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Dr Andrew Gorman-Murray

Position: Research Fellow
Room: 41.G30
Phone No: +61 2 4221 5455
Email:andrewgm@uow.edu.au

AUSCCER

Research Interests

I am a human geographer with expertise in social, cultural, political and economic processes in train across urban, rural and domestic spaces. My initial interests lay in geographies of sexualities, gender and home, but I subsequently worked on rural cultural industries, and have developing expertise in human-environment relationships and cultures of nature. My interests are drawn together by a concern with the interlinking of place and identity, particularly through ‘the politics of belonging’. My specific research interests are:

• Geographies of sexuality and gender:
  • Sexuality and the politics of belonging
  • Queer domesticities in suburbia and everyday identity politics
  • Masculine domesticities and life course transitions
  • Queer migration
  • Minority representation in cultural institutions (e.g. museums, festivals)
• Urban geographies:
  • Geographies of housing, homemaking and domesticity
  • Neighbourhoods and social inclusion
  • Residential mobility and emotional triggers
• Rural geographies:
  • Sexuality and gendered difference
  • Festivals, heritage and tourism
  • Scales of belonging and identity
• Human-environment relationships:
  • Cultural politics of climate change
  • Snow and alpine environments in Australia

I have expertise in critical and poststructuralist approaches, utilising qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, including:

• Semi-structured/unstructured interview design, implementation and content analysis
• Mixed method (qualitative/quantitative) survey design and implementation
• Textual and discourse analysis of texts, media and life-writing
• Landscape analysis
• Archival research
• Participant observation and auto-ethnographic approaches
• Qualitative software programs (NVIVO) and content analysis
• Census data analysis
• Descriptive statistics

My current major projects include:

‘Men on the Home Front: spatialities of domesticity and masculinity’: funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant 2009-2012, this project investigates men’s relationships with their homes in light of the paucity of research on masculinity and home. The research advances policy directions in social welfare by examining how domestic environments and relationships can better contribute to men’s senses of self and well-being. It also adds to academic knowledge by developing understanding of the inter-relationality of masculinity and domesticity. This project is concerned with both community needs and intellectual advancement, and addresses concerns about men’s well-being in contemporary society, focusing on three case studies: heterosexual men in married and de facto relationships, young men living alone, and older gay men.

‘Culture and Climate Change: the cultural significance of Australia’s snow country’: conducted in collaboration with Lesley Head, this GeoQuest-funded project seeks to explore the meanings and experiences of Australia’s snow country in light of climate change threats to continued snow cover. This includes national-scale attitudes to the snow country, and the impact of climate change predictions on the cultural practices and perspectives of residents of the Australian Alps and Tasmania. The aim is to contribute to knowledge of human-environment relations and the cultural dimensions of climate change politics and environmental management.

‘Geographies of Sexualities “Down Under”: gay and lesbian spatialities in Australia’: this project entails a book, contracted by Ashgate, which will be the first over-arching publication about gay and lesbian geographies in/of Australia. The book will assert the critical role that Australia has played, and continues to play, in developing geographical knowledge about gay men and lesbians. Over the last decade, research into gay and lesbian geographies in Australia has grown immensely. It is time to ‘take stock’ of this bourgeoning research and provide a coherent overview which distils what is telling about the Australian context. The book will also present and analyse new empirical data drawn from a range of ethnographic, archival, media and census sources compiled from several research projects conducted since 2004. This includes work on: the rural town of Daylesford, Victoria; the regional city of Townsville, Queensland; inner-city and suburban Sydney and Melbourne; the isolated provincial capital of Darwin, Northern Territory; and nationwide census data on same-sex couples. Through this material the book will provide new empirical-cum-conceptual discussion of gay and lesbian lives, communities and place-based experiences in Australia, which will advance geographies of sexualities.

Representative Publications

Gorman-Murray, A. (2009) ‘Intimate mobilities: emotional embodiment and queer migration’, Social and Cultural Geography 10, in press.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2009) ‘What’s the meaning of ChillOut? Rural/urban difference and the cultural significance of Australia’s largest rural GLBTQ festival’, Rural Society 19 (1), in press.

