now that is real history that must be preserved - in case Mike ever gets to
the senior moments!
--On 22 April 2009 13:20 +0100 Michael Woods <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> My recollection is that impetus was provided by the 'merger' of the
> Institute of British Geographers (IBG) with the Royal Geographical
> Society (RGS), which was voted on in 1994 and came into effect during
> 1995, despite the overwhelming opposition of critical geographers in the
> IBG. I recall an informal but well-attended meeting of critical
> geographers at the IBG Conference at Northumbria in January 1995, post
> the merger vote, at which a number of ideas were discussed, ranging from
> setting up a new formal organization as a continuation of the IBG, to a
> more informal network linked through the internet. I presume that the CGF
> list was set up shortly after this meeting, in early 1995.
>
>
>
> The 'Shell' dispute in the RGS helped to give the CGF momentum. As
> recorded in the special forum in Ethics, Place and Environment, this
> issue really developed in late 1995, following the execution of Ken
> Saro-Wiwa in November 1995. The initial protests took the form of letters
> from individual geographers to the RGS President and/or Director, not
> necessarily coordinated through the CGF. These protests were summarily
> dismissed by the RGS Council in early December (as the postgrad
> representative on the Council I remember sitting between a Field Marshall
> and the former Governor of Gibraltar as Viscount Montgomery ranted that
> for the RGS to drop Shell as a sponsor would be an insult to the Queen,
> without ever declaring that he had himself worked for Shell in Nigeria.
> The recently retired CEO of Shell, Sir Peter Holmes, who was the RGS
> treasurer at the time had appropriately absented himself from the meeting
> -- but I digress).
>
>
>
> The Shell issue was debated at an 'open forum' at the new RGS-IBG
> Conference at Strathclyde in January 1996, and a vote taken that
> overwhelmingly backed the severing of ties with Shell. However, the 'open
> forum' had been introduced by the RGS to replace the previous IBG AGM at
> the conference, but had no constitutional basis. As such, the vote
> counted for nothing and was again dismissed by the RGS-IBG Council. It
> was after this that a group of critical geographers used an obscure
> provision in the RGS bye-laws to demand that the issue be put to the
> whole membership at a Special General Meeting of the RGS-IBG, which was
> duly held in November 1996, with a parallel postal vote. Unfortunately,
> the motion to end Shell's sponsorship was lost by 4308 votes to 1590.
>
>
>
> The CGF list came into its own as a vehicle for organizing this campaign,
> but this was only part of a much more widely ranging discussion on the
> list at the time about ways to advance and 'institutionalize' critical
> geography, including the drawing up of a statement of principles for the
> CGF, which I think happened in the spring or early summer of 1996.
>
>
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
>
> Professor Michael Woods
>
> Director/ Cyfarwyddwr
>
> Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences/ Sefydliad Daearyddiaeth a
> Gwyddorau Daear
>
>
>
> Aberystwyth University/ Prifysgol Aberystwyth
>
> Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB
>
> Phone / Ffon: 01970 622589
>
> Fax / Ffacs: 01970 622659
>
> E-mail / E-bost: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
>
> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lawrence Berg
> Sent: 22 April 2009 04:56
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: CGF start date?
> Importance: High
>
>
>
> Does anyone remember exactly when the CGF list was created? The earliest
> posting in the CGF archive is from Joe Painter on 20 March 1996, but it
> is clearly not the first posting to the list.
>
> I'm currently writing a little potted history of critical geography and
> I'm trying to understand the relationship between the RGS-IBG merger,
> Shell sponsorship, and creation of the CGF. If anyone has a memory for
> these matters, I'd be very grateful if you could get in touch with me by
> email. It might be useful to keep this discussion on the list, as it
> could spur old memories (and it might remind some of us why we are part
> of this coalitional thing called 'critical geography').
>
> I'm quite familiar with the Ethics Place and Environment special forum on
> the Shell/RGS issue organised/guest edited by David Gilbert, but want to
> get some more specific details on the rise of the CGF, and thus the
> institutionalization in the UK of 'critical geography' as a
> well-recognized term. There is lots in the CGF archive that points to
> the development of the International Critical Geography Group, but
> nothing to give me a hint about the formation of the CGF list itself.
>
> Thanks in advance for any assistance,
> Lawrence
>
> --
> Lawrence D. Berg, D.Phil.
> Co-Director, The Centre for Social, Spatial & Economic Justice
> http://www.chrdi.org/CSSEJ/cssejsite/Welcome.html
> Graduate Coordinator, Human Geography
>
> Community, Culture and Global Studies
> University of British Columbia
> 3333 University Way
> Kelowna, BC, Canada, V1V 1V7
> Voice: +1 250.807.9392, Fax: +1 250.807.8001
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> WEB: http://www.chrdi.org/ldb/index.html
>
> Editor: ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies
> http://www.acme-journal.org
>
> Co-Leader: BC Disabilities Health Research Network
> http://www.dhrn.ca
----------------------
Prof Ron Johnston FBA
School of Geographical Sciences
University of Bristol
Bristol BS8 1SS, UK
+44 (0)117 928 9116
[log in to unmask]
http://www.ggy.bris.ac.uk/staff/staff_johnston.html
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