Policies and Practices for an Antiracist Geography at the Millennium

Abstract

As we enter the new millennium, geographers have a momentous opportunity to reflect upon the historical development of our discipline and the academic culture within which it thrives, with the aim of setting out an antiracist agenda. We advocate a fundamental refashioning of the discipline, not simply an extension of its research agenda; for racism, like gender, is not just another item in the lexicon of geographical subjects. The agenda includes, but is not limited to: clarifying relations between racism and law; racism and immigration policy; racism and poverty; and mobilizing racialized groups around policy issues. These items need to be addressed both through scholarship and through activism, as centering geographical practices in the streets rather than in the academy impels not only more effective social change, but also new theoretical understanding of geographies of engagement. Our agenda for antiracist geography also involves three aspects of institutional change: to build up on and extend traditional geographical scholarship; to change the basis of the discipline by extending the principles of antiracism throughout our institutional practices, particularly in the classroom; and to change the face of the discipline by increasing the participation and contributions of geographers of color.

Claiming Space: Aboriginal Students within School Landscapes

“…This paper was an attempt to invigorate geographical conversations about the racialization of school landscapes. No spatiality has escaped racialization (Peake and Kobayashi, 2002). Yet, most landscapes are made to appear as though ahistorical, devoid of any indications of social struggle around their production and maintenance (Lefebvre, 1991).…”

“…A central tenet of this work is that schools, like any landscape, are landscapes of power (Lefebvre, 1991). Moreover, space is central to the construction of race and race is central to the unfolding of spatialities (Goldberg, 1993;Mohanram, 1999;Delaney, 2002;Peake and Kobayashi, 2002). Drawing upon in-depth case study research this paper utilizes a geographic focus to unpack the visual, spatial and ideological dimensions of schools as they are experienced in the everyday lives of Aboriginal students and staff.…”

Disrupting colonial discourses in the geography curriculum during the introduction of British Values policy in schools

“…With whom does the responsibility lie (third question)? Peake and Kobayashi (2002) argue how geography's legacy of racism is subtle, pervasive, dangerous, difficult to root-out and address. University Geography researchers are well-placed to deal with these issues, but institutional pre-occupation with accountability for both researchers and school teachers, conservativism on the part of curriculum policy-makers and institutionalized racism possibly inhibit collaboration.…”

‘That's just what I do’: Placing emotion in academic activism

“…Furthermore, Rachel Pain (2003) writes about 'action-orientated research', arguing that "activism exists in a continuum and is embedded to some extent in all our activity as academics", also emphasising that 'we' recognise our own roles within unequal power relations and the practices that emerge from them, and are aware of our part in reiterating social and spatial injustices as part of trying to tackle such injustices (see also Cloke 2002;Peake and Kobayashi 2002;Routledge 2003).…”