The recent rise of critical geography in France

The Third Coming of French Critical Geographies

“…In their article "Géographies critiques 'à la française'", Marianne Morange and Yann Calbérac (2012) speak to the importance of decompartmentalizing critical French geographies kept isolated by a lack of publishing opportunities. Translating their article and Cécile Gintrac's (2020) article "Le foisonnement récent de la géographie critique en France" into English offered a bridge for these important perspectives to reach new audiences situated in farther realms.…”

“…Unexplored is how this French critical geography remains patriarchal in its references while refusing a genealogyonly male geographers are cited as pillars in the Anglophone tradition. Furthermore, French critical geography eschews the mosaic of geographic subdisciplines that form the image of English-language critical geographic thought and instead proposes the subdiscipline géographie des minorités to encompass spatial experiences influenced by race, gender, sexuality, and subalternity (Gintrac 2020). This refusal to subdivide difference seems in line with traditional French values of universalism (Creton 2007;Hancock 2016) and the belief that "the recognition of diverse 'communities' in society is detrimental to social justice rather than an integral part" (Hancock 2011, 5).…”