Reclaiming other geographical traditions

The hidden roots of Italian radical geography

Bibliographic Data

ID8963284
AuthorsFilippo Celata (0000-0003-4030-3244, Department MEMOTEF University of Rome La Sapienza Rome Italy, corresponding author), Francesca Governa (0000-0002-4559-3423, Department DIST Politecnico di Torino Torino Italy, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume49
Issue2
Publication date2023-09-13
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.12634
OpenAlexW4386750740
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited56

The article recalls the history of Geografia Democratica , a collective of scholars that during the second half of the 1970s sought to dismantle the old deterministic approach and promote a critical and radical turn in Italian academic geography. The aim is to contribute to the ongoing debate about ‘other geographical traditions’ beyond the Anglo‐American hegemony, to highlight the pluriversal roots of contemporary critical geographies and the influence that the transnational circulation of knowledge had in their unfolding, in light of recent quests for a more global geographical imagination. To do so, the article first engages with Geografia Democratica as a ‘rupture experience’ in the mainstream of Italian geography, and then discusses how it intersected or not similar turns that occurred elsewhere, focusing on the mostly implicit dialogue between Italian and Anglo‐American critical/radical geographies of the time. By following the controversial story of the collective during and after its short existence, we question its legacy for today's geographical scholarship, and reflect more generally upon the significance of reviving other critical and radical traditions. To highlight the plurality of our disciplinary past, we suggest, is crucial not only to fill the ‘asymmetric ignorance’ between various traditions, but also to nurture and reposition the present ‘worlding’ practices of non‐Anglophone critical geographers

Critical geography · Cultural geography · Discipline · Epistemology · Hegemony · Human geography · Ignorance · Mainstream · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Geography Education and Pedagogy · Historical Geography and Geographical Thought · Law · Philosophy · Urban Planning and Governance

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Open DOIOpen Access