Engaging Geographies: Landscapes, Lifecourses and Mobilities (Hardback) | Released: 01 Apr 2014

This volume draws together three connected strands of research dealing with landscapes, lifecourses and mobilities, and will be of interest to social and cultural geographers and those in allied social science fields, particularly those with interests in the circulation of people and policy at a number of scales and locations. Landscapes might be considered to be a very mainstream geographical theme, though we treat them in an adventurous way by concentrating on infrastructure and ideology, art and resistance, as well as through a more mainstream exploration of multifunctional landscapes. Attention to diverse aspects of the lifecourse allows us to understand the social, spatial and structural complexities which characterise social relationships from birth to death. Mobilities, likewise, provide an opportunity to draw on some concepts from contemporary social and cultural geography relating to the movement of people and ideas over time and across space. Although much of the substantive content has a New Zealand and Australian orientation, it is presented in a way that engages with broader international literatures.
About the Author: The editors of this collection are all based in the Geography Programme in the School of People, Environment and Planning at Massey University located in Palmerston North, New Zealand.Professor Michael Roche is an historical geographer. He was on the organising committee for the 2012 New Zealand Geography Conference and is the co-editor of both Past Matters: Heritage and Planning History and (Dis)placing Empire.Associate Professor Juliana Mansvelt is author of Geographies of Consumption (Sage, 2005) and editor of Green Consumerism: An A-Z Guide (Sage, 2011). Her research and publications have centred on consumption practices and spaces, experiences of ageing in place, and teaching and learning with respect to e-learning and professional development. Dr. Russell Prince is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography. His research interests are in the intersection of economic and political processes, particularly in relation to the production of knowledge. In particular he focuses on processes of policy formation and mobility, and in the geographies of expertise that are implicated in these.Dr. Aisling Gallagher is a Lecturer in Geography. She has interests in social and political geography, with a particular focus on social policy, welfare change, gendered labour and the governance of care services, and has published articles on the neoliberal politics around childcare provision, the production of preschool spaces and on gendered entrepreneurship in childcare.