Becoming Citizen Green: prefigurative politics, autonomous geographies, and hoping against hope

Mason, Kelvin

doi:10.1080/09644016.2013.775725

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Thus, ethics is concerned with how we order the/our world, how we decide to lead our lives, and what concerns we prioritise. Taking a holistic ecojustice stance, the ethical characteristics of green citizenship is thus embedded within a global context where the common good is privileged, underpinned by an active moral engagement with issues of equity and socially just change (Mason, 2013). Here, "global injustice and global citizenship are intricately linked to issues such as global warming, availability of water, clean air, and the oil [and fossil fuel] economy, all of which affect everyone but which are disproportionately caused by the rich and suffered by the poor" (Griffiths & Murray, 2017).…”

Section: Locating the Ethical Dimensions Of Ecojustice: Constructing mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecojustice, equity and ethics: challenges for educational and career guidance.

Irving¹,

Liévano²

2019

revistafuentes

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In social and environmental terms we live in precarious and uncertain times, where not only the sustainability of the planet rests in the balance, but also that of human existence. Many nation-states around the world talk of the importance of social cohesion, and are aware of the threat of environmental degradation, climate change, and ecological well-being. However, the dominating global policy discourse, particularly championed in the West, is located within a delimiting neo/liberal political framework. With a few noticeable exceptions, the influence of neo/liberal thinking continues to flourish in the contemporary career literature where there has been little deep critical engagement with the discourse of capitalist economics and how these impact human and environmental well-being. Often caught up in market-led discourses, and captured by the notion that 'work sets you free', educational and career guidance has been located within an uncritical economic frame. Its energies tend to be directed towards the preparation of individuals to make 'good' educational and occupational choices, underpinned by the need for 'clients' to acquire the skills and competencies demanded by employers (and the economy) (Bengtsson, 2011; Irving, 2018). The disjuncture between educational and career guidance and social and environmental justice (i.e. ecojustice) has rarely been breached. In this article, we seek to disrupt dominant discourses of the market that currently permeates thinking in education by identifying how an ecojustice perspective provides a forward looking and equitable foundation for educational and career guidance.

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Section: Locating the Ethical Dimensions Of Ecojustice: Constructing mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecojustice, equity and ethics: challenges for educational and career guidance.

Irving¹,

Liévano²

2019

revistafuentes

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“…This has been manifest in the rise of the World Social Forum (Fominaya, ), Occupy Movement (Schneider, ; Van De Sande, ), various facets of the collection of uprisings and assertions known as “the Arab Spring” in North Africa and the Middle East (see Tadros, ). It is also evident in a wide variety of other forms of political assertion during recent years, including the squatters’ movements (Vasudevan, 2015b), environmental activism (Mason, ), community garden initiatives (Guerlin & Campbell, ), community‐based recovery groups (Beckwith et al., ), alternative economies (White & Williams, ) and internet‐based political struggle (Sancho, ). The causes of the upsurge in prefigurative politics are complex but often relate to dissatisfaction with many established modes of political organising – for example, through political parties – and the rapid progress of the communications revolution of the 21st century, which has offered activists new opportunities to model and broadcast political messages.…”

Section: Prefigurative Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Everyday prefiguration: Youth social action in north India

Dyson

Jeffrey

2018

Trans Inst British Geog

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There has been a recent resurgence of what is often termed “prefigurative politics”: activity in which people channel political effort into demonstrating in the present the types of social relations and practices sought at a future point in time. This paper engages with literature on prefigurative politics through reference to everyday forms of political and social action in the north Indian village of Bemni, Uttarakhand. We show that young people who migrated between urban centres and Bemni village played important roles as mentors, political activists and social helpers. They served as exemplars, seeking to alter the behaviour and attitudes of those around them at the everyday level. We make three key points on the geographies of this action. First, we diverge from most accounts of prefigurative politics in pointing to how such politics can be embedded in everyday life as well as unfolding within distinctive urban spaces, such as camps. Second, we highlight how migrants use their spatial knowledge and social skill to develop alliances, which, in turn, sustain prefigurative politics in the village, even as they move in and out of Bemni. Third, we demonstrate the significance among young people of a geographical narrative of “atmosphere” (mahaul) – and an associated notion that youth can change the mahaul through their practice. In making these points, we show that prefigurative politics can be a compelling conceptual touchstone, broad enough to address multiple geographical themes but focused enough on one idea – enacting goals in the process of struggle – to draw thinkers together and generate meaningful debate.

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“…On a cautionary note, it can be ontologically disturbing when the observer begins to observe her/himself participating (Kesby and Gwanzura‐Ottemoller, ). In the quest for more democratic spaces of research, geographers have also explored Soja's ‘thirdspace’ and critical thirding (see Soja, ) as means of unifying researcher–participant or academic–activist identities (Routledge, ; Anderson, ; Mason, ,). PAR researchers who explore positionalities such as those discussed will often judge it antithetic to introduce formal methods such as recorded interviews into relational research processes, no less so the information sheets and consent forms prescribed by their universities.…”

Section: A Participatory Ethics Of Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Participatory Action Research: Coproduction, Governance and Care

Mason

2015

Geography Compass

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In the wake of recent academic interest in coproduction, engaged research and transdisciplinarity, this article reviews some developments and directions in participatory action research (PAR), mainly within human geography. It examines one response to poststructuralist critiques that PAR either elides power relations or conversely can be equated to tyranny, namely a proposal to view PAR as a form of governance. Spatialising PAR then draws attention to the reach and relational workings of power. Countertopography is discussed as a conceptualisation by which PAR can jump scales to inform theory. Prefiguring the social justice imperative with which it is invested, the potential of practising PAR as an ethics of care is explored. Consideration is given to how PAR's imperative for social change shapes the researcher's responsibilities vis-à-vis representation, political strategy and emotional engagement. Tensions between PAR's social change imperative, the needs of research partners and the institutional constrains of academia are a through-going theme. I conclude that PAR has much to offer research in human geography and, in turn, that work in human geography has provided PAR with spacerelational strategies of engaging with power, which do not preclude emancipatory action.

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Becoming Citizen Green: prefigurative politics, autonomous geographies, and hoping against hope

Cited by 24 publications

References 23 publications

Ecojustice, equity and ethics: challenges for educational and career guidance.

Ecojustice, equity and ethics: challenges for educational and career guidance.

Everyday prefiguration: Youth social action in north India

Participatory Action Research: Coproduction, Governance and Care

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