AAG 2010 Interview: Dr. Carol Harden

Dr. Carol Harden is a professor of geography at the University of Tennessee and President of the Association of American Geographers.

During the AAG 2010 convention I was fortunate to spend thirty minutes with Dr. Harden about her background, thoughts on blogs, and geography in general.

Background

Like many geographers Dr. Harden’s path to the field was not a straight one. She originally was involved in environmental studies until she worked with past AAG President Melvin Marcus who told her how her work was geographical in nature.

Dr. Harden became a self-identified geographer after discovering that she was “very, very comfortable” in geography and that the field was welcoming. Her work is more physical geography, geomorphology, but she has also looked at how physical and cultural landscapes affect each other like in the papers Interrelationships between land abandonment and land degradation: A case from the Ecuadorian Andes and Geomorphic response of an Appalachian Valley and Ridge stream to urbanization.

Geography Blogs

Dr. Harden and the geographic blogosphere’s first encounter was not as good as it could have been. She wrote in the November 2009 edition of the AAG newsletter that “[t]he media are changing. Now we have wikis, twitters, and blogs as well as OpEds and classic journalism. Is blogging an effective way to launch your research results into the public domain? My informants prefer up-to-date websites and personal contacts. And, compared to a blog, a good website is more visible to internet searches.”

The statement certainly is not hostile to blogs and when compared to other things said to me because of Geographic Travels [with Catholicgauze!] like me being a monster or Zionist agent it comes across as nearly nothing. However, many in the geoblogosphere (which include geography, geospatial, geopolitical, and cartographic blogs) felt that our researched and well read work was being ignored by the greater geographic community. I contacted Dr. Harden stating my concerns and she was gracious in her reply and promised to give the topic more thought.

During the interview Dr. Harden stated she appreciates the “inviting and open” atmosphere of blogs. She realizes that blogs are a key part of the online media suite which knowledge and opinions are shared within the discipline and public. She also mentioned that blogs do a great job pulling lots of information together. Blogs are a “tremendously useful” tool that can open doors to future research.

However, she still has some valid concerns. The wide range of style from academic to pure opinion with the added element of anonymity has made the blogosphere hit or miss when it comes to credibility (though there are excellent quasi-anonymous blogs out there like Coming Anarchy).

The Fight to Advance Geography

When talking both about the AAG 2010 convention and the state of geography in the United States Dr. Harden stated the need for geography to be relevant and visible. From a top-down approach she discussed the renewal of the No Child Left Behind Act and the hope that geographers can work with congress to make sure somesort of geographical education is mandated. However, she believes geographers need to look past No Child Left Behind and work on relevant projects that can inform the public about important things. Climate Change was explicitly brought up with at least one session (four to five presentations) being conducted at the convention from Wednesday morning to Sunday afternoon. Climate change sessions ran throughout the meeting--over 50 sessions in two continuous tracks.

She offered these key steps to advance geography: work on “real world problems,” make work visible to the public and power makers, and conduct outreach to schools, alliances, etc.

The Best Point

Dr. Harden said that geography is big and it has successfully shed its inferiority complex. We geographers must get out there and make our work visible. And yes, blogs are a valid way to make our work more visible.

Notes of a Few AAG 2010 Papers: Part 1

Don't let them know my Name!: Being an Armenian in Istanbul by Alpan Risvanoglu of University of South Carolina

Alpan Risvanoglu explored the new position ethnic Armenians in Istanbul, Turkey have found themselves in.

The long-time Kemalist rule in Turkey forced Armenians to publicly hide their "Armenianess" as the soft fascist state forced "Turkishness" on all citizens of Turkey. With the change in government many thought the position of minorities would change as well. Ethnic Armenians supported the new Islamist party rule because its claimed to embrace an openness to minorities. However, recent statements by the government concerning the Armenian genocide and the guest status that ethnic minorities still have in Turkey has shown that even the supposed minority-friendly government will defend Turkishness and punish those who are not ethnic Turks because of the actions of outsiders.

The real tragedy is that field research has shown that ethnic Armenians and other minorities support the Turkish constitution's requirement that all citizens of Turkey are to be considered Turks. Sadly, this definition is only applied to ethnic Turks by the government.

Ethno-territoriality, conflict and commemoration by Adam Moore of University of Wisconsin-Madison

Adam Moore expanded on monuments and memorials as being cultural dominance declarers on the landscape. Moore created four categories of landscape claiming by conflicting groups. 1) Discursive is based on social-narratives like mapping claims in a biased presentation and renaming of towns, roads, etc. to advance one's cause. 2) Material are monuments or memorials that propagate the groups' social narrative. 3) Embody is done by rituals like martyrology or politicization of dead landscapes like cemeteries. 4) Institutionalization are the politics of commemoration like taking over established ceremonies or holidays to fit into the social narrative of the group.

