Mediated Geographies and Geographies of Media

This is the first comprehensive volume to explore and engage with current trends in Geographies of Media research. It reviews how conceptualizations of mediated geographies have evolved. Followed by an examination of diverse media contexts and locales, the book illustrates key issues through the integration of theoretical and empirical case studies, and reflects on the future challenges and opportunities faced by scholars in this field. The contributions by an international team of experts in the field, address theoretical perspectives on mediated geographies, methodological challenges and opportunities posed by geographies of media, the role and significance of different media forms and organizations in relation to socio-spatial relations, the dynamism of media in local-global relations, and in-depth case studies of mediated locales. Given the theoretical and methodological diversity of this book, it will provide an important reference for geographers and other interdisciplinary scholars working in cultural and media studies, researchers in environmental studies, sociology, visual anthropology, new technologies, and political science, who seek to understand and explore the interconnections of media, space and place through the examples of specific practices and settings.

Susan P. Mains is a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Dundee. Her work explores transnational identities and media representations of mobility, borders, and security in the context of Caribbean migration, creative industries in Jamaica and Scotland, and heritage tourism. She has published in a range of international journals including Social and Cultural Geography, GeoJournal, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, The Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, and Caribbean Geography. Her previous work has been funded through the University of the West Indies, the Association of American Geographers and the American Geographical Society. Currently she is the coordinator for a Carnegie Trust funded project, 'Ties to the Tay,' which utilises participatory filmmaking as part of an interdisciplinary project between a group of academics at the University of Dundee, the Nethergate Writers, artists, and community organisations. She is also a partner in a Royal Society of Edinburgh funded collaborative project exploring representations of place and landscape connections between the Scottish Highlands and the Caribbean. Julie Cupples is Reader in Human Geography and Co-Director of the Global Development Academy at the University of Edinburgh. She joined the University of Edinburgh in 2013 after more than a decade working at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Her research interests span cultural geography, development studies and media and cultural studies. Since the early 1990s, she has been working in Central America, primarily Nicaragua, and has published widely on questions of development/postdevelopment; revolution and conflict; neoliberal economic policies; gender; disasters and environmental risk; electoral geographies and municipal governance. She is currently engaged in a collaborative research project exploring the geographic dimensions of media convergence, funded by the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand. This project is exploring the democratizing and decolonizing dimensions of the new media environment, with a focus on mainstream entertainment media as well as community and indigenous media operations. She is the author of Latin American Development (Routledge, 2013) and the co-author of Media/Communications/Geographies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (forthcoming with Routledge). Chris Lukinbeal holds a B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. in Geography. He is an Associate Professor and Associate Director in the School of Geography and Development at The University of Arizona and the Director of Geographic Information Systems Technology programs and of the Geospatial Innovation Science and Technology center. He has published over 50 academic papers and book chapters related to topics ranging from representation, media, GIS, remote sensing, cartography, urban geography, mental maps and GIS, landscape studies, and education.