Far from 'closing down' any discussion on crit-geog, my intention is to
(greatly) widen it out, if possible. One of the great strengths of geography is the
wide range of subjects it covers, as very many things, perhaps all, have a
'spatial' dimension. Yet the range of topics on crit-geog in recent times has
been very limited. Aside from the (very useful) job vacancy and conference
announcements, there has been little said not relating to Iraq, weapons of mass
distruction, who informed the UK govt of what regarding these WMDs, what thye
UK/USA are/should/should not be doing in Iraq.
I wouldn't argue that the Iraq invasion by the US in Spring 2003 wasn't the
most important geopolitical development since perhaps the fall of Communism
ca.1990, nor minimise the importancve of events leading up to the US invasion,
like 9-11, perhaps the earlier Intifada, maybe right back to the founding of
Israel 1947, and so on back..... We geographers should inded have much to say
about Iraq, 2003, and maybe implications for Iran, Syria etc.
But there are also many important (outside geopolitics, but definitely inside
Geography) things going on, some of which may yet have more impact in
humanity than Iraq does, eg increasing world poverty, wider rich-poor gap within 1st
world and between 1st and 3rd world, pollution/climate change, AIDS,
increasing power of the western 'corporate' state, etc etc etc.
So the point of my contribution was - how come we have very little debate on
these things?? Others too on this list have asked why so little range of
debate.
We can't all have been on holiday, or 100% busy with lecturing/marking/admin
etc duties for all these past months, surely. Well, not all the geographers
interested in things non-Iraqi. I - and a few others - have attempted to get
other debates going on crit-geog but to no avail. (PS in reply to Dr Tolia-Kelly
I have made 2 recent contributions, neither of which elicited any response.
one was about the disproportionate legal response by France to the anti
McDonalds efforts of Mr Bove, the other was about inequality)
I had hoped to get some other debates going, but the fact that (so far) the
only reply to this effort has been one of derogation of my efforts bodes ill
for the potential wide discussions we could be having here. I don't intend to
rant at any other members, and hope no-one else will either, but use their
energies to widen out the 'crit-geog debate' a little.
Hillary Shaw, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT
In a message dated 10/07/2003 14:43:33 GMT Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< Hillary . .
I'm sorry but I couldn't see any positive contribution in your comments . .
was this an attempt to close down the discussion as was because you didn't
like the content . . or were you intending to offer some subjects for
discussion yourself?
As I understand it the forum is a forum for all contributions . . I didn't
realise that an individual could appoint themselvres censure . .or moral
gatekeeper . . I find that the effect of your contribution is reductive and
insulting . . put something on the table please or let the flow continue
wether you want to take part or not.
Divya.
Divya Tolia-Kelly (Dr)
Lecturer in Human Geography
Department of Geography,
University College London,
26 Bedford Way,
London WC1H 0AP.
United Kingdom. >>
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