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areajournal.bsky.social
Area
@areajournal.bsky.social
1.5K followers 240 following 200 posts
Area publishes concise papers and commentaries that shape key debates within and beyond the discipline of geography. Area is especially welcoming of work by early career researchers & awards an annual ECR prize.
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areajournal.bsky.social
Area @areajournal.bsky.social · Oct 30
New Special Section in Area:

'Digging into Data' adds to our 'Thinking with Methods' collection, with 6 papers reflecting on the messy process of qualitative empirical analysis.

Edited by @citiesandstuff.bsky.social & Lauren Wagner - available here⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
A black tile publicising the new 'Digging into Data: Learning together from analysis experiences' Special Section in Area. There is a quote from Lauren Wagner & Alan Latham's (2025) introduction in the centre. It reads: "We need to open up the process of doing analysis so that it does not feel like a process of simply following an established procedure, turning the handle, and magically getting a good finished research paper or dissertation". A second black tile publicising the 'Digging into Data: Learning together from analysis experiences' Special Section in Area. Listed contributors include: Lauren Wagner, Alan Latham, Jennie Middleton, Marta Bivand Erdal, Andrew Barnfield, Geoff Bates, Amanda Rogers, Jennie Doyle & Katja Garson.
areajournal.bsky.social
'Participatory Historical Geographies' Special Section - out now in Area!

This collection, guest edited by @ruthslatter.bsky.social & @ed-brookes.bsky.social, reflects on the increasing use of participatory methods in historical geography.

Read here⬇️
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
A graphic publicising a new Special Section in Area called 'Participatory Historical Geographies'. There are eight tiles with the names of papers and authors as follows: 1) Participatory historical geographies: Introduction Ruth Slatter, Edward Brookes 2) The Victoria County History and participatory historical geography Ruth Slatter 3) Mapping entangled mobilities: Using participatory historical geography to explore the migration of objects and people across (neo)colonial spatialities Sarah Linn, Jina Lee, Mariam Zorba, Caitlin Nunn, Jennifer Cromwell 4) Dancing in the archive: Bodily encounters, memory, and more-than-representational participatory historical geographies Lucy Thompson 5) Youth-led theatre for climate resilience and action at COP26 Kate Smith, Briony McDonagh, Sukhmandeep Dhillon 6) Participatory collaborations between geographers and performance artists: Taking urban renewal histories to the street Aled Singleton, Edward Brookes, Ruth Slatter 7) Watery archives: Reflections on doing participatory archival research for climate action and audience engagement Hannah Worthen, Claire Weatherall 8) ‘A series of abject failures’: Navigating the pitfalls of place-based participatory histories Juliette Desportes A black tile publicising the new 'Participatory Historical Geographies' Special Section in Area. There is a quote from Ruth Slatter & Ed Brookes' (2025) introduction. It reads: "The production of participatory historical knowledge is contingent on a wide variety of skills and labour, including communities themselves that often go unacknowledged. The challenge of navigating these pitfalls and barriers serve to highlight the many reasons why researchers, practitioners or members of the public may be reluctant to engage in participatory historical research".
December 10, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Area
rgsibg.bsky.social
📣Work with us! The Society is seeking an Editorial Assistant to support the publication of its academic journals (part time, fixed term contract).

Application deadline: 11 December.

Find out more: https://ow.ly/8tZU50XCI4w
Editorial Assistant for RGS-IBG Journals | Job vacancy
An exciting opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the academic peer review and publishing process. Part time, six-month fixed term contract.
ow.ly
December 5, 2025 at 3:01 PM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'Crayons × Code: Re-exploring children's drawings with multimodal AI and dynamic ethics' by Chen Qu

