Have a call for participants you'd like included here? E-mail it to us at [email protected], and we'll be sure to also share widely on social media!
Current calls:
- “JEDI in Action": Implementing and Pivoting Departmental JEDI Plans across the SWAAG Region.
- Transportation Geography: Freight Mobility and Logistics
- Geospatial Approaches to History
- Human Mobility and Its Implications
- Research and Engagement With, For, And By Indigenous Peoples
- Exploring the Changing Geography of Urban Places
- Uses of Census Geography and Census Data for Analysis and Settlement Classification
- Urban Gentrification
“JEDI in Action": Implementing and Pivoting Departmental JEDI Plans across the SWAAG Region.
For this year's SWAAG/AGX Joint Meeting, we are organizing a panel discussion about strategizing the implementation of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) at universities and research institutes across the SWAAG region. We are therefore looking for researchers, students, university faculty, and other professionals with experience in JEDI strategy development/implementation to serve as panelists, especially in the context of pivoting approaches and language in response to adverse political climates. Our intention is for this panel discussion to inform professionals across the region how they can develop politically dynamic JEDI initiatives at their own institutions.
The inspiration for this panel is drawn in part from AAG's ongoing Tender Loving Care (TLC) and GRAM campaign, and panelists should be prepared to discuss how their initiatives are linked to AAG’s seven focal areas: Training, Listening, Communications, Governance, Reports, Advocacy, and Membership.
If you are interested in being a panelist for this important discussion, please do get in touch with Rosie Ray ([email protected]) and Jay Wimhurst ([email protected]) and share a little about your JEDI implementation experience.
The inspiration for this panel is drawn in part from AAG's ongoing Tender Loving Care (TLC) and GRAM campaign, and panelists should be prepared to discuss how their initiatives are linked to AAG’s seven focal areas: Training, Listening, Communications, Governance, Reports, Advocacy, and Membership.
If you are interested in being a panelist for this important discussion, please do get in touch with Rosie Ray ([email protected]) and Jay Wimhurst ([email protected]) and share a little about your JEDI implementation experience.
Transportation Geography: Freight Mobility and Logistics
Freight mobility, logistics, and supply chains are facing more challenges than ever before. Present-day supply chains are globalized and over extended. The Covid-19 pandemic, global economic shifts, and climate irregularities have increased the urgency for a deeper look at the importance of transportation systems for the movement of freight from the global to the local scale.
One area of research that has received scant attention is the connection between agricultural cycles and the ability of transportation systems to adjust quickly to climatic phenomena. A relevant topic is the impact of droughts on waterway transportation systems (e.g. the Mississippi River Basin) and the associated movement of agricultural and other bulk commodities in relation to changing rail infrastructure and inelasticity in the trucking industry.
A related area of research is how multinational firms are turning to “nearshoring” production to low-wage countries nearby to cut supply chain costs and streamline their sourcing strategies. NAFTA and the USMCA have had numerous impacts on manufacturing, shipping, warehousing and forwarding of products from Mexico for consumption in the US. A case study of the sprawling landscape of Laredo Texas and the growth of 3rd party logistics illustrates how the discipline of geography informs freight movement. Likewise, the transportation of agricultural products (e.g. grains) through the Gulf Coast region of Texas, as well as the movement of Mexican produce products through the Lower Rio Grande Valley, including importers and freight forwarders, are illustrative of the changing geography of freight transportation.
Recognizing the breadth of this topic, we encourage submission of applied and empirical research that draws on different research traditions within our discipline – i.e., transport geography, agricultural geography, rural geography, and economics via quantitative and qualitative methods. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
One area of research that has received scant attention is the connection between agricultural cycles and the ability of transportation systems to adjust quickly to climatic phenomena. A relevant topic is the impact of droughts on waterway transportation systems (e.g. the Mississippi River Basin) and the associated movement of agricultural and other bulk commodities in relation to changing rail infrastructure and inelasticity in the trucking industry.
A related area of research is how multinational firms are turning to “nearshoring” production to low-wage countries nearby to cut supply chain costs and streamline their sourcing strategies. NAFTA and the USMCA have had numerous impacts on manufacturing, shipping, warehousing and forwarding of products from Mexico for consumption in the US. A case study of the sprawling landscape of Laredo Texas and the growth of 3rd party logistics illustrates how the discipline of geography informs freight movement. Likewise, the transportation of agricultural products (e.g. grains) through the Gulf Coast region of Texas, as well as the movement of Mexican produce products through the Lower Rio Grande Valley, including importers and freight forwarders, are illustrative of the changing geography of freight transportation.
