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In this paper, we frame women's experiences in post-disaster recovery housing to highlight the differential distribution of their vulnerabilities. While studies have reported women's resilience in their new residence, their social vulnerability is often exacerbated in post-disaster recovery housing as they disproportionately shoulder the familial responsibilities with limited resources. We collected and analyzed 350 face-to-face interviews with women survivors living in the post-disaster recovery housing after the 2011 Van earthquake. Using Butler's concept of precarity, we argue that under the prevailing patriarchal system, the physical location and the configuration of the new residence, and women's familial status continue to differentially pose challenges for displaced women and worsen their vulnerabilities even years after their relocation. We found that while some women experienced positive changes, they continue to bargain with patriarchy, underlining the oppressiveness of the patriarchal system [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on place branding theory with a case study from a city in Eastern Turkey. The experiences of the city of Van in branding its physical, cultural, and living memories potentially revise the stakeholder approach in tourism branding. The present phenomenological article adopts a qualitative case study, which was based on both face-to-face and phone interviews (n=30) with stakeholders. Although the participants were all enthusiastic about the branding of their city, the study revealed that Western-based approaches such as professional branding organizations and stakeholder-based branding processes do not seem to meet the needs of a community organized around rural “clan” culture and social customs. Rather, in the case study, the brand image had to be agreed upon by all groups involved and the spatial and temporal contexts had to be considered. This paper offers suggestions which will aid policymakers and tourism professionals in place branding in the context of emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geocapabilities developed during team project-based fieldwork add value to Tourism Geography service modules in professional Tourism and Hospitality Management curricula. This article is based on a case-study in Turkish Higher Education. Here, variations on the Prisoner's Dilemma were used to confront learners with some 'wicked problems' they may face in their professional careers. Comments on their decision processes are compared with those in individual reflective essays. Responses to the Prisoner's Dilemma exercises demonstrate optimism and idealism toward: team cooperation, prioritising sustainability, and investing in people. Reflective essay comments were less optimistic and more coloured by personal experience. Evaluation returns suggest most found these decision-making games helpful in clarifying personal priorities, concerns and values. This heightened self-awareness may be key to helping them to tackle the wicked problems they will face in their future careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education sector is increasingly expected to produce graduates with the necessary knowledge and skills in order to meet the needs of job market. In Geography's response to the employability agenda, the discipline should address the relevant issues within their programmes. Initially, in this study, the presence of employability agenda in the UK Geography departments are critically reviewed, providing more emphasise on the factors allowing the discipline in leading the developments in the Higher Education sector. After, in the second part of this study, although the progress in Turkish Geography department is slightly slower than that of the UK, the presence of the employability issues was provided. In addition to this comparison study, the presence of professional Geographers in the job market were also presented. Finally, the study provides an account of comparison in what Turkey learn from the UK Geography departments' experience which makes the discipline champion with some particular developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the concern over the quality of teaching and learning in Higher Education, there has been great interest into the subjects on students' learning experience in Western countries. Particularly, the learning style of students reading Geography in Higher education have been received great attention by the international and national studies alike. There is, however, relatively little study which concentrates on the relationship between the students' learning styles and their learning experience in the Geography programmes. This study, therefore, aims to bring a critical approach to the studies conducted in the literature, comparing their results with those of the current study. In order to achieve this goal, a case study approach which includes a sample of 346 students in Geography department at Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University of Turkey has been employed. The major finding of this study shows that students' learning styles have not been met by the practice in the programme which they study. Nevertheless, the Assimilator students, while their numbers are relatively lower, tend to be agreeing that the teaching and learning activities in addition to the assessment approaches offered by the university lecturers are fit well with their expectations. The study has been concluded with a critical discussion part featuring a comparison of the current study's findings with those of the research on Geography students' learning styles in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although higher education in Turkey does not have especially well-advanced systems and resources for addressing graduate employability, two developments are making it particularly important for Turkish geography departments to give increased priority to this agenda. One is the country’s new Higher Education Qualifications Framework and the other is a major increase in geography student numbers, which means that geographers seeking school teaching posts (traditionally seen as the natural career pathway) now hugely outnumber the posts available. Against this background, this paper proceeds to explore the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) to contribute to geographers’ employability in Turkey through a study involving the views and experiences of academic staff, students and employers. The paper reveals a mixed picture of both opportunities and challenges. It ends with a series of employability recommendations for geography and GIS in Turkey, a number of which could also be of wider relevance elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an era when graduate employability is a key concern, the teaching of geographical information systems (GIS) has become a subject of considerable interest. This paper reports on a study of the GIS student learning experience using student survey data from six UK geography undergraduate programmes. The findings show that although students’ satisfaction levels are generally encouraging, more could be done to capitalize on the opportunities GIS offers both for the discipline and for our students. Recommendations are made for further enhancing the profile and quality of GIS pedagogy in geography curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The city of Van having tangible and intangible heritage sites, which is located at the Eastern Anatolia region, is an important tourism city. In the context of this study, the potential role of women in rural tourism development was critically evaluated. This study aims to discover the presence of women who put a lot of effort in the production of rural herby cheese, which is an important local food, but not yet being adequately considered as a touristic product. The study was conducted in four different provinces of Van, multiple case study design was employed as a part of qualitative research design. In this study, the ethnographic method and face-to-face interviews were mainly adopted to collect data on the issues related to the women who are intensive labour at every stage of the cheese-making and management process; their contributions, daily life experience, their cultural habits, the presence of cheese in their life. The findings include such differences in the role of women in the production process and in receiving benefits from economic outputs. Additionally, the women in the region affected by the socio-cultural attributes are determined their daily practices that imply the production and marketing process of cheese in the region. Finally, it has been concluded that there are still serious problems of the Van Herby Cheese (VHC) making process which seems to be having a great potential for the development of rural tourism in the region on the way of forwarding the cheese-making story into the touristic product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]