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Paul If you took my contribution as a critique on gardening my apologies, this was not my intent. I was simply not sure of the nature of the list, having only joined yesterday and read last months archives of discussion. Personally I dont see why this must be an either or proposition -- as a feminist I have nothing against people talking about critically about personal practices that sustain them and find a lot of insights in the politics of the every day, --- most organizations that have held my interest over the years have included both -- surely this list can too? Sue Ruddick Associate Professor Department of Geography University of Toronto At 08:47 PM 5/25/98 +0000, you wrote: > I have nothing useful to contribute about Indonesia. > All I know about Indonesia is, it's a jungle out there and it's on fire, > raging possibly out of control. > I do know something about gardens and the metaphors that surround >them, despite not having one of my own. > So, if I want to make a contribution to a debate/thread about gardens, I > will and I won't be lectured to about the choice of topic to which I wish to > contribute. > Similarly, if members of this forum wish to discuss Indonesia, > their contracts or their gardens (and I notice that Neil Smith and others >manage to > have their cakes and eat them too-chatting about their beautiful gardens >at the same > time as legislating against others writing about gardens at all), or >anything else, that's > fine by me, and it should be fine by others too. > What is critical geography? Not one that can be cowed into > self-censorship by the great and the good. > ---------- >><> >>To: [log in to unmask] >>Subject: insularity >>Date: Fri, May 22, 1998, 5:47 pm >> >>I have to say I think David Storey is right. The issue is not whether >>there is a politics to gardening but why the politics of gardening are >>consuming us so completely here and now. I am an avid gardener -- >>strawberries ripening as we speak, tomatoes flowering irises >>gorgeous, and my proud compost smelling away -- but I think it is >>transparent of the desperate political position we are in (and I think >>especially in post-Thatcher Britain) that we have to justify chatting >>about gardening as the apex of politics. We can change large structures >>and processes through political organization and action, and the rejection >>of this belief is self-defeating. >> I don't know if we have Indonesian colleagues and comrades on this >>list but I am embarrassed for us all that amidst the events of the last 10 >>days, with 500 plus dead in Indonesia, and with a largely unreported >>genocide in Southern Sudan (BBC is much better than US media on this) we >>have struggled to find the politics in our comfortable gardening >>practices. What is critical geography? >>neil smith > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%