I was very sorry to hear of the death of Ron Johnston, whose impact in geography and political science was extensive. I didn’t know him at all really – just a few meetings at conferences or elsewhere, but he was always kind and generous. He will be known to many more people for his daunting list of publications, from the very specialised and technical to his comprehensive surveys for students.

Derek Gregory has a tribute at Geographical Imaginations; Clive Barnett at Pop Theory.

Romanic Review theme issue: – “Category Crossings: Bruno Latour and Medieval Modes of Existence” – freely available online for three months

Bruno Latour’s philosophical project has long been conceived as a critique of modernity, starting with Enlightenment dualisms (nature/culture, words/things, sacred/secular) and extending to the Cyber Age’s promise of unmediated access to knowledge (what Latour calls “Double Click”). The contributors to “Category Crossings,” guest-edited by Marilynn Desmond and Noah D. Guynn, consider the relevance of Latour’s critique for the study of the medieval premodern and ask how his call for a renewal of metaphysics—and for a diplomatic encounter between the various modes of existence—might be used to defamiliarize modern intellectual habits. Read the issue, free for three months, here.

More details here.

Online launch of “Critical Zones” exhibition at ZKM (video and links)

Fri, 22.05., 6 pm (CEST): OPENING Sat–Sun, 23.–24.05.2020: STREAMING FESTIVAL The exhibition “Critical Zones – Observatories for Earthly Politics” about the critical situation of the earth falls through the Corona crisis into a critical time. A new earth policy also requires a new exhibition policy: We are broadcasting! The growing exhibition at the ZKM will be combined with a digital exhibition that will also be rising steadily. The museum will become a “home museum” with a virtual accompanying program. On May 22, 2020 from 6 pm, the exhibition will open with a streaming festival lasting several days, which will span the weekend of May 22–24, 2020. The program will consist of streamed guided tours through the virtual space as well as through the real, but not public exhibition, and will include interviews and lectures. We cordially invite you to the virtual exhibition opening on May 22, 2020 at 6 pm! // HIGHLIGHTS: Introduction with Bruno Latour & Peter Weibel // Guided tour through the virtual exhibition // “Anthropocene Lecture” (Bruno Latour) // screening play “Moving Earth”/ Lecture “Earth Tidings” // Filmscreening & Talk with Donna Haraway: “Storytelling for Earthly Survival” // Walk across the ZKM orchard

To mark the opening of the exhibition there is a free virtual opening and streaming festival, including guided tours, interviews, talks, discussions, film screenings and more – with Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, Peter Weibel, Jennifer Gabrys, Eyal Weizman, Alexandra Arènes, Soheil Hajmirbaba, Marie-Claire Pierret, Jan Zalasiewicz, Bettina Korintenberg, Barbara Kiolbassa, Tim Lenton, Sébastien Dutreuil, Simon Schaffer, Joseph Leo Koerner, Ali Gharib, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Emanuele Coccia, Vinciane Despret, Frédérique Aït-Touati, Adam G. Riess, Bruce Clarke, John Feldman and many others. This includes free online screenings of Donna Haraway: Story Telling for Earthly Survival by Fabrizio Terranova and Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis Rocked the Boat and Started a Scientific Revolution by John Feldman. You can find the programme here, the livestream here, the digital edition of the exhibition here.

thanks to dmf for the link

Call for Papers and invitation to circulate to your networks

Geographical Research

The geographical research implications of COVID-19

The spread around the world of the Corona Virus, or Covid-19, is an explicitly geographical phenomenon. Deploying a geographical sensibility to understand and analyse the many social, political, and economic challenges emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic is key. Geographers working across a range of research areas and with a diversity of geographical theories, methodologies and research skills have much to contribute in the short, medium and long term.

Geographical Research invites commentaries or early investigations into the many geographies of COVID-19, including, but not limited to, contributions on:

• demographic profiles
• digital geographies
• education geographies
• environments and ecologies
• health and care
• housing and home
• political and/or legal geographies
• social and/or cultural geographies
• urban and/or rural geographies

We welcome 250 word abstracts and 6 keywords in alphabetical order by close of business on 1 June 2020. Abstracts will be vetted by the editorial team and proposing editors, @Matthew Kearnes and @Dallas Rogers.

If your abstract is accepted, we will notify you within two weeks. Those abstracts which are accepted will need to be fully developed as for 2,500 to 5,000 word papers by 31 July 2020 and will be subject to double-blind peer review, but we expect to ask reviewers to accelerate their engagement and draw specifically from our Editorial Board for such ends.

Our guidelines for submission are being overhauled at the moment as we move to a new style. Those submissions invited to go to full paper stage should be in a 12-font text in accessible plain Australian English and should account for an international readership. The full paper should include the abstract, 6 keywords, and a key insights statement of about 100 words, and be divided by logical headings and/or subheadings. Note any conflicts of interest. Use APA referencing style. Follow other requirements provided in ScholarOne, https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/geor, to which papers should be submitted.

My list of pieces by Geographers, sociologists, philosophers etc. on covid-19 continues to be updated, though not as frequently as before.