Olivia Mason | Durham University (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by Olivia Mason

Other by Olivia Mason

In recent years an increase in studies of skill, knowledge, and learning in place (Hunt, 2016; In... more In recent years an increase in studies of skill, knowledge, and learning in place (Hunt, 2016; Ingold, 2000: 2011), alongside calls to engage with 'indigenous knowledge' in the context of the (post)colonial global south (Radcliffe, 2015) have led cultural geographers to engage increasingly with the 'more-than-human', 'indigenous', 'performed' and 'situated' accounts of spatiality. However, for reasons that may be examined through this panel, the politics of situated, practiced and indigenous knowledges within the Mashriq and Maghreb have tended to be overlooked in much contemporary scholarship. As this region is increasingly embroiled in international geopolitics, the topography of its lands and people is lost; everyday life is often forgotten. However, the Mashriq and Maghreb have not been exempt from what Tania Murray-Li (2001) has called the 'Global Conjuncture of Belonging' as locally specific, 'traditional', non-Western knowledges and practices are revived and revalorized in a variety of social, political and economic fields. Such knowledges have strong links with national identities, and are important for accounting for the ways in which heritage and culture are represented. We believe that political and cultural geographers working in this region are well-placed to challenge some of the essentialist terminology and categories by which knowledge of the region is often structured, and suggest that explorations of the ways different subaltern, indigenous, religious or national minority groups in this region use, relate to, and understand the land could lead to a more nuanced understanding of the region’s politics around territory, identity, and knowledge.

This paper calls for a postcolonial approach to geographical knowledge production in order to complicate three aspects of its production: first to add to debates on the politics of knowledge production especially ignored/erased knowledge and the subjects who (re-)produce knowledges (Tribe, 2005); second to draw more attention to postcolonial/decolonial approaches rooted in specific places and particularly the ground/land; third to draw attention to the doing, performed, and embodied aspects of knowledge in these places to 'tease out geographies that are subaltern in the context of the discipline’s hegemonic theorizations and concept-metaphors' (Jazeel, 2014: 2). We welcome contributions from across the discipline (and from historical or contemporary perspectives) that address issues including but not limited to:

Works toward teasing out geographies that are subaltern in the context of the discipline’s hegemonic theorizations and concept-metaphors.

New practices reviving situated, practiced, indigenous knowledge: particularly spaces of tourism and leisure

Political movements that address situated, regional and indigenous claims

The politics of knowledge production in geography

Questions of identity and its relationship to knowledge at various scales

Minority or unorthodox knowledges and practices

Methodological challenges in conducting research ‘on the ground’ in the Mashreq and the Maghreb

Talks by Olivia Mason

Papers by Olivia Mason

Objectives: In the UK, men's alcohol-related morbidity and mortality still greatly exceeds women'... more Objectives: In the UK, men's alcohol-related morbidity and mortality still greatly exceeds women's, despite an increase in women's alcohol consumption in recent decades. New UK alcohol guidelines introduce gender-neutral low-risk alcohol consumption guidance. This study explores how UK newspaper and online news represent women's and men's ‘binge’ drinking to identify opportunities to better align reporting of harmful drinking with evidence.

Design: Quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 308 articles published in 7 UK national newspapers and the BBC News website between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2013.

Results: Articles associated women with ‘binge’ drinking more frequently than men, and presented women's drinking as more problematic. Men were more frequently characterised as violent or disorderly, while women were characterised as out of control, putting themselves in danger, harming their physical appearance and burdening men. Descriptions of female ‘binge’ drinkers' clothing and appearance were typically moralistic.

Conclusions: The UK news media's disproportionate focus on women's ‘binge’ drinking is at odds with epidemiological evidence, may reproduce harmful gender stereotypes and may obstruct public understandings of the gender-neutral weekly consumption limits in newly proposed alcohol guidelines. In order to better align reporting of harmful drinking with current evidence, public health advocates may engage with the media with a view to shifting media framing of ‘binge’ drinking away from specific groups (young people; women) and contexts (public drinking) and towards the health risks of specific drinking behaviours, which affect all groups regardless of context.

Drafts by Olivia Mason


In this session we invite contributions from postgraduate researchers in the field of political g... more In this session we invite contributions from postgraduate researchers in the field of political geography, at any stage of their research, to present an empirical ‘fragment’ from their research. In a departure from the conventional conference presentation format, which often privileges abstract, vocal, or textual representations of research findings, we invite short contributions (~10 mins) using a single ‘thing’ (be it an image, video, audio, archival material, physical object or some other fragment) as a focal point for discussion. The purpose of this is to reflect on the variegated ways in which ‘things’ or ‘fragments’ might help to engage with our research differently: be it methodologically, politically, or theoretically. As such, this session will offer a forum for considering alternative ways to evaluate and disseminate our research data. Discussing our research through the ‘fragments’ that we collect has the capacity to give voice to something different, and can stimulate new avenues of creativity and innovation within political geography.

Abstracts should be sent in the form of a brief description (200 words) of the research project you are undertaking or plan to undertake, the kinds of methods you are using, and a description of the ‘fragment’ that you would base your discussion on.

