Massey, Doreen (1944–)

One of contemporary geography's leading theoreticians, Doreen Massey has made numerous pioneering inroads in the analysis of space and place, including gender relations, globalization, and the nature of places. Massey is simultaneously an influential scholar in geographic thought; urban, economic, and political geography; feminism; and Third World development.

Born in Manchester and educated at the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford, Massey began her career at a London think tank, the Centre for Environmental Studies, from 1968 to 1980. In 1982, she became a professor at the Open University. She cofounded and edits Soundings, a journal of politics and culture. In 1982, she became a fellow of the British Academy, and in 1998, she was awarded the Prix Vautrin Lud (the “Nobel Prize of geography”). In addition ...