Liz Bondi

Feminism and Geography

resent time spent with them as their parents seemed to. Some nannies X became deeply attached to their young charges despite the fact that these children would not represent a source of status to them, either in the present or even less in the future (who will be invited to degree ceremonies and christenings, or qualify for support in old age?). Surely this commitment must be something to value? And then there is the other side of the coin: surely there needs to be some questioning of what pressures adults still feel to produce children even though they have little desire to care for them?

Gender divisions and gentrification: a critique

This article presents a critique of the treatment of gender issues within analyses of gentrification. Despite frequent references to the importance of changes in the position of women in the labour market and the family, very few studies examine the possibility that gentrification might entail processes of gender constitution as well as processes of class constitution. Moreover those that do, focus on gender divisions of labour to the neglect of gender identities. I argue here for an approach that examines how ideas about gender are reworked and renegotiated through the social practices of gentrification.

Gender, Class, and Gentrification: Enriching the Debate

In this paper I take up the debate about gender, class, and gentrification. I accept the importance of class formation in understanding the relationship between gender and gentrification, and seek to supplement existing empirical studies by further exploring gender and class practices in a range of neighbourhoods, Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative sources I present a detailed analysis of social change in two inner-urban neighbourhoods and one suburban neighbourhood in Edinburgh, Scotland. I emphasise the importance of the patterning of life courses in the articulation of class and gender practices, and draw attention to the different ways in which gender, class, and life course arc interwoven in particular cities and neighbourhoods.

Gender symbols and urban landscapes

are everchanging and so too, in different ways, are our ideas and experiences of femininity and masculinity. This article is prompted by an apparent interplay between changing gender identities and changing urban landscapes. More specifically, I am interested in whether it is possible to ’read’ the urban landscape for statements about, and constructions of, femininity and masculinity, and, if so, what versions of femininity and masculinity are being articulated in contemporary forms of urban change. I take gentrification as a key example of such change, both because of its high visibility within many western cities, and because of suggestions that it is, at least in part, an expression of changing gender divisions (Smith, 1987; Rose, 1989; Warde, 1991, Bondi, 1991). In so doing I seek to extend feminist analyses of urban change by considering the material significance of cultural symbols. I shall return to the issue of ’reading’ the landscape shortly, but first note that the opposition between femininity and masculinity is one of the most pervasive yet unexamined dualisms in social thinking. As unexamined discourse it entails complex and subtle shifts between different points of reference, especially between sociological categories, which refer to women and men as socially differentiated groups, and symbolic categories, which refer to cultural representations or codings of Woman and Man (cf. Moore, 1988; Poovey, 1988). Sayer (1989) has counselled against the use of sets of parallel dichotomies, arguing that ’reality’ rarely conforms to such straightforward oppositions. In a similar manner I want to argue that an adequate analysis of the relationship between gender divisions and urban change must disentangle symbolic and sociological aspects of gender, rather than assume direct correspondence. In addition, I

Stages on Journeys: Some Remarks about Human Geography andPsychotherapeutic Practice

This paper attempts to open up discussion about interconnectionsbetween psychotherapeutic practice and human geography. I offer brief “here and now” observations to introduce the importance of personal experience and interpersonal relationships. I then construct an autobiographical narrative to elaborate the themes of separation and connection. This frames my preliminary explorations of tensions and convergences between ideas flowing from psychotherapeutic practice and human geography. I conclude by stressing limits to knowledge.

