Rural geographical research: working in rural places and with rural communities

ABSTRACT

Across a number of disciplines at the University of Aberdeen, there is a long tradition of research focused upon the interrogation of issues associated with rural places and rural communities. Since the mid-1960s, rural geographical research has been a prominent component of the research undertaken by academic staff in Geography. Drawing upon an analysis of the large corpus of ‘rural’ publications arising from this scholarly enterprise, this paper presents a chronologically structured overview of how rural geographical research at Aberdeen has reflected developments in, and contributed to, the evolution of the sub-discipline of rural geography.     

Collapsing Commodities or Lavish Offerings? Understanding Massive Metalwork Deposition at Langton Matravers,Dorset During the Bronze Age–Iron Age Transition

The discovery of 373 intact and broken tin‐bronze socketed axes accompanied by 404 fragments in four pits at Langton Matravers collectively represents one of the largest hoards found to date in prehistoric Britain and Ireland. They were very probably never meant to be used as axes as the very high levels of tin they contain would have made them brittle. Many were poorly finished, with the majority still containing their casting cores. The axes are typologically dated to the Llyn Fawr metalwork phase (c.800–600 BC) and span the Bronze Age/Iron Age transition, when the production, circulation and deposition of bronze appear to have been substantially reduced throughout north‐west Europe. By placing the Langton Matravers hoard(s) in a broader metallurgical, material and archaeological context, existing theories for this phenomenon, such as the preference for iron, a collapse in bronze supply, or the sharp devaluation of a social or ritual ‘bronze standard’, are evaluated. It is proposed that the Langton Matravers axes belong to a short phase in the centuries‐long processes underlying the changing roles of bronze and iron.     

Geographies of gender and sexuality in Australia,from 1994 to 2018

Abstract

Corresponding with Gender, Place and Culture’s twenty-fifth anniversary, this country report surveys geographies of gender and sexuality in Australia over the last twenty-five years, from 1994 to 2018. It is a necessarily selective, rather than comprehensive, review. We map out some broad areas tackled by geographers of gender and sexuality in Australia, and accordingly scaffold our survey through themes that include the geographies of women, feminist approaches across the discipline, geographies of masculinities and geographies of sexualities. We highlight research that has investigated gender and sexuality in relation to private and public spaces, workplaces and leisure spaces, urban and rural spaces, digital spaces, and disasters, inter alia.     

Linguistic incomprehension in British asylum appeal hearings

For the thousands of appellants who navigate Britain's asylum appeal courts every year, attending a hearing conducted in a language they do not understand and participating via an interpreter, is usually viewed as a significant disadvantage. The findings of a study that entailed ethnographic and structured observations of over 390 asylum appeal hearings in England and Wales during 2013 and 2014, however, indicate that the presence of interpreters often offers an important source of support in adversity. While the natural assumption may be to associate linguistic incomprehension with detriment, it transpires that there are important exceptions to this rule. Given the toughening of UK border controls in recent years, as well as British reluctance to share responsibilities for international refugees such as those fleeing from violence in Syria, these observations offer rare solace in a bleak policy landscape.