My response to the list – which I apologise was rather curt and lacking in an explanation - was motivated by the fact that I felt deeply uncomfortable reading this exchange on critgeog forum;  Pat Noxolo - an African-Caribbean woman geographer - was put in the situation of having to defend her citational practices to a male geographer. It concerns me very much that such an interaction is deemed appropriate in critical geography. The papers in this important special section of Area, and especially those by Vandana Desai and Divya Tolia-Kelly, speak to the everyday challenges experienced by BME scholars and BME women in particular, who study and work in academic geography; the last thing I think we should be doing is asking ethnic minority and black women geographers to justify their citational practices.

 

A paper published recently in Gender, Place and Culture talks about the heteromasculinism that is inherent in citational practices and this excellent paper partly motivated my response: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0966369X.2017.1339022

 

Best

Peter

 

From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Herman, Douglas
Sent: 23 August 2017 04:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Decolonising geographical knowledges: articles in Area and RGS-IBG Annual Conference workshop

 

Quite apart from the whiteness issue, two of three of the authors on this paper are female, including the lead author.

 

Doug

 

From: Crit-Geog-Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Manuel Aalbers <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Manuel Aalbers <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 at 4:28 AM
To: Crit-Geog-Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Decolonising geographical knowledges: articles in Area and RGS-IBG Annual Conference workshop

 

There's a lot of assumptions in that single line, Peter, not least about whiteness...

-- Manuel 

 

 

2017-08-22 15:24 GMT+02:00 Peter Hopkins <[log in to unmask]>:

Clearly there’s not enough white men being cited in geography!!!

 

From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Herman, Douglas
Sent: 16 August 2017 20:41


To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Decolonising geographical knowledges: articles in Area and RGS-IBG Annual Conference workshop

 

Thank you Pat.  No harm done, I’m just hoping to keep moving the conversation forward in as constructive a way as possible.  Among the issues raised in our 2006 article are that decolonizing the discipline is not just about adding Indigenous voices and hiring more indigenous scholars, but about decolonizing both the Western epistemology that prevails in Geography (and most of the rest of academia, for that matter) and the dominant geographic methodologies, to more effectively engage with Indigenous approaches and worldviews.  I would not want these to be lost as the discussion moves forward, and that’s why I think our article is an important touchstone.  

 

Importantly, we also problematize the very notion of “indigenous”: 

 

"At the same time, many indigenous peoples exist within the framework of globalizing ‘Western’ cultures, and encompass realms of existence for many peoples going about the business of living their lives – in urban and non-urban settings, and increasingly where identity is multiple and fluid. The ongoing evolution of ‘tradition’, and consequent transformations through modernity, has resulted in negotiations, resistances and selective appropriations."

 

This is a point too easily lost, as is the point that 

 

"While it is frequently noted that ‘colonialism’ is ‘post’ only in a political sense for former colonies, often even this is not the case for indigenous peoples who exist as marginalized groups, and frequently lack sovereignty on what were once their own lands. The Anglophone-dominated states of Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand (and, some may argue, the United Kingdom) have dominion over internal nations that none-theless retain their identities, and to varying degrees, their languages, their lands, and (limited) autonomy. They are internal ‘colonies’ for which the prefix ‘post’ does not apply. The term ‘postcolonial’ must therefore be used with caution when applied to many indigenous situations."

 

I think the British approaches to post-coloniality all too often falls into this trap.

 

In short, I think our paper is quite comprehensive in its approach to decolonizing the discipline, covering a very broad range of issues that still need to be addressed.  Hence I think that to overlook it weakens the progress that could be made in discussions on the forefront of decolonizing the discipline.

 

On that note, there has been a dearth of British geographers participating in our Indigenous Geography sessions at AAG meetings.  Perhaps it’s time for that to change.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Best wishes,

 

Doug

 

From: Patricia Noxolo <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 8:33 AM
To: RDK Herman <[log in to unmask]>, Crit-Geog-Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: RE: Decolonising geographical knowledges: articles in Area and RGS-IBG Annual Conference workshop

 

Hi Doug,

 

I'm genuinely saddened to hear that you feel silenced in/by my work - I know how that can feel, and I wouldn't want to make anyone feel that way.  I think you might be right that, perhaps because I come from an African-Caribbean background and research in those cultural contexts, I'm more confident engaging with Africa and the Americas in terms of their decolonial debates (though in truth I'm more of a postcolonial scholar), and this perhaps reflects in my work, but I genuinely did not set out to exclude Australian and New Zealand scholarship, and I had hoped that my engagement with Brad Coombes's work might at least dimly reflect my respect for the work done by indigenous scholars in that region.  I welcome the fact that your intervention in this public forum has highlighted any lacuna in my work.

 

All the best,

Pat

Dr Patricia Noxolo,

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences,

University of Birmingham,

Edgbaston,

Birmingham

B15 2TT

UK

From: Herman, Douglas [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 August 2017 18:25
To: Patricia Noxolo; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Decolonising geographical knowledges: articles in Area and RGS-IBG Annual Conference workshop

Aloha Patricia,

 

Thank you for your explanation.  I think the title "Decolonising Geographical Knowledge in a Colonised and Re-colonising Postcolonial World” for a special section of a journal aims at a pretty serious “intervention,” however short.  To me, it intends to be a standard-setting statement on this topic, as does your 2017 "RGS-IBG chair's theme: decolonising geographical knowledges, or reproducing coloniality?” 

