Geographical Imaginations

Spanish scholar Javier Cardeña Contreras does all the heavy lifting in this inaugural 13-theme speed round exploration of Quijote, Shawshank Redemption, Antonio Machado’s Caminante, La Casa de Papel, Bulls, Eddie Davies, El Madroño, Wild West films, La Zapatilla, Translation, Duncan Williamson, Almodovar, and what it means to have a “pueblo” in Spain—all the while weaving a personal essay about home and identity.

In Climate Thinking Change we speak with Dr. Lawrence Hamilton of the University of New Hampshire about the survey work he has done to get closer to American perceptions of the Arctic. This radio expedition is most interested in exploring to what extent our geographical knowledge of the Arctic impacts how we might think about this far north region in social, political and environmental contexts.

Poster Bear is the second part of a two-episode exploration of two polar bears—the one that travels along the ice and the other one that circulates in the media.  Joining us is Dorothea Born, a Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholar from Mitteleuropa.  Born’s work examines the polar bear as an icon for the visual communication of climate change in popular science magazines.

On expedition in Svalbard we encountered the circa 1930s cabin that pioneer female big game hunter and writer Wanny Wolstad lived in during five overwinters. Literature scholar Dr. Ingrid Urberg contextualizes Wolstad and her writings within the works of other „Svalbard Daughters“ whose narratives collectively challenged the overtly masculine storytelling about the Arctic landscape all the while asking us to reconsider how we imagine the polar north.

In  Asking Svalbard  we begin to move beyond generalization about the Arctic. By digging deeper we interrogate a place that might only exist on the fringes of our imaginations-Svalbard, Norway. Located in the Arctic Circle, this archipelago is home to over 2,500 people. Guiding us in this radio expedition is  Rolf Stange , author of the top-selling guidebook for this country of the cold shores. 

How does one prepare for an expedition to the Arctic North?  In Don’t Feed the Bears we speak with Ann Christin Auestad, project manager at the Arctic Safety Centre to learn  more about the different training available for risk management and planning for expeditions within the polar north.  We also revisit with Patrick Schaudy (EPISODE TWO) to discuss his summer employment as a polar bear guard.  What is that?  Listen.

In Arctic Fever we embark on our multi-episode explorations of “The Arctic.”  Joining us is historian Michael Robinson—creator, host and producer of Time to Eat the Dogs, a weekly podcast about science, history, and exploration. We discuss his book, The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture, unpack what it means to go on expedition and outline the impact Arctic explorers had on the American imagination of this polar region.

In EPISODE FIFTY TWO we track down Andy Merrifield, a well-published UK-based geographer who left academia in 2003 to do what he loves. We discuss his writings on William Bunge, Guy Debord, Henri Lefebvre and John Berger and engage in a wide-ranging conversation that explores the expedition, the amateur, walking with a donkey and the pilgrimages geographical imaginations.

Who is imagining the energy landscapes of the future?  How are they doing it?  Where?  In what spaces?  Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry, Founding Co-Directors of the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), discuss the global project that is giving artists, architects, landscape architects, and other creatives a space to propose sustainable energy infrastructures and imagine a low-carbon future.

Celebrating Geographical Imaginations: Radio Expeditions into the Geographies of Everything and Nothing’s 50th episode we revisit the concept for the show and take a look back at all of the different questions, themes and collaborators that brought us here to this point over four years later.  If you are a new listener, this is a great departure point as each and every radio expedition is highlighted and summarized.

For the opener of Season Five, we are joined by Phil Cousineau, the award-winning author of The Art of Pilgrimage.  In a wide-ranging “long conversation” we discuss how to make travel meaningful and sacred.  Along the way we unpack the tourist gaze and consider how mentors and words can open pathways to finding the pilgrim’s mood.

In EPISODE FORTY EIGHT we are joined again by geographer Johnny Finn (from EPISODE THIRTY TWO).  Rounding out our three-episode on-the-ground fieldwork series on the crocodile-shaped island of Cuba, we discuss health care, Fidel, José Martí, memorialization, béisbol and literacy.

In our second episode from fieldwork in Cuba we sit down with “Song Maker” Enid Rosales and discuss her two albums (Brisa Pasajera and Dentro de Mí), her listeners in Cuba and beyond, the Nueva Trova genre, the Buena Vista Social Club effect, Celia Cruz and what it means to be an “hacedora de canciones.”