This paper explores the potential and limitations of using AI in understanding children's environmental perceptions.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Chen Qu (2025) entitled: 'Crayons × Code: Re-Exploring Children's Drawings With Multimodal AI and Dynamic Ethics' with a black banner at the top. Children's drawings are used to study their environmental perception, but AI-powered analysis of these visual materials remains underexplored. This paper re-explores the use of children's drawings as a tool for understanding their perceptions of the environment, leveraging multimodal AI for analysis. The study revisits a dataset of 188 drawings created by 94 children, comparing AI-based analysis with human interpretations to examine the strengths and limitations of AI in visual research. It focuses on the ability of multimodal AI to detect and classify the visual elements of children's drawings, whilst also investigating potential links between these elements and various health or demographic factors, including physical activity, gender and age, through a combination of quantitative statistical analyses. The research highlights the potential and challenges of AI in interpreting the complexity of children's drawings. The paper, based on ethical reflections, also addresses the ethical implications of using AI in sensitive contexts, proposing dynamic ethics to ensure responsible use of technology in research involving children. This study offers new insights into the intersection of AI, ethics and visual research.
December 5, 2025 at 11:00 AM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'The Concept of Third Space: Win–Win Solutions in the Borderland of Chanthaburi (Thailand) and Battambang–Pailin (Cambodia) Until the Military Clashes in 2025' by Thanachate Wisaijorn

doi.org/10.1111/area...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Thanachate Wisaijorn (2025) entitled: 'The Concept of Third Space: Win–Win Solutions in the Borderland of Chanthaburi (Thailand) and Battambang–Pailin (Cambodia) Until the Military Clashes in 2025' with a black banner at the top.
December 3, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Area
annamlawrence.bsky.social
🚨 Job opportunity🚨

We are looking for an editorial assistant to work with me on the RGS journals (TIBG, The GJ, Area & Geo) as we move online systems.

🗓6 months fixed term
🕑0.4 FTE
📍Remote working option
❗️Closing date 11th Dec

Please share & apply! Happy to answer Qs.
www.rgs.org/about-us/wor...
Editorial Assistant for RGS-IBG Journals | Job vacancy
An exciting opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the academic peer review and publishing process. Part time, six-month fixed term contract.
www.rgs.org
December 1, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Area
sklosterkamp.bsky.social
So delighted to see this piece out in @areajournal.bsky.social — a journal I value enormously for its sharp, thoughtful and boundary-pushing work in geography.

The article grows out of my research on eviction hearings and explores how legality is lived, felt and negotiated in court. ⤵️

#geosky
areajournal.bsky.social Area @areajournal.bsky.social · 14d
New in Area:

'Fleshing out law: Embodied encounters and the material geographies of legal space' by @sklosterkamp.bsky.social

This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork in German district courts to explore how legality is produced through embodied encounters in courtrooms.

doi.org/10.1111/area...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Sarah Klosterkamp (2025) entitled: 'Fleshing out law: Embodied encounters and the material geographies of legal space' with a black banner at the top. This paper explores how legality is made material, affective and meaningful through the human body. Drawing on courtroom ethnography conducted in German District Courts—particularly in cases of eviction and housing insecurity—it examines how legality emerges not only through texts and rulings but through bodily presence, sensory atmospheres and everyday encounters. Grounded in feminist legal geography and affect theory and building on the concepts of encounter and slow violence, the paper develops a conceptual framework around three interrelated modalities of legal embodiment: appearing, suspending and filtering. These modalities illuminate how bodies both absorb and resist legal authority—not passively, but through subtle acts of endurance, adjustment and refusal. By tracing the mundane yet charged practices of waiting, moving and being seen, this article argues for a more embodied approach to legal geography—one that takes seriously how law is enacted, lived and contested through flesh, posture and breath.
November 26, 2025 at 10:24 AM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'Fleshing out law: Embodied encounters and the material geographies of legal space' by @sklosterkamp.bsky.social

This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork in German district courts to explore how legality is produced through embodied encounters in courtrooms.

doi.org/10.1111/area...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Sarah Klosterkamp (2025) entitled: 'Fleshing out law: Embodied encounters and the material geographies of legal space' with a black banner at the top. This paper explores how legality is made material, affective and meaningful through the human body. Drawing on courtroom ethnography conducted in German District Courts—particularly in cases of eviction and housing insecurity—it examines how legality emerges not only through texts and rulings but through bodily presence, sensory atmospheres and everyday encounters. Grounded in feminist legal geography and affect theory and building on the concepts of encounter and slow violence, the paper develops a conceptual framework around three interrelated modalities of legal embodiment: appearing, suspending and filtering. These modalities illuminate how bodies both absorb and resist legal authority—not passively, but through subtle acts of endurance, adjustment and refusal. By tracing the mundane yet charged practices of waiting, moving and being seen, this article argues for a more embodied approach to legal geography—one that takes seriously how law is enacted, lived and contested through flesh, posture and breath.
November 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Area
sklosterkamp.bsky.social
🔇 New paper out in AREA!

