Teaching gender geography in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

In New Zealand universities, gender is still not a substantial part of the curriculum in most geography departments. Although at the University of Waikato, the situation is different. Its specific history of radical scholarship has enabled feminist academics in a variety of disciplines including geography to have had a stronger voice than in other universities. This does not, however, necessarily ensure the continuation of, or a healthy future for, gender geography. Some colleagues and students continue to resist seeing value in feminist perspectives. Also, in Aotearoa New Zealand, over the past few years, as neoliberal agendas have been embraced by universities, courses that are vocationally driven have prospered often at the expense of other subjects such as music, languages and gender studies. There remains, however, a strong commitment among many individuals to teaching critical geographical perspectives including gender.

Keywords:

• gender geography
• feminism
• radical scholarship
• neoliberalism
• New Zealand