Other Figures in Other Places: On Feminism, Postmodernism and Geography

In a recent paper entitled “Travels in the postmodern”, Elspeth Probyn uses the metaphors of local, locale, and location to open up a political dialogue between feminism and postmodernism, providing a particularly explicit example of a more general use of spatial figures in contemporary theoretical debate. These spatial references are not entirely figurative, but allude to our positioning within particular contexts, which both frame and are constructed by our texts. Thus, Probyns dialogue inevitably raises geographical questions. Moreover, geography is not merely a passive, unnamed party through which Probyns dialogue is conducted; it is not immune from or in any way ‘outside’ the situatedness its terminology is employed to articulate. In this context, the metaphorical maps Probyn uses to find her way between the differing terrains of feminism and postmodernism are far from neutral, truthful, transparent representations. In this paper an extension of Probyns travels at the boundaries between feminism and postmodernism is sought by introducing a more active, self-critical geographical voice. The often hidden tensions underlying the linkages between geography, postmodernism, and feminism are explored, and key issues at the interface between critical human geography and feminist deconstruction are brought to the fore.

Research and Therapy Generating Meaning and Feeling Gaps

The author argues that qualitative research and psychotherapy are both projects of making meaning. Qualitative research may provide therapeutic opportunities for participants that sometimes generate confusion about appropriate boundaries, but psychotherapy does not have a monopoly on the therapeutic. The meanings (or stories) that qualitative research and psychotherapy generate circulate differently, qualitative research entering the public domain more overtly, while psychotherapeutic meanings circulate primarily through the way lives are lived. Qualitative research does not generally purport to produce faithful representations, but sometimes the gap between personal experience and its narration can be troubling, especially in the case of traumatic experience. Drawing on the psychoanalytic distinction between two-person and three-person relating and its link to symbolization, the author elaborates the concept of the third position, which she uses to illuminate this gap between the flow of experience and our narrations of experience. The author shows how the third position is rooted in loss and how loss is therefore intrinsic to our capacity for curiosity and reflection on our lives.

GENDER, CLASS, AND URBAN SPACE: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACE IN CONTEMPORARY URBAN LANDSCAPES

Informed by feminist debates about the distinction between public and private in western urban societies, this article examines some urban landscapes created or transformed in recent decades with a view to assessing the extent to which emancipatory conceptions of gender are apparent. Evidence drawn from the city of Edinburgh shows how divisions between public space and private space operate at different scales and take different forms in different neighborhoods. These forms illustrate how gender and class are interwoven in demarcations between and connotations of public and private spaces. In one of the neighborhoods examined, some breaking down of traditional gender connotations of public and private spaces is detected, a process that is closely associated with privileged middle-class lifestyles.

On the Contours of Public Space: A Tale of Three Women

This article explores the changing contours of the relationship between gender and the distinction between public and private spaces in western cities. Our account returns to the emergence of a modern understanding of public and private spaces to highlight its class and gender connotations. Then, focusing on middle-class womens experiences of public spaces, we use examples from the mid-nineteenth century and the late-twentieth century to illustrate continuities and changes. We emphasize persistent but evolving exclusions from the category “public,” which have been sustained in part by changing delineations of “public space” associated with consumer activities. In developing our argument, we question representations of public spaces invoked in arguments about its decline and argue for a politics sensitive to different experiences of such spaces.

On the relational dynamics of caring: a psychotherapeutic approach to emotional and power dimensions of women's care work

Care is double-edged and paradoxical, inspiring a vast range of strong feelings in both care-givers and care-recipients. This article draws on ideas about psychotherapeutic relationships to offer a theorisation of the complex emotional and power dynamics and imaginative geographies of care. Examining the humanistic approach developed by Carl Rogers as well as the psychoanalytic tradition, I advance an interpretation of psychotherapeutic practices that foregrounds the fundamental importance of the emotional and power-inflected relationship between practitioners and those with whom they work. I show how different traditions offer conceptualisations of the shape of therapeutic relationships that are highly relevant to consideration of the emotional and power dynamics of giving and receiving care. Against this background I discuss current debates about care, emotions and power, drawing especially on feminist and disability perspectives and arguing that psychotherapeutic approaches offer a powerful lens through which to understand the emotional and power dynamics of caring relationships. I conclude by emphasising how this theorisation helps to illuminate ubiquitous features of womens care work.