Based on my DFG-funded ethnographic work on eviction trials in German district courts, the paper explores how legality is felt, lived, and negotiated through bodies, atmospheres, and everyday encounters.

1/2

#geosyk #courtroomethnography #legalgeography #evictions
November 21, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Reposted by Area
peterrmartin.bsky.social
Great to see this article with the fantastic Katie Parker (@rgsibg.bsky.social) now out in @areajournal.bsky.social!

Here we reflect on the 'Mapping Indigeneity' Map Room conversation and think about different ways of working with colonial map collections 🗺️
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This article summarises and reflects on the ‘Mapping Indigeneity’ Map Room Conversation that formed part of the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2024. Firstly, the maps from the RGS-IBG collec...
doi.org
November 24, 2025 at 9:26 AM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'Creating home territories during housing relocation: Affects and activity rhythms' by Siyao Gao & Elaine Lynne-Ee Ho

This paper explores how older adults in Singapore remake a sense of 'home' after relocation, developing the concept of 'home territory'.

doi.org/10.1111/area...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Siyao Gao & Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho (2025) entitled: 'Creating Home Territories During Housing Relocation: Affects and Activity Rhythms' with a black banner at the top. This paper expands understandings of home by developing the concept of home territory to comprehend the experiences of older adults who experienced housing relocation and how they reconstituted a sense of home. The study draws on the experiences of 41 older adults who underwent the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) in Singapore. Our conceptualisation of home territory argues that homemaking can extend across multiple locations, other than the old and new home. Home territory emphasises how a person establishes home through processes of territorialisation, reterritorialisation and deterritorialisation. We argue that older adults' experiences of home territorialisation are constituted through sensory experiences, social connections and the placement of material objects within and outside of their immediate domestic space. Connecting with familiar faces and recreating activity rhythms in the new neighbourhood are referred to as home reterritorialisation processes. Travelling beyond the neighbourhood to engage in everyday activities that help them recapture feelings of nostalgia and familiarity constitutes home deterritorialisation. This broader conceptualisation of home territories reflects the fluidity and expansion of geographical boundaries associated with home space, experienced through affects and rhythmic activities.
November 21, 2025 at 12:36 PM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'Conference-based method: Interviewing elites at intergovernmental conferences' by @saddy94.bsky.social & Katie Peters

This paper reflects on the logistical elements of undertaking geographical research at intergovernmental conferences.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Liam Saddington & Katie Peters (2025) entitled: 'Conference-Based Method: Interviewing Elites at Intergovernmental Conferences' with a black banner at the top. Conferences have increasingly featured within geographical research as sites of knowledge production, performance and contestation. However, this article explores how intergovernmental conferences can be productive sites for geographical research fieldwork with elites on topics such as climate geopolitics and disaster risk reduction (DRR), particularly through interviews. Reflecting on research conducted at over two decades of intergovernmental conferences in all regions of the globe, this article argues that conferences allow access to participants who may otherwise be difficult to secure interviews with. Although intergovernmental conferences may not be perfect spaces for research, they should be considered more often by geographers as valuable opportunities for conducting interviews. This research need not be limited to the focus of the conference itself, but can also provide opportunities to engage with actors working on a wide range of governance issues. This article reflects on the logistical elements of undertaking such research, the ethical considerations and the temporal opportunities and challenges afforded by a conference-based method. It concludes by reflecting on how a conference-based method can be integrated into other geographical approaches to qualitative research.
November 19, 2025 at 10:03 AM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'Contested memories in stone: The memorial landscape of Waterloo battlefield' by Bowen Chai

This paper examines the Waterloo battlefield as a spatially contested memorial landscape shaped by competing (trans)national narratives.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This article examines the Waterloo battlefield as a spatially contested memorial landscape shaped by competing national and transnational narratives. Through GIS mapping and inscription analysis, it ...
doi.org
November 17, 2025 at 9:42 AM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'Being land, becoming research: Relational and Country-led accountability in research outputs and milestones' by Liz Murphy-May with Yandaarra et al.

