Critical Geographies Conference

Critical geographers view the spaces of our world with a mixture of anger and hope. They believe that society and nature do not represent themselves: they must analyze them, map them, and thus involve themselves in their remaking. The world does not exist in order to verify our theories: it is there to be comprehended and changed. It is not to be accepted at face value: appearances deceive and space hides things from us. The earth is not flat and smooth, but scarred by power and structured by hierarchy. Reality is not immutable or inevitable, but open to change. The earth is not disposable: this is the only world we have. Ours is not the best of all possible worlds: better worlds, latent in the present, must be sought and fought for. 

The Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University proudly hosted the Ninth Annual Mini-Conference for Critical Geographers who live and/or work in our region. It took place at SFU Woodward’s on Saturday, November 22, 2014. Our emphasis was to create a friendly, engaging, and fun space for critical geographers, especially – but by no means only – graduate students. We welcomed papers from across the field of geography (human, physical, GIS), and from spatially oriented scholars in other disciplines, that seek to engage with and contribute to the critical geography project. The mini-conference was open to students, faculty members, and members of the public. There was no fee for attending or participating.