Meghan Cope, Professor, Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences
Professor Cope is an urban social geographer who focuses on social and spatial disempowerment in class, youth, race, and gender. She is interested in cities and communities and how social, economic, and environmental has changed and influenced them. Another important theme in her work is the importance of meaningful spaces that are created in people’s everyday lives.
Professor Cope is currently working on a research project entitled “Mapping American Childhoods”. In this project she looks at the historical geographies of childhood using archival research, visualizations of child related data, bibliographies, and primary sources. Part of this research includes data from the 20th century from the Home for Destitute Children–which was located in Burlington, Vermont. Themes that are prevalent and important in Professor Cope’s project on childhood are spatial conditions, migration, social inequalities, and health and mortality.
“One of the things I love about doing all kinds of qualitative research, from archival work to participatory mapping with marginalized children, is that it lets me in to people’s everyday lives — how they struggle or find joy, how they raise children and work and play, and ultimately how people construct meaningful places through their everyday practices”
More information on her current project can be found using the following link: