AAG Open Forum

As many of you are aware, among the diverse panels held at the Tampa-AAG, two unique and dynamic panel discussions may be of interest to members who did not have a chance to attend. "Death (again?) of the Region?" was a panel discussion that responded directly to questions raised at the previous AAG in LA concerning the vibrancy of specialty groups organized by region rather than theme. In a contemporary spin on a long-standing disciplinary debate, this panel addressed the question of whether "Region" remains a salient and useful theme for geography and geographers. Session attendees from a diverse range of specialty group affiliations offered probing questions for the panel discussants that featured Jerry Dobson, Marie Price, Lydia Pulsipher, and Craig Zumbrunnen. Roman Cybriwsky graciously planned to participate but his flight schedule precluded joining us at the last moment.

 
The second timely panel, "The Ukraine Roundtable," was an event reflecting ongoing events in Ukraine organized and facilitated jointly between the Russian-Central Eurasian-East European specialty group and the Political Geography specialty group (a specific "Thank You" goes to Benjamin Forest for his organizational collaboration). Ralph Clem, Roman Cybriwsky, Alec Murphy, John O'Loughlin, and Andrew Ryder led a dynamic and wide-ranging discussion on current and contextual issues that unfortunately remain largely unresolved. The event was terrifically attended, and questions directed to the panel displayed excellent insight and broad involvement.

 
For anyone who is interested, recordings of these two events can be accessed via these two links ("Thanks" go to Nat Trumbull at UConn for these recordings):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wex16g67lsc70jt/Death_of_the_Region_TAMPA.WMA

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1e546or2rieykmc/Ukraine_Roundtable_TAMPA.WMA