Youth, Relationality, and Space: Conceptual Resources for Youth Studies from Critical Human Geography

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Curricula in human geography and GIS can integrate open-source GIS with critical human geography, moving beyond a curricular divide between critical human geography and technical GIS. This integration requires significant transformation of GIS curricula, requires students to simultaneously develop fundamental knowledge of both GIS and human geography to critically address spatial problems in society, and calls for transformation of GIS technology itself. The curriculum is transformed to teach GIS fundamentals experimentally through video tutorials and handouts, teach GIS problem-solving with error detection and debugging skills, teach human geography concepts by reading and replicating research papers, and apply critical human geography concepts and open-source GIS techniques to solve novel problems. Students develop skills in assessing error and uncertainty in GIS, applying GIS to solve human geography problems, and questioning the powerful interactions between politics, economics, and geospatial technologies. GIS technology is transformed as instructors develop software features to facilitate human geography inquiry for novice GIS students and students apply their new problem-solving skills to identify bugs and consider new GIS features.</p>

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Applied policy research and critical human geography

Dialogues in Human Geography ◽

10.1177/2043820611404496 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 238-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kevin Ward

Keyword(s):

Policy Research ◽

Human Geography ◽

Critical Human Geography

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Other Figures in Other Places: On Feminism, Postmodernism and Geography

Environment and Planning D Society and Space ◽

10.1068/d100199 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 199-213 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

L Bondi ◽

M Domosh

Keyword(s):

Human Geography ◽

Political Dialogue ◽

Critical Human Geography ◽

Key Issues

In a recent paper entitled “Travels in the postmodern”, Elspeth Probyn uses the metaphors of local, locale, and location to open up a political dialogue between feminism and postmodernism, providing a particularly explicit example of a more general use of spatial figures in contemporary theoretical debate. These spatial references are not entirely figurative, but allude to our positioning within particular contexts, which both frame and are constructed by our texts. Thus, Probyn's dialogue inevitably raises geographical questions. Moreover, geography is not merely a passive, unnamed party through which Probyn's dialogue is conducted; it is not immune from or in any way ‘outside’ the situatedness its terminology is employed to articulate. In this context, the metaphorical maps Probyn uses to find her way between the differing terrains of feminism and postmodernism are far from neutral, truthful, transparent representations. In this paper an extension of Probyn's travels at the boundaries between feminism and postmodernism is sought by introducing a more active, self-critical geographical voice. The often hidden tensions underlying the linkages between geography, postmodernism, and feminism are explored, and key issues at the interface between critical human geography and feminist deconstruction are brought to the fore.

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