Gorman-Murray, A. and G. Waitt (2009) ‘Queer-friendly neighbourhoods: interrogating social cohesion across sexual difference in two Australian neighbourhoods’, Environment and Planning A 41 (12), in press. Special issue: R. Atkinson, R. Dowling and P. McGuirk (eds) ‘Home/City/Neighbourhood/+ Mediating points and containers in contemporary urban social life’.

Gorman-Murray, A., L. Johnston and G. Waitt (2009) ‘Queering inter-subjective communication: research relationships, methods and ethics’, forthcoming in K. Browne and C. Nash (eds.) Queer Methodologies.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2009) ‘Queering home or domesticating deviance? Interrogating gay domesticity through lifestyle television’, in S. Thornham, C. Bassett and P. Marris (eds) Media Studies: A Reader (3rd Edition), Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. (Reproduced from International Journal of Cultural Studies.)

Gorman-Murray, A. (2009) ‘The Australian Alps and climate change’, Geodate 22 (1), in press.

Gorman-Murray, A. and G. Waitt (Eds) (2009) ‘Climate’, M/C Journal: A Journal of Media and Culture 12 (4), forthcoming. 

Gorman-Murray, A. (2008) ‘Queering the family home: narratives from gay, lesbian and bisexual youth coming out in supportive family homes in Australia’, Gender, Place and Culture, 15 (5): 31-44.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2008) ‘So, where is queer? A critical geography of queer exhibitions in Australia’, Museums and Social Issues 3 (1): 67-80. (Special issue, ‘Where is queer?’, edited by John Fraser and Joe E. Heimlich.)

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt and C. Gibson (2008) ‘A queer country? A case study of the politics of gay/lesbian belonging in an Australian country town’, Australian Geographer 39 (2): 171-191.

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray (2008) ‘Camp in the country: renegotiating sexuality and gender through a rural lesbian and gay festival’, Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 6 (3): 185-207.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2008) ‘Masculinity and the home: a critical review and conceptual framework’, Australian Geographer 39 (3): 367-379.

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt and L. Johnston (eds) (2008) ‘Geographies of sexuality and gender “down under”’, Australian Geographer 39 (3): 235-246.

Waitt, G., K. Markwell and A. Gorman-Murray (2008) ‘Challenging heteronormativity in tourism studies – locating progress’, Progress in Human Geography 32 (6): 781-800.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2008) ‘Reconciling self: gay men and lesbians using domestic materiality for identity management’, Social and Cultural Geography 9 (3): 283-301.

 Gorman-Murray, A. (ed) (2008) ‘Country’, M/C Journal: A Journal of Media and Culture 11 (5); online: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/102.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2008) ‘Before and after climate change: the snow country in Australian imaginaries’, M/C Journal: A Journal of Media and Culture 11 (5); online: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/65.

Carter, D., K. Darian-Smith and A. Gorman-Murray (eds) (2008) ‘Rural cultural studies: introduction’, Australian Humanities Review 45: 27-36.

Gorman-Murray, A., K. Darian-Smith and  C. Gibson (2008) ‘Scaling the rural: reflections on rural cultural studies’, Australian Humanities Review 45: 37-52.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2007) ‘Reconfiguring domestic values: meanings of home for gay men and lesbians’, Housing, Theory and Society 24 (3): 229-246.

Gorman-Murray, A. and R. Dowling (2007) ‘Home’, M/C Journal: A Journal of Media and Culture 10 (4).  Available electronically at:  http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0708/01-editorial.php

Gorman-Murray, A. (2007) ‘Contesting domestic ideals: queering the Australian home’, Australian Geographer 38 (2):  195-213.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2007) ‘Sexy stories: using autobiography in geographies of sexuality’, Qualitative Research Journal 7 (1): 3-25.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2007) ‘Rethinking queer migration through the body’, Social and Cultural Geography 8 (1): 105-121.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2007) ‘New perspectives on the public power and political significance of home’, Australian Geographer 38 (1): 133-143.

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray, (2007) ‘Homemaking and mature-age gay men “down under”: paradox, intimacy, subjectivities, spatialities, and scale’, Gender, Place and Culture 14 (5): 569-584.