This paper reflects on research milestones and Gumbaynggirr Ngambaa ways of being in current-day Australia.

doi.org/10.1111/area...
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Liz Murphy-May, with Yandaarra including, Aunty Shaa Smith, Uncle Bud Marshall, Lara Daley, Sarah Wright & Paul Hodge (2025) entitled: 'Being land, becoming research: Relational and Country-led accountability in research outputs and milestones' with a black banner at the top.
November 13, 2025 at 9:32 AM
areajournal.bsky.social
New Special Section in Area:

'Gentle Geographies' edited by @mattmattfinn.bsky.social & @drjeffers.bsky.social

This collection features five papers and an editorial introduction which reflect on ideas of 'gentleness' in research and practice.

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
November 11, 2025 at 10:02 AM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'Activism for socialist industrial heritage in Romania: The Carbochim project controversy' by Oana-Ramona Ilovan et al.

This paper explores the role of urban activism in post-socialist Romania in the struggle to preserve industrial heritage in Cluj-Napoca.

doi.org/10.1111/area...
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This study aims to better understand activism in the Romanian post-socialist society during a struggle to preserve the socialist industrial heritage of Carbochim, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. From an urb...
doi.org
November 10, 2025 at 12:15 PM
areajournal.bsky.social
New in Area:

'Navigating tensions and contradictions: The everyday negotiation of militant research' by Sergio Ruiz Cayuela

This paper explores the everyday challenges of negotiating different positionalities when conducting militant research as an academic.

doi.org/10.1111/area... #geosky
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This paper explores the tensions and contradictions generated when conducting militant research from within academia. More specifically, it focuses on how they play out and shape militant research on...
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
9/ Finally Juliette Desportes reflects on interviews with academics, heritage professionals, and community historians in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland: rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
While historical geographers and historians increasingly recognise the benefits of and need for participatory research, the rigid structures regimenting academic practice have acted as barriers to su...
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
8/ There are then 2 shorter articles with specific reflections on short-term participatory projects. 1st @hannahworthen.bsky.social and Claire Weatherall on a participatory workshop titled ‘Watery Archives’: rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This paper is based on our experience of running a workshop at the Hull History Centre in the Summer of 2023 and reflects on the value of participatory approaches and co-production to open up access ...
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
7/ In the last of the full-length articles in the section @aledsingleton.bsky.social , @ed-brookes.bsky.social and I explore the potential for participatory theatre to engage local communities in the long-term impact of mid-century urban re-design rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This paper considers the potential for collaborations between geographers and theatre makers that focus on urban renewal histories. The article reflects critically on the methodological, ethical and ...
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
6/ Next up: Briony McDonagh, Kate Smith and Sukhmandeep Dhillon consider the impact of co-created performance and history as a way of engaging audiences and participants with climate challenges: rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This paper presents our experiences of the participatory, co-creative collaboration with the National Youth Theatre, culminating in a site-specific performance at COP26. In exploring the performance'...
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
5/ Lucy Thompson takes us somewhere totally different, exploring the possibilities of understanding the movement of dance within the archive. rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Many congrats to Lucy, as this paper was highly commended in the annual Area ECR article prize.
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This paper considers the potential of participatory methods to address the methodological difficulties surrounding the historical geographies of dance, and moving bodies, within archival research. Ex...
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
4/ Then Sarah Linn, Jina Lee, Mariam Zorba, Cailin Nun and Jennifer Cromwell examine the entangled mobilities of ancient objects and contemporary migrants through participatory map-making methods. rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This paper examines how creative counter-maps can be a valuable participatory historical geography tool in their capacity to render visible multiple pasts, presents, and futures, and offer new possib....
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
3/ In the 1st article, I reflect on @vch-home.bsky.social as participatory historical geography, arguing that the VCH's current emphasis on participatory methods shows how long-standing research projects can adopt these developing ways of working rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This article critically reflects on the Victoria County History's (VCH) relationship with participatory historical geography approaches. Telling a story of change, it argues that it is not only possi....
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
2/ First up @ed-brookes.bsky.social and I have written an introduction outlining what participatory historical geography is/could be and why it's important. Read more here: rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
Over the past two decades, historical geographers have increasingly embraced participatory methods to challenge dominant narratives and engage communities in the production of historical knowledge. T...
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Area
ruthslatter.bsky.social
1/ All of the papers in the special section of #Area I have co-edited with @ed-brookes.bsky.social are now available online. All focused on #participatory #historicalgeography they are full of practical reflections on innovative pieces of historical research. Follow this thread to find out more!
October 6, 2025 at 8:50 AM