Progressive Geographies

Adam Bobbette and Amy Donovan (eds.), Political Geology: Active Stratigraphies and the Making of Life – Springer 2018. Looks an interesting collection but a great shame about the prohibitive price.

This book builds on the enthusiasm for the geological generated by the Anthropocene but expand beyond it in three ways. First, it will probe deeper into the politics, history, and contemporary practices of the geological sciences as a way of thinking, representing, and communicating the geos. This will open up the history of the earth sciences as a science that has been fundamentally imbricated with politics and that its politics has been one of making the geological sensible. Second, it will consider in detail geologies that are volatile and vulnerable and that because of this are subject to practices of governance. Finally, it will multiply the tradition of geological thought in the sciences by considering subaltern, amodern, vernacular, and counter traditions of geological practice and science and its political resonances. This volume will consider these three frameworks through essays historical, ethnographic and conceptual, mindful of the richness of empirical detail and the innovative consequences of looking at the intersections of geology and politics.
The book brings together key thinkers on geological politics and political geology as well as emerging topics in human and cultural geography. It will include ten clearly structured chapters, and will seek to solidify a field of inquiry that is of interest to geographers, philosophers of science, anthropologists and sociologists.

Cities and colonialism: The Space of Colonialism – Royal Academy, 3 December 2018, 6.30pm – with Ana Naomi de Sousa, Aya Nasser, Yara Sharif and Léopold Lambert,

How have the urban spaces of Lisbon, Cairo and Jerusalem been shaped by colonialism? Join our panel as we discuss the impact of colonialism on contemporary urban landscapes.

Architecture has been used politically, to shape identities, form behaviours and as a tool to channel power. However, architecture also has the potential to subvert politics and to reappropriate space.

In the second event in The Space of Colonialism series, we look at the political potential of architecture through the lens of colonialism and the city. With a focus on Lisbon, Cairo and Jerusalem, we will explore how post-colonial politics continue to transform the built environment and shape public space in these different geographical contexts.

Our panel will examine how a colonial state can demolish and construct parts of a city to assert control, organising cities into spaces in which citizens are permitted or excluded. Join us for a discussion on the city as a stage for anti-colonial struggles.

The Space of Colonialism series is guest curated by Léopold Lambert and The Funambulist, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to the politics of space and bodies.

Interstices Under Construction Symposium:

18 – 19th July 2019, Auckland, New Zealand

University of Auckland & Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

Abstracts will be assessed by an academic committee appointed by the symposium organisers and then be subject to a double blind review process. Accepted abstracts will be published on the Interstices website: http://www.interstices.ac.nz/news-events/. Deadline 25 January 2019.

The symposium will be followed by a call for papers on the same topic for Issue 21 of Interstices: Journal of Architecture and Related Arts. The deadline for submission of 5000 words papers for issue 20 of Interstices will be, subject to review, on 1^st October 2019, with the estimated publication in February 2020. For Journal’s submission guidelines see: https://www.interstices.ac.nz/information-for-contributors/guidelines-for-submissions/

Keynotes:

Professor Felicity Scott, GSAPP Columbia University, U.S.
Professor Ian Buchanan, University of Wollongong, Australia.
Bernard Khoury/DW5, Architect, Lebanon (TBC).

Convenors:

Farzaneh Haghighi, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Nikolina Bobic, University of Plymouth, UK.
Andrew Douglas and Sue Hedges, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.

For more see: https://www.interstices.ac.nz/call-for-papers-7/

Image credit: Photo and design by Nikolina Bobic

David Harvey with Laura Flanders – via davidharvey.org