SOCIAL THEORY AND THE FUTURE OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY*

Three themes that seem likely to be influential in the near future have recently characterized the work of geographers using social theories as the basis of their explanations of urban phenomena. They are (1) the debates about structure and human agency. (2) the claims of feminists about the analytical significance of the social construction of gender roles, and (3) the demand that we now use our social theories more actively to explain experienced reality. In continuing our use of social theory in urban geography, we must prevent its marginalization as one specific substantive topic; the alternative epistemologies of this type of work can guide new interpretations of every substantive issue in urban geography.     

Theorizing and Researching Intersectionality: A Challenge for Feminist Geography*

This article focuses on the concept of intersectionality, which is being used within the wider social sciences by feminists to theorize the relationship between different social categories: gender, race, sexuality, and so forth. Although research within the field of feminist geography has explored particular interconnections such as those between gender and race, the theoretical concept of intersectionality as debated in the wider social sciences has not been addressed. This article attempts to respond to that omission. It begins by tracing the emergence of debates about the interconnections between gender and other identities. It goes on to reflect on attempts to map geometries of oppressions. The emphasis then moves from theorizing intersectionality to questioning how it can be researched in practice by presenting a case study to illustrate intersectionality as lived experience. The conclusion demonstrates the contribution that feminist geography can make to advance the theorization of intersectionality through its appreciation of the significance of space in processes of subject formation. It calls for feminist geography to pay more attention to questions of power and social inequalities.     

Economy,culture and environment: perspectives on the Australian food industry

Intersections between economy, culture and environment pose exciting future challenges for human geography. Part of Griffith Taylor's pioneering role as a geographer was to investigate relationships between these three aspects of human life, although his agenda was that of environmental determinism. This paper considers these intersections as they relate to contemporary geographical studies of restructuring, in particular the emergence of a genuinely global economic system since about 1980. Recent developments in cultural geography argue that geographical analysis of restructuring has been dominated by an economic determinism which has buried other stories which could be told about industrial change. The paper sketches lines of possible dialogue between economic geography and cultural studies, illustrating the argument with examples from restructuring in the Australian food industry. In opening such a dialogue, economic geography would be better placed to return to interactions between economy, culture and environment. In his day, Taylor was not afraid to upset the conventional wisdom about these relationships and this may be one of his most enduring legacies.     

Changing bodies, spaces, places and politics: Feminist geography at the University of Waikato

Abstract: ‘Place matters’ in the production of knowledge. This article examines the production of feminist geographical knowledge at a particular place – the Department of Geography, Tourism and Environmental Planning at the University of Waikato. Feminist geography at Waikato represents a nexus of international, national, regional, and local politics. It represents the efforts, personalities, political and personal motivations of particular individuals, at particular times, in a particular space. While international trends are important, they can also mask the unfolding of events in different ways in ‘other’ places.     

《大地》的女性主义解读

从女性主义视角分析赛珍珠的《大地》中的女主角阿兰的形象以及从文化的视角考虑了作者对中国传统女性的关注。赛珍珠在作品中探讨了中国妇女的命运、地位和自我价值的问题并对她们给予了深切的同情,热情地讴歌了女性顽强不屈的精神,有力地抨击了当时男性主义社会观念,推动了当时及后来的女权主义运动的发展。     

西方女性地理学的发展与启示

西方女性地理学源自对地理学研究中忽视女性独特经验的性别主义取向以及对学科中缺少女性参与的双重不满而兴起的，大致经历了初始阶段、蓬勃发展阶段和更加多元化3个发展阶段共30余年的发展历史，并逐步走向了成熟。它着眼于女性不同于男性的独特经验及女性内部间的差异性，提供了以女性主义的视角来分析研究问题的新的发展领域。改革开放以来，由于单位制的解体，中国女性的整体地位不升反降，女性问题日益成为学者们研究的热点。女性地理学无论是对中国地理学的发展还是对女性问题的研究都有重大的启示作用，理应加以重视并作更深入的研究。     

On the politics of recognition in critical urban scholarship

In this response to Ananya Roy’s plenary talk at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting in 2015, “What’s urban about critical urban theory,” I engage the work of Nancy Fraser and feminist epistemologists to argue for the necessity of a robust critical politics of recognition in knowledge projects with emancipatory aims. I question the political utility and empirical accuracy of the increasingly popular assertion that there is no analytical outside to the category “urban,” and argue, like many feminist, post-colonial, and anti-racist scholars before me, that attempts to construct a totalizing political subject have the effect of reproducing cultural misrecognition and are thus incompatible with emancipatory politics.     

城市公园游憩行为的性别差异——以广州人民公园为例

以广州市人民公园为研究对象,通过实地踏勘和问卷调查,利用统计与观察分析方法解剖城市公园游憩行为的性别差异特征。在游憩者的行为和社会特征方面,两性之间存在明显差异;女性的公园游憩行为与其社会分工特别是家庭责任紧密联系;女性因对安全性的要求高而趋向视线开敞的集体区域活动,男性因要求独立性而趋向在有视线遮挡的区域活动,且男性同性恋活动区域对女性形成了一定的活动抑制;女性对出行距离较为敏感,而男性独自出行游憩的比例更高;女性对城市游憩空间的需求趋于稳定、有规律,也凸显了公园对女性日常生活的重要性。基于公平性与人性化原则提出相应的城市公园规划设计对策,特别应对公共设施进行细致而灵活的设计,以适应使用者的性别差异性;并应按照步行尺度进行游憩场所的规划布局,以保障女性就近游憩的需求。