News

AAG Snapshot: Learn About the Programs, Projects, and Resources of the AAG During the Annual Meeting

March 1, 2017

Would you like to know more about the work of the AAG throughout the year, beyond the Annual Meeting? Are you interested in learning about additional resources and opportunities available to you through the AAG? Check out a new feature at the 2017 Annual Meeting in Boston, our AAG Snapshots series!

Throughout the week, AAG staff will be giving brief (5-10 minute) talks on different aspects of the projects, programs, and resources of the association, with website demonstrations showing how to access more information online. Topics range from making the most of student membership to AAG’s efforts regarding public policy. We encourage everyone to attend these casual presentations and interact with AAG staff, asking your questions and learning more about the association and membership.

AAG Snapshots will be held in the AAG Communications Center, located on Level 2 of the Hynes Convention Center near registration.

Make the Most of Your Student Membership
with Candice Luebbering
Wednesday, April 5 at 10:00 a.m.
Friday, April 7 at 3:20 p.m.

AAG & Policy
with John Wertman
Wednesday, April 5 at 2:40 p.m.
Friday, April 7 at 10:00 a.m.

Supporting Geography Education
with Michael Solem
Wednesday, April 5 4:20 p.m.
Thursday, April 6 at 5:20 p.m.

AAG Award Opportunities
with Candida Mannozzi
Thursday, April 6 at 10:00 a.m.

Disciplinary Data Dashboard
with Mark Revell
Thursday, April 6 at 3:20 p.m.

Know Our Journals, Submit Your Manuscripts
with Jennifer Cassidento
Friday, April 7 at 5:20 p.m.
Saturday, April 8 at 3:20 p.m.

Service Opportunities in the AAG
with Candida Mannozzi
Saturday, April 8 at 10:00 a.m.

The GeoMentors Program
with Candice Luebbering
Saturday, April 8 at 5:20 p.m.

AAG Snapshots

Annual Meeting

Explore the Growing List of AAG 2017 Field Trips, Workshops and Excursions

February 27, 2017

Explore the rich physical and cultural geography of Boston, Mass., and the New England region through informative field trips led by geographers or other experts. Field trips and excursions are also an excellent way to meet and exchange ideas with colleagues and friends. Also, expand your knowledge base and sign up for a workshop within your area of expertise.

Learn more.

Annual Meeting

Attend Special Sessions on the 2016 U.S. Elections: Implications for Geography and Beyond

February 24, 2017

The 2016 elections in the United States may impact geography and our nation in the years ahead in many ways. Every year, the AAG addresses “late-breaking” events through special sessions at our Annual Meetings. During our upcoming 2017 AAG Annual Meeting in Boston, the AAG will hold a series of sessions within the special track, The 2016 U.S. Elections: Implications for Geography and Beyond, focused on analysis and research on the 2016 election, and what the results may mean for geography, the nation, and our planet.

This special track features the session, “The 2016 U.S. Elections: Implications for Geography and Beyond,” a high-profile panel session, chaired and organized by AAG President Glen M. MacDonald, with panelists Sarah Witham Bednarz, Texas A&M University; Alexander B. Murphy, University of Oregon; Douglas Richardson, American Association of Geographers; Derek H. Alderman, University of Tennessee; Victoria A. Lawson, University of Washington; Julie Winkler, Michigan State University, among others. This special session will be held on Saturday, April 8, 2017, from 5:20 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. in Room 312 of the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

The panel session, “Need for Public Intellectuals in a Trump America: Strategies for Communication, Engagement, and Advocacy,” organized by AAG Vice President Derek Alderman, will take place on Thursday, April 6, from 10:00 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. The following day, Friday, April 7th, from 1:20 p.m. – 3:00 p.m., panelists will address the specific issue of immigration in the session “Trump on Immigration Enforcement: the First 100 Days.” The panel will be up-to-date, research-based, and policy-informed, addressing questions on what immigration enforcement looks like in a Trump administration. Then don’t miss Saturday’s panel session already discussed above, “The 2016 U.S. Elections: Implications for Geography and Beyond,” from 5:20 p.m. – 7:00 p.m, featuring insights from current and former AAG leadership about our current political climate.

