Mapping the Field: Moving through landscape

Frontier geography: Fieldwork in the Soviet border zone

“…Interest in the material, embodied, performed, and more-than-human in geography, in postcolonial and feminist theory, as well as increased awareness of the role of the geographer in the research process, and of travelling and observation in determining geography have, however, stimulated a renewed focus on field practices in the 21st century. The number of articles narrating field experiences in various contexts has recently increased (Driver 2000;DeLyser & Starrs 2001;Dewsbury & Naylor 2002;Stoddart & Adams 2004;Matless et al 2008;Powell 2008;Robinson 2010), building on the interpretation of science within a broader cultural context (Beer 1996). It has also been pointed out that fieldwork can be hazardous, especially in frontier-like settings, where the field scientist faces various risks, ranging from the sensitivity of the specific research topic to personal hazards (Belousov et al 2007).…”

Geographies of the Performing Arts: Landscapes, Places and Cities

“…These centres operate autonomously, but they also acknowledge and reinforce other centres of performance to help produce L.A.’s polycentric urban structure (2002, 47). Similarly, Robinson (2010) maps the geographical and temporal relations between different performance events in Nottingham, such that the city is understood and constructed through networks of performance (see http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/mapmoment). Theatre and performance also spatially segment cities; think of the West End or the South Bank in London, or Broadway and Off‐Broadway in New York.…”

“…Yet whilst street performance may rework power relationships, it can also reinforce existing social hierarchies (Nagar 2002; Pinder 2005). Street parades and civic processions, for instance, may display actual or symbolic power, and reproduce divisions between groups (Robinson 2010; Wiles 2003). Different performances and their effects thus come together in everyday spaces, reflecting the contradictions of living in cities.…”

Mapping the Moment: a spatio-temporal interface for studying performance culture, Nottingham, 1857–1867

“…17 What the map offers -whether Salmon's or Tarbotton's is chosen -is instead a panoptic view of the townscape that would not have been experienced by any resident of Nottingham in the 1850s or 1860s: as we have argued elsewhere, 'the movement of performers on stage or in lecture hall, and of the spectators walking through the city, are irrecoverable via the map alone'. 18 The map, then, emphasizes locational place rather than practiced space: the event markers on the map indicate potential clusterings -places where stories might 'coexist, meet up, affect each other, come into conflict or co-operate' -but in order to find out more about those stories, and to establish whether they conflict or co-operate, the Mapping the Moment user needs to look beneath the map, to the newspaper commentaries and diarists' recollections available on the site which record the sensations of performance in and movement through the town.…”