Royal Geographical Society Research Articles

Presidential Address* and record of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) AGM 2020

In the Society’s first virtual AGM, the President of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) The Rt. Hon. the Baroness Chalker of Wallasey reflected on three ambitions: to improve public health everywhere; to put nature conservation into all decision making as a fundamental requirement of sustainable development; and the central importance of clear communication.

Material memories of travel: the albums of a Victorian naval surgeon

This paper considers the visual archives of maritime scientific exploration, from coastal sketches to ethnographic observation. It focuses on seven albums of John Linton Palmer, a British naval surgeon who served in the Pacific in the 1850s and 1860s, which are today part of the collections of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). Through their drawing, recording and collecting, naval surgeons like Linton Palmer played a significant role in the development of natural history and ethnography during the nineteenth century. The paper discusses the historical significance and potential contemporary uses of the Linton Palmer albums in the context of three forms of memory-making: firstly, the documentation of topographic, antiquarian, ethnographic, microscopic and other field observations by means of drawing; secondly, the assembling of such materials into personalised albums, part of a distinctive nineteenth-century naval tradition by which the experience of travel was re-collected (in the case of Linton Palmer within the scientific culture of late-Victorian Liverpool); and thirdly, the contemporary uses of such forms of visual heritage in a variety of contexts from family history to Indigenous land claims.

Spatial and temporal tourism considerations in liminal landscapes

Anthropogenic geographic studies in tourism should consider the liminality of the experience. Tourism by definition means a temporal and/or spatial movement takes place. How the tourist interacts and behaves during this transitory experience is a logical progression into human leisure behaviour. Several recent international gatherings of geographers provide the foundation to explore liminality in tourism and we build on those papers in this special issue. The papers are varied in geographies, yet have a central theoretical basis in all things liminal. Invited papers in this special issue are founded on the research presented at two international geography conferences in sessions devoted to tourism. The American Association of Geographers meeting in Boston, Massachusetts in 2017 and the Royal Geographic Society with the Institute of British Geographers in Cardiff, Wales in 2018 gathered geographers from around the world to study this theme. The following papers give the most comprehensive geographic review in tourism to date and we encourage additional dialogue.

Indigenous tales of the Beaufort Sea: Arctic exploration and the circulation of geographical knowledge

On 13th November 1905, the Danish sea captain Ejnar Mikkelsen presented his detailed plans to survey a hitherto uncharted region of the Beaufort Sea before the fellows of the Royal Geographical Society. Although much coveted ‘undiscovered land’ in this icy polar region had been hypothesised within geographical debates across Europe and the United States, no ‘intelligent and scientific’ geographical explorer had yet managed to conduct the essential surveying work required to prove or disprove this theory. With his planned expedition being met with approval, Mikkelsen then ventured into the frozen landscape of the American High North hoping to correct this intriguing geographical lacuna. It is here that the inexperienced Arctic explorer was to have a series of encounters with the indigenous inhabitants of the region from whom he learned more about the hypothetical landmass. Updating the RGS on his progress and communicating the details of these moments of indigenous encounter, Mikkelsen relayed a series of tales that had been gleaned from these local people. Considering these tales in terms of the circulation of geographical knowledge, this article will contribute to the growing body of literature that has highlighted the significant role that indigenous people have played in the exploration of the Arctic regions. More importantly, it will also highlight the ways in which these contributions have regularly been obscured or omitted from the prevailing historical record of Arctic exploration.

Decolonising the spaces of geographical knowledge production: The RGS‐IBG at Kensington Gore

In this commentary we draw focus on the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) at Lowther Lodge, Kensington Gore, to discuss the prospect of decolonising in the spaces geographical knowledge production. We propose a focus on the spaces of geography that can exclude and marginalise, and serious engagement with the discomfiting question of whether violent colonial histories should be both so prominent and silent in the spaces of geographical knowledge production.

Decolonial education and geography: Beyond the 2017 Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers annual conference

AbstractThis review is inspired by the recent resurgence of grassroots movements aimed at the decolonisation of education. The departure point of the paper are the numerous, recent academic responses to campaigns such as Rhodes Must Fall, Why is My Curriculum White?, Why Isn't My Professor Black?, and #LiberateMyDegree. Following from there, the narrative is divided into two sections. The first part reviews theoretical approaches to decolonial education, especially those rooted in the modernity/coloniality/decoloniality paradigm. The second part analyses the ways in which geographers have applied these ideas to our discipline. The review pays particular attention to the 2017 Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers annual conference, curated under the “Decolonising geographical knowledges” theme. I argue that as geographers, we have to continue reflecting on the meaning of decolonial praxis, especially in relation to geographical education, beyond the recent conference. To these ends, the review concludes with seven specific questions for geographers to consider in the near future.