Annual Meeting

AAG Theme: Geographies of Bread and Water in the 21st Century

February 24, 2017

Burgeoning global population along with increasing appetite for high-protein or resource demanding food choices may double demands on world agriculture by 2050. At the same time groundwater depletion and climate change are negatively impacting the availability of sufficient water to meet agricultural and domestic freshwater demands in many regions. Compounding these challenges are socioeconomic forces, including armed conflicts and state collapse that negatively affect agricultural productivity, food transference and water resources. The challenges to food and water security over the 21st century represent an increasing and potentially existential threat to global society. These issues are fundamentally geographical in nature and form a central research and educational focus of geography and the AAG special theme.

The AAG Opening Presidential Plenary: Bread and Water in the 21st Century will anchor this featured theme. Speakers in this opening plenary session will be AAG President Glen M. MacDonald (UCLA), Ruth DeFries (Columbia University) and Peter Gleick (Pacific Institute). Discussants will be Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern (Syracuse University) and William G. Moseley (Macalaster College).

Glen M. MacDonald, Ruth DeFries, Peter Gleick, Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, William G. Moseley

Other special events related to this theme will include:

Panel on the Pedagogy of Karl W. Butzer from Bonn, to Madison, Chicago, Zurich, and Austin chaired by Samantha Krause and Moulay Anwar Sounny-Slitine; Friday, April 7, from 1:20 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Physical Geography Poster Sessions: Check out hundreds of posters featuring research in physical geography. Session I is on Friday, April 7, from 1:20 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Session II is on Saturday, April 8th, from 8:00 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. Note that the Physical Geography Reception/Happy Hour will take place during the latter half of Poster Session I, on Friday, April 7, from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m in the same area (Second Floor of the Hynes Convention Center, Hall C).

To find many additional sessions on this featured theme, consult the AAG website for a full list.

Annual Meeting

AAG Theme: Mainstreaming Human Rights in Geography and the AAG

February 23, 2017

The special theme, Mainstreaming Human Rights in Geography and the AAG, will feature 50 sessions with more than 250 presentations at the intersection of human rights and geography within the 2017 AAG Annual Meeting and will build on the AAG’s decade-long initiatives in this area. Speakers from leading international human rights organizations, academia, government, and NGOs will address human rights challenges around the world.

Featured speakers above: Noam Chomsky, Audrey Kobayashi, Doug Richardson, Jessica Wyndham, Tawanda Mutasah, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, James Hansen and Colette Pichon Battle

The keynote plenary, “A Continuing Conversation with Noam Chomsky,” will kick off the Mainstreaming Human Rights in Geography and the AAG theme. Chomsky will engage in a conversational interview with AAG Executive Director Doug Richardson, as he has several times previously. The audience will also have an opportunity to ask questions following the interview. In addition, Chomsky will receive the 2017 AAG Atlas Award, the association’s highest honor. Be sure and add to your calendar this important keynote session scheduled for Thursday, April 6, 2017, from 5:20 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. in Ballroom B of the Hynes Convention Center.

Don’t miss another high-profile Human Rights session, “International Human Rights Priorities: Featured Perspectives,” with panelists Michael Posner, NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights and former Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the State Department; Terry Rockefeller, Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA; Beth Simmons, Andrea Mitchell University Professor of Law and Political Science, University of Pennsylvania; Jessica Wyndham, AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program; Tawanda Mutasah, Amnesty International and Douglas Richardson, Executive Director, American Association of Geographers. This session is scheduled on Saturday, April 8, 2017, from 1:20 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. in Room 103, on the Plaza level of the Hynes Convention Center.

Additional special sessions will include the following notable speakers involved in various aspects of human rights:

James Hanson, known for his climate research and his Congressional testimony on climate change that raised awareness of global warming, will deliver a featured talk, moderated by AAG President Glen MacDonald, on Friday, April 7, from 10:00 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. in Room 210 at the Hynes Convention Center.

David Harvey, one of the most influential figures in geography and urban studies, and among the most cited intellectuals of all time across the humanities and social sciences, will deliver a featured lecture, “Marx, Capital and the Madness of Economic Reason,” on Saturday, April 8, from 3:20 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. in Ballroom B at the Hynes Convention Center.

Rush Holt, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), will deliver a featured talk entitled, “Advancing Science in the Public Arena,” on Thursday, April 6, from 11:50 a.m. – 1:10 p.m. in Room 103 of the Hynes Convention Center.

To find many additional sessions on this featured theme, consult the AAG website for a full list.

