Janice Monk Explained

Janice Jones Monk (13 March 1937 – 12 July 2024) was an Australian-American feminist geographer and researcher in the South West United States, and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment.

Background

Monk was raised in Sydney, Australia and held a B.A. (Honors) in Geography from the University of Sydney (1957). She moved to the United States on a scholarship, receiving an MA and PhD from the University of Illinois (1963, 1972). The topic of her PhD was pioneering: the social conditions of Aboriginal People in rural New South Wales, Australia, living in white majority communities (Socio-Economic Characteristics of Six Aboriginal Communities in Australia: A Comparative Ecological Study). She restudied the town of Griffith in the 2000s. Monk continued working at Illinois as assistant professor of geography from 1972 to 1980, but was unfairly denied tenure. She moved to Tucson, AZ to join the Southwest Institute for Research on Women (SIROW) at the University of Arizona in the same year, serving as its executive director from 1983 to 2004. On retiring in 2004 she became research professor of Geography and Development, and then Emeritus Professor. She served as President of the Association of American Geographers, 2001–2002. She died 12 July 2024, at the age of 87.[1]

Contributions

Monk has made significant contributions to social and cultural geography, with a particular focus on women and minority groups in the US and Mexico and their livelihoods and health. Her work at SIROW involved several large research grants for cross-border and regional support to women's groups and minority communities, totaling $6,500,000. Her The Desert Is No Lady project charted the unwritten history of women pioneers in the US West, resulting in an award-winning book and film.[2] [3]

Her contributions to the discipline of geography have included more than 100 articles in scholarly journals on the development and history of feminist geography, where she is regarded as a pioneer.[4] Her article in 1982 with Susan Hanson was an argument to recognize the substantial contributions of women to the male-dominated discipline, and has been cited 450 times (2024).[5] She has contributed more broadly to the importance of recognizing women in higher education, and the mentoring of women faculty members.

Recognition

The Janice Monk Service Award is awarded annually by the Geographic Perspectives on Women group of the Association of American Geographers. A Janice Monk Lecture in Feminist Geography is also held at the University of Arizona and AAG, and published in the journal Gender, Place and Culture.[7]

A book (A. Datta, J. Momsen, A. M. Oberhauser (eds.) 2023. Bridging Worlds - Building Feminist Geographies: Essays in Honour of Janice Monk. Routledge.) contains 45 chapters on all aspects of feminist geography that she inspired.

Publications

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Honoring Jan Monk Previous SIROW Director . Josephine . Korchmaros . July 15, 2024 . SIROW.Arizona.edu . July 27, 2024.
  2. Web site: WOMEN MAKE MOVIES - The Desert Is No Lady. www.wmm.com.
  3. Web site: CV . geography.arizona.edu .
  4. Joseli Maria Silva. 2010. On Not Excluding Half of the Human in Human Geography: interview with Janice Monk
  5. Monk, Janice and Hanson, Susan. On Not Excluding Half of the Human in Human Geography. The Professional Geographer 34(1)
  6. Web site: Geographer Janice Monk to be awarded an honorary doctorate - UAB Barcelona. Universitat Autonoma de. Barcelona. www.uab.cat.
  7. The Janice Monk Lecture in Feminist Geography: the first 10 years. Sallie. Marston. Sapana. Doshi. 22 November 2016. Gender, Place & Culture. 23. 12. 1657–1664. ResearchGate. 10.1080/0966369X.2016.1257413. 151789635.