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Envisioning Human Geographies PDF

259 Pages·2004·1.362 MB·English
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ENVI SI ONI NG Human Geographies This page intentionally left blank E N V I S I O N I N G Human Geographies EDITED BY Paul Cloke • Philip Crang • Mark Goodwin Prelims.qxd 3/12/03 12:13 Page iv First edition published 2004 by Hodder Arnold Distributed in the USA by Oxford University Press Published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2004 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. The advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of going to press, but neither the authors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 13: 978-0-340-72012-7 (pbk) Typeset in 10/14 GillSans by Charon Tec Pvt.Ltd,Chennai,India Prelims.qxd 3/12/03 12:13 Page v CONTENTS Introduction 1 Paul Cloke Chapter 1 Space and substance in geography 11 Neil Smith Chapter 2 Engaging ecologies 30 Margaret Fitzsimmons Chapter 3 Enclosure:a modern spatiality of nature 48 Michael J Watts Chapter 4 Recovering the future:a post-disciplinary perspective on geography and political economy 65 Mark Goodwin Chapter 5 Summoning life 81 Nigel Thrift Chapter 6 Postcolonial geographies:spatial narratives of inequality and interconnection 104 Catherine Nash Chapter 7 Feminist geographies:spatialising feminist politics 128 Geraldine Pratt Chapter 8 Poststructuralist geographies:the essential selection 146 Marcus A Doel Chapter 9 Computing geographical futures 172 John Pickles Chapter 10 Morality,ethics and social justice 195 David M.Smith Chapter 11 Deliver us from evil? Prospects for living ethically and acting politically in human geography 210 Paul Cloke Chapter 12 Activist geographies:building possible worlds 229 Sue Ruddick v This page intentionally left blank Introduction.qxd 3/12/03 12:14 Page 1 Introduction Paul Cloke Personal vision? This book presents a series of personal visions for the future of human geography.Before introducing each chapter,I want to dwell briefly on this interconnection between the per- sonal,the subject and the visionary agenda,because it seems important to recognise that the ‘subject’ of human geography is very much to be found at the interstices of individual human geographers and the collectivity of their and others’ work.To identify stimulating futures for human geography,then,will at least in part entail a recognition of the kinds of intellectual, ideological, aesthetic and everyday prompts which fire the personal human geographical imagination. An understanding of why we are interested in particular sub- jects/objects/modes of human geographical study will not solely be found in the quality and persuasiveness of the canon of study which already exists,important though that is. Such an understanding will also demand some scrutiny of the subjectivities, identities, positionalities and situated knowledges that we as individuals bring to the collectivity of that canon. The iteration of individuality and collectivity is,I suspect,a fundamental but sometimes taken-for-granted aspect of the academic profession of human geography. In the every- day events of seminars, tutorials, presentations, reading groups and the like, choice is exercised over the focus of the event; politics are worked out in its conduct and inter- relations;experienceis deployed in order to ground,illustrate,compare or contrast;posi- tionis expressed (and sometimes shifted) in critical engagement with text and discussion; knowledge is displayed in the structuring or destabilisation of understanding; and deep- seated but sometimes difficult-to-define aspects of opinion – like and dislike – surface in the seemingly instinctive reaction to particular ideas and expressions. For years now, many human geographers have reacted vehemently against the notion that they should operate as some kind of white-coated automaton,carrying out their work in the tyranny of supposed neutrality and objectivity.It seems important,however,to avoid the oppos- ite essentialism – the idea of caring, sharing human geographers totally in touch with their identities and thoroughly able to recognise and control the reflexive prompting of their subjectivities. No, these expressions of individuality seem much less certain than such an image might suggest. They emerge fitfully and inconsistently, as capable of being swayed by fashion or prejudice as being developed with intellectual or emotional certainty. They also bear the marks of unspoken but plainly evident agendas, such as the pursuit 1 Introduction.qxd 3/12/03 12:14 Page 2 e k o of personal or professional reputation,the external structuring of suitable ‘deliverables’ of Cl ul research and scholarship, and differential levels of ease with arenas of power – where Pa exploration,subjugation and demand of respect are both presenced and performed. Individuality in human geography, then, is a somewhat difficult-to-grasp series of prompts,often hidden behind and justified by a liaison with the existing collective canon. Nevertheless, further scrutiny of what we as individuals bring to the table seems to me to be both necessary and fruitful if we are to proceed to a discussion of what it is to envision the future. There are many ways of approaching such a task, some of which focus autoethnographically on the self, and others which analyse the reflexive principles (ideologies,theories,spiritualities and so on) around which the self is thought to be fash- ioned.Yet another approach,and one which I have found