ABSTRACT
The starting point for this analysis of walking, social networks and social interaction is similar to that of Willis (1977), in that there is a presumption that those participating in the study are skilled and knowledgeable both discursively and tacitly about their social activities, in this case, social interaction and walking. It is also informed by theories of the construction of gender and the importance of ‘the public and the private’ and embodiment in understanding that construction. Gendered space involves processes of exclusion and studies have shown women to be extremely skilled in the negotiation of space and articulate in expressing those processes (for example, Hanmer and Saunders 1984; Koskela 1997; Wesely and Gaarder 2004). This has led to the adoption of mobile methods in this research, and a focus on the skills, competencies and practices talked about and exhibited by both men and women while on walking interviews (and while encountering others). Willis (1977), in his work on schooling and the reproduction of patterns of inequality, shows the importance of co-presence for skilling together. One of the central practices in subverting the authority of the school is ‘having a laff’ and it is clear from Willis’s account that ‘having a laff’ requires co-presence and a dexterous handling of a complex set of communication skills, social synchronicity skills, nuanced understanding of authority and the subverting of routines. ‘Having a laff’ in all its nuances can only be learnt from others; it is not formally taught in lessons. It is this understanding of an informal collective learning processes and the necessity of being co-present, to learn the roles together, to swap roles, to experience the rhythms of the humour; these all informed the prominence given to skilling and competence in this analysis. Grieco (1996) highlights the importance of collective skilling in her analysis of social networks and migration of hop-picking families from London to Kent and Hampshire in the early twentieth century. It is argued that:
In this context, practices of the use of public space and perceived entitlements to belong vary across different social communities. As Bauman argues in exploring time and space, ‘the principal dimensions of the current evolution of urban life’ are a definition of community that features the creation of defensible enclaves, restricted entry and access to public areas, the patrolling of borders and surveillance and a ‘separation in lieu of the negotiation of life in common, rounded up by the criminalization of residual difference’. He argues that the greatest danger to public culture is the construction of public space as something to be fearful of, ‘The blood-curdling and nerve-breaking spectre of “unsafe streets” keeps people away from public spaces and turns them away from seeking the art and the skills needed to share public life’ (Bauman 2000: 94). This chapter will argue that this can be illustrated if we consider the practices to build community, used in walking by both men and women. Understanding of the social construction of gender gives prominence to the appreciation of the constructions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ domains and the appropriate times and places for women in public space. Gendered space involves processes of exclusion. Studies in the UK (Hanmer and Saunders 1984; DfT 2009; Hodgson 2011), Finland (Koskela 1997) and the US (Duneier 1999; Wesely and Gaarder 2004) have shown women in particular to be extremely skilled in the negotiation of time-space.