 

My work is pretty obscure in the realm of academic geography so I don’t generally expect it to be cited by prominent scholars such as yourself, but as someone who helped spearhead the Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group of the AAG back in 2000 and has organized over 50 conference sessions on Indigenous Geography, it does surprise me to see important work being done on this side of the Atlantic and by my colleagues in Australia—two of the world’s major settler states and former British colonies--being left behind.  Neither of your works cited above engages with what is generally considered a seminal paper on this topic—neither does either of Sarah Radcliff’s recent articles on "Geography and indigeneity" in PHG, incidentally.  

 

I can’t speak for my co-authors, but it makes me feel silenced. And that is an odd feeling to get from work that is supposed to be about decolonization within the discipline.

 

Cheers,

 

Doug

 

— 

RDK (Doug) Herman

Senior Geographer

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

 

 

From: Patricia Noxolo <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 10:48 PM
To: RDK Herman <[log in to unmask]>, Crit-Geog-Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: RE: Decolonising geographical knowledges: articles in Area and RGS-IBG Annual Conference workshop

 

Hi Doug,

 

I think that is an important paper, and it's a paper that I've used a lot in my teaching, but these short commentary pieces are not forums where we can review all the literature I'm afraid - doesn't mean we don't think it's an important piece.  It is one of the problems of the move towards short interventions - they can be more timely, but they are not as thorough in recognising the history of relevant debates, nor indeed in ensuring that all those who should be invited to participate have the time and opportunity to do so.

 

All the best,

Pat

 

Dr Patricia Noxolo,

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences,

University of Birmingham,

Edgbaston,

Birmingham

B15 2TT

UK

From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Herman, Douglas [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 15 August 2017 18:55
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Decolonising geographical knowledges: articles in Area and RGS-IBG Annual Conference workshop

Surprising to see that none of these articles references this paper:

 

 

From: Crit-Geog-Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Peter Kraftl <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Peter Kraftl <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, August 14, 2017 at 1:23 AM
To: Crit-Geog-Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Decolonising geographical knowledges: articles in Area and RGS-IBG Annual Conference workshop

 

Apologies for cross-postings...

 

Dear all,

 

With this year's RGS-IBG Annual Conference a couple of weeks away, list members may be interested in the following publications and workshop, which focus on the conference theme, 'Decolonising Geographical Knowledges'. Please do feel free to forward to your networks!

 

 

1) Publications in Area on 'Decolonising Geographical Knowledges'

 

All of the publications below are currently free to access, and can be found in the most recent issue of the journal: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/area.2017.49.issue-3/issuetoc 

 

a) Special section on Decolonising Geographical Knowledge in a Colonised and Re-colonising Postcolonial World, Guest-Edited by Pat Noxolo, with papers by Vandana Desai, Divya Tolia-Kelly, Andrew Baldwin and Adam Eilliott-Cooper.

 

b) A commentary on the RGS-IBG Annual Conference theme: "The 2017 RGS-IBG chair's theme: decolonising geographical knowledges, or reproducing coloniality?" Authored by James Esson, Pat Noxolo, Richard Baxter, Patricia Daley and Margaret Byron.

 

 

2) Workshop at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference, co-sponsored and co-convened by the RACE Working Group of the RGS-IBG and Area, and to which all conference delegates are very welcome.

 

Title: Decolonising institutional arrangements: insights from the arts, education, and policy

 

Date/time: Thursday 31st August, 14:40-18:30 (two linked sessions)

 

Location: RGS-IBG Education Centre

 

Session abstract (full details here: http://conference.rgs.org/AC2017/203):

 

As noted by Achille Mbembe, contemporary calls to decolonise society are underpinned by two distinct approaches. The first, as exemplified by the 2017 RGS-IBG Annual Conference, seeks to critique the production and promotion of knowledge based on European traditions and experiences. The second approach, which is less common, attempts to envisage what an alternative to the Eurocentric intellectual model could look like and, crucially, demands that decolonising efforts go beyond critique and towards the removal of all ongoing forms of colonial domination. Both endeavours are worthwhile, however this session contributes to the decolonising project by way of the second approach. We aim to expose and begin addressing how forms of violence and ‘microagressions’ experienced by Indigenous, marginalised and racially oppressed groups are both normalized and officially sanctioned by institutional arrangements, such as the RGS-IBG conference, which reproduce coloniality. 

In Session 1, drawing on insights from academics, artists, activists, policy makers and practitioners, we seek to divert academic attention away from the preoccupation with knowledge production and towards a deeper engagement with the lived realities of colonial legacies in a range of UK based institutional settings, spaces and fields. By so doing, we aim to unsettle those within and beyond the discipline that currently benefit from the privileges of coloniality by reminding us of what is truly at stake in calls to decolonise society, namely, the dismantling of oppressive structures that serve to dehumanise indigenous and non-white populations. In Session 2, which consists of an interactive workshop, we will conceptualise, articulate and put forward decolonial agendas for change across a range of institutional domains.

 

Best wishes,


Peter

 

Professor Peter Kraftl

 

Chair in Human Geography & Director of Internationalisation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham

Honorary Professor, School of Education, RMIT

 

Contact details:

 

PA: Louise Collins - [log in to unmask]

 

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences,

Edgbaston,

Birmingham,

B15 2TT,

United Kingdom

 

Telephone: 0044 (0)121 4145524 

Homepage: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/gees/kraftl-peter.aspx

Twitter: @peterkraftl

Editor, Area: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-4762

Current ESRC/FAPESP/Newton Research on young people and the food/water/energy nexus in Brazil: http://www.foodwaterenergynexus.com/