Unfolding dialogues about gender, care and ‘the north’: an introduction

Abstract

This paper introduces a special themed section which arose out of a successful symposium, Caring for the North: Gender, Care and Northern Places, held in 2006 at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. Considering feminist and geographical research on care, we argue (1) that feminist perspectives have provided key developments for thinking about care, and (2) that care research must take place seriously to allow for both specificity and complexity of approaches to the relationships of gender, care and ‘northern’ places. We then briefly introduce the special issue contributions which address these eponymous concerns, suggesting this collection is an opportunity for unfolding dialogues about the intersections of gender, care and ‘the north’. We hope the diversity of the work that follows demonstrates the range of possibilities for feminist approaches to care and place and furthers the necessary cross-disciplinary conversations.

Este trabajo introduce una sección temática especial que surgió de un exitoso simposio, Cuidando al norte: género, cuidado y lugares nórdicos, llevado a cabo en 2006 en la Universidad de Northern British Columbia, Canadá. Teniendo en cuenta la investigación feminista y geográfica sobre el cuidado, sostenemos (1) que las perspectivas feministas han provisto de avances claves para el pensamiento sobre el cuidado, y (2) que la investigación sobre el cuidado debe llevarse a cabo seriamente para permitir la especificidad y la complejidad de los enfoques sobre las relaciones de género, cuidado y los lugares “nórdicos”. Introducimos entonces las contribuciones especiales de éste número que encaran estas preocupaciones epónimas, sugiriendo que esta selección es una oportunidad para desarrollar diálogos sobre las intersecciones entre género, el cuidado, y “el norte”. Esperamos que la diversidad del trabajo que sigue demuestre el rango de posibilidades para los enfoques feministas al cuidado y el lugar y avance los necesarios diálogos interdisciplinarios.

Keywords:

• gender
• care
• northern places
• specificity
• complexity

Keywords:

• género, cuidado, lugares nórdicos, especificidad y complejidad

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the Caring for the North participants who gave so generously of their time and energy. Special thanks to Trish Pilotte and Erica Clark who provided invaluable research and practical assistance prior to, during, and after the Symposium; and to Greg Halseth for supervision during Deborah's postdoctoral tenure at UNBC. The University of Northern British Columbia, the British Columbia Rural and Remote Health Research Network, and the Women's Health Research Network provided invaluable support. Our thanks to Robyn Longhurst, Deborah Dixon and the anonymous reviewers for their editorial expertise. Finally, thanks to Caitlin Press for allowing us to reproduce Jacqueline Baldwin's work and to Gender, Place and Culture for their willingness to publish this collection.