title: Geographies that matter: Pregnant bodies in public places

authors: Longhurst, Robyn

subjects: pregnancy

abstract: This thesis has two objectives. First, I argue that there exists a dichotomy between mind and body and that the mind (rationality and masculinity) is privileged over the body (irrationality and femininity). This dichotomy underpins human geographical knowledge as it is currently constituted. I examine examples from time-geography, humanistic geography, medical geography and feminist geography in order to illustrate the ways in which the body is Othered. This Othering of the body in geography serves to marginalise certain individuals and groups, such as women, who are thought to be 'tied to their bodies' and, therefore, incapable of reason. It is a specific notion of knowing as disembodied that marginalises women in the production of geographical knowledge. A privileging of the mind over the body is one of the reasons why, despite feminist interventions, contemporary geography continues to be a largely masculinist discourse. The second objective of this thesis is to contribute to the creation of a 'sexually embodied geography' that contests hegemonic, disembodied, masculinist geographies. I do this by focusing on pregnancy. Using spot observations, focus groups, individual interviews, indepth case-studies, a questionnaire and academic autobiography I conduct a study of the 'lived' geographies of 31 women who are pregnant for the first time and live in Hamilton, AotearoaiNew Zealand. Many of these women tended to withdraw from public places such as night clubs, bars, pubs, restaurants, cafes, and from public activities such as sport and paid employment during pregnancy. Two possible reasons for these pregnant women's withdrawal from public places during pregnancy are: first, that pregnant women are frequently popularly represented as being 'seeping', 'ugly', abject bodies who are not to be trusted in the public realms; and second, pregnant women are frequently represented as being emotional, irrational, and forgetful (read: 'hysterical') and, therefore, not to be trusted in public space. This study offers an example of new possibilities in geography. It is a geography that focuses on the corporeal thereby displacing the tendency to privilege the mind as the dominant term in the mind/body dualism. Focusing on the sexed body may provide feminist geographers with one more way of challenging masculinism and raising questions of sexual difference in geography.

text: Geographies that matter: Pregnant bodies in public places This thesis has two objectives. First, I argue that there exists a dichotomy between mind and body and that the mind (rationality and masculinity) is privileged over the body (irrationality and femininity). This dichotomy underpins human geographical knowledge as it is currently constituted. I examine examples from time-geography, humanistic geography, medical geography and feminist geography in order to illustrate the ways in which the body is Othered. This Othering of the body in geography serves to marginalise certain individuals and groups, such as women, who are thought to be 'tied to their bodies' and, therefore, incapable of reason. It is a specific notion of knowing as disembodied that marginalises women in the production of geographical knowledge. A privileging of the mind over the body is one of the reasons why, despite feminist interventions, contemporary geography continues to be a largely masculinist discourse. The second objective of this thesis is to contribute to the creation of a 'sexually embodied geography' that contests hegemonic, disembodied, masculinist geographies. I do this by focusing on pregnancy. Using spot observations, focus groups, individual interviews, indepth case-studies, a questionnaire and academic autobiography I conduct a study of the 'lived' geographies of 31 women who are pregnant for the first time and live in Hamilton, AotearoaiNew Zealand. Many of these women tended to withdraw from public places such as night clubs, bars, pubs, restaurants, cafes, and from public activities such as sport and paid employment during pregnancy. Two possible reasons for these pregnant women's withdrawal from public places during pregnancy are: first, that pregnant women are frequently popularly represented as being 'seeping', 'ugly', abject bodies who are not to be trusted in the public realms; and second, pregnant women are frequently represented as being emotional, irrational, and forgetful (read: 'hysterical') and, therefore, not to be trusted in public space. This study offers an example of new possibilities in geography. It is a geography that focuses on the corporeal thereby displacing the tendency to privilege the mind as the dominant term in the mind/body dualism. Focusing on the sexed body may provide feminist geographers with one more way of challenging masculinism and raising questions of sexual difference in geography.

year: 1996

title: Living in the bush and at Quartzville, high on the hillside above Waiorongomai

