Fraser, Alistair, ed.
(2012)
Anniversary Essays - Forty Years of Geography at Maynooth. Volume 1 & 2.
National University of Ireland Maynooth.
ISBN 9780992746605
Abstract
The following collection of ‘Anniversar
y Essays’ is an odd mix. But yet,
looking through it, I find its oddness
perfectly appropriate, because isn’t
geography – the discipline and the subject matter – precisely that? Space
is, as many of these essays explicit
ly or implicitly highlight, a crazy
mixture of thrown together objects, forces and ideas. And it’s this fact of
geography that gives me heart when I flick through the following essays
and think of them as representing what scholars and researchers and
teachers in Maynooth’s Department of Geography have done over the
last four decades. Sure, we’ve done
more than what this collection
captures, and there’s no doubt we’ll continue to do amazing things, but at
this juncture, in our 40
th
year, I believe this collection is a wonderful
transect through the department’s development and a unique testimony
to its intellectual vibrancy. All along
the transect, we are exposed to the
wide variety of research questions addressed by geographers in Maynooth;
questions about colonialism, health,
climate, memory, place, migration,
water, religion, identity, inward investment, and technology, and much
more besides. An odd mix, yes, but a productive one, too. We also get to
see developments and changes in the de
partment as a place. In the first
few chapters, for example, we see signs of the department’s early life as a
centre for the study of Ireland’s historical geography, as well as a
burgeoning location for the study of climate, medical and economic
geography. Then, as the collection progresses, we discern a whole set of
new issues tackled, including urban and technological change, adaptation
to climate change, identity, planni
ng, embodiment, and the politics and
economics of Ireland’s changing circumstances.
I think it fair to say that the collectio
n also offers a unique opportunity to
examine the breadth and richness of our discipline. The essays reflect
many of the various ways of thinking
about and doing geography. We see,
for instance, that geography is about physical
and
social processes, about
climate
and
class, say; and that geography is about using a range of
methods, from remote sensing to ethnography. We also see examples of
how scholars in the department ha
ve engaged theoretically with the
discipline by drawing from and seeking to contribute to what we know
about physical geography, climate change studies, feminist theory,
Marxism, post-structuralism, and the
world of policy-makers. From their
base in Maynooth, geographers in the Department have helped to
develop broader understanding of key issues in the discipline, often by
making significant key contributions to geographical knowledge. Long
may that continue.
The collection lying before you truly is a unique heritage document,
which demonstrates what scholarship in one Irish academic department
can achieve over a forty-year span. In this sense it has value. But I believe
the collection has wider resonance. For students of the history and
philosophy of science in general, and geography in particular, the
collection is a landmark contribution. There is plenty of scope to imagine
how it might be used to learn about the Irish geography community and
how it has grown and changed in the last forty years. I also hope the
collection might be used by under- and post-graduate students as an
entry point into learning to understand
this odd discipline, but also this
fantastic department. For example, it is striking how, just as the last five
years or so have seen huge changes in
the department, we also see in the
latter chapters of the collection a wide
range of new patterns take shape,
such as the internationalization of the department’s research foci and
publishing venues; the expression of engaged scholarship regarding
contemporary issues in Ireland and beyond; new publishing strategies,
including the use of blogs; and new strengths in established areas of the
department’s research activities such as climate change. There have been
important developments in academic
geography in the last few years, not
just in Ireland; this sort of coll
ection should help piece together
explanations for what has happened and why.
In sum, then, the collection effectively captures geography’s odd mix and
some of Maynooth’s role in its creation. It is at once a celebration of
Geography in Maynooth and an opportunity to glimpse the department’s
richness, its diversity, and breadth. I hope you agree.
| Item Type: |
Book
|
| Keywords: |
Anniversary Essays; Maynooth; Geography; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography |
| Item ID: |
5582 |
| Depositing User: |
Alistair Fraser
|
| Date Deposited: |
04 Dec 2014 11:25 |
| Publisher: |
National University of Ireland Maynooth |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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