Home>Staff search

Dr Dina Abbott

Find a member of staff


Job title: University Reader in Developmental Geography

Email: d.abbott@derby.ac.uk
Phone No: +44 (0)1332 591757
Room: N705

Recent publications

Publications in refereed international journals

  1. Abbott, D. (2009) Field Geographies (Philosophy), in The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, (eds) Kitchin, R., Philo, C., Thrift, T., Elsevier, p106-111.
  2. Abbott, D. (Invited, pending)Action Research in the Gambia: Teaching Small-Scale Women Farmers Marketing, Geography Compass, Blackwell on-line.
  3. Abbott, D. (Invited viewpoint article, pending) Designing Identity: Exploring Citizenship Through Geographies of Identity for Geography and website of the Geographical Association, Citizenship Working Group. (See conference participation 29 March 2008 below).
  4. Abbott, D., Brown, S. and Wilson, G, (2007) Development Management as Reflexive Practice, Journal of International Development, Published online Vol 18, 1-17 Dec 2006, Paper version Vol 19 (2) p187-203 March.
  5. Abbott, D. (2006)Disrupting the 'Whiteness' of Fieldwork in Geography, The Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol 27, Nov, p326-341.
  6. Abbott, D. (2001) Securing Food, Securing Incomes, Womens' Vegetable Gardens: The Gambia, Co-Operative Society Report of the "People, Land, Sustainability" Conference, University of Nottingham p49-51.
  7. Abbott, D. (1997) Who Else Will Support Us? How Poor Women Organise the Unorganisable in India, Community Development Journal, July, 32, p199-209.
  8. Abbott, D. (1996) Creating Conflict: How Hindu Fundamentalists Seduce the Poor, Illiterate and Disaffected of India, Contemporary Politics, Vol 2, Special issue 1, p89-96.
  9. Abbott, D., O'Hare, G. and Barke, M. (1998) A Review of Slum Housing Policies in Mumbai, Cities, Vol 14, no4, p269-283.

Book chapters

  1. Abbott, D. (2010).Looking Beyond the Visible: Contesting Environmental Agendas for Mumbai Slums, Furniss, P. and Wilson G. (eds) Environment, Development and Sustainability in the 21st Century: Perspectives and Cases from Around the World, Oxford, Oxford University Press, p86-96.
  2. Abbott, D. (2007) Doing 'Incorrect' Research: The Importance of the Subjective and the Personal in Researching Poverty, Research Skills for Policy and Development: How to Find Out Fast, Sage and the Open University, p208-228.
  3. Abbott, D. (1999) Paying the Price of Femininity: Women and New Hinduism, Culture and Global Change, Tracy Skelton and Tim Allen (eds), London, Routledge p240-248.
  4. Abbott, D. (1998) Dilemmas of Investigation into Women's Poverty, Finding Out Fast: Investigative Skills for Policy and Development, Alan Thomas et al (eds), London, Sage p201-220.
  5. Abbott, D. (1996) Turning Acts of Borrowing Into Acts of Empowerment: Self-Organisation of the Annapurna Women of Bombay, Women and Work From a Global Perspective, Claire Belanger and Pravin Ghorayshi (eds), Greenwood, Westport CT p183-194.
  6. Abbott, D. (1991) Utilising Bank Loans as an Organisational Strategy: a Case Study of the Annapurna Mahila Mandal, Development Perspectives for 1990s, Renee Prendergast and Hans Singer (eds), London, MacMillan, p268-289.

Books

  1. Abbott, D. (2002) Public Action and Development Policy, Study Guide 2, Course TU871 (MA in Development: Context and Practice), The Open University.

Refereed working papers

  1. Abbott, D. (1995) Who Feeds the Urban Poor: an Alienated Formal Sector vs an Attuned Informal Sector, DPP Faculty of Technology, Open University Working Paper, No 35, p1-35.
  2. Abbott, D. (1995) Methodological Dilemmas of Researching Women's Poverty in Third World Settings: Reflections on a Study Carried Out in Bombay, DPP, Faculty of Technology, Open University Working Paper, No 24 p1-40.