Recognizing the breadth of this topic, we encourage submission of applied and empirical research that draws on different research traditions within our discipline – i.e., transport geography, agricultural geography, rural geography, and economics via quantitative and qualitative methods. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Data-driven network analysis and network optimization.
- Data collection for measuring the transport of agricultural products.
- Linkages between climate and transportation modality.
- Supply chain resiliency.
- Changing patterns of intermodal (containerized) shipping of freight.
- Geopolitics and cross-border shipping.
- Landscape features of freight transportation, including port morphologies and rail and highway networks.
- The role AI can play in logistics.
Geospatial Approaches to History
The geospatial ecosystem can be used in a variety of disciplines and arenas. This session will focus on how GIS and other geospatial techniques are applied to history. How do geographical tools influence, construe, and expand our understandings of the past? This session will include traditional research papers, classroom exercises and any other digital products associating with historical project. Those interested in joining this session, please send your name, affiliation, presentation title, and an abstract of no more than 250 words to Dr. Stacey Brown Amilian ([email protected]), no later than September 9th, 2024.
Human Mobility and Its Implications
The study of mobility is essential for understanding the dynamics of human spatial activities and for addressing a wide range of social, economic, and environmental challenges. This session aims to explore the multifaceted nature of human mobility, examining the patterns, causes, and effects of population movements across various contexts. We invite research that delves into different aspects of human mobility, including migration, commuting, residential mobility, and the impact of technological advancements on movement patterns. Special attention will be given to how human mobility changes in response to significant events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting implications for society.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
We encourage submissions that employ geospatial methodologies, interdisciplinary approaches, and case studies from diverse geographic contexts. This session seeks to foster a comprehensive understanding of human mobility and its implications, providing valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Please reach out to Dr. Wei Song ([email protected]) if you're interested in participating by September 9th, 2024.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Spatial and temporal patterns of human mobility
- The impact of human mobility on regional development and land use
- Socioeconomic factors influencing mobility decisions
- Migration and its effects on demographics and communities
- Micromobility
- Technological innovations and their influence on mobility
- Policy implications of human mobility trends
- Methods and tools for analyzing human mobility data
- Changes in human mobility in response to events like COVID-19
- Long-term effects of pandemic-induced mobility changes on society
We encourage submissions that employ geospatial methodologies, interdisciplinary approaches, and case studies from diverse geographic contexts. This session seeks to foster a comprehensive understanding of human mobility and its implications, providing valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Please reach out to Dr. Wei Song ([email protected]) if you're interested in participating by September 9th, 2024.
Research and Engagement With, For, and By Indigenous Peoples
We invite presentations and will dedicate a session focused on research and engagement with, for, and by Indigenous peoples. Papers can be on any related topic; also, we particularly solicit contributions in the following focus area.
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) or Indigenous Science has been oft defined as knowledge rooted in ecological experience and culture and maintained through Indigenous language and storytelling, developed over long periods of time in place, and has been the subject of much research in many academic disciplines. How IEK is used and how research regarding Indigenous peoples is done is receiving critical attention. For example, Indigenous Geographies, as explained by Niiyokamigaabaw Deondre Smiles (University of Victoria), are “ways of thinking about space and place that are based in and center Indigenous worldviews and epistemologies.”
This is important because the use of IEK in what is called “co-production of knowledge” (integration of different knowledge systems and methodologies to systematically understand the phenomena, systems, and processes being studied in a research project – National Science Foundation, NSF) and “convergence research” (solving vexing research problems, in particular, complex problems focusing on societal needs – NSF) has become trendy. The American Meteorological Society has engaged in these topics at its annual meetings, beginning with its “Ways of Knowing: Traditional Knowledge as Key Insight for Addressing Environmental Change” paper sessions during 2010-12, and more recently, panel discussions in 2023 on “Indigenous and Earth Systems Science Partnerships for Co-Creating Knowledge” and in 2024 on “Indigenous Weather, Water and Climate Knowledge Systems, Practices and Communities.” The 2023 panel included discussion of and representatives from the Biden Administration’s November 2022 guidance to federal agencies on working with Tribal Nations in “recognizing and including Indigenous Knowledge in research, policy, and other decision making” and how IEK can be applied in federal programs; its 46-page guidance memorandum includes 15 ongoing conservation project examples of “Indigenous Knowledge Application and Collaboration Between the Federal Government and Tribes and Indigenous Peoples.”
