The Geographer Marx

Abstract

In celebration of Marx's 200th birth anniversary, this symposium revisits how Marx has influenced geography research and pedagogy. Capital, capitalism, commodity, use value, surplus value, labor theory of value, class, exploitation, class struggle, dialectics, dialectical materialism are now ubiquitous in critical human geography research. Theories inspired by Marxism like critical theories of imperialism, geographic transfer of value, dependency has been the mainstay for envisioning relationship between Global North and Global South. Theories inspired by class, class-consciousness and ideology have inspired geographies of labor, labor unionism and social movements. Commodity, commodification of nature, production, and accumulation has also inspired post-structural and feminist research on social reproduction, feminization of poverty and informality, environmental degradation, climate change, and consumption landscape. In this symposium, authors self-select concepts, ideas, theories, and metaphors from Marx and discuss how, and in what ways, these influenced their work (research and teaching), and also how their Marxist geography influences Marxism and society.