Reorienting Critical Geographies of Global Development
A Conversation with Han Cheng, Patricia Daley, Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente, Diana Vela-Almeida, and Joseph Awetori Yaro
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.8fdy48-2520Keywords:
development, geography, scale, class, anti-racism, militarism, activismAbstract
This roundtable on reorienting critical geographies of global development was organized in response to “The Critical Geography Conversations: ACME’s 20+ Year Anniversary”. It brought together scholars from diverse backgrounds—including Han Cheng, Patricia Daley, Jospeh Yaro, Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente, and Diana Vela-Almeida—to reflect on significant shifts in global development geographies, such as the rise of the Global South, the consolidation of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS), especially China’s role, and the urgency to question established spatial categories. The conversation created a space for collective reflection on the possibilities and challenges of reshaping how we teach, research, and engage with the world. In an era where unlearning and rethinking are vital to envisioning alternative futures, this dialogue emphasized the importance of forging new ways of being, feeling, and thinking about development and geography.
References
Alden, Chris, and Daniel Large. 2019. New Directions in Africa–China Studies. London: Routledge.
Behuria, Pritish. 2024. “Is the Study of Development Humiliating or Emancipatory? The Case Against Universalising ‘Development’,” The European Journal of Development Research https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-024-00674-5
Caretta, Martina Angela, and Pepa, Mariasole. 2023. “Decolonising pedagogy in practice: cuerpo-territorio to consolidate students’ learning,” Journal of Geography in Higher Education 48 (4): 718–726.
Ferguson, James. 1994. The Anti-Politics Machine: Development, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Gani, Jasmine K., and Ruba M. Khan. 2024. "Positionality Statements as a Function of Coloniality: Interrogating Reflexive Methodologies," International Studies Quarterly 68 (2).
Gonzalez-Vicente, Ruben. 2021. "Why a Critical Geopolitics Cannot Be Confucian," Dialogues in Human Geography 11 (2): 248–252.
Gray, Kevin, and Barry K. Gills. 2016. "South–South Cooperation and the Rise of the Global South," Third World Quarterly 37 (4): 557–574.
Gregory, Derek. 2004. The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Horner, Rory, and David Hulme. 2019. "From International to Global Development: New Geographies of 21st Century Development," Development and Change 50 (2): 347–378.
Kothari, Ashish, Ariel Salleh, Arturo Escobar, Federico Demaria, and Alberto Acosta. 2019. Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary. New Delhi: Tulika Books.
Massey, Doreen. 1994. Space, Place, and Gender. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Mawdsley, Emma. 2018. "The ‘Southernisation’ of Development?" Asia Pacific Viewpoint 59 (2): 173–185.
Mohan, Giles. 2021. "Below the Belt? Territory and Development in China's International Rise," Development and Change 52: 54–75.
Murrey, Amber, and Patricia Daley. 2023. Learning Disobedience: Decolonizing Development Studies. London: Pluto Press.
Nyamnjoh, Francis B. 2015. “Incompleteness: Frontier Africa and the Currency of Conviviality,” Journal of Asian and African Studies 52(3): 253-270.
Pase, Andrea, Kronenburg García Angela, Pepa Mariasole, Bertoncin Marina, Gianoli Federico, Braga Carla. 2025. Water and Land in the Sahel: Mapping the Flow. London: Routledge.
Pepa, Mariasole, Francesca Acetino, Diletta Damiano, Kollectiv Oragotango, and Local Development Students. 2024. "Acting In- and Out-Side the Classroom: Collective Mapping for an Engaged Teaching." This is Not an Atlas. https://notanatlas.org/maps/teaching-counter-cartographies-3
Raghuram, Parvati, Pat Noxolo, and Claire Madge. 2014. "Rising Asia and Postcolonial Geography," Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 35 (1): 119–135.
Rose-Redwood, Reuben, Carolyn Rose-Redwood, Eleni Apostolopoulou, T. Blackman, Han Cheng, A. Datta, S. Dias, F. Ferretti, W. Patrick, J. Riding, M. Rose, and A. Sabhlok. 2024. "Re-imagining the Futures of Geographical Thought and Praxis," Dialogues in Human Geography 14 (2): 177–191.
Schuurman, Frank J. 1983. Beyond the Impasse: New Directions in Development Theory. London: Zed Books.
Sidaway, James D. 2011. "Geographies of Development: New Maps, New Visions?" The Professional Geographer 64 (1): 49–62.
Ulloa, Astrid. 2024. "Destabilising Geographies in Colombia: Trajectories and Perspectives," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 49: e12588.
Zaragocin, Sofia. 2024. "Geographies of the Global South and the Hemispheric Scale," Dialogues in Human Geography 14 (2): 230–233.
Ziai, Aram. 2017. "Post-development 25 Years After The Development Dictionary," Third World Quarterly 38 (12): 2547–2558.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Mariasole Pepa, Giles Mohan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors agree to publish their articles in ACME under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
