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Main Departmental seminar series

Main Departmental seminar series at the Department of Geography.

View the archive of previous seminars.

# Thursday 1st March 2012, 12.30pm - Andy Tucker, Dept of Geography, University of Cambridge
Exploring the impact of the Ukwazana Programme - the first structural HIV prevention programme for Men who have Sex with Men in Africa
Venue: Seminar Room, Department of Geography, Downing Site

Up until recently the HIV pandemic in Africa has been viewed as one overwhelmingly defined by heterosexual transmission. Left relatively unacknowledged has been the fact that at the same time as heterosexual transmission Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) have continued to be infected with the virus and continued to infect each other. Simultaneously recent developments in HIV prevention strategies have attempted to move beyond ‘individualistic’ programmes focused primarily on information dissemination and condom provision towards more ‘structural’ approaches that take into account social circumstances that can hinder individual ability to practice safer-sex. This talk will discuss the first attempt at a structural HIV prevention initiative aimed at MSM in Africa – The Ukwazana (‘brining people together’) programme. It will summaries the innovative strategies designed through a collaborative effort between the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies and the South African Anova Health Institute to have a lasting impact on HIV prevalence and incidence among MSM in the townships of Cape Town. It will also explore some of the barriers that needed to be overcome in developing such a programme, including township homophobia and an historical lack of appreciation among diverse actors as to the seriousness of MSM HIV infection in the region.

Seminars in Cultural and Historical Geography

All seminars begin at 4.15pm and take place in the Seminar Room (unless otherwise stated), Department of Geography. All welcome!

View the archive of previous seminars.

# Wednesday 22nd February 2012, 4.15pm - Dr Peter Merriman, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University
Modern women on modern machines: cultural constructions of women motorists in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain
Venue: Seminar Room, Department of Geography

In this paper I examine the sensations, criticisms and prejudices which gathered around the spatial practices of women who began to motor and drive in increasing numbers in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. I suggest that while some women positioned their actions as socially and politically progressive, many women distanced themselves from the radical actions and feminist politics of groups such as the suffragettes. Indeed, motoring could be presented as both progressive and conservative, being labelled as a more practical, comfortable and becoming sport for ladies than pastimes such as bicycling, horse-riding or golf. The paper examines how debates erupted about the social acceptability of women driving motor-cars, the effect of the pastime on women’s beauty, and the desirable qualities for a lady’s car. I will discuss the commentaries which gathered around women racing drivers, as well as identifying the social spaces and networks which emerged for women motorists, ranging from the motoring columns and guidebooks for Britain’s ‘motoristes’ and ‘les chauffeuses’, to the West End consumption spaces of the Ladies’ Automobile Club and motoring outfitters, which catered for the desires and fashions of the aristocratic lady motorist.

# Wednesday 7th March 2012, 4.15pm - Dr Patricia Daley (School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford)
The English Riots of 2012: Race, Rhetoric and Policies, but What Solutions?
Venue: Seminar Room, Department of Geography

This paper addresses the English Riots of August 2011. It is divided into three parts: in the first, it examines elite and popular discourse on the riots, which illustrates well the tensions associated with an increasingly socially-divided British society. The second part challenges the attempt by the state and the conservative media to de-contextualise the riots, by demonstrating how the discourse supports particular policy prescriptions of a neo-liberal British government, seeking to reduce its commitment to the poorer sections of its society, in a context of excessive policing, institutional racism, high unemployment, and cut-backs in social welfare expenditure. The arguments are supported by empirical (some anecdotal and subjective) evidence from London, mainly the London borough of Hackney. In the final section, the paper suggests that by reading the lived experiences of the youth and communities, scholars and activists (working collectively) can be directed to forms of action-oriented research that may lead to more transformative and non-violent solutions in Britain.

Cambridge Conservation Seminars

Description to be confirmed

View the archive of previous seminars.

# Wednesday 15th February 2012, 5.00pm - Catherine MacKenzie, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
Wombats, Weapons & Water: the making of international conservation treaties.
Venue: Large Lecture Theatre, Department of Geography, Downing Site

Abstract not available

# Wednesday 22nd February 2012, 5.00pm - Richard Gregory, RSPB
Getting the measure of biodiversity: birds as indicators of environmental change.
Venue: Large Lecture Theatre, Department of Geography, Downing Site

Abstract not available

# Wednesday 29th February 2012, 5.00pm - Julia Jones, University of Bangor
Why Monitoring Matters when designing payment for ecosystem services schemes.
Venue: Large Lecture Theatre, Department of Geography, Downing Site

Abstract not available

# Wednesday 7th March 2012, 5.00pm - Tom Spencer, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
Geodiversity, geoconservation & geomorphological services: Challenges beyond 2012.
Venue: Large Lecture Theatre, Department of Geography, Downing Site

Abstract not available

# Wednesday 14th March 2012, 5.00pm - Arild Angelsen, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB)
Last in Series for 2012!
REDD: a good idea, impossible to implement?
Venue: Large Lecture Theatre, Department of Geography, Downing Site

Abstract not available

Political ecology

Polar Physical Sciences

Gender