An Energy Transition That Relies Only on Technology Leads to a Bet on Solar Fuels

Oscar Kraan obtained his PhD in 2019 from Leiden University on the thesis entitled “On the Emergence of the Energy Transition.” His thesis work, done in collaboration between Leiden University and Shell, focused on the development and application of agent-based simulation models for the energy transition. Oscar holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Leiden University and a master’s degree in energy science from Utrecht University. Currently Oscar works as Senior Strategy Consultant at Monitor Deloitte in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he focuses on strategic questions in the energy industry. Gert Jan Kramer holds a PhD in physics from Leiden University (1988). After his PhD, he joined Shell, and since 2000 his work has increasingly focused on alternative fuels (notably hydrogen) and renewable energy. Since May 2016 he is Professor of Sustainable Energy Supply Systems at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University. From January 1, 2018 onward Gert Jan is head of the Energy & Resources group within this institute. His interest is in the energy transition as a technical and a socio-technical phenomenon. Martin Haigh has been working in Shell’s Scenarios Team for the last 15 years. Martin’s background is in mathematics, with experience in mathematical and economic modeling in the energy industry. He has led the development of Shell’s World Energy Model, which has underpinned all recent Shell scenario rounds, including the Sky scenario. He has jointly authored papers on energy technology deployment, and the long-term potential for renewables. Martin works with many institutions, including MIT’s Climate Science team, the IEA, and a UK universities group focused on energy systems modeling. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. Chris Laurens holds an MSC and PhD in physics from Groningen University (1999). After his PhD, he joined McKinsey & Company, where he was leader of the Energy Practice and the Abu Dhabi Office. He served over 30 clients in the energy sector on topics ranging from strategy, investments, energy markets design, and decarbonization. After McKinsey, he joined Shell, where he focused on new energy technologies, the energy transition, power market fundamentals, and Shell’s investments in power, hydrogen, and biofuels. Recently, he joined ADNOC, where he focuses on long-term strategy and growth.

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Medals and Awards celebration 2019

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) annual Medals and Awards recognise achievements in researching, communicating, and teaching a wide range of geographical knowledge. The speeches and citations are a record of the 2019 celebration, with contributions from Professor Trevor J. Barnes, Professor Mark Birkin, Dr Ayona Datta, Dame Fiona Reynolds, and Professor David S. G. Thomas. The speeches include comments on: the continued relevance and importance of geography and geographers for finding solutions in today's divided, threatened, and uncertain world; impactful and well‐motivated work; the importance of curiosity‐driven investigations; capacity building and empowerment; inspirational students and teachers; and celebrating plurality.

Presidential Address and record of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) AGM 2019

In her first Address as President of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), The Rt. Hon. the Baroness Chalker of Wallasey reflected on the importance of supporting rural communities in the developing world, through education and sustainable employment opportunities, alongside animal and habitat conservation efforts.

