(usual apologies for multiple postings)
"Death (again) of the 'Region'?"
co-sponsors
Russian, Central Eurasian and East European
& Asian Specialty Groups
A Panel Discussion with
- Roman Cybriwsky -Temple University
- Jerome Dobson - University of Kansas
- Marie Price - George Washington University
- Lydia Pulsipher - University of Tennessee
- Craig ZumBrunnen - University of Washington
on the limitations and opportunities for AAG specialty groups, scholarship, and courses organized regionally
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Everyone is (overly) familiar with long-standing and ongoing discussions over the relevance of "regional" geography. Phrases such as
"Globalization means the end of geography"
"The World is Flat" "
"The 'New' regional geography means the death of the 'Old' regional geography" etc.,
together with the elimination of regional geography courses from many key departments have long (mis)signaled the end of regional geography. Many of the AAG's specialty groups tag themselves by particular regions or countries ("Africa," "Asian," "Canadian," "China," "European," "Latin America," "Russian, Central Eurasian and East European") and the AAG's subdivisions are also organized according to "region." Nonetheless, specialty groups organized by regions may be finding that their members are not offering papers in their regional specialty group paper sessions and participating on panels sponsored by non-regional specialty groups, while concurrently long-serving regional specialty group members may choose no longer to attend their regional specialty group business meetings.
Everyone who has appreciated the vibrancy of regions, considered the unresolved spatial assumptions underlying application of regional geographies, or continues to find discussions of metageographical constructs of regions relevant is enthusiastically invited to join this open conversation regarding the "death" of the region facilitated by panelists from a diverse cross-section of specialty groups and research foci.
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Jeremy Tasch
Towson University
jtasch@towson.edu -------------------------------------------