The Association of American Geographers annual meeting goes beyond attracting presenters from geography departments and certainly beyond just those of the American persuasion. The conference attracts international scholars from all over the world, and additionally from many parts of our campus.
While perusing our calendar of UCSB presenters, you may notice that we have added presenters from Crustal Studies, Psychology, Black Studies, and Art History.
First in the mix is G. Burch Fisher, scheduled to present on Tuesday morning. He'll be presenting his work on sediments, large woody debris, and cosmogenic Beryllium-7. On target to complete his Ph.D. in 2011, you’ll find quite of bit of interesting reading on Burch’s website: http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/~burch/index.html
Next up you'll find Dr. Mary Hegarty scheduled to present on Wednesday morning. Mary is a professor in the Psychology Department and director of the Spatial Thinking Lab located on the 2nd floor of the main psychology building. To find the lab, Drew Dara-Abrams will gladly provide you with the location of a preferred stairwell and cardinal directions. Mary is also one of the executive committee members of the Center for Spatial Studies (spatial@ucsb) directed by Mike Goodchild and Don Janelle. Mary’s talk at AAG addresses the effects extraneous cartographic information on maps has on a map reader’s response time for various tasks.
On Thursday morning, Clyde Woods from Black Studies will be the discussant for a session addressing regional differences in racial subjectivity. Talks in this session explore the experiences of U.S. Latinos and Latinas in North Carolina, Missouri, Mid-Century Southern California, and southern U.S. cities and towns.
He's also a panelist in session that reflects upon Neil Smith's 1984 publication Uneven Development – Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space.
From the publisher:
In Uneven Development, a classic in its field, Neil Smith offers the first full theory of uneven geographical development, entwining theories of space and nature with a critique of capitalist development. Featuring pathbreaking analyses of the production of nature and the politics of scale, Smith anticipated many of the uneven contours that now mark neoliberal globalization. This third edition features an afterword updating the analysis for the present day.
Clyde has a background in urban and regional planning and his research focuses on the regional organization of poverty, power, race, and culture in the United States. http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/people/woods.html
You can find Swati Chattopadhyay presenting on Thursday evening. She is a professor in the History of Art and Architecture department. Her research interests include modern architecture, the cultural landscape of British colonialism, and Post-colonial and critical theory. Swati’s talk at AAG focuses on the changing landscape of Calcutta during Durga Puja; a Hindu festival celebrated all over India.
Swati’s book Representing Calcutta – Modernity, Nationalism and the Colonial Uncanny “is a spatial history of the colonial city, and addresses the questions of modernity that haunts our perception of Calcutta.” – publisher Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Follow this link to find out more about Swati's work: UCSB History of Art and Architecture
We look forward to seeing you on campus and in Las Vegas this year at the Association of American Geographers Annual meeting!