Bruno Messerli, 1931–2019

Bruno Messerli was a pioneering geographer and an exceptional person. Although he spent almost all of his long academic career – more than six decades from student to Professor Emeritus – based at the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern, his impacts have gone far beyond Switzerland and geography. Bruno's doctoral and postdoctoral research, from 1958 to 1976, focused on the glacial and post-glacial history of the mountains around the Mediterranean and down into the Sahara – a focus on (past) glaciers and arid mountains to which he returned soon before retirement during his last field projects (1988–1996) in the high Andes of the Atacama. In between, he played leading roles in many major interdisciplinary projects. The first of these was the Swiss element of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, which he directed, together with Paul Messerli (unrelated) from 1977 to 1986. Overlapping this, he was the co-manager of the United Nations University's (UNU) project on Highland-Lowland Interactive Systems (later, Mountain Geoecology and Sustainable Development; 1979–1991), together with Jack Ives. Jack and Bruno's partnership had started earlier, in the International Geographical Union's Mountain Commission; they alternated as chairs from 1972 to 1996. A primary outcome of the UNU work in Nepal was their co-authored book The Himalayan dilemma: Reconciling development and conservation (1989), which used detailed field research to analyse the “Myth of Himalayan Degradation.” Bruno continued this work with Thomas Hofer, resulting in the 2006 book Floods in Bangladesh: History, dynamics and rethinking the role of the Himalayas. The impact of the Messerli-Ives partnership went well beyond academia. The work they led in Nepal showed that many of the myths about Himalayan degradation, often quoted by politicians and in the media, were incorrect. In the early 1990s, their focus turned to the global stage, when they recognised–together with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation–that the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 would present a unique opportunity to get mountains on the stage. The result of concerted diplomatic and scientific effort was Chapter 13, on “Sustainable mountain development,” in “Agenda 21,” the plan of action deriving from this global meeting. Bruno continued to play a key role in keeping mountains on the global agenda, including the publication (again with Jack Ives) of Mountains of the world: A global priority in 1997 and a series of reports until 2002. Key outcomes of these continuing efforts were the declaration of the year 2002 as the International Year of Mountains and, since then, 11 December as International Mountain Day. In addition to his activities in research and advocacy, Bruno played many other important roles. At the University of Bern, he was a gifted teacher and mentor who enthused thousands of students and supervised 35 PhD and 104 Master's theses, and served as Rector of the University in 1986–7. He had national roles with the Swiss University Conference, Research Council and Swiss National Science Foundation. After his official retirement in 1996, he became President of the International Geographical Union (1996–2000) and Co-Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme's project on Past Global Changes (PAGES; 1996–2001), and then continued in other roles with the International Foundation of Science and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which he had helped to establish in 1983. Bruno's remarkable contributions were recognised in many ways. In Switzerland, he was awarded the Doron Prize and the Marcel-Benoist Prize and, internationally, numerous awards–including the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), the Mountain Award of the King Albert I Memorial Foundation, and the Prix Vautrin Lud, the “Nobel of Geography”–as well as honorary doctorates from the University of Innsbruck and the Free University of Berlin. All of the above underlines Bruno's energy and remarkable professional achievements. Yet he was also a man who was deeply committed to his family–his wonderful wife, Beatrice, to whom he was married for 55 years, his four children, and his nine grandchildren–and he enjoyed the mountains, music, and good food and drink. Though his roots were in the Swiss Canton of Bern, he was a consummate professional geographer and interdisciplinary scientist who has made a real difference to thousands of people around the world and, through his publications and the work of his family and everyone else he mentored and worked with, will continue to do so.

Trianon and its aftermath: British geography and the ‘dismemberment’ of Hungary, c.1915-c.1922

ABSTRACTIn the wake of World War I, geographers helped advise national delegations at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference whose purpose was to delimit Europe’s new boundaries. The paper examines the role played by British geographers, specifically Alan Ogilvie and the British geographical delegation, in the Treaty of Trianon (1920) which greatly reduced Hungary’s territorial extent. Attention is paid to contemporary published work on the new Europe, particularly Marion Newbigin’s Aftermath: A Geographical Study of the Peace Terms and Ogilvie’s Boundary Settlement (1922). Assessment of manuscript diaries and correspondence reveals the complex circumstances faced by geographers engaged in peace work. The work of different practitioners – in the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), over how national boundaries should be arrived at (on either ethnic or physiographic grounds) – was hindered by inadequate map provision from British geographical institutions. This led Ogilvie to propose a new geographical body for Britain at a time when the RGS was facing criticism and when the meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, not the RGS, provided the forum for discussion of the new post-war Europe.

Authorising geographical knowledge: the development of peer review in The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1830–c.1880

When the Royal Geographical Society was founded in 1830, its prospectus made a firm commitment to produce a regular journal of the geographic communications it expected to receive. This article examines how submissions from authors were screened by trusted readers before acceptance and hence begins to elucidate the origins of peer review in the discipline's first English language journal. Whilst there has been extensive examination of geographic texts, hitherto there has not been any systematic examination of institutional peer review's governance of geographic knowledge. Historians of science, however, have begun to historicise peer review within scientific fields. This paper adds to these studies, by bringing a discipline on the periphery of science in the nineteenth century into dialogue with the history of peer review. Through detailed assessment of authors' manuscripts and their associated correspondence, this study reflects on the development of mechanisms that authorised geographic knowledge in the society's journal. It further examines how individual reviewers interpreted and practiced the society's procedures. Overall it demonstrates how peer review was central in shaping the geography that appeared in the pages of The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.

