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Chris GIBSON

Position:  Professor Human Geography
Room:  41.G08
Phone No:  +61 2 4221 3448
Email:  cgibson@uow.edu.au

Research Interests

Social Geography ~ History & Philosophy of Geography ~ Economic Geography ~ Creative Industries ~ Cities & Regions ~ Tourism

 Rural Festivals Project
AUSCCER
 Current Research Projects

New report on rural festivals now available online.

Representative Publications

Gibson, C (2010) ‘Creative geographies: tales from the ‘margins’’, Australian Geographer, 41, 1, 1-10 [Special issue, “Creativity in ‘peripheral’ places: redefining the creative industries”, edited by Chris Gibson]

Gibson, C (2010) ‘Obama’s post-imperial America? A view from the south’, Political Geography, 29, 1, 10-13

Gibson, C, Waitt, G, Walmsley, J and Connell, J (2010) ‘Cultural festivals and economic development in regional Australia’, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 29, 3, 280-293

Gibson,C (2008) ‘Locating geographies of tourism', Progress in Human Geography,32,3,407-422

Gibson, C. Dufty, R. Phillips, S. and Smith, H (2008) 'Counter-geographies: the campaign to prevent closure of agricultural research stations in New South Wales, Australia', Journal of Rural Studies, 24, 351-366

Gibson, C (2007) 'Geography in Higher Education in Australia' Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 31, 1, 97-119 [special symposium, The Place of Geography in Higher Education, edited by Lily Kong]

Brennan-Horley,C,Connell,J and Gibson,C(2007) ‘The Parkes Elvis Revival Festival: economic development & contested place identities in rural Australia’, Geographical Research,45,1,71-84.

Gibson, C and Brennan-Horley, C (2006) ‘Goodbye pram city: beyond inner/outer zone binaries in creative city research’, Urban Policy and Research, 24, 4, 455-471.

Gibson, C and Kong, L (2005) 'Cultural economy: a critical review', Progress in Human Geography, 29, 5, 541-561

Gibson, C and Connell, J (2005) Music and Tourism, Channel View Press, Clevedon ISBN: 1-873150-93-8 (Hbk); 1-873150-92-x (Pbk); 1-873150-94-6 (Elec.).

Gibson, C and Klocker, N (2004) ‘Academic publishing as ‘creative’ industry, and recent discourses of ‘creative economies’: some critical reflections’, Area, 36, 4, 423-434.

Dunbar-Hall, P and Gibson, C (2004) Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places: Contemporary Aboriginal Music in Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney and University of Washington Press, Seattle ISBN: 0 86840 622 8.

Connell, J. and Gibson, C (2003) Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place, Routledge, London and New York ISBN-10: 0 4151-7027 3 (HBK); 0415170281 (PBK)

Gibson, C (1999) 'Cartographies of the colonial and capitalist state: a geopolitics of indigenous self-determination in Australia', Antipode, 31, 1, 45-79

Full Publications List

Searchable Publication List

Current Students

Andrew Warren:      Participation of young people in the creative industries in the Illawarra

Wan Azdie Mohd Abu Bakar:    Mapping food insecurity in the Illawarra

Chris Brennan-Horley:    Experimental applications of GIS for creative city mapping

Suggested Topics for Future Students 

Opportunities exist for future honours and postgraduate research connected to the projects listed above, including:

Festivals

• social and economic impacts of festivals and events in rural areas (specific case studies, testing new methodologies)
• environmental impacts of festivals and events – ecological footprint analysis
• social and cultural issues surrounding festivals

Creative economies

• Specific industries in metropolitan and rural areas (e.g. film, design, heritage) – economic impacts; geographical patterns, ethnographic studies of internal linkages
• Mapping employment and business activity in the creative economy (GIS methodologies)
• Links between creative industries and social change and conflict – gentrification, property markets, inter-regional and international migration
• Industrial relations dimensions of the creative economy – conditions of work, career paths, job security/insecurity

Rural youth issues

• futures for young people in non-metropolitan areas – job prospects, cultural life, migration opportunities
• young people and the creative industries – new jobs, creative industries as youth retention strategies, socio-cultural conflicts

Abbreviated CV

BA (hons) and PhD in Geography (USYD, 2000). Chris Gibson began at UOW in August 2005, after teaching at UNSW, the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney. Currently Councillor of the Geographical Society of NSW, Deputy Convenor of the IAG Cultural Geography Study Group, node convenor for the ARC Cultural Research Network, and an Associate of the Industrial Relations Research Centre, UNSW.