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This is a reflection on Tivers' (1978) paper from a physical geography point of view. I discuss four elements of the original paper: the increase in women in the field of geography, fieldwork, family role, and “everyday sexism.” Alongside this, I provide a reflection of my own experience as a UK physical geographer over the last 40 years and discuss the major changes over that time.
This special section of Area demonstrates the multiple ways that geographers engage with the outdoors. Human and physical geographers have pursued different paths of academic research on the outdoors, ranging from ‘objective’ empirical epistemologies to understandings of outdoor spaces as socially constructed. The special section highlights that more‐than‐representational accounts and more‐than‐scientific encounters have the potential to bridge human and physical geographies and lead to new understandings of the outdoors. In this editorial overview we argue for the outdoors as a site of boundary crossing between human and physical, and between ‘academic’ and ‘explorer’, geographies.
Outdoor practitioners and academic geographers arguably share a common origin in the explorers of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The two interests diverged during the twentieth century, as academic geography became less dependent on travel, and the pursuit of knowledge no longer provided the sole justification for exploration and adventure, but some synergies remain, at least in experiencing and making sense of the natural environment. This paper reflects on some pilot fieldwork for an on‐going research project that combines fluvial geomorphology and outdoor education practice, in order to explore the parallels and differences between physical geography and outdoor education. A key area of divergence is identified in the degree of attention paid to the ‘self’, and particularly the body, in our interactions with the environment. We highlight the role of embodied experience both in our approach to the field site and in the subsequent framing and re‐framing of the research project, joining calls for greater attention to be paid to the corporeal practice of fieldwork. We conclude by arguing that Driver's notion of an ‘unsettled frontier’ (2001,...
Fieldwork is an integral component of the geography degree. It is perceived by lecturers and students alike as an enjoyable, valuable learning experience outside in the real world. But what determines the type of field experiences we offer? To what extent is the fieldwork experience informed by best practice in pedagogy, research location and field, institutional practice/constraints, leader's outdoor experience, or a combination of all these and more? This paper offers a personal reflection on physical geography fieldtrip design in New Zealand, Britain and Spain involving New Zealand and British students over a period of 14 years, spanning two contrasting university systems and two institutions. A range of learning experiences is considered: residential and day trips, Cook's Tours and detailed investigations. These cover a range of academic and altitudinal levels from first year to final year undergraduate and from sea level to mountain top. Key drivers in the design and development of these field courses are considered in order to explore the reason for taking students to a plethora of ‘high places’, defined not only in the sense of altitude, but also in the sense of perceived intrinsic geographical value. The role played by the ‘great outdoors’ in fostering development of geographical knowledge is discussed by considering the notion that taking students outside to learn in ‘high places’ will automatically be of a cognitive advantage and intrinsically foster deeper levels of learning. The outdoor environment has much to offer the development of geographical knowledge among student cohorts, but care is required to maximise its potential.
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