Professor David Lowenthal, 1923–2018

Professor David Lowenthal, 1923–2018

Slidescapes: three Royal Geographical Society lantern lectures by Vaughan Cornish

ABSTRACTAn assessment of the visual output of the eugenicist geographer and landscape heritage activist Vaughan Cornish (1862-1948) constitutes a void in scholarly studies by geographers and historians. This is striking as the 1890s, the period in which Cornish established himself as an authoritative lecturer, saw significant developments in photographic technologies, as well as the popularisation of geographically themed entertainments and the expansion of academic geography in Britain. Amalgamating scholarship in histories of the lantern and photography, and in geography, on visuality and materiality this article investigates Cornish’s knowledge- and image-making practices and the institutional and personal networks which shaped his work and his career. By drawing on an assemblage of Royal Geographical Society (RGS) archives and publications the study explores the medium of lantern slides and the slidescapes of Cornish’s lectures at the RGS. It traces how multiple institutional and commercial ‘mindful hands’ shaped the look, content and methods of a diversifying and geographically dispersed community of geographers in the final decades of the nineteenth century as the popularity of both the RGS and the medium of the magic lantern peaked.

The Case of Poland: Encouraging Human Geography through Lesbian Studies

What follows is a direct transcription of the conference paper that I gave during the very prestigious Annual International Conference 2018 of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). It took place at the Cardiff University, Wales, UK, on 28-31 of August, 2018. I gave this presentation within the very same panel session that I organised together with Kath Browne from the Maynooth University in Dublin, Ireland, and Catherine J. Nash from the Brock University in Canada. Our session, which I was also honoured to chair, was titled Engaging Contemporary Sexual-Gendered Realities: Geographies of Feminisms, Sexualities, and Beyond. Five presentations were part of the panel, including mine. The 20-minute paper was fortified with a Power-Point presentation, which, of course, is irrelevant to the purposes of the transcription herein. Even though I have decided to keep the title of this transcription in compliance with the title of that presentation, its potential and meaning is much greater. Thinking of a proper academic article that I could develop based on that paper, I would probably make it a point to emphasise the significance of the intersections between sociology and geography, and how they affect my local ambitions to introduce (into the Polish academia) geographies of sexualities on the one hand and interdisciplinary lesbian studies on the other. The paper presented below reflects on the implications of this experience and stance of mine.

Indigenous Intermediaries: New Perspectives on Exploration ArchivesBrokers and Boundaries: Colonial Exploration in Indigenous Territory

Indigenous Intermediaries: New Perspectives on Exploration ArchivesBrokers and Boundaries: Colonial Exploration in Indigenous Territory

John Innes Clarke OBE, 7 January 1929–3 May 2018

John wrote the first English language book devoted exclusively to Population Geography (1965), setting the agenda for a generation with a focus on “how distribution, composition, migrations and growth of populations are related to spatial variations in the nature of places.” It sold over 100,000 copies and was translated into Arabic, Malay, Orissa and Spanish. His later papers developed themes of scale, population growth, sex ratio, migration and the relation between population and environment. John enjoyed travel and visited 83 countries in all. His research covered many countries in the Middle East, North Africa and West Africa and he had many PhD students from those countries. He edited numerous volumes, often involving international collaboration as he chaired the International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Population Geography (from 1980 to 1988) and established a Commission on Population and the Environment within the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), chairing from 1990 to 1995. From 1990 to 1993 John chaired the International Social Science Council (ISSC) Working Group on Population Data and Global Environmental Change. His low-budget Sierra Leone in Maps (1966) established a much-copied format, and he also edited the innovative laser-printed grid-square atlas People in Britain (1976). In Durham, John established the Census Research Unit, with Dewdney, Rhind, Evans and Visvalingam, initially from 1973 to 1976, but with publications continuing to 1986. After a spell as Acting Principal of Trevelyan College, in 1981 he succeeded his teacher and mentor Bill Fisher (see The Geographical Journal, 1985, 151, pp. 148–149) as Head of the Geography Department. Unlike his predecessor, he served a three-year term and was anticipating the reward of a double sabbatical, but instead was persuaded to accept the appointment as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) and “Sub-warden” of Durham University. The 196 committee meetings he attended or chaired in 1985 led him to propose a restructuring of PVC duties, with greater division of labour, which was accepted. John was also Director of Development, but had the misfortune to occupy these positions of responsibility during the Thatcher years of cuts in university budgets. John was very active in the Geographical Association, the Institute of British Geographers and the Royal Geographical Society. He was a member of the research committee of the RGS from 1974 to 1981, chaired the RGS Jordan Badia research and development programme from 1991 to 1997, represented the RGS on the British National Committee for Geography from 1976 to 1981, and served as Vice President of the RGS to 1995; he was awarded the Victoria Medal of the RGS in 1991. John was also a member of the Social Science Research Council's Human Geography Committee from 1970 to 1977. He also made a number of radio broadcasts, and was Durham President of the Association of University Teachers between 1975 and 1978. After a second term as PVC of the University of Durham, John retired in 1990 at the early age of 60 and applied his energies to important roles in County Durham. He chaired the Durham and North Durham Health Authorities (1990–1996) and served as Deputy Lieutenant of County Durham: in 2003 he was awarded an OBE for services to the community in County Durham, recognising work for the University, the Health Authority, the National Lottery charity and the County Durham Foundation. John was happily married to Dorothy (known affectionately as Dig by friends and family) from 1955 until her death in 2008, and is survived by their three daughters, and grandchildren. Dig's serious illness in her last 10 years was the saddest episode in a devoted husband's life. Throughout his long and active life John Clarke was above all a very pleasant, likeable and helpful person. He had great influence on population geography and the study of the Middle East and North Africa. John made tremendous contributions to the University and County of Durham. His advice was always welcome, and he remained cheerful and good company to the end, when it was hard for him to bear a steady loss of memory. John was very sociable, an academic leader, an approachable colleague and an influential teacher, and he is missed for all of those qualities.

