Socialist and Critical Geography Specialty Group
of the Association of American Geographers
2009 Annual Report
1) Mission Statement
To promote critical analysis of geographic phenomena, cognizant of geographic research on the well-being of social classes; to investigate the issue of radical change toward a more collective and egalitarian society; and to discover the impact of economic growth upon environmental quality and upon social equity.
2) Dues Information
Annual dues are $6; students may join for $1.
3) Officers
Spokesperson and Institutional Campaign collective convener (2009-11):
Jamey Essex
Department of Political Science, Chrysler Hall North, University of Windsor
Windsor, ON N9B 3P4 Canada
E-mail:
Vice-Spokesperson (2009-11):
Jenna Loyd
Center for Place, Culture and Politics, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10016
E-mail:
Treasurer and Awards collective convener (2009-10):
Eliot Tretter
Department of Geography and the Environment, A3100, University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712
E-mail:
Conference collective convener (2009-10):
Lawrence Berg
Community, Culture, and Global Studies, Irving K. Barber School of Arts & Sciences, The University of British Columbia Okanagan, 3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7 Canada
E-mail:
Webmaster and Communications collective convener (2009-10):
Ryan Burns
Box 353550, Smith Hall 408, Dept. of Geography, University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
Email:
4) Accomplishments (2008-2009) and Plans for the Coming Year
A. Las Vegas Business Meeting
This year’s SCGSG Business Meeting was held during the AAG Annual Meeting (March 25, 2009) with strong attendance by 18 members, including several members who were attending their first specialty group business meeting. Many attendees to the Las Vegas business meeting also come from the ranks of early career faculty, contract and temporary faculty, and graduate students, demonstrating the group’s appeal to these sections of the broader AAG membership. The discussion at the 2009 business meeting was wide-ranging and included consideration of the group’s strategic goals with respect to the AAG and the discipline of geography, communication with and engagement of group members in decision-making, changes to the group’s structure to better reflect the mission statement. This resulted in attendees deciding to adopt a new consensus-based decision making process and a group structure based on collectives attuned to particular aspects of the group’s mission. These are discussed in more detail below (section F). Strategic issues of importance and potential group mobilization were also identified, and focused especially on the position and role of temporary, contract, and part-time faculty members in geography and the academy more generally. This resulted in the decision to concentrate group efforts in 2009-10 on addressing conference registration fees for the annual meeting of the AAG, as detailed in section 7 below.
B. Sponsored Sessions
The SCGSG sponsored or co-sponsored 20 CFPs (resulting in 42 sessions) for the 2009 meeting. As of October 9, 2009, the group has extended sponsorship to 13 CFPs for the 2010 AAG meting in Washington, DC. As registration for the meeting does not close until October 28, this number is likely to increase.
C. Website and Communications
Since the last SCGSG annual report was submitted in 2006, Ryan Burns has taken over webmaster duties from previous webmaster Dennis Grammenos. Dennis had previously overhauled the group’s website (http://www.neiu.edu/~scgsg/), and had sought more content submitted directly by group members. Ryan, a PhD student at the University of Washington, has now taken on the task of website management, and maintained the site according to the template Dennis had designed. In addition, a decision was made at the 2009 business meeting to begin a regular group newsletter, which is in the final stages of production as of the submission of this report. The newsletter will be posted on the group’s website as well as distributed over appropriate listservs. The crit-geog and leftgeog listservs also remain in heavy use by members of the group and many others.
D. Blaut Award
The group again awarded its annual James Blaut Award in 2009, commemorating the life and work of radical geographer James Blaut. James Blaut worked indefatigably on issues of social justice and inequality; enhanced our understanding of racism, imperialism, and Eurocentrism; and contributed directly to the advancement of socialist and anti-colonial struggles. The award recognizes a scholar who, over the course of her/his life, has (1) used a geographic and historical analysis of capitalism to explain current social injustices and inequalities; (2) promoted activism against oppressive power relations both within and outside the academy; and (3) bridged socialist theory and practice. The awardee also presents the James Blaut Memorial Lecture during the AAG Annual Meeting. The information below is adapted from that included the group’s fall 2009 newsletter.
Dr. Rich Heyman was awarded the 2009 James Blaut Award, and presented his award lecture at the annual meeting on the Tuesday evening (March 24, 2009). A total of four candidates were nominated fro the award, and Rich Heyman was selected because of his consistently radical positions toward academia, community, and socialist/critical research. He has actively engaged unions, gaining support for 80% of the University of Washington’s TA’s during his time there and establishing affiliation with the United Auto Workers. Since 2007, Rich has been a member of an interdisciplinary Academic Advisory Committee (AAC) working in conjunction with the Workers Defense Project (PDL) on a comprehensive study of working conditions in the construction industry in Austin, carried out by a team composed of PDL members and staff and University of Texas students, both graduate and undergraduate. Rich Heyman continues James Blaut's tradition of radical thought within academia by working toward abolishing forms of academic hierarchy that tend to subordinate non-tenured faculty. Blaut's example continues through Heyman's commitment to radical pedagogy, activism, and intellectually critical work.
The SCGSG is now accepting nominations for the 5th Annual James Blaut Award and Memorial Lecture. The deadline for nominations is October 15, 2009. This earlier deadlne (previous deadlines were in December) will help ensure that the awardee and his/her lecture can be incorporated into the AAG meeting program.
