Geography Matters!

Much of our world – how we imagine it, how we inhabit it – continues to be shaped by various forms of imperialism and colonialism. In this episode, we discuss how geography can help us understand the many entanglements of the global and the local.

Doreen Massey thought geographically about everything. She rejected the neat, linear ideas of spatial difference that have long shaped western geographical imaginations. Massey challenged western scientists, including herself, to stop pretending their position was in any way universal, and to provincialise their questions and theories instead.

What has shaped your geographical imagination? What – or who – has challenged the way you understand the world? How does geography matter to you? Please use this form to share your thoughts.

Episode Credits
Host: Agata Lisiak
Guests: John Allen, David Featherstone, Tariq Jazeel, Linda McDowell, Tracey Skelton
Also Featured: Doreen Massey
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special Thanks: The Open University, Michael Todd
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation

Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.

Doreen Massey’s work quoted or mentioned in this episode:

• Is the World Really Shrinking?, The Open University radio lecture, 2006
• Doreen Massey on Space, Social Science Space, 2013
• Space, Place, and Politics, The Open University, 2009
• A Global Sense of Place, Marxism Today, 1991
• Space, Place, and Gender, Doreen Massey, (Polity Press, 1994)
• Geography Matters!, edited by Doreen Massey and John Allen (Cambridge University Press, 1984)
• Human Geography Today, edited by Doreen Massey, John Allen and Philip Sarre (Wiley, 1991)
• Geographical Worlds, edited by Doreen Massey and John Allen (The Open University, 1995)
• A Place in the World, edited by Doreen Massey and Pat Jess (The Open University, 1995)