Walking on the Jordan Trail: A cultural politics of Jordan

行走在约旦小道上：约旦的文化政治

• 批准号: ES/V01157X/1
• 负责人: Olivia Mason
• 金额: $ 12.01万
• 依托单位: Newcastle University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FV01157X%2F1
• 关键词: Walking; Jordan; Trail; cultural; politics

My doctoral research makes a substantial contribution to political geography, cultural geography and Middle Eastern studies by bringing together cultural and political geographical work on place and movement, which have traditionally been disparate. My thesis contrasted political geographical research focused on state controlled movement, borders, and territory with cultural geographical research that engages with practices of movement, such as walking, and everyday and lived engagements with place. This pairing of sub-disciplines created new ways to study the Middle East conceptually and methodologically, by focusing on lived experiences and everyday practices. My PhD examiners noted the 'originality of contribution fusing thematic concerns from political and cultural geography' and the novelty of 'pairing sub-disciplinary traditions'. To do this, my thesis engaged with a long-distance walking trail in Jordan, the Jordan Trail. The Jordan Trail runs the length of Jordan and is a tourism product, a cultural practice, but also a nation-building tool. My research asks important questions about how cultural heritage and tourism practices can engage better with everyday sites and how intangible aspects of heritage such as movement can be captured. I argued that most studies of the Middle East focus on the state scale of analysis or else focus solely on migration, conflict or refugees. My research highlights the need to explore everyday cultural practices in order to understand how everyday identities and relationships with place in areas of conflict, such as Jordan, are being shaped by these broader geopolitical questions. Urgent questions regarding the need to explore the interactions between political decisions concerning the state, identity borders, and colonial practices, and cultural practices relating to movement and place were explored through my research.My research intervenes in a series of timely debates around the impacts of geopolitical events on everyday spaces in the Middle East (see Fregonese, 2019; Joronen and Griffiths, 2019; Culcasi, 2016; Ramadan, 2013). The Jordan Trail offers an important site to explore such questions as a cultural heritage project aimed at both Jordanians and tourists. Jordan's economy is largely dependent on tourism, as such the examination of projects related to tourism is important (Buda, 2016). Tourism is one of Jordan's largest employers and sources of economic income. However, since the outbreak of the Syrian War tourist numbers visiting Jordan have declined by 40% (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2018). My research addresses these key relationships between tourism, cultural heritage and conflict by exploring how political decisions alter them and how cultural heritage practices are used to create certain ideas about identity and citizenship within times of conflict. The relationship between culture and politics in the Middle East is a key contribution my thesis makes to academic debates. The opportunity to disseminate my PhD research findings to groups in Jordan as well as academic audiences will enable me to develop the next stage of my academic career in two important ways: firstly, the dissemination of my research back to the communities I worked with during my PhD will allow me to maintain these relationships, which secondly, will ensure the foundations for a new research project. The new project will build on and develop work from my PhD thesis, by expanding its geographical scope and moving to a new focus on indigeneity and displacement. My research plans aim towards making three key contributions to the literature and policy: 1) fusing together cultural and political geography and Middle Eastern studies; 2) altering the sites and scales through which the Middle East is studied; 3) generating important policy implications for how state level decisions around tourism and displacement impact the lived experiences of citizens in areas of conflict.

我的博士研究使政治地理学，文化地理学和中东研究的实质性贡献，通过汇集文化和政治地理工作的地方和运动，这在传统上是不同的。我的论文对比了政治地理研究，重点是国家控制的运动，边界和领土与文化地理研究，从事运动的实践，如步行，日常和生活的地方参与。这种子学科的配对通过关注生活经验和日常实践，创造了从概念和方法上研究中东的新方法。我的博士考试者注意到“贡献的原创性融合了政治和文化地理学的主题关注”和“配对子学科传统”的新奇。为此，我的论文与约旦的一条长距离步行道--约旦小径进行了研究。约旦小径贯穿整个约旦，是一种旅游产品，一种文化习俗，也是一种国家建设工具。我的研究提出了一些重要的问题，即文化遗产和旅游实践如何更好地与日常场所相结合，以及如何捕捉遗产的非物质方面，如运动。我认为，大多数关于中东的研究都集中在国家规模的分析上，或者只关注移民、冲突或难民。我的研究强调了探索日常文化实践的必要性，以了解日常身份和与冲突地区（如约旦）的关系如何受到这些更广泛的地缘政治问题的影响。通过我的研究，我探讨了一些紧迫的问题，即需要探讨有关国家、身份边界和殖民实践的政治决策与有关运动和地点的文化实践之间的相互作用。我的研究介入了一系列关于地缘政治事件对中东日常空间影响的及时辩论。（见Fregonese，2019; Joronen和Griffiths，2019; Culcasi，2016; Ramadan，2013）。约旦之路是一个重要的地点，可以作为一个针对约旦人和游客的文化遗产项目来探讨这些问题。约旦的经济在很大程度上依赖于旅游业，因此对旅游业相关项目的审查非常重要（Buda，2016年）。旅游业是约旦最大的雇主和经济收入来源之一。然而，自叙利亚战争爆发以来，访问约旦的游客人数下降了40%（世界旅行和旅游理事会，2018年）。我的研究探讨了旅游，文化遗产和冲突之间的这些关键关系，通过探索政治决策如何改变它们，以及文化遗产的做法如何被用来创造冲突时期的身份和公民身份的某些想法。中东文化与政治之间的关系是我的论文对学术辩论的一个关键贡献。有机会传播我的博士研究成果，在约旦的团体以及学术观众将使我能够发展我的学术生涯的下一个阶段，在两个重要的方式：首先，我的研究传播回社区，我在我的博士学位将使我能够保持这些关系，其次，将确保一个新的研究项目的基础。这个新项目将建立在我的博士论文的基础上，并通过扩大其地理范围和转向对印第安人和流离失所的新关注来发展我的工作。我的研究计划旨在对文献和政策做出三个关键贡献：1）将文化和政治地理学与中东研究融合在一起; 2）改变中东研究的地点和规模; 3）对国家层面的旅游决策和流离失所如何影响冲突地区公民的生活经历产生重要的政策影响。

项目成果

Sharing the Field: Reflections of More-Than-Human Field/work Encounters

分享田野：超越人类的田野/工作遭遇的反思

• DOI: 10.1080/2373566x.2021.2016467
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: GeoHumanities
• 影响因子: 0.7
• 作者: Marr N

The geographies of colonial infrastructures: Mobility, im/materiality, and politics on walking trails in the Middle East

殖民基础设施的地理：中东步行道上的流动性、非物质性和政治

• DOI: 10.1111/tran.12599
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Mason O

A political geography of walking in Jordan: Movement and politics

约旦行走的政治地理学：运动与政治

• DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102392
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Political Geography
• 影响因子: 4.1
• 作者: Mason O

Navigating the Field - Postgraduate Experiences in Social Research

探索该领域 - 社会研究的研究生经验

• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-68113-5_2
• 发表时间: 2021
• 作者: Mason O