Critical takes on these initiatives have called them a possible new form of settler appropriation, and argue instead for an “indigenizing” of the geographical research agenda (i.e., Indigenous Geographies). One such critical take took place earlier in 2024, when the Society for Applied Anthropology’s annual conference featured a session on “Mainstreaming Indigenous Ecological Knowledge: Considering Possibilities and Ethical Dilemmas.” Its call for papers invited contributors “to consider the moral and ethical dilemmas of… mainstreaming of indigenous cultural knowledge to address critical socio-environmental predicaments,” citing in its call the Biden Administration’s efforts.
AAG scholars have been addressing such questions for a while; recently, AAG 2024 included paired sessions on “Knowledge Co-production in Practice” – “Theoretical Reflections” and “Reflections on Experience”, along with “Indigenizing Research Agendas and Geography Research Methodologies.” AAG 2023 featured two sessions on “Telling Our Own Stories: Collaboration and Contingency in Knowledge Production” and a session on “Examining Indigenous Perspectives on Geographic Knowledge Production & Place-making.”
Words from Indigenous scholar and environmental justice advocate Winona LaDuke offer some middle ground and additional inspiration for our session. When she was asked, during the Q&A portion of her AAG 2022 keynote address (“Water Protectors and the Rights of Wild Rice”), “Do you think co-production of knowledge makes sense?”, her response touched on several of the issues raised here: “Co-production…I think working together to tell your story is a good idea. I’m not sure if I know what co-production of knowledge is…But I think we need to be able to tell our story – the other guys have told their story pretty well. I think that the way to make sure that Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous narrative is out there, it needs to be promoted and we need to say it and other folks need to say, listen to this, this is a way of thinking that we want to engage in… So, I think that the more the Indigenous knowledge is brought out in all scientific arenas is so important.”
If you are interested in participating in this session, please contact Randy Peppler ([email protected]) by August 16, 2024, to share your idea.
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) or Indigenous Science has been oft defined as knowledge rooted in ecological experience and culture and maintained through Indigenous language and storytelling, developed over long periods of time in place, and has been the subject of much research in many academic disciplines. How IEK is used and how research regarding Indigenous peoples is done is receiving critical attention. For example, Indigenous Geographies, as explained by Niiyokamigaabaw Deondre Smiles (University of Victoria), are “ways of thinking about space and place that are based in and center Indigenous worldviews and epistemologies.”
This is important because the use of IEK in what is called “co-production of knowledge” (integration of different knowledge systems and methodologies to systematically understand the phenomena, systems, and processes being studied in a research project – National Science Foundation, NSF) and “convergence research” (solving vexing research problems, in particular, complex problems focusing on societal needs – NSF) has become trendy. The American Meteorological Society has engaged in these topics at its annual meetings, beginning with its “Ways of Knowing: Traditional Knowledge as Key Insight for Addressing Environmental Change” paper sessions during 2010-12, and more recently, panel discussions in 2023 on “Indigenous and Earth Systems Science Partnerships for Co-Creating Knowledge” and in 2024 on “Indigenous Weather, Water and Climate Knowledge Systems, Practices and Communities.” The 2023 panel included discussion of and representatives from the Biden Administration’s November 2022 guidance to federal agencies on working with Tribal Nations in “recognizing and including Indigenous Knowledge in research, policy, and other decision making” and how IEK can be applied in federal programs; its 46-page guidance memorandum includes 15 ongoing conservation project examples of “Indigenous Knowledge Application and Collaboration Between the Federal Government and Tribes and Indigenous Peoples.”
Critical takes on these initiatives have called them a possible new form of settler appropriation, and argue instead for an “indigenizing” of the geographical research agenda (i.e., Indigenous Geographies). One such critical take took place earlier in 2024, when the Society for Applied Anthropology’s annual conference featured a session on “Mainstreaming Indigenous Ecological Knowledge: Considering Possibilities and Ethical Dilemmas.” Its call for papers invited contributors “to consider the moral and ethical dilemmas of… mainstreaming of indigenous cultural knowledge to address critical socio-environmental predicaments,” citing in its call the Biden Administration’s efforts.
AAG scholars have been addressing such questions for a while; recently, AAG 2024 included paired sessions on “Knowledge Co-production in Practice” – “Theoretical Reflections” and “Reflections on Experience”, along with “Indigenizing Research Agendas and Geography Research Methodologies.” AAG 2023 featured two sessions on “Telling Our Own Stories: Collaboration and Contingency in Knowledge Production” and a session on “Examining Indigenous Perspectives on Geographic Knowledge Production & Place-making.”
