The non spaces of critical geography in Mexico (original) (raw)
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Subverting geopolitics: The reinvention of geography in post-revolutionary Mexico
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 2022
Within the enduring effort to rethink geography from multiple viewpoints and new conceptual categories, critical geographers have recently sought to 'decentralise geopolitics' (An, Sharp, and Shaw, 2021, Dialogues in Human Geography, 11(2), 270) by proposing alternative analyses that can tackle the Eurocentric stance that has largely defined the field. This paper contributes to this decentralising effort by bringing to light, historically, an anti-imperial discourse that took the form of a proper geographical invention. Specifically, the paper analyses the thought of the Mexican intellectual José Vasconcelos-who acted as Secretary of Public Education in the aftermath of the Revolution (1921-1924)-and argues that Vasconcelos' discourse represents a 'subaltern' intervention against the imperial presuppositions of the newborn discipline of geopolitics. The paper contends that Vasconcelos' thought constitutes a conscious attempt, although clearly imbued with 'postcolonial' tensions and contradictions, to challenge the 'scientific' basis of the emerging geopolitical discourse at that time. By analysing Vasconcelos' geographical and geo-social imagination through his recuperation of the myth of Atlantis and the idea of Cosmic Race, the paper illuminates an early operation of 'subaltern geopolitics' (Sharp, 2011, Geoforum, 42, 271) that aimed to contrast the new wave of Western imperialism which, intensively nurtured by socio-environmentalist narratives, defined the turn of the twentieth century.
Critical Geographies in Latin America: Special Issue in the Journal of Latin American Geography
Volume 16, Number 1, April 2017 Table of Contents Special Issue: Critical Geographies in Latin America Guest Editors: Anne-Marie Hanson and John C. Finn Critical Geographies in Latin America pp. 1-15 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0008 John C. Finn, Anne-Marie Hanson The Incorrigible Subject: Mobilizing a Critical Geography of (Latin) America through the Autonomy of Migration pp. 17-42 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0007 Nicholas De Genova Space, Power, and Locality: the Contemporary Use of Territorio in Latin American Geography pp. 43-67 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0009 López María F. Sandoval, Andrea Robertsdotter, Myriam Paredes Geografías de sacrificio y geografías de esperanza: tensiones territoriales en el Ecuador plurinacional pp. 69-92 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0016 Manuela M. M. Silveira, Melissa Moreano, Nadia Romero, Diana Murillo, Gabriela Ruales, Nataly Torres Beyond Removal: Critically Engaging in Research on Geographies of Homelessness in the City of Rio de Janeiro pp. 93-116 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0013 Katharina Schmidt, Igor M. Medeiros Robaina Turismo, abandono y desplazamiento: Mapeando el barrio de La Boca en Buenos Aires pp. 117-137 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0015 Jorge Sequera, Tomás Rodríguez “I risk everything because I have already lost everything”: Central American Female Migrants Speak Out on the Migrant Trail in Oaxaca, Mexico pp. 139-164 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0012 Leigh Anne Schmidt, Stephanie Buechler JLAG Perspectives Forum: Celebrating Critical Geographies of Latin America: Inspired by an NFL Quarterback pp. 165-171 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0010 Sharlene Mollett Geografiando para la resistencia pp. 172-177 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0006 Colectivo de Geografía Crítica del Ecuador Perplexing Entanglements with a Post-Neoliberal State pp. 177-184 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0014 Japhy Wilson The Challenge of Feminist Political Geography to State-Centrism in Latin American Geography pp. 185-193 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0011 Zoe Pearson, Nicholas J. Crane Attending to Researcher Positionality in Geographic Fieldwork on Health in Latin America: Lessons from La Costa Ecuatoriana pp. 194-201 | DOI: 10.1353/lag.2017.0005 Ben W. Brisbois, Patricia Polo Almeida
Geographical practice in Mexico: The cultural geography project
Social & Cultural Geography 4(4), 2003
The politics of constructing an international group of critical geographers and a common space of action À Very recently, I had the opportunity of spending eight months of my sabbatical in Britain, in search of the most relevant theoretical and political paths in social sciences in general, and geography in particular. There were, of course, a lot of surprises, especially in the form and direction that discussion has taken over the last five years. In my perception, the most important was the focus of the`left' (if we can still speak of one) on the necessity for generating a new project which is different from the neoliberal claims of efficiency and growth. Certainly there was not one unified position. On the contrary, there were many visions of how to achieve new paths in society. But what was particularly significant was the mantra demanding an alternative view with which to face social change and transformation. My surprise was twofold. First, I realized that the disturbances caused by neo-liberalism are important in the societies of the North as well as in the South. Seattle was an inspiring event, even if it had neither the form nor the intensity of some movements. But, second, I recognized this interest as part of the project we initiated in Vancouver in August 1997: to construct