E. Travel Grants
The group continues to offer travel grants to meet the financial need of attendees to the AAG annual meeting who are unable to finance travel costs themselves. Session organizers who requested funding for their participants are asked to first submit their session for SCGSG sponsorship; if granted, the organizers are allowed to nominate one participant with financial need for travel funding. The SCGSG awards up to $250 to each of two nominees, for a total of $500. In the past, a smaller total amount was granted to more recipients, which diluted the effectiveness of the travel award.
F. Adoption of Consensus Based Decision Making/New Collectives Structure
As noted, the SCGSG adopted a new structure and a new decision making process at the business meeting in Las Vegas. The following information is an excerpt from the group’s fall 2009 newsletter, and details the changes adopted and rationale behind them.
On the collective organization structure: “In order to democratize the decision-making process, distribute responsibilities more evenly, and rid ourselves of unwieldy bureaucratic structures, we have organized ourselves in collectives. Each collective is a sort of focus group: it has a responsibility, and it is comprised of individuals who contribute to the cause of that collective. Some people are involved in multiple collectives. Thus, the organization as a whole depends on the collectives. We have demarcated four collectives as of this writing: Awards, Communications, Conference, and Institutional Campaign (IC). The Awards collective is responsible for the James Blaut award, travel funding, and miscellaneous awards as our budget allows. The Communications collective directs the website, composes the (new) bi-annual newsletter and distributes meeting minutes. The Conference collective manages sponsorship of sessions, organizes catering for our annual business meeting, and organizes the informal SCGSG party. The IC is a collective oriented toward achieving specific goals in the AAG: for instance, in a past year the IC arranged for childcare at the AAG, and this year the IC is working to lower the AAG registration costs for low-income and underemployed attendees.”
On the consensus model of decision making: “There are lots of ways to make decisions and the process of decision making the SCGSG of the AAG has recently chosen to adopt is called Formal Consensus. Like all other forms of decision making, Formal Consensus has a defined structure, but more than other forms of decision making, it requires a commitment to active cooperation, disciplined speaking and listening, and respect for the contributions of every member. Every person has the responsibility to actively participate as a creative individual within the structure. In Formal Consensus, conflict is encouraged and supported, and resolved cooperatively with respect, nonviolence, and creativity. Decisions are believed to be more robust because of group input and unity. Unlike majoritarianism systems, decisions are only adopted when all participants at a meeting consent to the result of discussion about a proposal. If people disagree with a proposal, they are responsible for expressing their concerns but no decision is adopted until there is resolution of every concern. All members of the group have the ability to unilaterally block any proposal, unless limitations are placed on the number of required blocks for a proposal, and a concern must be based upon the principles of the group to justify a block. As proposals are being discussed, the facilitator should ask those with concerns if they are willing to stand aside, if they will not and consensus is unachievable, the proposal remains blocked. Therefore, proposals can still be adopted if individuals have unresolved concerns; there does need to be complete agreement, but members must consent to the proposal or step aside to allow to it to be adopted.”
5) Membership
As of April 30, 2009, the SCGSG has 277 members, of whom 136 are student members.
6) Financial Report (8/31/08 through the 2009 AAG Meeting)
Date
/ Description / Receipts / Disbursements /Balance
8/31/08 / Balance forward / $2809.439/30/08 / Dues collected for Sept 2008 / 94.00 / 3014.43
10/31/08 / Dues collected for Oct 2008 / 220.00 / 3234.43
11/26/08 / Semprebon – SCGSG travel grant / (125.00) / 3109.43
11/26/08 / Shukaitis – SCGSG travel grant / (125.00) / 2984.43
11/30/08 / Dues collected for Nov 2008 / 80.00 / 3064.43
12/31/08 / Dues collected for Dec 2008 / 18.00 / 3082.43
1/31/09 / Dues collected for Jan 2009 / 85.00 / 3167.43
2/28/09 / Dues collected for Feb 2009 / 37.00 / 3204.43
2/28/09 / Balance / 3204.43
7) Suggestions for the AAG Council
In August 2009, the SCGSG presented a motion to AAG CEO Doug Richardson regarding conference fees, to be taken up at AAG Executive and Council meetings in late September and early October 2009. The proposed motion included in the document forwarded to the CEO read:
The members of the Socialist and Critical Geography Specialty Group (SCGSG) of the AAG propose that AAG Council and Executive alter the conference registration fee structure for the 2010 and subsequent annual meetings of the AAG to charge a reduced cost of registration for members who are unemployed, underemployed, or low income at the time of registration. Membership rates for the AAG already reflect differential annual income among members, and there is a reduced conference registration fee for student and retired members. The SCGSG suggests that those members who are unemployed (who do not have an institutional affiliation), underemployed (who do not have full-time or tenure track status at their current institution or employer), or who qualify as low-income (those whose membership status is registered under the “Less than $25,000”, “$25,001 to $35,000”, or “$35,001 to $50,000” categories) be permitted to register for the annual meeting at the same cost as student and retired members (currently $145 for early registration for the 2010 meeting).
This is part of the group’s institutional campaign for the 2009-10 year, which is focused on easing the burden of conference and other costs on unemployed, underemployed, and low income members, and more generally to advocate on behalf of those caught in the non-tenure-track treadmill within academe.