Cross-Cutting Plenary Sessions

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Among the many highlights of the forthcoming AAG Annual Meeting in Philadelphia will be a set of plenary sessions of unusual breadth and scope that are aimed at fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue and interaction. The centenary meeting provides a wonderful opportunity to promote this end. The planned plenary sessions examine issues of concern to a wide range of geographers.

The meeting will kick off with an expanded opening session that will include commentaries on Philadelphia and AAG history, as well as an opening keynote address from the Director of the National Science Foundation, Rita Colwell. Subsequent sessions are as follows:

15 March: Where We Have Come From and Where We Stand: Views of American Geography on the AAG’s 100th. This plenary session features the reflections of prominent senior members of our profession who have significantly influenced the discipline’s development and growth. Participants will comment on the development of American geography over the past 100 years, as well as its current standing. The speakers will be Yi-Fu Tuan, Michael Goodchild, Susan Hanson, and M. Gordon Wolman.

Yi Fu Tuan

16 March: The AAG at 100: External Perspectives on Geography’s Status and Potential. This plenary session features individuals who have had strong ties to geography, but who can provide an outsider’s view of the discipline’s standing. The speakers will be Jeffrey Sachs, Cynthia Enloe, Jack Dangermond (invited), and Gilbert Grosvenor

.Jeffrey Sachs

17 March: Raising Geography’s Profile in Public Debate. This plenary session features geographers who, in different ways, have worked to promote a larger understanding of the nature and importance of geographical inquiry. Each will comment on the importance (and the challenge) of articulating to a broad audience what geography is or can do. The speakers will be Harm de Blij, Ruth Gilmore, Derek Gregory, and Bill Turner.

18 March: Geography in the Twenty-First Century: Where Do We Go From Here? This plenary session features geographers at different career stages who are shaping the development of the discipline in important ways. Each will comment on the future of geography on the occasion of the AAG’s centenary. The speakers will be Eric Sheppard, Diana Liverman, Bruce Rhoads, Mei-Po Kwan, Don Mitchell, and David Skole.

Mei Po Kwan

Collectively, this set of plenary sessions will provide a wonderful opportunity to consider the nature and standing of American geography on the occasion of the AAG’s centenary. The participants are drawn from many reaches of the discipline, and their remarks should provide us with much to contemplate and discuss.

Alec Murphy, AAG President
abmurphy@oregon.uoregon.edu

 

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