Mary Benbow

Mary Benbow is an associate professor in the Department of Environment and Geography in the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources. She has been a professor at the University of Manitoba since 1990, and is also a Senior Fellow at St. John’s College. Her research focuses the social, cultural, and environmental implications of zoos and aquariums. This research looks at how these cultural institutions affect human perceptions of animals and conservation including how zoos have developed as spaces and places, the zoo as cultural landscape, visitor attitudes and behaviours regarding climate change, and the analysis of overheard zoo visitor conversations and visitor behaviour. From 2007 to 2019, she was the Associate Dean (Academic) in the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources.

• University of Liverpool, Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Science, Department of Geography, January 1997 – June 1990 (part-time) “Modelling the Dimethylsulphide Feedback Loop”
• University of Liverpool, BA (Hons), Department of Geography, 1983-1986

• GEOG 2372 Geography of Tourism – undergraduate course that examines the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of tourism and recreation.
• GEOG 3822 The Meaning of Maps – undergraduate course that examines mapping theory and practice to show how maps construct knowledge, exercise power, and can promote social change.
• GEOG 3860 Animal Geographies – undergraduate course that examines the interactions between humans and animals,how humans influence and use animals, and the many roles animals play in human lives and environments.

• Bueddefeld, J. and Benbow, M., 2020, The Greening of Polar Bears: Lively Commodities in a Climate Change Economy, in “Working Animals of Tourism” (edited Jillian Rickly and Carol Kline Appstate)
• Bueddefeld, J., Benbow, M., and Van Winkle, C. M. (Under Review) Post-occupancy of visitor interpretation. Visitor Studies.
• Bueddefeld, J., Van Winkle, C. M., and Benbow, M. (2018) Journey to Churchill Interpretive Exhibit Case Study: Innovation in Evaluation. In Innovative Leisure Practices: Cases as Conduits Between Theory and Practice, Volume 3. Nanaimo, BC: World Leisure Centre of Excellence.
• Hallman, B. C. and Benbow, S. M. P., 2010, ‘Seeing if you can catch the one picture that just makes it’: Placing Family Life Through Family Zoo Photography, pp. 10 – 30, in Hallman, B. C. (ed.) Family Geographies: The Spatiality of Families and Family Life, Oxford University Press (Don Mills, Ontario), 246 pp.
• Benbow, S. M. P. and Hallman, B., 2008, Reading the Zoo Map: Cultural Heritage Insights from Popular Cartography, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 14(1), pp. 30 – 42. Invited Manuscript.
• Hallman, B. C. and Benbow, S. M. P., 2007, Family Leisure, Photography and Zoos: Exploring the Emotional Geographies of Families, Social and Cultural Geography, 8(6), pp. 871 – 888.
• Hallman, B. and Benbow, S. M. P., 2006, Naturally Cultural: The Zoo as Cultural Landscape, The Canadian Geographer, 50(2), pp. 256-264.
• Benbow, S. M. P., 2004, Death and Dying at the Zoo, Journal of Popular Culture, 37(3), pp. 379-398
• Benbow, S. M. P., 2000, Zoos: Public Places to view Private Lives, Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 33 (4), pp. 13-24.
• Benbow, S. M. P., 1998, File not Found: the problems of changing URLs for the World Wide Web, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, Vol. 8, pp. 247-250.
• Benbow, S. M. P., 1996, A View through the Glass: Aquariums on the Internet, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, Vol. 7, pp. 27- 31.
• Benbow, S. M. P., 1995, Getting Close from Far Away: Zoos on the Internet, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, Vol. 5, pp. 32- 36.