Feminist geography
Feminist geography is a specialized branch of human geography that examines the interplay between gender and spatial dynamics, focusing on how identity and differences among gendered groups shape their interactions with both natural and constructed environments. Emerging in the 1970s alongside international feminist movements, this field investigates the complex relationships between gender, sexuality, race, class, and other social categories, emphasizing how these factors influence experiences of oppression and power within geographic contexts. Feminist geographers critique traditional geographical methodologies that often reflect male perspectives, advocating for a more nuanced understanding of mobility and accessibility as experienced by various community members.
They explore both macro and micro geographies, analyzing broad community spaces as well as the intimate interpretations of mobility by smaller groups. The field also delves into imagined geographies, shedding light on the narratives that shape perceptions of place, such as fictional representations like those in literature. While some criticisms have emerged regarding the potential portrayal of women as victims, feminist geographers have evolved to explore representations of gender more dynamically and inclusively. In the 21st century, their focus encompasses gendered spaces, intersectionality, and the geography of identity, utilizing innovative methodologies like ethnography to better understand individual experiences and advocate for social justice in various contexts.
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Feminist geography
Feminist geography is a subset of human geography that focuses on the construction of identity and differences amongst gendered groups and their relationship to natural and artificial environments. Some feminist geographers study large communities, and others create "micro-geographies" that analyze how a small group of people might interpret mobility, distance, and their own bodies. Feminist geographers also study imagined geographies—such as how people who have visited New York City imagine Times Square or how the construction of fictional lands, such as Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), can tell us about the power dynamics of real cities and communities.
Overview
Feminist geography emerged as a unique field in the 1970s as a result of international women’s movements and campaigns for social justice. Scholars in this field focus on the interrelations of gender, sexuality, age, ability, family dynamics, race, ethnicity, class, and caste. The resulting studies are interested in instances of oppression and the ways that those oppressions are used in geography studies. Feminist geographers have studied and criticized the ways that geography has mapped space from a male perspective, as well as the ways that academic departments have predominantly hired men. For example, traditional geographers might record the time it takes to travel between two locations based on how long it takes to travel by car. Feminist geographers might consider that some segments of the community are not able to afford cars and thus use different means of transportation, each with different rates of speed that affect the time it takes to travel between the two locations.
From these criticisms, feminist geographers suggest that academics should pay attention to the ways that knowledge is "bound" by geographical and social spaces. For example, rather than indicating that an entire community is impoverished, a feminist geographer would study the ways that the community has been portrayed as impoverished by previous studies and the ways that gender is represented amongst community members. This researcher might also ask if all community members were interviewed or if only male authority figures were interviewed for a specific study. In this way, a feminist geographer would be studying the "interconnectivity" of community members and academics. The research would then produce a new study that asks why the community is impoverished. This process is known as a "critical approach" because it not only studies a specific subject but also studies the role of demographic differences, oppression, and space.
Some critics of feminist geography claim that many studies frame women as victims of oppression and overlook the ways that women are actively contributing to society. Other critics have indicated that the ways that feminist geographers divide men and women are overly simplistic. Since the mid-1980s, feminist geographers have responded to these criticisms by examining representations of gender and asking how those representations have changed over time and space. In doing so, feminist geographers have drawn from interdisciplinary theories from academic fields such as psychology and sociology. The resulting studies play an important role in understanding how communities join together in new spaces and create new meanings. For example, feminist geographers might study how refugees speak about "home," whether it is a refugee camp, the space that refugees came from, or an imagined space that the refugees have never been to. By studying these issues, feminist geographers can help aid workers to better serve refugee communities, and they can also help governments that are accepting or denying entry to refugees.
In the twenty-first century, feminist geography remained focused on how social issues affect women and gender. Key areas of study included gendered spaces; feminist geography’s relationship with intersectionality; gender relations and spatial inequality in resources, employment, and politics; and understanding the geography of identity. Feminist geographers also use unique methodologies, such as ethnography and participatory research, to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of individuals.
Bibliography
Bird, John, Barry Curtis, Tim Putnam, and Lisa Tickner, editors. Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change. Routledge, 2012.
Coddington, Kate. "Feminist Geographies 'Beyond' Gender: De‐Coupling Feminist Research and the Gendered Subject." Geography Compass, vol. 9, no. 4, 2015, pp. 214–224.
Domosh, Mona, and Liz Bondi. "Remembering the Making of Gender, Place and Culture." Gender, Place & Culture, vol. 21, no. 9, 2014, pp. 1063–1070.
“Human Geography - Feminist Geography.” Dartmouth Libraries, 22 Oct. 2024, researchguides.dartmouth.edu/human‗geography/feminist. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.
Laliberte, Nicole, Kate Driscoll Derickson, and Lorraine Dowler. "Advances in Feminist Geography." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies, Oxford University Press, 22 Dec. 2017, doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.116. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.
Longhurst, Robyn, and Lynda Johnston. "Recollecting and Reflecting on Feminist Geography in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Beyond." Women’s Studies Journal, vol. 29, no. 1, 2015, p. 21.
McKittrick, Katherine. Demonic Grounds: Black Women and the Cartographies of Struggle. University of Minnesota Press, 2006.
Valentine, Gill. "Theorizing and Researching Intersectionality: A Challenge for Feminist Geography." Professional Geographer, vol. 59, no. 1, 2007, pp. 10–21.
Women and Geography Study Group. Feminist Geographies: Explorations in Diversity and Difference. Routledge, 2014.