Critical Geography

Geography is commonly thought of by those outside the field as the work of cartography and mapmaking, or geographic information systems analysis. While geography has historically included this work, it is also more broadly the study of place and space. From deep engagement with critical social issues and critical theories grew critical spatial theories that came to broadly conceptualize space as (1) contested, (2) fluid and historical, (3) relational and interactional, and (4) infused with differences and inequality. A variety of methodologies engage space in this way, ranging from resistant mapmaking and GIS analyses, through visual and narrative methodologies, participatory and other forms of action research, and mixed and strategic methodologies. Across these method/ologies, several considerations emerge, including the mutually constitutive nature of concrete and abstract space, multiscalarity, the insufficiency of spatial metaphors, the necessity of returning to place, and community as place. Because critical geographic methods are used in community, as well as academic spaces, we close by describing how critical spatial method/ologies have been used in community spaces outside of (and in resistance to) academia.