Some of
the most interesting questions in Geography today lie at the intersection
of cultural and political geography. How do political and cultural
forces work together to produce particular environmental attitudes and
practices? What role do gendered political and cultural identities
play in democratization and "development" initiatives? How
does the political organization of space affect and influence ethnic
identities and interactions? What are the cultural, political and
economic dimensions of transnational migration? How are landscapes
shaped by the interplay of cultural attitudes and political-economic
change? In what ways are social movements contesting and re-shaping
globalization processes?
Questions
such as these are at the foundation of a major area of emphasis in the
Department of Geography at the University of Oregon. Our recent and
current graduate students have been involved in research projects all over
the world that look at the interplay of cultural and political forces in
the shaping of landscapes , environmental practices, migration processes,
ethnic and gender identity formation, and socio-political interactions and
institutions. Particular faculty interests in elements of
cultural-political geography are as follows:
Shaul Cohen |
Susan Hardwick | Derrick
Hindery
| Alec Murphy
Lise Nelson |
Xiaobo Su | Peter
Walker
|
Shaul
Cohen
Shaul
Cohen’s work in political and cultural geography focuses on the
interface between power and the environment and on questions of
ethnicity and territory. Theoretical
foci in his work are Gramscian hegemony and discourses of nature,
and these research streams are largely pursued in relation to tree
planting and forest issues. His
work on ethnicity and territory concentrates on the Israel-Palestine
conflict. Recent works
include:
Cohen,
S. (2004) Planting Nature: Trees and the Manipulation
of Environmental Stewardship in America. University of
California Press.
Cohen,
S. and D. Frank. (2002) "Jerusalam and the Riparian Conflict Simile."
Political Geography, 21(6):745-765.
Cohen,
S. (2000) "An Absence of Place: Expectation and Realization
in the West Bank," pp. 283-303. In A. Murphy and D. Johnson, eds.
Cultural Encounters with the Environment: Enduring and
Evolving Geographic Themes. Rowmann and Littlefield.
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Susan Hardwick
Susan Hardwick is a
cultural/historical geographer interes
ted in questions related
to ethnic migration and settlement, the shaping and (re)shaping of
'racialized' space and place, the adaptation experiences of
transnational migrants
(and their children), and ethnic identity. Her current work is documenting, mapping, and analyzing the spatial implications
of race and ethnicity
in the 'new' Oregon.
Susan has also
published a series of articles focusing on gender issues. In 1999,
Susan worked with Fred Shelley on a guest edited volume of the
Journal of Geography that focused on gender and geographic
education. Other recent publications in cultural-political geography
include:
Hardwick,
S.W. (2001).
Identity, Place and Locale: Doing Fieldwork in
Galveston.". The Geographical Review.
Hardwick,
S.W. (2001). Mythic Galveston: Re-Inventing America's Third
Coast. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hardwick,
S.W. 2001. "Russian Acculturation in Sacramento," (in) The
Geographical Identities of Ethnic Nor
th America, K. Berry,
ed.. Nevada: University of Nevada Press, pp. 255-278.
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Alec
Murphy
Alec
Murphy is a political-cultural geographer interested in the changing
nature of the state system, the geographical foundations of
nationalist ideology, the relationship between ethnic and political
patterns, and the rol
e of law in nature-society relations. He
is also interested in the ways in which the political organization
of space reflects and shapes social and environmental ideas.
Among his most recent publications in political
and cultural geography are:
Murphy,
A.B. Territoriality, Morality and International Law: Thoughts
on the Hendrix's 'Moral Theory of State Territory." Geopolitics,
forthcoming.
Murphy,
A.B. (2001) "Political Geography." In International
Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, N.J. Smesler and
P.B. Baltes, eds. Amsterdam: Pergamon, forthcoming.
Murphy,
A.B. and Johnston, D.L., eds. (2000) Cultural Encounters with the
Environment: Enduring and Evolving Geographic Themes.
Boulder: Rowman and Littlefield.
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Lise
Nelson
Lise Nelson focuses on political-cultural geography, critical
development studies and gender. Her current research
explores the changing nature of gender, citizenship and
democratization in the context of political and economic
globalization. She also does work that critically examines international 'development' issues, including: the institutional and
ideological apparatuses of 'development'; the
social, political and
environmental impacts of development policies; as well as the
emergence of alternative development strategies. Finally,
Professor Nelson specializes in gender and feminist theory in geography--from
substantive empirical analysis to broader methodological and
theoretical debates.
Her most recent papers and publications in these areas
include:
Nelson,
L. "De-centering 'the movement': Collective action and
the sedimentation of gendered political discourses in a Mexican
indigenous community." Under review, Society and Space.
Nelson,
L. (2000) Remaking gender an
d ethnicity in a Mexican Indigenous
Community. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Geography, University of
Washington, Seattle.
Nelson,
L. "Bodies (and spaces) do matter: the limits of
performativity." Gender, Place and Culture, 6(4):
331-354.
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| Peter Walker
Peter Walker is an economic and cultural
geographer with primary interest in political ecology. In his work
in political ecology, Dr. Walker examines the contemporary environmental
politics in the context of changing political economies, culture, and
institutions. He is particularly interested in the role of
local-scale history, culture, and language in shaping the
human-environmental effects of re
gional and global political-economic
forces. Dr. Walker's recent work focuses on the application of
political ecology approaches developed in underdeveloped regions to
industrial and postindustrial landscapes of North America and other
advanced capitalist economies.
His recent works in cultural-political ecology are:
Walker,
Peter A., and Louise P. Fortmann. "Power and the ideologies of rural
quality: a political ecology of gentrification in a rural Sierra
landscape." Under review for Ecumene.
Walker,
Peter A., and Pauline E. Peters. (2001) "Maps, metaphors, and meanings:
boundary struggles and village forest use
on private and state land in
Malawi." Society & Natural Resources 14 (5).
Walker,
Peter A. 1999. "Democracy and environment: congruencies and contradictions
in southern Africa." Political Geography 18 (3):257-284.
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