Katherine Gibson

Research Professor
Institute for Culture and Society
Western Sydney University
Parramatta

Degrees

PhD Clark University, 1981
MA Clark University, 1980
BSc(Hons) University of Sydney, 1975

Honors and Awards

2022 Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Visiting Professor of Australian Studies, Harvard University

2019 Association for Social Economics Thomas F. Divine Award

2018 Association of American Geographers Distinguished Scholarship Honors

2010 Australia-International Medal from the Institute of Australian Geographers (jointly with Julie Graham)

2010 “Alliance to Develop Power Community Economy Award in Honor of Julie Graham”  at the ADP Community Convention.

2005 Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia

 

Research Interests

Economic geography: diverse economies and critiques and reformulations of economic theory, including theories of capitalist development, industrial restructuring, regional development, globalization, the enterprise, class and subjectivity, household labour and noncapitalist economic activities, social enterprises and cooperatives.

Regional geography: alternative community and regional economic development, regional governmentality and sustainability, community economies in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the US

Urban geography: rethinking urbanism in the light of feminist, postcolonial and queer theory, postmodern planning practices.

Feminist and poststructuralist research methods: participatory action research, constructing hybrid research collectives, interactive CD research outputs, film analysis and making.

Recent field based research: strengthening social enterprise development in the Philippines, USA and Australia; negotiating alternative regional economic development in the context of decentralization in the Philippines and Indonesia; interactions between community economies and capitalist agriculture in the oil palm growing regions of  PNG; the alternative economic activism in Hong Kong and the  Philippines of  Filipina contract migrants working as domestics; community conversations about rethinking economy and the region in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria and the Connecticut River Valley, USA