IBG-RGS Social and Cultural Geography Research Group ‘Material

Co-Sponsored by Social/Spatial Theory and Lived and Material Cultures
Research Clusters, Department of Geography, Durham University.
Organised by: Ben Anderson and Rachel Colls (with Ian Cook and Jo Maddern)

Speakers:
Steve Hinchliffe: Working with multiples.
Gail Davies: Captivation and captivity: reflects on the distribution of
animal agency and capacity in the laboratory
J-D Dewsbury: Immaterially There: Exposure, finitude, immanence
Panelists: Paul Harrison, Ian Cook, Jo Maddern, Mike Crang, Divya Tolia-
Kelly (tbc).
When/Where: Department of Geography, Durham. Wednesday 19th December 2007
(10.00 - 5.00)
Cost: Free
(PLEASE CONTACT BEN ANDERSON ben.anderson@durham.ac.uk TO CONFIRM
ATTENDANCE AND DIETARY REQUIREMENTS)

The second workshop in the SCG Research Group workshop series focuses on
the theoretical-conceptual vocabularies that are emerging alongside the
diverse and sometime conflicting materialisms that populate contemporary
Social and Cultural Geography. Workshop one, held in Birmingham in
December 2006, asked what attending to matter/materiality offers or
promises Social and Cultural Geography and began to open up questions of
how materialisms differ in their epistemological and ontological
propositions, claims and commitments and their relation to types of
empirical work. The second workshop develops the focus on the relations
between different materialisms by engaging in depth with four problematics
that have, in different ways, been central to the renewed status matter or
the material have in understanding the social or cultural -
absence/presence, agency/capacity, excess/liveliness, and
multiplicity/singularity.

Through engagements with these four problematics the workshop aims to
contribute in two ways to current work in Social and Cultural Geography on
matter/materiality. First, to think through how materialist theoretical
and empirical work emerges from, relates to and intervenes in particular
problematics. Second, to think through wider questions of how conceptual-
theoretical vocabularies specific to matter/materiality can and do
function. The day will consist of a combination of invited presentation
from individuals working in relation to different traditions of
materialist thought, creative participatory work involving all the
workshop participants and a panel discussion.

Lecture of interest - 15th November, QMW

You are all warmly invited to attend the fourth Annual David Smith lecture at the Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London.

Professor Susan Smith (Durham University) is giving a talk entitled:

Who gets what, where in the tangled world of housing finance

5.30pm in the Small/Clinical Lecture Theatre on the ground floor of the Francis Bancroft Building on Thursday 15 November.

A reception will follow the talk.

Please let Sid Pinzon know if you are planning to come on s.pinzon@qmul.ac.uk.

AAG session (Boston, MA, 2008)

We are pleased to announce our first co-sponsorship of a session at the AAG. This is for what should be a high profile event of interest to a wide membership of the group. While our role is to foster research culture in UK HEIs, the group also has a clear interest in promoting social and cultural geography internationally and we hope this will be the first of many similar ventures. In due course we hope to offer travels funds for postgraduates and new career researchers to allow members of the group to participate in or report back from such events.

Further details of the session will follow in due course.

Migration, diaspora and narrativity event

This free event may be of interest to those in the Midlands (and beyond?). Places are limited, so please register asap if you are interested. Should be a great event!

New website now online!

After many years without a group website we now have a web presence again. Thanks to Molly for upping this.

Bookmark: http://scgrg.web1.googlepages.com/

Welcome!

This is the blog for the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers. It will serve as a regularly updated series of postings relating to activities, issues and news likely to be of interest to our membership. If you wish to become a member of the group, please follow the links to the RGS website or contact our membership secretary at the indicated address.

All members of the committee will be able to post on this blog: anyone else wishing to post, please feel free to contact us with news, views, calls for papers or anything else likely to be of interest to the group. Thanks!