Linda McDowell | |
---|---|
Born | 1949 (age 74–75) |
Awards | |
Academic background | |
Alma mater |
Newnham College, Cambridge The Bartlett, University College London |
Doctoral advisor | Peter Cowan |
Academic work | |
Institutions | |
Main interests | Geography |
Notable ideas | Economic geography of work |
Linda Margaret McDowell CBE FBA FAcSS (born 1949 [1]) is a British geographer and academic, specialising in the ethnography of work and employment. She was Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford from 2004 to 2016. [2]
McDowell studied for her PhD as a part-time student at the Bartlett School of Planning, where she had previously earned a master's degree. [1] Supervised by Peter Cowan, she researched housing change in London. [1]
Prior to completing her PhD, she lectured at the Open University. She then returned to the University of Cambridge, where she had studied as an undergraduate. [1] She took a chair at London School of Economics in 1999, after which she moved first to University College London and then, in 2004, to the University of Oxford. [1]
She is an economic geographer, who describes herself as an ethnographer of work and employment. [3] She wrote the first paper on feminism in the journal Society and Space, [1] while her three books on work and gender —-Capital Culture: Gender at Work in the City, which explored the role of gender in the City of London's financial services; [4] Gender, Place and Identity, which offered a broader introduction to gender and geography; [1] and Redundant Masculinities, which explored masculinity in the context of economic downturns [1] — have been major contributions to feminist geography and geographies of gender. [1] More recently, her research has explored labour and economic migration since 1945. [2]
McDowell's work has received numerous awards. From the Royal Geographical Society she has been awarded the Back Award and the Victoria Medal. In 2008, she became a fellow of the British Academy. [4] She is also a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. [5] McDowell has edited the journals Area and Antipode. [2]
She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to geography and higher education. [6]