Annual Meeting

AAG Theme: Uncertainty and Context in Geography and GIScience

February 23, 2017

Uncertainty and context pose fundamental challenges in geographic research and GIScience. Geospatial data are imbued with error (e.g., measurement and sampling error), and understanding of the effects of contextual influences on human behavior and experience are often obfuscated by various types of uncertainty (e.g., contextual uncertainties, algorithmic uncertainties, and uncertainty arising from different spatial scales and zonal schemes). Identifying the “true causally relevant” spatial and temporal contexts that influence people’s behavior and experience is thus also challenging, since people move around in their daily lives and over their life courses and experience the influences of many different contexts. To generate reliable geographic knowledge, these uncertainties and contextual issues will be addressed within the special theme, Uncertainty and Context in Geography and GIScience: Advances in Theory, Methods, and Practice, during the 2017 AAG Annual Meeting in Boston.

The Opening plenary of the Uncertainty and Context theme features a distinguished group of researchers and scholars experienced in addressing the issue of uncertainty. Speakers in this session include Mei-Po Kwan (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Michael Goodchild (University of California). David Berrigan (National Cancer Institute) will serve as a Discussant and Tim Schwanen (University of Oxford) will chair this session. This plenary session is on Thursday, April 6, from 10:00 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. in the Independence West room at the Sheraton.

The Closing plenary for this special track will be held on Saturday, April 8, from 11:50 a.m. – 1:10 p.m and features Mei-Po Kwan (University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign); Tim Schwanen (University of Oxford); Wenzhong Shi (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University); Jamie Pearce (University of Edinburgh); Daniel A. Griffith (University of Texas at Dallas). All attendees are welcome to attend.

To find many additional sessions on this featured theme, consult the AAG website for a full list.

Robert E. Frenkel

Longtime Corvallis resident Robert “Bob” Frenkel, 89, died in Portland on Feb. 20, 2017.

Bob is survived by his wife, Elizabeth “Liz” (Mills) Frenkel; son Stephen Frenkel and wife Judy Walton; and daughter Ann Frenkel and husband Gwido Zlatkes.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Janice Pachner.

Bob was born in New York City in 1927 to Leo and Helen (Wolff) Frenkel. He discovered his lifelong love for the natural world in Central Park — his backyard. He attended Kenyon College in the late 1940s. At Kenyon he survived a jump from a burning dormitory but broke so many bones he was told he’d never walk again. Undaunted, Bob recovered within a year and graduated. He went on to obtain a master’s in metallurgy from UC Berkeley, where he hiked and climbed at every opportunity throughout the Sierras and Cascades.

After working as a metallurgist at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), Bob returned to UC Berkeley in 1959 to follow a career path more closely aligned with his interest in the outdoors. He received a Ph.D. in geography, specializing in ruderal vegetation along California roadsides.

While at SRI Bob met and married Liz, who became a strong partner in his passions for mountains, hiking, environmental activism, international travel, good food and wine, music (particularly chamber music and the Oregon Bach Festival) and family.

Bob and Liz moved to Corvallis in 1965 where Bob joined the geography faculty at Oregon State. His specialty areas were biogeography and plant ecology, particularly in salt marshes. After retiring in the 1990s, he continued to conduct research as an emeritus professor.

Among Bob’s more notable achievements were his seminal work on salt marsh restoration at Oregon’s Cascade Head and his fight to protect the Jackson-Frazier Wetland north of Corvallis in Benton County. The county honored Bob by dedicating the wetland’s boardwalk — which Bob planned, raised money for and even helped build — as the “Bob Frenkel Boardwalk” in 2005.

Bob had a long history of environmental activism, particularly with the Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy. His Sierra Club involvement began with the Mills Tower Conservation Committee, and included building and maintaining ski huts in the Sierra Nevada, becoming an active member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter, and serving as the first Chair of the Mary’s Peak Group and later as Oregon Chapter Chair.

In 1982 Bob received the Oak Leaf Award from The Nature Conservancy for his outstanding service for land conservation in Oregon, and in 1997 he received the George B. Fell Award for exceptional accomplishments from the Natural Areas Association.

Bob loved to share stories and slideshows of his adventures, from climbing Mt. Orizaba in Mexico, to a six-month bicycle trip through Europe in the early 1950s, to hikes, backpacks, ski tours, and international trips with his family. Though Bob’s memory was cruelly robbed by Alzheimer’s, these memories live on.

