Geography’s creative (re)turn: Toward a critical framework

Abstract

The latest ‘turn’ to appear on geography’s intellectual horizons pivots around creativity. Geographers long fascinated with the practices of poetry, visual art, photography, performance, dance, cabaret, story-telling and more, are becoming creators and collaborators (rather than simply analysts). My intention here is not to get caught up in debating whether this is in fact a turn; rather, I look to wider interdisciplinary ‘turn talk’ as a source from which to build a much-needed critical framework for these recent disciplinary developments. Five dimensions of this critical framework are posed: histories, geographies, imaginaries, expertise and politics. By no means exhaustive, these dimensions gesture towards critical perspectives on the current intensification and future practice of creative geographies, exploring possibilities but also, importantly, addressing challenges.