Book reviews:

  1. Abbott, D. (2004) The Political Economy of New Slavery by Christien van den Anker (ed), in Capital and Class, Autumn 2004 No 84 p220-222.
  2. Abbott, D. (2004) Gender and Development by Janet Momsen, Routledge, in Geography.
  3. Abbott, D. (2002) Basu, M. Hindu Women and Marriage Laws: From Sacrament to Contract in Comparative Politics, March, Vol 40 (1) p116-7.
  4. Abbott, D. (2002) Valentine, G. Social Geographies in Geography.
  5. Abbott, D. (2001) G. Parayail (ed) Kerala the Development Experience: Reflections on Sustainability and Replicability in The Geographical Journal.
  6. Abbott, D. (2001) J. Bentick Unruly Urbanisation on Delhi's Fringe: Changing Patterns of Land Use and Livelihood in The Geographical Journal.
  7. Abbott, D. (2001) Dual Location Living" in The Geographical Journal.
  8. Abbott, D. (1997) Bharat Mata: India Past and Present in New Times, July 19.

Critical reader and reviewer book proposals

  1. Geographies of Development, June 2005 for Pearson/Prentice Hall.
  2. Second series of regional development textbooks by the Developing Areas Research Group, DARG Regional Development Series: South Asia for Jan 1999 Addison Wesley Longman.
  3. Geographies and New Femineities, Jan 1997 for Addison Welsey Longman.
  4. Geopolitics of South Asia by Graham Chapman Nov 1996 for Addison Welsey Longman.

Referee for journal papers

  • This Changing World and NGOs in Bangladesh for Geography, Dec 1998.
  • Women's Leading Role in Foreign Currency Earning: Sri Lanka for The Journal of Developing Areas Sept 1997.
  • Rural Unemployment in Central India: A Geographical Study in Sagar District for Geography, Sept1996.
  • Demographic Space Expansion by Minorities in India for Geography Oct 1995.

Faculty: Education, Health and Sciences

School: School of Science

Subject Area: Geographical, Earth and Environmental Sciences

I am a University Reader in Development Geography and joint Head of the Human and Physical Environments Research Group. My role involves teaching on undergraduate modules on environmental issues, food security, water and managements of projects in developing countries. I also team-teach modules on research methods and development at a post-graduate level, and supervise PhD students. I am actively involved in research on gender-related poverty issues in West Africa, East Africa and India, recently on women's small-scale farming and food production. I have published extensively on various aspects of these issues as well as methodologies and philosophies of fieldwork in developing countries. Currently I am developing work on action research methodologies and am researching information exchange systems for small-scale women farmers in East Africa.

Additionally I have an interest in applied development which has led to collaborative research and writing with the Open University's postgraduate distance learning courses on development management. I have also acted as a consultant on various teaching and research led activities for external universities.

Research interests

Poverty-related gender issues in developing countries; food production and livelihoods; philosophies of fieldwork; development management. Recent consultancies include the writing of distance learning materials for the Open University's MA course in Development Management (TU871) and building on concepts and theoretical ideas on Development Management.

Membership of professional bodies and advisory committees

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
  • Editorial Board Member online African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology
  • Academic Board Member/Consultant voluntary development organisation, Village Aid, Bakewell, Derbyshire

