The CFP for the 2025 Preconference, to be held in Detroit, MI on March 22-23, 2025, is posted here.

Please mark your calendars for the 2025 Detroit Pre-Conference to the AAG annual meeting! This year, we’re planning a special, two-day collaborative event that centers the city of Detroit and the people who call it home.

Dates: 

• Saturday, March 22: Paper sessions at Michigan State University’s Detroit Center (approx. 9am-6pm)
• Sunday, March 23: DeTour and plenary with Detroit organizers, co-organized with Jessi Quizar and Jamaal Wright

Location: The MSU Detroit Center (3408 Woodward Ave., Detroit) is an easy commute from the main conference location via public transportation or rideshare.

Local Institutional Host: Dept. of Geography, Michigan State University (Katie Brown, Mehmet Eroğlu, Kyle Evered)

Co-Organizers: Political Geography Specialty Group (Kate Coddington, Meredith DeBoom), Jessi Quizar, Jamaal Wright

A full CFP and further details, including suggested paper themes, will be shared via email and on the PGSG website later this fall.

We hope to see you there!

CFP

Announcing a special conference this coming Fall to commemorate 25 years of National Identities.  This conference will be an opportunity for scholars of nationalism and identities to present papers, engage in panels, and make connections.  See our call for papers attached.

We plan a 2 ½ day conference which will cover all aspects of national identity but also be intimate enough for people to get to know one another. We have not set the registration costs yet but expect this to be about £150.  This will include two receptions, two lunches, and hot beverage service.

The editors want to extend a special invitation to geographers of nationalism and national identities to participate in the conference. We are very excited about offering this opportunity and we hope that you are as well.  Our deadline to submit abstracts in May 31. You may also propose a panel theme if you like.

Please join us!

Warmly,

Dave Kaplan

Editor, National Identities

dkaplan@kent.edu

We’re pleased to announce a new event to highlight innovative scholarship by early-career political geographers at this year’s AAG: the Stanley D. Brunn Early Career Lecture.

This year’s inaugural lecture will be delivered by Dr. Md Azmeary Ferdoush (University of Eastern Finland). Dr. Ferdoush was the 2023 recipient of the Brunn Early Career Scholar Award, which recognizes a scholar within 10 years of their PhD whose contributions have generated new interest in political geography and/or opened up new areas of inquiry. His talk is titled “On the example: Giorgio Agamben, the exception, and the flip side of the coin.”

The lecture will take place on Tuesday, 4/16, from 1:20-2:40pm in 306A at the Convention Center. We also plan to stream and record the session via the AAG platform. Full details, including an abstract, are provided below.

This is the first event in what we hope will become a PGSG tradition. If you will be in Honolulu, please join us to celebrate and learn from the work of Dr. Ferdoush!

Session link: https://aag.secure-platform.com/aag2024/solicitations/57/sessiongallery/7116

Brunn Early Career Lecture in Political Geography

Date: 4/16/2024
Time: 1:20 PM – 2:40 PM
Room: 306A (Pālolo), Third Floor, Hawai’i Convention Center
Type: Panel

In-person modality: In-person streamed/hybrid

Recording Plan: This session is planning to be recorded.

Sponsor Group(s):

Political Geography Specialty Group

Organizer(s): 
Meredith DeBoom   University of South Carolina

Kate Coddington  University at Albany (SUNY)

Chair(s):
Meredith DeBoom, University of South Carolina

Description:

This new lecture series highlights the research of the most recent recipient of the Political Geography Specialty Group’s annual Stanley D. Brunn Early Career Scholar Award (http://www.politicalgeography.org/awards/).

The 2024 lecture will be delivered by Md Azmeary Ferdoush, University of Eastern Finland.

Title: On the example: Giorgio Agamben, the exception, and the flip side of the coin.

Abstract:
Giorgio Agamben’s theorization of the exception marks a shift in geographical scholarship, especially in political geography. However, despite its equal significance, I argue that the example remains a surprisingly under-studied phenomenon, even though Agamben views it as the symmetrical opposite of the exception. In this paper, I engage with Agamben’s theorization of the sovereign not only through a reading of the exception but also through the example. The provocation of the paper is to step back from the point where Agamben positions these two as indistinguishable and to clearly differentiate between them. In doing so, I present three cases from Finland and Bangladesh that demonstrate how the exception is turned into an example by the same sovereign, how one sovereign’s exception may be depicted as an example by another, and finally, how both the exception and the example may coexist within the same sovereign rule. Ultimately, I call on geographers to examine the sovereign through the figures of both a homo sacer and a homo exemplar, as the sovereign’s power is manifested not only through the production of a state of exception but also equally through the creation of a state of example.