With EPISODE FORTY SIX  we start a series of episodes made while conducting fieldwork in Cuba in Spring 2018.  In Puentes we sit down with don Jose Poveda–poet, philosopher, man of letters and of faith–in this wide ranging discussion of his poetry, travel from Cuba to Russia, and his work as interpreter to Russian technical advisers working in Cuban industry.  This episode is in Spanish.

In Geographies of Everything we have the great pleasure of sitting down with world renowned academic geographer Dr. Yi-Fu Tuan.  In the first part of this two-episode series we explore space, place, offices, Madison (Wisconsin), film, deserts and much more with this intellectual pioneer of humanist geography.  Tuan is noted for bringing together philosophy and geography and his work blazed the trail for our show.

In EPISODE FORTY THREE we continue with our two-part Summer Reading Series and finish our review of  John Kirtland Wright’s  1946 Presidential Address Association of American Geographers.  In this canonical text, Wright outlines his ideas for  geosophy . How was this address received by his colleagues? What would the study of geosophy look like? Professor John L. Allen joins us to explore these questions- and others -It’s our first major exploration of this key text.

In EPISODE FORTY TWO we start our two-episode Summer Reading Series with a reading and discussion of John Kirtland Wright’s 1946 Association of American Geographers (AAG) Presidential Address where he outlines his ideas for geosophy.  The word is a compound of ‘geo’ (Greek for earth) and ‘sophia’ (Greek for wisdom).  It is the study of geographical knowledge from any or all points of view.  Joining us is Dr. Geoffrey Martin, leading Geography historian and AAG Archivist to help put this canonical text in context.

In DARchitecture we discuss architectural heritage in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  Joining us for an episode-long conversation is Aida Mulokozi, CEO of the Dar es Salaam Centre for Architectural Heritage (DARCH).  We walk through the process of urban heritage preservation in the context of rapid urban growth; we explore the politics of memory in Dar’s post-colonial present; and learn more about the vital work DARCH is doing to tell the story of Dar es Salaam to both locals and new arrivals alike.

In EPISODE FORTY we are on field assignment exploring the multi-species geographies of, perhaps, the most iconic safari game drive in the world.  We report on site from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, learning some basic Swahili (Safari means “trip”) and seeing a range of animals we had never seen before outside of a zoo or a documentary.  We have plenty of fun copying and/or poking fun at nature documentary style reportage.

In EPISODE THIRTY-NINE we set out and explore “Dar City Geographies” with urban geographer Dr. Sarah Smiley from Kent State University.  This “urban safari” provokes discussions of the legacy of historical segregation policies on the urban landscape; the improvements made to the transport infrastructure in this rapidly growing, soon-to-be mega-city; and what residents in different zones have to do to access water across Dar es Salaam.

In “Piece by Piece,” we sit down with Rukia Hatibu, aka The Annoyin’ Artist, to discuss the importance of making public our ideas, stories and “pieces.”  It is not enough to ask questions about who we are.  What is vital is having an actual place to do it.  Her evening forum helps showcase different voices and provides a space for personal poetic development.  As if that was not enough, Rukia also discusses her new initiative, AIDIM, that seeks to bring out this same development in school children.

“Zanzibar, or the Last Reason,” translated from the German, “Sansibar oder der letzte Grund,” is a novel by Alfred Andersch where one of the protagonists (a boy) daydreams the far away Zanzibar from his small hometown in Germany.  Maybe a bad case of fernweh, this island in his mind is actually located in the Indian Ocean, but it is less a concrete goal than the utopian place of a better future.  Water temperature: 30 degrees Celcius.

In “La Arquitecta” we explore the resonance of spaces and the social aspects of urban design with German-born architect Chris Heidrich.  The show returns to Havana, Cuba (see EPISODE 32) to raise questions about who designs and shapes the city.  Heidrich is planning to bring an exhibition about women architects from Cuba to Europe in celebration of the 500 year anniversary of this capital city.

We finish our summer reading of C.C. Long’s “Home Geography” in EPISODE THIRTY FIVE.  Lessons 33 through 45 round out this primer for developing our own geographical imaginations.   Long reminds us, “All around are illustrations of lake and river, upland and lowland, slope and valley. These forms must be actually observed by the pupil, mental pictures obtained, in order that he may be enabled to build up in his mind other mental pictures of similar unseen forms.”

In EPISODE THIRTY FOUR we pick up from where we left off in C.C. Long’s classic text, “Home Geography for Primary Grades.”  Starting with Lesson 18, “How Rivers Are Made,” and finishing with Lesson 32, “Useful Plants,” Long continues to impress upon us the need “to study that small part of the earth’s surface lying just at our doors.”  Read along and design your own local expeditions.  