Instrument provision and geographical science: the work of the Royal Geographical Society, 1830-ca 1930.

This paper examines the Royal Geographical Society's provision and management of scientific instruments to explorers and expeditions in the century following its foundation in 1830. Assessment of the Society's directives concerning appropriate scientific instruments for the conduct of geography reveals the emergence (slow and uneven) of policies concerning the assignment of instruments. From examination of Council minutes and related manuscript sources, the paper documents the numbers of instruments acquired by the Society, by whom used, for what scientific purpose and in which parts of the world. The paper examines the number and chronology of expeditions supported by the Society's instruments, examines the expenditure upon instruments' repair, and discusses the publications that followed their use in exploration. Correspondence between instrument users and the Society reveals that, on occasion, the use of instruments was adventitious. While geographical knowledge depended upon the use of scientific instruments to measure and to depict the world, geography was not a formally institutionalized survey science as was the case with the Geological Survey or the nation-defining mapping of Ordnance Survey.

Evolution versus entrenchment: Debating the impact of digitization, democratization and diffusion in the global fashion industry

Abstract In the report The State of Fashion 2017, written by Business of Fashion and the McKinsey Institute (2016), industry executives used three words to describe the current state of the fashion industry: uncertain, changing and challenging. Indeed, the fashion industry is undergoing dramatic transformations, from digitization and the rise of ‘see now, buy now’ fashions, to brands redefining the function and timing of fashion weeks, and increasing levels of global integration and competition (Crewe 2017). As such, the fashion industry has been recognized as a valuable lens through which to explore significant and ongoing changes to the production, curation and consumption of goods, services, and experiences (Brydges et al. 2014; Brydges 2017; D’Ovidio 2015; Hracs et al. 2013; Lavanga 2018; McRobbie 2016; Pratt et al. 2012). Drawing inspiration from this stream of scholarship, we organized four sessions titled Trending Now: The Changing Geographies of Fashion in the Digital Age at the Royal Geographical Society and Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG) conference in London, 30 August – 1 September 2017. In these sessions, researchers and practitioners from a wide range of locations and disciplines – including fashion studies, media studies, cultural economics, business and geography – came together to share research related to the structures, labour dynamics, spaces, value propositions and practices of the contemporary fashion industry. While a range of issues were discussed, the sessions were connected by an overarching theme. Namely, the extent to which power in the fashion industry is expanding or consolidating. While there is a prominent discourse that states that structures, systems and spaces within the global fashion industry have been (and will continue to be) disrupted by new actors, technologies, practices and cities, we collectively questioned whether the fashion industry has really entered an era of democratization, or if established power structures remain entrenched. Through empirical case studies from a variety of geographic contexts – from India to Italy – about different actors and activities within the industry, each presentation contributed new evidence and perspectives to this debate. The discussion below distils some of the key themes that emerged.

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Medals and Awards celebration 2018

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) annual Medals and Awards recognise achievements in researching, communicating and teaching a wide range of geographical knowledge. The speeches and citations are a record of the 2018 celebration, with contributions from Professors Wendy Larner, Mark Macklin, Yadvinder Malhi, Bhaskar Vira, and Paul Rose. The speeches include comments on: the importance of geography for solving the most pressing of societal challenges; inspiring others through teaching, public engagement and leadership; interdisciplinarity and the pursuit of common intellectual agendas; fostering environmentally, economically and socially just futures; interconnections and exploration of the ecological world; and the value of field science.