Keywords:
Giorgio Agamben, the example, the exception, the sovereign, exclusive inclusion, inclusive exclusion.

The AAG Political Geography Specialty Group is pleased to announce the 36th Annual PGSG Preconference, to be held at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Date: Monday, April 15, 2024

Time:  8:40 am–6pm (main event); optional dinner at 6pm

Location: Campus Center Complex, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2465 Campus Road, Honolulu, HI 96822)

Local Host: Reece Jones, Department of Geography and Environment (thank you, Reece!)

Program (updated April 11, 2024)

Abstracts (updated April 1, 2024)

Events

•  ‘DeTour’ for Early Arrivals (April 14): see below
• Plenary on Hawaiian Political Geographies (April 15), including:
  • Kahiokalamekawena’ula Elkington, PhD Student, Department of Geography and Environment
  • Aurora Kagawa-Viviani, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Environment
  • Kawēlauokealoha Wright, Assistant Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies
• Paper Sessions (April 15): throughout the day
• Lunch (April 15, self-pay): small groups or on your own at Campus Center
• Dinner (April 15, included in preconf registration): buffet-style at the Department of Geography and Environment

Registration

• Abstract Submission: January 15, 2024
  • Complete all sections of this form, including paper title and 250 word abstract.
• Registration (All Attendees): March 15, 2024
  • Complete “all attendees” sections of this form.
  • We’ll use this information to finalize catering and room allocation. If you don’t register by March 15, we won’t be able to provide you with dinner.
  • If your plans change after submitting your registration, email aag.pgsg@gmail.com.

Cost

• TT Faculty: $35 (includes dinner). There are two payment options:
  • Cash (on site): Please bring exact change.
  • Electronic (preferred): on site or in advance
    • To keep a paper trail/avoid cash, please submit your registration fee to Meredith DeBoom via Venmo (if possible). The account is @MereDeBoom. Under “What’s it for?” please write “PGSG.”

• Students and Non-TT Faculty: free (includes dinner)

Dinner

• The preconference will conclude with a buffet dinner at the Department of Geography and Environment (2424 Maile Way, Saunders Hall, Honolulu, HI 96822). Dinner and refreshments will be provided for attendees who registered by March 15.

NEW: ‘DeTour’ for Early Arrivals

• In lieu of a happy hour, local host Reece Jones has arranged a ‘DeTour’ with Kyle Kajihiro (Assistant Professor at UH-Mānoa and UH-Mānoa Geography PhD) on the afternoon of Sunday, April 14.
• Learn more about the DeTours project and associated political geographies here or here.
• The cost  is $25 per person. Space is limited and will be allocated on a first-registered, first-reserved basis. You can add your name to the list when you register for the preconference here.
  • Jan. 15 update: The DeTour is full, but we are accepting names for the waitlist (indicate your interest on your registration form).

Lodging and Transport

• We recommend using the same lodging for the preconference that you will use for the main AAG conference.
• UH-Mānoa is a 10-15 minute Uber/cab or 20-30 minute bus ride from the main conference location. We encourage you to use a ride share or public transport, as on-campus parking is extremely limited.   

PGSG Organizers: Meredith DeBoom (deboom@mailbox.sc.edu) and Kate Coddington (kcoddington@albany.edu)

Questions? Please direct any questions to the PGSG organizers (Meredith & Kate) individually or at aag.pgsg@gmail.com

Congratulations to all our 2023 award winners.

NON-STUDENT AWARDS

Stanley Brunn Young Scholar– Md. Azmeary Ferdoush, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland.

Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award– Andrew Grant, Boston College. The Concrete Plateau: Urban Tibetans and the Chinese Civilizing Machine (2022). Cornell University Press.

Virginie Mamadouh Outstanding Research Award– Kara E. Dempsey, “Spaces of Violence: A Typology of the Political Geography of Violence Against Migrants Seeking Asylum in the EU” Political Geography, 79:102157.

Richard Morrill Public Engagement Travel Award– Srinivas Chokkakula, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Panel at the 2023 preconference, “Leveraging Political Geographic Theory for Federal River Water Governance.”

STUDENT AWARDS

Graduate Ph.D. Level– Meagan Harden, University of Hawaii at Manoa.  “Micronesia at the conference on the law of the sea: Bringing ocean ontologies into international law.

Masters Level– Amani Ponnaganti, University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The racialization of citizenship in postcolonial India.”