Welcome to our inaugural summer reading series.  Listen to EPISODE THIRTY THREE as we explore C.C. Long’s 1894 classic primary school text.  In “Home Geography,” Dr. Long tells us, “A knowledge of the home must be obtained by direct observation; of the rest of the world, through the imagination assisted by information. Ideas acquired by direct observation form a basis for imagining those things which are distant and unknown.”

What comes to mind when someone says, “CUBA?”  Classic automobiles, Buena Vista, Che?  Maybe you envision a socialist utopia?  Or a maybe a communist dystopia?  In EPISODE THIRTY TWO we invite geographer Johnny Finn to discuss US American geographical imaginations of this large Caribbean island and unpack the various narratives that inform how we arrive to Cuba in our minds.

In EPISODE THIRTY ONE we use statistics to bring the world closer to home and to inform how we think about our place within the milieu.  Forget about trying to understand 7.5 billion people.  What if the world was a village of 100–each member of that community representing 1% of the world population?  Joining us is Lisa Frank of the 100 People Foundation as we talk about statistics and the impact they have on the geographical imagination.

In Dances with Bees we venture to the shores of Wolfgangsee to visit the apiary of Nobel Prize winner Karl von Frisch to see first-hand and explore how honeybees communicate their geographical (i.e. spatial) knowledge through dance.  Joining us are Professors Jürgen Tautz and Randolf Menzel of Germany who have dedicated their scientific lives to better understanding spatial memory and navigation.

In A Great American Pilgrimage we walk 3500 kilometers from Maine to Georgia in the Eastern woods of the United States traversing the ridge-line of the oldest mountains in the world, the Appalachians.  Join Sonia “Chulapa” Ibáñez and Kevin “Cow’s Head” Fox as they meet America face-to-face.  We will look at what it means to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail and discuss this “other side of America.”  Joining us are Harpo, Delta and the Big Galoot.

In Auf Deutsch Bitte we explore linguistic borrowings from German.  Joining the show in conversation are Salzburg locals and Sprachgefüle Marie Damisch and Daniel Url.  We discuss the word-concepts Weltanshauung, Heimat, Weltansichten and Welträtsel amongst others.  Inevitably we come back to the question: how much does language shape our understanding of the world?  Listen and broaden your geographical imagination here in Central Europe and/or beyond.

In EPISODE TWENTY SEVEN we explore alternatives to the conventional world map and question how much this standard image of the world frames and limits our own imaginations of the globe.  We speak with Julia Mia Stirnemann about her World Map Generator, an online tool designed to help de-center the way we think about the conventional cartographic representations of the world.

In EPISODE TWENTY SIX we set up a pub-style quiz game for you to play at home with your friends and family.  Many of us have had our geographical imaginations informed by geographical information that comes from atlases and encyclopedias.  Have you ever watched Jeopardy! or played Trivial Pursuit?  Do your best on these Geography Olympiad questions.

In Psychogeography 101 we discuss contemporary urban exploration practices with cultural theorist and psychogeographer Tina Richardson.  After tracing back to the mid-twentieth century work of the Situationist International, we outline what doing psychogeography looks like today and how it could—and should—be part of the practice of anyone seeking a better understanding of their own geographical imagination.

In EPISODE TWENTY FOUR, Countries & Capitals, we seek to increase our geographic literacy by reviewing country names (in the order of most to least populated) while locating each within its region and naming its capital city.  At the same time we also critique the very same geographical imagination this limited view of geography constructs in our minds.  Test your skills by following along with this map.

Maps are ubiquitous in today’s world.  Our geographical imaginations are both expanded and limited by their form.  But, what is a map?  Roughly 25 years ago academic geographers began to seriously question their taken-for-granted history.  Rogue map deconstructionist Denis Wood explores with us Google Maps, critical cartography, the geo-body, Winnie the Pooh and North Carolina.

Does a city have its own song?  A hum and beat that makes it unique?  Join us on this short expedition to record the soundscape produced by the everyday interactions of people and place in Old Town Salzburg.  With microphone in hand we drift through the narrow streets and lanes capturing a different kind of music and consider a different way of thinking about our sensory experience of place.

