The garden as a laboratory: the role of domestic gardens as places of scientific exploration in the long 18th century

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Post-Medieval Archaeology on 24/06/2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/0079423614Z.00000000054Eighteenth-century gardens have traditionally been viewed as spaces designed for leisure, and as representations of political status, power and taste. In contrast, this paper will explore the concept that gardens in this period could be seen as dynamic spaces where scientific experiment and medical practice could occur. Two examples have been explored in the pilot study which has led to this paper — the designed landscapes associated with John Hunter’s Earl’s Court residence, in London, and the garden at Edward Jenner’s house in Berkeley, Gloucestershire. Garden history methodologies have been implemented in order to consider the extent to which these domestic gardens can be viewed as experimental spaces

Oribatid communities and heavy metal bioaccumulation in selected species associated with lichens in a heavily contaminated habitat

The study examines oribatid communities and heavy metal bioaccumulation in selected species associated with different microhabitats of a post-smelting dump, i.e. three lichen species of Cladonia with various growth forms and the slag substrate. The abundance of oribatids collected from the substrate was significantly lower than observed in lichen thalli. The morphology and chemical properties of lichens, and to some extent varying concentrations of heavy metals in thalli, are probably responsible for significant differences in oribatid communities inhabiting different Cladonia species. Some oribatids demonstrate the ability to accumulate zinc and cadmium with unusual efficiency, whereas lead is the most effectively regulated element by all species. A positive correlation was found between Zn content in all studied oribatids and their microhabitats. Oribatids exploring different food resources, i.e. fungivorous and non-fungivorous grazers, show considerable differences in bioconcentrations of certain elements

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SIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Gender, place and leisure Women's leisure in two contrasting areas of Tyneside

SIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Grandfathering as spatio-temporal practice: conceptualizing performances of ageing masculinities in contemporary familial carescapes

This paper examines the spatio-temporalities of the intergenerational caring practices that contemporary grandfathers engage in with their grandchildren, in order to critique old men’s constructions and performances of ageing masculinities, and the gendering and ageing of contemporary carescapes. Findings are based on 31 qualitative interviews and two participant observations, conducted in the North-West of England with men who are grandfathers. The concept of carescapes (Bowlby, Gregory and McKie 1997) is employed to explain that grandfathering is both spatially and temporally organized. Findings suggest that men construct distinctly masculine spaces of care later in life, contingent on both their resistance to spatially embedded ageism and their comparisons of grandfathering to previous lifecourse subjectivities, such as fathering. Complexity and diversity in how men negotiate these factors is also apparent and is explored. There is evidence for example that some men’s performances of ageing masculinities contribute to the maintenance of a gendered division of labour in family care work, while others perform alternative masculinities that offer potential to transform gendered carespaces. This is further mediated by intergenerational interactions with children and grandchildren. Focus on old men who are grandfathers necessarily complicates geographical perspectives on the spatio-temporalities of multiple masculinities, ageing and informal familial care