Geographical imaginaries: Articulating the values of geography

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of 'geographical imaginaries' in New Zealand geography. It reflects on the genealogy of the concept and on the work it might perform in the world. At a time when the purpose and contribution of geography in schools is under question and the discipline is under severe strain at universities, we ask whether the idea of 'geographical imaginaries' offers a conceptual platform for demonstrating the potential for geography to offer meaning in the complex world of 21st-century New Zealand and whether it will help teachers to foster geographic thought in classrooms. In short, we argue for the merits of working with the idea of geographical imaginaries in classrooms and for utilising it to interrogate accounts of the geographical gaze and its values. This, we argue, offers opportunities to catalyse geographical thought, highlight the potential of thinking geographically, and open up a thinking space in which geography teachers can examine their pedagogy and enhance the purpose of their work. This would provide a platform for building a more imaginative and more politically and culturally relevant geography at school.

Spatial imaginaries and selective in/visibility: Mediterranean neighbourhood and the European Union’s engagement with civil society after the ‘Arab Spring’

“…Following the logic that geographical imaginations matter (see Gregory, 1994;Howie and Lewis, 2014), recent studies of geopolitics, borders and bordering have appropriated the heuristic of imaginaries as a means of approaching complex sociospatial processes (Brambilla, 2014(Brambilla, , 2015Bürkner, 2017). In order to be meaningful, ambitious political agendas of regional cooperation, such as the EU's promotion of Neighbourhood, must build on imaginaries that orient action, reduce complexity and allow actors to 'focus selectively on some aspects of the world as the basis for becoming active participants therein and/or for describing and interpreting it as disinterested observers' (Jessop, 2012: 72).…”

‘Not every body's cup of tea’? Theoretical perspectives in school geography

“…The minimal approach to perspectives typically requires students to apply perspectives to individuals or groups who have some view about the case study or issue at hand (see, for example, New Zealand Qualifications Authority ). This minimal cultivation is what Howie and Lewis () have recently lamented as the ‘individualised conception of "perspectives" that pervades the geography curriculum' (p.136). If this cultivation of perspectives is validated by assessment, then it is no surprise to also see it flourish in classrooms.…”

Out of Place in Outer Space?

“…To understand how diff erent actors consider orbital debris, we can investigate their underlying geographical imaginations. Geographical imaginations are framings, informed individually and collectively, that shape relational understandings of places and how they are known (Daniels 2011;Gregory 1994;Howie and Lewis 2014). Th ough individuals have unique "geographic minds" that inform their ideas and attitudes, these are not separate from broader entanglements of place, meaning-making, geographic narrative, and power (Gieseking 2016;Massey 2006).…”