Call for papers: Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting
Boston, 15-19 April 2008
"Global Knowledge Nodes and Networks in Higher Education and
Research"
Session organisers: Michael Hoyler and Heike Jöns, Department of
Geography, Loughborough University
Despite a manifest interest by geographers and others in the
spatialities of
knowledge in various contexts, relatively little work has focused on the
discursive and material production of nodes and networks of higher
education
and research. Historically, educational centres have long been places of
transnational exchange of knowledge and ideas, be it through
correspondence networks (Lux and Cook 1998), career mobility (Taylor et al.
2007), academic travel (Jöns 2007) or the movement of students. More
recently, the globalisation agenda has led many governments and
institutions
of higher education to develop explicit strategies of
‘internationalisation’ as
means of strengthening their (national or institutional) position as
globally
competitive knowledge nodes (O’Connor 2005, Olds 2007).
This session aims to explore past and contemporary geographies of
‘knowledge nodes’ and their embeddedness in wider networks. We are
interested in critical interrogations of the discursive and material
production of
such nodes, in analyses of different strategies of educational network
formation, and in case studies of particular institutions, cities, or
‘educational
hubs’, i.e. clusters of educational and research institutions at various
spatial
scales.
Potential topics for papers include:
* The changing geographies of scientific nodes and networks
* The historical and contemporary formation of transnational educational
networks (e.g. through student
exchange, branch campuses, research collaboration)
* Globalisation and the reconfiguration of transnational knowledge spaces
* Globalisation and the construction of ‘educational hubs’
* Discursive strategies to develop and promote ‘knowledge nodes’
* Academic travel and centres of knowledge production
If you are interested in participating in this session, please send
title and
abstract (of no more than 250 words) to Michael Hoyler
([log in to unmask]) or Heike Jöns ([log in to unmask]) by 19th October
2007. The AAG abstract specifications can be found at
http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/2008/abstract.htm
References
Jöns, H. (2007) Academic travel from Cambridge University and the formation
of centres of knowledge, 1885-1954. GaWC Research Bulletin 234
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb234.html
Lux, D.S. and Cook, H.J. (1998) Closed circles or open networks?
Communicating at a distance during the Scientific Revolution, History of
Science 36(2), 179-211.
O’Connor, K. (2005) International students and global cities. GaWC Research
Bulletin 161 http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb161.html
Olds, K. (2007) Global assemblage: Singapore, foreign universities, and the
construction of a ‘global education hub’, World Development 35(6), 959-975.
Taylor, P.J., Hoyler, M. and Evans, D.M. (2007) A geohistorical study of
the
rise of modern science: career paths of leading scientists in urban
networks,
1500-1900. GaWC Research Bulletin 233
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb233.html
--
Michael Hoyler
Lecturer in Human Geography
Department of Geography
Loughborough University
Loughborough LE11 3TU
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1509 222740
Fax: +44 (0)1509 223930
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