Bettina van Hoven

'Just duck': the role of vision in the production of prison spaces

This paper is concerned with the ways in which prisoners talk about the production of space within a prison in New Mexico. We focus specifically on the role of vision in interpersonal relations, including relations between inmates and between inmates and officers, and we attempt to assess the significance of seeing and being seen in the ‘personal projects’ of prisoners working their way through the system. This involves examining the roles of looking and of surveillance in the organization and control of space. In our study, interpersonal relations are not divorced from the material geographies of the prison. Rather, the breeze-block walls and the steel gates are integral elements of the scopic regime as it affects relations between prisoners and their relations with the prison staff. In our account, the complex connections between actors, architecture, and technologies of surveillance are voiced by the inmates. We provide just one perspective on the making of space in the prison but it is one which has been neglected.

Imagining difference: The experiences of 'transnational' Indian IT-professionals in Germany

In this paper we explore the motivations to migrate and the migration experiences of 22 Indian IT professionals in Germany. When studying skilled migration, Germany is an interesting case as it struggled with waves of extreme right activities whilst trying to attract IT professionals from outside the European Union at the same time. In this context, we are interested in the conflicts that the migrants may experience as a result of their desire or obligation to move, their specific cultural baggage and the way in which they encounter the different sides of German society.

Places that matter: place attachment and wellbeing of older Antillean migrants in the Netherlands

Places that Matter: Place Attachment and Wellbeing of Older Antillean Migrants in the Netherlands It has been argued that attachment to place increases wellbeing in old age (Wiles et al., 2009). Feeling ‘in place’ can increase an older persons wellbeing. For older migrants it can be a challenge to live in-between cultures. The objective of the article is to explore how older Antillean migrants derive a sense of wellbeing from attachment to their everyday places. We do so by drawing on in-depth interviews and a photography project with Antilleans who live in a senior cohousing community in a city in the Northern Netherlands. Based on the study, we conclude that the cohousing community acted as a central setting of experience from which the participants explored their wider surroundings and developed new attachments in the neighbourhood.

Rhythms, ageing and neighbourhoods

To demonstrate the potential of time in understanding older adults’ experiences of place, this paper draws attention to the everyday temporal dimensions of ageing in urban neighbourhoods. In this qualitative research, we utilise Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis to illustrate how the rhythmic orderings of people and place come into being and inform their experiences. Rhythmanalysis proved to be a useful tool in eliciting how the social construction of ageing in social policy, with its focus on activity and work, becomes embodied in older adults’ everyday lives in terms of how they value their own rhythms. The findings reveal how the contrasting daily rhythms of the older respondents and younger residents emphasise the slowness of the rhythms of later life. To counteract the negative connotations of these slowed rhythms, respondents sought temporal anchors that would enable them to experience daily life in their neighbourhood as eventful. That the rhythms of older and younger residents were not synchronised in time and space resulted in experiencing a ‘generational divide’ that emphasised respondents’ stasis in the neighbourhood. Our findings suggest that the everyday rhythms linked to urban ageing can evoke a sense of ‘otherness’ within a neighbourhood. In the future, a challenge for societies will be to prevent neighbourhoods from becoming ensembles in which older adults feel ‘out of sync’ and out of place.

Using the Rural Atelier as an Educational Method in Landscape Studies

Drawing on experiences from a project conducted in the ‘Drentsche Aa’ area in the Netherlands, this article discusses the concept of the ‘rural atelier’ as a form of problem-based learning. The rural atelier principle was used originally in rural development planning and described as such by Foorthuis (2005) and Elerie and koopman (2008). Here, we discuss it in the context of landscape education. Experiences from a case study project are presented.

‘In summer we go and drink at the lake’: young men and the geographies of alcohol and drinking in rural Estonia

In this paper, we explore the role of place in drinking practices of young people in the context of rural Estonia. We draw on a participatory research project carried out during seven months with a group of eight young men (15–18 years of age). We focus on three locations identified as the most popular drinking places by the young men in our research – familial homes, a local hamburger kiosk and the outdoors. The findings indicate that youth drinking practices as well as the drunkenness-related risks are spatially contingent. Characteristics of individual drinking locations influence the negotiation of local and national opportunities, restrictions and attitudes toward drinking, and the associated risks. We argue that, when developing public health tools, it is fruitful to pay attention to the local context and specific places in which young peoples drinking practices are negotiated.

Labour markets in transition. The experiences of women in two border regions of East Germany

The political turning point in the former GDR and the transformation processes that have been observed since then have significantly affected economic and social structures in the new Federal States. Gender roles, however, were subjected to even more dramatic changes. Whilst many women experienced the employment policies of the GDR era as beneficial, social researchers often designate them as the losers of unification nowadays. This is largely because the abundance of State support measures for employed women and mothers has been drastically reduced and women as a group have been hit hardest by the crisis on the East German labour market. Using two cases (Mecklenburg-Westpommerania and Thuringia), this paper aims to illustrate the impact of the transformation process on the everyday (working) lives of women. We are particularly concerned with a comparative analysis of how women experience and deal with regional disparities in East Germany.

‘It is where blokes can be blokes’: making places in a New Zealand rugby club

Using the case study of a New Zealand rugby club, in this article, we highlight the role of gender and performance in place attachment. We discuss various performances that contribute to achieving a sense of attachment of club members to the (imagined) community of the rugby club and the different physical spaces of its home ground. Even though performances are played out and read against the backdrop of a popular discourse of New Zealand rugby masculinity, we did not observe characteristics of stereotypical ‘rugby masculinity’ in all rugby places, nor were performances the same throughout one day. Instead, variations were found depending on whether performance was ‘front stage’ or ‘backstage’.Using the case study of a New Zealand rugby club, in this article, we highlight the role of gender and performance in place attachment. We discuss various performances that contribute to achieving a sense of attachment of club members to the (imagined) community of the rugby club and the different physical spaces of its home ground. Even though performances are played out and read against the backdrop of a popular discourse of New Zealand rugby masculinity, we did not observe characteristics of stereotypical ‘rugby masculinity’ in all rugby places, nor were performances the same throughout one day. Instead, variations were found depending on whether performance was ‘front stage’ or ‘backstage’.

“Can You Write a Memo on Why We Have to do Gender, Please?” An Experiential Account of Teaching Gender Geography in the Netherlands

This article discusses attempts to revive gender in the context of the geography curriculum at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. The reluctance of Dutch geography/-ers to embrace gender geography is related to the way in which the discipline has been understood and practised in the past and by whom as well as to the neglect of gender issues at the societal level. Both trajectories may account for a lack of awareness by students and staff of the relevance of gender to Dutch geography.This article discusses attempts to revive gender in the context of the geography curriculum at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. The reluctance of Dutch geography/-ers to embrace gender geography is related to the way in which the discipline has been understood and practised in the past and by whom as well as to the neglect of gender issues at the societal level. Both trajectories may account for a lack of awareness by students and staff of the relevance of gender to Dutch geography.

Bikes are such a nuisance - Visually impaired people negotiating public space in Groningen

‘Bikes are Such a Nuisance’ - Visually Impaired People Negotiating Public Space in Groningen