Susan P Mains

Research Interests

I moved to the University of Dundee in January 2011 from the University of the West Indies-Mona (Kingston, Jamaica), where I had previously been based from 2001-2010. My research is located at the intersections of cultural, social and political geography, centring on the three key themes of mobility, social justice and spatial governance.

Specific projects that I have been exploring in relation to these themes are:

Mobility, Migration and Representation: This ongoing research explores transnational identities and representations of cultural diversity, borders, and mobility. One focus has been the context of Jamaican migration between Kingston, London, New York, Miami, and Toronto. Through a range of methods, including a series of in-depth interviews with migrants, policy makers, media practitioners, and community organizations, the study explores changing concepts of-and policies towards-travel, citizenship, community, and nation. This project has been funded through the University of the West Indies (UWI) New Initiative Grant programme, a UWI Mona Fellowship, the Association of American Geographers, and the American Geographical Society. The study examines experiences of Jamaican migrants in negotiating the processes, challenges and representations of migration and return visits to the Caribbean-as both political advocates and "partial tourists" from the UK, US, and Canada.

I am currently exploring developing future research in this area in the UK through an examination of the intersections-and gaps-between refugees, community groups, spatial settlement policies, and media images of migration.

Heritage, Resilience, Mobility and Risk: A more recent area of my research continues to interweave these issues of diversity and mobility by undertaking a sustainability-informed approach towards development policy decision-making and media representations, particularly in the context of Caribbean and Latin American tourism (e.g., in the Jamaica and Colombia). This work explores the opportunities and challenges faced by migrants, policymakers and small-scale tourism operators in settings experiencing civil conflict and significant socio-environmental inequalities. Part of this work has been published in special themed issues of Caribbean Geography and the Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography-the latter (with Tracey Skelton), exploring "Neoliberalism, Mobilities and Development".

I hope to expand this research focus further in order to explore the linkages and tensions related to public policies towards heritage/national identities between tourist and migrant populations in the context of specific Scottish locales and other UK/international settings, for example, in relation to the role of creative industries (such as the recently approved V & A Dundee project) as a vehicle for place (re)branding and social inclusion.

Critical Pedagogies and Qualitative Methodologies: This final area of interest connects with all of the projects mentioned above through an ongoing engagement with qualitative methodologies, including my role as Co-Chair of the Qualitative Research in Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (2009-2011). This reflects my desire to develop a greater awareness of the usefulness and limitations of how we produce and communicate geographic knowledge, and to critically reflect on how this is incorporated through different learning contexts and research processes, such as through the use of media analysis, photography, and documentary film for recording and exploring contrasting perspectives of migration or conflict (see, for example, a photo-report in Kingston, Jamaica during a recent period of unrest ), and the use of creative writing for understanding depictions of race, gender and landscape in (various) classroom contexts.

Selected Research Grants and Awards

Recent Postgraduate Research Projects Supervised

University of the West Indies-Mona

(Co-Supervisor, with Prof. Hubert Devonish) Soyini Ashby, "Beyond Language: The Construction of Caribbean Identities," (2005-present), PhD Geography (successfully completed MPhil Upgrade, 2007) (Awarded Canada-CARICOM Scholarship, 2009-10)

Carlos Michel, "Tourism, Heritage and Scale in St. Lucia," (2007-present), PhD Geography (successfully completed MPhil Upgrade, 2009)

Shiva Mohan, "Urban Spaces and Diaspora Identities through Carnival and Caribana," (2008-present), MPhil Geography (Awarded Emerging Leaders in the Americas Scholarship, 2009-10)

Kylah Forbes-Biggs, "Non-Governmental Organizations and Environmental Education: Implications for Natural Hazard Mitigation," (2006-present, part-time), MPhil Environmental Management (thesis submitted, Summer 2010)

Elaine McFarlane, "Residents' Perceptions of Garden Spaces in Greenwood, St. James" (Degree Awarded 2005), MSc Environmental Management

Linford Beckles, "Social and Environmental Impacts of Sand Mining in the Yallahs River Basin" (Degree Awarded 2003), MSc Environmental Management

Clarence Parkes, "Social and Environmental Impacts of Sand Mining in the Rio Minho Valley" (Degree Awarded 2003), MSc Environmental Management

Sabita Maharaj, "West Indians in Canada: Melting into the Cultural Mosaic?" (Degree Awarded 2006), MA Communication Studies

Academic Background

Appointments

Professional Memberships

• Association of American Geographers
• Caribbean Social Forum
• Jamaican Geographical Society
• Scottish Transatlantic (STAR) Project