Please send abstracts to all three organisers: jah221@cam.ac.uk, o.r.mason@durham.ac.uk, and IBS428@student.bham.ac.uk by Monday 10th February 2017

In recent years an increase in studies of skill, knowledge, and learning in place (Hunt, 2016; In... more In recent years an increase in studies of skill, knowledge, and learning in place (Hunt, 2016; Ingold, 2000: 2011), alongside calls to engage with 'indigenous knowledge' in the context of the (post)colonial global south (Radcliffe, 2015) have led cultural geographers to engage increasingly with the 'more-than-human', 'indigenous', 'performed' and 'situated' accounts of spatiality. However, for reasons that may be examined through this panel, the politics of situated, practiced and indigenous knowledges within the Mashriq and Maghreb have tended to be overlooked in much contemporary scholarship. As this region is increasingly embroiled in international geopolitics, the topography of its lands and people is lost; everyday life is often forgotten. However, the Mashriq and Maghreb have not been exempt from what Tania Murray-Li (2001) has called the 'Global Conjuncture of Belonging' as locally specific, 'traditional', non-Western knowledges and practices are revived and revalorized in a variety of social, political and economic fields. Such knowledges have strong links with national identities, and are important for accounting for the ways in which heritage and culture are represented. We believe that political and cultural geographers working in this region are well-placed to challenge some of the essentialist terminology and categories by which knowledge of the region is often structured, and suggest that explorations of the ways different subaltern, indigenous, religious or national minority groups in this region use, relate to, and understand the land could lead to a more nuanced understanding of the region’s politics around territory, identity, and knowledge.

This paper calls for a postcolonial approach to geographical knowledge production in order to complicate three aspects of its production: first to add to debates on the politics of knowledge production especially ignored/erased knowledge and the subjects who (re-)produce knowledges (Tribe, 2005); second to draw more attention to postcolonial/decolonial approaches rooted in specific places and particularly the ground/land; third to draw attention to the doing, performed, and embodied aspects of knowledge in these places to 'tease out geographies that are subaltern in the context of the discipline’s hegemonic theorizations and concept-metaphors' (Jazeel, 2014: 2). We welcome contributions from across the discipline (and from historical or contemporary perspectives) that address issues including but not limited to:

Works toward teasing out geographies that are subaltern in the context of the discipline’s hegemonic theorizations and concept-metaphors.

New practices reviving situated, practiced, indigenous knowledge: particularly spaces of tourism and leisure

Political movements that address situated, regional and indigenous claims

The politics of knowledge production in geography

Questions of identity and its relationship to knowledge at various scales

Minority or unorthodox knowledges and practices

Methodological challenges in conducting research ‘on the ground’ in the Mashreq and the Maghreb

Objectives: In the UK, men's alcohol-related morbidity and mortality still greatly exceeds women'... more Objectives: In the UK, men's alcohol-related morbidity and mortality still greatly exceeds women's, despite an increase in women's alcohol consumption in recent decades. New UK alcohol guidelines introduce gender-neutral low-risk alcohol consumption guidance. This study explores how UK newspaper and online news represent women's and men's ‘binge’ drinking to identify opportunities to better align reporting of harmful drinking with evidence.

Design: Quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 308 articles published in 7 UK national newspapers and the BBC News website between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2013.

Results: Articles associated women with ‘binge’ drinking more frequently than men, and presented women's drinking as more problematic. Men were more frequently characterised as violent or disorderly, while women were characterised as out of control, putting themselves in danger, harming their physical appearance and burdening men. Descriptions of female ‘binge’ drinkers' clothing and appearance were typically moralistic.

Conclusions: The UK news media's disproportionate focus on women's ‘binge’ drinking is at odds with epidemiological evidence, may reproduce harmful gender stereotypes and may obstruct public understandings of the gender-neutral weekly consumption limits in newly proposed alcohol guidelines. In order to better align reporting of harmful drinking with current evidence, public health advocates may engage with the media with a view to shifting media framing of ‘binge’ drinking away from specific groups (young people; women) and contexts (public drinking) and towards the health risks of specific drinking behaviours, which affect all groups regardless of context.


In this session we invite contributions from postgraduate researchers in the field of political g... more In this session we invite contributions from postgraduate researchers in the field of political geography, at any stage of their research, to present an empirical ‘fragment’ from their research. In a departure from the conventional conference presentation format, which often privileges abstract, vocal, or textual representations of research findings, we invite short contributions (~10 mins) using a single ‘thing’ (be it an image, video, audio, archival material, physical object or some other fragment) as a focal point for discussion. The purpose of this is to reflect on the variegated ways in which ‘things’ or ‘fragments’ might help to engage with our research differently: be it methodologically, politically, or theoretically. As such, this session will offer a forum for considering alternative ways to evaluate and disseminate our research data. Discussing our research through the ‘fragments’ that we collect has the capacity to give voice to something different, and can stimulate new avenues of creativity and innovation within political geography.

Abstracts should be sent in the form of a brief description (200 words) of the research project you are undertaking or plan to undertake, the kinds of methods you are using, and a description of the ‘fragment’ that you would base your discussion on.

Please send abstracts to all three organisers: jah221@cam.ac.uk, o.r.mason@durham.ac.uk, and IBS428@student.bham.ac.uk by Monday 10th February 2017