Urban Space, Political Theater, and the Nazi Building Program: Munich as the Capital of the Movement by Joshua Hagen of Marshall University

The Königsplatz is a square in Munich, Germany commissioned by the Bavarian Ludwig I to celebrate the Greek victory over the Turks and give the city of Munich a nice public gathering location. The architecture was classical in design and played by a Greek heritage in German high culture.

The square was the site of the first major Nazi architecture program. The grass lawn was replaced by concrete to allow for mass rallies. Additional buildings were built, two temples for Nazi martyrs of the 1920s and offices both for the Nazi party and Hitler. The design was the cold, geometric modern style that the Nazis preferred. However, the existing layout of the square prevented massive rallies and there was no logical focal point for a rally leader.

The next major Nazi architecture design, the Nuremberg rally site, was made with the lessons learned from the Königsplatz. The cold geometric modernism stayed while the open field was changed to fit the demand that there needed to be a prime focal point for all attention to be directed to.

British and European Geographers Stuck at AAG 2010

British and European geographers who are attending the Association of American Geographers 2010 convention are about to get more familiar with Washington D.C. Because of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption all flights to Great Britain and many to Europe have been canceled. AAG2010 attender Alan Lew declared "Brits at #AAG2010 in Wash DC will not be able to return to the UK until April 30 (2 weeks) due to volcano and backlogged flights."

For those looking for housing options there is Craigslist and the DCpages. Those British and European geographers stuck in Washington, DC can contact Geographic Travels at catholicgauze [at] gmail [dot] com if they want to meet local geographers or do anything during the next two weeks.

For up to date information on the AAG and the fallout around world events track Twitter at #AAG2010 and #AAG. There is also the official twitter feed of the AAG which is trying to organize geographers to help out.

AAG 2010 Interview: Andrew Shears

Andrew Shears is a doctoral student in the geography department of Kent State University. He is presenting on Saturday with Infrastructure as Discourse: The "Safety" of New Orleans and Resulting Environmental Injustice. This interview is designed to give an insight into Andrew's background, his paper's talk, and his thoughts on geography.

Background

Geography can be seen as Andrew's destiny. His mother was a geomorphologist and he was fortunate enough to go to field camps with her. Many family trips were tied into her work. During his teenage years a sort of rebellion took over Andrew with him trying to avoid geography at all cost. However, he must have been wired for geography because after trying out a few other fields Andrew came back to geography. "Everything made sense [with geography]," Andrew told me.

Katrina, New Orleans, and a Call to Action

Besides being possibly predestined for geography, one thing that attracted Andrew to the field was the desire to "try to make the world better." He views geography as a way to study problems, make the problems noticeable, and find solutions.

The cosmos aligned once again for Andrew and his socially responsible view of geography with Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans days after he started his graduate program. At first Andrew sought to avoid Katrina because it was a field everyone was rushing into and he did not "want to be lost in the shuffle." However, after studying the how and why of both the physical and man-aided disaster he could ignore Katrina's impact any longer.

"What was 'Unsaid'"

One thing that struck me was Andrew saying that, from a capitalistic perspective, New Orleans should not exist. The vast majority of cities exist because their location was good for somesort of business and New Orleans was no different (being a port city along the Mississippi River). However, continued sinking into a depression between a large river and a lake, canals that bypassed the city, and the sheer cost of keeping the city dry had made New Orleans a physically risky place to be in that lost its original purpose of being a port city.

However, Andrew pointed out that continued investment into infrastructures gave many people the impression that the city was safe despite it being below a river and lake. However, when Katrina hit the levee system was so poorly designed against a big storm that the levees were easily compromised by the incoming water and the canal system actually made the situation worse. "It is like letting the enemy come in from behind the line" and wrecking havoc, Andrew told me.

The real tragedy was afterwards with FEMA. Andrew said that people were use to seeing FEMA come to the aid after other emergencies. It was unsaid but there was the strong impression that no matter what happened FEMA would be there to save the day after the storm. Sadly, rescue was late for many due to the utter devastation done by the flood water.

How to Improve Geography

I asked Andrew how geography's status in the United States could be improved. His first answer came quickly off his tongue: get rid of social studies. Too often schools only require a social studies course that is a mishmash of history, economics, government, and sometimes geography. A second answer came after that: make sure that the geography teacher is not named "Coach."

AAG 2010: Day 1 "I spoke up for geography"

The Association of American Geographers convention has begun. I have seen several old friends, recent friends, and coworkers so far. So far a great convention filled with friendship, geography, and geographic nerd fights.

By the registration table is another table plastered with signs challenging convention goers to "Stand up for Geography!" Intrigued, I approached the table and struck up a conversation with one of the men who was manning it. Little did I know that this one talk would show major issues with geographers and our plans to advance geographic education.

"So how can I stand up for geography?" I asked.

"It's easy," he replied, "sign these postcards and we will give them to your congressman and Senators. The postcards will tell them that you support including geographic education education in the No Child Left Behind programs."

"Oh, can you tell me more?"