Undergraduate Paper– David Lee, James Madison University. “Problems with Infrastructure: The Big Dig.”

Alexander B. Murphy Dissertation Enhancement Award – Andrea Cabrera Roa, Clark University. “Governing present absences: in the making of the sovereign territoriality through indigenous peoples in isolation and in initial contact in the Peruvian Amazon.”

View program and abstracts

DATE: Wednesday, March 22, 2023

TIME: 9am-6pm (Check-in: 8:40am)

LOCATION: Institute of Behavioral Science 1440 15th St, Boulder, CO 80309

REGISTRATION: We encourage anyone who plans to attend the preconference to complete the ‘all attendees’ section of this form: https://forms.gle/eMxZpJM7aqZoPDAh7. While not required, your information will help us better estimate attendance.

COST: There is a $30 fee for tenure-track faculty only. There are two payment options:

• Electronic (preferred)—on site or in advance: click “Buy Now” at the bottom of the page to pay using credit card or PayPal. If you pay in advance, please bring an electronic or printed receipt copy.
• Cash—on site: Please bring exact change.

ASSOCIATED EVENTS:

• Tuesday, 3/21, 6-9pm: Informal PGSG Happy Hour—Rio Grande—1101 Walnut St., Boulder
• Wednesday, 3/22, 6-9pm: PGSG Dinner Khow Thai—1600 Broadway, Boulder
• Friday, 3/24, 11:45am-12:45pm: PGSG Business Meeting: Centennial Ballroom H, Hyatt Regency, Third Floor

LODGING & TRANSPORTATION:

Lodging

We were able to arrange discount rates at two hotels near the university campus.

–University Boulder Inn (1632 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302) is offering a limited number of reserved rooms at the group rate for the night(s) of March 21 & March 22 at $149/night for either 1 king bedroom or a room with 2 queen beds (plus tax). If you are interested, please call and ask for the Political Geography discount at (303) 417-1700.

–BaseCamp Boulder (2020 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder, CO 80302) is offering a limited number of reserved rooms at the group rate for the night(s) of March 21 & March 22 at $119/night for 1 king bedroom or $129/night for 2 queen beds (plus tax). If you are interested, please call the manager Shannon Gilmore at (415) 548-3555 and ask for the Political Geography discount rate.

Transport 

• The Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS) is located on the CU-Boulder campus at 1440 15^th St., Boulder, CO 80309.
• Public transit in the Denver metro, including Boulder, is provided by RTD (https://www.rtd-denver.com/).
  • Several local and regional bus routes serve campus. You can plan your route here: https://www.rtd-denver.com/app/plan
  • From AAG venues in Denver: For those who don’t mind a commute (~1-1.5 hours), the CU-Boulder campus is accessible from Denver via RTD. You will need to take light rail or bus to Union Station, where you can board the Flatiron Flyer (FF1) to Boulder.
  • From the Denver Airport: There are direct buses from the Denver Airport to Boulder on the AB route (~1-1.25 hours).

PGSG ORGANIZERS: Kara E. Dempsey (dempseyke@appstate.edu) and Meredith DeBoom (DEBOOM@mailbox.sc.edu)

INQUIRIES: All inquiries should be directed to the PGSG organizers (Kara and Meredith) individually or at: aag.pgsg@gmail.com

PAY PRECONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEE HERE

(TENURE-TRACK FACULTY ONLY)

 

Congratulations to our 2022 award winners.

Student Awards

Graduate Ph.D. Level Paper – Allen Xiao (University of Wisconsin-Madison) “The Belt and Road Initiative” and Chinese Overseas Diplomatic Authorities: Discursive representations and the geopolitical outreach in Africa

Alexander B. Murphy Dissertation Enhancement Award — Xiaofeng Liu (University of Hong Kong) “Sustainable development with Chinese characteristics? The politics of the Green Belt and Road Initiative”

Non-Student Awards

Stanley Brunn Young Scholar Award  – Julie Klinger (University of Delaware)

Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award – Orhon Myadar (University of Arizona) Mobility and Displacement: Nomadism, Identity and Postcolonial Narratives in Mongolia (2021) Routledge.

Virginie Mamadouh Outstanding Research Award – Thaler, Gregory M., Cecilia Viana, And Fabiano Toni. “From Frontier Governance to Governance Frontier: The Political Geography of Brazil’s Amazon Transition.” World Development 114 (2019): 59–72.

Richard Morrill Public Outreach Award – Evan Centanni (Political Geography Now)