Professional Roles

• Co-Chair, Qualitative Research Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers
• Council Member, Jamaican Geographical Society
• Editor, Qualitative Research in Geography Specialty Group Newsletter: People, Place, Praxis
• International Editorial Board Member, International Handbooks of Human Geography, Springer Science Series
• Editorial Board Member, Aether: The Journal of Media Geography
• Editorial Board Member, The Spaces of Democracy and Democracy of Space journal
• Editorial Board Member, Revista Brasileira do Caribe journal

Special Journal Issues

Skelton, T. and S. P. Mains (Guest Editors). 2009. "Special Section on Neoliberalism, Mobilities and Development: Caribbean Intersections," The Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 30 (July).

Mains, S. P. (Guest Editor). 2008. "Representing Cultural Geographies of Jamaica: Rethinking Tourism, Place and Identity," Special Issue of Caribbean Geography (15)1.

Articles and Book Chapters

Skelton, T. and S. P. Mains. 2009. "Intersections of Neoliberalism, Mobilities and Development in the Caribbean: An Introduction," The Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 30 (July): 151-157.

Mains, S. P. 2009. "Access to Justice," in J. A. O'Brien (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, p.6-8.

Mains, S. P. 2009. "Imperialism, Cultural," in R. Kitchin and N. Thrift (Eds.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Volume 5, Oxford: Elsevier, p.322-329.

Mains, S. P. 2008. "Island Village, Tourist World: Representing Cultural Geographies of Jamaica," Caribbean Geography 15(1): 1-13.

Mains, S. P. 2008. "'English Fever': Documenting the Caribbean Diaspora in 'The Colony'," in A. Escher, Anton, C. Lukinbeal and S. Zimmermann (Eds.) The Geography of Cinema-A Cinematic World. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner-Verlag, p.137-153.

Mains, S. P. 2008. "Transnational Communities, Identities, and Moving Populations" in E. L. Jackiewicz and F. J. Bosco (Eds.) Placing Latin America: Contemporary Themes in Human Geography. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, p.205-234.

Mains, S. P. 2007. "Hurricanes in Toronto: Distance, Identity, and the Jamaican Diaspora," Focus on Geography, 50(1): 1-8.

Clifford, M. and S. P. Mains. 2006. "A Dialogue with Masculinity," in A. Jones (Ed.) Men of the Global South: A Reader. New York: Zed Books, p.401-404.

Mains, S. P. 2006. "Discourse," in B. Warf, A.J. Cravey, D. DeLyser, L. Knopp, D. Sui, and D. Wilson (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Human Geography. New York: Sage, p.111-113.

Mains, S. P. 2006. "Spatial Inequality," in B. Warf, A.J. Cravey, D. DeLyser, L. Knopp, D. Sui, and D. Wilson (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Human Geography. New York: Sage, p.453-454.

Mains, S. P. 2004. "Monumentally Caribbean: Borders, Bodies, and Redemptive City Spaces," Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, (16): 179-198.

Mains, S. P. 2004. "Teaching Transnationalism in the Caribbean: Toward an Understanding of Representation and Neo-Colonialism in Human Geography," Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 28(2):315-330.

Mains, S. P. 2004. "Imagining the Border and Southern Spaces: Cinematic Explorations of Race and Gender," GeoJournal, 59(4):253-264.

Oberhauser, A., Rubinoff, D., DeBres, K., Mains, S., Pope, C. 2004. "Geographic Perspectives on Women: Geography and Gender", in G. Gaile and C. Wilmott (Eds.) Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.738-760.

Mains, S. P. 2004. "Cultural Geography in a New Millennium: Translation, Borders, and Resistance." Journal of Cultural Geography, Fall/Winter 22(1):151-153.

Mains, S. P. 2003. "'The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain': Media, Diversity, and Regional Identity," In S. Ralph, H. Manchester, and C. Lees (Eds.) Diversity or Anarchy. Luton: University of Luton Press, p.225-232.

Mains, S. P. 2002. "Representing National Identity, Borders, and Migration: Making News in Southern California," Hagar: International Social Science Review, (2): 271-298.

Mains, S. P. 2002. "Maintaining National Identity at the Border: Scale, Masculinity, and the Policing of Immigration in Southern California," in A. Herod and M. Wright (Eds.) Geographies of Power: Placing Scale. London: Blackwell, p.192-214.

Mains, S. 2000. "An Anatomy of Race and Immigration Politics in California" Journal of Social and Cultural Geography, 1(2): 143-154.