Arizona State University

School of Geographical Sciences

PhD Geography

Marissa L. Smith

Areas of Research Specialization (Curriculum Vitae)

 

My areas of interest within the field of geography are centered on urbanization, especially in less developed countries (LDCs), gender and gendered spaces, food (in)security, the political economy of Mexico and Latin America, and urban political ecology. 

 

             My research explores space, place, and gender through an examination of neoliberalism, urbanization, and household change on the urban periphery of Oaxaca, Mexico.  To investigate these intertwined processes and illuminate the complexities of the urban fringe, I synthesize literature and viewpoints from outside geography and utilize a variety of theoretical perspectives from Marxist spatial theory and urban political ecology, to feminist and gender studies.  There are three interrelated aspects to my research: 1) a focus on poor women and their daily geographies of survival; 2) the power relationships which structure the socio-spatial urban landscape; and 3) the creation of new forms of governance and social resistance.

 

             The first aspect of my research concerns the fundamental restructuring of the relationship between production and social reproduction.  The feminization of wage labor and the withdrawal of State social support which characterize neoliberalism have intensified gendered responsibilities within households.  The privatization and increased commodification of the goods and services associated with social reproduction, such as water, food, health care, and education, not only pushes women into waged labor but social reproduction itself comes increasingly under the direct control of the market.  The marketization of social reproduction subjects everyday life to the same political economic relationships of power which produce the socio-spatial inequalities of the capitalist city.  Indeed, the networks and flows of those items necessary for survival, such as water and food, now embody and express these relationships.

 

             The second aspect of my case study research examines the power relationships which have shaped the “second nature” of the built environment and led to the space-time expansion of everyday life.  One cause of this space-time expansion is a spatial incongruity between the sites of production and social reproduction.  In Oaxaca, services and sources of waged labor are found almost exclusively in the center of the city while the poor are forced to seek housing on inexpensive land on the urban periphery.  Though housing is more affordable on the urban fringe, the spatial rents imposed by this location represent a growing crisis within the neoliberal economic regime.  City planning, which theoretically works to decrease these spatial rents is one way in which the government works to maintain stability and ease the conditions which lead to crises in the capitalist system.  In Mexico however, democratization, decentralization, creative destruction of land tenure institutions and rapid urbanization has produced an environmental, political, and economic setting in which urban planning is practically nonexistent.

 

             The inability of the Mexican government to soothe the spatial crisis inherent in the core-periphery landscape of the city leads to the third aspect of my research, the creation of new systems of governance and increased authoritarianism to maintain order for capital accumulation.   New forms of governance include changes to land tenure regimes, the devolution of government functions to the local scale, and social assistance programs which target mothers and their children.  The limited successes of these institutional changes have required the State to become increasingly authoritarian in order to ensure continued capital expansion.  Violent repression and ever-deepening socio-economic inequality are increasingly resisted and tensions reached a boiling point in Oaxaca in 2006 as a large-scale protest paralyzed the city for months and only ended with the arrival of 3,000 federal police.  Three years after this uprising the State has become even more violent and militarized public spaces in the city in order to maintain peace.  The creation of a revanchist city has led to a crisis of democracy and a deep and dangerous erosion of citizenship among Oaxaca’s poor.

 

             Though Oaxaca is the focus of my dissertation work, my field research and publications reflect a broader interest in urbanization, gender, and sustainability outside this regional area.  My master’s thesis was a transnational case study comparison of conservation, conflict, and social capital in two communities, one in the United States and one in Guanajuato, Mexico.  I also acted as a research assistant within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche, Mexico, investigating the promise and pitfalls of ecotourism.  Field research in Phoenix, Arizona resulted in a publication currently in preparation for submission to the Journal of Urbanism which explores gender, fear, gentrification and the uneven development of a marginalized area of the city.  My innovative contribution to a recent article in the Geographical Journal illuminated how the resurgence of a neo-environmental determinism has influenced several prominent policy makers to the potential detriment of less developed countries.  I am currently involved in two separate research projects exploring socio-spatial inequality in urban environments.  The first explores the socio-spatial dynamics of community food kitchens in Bogota, Colombia and the second involves the historical geography and environmental history of the Phoenix Metro area and its influence on current and future urban development.  My research has been recognized with numerous awards and honors which are detailed in full on my CV.

Arizona State University

School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning