‘German Theory’: Cosmopolitan geographies, counterfactual histories and the (non)travel of a ‘German Foucault’

Korf, Benedikt

doi:10.1177/0263775821989697

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…For instance, Kong and Qian verify and specify the quantitative impact of Anglophone institutions, scholarship and scholars in urban studies; their review of publication and citation patterns finds that "Eurocentrism in geography is mainly in the form of Anglo-American hegemony" (Kong and Qian, 2019: 46). These findings recognize the challenges for non-English theoretical contributions (Korf, 2021) and underline the epistemological impact of Anglophone institutions (Mu¨ller, 2021).…”

Section: The Focus Planes Of Eurocentrismmentioning

confidence: 56%

Refracting Eurocentrism, operationalizing complicity: The Swiss Sonderfall as a vantage point

Hilbrandt

Ren

2022

Environ Plan D

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Critiques of the parochialism of urban theory have resulted in appeals for more global urban studies. Yet, the fruitful responses to postcolonial work frequently remain sequestered, reflecting the persistence of Eurocentrism as a burden shouldered largely by the so-called “South”. This paper aims to shift the work implied by critiques of Eurocentrism – from the labor of translation to the chore of representation – to those whom Eurocentrism serves. We argue that recognizing the ways academics are always already complicit in Eurocentrism by working within the academy is an important starting point. Can the functions of complicity also serve to redistribute the burdens of redress and allow cultivating new possibilities to respond? To understand the functions of complicity, we take inspiration from the historical position of Switzerland on “the margins” of colonialism. Scrutinizing the history of a formally non-colonizing country reveals multiple forms of taking part in, benefitting from and assisting in colonial efforts. Applying these learnings to institutional and epistemological possibilities of working with complicity in the academy, we interrogate the potentials and limits of these functions to address the reproduction of Eurocentrism.

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Section: The Focus Planes Of Eurocentrismmentioning

confidence: 56%

Refracting Eurocentrism, operationalizing complicity: The Swiss Sonderfall as a vantage point

Hilbrandt

Ren

2022

Environ Plan D

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“…(Jöns and Freytag, 2016:4). They might arguably also be considered cosmopolitan geographers, if we follow Korf (2021:935, citing Minca, 2018, who conceptualizes the cosmopolitan geographer as "someone firmly entangled in the multiple territories of thought that make up a linguistically bound scholarly community and to juggle those 'worlds' as much as 'playing the big game of 'international' geography". Building on our case study, we argue that "boundary spanning" and the traveling of theory beyond its geographical originlargely (implicitly) viewed as progressive -should always be put in context(s) and assessed more cautiously from a normative point of view.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the last two decades, the globalization of geography and the increasingly globally attuned form of geographical theories and of geographical knowledge production more broadly have been intensively discussed (e.g., Korf, 2021;Müller, 2021;Minca, 2018;Jöns and Freytag, 2016;Jazeel, 2016;Aalbers and Rossi, 2009). Even though this body of literature is far from uniform and discusses a broad range of problems and challenges related to geography as a global discipline, two closely connected topics are at the forefront of the majority of contributions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Globalizing geography before Anglophone hegemony: (buried) theories, (non-)traveling concepts, and “cosmopolitan geographers” in San Miguel de Tucumán (Argentina)

Rainer

Dudek

2022

Geogr. Helv.

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Abstract. The relationship between “national” geographical schools and an increasingly globalized geographical theory-building under the logics of Anglophone hegemony has generated critical debate within geography. This paper aims to contribute to current discussions on the development of differential, language-based “schools of thought” in geography and how these are mobilized and de- and recontextualized when they travel beyond their origins. However, it does not focus on the period of Anglophone hegemony but intends to shed a new, historically informed light on the politics of geographical knowledge production. Against this backdrop, we study why, how and with what consequences German geographical knowledge traveled to Argentina in the 1940s – the end of the “German hegemony” – following the employment by the National University of Tucumán (UNT) of the four German geography professors Wilhelm Rohmeder, Gustav Fochler-Hauke, Fritz Machatschek and Willi Czajka, all of whom had been institutionally and ideologically entwined with National Socialism. Firstly, we show that the epistemic differences between “national” schools of geographical thought – skillfully juggled by the geographers we analyze here – can provide an opportunity for the successful de- and recontextualization of theory. Secondly, we argue that boundary spanning and the traveling of theory beyond their geographical origins – largely (implicitly) viewed as progressive – should always be put in context(s) and assessed more cautiously from a normative point of view.

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“…Such a diversity of perspectives on cartographic representations, of their conceptions, productions, effects and-here the legacy of 'critical cartography' becomes clear-requires, following Korf (2021), 'cosmopolitan' spatial scientists. Scholars, in other words, who move in different theoretical and disciplinary, but also linguistic contexts and thus (can and want to) cross borders.…”

Section: Starting Points Of a 'Post-critical' Cartographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Contours of a ‘Post-Critical’ Cartography—A Contribution to the Dissemination of Sociological Cartographic Research

Kühne

2021

KN J. Cartogr. Geogr. Inf.

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Since the 1980s, ‘critical cartography’ has been developing. Its merits lie in its awareness of the socially constructed nature of cartographic representations, the power relations involved, and the process-bound nature of cartographic practices. The ‘post-critical’ cartography proposed here takes up these merits but does so without following the categorical rejection of positivist ‘traditional’ cartography or the moral demarcation of what can and cannot be represented as well as the subordination of theories to the ‘critical’ paradigm. Instead, the ‘post-critical’ approach relies on the struggle for suitable theoretical frameworks—the normative reference horizon within the endeavor of cartography is the enhancement of life chances. In this respect, the prefix ‘post’ refers not only to a temporal ‘after’, but also to the perpetuation of central concerns of ‘critical’ cartography, simultaneously freeing it from such limitations.

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‘German Theory’: Cosmopolitan geographies, counterfactual histories and the (non)travel of a ‘German Foucault’

Cited by 17 publications

References 92 publications

Refracting Eurocentrism, operationalizing complicity: The Swiss Sonderfall as a vantage point

Refracting Eurocentrism, operationalizing complicity: The Swiss Sonderfall as a vantage point

Globalizing geography before Anglophone hegemony: (buried) theories, (non-)traveling concepts, and “cosmopolitan geographers” in San Miguel de Tucumán (Argentina)

Contours of a ‘Post-Critical’ Cartography—A Contribution to the Dissemination of Sociological Cartographic Research

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