Space, Place and Gender (ePub)

This new book brings together Doreen Massey's key writings on three
areas central to a range of disciplines. In addition, the author
reflects on the development of these ideas and outlines her current
position on these important issues.

The book is organized around the three themes of space, place
and gender. It traces the development of ideas about the social
nature of space and place and the relation of both to issues of
gender and debates within feminism. It is debates in these areas
which have been crucial in bringing geography to the centre of
social sciences thinking in recent years, and this book includes
writings that have been fundamental to that process. Beginning with
the economy and social structures of production, it develops a
wider notion of spatiality as the product of intersecting social
relations. In turn this has lead to conceptions of 'place' as
essentially open and hybrid, always provisional and contested.
These themes intersect with much current thinking about identity
within both feminism and cultural studies.

Each of the themes is preceded by a section which reflects on
the development of ideas and sets out the context of their
production. The introduction assesses the current state of play and
argues for the close relationship of new thinking on each of these
themes. This book will be of interest to students in geography,
social theory, women's studies and cultural studies.