Geography Matters!

11/25/22 • 24 min

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)

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)

Previous Episode

Full of Power

In this first episode, you will learn who Doreen Massey was and get a sneak peek at her politics. We’ll hear from Massey’s former collaborators, friends and colleagues. And from Massey herself.
For nearly three decades, Massey was a professor at The Open University and “loved every minute of it”. The OU’s aim has been to literally open up access to higher education for a wider variety of people. Our approach with this podcast is similar: you don’t need to come prepared – and you certainly don’t need an academic degree to listen to it.
Knowledge and politics can be produced in a wide variety of places. What intellectual spaces have you encountered or actively created beyond the classroom? Please use this form to share your reflections with us.
Episode Credits
Host: Agata Lisiak
Guests: John Allen, Ash Amin, David Featherstone, Yasmin Gunaratnam, Tariq Jazeel, Linda McDowell, Tracey Skelton, Hilary Wainwright
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 Chanan
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation
Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.Doreen Massey’s essays and interviews quoted in this episode:

Doreen Massey speaking about London, extract from Secret City, dir. Michael Chanan, 2012
“I feel as if I've been able to reinvent myself” – a biographical interview with Doreen Massey, by Tim Freytag and Michael Hoyler, Department of Geography, University of Heidelberg, 1998
Understanding cities – Doreen Massey interviewed by Bob Catterall, City, 2000
Space, Place, and Politics – opening remarks, The Open University, 2009
The Possibilities of a Politics of Place Beyond Place? A Conversation with Doreen Massey, Human Geography Research Group, Sophie Bond, David Featherstone, Scottish Geographical Journal, 2009
Liverpool's football activists are part of a wider social movement, The Guardian, 2010

Selected tributes and obituaries:

Hilary Wainwright, “How we will miss that chuckle”: my friend, Doreen Massey
Jeremy Gilbert and Jo Littler, The Doreen Massey we knew
Emma Jackson, Keeping one eye on the bus: A tribute to Doreen Massey
David Featherstone, Doreen Massey obituary

Next Episode

World City

Doreen Massey once wrote that “it is (or ought to be) impossible even to begin thinking about Kilburn High Road without bringing into play half the world and a considerable amount of British imperialist history.” In this episode, urban sociologist Emma Jackson joins us to unpack London’s entanglements with places elsewhere.

London’s imperialist and colonialist legacies are evident not only on the city’s streets, but also reach behind closed doors: into our classrooms, living rooms, offices, shops, and hospital wards. We speak to sociologist Yasmin Gunaratnam to discuss these lasting bonds.

In her book World City, Doreen Massey asks: what does London stand for? We’d love to hear your responses to her question. What does London mean to you? What are your experiences of the city? Please share your thoughts with us via this form.

Episode Credits

Host: Agata Lisiak
Co-host: Emma Jackson
Guest: Yasmin Gunaratnam
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: Serpentine Gallery
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 in this episode:

A Global Sense of Place, Marxism Today, 1991
World City (Wiley, 2007)
Doreen Massey interviewed at London’s Serpentine Gallery, 2006

Also mentioned:

Young Homeless People and Urban Space: Fixed in Mobility, Emma Jackson (Routledge, 2015)
Bowling Together – Emma Jackson’s research project exploring leisure practices and urban change through the site of a London bowling alley
Death and the Migrant: Bodies, Borders and Care, Yasmin Gunaratnam (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Go home? The politics of immigration controversies, Yasmin Gunaratnam, Emma Jackson, Gargi Bhattacharyya, William Davies, Sukhwant Dhaliwal, Kirsten Forkert, Hannah Jones and Roiyah Saltus (Manchester University Press, 2017)
A perverse subsidy: African trained nurses and doctors in the NHS, Maureen Mackintosh, Parvati Raghuram and Leroi Henry, Soundings 34 (2006).
The Migrant’s Paradox: Street Livelihoods and Marginal Citizenship in Britain, Suzanne M. Hall (University of Minnesota Press, 2021)
Artistic and Intellectual Hospitality, Yasmin Gunaratnam and Fataneh Farahani, Discover Society, 2020

Spatial Delight - Geography Matters!

Transcript

Doreen Massey 0:02
A lot of what I've been trying to do over the all too many years when I've been writing about space is to bring space alive, to dynamise it and to make it relevant, to emphasise how important space is in the lives in which we live and in the organisation of the societies in which we live. (Doreen Massey speaking on the Social Science Bites podcast, 2013, recording used with permission)
Agata Lisiak 0:21
Hello and welcome to Spati