A memorial celebration in Corvallis is being planned for late spring.

Originally published in the Corvallis Gazette-Times

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John Miller Morris

John Miller Morris, Jr., 64, passed away on February 16, 2017, in a San Antonio hospital after surgery, attended by friends who traveled thousands of miles to come to his bedside. He is survived by a daughter Erin Claire Noakes of Washington D.C. He will be missed by his longtime companion, many friends, colleagues, and neighbors.

John grew up in Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle and his early experiences in the southwest shaped his work, home, and life. He was an Eagle Scout and high school underground newspaper editor demonstrating his civic priorities from an early age. He obtained a bachelor degree (Plan II Honors Program), two master’s degrees (Community & Regional Planning and Slavic Literature and Language), and a doctoral degree (Geography and Planning) from The University of Texas at Austin where he also competed in fencing. His love of the land and his personal heritage was demonstrated through his long involvement in the family’s business, the C.B. Morris Company, one of the first family farm corporations in Texas.

As a scholar, he authored and edited multiple books on his way to his full professorship at the University of Texas at San Antonio, including El Llano Estacado which remains the definitive work on the history, geography, culture and peoples of that region. He also received multiple awards including the UT Regents Outstanding Teaching Award and the Piper Professor Award for his “dedication to the teaching profession and for outstanding academic achievement.”

John was well-respected throughout the state and was a member of many professional organizations including the Texas Institute of Letters, the Texas State Historical Association, and the West Texas Historical Association (current president). He was also a charter member of the Sensitive Men, a monthly brunch/politics/Frisbee fellowship in Austin and a vital member of the Pros & Cons, a group of scholarly colleagues who met monthly for critical dialogue and conviviality.

John was also an integral force in keeping his Austin neighborhood and the surrounding area on RM 2222 beautiful, livable places. He worked tirelessly to improve and expand Long Canyon’s unique hiking trail system. He served on the homeowner’s association board for numerous terms. He worked with developers in the RM 2222 corridor to assure that developments would be tasteful, as unobtrusive as possible, minimize environmental impacts, and in character with the Hill Country.

He was brilliant, outgoing, inquisitive, energetic and unique. One of his many legacies is a 140-year-old Victorian house he rescued from demolition in the west campus area in 1978, moved twice, and lovingly restored in the woods and hills of west Austin. If you would like to share a memory of John or would like more information about memorials, please email friendsofjmm@gmail.com.

Memorial contributions may be made on his behalf to the John Miller Morris UTSA scholarship here: https://giving.utsa.edu/Morris.

Published in Express-News on Mar. 5, 2017

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New Books for Geographers

New Books: February 2017

February 15, 2017

Every month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related areas. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books.

Publishers are welcome to send new volumes to the Editor-in-Chief (Kent Mathewson, Editor-in-Chief, AAG Review of Books, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803).

Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should also contact the Editor-in-Chief.

February 2017

Blood of the Earth: Resource Nationalism, Revolution, and Empire in Bolivia by Kevin A. Young (University of Texas Press 2017)

Buildings of Wisconsin by Marsha Weisiger (University of Virginia Press 2017)

California Mission Landscapes: Race, Memory, and the Politics of Heritage by Elizabeth Kryder-Reid (University of Minnesota Press 2016)

Cattle in the Backlands: Mato Grosso and the Evolution of Ranching in the Brazilian Tropics by Robert W. Wilcox (University of Texas Press 2017)

Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium by Jonathan Harris (Bloomsbury 2017)

Curated Decay: Heritage beyond Saving by Caitlin DeSilvey (University of Minnesota Press 2017)

David Jones: Engraver, Solider, Painter, Poet by Thomas Dilworth (Counterpoint Press 2017)

Digitalization, Immigration and the Welfare State: New Thinking in Political Economy by Marten Blix (Edward Elgar Publishing 2017)

Energy Humanities: An Anthology by Imre Szeman and Dominic Boyer (eds.) (Johns Hopkins University Press 2017)

Facing the Planetary: Entangled Humanism and the Politics of Swarming by William E. Connolly (Duke University Press 2017)

Great Plains Geology by R. F. Diffendal Jr. (University of Nebraska Press 2017)

Handbook on the Politics of Antarctica by Klaus Dodds, Alan D. Hemmings, and Peder Roberts (eds.) (Edward Elgar Publishing 2017)

Hollow by Owen Egerton (Soft Skull Press 2017)

