From social relevance to social justice: Thinking intersectionally with Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Ellen Churchill Semple about geography
Topics: Geographic Thought
, History of Geography
, Geographic Theory
Keywords: social relevance, theory, feminist geography, social justice
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 1
Authors:
LaToya E Eaves, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, University of Nebraska - Omaha
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Abstract
Questions around social relevance, research for whom, and the (right) purposes of geographic work arise regularly in geography. That these issues reappear regularly suggests that there is a perennial tension in our discipline between an interest in understanding the world in order to change it to better the lives of those least advantaged, and an interest in preserving the status quo or even promoting the interests of the few at the expense of the many. In this paper we employ an intersectional sensibility and feminist standpoint in our examination of Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s, and Ellen Churchill Semple’s, work, as we investigate this tension. Wells-Barnett reported on the social, political, and economic geographies of Black Americans in the U.S. South as well as on lynching; Semple wrote books and scholarly articles about isolated and/or historical cultural landscapes, often through the lens of Environmental Determinism. We seek to address these questions by contextualizing their lives and work, including the time periods from which they research and write. Then, we use intersectional thinking to understand their contributions as spatial theorists and the ways their work continues to have impact today. Finally, we use these analyses to elucidate intersectional thinking as an opportunity to understand how to "do" geography better.
From social relevance to social justice: Thinking intersectionally with Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Ellen Churchill Semple about geography
Category
Virtual Paper Abstract
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