Haptic geographies: ethnography, haptic knowledges and sensuous dispositions

Abstract

This paper is the first overview of the treatment of haptic knowledges in geography, responding to bodily sensations and responses that arise through the embodied researcher. After Crang’s (2003) article on ‘touchy-feely’ methods identifies the dearth of actual touching and embodied feeling in research methods, this article does three things. First, it clarifies the terminology, which is derived from a number of disciplines. Second, it summarizes developments in sensuous ethnographies within cultural geography and anthropology. Third, it suggests pathways to new research on ‘sensuous dispositions’ and non-representational theory. We thereby see just how ‘touchy-feely’ qualitative methods have, or might, become.

Chief examiners as Prophet and Priest: relations between examination boards and school subjects, and possible implications for knowledge

“…The ethnographic approach of the current study is most similar to the ethnography of the British sociology of education tradition (Jeffrey & Troman 2012;Ball 1981), and I also sought to draw on academic geographers' engagements with ethnography (Paterson 2009;Crang & Cook 2007;Lees 2003). I use the term 'ethnographic approach' to refer to a general disposition that seeks to be alert to, and engaged with everyday practices, (Mills & Morton 2013;Paterson 2009).…”

Teorias Não-Representacionais Na Geografia I: Conceitos Para Uma Geografia Do Que Acontece

“…Tendo em conta que os processos não -representacionais funcionam em diálogo com o pensamento reflexivo (Long & Moore, 2012;Blackman, 2012), tem -se estabelecido um entendimento do sujeito enquanto sujeito relacional mas reflexivo, enquanto presença autociente no mundo (Wylie, 2010;Simpson, 2015). Na sequência da importância dada aos processos que estão para além da representação, têm surgido vários estudos que se debruçam sobre sentidos menos explorados, como a audição (Duffy & Waitt, 2011;Gallagher & Prior, 2014), o tacto (Paterson, 2009) ou o olfacto (Henshaw, 2014), emergindo assim uma linha de investigação geográfica sobre paisagens sensoriais, ou sensescapes (Degen, 2008;Middleton, 2010), que dá seguimento ao interesse da geografia humanista sobre sentidos (Tuan, 1977), e que se interliga com uma sensorial turn ao nível das ciências sociais que reformula métodos etnográficos para o estudo social, antropológico e geográfico dos sentidos (Howes, 2005;Pink, 2009;Pink, 2013).…”

Sensual feasting: Transforming spaces and emotions in Lihir

“…Sometimes these interests have been paired with an attention to space and place and have led to discussions and concepts such as emotional geographies (Davidson & Milligan 2004), topophilia (Tuan 1977;Hastrup 2011), sensuous geographies (Rodaway 1994;Paterson 2009), sense-scapes (Ross 2004) and Feld and Basso's collection Senses of Place (1996). These discussions and key concepts all aim, in their various incarnations, to draw attention to the ways senses or emotions are implicated in, evoked or constrained through places.…”