一些可喜的探索。这种引进理论--中国实际研究--理论总结的研究模式,推动着上世纪中国经济地理学发展。但是,从中国特色的经济地理学角度考虑,还应该探索其他研究思路。中国经济地理学发展背景,有一些在世界十分独特,如最大的且近20多年经济增长最快的发展中国家,工业化与城市化不相一致,体制变革、文化传统的特殊影响,人口与资源的尖锐矛盾,区域差异巨大,经济地理学在地理学中地位的特殊性等。根据这些背景,中国经济地理学需要冷静地审视国际学术动向和中国特色。立足中国实际,加强国际交流,凝练解释中国特殊经济地理现象的理论观点,逐渐培育国际经济地理学界中的中国流派。     

Ratzel, the French School and the birth of Alternative Geopolitics

Modern French political geography began as a response to Ratzel's Politische Geographie and then became an attempt to place ratzelian ideas into the context of French geographical thought. What then emerged was a political geography which was set firmly in opposition to German geopolitics. There were some geographers who felt that a more effective response could be made by developing an indigenous French geopolitics. This can be seen as being the origin of the alternative geopolitics which was favoured by some American geographers during and after World War II and which subsequently became an important underlying theme in the new geopolitics which arose in the 1970s. The concept of an alternative geopolitics has owed a great deal to the French school of geography and has it roots in the original response of Vidal de la Blache to Ratzel.     

Geography: a different sort of discipline?

Debate continues about the inter-relationships between human and physical geography and their different research and publication practices. Relatively little data about these are available, however. Using an analysis of all publications submitted by UK geographers to the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, this paper identifies a substantial difference between human and physical geographers in their publication strategies. Most physical geographers place their research papers in specialized inter-disciplinary journals and make relatively little use of geography outlets: most human geographers, on the other hand, publish in geography journals. Comparisons with other disciplines – in the earth and environmental and social sciences respectively – also identify differences between geographers and their peers. The overall conclusion is that, with regard to research and publication at least, UK geography cannot be presented as a single academic community with strong internal ties, but rather as a conglomerate of separate communities writing for different audiences.     

Researching the hidden curriculum: intentional and unintended messages

In this paper, we examine the concept of the hidden curriculum, its importance to pedagogic research in geography and research methods which might be used to investigate it. We review three case studies of research projects which have explored the hidden curriculum in geographical contexts, and use these to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of different methods. We conclude by suggesting that there is an increasing need for research exploring new elements of the hidden curriculum being created by current changes in the political and economic context affecting geography in higher education in the UK and other countries.     

地理学期刊与地理学的传统——西方主要国家地理学期刊评价

SCI是世界公认的自然科学领域最为权威的研究成果检索和评价工具,另一方面,一门学科的学会刊物也是反映该领域最重要研究成果的平台。在许多自然学科领域,学会会刊都是SCI的必检刊物,但世界各国多数地理学会的会刊却都不在SCI索引之列。这就产生了一个疑问:如何来评价地理学的研究成果?本文认为,地理学刊物的评价应该遵循其学科特点,以会刊作为成果评价的核心更符合实际。本文介绍了英美德法日等主要国家的地理学会和会刊的情况,并借此呼吁,在当前以SCI期刊论文作为第一标准的中国学术行政体制下,应维护地理学自身的发展规律,保持地理学的传统,建立合理的地理学研究成果评价体系。     

东西对话：中国政治地理学研究展望

中国政治地理学的发展尚处于起步阶段。中国与西方政治地理学者的学术交流相对有限,这主要是由于语言的障碍,以及中国学者对于研究课题政治敏感性的担忧,普遍缺乏对政治地理学研究内涵的理解。本文基于对中西方政治地理学发展现状及相关研究可能性的理解,指出以下五个在中国具有进一步拓展空间的政治地理学课题：广域行政与空间政治;国际关系与地理想象;边界冲突与划界研究;边界与边界区域研究;环境政治地理学。这些课题的开展不仅可以加强中国自身的政治地理学研究,而且对西方正在进行的政治地理学研究也会起到积极的推动作用。     

Rethinking Postgraduate Education in Geography: The Case of the Netherlands

This paper discusses reforms in postgraduate education in geography in the Netherlands in the context of Europeanization and globalization. Europeanization and globalization have resulted in challenges as well as opportunities for students and universities. In terms of internationalization, Europeanization and the global economic crisis have opposite effects. Although Europeanization has resulted in an increased international orientation of postgraduate students in geography, the global economic crisis and the resulting cuts in the university and students' budgets hamper other aspects of the internationalization of postgraduate education in the Netherlands.     

我国人文地理学研究的若干基本意识问题

自1980年代复兴以后的近三十年来,我国人文地理学研究和教学取得了可喜的成绩,但参照国际人文地理学的发展以及我国其他领域改革的深入和推进,存在的问题也日益明显,突出表现在五种意识的不足或缺乏。这使我们在服务国家经济建设方面作出令人注目的成绩的同时,未能对世界人文地理学发展作出我们应有的贡献。亟待反思,找到问题之所在以及通向世界学术殿堂的"桥梁",以便"重新出发"。在恪守学术规范的基础上,增强学术史和与同行对话的意识、以问题和理论为导向,立足本土,加强人文地理研究的理论化,作出原创性的发现,是我国人文地理学者面临的一项艰巨任务。     

A toolkit to implement graduate attributes in geography curricula

This article uses findings from a project on engagement with graduate outcomes across higher education institutions in New Zealand to produce a toolkit for implementing graduate attributes in geography curricula. Key facets include strong leadership; academic developers to facilitate conversations about graduate attributes and teaching towards them; ownership of the process by the teachers; the development of a contextualized set of graduate attributes for the geography degree; curriculum mapping to promote alignment between graduate attributes, learning outcomes and assessment tasks; incorporating high-impact educational experiences and signature pedagogies to foster graduate attributes; the use of evaluative data to inform continual enhancements; and allowing at least five years for curriculum renewal to occur.     

国外交通地理学研究的知识图谱与进展

交通地理学作为人文地理学的重要分支,一直充满着活力与多样性,获得人文地理学者的广泛关注。本文基于CiteSpace可视化软件,采用Web of Science中收录1982-2014年的4840篇交通地理学论文作为原始数据,梳理了近30年的研究脉络,绘制了学科发展的知识图谱,系统地归纳了学科的研究热点与发展趋势,以期为中国交通地理学研究提供借鉴。研究发现:国外交通地理学研究方法和研究内容日趋多元化,研究视角趋向微观化,质性研究突显;初步形成城市规划学派、理论地理学派、时间地理学派等六大学术共同体;出现社会、行为、文化和流动的诸多转向,呈现出人本导向、信息导向和交叉化的发展趋势。