Words from Indigenous scholar and environmental justice advocate Winona LaDuke offer some middle ground and additional inspiration for our session. When she was asked, during the Q&A portion of her AAG 2022 keynote address (“Water Protectors and the Rights of Wild Rice”), “Do you think co-production of knowledge makes sense?”, her response touched on several of the issues raised here: “Co-production…I think working together to tell your story is a good idea. I’m not sure if I know what co-production of knowledge is…But I think we need to be able to tell our story – the other guys have told their story pretty well. I think that the way to make sure that Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous narrative is out there, it needs to be promoted and we need to say it and other folks need to say, listen to this, this is a way of thinking that we want to engage in… So, I think that the more the Indigenous knowledge is brought out in all scientific arenas is so important.”
If you are interested in participating in this session, please contact Randy Peppler ([email protected]) by August 16, 2024, to share your idea.
Exploring the Changing Geography of Urban Places
Urban places are constantly changing. Change occurs over time and across space. Urban scholars have traditionally examined how change affects the size of urban settlements, form and design of the built environment, urban population composition and structure, land use, and types of economic activities found at all scales of urban places. In recent decades, as urban scholars have begun to focus on the impacts of climate change on urban places, environmental justice and urban environmental policy, new areas of research have emerged that focus on the relative mix of human-made and natural elements/ green spaces found in urban places, the effect of natural elements/ green spaces have on the well-being of residents and access to green spaces for different communities.
Accepting the breadth of this topic, the contested nature of urban and change, we would like to receive submissions of applied and empirical, quantitative and qualitative research about urban change. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
Accepting the breadth of this topic, the contested nature of urban and change, we would like to receive submissions of applied and empirical, quantitative and qualitative research about urban change. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- The impact of historical processes on present day urban places.
- The impact of climate change.
- The impact of green urbanism.
- The type, location and distribution of urban trees, formal and informal green spaces, and green infrastructure.
- Changing levels of residential segregation.
- Dead or ghost malls.
- Waterfront redevelopment.
- Gentrification.
- Poverty.
- Underused and vacant land.
- Food and service deserts.
- The densification of urban places.
- Community engagement.
- Urban renewal.
- Public transportation.
- Social equity.
Uses of Census Geography and Census Data for Analysis and Settlement Classification
This session brings together presentations focused on a variety of applications of census geography, other types of geographic units, and census and other statistical data for analysis, classification, and decision-making. We are especially interested in presentations that explore geographic area concepts and classifications (such as urban, rural, and other settlement categories), the utility of census and statistical geographic areas for analysis and decision-making, and ways in which definitions of geographic areas affect analysis of data.
Interested presenters may submit their title and abstract to Michael Ratcliffe ([email protected]) by September 9, 2024.
Interested presenters may submit their title and abstract to Michael Ratcliffe ([email protected]) by September 9, 2024.
Urban Gentrification
Through gentrification, more affluent residents and investment move into existing low-income urban neighborhoods, driving up property tax and living expenses and often pushing the original longtime residents out of their neighborhoods. Despite the increase in the economic value of a neighborhood, gentrification has been criticized for its displacement of lower socioeconomic status groups by higher socioeconomic status groups. Together with this displacement, urban gentrification is commonly accompanied by changes in crime and neighborhood safety, social structure, economic activities, school education, food access and availability, health, and environment. Since Ruth Glass introduced the term, gentrification, in 1964 [1], scholars in the United States examined urban gentrification from the many aspects of urban development and in many U.S. cities. Studies were also conducted to define and measure urban gentrification with the different quantitative approaches and by considering different scales. Findings from such efforts may guide policy makers and urban planner for resource allocation and counter-displacement measure development.
This session seeks to highlight selected studies of urban gentrification in the United States. We welcome papers and discussions on the definition and measurement of urban gentrification and /or the various impacts of gentrification on urban life. Please send questions or inquires to Yongmei Lu ([email protected]).
1 Glass Ruth Lazerus. 1964. London: Aspects of Change. London: MacGibbon & Kee
This session seeks to highlight selected studies of urban gentrification in the United States. We welcome papers and discussions on the definition and measurement of urban gentrification and /or the various impacts of gentrification on urban life. Please send questions or inquires to Yongmei Lu ([email protected]).
1 Glass Ruth Lazerus. 1964. London: Aspects of Change. London: MacGibbon & Kee