a group of critical geographers searching for the generation of a new reality. The slogan we have adopted since then,`a world to win', makes much more sense to me now. Then I thought it referred only to us, the countries of the South and East. But, on the contrary, there is a Northern and Western world waiting for new trends and orientations for the future. We have to win this part of the world as well. As my reflection continued, I thought, are we going to be just one more of all those groups discussing the subject? What is our specificity or relation to other possible groups or associations? I found our differences from other groups or intellectuals were three. First, we are not a professional association or a union: we opened the call to geographers and nongeographers interested in the problems of the world. We are constructing an interdisciplinary group to fulfil a project and not only gathering together for exchange of ideas. Second, we are not only imagining a project. We are also attempting to build a geographical practice as a political tool to develop a more egalitarian world. Third, we are internationalist, as we aspire to join as many geographers/ participants from all over the world to have an impact on its transformation. We face some problems that we have been discussing since 1997. First, how are we going to name ourselvesöa group, net, network, or union? Second, is academic activity a political tool for change or is our practice only political if we are linked with social movements? And third, what sort of project will it be and how are we going to generate it, if we face such different realities? The answers to those questions might be diverse; but in fact I think they are interconnected. I will try to present my position, in order to generate, hopefully, a debate and possibly a consensus. The construction of a group, association, net, or network of international geographers , including colleges from all over the world, has two main challenges to overcome: we must create a joint project, while simultaneously perceiving differences in conceptions depending upon our cultural backgrounds and world perspectives. It is then a double exercise of generating consensus but, at the same time, with respect to
Geoforum, 2005
This paper argues that critical geographies of Latin America begin with an analysis of how and why the bodies and geographies of geographers themselves matter. To focus on the geographer as a producer of knowledge is not to advocate the kind of navel gazing so abhorrent to many scholars. Rather, it is an effort to call attention to and critically assess how the geographer's embodied social position and geographic location inform the production of knowledge about and representations of Latin American people and nature. To illustrate how and why bodies and geographies matter, I draw from feminist and post-colonial theory and include examples from my own experiences and those of other researchers doing fieldwork in Latin American countries. I conclude by exploring the notion of situated knowledge as a tactic that writes bodies and geographies into academic texts. Ultimately, situating knowledge represents a political intervention and contribution to the broader goals of emancipatory politics shared by critical human geographers.
Critical Geography: An Introduction
2020
Critical geography is based upon the notion that humanity has the potential to transform the environment. It challenges the dominant ideologies that characterise international political structures, hence contesting traditional categories and units of analysis in IR such as anarchy, security and the concept of the state. Critical geography is based upon the principle that questions about spatial relations, which refer to how an object located within a particular space relates to another object, are important because political behaviour is embedded in socio-political structures based on ideas about space. Following from this, if scholarship and political behaviour are ingrained in socio-political structures, an objective analysis of international politics becomes impossible. IR theory cannot reflect the global situation from a neutral standpoint. Critical geographers suggest that alternative ways of thinking about space have the potential to change fundamental ideas, theories and appr...
Placing Critical Geographies: Historical Geographies of Critical Geography
2022
This book explores the multiple histories of critical geography as it developed in 14 different locations around the globe, whilst bringing together a range of approaches in critical geography. It is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive account of a wide variety of historical geographies of critical geography from around the world. Accordingly, the chapters provide accounts of the development of critical approaches in geography from beyond the hegemonic Anglo-American metropoles. Bringing together geographers from a wide range of regional and intellectual milieus, this volume provides a critical overview that is international and illustrates the interactions (or lack thereof) between different critical geographers, working across a range of spaces. The chapters provide a more nuanced history of critical geography, suggesting that while there were sometimes strong connections with Anglo-American critical geography, there were also deeply independent developments that were part of the construction of very different kinds of critical geography in different parts of the world. Placing Critical Geographies provides an excellent companion to existing histories of critical geography and will be important reading for researchers as well as undergraduate and graduate students of the history and philosophy of geography.