Making the provincial relevant? Embracing the provincialization of continental European geographies

Abstract

Abstract. English-speaking hegemony shapes the geography of legitimate knowledge production in our discipline, pushing geographies in other languages and traditions to the periphery. The overall phenomenon has overshadowed these peripheries' diversity and what is at stake within them. I argue that continental European geographies occupy a specific position – they have been provincialized rather than peripheralized. This provincialization should not be lamented. Given our colonial past and Northern privilege, we should instead embrace this provincialization as long overdue and a moral imperative. I subsequently explore a few provincialization-embracing postures – all with merit, none unproblematic – that we can adopt for fieldwork and writing. I then propose practical steps that continental European geographies can take toward a more ethical and cosmopolitan praxis.

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

“…In seeking to understand why the ‘German Foucault’ did not travel to Anglophone geography, this paper resonates with ongoing debates about the uneven power geometries of academic knowledge production in human geography and the personal and institutional dilemmas that non-Anglophone geographers face around questions where to publish, which theories to engage with, how to write and what topics or cases to select for study (Aalbers and Rossi, 2007; Best, 2016; Hannah, 2016; Houssay-Holzschuch and Milhaud, 2013; Houssay-Holzschuch, 2020; Kitchin, 2005; Korf et al., 2013; Minca, 2000, 2013; Paasi, 2005; Rossi, 2008; Schlottmann and Hannah, 2016). More specifically, Jöns and Freytag (2016: 4) identify two conditions of possibility for the flow of knowledge and ideas across linguistic boundaries: first, the work of ‘boundary spanners’, who ‘facilitate knowledge transfer’, and second, the willingness of academic peers to engage with ideas outside of their usual school of thought.…”

“…Counterfactual histories do not only study successful cases of cosmopolitan theory (e.g. Italian Theory), but also cases where translations, travels and circulation across linguistic and epistemological boundaries did not take place as a basis to speculate about what could have potentially happened: Counterfactual intellectual histories make debates and translations discussed in German-speaking or other non-Anglophone territories of thought visible and intelligible for a cosmopolitan geography, rather than to bury them in a ‘provincial’ space of a language-bound scholarly community (Fall, 2013; Graefe, 2013; Houssay-Holzschuch, 2020; Houssay-Holzschuch and Milhaud, 2013; Korf et al., 2013; Minca, 2018; Wardenga, 2013).…”

A World Beyond Web of Science: AGORA Magazine's 35 Years in Dutch‐Language Human Geography

“…As such, AGORA stepped in a niche of local relevance in academic knowledge beyond Web of Science that Anglophone scholarship in the Low Countries might overlook (Aalbers & Rossi 2007; Schuermans et al . 2010; Houssay‐Holzschuch 2020). However, there has been a necessity to align with the agenda of academic scholarship to some degree.…”

Tauchgänge zur German Theory

“…Inspiriert von Diskussionen, die ihren Ausgangspunkt 2017 in Seminarräumen am Ufer des Zürichsees genommen haben, versuchen wir, im Dialog mit der dominanten Theoriesprache des anglophonen Mainstreams die deutschsprachige Humangeographie zu provinzialisieren, um damit wieder mehr Pluralität und Gleichwertigkeit zwischen den sprachlichen Denkprovinzen herzustellen (vgl. Fall, 2013;Korf et al, 2013;Houssay-Holzschuch und Milhaud, 2013;Houssay-Holzschuch, 2020;Minca, 2000). Der Begriff der "Provinzialisierung" geht auf die bahnbrechende Arbeit des indischen Historikers Dipesh Chakrabarty (2000) in der postkolonialen Theorie zurück.…”

“…So zeigt sich in der kontinentaleuropäischen Geographie, insbesondere in jenen europäischen Ländern, die über eine relativ eigensprachliche geistesgeschichtliche Tradition verfügen, v. a. in Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien und Spanien, immer wieder ein gewisses Unbehagen über die "anglophone Hegemonie", welche die in den Milieus anglophoner Geographie(n) und Nachbarfächern gepflegten Denkstile (Theorien, Schreibstile usw.) als universale Norm der "Internationalität" in der Geographie einfordern (Aalbers und Rossi, 2007;Houssay-Holzschuch und Milhaud, 2013;Houssay-Holzschuch, 2020;Korf et al, 2013;Kitchin, 2005;Minca, 2000;Paasi, 2005). Martin Müller (2021) hat detailliert das "linguistische Privileg" aufgezeigt, welches sich in der Dominanz anglophoner Personen in den entscheidenden Schaltstellen der Disziplin zeigt (z.…”