Public geographies: taking stock

Abstract

and in the wake of the invitation to write a series of reports documenting the recent 'rise' of public geographies, I decided it would be interesting (if not potentially fruitful!) to consult a 'public' about their perceptions and understandings of 'public geographies'. So I sent email messages out into the ether asking for 'geographers' views upon, and any examples of, apparently 'public'-ly orientated work. 1 This request was fairly open and non-directive in that I genuinely wanted to see how members of lists such as the Critical Geography Forum, LeftGeog, and so on would respond -what they thought 'public geographies' were. The only real hint towards where I thought any discussion might go concerned the suggestion for respondents to think 'beyond (but including) journals, beyond the RAE, beyond the academy, beyond the UK/USA ...'. 2 Responses suggested that 'public geographies' are multi-faceted, multiple, plural, engaged, engaging, amorphous, unbounded, and uncertain. That much is certain. Many argued that 'public geographies' are part of the geographical furniture, a 'fi eld' maybe, but not just a 'fi eld', a tradition, what we all do, from 'where we are at' (of course). Many

Public Political Ecology: a community of praxis for earth stewardship

“…Public geography is therefore practiced by scholars who are compelled to engage the wider world and who believe they have research that is important and timely to share (Castree 2006;Murphy 2006). For these scholars, committing to public engagement is not without risks and challenges (Fuller 2008;Hale 2008;K. Mitchell 2008).…”

Towards a framework for analysing interactions between social science and environmental policy

“…Geography is one of the disciplines engaging with the public scholarship debate, building on a long history of engaging with publics and more recent radical and activist thinking (Fuller, 2008;Murphy, 2011;Ward, 2006). Whilst acknowledging this history of public scholarship, however, it is important to note a specific contextual influence which is operating today that poses challenges for social scientists seeking to influence public and policy debate.…”

“…Our approach builds on recent research which links Policy Studies with Science and Technology Studies (STS) (Murphy and Levidow, 2006;Fischer, 2009;Collins et al, 2010) and extends it through wider debates around public scholarship which are ongoing in Sociology and Geography (Burawoy, 2005;Fuller, 2008;Murphy, 2011). Linking these literatures provides generic insights into interactions between academic research and public policy from which we derive more specific insights for social science and environmental policy.…”

Interventions in teaching political geography: Reflections on practice

“…We have undertaken walking tours and had presentations of innovative projects such as the 'Placing Voices -Voicing Places' project which is exploring questions of heritage in relation to national and local, and long settled and migrant versions of historical value. Students are encouraged to consider those they encounter not simply as research subjects to be interviewed but as people themselves engaged in creative and constructive public geographies (Fuller 2008). They are encouraged not only to understand the problems of certain models of national belonging, for example, but to consider how people are working to address these issues in active and practical ways.…”