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt and C. Gibson, (2007) ‘Interrogating the politics of gay/lesbian belonging in an Australian country town: a case study of Daylesford, Victoria, and local responses to the ChillOut Festival’, in L. Harrington & J. Harrington Jr. (eds) Papers of the Applied Geography Conferences 30: 236-246.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2007) ‘Reconciling self: gay men and lesbians using domestic materiality for identity management’, in Naomi Stead and Jason Prior (eds), Queer Spaces: Centres and Peripheries – Conference Proceedings (University of Technology, Sydney, 20-21 February), available electronically at:  http://www.dab.uts.edu.au/conferences/queer_space/proceedings/identities_gorman-murray.pdf.

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt and C. Gibson (2007) ‘Chilling out in the country? Interrogating Daylesford as a gay/lesbian rural idyll’’, in Naomi Stead and Jason Prior (eds), Queer Spaces: Centres and Peripheries – Conference Proceedings (University of Technology, Sydney, 20-21 February), available electronically at: http://www.dab.uts.edu.au/conferences/queer_space/proceedings/rural_gorman-murray.pdf.

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray (2007) ‘Provincial paradoxes: ‘at home’ with older gay men in a provincial town of the Antipodes’, in Naomi Stead and Jason Prior (eds), Queer Spaces: Centres and Peripheries – Conference Proceedings (University of Technology, Sydney, 20-21 February), available electronically at:   http://www.dab.uts.edu.au/conferences/queer_space/proceedings/home_waitt.pdf.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2006) ‘Homeboys: uses of home by gay Australian men’, Social and Cultural Geography 7 (1): 53-69.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2006) ‘Queering home or domesticating deviance? Interrogating gay domesticity through lifestyle television’, International Journal of Cultural Studies 9 (2): 227-247.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2006) ‘Gay and lesbian couples at home: identity work in domestic space’, Home Cultures 3 (2): 145-168.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2006) ‘Imagining King Street in the gay/lesbian media’, M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 9 (3); available electronically at: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0607/04-gorman-murray.php.

Gorman-Murray, A., (2006) ‘Domestic space as contested terrain: queering the Australian home’, pp. 187-193 in John Stephens, Terrance McMinn and Steve Basson (eds.) Contested Terrains: Proceedings of the XXIII Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, 2006 (SAHANZ).

Gorman-Murray, A., (2006) ‘Gay/lesbian identity work at home’, in Val Colic-Peisker, Farida Tilbury, Bev McNamara, Loretta Baldassar and Raelene Wilding (eds.), TASA 2006 Conference Proceedings: Sociology for a Mobile World (The Australian Sociological Association).

Gorman-Murray, A., (2006) ‘Imagining King Street in the Gay/Lesbian Media’, in Val Colic-Peisker, Farida Tilbury, Bev McNamara, Loretta Baldassar and Raelene Wilding (eds.), TASA 2006 Conference Proceedings: Sociology for a Mobile World (The Australian Sociological Association).

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray, (2006) ‘Places of reconciliation: gay, lesbian and transgender place-based belongings in a regional Australian centre’, in Val Colic-Peisker, Farida Tilbury, Bev McNamara, Loretta Baldassar and Raelene Wilding (eds.), TASA 2006 Conference Proceedings: Sociology for a Mobile World (The Australian Sociological Association).

Gorman-Murray, A., (2006, in press) ‘Domestic space as contested terrain: queering the Australian home’, in John Stephens, Terrance McMinn and Steve Basson (eds.) Contested Terrains: Proceedings of the XXIII Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, 2006 (SAHANZ).

Gorman-Murray, A. (2006), ‘Queering home, domesticating deviance’, pp. 135-137 in Alison Blunt and Robyn Dowling, Home (London: Routledge).

Gorman-Murray, A. (2006) Review of Jon Binnie (2004) The Globalization of Sexuality (London: Sage), Cultural Geographies 13 (2): 308-309.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2005) ‘I’m lucky to have parents like mine: gay, lesbian and bisexual youth coming out in supportive family homes’, in Roberta Julian, Reannan Rottier and Rob White (eds.), TASA 2005 Conference Proceedings: Community, Place and Change (The Australian Sociological Association).

Gorman-Murray, A. (2005) ‘The boys on The Block: gay domesticity versus the family home on lifestyle television’, in Roberta Julian, Reannan Rottier and Rob White (eds.), TASA 2005 Conference Proceedings: Community, Place and Change (The Australian Sociological Association).

