► Fpe is going through a period of reflection and debate. ► In theorizing gender, the subfield must account for race more explicitly. ► To do so, we argue for a postcolonial intersectional analysis. ...► This approach is put to work analyzing race, gender and whiteness in Honduras.
Feminist political ecology (fpe) is at a crossroads. Over the last 2years, feminist political ecologists have begun to reflect on and debate the strengths of this subfield. In this article, we contribute by pointing to the limited theorization of race in this body of work. We argue that fpe must theorize a more complex and messier, notion of ‘gender’, one that accounts for race, racialization and racism more explicitly. Building on the work of feminist geography and critical race scholarship, we argue for a postcolonial intersectional analysis in fpe – putting this theory to work in an analysis of race, gender and whiteness in Honduras. With this intervention we demonstrate how theorizing race and gender as mutually constituted richly complicates our understanding of the politics of natural resource access and control in the Global South.
Dreaming the ordinary Staeheli, Lynn A.; Ehrkamp, Patricia; Leitner, Helga ...
Progress in human geography,
10/2012, Volume:
36, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This paper introduces the concept of ‘ordinary’ to analyze citizenship’s complexities. Ordinary is often taken to mean standard or routine, but it also invokes order and authority. Conceptualizing ...citizenship as ordinary trains our attention on the ways in which the spatiality of laws and social norms are entwined with daily life. The idea of ordinariness fuses legal structures, normative orders and the experiences of individuals, social groups and communities, making citizenship both a general category and a contingent resource for political life. We explore this argument using immigrants as an example, but the conceptualization of citizenship extends more broadly.
Theorizing Sociospatial Relations Jessop, Bob; Brenner, Neil; Jones, Martin
Environment and planning. D, Society & space,
06/2008, Volume:
26, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This essay seeks to reframe recent debates on sociospatial theory through the introduction of an approach that can grasp the inherently polymorphic, multidimensional character of sociospatial ...relations. As previous advocates of a scalar turn, we now question the privileging, in any form, of a single dimension of sociospatial processes, scalar or otherwise. We consider several recent sophisticated ‘turns’ within critical social science; explore their methodological limitations; and highlight several important strands of sociospatial theory that seek to transcend the latter. On this basis, we argue for a more systematic recognition of polymorphy—the organization of sociospatial relations in multiple forms—within sociospatial theory. Specifically, we suggest that territories (T), places (P), scales (S), and networks (N) must be viewed as mutually constitutive and relationally intertwined dimensions of sociospatial relations. We present this proposition as an extension of recent contributions to the spatialization of the strategic-relational approach (SRA), and we explore some of its methodological implications. We conclude by briefly illustrating the applicability of the ‘TPSN framework’ to several realms of inquiry into sociospatial processes under contemporary capitalism.
This paper questions the recent recasting of fear within critical geopolitics. It identifies a widespread metanarrative, `globalized fear', analysis of which lacks grounding and is remote, ...disembodied and curiously unemotional. A hierarchical scaling of emotions, politics and place overlooks agency, resistance and action. Drawing on feminist scholarship, I call for an emotional geopolitics of fear which connects political processes and everyday emotional topographies in a less hierarchical, more enabling relationship. I employ conscientization as a tool to inform the reconceptualization of global fears within critical geopolitics, and to move forward epistemological practice and our relationship as scholars with social change.
This paper explores the motivations and meanings of international student mobility. Central to the discussion are the results of a large questionnaire survey and associated in-depth interviews with ...UK students enrolled in universities in six countries from around the world. The results suggest, first, that several different dimensions of social and cultural capital are accrued through study abroad. It is argued that the search for 'world class' education has taken on new significance. Second, the paper argues that analysis of student mobility should not be confined to a framework that separates study abroad from the wider life-course aspirations of students. It is argued that these insights go beyond existing theorisations of international student mobility to incorporate recognition of diverse approaches to difference within cultures of mobility, including class reproduction of distinction, broader notions of distinction within the life-plans of individual students, and how 'reputations' associated with educational destinations are structured by individuals, institutions and states in a global higher education system that produces differentially mediated geographies of international student mobility.
This paper discusses the urban injustices of New Labour's “new urban renewal”, that is the state‐led gentrification of British council estates, undertaken through the guise of mixed communities ...policy, on the Aylesbury estate in Southwark, London, one of the largest council estates in Europe. In this particular case of post‐political planning I show how the tenant support for the regeneration programme was manipulated and misrepresented and how choices were closed down for them, leaving them ultimately with a “false choice” between a regeneration they did not want or the further decline of their estate. I look at what the estate residents thought/think about the whole process and how they have resisted, and are resisting, the gentrification of their estate. I show revanchist and post‐political practices, but ultimately I refuse to succumb to these dystopian narratives, very attractive as they are, for conflict/dissent has not been completely smothered and resistance to gentrification in and around the Aylesbury is alive and well. I argue that we urgently need to re‐establish the city as the driver of democratic politics with an emancipatory agenda, rather than one that ratifies the status quo or gets mired in a dystopic post‐justice city.
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.
Over the last decade, a growing body of literature has emerged which is concerned with the question of what form a promising concept of social resilience might take. In this article we argue that ...social resilience has the potential to be crafted into a coherent analytic framework that can build on scientific knowledge from the established concept of social vulnerability, and offer a fresh perspective on today's challenges of global change. Based on a critical review of recently published literature on the issue, we propose to define social resilience as being comprised of three dimensions: 1. Coping capacities —the ability of social actors to cope with and overcome all kinds of adversities; 2. Adaptive capacities — their ability to learn from past experiences and adjust themselves to future challenges in their everyday lives; 3. Transformative capacities — their ability to craft sets of institutions that foster individual welfare and sustainable societal robustness towards future crises. Viewed in this way, the search for ways to build social resilience — especially in the livelihoods of the poor and marginalized — is revealed to be not only a technical, but also a political issue. Innerhalb der vergangenen Dekade ist eine Vielzahl von Artikeln erschienen, die sich mit der Frage beschäftigen, wie ein der Forschung dienliches Konzept von sozialer Resilienz aussehen könnte. Wir argumentieren, dass ein in sich kohärentes Forschungsprogramm erstellt werden kann, welches nicht nur in der Lage ist, Ergebnisse aus der Verwundbarkeitsforschung aufzunehmen, sondern gleichsam neue Wege für die Erforschung aktueller Problemlagen aufzuzeigen vermag. Vor dem Hintergrund der gegenwärtigen Literaturlage schlagen wir eine Definition sozialer Resilienz vor, welche drei Dimensionen umfasst: 1. Die Fähigkeit sozialer Akteure zur Bewältigung von Krisen. 2. Das Vermögen, aus vergangenen Erfahrungen zu lernen und sich an zukünftige Entwicklungen anzupassen. 3. Die Befähigung zur sozialen und ökologischen Transformation, welche das individuelle Wohlergehen fördern und einer nachhaltigen gesellschaftlichen Stärkung im Umgang mit zukünftigen Krisen dienlich sind. In dieser Betrachtungsweise erscheint die Suche nach Resilienz — insbesondere für die Lebenshaltung der Armen und Ausgegrenzten — nicht als technische, sondern primär als politische Aufgabe.
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