This section features selected publications and resources I’ve (co)written/produced to support learning and teaching, and/or provide tools for understanding an issue through a critical geographical lens.
These works address topics such as decolonial politics, anti-racist praxis, and the implications of emerging technologies like AI in geography. Where possible, I’ve included links to open access versions. But in some cases, it is the pre-print version to ensure accessibility without breaching copyright. Please contact me if you can’t access anything.
This contribution addresses three objectives: (1) to situate and contextualise the ongoing military assault on Gaza within longer colonial histories in Palestine; (2) to collate resources that can equip geographers—specialist and non-specialist, academic and non-academic—with resources to build decolonial politics on Palestine–Israel; and (3) to contribute to discussions on what we, as geographers, can do to support Palestinian calls for liberation.
Prof Rob Wilby and I wanted to provide a first look at ChatGPT’s capabilities and limitations in supporting geographic research, critical thinking, learning, and curriculum development. We explore ChatGPT’s capabilities in geography, including its knowledge base, ability to synthesize information, and potential for supporting tasks such as writing assistance, research evaluation, and curriculum development. We conclude by calling on geographers to enhance their AI literacy to ensure these technologies are used responsibly and effectively in academic practice.
Focusing on UK-based universities, this article examines the why and the white in the question “Why is our geography curriculum so white?” It is argued that engaging with insights from critical race theory, social justice and decolonial scholarship could help British geography to more effectively challenge racism in our institutional arrangements and teaching practices.
This paper sketches out three guiding principles for the incorporation of explicitly anti-racist praxis in our learning and teaching within British Geography: (1) Recognise each other’s humanity, (2) Say the unsayable, and (3) Experiment with (y)our history. We call for explicitly anti-racist praxis while conscious of the “disciplinary fragility” that moves to address racism might elicit.
This paper reflects on the theme of the 2017 RGS-IBG Annual Conference, ‘Decolonising geographical knowledges: opening geography out to the world.’ We argue that focusing on decolonising knowledge, rather than addressing structures, institutions, and practices, risks reproducing coloniality by recentring non-Indigenous, white, and privileged groups in global knowledge production. Instead, we advocate for an approach that prioritises the intersectionality of indigeneity and race, ensuring that those racialised as Indigenous and non-white by colonial systems are better able to shape the terms of decolonial agendas in academia.
James Esson 