Gorman-Murray, A. (2005) ‘Gay identity and the ‘burbs: a review essay’, Traffic 6: 197-200.

Gorman-Murray, A. (2004) Gay and lesbian public history in Australia, Public History Review 11: 8-38.

 

Searchable Publications

Conference Papers

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘“This is discowonderland!” Gender, sexuality, and the limits of gay domesticity’, invited presentation at the Sociological Association of Aotearoa/New Zealand Conference (University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 22-26 November 2008).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Intimate mobilities: embodiment and re-scaling queer migration’, presented at the 50th Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference (University of Tasmania, 30 June-3 July 2008).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘The cultural significance of snow in Australia’, presented at the 50th Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference (University of Tasmania, 30 June-3 July 2008).

Gorman-Murray, A. and C. Strakosch, ‘A critical geography of queer exhibitions in Australia’, presented at The Association of American Geographers Annual Conference (Boston, 15-19 April 2008).

Gorman-Murray, A. and G. Waitt, ‘“Gay-friendly” neighbourhoods: towards understanding social cohesion across sexual difference in two Australian neighbourhoods’, invited presentation for Home/City/Neighbourhood/+ Mediating points and containers in contemporary urban social life (University of Tasmania, 13-14 December 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A. and G. Waitt, ‘ChillOut: a festival “out” in the country’, invited presentation for Festival Places: Revitalising Rural Australia (University of Sydney, 10 December 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt and C. Gibson, ‘Interrogating the politics of gay/lesbian belonging in an Australian country town: a case study of Daylesford, Victoria, and the 2006 ChillOut Festival’, presented at the 30th Applied Geography Conference (Indianapolis, 17-20 October 2007).

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray, ‘Places of reconciliation: narratives of gay, lesbian and transgender place-based belongings in a regional Australian centre’, presented at Engaging Histories: Australian Historical Association Regional Conference (University of New England 23-26 September 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Gay/lesbian perceptions and spaces of home’, presented at Research Directions in Housing: A Symposium on Current and Recent Research into Housing by Young Academics (Urban Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, Parramatta, 17 August 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Men on the home front: a review and research agenda for masculinity and domesticity’, presented at the Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference (University of Melbourne, 1-6 July 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt, C. O’Brien and C. Gibson, ‘Flying the rainbow flag: rural festivals, landscape iconography and the politics of gay/lesbian belonging in Daylesford, Victoria’, presented at the Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference (University of Melbourne, 1-6 July 2007).

Darian-Smith, K., C. Gibson and A. Gorman-Murray, ‘What is ‘the rural’?’, presented at the Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference (University of Melbourne, 1-6 July 2007).

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray, ‘”There is no place like home”: Making sense of self, making sense of home: movement, friendship, and the spatial subjectivities of young non-heterosexual men’, presented at the 2007 Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society Shanghai Conference (Shanghai University, China, 16-17 June 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt and C. Gibson, ‘Constructing and contesting gay/lesbian belonging in an Australian country town: a case study of the 2006 ChillOut Festival in Daylesford, Victoria’, presented at The Association of Annual Geographers Annual Conference (San Francisco, 17-21 April 2007).

Brennan-Horley, C., C. Gibson, A. Gorman-Murray and G. Waitt, ‘Exploring the qualitative economy of a rural festival: beyond quantitative impact evaluations’, presented at The Association of Annual Geographers Annual Conference (San Francisco, 17-21 April 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Reconciling self: gay men and lesbians using domestic materiality for identity management’, presented at The AAG Sexuality and Space Specialty Group Pre-Conference (San Francisco, 17 April 2007).

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray, ‘Embodied belongings: affects, practices and performances of non-heterosexuals in Australia’s ‘homophobic capital’’, presented at The AAG Sexuality and Space Specialty Group Pre-Conference (San Francisco, 17 April 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Reconciling self: gay men and lesbians using domestic materiality for identity management’, presented at Queer Spaces: Centres and Peripheries (University of Technology, Sydney, 20-21 February 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt and C. Gibson, ‘Chilling out in the country? Interrogating Daylesford as a ‘gay/lesbian rural idyll’’, presented at Queer Spaces: Centres and Peripheries (University of Technology, Sydney, 20-21 February 2007).

 Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray, ‘Provincial paradoxes: ‘at home’ with older gay men in a provincial town of the Antipodes’, presented at Queer Spaces: Centres and Peripheries (University of Technology, Sydney, 20-21 February 2007).

Gorman-Murray, A., G. Waitt and C. Gibson, ‘Chilling out in cosmopolitan country? Interrogating the ‘gay/lesbian rural idyll’ through Daylesford’s ChillOut Festival’, presented at The Australian Sociological Association 2006 Conference: Sociology for a Mobile World (University of Western Australia, 4-8 December 2006).

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray, ‘Places of reconciliation: gay, lesbian and transgender place-based belongings in a regional Australian centre’, presented at The Australian Sociological Association 2006 Conference: Sociology for a Mobile World (University of Western Australia, 4-8 December 2006).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Gay/lesbian identity work at home’, presented at The Australian Sociological Association 2006 Conference: Sociology for a Mobile World (University of Western Australia, 4-8 December 2006).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Imagining King Street in the Gay/Lesbian Media’, presented at The Australian Sociological Association 2006 Conference: Sociology for a Mobile World (University of Western Australia, 4-8 December 2006).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Domestic space as contested terrain: queering the Australian home’, presented at Contested Terrains: The XXIII Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (Curtin University, 30 September-2 October 2006).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Gay and lesbian couples at home: identity work in domestic space’, presented at the International Geographical Union 2006 Conference, and joint annual meetings of the Institute of Australian Geographers and the New Zealand Geographical Society (Queensland University of Technology, 3-7 July 2006).

Waitt, G. and A. Gorman-Murray, ‘Belonging as places of reconciliation: gay, lesbian and transgender place-based belongings in an Australian regional centre’, presented at the International Geographical Union 2006 Conference, and joint annual meetings of the Institute of Australian Geographers and the New Zealand Geographical Society (Queensland University of Technology, 3-7 July 2006).

Gibson, C., C. Brennan-Horley, A. Gorman-Murray and G. Waitt, ‘Exploring the qualitative economy of a rural festival: beyond quantitative impact evaluations’, presented at the International Geographical Union 2006 Conference, and joint annual meetings of the Institute of Australian Geographers and the New Zealand Geographical Society (Queensland University of Technology, 3-7 July 2006).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘I’m luck to have parents like mine: gay, lesbian and bisexual youth coming out in supportive family homes’, presented at The Australian Sociological Association 2005 Conference: Community, Place and Change (University of Tasmania, 5-8 December 2005).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘The boys on The Block: gay domesticity versus the family home on lifestyle television’, presented at The Australian Sociological Association 2005 Conference: Community, Place and Change (University of Tasmania, 5-8 December 2005).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Rethinking queer migration through the body’, presented at the Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference (Royal Geographical Society, London, 31 August-2 September 2005).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Coming out, making home(s): gay, lesbian and bisexual youth coming out in supportive family homes’, presented at Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference (University of New England, 19-22 July 2005).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Homeboys: gay men’s uses of home in Australia’, presented at Homosexual Histories 6 (University of Sydney, 1-2 October 2004).

Gorman-Murray, A., ‘Coming out, moving out, finding home: queer migration and homemaking in Australia’, presented at Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference (University of Adelaide, 13-16 April 2004).

Current Students

Andrew Warren (Human Geography PhD): ‘Participation of young people in creative industries in the Illawarra, Australia’. (With Chris Gibson and Gordon Waitt)

Theresa Harada (Human Geography Honours): ‘Households and climate change’. (With Gordon Waitt)

Emma Page (Human Geography Honours): ‘Tourism and climate change in the Blue Mountains, NSW’. (With Gordon Waitt)

Abbreviated CV

Andrew has completed a PhD by publications through the Department of Human Geography at Macquarie University, Sydney, which examines the homing desires, domestic activities and homemaking practices of gay men and lesbians. Entitled Queering Home, Domesticating Deviance: Geographies of Sexuality and Home in Australia, the thesis explores how gay/lesbian Australians find, make and use homes in ways which resist heteronormativity and affirm sexual difference. Andrew was also employed as an Associate Lecturer in the same department. He has previously taught cultural studies and writing at the University of Technology, Sydney, comparative development at the University of New South Wales, and human geography at the University of Wollongong.