"Well, we feel that geography is such a key subject that any federal educational standard needs
to include geographic education. Math, biology, and history are included but not geography. That is why we are supporting Senate Bill S. 749 and the related House bill. Already 127 representatives and 23 senators have sponsored this bill."

"That's great! But I know that similar bills have been sponsored in the past but nothing has been done. What are we doing to ensure that the educational committees take up the cause?"

"Um.." the man started, "we have more sponsors than ever before."

Discouraged with that line I followed up with another question, "What sort of geography are we campaigning for? Regional geography, technical GIS, physical geography, environmental?"

The man dropped the ball again with "Interrelationships. You know, since geography can complement everything."

I was crushed by the inability of geographers to formulate a real plan to advance geographic education. We preach to ourselves why geography matters but few (noted exception Harm de Blij and others) have taken the time to communicate what geography is, why it is important, and figure out how to implement an educational plan.

I signed the postcards but I fear they will do no good.

Catholicgauze's Presentation for the 2010 AAG: Geography of Religious Wars

Today is the beginning of the 2010 Association of American Geographers convention in Washington DC. For this year's convention I am presenting the Geography of Religious Wars. My interests in religions, wars, and geography merged for this project. My notes for each slide are below the respective slide.

Though many religions preach peace, either amongst themselves or towards all humanity, the major religions of the world are filled with calls to arms. Some holy texts' calls to arms, like the in Bible, are usually reserved for particular divine-called wars while others, legalistic religions, can issue universal demands for violence in certain situations.

Religion has been the cause of wars, been used as a tool to unite forces, and replaced original causes to turn a secular war into a religious war. It also has been wrongly attributed to conflicts. Northern Ireland has seen Protestant Irish nationalists and atheist Unionists.

There has been a shift in religious control from conservative forces to revolutionary groups in the past decades. Highly motivated actors and groups are no longer satisfied with a traditional status quo but instead they want to establish "God's Kingdom on Earth." The decentralization of warfare has given these groups the ability to cause great harm.

The term "bloody borders of Islam" is only partially true. Jihadist groups not only fight secularists, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhist but also Muslims. The vast majority of those killed by Islamic terrorists are in fact Muslim.

The anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan was fought by Islamists, royalists, republicans, and non-Marxist socialists. International funding of religious groups gave Jihadists the edge. Foreign fighters also helped to turn the war into a holy one. After the 1992 fall of the Communist regime the war turned into a political one for control of the country. It was not until 1993/94 and the foundation of the Taliban that a group sought to implement religious value to impose peace.

The Jihadist movement is truly a network war of national groups in a loosely organized international system. While they all treat al Qaeda proper and bin Laden with respect, they are primarily concerned with their own region. "Jihad in one country" is the best analogy I can think of but they can also be compared to the national churches of the Eastern Orthodox Communion with one "first amongst equals" who can advise and end disputes.

Somalia has seen the second emergence of a holy war for peace. The Islamic Court Union and al-Shabaab originally were formed to implement Islam as a unifier of a war torn country. However, there efforts to impose their version of Islam, a puritanical one, has run afoul of Sufis, who are mystics and followers of tradition, who are well armed.

(Clockwise from upper right: Islamic rioter in Indonesia, Lord's Resistance Army in the Congo, ELN soldiers in Colombia, Islamic Jihad members in Egypt)
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Getting Ready for the AAG

The Association of American Geographers is coming up this week. We here at Geographic Travels are working at fever pitch to make sure we have the best coverage of the event available. We are going to have conference reports, interviews, and meet-ups.

Blogging will resume Monday with a long over due book review and Tuesday will begin the AAG Week posts.

If you are going to be at the AAG convention in Washington, DC drop us a line because we would love to feature your report or poster or interview with you and your thoughts about the Geography Complex that is the AAG.

Catholicgauze will be at AAG 2010!

This upcoming year's American Association of Geographers convention will be held in Washington D.C., Catholicgauze's main base. As such, I will be at the convention! Be sure to drop me a line at catholicgauze [at] gmail [dot] com or comment if you will be there!

At the convention I will present the following:

Title:	Geography of Religious Wars
Keywords:	Religion, War, Conflict, Islam, Christianity
Type:	Paper
Abstract:	Religion has long been a both a primary and side factor in why wars are fought. Most of the time religion is more of a national identifier rather than the primary cause of conflict though cases do exist where religion is the main basis of war. Comparing the wars of today to the last 200 years of conflict reveal that religious conflict has gone through cycles of frequency. The two separate causes of religious strife are puritanical wars against intra-religious sects and "holy war" against another religious group. Spatial, both "bloody borders" and interior conflicts appear to ebb and flow in cycles as well. In terms of religious group violence, Christianity-caused conflicts have long been contained to nominal sects while Islamic-based jihad has been used more against fellow Muslims than non-Muslims. As for non-Abrahamic religions, there is a small yet recently revived trend where religion has gone from merely an identifier to driver for conflict, especially in Asia.