A tribute to Doreen Massey (3 January 1944–11 March 2016)

Abstract

Great people not only make waves during their lifetime; they continue to influence and inspire others long after they have gone. Doreen Massey's passing is hard to bear, but her large and extraordinarily rich legacy will endure. She was a truly exceptional geographer and one, moreover, esteemed far beyond her chosen discipline. She was a philosopher, empirical researcher, educator, political activist and, in recent years, a public intellectual. Her geography knew few topical bounds, spanning the economic, political, cultural and even physical parts of the subject. Her theoretical-political lenses were equally wide angle, but avowedly of the Left. She authored not just one or two formative publications but many; her numerous books, articles and chapters changed the way we understand the world and our place in it. She was a superb communicator: her lectures and seminars could be riveting, while her written English was full of memorable formulations. She was as committed to student education as she was to scholarship; she valued political commentary as much as abstract theorizing (and, to that end, helped set up Soundings with Stuart Hall and Michael Rustin in 1995). She was a high-energy, multi-talented individual and a frequent collaborator, generous with her time and ideas. She was also principled and when occasion called for it fearless. Throughout her remarkable life she showed us what it means to be a politically committed scholar for whom research, pedagogy, activism and public engagement are all connected organically.