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: To avoid a long walk to and from work, some miners lived in whare scattered in the bush but close to the upper road between Waiorongomai village and the mines, and at the small settlement of Quartzville. In addition, some companies provided a small number of shanties for single men, some of which would be re-used in the 1930s. A few huts were erected in the Tui district.
At Quartzville during the 1880s, several shopkeepers set up shop, receiving goods daily from Waiorongomai. There was also a post office and a small boarding house, but no licensed premises were permitted. By the end of the nineteenth century this settlement, which had housed some families as well as single men, had disappeared. 
Living in these out-of-the-way places had several hazards, notably fires, falling trees, and a steep and slippery road that needed constant repair. Little entertainment was possible, although for a time there were sporting teams and occasional meetings. For much of the year climatic conditions must have made for unpleasant living conditions.

text: Living in the bush and at Quartzville, high on the hillside above Waiorongomai To avoid a long walk to and from work, some miners lived in whare scattered in the bush but close to the upper road between Waiorongomai village and the mines, and at the small settlement of Quartzville. In addition, some companies provided a small number of shanties for single men, some of which would be re-used in the 1930s. A few huts were erected in the Tui district.
At Quartzville during the 1880s, several shopkeepers set up shop, receiving goods daily from Waiorongomai. There was also a post office and a small boarding house, but no licensed premises were permitted. By the end of the nineteenth century this settlement, which had housed some families as well as single men, had disappeared. 
Living in these out-of-the-way places had several hazards, notably fires, falling trees, and a steep and slippery road that needed constant repair. Little entertainment was possible, although for a time there were sporting teams and occasional meetings. For much of the year climatic conditions must have made for unpleasant living conditions.

year: 2016

title: Mokena Hou and his wife Rina

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Mokena Hou had a distinguished whakapapa, but as nephew to Hou was subordinate to the latter’s son, Karauna Hou. He was born near the Te Aroha hot pools, and his future wife, Rina, who also had illustrious ancestors, including some Ngati Haua, was born in the same area. Both were affiliated to several hapu. After the Hauraki tribes fled from Ngapuhi in 1821, he would be present at the battle of Taumatawiwi in 1830 (though he did not fight) and participated in a later siege of the Ngati Haua pa at Matamata. During the 1830s and later, he mostly cultivated land and dug gum in the lower Waihou region and as well as cultivating at Te Aroha. 
 After living at Kaitawa before the Thames goldfield opened, nearby, in 1867, he moved to Te Aroha, where he would live continuously, warding off the ambitions of Ngati Haua. When the land court investigated the ownership of blocks of land in Hauraki, he sought to obtain as many interests as possible, not always successfully, and tried to get more than his fair share of both land and revenue. 
A devoted Anglican, he assisted the early missionaries to the Waihou region. Wanting peaceful relations with Pakeha, he assisted both the surveying and the settlement of the Aroha Block. When gold was discovered at Te Aroha in 1880, he assisted the prospectors, opened his land for mining and for a township, and invested in some claims, expecting and obtaining a good financial reward. He may have assisted in making the hot pools a public reserve, and certainly gave sections of land within the settlement for public and religious purposes. When he and his wife died a month apart, they were fondly remembered.

text: Mokena Hou and his wife Rina Mokena Hou had a distinguished whakapapa, but as nephew to Hou was subordinate to the latter’s son, Karauna Hou. He was born near the Te Aroha hot pools, and his future wife, Rina, who also had illustrious ancestors, including some Ngati Haua, was born in the same area. Both were affiliated to several hapu. After the Hauraki tribes fled from Ngapuhi in 1821, he would be present at the battle of Taumatawiwi in 1830 (though he did not fight) and participated in a later siege of the Ngati Haua pa at Matamata. During the 1830s and later, he mostly cultivated land and dug gum in the lower Waihou region and as well as cultivating at Te Aroha. 
 After living at Kaitawa before the Thames goldfield opened, nearby, in 1867, he moved to Te Aroha, where he would live continuously, warding off the ambitions of Ngati Haua. When the land court investigated the ownership of blocks of land in Hauraki, he sought to obtain as many interests as possible, not always successfully, and tried to get more than his fair share of both land and revenue. 
A devoted Anglican, he assisted the early missionaries to the Waihou region. Wanting peaceful relations with Pakeha, he assisted both the surveying and the settlement of the Aroha Block. When gold was discovered at Te Aroha in 1880, he assisted the prospectors, opened his land for mining and for a township, and invested in some claims, expecting and obtaining a good financial reward. He may have assisted in making the hot pools a public reserve, and certainly gave sections of land within the settlement for public and religious purposes. When he and his wife died a month apart, they were fondly remembered.

year: 2016