A critical geopolitics of observant practice at British military airshows

Bibliographic Data

ID8127751
AuthorsMatthew F Rech (0000-0002-9520-4609, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology Newcastle University Newcastle NE1 7RU, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume40
Issue4
Pages536-548
Publication date2015-09-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tran.12093
OpenAlexW2120737690
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited55

This paper demonstrates how visual cultures of militarism take shape as part of a ‘thick’ geopolitics of being‐in‐place. It draws on historical accounts of, and empirical observations at, British military airshows, which it interprets via the concept of ‘observant practice’. The paper argues that the imaginative and rhetorical force of military spectacle and popular militarism are tied to its markedly enclavic spatiality, i.e. to seeing and doing in‐place. By taking seriously the spatial and sensory experience of British airshows, the paper extends recent work in critical geopolitics that questions the spatialised politics of experience, and brings them into dialogue with cultural geographies of tourism. It provides a brief history of the spectacular origins of aviation and of the use of airshows to the practice of statecraft, and demonstrates how airshows are an important element in the cultural phenomenon of militarisation. The paper takes forward debates around ‘the vision thing’ in critical geopolitics by illustrating why the notion of observant practice should not be dissociated from consideration of the spaces in and through which militaries become the object of visual curiosity. It expands, therefore, the potential of observant practice as a critique of popular military cultures

Aesthetics · Curiosity · Geopolitics · Militarism · Object (grammar · Political science · Politics · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Spectacle · Adventure Sports and Sensation Seeking · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Philosophy · Social Psychology · Travel Writing and Literature

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