to be both informative and fun in teaching,is to use a sense of like and dislike of texts (books,papers,films) as a mirror of the particularity of an individual approach to the subject.The task here is to fashion an opportunity to choose texts which appeal,and to present an account of that choice – a kind of Desert Island Disc(ourse)s– allowing others to offer an interpretation or decipher- ing of what emerges with reference to the interface between the individual and the texts. There are obvious dangers here, notably the risk of a deliberate fashioning of choice to present a persona which is knowledgeable/fashionable/tasteful/intellectually right-on.However,suspend your scepticism and give it a go.Here,for example,is a sum- mary of a recent exercise in which I chose ten books with links to human geography for my desert island.They were as follows (in no particular order,and bearing in mind that the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare are already in the bag). 1. David Korten (1995) When Corporations Rule The World David Korten is the founder of The People-Centred Development Forum,an organisation concerned with the creation of just, inclusive and sustainable societies through voluntary action. His populist book charts the concentration of economic and political power in a small number of financial institutions and corporations, which are largely blind to human interests and focussed increasingly on short-term financial gain. Although Korten’s ‘estab- lishment’ approach sometimes grates (I think that I really would rather hear commentaries on these issues from the perspective of idealistic,supposedly old-fashioned,left-wing pol- itics), his critical exposure of globalisation necessitates some kind of personal response. It chimes loudly and harmoniously with the issues of practical justice that I share with my wife Viv,who is a champion for ethical trading,and runs a local Traidcraft network in Bristol. 2. John Rawls (1971;1999) A Theory Of Justice This is a book that, to my shame, I have only recently discovered and read. Rawls expounds a theorisation of justice which encompasses both liberty and socio-economic benefit.I don’t find it user-friendly (I’m worried that this exposes an intellectual shallow- ness on my part),but I do find it provocative in terms of appropriate political and ethical futures. I am struck by potential parallels with biblical philosophies of agape, caritas and justice.It is a book that I want to go deeper into. 2 Introduction.qxd 3/12/03 12:14 Page 3 I n t 3. Cynthia Duncan (1999) Worlds Apart r o d Mil Duncan’s account of rural poverty in Appalachia,the Mississippi Delta and New England u c presents powerful ethnographic evidence of the connections between place,community, tio politics and inequality. She contrasts the downward spiral of persistent poverty which n erodes community and political will in Appalachia and the South,with the strong civic cul- turein her New England case study, where a rather different community fabric seems to offer pathways for the escape from poverty.This book scratches where I itch in its concerns for the political and ethical spaces of rurality,and in its methods of encountering its subject. 4. Joanne Passaro (1996) The Unequal Homeless A painstaking ethnography of homelessness in New York,Joanne Passaro’s book under- scores, for me, the continuing importance of social geographies. Not only does she emphasise the cultural and moral locations of homelessness, but her perspectives on gender and race demonstrate how the preferential treatment given to homeless women both keep (predominantly black) men on the streets,and endow women escapees from the streets with embodied and traditional ideals of womanhood. 5. Tim Cresswell (1996) In Place Out Of Place Jim Duncan’s cover note sums up this book more eloquently than I ever could: ‘Through a close reading of that which is considered to be “out of place” in our society, Cresswell casts a brilliant light on the role of space and place in the practices of everyday life and the maintenance of ideological belief…This is new cultural geography at its best.’ More particularly,Tim Cresswell’s study presents ideas and understandings which seem to me to work when applied to knowledges arising from research into rural poverty and rural homelessness. 6. David Syring (2000) Places In The World A Person Could Walk Syring’s evocative and memory-laden anthropological study of the Texas Hill Country explores the notion of belonging to a place.His family histories of ‘homeplace’ interweave graciously with the adoption of the town of Fredericksburg as a virtual home for German Americans attracted by the heritage tourism industry.His recognition of the importance of the local church, both as social nexus and as container of memory, adds important dimensions to the wider discussion of what it is to recognise a place as a spiritual home. 7. Iain Borden (2001) Skateboarding,Space And The City My 18-year-old son, Will, is a skateboarding fanatic. Through his eyes I have learned to rethink the city of Bristol and beyond. His eye for the architecture of place relies on embodied knowledges of surfaces and edges which had previously evaded my perview. His sense of resistance to the conventions and authority of the city is vital to the embodied expression of energy and emotion through skateboarding.Iain Borden’s book charts the subculture through which skateboarders experience and understand the city. For me, this is Will’s human geography. 3

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