Recent Conferences

Conference and Seminar presentations

  • Paper presentation (June 2008): Action Research Practices, conference À Travers l'Espace de la Méthode: les Dimensions du Terrain en Géographie (Mapping Practices: Doing Fieldwork in Geography), University of Artois, France.
  • Guest seminar/presentation 23 April 2008: on Developing ASSETs for the Gambia: Collaborative Actions and Research for seminar series on Development Management, Centre of Complexity and Change, Development Policy and Practice, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
  • Guest speaker 29 March 2008: Teaching Citizenship Through Geography: Designing Identity, Geographical Association Annual Conference, Citizenship Working Group (CWG), University of Surrey, Guilford.
  • Workshop Leader October 2006: Beyond the World Summits: Environment, Development and Sustainability in the 21st Century, organised by 'Kulika' Educational Trust and the Open University, Kampala, Uganda.
  • Workshop Leader October 2006: Sustainability, Environment, Development Conference, Uganda.
  • Paper presentation July 2005: Development Managementas Reflective Practice(joint paper) accepted for the 4th International Critical Management Studies Conference, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.
  • Guest LectureApril 2005: Sustainable Development: A Contradiction in Terms? University of Gambia, Department of Social Sciences, Development Studies Gambia.
  • Paper presentationSeptember 2005: Colonial Exploration and Geographical Discovery, University of Sussex, Alumni weekend, Brighton.
  • Paper presentationMay 2004: Practitioner Perceptions of Development Management: Analysis of Student Projects at the Open University, Open University, Development Management Staff day, Milton Keynes.
  • April 2004: Sustainable Development in Africa, University of Gambia, Department of Social Sciences, Development Studies, Gambia.
  • Paper presentationNovember 2003: Water Access and Water Politics in the Slum Localities of Mumbai, Development and Environment Society, London.
  • Paper presentation September 2003: Teaching 'Slavery' to British Undergraduates: A Black Critique of Fieldwork Practice, RSG/IBG Conference, London.
  • Workshop leader July 2003: Workshop on Disability Awareness, University Staff Development Day, University of Derby, Derby.
  • Paper presentation April 2003: Action Towards Micro-Credit in the Gambia, Action Aid, Banjul, Gambia.
  • Paper presentation February 2002: Negotiating Food Security for the Poor in Mumbai: Public Distribution System and Civil Society/State Partnerships, Open University Residential School (Tu872) Development Management, Stoke Rochford Hall, Lincolnshire.
  • Guest seminar February 2002: Women and Agricultural Sustainability in the Gambia, University of Staffordshire, Department of Geography, Keele.
  • Seminar presentation January 2002: Ladies of Leisure: Intergenerational Everyday Leisure Practices of Mirpuri Mothers and Daughters: Findings of a Pilot Study in Nottingham, University of Derby, School of Tourism and Hospitality, Derby.
  • Guest seminar participation April 2001: Capitalising on Cultural Differences: the Ethnic Food sector in Birmingham, University of Birmingham, Birmingham.
  • Paper presentation September 2000: University of Nottingham People, Land, Sustainability Conference, Securing Food, Securing Incomes, Women's Vegetable Gardens in the Gambia, Nottingham.
  • Paper presentation August 1994: 13th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies, Pollution, Purity and the Ideal Womanhood: Rituals, Ideology and Consumer Demand for Prepared Foods in Bombay, Toulouse, France.
  • Paper presentation November 1993: Development Policy and Practice Seminar, Methodological Dilemmas of Researching Womens' Poverty, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
  • Paper presentation June 1991: Conference of Socialist Economists, Income Generation Capacities and Social Differentiation: The Mealmaking Women of Bombay, Nottingham.
  • Paper presentation March 1991: Development Policy and Practice Seminar, An Overview of the Indian Food-Processing Industry, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
  • Paper presentation March 1990: Development Policy and Practice Seminar, Feeding Migrant Workers: Social Differentiation Between the Khannawallis (Mealmakers) of Bombay, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
  • Paper presentation September 1989: Development Studies Association, Food-Processing in Indian Cities: Women and Organisation in an Uncaptured Market, The Queen's University, Belfast

Additional Interests and Activities

  • March 2007: Prepared a written report on the academic review of course materials and book Poverty and Development (Allen, T. and Thomas, A. 2000) for a rewrite of (U213) Open University distance-learning 2nd year course on Development Studies.
  • 2003 consultant on Development Management Projects, Centre of Complexity and Change, The Open University.
  • 2002 consultant on Public Action and Development Policy, Study guide 2, Course TU871(MA in Development: Context and Practice), The Open University.
  • October 1999 to 2001: 2 year consultancy to serve on the National Everyday Culture Programme (NECP) Steering Committee (NECP), Pavis Centre, The Open University, Faculty of Social Sciences with Prof Tony Bennett.
  • November 1999 to present: Principal researcher on Audio Visual Media and Diasporic Cultures (a project under the umbrella NECP) with Prof Ken Thompson, The Open University and Prof Roger Bromley, The Nottingham Trent University.

Postgraduate qualifications

  • PhD, The Open University

Edit this person's details

© Copyright University of Derby 2011 | Accessibility | Privacy | Site map | Disclaimer | Freedom of Information | Company info | About us as a charity | Trademarks of the University of Derby | Staff admin