Geographies of Knowledge and Knowing
Paying close attention to the knowledges surrounding technology, I am particularly interested in amateur and expert ways of knowing. Focusing on technical hobbies, my research explores the geographies of enthusiastic knowledge. I am interested in how such knowledges are performed, as well as questions of fieldwork, heritage, memory, practice, preservation and skill. An emerging interest here is the increasing engagement between geography and archaeology.
Taking my work on amateur and expert ways of knowing further, I am currently researching how people understand and respond to climate and the ways it may change through a closer consideration of landscape, temporality and lay knowledge. Climate change is an emotive subject and something that impacts upon us all. This research has sought to examine climate change on a local scale, moving away from representations of polar ice-caps melting, to understandings of change on familiar landscapes based on local knowledge, for example one participant couldn’t believe his tomato plants (in his garden) were still producing fruit in November.
Collecting and Collections
Influenced by material culture studies and museology, I am interested in how, what and why people and institutions collect. In the museum context, my research considers undisplayed/reserve collections. By going behind the scenes at the Science Museum, my research has explored the changing role of the curator, the practice of conservation and identified museum professionals as ‘material people’. With interests in the geography of the home, my research is concerned with the personal collections of technology enthusiasts, here relating to questions of masculinity, technological nostalgia and those spaces on the edge of the domestic. I am particularly interested in ‘shed culture’ – masculine spaces of leisure, such as the basement, garage, loft and shed.
Cultural Geographies of Enthusiasm
Identified since the 17th century with fanaticism and madness, but used today to describe a passionate dedication for an activity, I have an ongoing interest in the theories of enthusiasm. Reflecting cultural geography’s interest in affective narratives, the more-than-representational, as well as questions of emotional experience, I am interested in the psychological and emotional aspects of enthusiasm. Empirically, my research explores the culture of technology enthusiasm and the passionate behaviour and practices employed by participants. I am particularly interested in themes of joy, love and passion and their subsequent inclusion in narratives of cultural geography.
Moreover, I have recently extended this fascination with the joyful aspects of enthusiasm in order to engage with work on the senses. Focusing on olfaction, the way we smell things, I am interested in the olfactive geographies that surround us and enable us to be in and know the world. Recent work in the field, a field with cows to be precise, revealed some rather interesting olfactive worlds.
Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Research
Inspired by the public history movement (in particular the work of Raphael Samuel), I am committed to collaborative research. I am interested in the potential for more public geographies, especially in relation to developing networks between geography and museums. I work collaboratively with the Science Museum in London and am involved in museum projects relating to enthusiasts and specialist groups.
My current position at the University of Exeter involves working as part of an interdisciplinary team that includes geographers, ecologists and English scholars. We are all working to contribute collectively to the understanding of climate change. As a discipline, geography is well-placed to lead the way in interdisciplinary research, encompassing both the social and natural sciences. We are also heavily involved in collaborating with other partners on this research, namely Natural England, National Trust and Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
I welcome enquiries from anyone with interests in the above themes.
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