International Organizations and Environmental Protection: Conservation and Globalization in the Twentieth Century by Wolfram Kaiser and Jan-Henrik Meyer (eds.) (Berghahn Books 2017)

Learning from Bogotá: Pedagogical Urbanism and the Reshaping of Public Space by Rachel Berney (University of Texas Press 2017)

Managing the Digital You: Where and How to Keep and Organize Your Digital Life by Melody Condron (Rowman & Littlefield 2017)

Monuments to Absence: Cherokee Removal and the Contest over Southern Memory by Andrew Denson (University of North Carolina Press 2017)

Salt Tectonics: Principles and Practice by Martin P. A. Jackson and Michael R. Hudec (Cambridge University Press 2017)

States of Disease: Political Environments and Human Health by Brian King (University of California Press 2017)

The H-Word: The Peripeteia of Hegemony by Perry Anderson (Verso Books 2017)

The Shape of the Roman Order: The Republic and Its Spaces by Daniel J. Gargola (University of North Carolina Press 2017)

Tourism Impacts West Maui by Lance D. Collins and Bianca K. Isaki (eds.) (University of Hawaii Press 2016)

Weathered: Cultures of Climate by Mike Hulme (SAGE Publishing 2017)

Annual Meeting

Boston: Geography in a Sanctuary City

February 7, 2017

Thousands of geographers will convene in Boston from April 5-9 to discuss geographic research, education, and innovation, and form new collaborations with like- and differently-minded scholars, researchers, and practitioners. They will strive to interpret, understand, and respond to the current political climates using their expertise in and perspectives of geography and its many diverse sub-disciplines.

Boston, a city central to the history and development of democracy in the United States, will provide a fitting backdrop for the 2017 AAG Annual Meeting and much needed thoughtful discussions on human rights, social justice, immigration, and countless other relevant topics. The city’s history of defiance and pursuit of freedom are inherent aspects of Boston’s sense of place. It should come as no surprise, then, that Boston has taken a stand against the decrees of the new president.

Boston, like many cities across the United States, has taken steps to lawfully resist Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which bans citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations from immigrating to the US. “I want to say directly to anyone who feels threatened today, or vulnerable, you are safe in Boston,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “We will do everything lawful in our power to protect you.”

“I want to say directly to anyone who feels threatened today, or vulnerable, you are safe in Boston. We will do everything lawful in our power to protect you.”

Thanks to the Trust Act passed in 2014, Boston is able to offer immigrants some protection from federal overreach by prohibiting its police from detaining anyone based on their immigration status without a criminal warrant. Boston Mayor Walsh released a statement regarding the orders:

“Preventing people from entering this country based solely on faith runs counter to everything we stand for as Americans. Let’s be clear: this is not an effective way to combat terrorism and increase homeland security.

“It is a reckless policy that is rooted in fear, not substance, and further divides us as a nation and a world. It is simply morally wrong. As Americans, we must move forward together as a country proud of our diverse heritage, and find real solutions to the challenges we face.”

Moreover, it should be of little surprise that Boston moves to protect undocumented immigrants. It is, after all, a city of immigrants. In fact, it was the Immigration Act of 1965 that led to substantial changes in the demographic makeup of Boston. The percentage of foreign-born residents doubled by 2010 with these newer waves of immigration representing greater diversity than Boston experienced in previous decades.

Boston, however, is not alone. Other cities throughout the state of Massachusetts, such as Cambridge, Salem, Somerville, Chelsea, Orleans, Northampton, and Springfield have codified their sanctuary status or are considering it. In addition, the Massachusetts Attorney General and State Senate have also expressed their opposition to this policy. Attorney General Maura Healey joined with other attorneys general in a lawsuit, and the Massachusetts Senate passed a resolution strongly condemning the travel ban.

“The Senate passed this resolution [Feb. 2] in solidarity with those affected by the order, and sends an important message that the Massachusetts state Senate rejects discrimination based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender or religion,” said state Sen. Kathleen O’Connor Ives.

Then late last week, a Seattle federal judge blocked the Administration’s travel ban. This, as they say in journalism, is a developing story. And Boston is poised to offer a historical perspective, as well as a first-hand look at geopolitical discourse as it happens. This makes it all the more meaningful that geographers, who identify the significance of all places, should be coming to gather in this particular place at this particular time.

—
David L. Coronado

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0003