Participatory Geographies Research Group sponsored session. RGS-IBG Annual Meeting, 3^rd July – 5^th July, Edinburgh

 

Convenors: Kye Askins (Northumbria University, Kerry Burton (University of Exeter) and Kelvin Mason

 

Fuller Geographies: The insecurity of geography and geographers’ insecurities

Amidst continuing debates about the relevance of geography, we find ourselves at a critical moment of increasingly uneven geographies: economic and environmental ‘crises’, poverty, social inequality, and disconnection between dominant political (and geopolitical) discourses and everyday lived lives. Through both our research and teaching, participatory geographers remain committed to working with communities and students in the co-construction of agencies and knowledges that can respond to these issues. Yet, this is also a time when we see academic jobs disappearing, an increase in precarious forms of academic employment, and artificially separated career tracts based on research or teaching-only positions. Collegiate and socially engaged modes of working remain undervalued, despite (we could argue) some reference to ‘impact’ in auditing processes across the academic world. This raises questions regarding what we are doing as geographers, to ourselves and to others, and what the academy is doing to us as we strive to teach and learn well, support each other, research where research is needed (and not just where it’s funded), to work collaboratively and make our work public and useful, and attempt to have fulfilling lives beyond the academy.’ Fuller Geographies’ is an open/roundtable for discussion, inviting participants to explore possible spaces for mutual aid and to share strategies for securing our own and geography’s relevance and futures.

 

While we are not asking for contributions in the standard conference format, anyone interested in participating should contact Kelvin Mason [log in to unmask] and Kerry Burton [log in to unmask]

 

Fuller Geographies is supported with a blog for ideas, discussion and sharing resources before and possible in the wake of the Conference http://fullergeog.blogspot.com/

There is a twitter account for the session too @fuller_geogs

 

There are a number of sessions with similar themes at the Conference and participants in these are also welcome to participate in Fuller and to use the blog, particularly:

 

‘When is a geographer not a geographer? The security of geographers' identities through change’ Tim Hall [log in to unmask]

 

Social and Cultural Geographies of Impact Sarah Mills ([log in to unmask])

 

Interdisciplinary geographies Candice Boyd [log in to unmask]