GA Conference Bookclub - Borders

Landscapes are divided by artificial lines. These borders are vital for geographers to study. 

The first of what may become an annual book club event is going to take place on the first day of the GA Conference in a month's time. This is part of the changes to the format of the first day, which includes the fact that the conference dinner is included in the delegate fees.

I have been asked to lead a discussion around a book and provide some thoughts on how it could be used in the classroom. There will also be an opportunity for you to swap books once again as we repeat the book swap which was originally the idea of Kate Stockings and seemed to work well last year, with many people going away with a new read for the journey home.

The book that has been chosen for this first session is:

 'The Edge of the Plain' by James Crawford.

You can follow James on Twitter here.

On a day when Suella Braverman is in Rwanda touring the places where asylum seekers may be housed, when we have a growing rhetoric of exclusion, and a week after the furore over Gary Lineker's comments which led to the BBC being put under pressure, it shows the borders are just as topical as ever. Next month will also see the launch of the new Tim Marshall book. There are over 100 million displaced people globally, and the coming decades will see millions on the move...

You can read the first 50+ pages of the book on Google Books using the link here.

The book is also available to purchase (no obligation to do that) - currently in hardback, but with a paperback version later this year. 

There is also an Audible version of the book, read by James himself, which you may find a useful departmental resource as well. I have a copy for that purpose.

The book has a number of case studies which would be of relevance for many different school contexts and different key stages. They include: 

- Sápmi - the territory of the Sámi people, and the threats of HEP schemes and climate change, and the fight for the cultural identity of the people

- the development of 'no-man's land' during conflicts including World War One.

- Historical walls including those marking the edge of Empires such as the Roman

- The Mason-Dixon line

- how melting glaciers have changed some borders, and also revealed the body of Ötzi the Ice Man, who I have a particular connection with (some good second hand prices to be had)

- the issues facing people crossing from Mexico into the USA, and the project which maps the belongings they leave behind when they often tragically fail to complete the crossing of the desert

- the West Bank and Israel and Palestinian walls behind which lies Banksy's Walled Off Hotel, which James visits - this connects with a unit I used to teach on Israel & Palestine

- the Moroccan border territory of Melilla, which is an entry point into the EU potentially, but is guarded by razor wire, which the Haragas are desperate to cross

- the movement of viruses across borders... 

- the African Great Green Wall to stop desertification

James has also recorded a number of podcasts and interviews which you could watch ahead of the session and they are referenced in the talk as well.

The session will run from 12.30 - 1.30 on the opening day of the conference. I will provide a short input with some ideas for how to use the book, and share some thoughts on other border options. There will then be prompts for discussions and sharing.

There will also be a small input from James himself.

There are other border related books of course including Cal Flyn's book on abandoned places, and Klaus Dodds' 'Border Wars', which is excellent. Tim Marshall's books have also touched on the notion of borders.

Klaus in fact tweeted earlier this morning about the growing relevance of borders...

All of this seems to have taken on added salience in recent days. In my book Border Wars I reflected on four strategies of many governments. Construction, expansion, deflection and expulsion. #borders pic.twitter.com/rYkJs9MMIC

— Klaus Dodds (@klausdodds) March 19, 2023

There's also a relevant piece in today's Observer about the language of stopping the boats...

 

I will also be mentioning an article in 'Teaching Geography' written by my friend and colleague Claire Kyndt, published in 2015, describing our work on a unit on Borders for Year 8 and 9 students. This includes a useful framework for exploring borders which I will be sharing.

It would be lovely to see plenty of people there to start off what I'm sure will be a wonderful conference.