In EPISODE TWENTY ONE, Seeing Heimat Through a Lens, we discuss the power of photography to shape and frame sentiments and ideas about place-based national and regional identities in 1930s Austria.  Art historian Dr. Elizabeth Cronin of the New York Public Library guides us back to this key moment in the construction of a contemporary Austrianness rooted in tradition and the rural on the one hand, yet striving to be modern and urban on the other.

In EPISODE TWENTY, Sitting Near Borges, we look at the geographical imagination of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.  We visit a park bench in Cambridge, Massachusetts in order to conjure up the spirit of his writings and discuss Borgesian “thought experiments” with literature scholar Bill Richardson of the National University of Ireland, Galway.  Photo taken along the Rhône River in Geneva, Switzerland.

In the show’s 19th episode we test locals on their knowledge of the country of Paraguay while locating their own geographical imaginations along the way.  We also invite two of the three Paraguayans living in Salzburg, the musicians Francisco González and Raúl Rolón, to share traditional Paraguayan music and discuss–in English, Spanish and Jopará–cultural geographical mixing between Paraguay and Austria.

In Pedagogy of the Compressed we venture through different spaces of teaching and learning with Dr. Rich Heyman of the University of Texas and ride upcycled bicycles through northern California with Seth Dow, Andy Knox, Hannah Halvorsen and Brandon Herhusky of Sugar Bowl Academy.  In this time-space compressed world what does it mean to be “doing” geography and how can our methodology, or the how, be more important than the what?

In EPISODE SEVENTEEN we start here in Salzburg with the statue of St. Vergil, an 8th century Irish monk who believed the world was round and then travel out to terra incognita in a leather boat with another Irish saint, Brendan the Navigator. It is the Voyage of St. Brendan, a popular medieval religious narrative, that we focus on and explore how different readings of this text produce different geographical imaginations. Contributors include Dr. Paul Pearson, Dr. Clara Strijbosch and Dr. Jon Mackley.

In Making Heritage we venture out to explore 3 Austrian cultural heritage sites: the historic city center of Salzburg, the Hallstatt-Dachstein Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape, and the Viennese Coffee House.  Listen as we dialogue with scholars Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Marilena Vecco about what it means to be on the UNESCO World Heritage list, the nature of producing heritage and the developments leading up to increased recognition of “intangible” cultural sites.

Does the City of Salzburg have rhythm?  Or rhythms, plural?  How do we access it?  Or them?  In EPISODE FIFTEEN we explore the concept of rhythmanalysis with Dr. Reena Tiwari and examine how communities can better imagine the geographies in which they live by unpacking the rhythms that make up those spaces.  The Salzburg Rhythmanalysis Project is officially announced and citizen-rhythmanalysts are called to participate.

In EPISODE FOURTEEN we look at how Alpine folk culture has made it into global popular culture on the back of the Krampus.  In a conversation with local cultural historian Christoph Schwaiger we look at both the Krampus of yesteryear and the one you might catch “running” the streets now during St. Nicholas celebrations in central Europe.  This is a look at the many geographies produced by an anthropomorphic goat-man.

In EPISODE THIRTEEN we join Bärbel Hartje of the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts to investigate the connections between theoretical framing, the cityscape and walking.  We discuss the evolution of the Summer Academy’s Exploring Salzburgprogram and how the ever-popular City Walks introduce participants from around the world to some of the structures of the City of Salzburg.

Celebrating a year of radio-making from inside the incubator of Studio B at Radio Fabrik, in EPISODE TWELVE we discuss with Program Coordinator Eva Schmidhuber the historical geography of this collectively-owned community radio station in Salzburg.  We review the first season of episodes and plan ahead as Geographical Imaginations grows wings.

The Untersberg Mountain dominates the landscape visible to the south of the City of Salzburg and captures the popular geographical imagination through the legends and myths surrounding it.  Come walk up and around this sacred mountain and explore its cultural geographies with Dr. Veronica della Dora, Rainer Limpöck, Matthias Gruber and Eva Krallinger.

The Almkanal is an extensive canal system that runs through the City of Salzburg.  In EPISODE TEN we speak with the Almmeister Wolfgang Peter and the Alm Gatekeeper Kurt Klappacher to learn more about the social, political and economic geographies of this nearly 1000 year old institution.  And we take a swim because it has been a very hot summer.

We discuss rhythm and cities with Soundpainting creator and composer Walter Thompson in this first installment of our Portraits of Rhythmanalysts inspired by Henri Lefebvre’s collection of essays entitled, “Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life.”  Thompson discusses connections between the everyday and his artistic practice.