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: Population genetic structures of two New Zealand corophiid amphipods and the presence of morphologically cryptic species: Implications for the conservation of diversity

authors: Schnabel, Kareen E.

subjects: aquatic ecology

abstract: We evaluated the population genetic structures (allozyme variation) of Chaetocorophium lucas i (Hurley 1954) Karaman 1979 and Paracoro‐phium excavatum (Thomson 1884) Stebbing 1899 (Amphipoda: Crustacea) from the North Island and South Island of New Zealand. Individuals of C. lucasi were found in both freshwater and estuarine habitats, whereas P. excavatum was restricted to estuarine sites. Allele frequencies showed significant inter‐ and intra‐specific differences among populations of both C. lucasi and P. excavatum. C. lucasi appears to be a single species, albeit with considerable genetic differentiation among populations (FSX = 0.51). However, P. excavatum revealed even greater levels of genetic differentiation among populations (FST = 0.81), and may consist of at least three genetically distinct species. Geographic distance, perhaps dictated by prevailing ocean currents and overland dispersal routes, best explained observed patterns of differentiation among populations of both species. From a conservation perspective, the presence of morphologically cryptic species suggests that current taxonomic inventories of aquatic amphipods may be grossly underestimated.

text: Population genetic structures of two New Zealand corophiid amphipods and the presence of morphologically cryptic species: Implications for the conservation of diversity We evaluated the population genetic structures (allozyme variation) of Chaetocorophium lucas i (Hurley 1954) Karaman 1979 and Paracoro‐phium excavatum (Thomson 1884) Stebbing 1899 (Amphipoda: Crustacea) from the North Island and South Island of New Zealand. Individuals of C. lucasi were found in both freshwater and estuarine habitats, whereas P. excavatum was restricted to estuarine sites. Allele frequencies showed significant inter‐ and intra‐specific differences among populations of both C. lucasi and P. excavatum. C. lucasi appears to be a single species, albeit with considerable genetic differentiation among populations (FSX = 0.51). However, P. excavatum revealed even greater levels of genetic differentiation among populations (FST = 0.81), and may consist of at least three genetically distinct species. Geographic distance, perhaps dictated by prevailing ocean currents and overland dispersal routes, best explained observed patterns of differentiation among populations of both species. From a conservation perspective, the presence of morphologically cryptic species suggests that current taxonomic inventories of aquatic amphipods may be grossly underestimated.

year: 2000

title: Commentary on 'Family obligations in Micronesian cultures: implications for educators'

authors: Bishop, Russell

subjects: education

abstract: The paper makes some interesting observations about the need for educators to understand the cultural positionings of Micronesian students and by implication challenges readers to extend these understandings to other migrant and minoritised student groups. I would like to take up this challenge and illustrate how useful it is to theorise from a relational discourse when seeking solutions to what many educators are suggesting as the greatest problem we face in contemporary education, i.e. the seemingly immutable and growing educational disparities that accompany the increasing diversity of our student bodies in association with the continuing dominance of monocultural and deficit explanations by teachers about the causes of the disparities. This problem negatively affects indigenous students and students of colour along with migrant students and the paper rightly points to the need for solutions.

text: Commentary on 'Family obligations in Micronesian cultures: implications for educators' The paper makes some interesting observations about the need for educators to understand the cultural positionings of Micronesian students and by implication challenges readers to extend these understandings to other migrant and minoritised student groups. I would like to take up this challenge and illustrate how useful it is to theorise from a relational discourse when seeking solutions to what many educators are suggesting as the greatest problem we face in contemporary education, i.e. the seemingly immutable and growing educational disparities that accompany the increasing diversity of our student bodies in association with the continuing dominance of monocultural and deficit explanations by teachers about the causes of the disparities. This problem negatively affects indigenous students and students of colour along with migrant students and the paper rightly points to the need for solutions.

year: 2010