Just Geographies

"Just Geographies" working group focuses the study and practice of geography on systemic injustices and the struggles for justice they have been met with. Topics we have worked on to date include extractivism, infrastructural violence and defiance, the racial politics of earthquake preparedness and response, spatial commemoration of state-endorsed violence, environmental security and emergency, visualities of violence, the racism of rental markets and their anti-racist potentialities, grassroots approaches to architectural heritage, and resident-led urban transformation. While current members share a focus on Turkey, Kurdistan, and their environs and diasporas, they do so not for regional exceptionalism but rather for responding critically to the many environmental and social justice issues that are urgent across our warming and warring world. We understand the pursuit of justice not only as a research topic but also as a methodological and epistemological question, striving to produce and disseminate knowledge in diversely accessible (e.g., multimedial and multilingual) ways through artistic and architectural collaborations, contributions to informal academy programs, human rights advocacy, newspaper and magazine articles, podcast episodes, critical cartography, and public-facing books.