Organic Public Geographies: 'Making the Connection'

Abstract

A new field of 'public geographies' is taking shape (Fuller 2008) in geography's mainstream journals. While much is 'traditional', with intellectuals disseminating academic research via non-academic outlets (Castree 2006; Mitchell 2008; Oslender 2007), less visible is the 'organic' work and its 'more involved intellectualizing, pursued through working with area-based or single-interest groups, in which the process itself may be the outcome' (Ward 2006: 499; see Fuller and Askins 2010). A number of well-known projects exist where research has been 'done not merely for the people we write about but with them' (Gregory 2005: 188; see also Cahill 2004; Johnston and Pratt 2010). However, collaborative writing of academic publications which gives research participants authorial credit is unusual (mrs kinpainsby 2008; although see Sangtin Writers and Nagar 2006). This paper is about an organic public geographies project called 'Making the connection'. It is written by a diverse collection of (non-) academic participants who contributed to the project before it had started, as it was undertaken, and/or after it had finished. This is a 'messy', process-oriented text (Cook et al. 2007) working through the threads (partially) connecting the activities of its main collaborators, including a referee who helped get the paper to publication.